Coronis, or Appendix,
to True Christian Religion

Emanuel Swedenborg

FOURTH PROPOSITION (57 - 58)

57. (IV) The fourth state of this church was the profanation of holy things, and then its consummation or night. Vastation and consummation differ from each other, as the shade of evening and the thick darkness of night differ from each other; for vastation is a receding from the church, but consummation a full separation from it. Vastation, therefore, is as when anyone descends from heaven but not as far as to hell, and tarries in the middle, standing beside both of them; but consummation exists when anyone, standing thus, turns his face and breast to hell, and his back and the hinder part of his head to heaven; in like manner as happened with the dragon and his angels when they were cast down out of heaven (concerning whom see Rev. 12); while they were fighting with Michael, they were in the middle; but when they were vanquished, they were in hell. Vastation takes place when a man looks upon the holy things of the church from falsities and falsified truths; but consummation, when he lives in evils, or in adulterated goods.

[2] But, that the difference and distinction between the state of vastation and the state of consummation may be still more clearly comprehended, it shall be illustrated by comparisons. The state of vastation may be compared with a garden or grove around a temple, which by reason of the Divine worship in the temple, is regarded as holy; in which are places for drinking, feasting, dancing, and play acting and buffoonery, with the spectators in the courts and windows of the temple; but the state of consummation may be compared to the same garden or grove, in which are satyrs and priapi, along with harlots and fortune tellers, who all together enter the temple dancing, and there celebrate their profane revels, as the pythons did on their holidays.

[3] The state of vastation may also be compared with a hostile army, when it enters the suburbs of a besieged city and rules in them; but the state of consummation may be compared with the same army, when it has demolished the wall, and breaks through into the city and gives the inhabitants over to destruction. The state of vastation may further be compared with a ship upon sand banks, or a sandy shore, when it is violently tossed there, and raised and depressed, so that the pilot, captain, and sailors lament on account of their danger; but the state of consummation is when the ship's keel is fretted away by the gravel beneath, and the ship, being broken up and full of holes, sinks, and the navigators and merchandise perish in the waves.

[4] The state of vastation may be compared with every disease which invades the members, viscera and organs of the body, by reason of which the patient forebodes death, consults a physician, takes medicines, and all the while lies in bed in the hope of being healed; but the state of consummation may be compared to the same disease when it invades the breast, where the heart and lungs reside as in their tabernacle, into which, when the disease penetrates, it makes an end of the life of the body.

58. The state of the consummation of the Israelitish Church is described in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word: in the prophecies, by the atrocious deeds of the kings, first of those of the Israelites, and afterwards of those of the Jews, by whom and under whom the land is said to have been profaned. But it is needless to recount them, because they are well known; only those passages shall be adduced from the prophecies, in which the consummation and devastation of that church are treated of. In these passages by "land," " Zion," "Jerusalem," "cities," "mountains," "hills," "valleys," and "rivers," similar things are signified as above (n. 55).

[2] The following are from the prophecies of the Word:

I saw the land, and behold it was void and empty; and towards the heavens, and their light was not. Behold I saw when Carmel was a desert, and all the cities were desolated at the presence of Jehovah. For thus Jehovah hath said, the whole land shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation. For this the land shall mourn, and the heavens above shall be blackened. Thou, therefore, that art laid waste, what wilt thou do? (Jer. 4:23-31; 5:10, 18).

The lion hath come up from his briar thicket, and the destroyer of nations hath gone forth from his place to reduce the land to a waste. In that day the heart of the king and the heart of the princes shall perish; and the priests shall be astonished (Jer. 4:7, 9).

In that day every place where there were a thousand vines shall be for briars and thorns, because all the land shall be briars and thorns (Isa. 7:23, 24).

A voice of the cry of the shepherds and, of the powerful ones of the flock, for Jehovah is laying waste their pastures: whence the sheepfolds of peace were devastated. Jehovah hath forsaken His tabernacle, for their land was reduced to a desolation (Jer. 25:36-38).

