1138# 启18:11.“地上的客商也都为她哭泣悲哀”表示那些为了谋取名誉和财富而获得属于这个宗教或宗教说服的事物之人的哀恸和悲伤。这从“客商”和“哭泣悲哀”的含义清楚可知：“客商”是指那些获得教会的真理和良善的知识之人，在反面意义上是指那些获得邪恶和虚假的知识之人，在此是指那些为了利益，也就是名誉和财富而获得属于这个宗教或宗教说服的事物或知识之人。这就是“客商”的含义（可参看AE840,1104节）。“哭泣悲哀”是指悲伤和哀悼。这种宗教或宗教说服有四种人，此处描述了他们，即：被称为“地上列王”的人，被称为“地上客商”的人，被称为“货物客商”的人，被称为“船主和水手”的人。启18:9,10论述了“地上的列王”，启18:11–14论述了“地上的客商”，启18:15–16论述了“货物的客商”，启18:17–19论述了“船主和水手”。（关于《亚他那修信经》续，关于主）由此明显可知，主只有通过这些律法才能把人引入天堂，尽管祂拥有神性之爱，神性智慧和神性能力，也就是全能，并且祂出于神性之爱意愿，凭神性智慧知道一切，凭神性能力能做祂所意愿的事。因为被称为圣治律法的这些律法，是关于改造和重生，因而关于人类救赎的秩序律法，主不可能反对这些律法，因为反对它们就是反对祂自己的智慧和自己的爱，因而反对祂自己。第一条律法是，人出于感觉和感知只知道生命在他里面；然而，他仍应承认他所思所愿、所说所行的属于爱和信的良善和真理都来自主。这条律法暗示了第二条律法，即：人拥有自由，这自由也应看似他自己的，但他仍应承认，这不是他的，而是在他里面的主的。
这条律法从前一条律法可推知，因为自由与生命合而为一；没有自由，人无法感觉并感知到生命似乎在他里面；正是出于自由，他才感觉并感知到这生命，因为正是出于自由，在一个人看来，他生命的一切行为似乎都是他自己的，是他所固有的；自由就是出于自己，在这种情况下，则貌似出于自己思考、意愿、说话和行动的能力。这种能力主要属于意愿，因为一个人会说，我有能力做我所意愿的事，我意愿我有能力所做的事；换句话说，我处于自由。再者，谁不能出于自由认为这一件事是善的，那一件事是恶的，或这一件事是真的，那一件事是假的？因此，自由，连同生命一起被赋予人，它从未从人那里被夺走；事实上，它被夺走或削弱到何等程度，人就在何等程度上感觉并感知到，他不是自己在活着，而是另一个人在他里面活着，并且属于他生命的一切事物的快乐都被夺走，或减少了，因为他成了奴隶。
人出于感觉和感知只知道生命在他里面，因而似乎是他自己的，这一点无需其它证据，只需经历本身就能得到证明。除了当他思考时，他出于自己思考，当他意愿时，他出于自己意愿，当他说话和行动时，他出于自己说话和行动之外，谁还有其它任何感觉或感知？但根据圣治的律法，人不可以知道别的，因为没有这种感觉和感知，他无法将任何事物接收到自己这里，或归于自己，或从自己那里产生任何事物，因而将不是来自主的生命的接受者，只是生命的代理人。他就像个机器，或像没有理解力和意愿的直立雕像，双手下垂，等待无法被赋予的流注。因为生命若不貌似被人接受和采用，就不会被保留，而是流过去，人由此从活的变得像一个死人，从一个理性灵魂变得没有理性，因而要么成为野兽，要么成为树桩。因为他将失去生活的快乐，也就是每个人貌似出于自己从接受、采用和产生中所获得的快乐；然而，快乐与生活行如一体，当夺走了生活的一切快乐时，你就会变冷并死亡。
如果不是出于圣治的律法，人应感觉并感知到生命和属于生命的一切似乎在他里面，他只是要承认良善和真理不是来自他自己，而是来自主，那么就没有任何东西，无论良善，还是真理，因而无论爱还是信，会归给他。如果没有任何东西能被归给，那么主就不会在圣言中吩咐说，人必须行善避恶，如果他行善，天堂将是他的产业，如果他作恶，地狱将是他的份；事实上，既不会有天堂，也不会有地狱，因为没有这种感知，人将不是人，因而将不是主的居所。主渴望人貌似出于自己来爱祂；因此，主与人一起住在祂自己的东西里面，主为了这个目的而将自己的东西赐予人，好叫祂可以反过来被爱。因为神性之爱在于这一点：它渴望自己的东西属于人，除非人感觉并感知到来自主的东西似乎是他自己的，否则情况不会是这样。
如果不是出于神性律法，人出于感觉和感知，只知道生命在他里面，那么人就不可能有他为之行动的目的；然而，他有这种目的是可能的，因为他行动所出于的目的似乎在他自己里面。他行动所出于的目的就是他的爱，也就是他的生命，而他为之行动的目的是他的爱或生命的快乐，目的在其中呈现自己的结果是功用。他为之行动的目的，也就是他生命之爱的快乐，在人里面被感觉和感知到，因为他行动所出于的目的能使他感觉和感知到它；如前所述，这目的就是爱，也就是生命。但当一个人承认属于他生命的一切都来自主时，主就会赐下祂爱的快乐和祝福，只要这个人作出这种承认，并履行功用。因此，当人通过承认和来自爱的信貌似出于自己将他生命的一切都归于主时，主反过来就会将祂生命的良善归于人，这良善伴随着一切满足或幸福和祝福。主也允许他从内层敏锐地感觉和感知到这种良善在他自己里面，就好像是他自己的，而且人越发自内心意愿他以信所承认的，就越敏锐。那时感知是相互的，因为主所喜悦的感知是，祂在人里面，人在祂里面，人所心满意足的感知是，他在主里面，主在他里面。这就是藉着爱，主与人，并人与主的结合。
1138. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her.- That this signifies the mourning and grief of those who acquire the things pertaining to that religion, in order to gain honours and wealth, is evident from the signification of merchants, who denote those who acquire knowledges of the truth and good of the Church, and, in the opposite sense, those who acquire knowledges of evil and falsity; consequently, in the present case, they denote those who acquire the knowledges of that religion for the sake of gain, which consists both of honours and wealth. That such is the signification of merchants may be seen above (n. 840, 1104); and from the signification of weeping and mourning, as denoting to grieve and lament. There are four kinds of men of that religion, who are described here, those called kings of the earth, those called merchants of the earth, those called merchants of wares, and those called pilots of ships with sailors; the kings of the earth are treated of in verses 9, 10; the merchants of the earth, verses 11-14; merchants of merchandise, verses 15, 16; and the pilots of ships and sailors, verses 17, 18, 19.
