197、⑵唯独主知道一个人的生命之爱的情感。人知道自己的思维和由此产生的意图，因为他在自己里面看见它们；由于它们是一切谨慎的源头，所以他也在自己里面看见这一点。如果他的生命之爱是对自己的爱，那么他就会以自己的聪明为骄傲，将谨慎归给自己，并搜集证据来支持它，从而远离对圣治的承认。如果他的生命之爱是对世界的爱，情况也一样；只是在这种情况下，他没有远离到那种程度。由此可见，这两种爱将一切都归于人和他的谨慎；若深入检查一下，就会发现它们不将任何东西归于神和祂的圣治。因此，当这样的人碰巧听说，人类的谨慎什么都不是，唯独圣治掌管一切时，他们若是彻底的无神论者，就会嘲笑它；即便他们的记忆里还残留着某种宗教的东西，并且有人告诉他们，一切智慧都来自神，他们乍一听仍然赞同，然而内心里，就是在灵里，却否认它。那些爱自己胜过神，爱世界胜过天堂的牧师；或也可说，那些为了地位和利益而敬拜神，却又传讲仁和信，一切良善和真理，以及一切智慧，甚至一切谨慎都来自神，丝毫不来自人的牧师尤其是这样。
在灵界，我曾听见两个牧师与一个皇家大使争论人类的谨慎，即它来自神，还是来自人。这场争论逐渐升温。其实这三人心里信的都一样，即：人类的谨慎成就一切，圣治什么也做不了。然而，那时两个牧师还具有神学热情，于是就坚称智慧或谨慎丝毫不来自人；当大使反驳说，这意味着思维也丝毫不来自人时，他们说：“一点也不来自人。”天使发觉这三人其实持有相同的信仰，于是就吩咐大使换上牧师袍，并相信自己是一个牧师，然后再发言。他照做后，大声宣称，人里面绝无可能有智慧或谨慎的一丝痕迹，除非它来自神；并且他还以其惯用的雄辩术和充足的理性论据捍卫这个观点。然后天使又吩咐两位牧师脱下牧师袍，换上政客的长袍，并相信自己是政客。他们照做了，并立刻出于其内在自我思考，出于他们以前心里所钟爱的论据发言；这些论据都是支持人类谨慎，反对圣治的。之后，这三人因持有相同的信仰，故成为挚友，并一起踏上人自己的谨慎之路，而这条路通向地狱。
197. (2) The affections of a person's life's love are known to the Lord alone. A person knows his thoughts and consequent intentions because he sees these in him. And because all prudence springs from them, he sees this also in him. If his life's love, then, is a love of self, he comes into a conceit in his own intelligence and attributes his prudence to himself. He also assembles arguments in support of it, and so turns away from an acknowledgment of Divine providence. The case is similar if his life's love is a love of the world - though he does not turn away to the same degree.
From this it is apparent that these two loves attribute everything to the person and his prudence, and if they are examined more deeply, nothing to God and His providence. Consequently, when people hear by chance that in fact human prudence is not real, but that Divine providence alone directs all things, if they are complete atheists they laugh at it. However, if they retain in memory something of their religion and are told that all wisdom comes from God, at first hearing they indeed affirm it, even though in their spirit they deny it.
Of such a character especially are priests who love themselves more than God, and the world more than heaven, or to say the same thing, who worship God for the sake of acclaim and material gain, and yet preach that charity and faith, all good and truth, and all wisdom, even prudence, come from God, and none of these from man.
[2] I once heard two priests in the spiritual world arguing with a certain government envoy about human prudence, as to whether it is from God or from man. The argument was heated. At heart the three believed alike, namely that human prudence accomplishes all things, and Divine providence nothing. But being then in a state of theological zeal, the priests kept saying that nothing of wisdom and prudence is from man; and when the government envoy would retort in reply that that would mean nothing of thought, either, the priests would agree that that was so.
Then, because some angels perceived that the three men shared a similar belief, they said to the government envoy, "Put on the apparel of a priest and suppose yourself to be a priest, and then speak."
He did as he was bidden. And he loudly declared then that nothing of wisdom and prudence can ever exist in a person except it be from God, which he also demonstrated using the customary eloquent manner of speaking, full of rational arguments.
Then after that they said likewise to the two priests, "Put off your attire and put on the attire of ministers of state, and suppose that that is what you are." So they did accordingly; and they at once then thought from their inner selves and spoke using arguments they had inwardly cherished previously in support of human prudence in opposition to Divine providence.
Afterward the three became warm friends, because they shared a similar belief; and together they entered on the path of their own prudence, which leads to hell.
