Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/146

142 human mind. But in the Apocalypse the final state of the church is more particularly described, together with the judgment which it has brought upon itself, and the commencement of a new church under the name and character of the New Jerusalem. This New Church is described in chap. xxi. 10 to 24, as a great and holy city coming down from God out of heaven; equal in it's length, breadth, and height; having a wall of jasper great and high, with twelve foundations set with all manner of precious stones; twelve gates of pearl under the charge of twelve angels; the street of the city, and the city itself, pure gold, yet transparent like clear glass; with no other temple than the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb himself; and needing neither sun nor moon to shine in it, because the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. By these and other particulars relative to the city called New Jerusalem, we are to understand the doctrine of the New Church now establishing by the Lord in the world. The city itself is said to descend from God out of heaven, to denote that the doctrine of the New Church is wholly derived from the Lord and his Word by a new revelation from himself. By the length, breadth, and height of it being equal, is signified, that all the goods and truths of that doctrine are inseparably united. By the wall of the city are meant the external truths, which defend and secure it. By the measure of the wall, which is an hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man and of an angel, are meant all those truths of defence and security in the aggregate, with their particular natures and qualities. By the twelve foundations of the wall set with precious stones, are meant all those knowledges whereupon the heavenly doctrine is founded. By the twelve tribes of Israel, and also by the twelve