SS1.大家都说，圣言来自神，是神启的，因而是神圣的；然而，迄今为止，没有人知道这神性元素在圣言中居于何处。这是因为文字上的圣言看上去就像一部风格奇特的普通著作，因而不像当今的一些文学作品那样崇高或辉煌。这就是为何敬拜自然为神，或高举自然在神之上，因而出于自己和自己的兴趣，而不是出于天堂和主思考的人，在圣言方面很容易陷入错误和对它的藐视。当阅读圣言时，他们会对自己说，这是什么？那是什么？这能是神性呢？无限智慧的神会这样说话吗？它的神圣来自哪里，不就来自人们的宗教情感和随之而来的轻信吗？
1. Sacred Scripture, or the Word, Is Divine Truth Itself
EVERYONE says that the Word that comes from God is divinely inspired, and is therefore holy, but thus far no one knows where in the Word this divine element is. This is because in the letter, the Word seems pedestrian, stylistically strange, not sublime or brilliant the way some literature of the present century is. That is why people who worship nature as God or who elevate nature over God and whose thinking therefore comes from themselves and their own interests rather than from heaven and the Lord can so readily slip into error concerning the Word and into contempt for it. When they read it they say to themselves, “What’s this? What’s that? Is this divine? Can a God of infinite wisdom say things like this? Where is its holiness, and where does its holiness come from except people’s religious bias and consequent credulity?”
1. The Sacred Scripture, or Word, Is Divine Truth Itself
Everyone says that the Word comes from God, is Divinely inspired, and so is holy. But even so, no one has known before this wherein the Divinity in it lies. For in its letter the Word appears as though written in the ordinary way, in a foreign style, neither as sublime or nor as lucid as writings of the present age seem to be.
As a result, a person who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and so thinks prompted by self and his own self-interest, and not prompted by heaven in response to the Lord, may easily fall into error regarding the Word, and into scorning it, and when reading it, saying to himself, “What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak so? Where is the holiness in it, and what makes it holy, other than some teaching of religion and so conviction?”
1. I. The Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is the Divine Truth itself.
It is generally agreed that the Word is from God, is divinely inspired, and therefore holy; but hitherto it has remained unknown wherein its divinity resides; for the Word in the Letter appears like common writing in a strange style, lacking the sublimity and brilliance which are apparently features of the literature of the world. For this reason the man who worships nature instead of God, or in preference to God, and who consequently thinks from 1himself and his proprium 2and not from 1heaven from 1the Lord, may easily fall into error respecting the Word and into contempt for it, and say within himself as he reads it, What does this mean? What does that mean? Is this Divine? Can God, to whom belongs infinite wisdom, speak in this way? Where is its sanctity, or whence derived but from man's religious credulity?
Footnotes:
1. The prepositions ex and a, both translated "from," are here used in contrast, a indicating the responsible agent or originating source, and ex an instrumental agent, or intermediary, contributing to the performance of an action, but not itself the source.
2. The Latin word proprium means "what is one's own." Swedenborg uses it in a special sense involving "what is of the self."
1. I. THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OR WORD IS DIVINE TRUTH ITSELF.
It is in everybody's mouth that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine. For in the letter the Word appears like a common writing, in a style that is strange, and neither so sublime nor so brilliant as apparently are the writings of the day. For this reason a man who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and who consequently thinks from himself and what is proper to himself, and not from heaven from the Lord, may easily fall into error in respect to the Word, and into contempt for it, and while reading it may say to himself, What is this? What is that? Can this be Divine? Could God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak in this manner? Wherein consists its holiness, and whence comes its holiness, except from religious feeling and its consequent persuasion?
1. DOCTRINA NOVAE HIEROSOLYMAE DE SCRIPTURA SACRA.
(I.) QUOD SCRIPTURA SACRA SEU VERBUM SIT IPSUM DIVINUM VERUM.
In omnium ore est, quod Verbum sit a Deo, Divinitus inspiratum, et inde Sanctum; sed usque hactenus nescitum est, ubinam in eo Divinum est: nam Verbum in littera apparet sicut scriptum vulgare, stilo peregrino, non sublimi nec lucente, sicut ad apparentiam sunt scripta saeculi. Ex eo est quod homo, qui naturam pro Deo, aut qui illam prae Deo, colit, et inde ex se et suo proprio, et non e caelo a Domino, cogitat, facile in errorem de Verbo, et in contemptum ejus, possit cadere, et secum dicere cum id legit, Quid hoc? quid illud? an hoc est Divinum? an Deus, cui infinita sapientia est, ita loqui potest? ubi et unde sanctum ejus, nisi ex religioso, et inde persuasione?