NEUOFFENBARUNG← True Christian Religion · Contents
721. That baptism is introduction into the church has been shown in the chapter on Baptism; that the holy supper is introduction into heaven is clear from what has been said above when it is perceived. These two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, are like two gates to eternal life. By baptism, which is the first gate, every Christian is let into and introduced into what the church teaches from the Word respecting the other life, all of which teaching forms the means whereby man can be prepared for and led to heaven. The second gate is the holy supper, by which every man who allows himself to be prepared and led by the Lord is admitted into and introduced into heaven. There are no other universal gates. These two sacraments may be likened to what occurs with a prince who is born heir to a kingdom, in that he is first introduced into a knowledge of the business of government, and in the second place is crowned and governs. They may be likened also to a son born to a great inheritance, in that he first learns and is imbued with such things as pertain to the proper management of possessions and riches, and secondly takes possession and control; also to the building of a house and dwelling in it; also to the course of a man’s instruction from childhood until the period when he becomes independent and exercises his own judgment, and his subsequent rational and spiritual life. One period must needs precede, that the second may be attained; for without the former the latter is impossible. These illustrations make clear that baptism and the holy supper are like two gates through which man is introduced to eternal life; and that beyond the first gate there is a plain which he must pass over; and that the second is the goal where lies the prize to which he has directed his course. For the palm is not bestowed until after the struggle, nor the reward until the contest is decided.
722. VI. THOSE COME TO THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY WHO HAVE FAITH IN THE LORD AND CHARITY TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR, THAT IS, WHO ARE REGENERATE.
That God, charity, and faith are the three universals of the church, because they are the universal means of salvation, is known, acknowledged, and perceived by every Christian who studies the Word. That God must be acknowledged in order that one may have religion, or that anything of the church may be in him, is declared by reason itself when there is anything spiritual in it; consequently, if one comes to the holy supper without acknowledging God, he profanes it; for he sees the bread and wine with the eye and tastes them with the tongue, while the thought of the mind is, “What is this but a useless ceremony, and how do this bread and wine differ from that on my own table? Nevertheless I partake of them, lest I be charged by the priesthood, and so also by the common people, with the infamy of being an atheist.”
[2] That after the acknowledgment of God, charity is the second means which enables one to come to the holy supper worthily is evident both from the Word and from the exhortations read before approaching the communion in the whole Christian world. It is evident from the Word in this:
That the first command or precept is to love God above all things, and the neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:34-39; Luke 10:25-28).
Again in Paul:
That there are three things that contribute to salvation, and the greatest of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13).
Also from these passages:
We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man is a worshiper of God and doeth His will, him He heareth (John 9:31).
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19, 20; Luke 3:8, 9).
[3] It appears also from the exhortations read throughout the whole Christian world before coming to the holy supper. Everywhere men are thus earnestly admonished to be in charity by reconciliation and repentance. From these I will only quote the following passage from the exhortation read to communicants in England:
“The way and means” to be worthy partakers of the holy supper “is, first to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life. And if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God but also against your neighbors, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other; and being likewise ready to forgive others who have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God’s hand; for otherwise the receiving of the holy communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, a hinderer or slanderer of His Word, an adulterer, or be in malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent ye of your sins, or else come not to that holy table; lest, after the taking of that holy sacrament, the devil enter into you as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.”
[4] Faith in the Lord is the third means of worthily enjoying the holy supper, because charity and faith make one, like heat and light in spring, from which two conjoined every tree is born anew; so from spiritual heat, which is charity, and from spiritual light, which is the truth of faith, every man has life. That faith in the Lord effects this is evident from the following passages:
he that believeth in Me shall never die, but shall live (John 11:26, 26).
This is the will of the Father that everyone that believeth on the Son shall have eternal life (John 6:40).
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should have eternal life (John 3:15, 16).
He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).
We are in the truth, in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20).
723. That man is regenerated by these three, the Lord, charity, and faith, acting as one, and that no one can enter heaven unless he is becoming regenerate, has been shown in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration. So the Lord can open heaven to none but the regenerate, and after the natural death introduction into heaven is given to none else. By the regenerate, who come to the holy supper worthily, those are meant who are in these three essentials of the church and heaven interiorly, not those who are so only exteriorly, for such confess the Lord not with the soul but with the tongue only, and practice charity toward the neighbor not with the heart but with the body only. Such are all who are “workers of iniquity,” according to these words of the Lord:
Then shall ye begin to say, Lord, we have eaten and drunk before Thee. But I will say to you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:26-27).
724. These statements, like the former, may be illustrated by various things that are in accord with them, and also by some that correspond, as the following: No one is admitted to the table of an emperor or king except those who are high in office and rank; and even these, before they attend, clothe themselves in becoming garments, and put on their insignia, that they may come acceptably and receive favor. Why not the same with the table of the Lord, who is the Lord of lords and King of kings (Apoc. 17:14) to which table all are called and invited? But only those who are spiritually worthy and are clothed in honorable apparel are admitted, after arising from the table, into the palaces of heaven, and into the joys there, and honored as princes because they are sons of the Great King, and afterward sit down daily with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11), by whom is meant the Lord in respect to the Divine celestial, the Divine spiritual, and the Divine natural. These things may also be likened to weddings on earth, to which only the relatives, connections, and friends of the bridegroom and bride are invited; and if anyone else comes, he may be admitted, but as he has no place at the table, he withdraws. So is it with those who are called to the marriage of the Lord as the Bridegroom with the church as the bride, with whom those are kindred, relatives, and friends, whose common origin comes through regeneration by the Lord. And again, who in the world is initiated into another’s friendship, unless he is at heart sincerely faithful and does what the other wishes? Such only does a man number among his friends and trust with his property.
725. VII. THOSE WHO COME TO THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY ARE IN THE LORD AND THE LORD IS IN THEM; CONSEQUENTLY CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY THE HOLY SUPPER.
In several chapters above it has been shown that those come to the holy supper worthily who have faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; and that the presence of the Lord is effected by the truths of faith, and conjunction with Him by the goods of charity together with faith; and from this it follows that those who worthily come to the holy supper are conjoined with the Lord, and those who are conjoined with Him are in Him and He in them. That this takes place with those who come worthily, the Lord Himself declares in John as follows:
He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:56).
That this is conjunction with Him, He also teaches elsewhere in John:
Abide in Me and I in you, He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4-5; Rev. 3:20).
What is conjunction with the Lord but being among those who are in His body? And those constitute His body who believe in Him and do His will. His will is the exercise of charity in accordance with the truths of faith.
726. Eternal life and salvation are impossible without conjunction with the Lord, for the reason that He is both of these. That He is eternal life is clearly evident from certain passages in the Word, as from the following in John:
Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).
He is also salvation, because this and eternal life are one. His name Jesus signifies salvation, and therefore He is called the Savior throughout the Christian world. And yet only those come to the holy supper worthily who are interiorly conjoined with the Lord, and those are interiorly conjoined with Him who are regenerated. Who the regenerated are has been shown in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration. Again there are many who confess the Lord, and who do good to the neighbor; but unless this is done from love to the neighbor and from faith in the Lord, they are not regenerated, for such do good to the neighbor solely for reasons that look to the world and themselves, and not to the neighbor as the neighbor. The works of such are merely natural, and do not have concealed within them anything spiritual; for they confess the Lord with the mouth and lips only, from which their heart is far away. True love to the neighbor, and true faith, are from the Lord alone, and both are given to man when he from his freedom of choice does good to the neighbor naturally, and believes truths rationally, and looks to the Lord, doing these three things because they are commanded in the Word. The Lord then implants charity and faith in the midst of him, and makes both of these spiritual. Thus the Lord conjoins Himself to man, and man conjoins himself to the Lord, for no conjunction is possible unless it is effected reciprocally. But all this has been fully set forth in the chapters on Charity, Faith, Freedom of Choice, and Regeneration.
727. It is well known that in the world conjunctions and affiliations are brought about by invitations to the table and by feasts, for the host thereby designs something that contributes to some end that looks to harmony or friendship; much more so the invitations that have spiritual objects in view. Feasts in the ancient churches and also in the primitive Christian church were feasts of charity, at which they strengthened each other to abide in the worship of the Lord with sincere hearts. When the children of Israel ate together of the sacrifices near the tabernacle, it signified nothing else than unanimity in the worship of Jehovah; therefore the flesh that they ate, being a part of the sacrifice, was called holy (Jer. 11:15; Hag. 2:12, and frequently elsewhere). Why not, then, the bread and wine and the paschal flesh at the supper of the Lord, who offered Himself a sacrifice for the sins of all the world?
[2] And again, conjunction with the Lord by means of the holy supper may be illustrated by the conjunction of several families descendants of one father; from whom blood relations descend and in their order kindred and connections, all deriving something from the first stock. But it is not flesh and blood they thus acquire, but something from the flesh and blood, that is, the soul and an inclination therefrom to like things, whereby they are conjoined. Also the conjunction itself is apparent in a general way in the features and in the manners, and they are therefore called one flesh (as in Gen. 29:14; 37:27; 2 Sam. 5:1; 19:12-13, and elsewhere). [3] It is the same in respect to conjunction with the Lord who is the Father of all the faithful and blessed. Conjunction with Him is effected by means of love and faith, whereby two are said to be one flesh. Therefore the Lord said:
He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:56).
Who does not see that the bread and wine do not effect this, but the good of love, which is meant by the bread, and the truth of faith, which is meant by the wine, and which are the Lord’s own, and which go forth and are communicated from Him alone? Moreover, all conjunction is effected by love, and love is not love without trust. Let those who believe that the bread is flesh, and the wine blood, and who cannot raise their thought above this belief, remain in it, yet not without this truth, that that which is most holy in it, and which effects conjunction with the Lord, is what is attributed and appropriated to man as his own, though it remains unceasingly the Lord’s.
728. VIII. TO THOSE WHO COME TO THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY IS LIKE A SIGNATURE AND SEAL THAT THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD.
The reason why the holy supper is to those who come to it worthily like a signature and seal that they are the sons of God, is that as before said, the Lord is then present, and admits into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, the regenerate. The holy supper effects this, because the Lord is then present even as to His Human (for it has been shown above that in the holy supper the Lord is wholly present, and with His whole redemption); for of the bread He said, “This is my body; and of the wine, “This is My blood.” Consequently He then admits them into His Body; and the church and heaven constitute His Body. When man is becoming regenerate, the Lord is indeed present, and through His Divine operation prepares man for heaven; but that man may actually enter he must present himself to the Lord; and as the Lord actually presents Himself to man, man must actually receive Him, not, however, as He hung upon the cross, but as He is in His glorified Human, in which He is present, the body of which is the Divine good and the blood of which is the Divine truth. These are given to man, and by means of them man is regenerated, and he is in the Lord and the Lord in him; and for the reason shown above, that the eating which is manifested in the holy supper is a spiritual eating. From all this rightly understood it is clear that the holy supper is like a signature and seal that those who come to it worthily are sons of God.
