775、经上说“各从其类”，是因为一切良善都分为属和种，无论属灵良善、属世良善，还是衍生的感官和肉体的良善。属灵良善有如此多的属，属灵真理同样有如此多的属，以致它们数不胜数，更不用说构成属的种了。在天堂，一切良善和真理，无论属天的还是属灵的，都分为自己的属，这些属反过来又分为自己的种，以致它们当中最小的也是与众不同的。它们如此数不胜数，以至于具体的差别可谓无穷无尽。由此可见人类的智慧何等贫乏，几近于无，它几乎不知道属灵良善和真理的存在，更不用说它们是什么了。
从属天和属灵的良善及其衍生的真理发出并降下属世的良善和真理。因为从来没有任何属世良善不是源于属灵良善，而这属灵良善反过来又源于属天良善，并且也是从这些相同的源头持续存在。如果属灵层从属世层退出，属世层将什么都不是。一切事物的起源乃是这样：一切事物，无论总体还是细节，都来自主；属天层来自祂；属灵层通过属天层来自祂；属世层则通过属灵层来自祂；构成肉体和感官之物则通过属世层来自祂。它们怎样都以这种方式从主开始存在，也怎样从主持续存在，因为众所周知，持续存在就是不断存在。那些以为事物以其它任何方式产生并存在的人，如崇拜自然，并从自然来推演万物起源的人，被如此致命的假设支配，以至于就连森林里的野兽的幻想都可谓理智的多。这适用于许多自认在智慧上胜过他人的人。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]775. As all things have their divisions into broad and specific categories, including different kinds of goodness on both the spiritual and earthly planes, and on the resulting sensory and bodily planes, the present verse says every kind for each type. There are so many general categories of spiritual goodness and likewise of spiritual truth that they could never be listed. Still less could the particular varieties composing each general category be listed.
In heaven, all heavenly and spiritual goodness and truth are so carefully distinguished into their genera, and the genera into their species, that only what is perfectly distinct exists there. The forms are so far beyond counting that the number of individual species can be called unlimited. This shows the poverty and near insignificance of human wisdom, which hardly even knows that spiritual goodness and truth exist, let alone what they are.
[2] Earthly goodness and truth emerge and descend from heavenly and spiritual kinds of goodness (and from the truth that springs out of the latter kinds of goodness). Nothing good or true exists on the earthly plane that does not rise out of spiritual goodness, which itself rises out of heavenly goodness. Earthly goodness and truth also depend on the higher levels in order to remain in existence. If the spiritual level withdrew, the earthly level would be nothing.
The facts about the origin of all things are these: Absolutely everything comes from the Lord. The heavenly plane is from him. The spiritual plane comes into existence from him by means of the heavenly plane, as does the earthly plane by means of the spiritual, and the bodily and sensory planes by means of the earthly. Because this is how things come into existence from the Lord, it is also how they remain in existence. As is well known, to continue in existence is constantly to come into existence.{*1} Those who view the rise and genesis of things in any other way — people who worship the material world,{*2} for instance, and trace the origin of everything to it — are in the grip of such deadly theories that the phantasms of wild animals in the forest can be described as much more sane. This applies to many individuals who seem to themselves to excel others in wisdom.
Footnotes:
{*1} The Latin phrase here translated "to continue in existence is constantly to come into existence" is subsistentia est perpetua existentia — a common theological maxim (see 3483, 5084:3; see also Marriage Love 380:8; Soul-Body Interaction 4). Swedenborg frequently built on it; see 3648, 4322, 4523:3, 5116:3, 5377, 6040:1, 6482, 9502, 9847, 10076:5, 10152:3, 10252:3, 10266; Heaven and Hell 106, 303; Divine Love and Wisdom 151-152; Divine Providence 3:2; Soul-Body Interaction 9:1; True Christianity 46, 224:1. This notion is referred to as commonplace in part 5 of Descartes's Discourse on Method (Descartes [1637] 1968, 64): "It is certain, and this is an opinion commonly held among theologians, that the action by which [God] conserves [the world] now is the same as that by which he created it." Elsewhere Descartes offers this explanation: "The present time has no causal dependence on the time immediately preceding it. Hence, in order to secure the continued existence of a thing, no less a cause is required than that needed to produce it at the first" (Descartes [1641] 1952, 131). Thomas Aquinas makes a similar statement about all "creatures," that is, created things: "The being of every creature depends on God, so that not for a moment could it subsist [have independent existence], but would fall into nothingness were it not kept in being by the operation of the Divine power" (Summa Theologiae 1:104:1; translation in Aquinas 1952). In support of his position, Aquinas in turn cites another church father, Gregory the Great, specifically his Moralia in Job (Ethical Disputations on Job) 16:37; he is probably thinking of Gregory's statement there that "all things subsist in him [God]... . No created thing avails in itself either to subsist or to move." This Scholastic theory of perpetual creation is also discussed by the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1753) in his work The Principles of Human Knowledge (Berkeley [1710] 1952) 46. [JSR, SS, RS]
{*2} On the meaning of the phrase "people who worship the material world," see note 1 in 206. [SS]
Potts(1905-1910) 775
