Coronis,
or Appendix,
to
True Christian Religion
Emanuel Swedenborg
SECOND PROPOSITION (34 - 35)
34. (e)
The fifth state of this church was the separation of the good from the
evil, which was the Last Judgment on all who were of that church. This state is
described by the "flood," in which all the wicked who remained perished; and by
"Noah and his sons," "Noah and his sons," by whom are meant all the good that
were saved. The end of the Most Ancient Church, represented by "Adam," is
described in the sixth chapter of Genesis by these words:
When Jehovah saw
that the wickedness of man was multiplied in the world, and moreover every
imagination of his heart only evil every day, it repented Jehovah that He had
made man on the earth. Therefore Jehovah said, I will blot out man whom I have
created from upon the faces of the earth; only Noah found grace in the eyes of
Jehovah (Gen. 6:5-8).
But the Last Judgment upon them is described by "the
flood." It is described by a "flood" for the reason that "waters" in the Word
signify truths, and in the opposite sense falsities. Truths are signified by the
waters of a fountain, the waters of a river, the waters of rain, and by the
waters of the washings in time past, and the waters of baptism at this day. That
correspondence arises from the circumstance that truths purify man's soul from
uncleanness as waters do his body; hence they are called "living waters." But in
the opposite sense, by "waters" are signified falsities; but by impure waters,
such as those of marshes, malodorous cisterns, urine, and sewage, in general by
all hurtful and death-producing waters, therefore also by waters from an
inundation of which man dies, consequently by the Noahian flood.
[2] That falsities in a
mass are described by "inundations," may he evident from the following
passages:
Jehovah is causing to come up upon them the waters of the river
(Euphrates) strong and many it shall pass through Judah, it shall inundate, it
shall pass through, it shall reach even to the neck (Isa. 8:7, 8).
By the
"waters of the river Euphrates," are signified reasonings from falsities,
because by Assyria, whose river it was, reasoning is signified.
The spirit of
Jehovah, like an inundating stream, shall divide in two even to the neck, to
sift the nations with the sieve of vanity (Isa. 30:28, 30).
By "an inundating
river" here in like manner is signified reasoning from falsities.
Behold
waters are rising up out of the north, which are like an inundating stream, and
shall inundate the land and the fullness thereof (Jer. 47:2).
Here the
Philistines are treated of, by whom are meant those who are not in charity, and
hence not in truths; the falsities of these are signified by "the waters coming
up from the north," and the devastation of the church in consequence thereof, by
"an inundating stream that shall inundate the land and the fullness thereof;"
"the land" is the church, and its " fullness" all things of it.
Say unto
those who daub what is unfit, There shall be an inundating rain, in which
hail-stones shall fall upon you (Ezek. 13:11, 13).
The "daubing of what is
unfit" is the confirmation of falsity, and "hail-stones" are falsities.
In an
overrunning inundation He shall make a consummation of the place thereof, and
thick darkness shall pursue His enemies (Nah. 1:8).
By "the inundation" which
shall consummate, is signified the falsification of truth, and by "thick
darkness," truths themselves in the night.
Ye have said, We have made a
covenant with death, and with hell have we made a vision when the scourge of
inundation shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; we have made a lie our
trust, and in falsity we will hide (Isa. 28:15).
Here "inundation" manifestly
stands for destruction by falsities; for it is said that they placed confidence
in "a lie," and that they would hide in "falsity."
After sixty-two weeks
shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; then the people of the Prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, so that the end
thereof shall be with an inundation even to desolations (Dan. 9:26).
[3] These things are concerning the Christian Church that
was to come, in which the worship of the Lord would perish; which is meant by
"Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself": that it would perish by
falsifications, is meant by "the end thereof shall be with an inundation even to
desolations;" "desolation" is that falsification. Hence it is that after the
Lord spoke of "the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel the prophet,"
and of the "consummation of the age" thereby, He said, that:
His coming would
be as in the days when the flood came, and took them all away (Matt. 24:15,
39).
The drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the sea Suph (Exod. 14),
means in the spiritual sense destruction by falsities, has been demonstrated in
the Arcana Coelestia, in the explanation of that chapter.
35. Since the churches in the Christian world, both the Roman Catholic Church
and those separated from it, which are named after their leaders, Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, derive all sin from Adam and his transgression, it is
permissible to subjoin here something about the sources whence sins are
inherited; for these sources are as many as there are fathers and mothers in the
world. That inclinations, aptitudes, and propensities to evils are derived from
these, is manifest in light from the testimonies of experience, and also from
the assent of reason. Who does not know, from the collective suffrages of
experience, that there is a general likeness of minds, and hence of manners and
countenances, from parents in the children and children's children, even to a
certain posterity? Who cannot thence infer that original sins are from them? The
notion suggested to everyone, when he looks at the countenances and manners of
brothers and relatives in families, causes him to know and acknowledge this.
[2] What reason, then, is there for deducing the origin of all evils from Adam and
his seed? Is there not equal reason for deducing it from parents? Does not the
seed of these similarly propagate itself? To deduce from Adam's seed alone the
allurements from which and according to which the spiritual forms of the minds
of all men in the universe exist, would be like deriving birds of every wing
from one egg, also beasts of every nature from one seed, and trees of every kind
of fruit from one root. Is there not an infinite variety of men? one like a
sheep, another like a wolf? one like a kid, another like a panther? one like a
tamed carriage horse before a carriage, another like an untamable wild ass
before it? one like a playful calf, another like a voracious tiger? and so on.
Whence has each his peculiar disposition but from his father and his mother? Why
then from Adam? by whom nevertheless is described in a representative type the
first church of this earth, as has been already shown? Would not this be like
deriving from one stock deeply hidden in the earth a plantation of trees of
every kind and use, and from a single plant shrubs of every degree of value?
Would that not also be like deriving light from the darkness of the ages and of
histories, and like unravelling the thread of a knot that cannot he untied? Why
not rather from Noah, "who walked with God" (Gen. 6:9), and "whom God blessed"
(Gen. 9:1), and from whom alone, surviving with his three children, "the whole
earth was overspread"? (Gen. 9:19.) Would not the hereditary qualities of the
generations from Adam be extirpated, as if drowned by a flood?
[3] But, my friend, I will open the true source of sins.
Every evil is conceived of the Devil as a father, and is born of atheistical
faith as a mother; and on the other hand, every good is conceived of the Lord as
a father, and is born of saving faith in Him as a mother. The generations of all
goods in their infinite varieties among men are from no other origin than from
the marriage of the Lord and the church; and, on the contrary, the generations
of all evils among them in their varieties, are from no other origin than from
the interaction of the Devil with a profane congregation. Who does not know, or
may not know, that a man must be regenerated by the Lord, that is, created anew,
and that so far as this is effected so far he is in goods? Hence this follows:
that so far as a man is unwilling to be generated anew or created anew, so far
he takes up and retains the evils implanted in him from his parents. This is
what lies concealed in the first precept of the Decalogue:
I am a zealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon
the fourth generation of them that hold Me in hatred, and doing mercy unto
thousands who love Me and do My commandments (Exod. 20:5, 6; Deut. 5:9, 10).
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