462.如今人们不知道何谓“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等），故有必要予以简要解释。前面的经文提到了“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等），以取代第八诫，即“不可作假见证”，因为那里提到了“杀人”、“奸淫”和“偷窃”这三样恶。就属世之义而言，“作假见证”表示扮演假证人的角色、说谎和诽谤；就属灵之义而言，“作假见证”表示确认并说服，虚假就是真理，邪恶就是良善；由此明显可知，行“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等）就表示说服人相信虚假，从而摧毁真理。
“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等）曾在古人当中使用，施法的方式有三种：
第一种，他们让另一人的听觉、因而心智不断专注于他的话语和说法中，决不放过丝毫；同时，通过呼吸，将与情感结合的思想注入并激发到他们说话的声音中，结果听者无法通过自己思考任何东西；弄虚作假者就这样用暴力将他们的虚假倾泻进去。
第二种，他们通过阻止心智思想相反的一切，使注意力只专注于他们所说之事的观念中而注入一种说服性的气场。因此，其心智的属灵气场便驱散并窒息对方的属灵气场。这是古代的巫师或术士所使用的一种属灵巫术，被称为对认知或理解力的捆绑和绑定。这种邪术或法术只属于灵或思维，而前一种还属于口唇或言语。
第三种，听者将心智固定在自己的观点中，以致他几乎闭上双耳，听不到说话者的任何声音。这事是通过屏住呼吸，有时通过无声的喃喃自语，因而通过不断否认对手观点而实现的。去听别人说话的人会施行这种邪术或法术，而向别人说话的人则施行前两种。
这三种邪术或法术在古代十分盛行，并且依旧在地狱灵当中盛行；但世人只存留第三种，那些出于对自己聪明的骄傲而确认宗教信仰的虚假之人就具有这第三种法术；对这些人来说，他们一听到相反的事，就不允许它们深入他们的思维，只是接触一下；然后，他们还会从其心智的内在隐秘处仿佛发出一团火，将它们尽都烧灭；如果施法者凭掩饰将这团火抑制住，也就是说，将其骄傲的怒火控制住，那么对方除非通过回答时面部表情和声调所露出的迹象，否则，对此一无所知；
如今，这种法术的操作是为了防止真理被接受，并且对许多人来说，是为了防止真理被理解。
古时有许多法术，在他们当中，“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等）明显可见于摩西五经：
你到了那地的时候，那些民族所行可憎恶的事，你不可学着行；你们中间不可有人使儿女经火；也不可有占卜的、用法术的、算命的、行巫术的、行邪术的，施符咒的、观兆头的和求问死人的；所有这些，都为耶和华所憎恶。（申命记18:9-11）
在以下经文中，“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等）表示说服人相信虚假，从而摧毁真理：
你的智慧你的知识把你引入了歧途；因此，祸患要临到你身；继续使用你的符咒和你许多的邪术吧。（以赛亚书47:10-12）
万族被巴比伦的邪术迷惑了。（启示灵18:23）
城外有那些犬类，行邪术的，淫乱的，杀人的。（启示录22:15）
约兰对耶户说，平安吗？耶户说，你母亲耶洗别的淫行和邪术这样多，还有平安吗？（列王纪下9:22）
“淫行”表示（对真理的）歪曲，“邪术”表示通过说服人相信虚假而对真理的摧毁。
另一方面，“邪术”（或译法术、巫术等）表示凭真理弃绝虚假，这也是通过出于对真理的热情而反对虚假的默想和默语实现的；这一点从以下经文明显看出来：
耶和华从锡安除掉勇士和战士、谋士和有巧艺的，以及妙行法术的。（以赛亚书3:1-3）
他们的毒气好像耳聋虺蛇的毒气；她把耳朵塞住，不听念咒语者的声音，不听巧行迷术者的术语。（诗篇58:4-5）
看哪！我要打发毒蛇反对你们，是没有法术能制伏的。（耶利米书8:17）
他们在急难中寻求你，他们低声呼喊。（以赛亚书26:16）
462. Since no one today knows what is meant by enchantments, we will briefly say what they are.
Enchantments are listed just above in place of the eighth commandment of the Decalogue, "You shall not bear false witness," for mentioned there are three other prohibited evils, namely, murders, sexual immorality, and thefts.
