5. II. There have been four successive states, or periods, of each church, which in the Word are meant by "morning," "day," "evening," and "night." That there have been four successive states, or periods, of every one of these churches above mentioned, will be illustrated in the following pages, wherein each will be dealt with in its order. They are described by those alternations of time, because every man who is born in the church, or in whom the church has commenced, first comes into its light, such as that is in the dawn and morning; afterwards, he advances into its day, and, he who loves its truths, even to its mid-day; if he then stops in the way, and does not advance into the heat of spring and summer, his day declines towards evening, and at length, like light at night-time, it grows dark; and then his intelligence in the spiritual things of the church becomes a cold light, like the light of the days in winter, when he indeed sees the trees standing near his house, or in his gardens, but stript of leaves and deprived of fruits, thus like bare logs. For, the man of the church advances from morning to day, to the end that he may be reformed and regenerated by means of the light of reason, which is effected only by a life according to the precepts of the Lord in the Word. If this does not take place, his light becomes darkness, and the darkness, thick darkness; that is, the truths of light with him are turned into falsities, and the falsities into unseen evils. It is otherwise with the man who suffers himself to be regenerated: night does not overtake him, for he walks in God, and hence is continually in the day; into which, also, he fully enters after death, when he is associated with angels in heaven. This is meant by these things in the Apocalypse, concerning the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church, truly Christian:
That city shall have no need of the sun and moon to shine in it; for the glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof; and the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it and there shall be no night there (21:23-25; Ezek. 32:8; Amos. 5:20; 8:9). That the successive states of the church are meant by "morning," "day," "evening," and "night," in the Word, is evident from the following passages therein:
Watch; for ye know not when the Lord of the house will come, at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning (Mark 13:35; Matt. 25:13). The subject there treated of is the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord at that time:
The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me; he is as the light of the morning, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3, 4). I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star (Apoc. 22:16). God shall help her, when He shall look to the morning (Ps. 46:5). He is calling to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night (Isa. 21:11, 12). The end is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near. Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning hath gone forth (Ezek. 7:5-7, 10). There shall be a day which shall be known to Jehovah; not day nor night; for about the time of evening there shall be light (Zech. 14:7). About the time of evening, behold, terror; before the morning, he is not (Isa. 17:14). In the evening, weeping will tarry all night, but there will be singing in the morning (Ps. 30:5). Even to the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred; then shall the holy place be justified: the vision of the evening and morning is truth (Dan. 8:14, 26). Jehovah in the morning will give His judgement in the light; He will not fail (Zeph. 3:5). Thus said Jehovah, If ye have made void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, so that there be not day and night in their season, My covenant also shall be made void with David My servant (Jer. 33:20, 21, 25). Jesus said, I must work the works of God while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work (John 9:4). In this night there shall be two on one bed; one shall be taken, but the other shall be left (Luke 17:34). In these passages, it treats of the consummation of the age and the Coming of the Lord. Hence it may be evident what is meant by "There shall be time no longer" (Apoc. 10:6); namely, that there would not be morning, day, or evening in the church, but night; likewise what is meant by "time, times, and half a time" (Apoc. 12:14; Dan. 12:7); as also what is meant by the "fulness of time" (Eph. 1:10; Gal. 4:4).
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