[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed, and concerning the Lord.- It is evident from the above that the Lord cannot lead man to heaven except by these laws, although in Him there are Divine Love from which He wills, Divine Wisdom from which He knows all things, and Divine Power - which is omnipotence - from which He can perform what He wills. For the above laws of Providence are laws of order in regard to reformation and regeneration, thus in regard to the salvation of man; against these the Lord cannot act, because to act against them would be to act against His own wisdom and love, thus against Himself.
The first law, that man from sensation and perception shall have no other idea than that life is in himself, yet that he should acknowledge that the goods and truths pertaining to love and faith, which he thinks, wills, speaks, and does, are not from himself, but from the Lord, implies the second, that man possesses freedom, and that it also ought to appear as his own, but that still he ought to acknowledge that it is not so, but that it is the Lord's in him.
[3] This law follows from the former, because freedom makes one with life; for without freedom man could not feel and perceive that he has life as it were in himself, this being felt and perceived from freedom. For it appears to a man from freedom, that every action of his life is his own and proper to him, freedom being the power of thinking, willing, speaking, and acting from himself, in this case, as if from himself. And it is chiefly the power of willing; for a man says, I have the power to do what I will, and I have the will for what I have the power, that is, I am in freedom. Who, again, from freedom cannot think that one thing is good and another evil; or, that one thing is true and another false? Together with life man was therefore endowed with freedom, nor is it ever taken away from him; for in the measure that it is taken away or lessened, a man feels and perceives that he does not himself live, but another in him, and so far the delight of everything pertaining to his life is taken away and diminished, for he becomes a slave.
[4] That man from sensation and perception, has no other idea than that life is in himself, that it is thus as it were his own, needs no other confirmation than that of experience itself. For who has any other feeling or perception than that when he thinks he thinks from himself, that when he wills he wills from himself, and that when he speaks and acts he speaks and acts from himself? But it is from a law of Divine Providence that man should not know otherwise, since without such feeling and perception, he could not receive, or appropriate any thing to himself, or produce any thing from himself, thus he would not be a recipient of life and an agent of life from the Lord. He would be like an automaton, or an image without understanding and will, standing with hands hanging down, in expectation of influx, which would not be imparted; for life, in consequence of non-reception and non-appropriation on man's part, would not be retained, but would pass through, whence man, from being alive, would become as it were dead, and from being a rational soul would become irrational, thus either a brute or a stock. For he would be without the delight of life, the delight which every one has from receiving, appropriating, and producing as if from himself; and yet delight and life act in unity, for take away all the delight of life, and you will become cold and die.
