463、对此，我补充以下难忘的事：
我远远地看到灵界的海岸，在那里看到一个宏伟的港口。我走近一看，看哪！那里有大大小小的轮船，里面装着各种货物；男孩和女孩们正坐在甲板上把它分发给想要的人。他们说：“我们正等着看我们美丽的海龟。它们很快就会从海中向我们爬上来。”突然，我看到大大小小的海龟，龟壳和鳞甲上还驼着幼龟，它们正在环顾周围的岛屿。父海龟有两个头，一个头很大，上面覆盖着外壳，就像它们身体的外壳，它们因此泛着红光；另一个头很小，就是海龟所拥有的那种，它能缩进身体前部，也能以看不见的方式插入大头。不过，我一直盯着那个大红头，发现这头有一张像人一样的脸，正在与甲板上的男孩和女孩们说话，还舔他们的手。这些男孩和女孩们则抚摸它们，给它们食物和美味，以及贵重的东西，如做衣服的丝绸、做药片的百里香木，装饰用的紫色料，作胭脂用的朱红颜料。
看到这些事物，我很想知道它们代表什么，因为我知道，出现在灵人界中的一切事物都是对应，并代表从天堂而降的某种属灵事物。于是，天使们从天上与我说话，说：“你自己知道港口和船只，以及甲板上的男孩和女孩们分别代表什么；但你不知道这些海龟代表什么。”他们说：“海龟代表那里的神职人员当中那些将信与仁及其善行完全分离的人，他们彼此之间断言它们之间显然没有结合，而是圣灵通过对父神的信仰，因圣子的功德而进入一个人，并洁净他的内层，甚至直到他自己的意愿；他们将这意愿制造成一种椭圆形的平面。当圣灵的运作接近这个平面时，它会在左侧绕过它，根本不触碰它；因此，人本性的内在或更高部分是为了神，外在或更低部分是为了人；因此，凡人所行的，无论善恶，都不会出现在神面前。良善不会出现，因为它是邀功的或寻求功德的；邪恶不会出现，因为它是邪恶的；如果这些出现在神面前，那么这个人就会因这两者而灭亡；既然如此，人可以自由地意愿，思考，说话，并做他想做的任何事，只要他在世人面前小心谨慎。”
我问他们是否也断言，可以认为神不是全在和全知。天使们从天上说：“他们在这方面也是自由的，还因为对一个曾经洁净，从而称义的人来说，神不看他思维和意愿的任何东西，但在心智或本性的内在隐蔽处，或更高区域，他仍保留着他在信的行为或最初运作中所获得的信；必要时，这种行为或运作可能会在人没有意识到它的情况下返回。这些就是小头所代表的东西，当与平信徒交谈时，他们会把小头拉进身体前部，隐藏起来，也会插进大头。因为他们不用小头与平信徒说话，而是用大头，大头出现在前面，好像配有人脸。他们出于圣言与他们谈论爱、仁、善行、十诫、悔改，从圣言引用那里关于这些主题的几乎所有经文。但与此同时，他们将小头插进大头，由此在自己里面从内心明白，这一切事都不是为了神、天堂和救赎而做的，只是为了公共和私人利益而做的。然而，他们因以一种令人愉悦和优雅的方式出于圣言谈论这些事，尤其谈论福音、圣灵的运作、救赎，所以在听众面前表现得像一个英俊潇洒的人，智慧胜过全世界其他所有人。这也是为何你会看到坐在轮船甲板上的男孩和女孩们将美味和贵重的东西送给他们。
“因此，这些人就是以你所看到的海龟来代表的人。在你们的世界，他们与其他人几乎无法区分，除非通过这一点来区分：他们认为自己比所有人都更智慧，并嘲笑他人，尤其嘲笑他们的同伴，他们说他们的同伴不像他们自己那样有智慧，并鄙视他们。他们的衣服上带着一个小徽章，以区别于其他人。”
与我交谈的天使说：“我不会告诉你他们在信的其它问题上所持的观点，如选民、自由意志、洗礼和圣餐；因为这些都是他们不会泄露的事，但我们在天上知道。不过，由于他们在世上就是这样的，而死后，任何人都不允许说他不思想的话，所以他们只能出于其疯狂的思维说话，被视为疯狂，并被赶出社群，最终被送入深渊之坑，变成肉体灵，看上去就像木乃伊；事实上，他们心智的内层已经产生一种硬茧，因为他们在世上也设置了一道障碍。他们当中有一个地狱社群与马基雅维利主义者的地狱社群接壤，他们有时从这个社群到另一个社群，并称彼此为同志或同伴；但他们离开了，因为以下事实所产生的分歧，即：在他们中间有关于行为中的信的某种宗教，而在马基雅维利主义者中间没有。”
我看到他们被赶出社群，聚集在一起被扔下去；只见一艘七帆船在空中飞行，船上的官长和水手穿着紫衣，帽子上有华丽的月桂花冠，他们大声喊道：“看哪，我们在天堂；我们是身着紫袍的博士，戴着桂冠，胜过所有人，因为我们是欧洲所有神职人员中最有智慧的人。”我想知道这是怎么回事；有人告诉我说，它们是骄傲和被称为幻想的理想思维的形像，源于那些之前看似海龟的人；现在，他们因疯狂而被赶出了社群，并聚成一组，一起站在一个地方。于是，我想和他们谈谈，就走近他们所站的那个地方，向他们打招呼，然后说：“你们就是那些将人的内在和外在分离，将圣灵在信之内的运作和圣灵在信之外与人的合作分离，从而将神和人分离的人吗？这样你们不是像其他许多神职博士一样，不仅从信仰中除去仁爱本身及其作为，还从人那里除去信仰在神面前显现方面的信仰本身吗？然而，请问你们是否愿意或从理性，或从圣经来与我谈论这个问题？”他们说：“先从理性来谈谈吧。”
于是，我发言说：“人的内在与外在怎能分离呢？凭普遍感知，谁看不出，或不能看出，人的一切内层都发出并延续到他的外层，甚至直到最外层，以便它们可以产生它们的结果，做它们的作为？内在不是为外在而存在的吗？好叫内在可以终止于外在，并继续存在于它们里面，从而拥有存在，就像一根柱子立于其基座上一样。你们可以看到，若没有一个延续，因而没有一个结合，最外层就会像空气中的肥皂泡一样溶解和破裂。谁能否认，神在人身上的内在运作是无数的，而人对此一无所知？只要他知道最外层，知道他以自己的思维和意愿与神一起在最外层中，那么知道它们对他来说有什么用处呢？
“这一点可举例来说明：人知道他说话时的内在运作吗？如肺如何吸入空气，然后充满小泡、支气管和肺叶；它如何将这空气排入气管，在那里将它转化为声音；声音如何在喉咙的帮助下在声门中被调整；舌头如何将它清晰表达出来，嘴唇如何完成发音，从而使它变成言语。人对这一切内在运作一无所知，它们难道不是为了最外层，好叫人能说话吗？将这些内在事物中的一个从它与最外层的连续联系中除去，或将它与与这联系分离，人不就像一根木头一样，还能说话吗？
“再举一例。两只手是人的终端。难道没有延续到那里的内层吗？它们通过颈部、然后通过胸部、肩膀、手臂和前臂而来自头部；还有无数肌肉组织，无数运动纤维，无数神经和血管，以及许多骨关节及其膜和韧带。人知道这些吗？然而，他的手却因它们的全部而在运作。假如这些内层在手腕这个区域向左偏转，没有进入手，那么这手岂不会从前臂上被切断，像被肢解、没有生命的某种东西那样烂掉吗？事实上，若你们愿意相信，这就好比人被斩首后的身体。如果神性运作在抵达人的意愿和思维之前就停止了，没有流入它们，那么这意愿和思维的情形也完全一样。这些事是合乎理性的。
“你们若愿意听，这些事也与圣经相符。主不是说：你们要住在我里面，我也住在你们里面；我是葡萄树，你们是枝子；住在我里面的，我也住在他里面，这人就多结果子(约翰福音15:4, 5)吗？果子不是主通过人所做，并且人貌似凭自己所做的善行吗？主不也说，祂站在门外叩门；若有开门的，祂要进到他那里去，主与他，他与主，一同坐席(启示录3:20)吗？主不是赐下英镑和才干，叫人用来做买卖赚钱，祂按他所赚的赐他永生(马太福音25:14-34；路加福音19:12-26)吗？还有：
祂按照各人在祂葡萄园里的劳动赏赐各人。(马太福音20:1-17)
这些只是少数经文。关于这一点，即：人应当像树一样结出果实；应当遵行诫命，爱神、爱邻，等等，来自圣言的引文可以填满几页纸。但我知道，你们的自我聪明不可能与来自圣言的经文有任何真正的共同点；虽然你们引用它们，但你们的观念仍扭曲它们。你们不能不这样做，因为在交流和随之而来的结合方面，你们从人身上除去了神的一切。那么除了敬拜的一切外，还剩下什么呢？”
后来，我在天堂之光中看到他们，这光揭示并显明每个人的品质是什么样；这时，他们不再像之前那样出现在空中的船上，仿佛在天堂，也不再身穿紫袍、头戴月桂花冠；而是在沙地上，衣衫褴褛，可以说腰束渔网；透过这网可以看到他们的裸体。然后，他们被送到前面所说的与马基雅维利主义者接壤的地狱社群中。
