and making decrees? Doth not illumination, which is of a spiritual nature, as it descendeth from the Lord alone, who is the God of heaven and of the church, and also the God of the word, become in such a case more and more natural, and at last sensual? And when this happens, not a single genuine theological truth preserveth its true fragrance in its internal form, but is instantly cast out from the comprehension of the rational understanding, and dispersed into the air like chaff by the winnower's fan; in which case fallacies enter, and take place of truths, and darkness reigneth instead of light; and then men stand as in a dark cave, with spectacles before their eyes, and a candle in their hands, and close their eyelids against all spiritual truths which are in the light of heaven, but open them for the reception of sensual truths, which are in the false light of the bodily senses; and afterwards when they hear the word read to them, their minds in like manner are asleep to the perception of truths, and awake to the perception of falses, and become like the beast that rose out of the sea, which had a mouth like a lion, and a body like a leopard, and feet like a bear, Rev. xiii. 2. It is said in heaven, that at the conclusion of the council at Nice, there was a fulfilling of these prophecies which the Lord declared to his disciples, The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, Matt. xxiv. 29, and in truth, the apostolic church was like a new star appearing amongst the heavenly constellations, but after the second council of Nice it became like the same star, when it is darkened, and disappeared, as hath sometimes also been the case in the natural world according to the observations of astronomers. It is written in the word that Jehovah God dwelleth in the light which
