Life7.我曾被允许问一些信奉并传讲唯信（这事发生在灵界）的英国神职人员，当他们在教会念这段劝诫词（其中甚至没有提到信）时，是否相信它是真的；如果人们作恶又不悔改，魔鬼就会进入他们，就像进入犹大一样，摧毁他们的身体和灵魂。他们说，在他们念劝诫词时所处的状态下，他们只知道并认为这些事就是宗教本身；但当撰写并打磨他们的演讲或布道时，他们对此就有了不同的想法，因为那时他们认为信是得救的唯一方法，而生活的良善是公共利益的道德附属物。然而，他们仍然同意，他们拥有一种普遍感知，即：过着良善生活的人得救，过着邪恶生活的人受到诅咒；当不受他们的自我支配时，他们就拥有这种感知。
7. I was granted the opportunity in the spiritual world to question some elders from Britain who believed in and preached faith alone. I asked them whether when they were in church and read this prayer - which does not mention faith - they really believed that if people did evil things and did not repent, the Devil would enter into them as he had into Judas and would destroy both body and soul. They said that when they were in the state they were in when they read the prayer, they simply knew and thought that this was the essence of their religion, but when they were composing and polishing their own speeches or sermons they did not think along the same lines. This was because they were focusing on faith as the sole means of salvation and of living a good life as a moral side effect useful for the public welfare.
All the same, they held the conviction, which was also a matter of common sense for them, that people who live a good life are saved and that people who live an evil life are damned; and they felt this way whenever they were not wrapped up in themselves.
7. It was granted me to question some English priests who professed and preached faith alone — which I did in the spiritual world — and I asked them, when they read out that prayer in their churches, a prayer that does not mention faith, whether they believed in what it says, such as that if people do evil and do not repent, the devil will enter into them as it did into Judas and destroy both their body and their soul.
They said that in the state they were in when they read out the prayer, they knew and thought nothing else but that it was the heart of religion. But when they were composing and polishing their discourses or sermons, they thought differently, because they thought of faith as being the sole means of salvation, and of goodness of life as being a moral adjunct for the public good.
Still, they were nevertheless convinced that they too possessed the common perception that someone who lives right is saved, and that someone who does not live right is condemned, and that they had this perception whenever they were not caught up in their own self-interest.
7. It was granted me to ask some of the English clergy who professed and preached faith alone, which was done in the spiritual world whether: when they were reading in their churches this Exhortation in which faith is not mentioned, they believed this to be so, namely, that if any do evil and do not repent, the devil will enter into them, as he entered into Judas, and destroy both body and soul? They replied that in the state in which they were when reading the Exhortation they knew and thought no other than that these things were religion itself. When, however, they were composing and rendering attractive their sermons or discourses they did not think so, because they thought of faith as being the only means of salvation, and of the good of life as being a moral accessory to it in promoting the public good. But still they agreed that they had a general perception that he who lives well is saved, and that he who lives wickedly is condemned; and that they had this perception when not dominated by their proprium. 1
Footnotes:
1. The Latin word proprium means "what is one's own." Swedenborg uses it in a special sense involving "what is of the self."
7. I have been permitted to ask some of the English clergy who had professed and preached faith alone (this was done in the spiritual world), whether while they were reading in church this Exhortation--which faith is not even mentioned--they believed it to be true; for example, that if people do evil things, and do not repent, the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, and destroy them both body and soul. They said that in the state in which they were when reading the Exhortation they had no other knowledge or thought than that this was religion itself; but that while composing and elaborating their discourses or sermons they had a different thought about it, because they were then thinking of faith as being the sole means of salvation, and of the good of life as being a moral accessory for the public good. Nevertheless it was incontestably proved to them that with them too there was that common perception that he who leads a good life is saved, and that he who leads an evil one is damned; and that they possess this perception when they are not in what is their Own.
7. Datum est interrogare aliquos presbyteros Angliae, qui solam fidem confessi sunt et praedicaverunt, quod factum est in mundo spirituali, num quando in templis praelegerunt illam orationem, in qua non nominatur fides, crediderint quod ita sit; ut, quod si mala faciunt, et non paenitentiam agant, Diabolus intraturus in illos sicut in Judam, et destructurus illorum et corpus et animam. Dixerunt, quod in illo statu, in quo fuerunt cum praelegerunt orationem, non aliud sciverint et cogitaverint, quam quod illa essent ipsa religio; sed quod cum sermones suos seu praedicationes concinnarent et elimarent, non similiter cogitaverint, quia de fide quod esset unicum medium salutis, et de bono vitae quod esset accessorium morale pro bono publico. Sed usque convicti sunt, quod etiam illis communis perceptio esset, quod qui bene vivit salvetur, et qui male vivit condemnetur, et quod haec perceptio illis sit, quando non in suo proprio sunt.