463. To this I will append the following account:
I looked out in the direction of the seashore in the spiritual world, and I saw there a magnificent harbor. I went over and inspected it; and lo, I saw there seagoing vessels, great and small, and in them all kinds of merchandise, with boys and girls sitting on the rowers' benches and handing it out to any who wanted it. Moreover they said, "We are waiting to see our beautiful turtles which will soon rise up for us out of the sea." And suddenly I saw turtles, great and small, on whose shells and carapaces sat baby turtles, which were looking about at the surrounding islands.
The parent turtles had two heads, a large one covered with a shell like the carapace of their bodies, which gave them a reddish glow; and a small one, like the usual one for turtles, which they would withdraw into the foreparts of their bodies and also insert invisibly into the larger head. I kept my eyes, however, on the large, reddish head, and I saw that it had a face like that of a human being, and that it would speak with the boys and girls on the rowers' benches and lick their hands. The boys and girls for their part would pet them then and give them food and treats to eat, and also valuable gifts, such as silk usable for garments, sandarac wood 1for tablets, purple for their ornamentation, and scarlet pigment as rouge.
[2] Seeing these things, I wished to know what they represented, as I knew that everything appearing in the world of spirits is a correspondent form and represents something spiritual descending from heaven.
Angels then spoke to me from heaven and said, "You yourself know what the harbor represents, and its vessels, and the boys and girls on the benches; but you do not know what the turtles represent."
So they said, "The turtles represent those members of the clergy there who divorce faith from charity and its good works totally, asserting to themselves that there is no conjunction whatever, but that the Holy Spirit enters into a person through faith in God the Father because of the merit of the Son, and purifies the person interiorly as far as to his native will. They make this will, then, into a kind of oval plane, and when the operation of the Holy Spirit approaches it, they say it goes around that plane on the left side and does not at all touch it. Thus the inner or higher part of a person's nature belongs to God, they say, while the outer or lower part belongs to the person, and thus nothing that a person does, whether good or evil, appears before God - not good because it is merit-seeking, and not evil because it is evil - since if these were to appear before God, they would both cause the person to perish.
"Moreover," they said, "because this is the case, a person is permitted to will, think, say and do whatever he pleases, provided he guards himself against the world."
[3] I asked whether they also declare that a person is permitted to think about God as being not omnipresent and not omniscient.
They said from heaven that this, too, is permitted them, because in the case of a person who has once been purified and thus justified, God does not look at anything pertaining to his thought or will, and yet in the inner recess or higher region of his mind or nature, he still retains the faith that he had previously received in its action upon him, and that the action can sometimes return without the person's knowing.
