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river Euphrates are signified reasonings from falses, because by Assyria, whose river it was, is signified reasoning. The spirit of Jehovah, like an INUNDATING river, shall divide in two even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity, Isa. xxx. 28; by an inundating river here in like manner is signified reasoning from falses. Behold the waters coming up from the north, which are like an INUNDATING RIVER, and it shall INUNDATE the earth, and it's fulness, Jer. xlvii. 2; this is spoken of the Philistines, by whom are understood they who are not in charity, and hence not in truths; their falses are signified by the waters coming up from the north, and the devastation of the church in consequence thereof by an inundating river which shall inundate the earth and it's fulness; earth denotes the church, and fulness denotes all things appertaining thereto. Say unto those who daub what is unfit, There shall be an inundating rain, in which hail-stones shall fall upon you, Ezek. xiii. 11, 13; the daubing of what is unfit is the confirmation of the false, and hail-stones are falses. In an over-running INUNDATION he shall make a consummation of the place thereof, and thick darkness shall pursue the enemies, Nah. i. 8; by the inundation which shall consummate is signified the falsification of truth, and by thick darkness truths themselves in the night. Thou hast said, We have cut out a covenant with death, and with hell we have made à vision ; when the SCOURGE OF INUNDATION shall pass through, it shall not come to us; we have made a LIE our confidence, and in FALSITY we will hide ourselves, Isa. xxviii. 15; here inundation manifestly signifies destruction by falses, for it is said that they placed confidence in a lie, and that

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they would hide themselves in falsity. After sixty two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself; then the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, so that the end thereof shall be with an INUNDATION even to desolations, Dan. ix. 26; speaking of the christian church that was to come, in which the worship of the Lord would perish; this is understood by Messiah's being cut off, but not for himself; that it would perish by falsifications, is understood by the end thereof being with an inundation even to desolations; desolation is that falsification: hence it is, that after the Lord had spoken of the abomination of desolation foretold by the prophet Daniel, and of the consummation of the age thereby, he said, that his coming would be as in the days when the FLOOD came, and took them all away, Matt. xxiv. 15, 39. That by the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the sea Suph, Exod. xiv. is understood in the spiritual sense destruction by falses, has been demonstrated in the ARCANA COELESTIA, in the explication of that chapter.

35. Inasmuch as the churches in the christian world, as well the Roman Catholic, as those separated from them, which are named after their leaders, Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, derive all sin from Adam and his transgression, I am at liberty here to subjoin some observations on the origins from whence sins are hereditarily derived, for their origins are as many in number as there are fathers and mothers in the world. That inclinations, habilities, and even propensities to evils, are derived from parents, is very evident from the testimonies of experience, and also from the assent of reason. Who doth not know,

from

from the suffrages collected from experience, that there is a common likeness of minds, and hence of manners and faces, derived from parents, in their children and children's children, even to a certain posterity? Who cannot thence infer, that original sins are derived from them? The notion adopted by every one, while he observes the faces and manners of brothers and near relations in families, causes him to know and acknowledge this truth. What reason then is there for deducing the origin of all evils from Adam and his seed? is there not equal reason to derive it from parents? does not their seed in like manner propagate itself? From the seed of Adam alone to deduce the allurements, from and according to which are [determined] the spiritual forms of the minds of all the men in the universe, would be like deriving from one egg birds of every wing, and from one seed beasts of every nature, as also from one root trees of every kind of fruit. Is there not an infinite variety of men? one like a sheep, and another like a wolf? one like a kid, another like a panther? one like a tractable horse before a chariot, another like a fierce wild ass before it? one like a sportive calf, another like a devouring tyger? and so on. Whence does each derive his peculiar dispo sition, but from his own father and mother? Why then is it to be traced to Adam, by whom in a representative type is described the first church upon this earth, as has been already shewn? Would not this be like raising from one stock hid deep in the earth a grove of trees of every appearance and use, and from one herb plants of every description and value? Would it not also be like extracting light from the dark ages and obscure histories, and

like unfolding an inexplicable riddle? Why not rather [derive the dispositions of men] from Noah, who walked with God, Gen. vi. 9, and whom God blessed, chap. ix. 1, and from whom alone, surviving with his three sons, the whole earth was overspread? chap. ix. 19; in this' case would not the hereditary principles of the generations descended from Adam be extirpated, as if carried away by a flood? But, my friend, I will disclose the true source of sins; every evil is conceived of the devil' as a father, and is born of an atheistical faith as a mother; and on the other hand, every good is conceived of the Lord as a father, and is born of a saving faith in him as of a mother: the generations of all goods in their infinite varieties among men are from no other origin than from the marriage of the Lord and the church; and on the contrary, the generations of all evils in their varieties among men are from no other origin than from the connubiał union of the devil with a profane congregation. Who doth not know, or may not know, that man must be regenerated by the Lord, that is, created anew, and that so far as this is effected, so far he is in goods? Hence it follows, that in proportion as he is not willing to be begotten anew or created anew, in the same proportion he derives and retains the evils implanted in him from his parents this is what is interiorly contained in the first" precept of the decalogue, I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy to thousands who love me and keep my command-' ments, Exod. xx. 5, 6. Deut. v. 9, 10.

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36. VI.

36. VI. THE SIXTH STATE OF THE MEN OF THIS CHURCH, WHICH TOOK PLACE AFTER THE LAST JUDGMENT, WAS THE ELEVATION OF THE FAITHFUL To God, of WHOM WAS FORMED A NEW HEAVEN, AND THE REMOVAL OF THE UNFAITHFUL FROM God, of whom WAS FORMED A NEW HELL. In the preceding pages, from n. 10 to 13, and from n. 14 to 17, it was shewn, that after consummation a last judgment was executed upon all who were of each of the four churches above-named, and after this a new heaven and a new hell were formed of them, and consequently that upon the inhabitants of this earth FOUR JUDGMENTS have taken place, and of them FOUR HEAVENS AND HELLS have been formed; and it has been given to know, that both those heavens and those hells are so entirely distinct from each other, that no individual can by any means pass out of his own into that of another. All these heavens have been described in the treatise concerning CONJUGIAL LOVE; and whereas the spiritual origin of love truly conjugial is solely derived from the marriage of the Lord and the church, thus from the love of the Lord towards the church and of the church to the Lord, and whereas the most ancient people were in both these loves, so long as they retained the image of God in themselves, therefore I may be allowed to transcribe from that treatise the following particulars concerning that heaven, to which access was then granted

me.

37. "On a time, when I was meditating on conjugial "love, my mind was seized with a desire of knowing "what had been the quality of that love amongst those "who lived in the GOLDEN AGE, and afterwards what had

"been

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