35.人们从圣言知道，当信在教会中不复存在时，教会就走到尽头；但却不知，没有仁，就没有信。因此，有必要说一说这个主题（36节）。主预言，教会的末期将没有信：
人子来的时候，能在世上找到信吗？（路加福音18:8）
那时也将没有仁（译注：经上译为爱心）：
在时代的完结，只因不法的事增多，许多人的爱心才渐渐冷淡了，这福音必在全世界宣讲，然后末期才来到。（马太福音24:12，14）
“时代的完结”是指教会的末期。在这一章，主描述了在爱与信方面教会状态的逐渐衰落，但只通过对应予以描述。所以，若不知道对应于每句话的灵义，就无从理解主的预言。因此，主许我解释这一整章和下一章的一部分，它们论述了时代的完结，主的降临，教会的逐渐荒废和最后的审判。这一切可见于《属天的奥秘》一书（3353-3356，3486-3489，3650-3655，3751-3757，3897-3901，4056-4060，4229-4231，4332-4335，4422-4424，4635-4638，4661-4664，4807-4810，4954-4959，5063-5071节）。
35. It is common knowledge, based on the Word, that a church comes to an end when there is no longer any faith within it. It is not yet widely known, however, that there is no faith if there is no caring. 1I will therefore need to say more about this just below [36].
The Lord foretold that there would be no faith at the end of the church:
When the Son of Humanity comes, will he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)
He also foretold that there would be no love:
At the close of the age, lawlessness will abound and the love of many will grow cold; and this gospel will be preached in all the world, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:12, 14)
“The close of the age” is the last time of the church. In this chapter in Matthew the Lord describes the steadily declining state of the church's love and faith; but the description is couched entirely in correspondences. So there is no way to understand what the Lord foretold there apart from a knowledge of the spiritual meaning that corresponds to the details of the chapter. That is why the Lord has made it possible for me to explain everything in that chapter, as well as some of the things that are said later about the close of the age, his Coming, the successive stages of the devastation 2of the church, and the Last Judgment, in Secrets of Heaven (Secrets of Heaven 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4661-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071).
Footnotes:
1. Swedenborg's statement that “it is common knowledge, based on the Word, that a church comes to an end when there is no longer any faith within it” may refer to Bible passages such as Matthew 24:3-28; Mark 13:3-23; Luke 18:8 (quoted immediately after the statement annotated); 21:7-26; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 2 Peter 3:3-4. On the concept of caring (Latin charitas) in Swedenborg's theological works, see note 3 in New Jerusalem 2. [Editors]
2. The Latin here translated “devastation” is vastatio, traditionally translated “vastation.” The basic image is one of laying waste; it regularly refers to the forcible removal of whatever is obstructing the acceptance of what is good and what is true, though for those who are choosing hell it is the removal of what is good and what is true that would resist their appetite for what is evil and false (see Secrets of Heaven 7984). Compare note 105. [GFD]
35. The Word has made it known that a church comes to its end when there is no longer any faith within it; but it is not yet known that there can be no faith if there is no charity. I must therefore next say a little about this subject.
The Lord foretells that there will be no faith at the end of a church:
When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8.
And also that then there will be no charity:
At the ending of the age lawlessness will be increased many times, the charity of many will grow cold; and this gospel will be preached throughout the world. Then the end will come. Matthew 24:12, 14.
The ending of the age is the final period of a church. In that chapter the Lord describes the progressively declining state of the church as regards love and faith; but the description is given only by means of correspondences. The Lord's predictions therefore cannot be understood without knowing the spiritual sense which corresponds to each item. For this reason I have been permitted by the Lord to explain everything in that chapter and part of the following chapter, dealing with the ending of the age, the Lord's coming, the progressive laying waste of the church and the Last Judgment. This is to be seen in ARCANA CAELESTIA 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4661-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071).
35. It is known from the Word, that the end of the church is, when faith no longer exists within it, but it is not yet known, that there is no faith, if there is no charity; therefore something shall now be said upon this subject. It is predicted by the Lord that there is no faith at the end of the church:
When the Son of Man comes shall He find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8); and also that there is no charity then:
In the consummation of the age iniquity will be multiplied, the charity of many will grow cold, and this gospel will be preached in all the world, and then shall the end come (Matthew 24:12, 14).
"The consummation of the age" is the last time of the church. The state of the church successively decreasing as to love and faith, is described by the Lord in this chapter, but it is described there by mere correspondences, and therefore the things therein predicted by the Lord cannot be understood, unless the spiritual sense corresponding to each expression there is known; on which account it has been granted me by the Lord to explain in the Arcana Caelestia the whole of that chapter and a part of the next, concerning the consummation of the age, His advent, the successive vastation of the church, and the Last Judgment; see in the Arcana Caelestia (3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4661-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071).
35. Quod finis ecclesiae sit quando non amplius intra ecclesiam est fides, notum est ex Verbo, sed nondum notum est quod non aliqua fides sit si non charitas; quapropter de hac re aliqua in nunc sequentibus dicentur. Quod in fine ecclesiae nulla sit fides, praedicitur a Domino,
"Filius hominis cum venerit, num inveniet fidem in terra?" (Lucas 18:8).
Et quoque quod tunc nulla charitas,
In consummatione saeculi "multiplicabitur iniquitas, refrigescet charitas multorum... et praedicabitur id Evangelium in toto terrarum orbe;... et tunc veniet finis" (Matthaeus 24:12, 14).
Consummatio saeculi est ultimum tempus ecclesiae. Describitur in eo capite a Domino status successive decrescens ecclesiae quoad amorem et fidem, sed describitur ibi per meras correspondentias; quare illa quae ibi praedicta sunt a Domino non possunt intelligi, nisi sensus spiritualis correspondens singulis ibi sciatur; quapropter datum mihi est a Domino explicare omnia quae in illo capite, et aliqua quae in sequente dicta sunt, de Consummatione Saeculi, de Adventu Ipsius, deque successiva Vastatione Ecclesiae, et de Ultimo Judicio, in Arcanis Caelestibus, quae ibi videantur (3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3759 (3757?), 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4661-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071).