53.启示录所预言的一切如今都已应验（可参看40-44节）；最后的审判已经完成（可参看45-52节）；这一章还解释了对伊斯兰教徒和外邦人或异教徒的审判是如何进行的（可参看50-51节）。接下来说明对“巴比伦”所指的天主教徒的审判是以哪种方式进行的；启示录对巴比伦有大量论述，特别是第18章论述了它的毁灭，在那里经上是如此描述的：
天使大声喊着说，巴比伦倾倒了，倾倒了，成了鬼魔的住处，和各样污秽之灵的巢穴，并各样污秽可憎之雀鸟的巢穴。（启示录18:2）
在描述这种毁灭之前，我先提出一些初步观点：
⑴何谓“巴比伦”，其性质如何。
⑵属巴比伦者在来世是什么样。
⑶迄今为止，他们在灵界的住处在哪里。
⑷他们为何被容忍住在那里，直到最后审判之日。
⑸他们如何被摧毁，他们的住处如何变成荒场。
⑹他们当中那些对良善所产生的真理拥有一种情感的人都得救了。
⑺从今以后，从尘世进入灵界的天主教徒情况如何。
53. Babylon and Its Destruction
On the fact that everything predicted in the Book of Revelation has been fulfilled at the present time, see 40-44 above; and on the fact that the Last Judgment has already been carried out, see the previous chapter [45-52]; that chapter also explains how the judgment was carried out on Muslims and people of other religions [50-51]. Now we turn to the way the Last Judgment was carried out on the Catholics meant by “Babylon,” 1about whom the Book of Revelation has much to say. There is description of its destruction in chapter 18, as follows:
The angel cried mightily with a loud voice, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a refuge for every unclean spirit, and a refuge for every unclean and hated bird!” (Revelation 18:1-2)
Before describing that destruction, I wish to make some preliminary points:
1. What “Babylon” means, and what its nature is.
2. What the people of this Babylon are like in the other life.
3. Which part [of the spiritual world] they were living in until recently.
4. Why they were allowed to live there right up to the day of the Last Judgment.
[Then I will cover]
5. How they were destroyed, and how their dwellings became a wasteland.
6. How all the people among them who were engaged in doing good and had a longing for truth were saved.
7. What the circumstances are for Catholics from now on as they pass into the other world from this one.
Footnotes:
1. As becomes more clear below (see the notes in Last Judgment 54:1 and Last Judgment 55:2), Swedenborg does not identify the Babylon of the Book of Revelation with all Catholics, but with the clerical element of the Roman Catholic Church. This identification is not unique to him, but extends as far back as medieval times, if not before. Many examples of others who made this equation could be given; one would be Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who likens the corrupt ecclesiastics of his day to the whore of Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17:4-18 (Inferno 19:106-108). In the sixteenth century, the chief Protestant reformers almost unanimously agreed that biblical references to the whore of Babylon had been intended to point prophetically to the future Roman Catholic Church. In 1520 Martin Luther (1483-1546) published a treatise on the Catholic sacraments titled On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (Luther [1520] 1955-1986a, 36:3-126). A woodcut appearing in the first edition of Luther's German translation of the New Testament, the so-called September-Testament of 1522, shows the whore of Babylon wearing a papal tiara. The image was so explosive that George of Saxony (1471-1539), Luther's secular opponent, insisted that it be removed in a republication of the same material later in the same year, but a full-color reimagining of the scene was pointedly reinserted into the complete Bible published in 1534 (Füssel and Taschen 2009, 22-25, 184-185). For more on Swedenborg's interpretation of the symbol of Babel, or Babylon, see (in addition to the current chapter, Last Judgment 53-64) Secrets of Heaven 1326, 4748:5, 10412; Revelation Unveiled 717; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 1029. On problematic material in general in Swedenborg's works, see the translator's preface, pages 19-21. [RS, LSW, DNG]
53. IX. BABYLON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
All the predictions made in the book of Revelation have to-day been fulfilled (see above 40-44). The last chapter demonstrated that the Last Judgment has already taken place, and showed how it took place on the Mohammedans and the heathen. The next subject is how it took place on the Roman Catholics, who are what is meant by Babylon as mentioned in many passages of Revelation, and in particular its destruction in chapter 18. This is described thus:
The angel cried out in a loud voice, Fallen, fallen is Babylon and become the dwelling of demons, and the prison of every impure 1spirit, and the prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Revelation 18:2.
But before the story of how the destruction happened some preliminary remarks are needed:
(i) What is meant by Babylon and what it is like.
(ii) What the people from Babylon are like in the other life.
(iii) Where their dwellings have been up to now.
(iv) Why their presence there was tolerated up to the day of the Last Judgment.
(v) How they were destroyed and their dwellings turned into a desert.
(vi) Those of them who had an affection for truth arising from good were preserved.
(vii) The future state of those who come from earth from that source.
Footnotes:
1. [In AR the translation follows the Greek more exactly in using the word for 'unclean' of both the spirit and the bird.]
53. IX. BABYLON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
That all the things which are predicted in the Apocalypse are at this day fulfilled, may be seen above (40-44); and that the Last Judgment has already been accomplished, may be seen in the preceding article; where it is also shown how the judgment was effected upon the Mohammedans and Gentiles. Now follows an account of the manner in which it was effected upon the Papists, who are meant by "Babylon," which is treated of in many parts of the Apocalypse, and its destruction especially in chapter 18, where it is thus described:
An angel cried vehemently with a great voice, Babylon hath fallen, hath fallen, and has become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird (vers. 2).
But before it is told how that destruction was effected, I shall premise:
I. What is meant by "Babylon," and what its quality is.
II. The quality of those in the other life who are of Babylon.
III. Where their habitations have hitherto been.
IV. Why they were there tolerated until the day of the Last Judgment.
V. How they were destroyed, and their habitations made a desert.
VI. Those of them who were in the affection of truth from good were preserved.
VII. The state of those hereafter who come thence from the earth.
53. (IX.) DE BABYLONIA, ET EJUS DESTRUCTIONE.
Quod omnia, quae in Apocalypsi praedicta sunt, hodie impleta sint, videatur supra (40-44); tum quod ultimum judicium jamdum peractum sit, in articulo praecedente, ubi etiam. ostensum est, quomodo judicium factum est super Mahumedanos et Gentiles: hic nunc sequitur, quomodo factum est super Pontificios, qui sunt qui intelliguntur per "Babyloniam," de qua in Apocalypsi multis agitur, et de ejus destructione in specie in capite 18, quae ita describitur:
Angelus "exclamavit vehementer voce magna,... Cecidit, cecidit Babylon..., et facta est domicilium daemoniorum, et custodia omnis spiritus impuri, et custodia omnis avis immundae (et) exosae" (vers. 2).
Sed antequam narratur, quomodo illa destructio facta est, praemittentur,
(i.) Quid intelligitur per "Babyloniam," et qualis illa.
(ii.) Quales sunt in altera vita illi qui ex Babylonia sunt.
(iii.) Ubinam habitationes eorum hactenus fuerunt.
(iv.) Cur usque ad diem ultimi judicii ibi tolerati sunt.
(v.) Quomodo destructi et habitationes eorum desertum factae sunt.
(vi.) Quod conservati sint, qui ex illis in affectione veri ex bono fuerunt.
(vii.) De statu eorum posthac, qui inde e terris veniunt.