2、在论述新耶路撒冷及其教义之前，有必要说一说新天新地。《最后的审判》这本小册子已经说明过去的“先前的天和先前的地”表示什么。它们过去，也就是最后审判完成之后，紧接着主就创造或形成了一个新天堂。该天堂是由自主降世直到审判之时所有过着信与仁的生活之人构成的，因为唯独这些人是天堂的形式。事实上，主导一切关系和交流的天堂形式是从主发出的源于神性良善的神性真理的形式；就其灵而言，人通过照神性真理生活而获得该形式。这是天堂形式的源头，这一点可见于《天堂与地狱》一书（200-212节），所有天使都是天堂的形式（HH51-58，73-77节）。
从这些事可知是哪些人构成新天堂，并由此可知新天堂是何性质，即：它是完全一致的。因为凡过着信与仁的生活之人都爱邻如己，并通过爱与邻舍结合。这种结合是互惠和相互的，因为在灵界，爱就是结合。因此，当所有人都基于同一个原则行动时，那么一致或说一个心智就由照着天堂形式结合在一起的许多人，甚至无数人产生了。人们以这种方式合而为一，因为没有什么东西把他们分离或分开；相反，每个事物都把他们联系并结合起来。
2、在论述新耶路撒冷及其教义之前，应先说说新天新地。在《最后的审判和巴比伦毁灭》这本小册子里揭示了已过去的“先前天地”表示什么。那件事后，即最后审判完成后，一个新天堂立刻由主创造或建造出来。这个新天堂由所有那些从主降世至今活出信仰与仁爱的人组成，因为唯有这些人是天堂的形式。因为，规范一切联合与沟通的天堂的样式，是来自神圣良善的神圣真理，而神圣良善来自主。灵魂是这种形式的人依照神圣真理而活。由此而成的天堂的形式可参阅《天堂与地狱》一书（200-212），一切天使皆为天堂的形式（51-58，和73-77）。
通过这些事物可知组成新天堂的人是谁，进而可知新天堂的性质如何，即，它是完全整体一致的。因为，过着信仰和仁爱生活的人爱人如己，通过爱，他把自己与其他人联合起来，因而是互惠互助地，在灵性世界里爱是联合。因此，当所有天使这样做时，众天使，应该说是无数的天使，按照天堂的形式联合起来了，就有了全体一致性，并且他们合而为一了。因为那时没有什么会分离和分开，一切都联合统一了。
2. Before dealing with the New Jerusalem and its teachings, I need to say something about the new heaven and the new earth. In the booklet " The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed" you will find an explanation of the meaning of the first heaven and the first earth that passed away. 1After they had passed away-that is, after the Last Judgment 2was complete-the Lord created, or formed, a new heaven. This heaven is made up of all the people who, from the time of the Lord's Coming to the time of the judgment, had lived lives of faith and caring, 3because only they were forms of heaven. This is because the form of heaven that governs all the relationships and communications there is the form of the divine truth, derived from divine goodness, that radiates from the Lord, and we take on this form spiritually by living in harmony with divine truth. On this as the source of heaven's form, 4see Heaven and Hell 5200-212, and on all angels as being forms of heaven, see Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77.
This makes it possible for us to know which people make up the new heaven and therefore also what they are like-namely, that they are of one mind, because when we live a life of faith and caring we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and love that is mutually felt joins us to them and them to us. This joining is reciprocal and mutual because in the spiritual world love is a joining together. 6So when everyone is acting on the same principle, then a single mind arises from the many-from countless individuals, in fact, who are gathered in harmony with heaven's form. 7People become one in this way because there is nothing that separates or divides them; everything connects and unites them.
