61.摧毁是在属灵的评估过程之后发生的，因为这种评估总是先进行。评估过程既包括调查人们的真实样子，也包括善人与恶人的分离；善人被带走，恶人则留下。一旦这个过程完成，大地震就会发生；这使得他们意识到最后的审判就在眼前；那时，所有人都吓得浑身发抖。接着我看见住在南部地区的人，尤其住在前面（参看58节）所提到的大城里的人向四面八方奔跑。有的想逃走，有的想躲进教堂的地下室，有的想躲进藏财宝的地窖和坑中，有的则带着他们所能抓取的一切从这些地方跑出来。然而，地震过后，下面有一次火山喷发，将城市及其周围地区的一切都倾覆了。火山喷发之后，一股强风从东边刮来，把一切都暴露出来，又摇撼、掀翻一切，直到其根基。这时，那里的所有人都从各个地方和所有藏身之处被带出来，被扔进黑海之中。被扔进去的人，有千百万之多。
然后，有浓烟，就是大火灾之后冒出的那种，从整个地区上腾。最后，一层厚厚的灰尘腾空而起，被东风刮到大海，撒在了海面上。事实上，他们的财宝和所有他们称之为圣的物品都变成了灰尘，因为这些东西是他们的。灰尘沉积在海面上，因为这种灰尘表示受到诅咒之物。
最后，我看见一个黑色生物在整个地区上方飞行。近距离观察，它看上去就像一条龙，这标志着整座大城和整个地区都变成了一片荒场。之所以如此显现，是因为“龙”表示这种宗教的虚假，“龙的住处”（耶利米书9:11；10:22；49:33；玛拉基书1:3）表示倾覆之后的荒场。
我还看见一些神职人员左臂上缠着一块磨石，这是他们利用圣言来证实自己可憎教义的一个代表或象征；磨石就表示这类事物。由此可见启示录中的这些话是什么意思：
有一位天使举起一块石头，好像大磨石，扔在海里，说，巴比伦大城，也必这样猛力地被扔下去，决不能再见了。（启示录18:21）
但在议会的地方，也就是在同一地区，更靠近东方的人就不同了；在议会上，神职人员开会商议如何扩大他们自己的权力，如何使普通百姓保持无知和盲目顺从（关于这个议会，可参看58节）。这些人不是被投入黑海，而是被投入一个大鸿沟，这鸿沟在他们脚下和周围又长又深地敞开。最后的审判在南部地区的巴比伦人身上就是这样完成的。
以下是最后的审判在住在西部地区前面的人和住在北部地区，也就是另一座大城所在之地的人身上如何进行的。大地震把那里的一切连根拔起，直到地基；圣言中（马太福音24:7；路加福音21:11；启示录6:12；8:5；11:13；16:18；以及旧约先知书）所提到的地震就是指这些地震，而不是指世上的地震。地震过后，一股东风从南方刮来，经过西方吹入北方，将整个地区都暴露出来：首先暴露的是朝西方前面的地区，就是生活在黑暗时代、住在地下的人所在的地方；然后暴露的是从西方一直向北延伸至东方的大城。 一旦这些地区被如此暴露出来，藏在那里的一切就都显现在眼前。不过，由于那里没有那么多的财富，所以我没有看见吞灭财宝的火山喷发或硫磺火，只有掀翻和摧毁；最终一切都化为烟雾。因为有东风吹出来，刮来刮去，把一切都掀翻、摧毁并带走。
它带走了数十万修道士和平民；有的被投入与西方接壤的黑海；有的被投入刚才所提到的南部大鸿沟；有的被投入西部的大鸿沟；还有的被投入外邦人或异教徒的地狱，因为许多生活在黑暗时代的人和外邦人或异教徒一样是偶像崇拜者。我看见烟尘从那个地区上腾，一直飘到海上，漂浮在海面上，在那里沉积了一层黑色涂层。因为人们被投入的那海有一部分完全被他们的住处和财富所变成的烟尘覆盖了。结果，那海不见了，取而代之的是那里的黑土，而下面就是他们的地狱。
对住在东边山上的那些人的最后审判（参看58节）也是这样进行的。我看见这些山沉到深处，山上的所有人都被吞没了。他们安置在其中一座山的山顶上，并宣称为神的那个人变得越来越黑，然后爆发为火焰，与其余的人一起被直接投入地狱。因为住在这些山上的各级修道士都称他为神，并自称基督；事实上，无论走到哪里，他们都带着可憎的信念，坚信自己是基督。
最后，审判临到那些住在西部地区更为遥远的山上之人。他们就是坐在有七头，也就是七座山的朱红色兽上的女人所表示的人，如前面所描述的（58节）。我看见他们的山，其中一些山从中间裂开了，露出一个螺旋式下沉的巨大鸿沟；住在山上的人被扔进这个鸿沟。其它山则被连根拔起，完全翻转过来，以至于山顶变成了山脚。来自那个地区、从平原上出来的人被洪水淹没，并被覆盖；那里来自其它地区的人则被投入鸿沟。不过，我刚才所说的这些只是我所看到的一切当中的一小部分，我将在《揭秘启示录》一书提供更多信息。这些事是在1757年年初发生并完成的。
除了被投入黑海的人外，所有人都被扔进鸿沟；这些鸿沟有很多，我见过其中的四个。南部地区朝东有一个大鸿沟；西部地区朝南又有一个大鸿沟；第三个大鸿沟也在西部地区，但朝北；第四个大鸿沟在更远的西北交界处。鸿沟和大海就是他们的地狱。我看见的是这些鸿沟，但还有更多是我没有看见的。巴比伦人的地狱是照着他们亵渎与教会的良善和真理有关的属灵事物的各种方式来划分的。
61. The destruction came about after a process of spiritual assessment, because there is always an initial assessment of this kind. The assessment process involves both an investigation of what people are really like and also a separation of the good from the evil; the good are taken away and the evil are left behind.
Once this process was complete, immense earthquakes occurred, which made people aware that the Last Judgment was at hand. 1Everyone was then seized with trembling.