To bear false witness means, in the natural sense, to act as a false witness, to lie and defame; and in the spiritual sense it means to convince and persuade that falsity is true and that evil is good. It is apparent from this that to practice enchantment means, symbolically, to persuade someone of falsity and thus to destroy the truth.
[2] The practice of enchantments existed among ancient peoples, and they were accomplished in three ways:
First, they would keep someone else's hearing and thus his mind continually focused on their words and declarations, without letup on any part of them, while at the same time inspiring and instilling their thought then through their breathing, coupled with the affection in the tone of their discourse, with the result that the hearer could not form any thought of his own. Thus would speakers of falsehood forcibly infuse their falsities.
Second, they would infuse a persuasion, which they would do by keeping the mind from anything contrary, and by keeping it intent only on the idea in what they were saying. Thus the spiritual atmosphere of one person's mind dispelled the spiritual atmosphere of another person's mind and suffocated it. This was the spiritual witchcraft that magicians once employed, and they called it overcoming and binding the intellect. This kind of enchantment was an enchantment of the spirit or thought only, whereas the first kind was a enchantment of the mouth or speech as well.
[3] Third, a hearer would keep his mind so firmly in his own opinion that he would almost close his ears to hearing anything of what someone else was saying. He would accomplish this by holding his breath, and sometimes by a tacit muttering, and thus by a continual denial of his adversary's opinion. This kind of enchantment was practiced by people listening to others, while the first two kinds were practiced by people speaking to others.
These three kinds of enchantment were practiced among ancient peoples, and are still practiced among spirits in hell. In the case of people in the world, however, only the third kind remains, and this among people who have affirmed in themselves falsities of religion out of a conceit in their own intelligence. For when these people hear contrary views, they do not admit them any further into their thought than to superficial contact, and then they emit from the inner recess of their mind a kind of fire which consumes those views, of which the other person knows nothing beyond the indications of the facial expression and tone of voice in reply, if the enchanter does not contain that fire, that is, the anger of his conceit, by hiding it.
This kind of enchantment today causes truths not to be accepted, and in many cases, not to be understood.
[4] Many magical arts were practiced in ancient times, and that these included enchantments is apparent in the book of Deuteronomy:
When you come into the land..., you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found in you anyone who causes his son or his daughter to pass through fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a diviner or fortune teller, or a user of potions, or one who uses enchantments, or one who inquires of an oracle, or a reader of signs, or one who seeks the dead. For (all of these things) are an abomination to Jehovah. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12)
A persuasion to falsity and thus the destruction of truth is symbolically meant by enchantments in the following passages:
Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray... Therefore evil shall come upon you... Stay now in your enchantments, and in the multitude of your sorceries... (Isaiah 47:10-12)
...by (Babylon's) enchantment all the nations were deceived. (Revelation 18:23)
Outside are dogs and enchanters and the sexually immoral and murderers... (Revelation 22:15)
(Joram said to Jehu,) "Is it peace...?" He answered, ."..as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her enchantments are many?" (2 Kings 9:22)
Harlotries symbolize falsifications (no. 134), and her enchantments symbolize destructions of truth by persuasions to falsity.
[5] Conversely, an enchantment may symbolize a rejection of falsity by truths, which was also accomplished by tacitly thinking and muttering against falsity out of a zeal for the truth, as is apparent from the following:
...Jehovah... will take away from Jerusalem... the mighty man, the man of war..., the counselor, the practiced mutterer, and the expert in enchantment. (Isaiah 3:1-3)
Their poison is like the poison of a... deaf cobra; it stops its ear, so as not to hear the voice of mutterers, of the skillful user of enchantments. (Psalms 58:4-5)
...behold, I am sending basilisk 1serpents among you, against which there is no enchantment... (Jeremiah 8:17)
...in distress they sought you, they cried out in their muttering... (Isaiah 26:16)
Footnotes:
1. A legendary serpent or dragon, whose breath and glance were said to be lethal. Formerly identified in English translations of the Latin Vulgate with the cockatrice, and retained as such in the King James Bible.
