41. The successive states of this church, which are its rise or morning, progression into light or day, vastation or evening, and consummation or night, it is not permitted to follow up with a description in the same manner as we before described the states of the Most Ancient Church, because the states of that church cannot be so collected from our Word; for the posterity of Noah, through his three sons, is recorded only in a summary, in one or two pages; and moreover that church was spread through many kingdoms, and in each kingdom it varied, and hence that church underwent and ran through the states named in a different manner. [2] The first and second state thereof in the regions round about the Jordan and about Egypt, was like the "garden of Jehovah," is evident from these passages:
The plain of Jordan was like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, where thou comest unto Zoar (Gen. 13:10). And likewise Tyre from these:
Thou prince of Tyre, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, until perversity was found in thee (Ezek. 28:12-15). That Assyria was like a "cedar in Lebanon," from these:
Behold, Assyria is a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in branch, exalted in height; all the birds of the heavens built their nests in his branches, and under his branches did every beast of the field bring forth its young, and in his shadow dwelt all great nations; no tree in the garden of God was equal to him in beauty, and all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him (Ezek. 31:3-9). That wisdom flourished in Arabia, appears from the queen of Sheba's journey to Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13); also from the three wise men who came to the newborn Jesus, a star going before them (Matt. 2:1-12). [3] The third and fourth states of that church, which were its vastation and consummation, are described here and there in the Word, both in its historic and prophetic parts. The consummation of the nations round about the Jordan, or round about the land of Canaan, is described by the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim (Gen. 14 and 19); the consummation of the church of the nations within the Jordan, or in the land of Canaan, is described in Joshua and in the book of Judges by the expulsion of some and the extermination of others. The consummation of that church in Egypt is described by the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the sea Suph (Exod. 14). And so on.
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