Next I saw the people who lived in the southern region, especially the ones who lived in the major city mentioned in 58 above, running in all directions. Some were running to escape, some were running to hide in the vaults, some were running to hide in the basements or pits where they kept their wealth, some were running away from those places carrying everything they had been able to lay their hands on. After the earthquakes, though, there was an eruption 2from beneath that overturned everything in the city and in the area around it. After the eruption came a powerful wind from the east, 3which stripped everything, shook everything, and turned everything upside down. Then everyone there was brought out from every locale and every hiding place and cast into an ocean whose waters were black. Millions of people there were thrown in.
[2] Next a smoke rose up from that whole region, the kind that rises after a major fire. Then a cloud of heavy dust rose into the air and was blown by the east wind out onto the ocean, covering its surface. Their wealth had been turned into this dust, all the possessions they called sacred because they were theirs. The dust was deposited on the ocean because this kind of dust means something that has been condemned. 4
[3] At the end, I saw some black creature flying over that whole region. On closer view it looked like a dragon, a sign that that whole great city and that whole region had been turned into a wilderness. The reason for this image was that dragons mean the false teachings of that kind of religion, and their den means the wilderness that follows an overthrow. See Jeremiah 9:11; 10:22; 49:33; Malachi 1:3.
[4] I also saw that some [of the clergy] had what looked like a millstone around their left arms. This was a symbol of the fact that they had used the Word to support their own loathsome dogmas. That is the sort of thing meant by a millstone. I could see from this what it means in Revelation when it says,
An angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon will be thrown down and will not be found anymore.” (Revelation 18:21) 5
[5] It was different, though, for the people who were in the place of council, in the same region but more toward the east, the council where clergy would meet to discuss how to extend their own power and how to keep the common people in ignorance and blind obedience (on this council see 58 above). These people were cast not into the black ocean but into a great chasm 6that opened up far and deep beneath them and around them.
That is how the Last Judgment was carried out on the people of this Babylon in the southern region.
[6] The following, though, is how the Last Judgment was carried out on the people who lived toward the front of the western region and the ones who lived in the northern region, where there was that other major city.
