True Christian Religion # 754
754. There are various ways in which a church comes to an end. It happens principally through circumstances which cause falsity to look like truth; and when this happens, the good which is inherently good, what is called spiritual good, can no longer exist. What is then believed to be good is only natural good, the product of a moral life. The reason for truth coming to an end, and good with it, is principally the two natural loves which are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves; these are called self-love and love of the world. When self-love is dominant, it is the opposite of love to God; and when the love of the world is dominant, it is the opposite of love towards the neighbour. Self-love is wishing well to no one but oneself, except for selfish reasons; and likewise the love of the world. Once those loves have got a grip, they spread like mortification through the body, and stage by stage destroy every part of it. It is clear that such a love attacked past churches from the description of Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9; Isaiah 13, 14, 47; Jeremiah 50; and in Daniel 2:31-47; 3:1-7ff; and Daniel 5; 6:8-end; Daniel 7:1-14; and in Revelation 17, 18, both from beginning to end). In the end, Babylon vaunted itself so much that it not only transferred to itself the Lord's Divine power, but also did its best to attract to itself all the riches of the world.
[2] Omens and far from misleading appearances allow us to conclude that outside Babylon similar loves would have broken out from many of the leaders of churches, had not their power been checked and so limited. What else might be expected but that such a person would look upon himself as God, the world as heaven, and pervert all the church's truth? For real truth, which is inherently true, cannot be known and acknowledged by a purely natural person; nor can God impart it to him, because it turns upside down and becomes falsity. As well as those two loves there are many more causes for truth and good coming to an end, and so causing the end of churches; but these are secondary causes, subordinate to the two mentioned.
Isaiah 6
1
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12
And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
