THE FIRST OHRISTIAX GHURCH. 377
and the wealth which they desired and eagerly strove after, they would from intestine hatred have rushed one asjainst another according to their impulses and thoughts ; and without any con- science they would have seized the goods of others, and without conscience would also have cruelly murdered especially the in- offensive. Such are Christians at this day as to their interiors, ex(;ept a few who are not known. From this it appears what the quality of the church is. (A. C. n. 3486-3489.)
" For then shall he great tribulation^ such as was not from the heginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall he ; and except those days should he shortened, there should no flesh he saved^' (Matt, xxiv. 21, 22). This is said of the last time of the church, when the judgment takes place. That such is the state of the church at this day may be known from these considerations alone : That in the greatest part of the Christian world are those who have transferred to themselves the Divine power of the Lord, and would be worshipped as gods, and who invoke dead men, — and scarce any there invoke the Lord ; and that the rest of the church make God three, and the Lord two, and place salvation, not in amendment of life, but in certain words devoutly uttered with the breath, — thus not in repentance, but in confidence that they are justified and sanctified, if only they fold their hands and look upwards, and utter some customary form of prayer. (A. K. n 263.)
The End of the First Christian Church.
The greater part of mankind believe that when the last judg- ment comes all things in the visible world are to be destroyed, that the earth will be consumed by fire, the sun and the moon will be dissipated, and the stars will vanish away; and that afterwards a new heaven and a new earth will spring forth. This opinion they have taken from Prophetic revelations, wherein such things are mentioned. But the last judgment is nothing else than the end of the church with one nation, and its beoinnin« with another ; which end and which beginning take place when there is no longer any acknowledgment of the Lord, or, what is the same, when there is no faith. There is no acknowledgment or no faith when there is no charity ; for faith cannot exist except with those who are in charity. That then is the end of the church and its transfer to others, clearly appears from all that the Lord Himself taught and foretold in the Evangelists concerning that last day, or the consummation of the age ; namely, in Matt. xxiv., Mark xiii., and in Luke xxi. But as these teachings can- not be comprehended by any one without the key, which is their internal sense, it is permitted to unfold in order the things which 30
