350、有些人将某些可见事物归因于自然界是情有可原的。原因有二：其一，他们根本不知道主所在的天堂太阳和由此而来的流注，也不知道灵界及其状态，甚至不知道它与人类同在。所以，他们不能不认为属灵之物是更纯粹的属世之物，因而认为天使要么在以太或平流层中，要么在星星里面；而魔鬼是人的邪恶，倘若真的存在，要么在空气中，要么在地的深处；还认为，死后，人的灵魂要么在地中心，要么在某个不确定的地方，直到审判之日；以及他们因对灵界及其太阳的无知而被自己的幻想说服相信的其它类似的事。
其二，他们无法知道神性如何能产生出现在地上的一切事物，地上不仅有好的事物，也有坏的事物；他们害怕确认这个观念，唯恐将坏的事物也归于神，对神形成物质性的概念，并将神与自然界合为一体，从而混淆这二者。鉴于这两个原因，那些以为自然界通过自创造时就被植入她的能力而产生可见事物的人，是值得原谅的。
然而，那些因确认支持自然而使自己成为无神论者的人，是不可原谅的，因为他们本可以确认支持神性。无知的确值得原谅，但并不能除去已确认的虚假；因为这虚假与邪恶，因而与地狱绑在了一起。因此，那些确认支持自然，甚至到了将神性与自然界分离的地步之人，认为什么都不算罪，因为一切罪都反对神性，而他们已经将这神性分离出去，并弃绝之；那些在灵里认为什么都不算罪的人，死后成为灵人时，因受地狱奴役而照着他们所放纵的欲望冲进令人发指的罪恶中。
350. Still, we must forgive some people who attribute what they see to nature, and this for two reasons. First, they have had no knowledge of heaven's sun, where the Lord is, or about the inflow from it. They have had no knowledge of the spiritual world and its state or of its presence with us. As a result, they could think of spiritual reality only as a purer form of earthly reality, so that angels were either in the ether or in the stars, the devil either was an evil person or, if he were actually to come into existence, would be in the air or in the depths, and that our own souls after death were either at the center of the earth or in a mysterious "elsewhere" until judgment day, along with other notions of the same sort that give rise to delusions born of their ignorance of the spiritual world and its sun.
The second reason for forgiving them is that they have had no way to know how Divinity produces all the things we see on our earth where there are so many things both good and evil. They have been afraid of drawing their conclusion, to keep from attributing evil to God or giving birth to a materialistic concept of God, equating God with nature, and therefore confusing them.
These are two reasons for forgiving people who believe that nature brings forth the things we can see by a power instilled at creation. However, we should not forgive people who make atheists of themselves by "proving" this role of nature, because they could "prove" the same role for Divinity. Ignorance does excuse, true, but it does not cancel deliberate proof of what is false, since this falsity is intimately connected to evil and therefore to hell. As a result, people who opt decisively for nature to the point that they divorce Divinity from it attach no weight to sin, since all sin is against the Divinity they have divorced and thus rejected. If people in spirit attach no weight to sin, then after death, when they become spirits, they rush as captives of hell into the unspeakable consequences of their cravings, cravings whose reins have been loosened.
350. Some people must indeed be pardoned for having attributed certain visible phenomena to nature, for the following twofold reason: first, that they have not known anything about the sun of heaven where the Lord is, and the influx from it, nor anything about the spiritual world and its state, nor, indeed, of its presence with mankind. And therefore they could not help but think that anything spiritual was a purer form of something natural; thinking thus that angels existed either in the stratosphere or in the stars; and in regard to the devil, either that it was the evil in mankind, or if the devil actually existed, that he existed either in the air or in the depths of the earth; also that people's souls after death existed either at the center of the earth or in some limbo or other until the Day of Judgment; and other like things which their fancy persuaded them of, owing to their ignorance of the spiritual world and its sun.
[2] The second reason they must be pardoned is that they could not have known how the Divine produces all the phenomena that appear on the earth, where one finds both good things and bad, fearing to confirm the notion in themselves lest they ascribe the bad things as well to God, or lest they form a material concept of God, making God and nature one and so confusing the two.
For these two reasons they must be pardoned who have believed that nature produces the phenomena they see by a power implanted from creation.
[3] However, those who by confirmations on the side of nature have made themselves atheists, cannot be pardoned, because they could have confirmed themselves on the side of the Divine. Ignorance, indeed, excuses, but it does not take away falsity that has been confirmed; for such falsity is bound together with evil, thus with hell. Consequently those same people who have confirmed themselves on the side of nature even to the point of separating the Divine from nature, regard nothing as sinful, because everything sinful is a sin against the Divine, which they have separated and so rejected; and people who in spirit regard nothing as sinful, after death, when they become spirits, rush in bondage to hell into heinous evils in accordance with their lusts, to which they have given free rein.
