14.⑺凡不承认神者皆被逐出教会、受到诅咒。凡不承认神者皆被逐出教会、受到诅咒。其原因在于，神是教会的全部，我们称之为神学的神圣真理则构成教会。所以，否认神就是否认属教会的一切事物。因这样的否认而与教会隔绝；并非神与人隔绝，而是人自己与神隔绝。将人逐出教会的，就是这种否认，因而他不是被神、而是被他自己逐出教会。他受到诅咒的原因在于，凡被逐出教会者也被逐出天堂。因为地上的教会和天使天堂合而为一，就象人里面的内在人与外在人，或属灵之物和属世之物。神如此造人，是为了使他的内在人可以居于灵界，而外在人则居于尘世。因此，他被造为两个世界的居民，以便属于天堂的属灵之物能被植入在属于尘世的属世之物中，就象种子被播种于土壤中，他因而变得稳定并持续到永恒。
人若因否认神而将自己逐出教会、从而逐出天堂，也就关闭了其内在人的意愿和给予他快乐的爱。因为人的意愿是其爱的容器，并成为爱的居所。但他无法关闭内在人的理解力，因为若能关闭且已关闭，他就不再是人。然而，他的意愿之爱用谬念冲昏了理解力的高层区域，结果，理解力向属于信的真理和属于仁的良善关闭，因而越来越反对神和教会的属灵事物。人就这样切断了与天堂天使的联系，并因着这种切断而使自己与地狱的撒旦相联，想得和他们一模一样。所有撒旦都否认神，并愚蠢地思想神和教会的属灵事物，凡与他们联结的人也一样。
这样的人在其灵的指引下，如独处时，任由他的思维被恶与假的愉悦支配。他在自己里面孕育并生出这些恶与假。这时，他认为神不存在，或者神只不过是从讲台发出的一个词而已，用来使老百姓服从正义的法律，也就是社会的法律。他还认为圣言（牧师据此声称有一位神）只不过是传道人的大量故事，因着权威而被神圣化，而十诫或教义问答只是一本小册子，当被孩子们翻烂时，就被扔在一边，因为它教导当孝敬父母、不可杀人、不可奸淫、不可偷盗、不可做假见证等等；谁不能从民法中获知这些事？他认为教会是一些头脑简单、容易受骗和思想软弱之人的聚会，他们能看到他们看不到的东西。他视人，包括他自己，如动物，其死后的生命与动物死后的生命一样。
他的内在人就是这样想的，尽管其外在人的说法完全不同。因为就象刚才说的，每个人都有一个内在和一个外在；构成这个人的是内在，也就是死后活着的灵。而外在则被埋进坟墓，正是这外在使他道貌岸然，扮演伪善者的角色；他因否认神而面临诅咒。就人的灵而言，每个人都与灵界中类似自己的灵人相联，如同他们当中的一员。我经常被许可看到人的灵也生活在那里的各个社群，其中有的在那里的天使社群，有的则在地狱社群。我还得以与他们交谈数日，令我很不解的是，尚活在肉身的这个人本人却对此一概不知。这经验清楚表明，那些否认神的人早已在受诅咒者之列，死后则归到他们自己的同类当中。
14. (7)凡不承認上帝者與教會隔絕並被譴罰。
凡不承認上帝, 與教會隔絕。因為上帝是教會的全部, 否認上帝就是否定教會。因這樣的否認而與教會隔絕; 並非上帝與人隔絕, 而是人自己。
他還會面臨譴罰, 因為與教會隔絕就是與天國隔絕。地上的教會和天人的天國聯合為一, 如同人的內在與外在聯合為一。人如此被造, 是為了讓他的內在可以身處心靈世界, 而他的外在可以身處物質世界。結果, 他被造成為兩個世界的居民, 是為了讓屬於天國的靈魂可以被種在屬於塵世的身體之中, 就如同種子被種在土壤裡。人因此變為穩定並持續到永恆。
[2]人的內在(或內在人), 由他的意志和認知組成。意志是接收仁愛的容器, 認知是接收智慧的容器。人因否認上帝而將自己與教會隔絕, 因而與天國隔絕, 也就關閉了他內在人的意志, 進而關閉了對仁愛的接收。但是他不能關閉內在人的認知, 倘若他能這樣做, 便不再是人。然而, 他的意志因不接收仁愛而使認知癡迷於偽謬, 結果就使認知向真理關上門, 也向良善關上門。因而越來越逆著上帝而行, 也與教會屬靈之事作對。這樣, 這人也就切斷與天人之間的聯繫。當這樣切斷後, 他就進入與地獄撒旦間的聯繫, 想撒旦之所想。所有的撒旦都否認上帝, 愚昧地思考關於上帝和教會屬靈之事。
[3]這樣的人在他的靈的指引下, 就像一個人獨處在家時, 任由他的思想被邪惡和偽謬的愉悅帶領。這些邪惡與偽謬已在他裡面受孕並生產。於是他想上帝並不存在, 或者上帝只不過是從講道台發出的一個詞語而已, 只是用來使老百姓乖乖服法聽命而已。他還認為聖言——傳道人由此聲稱有一位上帝——只不過是一堆不切實際的神話故事而已, 僅僅靠著權力來賦予神聖。十誡或教義問答只不是一本小冊子, 當被孩子們翻爛時, 就扔在牆角。他想, 聖言不就是教導人們當孝敬父母,不可殺人,不可姦淫,不可偷盜,不可做假見證等等, 誰不會從民事法律中學到這些呢？他認為教會只不過是一些頭腦簡單,輕信的和思想軟弱之人的聚會。而他自己能明白他們不能明白的事情。他認為人如牲畜, 牲畜死後的生命如何, 人亦如何。
[4]儘管他的內在人如此思想, 然而外在人所說的卻截然不同。每個人都有個內在人和一個外在人; 內在人使人成為人, 是死後仍活著的靈魂。他可以利用外在人的道貌岸然而成為偽善者, 這樣的外在人死後被埋在土裡。由於他對上帝的否認, 這人面臨譴罰。就人的靈魂而言, 每個人都與心靈世界中的性情相近之靈相聯繫, 並成為其中一員。我常常被許可在心靈世界許多社區中見到一些人的靈魂, 這些人其實當時仍活在人間。其中有些靈魂在天人社區, 有些在地獄社區。並且, 我還與他們交談過。奇怪的是, 當時活在肉體之中的他們對這些事情完全無知。
這樣就清楚知道, 人若否認上帝, 現在就處於譴罰之中, 死後歸併與他的同類。
14. 7. Those who do not acknowledge God are cut off from the church and damned. People who do not acknowledge God are cut off from the church because the whole point of the church is God, and because the things related to God that are called theological teachings give the church its structure. Therefore to deny the existence of God is to deny everything having to do with the church. The denial itself is what cuts them off; that is, they cut themselves off. God does not cut them off.
