771# 圣言在字义上是藉表象与对应写成的，因此在其每一处都有属灵意义；在属灵意义中，真理处于自身的光中，而字义则处于阴影之中。这一点已在“论圣言”一章中说明。因此，为免新教会之人像旧教会之人一样，在圣言字义的阴影中犯错，尤其是在关于天堂与地狱、死后生命，以及此处关于主降临的问题上犯错，主便乐意开启我灵的视觉，并由此引我进入灵界；不但使我能与灵和天使交谈，与亲族和朋友交谈，甚至与在自然世界中已走完自己命运的君王和诸侯交谈，而且使我看见天堂中令人惊奇的事，和地狱中令人悲惨的事。
由此可知，人并不是住在地中的某个幽暗之处，也不是又盲又哑地在空气或虚空中四处飘荡；而是作为人，生活在一个实质性的身体中。若他来到蒙福者中间，他所处的状态，比先前活在物质身体中时完善得多。
因此，为免人因无知而更深地陷入一种观念，以为可见之天与可居之地将要毁灭，并由此否定灵界；也为免自然主义以及随之而来的无神论——今日已开始在有学识者内在的理性心智中扎根——像尸毒在肉中扩散一样，更广泛地蔓延到人的外在心智中，也就是他据以说话的心智中，主便命我公布我所见所闻的种种事物，包括关于天堂与地狱、关于最后审判的内容，并且解释启示录，其中论及主的降临、先前的天、新天以及圣城耶路撒冷。人若阅读并理解这些内容，便能看见其中所谓“主的降临”、“新天”以及“新耶路撒冷”究竟是什么意思。
771# 关于圣经那一章（TCR 193-209，215，226，254-260节）已经说明，字面上的圣言是通过表象和对应来写的，因此，它的一切细节里面都有灵义；在灵义中，真理出现在真理之光中，而字义出现在阴影中。因此，为了避免新教会的人像旧教会的人一样，在圣言字义的阴影中徘徊，尤其在天堂和地狱，人死后的生活和主的降临这些主题上，主乐意打开我灵的视觉，从而将我引入灵界，允许我不仅与灵人和天使、亲戚和朋友交谈，甚至与结束自然界旅程的君主和其他政治领袖交谈，还看到天堂的奇观和地狱的悲惨。我也看到，人死后不是住在地上某个不确定的地方，也不是在空中，或在空虚的虚空中又瞎又聋地飞舞，而是作为人活在一个实质身体中，并处于更完美的状态；如果他在有福者之列，那么他的状态比他活在一个物质身体中时更加完美得多。
人类现在相信可居的天和可居的地将被摧毁，这影响了人们对灵界的思考。这种信念是由于无知。在这种无知的状态下，自然主义和无神论已经开始扎根于当今学者的内在理性心智。主希望阻止人类进一步陷入这些观点，防止自然主义和无神论在学者当中像肉体坏死一样进一步传播，甚至延伸到他们的外在心智，否则他们在公众面前的言论也会被它感染。因此，主吩咐我公布我所看到和听到的关于天堂和地狱，以及最后审判的各种事，还吩咐我解释启示录。启示录论述了主的降临，先前的天，新天和圣耶路撒冷。凡阅读并理解这些事的人都能由此看到，主的降临、新天和新耶路撒冷是什么意思。
771. As the chapter on the Sacred Scripture has shown, the Word's literal meaning was written in apparent truths and correspondences [193-209, 215, 226, 254-260]. As a result, there is a spiritual meaning within every detail. In that spiritual meaning, truth stands forth in its own light. The literal meaning is in the dark.
To prevent people in the new church from wandering off into the darkness of the Word's literal meaning the way the people of the old church have done - especially on the topics of heaven and hell, their own life after death, and the Lord's Coming - the Lord has chosen to open my spiritual sight and bring me into the spiritual world. He has allowed me not only to speak with spirits and angels, with friends and relatives, and even with monarchs and other political leaders, whose lives in the physical world had come to an end, but also to see the amazing conditions in heaven and the wretched conditions in hell. I have learned for a fact that after we die we do not spend time in some somewhere-or-other underground; and we do not fly around blind and mute in midair or deep space. We live on in a substantial body. If we come into the company of the blessed, we have a much better quality of life than we had while we were living in a physical body.
[2] Humankind now has the belief that the visible heaven and the habitable earth are going to be destroyed, and this affects people's thinking about the spiritual world. This belief is based on ignorance. In this state of ignorance, materialism and even atheism have begun to be rooted in the inner rational minds of the educated. The Lord wishes to prevent the human race from plunging still further into these views and to keep materialistic atheism from spreading further (like necrosis in flesh) among educated people; otherwise the outer minds of the educated and their statements before the public will be infected by it as well. Therefore he has commanded me to publish various things that I have heard and seen, both concerning heaven and hell and concerning the Last Judgment, and to explain the Book of Revelation. That book speaks of the Lord's Coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. Anyone who reads and understands these works can see the true meaning of the Lord's Coming, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem.
771. In the chapter on the Sacred Scripture I showed that the literal sense of the Word is written by appearances and correspondences. Each of its details therefore contains a spiritual sense in which truth is illuminated by its own light, and the literal sense is in shadow. So to prevent the people of the new church, like those of the old church, going astray in the shadows obscuring the literal sense of the Word, especially as regards heaven and hell, how they will live after death, and on the present occasion about the Lord's coming, the Lord has been pleased to open the sight of my spirit, thus admitting me to the spiritual world. I have been allowed not only to talk with spirits and angels, with relations and friends, even with kings and princes, who have met their end in the natural world, but also to see the astonishing sights of heaven, and the pitiful sights of hell. So I have seen how people do not pass their time in some pu deep in the earth, nor flit around blind and dumb in the air or in empty space, but live as human beings in a substantial body, in a much more perfect state, if they come among the blessed, than they experienced previously when living in material bodies.