197. 2. Only the Lord knows the impulses of our life's love. We know our thoughts and the intentions that arise from them, because we see them within ourselves; and since they are the source of all our prudence, we see that in ourselves as well. If our life's love is a love for ourselves, then we find ourselves taking pride in our own intelligence and giving it credit for our prudence. We gather arguments in favor of it and drift away from any acknowledgment of divine providence. Much the same thing happens if our life's love is a love for the world, though in this case the drift is not so pronounced. We can see from this that these two loves attribute everything to ourselves and to our own prudence. If we probe deeper, we find that they attribute nothing to God and his providence. As a result, if we happen to hear someone say that human prudence is nothing, but that divine providence by itself is what controls everything, which is the truth, then if we are complete atheists we laugh at it. If we have some remnant of religion in our memory, though, and someone tells us that all wisdom comes from God, then we agree on first hearing, though inwardly, in our spirits, we are denying it.
This applies particularly to ministers who love themselves more than God and the world more than heaven--in other words, ministers who worship God for the sake of high position and money--but still preach that charity and faith, everything good and true, all wisdom and in fact all prudence come from God, and nothing from us.
[2] In the spiritual world I once heard two ministers arguing with a royal envoy about whether our prudence comes from God or from ourselves. It was a lively argument. At heart, the three believed much the same thing, namely, that our own prudence accounts for everything and divine providence for nothing. However, at that point the priests, carried away by their theological zeal, kept saying that no element of wisdom or prudence comes from us; and when the envoy retorted that this meant no element of thought came from us, they said, "Not a bit."
Since the angels noticed that the three actually shared the same belief, they said to the envoy, "Put on some priestly robes and believe that you are a priest, and then start talking." He put on the robes and the belief, and proclaimed emphatically that there could be no possible trace of wisdom or prudence in us unless it came from God, defending this position with characteristic eloquence abundantly furnished with rational arguments. The angels then said to the two ministers, "Take off your robes and put on politicians' robes and believe that you are politicians." They did so, and as they did, they thought from their deeper selves and based their speech on arguments they had previously treasured up inside, arguments in favor of human prudence and against divine providence. After this, since the three of them shared the same belief, they became cordial friends and started off together down the path of human prudence, which leads to hell.
197. II. THE AFFECTIONS OF A MAN'S LIFE'S LOVE ARE KNOWN TO THE LORD ALONE. Man knows his thoughts and consequent intentions because he sees them in himself; and as all prudence is from these, he sees that also in himself. If, then, his life's love is the love of sell, he comes into the pride of his own intelligence and ascribes prudence to himself, collecting arguments in favour of it and so receding from the acknowledgment of the Divine Providence. A similar result follows if the love of the world is his life's love; but in this case he does not recede in the same degree. From these considerations it is clear that these two loves ascribe all things to man and his prudence, and when interiorly examined, nothing to God and His Providence. Therefore, when persons of this description happen to hear that the truth is that there is no such thing as human prudence but that the Divine Providence alone governs all things, they laugh at it if they are complete atheists; but if they retain something of religion in the memory, and they are told that all wisdom is from God, they indeed assent at first hearing, yet inwardly in their spirit they deny it. Such especially are those priests who love themselves more than God and the world more than heaven; or what is the same, who worship God for the sake of honours and riches, and yet have preached that charity and faith, every good and truth, likewise all wisdom and even prudence are from God, and nothing of these things from men.
[2] In the spiritual world I once heard two priests discussing with a certain royal ambassador about human prudence, whether it is from God or from man, and the discussion was heated. In heart the three believed alike, namely, that human prudence does all things and the Divine Providence nothing; but the priests, who were then in theological zeal, were maintaining that there is nothing of wisdom and prudence from man; and when the ambassador retorted that in this case there was nothing of thought either, they declared that this was so. As angels, however, perceived that the three believed alike, the ambassador was told to put on the robes of a priest and to believe himself to be a priest and then to speak. He put them on and believed; and then in lofty tones he declared that in no wise was it possible for any wisdom and prudence to be in man unless from God; and he defended this with his customary eloquent speech full of rational arguments. The two priests were then told to put off their robes and put on those of officers of state and to believe themselves to be officers. They did so, and then, thinking at the same time now from their interior self they spoke from the arguments they had inwardly entertained previously in favour of human prudence and against Divine Providence. Thereupon the three, as they believed alike, became cordial friends and entered together upon the way of one's own prudence, which leads to hell.
