4、这一点在《圣治》和《新耶路撒冷教义之生活篇》两本书已予以充分阐述。此处仅说明：主，即宇宙之神，是非创造的和无限的，而世人与天使是被造的和有限的。主因是非创造的和无限的，故是被称为“耶和华”的存在本身，是生命本身或祂本身就是生命。没有人能直接从非创造者、无限者、存在本身和生命本身被造，因为神性是一体不可分割的。但对人类的创造必须出于被造、有限，并如此形成以便神性能在他们里面之物。
世人与天使就是如此被造，故是生命的接受者。因此，人若任由自己被误导，以至于认为他不是生命的接受者，而是生命，就无法摆脱他是神的想法。人感觉自己就是生命，从而相信自己的确是生命，是由幻觉造成的；因为主因在工具因中只会被感知为与工具因一体。主在自己有生命，祂自己在约翰福音中就教导了这一点：
因为父怎样在自己有生命，就赐给儿子也照样在自己有生命。(约翰福音5:26)
祂还声称，祂是生命本身(约翰福音11:25;14:6)。由于生命与爱为一(这从1-2节所述明显看出来)，故可知，主既是生命本身，那么也是爱本身。
4. God alone--the Lord--is love itself, because he is life itself. Both we on earth and angels are life-receivers. I will be offering many illustrations of this in works on divine providence and life. Here I would say only that the Lord, who is the God of the universe, is uncreated and infinite, while we and angels are created and finite. Since the Lord is uncreated and infinite, he is that essential reality that is called Jehovah and is life itself or life in itself. No one can be created directly from the Uncreated, the Infinite, from Reality itself and Life itself, because what is divine is one and undivided. We must be created out of things created and finite, things so formed that something divine can dwell within. Since we and angels are of this nature, we are life-receivers. So if we let ourselves be misled in thought so badly that we think we are not life-receivers but are actually life, there is no way to keep us from thinking that we are God.
Our sense that we are life and our consequent belief that we are life rests on an illusion: in an instrumental cause, the presence of its principal cause is only felt as something identical to itself. The Lord himself teaches that he is life in itself in John: "As the Father has life in himself, so too he has granted the Son to have life in himself" (5:26); and again in John (11:25; 14:6) he teaches that he is life itself. Since life and love are one and the same, as we can see from the first two sections above, it follows that the Lord, being life itself, is love itself.
4. God alone, thus the Lord, is love itself, because He is life itself; and angels and people are recipients of life. This observation will be clarified in a number of places in my treatises on Divine Providence and on Life. 1 Here we will say only that the Lord, who is God of the universe, is uncreated and infinite, while people and angels are created and finite; and because the Lord is uncreated and infinite, He is the underlying that-which-is or being itself which is called Jehovah, 2 and is life itself or life in itself.
From Him who is uncreated, infinite, being itself and life itself, no one can be created directly, because the Divine is one and indivisible. Rather he must be created out of elements already created and finite, so formed that the Divine can be present in them.
[2] Because people and angels are such creations, they are recipients of life. Consequently, if anyone allows himself to be so led astray in his thinking as to suppose he is not a recipient of life, but is life, he cannot be averted from the thought that he is God.
A person's feeling as though he were life and so believing it to be the case is owing to a fallacious appearance; for in any instrumental cause, the principal cause is invariably perceived as inseparable from it.
That the Lord is life in Himself, He Himself teaches in John:
...As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son (also) to have life in Himself... (John 5:26)
And He says that He is "the life" (John 11:25, 14:6).
Now since life and love are one (as is apparent from the discussions above in nos. 1-2), it follows that because the Lord is life itself, He is love itself.
