3376. From this I was also given to realize that after the flood mankind was turned upside down, so to speak, namely that there remained dreadful passions for, or pleasures in, tormenting the Lord and everything pertaining to faith, while here and there that hereditary character in the descendants was lessened, and then there succeeded mental images based on knowledge, which were separate [from desires], so that mankind became entirely different. For now the knowledge and understanding of religion could be stored away in a person, even one who remained immersed in dreadful passions and behaved insanely. So the thinking was separated from the will, which was more or less left to its desires so that there was no will, but the will for good and truth is the Lord's, and faith based on knowledge and understanding
3376. Then was it also granted to perceive that after the flood, man was, as it were, inverted, to wit, that cupidities, or dreadful pleasures in tormenting the Lord, and the things of faith, remained, and by degrees [passim] that hereditary [principle] was lessened in their posterity, and so succeeded scientific ideas, which were separated; so that man became entirely different, to wit, that the scientifics and intellectuals of faith, could be hidden, in [apud] man, though he should remain in his dire cupidities and act madly; thus thought was separated from the will which was left, as it were, to cupidities, so that there is no will; but the will of good and true is of the Lord, and scientific and intellectual faith is separated, or shut up separate,
3376. --tunc 1
quoque percipere datum, quod post diluvium homo quasi inversus sit, nempe quod cupiditates seu dirae jucunditates cruciandi Dominum, et ea quae sunt fidei, remanerent, et passim diminueretur id haereditarium ab iis, in posteris, et sic succederent ideae scientificae, quae separatae essent, sic ut aliter homo prorsus 2
factus esset, nempe ut possent 3
apud hominee recondi scientifica et intellectualia fidei, tametsi is maneret in suis diris cupiditatibus, et ageret vesane, ita cogitatio separata est a voluntate, quae quasi relicta est cupiditatibus, sic ut nulla voluntas sit, sed voluntas
(3377.) boni et veri est Domini, et fides scientifica et intellectualis separata seu separatim recondita, aliter ac apud antediluvianos. Homo enim compositus ex meris scandalis, vide prius [338], hoc scandalum 4
fere quasi continuum, apud antediluvianos, apud posteros post diluvium, a Domino factum est quasi discretum, quod nusquam fieri potuisset, nisi scandala manerent apud hominem, quare etiam Dominus iis factus est scandalum, ut passim in Verbo [Rom. IX: 32-33, I Cor. I: 23, Gal. V: 11, I Pet. II: 8], ideo quoque passus, et crucifixus, ut scandala remanerent, aliter nusquam scandalum ita continuum, potuit reddi discretum, et sic salvari homo, per insertionem scientificorum et intellectualium, ut non apparerent sic scandala. 1748, 26, 27 Sept.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has veri. 3376. tunc
2. The Manuscript has prosus
3. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has posset
4. The Manuscript has scandulum