BE119.第二个灵界摘自《揭开启示》（AR961）亲身见闻：我在解释第二十章经文，正思考龙、兽和假先知时，有人向我显现，问：“你在想什么？”我说：“假先知。”他说：“我带你去个地方，那里就是被称为‘假先知’的那些人所住之地，他们就是假先知。”他还告诉我，《启示录》第十三章所说的“另有一兽从地中上来、有两角如同羔羊、说话好像龙”，也是对这等人的描述。我跟着他，看到一群人聚集，其中还有一些是教会领袖，他们一直教导除了信，其它没有什么能使人得救；还说，要有好行为，但不是为了得救。不过，他们认为当照着圣经教导这些好行为，为了让平信徒，特别是头脑简单之人能更规矩地顺从他们的地方官的指令，因而易受管治。好让他们借着宗教信仰，去行出道德慈善。 【2】他们当中有个人看见我，说：“你想进去看看我们的教堂吗？里面有代表我们信仰的雕像。”我跟着进去看，颇为壮观，中央一个妇人的雕像，身穿朱红色衣裳，右手持一枚金币，左手持一串珍珠。不过，雕像和殿宇都是幻想造成的形像，因为地狱中的灵能用他们的幻想来表现一些壮观的场景，乃是通过关闭心智的内在成分，仅打开其外在来完成的。当我意识到所有这些只是魔法手段时，就向主祷告，我心智的内在突然被打开。取代殿宇，我见是一间破屋，从屋顶到地板，到处都是裂缝。那妇人所站之处，挂着一张画像，龙头、豹身、熊腿、狮口，正如《启示录》13:2所描述的海中上来的兽。而地板则成了充满青蛙的沼泽之地。我得知，在沼泽之下有一块巨大的方石，方石之下藏有圣经。 【3】看到这些，我问那行魔法的：“这是你们的殿？”他说是的。突然，他的心智之内在突然也被打开，让他看见我所见的真相。看到这些，他大叫道：“这是什么？从哪里来的？”我告诉他，是因为来自天上光照的结果，揭示了所有形式的真实本性。我告诉他：“这种景象正是你信仰的属性——与属灵之義分离之信。”突然间起了东风，将一切吹走，并吹干沼泽地，巨石露出来了（圣经在巨石下面）。之后，一阵犹如春天里的暖风从天上吹来。在那原处显出一座帐篷，外表极其简朴。与我同在的天使说：“看哪，亚伯拉罕的帐篷！那时三位天使到他那里，告诉他以撒将要降世。这个帐篷看起来简单，但随着从天降下的光照，会变得越来越壮观。”然后他们被赐能力，打开在智慧中的属灵天使所在之天，从那里倾下光芒使帐篷看起来如同耶路撒冷圣殿。我往里看，见那块基石，其下藏有圣经，那石头周围镶满宝石。有光从这些宝石发出、射到墙壁，墙上有基路伯的形像，光彩夺目。 【4】对此我惊叹不已，天使对我说：“你将看到更奇妙的景象。”然后许他们打开受爱驱使的属天天使所在的第三层天，从那里光芒照下，整个圣殿消失了；取代圣殿之处，只见主一人在那里，他站在那根基石之上，此石就是圣经，主的形像如同约翰在《启示录》第一章所见。众天使心智的内在于是被敬畏感充满，有俯伏敬拜的冲动。突然，从第三层天来的光照被主关闭了，第二层天的光照被再打开，圣殿重现，还见到帐篷，不过这次同帐篷在圣殿里面。这些经历可用来描述了本章话语的意义：看哪、上帝的帐幕在人间、他要与人同住（启示录21:3）；我未见（新耶路撒冷）城内有殿、因为主上帝全能者和羔羊为城的殿（启示录21:22）。
119. The second Memorable Experience from THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED. 1Awakened one time out of sleep I fell into a profound meditation concerning God; and when I looked upwards I saw in the heaven above me a most brilliant white light in an oval form. As I fixed my gaze upon that light it receded from the centre towards the circumference. And behold, heaven was then opened to me, and I saw magnificent things, and angels standing in a circle on the southern side of the opening in conversation with one another. And because I was consumed with desire to hear what they were talking about, I was allowed to hear first the sound which was full of celestial love, and afterwards their speech which was full of wisdom from that love. They spoke together concerning the One God, and concerning union with Him, and salvation thence. They mentioned ineffable things, many of which could not be expressed in the words of any natural language. But as I had often been among angels in their heaven, and had, then, a similar speech, because I was in a similar state, therefore I was now able to understand them, and to select from their conversation some particulars which may be intelligibly expressed in natural language.
