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).

10295. '[These] sweet ones' means affections springing from spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'sweet-smelling spices' as affections for truth springing from good, dealt with above in 10291. As regards their springing from spiritual good, see 10254, 10290, 10293(end). The reason why the incense was made from the spices that mean kinds of truth springing from spiritual good, or what amounts to the same thing, why the kinds of truth that are meant by those spices belong to the spiritual group, is that the worship of God accomplished by means of truths springing from that good is meant by 'incense'. For acts of thanksgiving, adoration, prayer, and the like are what are meant specifically by 'incense', see 9475. Such acts of worship are emanations from the heart expressed through thoughts and speech. The fact that spiritual truths are the means by which such worship is accomplished may be recognized from the ideas a person has in mind while engaged in that worship. For the person's ideas then pass from his memory into his understanding and come forth from there; and anything emanating from there is called spiritual. As regards the worship of God springing from celestial good, such as takes place among those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, this is not accomplished by means of acts of thanksgiving, adoration, and prayer, as is the worship among those who are in the spiritual kingdom, thus not by truths coming from the memory but by truths coming from the heart, which act as one with the actual love that governs those people. For the truths that exist with them have been inscribed on their love, and therefore when moved by love to do what is commanded they are at the same time moved to do so by truths, without any thought about them based on what they have been taught, thus without any recollection of them from their memory. The fact that the state of those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom is such as this may be recognized from what has been shown regarding that kingdom and the spiritual kingdom in the places referred to in 9277. As regards 'incense', that it means acts of thanksgiving, adoration, and prayer, which emanate from the thoughts of the heart through the mouth, see 9475, 10177, 10198.