SS116.我被允许看见出生在遥远海岛上的人，他们在世间事务上是理性的，却对神一无所知。在灵界，这些人看上去就像类人猿，其生活与类人猿的生活极为相似。但他们因生而为人，从而具有接受属灵生命的能力，故被天使教导，通过认识到神是一个人而从灵性上活过来。至于人凭自己是什么样，这从地狱里的人明显看出来；他们当中就有一些不愿听见关于神的任何事，从而不能说出“神”这个名的知名人士和学者。我见过这些人，并与他们交谈过；还与一些一听见有人谈论神，就怒火中烧的人交谈过。
这就是一些听说过神，写过神，传讲过神之人的性质，其中许多人是耶稣会士。请想一想，就连这些人尚且如此，那么从来没听说过神的人又会是什么样呢？正是由于意愿，也就是邪恶，这些人才具有这种性质；因为如前所述（115节），意愿引导理解力，并将它里面来自圣言的真理从它那里夺走。人若能凭自己知道有一位神，人死后会继续活着，为何不知道人死后仍是一个人呢？又为何相信他的灵魂或灵就像一口气或以太，没有看见的眼睛，听见的耳朵，说话的嘴巴，除非它与其身体再度联结并融合，哪怕这身体现在是一具死尸，甚至一架骷髅呢？
所以假如唯独从理性之光孵化出来的一种敬拜的教义真的存在，这教义岂不教导，人自己的自我要受到敬拜吗？因为很长时间以来，人们一直在做这种事，并且如今有些人仍在这样做，尽管他们从圣言知道唯独神当受到敬拜。任何其它种类的敬拜，甚至对日月的敬拜，都不可能从人自己的自我而来。
116. I have been allowed to see people born on [remote] islands who were rational in civic matters but knew absolutely nothing about God. In the spiritual world they look like apes and lead an almost apelike life; but since they were born human and have the ability to accept spiritual life, they are taught by angels and brought to life by recognizing that the Lord is human.
What we are like left to our own devices is obvious from people in hell. This includes some of the eminent and learned who are unwilling to hear anything about God and therefore cannot pronounce the word “God.” I have seen them and talked with them, and have also talked with some who burst into flaming wrath and rage when they hear anyone talking about God.
[2] Stop and think, then, what people would be like who had never heard about God, when there are people like this who have heard about God, who have written about God, and who have preached about God. Many people of this sort are Jesuits.
The basic cause of this kind of nature is a will that is evil; and this, as already noted [115], leads our understanding and takes away any truth it has from the Word. If it is possible for us to know on our own that God exists and that we go on living after death, why then do some people not know that we remain human beings after death? Why do some believe that the soul or spirit is like the wind or the ether, and does not see with its own eyes or hear with its own ears or speak with its own mouth before it is [once again] united and merged with its body, even though that is now a cadaver or even a skeleton?
[3] So imagine a theory of worship concocted solely in the light of reason. Would it not teach that we ourselves are to be worshiped, as has been done for ages and still is by people, despite the fact that they know from the Word that we should worship God alone? No other kind of worship can come from our own self-aggrandizement, not even the worship of the sun and the moon.
116. I have been granted to see peoples born on islands who were rational as regards civic matters, but who knew nothing at all of God. In the spiritual world they look like apes and lead a life almost like that of apes. But because they were born human beings, and so into the ability to receive spiritual life, they are instructed by angels and given new life through concepts of God as a man.
What a person is like on his own is clearly apparent from people in hell, who have among them some clerics and learned who are unwilling even to hear of God and therefore cannot even mention God. I have seen them and spoken with them. And I have also spoken with some who responded with the fire of anger and wrath when they heard someone speaking about God.
[2] Consider, then, what a person would be like if he was told nothing of God, when some people are as described who have heard about God, written about God, and preached about God. Many of the Jesuits are of that character.
They are of such a character because they are prompted by a will that is evil, and, as we said before, this steers the intellect and expels any truth that it has in it from the Word.
If people could have known on their own of the existence of God and life after death, why have they not known that a person remains a person after death? Why have they supposed that his soul or spirit is like a puff of wind or the ether, which has no eyes with which to see, or ears with which to hear, or mouth with which to speak, until it is united to and combines with its corpse and skeleton?
Imagine then a doctrine for use in worship hatched from rational sight alone. Would it not be people themselves who were worshiped, as has been the case from days of old and is the case today by those who know from the Word that God alone is to be worshiped? No other worship can come of a person’s native self, not even worship of the sun or moon.