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462. Since it is not known at this day what is understood by ENCHANTMENTS, a few things shall be said. The 'enchantments' just above are mentioned in place of the eighth precept in the Decalogue, THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, for the other three, which are murders, whoredoms and thefts, are there mentioned by name. By to bear false witness in the natural sense is signified to act as a false witness, to lie and defame, and in the spiritual sense to confirm and persuade that what is untrue is true and that evil is good; from which it is plain that by 'to enchant' is signified to persuade to what is untrue, and thus to destroy what is true.
[2] Enchantments were in use among the ancients, and were brought about in three ways:
FIRST: That they kept the hearing and thus the mind of another on their own words and statements without interruption, never letting go of anything thereof, at the same time infusing and inspiring thought conjoined with affection by means of the breath in the sound of their speaking, with the result that the hearer could not think anything from himself. In this manner the falsifiers used to pour their untruths in with violence.
SECOND: That they diffused a persuasive [sphere], which was done by holding the mind back from every contrary thing, and its being kept intent exclusively on the idea of the things said by them. Consequently the spiritual sphere of the mind of the one dispersed the spiritual sphere of the mind of the other, and stifled it. This was a spiritual witchcraft that the wizards of old used, and it was called the binding and tying of the understanding. This kind of enchantment was solely of the spirit or thought, whereas the former was also of language or speech.
[3] THIRD: That the hearer held his mind so firmly in his own opinion that he almost closed his ears against hearing anything from the speaker. This was done by holding the breath, and also by a noiseless muttering, and thus by a continual denial of his adversary's opinion. This kind of enchantment was practised by those who were hearing others, but the former two by those speaking to others.
These three kinds of enchantment existed among the ancients, and still exist among infernal spirits. In the case of men in the world, however, there is only a vestige of the third kind among those who have confirmed with themselves untruths of religion derived from self-intelligence; for these, when they hear contrary things, do not admit them more closely into their thought than to mere contact, and then out of an interior recess of their mind they emit as it were a fire that consumes them, the other knowing nothing of this except by the indications of the facial expression and tone in reply, if the enchanter does not control that fire, that is, the wrath of his pride, by simulation. This enchantment is practised at the present day to prevent truths' being accepted, and, with many, to prevent their being understood.
[4] That in the times of the ancients there were many magic arts, and among them 'enchantments,' is plain in Moses:
When thou comest into the land, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations, there shall not be found in thee one that passes his son or his daughter through the fire, the sorcerer performing sorceries, the diviner and soothsayer, and the poisoner, and the enchanter of enchantment, and the consulter of the oracle, and the augur, and the necromancer, for all these are an abomination to Jehovah. Deuteronomy 18:9-11.
The persuasion of untruth, and thus the destruction of truth, are signified by 'enchantments' in these passages:
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge has led thee astray. and as the result thereof evil shall come upon thee; continue in thine enchantments, and in the multitude of thy sorceries. Isaiah 47:10-12.
As a result of the enchantment of Babylon all nations were led astray. Revelation 18:23.
Without shall stand dogs, enchanters, whoremongers, murderers. Revelation 22:15.
Jehoram said unto Jehu, Is it peace [Jehu? And] he said, [What peace so long as] the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her enchantments are so many? 2 Kings 9:22.
By her 'whoredoms' falsifications are signified (134), and by her 'enchantments' destructions of what is true by persuasions of what is untrue.
[5] That, on the other hand, 'enchantment' signifies the rejection of what is untrue by means of truths, which also used to be done by a noiseless thinking and muttering out of a zeal for what is true against what is untrue, is plain from these statements:
Jehovah will take away out of Zion the strong man, the man of war, the counsellor, the learned in muttering, the expert in enchantment. Isaiah 3:1-3.
Their poison is as the poison of the deaf adder, it stops its ear that it may not hear the sound of the mutterings of the wise enchanter of enchantments. Psalms 58:4-5 [H.B. 5-6].
Behold I send upon you basilisk serpents, against which there is no enchantment. Jeremiah 8:17.
In distress they sought Thee, they cried out with a muttering. Isaiah 26:16.
