217、现分别说明这三点。①荣耀和财富要么是赐福，要么是诅咒。日常经验表明，无论虔诚的人还是不虔诚的人，无论义人还是不义的人，也就是无论善人还是恶人，都有可能享有地位和财富。然而，不可否认，不虔诚的人和不义的人，也就是恶人会下地狱，而虔诚的人和义人，也就是善人会上天堂。既然如此，那么可推知，地位和财富，或荣耀和金钱要么是赐福，要么是诅咒；对善人来说，是赐福；对恶人来说，是诅咒。在1758年出版于伦敦的《天堂与地狱》一书（357-365节），我已说明：天堂与地狱里既有富人，也有穷人，既有大人物，也有小人物；这清楚表明，那些在天堂里的人在世时所享有的地位和财富是赐福，而那些在地狱里的人在世时所享有的地位和财富则为诅咒。
只要对这个问题稍加理性思考，谁都能明白是什么使得地位和财富成为赐福，又是什么使得它们成为诅咒。也就是说，他会明白，对那些不心系地位和财富的人来说，它们是赐福；而对那些心系它们的人来说，是诅咒。心系它们就是爱它们里面的自己，不心系它们就是爱它们里面的功用，而不是自己。前面（215节）已说明这两种爱之间有何区别，这种区别是何性质；对此，必须补充的是：有些人会被地位和财富迷惑，而有些人不会。它们若激发对人自己的自我感的爱，也就是自我之爱，就会迷惑人。前面（206，207节）还说明，这就是被称为魔鬼的地狱之爱；但它们若没有激发这爱，就不会迷惑人。
恶人与善人之所以都能名声显赫、财运亨通，是因为与善人一样，恶人也能发挥功用或履行服务；但恶人如此行是为了个人的荣耀和金钱，而善人如此行是为了工作本身的荣耀和金钱。善人以属于工作本身的荣耀和金钱为首要因素或动机，以属于个人的荣耀和金钱为工具性的动机或因素；而恶人以属于个人的荣耀和金钱为首要动机或因素，以属于工作的荣耀和金钱为工具性的动机或因素。谁看不出这个人，他的工作和荣耀，都是为了他的职责，而不是反过来？谁看不出法官是为了正义，地方官员是为了公众福祉，国王是为了王国，而不是反过来？所以根据国家法律，每个人都要照着他所履行的工作任务的重要性而被赋予地位和荣耀。谁看不出，这当中的区别就像原理和工具之间的区别？如果一个人将属于其职能的荣耀归给自己，或他个人，那么在灵界当有这一点的一个代表时，他看上去就像一个身体倒立的人，脚朝上而头朝下。
②当荣耀和财富是赐福时，它们是属灵和永恒的；但当它们是诅咒时，就是短暂和转瞬即逝的。天堂也有地位和财富，和世间一样，因为天堂也有政府，因而有行政和职能，以及商业交易和随之而来的财富，那里有各个社群和团体。整个天堂分为两个国度，其中一个被称为属天国度，一个被称为属灵国度；每个国度又都分为不计其数、大大小小的社群；所有社群，以及其中的所有人，都照着爱和由此而来的智慧的不同而被排列；属天国度的社群照着属天之爱，也就是对主之爱的不同而被排列，属灵国度的社群则照着属灵之爱，也就是对邻之爱的不同而被排列。由于这些社群具有这种性质，并且社群里的所有人都曾在世为人，因而仍保留他们在世时所拥有的爱，唯一区别在于，他们现在是属灵的，地位和财富在属灵国度是属灵的，在属天国度是属天的，所以谁拥有的爱和智慧更多，谁拥有的地位和财富就更多；这些人在世时所拥有的地位和财富就是赐福。
由此可见什么是属灵的地位和财富，它们属于工作，不属于个人。事实上，在那里，那些拥有地位的人生活在超乎寻常的辉煌之中，就像世上的君王；然而，他们并不把地位本身当回事，只关注属于他们职责和工作范围的功用或服务。诚然，他们接受适合各级地位的荣耀，但并不将它归于自己，而是归于功用或服务；由于一切功用或服务皆来自主，所以他们将荣耀归于主，主是荣耀的源头。因此，这就是永恒的属灵地位和财富的性质。
然而，那些在世时所拥有的地位和财富为诅咒的人则不然。他们因将这些归于自己，不归于功用或服务，并渴望掌控功用或服务，而不是被它们掌控，只有在服务自己的地位和荣耀的情况下才视功用或服务为功用或服务，故身在地狱，在那里是卑贱的奴隶，活在耻辱和痛苦之中。正因这些地位和财富会消失，所以它们被称为短暂和转瞬即逝的。关于这两种人，主是这样教导的：
不要为自己积攒财宝在地上；地上有虫子咬，能锈坏，也有贼挖窟窿来偷。只要为自己积攒财宝在天上；天上没有虫子咬，不能锈坏，也没有贼挖窟窿来偷。因为你的财宝在那里，你的心也在那里。（马太福音6:19-21）
③系诅咒的荣耀和财富，之于系赐福的荣耀和财富，如同无有之于万有，或非真实的东西之于真实的东西。凡会消亡并化为乌有之物，本质上内在什么也没有。诚然，表面上看，它是某种东西，甚至显得很丰富，并且只要持续存在，对某些人来说似乎就是一切；但它本质上内在不是这样。它就像里面什么也没有的一个表面，或像剧终时穿着皇袍的演员。能保留到永远的，本身就是某种永恒之物，因而是一切事物；它真正地存在，因为它不会停止存在。
217. We need to illustrate these three points now individually.
FIRST, that honors and riches are blessings, and that they are curses: Common experience attests that both the pious and the impious, or both the just and the unjust, that is to say, both good people and evil, enjoy advancements and riches. And yet no one can deny that the impious and unjust, that is to say, the evil, go to hell, while the pious and just, that is to say, the good, go to heaven.
Since this is a fact, it follows that advancements and riches, or honors and means, are either blessings or curses, being blessings in the case of good people, and curses in the case of evil people.