They are damned as well because those who are cut off from the church are also cut off from heaven. The church on earth and the angelic heaven act as a unit, just like the inner and outer self, and like the spiritual part and the physical part in each of us. God created us in such a way that our inner self is in the spiritual world and our outer self is in the physical world. Therefore to make us permanent and everlasting beings, God made us citizens of both worlds so that the spiritual part of us, which belongs in heaven, could be planted in the physical part belonging to this world the way a seed is planted in the ground.
[2] People who cut themselves off from the church and from heaven by denying the existence of God close their inner selves on the side of the will and shut themselves off from its positive love. (The will in us is a vessel for love and becomes its dwelling place.) Their inner selves on the side of the intellect, however, they are unable to close, because if they could and did they would no longer be human; but [evil] love in their will does befuddle their higher intellect with false ideas. As a result, their intellect becomes virtually closed to truths related to faith and good qualities related to goodwill and becomes more and more closed to the Lord and the spiritual teachings of the church. As a result, those denying the existence of God lose their partnership with angels in heaven. Once that is gone, they establish a partnership with satans in hell and think what the satans are thinking. All satans deny the existence of God and have absurd thoughts about God and about the church's spiritual teachings; and so do people on earth who are in partnership with them.
[3] Such people come into their spirit, so to speak, when they are at home alone and let their thoughts be guided by their pleasure in the evil and the falsity they have conceived and given birth to in themselves. In that state, their thought about God is that he does not exist - God is only a word intoned in the pulpit to constrain the lower classes to obey the laws of justice that are society's rules. The Word, the source of ministers pronouncements about God, they see as a haphazard and fanciful text to which authorities have attributed holiness. The Ten Commandments or the Catechism they see as a little book that is to be tossed aside once it has been worn out by the hands of the young. After all, that book prescribes that we honor our parents, that we not murder, whore, steal, or testify falsely, and who does not know all that from civil law? The church they think of as nothing more than a herd of uneducated, gullible, and timid people, who [think they] see what they do not see. Humans, including themselves, they think of as being much like animals; they think the same fate awaits humans and animals after death.
[4] This is what their inner selves think, no matter how differently their outer selves may talk. For, as I said, all people have an inner and an outer self. Their inner self is their real self, called their spirit. It is the part that lives after death. Their outer self, in which they practice hypocrisy through [apparent] morality, will be buried in the grave. Then because they denied the existence of God they will be condemned.