"This," the angels said, "is what the small head represents, which the turtles draw into the foreparts of their bodies and hide, and which they also insert in the large head when they speak with laymen. For they do not speak with them out of the small head, but out of the large one, which out front appears as though endowed with a human face. They speak with them from the Word about love, charity, good works, the Ten Commandments, and repentance, and they take from the Word almost everything that is found there on these subjects. But then they insert the small head into the large one, and this causes them to interpret within themselves that none of these things are to be done for God's sake, or for the sake of heaven and salvation, but only for the sake of the public good and personal good. Yet because they speak about these things from the Word, especially about the gospel, the operation of the Holy Spirit, and salvation, doing so agreeably and elegantly, therefore they appear to their listeners as beautiful human beings and wiser than any others in the entire world. That is why you saw the boys and girls sitting on the rowers' benches give them treats to eat and valuable gifts.
[4] "These, then, are the people you saw represented as turtles. In your world one can tell them apart from others to some small extent only by the fact that they believe themselves to be wiser than any others, and ridicule them, especially their colleagues, who they say are not as wise as themselves, and whom they scorn. They carry about with them a particular little seal on their clothing, to distinguish themselves from others."
[5] One of those speaking with me said, "I will not tell you their opinion regarding all the other tenets of faith, as for example, regarding election, free will, baptism, and Holy Supper, which are the kind of things they do not make public. But we in heaven know.
"However, because they are of such a character in the world, and because after death no one is permitted to speak otherwise than as he thinks, therefore - because they can speak then only in accord with the insanities of their thoughts - they are regarded as insane and expelled from one society after another, and at last are conveyed down into the bottomless pit and become carnal spirits having the appearance of mummies. For a callus was produced on the interiors of their minds, because in the world they had also interposed a wall.
"There is a hellish society of them bordering on a hellish society of Machiavellians, and they sometimes pass from the one into the other and call themselves comrades; but then they leave because of the difference between them, as they have among them some religion relating to faith in action, whereas among Machiavellians there is none."
[6] After I saw them expelled from one society after another and gathered together to be cast down, I saw a ship with seven sails flying in the air, and in it officers and sailors dressed in purple clothing, with magnificent laurel wreaths on their heads, and crying, "Look, we are now in heaven! We are professors robed in purple, and laureates greater than all others, because we are the foremost of the wise out of all the clergy in Europe."
I wondered what this was, and I was told that the figures were depictions of the conceit and the mental concepts termed fantasies emanating from the people who had appeared before as turtles, and who now, having been expelled from one society after another, appeared as insane and were gathered into a single group, standing together in one place.
At that I desired to speak with them, and I went over to the place where they were standing, and greeting them, said, "You are people who have divorced people's internals from their externals, and divorced the operation of the Holy Spirit as though in faith from its concomitant operation with a person as though apart from faith, thus divorcing God from man. Have you not by the same token removed not only charity and its works from faith, as many other learned of the clergy do, but also faith itself as regards its manifestation by a person in the sight of God?
"But if you please, do you wish me to speak to you on this subject in accord with reason, or in accord with the Holy Scripture?"
[7] They told me to speak first from reason, and so I spoke saying, "How can the internal and the external in a person be divorced? Who does not see, or cannot see, as a matter of common sense that a person's interiors all extend and are continued into the exteriors, and even into his outmosts, in order to produce their effects and accomplish their operations? Do the internals not exist for the sake of the externals, so as to terminate in them and subsist in them, and thus abide, much like a column upon its pedestal? Can you not see that if the continuity and thus conjunction did not exist, the outmost elements would disintegrate and drift away like bubbles in the air? Who can deny that there are millions of interior operations of God in people, of which a person knows nothing? And what help would it be for him to be aware of them, provided he is cognizant of the outmost ones, in which he, with his thought and will, act together with God?
[8] "But I will illustrate this with an example. Is a person aware of the inner operations of his speech, such as how the lungs draw in air and fill their alveoli, bronchia, and lobes with it? Or how they expel air into the trachea and there turn it into sound? Or how the sound is modified in the glottis with the aid of the larynx, and how the tongue then articulates it and the lips complete the articulation so that it becomes speech? All of these interior operations, of which the person knows nothing - do they not take place for the sake of the outmost effect, that the person be able to speak? Take away or divorce one of those internal processes from its continuity with the outmost effects - would a person be able to speak any more than a wooden post?
[9] "Take another example. A person's two hands are his terminal members. Do not the interior elements that extend into it come from the head through the neck, and then through the breast, shoulders, arms and forearms? And do these not involve countless muscular tissues, countless arrays of motor fibers, countless bundles of nerves and blood vessels, and a number of articulations of bones with their membranes and ligaments? Is a person at all aware of these? And yet his hands operate as a result of them. Suppose these inner processes took a wrong turn at the wrist and did not continue into the hands? Would the hands not fall off the forearms and decay like some inanimate object plucked away? In fact, if you are willing to believe it, it would be the same as with the body if the person were beheaded.
"It would be the altogether the same with a person's thought and will if the Divine operation should cease before reaching them and not flow into them.
"So much in accord with reason.
[10] "Now if you are willing to hear it, these arguments accord with the Holy Scripture as well. Does the Lord not say,
Abide in Me, and I in you... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)
"Are not the fruits good works, which the Lord does through a person, and which a person does as though of himself?
"Does the Lord not also say that He stands at the door and knocks, and that if anyone opens the door, He will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Him (Revelation 3:20)?
"Does the Lord not give minas and talents, that a person may do business with them and make a profit, and that in the measure of the person's profit He gives eternal life (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:13-26)? Moreover, that He rewards everyone in accordance with the person's labor in His vineyard (Matthew 20:1-17)?
"But these are just a few proofs. We could fill pages with citations from the Word to the effect that a person should be like a tree and produce fruits, that he should keep the commandments, love God and the neighbor, and more. But I know that it is not possible for your intellectual acumen to have any real common ground with passages from the Word. Even though you quote them, still your ideas pervert them. Nor can you do otherwise, because you take away from a person everything having to do with God as regards any communication and so conjunction. What remains then but only all the rituals of worship?"