In the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758, (Heaven and Hell 357-365), we showed that one finds both rich and poor and both great and small in heaven, and so, too, in hell. It is apparent therefore that in the case of those who are in heaven, advancements and riches were blessings in the world, and that in the case of those who are in hell, advancements and riches were curses in the world.
[2] Moreover, what makes them blessings, and what makes them curses - this anyone can know if he only gives some thought to the matter in accordance with reason: namely, that they are blessings in the case of people who do not place their heart in them, and that they are curses in the case of people who do place their heart in them. To place one's heart in them is to love oneself in them, and not to place one's heart in them is to love the uses, and not oneself, in them.
What the difference between these two loves is, and how they differ, we have stated above in no. 215. To this we need to add that advancements and riches lead some people astray, and not others. They lead people astray when they arouse the loves of a person's native character, which is a love of self, and which we have also stated above to be the love in hell called the devil. But they do not lead people astray when they do not arouse that love.
[3] The reason evil people as well as good ones are raised to positions of honor and advanced to circumstances of wealth is that evil people perform useful services just as well as the good. But evil people do so for the sake of the honors and material gains accruing to their person, while good people do so for the sake of the honors and gains accruing to the work itself. The latter regard the honors and gains accruing to the work as the principal causes, and the honors and gains accruing to their person as instrumental causes. Evil people, in contrast, regard the honors and gains accruing to their person as the principal causes, and the honors and gains accruing to the work as instrumental causes.
Yet who does not see that the person in his function and position of honor exists to serve the matter that he has charge of, and not the reverse? Who does not see that the judge exists to serve justice, the magistrate the commonweal, and the king the kingdom, and not the reverse? Consequently everyone possesses, in accordance with the laws of his country, status and honor in keeping with the status of the work in which he is occupied. Who then does not see that the difference is like that between the principal and the instrumental?