All of us on earth are associated in spirit with those in the spiritual world who are like ourselves; we are in a sense united to them. Quite often, in fact, I have been allowed to see the spirits of people who were still alive on earth. In some cases the spirits of these people were in angelic communities; in some cases, in hellish communities. I have even been allowed to spend days talking with the spirits of people. It has amazed me that the people themselves still alive in their bodies were completely unaware that this was happening. From these experiences it became clear to me that those who deny the existence of God are already among the damned. After death they are gathered to their people.
14. (vii) ANY PERSON WHO DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GOD IS EXCOMMUNICATED FROM THE CHURCH AND DAMNED.
The reason why a person who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church is that God is everything to the church and the Divine truths, which we call theology, are what make it a church. Consequently to deny God is to deny everything to do with the church; and it is this very denial which excommunicates a person, so that it is not God but the person who excommunicates himself. The reason why he is damned is that by being excommunicated from the church he is also excommunicated from heaven. For the church on earth and the heaven of angels act as one, like the internal and the external, or the spiritual and the natural in the case of a person. Man was created by God so as to have his internal in the spiritual world and his external in the natural world. Thus he was created a denizen of either world in order that the spiritual, which is heavenly, should be planted in the natural, which is worldly, just as a seed is planted in the ground, and he might thus become steadfast and enduring to eternity.
[2] A person who by denying God has excommunicated himself from the church, and thus from heaven, has shut off his internal man in respect of the will, and so in respect of the love which gives him pleasure. For a person's will is the receiver of his love and becomes its dwelling-place. But he cannot shut off his internal man in respect of the understanding, for if he could do this he would cease to be a human being. But the love in his will makes the higher regions of the understanding foolish with false notions, so that the understanding becomes as it were shut off from the truths which have to do with belief and the kinds of good which have to do with charity; thus he becomes more and more opposed to God and at the same time the spiritual side of the church. Thus he is cut off from communion with the angels of heaven, and by this exclusion he brings himself into communion with the satans of hell, and thinks exactly like them. All satans deny God and have foolish ideas about the spiritual side of the church, and a person who is linked with them does likewise.
[3] When this person is under the guidance of his spirit, which is when he is left to himself at home, he allows his thoughts to be guided by the pleasures of evil and falsity which he has conceived and brought to birth in himself. He then thinks that God does not exist, or that He is a mere word resounding from pulpits, to oblige the common people to obey the laws of the land, on which the community depends. He also thinks that the Word, which makes ministers keep harping on God, is a collection of visions or a mere compilation, the holiness of which has been established by authority. He regards the Ten Commandments or the catechism as a book, which when it has been worn out through handling by children, can be thrown away. For it laid down that parents are to be honoured, one is not to kill or go whoring, not to steal or bear false witness; and does not everyone know these same rules from the code of civil law? He thinks of the church as a mere congregation of the simple, the gullible and the weak-minded, who fancy they see what they do not. He regards human beings, and he includes himself among them, as animals; and his life after death as no different from that of an animal after death.
[4] This is how his internal man thinks, however differently the external man speaks. As said before, every man has an internal and an external: the internal, which is called the spirit, is what makes him human, and this lives on after death, while the external, which allows him to play the hypocrite by a show of morality, is buried. Then he is damned, because he denied God. Everyone is in his spirit associated with people like himself in the spiritual world, and is so to speak one with them. I have often been allowed to see the spirits of people still alive, some of them in communities of angels there, and others in communities of hell. I have been allowed to talk with them for days, and I was astonished to find that the person, who was still alive in the body, knew nothing at all of it. This experience made it clear that those who deny God are already among the damned, and after death are gathered to their own kind.
14. (7) Whoever does not acknowledge a God is excommunicated from the church and condemned. Whoever does not acknowledge a God is excommunicated from the church, because God is the all of the church; and Divine things which are called theological are what constitute the church; consequently a denial of God is a denial of all things pertaining to the church; and this denial is what excommunicates the man; thus he is excommunicated not by God, but by himself. And he stands condemned because he who is excommunicated from the church is also excommunicated from heaven; since the church on earth and the angelic heaven make one, like the internal and the external or the spiritual and the natural in man; and man was so created by God that in respect to his internal he might be in the spiritual world and in respect to his external in the natural world; consequently he was created a native of both worlds, in order that the spiritual which belongs to heaven might be implanted in the natural, which belongs to the world, just as seed is planted in the ground; and that man might thus become fixed and endure to eternity.