462. Since at this day it is not known what is meant by "enchantments," it shall briefly be explained. "Enchantments" are mentioned in the above passage, in place of the eighth precept of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," for the three other evils, which are "murder," "whoredom," and "thefts," are there named. "To bear false witness" signifies, in the natural sense, to act the part of a false witness, to lie and defame; and in the spiritual sense, to confirm and persuade that falsity is truth, and that evil is good; from which it is evident, that by "to enchant" is signified to persuade to what is false, and thus to destroy truth.
[2] Enchantments were in use among the ancients, and were performed in three ways: First, they kept the hearing and thus the mind of another continually intent upon his words and sayings, without relaxing anything from them; and, at the same time, aspiring and inspiring thought conjoined with affection, by means of the breath, into the sound of the speech, whereby the hearer could not think anything from himself; thus the falsifiers poured in their falsities with violence. Secondly, they infused a persuasion, which was done by detaining the mind from everything contrary, and keeping the attention exclusively to the idea of that which was said by them, hence the spiritual sphere of his mind dispelled the spiritual sphere of the mind of the other, and stifled it. This was the spiritual fascination which the magi of old used, and which was called the binding and tying of the understanding. This kind of enchantment pertained only to the spirit or thought, but the former to the lips or speech also.
[3] Thirdly, the hearer kept his mind so fixed in his own opinion, that he almost shut his ears against hearing anything from the speaker, which was done by holding the breath, and sometimes by a tacit muttering, and thus by a continual denial of his adversary's sentiment. This kind of enchantment was practiced by those who heard others, but the two former by those who spoke to others. These three kinds of enchantment prevailed among the ancients, and prevail still among infernal spirits; but with men in the world there remains only the third kind, and this with those who, from the pride of their own intelligence, have confirmed in themselves the falsities of religion; for these, when they hear things contrary, admit them no further into their thought than to mere contact, and then from the interior recess of their mind they emit as it were fire which consumes them, about which the other knows nothing except by indications from the countenance and the sound of the voice in the reply; provided the enchanter does not, by dissimulation, restrain that fire, or what is the same, the anger of his pride. This kind of enchantment operates at the present day to prevent truths from being accepted, and, with many, to their not being understood.
[4] That in ancient times many magical arts prevailed, and among these enchantments, is evident from Moses:
When thou shalt come into the land, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations; there shall not be found in thee one that passeth his son or his daughter through the fire; a diviner by divination, a magician and a soothsayer, a sorcerer, and an enchanter of enchantment, and one that interrogateth a python, and an augur, and one that inquireth of the dead; for all these are an abomination to Jehovah, (Deuteronomy 18:9-11).
The persuasion of falsity, and thus the destruction of truth, are signified by "enchantments" in these passages:
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge hath seduced thee; therefore shall evil come upon thee; persist in thine enchantments, and in the multitude of thy divinations, (Isaiah 47:10-12).
All nations were seduced by the enchantment of Babylon, (Revelation 18:23).
Without shall stand dogs, enchanters, whoremongers, murderers, (Revelation 22:15).
Jehoram said to Jehu, Is it peace? he said, What peace to the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her many enchantments, (2 Kings 9:22).
By her "whoredoms" are signified falsifications, (134), and by "her enchantments" the destructions of truth by persuasions of falsity.
[5] That "enchantment," on the other hand, signifies the rejection of falsity by truths, which was also done by tacitly thinking and muttering from a zeal for truth against falsity, is manifest from these passages:
Jehovah will remove out of Zion the mighty, the man of war, the counselor, the learned in muttering, the skilful in enchantment, (Isaiah 3:1-3).
Their poison is as the poison of the deaf asp; that stoppeth her ear that she may not hear the voice of him who muttereth, of the wise enchanter of enchantments, (Psalms 58:4-5).
Behold, I send against you basilisk serpents, against which there is no enchantment, (Jeremiah 8:17).
In distress they sought thee, they cried out in muttering, (Isaiah 26:16).