[11] After that I saw these people in the light of heaven, which disclosed and exposed the character of each one, and they did not appear then as before, in a ship in the air, as though in heaven. Nor were there any purple-robed figures in it, or heads wreathed with laurel. I saw them instead in a sandy area, in ragged clothing, and girded about their loins with nets, like those used by fishermen, through which their nakedness was visible. And they were then conveyed down into the previously mentioned society bordering on the hellish society of Machiavellians.
Footnotes:
1. Literally, "thyine wood." See Revelation 18:12
463. To these things I will add this MEMORABLE OCCURRENCE. I had a distant view of a sea shore in the spiritual world, and there I saw a magnificent harbour. I approached and had a look at it, and ho! there were vessels great and small, and in them all kinds of merchandise, and upon the cross-beams were boys and girls distributing to those so wishing. And they said, 'We are waiting to see our beautiful turtles 1which are just going to rise up to us out of the sea.' And lo and behold, I saw large and small turtles upon whose shells and scales baby turtles were sitting, and these were looking at the surrounding islands. The father turtles had two heads, a large one covered over with shell like the shell of their body, whence they had a reddish glow, and the other a small one, such as turtles have, which was retractable into the foreparts of the body, and which they could also insert in some unseen way into the larger head. But I kept my eyes on the large reddish head, and saw that this had a face like a man, and was speaking with the boys and girls upon the cross-beams, and licking their hands. Whereupon the boys and girls were petting the turtles and giving them things to eat and dainties, and also things of value, such as silk for clothing, thyme wood for tablets, purple for their adornment, and scarlet to use as rouge.
[2] Having seen these things, I wanted to know what they were representing, because I knew that all the things that appear in the spiritual world are correspondences, and represent something spiritual flowing down out of heaven. Whereupon out of heaven [angels] were speaking with me and saying, 'You yourself are aware of what the harbour represents, also the vessels, and the boys and girls upon the cross-beams, but you do not know what the turtles represent.' And they said, 'The turtles represent those of the clergy there who entirely separate faith from charity and the good works thereof, affirming among themselves that plainly there is no conjunction, but that the Holy Spirit, by means of faith in God the Father for the sake of the Son's merit, enters in with a man and purifies his interiors even to the will of his proprium, of which they make as it were an oval plane. Also that when the operation of the Holy Spirit draws near to this plane it makes a detour around it on its left side and does not touch it at all; and thus that the interior or higher part of a man's nature is for God and the exterior or lower part is for the man, and that thus not a thing that the man does, neither good nor evil, appears before God. What is good does not appear because it is merit-seeking; nor what is evil because it is evil since if these should appear before God, the man would perish on both counts. This being so, a man is at liberty to will, think, speak and do whatever he pleases, provided he is careful before the world.'
[3] I asked whether they assert also that it is allowable to think of God as not being omnipresent and omniscient. [The angels] said out of heaven that 'they are at liberty in this respect also because, in the case of him who has once been purified and thus justified, God does not see anything of his thought and will, but that in the interior recess or higher region of the mind or nature he still retains the faith that he had acquired in the act thereof, and that that act can return when necessary without the man's being aware of it. These are the things that the small head represents, which they draw into the foreparts of the body and conceal, and also insert into the large head, when they are speaking with the laity. For they do not speak with them out of the small head but out of the large one, which appears in front as if provided with a human face, and they speak with them out of the Word, concerning love, charity and good works, the precepts of the Decalogue and repentance, quoting out of it almost all the passages the Word has on these subjects. But at the same time they insert the small head into the large one, and in consequence thereof they understand inwardly among themselves that all these things are not to be done for the sake of God, heaven and salvation, but only on behalf of public and private good. Because, however, they speak of these things out of the Word, especially concerning the Gospel, the operation of the Holy Spirit, and salvation, in a pleasing and elegant manner, they therefore appear before their hearers as handsome men wise beyond the rest in the whole wide world. This also is why you saw that dainties and things of value were given to them by the boys and girls sitting upon the cross-beams of the vessels.
[4] These therefore are they whom you have seen represented as turtles. In your world they are hardly recognised as different from others, except by this, that they suppose themselves to be wiser than others, and they laugh at others, especially at their colleagues whom they say are not wise like themselves, and whom they despise. They carry a little badge about with them on their clothing by which they mark their distinctness from them.'
[5] [The angel] speaking with me said, 'I shall not tell you what their opinion is on the other matters of faith, as on election, freedom of choice, Baptism, the Holy Supper; for these are such as they do not publish, but we in heaven know. But because they are such in the world, and after death no one is allowed to speak otherwise than he thinks, therefore, as they cannot then speak otherwise than out of their insane thoughts, they are reckoned as insane and cast out of the societies, and at length are sent down into the pit of the deep and become corporeal spirits looking like mummies; for they have put a hardness on the interiors of their minds because in the world also they have interposed a barrier. There is an infernal society of them bordering on the infernal society of the Machiavellians, and they enter from one to the other whenever they like and call each other comrades, but, because of the disagreement arising from the fact that with them there has been something religious concerning faith in act, but not with the Machiavellians, they depart.'
[6] Afterwards I saw them cast out of the societies, and gathered together to be cast down. A ship was seen flying in the air with seven sails, and on board were officers and sailors clothed in purple, having sumptuous wreaths upon their caps, calling out, 'See, we are in heaven, we are purple-robed doctors and are laurel-crowned above all because we are the chief wise ones out of all the clergy in Europe.' I wondered what this was, and it was told me that they were images of the pride and the mental thoughts that are called phantasies derived from those who had been seen before as turtles; and now they had been cast out of the societies as insane, and were gathered into a single group standing together in one place. Whereupon I was desirous of speaking with them, and I approached the place where they were standing. Having greeted them, I said, 'Is it you who have separated men's internals from their externals, and the operation of the Holy Spirit in faith from its co-operation with man as being outside of faith, and so have separated God from man? Have you not thus removed not only charity itself and its works from faith, as have many other clerical doctors, but also faith itself as to its manifestation by a man before God. I ask you, however, whether it is your wish that I speak with you concerning this matter from reason, or from Sacred Scripture?' They said, 'Speak first from reason.'