In the spiritual world, someone who attributes the honor of a position to himself and his person appears, when this fact is represented, as a person upside-down, with his feet up and head down.
[4] SECOND, that when advancements and riches are blessings, they are spiritual and eternal, and when they are curses, they are temporary and transient: Advancements and riches in heaven are like those in the world, for governments exist there, and so positions of responsibility and functions, and also business dealings and so riches, since the inhabitants live in societies and groups.
The whole of heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, the other the spiritual kingdom, and each kingdom is divided into innumerable societies, larger and smaller, all of which are arranged according to differences in their love and consequent wisdom, as are also all the inhabitants within them. Societies in the celestial kingdom are arranged according to differences in their celestial love, which is love toward the Lord, and societies in the spiritual kingdom according to differences in their spiritual love, which is love for the neighbor.
Because there are these societies, and because all who are in them were people in the world and so retain in them the loves that they had in the world - with the difference that they are then spiritual people and that their actual positions and riches are in the spiritual kingdom spiritual and in the celestial kingdom celestial - therefore those who possess more love and wisdom than others enjoy advancements and riches over others, and are people for whom advancements and riches were blessings in the world.
[5] It can be seen from this what spiritual advancements and riches are, that they are adjuncts of the work and not of the person. The person who enjoys high position there indeed lives in magnificence and glory, as kings do on earth; but still they do not regard the position itself as anything, but instead the useful services in whose administration and performance they are engaged. They accept honors indeed, each the honors attached to his position, but they themselves attribute these not to themselves but to the uses they serve. And because all useful endeavors spring from the Lord, they attribute them to the Lord from whom they spring.
Of such a character, then, are spiritual advancements and riches, which are eternal.
[6] But the case is otherwise with people for whom advancements and riches in the world were curses. Because they attributed these to their own doing and not to the uses they served, and because they did not wish to be governed by the useful services but wished themselves to govern the services, which they regarded as useful to the extent that the services served to promote their honor and glory, therefore they are in hell and are lowly indentured servants there, held in contempt and living in misery. Consequently, because these advancements and riches perish, we call them temporary and transient.
Of these two kinds of people the Lord teaches the following:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, ... your heart (is) also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
[7] THIRD, that in comparison to advancements and riches that are blessings, advancements and riches that are curses are as nothing compared to everything, or as that which in itself has no reality compared to that which in itself is real: Everything that perishes and comes to nothing is inwardly in itself nothing. Outwardly, indeed, it is something; in fact, it appears as a great deal, and to some people as everything, as long as it lasts. But not inwardly in itself. It is like a casing with nothing inside. Or it is like an actor on stage in royal vestment when the play is over.
On the other hand, what remains to eternity is in itself continually something, thus everything. And it also has being, because it does not cease to be.
217. Now I need to illustrate these three items individually.
(a) Rank and money may be either blessings or curses. Everyday experience bears witness to the fact that reverent and irreverent people, just and unjust people--good and evil people, that is--may have eminence and wealth. Yet no one can deny that irreverent and unjust people, evil people, go to hell while reverent and just people, good people, go to heaven. Since this is so, it follows that eminence and wealth, or rank and money, may be either blessings or curses, and that they are blessings for the good and curses for the evil.
I explained in Heaven and Hell 357-365 (published in London in 1758) that both rich people and poor, both the prominent and the ordinary, may be found in heaven and in hell. This shows that for people in heaven, eminence and wealth were blessings in this world, while for people in hell, they were curses in this world.
[2] If we give the matter only a little rational thought, we can see what makes eminence and wealth blessings and what makes them curses. Specifically, they are blessings for people who do not set their heart on them and curses for people who do. To set one's heart on them is to love oneself in them, and not to set one's heart on them is to love the service they can perform and not oneself in them. I have noted in 215 above what the difference between these two loves is like; and I need to add that eminence and wealth seduce some people but not others. They are seductive when they arouse the loves of our sense of self, which is self-love. (I have already noted [206, 207] that this is the love of hell that is called "the devil.") They are not seductive, though, when they do not arouse that love.