116. It has been granted me to see people, born in remote islands, who were rational in civil matters, and yet knew nothing about God. In the spiritual world they appear like apes and live almost like them; but being men, and consequently born with the capacity to receive spiritual life, they are instructed by angels; and they are made alive by means of cognitions concerning the Lord as a Man. What a man is of himself is very evident from those in hell, where there are also prelates and scholars, who do not wish even to hear of God, and therefore cannot utter His name. I have seen these and conversed with some of them. I have also spoken with some who burned with anger and fury when they heard anyone speaking of God.
[2] Consider, therefore, what that man would be like who never heard of God, when this is the character of some who have heard of God, and who have written and preached about Him. There are many such from among the Jesuits. That they are of such a character is from the will, which is evil; and the will, as was said before, leads the understanding and deprives it of any truth it may have from the Word.
If man of himself could have known that there is a God and a life after death, why has he not discovered that a man is a man after death? Why does he imagine that his soul or spirit is like wind or ether, which neither sees with eyes, nor hears with ears, nor speaks with a mouth, until it is reunited with its own dead body and skeleton?
[3] Imagine therefore, doctrine for worship derived from the light of reason alone; would it not teach that self should be worshipped, as has been done for ages, and is still done to-day by some who know from the Word that God alone is to be worshipped? No other worship can be derived from man's proprium, not even that of the sun and moon.
116. I have been permitted to see peoples who had been born in [remote] islands, who were rational in respect to civil matters, but had known nothing whatever about God. In the spiritual world such appear like apes, and their life is very similar to that of apes. But having been born men, and consequently being endowed with a capacity to receive spiritual life, they are instructed by angels and are made spiritually alive by means of knowledges about God as a man. What man is, of himself, is very evident from the character of those who are in hell, among whom are to be found leading and learned men who are unwilling even to hear of God, and therefore cannot utter His name. I have seen such and have conversed with them. I have conversed also with some who burned with angry passion when they heard anyone speak of God. Such being the character of some who have heard about God, who have written about God, and have preached about God (and there are many such from among the Jesuits), consider what a man would be who had never even heard of Him. It is from the will, which is evil, that these are of such a character; for, as before said, the will leads the understanding, and takes away from it the truth that is in it from the Word. If man had been able of himself to know that there is a God and a life after death, why has he not known that after death a man is still a man? Why does he believe that his soul or spirit is like a breath of air, or like the ether, and that it has no eyes with which to see, nor ears with which to hear, nor mouth with which to speak, until it shall have been conjoined and combined with its carcass and with its skeleton? Assume then the existence of a doctrine of worship that has been hatched solely from rational light, and will not that doctrine be that a man's own self is to be worshiped? For ages this is what has been done, and is done at the present day by some who know from the Word that God alone ought to be worshiped. From what is man's own, any other kind of worship, even that of the sun and moon, is impossible.
116. Datum est videre populos in insulis natos, quoad civilia rationales, qui ne hilum sciverunt de Deo. Illi in mundo spirituali apparent sicut simiae, ac paene simili vita cum illis. At quia homines nati sunt, et inde in facultate recipiendi vitam spiritualem, instruuntur ab angelis, et per cognitiones de Domino ut Homine vivificantur. Qualis est homo ex se, apparet evidenter ex illis qui in inferno sunt, inter quos etiam aliqui antistites et eruditi sunt, qui ne quidem volunt audire de Deo, et propterea nec possunt nominare Deum; hos vidi, et cum illis locutus sum; et quoque locutus sum cum illis, qui in ignem irae et excandescentiae venerunt, cum audiverunt aliquem loquentem de Deo. Expende itaque, qualis homo foret, qui nihil audivit de Deo, cum quidam tales sunt qui audiverunt de Deo, scripserunt de Deo, et praedicaverunt de Deo; sunt plures tales ex Jesuitis. Quod tales sint, est ex voluntate quae mala est; et haec, ut prius dictum est, ducit intellectum, et aufert verum quod ibi est ex Verbo. Si homo ex se potuisset scire quod Deus sit, et quod vita post mortem, cur non sciverat quod homo sit homo post mortem? Cur credit quod anima seu spiritus ejus sit sicut ventus aut sicut aether, qui non videt oculis, et audit auribus, et loquitur ore, priusquam conjungitur et coalescit cum suo cadavere et cum suo sceleto? Pone itaque doctrinam pro cultu ex solo lumine rationali exclusam, annon foret, ut ipse coleretur? ut factum est a saeculis et hodie fit ab illis, qui sciunt ex Verbo, quod solus Deus colendus sit, Cultus alius ex proprio hominis non dari potest; ne quidem cultus solis et lunae.