23. PROPOSITION THE SECOND

The Adamic, or Most Ancient Church of this Earth

The world has hitherto believed that by "the creation of heaven and earth," in the first chapter of Genesis, is meant the creation of the universe, according to the letter; and by Adam, the first man of this globe. Seeing that the spiritual or internal sense of the Word has not been disclosed till now, the world could not believe otherwise; nor, consequently, that by "creating heaven and earth" is meant to collect and found an angelic heaven from those who have finished with life in the world, and by this means to derive and produce a Church on earth (as above, n. 18-20); and that by the names of persons, nations, territories and cities, are meant such things as are of heaven, and at the same time of the Church: in like manner, therefore, by "Adam." That by "Adam," and by all those things which are related of him and his posterity in the first chapters of Genesis, are described the successive states of the Most Ancient Church-which are: its rise, or morning, its progression into light, or day; its decline, or evening; its end, or night; and after this the Last Judgment upon those composing it, and thereafter a new angelic heaven from the faithful, and a new hell from the unfaithful, according to the series of the progressions laid down in the preceding Proposition-has been explained, unfolded and demonstrated in detail in the ARCANA CAELESTIA on Genesis and Exodus, the labour of eight years, published in London; which work being extant in the world, nothing further is necessary than to recapitulate therefrom the universals respecting this Most Ancient Church, which will be cited in the present volume. At the outset, however, some passages shall be adduced from the Word, by which it is proved that by "creating" is there signified to produce and form anew, and, properly, to regenerate; on which account it is that regeneration is called a "new creation," by which the universal heaven of angels and the universal Church of men, exist, consist and subsist. That "creating" signifies this, is plainly manifest from these passages in the Word:

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit in the midst of me (Psalm 51:10).

Thou openest the hand, they are filled with good; Thou sendest forth the Spirit, they are created (Psalm 104:28, 30).

The people that shall be created shall praise Jah (Psalm 102:18).

Thus said Jehovah, thy creator, O Jacob; thy former, O Israel: Every one that is called by My Name, I have created for My glory (Isa. 43:1, 7).

That they may see, know, consider and understand, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isa. 41:20).

In the day that thou wast created, they were prepared; thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, until perversity was found in thee (Ezek. 28:13, 15):

these things are concerning the king of Tyre.

Jehovah that createth the heavens, that spreadeth abroad the earth, that giveth breath unto the people upon it (Isa. 42:5; 45:12, 18).

Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; be ye glad to eternity in that which I create: behold I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing (Isa. 65:17-18).

As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall stand before Me (Isa. 66:22).

I saw a new heaven and a new earth: the former heaven and the former earth are passed away (Rev. 21:1).

We, according to promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).

From these passages it is now manifest what is spiritually meant in the first chapter of Genesis, by the verses,

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; and the earth was waste and empty (Gen. 1:1-2).

The earth's being said to be "waste and empty," signifies that there was no longer any good of life or truth of doctrine with its inhabitants. That "wasteness" and "emptiness" signify the lack of those two essentials of the Church, will be established in Proposition IV of this volume, respecting the Israelitish Church, by a thousand passages from the Word: at present let the following in Jeremiah serve for some illustration:

I saw the earth, when, behold, it was vacant and empty; and [I looked] towards the heavens, when their light was not. Thus said Jehovah, The whole earth shall be wasteness; for this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above shall be made black (Jer. 4:23, 27-28).

3816. 'Should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your reward be?' means that there must be a means by which they are joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'serving for nothing' as without any binding agreement, and from the meaning of 'reward' as the means by which they were joined together. The expression 'reward' is used frequently in the Word, and in the places where it occurs nothing else is meant in the internal sense than a means by which things are joined together. The reason for this is that angels utterly refuse to listen to any talk of reward being due on account of anything in themselves. Indeed they utterly loathe the very idea of a reward for the sake of any good or good action. For they know that with everyone the proprium, or that which is his own, is nothing but evil, and this being so, that whatever they do from the proprium or what is their own would hold the reverse of any reward within it. Angels also know that all good originates in the Lord, and that it flows in from Him, and solely out of mercy. Thus it is not on account of that which begins in themselves that they think about reward; indeed good itself ceases to be good when there is thought of reward on account of it, for a selfish end in view then instantly attaches itself. And to the extent this end attaches itself it introduces a denial that good originates in the Lord and is imparted out of mercy. This therefore removes the influx of good and consequently removes heaven and the blessedness present in good and in the affection for good. The affection for good, that is, love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, includes blessing and happiness within it. These are present in the affection or love itself. Doing something for reasons of affection and the blessing it brings and doing it at the same time for the sake of reward are utterly contrary motives. This is why angels do not perceive any reward at all when reward is mentioned in the Word but that which the Lord grants them for nothing and out of mercy.

[2] But reward serves as a means to join together in the case of those who have not yet reached that point; for those who have not yet been brought into good and the affection for it, that is, who are not yet wholly regenerate, inevitably think of reward as well; for they do not do the good they do from an affection for good but from an affection for their own blessedness and happiness, and at the same time from fear of hell. But when a person is being regenerated this is reversed and becomes an affection for good. And when it is an affection for good he no longer has reward in view.

[3] This may be illustrated from aspects of public life. Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. Indeed such a person receives honours and is promoted to important positions because these are the means by which he serves his country even though those honours and positions are called rewards. But people who have no affection for their country, only for themselves and for the world, act for the sake of position and wealth, which are also their ends in view. Such people put themselves before their country, that is, their own good before the common good, and in comparison with the others are sordid. And yet more than all others they want it to be seen that they do what they do from a love that is sincere. But when they think about this on their own they deny that anyone acts from such love, and are amazed that anyone is able to do so. Those whose attitude during their lifetime is such towards their country or the public good have the same attitude in the next life towards the Lord's kingdom, for a person's affection or love follows him, since affection or love constitute the life of everyone.