Coronis,
or Appendix,
to
True Christian Religion
Emanuel Swedenborg
PROPOSITION THE FIRST (14 -17)
14. (5)
After these things the Lord Jehovih founds a new heaven from the good
elevated to Himself, and from the evil removed from Himself a new hell; and in
both He establishes order, so that they may stand under His auspices, and under
obedience to Him, to eternity.
It is written in Isaiah:
Jehovah said, Behold
I create new heavens and a new earth (55:17);
and elsewhere in the same
prophet:
As the new heavens and the new earth, which I am about to make,
shall stand before Me (56:22);
In the Apocalypse:
I saw a new heaven and a
new earth; the former heaven and the former earth have passed away
(21:1);
and in Peter:
According to promise, we look for new heavens and a
new earth, wherein justice shall dwell (2 Epist. 3:13).
It has not hitherto
entered into the mind of anyone to suppose otherwise, than that by "heaven," in
these places, is meant the visible heaven, that is, the whole firmament,
together with the sun, moon and stars; and that by "earth," there, is meant the
habitable earth, or the globe, and that these will perish at the day of the Last
Judgment; when nevertheless by "heaven" there the angelic heaven is meant, and
by "earth" the church. That by "earth" everywhere in the prophetic Word is meant
the church, has been fully shown in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 285). The reason
why by "new heavens" and a "new earth" have been hitherto understood the visible
heaven and the habitable earth, is because men have not known anything of the
spiritual world, consequently not anything of the angelic heaven, nor anything
of the prophetic sense, which carries and stores up nothing but spiritual
things; and the spiritual meaning of "earth" is the church. When, indeed, the
angels, inasmuch as they are spiritual, look down into the earth, they see
nothing at all of it, but only the church with men.
15. When the Lord Jehovih founds a new heaven and a new church, He introduces
order, so that they may stand under His auspices and under obedience to Him to
eternity. This is because the angelic heaven and the church on the earth
together constitute one body, whose soul and life is the Lord Jehovih, who is
the Lord our Saviour. The whole angelic heaven together with the church also
appears before the Lord as one man; and a man stands under the auspices of, and
under obedience to his soul: thus the entire heaven together with the church, is
under the auspices of, and under obedience to, the Lord; for the Lord is in them
and they are in the Lord (John 14:20; 15:4, 5; 17:23, 26); thus, He is the all
in all there. But the order which the Lord induces on hell is such that all who
are there may he diametrically opposite to all who are in heaven: whence it is
evident that since the Lord rules heaven He also rules hell, and that He rules
the latter by means of the former.
16. Moreover, the arrangement of all in the heavens and of all in the hells is
most perfect. For every heaven that is founded by the Lord after the
consummation of each church is made threefold: it is made highest, middle, and
lowest. Into the highest are elevated those who are in love to the Lord and in
wisdom thence; into the middle those who are in spiritual love towards the
neighbor and in intelligence thence; into the lowest those who are in
spiritual-natural love towards the neighbor, which is called charity, and thence
in the faith of the truths concerning God, and in a life according to the
precepts of the Decalogue. These three heavens constitute three expanses, one
above another, and they communicate with each other by the Divine influx from
the Lord out of the sun of the spiritual world. In the deep below there are also
three expanses, into which the hells are distinguished, between which in like
manner there is provided a communication by means of an influx through the
heavens from the Lord. By means of these communications there is effected a
close and indissoluble conjunction of all things in the heavens, and of all
things in the hells; but in the latter it is a conjunction of all the lusts of
the love of evil, while in the heavens it is a conjunction of all the affections
of the love of good. By virtue of that conjunction, heaven is like one Lord
sitting upon a throne girt about with wreaths formed of precious stones of every
kind; but hell is like one devil sitting upon a seat entwined with vipers,
serpents and poisonous worms. From this orderly arrangement, induced on both, it
follows that both stand under the auspices and under obedience to the Lord to
eternity.
17. It is known, that, in order that anything may be perfect, there must be a
trine in just order, one under another, and a communication between, and that
this trine must constitute a one; no otherwise than as a pillar is a one, at the
top of which is the capital, under this the smooth shaft, and under this again
the pedestal. Such a trine is man: his highest part is the head, his middle part
is the body, and his lowest the feet and soles. In this, every kingdom is like a
man; there must be a king in it as the head, also administrators and officers as
the body, and yeomanry with servants as feet and soles: in like manner in the
church, there must be a filleted primate, parish priests, and curates under
them. Nor does the world itself subsist without three things following in order,
namely, morning, noon, and evening; as also the yearly spring, summer, and
autumn; spring for the sowing of seeds, summer for their germination, and autumn
for bringing forth fruit: but night and winter do not contribute to the
stability of the world.
[2] Now since every perfect thing must be a trine and
cohere well together, in order to be a one, therefore each world, both spiritual
and natural, consists and subsists from three atmospheres or elements; the first
of which immediately encompasses the sun and is called aura; the second is under
this and is called ether; and the third is under them both and is called air. In
the natural world these three atmospheres are natural, and in themselves
passive, because they proceed from a sun which is pure fire; but the three
corresponding to them in the spiritual world are spiritual, and in themselves
active, because they proceed from a sun which is pure love.
[3] The angels of
the heavens dwell in the regions of these three atmospheres; the angels of the
highest heaven in the celestial aura, which immediately encompasses the sun
where the Lord is; the angels of the middle heaven in the spiritual ether under
the former; and the angels of the lowest heaven in the spiritual-natural air
under those two. Thus are all the heavens co-established, from the first to this
last which is being organized by the Lord at the present day. From these things
it may be apprehended whence it is that by "three" in the Word is signified what
is complete (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 505, 875).
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