Footnotes:
1. I.e., The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem.
2. Cf. Exodus 3:14-15.
4. GOD ONLY, THUS THE LORD, IS LOVE ITSELF, BECAUSE HE IS LIFE ITSELF, AND ANGELS AND MEN ARE RECIPIENTS OF LIFE
This will be amply illustrated in the treatises concerning DIVINE PROVIDENCE and concerning LIFE. Here it is merely stated that the Lord Who is God of the universe is Uncreate and Infinite, whereas a man or an angel is created and finite. And because the Lord is Uncreate and Infinite, He is Esse (Being) Itself which is called Jehovah, and Life Itself or Life in Himself. No-one can be created directly from the Uncreate, the Infinite, Esse Itself and Life Itself, because the Divine is One and not divisible, whereas creation must be from things created and finited, and so formed that the Divine can be in them. Because men and angels are such, they are recipients of life. Wherefore, if any man allows himself to be so far led astray by the thought that he is not a recipient of life, but is life, he cannot be led away from the thought that he is God. A man's feeling as if he were life, and hence believing himself to be so, arises from fallacy; for the principal cause is not perceived in the instrumental cause otherwise than as one with it. That the Lord is Life in Himself, He teaches in John:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26)
And that He is Life Itself (John 11:26; 14:6).
Now because life and love are one, as is clear from what has been said above (1, 2) it follows that the Lord, because He is Life Itself, is Love Itself.
4. GOD ALONE, CONSEQUENTLY THE LORD, IS LOVE ITSELF, BECAUSE HE IS LIFE ITSELF AND ANGELS AND MEN ARE RECIPIENTS OF LIFE.
This will be fully shown in treatises on Divine Providence and on Life; it is sufficient here to say that the Lord, who is the God of the universe, is uncreate and infinite, whereas man and angel are created and finite. And because the Lord is uncreate and infinite, He is Being [Esse] itself, which is called "Jehovah," and Life itself, or Life in itself. From the uncreate, the infinite, Being itself and Life itself, no one can be created immediately, because the Divine is one and indivisible; but their creation must be out of things created and finited, and so formed that the Divine can be in them. Because men and angels are such, they are recipients of life. Consequently, if any man suffers himself to be so far misled as to think that he is not a recipient of life but is Life, he cannot be withheld from the thought that he is God. A man's feeling as if he were life, and therefore believing himself to be so, arises from fallacy; for the principal cause is not perceived in the instrumental cause otherwise than as one with it. That the Lord is Life in Himself, He Himself teaches in John:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (5:26)
He declares also that He is Life itself (John 11:25; 14:6).
Now since life and love are one (as is apparent from what has been said above, n. 1, 2), it follows that the Lord, because He is Life itself, is Love itself.
4. QUOD DEUS SOLUS ITA DOMINUS SIT IPSE AMOR, QUIA EST IPSA VITA; ET QUOD ANGELI ET HOMINES SINT RECIPIENTES VITAE. Hoc in Transactionibus de DIVINA PROVIDENTIA, et de VITA, 1 multis illustrabitur, hic modo quod Dominus, qui est Deus Universi, sit Increatus et Infinitus, homo autem et angelus est creatus et finitus; et quia Dominus est Increatus et infinitus, est ipsum Esse quod vocatur Jehovah, et est ipsa Vita seu Vita in se: ex Increato, Infinito, ipso Esse et ipsa Vita, non potest aliquis immediate creari, quia Divinum est unum et non dividuum, sed erit ex creatis et finitis, ita formatis, ut illis Divinum possit inesse:
[2] quia homines et angeli tales sunt, sunt recipientes vitae: quare si quis homo cogitatione eo usque se abduci patitur, [ut cogitetur] quod non sit recipiens vitae, sed vita, non potest abduci a cogitatione, quod sit Deus: quod homo sentiat sicut sit vita, et inde credat quod sit, est ex fallacia; in causa instrumentali enim non percipitur causa principalis aliter quam sicut una secum. Quod Dominus sit Vita in se, docet Ipse apud Johannem, "Quemadmodum Pater habet vitam in Se Ipso, ita etiam dedit Filio habere vitam in Se Ipso" Johannem 5:26., et quod sit "ipsa Vita" Joh. Johannem 11:25., Cap. Johannem 14:6. Nunc quia Vita et Amor unum sunt, ut ex supradictis, 1-2, patet, sequitur quod Dominus, quia est ipsa Vita, sit ipse Amor.
Footnotes:
1. I.e., Doctrina Vitae Pro Nova Hierosolyma (Amstelodami, 1763).