[3] The reason both evil and good people are elevated to high rank and advanced in wealth is that both evil and good people do worthwhile things, though the evil are doing them for the sake of their personal worth and for the benefit of their image, while the good are doing them for the sake of the worth and benefit of the actions themselves. These latter regard the worth and benefit of the actions as the principal cause and any personal worth or benefit to their image as instrumental causes, while the evil regard their personal worth and the benefit to their image as the principal cause and the worth and benefit of the actions as instrumental causes. Can anyone fail to see, though, that the image, our position and rank, is for the sake of our responsibilities and not the other way around? Can anyone fail to see that judges are for the sake of justice, officials for the sake of public affairs, and the monarch for the sake of the realm, and not the other way around? So the laws of the realm provide that we should be given the eminence and rank appropriate to the importance of the tasks of our offices. The difference is like the difference between what is primary and what is instrumental.
If people attach importance to themselves or their image, when this is portrayed in the spiritual world they seem to be upside down, feet up and head down.
[4] (b) When rank and money are blessings, they are spiritual and eternal, but when they are curses, they are temporal and transient. There are eminence and wealth in heaven just as in this world, because heaven has governments and therefore areas of responsibility and offices. There is also business and consequently wealth, because heaven has communities and associations.
Overall, heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one called the heavenly kingdom and the other called the spiritual kingdom. Each kingdom comprises countless larger and smaller communities, all organized according to differences in love and wisdom, as are their individual members. In the heavenly kingdom there are differences in heavenly love, which is love for the Lord; and in the spiritual kingdom there are differences in spiritual love, which is love for our neighbor.
That is what the communities are like; and all their members were once people on earth. This means that they keep the loves they had in this world, the difference being that now they are spiritual and that their actual eminence and wealth are spiritual in the spiritual kingdom and heavenly in the heavenly kingdom. Because of all this, the people who have the most eminence and wealth are the people who have the most love and wisdom. They are the ones for whom eminence and wealth were blessings in this world.
[5] This shows us what spiritual eminence and wealth are like. They are attributes of the task and not of the individual. True, individuals who have eminence live in striking splendor there, like some earthly monarch, but they attach no importance at all to the eminence itself, only to the services that belong to their area of responsibility and office. They accept the rank appropriate to their individual levels of eminence but attribute it to their services and not to themselves; and since all forms of service come from the Lord, they attribute them to the Lord as their source. This, then, is the nature of the spiritual eminence and wealth that are eternal.
[6] However, it is different for people for whom eminence and wealth were curses in this world. Because they attributed them to themselves and not to their forms of service, and because they did not want service to be more important than they themselves were but wanted to be more important than their service (which they regarded as useful only to the extent that it furthered their own rank and fame), they are in hell. They are wretched slaves there, living in disgrace and misery. It is because this eminence and wealth perish that they are called temporal and transient.
This is what the Lord tells us about these two kinds of people. "Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth where rust and maggot corrupt and where thieves break in and steal. Rather, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor maggot corrupts and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be as well" (Matthew 6:19-20, 21).
[7] (c) The relationship between the rank and money that are curses and the rank and money that are blessings is like a relationship of nothing to everything, or of something unreal to something real. Everything that perishes and becomes nothing is essentially, inwardly, nothing. It is something outwardly and can seem rich, can seem to some like everything, as long as it lasts, but it is not like that essentially and inwardly. It is like a surface with nothing inside it, like an actor on the stage wearing royal robes when the play is ended. What lasts forever, though, has something lasting within it and is therefore everything. It truly exists because its reality has no end.
