129、众所周知，人所做出的基本假设即便完全是虚假，也会掌控他，他的一切知识和理性都会赞成他的假设。因为无数倾向于支持它们的想法会呈现在他的脑海中，以使他确认虚假。因此，当一个人的基本假设是什么都不信，除非他看见并理解时，他永远不可能相信；因为属灵和属天的事物无法用眼睛看见，也无法通过想象来理解。对一个人来说，真正的秩序是从主，也就是从祂的圣言变得智慧。在这种情况下，一切都会随之而来，他甚至在理性和记忆知识上被光照。事实上，没有人被禁止学习知识，因为知识对生活是有用的，也赋予快乐。有信住在其中的人也绝不会被禁止像世上的学者那样思考和谈论。但他必须在相信主的圣言，尽可能地通过属世真理、以学术界所熟悉的术语来确认属灵和属天真理的前提下如此行。因此，他的前提必须是主，而不是自己；因为前者是生命，后者是死亡。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]129. Clearly our assumptions control us, even when they are utterly false. All our knowledge and our sophistry bolster these assumptions, drawing together endless supporting arguments that harden us in our false ideas. If we seize, then, on the premise that we will believe nothing until we see and understand it, we will never be able to believe anything. Spiritual and heavenly concepts remain beyond the range of our eyesight, beyond the grasp of our imagination.
The proper method is to learn wisdom from the Lord, that is, from his Word. Then all goes well, and in addition light is shed on our rational thinking and factual knowledge.
By no means, you see, is the acquisition of knowledge forbidden. Knowledge is useful for our lives, and pleasurable. For a believer no prohibition exists on thinking and speaking the way the well-educated of the world do. But we are to do so on the principle of belief in the Lord's Word and of using earthly truth to confirm spiritual and heavenly truth so far as we can, using language familiar to the academic world. The Lord, not ourselves, must be the source of our principles. This is life; the other way is death.
Potts(1905-1910) 129
129. Everyone may know that man is governed by the principles he assumes, be they ever so false, and that all his knowledge and reasoning favor his principles; for innumerable considerations tending to support them present themselves to his mind, and thus he is confirmed in what is false. He therefore who assumes as a principle that nothing is to be believed until it is seen and understood, can never believe, because spiritual and celestial things cannot be seen with the eyes, or conceived by the imagination. But the true order is for man to be wise from the Lord, that is, from His Word, and then all things follow, and he is enlightened even in matters of reason and of memory-knowledge [in rationalibus et scientificis]. For it is by no means forbidden to learn the sciences, since they are useful to his life and delightful; nor is he who is in faith prohibited from thinking and speaking as do the learned of the world; but it must be from this principle-to believe the Word of the Lord, and, so far as possible, confirm spiritual and celestial truths by natural truths, in terms familiar to the learned world. Thus his starting-point must be the Lord, and not himself; for the former is life, but the latter is death.
Elliott(1983-1999) 129
129. Anybody can recognize that the basic assumptions a person makes, even when completely false, govern him, and that all knowledge and reasoning buttress those assumptions. For countless flattering ideas occur to him to confirm him in falsities. Consequently when a person's basic assumption is to believe nothing until he sees and understands it, he cannot possibly believe; for spiritual and celestial things are neither visible to the eyes nor comprehensible in mental images. But the true order is for a person to become wise from the Lord, that is, from His Word. In that case everything follows as it should, and he is also enlightened in matters of reason and of fact. Indeed nobody is forbidden to acquire knowledge, since it is useful for life and gives delight. And the person in whom faith resides is in no way forbidden to think and to talk as learned people in the world do. But he does so from the premise of belief in the Lord's Word and of confirming spiritual and celestial truths by means of natural truths, using as far as is possible the terminology of the learned world. Consequently his premise must be the Lord, not self; the former is life, while the latter is death.
Latin(1748-1756) 129
129. Cuivis notum esse potest quod principia capta, etiam falsissima, regant hominem, et quod principiis omnis scientia et ratiocinatio faveat, nam innumera assentientia affluunt, ita confirmatur in falsis; quare cui principium est quod nihil credat priusquam videt et intelligit, nusquam credere potest; nam spiritualia et caelestia nec oculis videt, nec phantasia capit. Sed verus ordo est ut ex Domino, hoc est, ex Verbo Ipsius sapiat; tunc omnia succedunt, et quoque in rationalibus et scientificis illustratur: nusquam enim negatum est scientias discere, quia utiles sunt vitae et delectabiles; et qui in fide: ei nusquam negatum est cogitare et loqui sicut eruditi mundi, sed ex illo principio quod credat Verbo Domini et confirmet veritates spirituales et caelestes per veritates naturales, terminis orbi erudito familiaribus, quantum potest; quare ex Domino erit principium non ex semet; illud est vita, hoc autem est mors.