----中文待译----
1185. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard in thee no more.- That this signifies interior and exterior joys no longer, is evident from the signification of the voice or the sound of various instruments of music, as denoting joys from internal and external affections. The signification of these things arises from concord; for musical sounds express affections, and call them forth attended with joy. Stringed instruments signify spiritual, and wind instruments celestial things; that they correspond to affections, may be seen above (n. 323, 326.) But what the voice of the harp, of the pipe, and of the trumpet signify specifically, cannot be seen except from the affections; and these are of two kinds, spiritual and celestial, the spiritual being from truths, and the celestial from goods. They are, moreover, of three degrees - inmost, middle, and outmost - the inmost being such as are in the inmost heaven, the middle such as are in the middle heaven, and the outmost such as are in the ultimate heaven.
[2] Continuation.- The tenth law of the Divine Providence is, that when eminence and opulence lead astray, it is man who from his own prudence has led himself to them; for he is led of the Divine Providence to things that do not lead astray, and which are serviceable for his eternal life; for all things of the Divine Providence with man look to what is eternal, because the Life which is God, and from which man is man, is eternal. There are two things which have a supreme effect on men's minds (animos), eminence and opulence. The former originates in the love of glory and of honours, the latter in the love of money and possessions. They particularly influence the mind because they specially belong to the natural man; and therefore the merely natural have no other notion regarding them than that they are real blessings, which come from God, although they may possibly be curses, as may be clearly inferred from the fact that they are possessed by both the good and the evil. I have seen the eminent and opulent in the heavens, and also in the hells. Therefore, as has been observed, when eminence and opulence do not lead astray, they come from God; but when they do lead astray, they are from hell.
[3] The reason why man does not in the world distinguish whether they come from God or from hell, is that they cannot be distinguished by the natural man separated from the spiritual; they may, however, be distinguished in the natural man by the spiritual, but even this with difficulty, because the natural man is trained from childhood to counterfeit the spiritual man. For this reason he not only affirms, but also can persuade himself to believe that the uses which he performs for the Church, for his country, for society and his fellow-citizens, and thus for his neighbour, are done for their sakes, although probably he has done them for the sake of himself and the world as an end. Man is in this state of blindness because he has not removed evils from himself by combat with them; for as long as evils remain he cannot see anything from the Spiritual in his Natural. He is like a man in a dream who imagines himself awake, or like a bird of night which sees darkness as light. Such is the natural man when the gate of heavenly light is closed; this light being the spiritual principle which enlightens the natural man. Since then it is of the greatest importance to know whether eminence and opulence, the love of glory and if honour, the love of money and of possessions, are ends or means - because if ends, they are curses; yet if not ends, but means, they are blessings - we shall treat first of ends and means.
1185. Verse 22. And the voice of harpers and musicians and pipers and trumpeters shall not be heard in thee any more, signifies no more any interior or exterior joys. This is evident from the signification of the "voice or sound" of various instruments of music, as being joys from internal and external affections. They signify affections because of their harmony, for musical sounds express affections and produce them with joy. Stringed instruments signify spiritual things, and wind instruments celestial things, and that they correspond to affections may be seen (n. 323, 326). But what "the voice of the harp, the voice of the pipe, and the voice of the trumpet" signify in particular, can be seen only from the affections, which are of two kinds, spiritual and celestial; spiritual affections are from truths and celestial from goods; but they are of three degrees, inmost, middle, and ultimate; the inmost are such as are in the inmost heaven, the middle such as are in the middle heaven, and the ultimate such as are in the lowest heaven.
(Continuation)
[2] 10. The tenth law of the Divine providence is that man has led himself to eminence and riches by his own prudence, when these lead astray, for by the Divine providence man is led only to such things as do not lead astray and as are serviceable to eternal life; for all things of the Divine providence with man look to what is eternal, since the life which is God, from which man is man, is eternal. There are two things that especially influence the minds of men, eminence and riches; eminence relates to the love of glory and of honors, riches to the love of money and possessions. These especially influence men's minds because they belong to the natural man; consequently those who are merely natural have no other idea than that eminence and riches are real blessings that are from God, when in fact they may be curses, as may be clearly inferred from this, that they are the portion both of good men and of evil men. I have seen the eminent and the rich in the heavens and I have seen them in the hells; therefore, as has been said, when eminence and riches do not lead astray they are from God, but when they do they are from hell.