729. But those who die in infancy or childhood, not reaching the age at which they can come worthily to the holy supper, are introduced into heaven by the Lord through baptism; for baptism (as has been shown in the chapter on Baptism), is introduction into the Christian church, and also insertion among Christians in the spiritual world; and there the church and heaven are one; therefore to those who are there, introduction into the church is also introduction into heaven; and as they are there educated under the auspices of the Lord, they become more and more regenerate, and become His children; for they know no other Father. But children and youths born outside of the Christian church are introduced when they have received faith in the Lord, into the heaven assigned to their religion by other means than baptism; and are not mingled with those who are in the Christian heaven. For there is not a nation in all the world that may not be saved if it acknowledges God and lives well; for they have all been redeemed by the Lord, and man is by birth spiritual, whereby he has an ability to receive the gift of redemption. Those who receive the Lord, that is, have faith in Him, and do not lead an evil life, are called:
Sons of God, and born of God (John 1:12-13; 11:52);
Also children of the kingdom (Matt. 13:38);
And again heirs (Matt. 19:29; 25:34);
The Lord’s disciples are also called sons (John 13:33);
And so are all angels (Job 1:6; 2:1).
730. It is with the holy supper as with a covenant, which, after the articles of agreement are settled, is drawn up and finally executed with a seal. That the Lord’s blood is a covenant, He Himself teaches; for when He took the cup and gave it, He said:
Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the new testament (Matt. 26:27, 28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20).
“The new testament” means the new covenant; therefore the Word written by the prophets before the Lord’s coming is called the Old Testament or Covenant, while that written after His coming by the evangelists and apostles is called the New Testament or Covenant. That “blood” as well as the wine of the holy supper means the Divine truth of the Word can be seen above (n. 706, 708), and the Word is the covenant itself which the Lord made with man and man with the Lord; for the Lord descended as the Word, that is, as Divine truth; and as this is His blood, so in the Israelitish church, which was representative of the Christian church, blood is called,
The blood of the covenant (Exod. 24:7-8; Zech. 9:11);
And the Lord a covenant of the people (Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Jer. 31:31-34; Ps. 111:9).
Moreover, it is in accordance with order in the world that there should be by all means a signature, in order that there may be some certitude, and that it should follow after deliberate action. What is a commission or a will without the signature? What is a legal decision without a decree signed to ratify the decision? What is a high office in a kingdom without a commission? What is promotion to any office if it is not confirmed? What is the possession of a house without purchase or agreement with the owner? What is progression to an end, or running to a goal, and thus for a reward, if there is no end or goal where the reward is to be gained; or if the judge has not in some manner made the wager sure? But these last have been added merely for the sake of illustration, that even the simple may see that the holy supper is like a signature, a seal, a badge, or a proof of appointment even to the angels, that those who come to it worthily are sons of God; and it is also like a key to the house in heaven where they are to dwell forever.
731. I once saw an angel flying beneath the eastern heaven, holding a trumpet in his hand and at his lips, and blowing it toward the north, toward the west, and toward the south. He was clad in a robe that floated behind him as he flew, and he was engirdled with a belt that blazed and shone, as it were, with carbuncles and sapphires. He flew downward, and alighted gently on the ground near where I stood. As he touched the ground, he walked hither and thither erect upon his feet, and when he saw me directed his steps toward me. I was in the spirit, and in that state was standing on a hill in the southern quarter.
As he came near I spoke to him, saying, “What now? I heard the sound of your trumpet, and saw you descend through the air.”
The angel replied: “I am sent to convoke from among those dwelling in this world who are from the kingdoms of the Christian world, such men as are most celebrated for learning, of the finest genius, and most noted for wisdom, that they may come together on this hill where you are now standing, and freely express their minds as to what they thought and understood and what wisdom they had when in the world, respecting Heavenly Joy and Eternal Happiness. [2] I have been sent on this mission because some newcomers from the world having been admitted into our heavenly society which is in the east, have told us that not one single person in the whole Christian world knows what heavenly joy and eternal happiness are, and thus what heaven is. At this my brethren and companions were much astonished, and said to me, ‘Go down, make proclamation, and call together the wisest men in the world of spirits, where all mortals are first assembled after their departure from the natural world, in order that we may know with certainty from the mouths of many, whether it is true that such darkness or dense ignorance prevails among Christians respecting the future life.”
The angel then said, “Wait a little, and you will see troops of the wise ones flocking hither; the Lord will prepare a house for them to meet in.”
[3] I waited; and behold, after half an hour saw two companies coming from the north, two from the west, and two from the south; and as they arrived they were led by the angel who had the trumpet to the house prepared for them, and there occupied the places assigned them according to their quarters. There were six companies or troops, and there was a seventh from the east which was not visible to the others because of its superior light. When they had assembled, the angel explained the reason of their convocation, and asked the companies to set forth in succession their wisdom respecting Heavenly Joy and Eternal Happiness. Each company then formed a circle, all turning their faces inward, that they might recall the subject from ideas acquired in the former world and then carefully consider it, and after consideration and consultation express their views.
732. After consultation the first company, which was from the north, said, “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are one with the very life of heaven; therefore one who enters heaven enters as to his life into its festivities, precisely as anyone going to a wedding enters into its festivities. Do we not see that heaven is above us, thus in place? Are there not enjoyments upon enjoyments and pleasures upon pleasures there, and there only? When man is admitted into heaven he is admitted into these pleasures as to every perception of his mind and every sensation of his body, out of the plenitude of the joys of that place. Therefore heavenly happiness, which is also eternal happiness, is simply admission into heaven, which admission is of Divine grace.”
[2] When this had been said, the company from the north from its wisdom expressed the following opinion: “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are no other than most cheerful companionship with angels and the sweetest conversations with them, whereby the countenance is continually expanded with gladness and the faces of all the company are kept sweetly smiling with compliments and pleasantries. What are heavenly joys but variations of such things to eternity?”
[3] The third company, which was the first company of the wise men from the western quarter, from the thoughts of their affections delivered the following opinion: “What are heavenly joy and eternal happiness but feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on whose tables there will be delicate and costly food, with generous and noble wines; and after the feasts sports and dances of virgins and young men to the music of symphonies and flutes, interspersed with singing of the sweetest songs? And in the evenings there will be dramatic exhibitions, and after these feasting again, and so on daily forever.”
[4] After that the fourth company, which was the second from the western quarter, declared their opinion, saying, “We have entertained several ideas about heavenly joy and eternal happiness; and we have examined various kinds of joy, comparing them with one another, and we have reached the conclusion that heavenly joys are paradisal joys. What is heaven but a paradise, extending from the east to the west and from the south to the north, and containing fruit trees and delightful flowers, in the midst of which is the magnificent tree of life, and around these the blessed will sit eating delicious fruit and adorned with wreaths of flowers of the sweetest odors, which, breathed upon by perpetual spring, are created and recreated daily with infinite variety? And the minds of these, being continually renewed by this perpetual growth and bloom, and also by the ever-vernal temperature, cannot but inhale and exhale new joys each day, and be restored thereby to the flower of their youth, and through this to the primitive state into which Adam and his wife were created, and so be readmitted into their paradise, transferred from earth to heaven.”
[5] The fifth company, which was the first of the gifted ones from the southern quarter, spoke as follows: “Heavenly joys and eternal happiness are nothing but supreme dominion, boundless wealth, and thereby more than royal magnificence and transcendent splendor. That such are the joys of heaven and their unceasing fruition, which is eternal happiness; we saw clearly from the state of those in the former world who possessed them, and also from the teaching that the blessed in heaven are to reign with the Lord, and are to be kings and princes, because they are the sons of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that they are to sit on thrones, and angels are to minister unto them. The magnificence of heaven we clearly saw from this, that the New Jerusalem, whereby the glory of heaven is depicted, is to have gates, each of which will be one pearl, and streets of pure gold, and a wall with foundations of precious stones; consequently that everyone who is received into heaven has a palace of his own glittering with gold and precious stones, and a dominion that will be transmitted in order from one to another. And as we knew that joys and happiness are inherent in such things, and that God’s promises cannot fail, we have been unable to attribute the most happy state of heavenly life to any other source.”
[6] Then the sixth company, which was the second from the southern quarter, raised their voice and said, “The joy of heaven and its eternal happiness is no other than the perpetual glorification of God, a never-ceasing festival and most blissful worship with songs and jubilees, thus a constant uplifting of the heart to God, with full trust that He accepts those prayers and praises because of His Divine munificence in bestowing such blessedness.” Some of the company added that this glorification would take place with splendid illuminations, most fragrant incense, and processions of great pomp, the chief priest going before with a great trumpet, the primates and other orders greater and less following him, and after these, men with palms and women with golden images in their hands.
733. The seventh company, which was invisible to the others because of its superior light, was from the eastern quarter of heaven. They were angels of the same society as that to which the angel who had the trumpet belonged. When these heard in heaven that not a single person in the Christian world knew what the joy of heaven and eternal happiness are, they said to each other, “Surely this cannot be true; there cannot be such thick darkness and such mental stupor among Christians; let us go down ourselves also, and hear whether it is true; if it is, it is certainly a wonder.”
Then these angels said to the angel with the trumpet, “We know that every man who has desired heaven, and has thought at all definitely about the joys there, is introduced after death into these imagined joys; and after such have experienced the nature of these joys and found them to be according to the empty fancies of the mind and their wild imaginings, they are led out of them and instructed. This takes place with most of those in the world of spirits who in the former life had meditated about heaven, and had formed such conclusions about its joys as to desire them.”
On hearing this the angel with the trumpet said to the six companies called together from the wise of the Christian world, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys, and thus into heaven.”
734. So saying, the angel led the way; and the first company that followed him was of those who had persuaded themselves that heavenly joys were merely most cheerful companionship and most agreeable conversations. These were introduced by the angel to an assembly in the northern quarter, who in the former world had thought the joys of heaven to be of that character. There was a spacious house there in which they were assembled. In the house there were more than fifty rooms, distinguished by the different kinds of conversation. In some of the rooms they talked about what they had seen and heard in the marketplace and on the streets; in some they made amorous remarks about the fair sex, adding occasional jests until every face in the company expanded with merry laughter. In other rooms they talked about the news concerning courts, ministers, the state of politics, and the various things that had emanated from secret councils, mingled with arguments and conjectures about events. In other rooms they talked about business; in others about literary matters; in others about matters pertaining to civil prudence and moral life; and in others again about ecclesiastical affairs, the sects; and so on.
I was permitted to look into that house, and I saw men running from room to room, seeking companionship in their preferences and thus in their joy; and of such companionship I saw three kinds. Some were very eager to talk, some anxious to ask questions, and some greedy to hear.
