117.有各种各样的比喻可用来说明征服地狱，恢复天堂秩序，然后建立教会这三件事。这些事好比一伙强盗或反叛分子入侵一个国家或一座城市，放火焚屋，抢夺居民财物，坐地分赃，还洋洋自得。而救赎行为则好比一位正义的国王率军攻打他们，将其中一些人斩杀，另一些人投入监狱，夺回他们的战利品，归还给臣民，然后建立国家秩序，确保它的安全，使其免受类似攻击。还好比一群野兽从森林里窜出来，袭击牛羊群和百姓，以致没人敢出城到庄稼地里，致使田地荒芜，城镇居民面临饥荒的威胁。而救赎行为则好比杀死并驱逐这些野兽，保护田地和村庄自此以后不再遭受这样的袭击。又好比成群的蝗虫吃光地上的绿叶，为阻止它们进一步发展而采取措施。同样好比初夏毛毛虫啃噬树叶和果实，使得树木如在隆冬那样变得光秃秃；于是便将它们抖掉，以便花园重新开花结果。若主不通过救赎行为将善人与恶人分开，将恶人丢入地狱，善人提入天堂，教会的情形也一样。若没有正义和法庭将恶人从善人的社会踢除，保护善人免受侵害，好让人人在家中安全生活，如圣言所说，安然坐在他们的无花果树下或葡萄树下（列王纪上4:25；弥迦书4:4），那么，一个帝国和一个国家会是什么样？
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117. 有各樣的現象可以用來描述救贖的一系列過程, 就是先征服地獄,再重建天國,最後建立新的教會。
它們可用這樣形容:一隊搶劫或謀反者組成的軍隊入侵一城, 放火燒屋, 掠奪居民財產, 坐地分贓, 為非作歹, 自享其樂。救贖行動就好比一位公義的國王率軍攻打入侵者, 射殺一些敵人, 將剩餘的俘虜入監, 奪回財物交還百姓, 然後重建家園, 恢復正常生產生活秩序, 並修理工事, 以防將來再次被攻。
還可這樣作比方:森林的野獸成群湧出, 攻擊牛羊家畜, 甚至襲人, 以致百姓只好躲在家中, 不敢出城下地種莊稼。最後, 田地荒芫, 百姓死于饑餓。那麼救贖的行為就好比去擊殺野獸,將它們驅趕到森林, 保護田地和農村不再被襲擊。
另外, 好比大群的蝗蟲吃光地上的綠葉, 用某種方式來停止它們繼續蔓延。好比毛蟲在夏初剝光果樹的葉子(這樣就無法結果), 這些樹光禿禿如同寒冬之時。於是搖動樹木, 讓蟲子掉下, 讓花園果樹得以開花結果。
教會也是一樣, 主採取救贖行為, 將善者從惡者分出來, 惡者下地獄, 其他上天國。
若沒有公義和公平, 一個國家會將如何？公義公平將惡者從善者之群分開, 以保護善者免受侵害, 可以在家中安然生活, 正如聖言所言:安然坐在他們的無花果樹下或葡萄樹下(列王記上4:25;彌迦書4:4)。
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117. Gaining control of the hells, restructuring the heavens, and then establishing a church can be illustrated by various comparisons.
They can be illustrated by a comparison with an army of looters or rebels who invade a country or a city, set fire to the houses, plunder the citizens' goods, and divide the spoils among themselves, enjoying and glorifying themselves because of it. Redemption itself can be illustrated by a comparison with an upright monarch who attacks these invaders with an army, puts some of them to the sword, imprisons the rest in labor camps, takes the stolen goods away from them to give back to the citizens, and then restructures the country and gives it protection against attack by similar assailants in the future.
It could also be illustrated by a comparison with wild animals that have formed packs and are charging out of the forest attacking flocks and herds and even people. The people do not dare to go outside the walls of the city and cultivate the land, so the fields are becoming deserts and the people in the city are about to die of hunger. Redemption could be illustrated by analogy with killing some of the wild animals, driving away the others, and protecting the fields and plains from any further attack of the kind.
It could also be illustrated by locusts that are consuming every green thing in the ground and then by the means of stopping them from going any farther. Also by caterpillars at the beginning of summer that strip the leaves off the trees (thus preventing the fruit from coming) so that the trees stand as naked as in midwinter; and then by the act of shaking the caterpillars off and restoring the garden to flowering and fruit-bearing.
The church would have been in a comparable situation unless the Lord through redemption had separated the good from the evil, had cast the evil into hell, and had lifted the good to heaven.
What would it be like in an empire or a country that knew no justice or judgment? Justice and judgment take evil people away from the company of the good; they protect good people from being violated so that they may live safely in their own homes and, as it says in the Word, sit in serenity under their own fig tree and their own vine [1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4].
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117. A variety of similes can be used to illustrate the conquest of the hells, the ordering of the heavens and then the establishment of the church. These can be compared with a band of robbers or rebels who invade a kingdom or a city, set fire to the houses in it, loot the inhabitants' goods, divide their booty between them and enjoy themselves boasting of their prowess. The act of redemption then can be compared to a just king who attacks them with his army, puts some of them to the sword, shuts up others in labour camps, and takes away their booty and returns it to his subjects, and afterwards imposes order on his kingdom, making it safe from any similar attack. Another comparison might be with troops of wild beasts breaking out from the forests and attacking flocks and herds, and people too, so that no one dares to leave the walls of their town to till the ground; so the fields are bare and the townsmen likely to die of famine. Then redemption can be compared with the killing and putting to flight of those wild beasts, and the protection of fields and countryside from any further such attack. Another comparison might be with a swarm of locusts eating all the greenstuff on the earth, and with measures taken to block their further progress. Likewise with caterpillars in early summer which strip trees of their leaves, and thus of their fruit too, so that they stand all bare as at midwinter; and the shaking of them off, so that gardens are restored to their flowering and fruitful condition. It would be the same with the church, if the Lord had not by the act of redemption separated the good from the evil, and cast one lot into hell, and raised the others into heaven. What would happen to an empire or a kingdom devoid of justice and law-courts, designed to remove the wicked from the society of the good, and to protect the good from violence, so that everyone could live at home in safety, and, as it says in the Word, sit quietly under his own fig tree and vine?