217. These three points shall now be illustrated separately. First: Honours and wealth are blessings and they are curses. Common experience testifies that both the pious and the impious, or both the just and the unjust, that is, both the good and the wicked, possess dignities and wealth; and yet no one can deny that the impious and the unjust, that is, the wicked, go to hell, while the pious and the just, that is, the good, go to heaven. This being true, it follows that dignities and riches, or honours and wealth, are either blessings or curses; and that with the good they are blessings, and with the wicked curses. In the work HEAVEN AND HELL, published in London in the year 1758 (n. 357-365), it has been shown that in heaven and also in hell there are both rich and poor, and both great and small. From this it is clear that dignities and riches were blessings in the world with those now in heaven, while they were curses with those now in hell.
[2] Moreover, anyone may know why they are blessings and why they are curses if only he will give a little rational consideration to the matter; that is, he may know that they are blessings with those who do not set their heart on them, and curses with those who do set their heart on them. To set the heart on them is to love oneself in them; and not to set the heart on them is to love uses and not self in them. It has been stated above (n. 215), what the difference is between those two loves, and what the nature of that difference is. To this it must be added that some are led astray by dignities and wealth but some are not. They lead astray when they excite the loves of a man's proprium, which is the love of self; and it has also been stated that this is an infernal love, which is called the devil; but they do not lead astray when they do not excite this love.
[3] Both the wicked and the good are raised to honours and advanced to wealth because the wicked as well as the good perform uses; the wicked do so for the sake of their own personal honours and gain, but the good for the sake of the honour and profit of the office [for which they work]. The good regard the honour and profit of the office as principal causes or motives, and personal honours and gain as instrumental causes; but the wicked regard personal honours and gain as principal causes, and the honour and profit of the office as instrumental causes. Yet who does not see that the person, whatever his function and his honour, is for the sake of the office which he administers, and not the reverse? Who does not see that the judge is for the sake of justice, the magistrate for the sake of the common welfare, the king for the sake of the kingdom, and not the reverse? Therefore everyone is invested with dignity and honour, according to the laws of the kingdom, in keeping with the high office which he administers; and who does not see that the difference between the two loves is like that between what is principal and what is instrumental? The man who attributes to himself, that is, to his own person, the honour belonging to his office appears in the spiritual world, when visual representation of it is made, like a man with his body inverted, feet up and head down.
[4] Second: When dignities and wealth are blessings they are spiritual and eternal, but when they are curses they are temporal and fleeting. There are dignities and wealth in heaven as in the world, for there are governments there, and consequently administrations and functions. There is also trade there, and consequently wealth, since there are societies and communities there. The universal heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, the other the spiritual kingdom. Each kingdom is divided into innumerable societies, greater and smaller, all which, and likewise all within which, are arranged according to differences of love and of wisdom thence derived; the societies of the celestial kingdom according to the differences of celestial love, or love to the Lord, and the societies of the spiritual kingdom according to the differences of spiritual love, or love towards the neighbour. Because there are such societies, and because all who are in them have been men in the world and therefore retain the loves they had in the world, with this difference that they are now spiritual, and that the dignities and wealth are spiritual in the spiritual kingdom and celestial in the celestial kingdom, therefore those who have love and wisdom more than others have dignities and wealth more than others; and these are they to whom dignities and wealth were blessings in the world.
[5] From these considerations may be evident the nature of spiritual dignities and wealth, namely, that they pertain to the office, or use, and not to the person. A person who is in high office in the spiritual world is in magnificence and glory, like that of kings on earth; yet such do not regard the dignity itself as anything, but the uses in the administration and discharge of which they are engaged. They receive every one indeed the honours of his high office, but they do not attribute these to themselves, but to the uses; and as all uses are from the Lord, they attribute the honours to the Lord, from whom they are derived (a quo). Such, therefore, are spiritual dignities and wealth which are eternal.
[6] It is otherwise, however, with those to whom dignities and wealth in the world were curses. Because they attributed these to themselves and not to the uses, and because they did not desire that uses should control them but that they should control uses, which they regarded as uses only so far as they ministered to their own honour and glory, they are accordingly in hell, where they are vile slaves, despised and miserable. Therefore, because these dignities and wealth perish they are called temporal and fleeting. Concerning these two classes the Lord teaches as follows:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21.