462. Quoniam nescitur hodie quid per "incantationes" intelligitur, dicetur paucis. "Incantationes" mox supra dicuntur loco octavi praecepti illi Decalogo, "Non false testaberis;" nam tria reliqua, quae sunt "homicidia," "scortationes" et "furta," ibi nominata sunt: per "falsum testari" significatur in naturali Sensu falsum testem agere, mentiri et diffamare; et in spirituali Sensu, confirmare et persuadere quod falsum sit verum et quod malum sit bonum: ex quo patet, quod per "incantare" significetur persuadere falsum, et sic destruere verum. Incantationes fuerunt apud antiquos in usu, et fiebant tribus modis: -
Primo, Quod tenerent alterius auditum et sic mentem continenter in verbis et dictis suis, non relaxando aliquid de illis, simul tunc aspirando et inspirando cogitationem conjunctam cum affectione per halitum in sono loquelae, ex quo audiens non potuit cogitare aliquid ex se ita falsarii infundebant falsa sua cum violentia.
Secundo, Quod infunderent persuasivum; quod factum est per detentionem mentis ab omni contrario, ac intensionem ejus in sola idea dictorum a se; inde sphaera spiritualis mentis ejus dispulit sphaeram spiritualem mentis alterius, et suffocavit illam; hoc erat fascinum spirituale, quo magi olim utebantur, et vocabatur vincire et ligare intellectum: hoc genus incantationis erat solius spiritus seu cogitationis, prius autem erat quoque oris seu sermonis. Tertio, Quod audiens teneret mentem suam in sua opinione tam fixe, ut paene occluderet aures suas ad audiendum aliquid a loquente; quod factum est per retentionem spiritus oris, et quandoque per tacitam mussitationem, et sic per continentem negationem sententiae adversarii sui: hoc genus incantationum erat audientium alios, duo autem priora erant loquentium ad alios. Haec tria genera incantationum fuerunt apud antiquos, et adhuc sunt apud spiritus infernales; apud homines autem in mundo est modo tertium genus residuum, apud illos qui falsa religionis ex fastu propriae intelligentia apud se confirmaverunt; hi enim, dum audiunt contraria non admittunt illa propius in cogitationem suam quam ad contactum, et tunc ex interiori sinu mentis suae emittunt sicut ignem qui consumit illa, de quo alter non aliquid scit nisi per auguria ex facie et sono in responso, Si incantator ignem illum, hoc est, iram fastus sui non simulatione coercet. Haec incantatio facit hodie ut vera non acceptentur, et apud multos quod non intelligantur. Quod antiquis temporibus plures artes magicae fuerint, et inter illas incantationes, patet apud Mosen:
"Quando veneris in terram, non disces facere juxta abominationes gentium illarum; non invenietur in te qui tradat filium suum aut filiam suam per ignem, Praestigiator per praestigias. Divinator ac Hariolans, et Veneficus, et incantator incantationis, et interrogans Pythonem, et Augurans, et Quaerens mortuos: nam abominatio Jehovae omnia illa," (Deuteronomius 18:9-11).
Persuasio falsi et sic destructio veri per "incantationes" significantur in his locis:
"Sapientia tua et scientia tua seduxit te: ex eo veniet super te malum; persta in Incantationibus tuis, et in multitudine Praestigiarum tuarum, (Esaias 47:10-12);
"Ex Incantatione Babylonis seductae sunt omnes gentes," (Apocalypsis 18:23);
"Foris stabunt Canes, Incantatores, Scortatores, Homicidae," (Apocalypsis 22:15);
Jehoramus dixit ad Jehu, "Num pax; (qui) dixit, (Quid pax,) usque ad scortationes Isabelis matris, et incantationes ejus multas," (2 Regnum 9:22);
per "scortationes" ejus significantur falsificationes (134) et per "incantationes ejus," destructiones veri per persuasiones falsi. Quod vicissim "incantatio" significet rejectionem falsi per vera, quae etiam fiebat tacite cogitando et mussitando ex zelo veri contra falsum, patet ex his:
Jehovah removebit ex Sione "fortem, virum belli, consiliarium, doctum Mussitationis, peritum Incantationis," (Esaias 3:1-3);
"Venenum illorum sicut venenum aspidis surdae: obturat aurem suam ut non audiat vocem Mussitantium, Incantatoris incantationum sapientis," (Psalm 58:5-6 (B.A. 4-5));
"Ecce Ego mitto in vos serpentes basiliscos, contra quos non Incantatio," (Jeremias 8:17);
"In angustia quaesiverunt Te, clamaverunt Mussitatione," (Esaias 26:16)