[2] They said that the Divine Being (Esse) is One, the Same, the Very Self, and Indivisible; that so also is the Divine Essence, because the Divine Being (Esse) is the Divine Essence; that so, likewise, is God, because the Divine Essence, which is also the Divine Being (Esse), is God. They illustrated this by spiritual ideas, saying that the Divine Being (Esse) cannot possibly become several, in each of which is the Divine Being (Esse) and yet remain One, the Same, the Very Self, and Indivisible; for then each would think from His own Esse, out of and by Himself. If then each thought also from the Others and by the Others unanimously, and at the same time, they would then be several unanimous Gods, not one God. For unanimity, being the agreement of several and at the same time of each One from Himself and by Himself, does not agree with the unity of God, but implies plurality. They did not say a plurality of Gods because they could not for the light of heaven from which they thought, and in which their words were spoken, prevented it. They also said that when they wished to pronounce the word" Gods" and to speak of each as a Person by Himself, the effort of utterance was immediately turned into the expression "One God," yea, "The Only God."
[3] To this they added that the Divine Being (Esse) is the Divine Being (Esse) in Itself, not from Itself, because "from Itself" postulates a Being (Esse) in Itself from another thus it supposes a God from a God, which is impossible. What is from God is not called God, but the Divine. For what is God from God, or what is God born of God from eternity, and what is God from God proceeding through a God born from eternity, but mere words in which there is not the least light from heaven? They said further that the Divine Being (Esse), which in Itself is God, is THE SAME; not the Same simply but infinitely; that is, the Same from eternity to eternity that it is the Same everywhere, and with everyone and in everyone, but that all variation and change are in the recipient, and are caused by the state of the recipient.
[4] That the Divine Being (Esse), which is God in Himself, is the Very Self, they illustrated in this way. God is the Very Self because He is Love itself and Wisdom itself; or, what is the same, because He is Good itself and Truth itself, thence Life itself. Unless these were the Very Self in God, they would not be anything in heaven or the world, since there would be nothing in them having relation to the Very Self. For every quality draws its nature from this, that there is the Very Self from which it is, and to which it has relation in order that it may be what it is. This Very Self, which is the Divine Being (Esse), is not in place, but is with those and in those who are in place according to reception. For neither place nor progression from one place to another can be asserted of Love and Wisdom, or of Good and Truth, or of Life thence, which are the Very Self in God, yea, God Himself; these are without place, hence their omnipresence. Wherefore the Lord says that He is in the midst of them, and that He is in them and they in Him.
[5] But, as He cannot be received by anyone such as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in Himself as a sun above the angelic heaven, and that which proceeds from it as light is Himself as to wisdom, and that which proceeds as heat is Himself as to love. He Himself is not that sun but the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom in their immediate emanation from Him appear round about Himself as a sun before the angels. He Himself, within the sun, is a Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, both as to the Originating Divine and as to the Divine Human; inasmuch as the Very Self, which is Love itself and Wisdom itself, was His soul from the Father; thus Divine Life which is Life in itself. It is otherwise with every man for in man the soul is not life, but a recipient of life. This the Lord also teaches when He says, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; John 14:6. And in another place, As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26. Life in Himself is God. The angels added that those who are in any spiritual light may see plainly from these things that the Divine Esse, which is also the Divine Essence, because it is One, the Same, the Very Self, and thence indivisible, cannot possibly exist in more than one and that, if it should be said that it does so, manifest contradictions would follow.