[2] There were four doors to the house, one toward each quarter; and I noticed that many separated themselves from the companies and were in haste to go out. I followed some to the eastern door, and saw them sitting near it with sad faces. I approached them and asked why they were sitting there so sad; and they replied, “The doors of this house are kept closed against those who wish to go out; and it is now the third day since we entered; and the life of our desire has been exhausted in company and conversation, and we have become so wearied by unceasing talk that we can hardly bear to hear the murmur of the sound of it. And so out of weariness we came to this door and knocked, but we were told that the doors of this house are not opened to let people out, but only to let them in, and that we must stay and enjoy the delights of heaven; and from this we have come to the conclusion that we are to remain here forever; and therefore sadness has seized our minds, and now our breasts begin to feel oppressed, and anxiety is coming upon us.”
[3] The angel then addressed them and said, “This state is the death of those joys of yours which you believed to be the only heavenly joys, when in fact they are only accessories of heavenly joys.”
They asked the angel, “What, then is heavenly joy?”
The angel answered briefly, “It is delight in doing something useful both for oneself and for others. Delight in use derives its essence from love and its existence from wisdom. Delight in use arising from love through wisdom is the soul and life of all heavenly joys. In the heavens there are the most gladsome companionships, which exhilarate the minds of the angels, cheer their spirits, delight their breasts, and refresh their bodies; but these they enjoy after they have performed their uses in their offices and employments, from which come the soul and life in all their pleasures and enjoyments; but if that soul or life is taken away the accessory joys gradually cease to be joys, becoming first indistinct, then as it were worthless, and at length distasteful and distressing.”
When this had been said, the door was opened, and those sitting near it sprang out; and they fled to their homes, each to his duty and work, and were revived.
735. After this the angel addressed those who had adopted the idea that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, followed by games and spectacles, and then feasting again, and so on to eternity. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into the felicities of your joys.” And he led them through a meadow to a plain staked out, and on it tables were placed, fifteen on each side.
They asked why there were so many tables; the angel replied, “The first table is Abraham’s, the second Isaac’s, the third Jacob’s and near them in order are the tables of the twelve apostles; on the other side is the same number of tables for their wives; the three first being for Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, and Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s wives; the twelve remaining tables are for the wives of the twelve apostles.”
[2] After a little delay, all the tables were seen to be loaded with dishes, and the spaces between decorated with little pyramids of sweetmeats. The guests stood around the tables waiting to see those who were to preside. These, after a little waiting, appeared, entering in order of procession from Abraham to the last of the apostles; and each going at once to his own table, took his place upon a couch at the head of it. Then they said to those standing around, “Sit you down with us.” And the men sat down with those fathers, and the women with their wives, and ate and drank in gladness and with reverence.
After the meal the fathers went out; and then sports were introduced, dances by maidens and young men, and afterward spectacles; and when these were ended the guests were again invited to the feasting, but with the understanding that on the first day they should eat with Abraham, on the second with Isaac, on the third with Jacob, on the fourth with Peter, on the fifth with James, on the sixth with John, on the seventh with Paul, and with all the rest in order until the fifteenth day, when they were to renew the feasting again in the same order; changing seats; and so on to eternity.
[3] After this the angel called together the men of his company and said to them, “All those whom you see at the tables had the same imaginary thought about the joys of heaven and its eternal happiness that you had; and these feasting scenes were instituted and permitted by the Lord in order that they might see the vanity of their ideas and be led away from them. Those chief men whom you saw at the head of the tables merely impersonated old men; most of them are rustics with beards, and puffed up by some little wealth, upon whom has been induced the fantasy that they actually were those ancient fathers. But follow me to the ways of exit from this camp.”
[4] They followed him; and they saw fifty here and fifty there who had loaded their stomachs with food until they were nauseated, and longed to return to the familiar scenes of their own homes, some to their offices, some to their business, and some to their trades. But many were detained by the keepers of the grove, and were asked how many days they had feasted, and whether they had yet eaten at the tables with Peter and Paul, and were told that it would be shameful for them to go away before doing so, because it would be unbecoming. But most of them answered, “We are surfeited with our joys, the food has become insipid to us, our taste has dried up, our stomachs loathe these things, we cannot bear these drinks, we have spent several days and nights in this luxury, and we earnestly beg to be let out.” And being let out, with panting breath and hurried steps they fled home.
[5] Then the angel called the men of his company, and on the way taught them about heaven, as follows: “In heaven, just as in the world, there are food and drink, feasts and convivial parties, on the tables of the great are the choicest foods, rarities, and delicacies, whereby their spirits are exhilarated and refreshed; there are also plays and exhibitions, and instrumental and vocal music; and all in the highest perfection. Moreover, such things are joys to those in heaven, but not happiness; happiness must be in the joys, and thus from them. It is happiness in the joys that causes them to be joys, enriches them, and so sustains them as to prevent their becoming paltry and wearisome; and this happiness every man has from use in his employment.
[6] “In the affection of every angel’s will there is a kind of hidden current that draws his mind to the doing of something, wherein the mind finds tranquillity and satisfaction; and this satisfaction and tranquillity produce a state of mind receptive of the love of use from the Lord; and from the reception of this love comes heavenly happiness, which is the life of those joys that have been enumerated. Heavenly food in its essence is no other than love, wisdom, and use together; that is, use from love through wisdom; and because of this to everyone in heaven food for the body is given according to the use he performs, most excellent food to those who are eminently useful; food of medium quality but of exquisite taste to those whose use is of the middle grade; inferior food to those who perform low uses; but none to the indolent.”
736. The angel then called to him that company of so-called wise men who had placed heavenly joys and eternal happiness therefrom in the possession of supreme dominion and boundless wealth, and in more than royal magnificence and transcendent splendor, because it is said in the Word that the righteous should be kings and princes, and should reign with Christ forever, and be ministered unto by the angels; and so on. To these the angel said, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys.” And he led them into a portico constructed of columns and pyramids. In front of it was a low porch which formed the entrance to the portico; and through this he led them; and behold, twenty persons were seen there, and were waiting. And presently there came one who impersonated an angel, and said to them, “The way to heaven is through this portico; wait here a while and prepare yourselves, for the older among you are to be kings, and the younger princes.”
[2] When he had said this a throne was seen near each column, and on it a robe of silk, and on the robe a scepter and crown; and near each pyramid a seat appeared raised three cubits from the ground; on each seat was a chain made of small links of gold, and scarfs of an order of knights fastened together at the ends with diamond rings. It was then proclaimed, “Go now and robe yourselves, take your seats, and wait.” And instantly the older men ran to the thrones, and the younger to the seats, and robed themselves and sat down. Then a kind of mist appeared coming up from the lower regions, and as this drew near, the faces of those occupying the thrones and seats began to swell and their hearts to heave, and they were filled with the confidence that they were now kings and princes. That mist was the aura of hallucination by which they were inspired. And presently some youths flew to them as if from heaven, and stood two behind each throne, and one behind each seat, to serve them. Proclamation was then made in turn by a herald, “Ye kings and princes, wait yet a little while, your palaces in heaven are now being made ready; the courtiers will come soon with their lifeguards and lead you to them.” They waited and waited until their spirits panted and grew weary with desire.
[3] After three hours the heaven above their heads was opened and angels looked down, and pitying them, said, “Why do you sit there so foolishly, acting like players? They have played tricks upon you and have changed you from men to images, because you have fixed it in your hearts that you were to reign with Christ like kings and princes, and that angels would then minister unto you. Have you forgotten the words of the Lord, that he who would be great in heaven must become a servant? Learn, then, that being kings and princes and reigning with Christ, means being wise and performing uses; for the kingdom of Christ, which is heaven, is a kingdom of uses, because the Lord loves all, and therefore wills good to all, and good is use. And as the Lord does what is good or useful mediately through angels, and in the world through men, so to those who faithfully perform uses, He gives the love of use and its reward, which is internal blessedness, and this is eternal happiness.
[4] In the heavens as on earth there are supreme dominions, and boundless wealth; for there are governments there, and forms of government, and therefore greater and lesser powers and dignities; and those who occupy the highest positions have palaces and courts, which surpass those of emperors and kings on earth in magnificence and splendor; and they are surrounded with honor and glory because of the number of courtiers, ministers, and attendants, and their splendid vestments. But those who are thus exalted are chosen from among those whose hearts are in the public welfare, while their bodily senses only are appealed to by the grandeur of magnificence for the fostering of obedience. And as it is a matter of public welfare that everyone should be of some use in society as in the common body, and as all use is from the Lord, and is effected through angels and men as if it were done by them, it is clear that this is reigning with the Lord.”
When this had been heard from heaven, those who had impersonated the kings and princes descended from the thrones and seats and threw away their scepters, crowns, and robes; and the mist in which was the aura of hallucination departed from them, and a bright cloud overshadowed them, in which there was an aura of wisdom, and sanity was thereby restored to their minds.
737. After this the angel returned to the house where the wise from the Christian world had assembled, and called to him those who had persuaded themselves that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness were paradisal delights.
To them he said, “Follow me, and I will conduct you into paradise, your heaven, so that you may enter into the beatitudes of your eternal happiness.” And he led them through a lofty gate formed by the interwoven branches and shoots of noble trees; and when they had passed through this he led them about by winding paths from one quarter to another. The place was actually a paradise which is at the first entrance to heaven, and into which are admitted those who had believed when in the world that all heaven is a paradise, because heaven is called paradise, and who had impressed upon themselves the idea that after death there is complete rest from labor, and that this rest is nothing else than breathing the very soul of delights, walking upon roses, being gladdened by the finest juice of the grape, and banqueting; and that this life is to be found only in a heavenly paradise.
[2] As they followed the angel they saw a great multitude of men both old and young, and of boys, women and girls, sitting in groups of three and groups of ten on flower-beds, weaving wreaths with which they decorated the heads of the old men and the arms of the young men, and bands of which they fastened across the breasts of the boys; others were pressing juice from grapes, cherries, and mulberries, into cups, and drinking it sociably; others were inhaling the fragrance exhaled and diffused from flowers, fruit, and odoriferous leaves; others were singing sweet songs which soothed the ears of the listeners; others sat at fountains, turning the water of the gushing streams into different shapes; some were walking about, talking and jesting; some entered into little garden-houses to recline on couches; and many other paradisal forms of pleasure they saw.