After massive earthquakes that uprooted everything there right down to the foundations (these, not earthquakes on earth, are the earthquakes referred to in the Word: see Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11, and similar mentions in Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:13; 16:18, and in the Old Testament prophets), an east wind came from the south through the west into the north and laid that whole region bare-first the region toward the front of the western quarter, where the people who had lived during the Dark Ages were dwelling underground, and then the great city that stretched from that quarter all the way through the north to the east. Once all the surfaces had been stripped away, everything that had been hidden there became visible. However, since there was not as much wealth there, I saw no eruption or sulfurous fire consuming treasures. There was only upheaval and destruction, and then everything would turn to smoke. The east wind would die down and then come back again, overturning and destroying things, and carrying them away.
[7] It carried off hundreds of thousands of monks and commoners, and cast some of them into the part of the black ocean that borders the west. Some others were cast into the great southern abyss mentioned just above, 7and some into a great chasm in the west. Still others were cast into a non-Christian hell, since a number of the people who had lived in the Dark Ages were as idolatrous as non-Christians. I could also see smoke rising up from that area, going all the way out to the ocean, floating down onto it, and creating a black crust on top of it. The part of the ocean the people had been cast in became completely covered in the dust and ashes of their former homes and possessions. As a result that ocean was no longer visible; instead there was black earth there, under which were their hells.
[8] The Last Judgment on the people who lived on mountains in the eastern region (see 58 above on them as well) was carried out like this. I saw those mountains sink into the depths, and all the people on them were swallowed up. The person they had stationed on top of the one mountain there and had proclaimed as God grew darker and darker and then burst into flames and was cast headlong into hell along with the rest. The monks of various orders who lived on those mountains had been calling him God and themselves Christ; in fact, wherever they went they maintained the appalling conviction that they were Christ.
[9] Finally, a judgment was carried out on the people who lived farther out in the western region, on mountains there. They were the people meant by the woman sitting on a scarlet beast whose seven heads were seven mountains (also described in 58 above). I saw some of their mountains split down the middle, revealing a huge chasm that spiraled downward; those who were on those mountains were hurled into that chasm. Other mountains were torn up by the roots and turned completely upside down, so that what had been the peak became the bottom of the mountain. The people from that region who were out on the plains were inundated by a flood 8and submerged; and the people who were there from other regions were cast into chasms.
What I have just been saying, though, is only a fraction of everything I saw. I will be offering more in the explanation of the Book of Revelation.
These things happened and were completed early in 1757.
[10] As for the chasms into which everyone was cast except for the people who were thrown into the black ocean, there are many, of which I was shown four. There was a huge one in the southern region, toward the east there; another in the western region, toward the south there; a third also in the western region, but toward the north there; and a fourth farther out, on the border between the west and the north. The chasms and the ocean are their hells.
I saw these chasms, but there were many more that I did not see. The hells of the people of Babylon are divided up according to the various ways in which they profane spiritual things that have to do with the truth and the goodness that are taught by the church.
Footnotes:
1. Elsewhere Swedenborg states that earthquakes symbolize a major destructive change in the state of a church. They therefore, by his account, happen in the spiritual world when such a change is occurring. See Secrets of Heaven 3355; Revelation Unveiled 331, 396, 711; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 400, 499, 674, 676. Swedenborg's interpretation here has both a biblical and a contemporary context. Mentions of earthquakes as signs of the end times in Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, and Luke 21:11 led to the common understanding of such phenomena as harbingers of the end of the world; as was the expectation, for example, after seismic shocks in Britain in the 1750s. Occasionally the apparent randomness of earthquakes led European thinkers to reconsider the very order of the universe, and at no time more than after the massive earthquake and tsunami of November 1, 1755, in Portugal (the so-called Lisbon earthquake). In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, Voltaire published a poem on the subject, Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Disaster at Lisbon; Voltaire [1756, 1759] 1977, 560-569). The poem introduced his attack on the philosophical and theological position of Optimism, which insists that because God is good, we must be living in the best of all possible worlds. For more on the European reaction to the Lisbon earthquake, see Braun and Radner 2005, and the popular account in Shrady 2008, 113-142. [LSW, SS, DNG, RS]