[6] After hearing these things, the angels perceived my thought the usual ideas of the Christian Church respecting God as a trinity of Persons in unity, and their unity in trinity; also of the birth of a Son of God from eternity. Whereupon they said to me, "What are you thinking about? Are you thinking of those things from natural light, with which our spiritual light does not agree? Unless you remove those ideas from your thoughts we must close heaven against you and go away." Then I said to them, "Enter, I beseech you, more deeply into my thought, and perchance you will find agreement." And they did so, and saw that by three Persons I mean three proceeding Divine attributes, which are Creation, Redemption and Regeneration, and that those attributes belong to the One God; also that by the birth of a Son of God from eternity, I understand His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time. I then told them that my natural thought concerning a trinity and unity of persons, and of the birth of a Son of God from eternity, was derived from the doctrine of faith in the Church named after Athanasius, and that this doctrine is correct if, instead of a trinity of Persons, there is substituted a trinity of Person existing solely in the Lord Jesus Christ and if, instead of the birth of a Son of God from eternity, His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time is understood; because, as to the Human which He assumed, He is expressly called the Son of God.
[7] Then the angels said, "That is good." And they asked me to say on their testimony that if anyone does not approach the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, he cannot come into heaven; because heaven is heaven from this One and Only God; and that this God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah Lord, the Creator from eternity, the Redeemer in time, and the Regenerator to eternity; thus, Who is at once Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and that this is the Gospel which is to be preached. After this the heavenly light which I had seen before returned, and by degrees descended and filled the interiors of my mind and enlightened my ideas concerning the unity and trinity of God. And then I saw that the ideas which I had first had on the trinity, and which were merely natural, were separated as chaff is separated from the wheat by winnowing, and were carried away as by a wind to the northern part of heaven, and there dispersed.
Footnotes:
1. THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 961.
119. The Second Relation from The Apocalypse Revealed. Once on waking from sleep, I fell into a profound meditation concerning God; and when I looked up, I saw above me in heaven a very bright light in an oval form; and when I fixed my attention on that light, it receded to the sides, and entered into the circumference. And then behold, heaven was opened to me, and I saw some magnificent things, and angels standing in the form of a circle on the southern side of the opening, speaking with one another. And because I was enkindled with the desire of hearing what they were saying, it was therefore given me first to hear the sound, which was full of heavenly love, and afterwards their speech, which was full of wisdom from that love. They were talking with one another of the One God, of Conjunction with Him, and of Salvation thence. They spoke ineffable things, the most of which cannot be expressed by any natural language. But as I had many times been in consociation with angels in heaven itself, and then in similar speech with them, because in a similar state, I could therefore now understand them, and gather some things from their discourse, which can be expressed rationally in the words of natural language.
They said that the Divine Esse is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible; thus also the Divine Essence, because the Divine Esse is the Divine Essence; and thus also God, because the Divine Essence, which is also the Divine Esse, is God. They illustrated this by spiritual ideas, saying that the Divine Esse cannot fall into many, every one of which has the Divine Esse, and yet be One, the Same, Itself, and Indivisible; for each would think from his Esse from himself and by himself; if he should at the same time also think from the others and by the others unanimously, there would be many unanimous gods, and not one God. For unanimity, as it is the consent of many, and at the same time of each one from himself, and by himself, does not agree with the unity of God, but with a plurality; they did not say of Gods, because they could not; for the light of heaven, from which was their thought, and in which their discourse proceeded, resisted.
They also said, that when they wished to pronounce the word Gods, and each as a Person by himself, the effort of utterance immediately fell of itself into One, yea, into the Only God. To this they added that the Divine Esse is the Divine Esse in Itself, not from Itself; because from Itself supposes an Esse in Itself from another, and thus supposes a God from God, which is not given. That which is from God is not called God, but is called the Divine; for what is a God from God; and thus what is a God from God born from eternity; and what is a God from God proceeding through a God born from eternity, but words in which there is not the least light from heaven?