[3] When they had seen these things, the angel led his companions here and there through winding ways, and at last to some persons seated on a most beautiful flower-bed surrounded by orange, olive, and citron trees. These sat swaying themselves to and fro, wailing and weeping, their faces resting on their hands. The angel’s companions addressed them asking why they sat thus. They answered, “It is now seven days since we came into this paradise. When we came in, our minds seemed to be exalted to heaven and to be admitted into the innermost satisfactions of its joys; but after three days those satisfactions began to diminish, to fade from our minds, to become imperceptible, and so to fail altogether. And when our imaginary joys had thus ceased, we feared the loss of all the delights of our life, and began to doubt whether there is any such thing as eternal happiness. After this we wandered through paths and plots in search of the gate by which we entered; but we simply walked about and about, making inquiries of those we met. Some of them said that the gate could not be found, because this paradisal garden is a vast labyrinth of such a nature that anyone wishing to go out only entered more deeply in, adding, ‘Therefore you will have to remain here to eternity; you are now in the midst of the paradise where is the center of all its delights!'” To the companions of the angels they said further, “We have already been sitting here a day and a half; and as we are now hopeless of finding our way out, we sat down here on this flower-bed, and are looking about us at the abundance of olives, grapes, oranges, and citrons. But the more we look about the more does our sight become weary of seeing, our smell of smelling, and our taste of tasting. This is the cause of the sadness in which you find us and of our wailing and weeping.”
[4] When they had heard this, the angel of the company said to them, “This paradisal labyrinth is really an entrance to heaven. I know the way out, and will lead you to it.” At these words those who were seated arose and embraced the angel, and joining his company went with him. And the angel taught them on the way what heavenly joy and its eternal happiness are, that they are not external paradisal delights unless there is in them internal paradisal delights. “External paradisal delights,” he said, “are delights of the bodily senses only, while internal paradisal delights are delights of the soul’s affections; unless these are in the former there is no heavenly life in them, because there is no soul in them; and any delight apart from its correspondent soul gradually languishes, becomes torpid, and wearies the mind more than labor. There are paradisal gardens everywhere in heaven, and from them the angels derive their joys; and so far as the soul’s delight is in them, so far those joys are joys to them.”
[5] Hearing this they all asked, “What is the soul’s delight, and what is its origin?”
The angel replied, “The soul’s delight comes from love and wisdom from the Lord; and because love is the efficient, and becomes efficient by means of wisdom, so the abode of both is in the effect and the effect is use. This delight flows from the Lord into the soul, and descends through the higher and lower regions of the mind into all the bodily senses, and finds its fullness in them. Joy thereby becomes joy, and it becomes eternal from the Eternal in whom it originates. You have been viewing paradisal scenes, and I declare to you that there is not one thing there, not even a little leaf, that does not come from the marriage of love and wisdom in use. Therefore if man is in this marriage he is in a heavenly paradise, and thus in heaven.”
738. After this the angelic leader returned to the hall, to those who had firmly persuaded themselves that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are a perpetual glorification of God and an endless festival; and this, because they had believed when in the world that after death they would see God, and because the life of heaven on account of the worship of God there, is called a perpetual sabbath.
To these the angel said, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joy.” And he led them into a small city. In the center of it there was a temple, and all the houses were called sacred chapels. In this city they saw a gathering of people from every quarter of the surrounding country, and among them a number of priests who received the visitors, saluted them, and taking them by the hand led them to the gates of the temple, and then to some chapels round about the temple, and initiated them into the endless worship of God; saying, “This city is the vestibule of heaven, and the temple of this city is the entrance to a grand and spacious temple in heaven, where God is glorified by angels with praises and prayers forever. It is ordered both here and there that newcomers shall first enter the temple and remain there three days and three nights, and after this initiation shall enter into the houses of this city (which are so many chapels consecrated by us), and shall go from chapel to chapel, and in communion with those assembled there shall pray, and shout, and repeat what has been preached. Be very careful to think of nothing by yourselves and to speak of nothing with your companions, except what is holy, and pious, and religious.”
[2] After this the angel led his company into the temple, which was full, and was crowded with many who had enjoyed great dignity in the world, and also with many common people. At the gates of the temple guards were placed to prevent anyone from going out until he had been there three days. And the angel said, “This is the second day since these people came in; watch them, and you will see how they glorify God.”
And looking at them they saw most of them asleep, and those who were awake continually yawning; and some of them, in consequence of the continued elevation of their thoughts to God without any return whatever to the body, seemed like faces separated from their bodies (for so they appeared to themselves, and therefore to others); and the eyes of some looked wild from their being continually turned upward. In a word, the breasts of all were oppressed, and their spirits were weary with the tediousness; and they turned away from the pulpit and cried out, “Our ears are stunned, stop your preaching; we no longer hear a word; the very sound begins to be more than we can bear.” And then they rose up and rushed in a mass to the gates, broke them open, overpowered the guards and drove them away. [3] Seeing this the priests followed, keeping close to them, teaching and teaching, praying and sighing, and saying, “Celebrate the festival, glorify God, sanctify yourselves; in this vestibule of heaven we will inaugurate you into an eternal glorification of God in the grand and spacious temple that is in heaven, and thus lead you into the enjoyment of eternal happiness.” But the crowd did not understand these words, and scarcely heard them because of the dullness of their minds from a two days’ suspension and detention from domestic and outdoor affairs. But when they attempted to tear themselves away from the priests, the priests caught them by the arms, and also by their clothing, urging them to the chapels to hear their sermons; but in vain. They cried out, “Let us go; we feel as if we should faint.”
[4] At these words four men in white garments and with miters appeared. One of them when in the world had been an archbishop, and the other three had been bishops; they had now become angels. These called the priests together, and addressing them, said, “We saw you from heaven with these sheep, and saw how you are feeding them. You are feeding them even to madness. You do not know what glorifying God means. It means to bring forth the fruits of love, that is, to discharge faithfully, sincerely, and diligently the work of one’s calling; for this is from love to God and love to the neighbor, and is the bond of society and the good of society. It is in this way that God is glorified, and then by worship at stated times. Have you not read these words of the Lord?
Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and ye shall become My disciples (John 15:8).
[5] You priests may be in the glorifying of God by means of worship, because it is your office, and from it you have honor, glory, and remuneration; but you could no more continue in it than these people if honor, glory, and remuneration were not connected with your office.”
So saying the bishops ordered the guards at the gate to let all pass out and to admit all, “for,” they said, “there are a great many who can conceive of no other heavenly joy than the unceasing worship of God, because they have been wholly ignorant of what the heavenly state is.”
739. After this the angel returned with his companions to the place of meeting, from which the different companies of wise men had not yet departed, and there he called to him those who believed that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are merely admittance into heaven, and that this admittance is from Divine grace, and that those admitted are at once gifted with joy, like those in the world who are permitted to enter royal palaces on days of festivity, or are invited to weddings.
To these the angel said, “Wait here a while, and I will sound my trumpet, and those who are celebrated for wisdom in the spiritual affairs of the church will come hither.” After a few hours there came nine men, each decorated with a laurel wreath as a token of his reputation. These were led by the angel in to the place of meeting where all those called together before were waiting, and in their presence the angel addressed the nine wearing the wreaths, saying, “I know that you, because of your wish and in accordance with your ideas, have been permitted to ascend to heaven, and that you have returned to this lower or sub-celestial earth with a full knowledge of the state of heaven; tell us therefore how heaven appeared to you.”
[2] They replied in order. The first said, “My idea of heaven, from earliest boyhood even until the end of my life in the world, was, that it was a place of all kinds of blessedness, satisfaction, delight, gratification, and pleasure; and that if I were to be admitted there I should be surrounded by an aura of such felicities, and should inhale them with full breast, like a bridegroom when he celebrates his marriage and enters the marriage-chamber with his bride. With this idea I ascended to heaven; I passed the first guards, and also the second; but when I came to the third, the officer of the guards addressed me and said, ‘Who are you, friend?’ I answered, ‘Is not this heaven? I came here prompted by my own earnest desire; admit me, I entreat you.’ And he admitted me. And I saw some angels in white garments, who walked around me, and looked at me, and murmured, ‘Here is a new guest, not clothed in the garments of heaven.’ I heard the remark, and thought, ‘This seems to me like what the Lord said of the man who came to the wedding not having a wedding-garment;’ and I said, ‘Give me such garments of heaven.’ But they only laughed. And then one came running from the court with the command, ‘Strip him naked, cast him out, and throw his clothes after him.’ And so I was cast out.”
[3] The second in order then said, “I also believed as he did, that if I were only admitted into heaven, which was above my head, joys would flow around me, and I should breathe them forever. I also obtained my wish. But when the angels saw me they fled, and said to one another, ‘What portent is this? How did that bird of night get here?’ And I actually felt myself to be changed from being a man, although I was not changed. This effect was produced by my inhaling the heavenly atmosphere. And presently one ran from the court with the command that two servants should lead me out, and conduct me back by the way I came, right to my own house. And when I was at home, I again appeared to myself and others as a man.”
[4] The third said, “My constant idea of heaven was derived from place, not from love; and therefore when I entered this world I longed intensely to get into heaven, and seeing some ascending, I followed, and was admitted, though only a few steps. But when I wished to gladden my mind with an idea of the joys and blessedness there, owing to the light of heaven (which was white like snow, and the essence of which is said to be wisdom), a stupor seized my mind, and from it a thick darkness came upon my eyes, and I began to be insane; and presently, owing to the heat of heaven (which corresponded to the brightness of that light, and the essence of which is said to be love), my heart palpitated, anxiety took possession of me, I was tortured with interior pain, and threw myself down at full length upon the ground. And while I was lying there, an attendant came from the court with the command for them to carry me away carefully into my own light and heat, and as soon as I came into these my spirit and heart were restored to me.”
[5] The fourth said, “My idea of heaven also was derived from place, not from love, and as soon as I entered the spiritual world I asked some wise men whether it was allowable to ascend to heaven. They told me that everyone is permitted, but he should beware lest he be cast down again. I laughed at this, and went up, believing like the others that all in the whole world are capable of receiving the joys of heaven in their fullness. But verily, as soon as I entered I became almost dead; and from the pain and consequent torture in my head and body, I threw myself upon the ground, writhed like a serpent near a fire, crawled to the brink, and thus cast myself down. Afterwards I was taken up by some who stood below, and carried to an inn, where my health was restored.”
[6] The remaining five also gave wonderful accounts of their ascents to heaven, comparing the changes of their states of life to that of fishes when taken out of water into the air, and of birds when taken up into the ether, and they said, that after those hard experiences they no longer had any desire for heaven; but only for a life in company with their like, wherever they might be; and that they knew that in the world of spirits where we then were, all are first prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell; and when prepared, they see ways opened for them to societies of those like themselves, with whom they are to remain forever; also that they then enter these ways with delight, because they are the ways of their love.
When those of the first assembly had heard these statements, they all confessed that they, too, had entertained no other idea of heaven than as a place where with full mouth they might forever drink in the joys flowing around them.
