8、教义的引言。我在《最后的审判》这本小册子（33-39等节）已经说明，当没有了信，因为没有仁时，一个教会就走到尽头。由于基督教界的众教会唯因诸如涉及信的那类事物而彼此分离，而事实上，没有仁，就没有信，所以在描述教义本身之前，我将以引言的方式简要说一说古人当中的仁之教义。我所说的“基督教界的众教会”是指改革宗或福音派教会，不是指天主教会，因为基督教会不在那里。教会是崇拜主并阅读圣言的地方，而天主教不是这种情况，他们崇拜自己，而不是主，还禁止人们阅读圣言，断言教皇的法令等同甚至超过圣言。
8、教会的终结就是失去信仰的时候，因为此时没有仁爱了。《最后的审判和巴比伦毁灭》这本小册子揭示了这件事。因为基督教世界的教会因这些信仰事物已彼此分离，然而没有信仰时，此地就没有仁爱了。我将通过以下介绍教义的方式，谈一些对古人仁爱教义的看法。
说到“基督教世界的教会”时，它是指改革宗或福音派教会，不是指罗马天主教会，因为那里没有基督教会。因为教会是敬拜上帝和阅读圣言的地方。但是天主教会崇拜他们自己，而非上帝，他们禁止人们阅读圣言，断言教皇的法令等同甚至超过圣言。
8. Prologue to the Teachings
I have explained in the booklet "The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed" (33-39and following) that the end of a church comes when there is no faith because there is no caring. Since the churches in the Christian world at present have identified themselves solely by differences in matters of faith (although the fact is that if there is no caring there is no faith), I should like to preface these teachings with some observations about the body of teaching focused on caring as understood by the ancients. By "the churches in the Christian world," I mean those among the Reformed and Evangelicals, 1but not among Roman Catholics, because the Christian church is not found there. That is, the church exists wherever the Lord is worshiped and the Word is read, and this is not the case among Roman Catholics. 2They worship themselves in place of the Lord, 3the Word is kept from the laity, 4and papal decrees are given equal or even higher status. 5
Footnotes:
1. The Reformed tradition in Protestantism is usually considered to include the churches inspired by the theology of John Calvin (1509-1564). These churches include the Dutch Reformed, the Presbyterian, and others. In Germany and much of continental Europe the term Evangelical (German evangelisch) has generally been used to refer to Lutherans, meaning the churches inspired by the theology of Martin Luther (1483-1546). However, both Reformed and Evangelical were also used by various authors to refer to Protestants in general; for an example of this different usage, see Last Judgment 47-48, where the word Reformati, "the Reformed," is translated "Protestants"; and contrast note 3 in Last Judgment 47. For the historical development of these factions over time, see MacCulloch 2003. [RS, SS, JSR]
2. Swedenborg's distinction between "Christians" and "Catholics," while offensive to many readers today, is rooted in the dominant assumptions of Swedenborg's Lutheran environment and the details of his own theology. Sixteenth-century polemics against the Roman Catholic Church were still being repeated in eighteenth-century Protestant Europe. Martin Luther had lumped "papists" together with "Jews, Turks, [and] radicals," and his tactic of assimilating Roman Catholic worship to "pagan" religion was frequently employed during the vicious sectarian debates of the following centuries (Harrison 2002, 5-10). However, it is important to note that Swedenborg in no way saw this exclusion of Catholicism from the Christian world as excluding the Catholic faithful from salvation. See, for example, Last Judgment 63; Supplements 58; Revelation Unveiled 786[3]; True Christianity 821; Draft of "Supplements" 111 [Rogers's numbering] = 112 [Potts's numbering] (= Swedenborg 1997a, 99-100). Elsewhere he expresses approval of Catholic practices of good works and confession, as well as other features of the religion. See, for example, Revelation Unveiled 531[7]; Survey 108; True Christianity 561-562. For more information on the confessional debates of this period, see Harrison 2002 and Pailin 1984. On Swedenborg's specific charges against the Catholic Church, see notes 3, 4, and 5 below. [DNG, RS, JSR, SS]
3. By the statement that members of the Roman Catholic Church "worship themselves in place of the Lord," Swedenborg probably is referring to the reverence traditionally accorded by Roman Catholics to officials at all levels of the church hierarchy, but especially the pope. The saints, too, may be included in this reference. For an extended example of these and similar charges against the Catholic hierarchy, see Last Judgment 55. For places where Swedenborg speaks of Catholics worshiping or venerating the pope, see, for example, Revelation Unveiled 743:3, 796:2; True Christianity 820. For places where he speaks of Catholics worshiping or invoking saints, see, for example, Secrets of Heaven 3447; Last Judgment 56[6]; Faith 8; True Christianity 560, 634, 824. For more on Roman Catholic worship of saints, see note 6 in Last Judgment 55. [SS, JSR, LSW]
4. A key part of the accusation that "the Word is kept from the laity" was the medieval papacy's reluctance to translate the Bible out of the Latin Vulgate and into the new European vernaculars, in which it could be read by the laity. Martin Luther made lay readership of vernacular Bibles a central plank of the Reformation, and the Catholic Counter-Reformation responded by banning the reading of vernacular Bibles absent the formal permission of the Inquisition (see MacCulloch 2003, 393-394, 565-566; compare also the decrees of the Council of Toulouse [1229], canon 14 [Peters 1980, 195], and "Ten Rules on Prohibited Books," rules 3-4 [Janz 2008, 422-426], authorized by the Council of Trent in 1563, and approved in 1564 by Pope Pius IV [1499-1565]). The ban was never consistently applied, and in Swedenborg's day approved vernacular translations in all the major European languages were permitted to circulate among the Catholic faithful. Nevertheless, the accusation that the Roman Catholic Church discouraged its communicants from reading the Bible was still widely repeated, and Swedenborg clearly accepted its substance. In Swedenborg's theology, the church is generally defined as "where the Word is present and the Lord is known by means of it" ( Sacred Scripture 104; see also New Jerusalem 246 and note 2 in New Jerusalem 3). So in Swedenborg's view, the Roman Catholic Church had ceased to be a church when it began discouraging lay readership of the Bible: "The Lord ensures that there is always a church on earth where the Word is being read and the Lord is becoming known through it. When the Word was virtually rejected by Catholics, in the Lord's divine providence the Reformation took place. As a result, the Word was taken from its hiding places, so to speak, and put to use" (True Christianity 270). For more on the history of vernacular Bible translation in this period, see Hunter and others 1969, 2:338-490 (= chapter 9, "The Vernacular Scriptures") [DNG, RS, JSR, SS]