[7] Third: Honours and wealth that are curses, in comparison with those that are blessings, are as nothing compared with everything, or as that which in itself has no existence compared with that which has existence in itself. Everything that perishes and comes to nothing is inwardly in itself nothing. Outwardly, indeed, it is something, and even appears to be much, and to some everything, as long as it lasts; but inwardly in itself it is not. It is like a surface with nothing beneath; and like a character on the stage in royal robes until the play is ended; but that which remains to eternity is in itself something perpetually, thus everything; and it also Is, for it does not cease to be.
217. These three points shall now be illustrated separately. First: Honors and possessions are blessings and they are curses. General experience testifies that both the pious and the impious, or both the just and the unjust, that is, both the good and the evil, alike enjoy dignities and possessions, and yet no one can deny that the impious and unjust, that is, the evil, come into hell, while the pious and just, that is, the good, come into heaven. This being true it follows that dignities and riches, or honors and possessions, are both blessings and curses; blessings to the good and curses to the evil. In the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758 (Heaven and Hell 357-365), it has been shown that in heaven there are both rich and poor, and both great and small, and in hell also; which makes clear that dignities and riches were blessings in the world to those now in heaven, and were curses in the world to those now in hell.
[2] But why they are blessings and why they are curses any one may know if he only reflects a little about it from reason; that is, he may know that they are blessings to those who do not set their hearts upon them, and curses to those who do set their hearts upon them. To set the heart upon them is to love oneself in them; and not to set the heart upon them is to love uses in them, and not self. What difference there is between these two loves, and what that difference is has been told above (215); to which must be added that some are led astray by dignities and possessions, and some are not. These lead astray when they excite the loves of man's own (proprium), which is love of self. That this is the love of hell, which is called the devil, has also been shown above. But they do not lead astray when they do not excite this love.
[3] Both the evil and the good are exalted to honors and advanced to wealth, because the evil equally with the good perform uses; but the evil do this for the sake of honors and profit to their own person, while the good do it for the sake of the honors and profit to the work itself. The good regard the honors and profit pertaining to the work itself as principal motives, and the honors and profit pertaining to their own person as instrumental motives; while the evil regard the honors and profit pertaining to the person as principal motives, and those to the work as instrumental motives. But who does not see that the person and his work and honor are for the sake of the matter which he is administering, and not the reverse? Who does not see that the judge is for the sake of justice, the magistrate for the sake of the common welfare, and the king for the sake of the kingdom, and not the reverse? And therefore every one, in accordance with the laws of the kingdom, is in dignity and honor according to the dignity of the task he is performing. And who does not see that the difference is like that between what is principal and what is instrumental? He that attributes to himself or to his own person the honor belonging to his function appears in the spiritual world, when there is a representation of it, like a man with his body inverted, feet up and head down.
[4] Secondly: When dignities and possessions are blessings they are spiritual and eternal, and when they are curses they are temporal and perishable. There are dignities and possessions in heaven as in the world, for there are governments there, and consequently administrations and functions, also business transactions and consequent possessions, since there are societies and communities there. The entire heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, the other the spiritual kingdom; and each kingdom into societies without number, larger and smaller; all of which, with all who are in them, are arranged according to differences of love and of wisdom therefrom; the societies of the celestial heaven according to the differences of celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and the societies of the spiritual kingdom according to the differences of spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor. Because these societies are such, and because all who are in them have been men in the world, and therefore retain the loves which they had in the world (with the difference that they are now spiritual, and that the dignities and possessions are now spiritual in the spiritual kingdom and celestial in the celestial kingdom), therefore those who have love and wisdom more than others have dignities and possessions more than others; and these are those to whom dignities and possessions were blessings in the world.