197. (2) The affections of a man's life's love are known to the Lord alone. Man knows his thoughts and consequent intentions, because he sees them in himself; and as all prudence is from these, he also sees that in himself. If, then, his life's love is love of self, he comes into the pride of his own intelligence and ascribes prudence to himself, and collects arguments in its favor, and thus recedes from the acknowledgment of the Divine providence. It is the same when his life's love is love of the world; although in this case he does not recede in the same degree. This shows that these two loves ascribe every thing to man and his prudence, and, when interiorly examined, ascribe nothing to God and His providence. Consequently, when such men happen to hear that the truth is that human prudence is nothing, but that it is the Divine providence alone that governs all things, if they are complete atheists they laugh at it; but if they retain in their memory something of religion, and it is said to them that all wisdom is from God, at the first hearing they assent, although inwardly in their spirit they deny it. Such, especially, are those priests who love themselves more than God, and the world more than heaven; or what is the same, who worship God for the sake of honor and gain, and yet have preached that charity and faith, every good and truth, also all wisdom and even prudence, are from God, and nothing from man.
[2] In the spiritual world I once heard two priests disputing with a certain royal ambassador about human prudence, whether it is from God or from man. The dispute grew warm. In heart the three believed alike, namely, that human prudence does all things, and the Divine providence nothing; but the priests, who were then in theological zeal, asserted that nothing of wisdom or prudence is from man; and when the ambassador retorted that then there is nothing of thought from man, they assented to this. And the angels perceiving that the three believed alike, the ambassador was told to put on priestly robes and to believe himself to be a priest, and then to speak. He put them on and believed, and then loudly declared that there could not possibly be anything of wisdom or prudence in man except from God; and with his accustomed eloquence, full of rational arguments, he defended this. Afterwards the two priests were told to lay aside their vestments and to put on the robes of officers of state, and to believe themselves to be such. This they did, and at once thought from their interior self, and spoke from arguments they had inwardly cherished before, in favor of human prudence and against Divine providence. After this the three, since they held the same belief, became cordial friends, and entered together upon the way of one's own prudence, which leads to hell.
197. II. Quod affectiones amoris vitae hominis sint Soli Domino notae. Homo suas cogitationes et inde intentiones novit, quia illas in se videt; et quia omnis prudentia est ex illis, etiam illam in se videt; si tunc ejus vitae amor est amor sui, in fastum propriae intelligentiae venit, et sibi adscribit prudentiam; et colligit argumenta pro illa, et sic recedit ab agnitione Divinae Providentiae: similiter fit, si amor mundi est amor vitae; sed usque hic non in tali gradu recedit: ex quibus patet, quod illi bini amores adscribant homini et ejus prudentiae omnia; et si interius explorantur, nihil Deo et Ipsius 1Providentiae: quare cum forte audiunt, quod veritas sit, quod humana prudentia sit nulla, sed quod Divina Providentia sit sola, quae regit omnia, si prorsus athei sunt, rident ad illud; at si aliquid ex religione retinent memoria, et illis dicitur, quod omnis sapientia sit a Deo, quidem ad primum auditum affirmant, sed usque intus in spiritu suo id negant. Tales sunt imprimis sacerdotes, qui se prae Deo, et mundum prae coelo amant, seu quod idem, qui propter honores et lucra colunt Deum, et usque praedicaverunt, quod charitas et fides, omne bonum et verum, tum omnis sapientia, imo prudentia, sint a Deo, et nihil ab homine.
[2] Quondam in Mundo spirituali audivi binos Sacerdotes cum quodam Legato Regni disceptantes de Prudentia humana, num sit a Deo vel ab homine; ardens erat disceptatio: tres illi corde crediderunt similiter, nempe quod Prudentia humana faciat omnia, et Divina Providentia nihil: sed sacerdotes, qui tunc erant in zelo Theologico, dicebant quod nihil sapientiae et prudentiae sit ab homine, et cum Legatus regerebat, quod sic nec aliquid cogitationis, dicebant quod non aliquid: et quia perceptum est ab angelis, quod tres illi in simili fide essent, 2dictum est legato Regni, indue vestes sacerdotis, et crede te sacerdotem esse, et tunc loquere; ille induit et credidit, et tunc alte loquutus est, quod nihil sapientiae et prudentiae usquam dari possit in homine, nisi a Deo, ac sueto eloquio argumentis rationalibus pleno id defendit: et postea binis illis sacerdotibus etiam dictum est, exuite vestes, ac induite vestes ministrorum politicorum, et credite quod illi sitis, et fecerunt ita, et simul tunc 3cogitaverunt ex interiori se, et loquuti ex argumentis, quae prius intus foverant pro humana prudentia contra Divinam Providentiam: 4postea tres illi, quia in simili fide fuerunt, amici cordis facti sunt, et viam propriae prudentiae, quae 5in infernum tendit, simul iniverunt.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: ipsius
2 Prima editio: essent;
3 simul tunc ubi in prima editione tunc simul tunc
4 Prima editio: Providentam:
5 Prima editio: qnae