[2] The man who has excommunicated himself from the church and thus from heaven by a denial of God has closed up in himself his internal man in respect to his will and its genial love; for man's will is the receptacle of his love, and becomes its dwelling-place. But he cannot close up his internal man in respect to its understanding, for if he could and did he would be man no longer. Nevertheless, his will's love infatuates with falsities the higher faculties of the understanding; and in consequence the understanding becomes closed to the truths pertaining to faith and the goods pertaining to charity; thus more and more against God, and also against the spiritual things of the church. Thus man is shut out from communion with the angels of heaven, and when so shut out he enters into communion with the satans of hell, and thinks as they think; and all satans deny God, and think foolishly about God and the spiritual things of the church; and in the same way does the man think who is conjoined with them.
[3] When such a man is in his spirit, as he is when left privately to himself, he suffers his thoughts to be led by the delights of evil and falsity which he has conceived and brought forth in himself; and he then thinks that God has no existence, but is merely a word uttered from the pulpit to hold the common people in obedience to the laws of justice, which are, the laws of society. He also thinks the Word, from which ministers proclaim a God, to be a mass of missionary tales, which have been made holy by authority, and the Decalogue or catechism to be merely a little book to be thrown aside when it has been well worn by the hands of little boys, since it teaches that parents ought to be honored, forbids murder, adultery, theft, and false witness; and who does not learn the same things from civil law? He thinks of the church as an assembly of simple, credulous, and weak-minded people, who see what they see not. He thinks of man, and of himself as a man, as being like a beast, and of life after death as of the life of a beast after death.
[4] Thus does his internal man think, however differently his external man may speak. For, as just said, every man has an internal and an external; and it is the internal that makes the man, that is, the spirit, which is what lives after death; while the external, in which by a semblance of morality he plays the hypocrite, is laid in the grave; and on account of his denial of God the man then stands condemned. In respect to his spirit every man is associated in the spiritual world with his like, and becomes as one of them. It has frequently been granted me to see there in societies the spirits of men still living, some in angelic and some in infernal societies, and also to converse with them for days; and I have wondered how the man himself while still living in the body could be wholly ignorant of this. Thus was it made clear that he who denies God is even now among the damned, and that after death he is gathered to his own.
14. (7) THE MAN WHO DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GOD IS EXCOMMUNICATED FROM THE CHURCH AND CONDEMNED.
The man who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the Church because God is the All-in-all of the Church, and Divine things, which are called theological, constitute it. Therefore a denial of God is a denial of everything pertaining to the Church; and this very denial excommunicates him, so that man himself and not God is the author of his exclusion. He is also condemned, because whoever is excommunicated from the Church is likewise excluded from heaven, for the Church on earth and the angelic heaven make one, like the internal and the external, and like the spiritual and the natural in man. For man was created by God to be in the spiritual world as to his internal, and is the natural world as to his external. He was thus created a native of both worlds in order that the spiritual, or that which is of heaven, should be implanted in the natural, which is of the world, like a seed sown in the ground, so that he might thus acquire an existence fixed and eternal.
[2] The man who by a denial of God has excluded himself from the Church, and thereby from heaven, has closed his internal man as to his will, and thus as to his nature's love, for a man's love is received into his will, and abides there. He cannot, however, close his internal man as to his understanding, for if he were to do this he would no longer be a man. The love which his will does entertain attracts falsities into the higher parts of his understanding, which thus become closed as it were to the truths of faith and the goods of charity; thus more and more against God and the spiritual things of the Church. In this way he is excluded from communion with the angels of heaven. He thereupon enters into communion with the satans of hell; and as all satans deny God, and form absurd ideas concerning Him and the spiritual things of the Church, so also does the man who is joined with them.
[3] When he is in the spirit, as when left to himself at home, he allows his thoughts to be led away by the pleasures of the evil and the falsity which he has conceived and allowed to come forth within himself. He then thinks that there is no God, but that God is merely a name uttered from pulpits to keep the common people in obedience to the laws of justice framed by society. He also thinks that the Word, from which the clergy proclaim God, is a collection of visionary records whose sanctity is derived from authority. Moreover, the Decalogue, or Catechism, 1 is only a little book which, after its use in childhood, may be discarded, for it enjoins that parents should be honored, and forbids murder, adultery, theft, and false witness, enactments which everyone knows are part of the civil law of every country. He regards the Church as a congregation of simple, credulous and weak-minded people, who fancy they see what they do not see. He regards man, and himself a man, merely as a beast, and thinks that life after death will be the same for both. These are the opinions of his internal man whatever his external man may declare.