2. In Swedenborg's theological works an eruption (Latin ebullitio, literally, “a bubbling up”) is associated with evil spirits from hell attempting to force their way upward in order to destroy those above them. See Secrets of Heaven 8273:4, 9492; Heaven and Hell 595; Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 4649. The eruption here is presumably accompanied by a “sulfurous fire consuming treasures,” since this is later mentioned as having occurred in this region (see Last Judgment 61:6). Such a fire would explain the origin of the smoke that is described in the next paragraph (Last Judgment 61:2), if it is not to be understood as an independent phenomenon. [LSW, JSR, SS]
3. According to Swedenborg, a powerful east wind symbolizes the dispersal of falsity and evil by divine power, which is commonly followed by a reorganization. Such a wind appears in the spiritual world when evil spirits and demons are being forced from their current locations and into their proper places in hell. On this kind of wind, see Secrets of Heaven 842, 7679, 8201; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 419. [LSW]
4. The symbolism of the dust on the ocean can be explained in part by reference to an event in Exodus 32:20. In that passage, the golden calf that the Israelites made and worshiped while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai was ground to powder by Moses, and he then scattered the powder on the water and made the Israelites drink it. In Secrets of Heaven 10464, grinding something to a powder is interpreted as “turning hellish pleasure into falsity,” and in 10465 a powder's having been scattered on the surface of water is interpreted as meaning that “falsity resulting from a hellish pleasure was mixed with truth from heaven.” This mixing of falsity from hellish pleasure with truth from heaven constitutes profanation, which brings most severe condemnation on those engaging in it. For more on profanation, see note 1 in New Jerusalem 169. For other passages in Swedenborg's writings that explain the symbolism of dust or dirt, see Secrets of Heaven 249, 275, 2327, 7418, 9391:12; for somewhat similar references to a “dust of doom” in the spiritual world, see Divine Love and Wisdom 341 and Revelation Unveiled 153:10 (with a parallel at True Christianity 281:10). On “the ocean” (in a negative sense) being a visual image of hell in the spiritual world, see note 6 in Last Judgment 61. For related representative images, see note 1 in Last Judgment 50. [LSW, SS]
5. In explaining Revelation 18:21 in Revelation Unveiled 791, Swedenborg states that “a great millstone” in a negative sense means “perverted and profaned truths of the Word.” He derives this from the meaning of “stone,” which he gives as “something true,” and that of “a mill,” which he gives as “inquiry, examination, and verification of what is true from the Word.” In this case, the combination of these two words has the opposite meaning of supporting false dogmas from the Word because it is in reference to Babylon, which is a symbol of a corrupted church. For more on mills, millstones, and grinding, see Secrets of Heaven 4335, 7780, 10303, 10464; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 1182. [LSW]
6. Later in this section (in Last Judgment 61:10), chasms (Latin vorago, traditionally translated variously as “gulf,” “abyss,” and “quagmire”) and oceans are identified as the hells of those cast into them. In Last Judgment 64 these chasms are more specifically identified as being “where the hells of the profaners are.” For more on profanation, see note 1 in New Jerusalem 169. For more instances of chasms or gulfs occurring in the spiritual world, see Heaven and Hell 354, 585; Marriage Love 79, 339; Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 5046, 5069[1/2], 5073, 5161, 5204-5206, 5751. [LSW]
7. Although it carries a different name in the Latin, this “great southern abyss” (Latin hiatum magnum meridionalem) is almost certainly the “great chasm” (Latin vorago) at the eastern end of the southern quarter referred to in Last Judgment 61:5 (see note 6 in Last Judgment 61). [Editors]
8. On the spiritual significance of floods, see note 1 in Last Judgment 26. [Editors]
61. The destruction followed a visitation, for this always comes first. A visitation is an examination of people's character and a separation of the good from the wicked; the good are carried away from there and the wicked are left behind. When this was over, there were huge earthquakes, which served notice of the imminence of the Last Judgment; panic broke out universally. Those who lived in the southern quarter, especially in the large city there (mentioned above, 58), were then to be seen running hither and thither, some taking to their heels to escape, some hiding in crypts, some in the cells and pits where their treasures were, while others carried out of them anything they could lay their hands on. After the earthquakes a volcanic eruption burst up from below, overturning everything in the city and the surrounding district; and after the eruption came a gale from the east, which stripped bare, shattered and completely overturned everything. Then all the people there were brought out of every place where they had hidden and were thrown into a sea, the waters of which were black. The number of those thrown in amounted to many tens of thousands.
