130、我们与他们谈论了一会儿各种话题后，我问他们拜的是什么神。他们说，他们拜一位天使，祂向他们显为一个神性人，因为祂闪耀光芒。他们说，祂教导他们，并让他们明白当做什么。他们又说，他们知道至高神在天使天堂的太阳中；祂向他们的天使显现，不向他们自己显现。对他们来说，祂太伟大了，以致他们不敢拜祂。他们所拜的那位天使是一个天使社群，主派这个社群看顾他们，教导他们何为公义、公平。因此，他们从一种火焰拥有光，这光看似一个小火炬，非常火黄。原因在于，他们不崇拜主，因而不能从天使天堂的太阳，只能从一个天使社群那里获得光。若主允许，一个天使社群就能向住在低层区域的灵人提供这种光。我也看见这个天使社群，它在他们之上的高处；我还看到发出那光的火焰。
130. After we had some conversation on various subjects, I asked them what God they worshiped. They said that actually they worship a particular angel, an angel who looks to them like a divine person, radiant with light. This angel teaches them and helps them see how they should be living their lives. They know, they added, that God Almighty is in the sun of the angelic heaven and that although he does not appear to them, he does appear to their angel; but he is too powerful for them to dare to worship him.
The angel they worshiped was actually a whole angelic community, 1to which the Lord had assigned the task of overseeing them and teaching them the path of justice and uprightness. The light these spirits have as a result is yellow and fiery, like the light of a burning torch, because the object of their adoration is not the Lord himself. Therefore the light they have is not the light of the sun in the angelic heaven but just light from that particular angelic community. When the Lord so provides, an angelic community can shed light on spirits who are in a lower region.
I was able to see that angelic community. It was high above them. I also saw in that community the flame that gave these spirits their light.
Footnotes:
1. In Secrets of Heaven 8192:3; Heaven and Hell 52, 68-72; Revelation Unveiled 548; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 302, Swedenborg states that an entire angelic community can appear as a single angel both to other angels and spirits in heaven and to people on earth. The reason he gives for this is that the angels in that community share a common love and understanding and are working together like a single person in order to accomplish some particular function or service. [LSW]
130. After talking with them for a while about various matters, I asked what God they worshipped. They replied that it was some angel, who appeared to them as a Divine Man, since he shone with light. They said that he teaches them and allows them to perceive what they ought to do. They went on to say that they knew that the greatest God was in the sun of the heaven of angels; He appeared to their angel, but not to themselves. He was too mighty for them to dare to worship Him. The angel whom they worshipped was a community of angels, which the Lord had appointed to oversee them, teaching them the way of justice and right. They therefore had light from a kind of flame, looking like a small torch, rather fiery and yellow. The reason for this is that they do not venerate the Lord, so they cannot get light from the sun of the heaven of angels, but only from a community of angels. Such a community can, when permitted by the Lord, provide light to spirits of a lower region. I too saw that community of angels; it was high above them, and I also saw the flame which shed the light.
130. After we had spoken for sometime on various matters, I asked what God they worshiped. They said they worshiped an angel, who appears to them as a Divine Man, shining with light; and that He instructs them and gives them to perceive what they ought to do. They said further that they know that the Most High God is in the sun of the angelic heaven; and that He appears to their angel, and not to themselves; and that He is too great for them to dare to adore Him. The angel whom they worshiped was an angelic society, to which it was given by the Lord to preside over them, and to teach the way of what is just and right. They therefore have light from a certain flame, which appears like a small torch, quite fiery and yellow. The reason is because they do not adore the Lord, and thus they do not have light from the sun of the angelic heaven, but from an angelic society. For an angelic society, when it is given by the Lord, can present such light to the spirits who are in a lower region. That angelic society was also seen by me, high above them; and there was also seen there the flamy appearance from which their light came.
130. Postquam de variis aliquantisper loquuti sumus; quaerebam quem Deum colerent, dicebant quod aliquem Angelum, qui sicut Divinus homo illis apparet, fulget enim ex luce; et quod is instruat illos, et det appercipere quid faciendum. Dicebant porro, quod sciant quod maximus Deus sit in Sole Coeli angelici, et quod Is appareat Angelo suo, et non sibi; et quod Ille major sit, quam ut ausint Ipsum adorare. Angelus, quem colebant, erat Societas angelica, cui a Domino datum est praeesse illis, ac docere viam justi et recti; ideo illis lux est ex quadam flamma, quae instar faculae apparet, satis ignea et flava; causa venit ex eo, quod non adorent Dominum, inde non est lux illis ex Sole Coeli angelici, sed ex Societate angelica; nam Societas angelica, cum datur a Domino, talem lucem potest sistere spiritibus qui in regione inferiore sunt. Societas illa angelica etiam mihi visa est, erat alte supra illos; et quoque visum est ibi flammeum unde lux.