This house shall be like Shiloh, and Jerusalem shall be a devastation (Jer. 26: 9; 27:17).

Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah shall be a desolation and a devastation in this day, because of the wickedness of your works; your land is become a desolation, an astonishment, and a curse (Jer. 44:2, 6, 22).

I will give the land to devastation, because they have committed a trespass (Ezek. 15:8).

They shall be devastated in the midst of the devastated lands, and her cities in the midst of the desolated cities. Then I will make the rivers dry. I will give the land into the hand of the evil, and I will lay waste the land and the fullness thereof (Ezek. 30:7, 12).

When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens, and will make the stars thereof black. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine; and I will give darkness upon the land, when I shall bring on thy breaking up (Ezek. 32:7-9).

[3] In like manner as the Lord foretold concerning the consummation of the present Christian Church (Matt. 24:29).

I will make Mount Seir a waste and a devastation. I will make thee the wastes of eternity (Ezek. 35:3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15).

In that day they shall bring up a proverb upon you, and shall say, In wasting we are laid waste (Mic. 2:4).

Fear and the pit have come upon us, devastation and breaking up (Lam. 3:47).

The mountain of Zion is laid waste (Lam. 5:18).

Thine iniquity is consummated, O daughter of Zion (Lam. 4:22).

Woe to the sinful nation, heavy with iniquity; they have provoked the Holy of Israel. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness. Your land is a solitude. The daughter of Zion is left as a tent in a vineyard, as a besieged city (Isa. 1:4-9 seq.).

What will ye do in the day of visitation and devastation? Consummation is finished, justice is inundated; for the Lord Jehovih is making a consummation and decision in the whole land (Isa. 10:3 seq., 22-23).

The Lord Jehovih is making a consummation and decision in the whole land (Isa. 28:22).

The prophet fell upon his face, and said, Lord Jehovih, Thou art making a consummation with the remnants of Israel (Ezek. 11:13).

My sanctuary was profaned, and the land of Israel was devastated (Ezek. 25:3).

Were even Noah, Daniel, and Job in the midst thereof, they only shall be delivered, but the land shall become a desolation (Ezek. 14:14, 16).

[4] The final consummation of the Israelitish and Jewish church was accomplished, when the Lord our Saviour, after receiving the sponge of vinegar, cried out upon the cross:

It is consummated (John 19:29, 30);

for it is said in David:

They gave gall for My food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink; let their habitation be devastated (Ps. 69:21, 25).

And in another place:

Without cause have they hid for Me the pit of the net; without cause have they digged for My soul. Let devastation come upon him before he is aware; let him fall into devastation. Lead back My soul from their devastators, and My only one from the lions' whelps (Ps. 35:7, 8, 17);

that is, the church.

I will make Jerusalem into heaps, a habitation of dragons; I will reduce the cities of Judah to a waste. Behold, I am feeding them, even this people, with wormwood, and I will give them waters of gall to drink (Jer. 9:10-16).

[5] Full consummation, after this, is described thus in Hosea:

The sons of Israel shall sit many days: no king, no prince, no sacrifice, no statue, no ephod, and no teraphim (Hos. 3:4).

Such is their state at this day. We have not time to adduce more passages. The passages in which the vastation, desolation, and consummation of this church, are further mentioned, shall be only named: as, for example (Isa. 9:13-21; 22:4-14; Jer. 7:31-34; 25:33; 47:4; Ezek. 13:14, 15; 14:8, 15; 19:7; 25:12, 13; 26: 2; 29:9, 10, 12; 32:12, 15; Joel 1:15-20; 2:3; 3:19; Nah. 1:8, 9; Zeph. 1:15; 2:9; Lam. 1:16; Ps. 73:17-19; 74:3). The devastated are also called the "thrust through" (Ezek. 11:6, 7; 21:30, 34; 26:6; 28:8, 23; 31:17, 18; 32:20-24, 28-32; 35:8; Zeph. 2:12; Lam. 4:9; Ps. 69:26; and in other places). They are said to be "thrust through," because a "sword," by which this is done, signifies falsity destroying truth.