[2] Following this smoke, as after a fire, began to rise from the whole district, and finally thick dust; this was carried out to sea by the east wind and settled as a layer on it. All their treasuries were turned to dust, together with all the possessions they held sacred. The reason the dust was scattered on the sea was that such dust means that which is damned.
[3] Finally a black shape was seen flying over that whole district, which on closer view looked like a dragon - a sign that the whole of that great city and the district had become a desert. The reason it so appeared was that dragons mean the falsities of such a religion, and their home means a desert following overthrow (as in Jeremiah 9:12, 10:22, 49:33; Malachi 1:3).
[4] Some were also seen having what looked like a millstone round their left arm; this representation showed that they had proved their unspeakable dogmas from the Word. Such is the meaning of a millstone; so it was plain what these words in Revelation mean:
An angel picked up a stone like that of a large mill and threw it into the sea, saying, So shall Babylon, that great city, be sent hurtling down, and it shall be found no more. Revelation 18:21.
[5] However, as for those who were in the Council chamber, in the same quarter but further to the east, where debates were held about methods of extending their rule and of keeping the people in ignorance and so in blind obedience (on this Council chamber see 58 above), they were not thrown into the black sea, but into a chasm which opened up lengthwise and to a great depth beneath and around them. This is how the Last Judgment took place on the Babylonians in the southern quarter.
[6] The Last Judgment on those who lived forward in the western quarter and on those in the northern quarter, where the large city was, happened like this. After huge earthquakes which convulsed everything there to its foundations (these are the earthquakes meant in the Word, Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11; and similar ones in Revelation 6:12; Revelation 8:5; Revelation 11:13; Revelation 16:18, and in the prophetic books of the Old Testament - not earthquakes on this earth), an east wind swept from the south through the west to the north, and stripped that whole region bare. It hit first the forward region in the western quarter, where those who had lived in the Dark Ages had their underground dwellings, and then the large city which extended from that quarter right through the north as far as the east. As they were laid bare all their contents were to be seen. But because there were not such large treasures stored there, there was no volcanic eruption with its sulphurous fire to burn up the treasures; there was only an overthrow and destruction, with everything finally going up in smoke. It was the east wind which swept to and fro, overthrowing, destroying and carrying everything away.
[7] The monks together with the common people were brought out in tens of thousands, and some were thrown into the black sea on the side facing west, some into the great southern rift (mentioned above), some into the western chasm, some into the hells of the heathen.
For some of the people from the Dark Ages were idolaters like the heathen. Smoke was seen rising from there, reaching as far as the sea and drifting over it, and forming a black coating on it. For the part of the sea into which they were thrown had a hard covering of dust and smoke, into which their dwellings and riches dissolved.
So the sea was no longer to be seen, and its place was taken by a piece of black ground, underneath which was their hell.
[8] The Last Judgment on those who lived on the mountains in the eastern quarter (on whom see above 58) took place like this. The mountains were seen to sink into the depths and all on them were swallowed up. The one who had been placed on one of the mountains and proclaimed to be God, turned black and then fiery, and he was hurled headlong into hell along with them. For the monks of various orders who were on those mountains claimed that he was God and they were themselves Christ; and wherever they went, they took with them the shocking persuasion that they were Christ.
[9] Finally a judgment took place on those who lived further out in the western quarter on the mountains there, the people meant by the woman mounted on the scarlet beast, having seven heads which are seven mountains (she was mentioned above, 58). Their mountains too were seen, some split open in the middle forming a huge chasm spiralling downwards, and those on the mountains were thrown into it. Some of the mountains were torn up by the roots and so turned upside down that their summits were at the bottom. The people from the plains there were deluged with a kind of flood and covered over. But those among them who were from other quarters were thrown into chasms. The present remarks are but a small part of all that I saw; more will be given in the explanation of Revelation. These events happened and were completed at the beginning of the year 1757.