[7] And I spoke, saying, 'How can the internal and the external with a man be separated? Who does not see from common perception, or is not able to see, that all a man's interiors go on through and are continued into the exteriors and even into the outermosts, that they may produce their effects and work their works. Do not the internal things exist for the sake of the external, that they may terminate in them and continue in existence in them, and so have existence, scarcely otherwise than as a column does upon its own pedestal? You can see that if there were not a continuation and thus a conjunction, the outermost things would be dissolved and burst as bubbles in the air. Who can deny that the interior operations of God with a man are myriads of myriads, concerning which the man knows nothing? And what benefit would it be to know them, if only he may know the outermost things, in which with his own thought and will he is together with God?
[8] And this shall be illustrated by an example. Does a man know the interior operations of his speech, as how the lung draws in the air, and this fills the vesicles, the bronchia and the lobes; how it emits this air into the trachea and there turns it into sound; how that sound is modified in the glottis with the aid of the larynx; and how the tongue then articulates it, and the lips complete the articulation that it may become speech? All these interior operations, of which the man knows nothing, are they not for the sake of the outermost, that the man may be able to speak? Remove or separate one of these internal things from its continuity with the outermost things: would the man be able to speak any more than a stock?
[9] Take another example. The two hands are a man's ultimates. Are there not interior things that are continued thither? They are from the head through the neck, then by means of the breast, the shoulders, the arms and the forearms; and there are the innumerable muscular structures, the innumerable sets of motor fibres, the innumerable bundles of nerves and blood-vessels, and the many joints of the bones with the membranes and ligaments thereof. Does the man know anything of these, while yet his hands are being operated as a result of all of them? Suppose that those interior things should be deflected to the left in the region of the wrist and did not enter it, would not the hand be cut off from the forearm and decay like something dismembered and lifeless? Indeed, if you are willing to believe it, it would be as with the body if the man were beheaded. It would be entirely similar with a man's will and understanding if the Divine Operation should cease before reaching them and not inflow into them. These things are in accordance with reason.
[10] Now, if you are willing to hear, the same things are also in accordance with Sacred Scripture. Does not the Lord say:
Abide in Me, and I in you. I am the Vine, and you are the branches; he that abides in Me, and I in him, shall bear much fruit; for without Me you cannot do anything. John 15:4-5.
Are not the fruits the good works that the Lord does by means of the man, and that the man does as of himself? Does not the Lord also say:
That He stands at the door and knocks, and that to him who opens He will enter in, and will sup with him, and he with Him. Revelation 3:20.
Does not the Lord:
Give the pounds and talents, that man may trade with them, and get gain, and that as he gains, He will give eternal life. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-26.
Also:
That He gives wages to each one in accordance with his labour so His vineyard. Matthew 20:1-16.
These, however, are but a few passages. Pages can be filled from the Word concerning this, that a man should be fruitful of works like a tree, should do the commandments, should love God and the neighbour, and more. I know, however, that your self-intelligence is not able to have anything in common with the things that are from the Word, such as it is in itself, and that although you quote them, yet your ideas pervert them; also, that you cannot do otherwise because you remove everything of God from man as regards communication and consequent conjunction. What is left then but to remove also all things of worship?'
[11] Afterwards those [clergy] were seen by me in the light of heaven, which uncovers and makes manifest what each one is. Then they were seen, not as before in a ship in the air as if in heaven, nor robed in purple there and laurel-crowned; but in a sandy place, and in tattered garments, and their loins girded with as it were fishing-nets through which their nakedness was visible; and then they were sent down into the society that bordered on the Machiavellians, of which above.
Footnotes:
1. The Original has 'Testudines, (Skillpadde).' 'Skillpadde' is old Swedish for turtle or tortoise.
463. To this I will add this Relation. I looked forth to the seacoast in the spiritual world, and saw there a magnificent dock. I drew near, and looked at it; and, behold, there were vessels there great and small, and merchandise in them of every kind; and upon the decks were boys and girls distributing it to those that wished. And they said, "We are waiting to see our beautiful tortoises, which now and then rise up to us out of the sea." And, behold, I saw tortoises great and small, upon whose shells and scales young tortoises were sitting, which were looking at the islands around. The father tortoises had two heads, the one large, covered over with a shell similar to the shell of their body, whence they had a reddish glow; and the other small, such as tortoises have, which they drew back into the front parts of the body, and also to insert in an unobserved manner in the larger head. But I kept my eyes on the great reddish head; and I saw that this had a face like a man, and spoke with the boys and girls upon the decks, and licked their hands. And the boys and girls then stroked them, and gave them eatables and dainties, and also costly things, as pure silk for garments, thyine wood for tablets, purple for decorations, and scarlet for paints.
[2] Seeing these things, I desired to know what they represented; as I knew that all the things that appear in the world of spirits are correspondences, and represent something spiritual coming down from heaven. And they then spoke with me out of heaven, and said, "You yourself know what the dock represents, also what the ships, and the boys and the girls upon the decks; but you do not know what the tortoises represent." And they said, "The tortoises represent those of the clergy there, who altogether separate faith from charity and its good works, affirming in themselves that there is plainly no conjunction between them; but that the Holy Spirit, through faith in God the Father for the sake of the Son's merit, enters into a man, and purifies his interiors even to his own will, out of which they make as it were an oval plane; and that when the operation of the Holy Spirit approaches this plane, it bends itself around it on the left side, and does not at all touch it: and thus that the interior or higher part of a man's nature is for God, and that the exterior or lower is for man; and that thus nothing that the man does, neither good nor evil, appears before God: not the good, because this is meritorious; and not the evil, because this is evil; since, if these appeared before God, the man would perish from both; and since it is so, that man is permitted to will, think, speak, and do whatever he pleases, provided he is careful before the world."