[5] If it were not from a law of Divine Providence, that man should feel and perceive as if life and everything pertaining to it were in himself, and he were merely to acknowledge that good and truth are not from himself, but from the Lord, nothing would be imputed to him - neither good nor truth, thus neither love nor faith. And if nothing were to be imputed, the Lord would not have commanded in the Word, that man should do good and shun evil, and that if he did good, heaven would be his inheritance, but if evil, his lot would be hell; in fact, there would be neither heaven nor hell, since, without that perception, man would not be man, thus he would not be the habitation of the Lord. For the Lord desires to be loved by man as if it were from man himself; thus the Lord dwells with him in what is his own, which He has given to him for the sake of this end, that He may be loved in return. For the Divine love consists in this, that it desires that what belongs to itself should belong to man, and this would not be the case unless man felt and perceived that what is from the Lord is, as it were, his own.
[6] If it were not from a Divine law, that man from sensation and perception should have no other idea than that life is in himself, man would have no end, for the sake of which to act; he has such an end, however, because the end from which he acts appears to be as it were in himself. The end from which he acts is his love, which is his life, and the end for the sake of which he acts, is the delight of his love or life, and the effect in which the end presents itself is use. The end for the sake of which he acts which is the delight of the love of life, is felt and perceived in man, because the end from which he acts gives him the feeling and perception of it, and this end is, as was said, love, which is life. But when a man acknowledges that all things belonging to his life are from the Lord, He imparts the delight and blessedness of His love, so far as he makes this acknowledgment and performs uses. Thus while man by acknowledgment and faith from love as from himself, ascribes to the Lord everything belonging to his life, the Lord, on the other hand, ascribes to him the good of his life, which is attended with every satisfaction and blessedness. The Lord also permits him from what is interior to have an exquisite feeling and perception of this good in himself as though it were his own, and the more exquisite in proportion as he wills from the heart what he acknowledges in faith. Perception is then reciprocal; for it is pleasing to the Lord that He is in man, and man in Him; and is attended with satisfaction for man that he is in the Lord, and the Lord in him. Such is the union of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord, by means of love.
1138. Verse 11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, signifies the mourning and grief of those who acquire the things pertaining to that religious persuasion in order to gain honor and wealth. This is evident from the signification of "merchants," as being those who acquire the knowledges of the truth and good of the church, and in the contrary sense those who acquire the knowledges of evil and falsity, so here those who acquire the things pertaining to that religious persuasion for the sake of gain, that is, both honors and wealth. (That this is the signification of "merchants" may be seen n. Revelation 18:15-16, and "the masters of ships and sailors" verses 17-19.
(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith and respecting the Lord)
[2] From all this it is evident that the Lord can lead man to heaven only by means of these laws, although he has Divine love from which He wills, and Divine wisdom from which He knows all things, and Divine power, which is omnipotence, from which He can do what He wills. For these laws that are called laws of providence are laws of order respecting reformation and regeneration, thus respecting the salvation of man, and against these the Lord cannot act, since to act against them would be to act against His own wisdom and against His own love, thus against Himself. In respect to the first law, which is, That from sense and perception man cannot know otherwise than that life is in him; and yet he should acknowledge that the goods and truths which belong to love and faith which he thinks, wills, speaks, and acts, are not from him but are from the Lord. This law presupposes the second, namely, That man has freedom, and that this freedom also appears to be his, and yet he should acknowledge that it is not his, but is the Lord's in him.
[3] This law follows from the former because freedom makes one with life, for without freedom man cannot feel and perceive that life is as if it were in him; it is from freedom that he feels this and perceives this, for it is from freedom that everything that the life effects appears to man to be his own [proprium et suum], for freedom is the power to think, will, speak, and do from oneself, here as if from oneself. And it especially belongs to the will, for a man says, I have power to do what I will, and I will that which I have power to do; in other words, I am in freedom. Again, who cannot think from freedom that one thing is good and another evil, or that one thing is true and another false? Therefore freedom was given to man together with his life, nor is it ever taken away from him; for so far as it is taken away or lessened so far man feels and perceives that he does not live, but that another lives in him, and so far the delight of all things of his life is taken away or lessened, for he becomes a slave.