[2] So to prevent people from plunging yet deeper into erroneous ideas about the destruction of the sky we see and the earth we live on, and consequently about the spiritual world, as the result of ignorance, which leads to worshipping nature and this automatically to atheism - something which at the present time has begun to take root in the inner rational minds of the learned - to prevent then atheism from spreading more widely, like necrosis in the flesh, so as to affect as well the outer mind which controls speech, I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things which I have seen and heard. These include heaven and hell, the Last Judgment, and the explanation of Revelation, which deals with the Lord's coming, the former heaven and the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. If my books on these subjects are read and understood, anyone can see what is meant there by the Lord's coming, a new heaven and the New Jerusalem.
771. It has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that the Word in the letter was written by appearances and correspondences, consequently in all its particulars there is a spiritual sense, and in that sense the truth is in its own light while the sense of the letter is in shade. In order therefore that the man of the New Church may not wander about, like the man of the old, in the shade that obscures the sense of the letter of the Word, especially in respect to heaven and hell and man's life after death, and here in respect to the Lord's coming, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and thus introduce me into the spiritual world, and permit me not only to talk with spirits and angels, relatives and friends, and even with kings and princes who have finished their course in the natural world, but also to see the wonders of heaven and the miseries of hell, and thus to learn that man does not abide in some indefinite place in the earth, nor fly about blind and dumb in the air or in vacancy, but lives as a man in a substantial body in a much more perfect state (if he is among the blessed), than that in which he formerly lived when in the material body. In order therefore, that man from ignorance may not immerse himself still more deeply in this opinion respecting the destruction of the visible heaven and habitable earth, and in respect also to the spiritual world (because of which ignorance naturalism together with atheism, which among the learned has begun to take root in the interior rational mind, is spreading more widely, like mortification in the flesh, even extending to the external mind from which man speaks), I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things that I have seen and heard respecting Heaven and Hell and respecting the Last judgment, and also to explain the Apocalypse, which treats of the Lord's coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. From these, when they have been read and understood, anyone can see what is meant by the Lord's coming, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem.
771. Now it has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that the Word in the Letter is written by appearances and correspondences, and that there is, therefore, in all its details a spiritual sense in which truth appears in the light of truth, while the sense of the Letter is in the shadow of darkness. Lest, therefore, a man of the New Church should wander like those of the Old in the shade in which the sense of the Letter of the Word is, especially respecting heaven and hell, the life after death, and respecting this present subject the Coming of the Lord, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and so to introduce me into the spiritual world. He has thus permitted me not only to converse with spirits and angels, with relatives and friends, and also with kings and princes, but also to behold the mighty wonders of heaven and the miseries of hell. I have also seen that a man after death does not pass his time in some indeterminate location in the earth, nor flit about blind and dumb in the air or in the empty void; 1 but that he lives as a man in a substantial body, and in a more perfect state, if he joins the company of the blessed, than when he lived in a material body.
Accordingly, lest man from ignorance should immerse himself more deeply in this opinion concerning the destruction of the visible heaven and the habitable earth, and thus concerning the spiritual world; and lest from the same cause materialism, and with it atheism which at this day among the learned has become deeply rooted in the interior rational mind, should spread further, like mortification in the flesh, even into the external mind from which man speaks, it has been enjoined upon me by the Lord to publish accounts of what I have seen and heard concerning heaven and hell as well as concerning the Last Judgment. I have also been enjoined to explain the Book of Revelation, which treats of the Lord's Coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem. Every one who reads and understands these things will thus be enabled to see what is there meant by the Coming of the Lord, the new heaven and the New Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
1. Pu, Greek pou, where?, somewhere, whereabouts, abode.
771. Quod Verbum in litera per Apparentias et Correspondentias conscriptum sit, et quod ideo in singulis ejus sit Sensus spiritualis, in quo veritas est in sua luce, et Sensus literae in umbra, in Capite de Scriptura Sacra ostensum est. Ne itaque homo Ecclesiae novae, sicut homo Ecclesiae veteris, erret in umbra, in qua est Sensus literae Verbi, imprimis de Coelo et Inferno, deque Vita sua post mortem, et hic de Adventu Domini, placuit Domino aperire visum spiritus mei, et sic intromittere in Mundum spiritualem, et non modo dare loqui cum spiritibus et angelis, cumque cognatis et amicis, imo cum regibus et principibus, qui fata sua in Mundo naturali obiverunt, sed etiam videre stupenda Coeli, et miseranda Inferni, et sic quod homo non degat in aliquo Pu terrae, nec circumvolitet caecus et mutus in aere aut in inani, sed quod vivat homo in corpore substantiali, in multo perfectiori statu, si inter beatos venit, quam prius cum in corpore materiali vixit.
[2] Ne itaque homo se ulterius profundet in Opinione de interitu Coeli aspectabilis et Terrae habitabilis, et sic de Mundo spirituali, ex ignorantia, ex qua naturalismus et simul tunc atheismus, qui hodie inter Eruditos in mente rationali interiore coeptus est radicari, latius, sicut morticinum in carne, etiam in Mentem ejus externam, ex qua loquitur, se circumspargat, injunctum a Domino mihi est, varia ex visis et auditis promulgare, tam de COELO ET INFERNO, quam de ULTIMO JUDICIO, 1 et quoque APOCALYPSIN, ubi de Adventu Domini, et de Coelo priori, et de Coelo novo, deque Sancta Hierosolyma, agitur, explicare; a quibus lectis et intellectis, quisque videre potest, quid ibi per Adventum Domini, perque Novum Coelum, et per novam Hierosolymam, intelligitur.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: JUDICIO.