[10] As for the chasms into which all were thrown except those who ended up in the black sea, there are many of them. Four were shown to me: a large one towards the east of the southern quarter; a second towards the south in the western quarter; a third towards the north in the western quarter; a fourth further out in the corner between west and north. The chasms and the sea are their hells. This much I saw, but there was much more which I did not see. The hells of the Babylonian people are kept apart to match the different ways in which they profane spiritual things, which relate to the church's good and truth.
61. Destruction was effected after visitation, for visitation always precedes. The act of exploring what the men are, and moreover the separation of the good from the evil, is visitation; and the good are then removed, and the evil are left behind. This having been done, there were great earthquakes, from which they perceived that the Last Judgment was at hand, and trembling seized them all. Then those who dwelt in the southern quarter, and especially in the great city there (see 58), were seen running to and fro, some with the intention of betaking themselves to flight, some of hiding themselves in the crypts, others of hiding in the cells and caves where their treasures were, out of which others again carried anything they could lay their hands on. But after the earthquakes there burst up an ebullition from below, which overturned everything in the city and in the region round it. After this ebullition came a vehement wind from the east which laid bare, shook, and overthrew everything to its foundations, and then all who were there were led forth, from every part, and from all their hiding-places, and cast into a sea of black waters: those who were cast into it, were many myriads. Afterwards from that whole region a smoke ascended, as after a conflagration, and finally a thick dust, which was borne by the east wind to the sea, and strewn over it; for their treasures were turned into dust, with all those things they had called holy because they possessed them. This dust was strewn over the sea, because such dust signifies what is damned. At last there was seen as it were a blackness flying over that whole region, which when it was viewed narrowly appeared like a dragon; a sign that the whole of that great city and region was become a desert. This was seen, because "dragons" signify the falsities of such a religion, and "the abode of dragons" signifies the desert after their overthrow; as in Jeremiah (9:11; 10:22; 49:33; Malachi 1:3). It was also seen that some had as it were a millstone around the left arm, which was a representative of their having confirmed their abominable dogmas from the Word; a millstone signifies such things: hence it was plain what these words signify in the Apocalypse:
The angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall no more be found (Revelation 18:21).
But they who were in the council, which also was in that region, but nearer to the east, in which they were consulting on the modes of enlarging their dominion, and of keeping the people in ignorance, and thence in blind obedience (58), were not cast into that black sea, but into a gulf which opened itself long and deep beneath and around them. Thus was the Last Judgment accomplished upon the Babylonians in the southern quarter. But the Last Judgment upon those in front in the western quarter, and upon those in the northern quarter, where the other great city stood, was thus effected. After great earthquakes, which rent everything in those quarters to the very foundations-these are the earthquakes which are meant in the Word (Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11; likewise Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:13; 16:18); and in the prophecies of the Old Testament, and not any earthquakes in this world-an east wind went forth from the south through the west into the north, and laid bare that whole region first that part of it in front in the western quarter, where the people of the dark ages dwelt underground, and afterwards the great city, which extended from that quarter even through the north to the east, and from these regions thus laid bare, all things were exposed to view. But because there were not such great riches there, no ebullition, and no sulphurous fire consuming treasures were seen, but only overturn and destruction, and at length exhalation of the whole into smoke; for the east wind went forth, blowing to and fro; it overthrew and destroyed and also swept away. The monks and common people were led forth to the number of many myriads; some were cast into the black sea, on that side of it which faces the west; some into the great southern gulf, mentioned above; some into the western gulf, and some into the hells of the Gentiles, for a part