350. Some indeed who have ascribed certain visible things to nature are to be excused for a twofold reason. First, they know nothing of the Sun of heaven, where the Lord is, and of influx therefrom, nor anything of the spiritual world and its state, nay rather, nothing of its presence with man. They could only think of the spiritual as a purer natural, and thus of angels as being in the ether or the stars; also of the devil as man's evil, or if actually existing, as being either in the air, or in the abyss; and of men's souls after death as being in the midst of the earth, or in some abstract somewhere till the day of judgment; and of other similar delusions brought about by ignorance concerning the spiritual world and its Sun. The second reason for excusing them is that they could not understand the method by which the Divine produced all those things that appear on earth, good and evil alike; afraid to confirm themselves in the idea, lest they should ascribe evil things also to God, and form a material idea concerning Him, and make God and nature one, and thus confound them. These are two reasons for excusing those who have believed that nature produces things visible by power implanted in her by creation. But those who have become atheists, through confirmations in favour of nature, ought not to be excused, because they could have confirmed themselves in favour of the Divine. Ignorance certainly excuses, but does not remove a falsity which has been confirmed, for this kind of falsity unites with evil, and so with hell. Consequently, those who have confirmed themselves in favour of nature so far as to separate the Divine from her, reckon nothing as sin, because every sin is against the Divine which they have separated and thus rejected; and they who in spirit reckon nothing as sin, when they become spirits after death, confined to hell, rush headlong into crime according to the lusts, to which they have given free rein.
350. There are some who are excusable for ascribing certain visible things to nature, for two reasons. First, because they have had no knowledge of the sun of heaven, where the Lord is, or of influx therefrom, or of the spiritual world and its state, or even of its presence with man, and therefore had no other idea than that the spiritual is a purer natural; consequently, that angels are in the ether or in the stars; and that the devil is either man's evil or if an actual existence, that he is in the air or the abyss; also that the souls of men, after death, are either in the interior of the earth, or in an undetermined somewhere till the day of judgment; and other like things deduced by fancy out of ignorance of the spiritual world and its sun.
Secondly, they are excusable, because they are unable to see how the Divine could produce everything that appears on the earth, where there are not only good things but also evil things; and they are afraid to confirm themselves in such an idea, lest they ascribe the evil things also to God, and form a material conception of God, and make God and nature one, and thus confound the two.
For these two reasons those are excusable who have believed that nature produces the visible world by a power implanted in her by creation. But those who have made themselves atheists by confirmations in favor of nature are not excusable, because they might have confirmed themselves in favor of the Divine. Ignorance indeed excuses, but does not remove, falsity - which has been confirmed, for such falsity coheres with evil, thus with hell. Consequently, those same persons who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature to such an extent as to separate the Divine from nature, regard nothing as sin, because all sin is against the Divine, and this they have separated, and thus have rejected it; and those who in spirit regard nothing as sin, after death when they become spirits, since they are in bonds to hell, rush into wickednesses which are in accord with the lusts to which they have given rein.
350. Ignoscendi quidem sunt aliqui, quod naturae adscripserint quaedam visibilia, ex duplici causa, Prima, quod non sciverint aliquid de Sole Coeli, ubi est Dominus, ac de Influxu inde; nec aliquid de Mundo spirituali et ejus statu, imo nec de praesentia ejus apud hominem; et quod inde non aliter cogitare potuerint, quam quod spirituale esset purius naturale; et sic quod Angeli essent vel in aethere, vel in stellis; tum de diabolo, quod esset vel hominis malum, vel si actualiter existeret, esset vel in aere, vel in profundis; tum quod animae hominum post mortem vel essent in intimo terrae, vel in aliquo ubi seu pu usque ad diem judicii; et similia alia quae phantasia induxit ex ignorantia Mundi spiritualis et ejus Solis.
[2] Altera causa quod ignoscendi sint, est quod non scire potuerint, quomodo Divinum produceret om-nia illa quae super Tellure apparent, ubi tam bona quam mala sunt, timentes id apud se confirmare, ne etiam mala adscriberent Deo, et ne materialem ideam de Deo conciperent, ac Deum et naturam unum facerent, et sic confunderent. Hae binae causae sunt, quod ignoscendi sint qui crediderunt, quod natura producat visibilia ex insito a creatione:
[3] sed usque illi qui per confirmationes pro Natura se atheos fecerunt, non ignoscendi sunt, quia potuerunt se confirmare pro Divino[;] ignorantia quidem excusat, sed non tollit falsum confirmatum, nam hoc falsum cohaeret cum malo, ita cum inferno: quare iidem qui se confirmaverunt pro natura usque 1 ad separationem Divini ab illa, non aliquid reputant pro peccato, quia omne peccatum est contra Divinum[,] quod separaverunt et sic rejecerunt, et qui nihil pro peccato reputant in spiritu, illi post mortem, dum fiunt spiritus, vincti inferno ruunt in nefaria secundum cupiditates, quibus laxaverunt fraena.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: ufque