flavour of the wine, and thus enjoys the use of both with pleasure.

1

52. That the second state of this church was INSTRUCTION, follows from the order [of things;] for when any one is called to the church, he must be instructed in the precepts of religion, according to which he is to live. That this took place with the sons of Israel after their calling, is evident from the promulgation of the law upon mount Sinai, in which are contained all the precepts of love and faith to God, and all the precepts of love and 'fidelity towards the neighbour. After their instruction in the general precepts of life and faith, there followed a publication of various laws, called judgments and statutes, which had relation to the sanctification of the sabbath, to stated feasts, to sacrifices, to the priesthood, to the tabernacle, to holy worship within it, and upon the altar without it, also to the eating of sanctified things, to the ministry of Aaron and his sons, to their garments and the consecration thereof, and to the sanctification of all things appertaining to the tabernacle by the oil of anointing; likewise to the order of Levites, to marriages and divorces, to cleansings, to foods, to places of refuge, with various other things, which were a natural representations corresponding to spiritual things. The four last books of the Word written by Moses are nothing else but books of instruction for that church. After these instructions the sons of Israel were introduced into the land of Canaan, consequently into the church itself, for the land of Canaan represented and thence signified the church: that land was also situated in the very middle of our whole globe, for on the front it looked towards Eu

rope,

rope, on the left towards Africa, and on the back part and right side towards Asia. But the precepts given by Moses were enriched, after they came into that land, by the prophets, then by David their king, and lastly by Solomon after the building of the temple, as appears from the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings. This therefore was the second state of this church, which was it's progression into light, or it's day.

53. To these two states of this church may be applied the following passages in the Word; Jehovah will vivify us after two days, in the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him: JEHOVAH, as the AURORA his going forth is prepared, and he shall come as the rain unto us, as the latter rain he shall water the earth, Hos. vi. 2, 3. The God of Israel said, the ROCK OF ISRAEL spake to me; he is as the LIGHT OF THE MORNING, a MORNING without clouds, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4. And in Moses, My doctrine shall flow down as the rain;

my word shall distil

as the dew, as the drops upon the grass, and as the small drops upon the herb: I will preach the name of Jehovah; ascribe ye greatness to our God: the Rock, whose work is perfect, all his ways are judgment, a God of faithfulness without perversity, just and right is he, Deut. xxxii. 2, 3, 4. These passages also serve as a confirmation, that those two states of this church were from our Lord, who is the God of Israel and the Rock: that he is the Rock, is evident from these words in Paul, They all drank of the spiritual Rock. which accompanied them; THE ROCK WAS CHRIST, I Cor. x. 4.

III.

That the third State of this Church was it's Declension from true representative Worship, into idolatrous Worship, and at the same Time it's Vastation or Evening.

$4. ON the difference between representative worship and idolatrous worship some memorable observations were made above; from which it may be seen, that while the types, figures, and signs, which as objects of religion presented to the bodily senses were eagerly embraced by the men of the Noahtic and Israelitish churches, were not at the same time regarded from a superior or interior idea, nearly approaching to a spiritual idea, worship truly representative with them easily declined into idolatry ; as for example, if they thought of the tabernacle, and not at the same time as of heaven and the church, and of the habitation of God in them; if they thought of the bread of faces therein, and not at the same time as of heavenly bread which nourishes the soul; if they thought of the frankincense and perfumes upon the golden altar therein, and not at the same time of worship derived from faith and charity, and that such worship ascends as a grateful odour to Jehovah; if they thought of the lights in the lamps of the golden candlestick when lighted up, and not at the same time as of the illumination of the understanding in the objects of their religion; and if they thought of the eating of things sanctified, and not at the same time as of the appropriation of heavenly foods, and also of the holy refreshment of their spirits

from

from the performance of the sacrifices: the case was similar with respect to the other parts of their worship. Hence it is evident, that if a man of the representative church did not at the same time regard the things appertaining to that worship with a rational spirit illustrated by heavenly light from the Lord, but merely with a rational spirit instructed by the natural lumen of the world from himself, he might easily be carried away from genuine representative worship into idolatrous worship, and so be vastated; for VASTATION is nothing else but a deviation, declension, and falling away from representative worship into idolatrous worship, which two kinds of worship are alike as to the external face, but not as to the internal face. On account of this proneness to fall away from one worship, which in itself was heavenly, into another, which in itself was infernal, the interior things of the church and religion could not be revealed before the coming of the Lord, when [they were revealed] by light from him; such were the interior things concerning hea ven and hell, the resurrection, and the life of their spirits after death, also concerning the immortality of their souls, regeneration, and in short the interior things relative to faith and charity; for they would have regarded them scarce any otherwise, than as people view birds over their heads, or meteors in the air. Moreover they would have disguised or concealed them by the mere fallacies of the senses, in so gross a manner, that none of the spiritual things revealed would have remained discernible, except so much as might be compared to the tip of the nose in respect to the face, or to a finger-nail in respect to the hands. They would also have deformed them to such a

degree,

degree, that in the sight of angels they would have ap peared no otherwise, than like a sea-monster dressed out in a cloak, with a mitre on it's head, and with a face, after being shaved and painted, resembling that of an ape, on which there is no hair: or they would have appeared, in the sight of angels, like a graven image, furnished with moveable joints, and made hollow, so as to admit some priest within it, who should walk, act, and speak, and at length cry out to the superstitious multitude, Prostrate yourselves, and call upon me, for behold I am your guardian angel, your tutelar deity, to whom belong holiness and divine power. Could the ideas of their thought concerning the spiritual things of the church be superior to those of Nicodemus, who was a teacher, on the subject of regeneration, and who supposed that it consisted in the re-production of the whole man in the womb of his mother, for he said, How can a man be generated anew? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb? to whom the Lord answered, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not this? if I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I shall tell you supra-celestial things? John iii. 3, 4, 9, 10, 12. They would have reasoned in the same idle and extravagant manner, if interior things, which in their essence are spiritual, had been revealed to them, concerning faith and charity, also concerning a life after death, and the state of heaven and hell. Wherefore to open the internal sight of their mind or spirit as to it's su perior region, which alone celestial light illuminates, before the coming of the Lord, who came as light into the world, agreeably to his own words in John i. 1 to 4;

chap.