Footnotes:
1. "The first heaven," also referred to as "the former heaven," is treated in Last Judgment 65-72. "The first earth" (that is, the former church; see note 3 in New Jerusalem 4 below on the meaning of "church") is covered in Last Judgment 45-64, without being explicitly labeled as such. On "the first earth," see also Supplements 9-10. In this context, "the first heaven" is a reference to Revelation 21:1, in which "first" is a temporal term denoting a heaven that passes away and is replaced by a new heaven (compare note 1 in Last Judgment 69). This should not be confused with the "first heaven" that is the lowest in Swedenborg's system of three heavens arranged vertically one above the other, in which context "first" serves as a spatial analogy (see note 2 in New Jerusalem 4). [GFD, LSW]
2. Swedenborg begins Last Judgment by insisting that the term "the Last Judgment" does not refer to the end of the world. In Last Judgment 46, he notes two previous "last judgments," one at the time of the Flood and the other at the time of the Incarnation. He takes the word "last" in the familiar phrase "the Last Judgment" to refer to the end of a religious era; and the era he usually means is the one which began with the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ and which by his account ended with a cataclysmic upheaval in the spiritual world in 1757. [JSR, GFD]
3. Much like "goodness" and "truth" (see note 9 in New Jerusalem 1), "faith" (Latin fides) and "caring" (Latin charitas; sometimes elsewhere in this edition rendered "thoughtfulness," "goodwill," or the more traditional "charity") are treated by Swedenborg as a pair. In True Christianity 365 faith and caring (goodwill) are in fact defined together in terms of goodness and truth: "‘Faith' means all the truth from the Lord that we perceive, think, and speak. ‘Goodwill' means all the goodness from the Lord which moves us and which we then intend and do. " The Latin word charitas is an abstract noun related to the adjective charus, also spelled carus, meaning "dear," "beloved"; this connection is made quite explicitly in New Jerusalem 108. "Caring" is here used with the intent of suggesting that meaning. [JSR, GFD]
4. Without ever specifying exactly what the form is, Swedenborg mentions "the form of heaven" or "a form like heaven" in almost a hundred descriptions of spiritual objects in his published theological works. As Swedenborg says, "Heaven's form by its very nature can never be fathomed even in a general way and is thus incomprehensible even to angels" (Heaven and Hell 212). The phrase is occasionally plural (as it appears later in the sentence in question here), and apparently these forms are varied ( Marriage Love 14[2]). The chief characteristics of these forms are that they are "human," they incorporate a great variety of elements into one harmonious arrangement, and each element can be viewed as the central one; see Secrets of Heaven 4040, 4043, 6607, 9846, 9877. Even household utensils in the spiritual world may have this form ( Marriage Love 137[7]). See also Heaven and Hell 202. [JSR, SS]
5. Heaven and Hell was published by Swedenborg in London at some time in 1758. It would seem from the references to that volume throughout New Jerusalem that the date of the composition of Heaven and Hell was likely to have been earlier than that of New Jerusalem. On the order of composition of Swedenborg's works of 1758, see the editors' preface to this volume, pages 29-33. [GFD]
6. The Latin word here translated "a joining together" is conjunctio. Swedenborg uses the word to denote the relationship that develops when two people or things come together, without either element losing its identity. It may be used of our relationship with the Lord as well as of the relationship between inanimate objects or qualities of the mind. [JSR]
7. On the function of a fullness and variety of many differing individuals or parts working harmoniously together in the approach to the perfection of a form, see note 3 in Other Planets 9. [Editors]
2. Before we begin on the religious philosophy of the New Jerusalem, I will say something about the new sky and the new land.
My booklet 'The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed' shows what is meant by the first sky and the first land that disappeared. After they disappeared — in other words, after the Last Judgment occurred — the Lord created (that is, gathered together) a new heaven. This new heaven was made up of everyone who had lived a life of faith and kindness, from the time of the Lord’s coming right up to the present. Only these people are microcosms of heaven’s arrangement.
All the relationships and interactions in heaven develop in harmony with heaven’s arrangement, which is a pattern of divine truth from divine goodness coming from the Lord. We mesh with this pattern in our spirit by living according to divine truth.
From this we can get an idea of who makes up the new heaven, and what it is like: it is completely harmonious. When we live a life of faith and kindness, we love other people as much as we love ourselves, and we unite with them through love. This goes both ways; it is mutual. In the spiritual world, love is union. When everyone loves one another, there is harmony among many people, even among the countless people associated with one another according to heaven’s arrangement. We become like one person, since nothing separates or divides us; everything unites us and helps us to work together.
2. Before speaking about the New Jerusalem and its teaching, I must say something about the new heaven and the new earth. In my short work THE LAST JUDGMENT AND THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON I showed what is meant by the first heaven and the first earth which had passed away. After they had passed away, that is, after the completion of the last judgment, a new heaven was created, that is, formed by the Lord. This heaven was formed from all those who, from the time of the Lord's coming down to the present, have lived a life of faith and charity, since these alone were in heaven's image. For the image of heaven, which determines all association and communication there, is an image of Divine truth arising from Divine good, coming forth from the Lord; and a person puts on this image in his spirit by living in accordance with Divine truth.
