7、至于其它星球居民的宗教敬拜，一般来说，其中那些不拜偶像的人都承认主是独一神。他们敬拜的神性不是不可见的，而是可见的，因为事实上，当神性向他们显现时，祂以人的形式显现，就像祂以前向地球上的亚伯拉罕和其他人所显现的那样。凡敬拜人形式的神性之人都蒙主悦纳。他们还说，没有人能正确敬拜神，更不用说与祂联结了，除非对祂具有某种可被理解的概念；只有神拥有人的形式，这种概念才有可能。如果不这样来理解神，那么内视，即思想神的能力就会丧失，如同肉眼视觉聚焦于无边无际的太空时的情形。在这种情况下，思维必然滑入自然界，并拜自然为神。所有星球的居民都崇拜人形式的神性，也就是主(AC 8541-8547, 10, 159, 10, 736-10, 738)。他们乐于听说，主实实在在变成了人(AC 9361)。不以人的形式来思想神是不可能的(AC 8705, 9359, 9972)。人能敬拜并热爱他对其有某种概念的任何人，而不是一个概念也没有的任何人(AC 4733, 5110, 5633, 7211, 9267, 10067)。主接受所有处于良善并敬拜人形式的神性之人。
7. As for the worship of God by the inhabitants of other planets, generally speaking any who are not idolaters acknowledge the Lord as the only God. 1That is, they worship the Divine not as a God who cannot be seen but as a God who can be seen, because the Divine, when appearing to them, appears in a human form, a form like that seen long ago by Abraham and others on this planet; 2, 3and everyone who worships the Divine in human form is accepted by the Lord. 4
Such people also say that no one can properly worship God, let alone be joined to him, who does not have some understandable concept of him, and that God can be understood only in human form. Otherwise the inner sight 5we direct at God, the sight of our thinking, loses all coherence the way our eyesight does when it tries to focus on the limitless vastness of the universe. Our thinking then cannot help but sink down into a focus on the physical world and worship it instead of God. 6
Footnotes:
1. As explained in note 10 in New Jerusalem 1, in Swedenborg’s works “the Lord” (Latin Dominus) generally refers to Jesus Christ as God, though sometimes to God previous to the Incarnation. See the references provided in Swedenborg’s footnotes g and h on this section. The statement here that inhabitants of other worlds acknowledge the Lord as the only God is the opening salvo of Swedenborg’s response to a controversy known as “the scandal of particularity.” After European exploration had brought far-flung regions of the world dramatically into the European consciousness, critics of the Christian religion began to point out that knowledge of that faith is not universal, but is restricted to specific groups and locations. Inevitably, then, millions of human beings are born in regions in which knowledge of the Christian faith simply is not available. The Christianity of Swedenborg’s time and place, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, explicitly excluded these people from being saved-that is, from living happily in the next world. But as the English Deist Matthew Tindal (1657-1733) asked, how was it “consistent with the notion of God’s being universally benevolent, not to have revealed [the truth of the Christian religion] to all his children, when all had equal need of it? Was it not as easy for him to have communicated it to all nations, as to any one nation or person? Or in all languages, as in one?” (Tindal 1730, 196). On this issue, Swedenborg states, “The Lord has mercy on the whole human race. He wants to save everyone in the entire world and to draw all people to himself. The Lord’s mercy is infinite; it does not allow itself to be restricted to the few within the church but reaches out to everyone on the face of the earth” (Secrets of Heaven 1032:2). As European thinkers began to discuss the possibility of other worlds, and of other inhabitants of those worlds, the scandal of particularity was further aggravated. Other Planets, and the material in Secrets of Heaven from which it derives, can be read as Swedenborg’s response to this controversy. This is the focus of Other Planets 113-122, where Swedenborg discusses “why it pleased the Lord to be born . . . on our planet and not on some other.” Key to this response is the idea that “the Lord is known to everyone who believes in God because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as he tells us in Matthew 28:18 and elsewhere” (Divine Providence 330:6). In Other Planets and other works, the same general principle is stated as the idea that those who do not know that God became human as Jesus Christ can still be saved as long as they believe in God in human form, because it is God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ that allows God to become directly present in human form with all people throughout the universe. See especially Other Planets 121, in which Swedenborg also states that “when spirits and angels from those planets hear from spirits and angels of our planet that God is an actual human being, they accept this as the Word, acknowledge it, and rejoice that this is the case.” For Swedenborg’s extended treatise on his theology of Jesus Christ and of redemption, which undergirds his response to the scandal of particularity, see True Christianity 81-109, 114-133. For more discussion of Other Planets and the scandal of particularity, see the introduction to this volume, pages 93-94. [SS, LSW, DNG]
2. [Swedenborg note] The inhabitants of all planets worship the Divine in human form, which means that they are worshiping the Lord: 8541–8547, 10159, 10736, 10737, 10738. They rejoice when they hear that God actually became a human being: 9361. Our thinking about God goes nowhere unless we think of God as existing in a human form: 8705, 9359, 9972. We can worship and love an entity of which we can form some mental image, but not an entity of which we can form no mental image: 4733, 5110, 5663, 7211, 9356, 10067, 10267.