[4] For, as has been said above, every man has an internal and an external. His internal constitutes the man, and is called his spirit, and lives on after death, but his external is buried in the grave. Whilst in his external, he has been enabled to play the hypocrite by living a moral life, but at his death, because of his denial of God, he is condemned. Every man, as to his spirit, is associated with his like in the spiritual world, and is as one with them. I have frequently been permitted to see the spirits of persons still living, some in angelic and some in infernal societies. I have also been permitted to converse with them for days together, and I have been astonished that a man, while living the life of the body, should be so utterly ignorant of the life of the spirit. It was, therefore, manifest that whoever denies God is already among the condemned, and after death joins his companions.
Footnotes:
14. VII. QUOD HOMO, QUI NON AGNOSCIT DEUM, AB ECCLESIA SIT EXCOMMUNICATUS, ET DAMNATUS. Quod homo, qui non agnoscit Deum, ab Ecclesia excommunicatus sit, est quia Deus est omne Ecclesiae, et Divina, quae vocantur Theologica, faciunt Ecclesiam, quare negatio Dei, est negatio omnium Ecclesiae; et haec ipsa negatio excommunicat illum, ita ipse homo se, et non Deus illum: quod ille damnatus 1 sit, est quia excommunicatus ab Ecclesia, ille etiam excommunicatus est e Coelo; Ecclesia enim in terris et Coelum angelicum unum agunt, sicut Internum et Externum, ac sicut Spirituale et Naturale apud hominem; et homo a Deo creatus est, ut quoad Internum suum sit in Mundo spirituali, et quoad Externum suum in Mundo naturali; proinde quod creatus sit indigena utriusque Mundi, propter causam, ut spirituale, quod Coeli est, implantetur naturali quod Mundi est, quemadmodum fit cum semine in humo, et sic homo fiat constans et perdurans in aeternum.
[2] Homo, qui per negationem Dei se excommunicavit ab Ecclesia, et sic a Coelo, occlusit Internum hominem apud se quoad voluntatem, ita quoad genialem suum amorem; voluntas hominis enim est receptaculum amoris ejus, et fit habitaculum hujus; at non potest occludere Internum suum hominem quoad Intellectum, nam si hoc posset et faceret, homo non foret homo amplius, sed amor voluntatis ejus superiora Intellectus infatuat falsis; inde fit Intellectus quasi occlusus quoad vera quae fidei sunt, et quoad bona quae charitatis, ita plus et plus contra Deum, et simul contra spiritualia Ecclesiae; et sic excluditur e communione cum Angelis Coeli, e qua cum exclusus est, se infert in communionem cum Satanis Inferni, et unum cogitat cum illis; et omnes Satanae negant Deum, ac de Deo et de spiritualibus Ecclesiae cogitant fatue; similiter homo conjunctus illis;
[3] hic dum in Spiritu suo est, quod fit quum domi sibi relictus patitur cogitationes duci a jucundis mali et falsi, quae concepit et parturivit 2 apud se, tunc cogitat de Deo quod non sit, sed quod sit modo vox sonans ex pulpitis, ad vinciendum plebem ad obedientiam legum justitiae, quae Societatis sunt; et quoque cogitat, quod Verbum, ex quo ministri sonant Deum, sit visionarium et congestum quid, cui Sanctitas ex Auctoritate inducta est; tum quod Decalogus seu Cathechismus sit libellus, qui postquam tritus est a manibus puerorum, rejectibilis sit, sanxit enim quod parentes honorandi sint, non occidendum, non scortandum, non furandum, non false testandum, et quis non ex lege civili eadem scit: de Ecclesia cogitat, quod modo sit congregatio simplicium, ad credendum facilium, et pusillanimorum, qui vident quod non vident: de homine, et de se ut homine, cogitat similiter ut de bestia; et de vita post mortem, similiter quod de vita bestiae post illam.
[4] Ita cogitat Internus ejus homo, utcunque aliter loquitur Externus; nam, ut dictum, est cuivis homini Internum et Externum, et Internum ejus facit hominem, qui vocatur Spiritus, et vivit post mortem, et Externum, ex quo per moralitatem agit hypocritam, sepelitur; et tunc propter negationem Dei fit damnatus. Omnis homo quoad Spiritum suum est sui similibus consociatus in Mundo Spirituali, et est sicut unus cum illis; et datum est mihi saepius videre hominum adhuc viventium Spiritus in Societatibus, quorundam ibi in angelicis, et quorundam in infernalibus, et quoque per dies datum est loqui cum illis, et miratus sum quod ipse homo in suo corpore adhuc vivens de hoc prorsus nihil sciret: exinde patuit, quod qui negat Deum, jamdum inter damnatos sit, et quod post mortem colligatur ad suos.
Footnotes: