7290.“说，你们行件奇事吧”表因此他们想要得到证据。这从“神迹奇事”的含义清楚可知，“神迹奇事”是指对真理的确证（参看3900，6870节）。至于下文所描述的神迹奇事，要知道，它们是在处于外在敬拜，并且不想知道内在敬拜的人当中行出的，因为具有这种敬拜的人不得不通过外在手段被驱使。这解释了为何神迹会行在以色列和犹太人当中，因为他们的敬拜完全是外在的，根本不是内在的。更重要的是，他们不喜欢内在敬拜，所以不得不处于外在敬拜，好叫他们能在外在仪式上代表神圣事物。这会建立起一个与天堂联系的渠道，如同通过某种教会事物，因为对应、代表和有意义的符号将自然界和灵界联结起来。 这就是为何在这个民族当中行如此多神迹的原因。
神迹不会行在那些处于内在敬拜，也就是仁与信的人当中，因为对这些人来说，它们是有害的；事实上，神迹会强迫一个人去信，人被迫相信的东西不会保留下来，而是会消散，随风飘散。其敬拜的内在事物，也就是信与仁，必须在自由中被植入，因为那时，他们使这些事物变成他们自己的，以这种方式为归于他们自己的东西就会保留下来；而被迫植入的东西仍在内在人之外，留在了外在人中。这是因为若不通过在理解力中看到的观念，也就是理性，没有什么东西能进入内在人；事实上，在内在人中接受所植入之物的土壤就是被启示的理性。这就是为何如今不再行神迹。由此可以得出结论：它们是有害的，因为它们迫使一个人去信某事，并给予外在人对其真实性的固定观念。如果后来内在人拒绝相信神迹所证明的东西，内在人与外在人就会彼此对立，相互冲突，最终当源于神迹的观念消散时，虚假就会与真理联结起来，也就是说，亵渎就会发生。由此明显可知，如今在一个知道敬拜的内在品质的教会，神迹何等有害。这也是对多马所说这些话的意思：
多马，你因看见了我才信，那没有看见就信的有福了！（约翰福音20:29）
这也表明那些没有通过神迹就信的人是有福的。
但对那些处于没有任何内在事物的外在敬拜的人来说，神迹是无害的，因为对他们来说，内在人与外在人之间不可能有对立，因而没有任何冲突，进而也就没有任何亵渎了。神迹对信仰没有任何帮助，这一事实从在埃及和旷野的以色列人当中所行的神迹看得清清楚楚；这些神迹根本没有对他们产生任何效果。尽管这些人不久以前在埃及看见了那么多神迹，后来又看见红海被分开，埃及人淹死在里面，又见白天有云柱、晚上有火柱行在他们面前；以及吗哪每天从天而降；尽管他们看见西乃山冒烟，听见耶和华从西乃山上说话，以及其它神迹，但在这类奇事中间，他们仍旧完全远离信仰，不去敬拜耶和华，反去敬拜牛犊（出埃及记32）。由此可见神迹有什么效果。
如今，当人们不承认有什么东西来源于灵界，非自然因素所发生的那种奇事被否认时，神迹更没有什么效果。因为对神性流入并在地上掌权的否认处处占主导地位。因此，如今属教会的人若见证绝对的神迹，首先会推断它们有一个自然的起源，以此玷污它们，然后把它们当作幻想加以弃绝，最终嘲笑凡将它们归于神性，而不归于自然界的人。神迹根本没有任何效果，这一事实也可从主在路加福音中的话明显看出来：
若不听从摩西和先知，就是有一个从死里复活的，他们也是不听劝。（路加福音16:31）
Potts(1905-1910) 7290
7290. Saying, Give you a wonder. That this signifies, and they therefore desire to be confirmed, is evident from the signification of "wonders and signs," as being confirmations of truths (see n. 3900, 6870). As regards the wonders and signs treated of in what follows, be it known that they were done among such as were in external worship, and did not desire to know anything about internal worship, for they who were in such worship had to be driven by external means. This is the reason why miracles were done among the Israelitish and Jewish people, for they were in external worship only. In the absence of their desire for internal worship they had to be in external, in order that they might represent holy things in outward ones, and that in this way there might be communication with heaven as by something of a church, for correspondences, representatives, and significatives conjoin the natural world with the spiritual. This is the reason why so many miracles were done in that nation. [2] But miracles are not done among those who are in internal worship, that is, in charity and faith, because to these they are hurtful, for miracles compel belief, and what is compelled does not remain, but is dissipated. The inward things of worship, which are faith and charity, must be implanted in freedom, for then they are appropriated, and what is so appropriated remains; whereas that which is implanted in compulsion, remains outside the internal man in the external, because nothing enters into the internal man except by means of intellectual ideas, which are reasons; for the ground which there receives is an enlightened rational. Hence it is that no miracles are wrought at this day. That they would be hurtful, can be seen from what has been said; for they drive men to believe, and fix their ideas in the external man that the case is so; and if the internal man afterward denies that which the miracles have confirmed, there results an opposition and collision of the internal and external man; and finally when the ideas derived from miracles are dissipated, there is effected a conjunction of falsity and truth, and thus a profanation. From this it is evident how injurious at the present day are miracles in a church in which the inward things of worship have been disclosed. These moreover are the things signified by the Lord's words to Thomas:
Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they who see not, and believe (John 20:29);
thus they are blessed who do not believe through miracles. [3] But miracles are not injurious to those who are in external worship without internal, for with such there can be no opposition of the internal and external man, thus no collision, consequently no profanation. That miracles do not contribute anything to faith, may be sufficiently evident from the miracles wrought among the people of Israel in Egypt, and in the wilderness, in that they had no effect at all upon them. Although that people had recently seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterward the sea Suph divided, and the Egyptians sunk therein; the pillar of a cloud going before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night; the manna daily raining down from heaven and although they saw Mount Sinai smoking, and heard Jehovah speaking thence, besides other miracles, nevertheless in the midst of such things they fell away from all faith, and from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of a calf (Exod. 32); from which it is plain what is the effect of miracles. [4] Still less would be their effect at this day, when it is not acknowledged that there is anything from the spiritual world, and when everything of the kind which takes place, and which is not attributed to nature, is denied; for denial universally reigns against the Divine influx and government in the earth. And therefore if the man of the church were at this day to see the veriest Divine miracles, he would first bring them down into nature, and there defile them, and afterward would reject them as phantasms, and finally would laugh at all who attributed them to the Divine, and not to nature. That miracles are of no effect is also evident from the Lord's words in Luke:
If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31).
Elliott(1983-1999) 7290
7290. 'When he says, Perform a wonder' means and they therefore wish to receive proof. This is clear from the meaning of 'wonders and signs' as proofs or corroborations of truths, dealt with in 3900, 6870. With regard to the wonders and signs described in what follows from here onwards, it should be realized that they were performed among the kind of people whose worship was external and who had no wish to know about internal worship. For those whose worship was like that had to be coerced by means of external things. This explains why miracles were performed among the Israelite and Jewish people, for their worship was entirely external and not at all internal. What is more, since they had no liking for internal worship, external worship was the kind they were required to engage in, to the end that they might represent things of a holy nature within their external observances. This would establish a channel of communication with heaven as if through something of a Church. For correspondences, representatives, and meaningful signs link the natural world to the spiritual world. This then was why so many miracles were performed among that nation.
[2] But no miracles are performed among those whose worship is internal, that is, who have charity and faith residing with them, since miracles are harmful to them; for miracles compel one to believe, and what one is compelled to believe does not remain but is thrown to the winds. The internal constituents of their worship, which are faith and charity, must be implanted in freedom; for then they make them their own and what they make their own in this way remains, whereas what is implanted under compulsion remains outside the internal man, in the external man. This is because nothing passes into the internal man except by way of ideas seen in the understanding, that is, seen rationally, since the soil which receives what is implanted in the internal man is enlightened reason. This is why no miracles are performed at the present day. One may also conclude from this that they are harmful, for they compel a person to believe something and give the external man fixed ideas about the truth of it. If after that the internal man refuses to believe what the miracles have proved, the internal man and the external become opposed to and clash with each other, and when at length the ideas implanted under the influence of miracles are driven to the winds, falsity becomes joined to truth, that is, profanation occurs. This shows how harmful miracles are at the present day in a Church in which the internal qualities constituting worship have been made known. This is also what is meant by the Lord's words to Thomas,
Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are those who do not see yet believe. John 20:29.
This shows too that they are 'blessed', those whose belief is not induced by miracles.
[3] But miracles are not harmful to those whose worship is external, devoid of anything internal, for with them no opposition between the internal man and the external is possible, nor thus any clashing, nor consequently any profanation. The fact that miracles do not make any contribution towards faith becomes quite clear from the miracles performed among the Israelite people in Egypt and in the wilderness; those miracles had no effect whatever on them. Although those people had not long before seen so many miracles in Egypt, after which they had seen the Sea Suph divided, and the Egyptians drowned in it, with the pillar of cloud going before them by day and the pillar of fire by night, and with the manna raining from heaven each day; and although they had seen Mount Sinai smoking and heard Jehovah speaking from it, and other miracles besides, nevertheless, while yet in the midst of such wonders, they fell completely away from faith, and from worship of Jehovah to calf-worship, Exod 32:1-end. From this one may see what effect miracles have.
[4] They would have even less effect at the present day when nobody acknowledges that there is anything which has its origin in the spiritual world, and when anything miraculous that occurs and is not attributed to natural causes is refused recognition. For a refusal to recognize that the Divine flows in and governs on earth reigns everywhere. If at the present day therefore one who belongs to the Church were to witness utterly Divine miracles, he would first deduce that they had a natural origin and sully them with this, then dismiss them as fantasies, and finally mock whoever attributed them to the Divine and not to natural causes. The fact that miracles have no effect at all is also clear from the Lord's words in Luke,
If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. Luke 16:31.
Latin(1748-1756) 7290
7290. `Dicendo, Date prodigium': quod significet et ideo confirmari volunt, constat ex significatione `prodigiorum et signorum' quod sint confirmationes veritatum, de qua n. 3900, 6870. Quod prodigia et signa attinet, de quibus in nunc sequentibus, sciendum quod facta sint apud tales qui in externo cultu fuerunt, et de interno {1} non scire volebant; qui enim in tali cultu fuerunt adigendi erant per media externa; inde est quod miracula facta sint apud populum Israeliticum et Judaicum, erant enim solum in cultu externo, (c)et in nullo interno; et quoque externus cultus erat in quo esse debebant, cum non in interno cultu esse {2}vellent, ex causa ut {3}in externis repraesentarent sancta, et sic communicatio daretur cum caelo, sicut per aliquod Ecclesiae, nam correspondentiae, repraesentativa, et significativa conjungunt naturalem mundum spirituali; inde nunc 2 erat quod apud illam gentem tot miracula facta sint; at apud illos qui in cultu interno sunt, hoc est, in charitate et fide, {4} miracula non fiunt, sunt enim illis damnosa, nam miracula cogunt ad credendum, et coactum non remanet sed dissipatur; interna cultus, quae sunt fides et charitas, implantanda sunt in libero, tunc enim appropriantur, et quae sic appropriantur remanent, quae autem implantantur in coacto manent extra internum hominem in externo, nam {5}in internum hominem nihil intrat nisi per ideas intellectuales, quae sunt rationes, humus enim quae recipit ibi est rationale illustratum; inde est quod miracula hodie nulla fiant; quod etiam sint damnosa, inde constare potest; adigunt enim ad credendum, ac in externo homine ideas figunt quod ita sit; si internus homo postea negat id quod miracula confirmarunt, tunc fit oppositio {6}et collisio interni et externi hominis, et tandem cum {7}ideae ex miraculis dissipantur, fit conjunctio falsi et veri, ita profanatio; inde patet quam damnosa sunt miracula hodie in Ecclesia, in qua interna cultus detecta sunt; {8} haec quoque significantur per Domini verba ad Thomam, Quia vidisti Me, Thoma, credidisti; beati qui non vident, et credunt, Joh. xx 29;ita quoque `beati' qui non per miracula credunt. 3 At miracula non damnosa sunt illis qui in cultu externo absque interno sunt, nam apud illos oppositio interni et externi hominis non dari potest, ita nec collisio, proinde nec profanatio. Quod {9}miracula nec aliquod ad fidem contribuant, satis constare potest a miraculis apud populum Israeliticum in Aegypto et in deserto, quod prorsus nihil apud illos effecerint; populus ille, tametsi ante paucum tempus viderunt tot miracula in Aegypto, postea mare Suph divisum, et Aegyptios ibi immersos, {10}columnam nubis euntem ante se interdiu et columnam ignis noctu, mannam quotidie {11}depluentem e caelo, et tametsi viderunt Montem Sinai fumantem, et audiverunt Jehovam inde loquentem, praeter {12} alia, usque tamen in medio talium, ab omni fide delapsi sunt, et a cultu Jehovae ad cultum vituli, Exod. xxxii 1 ad fin.; inde patet quid miracula efficiunt. 4 Minus adhuc effectura essent hodie {13}quando non agnoscitur quod sit aliquid ex spirituali mundo; et cum negatur omne tale quod fit, et non (t)tribuitur naturae; contra Divinum enim influxum et regimen in terris universaliter regnat negativum; {14}quapropter hodie, homo Ecclesiae si ipsissima miracula Divina videret, primum (m){15}illa deduceret in naturam, et ibi {16}conspurcaret illa, {17}et postea sicut phantasmata {16}rejiceret, et demum {16}irrideret quoscumque qui illa tribuerent Divino, et non naturae; quod miracula nihil efficiant, {18}constat etiam a Domini verbis apud Lucam, Si Mosen et Prophetas non audiunt, neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, persuadebuntur, xvi 31. @1 i cultu prorsus$ @2 possent$ @3 After repraesentarent$ @4 i et hae formarunt conscientiam,$ @5 intellectuale illustratum non recipit, ac sibi rationalia adjungit; quod non ita recipitur, nequaquam inhaeret$ @6 After hominis$ @7 fides miraculi dissipatur$ @8 i et cum abrogata sunt,$ @9 etiam miracula non aliquid$ @10 et tametsi viderunt$ @11 depluere$ @12 i plura$ @13 cum$ @14 quare$ @15 deducerent$ @16 Plural verbs$ @17 at$ @18 patet$