[7] The angel with the trumpet then said to them, “You now see that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are not a matter of place, but of the state of man’s life, and the state of heavenly life is from love and wisdom; and as use is the containant of these two, the state of heavenly life is from the conjunction of these in use. It is the same if we say instead, charity, faith, and good works, since charity is love, faith is truth from which comes wisdom, and good works are uses. Furthermore, there are places in our spiritual world as in the natural world, otherwise there would be no habitations or distinct dwellings; and yet place here is not place, but an appearance of place in accordance with the state of love and wisdom, or charity and faith. [8] Everyone who becomes an angel carries his heaven within him, because he carries within him the love that belongs to his heaven; for man by creation is a lesser likeness, image, and type of the great heaven; and the human form is nothing else; so that everyone enters that heavenly society whose form he is as an individual likeness; consequently when he enters into that society he enters a form correspondent to his own, thus he enters the society as if entering into himself from himself, and as if from the society into the society in himself, and partakes of its life as his own, and of his own life as its life. Every society is like a common body, the angels therein are the like parts of which the general exists. From this it now follows that those who are in evils and in consequent falsities, have formed in themselves a likeness of hell, and this is what suffers torture in heaven from the influx and vehemence of the activity of opposite against opposite; for infernal love is the opposite of heavenly love, and the delights of the two loves come into collision like hostile forces, and destroy each other when they meet.”
740. After all these things had taken place a voice was heard from heaven, saying to the angel with the trumpet; “Choose ten men from all those assembled, and introduce them to us; we have heard from the Lord that He will so prepare them that the heat and light, of love and wisdom, of our heaven may be borne by them without harm for three days.”
Ten men were then chosen and followed the angel. And they went up a steep path to a certain hill, and from this to a mountain on which was the heaven of those angels, which had before appeared to them at a distance like an expanse in the clouds. The gates were opened for them, and when they had passed the third the introducing angel ran to the prince of that society or heaven, and announced their arrival. And the prince said in reply, “Take some of my attendants, and carry back word to them that I am pleased that they have come, and introduce them into my ante-court, and give to each his own room and bed-chamber. Take also some of my courtiers and some servants to wait upon them, and render them any service they may desire.” This was done.
When they had been admitted by the angel, they asked whether they might be permitted to go and see the prince. The angel replied, “It is now morning, and he cannot be seen before noon; all are still engaged in their own duties and labors. But you are invited to dinner; and then you will sit at the table with our prince; and in the meantime I will conduct you into his palace where you will see magnificent and splendid things.”
[2] When he had led them to the palace they first viewed it from without. It was spacious, built of porphyry, with a foundation of jasper. Before the doors were six tall columns of lapis lazuli. The roof was made of plates of gold, the high windows were of the clearest crystal, and their frames of gold. They were then led into the interior of the palace, and conducted from room to room; and they saw ornaments of indescribable beauty, and on the ceilings decorations of inimitable carvings. Placed against the walls they saw tables of silver fused with gold, on which were various useful articles made of precious stones and of whole gems in heavenly forms. And more things they saw, which no eye on earth had ever seen, and therefore no one had been able to believe that such things exist in heaven.
[3] While they were standing amazed at the sight of such magnificence the angel said, “Do not be astonished; these things that you see are not the work or fabrication of any angelic hand, but were made by the Architect of the universe and bestowed as a gift on our prince, so that architectural art is here in its perfection, and from it come all the rules of art in the world.” The angel said further, “You may suppose, perhaps, that such things fascinate our eyes and so far infatuate them that we believe these things to be the joys of our heaven; but they are merely accessory to the joys of our hearts, our hearts not being in them; and so far therefore as we contemplate them as accessory, and as the workmanship of God, we contemplate in them the Divine omnipotence and kindness.”
741. After this the angel said to them, “It is not yet noon; come with me into the garden of our prince which adjoins this palace.” They went; and at the entrance the angel said, “Behold the most magnificent garden in this heavenly society.”
But they replied, “What do you say? There is no garden here; we see only one tree, with what seems like fruits of gold on its branches and top, and like leaves of silver, with their edges adorned with emeralds; and under the tree we see little children with their nurses.”
To this the angel with inspired voice replied, “This tree is in the midst of the garden, and is called by us the tree of our heaven, and by some the tree of life. But go on and draw nearer, and your eyes will be opened, and you will see the garden.”
This they did; and their eyes were opened, and they saw trees heavily laden with delicious fruit, about which vines entwined their tendrils, and their tops were bent down with fruit toward the tree of life in the center. [2] These trees were planted in a continuous row, which went out and on in endless circles or curves like those of a perpetual spiral; it was a perfect spiral formed by trees, wherein one species followed another in unbroken order according to the excellence of their fruit. There was quite a space between the beginning of the spiral and the tree in the center, and this space gleamed with a radiance that made the trees of the spiral beam with an unbroken and unceasing splendor from the first to the last. The first trees were the noblest of all, luxuriant with the rarest fruit; these were called trees of paradise, never having been seen in any country of the natural world, because they do not and cannot exist there. These were followed by olive trees, then those that yielded wine, then fragrant trees, and finally trees useful to workmen for the wood. Here and there in this coil of trees or spiral there were seats formed of branches of the trees behind drawn forward and interlaced and enriched and adorned with their fruits. In that perpetual circle of trees were passages opening to flower-plots, and from these to lawns, divided off into squares and beds.
[3] The companions of the angel, on seeing these things, ex-claimed, “Behold heaven in form! Wherever we turn our eyes something heavenly and paradisal meets them, which is ineffable.”
The angel was delighted with these exclamations, and said, “All our heavenly gardens are representative forms or types of heavenly beatitudes in their origin, and because your minds were exalted by the influx of these beatitudes, you exclaimed, ‘Behold heaven in form!’ But those who do not receive that influx look upon these paradisal objects only as upon a mere forest. All who are in a love of use receive the influx; but those who are in the love of glory not from use do not receive it.” Afterwards he explained and taught what was represented and signified by each thing in the garden.
742. While they were thus engaged, there came a messenger from the prince, who invited them to eat bread with him; and at the same time two court attendants brought garments of white linen, and said, “Put these on; for no one is admitted to the prince’s table unless he is clothed in the garments of heaven.”
They put on the garments and accompanied their angel; and they were conducted into a corridor, a promenade of the palace, where they waited for the prince; and there they were brought by the angel into companionship with great men and governors, who also were waiting for the prince. And behold, after half an hour the doors were opened, and through a wider one on the west they saw him enter in the order and pomp of a procession. Before him came his privy counselors, after these his chamberlains, and after these again the chief officers of his court. In the midst of the latter was the prince, behind him courtiers of various rank, and last of all the lifeguards. In all they numbered one hundred and twenty.
[2] The angel standing before the ten new-comers, who from their dress were seen to be visitors, approached the prince with them and reverently presented them; and the prince without stopping in the procession, said to them, “Come and take bread with me.”
They followed him into the dining-hall, where they saw a table magnificently prepared. In the center of it was a high pyramid of gold, having on its shelves in triple order a hundred dishes containing sweet cakes, solidified musts of wines, and other delicacies made of bread and wine. Through the middle of the pyramid there welled up, as it were, a fountain bubbling over with nectareous wine, a stream of which spread itself from the top of the pyramid and filled the cups. At the side of this high pyramid were various heavenly projections of gold, on which were dishes and plates loaded with every kind of food. These heavenly projections on which the plates and dishes rested, were forms of art derived from wisdom, which could not be executed in the world by any art, or described in any language. The dishes and plates were of silver, engraved around with forms resembling those on their supports; the cups were of transparent gems. Thus was the table furnished.
743. The dress of the prince and his ministers was as follows: The prince was clad in a long robe of a purple color, decorated with silver stars of needlework; under the robe was a tunic of bright violet-colored silk; this was open at the breast where the front part of a belt was visible, bearing the badge of his society. The badge was an eagle on the top of a tree, brooding her young; it was of burnished gold surrounded by diamonds. The privy counselors were clad somewhat in the same way, but without the badge; instead of which they had carved sapphires suspended from their necks by golden chains. The courtiers wore gowns of a brown color, in which were interwoven flowers encircling young eagles; the tunics under these were of opaline silk, as were their breeches and stockings. Such was their clothing.
744. The privy counselors, the chamberlains, and the governors, stood around the table; and at the command of the prince they folded their hands, and all together in a low tone gave thanks to the Lord; and then, at a nod from the prince, took their places on the cushioned seats at the table. And the prince said to the visitors, “Sit you down with me also; there are your seats.” And they sat down. The courtiers before sent by the prince to wait upon them, stood behind them. The prince then said to them, “Take each one of you a plate from its place, and then a dish from the pyramid.” They did so; and behold, there instantly appeared fresh plates and dishes in place of those taken away. Their cups were filled with wine from the fountain springing from the great pyramid; and they ate together.
[2] When they were moderately satisfied, the prince addressed the ten guests, saying, “I have heard that you were assembled on the earth that is beneath this heaven to disclose your thoughts respecting the joys of heaven and eternal happiness therefrom; and that you advanced different opinions, each according to the delights of his bodily senses. But what are the delights of the bodily senses apart from the delights of the soul? It is the soul that imparts delight to these. The delights of the soul are in themselves imperceptible beatitudes; but they become more and more perceptible as they descend into the thoughts of the mind, and from these into the sensations of the body. In the thoughts of the mind they are perceptible as joys, in the sensations of the body as delights, and in the body itself as pleasures. From all these together comes eternal happiness; while from the latter alone the happiness is not eternal but temporary, and comes to an end and passes away, and sometimes becomes unhappiness. You have now seen that all your joys are also joys of heaven, and more excellent than you could ever have conceived; and yet our minds are not interiorly affected by them. [3] There are three things that flow in as one from the Lord into our souls; these three as one, that is, this trine, are love, wisdom, and use; but love and wisdom alone have only an ideal existence, because they exist only in the affection and thought of the mind; while in use they have a real existence, because then they exist also in bodily act and operation, and where they exist really, there they have permanent existence. But as love and wisdom have their existence and permanence in use, it is use that affects us; and use is the faithful, sincere, and diligent discharge of the duties of one’s employment.
“The love of use and the consequent pursuit of use prevents the mind from becoming dissipated, and from wandering about and drinking in all the cupidities that flow in with their allurements through the senses from the body and the world, and that scatter to the four winds the truths of religion and morality together with their goods. But the application of the mind to use holds and binds these together, and disposes the mind into a form receptive of wisdom from these truths, and at the same time expels to the circumference the illusions and mockeries both of falsities and vanities. But on these subjects you will hear more from the wise men of our society, whom I will send to you this afternoon.”
So saying the prince arose, and with him his guests; he said grace, and then commanded the angelic guide of the strangers to conduct them back to their apartments, and to show them all the honors of courtesy; also to invite courteous and affable men to entertain them with conversation on the various joys of that society.
745. When they had returned to their apartments this was done. Men invited from the city came to entertain them with conversation on the various joys of the society; and after the usual greetings they conversed with them agreeably, as they walked. But their angelic guide said, “These ten men have been invited into this heaven to behold its joys, and thereby to acquire a new idea of eternal happiness. Recount to them, therefore, some of its joys which affect the bodily senses; afterwards some wise men are to come who will mention some of the things that render those joys satisfactory and delightful.”