[4] That from sense and perception man knows no otherwise than that life is in him, thus that it is as if it were his own, has need of no other proof than experience itself. Who has any other feeling or perception than that he thinks from himself when he thinks, that he wills from himself when he wills, that he speaks and acts from himself when he speaks and acts? But it is from a law of the Divine providence that man should know no otherwise, since without such a feeling and such a perception he cannot receive anything to himself, appropriate anything to himself, or bring forth anything from himself; thus he would be neither a recipient of life from the Lord nor an agent of life from the Lord, but would be like an automaton, or like an upright image, without understanding or will, with the hands hanging down, awaiting influx that could not be given. For if life were not received and not appropriated as if by man, it would not be retained, but would flow through, and in consequence man from being alive would become like one dead, and from being a rational soul would become not rational, thus either a brute or a stock; for he would have no delight of life, that is, the delight that everyone has from receiving as if from himself, from appropriating and from bringing forth as if from himself, since delight and life act as one, and when you take away all the delight of life you grow cold and die.
[5] If it were not according to a law of the Divine providence that man should feel and perceive as if life and everything pertaining to it were in him, and should be left to acknowledge simply that good and truth are not from him but are from the Lord, nothing could be imputed to man, neither good nor truth, and thus neither love nor faith; and if nothing could be imputed, the Lord would not have commanded in the Word that man must do good and shun evil, and if he did good heaven would be his inheritance, and if he did evil hell would be his portion; nor even would there be any heaven or hell, for without that perception man would not be a man, thus would not be a dwelling place of the Lord. For the Lord wills to be loved by man as if by him; thus it is that the Lord dwells with man in what is His own, and this he has given him in order that He may be loved reciprocally; for the Divine love consists in this, that it wishes what is its own to be man's, and this could not be unless man felt and perceived what is from the Lord to be as if it were his own.
[6] If it were not according to the Divine law that man cannot from sense and perception know otherwise than that life is in him, no end for the sake of which man could act would be possible; this is possible to man because the end from which he acts seems to be in him. The end from which he acts is his love, which is his life, and the end for the sake of which he acts is the delight of his love or life, and the effect in which the end presents itself is use. The end for the sake of which he acts, which is the delight of his life's love, is felt and perceived in man, because the end from which he acts enables him to feel and perceive it; and that end is, as has been said, the love which is life. But to the man who acknowledges that all things of his life are from the Lord, the Lord gives the delight and blessedness of His love, so far as the man acknowledges this and performs uses. Thus when man by acknowledgment and by faith from love, as if from himself, ascribes to the Lord all things of his life, the Lord in turn ascribes to man the good of His life, which carries with it every happiness and every blessedness, and also enables him to feel and perceive interiorly and exquisitely this good to be in himself as if it were his own, and the more exquisitely in proportion as man from the heart wills that which he acknowledges by faith. The perception is then reciprocal, for the perception that He is in man and man is in Him is grateful to the Lord, and the perception that he is in the Lord and the Lord in him is gratifying to man. Such is the union of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord by means of love.
1138. [Vers. 11.] "Et mercatores terrae flebunt et lugebunt super illa." - Quod significet luctum et dolorem illorum qui illa quae sunt religiosi istius sibi comparant, ut lucrentur honores et opes, constat ex significatione "mercatorum", quod sint qui cognitiones veri et boni ecclesiae sibi comparant, et in opposito sensu qui cognitiones mali et falsi; hic itaque qui illa quae sunt religiosi istius sibi comparant propter lucra, quae sunt tam honores quam opes; (quod talia per "mercatores" significentur, videatur [supra,] n. 840, 1104): et ex significatione "flere et lugere", quod sit dolere et lamentari. Sunt quatuor genera hominum ex illo religioso, qui hic describuntur; nempe, qui vocantur "reges terrae", qui "mercatores terrae, qui mercatores mercium", et qui "gubernatores navium cum nautis": de "regibus terrae" agitur vers. 9, 10; de "mercatoribus terrae", vers. 11-14; de "mercatoribus mercium", vers. 15, 16; de "gubernatoribus navium et nautis", vers. 17-19.
[2] (Continuatio de Fide Athanasiana, et de Domino.)
Ex his patet quod Dominus non possit hominem ad caelum ducere nisi quam per illas leges, tametsi Ipsi Divinus Amor est ex quo vult, et Divina Sapientia ex qua novit omnia, et Divina Potentia, quae est Omnipotentia, ex qua potest quod vult; nam dictae leges providentiae, sunt leges ordinis circa reformationem et regenerationem, ita circa salvationem hominis, contra quas Dominus agere non potest; quoniam agere contra illas, foret agere contra Sapientiam suam, et contra Amorem suum, ita contra Ipsum Se.