[3] I asked whether they also assert that it is permitted to think of God, that He is not omnipresent and omniscient? They said from heaven, that "this also is permitted them; because God, in him who has once been purified and so justified, does not look at anything of his thought and will; and that he still retains in the interior bosom or higher region of the mind or nature the faith which he had received in its first operation; and that that operation may sometimes return, when the man does not know it. These are the things which the small head represents, which they draw into the fore parts of the body, and conceal, and also insert in the great head, when they speak with the laity: for they do not speak with them from the small head, but from the large one, which appears in front as furnished with a human face. And they speak with them from the Word concerning love, charity, good works, the precepts of the Decalogue, repentance, and they quote from the Word almost all the things that are there on these subjects. But they then insert the small head into the large one, from which they understand inwardly in themselves, that all those things are not to be done for the sake of God, of heaven, and of salvation; but only on account of the public and private good. But because they speak concerning these things from the Word, especially concerning the Gospel, the operation of the Holy Spirit, and salvation, agreeably and elegantly, they therefore appear before their hearers as handsome men, and as wise above all others in the whole world. For which reason also you saw that rich and precious things were given to them by the boys and girls that sat upon the decks of the vessels.
[4] "It is these, therefore, whom you saw represented as tortoises. In your world they are little distinguished from others, only by this, that they believe themselves to be wiser than all, and laugh at others, especially at their companions who they say are not wise as themselves, and whom they despise. They carry a kind of small seal with them on their garments, by which they are known to one another."
[5] He that spoke with me said, "I shall not tell you what they think concerning other matters of faith; as election, free agency, Baptism, the Holy Supper; which are such things as they do not divulge, but we in heaven know. But because they are such in the world, and after death it is not permitted anyone to speak otherwise than he thinks, therefore because they cannot then do otherwise than speak from the insane things of their thoughts, they are reputed as insane, and are cast out of the societies, and are at length let down into the pit of the abyss, and become corporeal spirits, and appear like mummies: for a callousness is induced over the interiors of their minds, because in the world also they had interposed a barrier. There is an infernal society of them on the confines of the infernal society from the Machiavellists, and they sometimes enter from the one into the other, and call themselves companions; but they go away because there is a diversity, on this account, that there was with them something religious concerning faith in act, but none with the Machiavellists."
[6] Afterwards I saw them cast out of the societies, and gathered together to be cast down; there was seen a vessel in the air flying with seven sails, and therein officers and sailors clothed in a purple dress, having magnificent laurels upon their hats, crying, "Lo, we are in heaven; we are the purple-robed doctors, and crowned with laurel above all, because we are the chief of the wise from all the clergy in Europe." I wondered what this was; and it was said to me that they were images of the pride, and the ideal thoughts which are called fantasies, from those who were before seen as tortoises, and now as the insane ones cast out of the societies, and gathered together into one, and they stood together in one place. And I then desired to speak with them; and I approached the place where they were standing, and saluted them, and said, "Are you they who have separated men's internals from their externals, and the operation of the Holy Spirit as in faith from its cooperation with man outside of faith, and so have separated God from man? Have you not thus removed not only charity itself and its works, from faith, like many other doctors from the clergy, but also faith itself as to its manifestation before God, from man? But, I pray, do you wish that I should speak with you on this matter from reason, or from the Sacred Scripture?" They said, "Speak first from reason."
[7] And I spoke, saying, "How can the internal and the external with a man be separated? Who does not see, or cannot see, from common perception, that all of a man's interiors proceed and are continued into his exteriors and even into the outermosts, that they may produce their effects and do their works? Are not the internals for the sake of the externals, that they may terminate in them, and subsist in them, and so exist, scarcely otherwise than as a column does upon its pedestal? You can see that if there were not continuation, and so conjunction, the outermosts would be dissolved, and would disperse like bubbles in the air. Who can deny that the interior operations of God with men are myriads of myriads, of which man knows nothing. And what use is it to know them, provided he knows the outermosts, in which he is together with God in his thought and will.
[8] But this shall be illustrated by an example. Does a man know the interior operations of his speech? as how the lungs draw in the air, and fill the vesicles, the bronchia, and the lobes with it? how it emits this air into the trachea, and there turns it into sound? how that sound is modified in the glottis by the help of the larynx? and how the tongue then articulates it, and the lips complete the articulation, so that it becomes speech? All these interior operations, of which the man knows nothing, are they not for the sake of the outermost, that man may be able to speak? Remove or separate one of those internal things from its continuous connection with the outermosts, could the man speak any more than a stock?
[9] "Take another example. The two hands are the ultimates of man. Are there not interiors, which are continued thither? They are from the head through the neck, then through the breast, the shoulders, the arms, and the forearms; and there are the innumerable muscular textures, the numberless orders of the moving fibers, the innumerable bundles of the nerves and blood vessels, and the many connections of the bones with their membranes and ligaments. Does man know anything concerning these? and yet his hands are operated from all of them. Suppose that those interiors around the elbow were turned to the left, and did not enter the hand; would not the hand from the elbow pine away, and go to decay like something torn off without life? Indeed, if you are willing to believe it, it would be as with the body, if the man were beheaded. It would be altogether similar with the will and thought of man, if the Divine operation should cease before it reaches them, and not flow into them. These things are according to reason.
[10] "Now if you are willing to hear it, these same things are also according to the Sacred Scripture. Does not the Lord say:
Abide in me, and I in you; I am the Vine, and ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye cannot do anything, (John 15:4-5)?
Is not the fruit the good works which the Lord does through the man, and which the man does as of himself? Does not the Lord also say that:
He stands at the door and knocks; and that to him who opens He will enter in, and will sup with him, and he with Him, (Revelation 3:20)?
Does not the Lord:
Give the pounds and the talents, that man may trade with them, and get gain; and as he gains, give him eternal life, (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-26)?
Also that:
He gives reward to everyone according to his labor in His vineyard, (Matthew 20:1-17).