775. It is said of each "after its kind" because there are genera and species of all goods, both spiritual and natural, and also of the derivative sensuous and corporeal goods. So many genera are there of spiritual goods, and so many genera likewise of spiritual truths, that they cannot be numbered; still less can the species of the genera. In heaven all goods and truths, celestial and spiritual, are so distinct in their genera, and these in their species, that there is not the least of them which is not most distinct; and so innumerable are they, that the specific differences may be said to be unlimited. From this it may be seen how poor and almost nonexistent is human wisdom, which scarcely knows that there is such a thing as spiritual good or spiritual truth, much less what it is. From celestial and spiritual goods and their derivative truths, issue and descend natural goods and truths. For there is never any natural good and truth that does not spring from spiritual good, and this from celestial, and also subsist from the same. If the spiritual should withdraw from the natural, the natural would be nothing. The origin of all things [rerum] is in this wise: all things, both in general and in particular, are from the Lord; from Him is the celestial; from Him through the celestial comes forth the spiritual; through the spiritual the natural; through the natural the corporeal and the sensuous. And as they all come forth from the Lord in this way, so also do they subsist from Him, for, as is well known, subsistence is a perpetual coming into existence. They who have a different conception of the coming into existence and rise of things, like those who worship nature and deduce from her the origins of things, are in principles so deadly that the phantasies of the wild beasts of the forest may be called far more sane. Such are very many who appear to themselves to excel others in wisdom.
Elliott(1983-1999) 775
775. Since there are genera and species to all things, that is to say, to spiritual goods as well as to natural goods, and also to derivative sensory and bodily goods, 'according to its kind'a is said of each one. The genera of spiritual goods are so many, and the genera of spiritual truths are in like manner so many, that they cannot possibly be counted up, still less the species making up the genera. In heaven all celestial and spiritual goods and truths are so divided into their own genera, and these in turn into their own species, that the least significant of them is distinct from all the rest. And they are so countless that specific differences may be called unending. These considerations show how impoverished, and almost non-existent, human wisdom is, in that it hardly knows of the existence of spiritual good and truth, let alone what these may be.
[2] It is from celestial and spiritual goods, and truths springing from these, that natural goods and truths come into being and pass down. For no natural good or truth ever exists which has not come into being from spiritual good, and this in turn from celestial good, and which is not kept in being from these same sources. If the spiritual were to withdraw from the natural, the natural would not be anything. With regard to the origin of all things, every single thing comes from the Lord. From Him comes the celestial; by way of the celestial from Him the spiritual comes into being; by way of the spiritual comes the natural; by way of the natural comes that which constitutes the body and the senses. And just as these come into being from the Lord in this way, so in the same way they are kept in being, for as is well known, being kept in being is constant coming into being. People who assume that things arise and come into being in any other way, as those do who worship nature and trace the origin of things back to that, are governed by assumptions so dismal that the delusions of wild animals roaming the forest can be said to contain far more sanity. There are many such persons who seem to themselves to excel everybody else in wisdom.
Latin(1748-1756) 775
775. Quia omnium dantur genera et species, tam scilicet bonorum spiritualium quam bonorum naturalium, tum etiam sensualium et corporeorum inde, hic dicitur de unoquovis, 'secundum speciem suam': tot genera bonorum spiritualium dantur, similiter tot genere verorum spiritualium, ut nusquam possint recenseri; minus adhuc species quae generum sunt: in caelo sunt omnia bona et vera caelestia et spiritualia ita in sua genera et haec in suas species distincta ut ne hilum sit quod non distinctissimum; et tam innumerabilia sunt ut differentiae specificae possint dici indefinitae; ex quibus quam egena: et fere nulla, sapientia humana sit, constare potest, quae nescit fere quod bonum et verum spirituale sit, minus quid sit. [2] Ex bonis caelestibus et spiritualibus, et veris inde, existunt et descendunt bona et vers naturalia, nam nusquam datur aliquod bonum et verum naturale, quod non existit a bono spirituali, et hoc a caelesti, et ab iisdem subsistit; si recederet spirituale a naturali, naturale nullum foret: origo rerum omnium se ita habet; omnia et singula sunt a Domino; ab Ipse est caeleste, per caeleste ab Ipso existit spirituale, per spirituale naturale: per naturale corporeum et sensuale; et sicut existit a Domino ita, etiam subsistit ita, nam, ut notum est, subsistentia est perpetua existentia qui aliter rerum existentias et ortus capiunt, ut ii qui naturam colunt et ex ea ducunt rerum origines, in tam funestis principiis sunt ut ferarum silvae phantasiae possint multo saniores vocari; tales sunt perplures qui aliis praeeminere sapientia sibi videntur.