5. Swedenborg here touches on one of the points of contention between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant reformers. The Catholic Church holds that "truth and [church] discipline are contained in the written books [of Scripture] and the unwritten traditions which . . . have come down even unto us" (Council of Trent, Session 4, April 8, 1546, as quoted in Schaff 1931, 2:80). By contrast, most of Protestant Christianity insists that Scripture alone contains divinely revealed truth; thus Sola Scriptura, "Scripture Alone," was one of the battle cries of the early reformers. Complementing the importance of tradition in Catholic doctrine is the concept of the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the church, which conveys and interprets the tradition. The Magisterium includes not only the decrees of the pope mentioned here, but the decrees of church councils and the authorized writings of church scholars. Although today the Catholic Church clearly teaches that the Magisterium "is not above the Word of God, but serves it" ( Catechism of the Catholic Church 2000, 27), among non-Catholics the Magisterium has long been target of such criticism as is seen in this passage. [SS]
8. Preface
The booklet 'The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed' shows that a religious era comes to an end when there is no more faith because there is no more kindness. Today, the Christian denominations are divided among themselves only by points of faith. But when there is no kindness, there is no faith. So before I go on to the new religion’s philosophy, I would like to say something about the ancient people’s perspective on kindness.
When I say “Christian denominations,” I mean the Reformed or Evangelical [Protestant] denominations, but not Roman Catholicism, since it is not Christian. Christians worship the Lord and read the Bible. It is different in the Catholic Church. There, they worship themselves instead of the Lord, people are not allowed to read the Bible, and the Pope’s statements are given an authority equal to or even higher than the Bible.
8. PROLOGUE TO THE TEACHING
I showed in the short book THE LAST JUDGMENT AND THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON that a church reaches its end when there is no faith because there is no charity. Since the churches in Christendom have at the present time made themselves distinct solely by such matters as relate to faith, and yet there is no faith where there is no charity. I should like before describing the teaching itself to say a few words by way of introduction on the teaching about charity among the ancient peoples. When I speak of the churches in Christendom I mean the churches among the Reformed or Evangelical Christians. I do not include the church among the Roman Catholics, because there is no Christian church there. For a church is where the Lord is adored and the Word is read, and this is not the case among the Catholics. There they are adored themselves in place of the Lord, and the people are prevented from reading the Word; and the Pope's utterance is placed on a level with, or rather above, the Word.
8. INTRODUCTION TO THE DOCTRINE
That the Church is at an end, when there is no faith, because no charity, has been shewn in the small work on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon, The Last Judgment 33-39. And now, since the Churches in Christendom had become distinguished among one another solely by such things as belong to faith, when yet faith is nothing where there is no charity, therefore I wish to premise, before the Doctrine itself, some things concerning the Doctrine of Charity among the Ancients. The expression is used "the Churches in Christendom," and by these are meant the Churches among the Reformed or Evangelical, and not among the Papists, because the Christian Church is not among them: for, where the Church is, there the Lord is worshipped, and the Word is read; it is otherwise among the Papists: there they worship themselves instead of the Lord, and the Word is forbidden to be read by the people, and a decree of the Pope is placed equal with it, yea, above it.
8. INTRODUCTION TO THE DOCTRINE.
The end of the church is when there is no faith because there is no charity. This is shown in the small work on The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 33-39 seq.). Because the churches in the Christian world have separated themselves from each other solely by such things as are of faith, when yet there is no faith where there is no charity, I will, by way of introduction to the doctrine which follows, make some observations concerning the doctrine of charity with the ancients. It is said "the churches in the Christian world," and by them is meant the churches with the Reformed or Evangelical and not the Papists, since the Christian church is not there; for where the church exists the Lord is adored and the Word is read; whereas, with the Papists, they adore themselves instead of the Lord; they forbid the Word to be read by the people; and affirm the Pope's decree to be equal, yea, even above it.
8. PROLOGUS AD DOCTRINAM
Quod finis ecclesiae sit, quando nulla fides quia nulla charitas, ostensum est in opusculo De Ultimo Judicio et Babylonia destructa (33-39, seq.). Quia nunc ecclesiae in Christiano orbe se distinxerant solum per talia quae fidei sunt, et usque fides nulla est ubi non charitas, ideo velim hic, ante ipsam Doctrinam, praemittere aliqua de doctrina charitatis apud antiquos. Dicitur, ecclesiae in Christiano orbe, et per illas intelliguntur ecclesiae apud Reformatos seu Evangelicos, non autem apud Pontificios, quoniam ibi non Ecclesia Christiana est; nam ubi ecclesia, ibi adoratur Dominus et legitur Verbum aliter apud illos; ibi adorantur ipsi loco Domini, et Verbum inhibetur legi a populo, ac dictamen Papae ponitur ei aequale, immo supra id.