These are but a few passages. Pages might be filled from the Word concerning this, that man ought to produce fruit as a tree; he should do the commandments, love God and the neighbor, and other like things. But I know that your own intelligence can hold no such principle, as it really is, in common with the Word, which although you quote, still your ideas pervert it. And you cannot do otherwise, because you remove all the things of God away from man as regards communication and thence conjunction. What then remains, except also all the things of worship?"
[11] They were afterwards seen by me in the light of heaven, which discloses and makes manifest what the quality of each one is; and then they were not seen as before in a vessel in the air as it were in heaven, nor in purple garments, nor with heads crowned with laurel; but in a sandy place, and in garments of rags, and girded with fishing nets as it were around the loins; through which their nakedness appeared; and they were then sent down into the society on the confines next the Machiavellists, spoken of above.
463. His adjiciam hoc MEMORABILE: -
Prospexi ad oram maritimam in mundo spirituali, et vidi ibi magnificum Navale Accessi et introspexi, et ecce ibi navigia magna et parva, et in illis merces omnis generis, et super transtris pueri et puellae distribuentes volentibus.
Et dixerunt, "Exspectamus videre pulchras nostras Testudines (skoldpadda), quae jamjam e mari ad nos exsurgent."
Et ecce vidi Testudines magnas et parvas, super quarum conchis et squamis sedebant Testudines infantes, quae spectabant ad insulas circum. Testudines patres habebant bina capita, unum magnum, circumductum concha simili conchae corporis illarum, unde rutilabant; et alterum parvum, quale est testudinibus, quod retrahebant in anteriora corporis, et quoque insertabant modo inconspicuo capiti majori.
Sed tenebam oculos in magno capite rutilo, et vidi quod hoc haberet faciem sicut homo, et loqueretur cum pueris et puellis super transtris, et lamberet manus eorum; et tunc pueri et puellae palpabant illos, et dabant illis edulia et opipara, et quoque pretiosa, ut holosericum ad vestes, lignum thyinum ad tabulas, purpuram ad decorationes, et coccinum ad infucationes.
His visis, desiderabam scire quid illa repraesentabant, quia novi quod omnia quae in Mundo spirituum apparent, sint correspondentiae, et repraesentant aliquod spirituale delabens e Caelo.
Et tunc loquebantur mecum e Caelo, et dicebant, "Nosti ipse quid repraesentat navale, tum quid navigia, et quid pueri et puellae super transtris, sed non scis quid Testudines." Et dixerunt, "Testudines repraesentant illos e Clero ibi, qui prorsus separant fidem a charitate et ejus bonis operibus, affirmantes apud se quod plane non sit aliqua conjunctio, sed quod Spiritus Sanctus per fidem in Deum Patrem propter meritum Filii, intret apud hominem, ac purificet interiora ejus usque ad propriam voluntatem ejus, ex qua faciunt sicut planum ovale; et quod cum operatio Spiritus Sancti ad illud planum appropinquat, a parte ejus sinistra circum id deflectat se, et prorsus illud non tangat: et quod ita pars interior seu superior ingenii hominis sit pro Deo, et quod pars exterior seu inferior sit pro homine; et quod sic non appareat coram Deo aliquid quod homo facit, neque bonum neque malum; non bonum quia hoc est meritorium, et non malum quia hoc est malum; quoniam si illa apparerent coram Deo homo ex utroque periret: et quia ita est, quod liceat homini velle, cogitare, loqui, et facere quicquid lubet, modo caveat sibi pro mundo.
Quaesivi num etiam asserant, quod liceat cogitare de Deo quod non omnipraesens et omnisciens sit.
Dixerunt e Caelo, quod (hoc) "Quoque illis liceat, quia Deus apud illum, qui semel purificatus et sic justificatus est, non videt ad aliquid cogitationis et voluntatis ejus, et quod usque retineat in sinu interiori aut regione superiore mentis seu ingenii fidem quam in Actu ejus acceperat, et quod ille Actus quandoque possit redire, homine nesciente. Haec sunt quae repraesentat caput parvum, quod in anteriora corporis intrahunt, et occultant, et quoque insertant capiti magno, dum loquuntur cum Laicis; nam ex parvo capite non loquuntur cum illis, sed ex magno, quod antrorsum apparet sicut facie humana praeditum; et loquuntur cum illis ex Verbo, de amore, de charitate, de bonis operibus de praeceptis Decalogi. de paenitentia, et ex Verbo desumunt paene omnia quae ibi sunt de illis: sed tunc insertant caput parvum in magnum, ex quo intus apud se intelligunt, quod omnia illa non facienda sint propter Deum, Caelum, et Salutem, sed modo propter bonum publicum et privatum: verum quia loquuntur de illis ex Verbo, imprimis de Evangelio. Operatione Spiritus Sancti et Salvatione, suaviter et eleganter, ideo apparent coram auditoribus sicut homines pulchri, et prae reliquis in universo terrarum orbe sapientes; quare etiam vidisti, quod data illis essent a pueris et puellis sedentibus super transtris navigiorum opipara et pretiosa. Hi ergo sunt, quos repraesentatos vidisti ut Testudines. In mundo tuo parvum dignoscuntur ab aliis; solum per id, quod credant se omnibus sapientiores esse, ac rideant alios, imprimis socios quos dicunt non sapientes esse sicut illi, quos aspernantur; sigillum quoddam secum in Veste ferunt, ex quo se faciunt a illis internosci."
Dixit loquens cum me, "Non dicam tibi quid sentiunt de caeteris rebus fidei, ut quid de Electione, de Libero Arbitrio, de Baptismo, de Sacra Caena, quae sunt talia quae non evulgant, sed nos in Caelo scimus. Verum quia tales sunt in mundo, et post mortem non licet alicui loqui aliter quam cogitat, ideo quia tunc non possunt aliter quam loqui ex insaniis cogitationum suarum, reputantur ut insani, ac ejiciuntur e societatibus, et tandem demittuntur in puteum abyssi, et fiunt spiritus corporei, et apparent sicut mumia; callus enim inductus est interioribus mentis eorum, quia in mundo etiam interposuerunt sepem. Societas infernalis ex illis est in confinio ad societatem infernalem ex Machiavellistis, ac intrant quandoque ab una in alteram, et vocant se sodales; sed exeunt quia diversitas est, ex eo, quod aliquod religiosum de fide Actu apud illos fuerit, sed non aliquod apud Machiavellistas."
