289、“妻子”表示教会，在普遍意义上表示主在天上和地上的国。这在前面也已经说明；由此可推知，“母”也表示教会。在圣言中，教会常被称为“母”，如以赛亚书：
你们母亲的休书在那里呢？（以赛亚书50:1）
耶利米书：
你们的母极其抱愧，生你们的已满受羞辱。（耶利米书50:12）
以西结书：
你正是你母亲的女儿，厌弃丈夫和儿子。你母亲是赫人，你父亲是亚摩利人。（以西结书16:45）
此处“丈夫”表示主和一切属天之物；“儿子”表示信之真理；“赫人”表示虚假，“亚摩利人”表示邪恶。同一先知书：
你的母亲像一棵类似你的葡萄树，栽于水旁；因为水多，就多结果子，满了枝叶。（以西结书19:10）
“母亲”表示古教会。上古教会尤其被称为一个母亲，因为它是第一个教会，也是唯一属天的教会。由于这个原因，主钟爱这个教会胜过其它一切教会。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]289. The meaning of a wife as the church and in a comprehensive sense as the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth has also been demonstrated before.{*1} It follows, then, that a mother has the same meaning.
The Word frequently uses mother for the church. Take Isaiah:
Where is your mother's document of divorce? (Isaiah 50:1)
In Jeremiah:
Your mother has been acutely shamed; she who gave birth to you has blushed with embarrassment. (Jeremiah 50:12)
In Ezekiel:
[You are] your mother's daughter, showing disgust for her husband and her children. Your mother is a Hittite and your father an Amorite. (Ezekiel 16:45)
The husband stands for the Lord and every heavenly quality, the children for religious truth. A Hittite stands for falsity and an Amorite for evil. In the same author:
Your mother was like a grapevine that resembled you, planted next to the water; fruitful, leafy was she, because of the many waters. (Ezekiel 19:10)
The mother stands for the ancient church.
The earliest church is the main one to be called a mother, because it was the first and was also the only heavenly one, so that the Lord loved it above all others.
Footnotes:
{*1} For the meaning of a wife (or woman) as the church, see 54, 250, 252-253, 255, 262. In 29:2 Swedenborg defines God's kingdom in the broadest sense as heaven and in a narrower sense as the church. [SS]
Potts(1905-1910) 289
289. It has also been shown above that by "wife" is meant the church, and in the universal sense the kingdom of the Lord in the heavens and on earth; and from this it follows that the same is meant by "mother." In the Word the church is very frequently called "mother" as in Isaiah:
Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement ? (Isa. 50:1). In Jeremiah:
Your mother is greatly ashamed: she that bare you was suffused with shame (Jer. 50: 12). In Ezekiel:
Thou art thy mother's daughter that loathed her man and her sons; your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite (Ezek. 16:45), where "man [vir]" denotes the Lord and all that is celestial; "sons" the truths of faith; a "Hittite" what is false: and an "Amorite" what is evil. In the same:
Thy mother is like a vine in thy likeness, planted near the waters; she was fruitful and full of leaves because of many waters (Ezek. 19:10). Here "mother" denotes the Ancient Church. The term "mother" is more especially applicable to the Most Ancient Church, because it was the first church, and the only one that was celestial, and therefore beloved by the Lord more than any other.
Elliott(1983-1999) 289
289. 'Wife' is used to mean the Church, in the universal sense the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth. This too has been shown already, while the fact that 'mother' as well has the same meaning follows from this. In the Word the Church is commonly called 'mother', as in Isaiah, Where is your mother's bill of divorce? Isa 50:1. In Jeremiah,
Your, mother has been utterly shamed, she who bore you is covered with shame. Jer 50:12.In Ezekiel, [You are] your mother's daughter who loathes her husband and her sons. Your mother is a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Ezek 16:45. Here 'husband' (vir) stands for the Lord and everything celestial, 'sons for truths of faith, 'Hittite' for falsity, and 'Amorite' for evil. In the same prophet,
Your mother was like a vine in your likeness, planted beside the waters, fruitful, full of branches by reason of many waters. Ezek 19:10.
Here 'mother' stands for the Ancient Church. The Most Ancient Church is pre-eminently called a 'mother' because it was the first Church, and the only one to be celestial. For that reason it was the Lord's beloved more than any other.
Latin(1748-1756) 289
289. Quod per 'uxorem' intelligatur Ecclesia, in sensu universali regnum Domini in caelis et in terris, prius quoque ostensum est; quod etiam per 'matrem,' inde sequitur. Quod Ecclesia 'mater' dicatur, commune est in Verbo; ut apud Esaiam, Ubi est libellus repudii matris vestrae? l I:apud Jeremiam, Pudefacta est mater vestra valde, pudore suffusa est genitrix vestra, l 12:
apud Ezechielem, Filia matris tuae {1} fastidientis virum suum, et filios suos; mater vestra Hittaea, et pater vester Emoraeus, xvi 45;
ubi 'vir' pro Domino et pro omni caelesti, 'filii' pro veris fidei, 'Hittaea' pro falso, 'Emoraeus' pro malo: apud eundem, Mater tua sicut vitis {2} in similitudine tui, juxta aquas plantata, frugifera, frondescens fuit ab aquis multis, xix 10;
hic 'mater' pro Antiqua Ecclesia. Antiquissima Ecclesia principaliter 'mater' dicitur, quia prima, ut et unica quae caelestis, et ideo prae omnibus amata a Domino. @ 1 I has fastidiens as Hebrew, but in De Amore Conjugiali n.119 S. fastidietis showing that it refers to matris not filiae.$ @ 2 S. has this in every other place he quotes it; A.V. and R.V. have 'in thy blood,' but R.V. in margin has 'or, in thy likeness.'$