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is come, the MORNING hath gone forth, Ezech. vii. 5, 6, 7, 10. There shall be a DAY, which shall be known to Jehovah, not DAY nor NIGHT, for about the time of EVENING there shall be LIGHT, Sach. xiv. 7. About the time of EVENING behold terror, before the MORNING, it is not, Isa. xvii. 14. In the EVENING weeping will tarry all NIGHT, but in the MORNING will be singing, Psalm xxx. 6. Even to the EVENING and the MORNING two thousand three hundred, then the holy thing shall be justified: the vision of the EVENING and the MORNING is truth, Dan. viii. 14, 26. Jehovah in the MORNING will bring his judgment to the light, he will not fail, Zeph. iii. 5. Thus said Jehovah, If ye shall make void my covenant of the DAY and my covenant of the NIGHT, so that there be not DAY and NIGHT in their season, my covenant also shall be made void with David my servant, Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 25. Jesus said, I must work the works of God while it is DAY; the NIGHT will come, when no one can work, John ix. 4. In this NIGHT there shall be two upon one bed, one shall be taken, but the other shall be left, Luke xvii. 34. The preceding passages treat of the consummation of the age, and of the coming of the Lord. Hence it may appear what is understood by there being TIME NO LONGER, Apoc. x. 6, viz. that in the church there would be neither morning, day, nor evening, but night; likewise what is meant by TIME, TIMES, and HALF A TIME, Apoc. xii. 14. Dan. xii. 9; as also what is meant by the FULNESS OF TIME, Eph. i. 10, 11, 13. Gal. iv. 4

ΠΙ.

III.

That in each Church there have succeeded four Changes of State, the first of which was the Appearance of the Lord Jehovih and Redemption, and at the same Time it's Morning or Rise: the second was it's Instruction, and at the same Time it's Day or Progression: the third was it's Declension, and at the same Time it's Evening or Vastation: the fourth was it's End, and at the same Time it's Night or Consummation.

6. THAT there have been four successive states of each church, which in the Word are understood by MORNING, DAY, EVENING, and NIGHT, was shewn in the article just preceding: that each of the four churches abovementioned hath undergone those states, will be fully confirmed in the following pages, when we come to treat of them severally in their order; and then [it will be found] that the appearing of the Lord Jehovih and redemption was it's MORNING, that instruction was it's DAY or progression into light, that the declension thereof was it's EVENING or vastation, and that the end thereof was it's NIGHT or consummation. The Word, as well in it's historical as in it's prophetical parts, every where treats of those four changes of state.

7. The order, into which every man was created by God, is, that after infancy he may become a man; for when he is first born, he is only an external image or form of a man, and he is then less a man, than a beast newly born is a beast: but in proportion as interiorly in this form, with respect to his mind or his spirit, he is per

fected

fected in wisdom and love, in the same degree he becomes a man. Man is like a tree, which first grows from a seed into a shoot, and when it increases in height emits branches, and from these boughs, and clothes itself 'continually with leaves, and when it is come to maturity, which takes place in it's middle age, it puts forth blossoms, and produces fruits, in every one of which it stores up seeds, which being cast into the earth as into a womb grow up into similar trees, and thus into a garden; and if ye are willing to believe it, that same garden after death abides with man, he dwells in it, and is every day delighted with it's appearance and with the use of it's fruits such a man is described in David by these words, He shall be like a tree planted near rivers of waters, which shall yield it's fruit in it's scason, and it's leaf shall not fall, Psalm 1. 3; and likewise in Apoc. xxii. 1, 2. But the case is different with the man born in the church, who, after having passed through his morning, and advanced into the first light of day, whereby he became rational, then stands still, and brings forth no fruit; such an one is or may be like a tree bearing leaves in abundance, but no fruits, which is rooted up out of the garden, it's branches cut off, and the trunk cleft in pieces with an ax or a saw, and the whole then cast by piecemeal into the fire. The light of such a rational man becomes like the light of the days in winter, when the leaves of the trees first grow yellow, then drop off, and lastly rot. His rational principle may further be compared with a tree, whose leaves in the beginning of spring are consumed by worms; likewise with growing corn, which is choaked by thorns; and also with the herb,

which is destroyed by locusts: the reason is, because his rational principle is merely natural, deriving it's ideas solely through the senses from the world, and not through affections and thence perceptions from heaven: and since on this account in his rational principle there is not inwardly any thing spiritual, if he then converses on any of the spiritual things of the church, his voice is heard by the angels not unlike the voice of a parrot or a goose; for his voice is merely animal because it is merely natural, having nothing human because there is nothing spiritual within it, thus flowing from the respiration of the body only, and not from any respiration of the spirit. Such is the character of a man, who from natural doth not become spiritual, and no one becometh spiritual, unless after being made rational he bring forth fruits, that is, unless he imbue charity by the life.

3. The reason why in the Word four changes of state are predicated of the church, which are called Morning, Day, Evening, and Night, is because the church consists of men, and man is a church in particular, and an assembly of such men is what is called the church in this assembly or church, they who live according to the order described above, n. 7, are trees of life, which also are trees of good use; but they, who do not live according to that order, are trees of the science of good and evil, which also are trees of evil use: these latter are the persons, of whom are predicated evening and night, or what amounts to the same, vastation and consummation; but not so the former. But these subjects will be presented to the understanding in a clearer point of view, in the following pages: it is proper however

that

that at the beginning of this volume some preliminary observations should be made, because knowledges must be previously acquired, before any one can know, that by MORNING is understood the rise of the church, and that this is preceded by redemption; that by DAY is meant the progression of the new church into light, and it's intelligence; that by EVENING is meant the declension of that church from good and truth, which is called vastation; and that by NIGHT is understood it's end and destruction, which is called consummation; and so on.

9. The end of the church or consummation of the age takes place, when not any genuine truth and hence not any genuine good, or when not any good and hence not any truth, remain, but in the place thereof the false and the evil thence derived, or the evil and the false thence derived, are predominant; and then there is fulness in the church, the members thereof being like persons walking in the night, who, because they do not see any thing which appears in the light of the sun, dispute about every thing relating to the church, and in general about God, about heaven and hell, and about a life after death; and they who confirm themselves in the denial of such things, as well as they who hang in a state of doubtful uncertainty, at length shun the light, and if they be priests, they procure to themselves a false light on those subjects, similar to that by which owls, cats, and mice see in the dark: this light is excited in them, as in these wild beasts, by the activities of concupiscences.

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