Postquam vidi illos ejectos ex societatibus, et collectos ut dejicerentur; visum est navigium in aere cum septem velis volans, et inibi naucleros et nautas indutos veste purpurea, habentes super pileis magnificas laurus, clamantes, "En nos in Caelo; sumus doctores purpurati, et prae omnibus laureati, quia sumus Capita sapientum ex omni Clero in Europa. Miratus sum quid hoc: et dictum est mihi, quod essent imagines fastus, ac cogitationes ideales, quae vocantur phantasiae, ex illis qui prius Visi sunt ut Testudines, et nunc ut insani ejecti e societatibus, ac in unum collecti, ac starent simul in uno loco.
Et tunc desiderabam loqui cum illis, et accessi ad locum ubi stabant, ac salutabam illos, et dicebam, "Estis vos qui separavistis Interna hominum ab Externis illorum, ac operationem Spiritus Sancti sicut in fide a cooperatione Ejus cum homine sicut extra fidem, et sic separavistis Deum ab homine. Annon vos ita non modo removistis ipsam charitatem et ejus opera a fide, sicut multi alii doctores e Clero, sed etiam ipsam fidem quoad manifestationem ejus coram Deo ab homine. Sed quaeso, num velitis ut de illa re loquar vobiscum ex ratione, vel num ex Scriptura Sacra."
Dixerunt, "Loquere primum ex ratione."
Et locutus sum, dicens, "Quomodo potest Internum et Externum apud hominem separari. Quis non ex communi perceptione videt, aut videre potest, quod omnia Interiora hominis pergant et continuentur in Exteriora et usque in Extrema ejus, ut efficiant effectus suos, ac operentur opera sua. Suntne Interna propter Externa, ut desinant in illa, et subsistant in illis, et sic existant, vix aliter quam sicut columna super stylobata sua; potestis videre, quod si non continuatio foret, et sic conjunctio, Extrema dissolverentur, ac diffluerent sicut bullae in aere. Quis negare potest, quin interiores operationes Dei apud homines sint myriades myriadum, de quibus homo nihil scit; et quid juvat illa scire, modo sciat Extrema, in quibus cum sua cogitatione et voluntate cum Deo simul est. Sed hoc illustrabitur per exemplum. Num scit homo interiores operationes loquelae suae, ut quomodo pulmo attrahit aerem, et illo implet vesiculas, bronchias et lobos; quomodo illum aerem omittit in tracheam, et ibi vertit illum in sonum; quomodo sonus ille in glottide ope laryngis modificatur, et quomodo lingua dein articulat illum, et labia articulationem complent, ut fiat loquela. Nonne omnes illae interiores operationes, de quibus homo nihil scit, sunt propter Extremum, ut homo possit loqui. Remove aut separa unum ex Internis illis a suo continuo cum Extremis, num homo potuisset loqui plus quam stipes. Sit adhuc exemplum. Binae Manus sunt ultima hominis. Numne Interiora, quae illuc continuantur, sunt a capite per cervicem, tum per pectus, scapulas, brachia, et ulnas: suntque innumeri musculares textus, innumerae phalanges fibrarum motricium, in numeri manipuli nervorum et vasorum sanguineorum, ac plures ginglymi ossium cum suis membranis et ligamentis; num homo de illis aliquid scit, et tamen operantur manus ejus ex omnibus illis. Suppone quod Interiora illa circa poplitem manus se sinistrorsum deflecterent, et non intrarent; annon manus ab ulna decideret, ac sicut aliquod avulsum inanimatum putresceret; Imo, si velitis credere, foret sicut cum corpore, si homo decollaretur. Prorsus simile foret cum voluntate et cogitatione hominis, si Divina Operatio desineret ante illas, et non influeret in illas; haec sunt secundum rationem.
"Nunc si vultis audire, sunt eadem etiam secundum Scripturam Sacram. Annon Dominus dicit,
'Manete in Me et Ego in vobis: Ego sum Vitis et vos palmites; qui manet in Me et Ego in illo, hic fert fructum multum, quia sine Me non potestis facere quicquam,' (Johannes 15:4-5).
Numne fructus sunt bona opera, quae Dominus facit per hominem, et homo illa sicut a se. Annon Dominus etiam dicit, quod Stet ad ostium et pulset, et quod ad illum qui aperit, ingrediatur, ac caenet cum illo, et ille cum Ipso, (Apocalypsis 3:20).
Annon Dominus dat minas et talenta, ut homo negotietur cum illis et lucretur, et quod sicut lucratur, det vitam aeterna, (Matthaeus 25:14-30; 1Luca 19:13-26). Tum (annon Dominus dicit) quod Mercedem det cuivis secundum laborem in Vinea Ipsius, (Apocalypsis 20:1-17 [Matthaeus 20:1-17]).
Sed haec pauca sunt; possunt membranae impleri ex Verbo, de eo, quod homo operaturus sit fructus sicut arbor, facturus sit praecepta, amaturus Deum et proximum, et plura. Sed scio, quod propria intelligentia vestra cum illis quae ex Verbo sunt, non possit tale commune habere, quale est in se, quae tametsi loquimini, usque ideae Vestrae pervertunt illa et non potestis aliter, quia removetis omnia Dei ab homine quoad communicationem et inde conjunctionem: quid tunc superest nisi etiam omnia cultus." Postea illi mihi visi sunt in luce Caeli, quae detegit et manifestat qualis quisque est: et tunc non visi sunt sicut prius in navigio in aere quasi in Caelo, nec inibi purpurati quoad vestes, ac laureati quoad caput: sed in loco arenoso, inque vestibus ex frustis, ac cincti retibus quasi piscatoriis circum lumbos, trans quae nuditates eorum apparebant; et tunc demissi sunt in societatem quae in confinio ad Machiavellistas erat, de qua supra.
Footnotes:
1. 30 pro "34"