But in the course of
time charity diminished, and vanished; and as it vanished, evils
succeeded; and together with evils falsities insinuated themselves.
Hence came schisms and heresies, which would never come to be, were
charity regnant and alive.
--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 1834
THE LORD'S SECOND COMING: WHEN? HOW?
Now is the Lord's Second Coming, and a New Church is to be instituted.
The Second Coming of the Lord is not a coming in Person, but in the
Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. We read in many places that
the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven. The "clouds of heaven"
mean the Word in its natural sense, and "glory" the Word in its
spiritual sense, and "power" the Lord's power by means of the Word. So
the Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person
because, since His ascension into heaven, He is in the Glorified
Humanity, in which He cannot appear to any man, unless He opens the
eyes of his spirit first, and this cannot be done with any one who is
in evils and thence in falsities. It is vain, therefore, to believe
that the Lord will appear in a cloud of heaven in Person; but He will
appear in the Word, which is from Him, and so is Himself.
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