Hearing this, the men invited from the city mentioned the following: (1) There are days of festivity appointed here by the prince, to relieve the mind of the fatigue which the passion of emulation may have brought upon some. On these days there are musical and vocal concerts in the public squares, and outside of the city there are games and shows; music stands are also raised in the public squares, surrounded by lattice-work of interwoven vines, from which hang clusters of grapes; while within this lattice-work, on three rows of seats, one above another, sit musicians with stringed and wind instruments, high-toned and low-toned, some powerful and some sweet; and at the sides are singers of both sexes, delighting the citizens with the sweetest jubilees and songs, choruses and solos, varied in character at intervals. On these days of festivity all this is continued from morning until noon, and then again until evening. [2] (2) Moreover, every morning there are heard from the houses about the squares the sweetest songs of girls and maidens, with which the whole city resounds. Each morning some one affection of spiritual love is sung, that is, is expressed by modifications or modulations of the voice in singing, and that affection is perceptible in the singing as if it were the affection itself. It flows into the souls of the hearers, and stirs them to a correspondence with it. Such is heavenly singing. The singers say that the sound of their song inspires and animates them from within, as it were, and exalts them with joy in the measure of its reception by their hearers. When the singing ceases, the windows of the houses on the squares are closed, and also those of the houses on the streets, and the doors also, and then the whole city is silent; there is no noise anywhere, and no wandering idlers are seen; all thus prepared then enter upon the duties of their employments. [3] (3) At noon the doors are opened, and in the afternoon in some places the windows also, and the boys and girls are seen playing in the streets, their nurses and teachers sitting in the porches of the houses keeping watch over them. [4] (4) In the outskirts of the city, there are various games of boys and young men; there are foot-races and games of ball, and what is called tennis, with the balls struck back and forth; there are public contests among the boys to determine who is the quicker and who the slower in speaking, acting, and understanding; and to the quicker some laurel leaves are given as a reward, with many other methods of calling out the latent abilities of the boys. [5] (5) And again, outside the city there are theatrical exhibitions, where players represent the various proprieties and virtues of moral life; with players among them of lower parts for the sake of what is relative.”
One of the ten asked, “Why for the sake of what is relative?”
They replied, “No virtue with its proprieties and graces can be presented in a living way except by an exhibition of what is relative from its greatest to its least phases. These players represent the least phases even till they become none. But it is provided by law that nothing opposite, which is called improper and unbecoming, shall be exhibited, except figuratively and as it were remotely. It is so provided, because nothing that is proper and good in any virtue can pass by successive steps to what is improper and evil, but only to its least phase until it perishes; and when it perishes the opposite begins. Therefore, heaven, where all things are proper and good, has nothing in common with hell, where all things are improper and evil.”
746. While they were speaking a servant ran to them and announced the arrival of eight wise men, who had been sent by the prince’s command, and who wished to enter; hearing which the angel went out, received, and conducted them in. And the wise men, as soon as the usual and proper forms of introduction were over, first spoke with them about the beginning and growth of wisdom, mingling with their conversation various observations respecting its progress, as that wisdom with the angels has no limit or end, but grows and increases to eternity.
Hearing this the angel who had charge of the strangers said to the wise men, “Our prince spoke at table with these men about the seat of wisdom as being in use; will you too, if you please, talk with them upon the same subject.”
And they said, “Man as first created was imbued with wisdom and its love, not for his own sake, but that he might communicate it from himself to others. Therefore it is written in the wisdom of the wise that no one is wise or lives for himself alone, but for others also; whence comes society, which otherwise could not exist. Living for others is being useful. Uses are the bonds of society; these bonds are as many as there are good uses, and in number uses are infinite. There are spiritual uses, which pertain to love of God and love to the neighbor; there are moral and civil uses, which pertain to love of the society and community in which a man lives, and of the companions and citizens with whom he lives. There are natural uses, which pertain to the love of the world and its necessities; and there are bodily uses, which pertain to the love of self-preservation for the sake of higher uses. [2] All these uses are inscribed on man, and follow in order one after another, and when they exist simultaneously one is within the other. Those who are in the first mentioned uses, which are spiritual, are also in those that follow, and such are wise; but those who are not in the first, but are in the second and from these in the subsequent ones, are not so wise, but only seem to be so because of their outward morality and right civil life. Those who are not in the first and second, but are in the third and fourth, are anything but wise, for they are satans, loving the world only, and loving themselves because of the world. Those who are only in the fourth class of uses are the least wise of all, for they are devils, since they live for themselves alone, or if for others, it is solely on account of themselves. [3] Furthermore, every love has its own delight, for thereby love lives; and the delight of the love of uses is a heavenly delight, which enters the subsequent delights in order, and according to their order of succession exalts them and renders them eternal.” They then enumerated some heavenly delights that proceed from the love of use, saying, that there were myriads of myriads of them, and that those who entered heaven entered into them. Afterwards they spent the day with them, until evening, in wise conversations about the love of use.
[4] About evening-time there came a footman clothed in linen to the ten visitors who accompanied the angel, and invited them to a wedding to be celebrated the next day. The visitors were much pleased that they were also to see a wedding in heaven. After this they were conducted to a certain privy counselor, and supped with him; and after supper they returned and separated from one another, each going to his own chamber, where they slept until morning.
When they awoke they heard the singing of the girls and maidens from the houses round about the square, as spoken of above. It was the affection of conjugial love that they were singing; and being deeply stirred and affected by its sweetness, they perceived a blessed charm pervading their joys by which they were exalted and renewed. When it was time the angel said, “Make yourselves ready; put on the garments of heaven which our prince has sent to you.” And they put them on; and behold, the garments shone as if with a flaming light. And they asked the angel, “Whence is this?” He replied, “It is because you are going to a wedding; with us our garments then shine and become wedding garments.”
747. After this the angel led them to the house of the wedding, and the porter opened the doors; and as soon as they had crossed the threshold they were received and saluted by an angel sent from the bridegroom, and conducted in and taken to seats set apart for them. Presently they were invited into the ante-room of the bridal chamber, in the center of which they saw a table, whereon was placed a magnificent candlestick with seven golden branches and bowls; on the walls hung lamps of silver, the burning of which gave the atmosphere a golden appearance. On each side of the candlestick they saw a table on which loaves of bread were set in triple order; and in the four corners of the room were tables upon which were crystal goblets.
[2] While they were examining these things, behold a door was opened from a room next to the bridal chamber, and they saw six virgins coming out followed by the bridegroom and bride holding each other by the hand, and leading each other to their seat which had been placed directly opposite the candlestick. On this they seated themselves, the bridegroom on the left and the bride on his right, and the six virgins standing at the side of the seat near the bride. The bridegroom was dressed in a robe of glowing purple and a coat of shining white linen, with an ephod on which was a golden plate set around with diamonds; and on the plate was engraved a young eagle, the nuptial emblem of that heavenly society. The head of the bridegroom was covered with a miter. The bride was dressed in a scarlet cloak, and under it an embroidered garment, reaching from the neck to the feet; around her waist was a golden belt and on her head a crown of gold set with rubies.
[3] While they thus sat together, the bridegroom turned to the bride and placed on her finger a golden ring, and drew forth bracelets and a necklace of pearls, fastening the bracelets on her wrists and the necklace about her neck, and saying, “Accept these pledges”; and as she accepted them, he kissed her and said, “Now you are mine,” and called her his wife.
When this had been done the guests cried out, “Blessings on you;” each one first saying this separately, and then all together; and one sent to represent the prince also said it; and at that moment the ante-chamber was filled with an aromatic smoke, which was a sign of blessing from heaven.
Then the attendants took loaves from the two tables near the candlestick, and cups now filled with wine from the tables in the corners, and gave to each guest his loaf and his cup; and they ate and drank.
After this the husband and his wife arose, the six virgins following them to the threshold with the now lighted silver lamps in their hands; and the married pair entered the bridal chamber, and the door was closed.
748. The angel guide then told the guests about his ten companions, saying that he had introduced them by command, had shown them the magnificence of the prince’s palace, and the wonderful things it contained, that they had dined with the prince; and afterward conversed with the wise men of the society. And he asked, “Will you permit them to have a little talk with you also?” And they approached and began the conversation.
A wise one from among those at the wedding said, “Do you understand the significance of what you have seen?”
They replied, “Somewhat” And then they asked him why the bridegroom, now the husband, was so clothed; and he answered, “The bridegroom, now the husband, represented the Lord; and the bride, now his wife, represented the church; because marriages in heaven represent the marriage of the Lord with the church. This is why the bridegroom had a miter on his head, and was dressed in a robe, coat, and ephod, like Aaron; and the bride, now the wife, had a crown on her head, and was dressed in a cloak like a queen; but tomorrow they will be clothed differently, because this representation only lasts during today.”
[2] Again they asked, “As he represented the Lord, and she the church, why did she sit at his right?”
The wise one replied, “Because there are two things that constitute the marriage of the Lord and the church, love and wisdom, and the Lord is love and the church is wisdom; and wisdom is at the right of love because the man of the church is wise as if of himself, and as he becomes wise, he receives love from the Lord. Furthermore, the right hand signifies power, and love has power through wisdom. But as before said, after marriage the representation is changed, the husband then representing wisdom, and the wife the love of his wisdom. This, however, is not the prior love, but a secondary love, which the wife has from the Lord through the wisdom of the husband. Love of the Lord, which is the prior love, is in the husband the love of being wise; therefore after marriage the two, husband and wife together, represent the church.”
[3] Again they asked, “Why did not you men stand beside the bridegroom, now the husband, while the six virgins stood beside the bride, now the wife?”
The wise one replied, “Because today we ourselves are counted among the virgins, and the number six signifies all, and what is complete.”
But they said, “What does that mean?”
He replied, “Virgins signify the church, and the church is of both sexes; therefore in relation to the church we, too, are virgins; as is evident from the following in the Apocalypse:
These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (Rev. 14:4).
And because ‘virgins’ signify the church, the Lord compared the church,
To ten virgins invited to a wedding (Matt. 25:1-13);
and because Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem, signify the church, the virgin and daughter of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem, are so frequently mentioned in the Word. And again, the Lord describes His marriage with the church in these words in David:
On thy right hand doth stand the queen in the best gold of Ophir; her clothing is inwrought with gold; she shall be led unto the king in broidered work; the virgins that follow her, her companions, shall enter into the king’s palace (Ps. 45:9-15).”
[4] Finally they asked, “Is it not proper that some priest should be present and minister in these matters?”
The wise one answered, “This is proper on earth, but not in the heavens because of the representation of the Lord Himself and the church. On earth this is not known. Nevertheless, with us a priest ministers at betrothals, and hears, receives, confirms, and consecrates the consent. Consent is the essential of marriage, and the things that follow are its formalities.”
