Heaven and hell : also, the intermediate state, or world of spirits : a relation of things heard and seen / by Emanuel Swedenborg.
- Emmanuel Swedenborg
- Date:
- 1893
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Heaven and hell : also, the intermediate state, or world of spirits : a relation of things heard and seen / by Emanuel Swedenborg. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![precede the diiy of the Lord's coming in the power of his Spirit, to siinctify and cleanse his clmrch, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works; trusting in hope that this time is near at hand, i.e. that he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. And though there has been for a season a mth- holding, in a measure, from Sion the ordinary consolations of the Spirit, in the way of a judgment work [under grace] for self- condemnation, humiliation, and subsequent glorification, yet we are assured that such judgment is sent forth unto victory over the remainder of indwelling sin : for there is a judgment unto righteousness, as well as a judgment unto condemnation j and accordingly in the former sense it is said, that Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness (Isaiah i. 27) ; so that her tribulation is for pui'ification, and exaltation ; as it is said in another place, For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies Avill I gather thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemei' (Isaiah liv. 7) ; and as to the restitution of her gifts, graces, and extraordinary dispensations, signified by precious stones, under her figurative denomination of the Lord's house or temple, the prophet proceeds thus : 0 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold 1 will lay thy stones with fair colours, and thy foundations with, sapphires, and all thy borders with pleasant stones; and all thy chikben shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children ; in righteousness shalt thou be estab- lished, Isaiah liv. 11, 13. The above is but a small part of the glorious things that are spoken by the evangelical prophet, of the city of God, the spi- ritual chm'ch under the gospel dispensation in the latter days, when she shall have filled up the measure of her persecutions and suff'erings, both from her open enemies, and also in the house of her friends. And we trust that the time draws very nigh for this glorious dispensation of the New Jerusalem to take place ; and particularly, among other important considerations, from instances of extraordinary communications from above, by visions and otherways, to godly men and women of different churches within this last century, and who may be considered as the harbingers or forerunners of it. Nor did ever any extra- ordinary revolution come to pass in the church of God, ^vithout previous notices of it first given to some chosen vessels for a testimony to the times, to strengthen the weak in faith to com- fort the atilicted, to alarm the careless and impenitent, or to answer other good purposes of the Divine Providence and good- ness. Instances of the kind above mentioned of both sexes are ready at hand to offfer, and which were received in their day, according to the dignity of their character, by such as M'ere qualified to profit by their message and ministry; but as is](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21782556_0029.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