[3] In the world man does not distinguish between their being from God or from hell, because the natural man separated from the spiritual cannot perceive this distinction; but the distinction can be seen in the natural man that is from the spiritual, and yet with difficulty, because the natural man is taught from infancy to counterfeit the spiritual man; and in consequence when he performs uses to the church, to the country, to society and his fellow citizens, thus to the neighbor, he not only professes but also is able to persuade himself that he has done it for the sake of the church, the country, society, and his fellow citizens, and yet he may have done it for the sake of self and the world as ends. Man is in such blindness because he has not put away evils from himself by any combat; for so long as evils remain man can see nothing from the spiritual in his natural; he is like one in a dream who believes himself to be awake, or like a bird of night that sees the darkness as light. Such is the natural man when the gate of heavenly light is closed. Heavenly light is the spiritual that enlightens the natural man. Since, then, it is of the greatest importance to know whether eminence and riches, or the love of glory and honor, and the love of money and of possessions, are ends or are means, ends and means shall first be defined, for if these are ends they are curses, but if they are not ends, but means, they are blessings.
1185. [Vers. 22.] "Et vox citharaedorum et musicorum et tibicinum et buccinatorum non audietur in te amplius." - Quod significet nulla amplius gaudia interiora et exteriora, constat ex significatione "vocis" seu soni variorum instrumentorum musicorum, quod sint gaudia ex affectionibus internis et externis; quod illa significentur est ex concordantia, nam soni musici exprimunt affectiones, et producunt illas cum gaudio. Quod instrumenta chordacea significent spiritualia, ac inflatoria caelestia, et quod correspondeant affectionibus, videatur [supra] (n. 323 [b] 326 [a]). Quid autem "vox citharae", "vox tibiae" et "vox buccinae" in specie significant, non aliunde constare potest quam ex affectionibus, quae duplicis generis sunt, spirituales et caelestes, spirituales ex veris et caelestes ex bonis; at sunt triplicis gradus, intimae, mediae, et extremae; intimae quales sunt in intimo caelo, mediae quales sunt in medio caelo, et extremae quales sunt in ultimo caelo.
[2] (Continuatio.)
(10) Lex Decima Divinae Providentiae est, Quod homo ex propria prudentia ad eminentiam et ad opulentiam se duxerit, dum illae seducunt: homo enim ex Divina providentia ducitur ad talia quae non seducunt, et quae illi serviunt ad vitam aeternam: nam omnia providentiae Divinae apud hominem spectant aeternum, quia vita quae Deus, ex qua homo est homo, est aeterna. – Sunt duo quae principaliter afficiunt animos hominum, eminentia et opulentia; eminentia est amoris gloriae et honorum, opulentia est amoris pecuniae et possessionum: afficiunt principaliter animos, quia sunt propria naturalis hominis; inde est quod illi qui mere naturales sunt, non sciant aliter quam quod eminentia et opulentia sint ipsae benedictiones, quae a Deo, cum tamen possunt esse maledictiones; ut clare potest concludi ex eo, quod sint apud homines tam bonos quam malos: visi sunt mihi eminentes et opulenti in caelis, et quoque visi sunt in infernis; quapropter, ut dictum est, cum non seducunt, sunt ex Deo, cum autem seducunt sunt ex inferno.
[3] Quod homo in mundo non distinguat inter 1
ea, num sint ex Deo vel num sint ex inferno, est quia non distingui possunt a naturali homine separato a spirituali, at distingui possunt in naturali homine a spirituali, et hoc quoque aegre, quia naturalis homo edoctus est ab infantia mentiri spiritualem; et inde usus quos praestat ecclesiae, patriae, societati et concivi, ita proximo, ipse non modo dicit, sed etiam sibi potest persuadere, quod praestiterit illos propter ecclesiam, patriam, societatem et concivem, cum tamen forte illos praestiterit propter se et mundum ut fines: homo in illa caecitate est ex eo, quod non removerit mala a se per aliquam pugnam; nam quamdiu illa manent, homo nihil ex spirituali in naturali suo potest videre, est sicut somnians qui se vigilem credit, et est sicut avis noctis qui tenebras ut lucem videt: talis est naturalis homo cum porta lucis caeli est clausa; lux caeli est spirituale illustrans naturalem hominem. Nunc quia quam maxime interest scire num eminentia et opulentia, seu amor gloriae et honorum, tum amor pecuniae et possessionum, sint fines, vel num sint media, dicetur prius de fine et de mediis; quoniam si sunt fines sunt maledictiones, si autem non sunt fines sed media sunt benedictiones.
Footnotes:
1. The editors made a correction or note here.