Coronis, or Appendix,
to True Christian Religion

Emanuel Swedenborg

SECOND PROPOSITION (23 - 24)

The Adamic, or Most Ancient Church of this Earth.

23. 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 earth. The world could not believe otherwise, since the spiritual or internal sense of the Word has not been disclosed, nor, consequently, that by "creating heaven and earth" is meant to collect and found an angelic heaven from those who have departed the 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 relate to heaven, and at the same time to 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 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 minutely explained, unfolded and demonstrated in the Arcana Coelestia on Genesis and Exodus, the labor of eight years, published in London; which work being already in the world, nothing further is necessary than to re-capitulate therefrom the universals respecting this Most Ancient Church, which will be cited in the present volume.

[2] 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; which is the reason that regeneration is called a new creation, by which the whole heaven of angels and the whole 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 firm spirit in the midst of me (Ps. 51:10).

Thou openest the hand, they are filled with good; Thou sendeth forth the Spirit, they are created (Ps. 104:28, 30).

The people that shall be created shall praise Jah (Ps. 102:18).

Thus said Jehovah, thy Creator, O Jacob; thy Former, O Israel: Every one that is called by My Name, him have I created for My glory (Isa. 43:1, 7).

That they may see, know, attend and understand, that the hard 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 wast 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 a soul 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 am about to create Jerusalem an exultation (Isa. 65:17, 18).

As the new heavens and the new earth, which I am about to 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 (Apoc. 21:1).

According to promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which justice shall dwell (2 Peter 3:13).

From these passages it is now manifested 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" [1, 2].

The earth called "waste and empty," signifies that there was no longer any good of life nor any truth of doctrine with its inhabitants. That "wasteness" and "emptiness" signify the deprivation of these two essentials of the church, will be established in proposition 4 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 land, when, behold, it was vacant and empty; and I looked towards the heavens, when their light was not. Thus said Jehovah, The whole land shall be wasteness; for this shall the land mourn, and the heavens above shall be made black (Jer. 4:23, 27, 28).

24. This church, like the rest, shall be treated of in the following order:-

I. Its rise, or morning, which is its first state.

II. Its progression into light, or day, which is its second state.

III. Its decline, or evening, which is its third state, and is called vastation.

IV. Its end, or night, which is its fourth state, and is called consummation.

V. The separation of the evil from the good, which is the Last Judgment upon all who were of that church.

VI. The elevation of the good to God, of whom a new heaven is formed; and the removal of the evil from God, of whom is formed a new hell.

That the four churches of this earth, of which we have treated above, have undergone these changes of state, will be shown in what follows; and lastly, that the church truly Christian, which succeeds those four at the present day, will never undergo consummation.