749. After this the angel guide went to the six virgins and told them also about his companions, and besought them to honor the visitors with their company. And they approached them; but when they came near they suddenly turned back and entered the woman’s apartment where their virgin friends were.
Seeing this, the angel guide followed them and asked why they turned back so suddenly without speaking to the visitors; and they replied, “We could not go near them.” He asked why; and they said, “We do not know; but we perceived something that repelled and drove us back; we beg pardon.”
The angel turned to his companions and told them the reply, adding, “I suspect that your love of the sex is not chaste; in heaven we love virgins for their beauty and the elegance of their manners; and we love them intensely but chastely.” His companions laughed at this, and said, “Your suspicion is correct; who can see such beauties near and not feel some desire?”
750. After this social festivity all the wedding guests departed and also the ten men in company with their angel. It was late in the evening, and they went to bed. At dawn they heard it proclaimed, “Today is the Sabbath.” They arose and asked the angel what it meant. He replied, “It is a summons to the worship of God which returns at stated times and is proclaimed by the priests; it is conducted in our temples, and continues about two hours; come with me, therefore, if you like, and I will introduce you.”
They made themselves ready and accompanied the angel, and entered the temple. And behold, it was a large temple capable of seating about three thousand persons, semi-circular in form, with benches or seats extending entirely around, following the shape of the temple. The pulpit was in front of the seats, back a little from the center; the door was on the left behind the pulpit.
The ten visitors entered with their angel guide, and he assigned them their seat, saying, “Everyone who enters the temple knows his place, he knows it from something within; and he can sit nowhere else; if he sits elsewhere, he hears nothing and perceives nothing; and moreover he disturbs the order, and when the order is disturbed the priest is not inspired.”
751. When all had assembled, the priest ascended the pulpit and preached a sermon full of the spirit of wisdom. It was a sermon about the holiness of the Sacred Scripture, and about the conjunction of the Lord thereby with both the spiritual world and the natural world. In the state of enlightenment in which he was, he fully proved that that Holy Book was dictated by the Lord Jehovah, and that therefore He is in it, even so that He is the wisdom in it; but the wisdom which is Himself in the Word lies concealed under the sense of the letter, and is disclosed to those only who are both in the truths of doctrine and in goods of life; and who are thus in the Lord and the Lord in them. To the sermon he added an earnest prayer, and descended from the pulpit.
As the audience was leaving, the angel asked the priest to speak some words of peace to his ten companions; so he went to them, and they talked together for half an hour. He spoke of the Divine trinity as being in Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily, according to the saying of the Apostle Paul; and he afterward spoke of the union of charity and faith, but he said the union of charity and truth because faith is truth.
752. After expressing their thanks, they went home. And the angel said to them, “This is the third day since you came up to this heavenly society, and you were prepared by the Lord to remain here three days; so the time has come for us to part; you will therefore put off the clothes sent you by the prince, and put on your own.” And as soon as they had put on their own clothes they were inspired with a desire to depart; so they departed and descended, the angel accompanying them all the way to the place of the assembly; and there they gave thanks to the Lord for having vouchsafed to bless them with knowledge and consequent intelligence respecting heavenly joys and eternal happiness.
753. CHAPTER 14
THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE, THE COMING OF THE LORD, AND THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW CHURCH.
I. THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE IS THE LAST TIME OF THE CHURCH OR ITS END.
There have been several churches on this earth, and in the course of time they have all been consummated, and after their consummation new churches have arisen, and so on to the present time. The consummation of the church takes place when there is no Divine truth left except what has been falsified or set aside; and when there is no genuine truth no genuine good is possible, since every quality of good is formed by means of truths; for good is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good, and without form there can be no quality. Good and truth can no more be separated than will and understanding, or what is the same thing, than love’s affection and the thought therefrom. Consequently when truth is consummated in a church, good is also consummated there; and when this takes place, the church comes to an end, that is, is consummated.
754. The church is consummated by various means, especially by such things as cause falsity to appear to be truth; and when falsity appears to be truth, good that is essentially good, such as is called spiritual good, is no longer possible. The good that is then believed to be good is merely natural good, such as is brought forth by a moral life. The chief cause of the consummation of truth and of good along with it, is the two natural loves that are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves, and that are called love of self and love of the world. Love of self when it is predominant is the opposite of love to God, and love of the world when it is predominant is the opposite of love to the neighbor. Love of self is a wishing well to oneself alone, and not to any other except for the sake of self; and the same is true of love of the world; and these loves when they are fostered spread like gangrene through the body, gradually destroying every part of it. That such love has invaded the churches is manifest from Babylon and the way it is described (Gen. 11:1-9; Isa. 13; 14; 47; Jer. 50; Dan. 2:31-47; 3:1-7 seq.; 5; 6:8-28; 7:1-14; and Rev. 17 and 18 from beginning to end of both). Babylon has finally exalted itself to such a degree as not only to transfer the Lord’s Divine power to itself, but also to strive with the utmost energy to grasp all the riches of the world.
That like loves would break forth from many of the leaders of the churches outside the pale of Babylon, if their power were not restricted and thus curbed, may be deduced from certain signs and appearances not altogether without meaning. What then follows but that such a man will regard himself as God and the world as heaven, and will pervert all the truth of the church? For it is impossible for the merely natural man to recognize and acknowledge real truth, which is truth in itself, nor can such truth be given him by God, because it falls into what is inverse to it and becomes falsity. Besides these two loves there are still other causes of the consummation of truth and good, and consequently of the church; but those causes are secondary and subordinate to these two.
755. That the consummation of the age is the last time of the church, can be seen from those passages in the Word where it is spoken of, as in the following:
A consummation and decision I have heard from Jehovah upon the whole land (Isa. 28:22).
A consummation is determined, righteousness has overflowed, for the Lord Jehovah of Hosts is making a consummation and a decision in the whole land (Isa. 10:22, 23).
The whole land shall be devoured in the fire of Jehovah’s jealousy for He shall make a speedy consummation of all them that dwell in the land (Zeph. 1:18).
In these passages “the land” signifies the church, because the land of Canaan is meant, where the church was. That “the land” signifies the church may be seen proven by many passages from the Word in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 285, 902).
At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (Dan. 9:27).
That these words were spoken by Daniel respecting the end of the present Christian church may be seen in Matt. 24:15:
The whole earth shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation (Jer. 4:27).
The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated (Gen. 15:16).
Jehovah said, I will go down and see whether they have made a consummation according to the cry that is come unto Me (Gen. 18:21).
This was said of Sodom. The last period of the present Christian church is also meant by the Lord by the consummation of the age in the following passages:
The disciples asked Jesus, What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3).
In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, to burn them; but gather the wheat into My barn. So shall it be in the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:30, 39, 40).
In the consummation of the age the angels shall go forth and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous (Matt. 13:49).
Jesus said to His disciples, lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20).
It must be known that the meaning of “devastation,” “desolation,” and “decision” is similar to the meaning of “consummation;” but “desolation” signifies the consummation of truth, “devastation” the consummation of good, and “decision” the full consummation of both; also that “the fullness of time” in which the Lord came and is to come into the world means consummation.
756. The consummation of the age can be illustrated by various things in the natural world, for here each and all things on the earth grow old and decay, but by alternate changes which are called the circles of things. Times in general and in particular pass through these circles. In general, the year passes from spring to summer, through this to autumn, then ends in winter, and from this returns to spring; this is the circle of heat. In particular, the day passes from morning to noon, through this to evening, and ends in night, and from this returns again to morning; this is the circle of light. Again, every man runs through the circle of nature, beginning life in infancy, advancing therefrom to youth and manhood, from this to old age, and dies. So likewise every bird of the air and every beast of the earth. Also, every tree begins with a germ, goes on to its full stature, and gradually declines until it falls. The same is true of every bush and every shrub, and even of every leaf and flower, also of the soil itself, which in time becomes barren; and of all still water which gradually becomes foul. All these are alternative consummations, which are natural and temporal, and yet periodical; because when one has passed from its origin to its end, another like it arises; thus everything is born and dies and is born again, in order that creation may be continued. This is like what takes place in the church because man is a church and in general constitutes the church, and one generation follows another with a constant variation of disposition; and iniquity once enrooted, that is, an inclination to it, is transmitted to posterity, and is extirpated by regeneration only, which is wrought by the Lord alone.
757. II. THE PRESENT IS THE LAST TIME OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, WHICH WAS FORETOLD AND DESCRIBED BY THE LORD IN THE GOSPELS AND IN THE APOCALYPSE.
It has been shown in the preceding article that the consummation of the age signifies the last time of the church, and this makes clear what is meant by “the consummation of the age” of which the Lord speaks in the Gospels (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). For it is written:
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples drew near unto Him privately, saying, What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3).
Then the Lord began and foretold and described this consummation, what it was to be step by step, until His coming; and that He was then to come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, and was to gather His elect (verses 30, 31), and other events which in no wise took place at the destruction of Jerusalem. These things the Lord there described in prophetic discourse, in which every single word has weight. What these particular things involve has been explained in the Arcana Celestia (n. 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424).
758. That all these things which the Lord spoke about with His disciples were said of the last time of the Christian church, is very evident from the Apocalypse, where there are like predictions respecting the consummation of the age and the coming of the Lord, all of which are explained in detail in the Apocalypse Revealed, published in 1766. Because, then, what the Lord said in the presence of His disciples respecting the consummation of the age and His coming, coincides with what was afterward revealed by John in the Apocalypse respecting the same subjects, it is clearly evident that He meant no other consummation than that of the present Christian church. Moreover, there is a further prophecy in Daniel respecting the end of this church; therefore the Lord says:
When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, predicted by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him that readeth note it well (Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27).
There are like things in the other prophets. That such an abomination of desolation exists today in the Christian church will be made still more clear in an Appendix, in which it will be seen that there is not a single genuine truth remaining in the church, and also that unless a new church shall be raised up in the place of the present one, “no flesh can be saved,” according to the Lord’s words in Matthew (24:22). That the Christian church, as it is today, is consummated and devastated to such an extent, those on the earth who have confirmed themselves in its falsity are unable to see, for the reason that the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth; and this imposes a veil as it were upon the understanding, whereby it is protected from the entrance of anything that might pull up the ropes and stakes, by which its system, like a strong tent, has been built and shaped. To this may be added that the natural rational faculty is able to confirm whatever it pleases, thus falsity and truth equally; and when confirmed, they both appear in a similar light, and it is not known whether the light is illusive like that in a dream, or true like that of day. But the spiritual rational faculty, which those possess who look to the Lord, and from Him are in the love of truth, is wholly different.
