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).
Ezekiel 28
1
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a GOD, I sit in the seat of GOD, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not GOD, though thou set thine heart as the heart of GOD:
3
Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4
With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of GOD;
7
Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
8
They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
9
Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
10
Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
11
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19
All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
20
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21
Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
22
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23
For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
24
And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25
Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26
And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
