Coronis,
or Appendix,
to
True Christian Religion
Emanuel Swedenborg
THIRD PROPOSITION (41 - 42)
41. The successive states of this church, which are its rise or morning, progression into light or day, vastation or evening, and consummation or night, it is not permitted to follow up with a description in the same manner as we before described the states of the Most Ancient Church, because the states of that church cannot be so collected from our Word; for the posterity of Noah, through his three sons, is recorded only in a summary, in one or two pages; and moreover that church was spread through many kingdoms, and in each kingdom it varied, and hence that church underwent and ran through the states named in a different manner.
[2] The first and second state thereof in the regions round about the Jordan and about Egypt, was like the "garden of Jehovah," is evident from these passages:
The plain of Jordan was like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, where thou comest unto Zoar (Gen. 13:10).
And likewise Tyre from these:Thou prince of Tyre, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, until perversity was found in thee (Ezek. 28:12-15).
That Assyria was like a "cedar in Lebanon," from these:Behold, Assyria is a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in branch, exalted in height; all the birds of the heavens built their nests in his branches, and under his branches did every beast of the field bring forth its young, and in his shadow dwelt all great nations; no tree in the garden of God was equal to him in beauty, and all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him (Ezek. 31:3-9).
That wisdom flourished in Arabia, appears from the queen of Sheba's journey to Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13); also from the three wise men who came to the newborn Jesus, a star going before them (Matt. 2:1-12).
[3] The third and fourth states of that church, which were its vastation and consummation, are described here and there in the Word, both in its historic and prophetic parts. The consummation of the nations round about the Jordan, or round about the land of Canaan, is described by the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim (Gen. 14 and 19); the consummation of the church of the nations within the Jordan, or in the land of Canaan, is described in Joshua and in the book of Judges by the expulsion of some and the extermination of others. The consummation of that church in Egypt is described by the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the sea Suph (Exod. 14). And so on.
42. It is certain that this Ancient
Church was a representative church, which in visible and natural types and
signs, figured forth the invisible and spiritual things of the church which was
yet to come, when Jehovah Himself would manifest Himself in a natural human
form, and by this means procure for Himself entrance to men, and for men access
to Himself, and thus should divest Himself of types, and institute a church with
precepts which should lead all who believe in Him as Man, and keep His
commandments, by a short way to heaven, the dwelling place of his Divinity. But,
because this Ancient Church, typical of that which was to come, turned the
representative correspondences into magic and idolatry, and thus into things
infernal, Jehovah raised up the Israelitish church, in which He restored the
primitive types, which were heavenly; such types were all the tabernacles,
feasts, sacrifices, priesthoods, the garments of Aaron and his sons, the
anointings, and, moreover, the statutes in a long series which were promulgated
through Moses.
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