These facts enable us to know from whom the new heaven was made, and also its nature, as being totally of one mind. For anyone who lives a life of faith and charity loves another as himself, and he links the other to himself by love, so that the other loves him in turn. Love is a linking in the spiritual world; so when all act alike, then the association of many, or rather countless, people, in keeping with the form of heaven, brings about unanimity and they become as one. For there is nothing to separate and divide them, but everything links and unites them.
2. Before treating of the New Jerusalem and its doctrine, something shall be said of the New Heaven and the New Earth. In the small work on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon it was shown what is meant by the "first heaven and the first earth" which had passed away. After they had passed away, and thus after the Last Judgment had been accomplished, the new heaven was created, that is, formed by the Lord. This heaven was formed of all those who after the Lord's advent even to the present time, had lived a life of faith and charity; since they alone were forms of heaven. For the form of heaven, according to which all consociations and communications are there effected, is the form of Divine Truth from the Divine Good which proceeds from the Lord; and this form a man puts on as to his spirit by a life according to Divine Truth.
That the form of heaven is from this source, may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell 200-212; and that all angels are forms of heaven, in Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77. From this it may be known, of whom the new heaven was composed, and hence also what its quality is; namely, that it is altogether of one mind; for he, who lives a life of faith and charity, loves another as himself, and through love conjoins him to himself, and thus reciprocally and mutually, because love in the spiritual world is conjunction. When, therefore, all act alike, then from many, yea, from countless numbers consociated according to the form of heaven, there arises one mind, and there results, as it were, a one; for there is nothing which separates and divides, but everything conjoins and unites.
2. Before the New Jerusalem and its doctrine are treated of, something shall be said of the New Heaven and the New Earth. What is meant by "the first heaven and the first earth," which passed away, is shown in the small work Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed. Immediately after that event, that is, after the Last Judgment was completed, a New Heaven was created or formed by the Lord. This heaven was formed of all those who, from the coming of the Lord to the present time, had lived the life of faith and charity, since these alone were forms of heaven. For the form of heaven, according to which all consociations and communications therein are effected, is the form of the Divine truth from the Divine good proceeding from the Lord; and this form man as to his spirit acquires by a life according to the Divine truth. That the form of heaven is thence may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 200-212), and that all the angels are forms of heaven (n. 51-58, and 73-77). From these things it may be known, who they are of whom the New Heaven consists; and thereby what its quality is, namely, that it is altogether unanimous. For he who lives the life of faith and charity, loves another as himself, and by love conjoins him to himself, and thus reciprocally and mutually; for in the spiritual world, love is conjunction. Wherefore, when all act thus, then from many, yea from innumerable individuals consociated according to the form of heaven, unanimity exists, and they become as one; for then nothing separates and divides, but everything conjoins and unites.
2. Antequam de Nova Hierosolyma et ejus Doctrina agitur, aliquid de Novo Caelo et de Nova Terra dicetur. In opusculo De Ultimo Judicio et Babylonia destructa, ostensum est quid intelligitur per "primum caelum et primam terram" quae transiverant; quae postquam transierant, ita postquam ultimum judicium peractum est, novum caelum a Domino creatum, hoc est, formatum est. Hoc caelum formatum est ab omnibus illis qui post adventum Domini ad hoc usque tempus vitam fidei et charitatis vixerunt, quoniam hi solum erant formae caeli; nam forma caeli, secundum quam omnes consociationes et communicationes ibi fiunt, est forma Divini Veri ex Divino Bono procedente a Domino, et hanc formam induit homo quoad spiritum suum per vitam secundum Divinum Verum. (Quod forma caeli inde sit, videatur in opere De Caelo et Inferno 200-212; et quod omnes angeli sint formae caeli, De Caelo et Inferno 51-58, 73-77.)
Ex his sciri potest ex quibus novum caelum factum est, inde etiam quale est, quod nempe prorsus unanimum; nam qui vitam fidei et charitatis vivit, is amat alterum sicut semet, et per amorem conjungit eum sibi, et sic vicissim et mutuo: nam amor est conjunctio in spirituali mundo; quare cum omnes similiter faciunt, tunc ex pluribus, immo ex innumeris consociatis secundum formam caeli, existit unanimum, et fit sicut unum; nihil enim est quod separat et dividit, sed omne conjungit et unit.