They said further, that the Divine Esse, which in itself is God, is the Same: not the Same simply, but Infinite; that is, the Same from eternity to eternity: it is the Same everywhere, and the Same with every one and in everyone; but that all the variety and variableness is in the recipient; the state of the recipient does this. That the Divine Esse, which is God in Himself, is the Itself, they illustrated thus. God is the Itself, because He is Love Itself, Wisdom Itself, or what is the same, He is Good Itself, and Truth Itself, and thence Life Itself; which unless they were the Itself in God, would not be anything in heaven and in the world; because there would not be anything of them having relation to the Itself. Every quality derives its quality from this, that there is an Itself from which it is, and to which it has relation, that it may be such. This Itself, which is the Divine Esse, is not in place, but is with those and in those who are in place, according to reception; since of love and wisdom, and of good and truth, and thence of life, which are the Itself in God, yea, are God Himself, place cannot be predicated, or progression from place to place, but without place, whence is omnipresence. Wherefore the Lord says, that "He is in the midst of them"; also "He in them, and they in Him." But because He cannot be received by anyone as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in Himself as the sun above the angelic heavens, the proceeding from which as light is Himself as to wisdom, and as heat is Himself as to love. He Himself is not the sun; but the Divine love and Divine wisdom, going forth from Himself proximately, round about Himself, appear before the angels as the sun. He Himself in the sun is a Man, He is our Lord Jesus Christ both as to the Divine from which, and as to the Divine Human: since the Itself, which is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, was His soul from the Father, and thus the Divine Life, which is Life in itself. It is otherwise in every man: in him the soul is not life, but a recipient of life. The Lord also teaches this, saying:
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;
and again:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.
Life in Himself is God. They added to this, that he who is in any spiritual light, can perceive that the Divine Esse, which is also the Divine Essence, because it is One, the Same, the Itself, and thence Indivisible, cannot be given in many; and that if it were said to be given, manifest contradictions would follow. After hearing these things, the angels perceived in my thought the common ideas of the Christian Church concerning a Trinity of Persons in Unity and their Unity in Trinity, respecting God, as also concerning the birth of a Son of God from eternity: and they then said, "What are you thinking of? Are you not thinking those things from natural light, with which our spiritual light does not agree? Wherefore, unless you remove the ideas of that thought, we close heaven to you, and go away." But I then said to them, "Enter, I pray, more deeply into my thought and perhaps you will see agreement." And they did so, and saw that by three Persons I understand three proceeding Divine Attributes, which are Creation, Salvation, and Reformation; and that these Attributes are of the one God: and that by the birth of a Son of God from eternity I understand His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time. And I then related that my natural thought concerning a Trinity and Unity of Persons, and concerning the birth of a Son of God from eternity, I received from the doctrine of faith of the church, which has its name from Athanasias; and that that doctrine is just and right, provided that instead of a Trinity of Persons there be there understood a Trinity of Person, which is given only in the Lord Jesus Christ; and instead of the birth of a Son of God there be understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time; because as to the Human, which He took to Himself in time, He is called openly the Son of God.
The angels then said, "Well, well," and they requested that I would say from their mouth, that if any one does not go to the God of heaven and earth Himself, he cannot come into heaven; because heaven is heaven from that Only God; and that this God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, Creator from eternity, Redeemer in time, and to eternity Regenerator; thus who is at the same time the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that this is the Gospel which is to be preached. After this the heavenly light before seen above the opening returned and gradually descended, and filled the interiors of my mind, and enlightened my natural ideas of the Unity and Trinity of God: and then the ideas received about them in the beginning, which were merely natural, I saw separated, as the chaff is separated from the wheat by the motion of a fan, and carried away as by a wind into the north of heaven, and dispersed.