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117. The subjugation of the hells, the restoration of order in the heavens, and the institution afterwards of a church, is a work that may be illustrated by various similitudes. It may be illustrated by comparison with an army of robbers or rebels who invade a kingdom or a city, and set fire to its dwellings, plunder its inhabitants, divide the spoil among themselves, and then rejoice and exult; while redemption itself may be compared to the lawful king who advances against these rebels with his army, puts some to the sword, and some in prison, recovers the booty, and restores it to his subjects, thereafter establishing order in his kingdom, and rendering it secure against like assaults. It may also be illustrated by comparison with a troop of wild beasts issuing from a forest, attacking flocks and herds and even human beings, so that nobody dares to go outside of the walls of his city to till the ground, and therefore the fields become deserts, and the townsmen are threatened with starvation; while redemption may be compared to the slaughtering and scattering of these wild beasts, and the protection of the fields from any such irruption thereafter. It may be likened also to locusts consuming every green thing of the ground, and to the means to prevent their further progress; and again, to worms in early summer, which strip the trees of their foliage and thus of their fruit, so that they stand bare as in midwinter, and to the extermination of the worms, and the consequent restoration of the garden to its state of bloom and fruitfulness. Thus would it be with the church, if the Lord had not by redemption separated the good from the evil, casting the evil into hell and raising the good to heaven. What would become of an empire or kingdom if by the exercise of justice and judgment the evil were not separated from the good, and the good protected from violence, so that everyone might dwell safely in his own home, or, as is said in the Word, sit in peace under his own vine and fig tree?
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117. The subjugation of the hells, the orderly arrangement of the heavens, and afterwards the establishment of a Church, may be illustrated by various comparisons. The hells may be compared to an army of robbers or rebels, who invade a kingdom or a city, set fire to the houses, plunder the goods of the inhabitants, divide the spoil and then rejoice in triumph; while redemption itself may be compared to the operations of a righteous king, who marches against them with his army and puts some of them to the sword, imprisons others, deprives them of their booty, restores it to his subjects, and after establishing order in his kingdom, renders it secure against similar attacks. The hells may also be compared to hordes of wild beasts sallying forth from a forest, which attack flocks and herds and even men, so that no one dares to go beyond the walls of his city to cultivate the ground; consequently the fields are likely to become waste, and the townspeople to perish of hunger; but redemption may be compared to the destruction and dispersion of those wild beasts, and to the protection of the fields and plains from further similar attacks. The hells may be compared also to locusts, that consume every green thing on the earth; and redemption to the means by which their progress is brought to an end. Finally, the hells may be compared to caterpillars which, at the beginning of summer, strip the trees of their leaves and consequently of their fruit, so that they stand bare as in the middle of winter, while redemption may be compared to the destruction of such insects and the restoration of the garden to its state of bloom and fruitfulness. So it would be with the Church unless the Lord, by redemption, had separated the good from the evil, and had cast the latter into hell and taken the former into heaven. What would become of an empire or kingdom, if there were no justice and judgment to remove the evil from among the good, and to protect the good from molestation, so that every man might dwell in the security of his own home, and, as it is expressed in the Word, sit in peace under his own vine and under his own fig-tree?
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117. Subjugatio Infernorum, ordinatio Coelorum, et deinde instauratio Ecclesiae, illustrari possunt per varias similitudines; illustrari possunt per similitudinem cum Exercitu 1 praedonum aut rebellium, qui invadunt Regnum aut Urbem, et ibi incendunt domos, depopulantur incolarum bona, et dividunt praedas inter se, et se inde laetificant et glorificant; ipsa autem Redemptio illustrari potest per similitudinem cum Rege justo, qui cum suo Exercitu 2 aggreditur illos, et partem illorum sub gladium mittit, et partem ergastulis includit, ac aufert illis praedas, ac subditis restituit, ac postea Regnum ordinat, et tutum a similium insultu reddit. Illustrari etiam potest per similitudinem cum feris congregatis erumpentibus e silva, quae invadunt greges et armenta, et quoque homines, propter quae homo maenibus suae urbis non audet exire, et colere terram, unde campi erunt deserti, et urbani fame perituri sunt; ac Redemptio illustrari potest per internecionem et profligationem ferarum illarum, et per tutationem agrorum et camporum a talium ulteriore invasione. Illustrari etiam potest per locustas consumentes omne viride humi, et per media ne ulterius progrediantur: pariter per vermiculos tempore primo aestatis, qui deprivant arbores foliis, et sic etiam fructibus, ut stent nudae sicut in media hyeme, et per excussionem illorum, et sic restitutionem horti in statum suae efflorescentiae et fructificationis. Simile fieret cum Ecclesia, nisi Dominus per Redemptionem separavisset bonos a malis, et hos in Infernum conjecisset, et illos in Coelum elevavisset; quid foret cum Imperio et Regno, ubi non justitia et judicium, per quae mali e medio bonorum auferantur, et boni tutentur a violationibus, ut quisque in securitate in sua domo vivat, ac sicut in Verbo dicitur, sub sua ficu et vite in tranquillo sedeat.
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