of those who lived in the dark ages were idolaters like the Gentiles. A smoke also was seen to ascend from that region, and to proceed as far as the sea; over which it hovered, depositing a black crust there; for that part of the sea into which they were cast, was encrusted over with the dust and smoke, into which their dwellings and their riches were reduced; wherefore that sea has no longer a visible existence, but in its place is seen, as it were a black soil, under which is their hell. The Last Judgment upon those who dwelt upon the mountains in the eastern quarter (see 58), was thus accomplished. Their mountains were seen to subside into the deep, and all those who were upon them to be swallowed up; and he whom they had placed upon one of the mountains, and whom they proclaimed to be god, was seen to become first black, then fiery, and with them to be cast headlong into hell. For the monks of the various orders who were upon those mountains, said that he was God and that they were Christ, and wherever they went, they took with them the abominable persuasion that themselves were Christ. Finally, judgment was effected upon those who dwelt more remotely in the western quarter, upon the mountains there, and who are meant by "the woman sitting upon the scarlet beast who had seven heads which are seven mountains," of whom also something is related above (58). Their mountains also were seen, some were open in the middle, where an immense chasm was made and whirled about in a spiral, into which those on the mountains were cast. Other mountains were torn up by their foundations and turned upside down, so that the summit became the base; those who were thence in the plains were inundated as with a deluge, and covered over, and those who were among them from other quarters were cast into gulfs. But the things now related are only a small part of all I saw; more will be given in the Explanation of the Apocalypse. They were effected and accomplished in the beginning of the year 1757. As regards the gulfs into which all were cast, except those who were cast into the black sea, they are many. Four of them were disclosed to me; one great gulf in the southern quarter, towards the east there; another in the western quarter, towards the south; a third in the western quarter, towards the north there; a fourth still further in the angle between the west and the north: the gulfs and the sea are their hells. These were seen, but in addition to these there are many more, which were not seen; for the hells of the Babylonish people are distinct according to the various profanations of spiritual things, which are of the good and truth of the church.
61. Post visitationem facta est destructio; nam visitatio semper praecedit. Visitatio est exploratio quales sunt, et quoque separatio bonorum a malis; ac boni inde auferuntur et mali relinquuntur. Illa peracta facti sunt ingentes motus terrae; ex quibus animadverterunt, quod ultimum judicium instaret; tremor etiam tunc occupavit omnes. Visi tunc illi qui in meridionali plaga habitabant, imprimis qui in magna urbe ibi (de qua supra, 58), quod discurrerent huc illuc, quidam ut proriperent se in fugam, quidam ut absconderent se in cryptis, quidam in cellis et foveis ubi thesauri eorum, quidam inde exportabant quicquid manibus obvenit: sed post terrae motus erupit ebullitio ab inferiori, quae evertit omnia quae in urbe et in circumjacente tractu: post ebullitionem venit vehemens ventus ab oriente, qui denudavit, concussit et evertit funditus omnia; et tunc omnes qui ibi erant ex omni loco et ex omni latebra educti sunt, et conjecti in mare, cujus aqua erat nigra; illi qui in id conjecti sunt erant ad plures myriades. Postea ex toto illo tractu abscendebat fumus, qualis post incendium, ac ultimo densus pulvis, qui per ventum orientalem delatus est ad mare, et superinstratus; in pulverem enim versa sunt thesauraria eorum, et omnia quae quia possidebant dixerunt sancta: quod pulvis ille superinstratus esset mari, erat quia talis pulvis significat damnatum. Ultimo visum est sicut nigrum volans super totum tractum illum, quod inspectum apparebat sicut draco; signum quod ex tota illa urbe magna et ex toto illo tractu, desertum factum sit: quod id visum sit, erat quia per "dracones" significantur falsa talis religionis, et per "domicilium eorum" significatur desertum post eversionem (Ut Jeremias 9:11 (B.A. 12); cap. 10:22; cap. 49:33; Malachias 1:3).
Visum etiam est, quod quidam haberent sicut lapidem molarem circum brachium sinistrum, quod erat repraesentativum quod e Verbo confirmaverint nefanda sua dogmata; "lapis molaris" significat talia: inde patuit quid in Apocalypsi per haec significatur:
"Angelus sustulit lapidem instar molae magnae, et projecit in mare, dicens, Ita cum impetu projicietur Babylon, urbs illa magna, nec amplius invenietur" (Apocalypsi 18:21).
