734.“将要从无底深渊上来，又要归于沉沦”表在教廷会议上数次提议平信徒和普通百姓对圣言的接受和阅读，但都被拒绝了。“将要上来”的“兽”表示圣言，如前所述（723，733节）；他将要从中上来的“无底深渊”无非表示天主教，尤其表示它的宝座所在的地方，因而表示教廷会议。它之所以是“无底深渊”，是因为那里所作出的决议都与对教会的神圣事物，以及天堂，因而对主及其圣言的一切事物的统治有关（729节）。他们以这些事为根本目的，而教会的良善和灵魂的拯救作为达到这个目的的手段而成为必要的形式上的事。“归于沉沦”表示被拒绝。从教会史可知，平信徒和普通百姓对圣言的接受和阅读数次被考虑过，但均遭拒绝。有一位教皇还曾提议过，但他的提议没有被采纳，如今这个教皇在改革宗，并受到祝福，《最后的审判（续）》（59节）一书有关于他的内容。这一事实也可从教皇诏书（Bulla Unigenitus）和教廷会议看出来。
注:*应该是Benedict XIV，本尼狄克十四世，也称本笃十四世。**由克雷芒十一世颁布，Unigenitus的意思是“神的独生子”，以此命名的正式法典，全罗马公教适用。
734. "And will ascend out of the abyss and go to destruction." This symbolizes the laity's and common people's being given the Word and reading it deliberated several times in the papal Consistory, but rejected.
The beast that will ascend out of the abyss and go to destruction symbolizes the Word, as in nos. 723, 733 above. The abyss from which it will ascend can only symbolize the Roman Catholic religion, and especially the place where the papal Throne is found, thus the papal Consistory. It is an abyss because what is decided there has regard to dominion over the sanctities of the church and over heaven, thus over everything connected with the Lord and His Word (no. 729). It has these as its essential ends, and the good of the church and the salvation of souls as formal means to those ends. To go to destruction means, symbolically, to be rejected.
That the laity's and common people's being given the Word and reading it has been deliberated several times in the papal Consistory, but rejected - this we know from church history. It was also proposed by a Pope who is now among the Protestant Reformed and one of the blessed - as reported in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World, no. 59 - but the proposal was not accepted. 1It is also known principally from the papal bull Unigenitus, 2and moreover from the Councils.
Footnotes:
1. Considering the publication date of the Continuation and the time indicated in no. 59 that this man was Pope, he must have been Benedict XIV (1740-1758), who is also acknowledged in Catholic history to have been one of the more liberal Popes.
2. Issued by Pope Clement XI (1700-1721), an apostolic constitution in the form of a bull, condemning 101 heretical propositions of Pasquier Quesnel.
734. 'And is going to come up out of the deep, and go away into perdition' signifies [that it was] several times deliberated in the Papal Consistory concerning the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and common people, but it was rejected. By 'the beast that is going to come up' is signified the Word, as above (723, 733). By 'the deep' out of which it is going to come up, nothing else can be signified than that form of religion, and chiefly where its throne is, thus the Papal Consistory. The reason why this is 'the deep' is because what is decreed there has regard to dominion over the holy things of the Church and over heaven, thus over all things of the Lord and His Word (729). They have these things for an end as the essentials, but the good of the Church and the salvation of souls as formal things [serving] as means to the end. By 'to go away into perdition' is signified to be rejected. It is known from ecclesiastical history that the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and common people has been deliberated there several times, but rejected. It was also proposed by a Pontiff 1who is now among the Reformed and the blessed, of whom [something has been said] in the CONTINUATION [CONCERNING THE LAST JUDGMENT AND] CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD (59), but it was not accepted. This has also primarily been known from the Bulla Unigenitus, and besides from the Councils.
Footnotes:
1. This was Clement XII (Arcana Coelestia 1730-1740).
734. And is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition, signifies deliberation at different times in the Papal Consistory concerning the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and common people, but rejected. By "the beast which was about to come up" the Word is signified, as above, (723, 733); by "the abyss" out of which he was about to come up nothing else can be signified but that religious persuasion, and especially where its throne is, thus the Papal Consistory. It is "an abyss," because that which is decreed there regards domination over the holy things of the church and over heaven, and thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, (729). These they have for their end as the essentials, but the good of the church and the salvation of souls as formal things necessary as means to the end. By "going away into perdition" is signified to be rejected. It is known from ecclesiastical history that the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and the common people has been several times deliberated there, but rejected. It was also proposed by a Pontiff who is now among the Reformed and the blessed, who is spoken of in the Continuation concerning the spiritual world, (59), but it was not accepted; and this is especially known from the Bull Unigenitus, and besides from the Councils.
734. "Et futura est ascendere et abysso, et in interitum abire," significat deliberatum in Consistorio Papali aliquoties de receptione et lectione Verbi a Laicis et Vulgo, sed rejectum. -Per "Bestiam quae futura est ascendere," significatur Verbum, ut supra (723, 733); per "abyssum" ex quo futura est ascendere, non aliud significari potest, quam Religiosum illud, et praecipue ubi Thronus ejus est, ita Consistorium Papale; causa quod sit "abyssus," est quia id quod ibi decernitur, spectat dominium super sancta Ecclesiae et super Caelum, ita super omnia Domini et Verbi Ipsius (729); haec ut essentialia pro fine habent, at bonum Ecclesiae et salutem animarum ut formalia pro mediis ad finem; per "abire ad interitum" significatur rejici. Quod aliquoties ibi deliberatum sit de receptione et lectione Verbi a laicis et vulgo, at rejectum, ex Historia Ecclesiastica notum est; propositum etiam est a Pontifice qui nunc inter Reformatos et beatos est, de quo in Continuatione de Mundo Spirituali (59), sed non acceptatum; et imprimis hoc notum est ex Bulla Unigenitus, et praeterea ex Conciliis.