119. SECUNDUM MEMORABILE EX APOCALYPSI REVELATA. Quondam experrectus e somno incidi in profundam meditationem de DEO: et cum suspexi, vidi supra me in Caelo Lucem candidissimam in forma ovali; et cum fixi intuitum in Luce illa, recedebat Lux ad latera, et intrabat in peripherias, et tunc ecce patuit mihi Caelum, et vidi aliqua magnifica, et Angelos stantes in forma Circi a latere meridionali Aperturae, et loquebantur inter se: et quia accendebar desiderio audiendi quid loquebantur, ideo dabatur mihi primum audire sonum, plenus erat Amore caelesti, et postea loquelam, quae plena erat Sapientia ex illo amore; loquebantur inter se de DEO UNO, et de CONJUNCTIONE CUM IPSO, et inde SALVATIONE: loquebantur ineffabilia, quorum pleraque non possunt cadere in voces alicujus Linguae naturalis; sed quia aliquoties fueram in consortio cum Angelis in ipso Caelo, et tunc in simili loquela cum illis, quia in simili statu, ideo potui nunc intelligere illos, et ex sermone illorum desumere aliqua, quae possunt expromi vocibus Linguae naturalis rationaliter.
Dicebant quod DIVINUM ESSE SIT UNUM, IDEM, IPSUM, ET INDIVIDUUM, ita quoque Divina Essentia, quia Divinum Esse est Divina Essentia, ita quoque Deus, quia Divina Essentia quae etiam est Divinum Esse, est Deus. Haec illustrabant per ideas spirituales; dicendo, quod Divinum Esse non possit cadere in plures, quorum unicuique sit Divinum Esse, et usque illud esse Unum, Idem, Ipsum et Individuum; cogitaret enim quisque a suo Esse ex se et per se, si tunc etiam simul ex alteris et per alteros unanimiter, forent plures Dii unanimes, et non Deus Unus; nam Unanimitas, quia est consensus plurium, et simul cujusvis ex se et per se, non concordat cum unitate Dei, sed cum pluralitate, non dixerunt Deorum, quia non potuerunt, Lux enim Caeli, ex qua erat cogitatio illorum, et in qua procedebat sermo illorum, contranitebatur; dicebant etiam, quod cum vellent enuntiare Deos, et quemlibet ut Personam per se, cadat conatus enuntiandi illico in Unum, imo in Unicum Deum: his addebant, quod Divinum Esse sit Divinum Esse in Se, non a Se, quia a Se ponit Esse in Se ab Alio, ita ponit Deum a Deo, quod non datur; quod a Deo est, non vocatur Deus, sed vocatur Divinum; quid enim est Deus a Deo, ita quid Deus a Deo natus ab aeterno, et quid Deus a Deo per Deum natum ab aeterno procedens, nisi voces, quibus ne hilum lucis e Caelo inest. Porro dicebant, quod Divinum Esse, quod in Se est Deus, sit IDEM, non Idem simplex, sed Infinitum, hoc est, Idem ab aeterno in aeternum; est Idem ubivis, ac Idem apud unumquemvis, et in unoquovis, sed quod omne varium et variabile sit in recipiente; status recipientis hoc facit.
Quod Divinum Esse, quod est Deus in Se, sit IPSUM, ita illustrabant; Deus est Ipsum, quia est Ipse Amor et Ipsa Sapientia, seu quod simile, est Ipsum Bonum et Ipsum Verum, et inde Ipsa Vita; quae nisi forent Ipsum in Deo, illa non forent aliquid in Caelo et in Mundo, quia non foret aliquod illorum relativum ad Ipsum; omne quale sortitur suum quale ex eo quod sit Ipsum ex quo est, et ad quod se refert ut sit tale. Hoc Ipsum, quod est Esse Divinum, non est in loco, sed apud illos et in illis qui sunt in loco secundum receptionem, quoniam de Amore et Sapientia, seu de Bono et Vero, et inde Vita, quae sunt Ipsum in Deo, imo Ipse Deus, non praedicari potest locus, nec progressio e loco in locum, sed absque loco, unde Omnipraesentia; quare dicit Dominus, Quod sit in medio illorum; tum Ipse in illis et illi in Ipso.