Illi autem, qui in synedrio erant, etiam in eadem plaga sed propius ad orientem, in quo consultabatur de modis amplificandi dominium, et de modis continendi populum in ignorantia et inde in caeca obedientia (de quo synedrio videatur supra, 58), illi non conjecti sunt in mare nigrum,, sed in voraginem quae se aperuit in longum et profundum sub illis et circum illos. Ita ultimum judicium peractum est super Babylonicos in plaga meridionali. Ultimum judicium autem super illos qui anterius in plaga occidentali, et super illos qui in plaga septentrionali, ubi etiam magna urbs, ita factum est. Post ingentes terrae motus, qui convulserunt omnia usque ad fundum (hi terrae motus sunt qui intelliguntur in Verbo, Matthaeus 24:7; Lucas 21:11; ac similes Apocalypsis 6:12; cap. 8:5; cap. 11:13; cap. 16:18; et in propheticis Veteris Testamenti; et non terrae motus in hac terra,) quae ibi erant, pergebat ventus orientalis a meridie per occidentem in septentrionem, ac denudabat omnem illam regionem; primum illam quae anterius in plaga occidentali erat, ubi sub terris habitabant qui in saeculis obscuris vixerunt, postea urbem magnam, quae extensa fuit ab illa plaga usque per septentrionem ad orientem, ex quibus denudatis apparuerunt omnia; sed quia ibi non tantae gazae erant, non visa est aliqua ebullitio et igneum sulphureum consumens thesauros, sed modo eversio et destructio, et dein exhalatio omnium in fumum; ventus enim orientalis pergebat eundo et redeundo, ac evertit et destruxit, et quoque abstulit. Monachi cum plebe educebantur ad plures myriades, et partim conjecti sunt in mare nigrum a latere ejus quod spectat occidentem, partim in hiatum magnum meridionalem (de quo supra), partim in voraginem occidentalem, et partim in inferna gentilium; nam qui e saeculis obscuris erant, quoad partem erant idololatrae similes gentilibus. Fumus etiam inde visus est ascendens, et pergens usque ad mare, et super id volans, et crustam inducens nigram; nam illa pars maris, quo conjecti sunt, incrustabatur pulvere et fumo, in quos fatiscebant habitationes et divitiae eorum; quare mare illud non amplius ad visum existit, sed loco ejus sicut solum nigrum, sub quo infernum eorum. Ultimum judicium super illos qui in plaga orientali super montibus habitabant (de quibus etiam videatur supra, 58), ita peractum est. Montes illi visi sunt subsidere in profundum, et omnes, qui super illis, deglutiti: ac visus est ille, quem super uno monte ibi posuerunt, quem proclamarunt pro deo, quod niger factus sit, et dein ignitus, et cum illis in infernum praeceps dejectus: monachi enim ex vario ordine, qui super illis montibus erant, illum dixerunt esse Deum, et se Christum; et ubicunque iverunt, secum tulerunt nefandam persuasionem quod Christus essent. Ultimo factum est judicium super illos qui remotius in plaga occidentali habitabant, et ibi super montibus, qui intellecti sunt per "mulierem insidentem bestiae coccineae, cui septem capita quae septem montes" (de qua etiam supra, 58, relatum est). Illorum montes etiam visi sunt; quidam aperti in medio, ubi ingens hiatus factus circumductus in spiram, et ii, qui super illis, in illum conjecti: quidam montes evulsi sunt funditus, et prorsus inversi, ut quod supremum ibi erat, imum factum sit; illi qui inde in planitiebus erant, inundati sunt sicut diluvio et obtecti; at qui apud eos ex aliis plagis erant, illi conjecti sunt in voragines. Sed haec quae nunc dicta sunt, pauca sunt ex omnibus quae vidi; plura dabuntur in Explicatione super Apocalypsin. Haec facta et peracta sunt in principio anni 1757. Quod voragines attinet, in quas conjecti sunt omnes praeter illos qui in mare nigrum, sunt plures: quatuor mihi detectae sunt; una magna in plaga meridionali ad orientem ibi; altera in plaga occidentali ad meridiem; tertia in plaga occidentali ad septentrionem ibi; quarta ulterius in angulo inter occidentem et septentrionem: voragines et mare sunt inferna eorum. Haec visa sunt, at praeter illa sunt plura alia, quae non visa; gentis enim Babylonicae inferna sunt distincta secundum varias profanationes spiritualium, quae sunt boni et veri ecclesiae.