3;

chap. xxv. 12, 13; chap. xxvi. 2; chap. xxix. 9, 10, 12; chap. xxxii. 12, 15. Joel i. 15 to 20; chap. ii. chap. iv. 19. Nahum i. 8, 9. Zeph. i. 29; chap. ii. 9. Lam. i. 16. Psalm lxxiii. 17, 18, 19. Psalm lxxiv. 3. The DEVASTATED are also called the PIERCED, Ezek. xi. 6, 7; chap. xxi. 30, 34; chap. xxvi. 6; chap. xxviii. 8, 23; chap. xxxi. 17, 18; chap. xxxii. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32; chap. xxxv. 8. Zeph. ii. 12. Lam. iv. 9. Psalm lxix. 28; and in other places. They are said to be pierced [or thrust through,] because a sword, by which it is done, signifies the false principle destroying truth.

V.

That before this State, and after it, a Promise was made of the Coming of the Lord Jehovih into the World, and at the same Time of a New Church, wherein Justice and Judgment should reign.

59.

It is well known from the reading of the prophetical Word of the Old Testament, that in many places therein the coming of our Lord was foretold, and also that the Lord is there characterized and called by various names, such as the following, JEHOVAH ZEBAOth, JeHOVAH OUR JUSTICE, JEHOVAH OUR SAVIOUR AND REDEEMER, THE LORD JEHOVIH, ADONAI, IMMANUEL or God with US, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, THE ROCK OF ISRAEL, MESSIAH OR THE ANOINTED OF JEHOVAH, KING, DAVID, THE MIGHTY ONE OF JACOB, THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL, HIGH

PRIEST,

PRIEST, A PRIEST AFTER THE MANNER OF MELCHIZEDECH, THE SON OF GOD, THE SON OF MAN, THE ANGEL OF JEHOVAH, THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT, THE GRAND PROPHET, SHILOH; and in Isaiah, COUNSELLOR, PRINCE OF PEACE, FATHER OF ETERNITY; and in the New Covenant, JESUS CHRIST, and SON OF GOD. That the coming of our Lord was foretold in very many places in the prophets, will be seen from the predictions to that effect, which will be quoted in the following paragraph. But it may be asked, Why was the prediction concerning his advent so frequently made? For this there were several reasons, some regarding the Israelitish and Jewish people, and some regarding the Christian people after them but we will enumerate the reasons which chiefly regarded the Israelitish and Jewish people. THE FIRST was, that by the naming and remembrance of him they might be kept in the interior worship of Jehovah, seeing that without him there was no entrance for Jehovah to any of them, nor access for any of them to Jehovah. The case was the same then, as it is at this day, that no one hath seen God the Father; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath set him forth, John i. 185 chap. v. 37: and again, No one cometh to the Father, but by me, John xiv. 6. THE SECOND REASON regarding that people was, that the representative types of their church, which all had respect to our Lord and to the church to be established by him after his coming, might serve them as so many marks and symbols of their worship; consequently that they might acknowledge him at his coming, and suffer themselves to be introduced into the internals of worship directed to him, and toge

ther

ther with the nations, which surrounded them, become christians. THE THIRD REASON was, that by the remembrance of his coming some notion or idea concerning the resurrection and eternal life might enter into their thoughts; for who of them would not within himself or in his heart think, What have we to do with the Messiah, after we are dead, unless we return then, see his glory, and reign with him? From this source was derived the religious persuasion prevalent among them, that at that time they were to rise again, each out of his grave, and to return into the land of Canaan. THE FOURTH REASON was, that in their state of vastation and oppression, when they were in temptations and afflictions, they might be succoured and healed, as their fathers and brethren were in the desert, Num. xxi. 1 to 9. John iii. 14, 15; for without such succour and healing they would have uttered scandalous aspersions against Jehovah, and departed in crouds from the representative worship of him to idolatrous worship. Indeed temptations and afflictions, in a state of vastation and oppression, are no other than combats of the Lord with the devil touching man, that is, touching his soul, [to ascertain] which shall possess it ; of which state it may be said, that the God of Israel or the Lord the Messiah stands on one side, and Beelzebub and the Serpent the Devil on the other, and that the latter casts scandalous reproaches against the Lord like a river out of his mouth, but that the Lord averts and removes them, and thus delivers man from spiritual captivity and slavery. This combat is felt in man, as if it were from himself. That temptation is such a combat, accompanied by such a perception in man, and conse

quent co-operation, I can testify upon oath, for having often experienced it I know it to be so. That it is carried on out of the man, and is felt in him as from himself, and that man stands in the middle, and co-operates, is to the end, that a reward may be imputed to him when he conquers; but that man only conquers, who looks to the Lord, and trusts in him alone for help. That every one, who calls upon the Lord in temptations, conquers, but that otherwise he is overcome, shall be illustrated by comparisons: It is like a ship driven by a storm near rocks, when, unless the pilot has skill to keep it from dashing against them, and to change it's course so as to bring it safe into port, the ship must be lost. It is like a city besieged by enemies, when, if there be no way to escape, nor to procure help, the commanding officer together with his troops become hopeless and heartless, and deliver themselves up prisoners, submitting their lives to the discretion of their enemy. It is like a person on a journey entering unawares into a cottage where there are robbers, and who, on being shut in, has no friend to come and knock at the door, or to shew himself before the window, and thereby terrify those villains, and secure him from ill-treatment. It is like a person accidentally going into a cave where there is a bear with it's cubs, or falling into a pit in which are a wolf and a leopard, and his father or brother, on seeing this, does not immediately let down to him a ladder or a rope, and extricate him from his perilous situation. It is like a person standing or walking in the day-time in a thick fog, and in consequence thereof not knowing which way to turn himself, unless he lights a candle, and thereby discovers

the

the place where he stands, or the way in which he should walk. It is like being in the depth of winter, and in want of provisions, if not supported by the hope of the approaching harvest on the return of the season. So again it is like a person wandering at midnight in a wood, unless he comforts himself with the hope of light, and in that hope goes to rest, and sleeps quietly till the morning. It is also like a person, who, for the sake of salvation, is desirous of being instructed in the things apper. taining to the christian religion, and meets with mitred doctors, and laurelled teachers, who explain them by terms borrowed from the metaphysical art, and involve them in mystery; when yet there is no other person to dissect those terms, and thereby rid the subject of it's intricacies, and from the Word, thus from the Lord to place the holy things of the church in a clear [and satisfactory] point of view: would he not in such case be deluded by the falsities relative to faith, and other matters of opinion, which depend on the established faith, just as the links of a chain hang together from a hook fixed in the wall? The case would be similar in temptations and their attendant infestations from satans, unless man looked with confidence to the Lord, and with all earnestness implored help and deliverance from him alone. For these reasons it is, that the coming of the Lord is so frequently predict. ed in the Old Prophetic Word, and for the same reasons also the Lord is preached in the New Evangelical and Apostolical Word, and his second coming foretold; on which subject see the following quotations.

60. Now follow some passages concerning the coming of the Lord, collected from the prophecies of the Old Word,