Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) # 23
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).
Exodus 30
1
"You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
2
Its length shall be a cubit, and its breadth a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
3
You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.
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You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.
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You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
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You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7
Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
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When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.
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You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.
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Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh."
11
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
12
"When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.
13
They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs;) half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.
14
Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.
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The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.
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You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls."
17
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
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Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.
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When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
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So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations."
22
Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;
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and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.
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You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.
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You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony,
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the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
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the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.
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You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
30
You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.
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You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
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It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.
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Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'"
34
Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight;
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and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:
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and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.
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The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.
38
Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people."
