590.有学问的欧洲灵人不断想要引诱他们远离真理和对主的信仰；他们反对说，救赎是在一定时间内实现的，在祂降世之前，已经过去了将近四千年；然而在那个时间之前，灵人就已经得救了。木星灵忍不住对他们所捏造的关于神性事物的这类指控发笑，因为他们被告知，过去和现在与神为一；因为从永恒到永恒的一切都呈现在祂面前，因此应许和行为与主是一回事。除此之外，我们地球灵还经常举出其它事作为反对的理由，他们想要败坏凡他们所遇见的一切灵人。这就是被称为基督徒的欧洲人，事实上，内在具有这种特性的人有很多；因为在这个世界上，他们会伪装，嘴上说一套，心里想一套。从今以后，灵人或灵魂只能出于他们后天养成的性情，因而出于他们的内心，进而出于他们的爱之生命说话，他们的爱之生命无非是由强烈的情欲构成的，由此而来的他们所谓的理解力无非是由虚假构成的。因为与死后之人同在的，只有源于他们的爱的推理能力。因此，爱在身体里面如何，生命和行为也如何；这爱在来世很容易被识别，以至于再没有比这更容易的了。哪怕他们只说了一句话或透露一个观念，或仅仅是想了想，他们的整个灵就会立刻暴露，还显示出他们活在肉身期间是何品质；因此，他们与类似的灵人联系在一起，并一起行动。
590. Learned spirits of Europe, who are constantly trying to lead them away from truth and belief in the Lord, held forth that His act of salvation took place in a given time, and almost four thousand years had elapsed before He came into the world, and yet that also previously, spirits had been saved. The spirits of Jupiter could not help laughing at their inventing such charges in regard to Divine matters, since, as they were told, past and present are one with God; for to Him all things are present from eternity to eternity, so that promised and done is the same thing with the Lord.
There are other objections besides that they very often raise, wanting to corrupt all spirits, whomsoever they meet. Such are the Europeans, who are called Christians, and in fact inwardly, many are of this character; for in the world, they dissemble, saying one thing with the mouth while bearing something different in the heart. Hereafter, spirits or souls cannot but speak from their acquired character and therefore from the heart, consequently from a life of self-love, which had consisted of nothing but passions, with the result that their understanding, so-called, had consisted of nothing but falsities.
For there is no other power of reasoning that stays with people [after death] but what springs from their love, so that such as the love is in the body, such is the life, and such is the behavior. That love is recognized in the other life so easily that nothing is easier. When they utter but one word, or when they divulge, or only think, one mental image, their whole spirit is exposed at once, as well as what they had been like in bodily life. So they are put in the company of similar spirits, who all act in conjunction.
590. Learned European spirits who continually desire to seduce them from the truth and from faith in the Lord objected that salvation was effected in time, and that almost four thousand years had elapsed before He came into the world, and yet spirits had also been saved before that time. The spirits of Jupiter could not but laugh that they should make such allegations concerning things Divine, when, as they were told, the past and the present are one with God; for all things from eternity to eternity are present to Him, and the promise and the deed are the same thing with the Lord. There are besides, other things which the spirits of our earth often raise as objections, and they want to pervert all the spirits they meet. Such are the Europeans who are called Christians, and there are very many indeed who are inwardly such; for in the world they simulate, and say one thing with the mouth, and cherish another at heart. A spirit or soul cannot speak except from his acquired disposition, thus from the heart, consequently from the life of his love which had consisted of mere cupidities. Therefore their so-called understanding is from mere falsities, for there is no inherent reason within them except that which flows from their love. Thus such as is the love in the body, such is the life and such is the act, which is so easily known in the other life that nothing is easier. If they only utter one word or disclose one idea, or if they only think, the whole spirit discloses himself therein, and shows of what quality he had been during the life of the body; wherefore he is associated with those who are alike, and they act together.
590. Objecerunt spiritus Europaei docti, qui eos jugiter seducere a veritate ac fide in Dominum cupiunt, quod salvatio facta in tempore, et intercesserant paene 4000 anni, antequam in mundum venit, et usque quod prius etiam salvati spiritus, ii non potuerunt non rideri, quod similia de Divinis insimularent, cum, sicut iis dictum, est unum apud Deum, praeteritum et praesens, nam omnia praesentia Ipsi ab aeterno in aeternum, et quod promissum et actum, idem est apud Dominum; praeter alia, quae saepius objiciunt, et volunt pervertere spiritus quoscunque offendunt: tales sunt Europaei, qui Christiani vocantur, et quidem plerique intus, nam in mundo simulant, et ore aliud loquuntur, corde aliud gerunt, spiritus seu anima non potest nisi ex indole acquisita postea 1
loqui, sic ex corde, proinde ex sui amoris vita, quae constiterat ex meris cupiditatibus, proinde intellectus eorum sic nominatus a meris falsitatibus, nam non datur aliqua ratio inhaerens, nisi quae ex amore eorum fluit, sic qualis amor in corpore, talis vita, et talis actus, qui 2
tam facile noscitur in altera vita, ut nihil facilius, modo unam vocem pronuntiant, vel unam ideam propalant, vel modo si cogitant, se propalant illico 3
totus spiritus, et qualis fuit invita corporis, quare associatur similibus, qui simul agunt.
Footnotes:
1. imperfectum in the Manuscript
2. in J.F.I. Tafel's edition quae
3. The Manuscript has illo, ubi illuc imperfecte in illico emendatum esse videtur; in J.F.I. Tafel's edition illuc