[5] From all this it can be seen what spiritual dignities and possessions are, and that they belong to the work and not to the person. A person who is in dignity there is in magnificence and glory like that of kings on earth: and yet they do not regard the dignity itself as anything, but the uses, in the ministration and discharge of which they are engaged. They receive honors, indeed, suited to the dignity of each one; but they do not attribute it to themselves, but to the uses; and because all uses are from the Lord they attribute the honors to the Lord, from whom they come. Such, therefore, are spiritual dignities and possessions, which are eternal.
[6] But it is otherwise with those to whom dignities and possessions in the world have been curses. Because they attributed these to themselves and not to the uses, and because they desired to control the uses and not to be controlled by them, and deemed uses to be uses merely so far as they were serviceable to their honor and glory, they are in hell, and are vile slaves there, despised and miserable. And because such dignities and possessions perish they are called temporal and perishable. Of these two classes the Lord thus teaches:-
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth consume, and where thieves dig through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal; for where your treasure is your heart will also be (Matthew 6:19-21).
[7] Thirdly: Dignities and possessions that are curses, compared with dignities and possessions that are blessings, are as nothing to everything, or as that which in itself is not to that which in itself is. Everything that perishes and comes to nothing is inwardly in itself nothing; outwardly indeed it is something, and even seems to be much, and to some it seems to be everything as long as it lasts; but it is not so inwardly in itself. It is like a surface with nothing within it; or like an actor in royal robes when the play is over. But that which remains forever is in itself something perpetually, thus everything; and it also is, for it does not cease to be.
217. Nunc tria illa momenta per se illustranda sunt. PRIMO. Quod honores et opes sint benedictiones, et quod sint maledictiones: communis experientia testatur, quod tam pii quam impii, sive tam justi quam injusti, hoc est, tam boni quam mali, in dignitatibus et opibus sint; et tamen a nemine negari potest, quin impii et injusti, hoc est, mali in infernum veniant, ac pii et justi, hoc est, boni in coelum: quoniam hoc verum est, sequitur quod dignitates et divitiae, seu honores et opes, sint vel benedictiones vel maledictiones, et quod apud bonos sint benedictiones, et quod apud malos sint maledictiones. In Opere de COELO ET INFERNO 357-365 Londini, anno 1758, edito, ostensum est, quod tam divites quam pauperes, et tam magni quam parvi, in Coelo sint, et quoque in inferno; ex quo patet, quod dignitates et divitiae apud illos qui in coelo sunt, in mundo fuerint benedictiones, et quod apud illos qui in inferno sunt, in mundo fuerint maledictiones.
[2] Unde autem est, quod sint benedictiones, et unde est quod sint maledictiones, quisque potest, si modo aliquid de ea re ex ratione cogitat, scire; quod nempe sint benedictiones apud illos, qui non cor in illis ponunt, et quod sint maledictiones apud illos qui cor in illis ponunt; cor ponere in illis, est se amare in illis, et cor non ponere in illis, est usus et non se amare in illis: quid et quale discrimen inter binos illos amores est, supra 215 dictum est: quibus addendum est, quod dignitates et opes quosdam seducant, et quosdam non seducant: seducunt dum excitant amores proprii hominis, qui est amor sui, qui quod sit amor inferni, qui vocatur diabolus, supra etiam dictum est; at non seducunt, dum illum amorem non excitant.