[3] Quod attinet Primam Legem, quae est, Quod homo ex sensu et perceptione non sciturus sit aliter quam quod vita sit in illo, sed quod usque agniturus sit quod bona et vera, quae amoris et fidei sunt, quae cogitat, vult, loquitur et facit, non sint ab illo, sed a Domino. Haec lex ponit Alteram, quae est, Quod homini liberum sit, et quod illud etiam appariturum sit sicut ejus, at tamen quod agniturus sit quod non sit ejus, sed Domini apud illum; haec lex sequitur a priore, quia liberum unum facit cum vita, nam absque libero non potest homo sentire et percipere quod vita sit sicut in illo; ex libero sentit id et percipit id: ex libero enim apparet homini omne quod vita agit sicut proprium et suum, nam liberum est potentia cogitandi, volendi, loquendi et faciendi a se, hic sicut a se; et praecipue voluntatis, nam dicit homo, Possum quod volo, ac volo quod possum; hoc est, sum in libero: quis etiam non potest cogitare ex libero, quod hoc bonum sit et hoc malum? tum quod hoc verum sit et hoc falsum? Quare liberum homini una cum vita ejus datum est, nec usquam aufertur ei; nam quantum aufertur aut diminuitur, tantum sentit et percipit homo quod non ille vivat, sed alius in se, et tantum aufertur et diminuitur jucundum omnium vitae ejus, fit enim servus.
[4] Quod homo non sciat aliter ex sensu et perceptione quam quod vita sit in illo, ita sicut sua, hoc non confirmatione alia opus habet quam ipsa experientia. Quis sentit et percipit aliter quam quod ex se cogitet cum cogitat, ex se velit cum vult, et quod ex se loquatur et agat cum loquitur et agit? Quod autem homo non aliter sciturus sit, est ex lege Divinae providentiae; quoniam absque illo sensu et absque illa perceptione non aliquid potest recipere ad se, appropriare sibi, et producere ex se; ita non foret recipiens vitae a Domino, et agens vitae a Domino; foret sicut automaton, aut sicut simulacrum stans absque intellectu et voluntate, remissis manibus, in exspectatione influxus, qui nec daretur: nam vita ex non receptione sicut ab homine et appropriatione non retineretur sed transflueret; inde fieret homo a vivo sicut mortuus, et ab anima rationali non rationalis, ita vel brutum vel stipes: foret enim absque jucundo vitae, quod nempe jucundum est cuivis ex receptione sicut a se, ex appropriatione, et ex productione sicut ex se, et tamen jucundum et vita unum agunt; tolle omne jucundum vitae, et frigesces et morieris.
[5] Si non ex lege Divinae providentiae foret quod homo sentiret et perciperet sicut vita et omne ejus foret in illo, et solum agnosceret quod bonum et verum non sint ex illo sed ex Domino, tunc nihil imputaretur homini, non bonum nec verum, ita non amor nec fides; et si nihil imputaretur, nec mandavisset Dominus in Verbo quod homo faceret bonum et fugeret malum, et quod si bonum fecerit illi esset caelum, ac si malum illi esset infernum; immo non foret caelum nec infernum, quoniam absque illa perceptione homo non foret homo, ita non foret habitaculum Domini; nam Dominus vult amari ab homine sicut ab illo; ita habitat Dominus apud hominem in suo, quod dedit ei, propter finem ut ametur reciproce; Amor enim Divinus in eo consistit, ut quod suum est velit esse hominis, quod non foret si homo non sentiret et perciperet id quod a Domino est sicut suum.
[6] Si non foret ex Divina lege quod homo ex sensu et perceptione non aliter sciret quam quod vita foret in illo, non daretur finis propter quem apud hominem; hic datur apud illum, quia finis a quo apparet sicut in illo; finis a quo est ejus amor qui est ejus vita, et finis propter quem est ejus amoris seu vitae jucundum, et effectus in quo finis se sistit est usus: finis propter quem, qui est jucundum amoris vitae, sentitur et percipitur in homine, quia finis a quo dat sentire et percipere illum, qui est, ut dictum est, amor qui est vita: sed Dominus dat illi qui agnoscit quod omnia vitae suae sint ab Ipso, jucundum et beatum amoris ejus, quantum id agnoscit, et quantum praestat usus; ita dum homo per agnitionem et per fidem ex amore sicut a se addicat Domino omnia suae vitae, vicissim Dominus addicat homini suae vitae bonum, quod est cum omni fausto et beato, et quoque dat ut ab interiori et exquisite sentiat et percipiat id in se sicut suum, et eo exquisitius quo homo ex corde vult quod fide agnoscit. Perceptio tunc est reciproca, grata Domino quod Ipse sit in homine et homo in Ipso, et fausta homini quod ille sit in Domino et Dominus in illo: talis est unio Domini cum homine et hominis cum Domino per amorem.