759. For this reason every church made up of those who see by confirmations seems to itself to be the only church that is in the light, and all others which dissent from it appear to be in darkness. For those who see by confirmations are not unlike owls, which see light in the obscurity of night, and in the daytime see the sun and its rays as thick darkness. Such has been and such is every church that is in falsities, when it has become fixed in falsities by leaders who seem to themselves, to be lynx-eyed, and who have made for themselves a morning light out of their own intelligence and evening light out of the Word. Did not the Jewish church when it was wholly devastated (which it was when our Lord came into the world), loudly declare through its scribes and those skilled in the law, that because it had the Word it alone was in heavenly light, and yet they crucified the Messiah or the Christ who was the Word itself and the All in all things of it? What is the cry of that church which is meant by “Babylon” in the Prophets and in the Apocalypse, but that she is the queen, and mother of all churches, and that those which withdraw from her are spurious offspring that must be excommunicated? And this, even when she has thrust the Lord the Savior from the throne and altar and placed herself thereon. [2] Does not every church, even the most heretical, when once accepted, fill country and city with the cry that it alone is orthodox and ecumenical, and that it possesses the gospel which the angel flying in the midst of heaven announced (Apoc. 14:6)? And who does not hear the crowd echoing that it is so? Did not the whole Synod of Dort look upon predestination as a star coming down above their heads out of heaven, and did they not kiss that dogma as the Philistines kissed the image of Dagon in the temple of Ebenezer at Ashdod, and as the Greeks kissed the Palladium in the temple of Minerva? For they called that dogma the palladium of religion; and they did not know that a falling star is a meteor formed of illusive light, and when such light falls upon the brain it enables it to confirm every falsity (which is done by fallacies), until it is believed to be the true light, and is decreed to be a fixed star, and is finally sworn to be the star of stars. [3] Who speaks with fuller persuasion of the certitude of his delusion than the atheistic naturalist? Does he not laugh with the fullest assurance at the Divine things of God, the heavenly things of heaven, and the spiritual things of the church? Does not every lunatic believe his foolishness to be wisdom, and wisdom to be foolishness? Who by the sight of the eye can distinguish the illusive light of rotten wood from the light of the moon? Does not anyone who is averse to balsamic odors, as those who are affected with uterine diseases, repel those odors from the nostrils and choose ill-smelling odors in preference? And so on. All these things have been presented for the sake of illustration, to make clear that by natural light alone, or until truth from heaven beams forth in its own light, the fact that the church is consummated, that is, that it is in mere falsities, cannot be recognized. For falsity does not see truth, but truth sees falsity; and every man is such that he can see and comprehend truth when he hears it; but a man confirmed in falsities cannot so introduce truth into his understanding that it will remain, since it finds no place there; and if it happens to enter, the assembled horde of falsities casts it out as heterogeneous.
760. III. THIS LAST TIME OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS THE VERY NIGHT IN WHICH FORMER CHURCHES HAVE COME TO AN END.
That there have been in general four churches on this earth since its creation, one after the other, can be seen from both the historic and the prophetic Word, especially in Daniel, where these four churches are pictured by the statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream (chap. 2), and afterward by the four beasts coming up out of the sea (chap. 7). The first, which should be called the Most Ancient church, existed before the flood; and its consummation or destruction is pictured by the flood. The second, which should be called the Ancient church, existed in Asia, and a part of it in Africa; it was consummated and destroyed by idolatries. The third church was the Israelitish, which began with the promulgation of the Decalogue upon Mount Sinai, was continued by means of the Word written by Moses and the prophets, and was consummated or brought to an end by the profanation of the Word; which profanation was complete at the time of the Lord’s coming into the world; and in consequence they crucified Him who was the Word. The fourth is the Christian church, which was established by the Lord through the evangelists and apostles. Of this church there have been two epochs, one extending from the Lord’s time to the Council of Nice, and the other from that Council to the present day; but in its progress it has been divided into three – the Greek, the Roman Catholic, and the Reformed. All these, however, are called Christian churches. Furthermore, within each of these general churches there have been a number of particular churches; and these, in spite of their secession, have retained the general name, as heresies in the Christian church.
761. That the last time of the Christian church was the very night in which the former churches came to an end, can be seen from the Lord’s prediction respecting it in the Gospels and in Daniel; in the Gospels from the following:
That they would see the abomination of desolation, and there would be great tribulation, such as had not been from the beginning of the world until then, nor ever would be; and except those days should be shortened no flesh would be saved; and finally the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matt. 24:15, 21, 22, 29).
That time is also called night elsewhere in the Gospels, as in Luke:
In that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left (17:34).
And in John:
I must work the works of Him that sent Me, the night cometh when no man can work (9:4).
[2] As at midnight all light departs, and the Lord is the true light (John 1:4-9; 8:12; 12:35, 36, 46), so when the Lord ascended to heaven He said to His disciples:
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age (Matt. 27:20);
and then it is that He departs from them to a new church. That this last time of the church is the very night in which the former churches have come to an end can be seen also from the following passages in Daniel:
At last upon the bird of abomination shall be desolation and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (9:27).
That this is a prediction respecting the end of the Christian church is clearly evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew (24:15); as also from what is said in Daniel respecting the fourth kingdom, or the fourth church, represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s statue:
Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man; but they shall not cohere one with the other even as iron doth not mingle with clay (Dan. 2:43),
“the seed of man” meaning the truth of the Word.
[3] And again, from what is said respecting the fourth church represented by the fourth beast coming up out of the sea:
I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible; it shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces (Dan. 7:7, 23).
This means that all the truth of the church will be consummated, and then it will be night, because the truth of the church is light. Respecting this church there are many other like predictions in the Apocalypse, especially in the sixteenth chapter which treats of the vials full of the wrath of God poured out upon the earth, these vials signifying the falsities that would then inundate and destroy the church. So likewise in many places in the Prophets, as in the following:
Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even thick darkness and no brightness? (Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph. 1:15).
Again:
In that day Jehovah shall look down upon the land, and behold darkness, and the light is darkened in the ruins thereof (Isa. 5:30; 8:22),
“the day of Jehovah” meaning the day of the Lord’s coming.
762. That four churches have existed on this earth since the creation of the world is in accordance with Divine order, which requires that there be a beginning and then its end before a new beginning starts in. Therefore every day begins with morning, progresses, ends in night, and then begins anew; also every year begins with spring, progresses through summer to autumn, closes in winter, and then begins again; and in order that these changes may take place the sun rises in the east progresses therefrom through the south to the west, and finishes its course in the north, after which it rises again. It is the same with churches; the first, which was the Most Ancient, was like morning, spring, and the east; the second or Ancient church was like day, summer, and the south; the third was like evening, autumn, and the west; and the fourth like night, winter and the north. From these orderly progressions the wise men of ancient times inferred four ages of the world, the first of which they called the golden age, the second the silver age, the third the copper age, and the fourth the iron age, by which metals, moreover, these churches are represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. And again, in the Lord’s sight the church is seen as a single man, and this larger man must pass through his stages of life like an individual, that is to say, from infancy to youth, from this to manhood, and finally to old age; and then, when he dies, he will rise again. The Lord says:
Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth [alone]; but if it die, it beareth much fruit (John 12:24).
763. It is according to order that a first should go forth to its last both in general and in particular, in order that variety may exist in all things, and through varieties every quality; for quality is perfected by means of differences relating to what is more or less opposite. Who cannot see that truth takes on its quality through the existence of falsity, and good likewise through the existence of evil, as light takes on its quality through the existence of darkness, and heat through the existence of cold? What would color be if there were no black and nothing but white? If it were otherwise the quality of intermediate colors could not but be imperfect. What is sensation apart from relation; and what is relation except to things opposite? Is not the sight of the eye obscured by looking at white only, and quickened by a color that inwardly derives something from black, such, for example, as green? Is not the sense of bearing dulled by the continued strain of one tone upon its organs, and stimulated by a modulation that is varied by relative sounds? What is the beautiful without relation to the unbeautiful? So in some pictures in order to present vividly the beauty of a virgin, an ugly face is placed beside the handsome one. What are joy and happiness without relation to what is joyless and unhappy? Will not one become insane by dwelling upon one idea only, uninterrupted by a variety that tends to things opposite? It is the same with the spiritual things of the church, the opposites of which have relation to evil and falsity, which, nevertheless, are not from the Lord, but from man who has freedom of choice which he can turn either to a good use or an evil use; comparatively as it is with darkness and cold, which are not from the sun but are from the earth, which by its revolutions in turn withdraws from the sun and returns to it; and without its turning from and to the sun there would be neither day nor year, consequently no person and no thing on the earth. I have heard that churches which are in different goods and truths, provided their goods relate to love to the Lord, and their truths to faith in Him, are like so many gems in a king’s crown.
764. IV. THIS NIGHT IS FOLLOWED BY A MORNING WHICH IS THE COMING OF THE LORD.
As the successive states of the church in general and in particular are described in the Word by the four seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and by the four divisions of the day, morning, noon, evening, and night; and as the present church in Christendom is the night, it follows that the morning, that is, the beginning of a new church, is now at hand. That the successive states of the church are described in the Word by the four states of the light of day, can be seen from the following passages:
Unto evening and morning two thousand and three hundred; then the holy one shall be justified. The vision of the evening and the morning is truth (Dan. 8:14, 26).
Crying to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh and also the night (Isa. 21:11-12).
The end is come; the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; behold the day cometh; the morning is gone forth (Ezek. 7:6-7, 10).
Jehovah in the morning shall bring His judgment to light; nor shall He fail (Zeph. 3:5).
God is in the midst of her; God shall help her at the return of the morning (Ps. 46:5).
I have waited for Jehovah; my soul looketh for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, I say, more than watchmen for the morning; for with Him is plenteous redemption, and He will redeem Israel (Ps. 130:5-8).
[2] In these passages “evening” and “night” mean the last time of the church, and “morning” the first. The Lord Himself is also called the morning in the following passages:
The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to Me. He shall be as the light of the morning, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3-4).
I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star (Rev. 22:16).
From the womb of the morning Thou hast the dew of Thy youth (Ps. 110:3).
These passages refer to the Lord. Because the Lord is the morning, He arose from the sepulchre early in the morning, being about to begin a new church (Mark 16:2, 9).
[3] That it is the Lord’s coming that is to be waited for can be clearly seen from His prediction respecting it in Matthew:
As Jesus was sitting upon the Mount of Olives the disciples drew near unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3).
After the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory (Matt. 24:29, 30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).
As were the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not, shall the Son of man come (Matt. 24:37, 39, 44, 46).
In Luke:
When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).
In John:
Jesus said of John, If I will that he tarry till I come (John 21:22-23).
[4] In the Acts of the Apostles:
When they saw Jesus taken up into heaven, two men stood by them in white apparel, who said, Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have see Him go into heaven (Acts 1:9-11).
In the Apocalypse:
The Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book. Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work (Rev. 22:6-7, 12).
And again:
I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and he that heareth, let him say, Come; and he that is athirst, let him come; and he that wisheth, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:16-17).
He that testifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen (Rev. 22:20-21).
Emanuel Swedenborg · English translation by John C. Ager · Source edition · German edition.