5450. 1Black, misshapen horses were seen, like darkening clouds. They approached me and behind me I felt an aura of adultery. I wondered what this was. Then I heard there were some at my back who said, "What need is there of knowledge, of knowing about truth? It's enough to take part in holy worship." From this I realized that those darkening clouds originated from them. Then it was said to them that holy worship apart from concepts about what is true and good is not holy, because there is nothing of heaven in it, because it comes from an empty person, from whom nothing is felt coming. And I said that everything in a person, to be precise, everything of what is true and good, is in all and each detail of the worship, and so if there is nothing within, what kind of worship, or rather what kind of holiness, is there?
[2] They are thinking about and from themselves. And I said that a person cannot have heaven in him- or herself apart from knowledge, for instance, if one does not know about the Lord, that all that is good is from Him, and about oneself, that all evil comes from oneself. This is the source of the humility that is part of worship. If these are not present in the humility, there is nothing there other than sound coming from the mouth, and nothing from the heart. So it is in many other instances: things must be known before they can form the understanding and will, that is to say, faith and love. These just mentioned who were of such a character were monks. Because the monks keep everyone in the greatest obscurity and in darkness, a papal darkness has arisen from this. They who are such, namely, who reject knowledge, through which nonetheless is the way to heaven, and who place all worship in outer things; they are Gog and Magog in Revelation [20:8].
Footnotes:
1. Paragraphs 5430ִ9 are missing in the original manuscript.
5450. 1Some hideous black horses were seen like dusky clouds. They approached me, and I felt behind me the sphere of adulteration. I wondered what that was. Certain ones at my back were then heard to say: "What need of knowledges, thus, of truths; it is sufficient that one is in holy worship." It was thence perceived that those dusky clouds were from these. They were then told that outward holiness, without knowledges of truth and good, is not holiness, because there is nothing from heaven in it; for it is from an empty man from whom nothing is perceived. They were also told that a man's love, namely, of truth and good, is in all and everyone of the things of [his] worship: hence, if there is nothing [of this] within, what must the quality of the worship or the quality of the holiness be? Those of this description think of self and from self. [It was said], also, that a man is not able to have heaven in him without knowledges: for instance, if he does not know of the Lord, that all good is from Him, and of himself, that all evil [is from him], and that from this knowledge comes the humiliation which belongs to worship. If these [knowledges] are not in the humiliation it has not anything in it, since only the mouth produces it and not the heart. Thus, too, it is in many other instances, namely, that things must be known before they can enter into the formation of the understanding and the will, or the faith and the love. These who were of such a character were monks, 2because they keep everybody in the greatest obscurity and darkness: thence it is that papistical darkness arises. Those, namely, who are of such a character, averse to knowledges, by which, all the while, is the way to heaven, and who place the whole of worship in outward things, are the Gog and Magog of the Apocalypse. 3
Footnotes:
1. The numbering leaps, as here, from Apocalypse Revealed 858, 859. -ED.
5450. 1
Visi sunt equi nigri deformes sicut furvae nubes, appropinquabant ad me, et sensi post me sphaeram adulterationis, miratus quid illud, tunc auditum quod quidam a tergo essent, qui dicerent, "quid opus cognitionibus, ita veri? satis est ut in sancto cultu sit," inde perceptum quod nubes illae furvae inde essent, tunc dicebatur illis, quod sanctum externum absque cognitionibus veri et boni non sit sanctum, quia nihil e coelo est in illo, est enim ab homine vacuo, ex quo nihil percipitur, et dictum quod omnia hominis, scilicet veri et boni, in omnibus et singulis cultus sint, inde si nihil intus qualis cultus seu quale sanctum? cogitant de se et ex se, tum quod homo non possit in se coelum habere absque cognitionibus, sicut si non sciat de Domino, quod ab Ipso omne bonum, de se quod omne malum, inde humiliatio quae cultus, si haec non insunt humiliationi non est aliquid ibi, quam solum quod os producit, et cor nihil, ita in pluribus aliis, quod nempe sciendae sint antequam forment intellectum et voluntatem, seu fidem et amorem. Hi qui tales erant monachi, quia illi tenent omnes in obscurissimo et in caligine, inde caligo papistica. Qui tales sunt, nempe qui aversantur cognitiones, per quas usque via ad coelum, et qui omnem cultum ponunt in externis, sunt Gogus et Magogus in Apocalypsi [XX: [8].
Footnotes:
1. 5430-49 desunt