At quia non recipi ab ullo potest qualis in Se est, apparet qualis in Se est, ut Sol supra Caelos angelicos, a quo procedens ut Lux est Ipse quoad Sapientiam, ac ut Calor est Ipse quoad Amorem; Ipse non est Sol ille, sed Divinus Amor et Divina Sapientia exiens ab Ipso proxime, circum circa Ipsum, coram Angelis apparent ut Sol; Ipse in Sole est Homo, est DOMINUS NOSTER JESUS CHRISTUS, tam quoad Divinum a Quo, quam quoad Divinum Humanum; quoniam Ipsum, quod est Ipse Amor et Ipsa Sapientia, fuit Anima Ipsi a Patre, ita Divina Vita, quae est Vita in se; aliter in unoquovis homine, in illo anima non est vita, sed recipiens vitae: Dominus etiam hoc docet, dicendo "Ego sum Via, Veritas et VITA;" et alibi "Quemadmodum Pater habet VITAM in Se Ipso, ita etiam dedit Filio VITAM habere in Se Ipso;" Vita in Se Ipso est Deus. His addiderunt, quod illi, qui in aliqua Luce Spirituali sunt, ex his possint percipere, quod Divinum Esse, quod etiam est Divina Essentia quia est Unum, Idem, Ipsum, et inde individuum, non possit dari in pluribus; et quod si diceretur dari, forent manifestae Contradictiones in adjectis.
His auditis, perceperunt Angeli in cogitatione mea ideas communes Ecclesia Christianae de Personarum Trinitate in Unitate, et illarum Unitate in Trinitate de Deo; tum etiam de Nativitate Filii Dei ab aeterno: et tunc dixerunt, quid cogitas, cogitasne illa ex Luce naturali, cum qua Lux nostra spiritualis non concordat; quare nisi removes illius cogitationis ideas, claudimus tibi Caelum, et abimus. Sed tunc dixi illis, intrate, quaeso, penitius in cogitationem meam, et forte videbitis concordantiam; et fecerunt ita, et viderunt, quod per Tres Personas intelligam Tria Attributa Divina procedentia, quae sunt CREATIO, REDEMPTIO, ET REGENERATIO, et quod illa Attributa sint Unius Dei; et quod per Nativitatem Filii Dei ab aeterno, intelligam Nativitatem Ipsius ab aeterno praevisam et in tempore provisam. Et tunc narravi, quod naturalis mea cogitatio de Personarum Trinitate et Unitate, et de Nativitate Filii Dei ab aeterno, fuerit mihi ex Doctrina fidei Ecclesiae, quae ab Athanasio nomen habet; et quod illa Doctrina sit recta, modo pro Trinitate Personarum ibi substituatur Trinitas Personae, quae unice datur in DOMINO JESU CHRISTO; et pro Nativitate Filii Dei ab aeterno percipiatur Nativitas Ipsius ab aeterno praevisa et in tempore provisa, quia quoad Humanum quod suscepit, aperte vocatur FILIUS DEI; tunc dixerunt Angeli, bene, bene; et rogaverunt, ut ex ore illorum dicam, quod si quis non adit Ipsum Deum Caeli et Terrae, non possit in Caelum venire, quia Caelum est Caelum ex unico illo Deo, et quod ILLE DEUS SIT JESUS CHRISTUS, Qui est Jehovah Dominus ab aeterno Creator, in tempore Redemptor, ac in aeternum Regenerator, ita qui simul est Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus; et quod hoc sit Evangelium, quod praedicandum est. Post haec Lux caelestis prius visa super aperturam rediit, et successive se inde demisit, ac implevit interiora mentis meae, ac illustravit ideas meas de Unitate et Trinitate Dei, et vidi tunc ideas de illis initio captas, quae fuerant mere naturales, separatas, sicut separantur paleae a tritico ex ventilabro agitato, et ablatas sicut vento in septentrionem Caeli, et disparatas.