247. Of the Ancient Churches.

The first and Most Ancient Church on this earth, which is described in the first chapters of Genesis, was a celestial church, and the chief of all the rest (n. 607, 895, 920, 1121-1124, 2896, 4493, 8891, 9942, 10545). Of the quality of those in heaven who belonged to it (n. 1114-1125). They are in the highest degree of light (n. 1116-1117). There were various churches after the flood, called in one word, the Ancient Church, concerning which (n. 1125-1127, 1327, 10355). Through how many kingdoms of Asia the Ancient Church was extended (n. 1238, 2385). The quality of the men of the Ancient Church (n. 609, 895). The Ancient Church was a representative church, and its representatives were collected into one by certain men of the Most Ancient Church (n. 519, 521, 2896). The Ancient Church had a Word, but it was lost (n. 2897). The quality of the Ancient Church when it began to decline (n. 1128). The difference between the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches (n. 597, 607, 640-641, 765, 784, 895, 4493). The Most Ancient Church and the Ancient were also in the land of Canaan, and hence came the representatives of the places therein (n. 3686, 4447, 4454). Of the church that began from Eber, which was called the Hebrew Church (n. 1238, 1241, 1343, 4516-4517). The difference between the Ancient and the Hebrew Churches (n. 1343, 4874). Eber instituted sacrifices which were wholly unknown in the Ancient Churches (n. 1343). The Ancient Churches agreed with the Christian Church as to internals, but not as to externals (n. 3478, 4489, 4772, 4904, 10149). In the Most Ancient Church there was immediate revelation; in the Ancient Church, revelation by correspondences; in the Jewish Church, by a living voice; and in the Christian Church, by the Word (n. 10355). The Lord was the God of the Most Ancient Church, and was called Jehovah (n. 1343, 6846). The Lord is heaven, and He is the church (n. 4766, 10125, 10151, 10157). The Divine of the Lord makes heaven, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 7-12 and (Heaven and Hell 78-86) 78-86); and thus also the church, since what constitutes heaven with man, constitutes also the church, as was shown in the doctrine above.

6380. 'And his teeth white from milk' means that the Divine Natural is nothing else than the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'white' as that which is used with reference to truth, dealt with in 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319; from the meaning of 'teeth' in the genuine sense as the natural, for the hard parts of a person's body, such as his teeth, bones, and cartilages, correspond to the truths and forms of good that belong to the lowest parts of the natural; and from the meaning of 'milk' as the celestial-spiritual, or what amounts to the same, the good of truth, dealt with in 2184. The Lord's Divine Natural is said to be the good of truth when it is considered in relation to people who believe in and love the Lord; for members of the external Church are unable to go any higher in their thinking than the Lord's Divine Natural, whereas the thinking of members of the internal Church goes above the natural to the Internal. For the idea of the Lord formed by anyone who believes in Him is conditioned by how far he can rise in his thinking. Those who are aware of what the internal is can have an idea of the internal; but those who are not aware of what the internal is have an idea of the external. This is why the Lord's Divine Natural is said to be the good of truth, when in fact His entire Human is the Divine Good of Divine Love.