[3] Quod tam mali quam boni evehantur ad honores, et promoveantur ad opes, est quia mali aeque ac boni usus faciunt, sed mali propter honores et lucra suae personae, at boni propter honores et lucra ipsius rei; hi spectant honores et lucra rei, ut causas principales, ac honores et lucra suae personae ut causas instrumentales; mali autem spectant honores et lucra personae ut causas principales, ac honores et lucra rei ut causas instrumentales: sed quis non videt, quod persona, ejus functio et honor, sit propter rem, quam administrat, et non vicissim; quis non videt, quod judex sit propter justitiam, magistratus propter rem communem, et Rex propter regnum, et non vicissim; quare etiam quisque in dignitate et honore, secundum leges regni, est secundum rei dignitatem, in cujus functione est; et quod discrimen sit sicut inter principale et instrumentale. Ille qui honorem rei sibi seu suae personae tribuit, apparet in mundo spirituali, dum id repraesentatur, sicut homo inversus corpore, 1pedibus sursum et capite deorsum. 2
[4] SECUNDO. Quod dignitates et opes, quando sunt benedictiones, sint spirituales ac aeternae, et quod quando sunt maledictiones, sint temporariae et caducae: dignitates et opes in Coelo sunt sicut in mundo, nam sunt ibi regimina, et inde administrationes et functiones, et quoque sunt negotiationes, et inde opes, quoniam sunt societates et caetus. Universum Coelum distinctum est in bina Regna, quorum unum vocatur Regnum Coeleste, alterum Regnum spirituale, et unumquodvis Regnum in innumeras Societates, majores et minores, quae omnes et in quibus omnes secundum differentias amoris et inde sapientiae, ordinatae sunt, 3societates Regni coelestis secundum differentias amoris coelestis, qui est amor in Dominum, 4et societates Regni spiritualis secundum differentias amoris spiritualis, qui est amor erga proximum: quia tales Societates sunt, et omnes qui in illis sunt, fuerunt homines in mundo, et inde apud se retinent amores quos in mundo habuerunt, cum differentia quod illi tunc spirituales sint, et quod ipsae dignitates et opes sint spirituales in Regno Spirituali, ac coelestes in Regno coelesti, 5consequenter illis dignitates et opes prae aliis sunt, 6quibus amor et sapientia prae aliis sunt, qui sunt, quibus dignitates et opes fuerunt benedictiones in mundo.
[5] Ex his constare potest, quales sunt dignitates et opes spirituales, quod sint rei et non personae: persona quidem qui in dignitate ibi est, in magnificentia et gloria est, qualis est regum in terris; sed usque non spectant ipsam dignitatem ut aliquid, sed usus, in quorum administratione et functione sunt: recipiunt quidem honores, quisque suae dignitatis, at ipsi non tribuunt sibi illos, sed ipsis usibus; et quia omnes usus sunt a Domino, tribuunt illos Domino, a quo: tales itaque sunt dignitates et opes spirituales, quae aeternae sunt.
[6] Aliter vero fit illis, quibus dignitates et opes in mundo fuerunt maledictiones; hi quia illas sibi tribuerunt, et non usibus, et quia non voluerunt quod usus dominarentur super illos, sed illi super usus, quos reputaverunt ut usus, quantum suo honori et suae gloriae inserviverunt, ideo in inferno sunt, et ibi vilia mancipia, in contemtu et miseria; quare quia dignitates et opes illae pereunt, dicuntur temporariae et caducae. De his et illis ita docet Dominus, "Ne reponite vobis thesauros in terra, ubi aerugo et tinea corrumpit, et ubi fures perfodiunt et furantur: recondite autem vobis thesauros in coelo, ubi neque aerugo neque tinea corrumpit, et ubi fures non perfodiunt, neque furantur: nam ubi est thesaurus vester, etiam est cor vestrum," Matthaeus 6:19-21.
[7] TERTIO: Quod dignitates et opes quae sunt maledictiones, respective ad dignitates et opes quae sunt benedictiones, sint sicut non aliquid 7ad omne, et sicut quod non in se est, ad id quod in se est. Omne quod perit, et non fit aliquid, intus in se non est aliquid; est quidem extus aliquid, imo apparet sicut multum, et quibusdam sicut omne, quamdiu durat, sed non intus in se; est sicut superficies, intra quam non est aliquid; et est sicut persona theatri in regia veste, dum ludus finitur: at quod manet in aeternum, id in se perpetuo est aliquid, ita omne; et quoque Est, quia non desinit esse.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: curpore.
2 Prima editio: deorsum,
3 Prima editio: sunt;
4 Prima editio: Dominum;
5 Prima editio: coelesti;
6 illis dignitates et opes prae aliis sunt, ubi in prima editione quod illis dignitates et opes prae aliis sint,
7 Prima editio: alipuid