1712、“他就趁夜分队，攻击敌人”表示表面的良善和真理所处的阴影。这从“夜”的含义清楚可知，“夜”是指一种阴影状态。当一个人不知道良善和真理是表面的还是纯正的时，这种情况就被称为一种阴影状态。当一个人局限于表面的良善和真理时，他就会以为它们是纯正的良善和真理。正是存在于表面良善和真理中的邪恶和虚假产生阴影，并使它们看似纯正。那些处于无知的人只知道他们所行的良善是他们自己的，所思的真理也是他们自己的；这同样适用于那些将他们所行的良善归于自己，并将功德置于其中的人；殊不知，在这种情况下，这些行为并不是良善，只是看似良善；他们置于其中的自我和自我功德就是造成模糊和黑暗的邪恶和虚假。其它许多例子也是如此。
隐藏在这些行为里面的邪恶和虚假的种类和数量在肉身生活期间不像在来世那样显而易见；在来世，它们完全就像在大白天那样清晰可见。不过，如果一个人出于未确认的无知行事，情况就不同了，因为在这种情况下，那些邪恶和虚假很容易被驱散。但如果人们确认这种观点，即：他们能凭自己的能力行良善并抵制邪恶，因而配得救赎，那么在这种情况下，这种观点就会继续粘附，并使良善变成邪恶，使真理变成虚假。尽管如此，按照秩序，人应该貌似凭自己行善，因而不应该举手思想：“我若不能凭自己行任何良善，就必须等待直接流注”，从而保持一种被动状态，因为这也违反秩序。人必须貌似凭自己行善；然而，当他反思自己所行或曾行过的善事时，要让他思考、承认并相信，实际行善事的，是在他里面作工的主。
如果他因刚才提到的那种想法而放弃一切努力，主就不能在他里面作工。主不能流入那些丧失接受行善能力的一切事物，或说能力能被引入其中的一切事物的人。这就像有人若不通过给他的启示，就不愿学习任何东西；或若不将话语放进他嘴里，就不愿教导任何东西；或若不像一个没有意愿的机器人那样被驱动，就不肯尝试任何东西。但如果这些情况真的发生了，他就会为自己就像一个无生命物体而更加愤怒。而事实上，主在一个人里面所激活的，是那看似来自他自己的东西。人不是靠自己存活的，这是一个永恒真理；然而，他若不看似靠自己存活，就根本无法存活。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1712. He divided [his forces] against [the enemy] by night means the shadow that the apparent goodness and truth were in, which can be seen from the symbolism of night as shadowy conditions.
Conditions are said to be shadowy when we do not know whether a thing appears to be good and true or actually is good and true. Everyone who experiences apparent goodness and truth considers it genuinely good and true. The evil and falsity that lurk in apparent goodness and truth are what cast a shadow over it and make it appear real.
People who do not know any better cannot help seeing the good they do as their own and the truth they think as their own. The same applies to those who take credit for the good they do and feel that it makes them deserving. All the while they are unaware that the good is not good, even though it seems so, and that the sense of pride and personal merit they place in their deeds is an evil and a lie, which darkens and clouds their sight. The same applies in many other situations as well.
[2] The type and amount of evil and falsity that lies hidden within can never be seen as clearly during physical life as in the next life. There it stands out just as plain to see as in broad daylight.
The situation is different, though, if we commit the error out of an ignorance that has not yet hardened. In that case, the evils and falsities are easily shaken off. But if we reinforce the belief that we can do good and resist evil under our own power, and that we earn salvation by doing so, this attitude clings. It turns good into evil and truth into falsity.
Still, the proper method is for us to do good as if on our own. We should not throw up our hands thinking, "If I can't do any good on my own, I ought to wait for direct inspiration; till then I should lie passive."{*1} This too is wrong. Instead we should do good as if we were doing it on our own, but when we reflect on the good we are doing (or have done), we ought to think, acknowledge, and believe that the Lord working in us is actually doing the good.
[3] If we abandon all effort because of the kind of thinking mentioned, the Lord cannot work in us. He cannot act on those who rid themselves of every capacity for receiving the power to do good. It is like saying that you refuse to learn anything unless it comes to you as revelation. Or like saying that you refuse to teach anything unless the words are planted in your mouth. Or like refusing to try anything unless you can be propelled like an automaton. If this did happen, you would be still more resentful for feeling like an inanimate object. The reality is that what the Lord animates in us is that which seems to be ours. For instance, it is an eternal truth that life is not ours; but if it did not seem to be, we would have no life at all.
Footnotes:
{*1} This passage could be aimed at spiritual sloth in general or at advocates of Quietism in particular. Quietism was a seventeenth-century movement, active particularly in the Catholic Church and condemned by it, that held that the supreme achievement of human life was complete submission to divine providence and a withdrawal from distracting religious activities such as overt prayer, with the aim of achieving a constant state of awareness of God. See The New Catholic Encyclopedia 2003, under "quietism." [RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 1712
1712. He divided himself against them by night. That this signifies the shade in which the apparent goods and truths were, is evident from the signification of "night," as being a state of shade. There is said to be a state of shade when it is not known whether the good and truth are apparent or are genuine. When anyone is in apparent good and truth, he supposes them to be genuine good and truth; the evil and falsity that are in apparent good and truth are what cause the shade, and make them appear genuine. They who are in ignorance can know no otherwise than that the good which they do is their own, and that the truth which they think is their own, and it is the same with those who attribute to themselves the goods they do, and place merit in them, not knowing that in this case they are not good, although they appear so; and that the Own and self-merit which they place in them are the evils and falsities which obscure and darken. So in many other cases. [2] The kind and the measure of the evil and falsity which lie concealed in them, cannot possibly be so well seen in the life of the body as in the other life, where they are presented to view as in clear light. But the case is different if this is done from ignorance that is not confirmed, for in this case those evils and falsities are easily dispersed. But if men confirm themselves in the belief that they can do good and resist evil by their own powers, and that they thus merit salvation, in this case this idea remains attached, and causes the good to be evil, and the truth to be falsity. But still it is according to order for a man to do good as of himself; and therefore he ought not to slacken his hand, with the thought, "If I can do nothing of good from myself, I ought to wait for immediate influx," and thus remain in a passive state, for this would be contrary to order; but he must do good as of himself; yet, when he reflects upon the good which he does or has done, let him think, acknowledge, and believe that the Lord has done the work in him. [3] If he slackens his effort, thinking as has been said, he is then not a subject into which the Lord can operate. The Lord cannot flow into anyone who deprives himself of everything into which power can be infused. It is as if one were not willing to learn anything without a revelation to himself; or as if one would teach nothing unless the words were put into him; or as if one would attempt nothing unless he were put into action as one without will. But if these things were done, he would be still more indignant at being like an inanimate thing; when yet that which is animated by the Lord in a man is that which appears as if it were from himself. It is thus an eternal truth that a man does not live from himself, but that if he did not appear to live from himself he could not live at all.
Elliott(1983-1999) 1712
1712. That 'he divided himself against them by night' means the shade which the apparent goods and truths were in is clear from the meaning of 'night' as a state of shade. It is called a state of shade when a person does not know whether good and truth are apparent or genuine. While a person is limited to apparent good and truth he imagines that these are genuine good and truth. It is the evil and falsity present in apparent good and truth that produce the shade and cause them to be seen as genuine. What else can people who are in ignorance know than that the good they do is their own, and that the truth they think is their own? The same applies to people who ascribe the good deeds they do to themselves and place merit in them, unaware of the fact that in this case those deeds are not good though they appear to be so, and that the proprium and the self-merit they place in them are evils and falsities that cause obscurity and darkness. And the same applies in many other instances.
[2] What evil and falsity are like, and how much evil and falsity lie concealed in such deeds, cannot possibly be seen so clearly in the life of the body as in the next life, where these are presented to view altogether as in broad daylight. But it is different if a person acts out of ignorance that has not been confirmed, for in that case those evils and falsities are easily dispersed. But if people confirm themselves in the notion that they are able to do good and to withstand evil by their own powers, and that thus they merit salvation, such a notion remains attached, and causes the good to be evil, and the truth to be falsity. Yet for all this, order requires that a person should do good as though from himself, and ought not therefore to stay his hand and think to himself, 'If I am unable to do anything good at all from myself I must wait for immediate influx' and so remain inactive. This is also contrary to order. Man ought to do good as though from himself; but when he stops to reflect on the good he is doing or has done, let him think, acknowledge, and believe that the Lord present with him has accomplished it.
[3] If by thinking as described he gives up acting as of himself he is not a subject into whom the Lord can operate. The Lord cannot flow into anyone who deprives himself of everything into which power has to be introduced. He is like someone who is not willing to learn anything except through a revelation made to him; or like someone who is not willing to teach anything unless the words are put into his mouth; or like someone who is unwilling to attempt anything unless he is directed as one without a will. But if this were done he would be more indignant still at being like an inanimate object. In fact however that which is animated by the Lord in a person is the very thing which makes it seem as though it were from himself. That man does not live from himself is an eternal truth; yet if he did not appear to do so he could not possibly live at all.
Latin(1748-1756) 1712
1712. 'Distribuit se super eos noctu': quod significet umbram in qua fuerunt bona et vera apparentia, constat a significatione 'noctis' quod sit status umbrae: status umbrae dicitur cum ignoratur num sit bonum et verum apparens vel bonum et verum genuinum; quisque dum in bono et vero apparente est, putat esse bonum et verum genuinum; est illud malum et falsum quod est in bono et vero apparent quod inumbrat, et facit ut appareat genuinum; qui in ignorantia sunt non aliter scire possunt quam quod bonum quod faciunt sit illorum et verum quod cogitant sit illorum; similiter qui sibi tribuunt bona quae faciunt, et in illis ponunt meritum, nescientes tunc quod non bona sint tametsi ita apparent, et quod proprium et meritum sui quod ponunt in illis, sint mala et falsa quae obscurant et obtenebrant; ita in multis aliis; [2] quale malum et falsum, et quantum mali et falsi in illis reconditum latet, nusquam ita videri potest in vita corporis sicut in altera vita; tunc prorsus sicut in clara luce sistuntur videnda; sed aliter est si hoc fit ex ignorantia non confirmata, tunc mala illa et falsa facile discutiuntur; at si se confirmant in eo quod propriis viribus possint facere bonum et resistere malo, et quod mereantur sic salutem tunc manet hoc adjunctum et facit ut bonum sit malum, et verum sit falsum; sed usque talis est ordo ut homo tanquam ex se bonum faciat, et ideo non remittere debeat manum, cogitando, Si nihil boni a me facere possum, quod exspectare debeam immediatum influxum, et sic in statu passivo manere, hoc quoque contra ordinem est; sed facere oportet bonum tanquam ex se, at cum reflectit super bonum quod facit vel fecerat, tunc cogitet, agnoscat et credat quod Dominus apud se hoc operatus est; [3] si se remittit ita cogitando, ut dictum, tunc non est subjectum in quod Dominus operari potest; non potest influere in aliquem qui se deprivat omni tali in quod vires infundendae sunt est sicut quis nihil discere vellet nisi ei revelatio; aut sicut quis nihil docere, nisi voces ei inderentur; aut sicut quis nihil conari, nisi ageretur sicut absque voluntate; quod si fieret, indignaretur adhuc plus quod sicut inanimatum quid esset, cum tamen quod a Domino animatur apud hominem, est id quod apparet tanquam foret ab illo: sicut quod homo non vivit a se, quod est veritas aeterna; nisi appareret sicut viveret ex se, nusquam vivere posset.