3. For passages in which people in the Old Testament encountered human figures who are identified as the Lord, see note 1 in Other Planets 158. [Editors]
4. [Swedenborg note] The Lord accepts everyone who is devoted to doing some good and who worships the Divine in human form: 7173, 9359.
5. On “inner sight,” also called “spiritual sight,” see note 1 in Last Judgment 41. [Editors]
6. On Enlightenment views of the physical world, or “Nature,” see note 1 in Last Judgment 16. [Editors]
7. As regards the religious worship of the inhabitants of other worlds, it is generally true that those of them who are not idolaters all acknowledge the Lord as the sole God. They worship the Deity not as something invisible, but in visible form, because in fact when the Deity appears to them, He does so in human form, as He did once to Abraham and others in this world. 1All who worship the Deity in human form are acceptable to the Lord. 2They say too that no one can properly worship God, much less be linked to Him, without having some idea of Him which can be grasped; and this is only possible if He has human form. Without this the inner sight, which is the power of thinking about God, would be lost, just as is the sight of the eye when fixed upon the boundless expanse of space. Thought then could not help slipping into the idea of God as Nature, and then this would be worshipped as a god.
Footnotes:
1. The inhabitants of all worlds venerate the Deity in human form, that is, the Lord (Arcana Caelestia 8341-8347, 10159, 10736-10738). They are delighted to hear that the Lord really became man (Arcana Caelestia 9361). It is impossible to think of God except in human form (Arcana Caelestia 8705, 9359, 9972). A person can worship and love anyone of whom he has some concept, not anyone of whom he has none (Arcana Caelestia 4733, 5110, 5663 [5633 in original], Arcana Caelestia 7211, 9267, 10067 [perhaps read after 10067, Arcana Caelestia 10267]).
2. The Lord accepts all who are in a state of goodness and venerate the Deity in human form (Arcana Caelestia 7173, 9359 [9359, 7173 in original]).
7. As to what in general concerns the Divine worship of the inhabitants of other earths, those of them who are not idolaters, all acknowledge the Lord as the only God; for they adore the Divine not as invisible, but as visible, also for this reason, because when the Divine appears to them, He appears in the human form, as He also formerly appeared to Abraham and others on this earth; 1and they who adore the Divine under a human form, are all accepted by the Lord. 2They say also, that no one can rightly worship God, much less be joined to Him, unless He comprehends Him by some idea, and that God cannot be comprehended except in the human form; and if He be not so comprehended, the interior sight, which is of the thought, concerning God, is dissipated, as the sight of the eye when looking upon the boundless universe; and that in this case the thought cannot but sink into nature, and worship nature as God.
Footnotes:
1. The inhabitants of all the earths adore the Divine under a human form, consequently the Lord (Arcana Coelestia 8541-8547, 10159, 10736-10738). And they rejoice when they hear that God actually became Man (Arcana Coelestia 9361). It is impossible to think of God except in a human form (Arcana Coelestia 8705, 9359, 9972). Man can worship and love what he has some idea of, but not what he has no idea of (Arcana Coelestia 4733, 5110, 5633, 7211, 9267, 10067).
2. The Lord receives all who are in good and who adore the Divine under a human form (Arcana Coelestia 9359, 7173).
7. Quod Cultum divinum incolarum aliarum Tellurum in genere concernit, illi, qui ibi non idololatrae sunt, omnes agnoscunt Dominum pro unico Deo; adorant enim Divinum non ut Divinum invisibile, sed ut visibile, ex causa etiam, quia cum Divinum illis apparet, in humana forma apparet, sicut etiam olim Abrahamo et aliis in hac Tellure: 1et qui Divinum sub humana forma adorant, illi omnes acceptantur a Domino. 2Dicunt etiam, quod nemo possit rite colere Deum, ac minus Ipsi conjungi, nisi aliqua idea comprehendat Illum, et quod non comprehendi possit nisi in Forma humana; et si non ita, quod dissipetur visus interior, qui est cogitationis, de Deo, sicut visus oculi cum spectatur universum absque limite; et quod tunc cogitatio non aliter possit quam labi in naturam, et haec coli pro Deo.
Footnotes:
1. Quod Incolae omnium Tellurum adorent Divinum sub Humana Forma, ita Dominum, Arcana Coelestia 8541-8547, 10159, 10736, 10737, 10738. Et quod gaudeant, cum audiunt quod Deus actualiter Homo factus sit, Arcana Coelestia 9361. Quod de Deo nisi in Humana Forma non cogitari possit, Arcana Coelestia 8705, 9359, 9972. Quod homo colere possit et amare de quo aliquam ideam habet, et non de quo nullam, Arcana Coelestia 4733, 5110, 5633, 7211, 9267, 10067.
2. Quod Dominus recipiat omnes qui in bono sunt, et adorant Divinum sub Humana Forma, Arcana Coelestia 9359, 7173.