233.我曾被许可与许多人交谈。这些人相信自己死后会像天上的星辰那样闪耀，因为如他们所说，他们视圣言为神圣，常常通读圣言，从中收集许多经文来证明他们的信条，并藉此赚取自己学术上的声望。因此，他们认为自己会变得像米迦勒或拉斐尔。然而，他们当中许多人接受测试，以查看是什么样的爱驱使他们学习圣言。结果发现，有些人是受我欲驱使，为的是被尊为教会领袖；有些人则是受物欲驱使，为的是得到财富。当继续测试，以查看他们从圣言到底学到什么时，却发现，他们根本没有从圣言学到任何纯正的真理，只是学到诸如被称为歪曲的真理之类的真理。这类真理本身是腐朽的虚假，在天上会发臭。他们被告知，这就是他们的情形，因为他们阅读圣言的目的是自我和这个世界，而不是信仰的真理和生活的良善。当自我和这个世界成为目的时，心智在阅读圣言时就会牢牢扎根于自我和这个世界；结果，他们的思维总是受制于自我，而人的自我在有关天堂或教会的一切事上都被包裹在浓厚的黑暗中。在这种状态下，人不可能被主唤回，并被提升到天堂之光中，因而不可能接受从主经由天堂而来的任何流注。我还看到，这些人被允许进入天堂，在那里被发现缺乏真理，结果被赶了出来。然而，他们仍旧骄傲，确信自己配上天堂。那些出于认识真理的情感而学习圣言的人就截然不同了。他们认识真理是因为真理是真实的，有助于促进有用的生活，不仅对自己有用，对邻人也有用。我看见这些人被举升天堂，在那里享有围绕神圣真理的光；同时，他们还被提升进入天使的智慧，以及它所带来的幸福，就是天上的天使所享受的幸福之中。
233. 我曾被許可與許多人談話, 就是那些相信他們死後會如明星在空中閃耀的人們。他們聲稱自己視聖言為神聖, 經常從始至終通讀聖言, 還會從聖言收集很多經句來證明他們所信的教義, 並藉此為自己所學贏得聲譽。結果, 他們認為自己將會變得如同米迦勒或拉斐爾那樣。然而, 他們當中許多人被測驗, 看看是什麼熱情驅使他們去學習聖言。發現一些是因著利己之欲的推動, 為的是獲得教會領袖那樣的尊敬。一些是因著對塵世癡迷, 希望變得富有。當他們被繼續往下測試, 看看他們從聖言中到底學到什麼時, 結果發現什麼純正的真理都未學到, 只是學到被歪曲的真理。事實上這些是腐朽的偽謬, 若在天上會發出惡臭。他們被告知這些事情會發生在他們身上的緣由, 在於讀經時他們所抱之目的在於自我和塵世, 而非信仰的真理以及生命的良善。當某人的意圖在於自我和塵世時, 那麼當他讀經時思想無法超越自我和塵世, 他的所思所想會不斷地被這個自我所支配, 並且在他所思想的關於天國或教會之事中,此人的自我會被封包在深深的黑暗之中。在那樣的狀態之下, 這個人無法被主喚回並抬舉到天國之光中, 就無法接受從主經天國而來的任何影響。
我還看到這些人被允許進到天國之中, 當檢驗出他們裡面毫無真理時, 就被逐出天國。然而他們仍舊自傲地肯定他們當配得進入天國。那些因著真理之真而渴求真理,並用以促進去過有用的生活——不僅對自己有用, 對鄰舍也是如此; 對這些人, 情況就截然不同。我看見他們被高舉進入天國, 在那裡享受天國之光, 被神性真理環繞。同時, 還被提升到一種天國智慧與其帶來的幸福狀態中, 就是天國的天人們所享受的狀態之中。
233. I have been given the opportunity to talk to many people after death who believed that in heaven they were going to shine like stars because (so they said) they regarded the Word as holy, read it through many times over, and collected many passages from it that they used to support the dogmas of their faith. As a result, they became famous scholars and believed they were going to become Michaels and Raphaels. Many of them were examined to learn what love had driven them to study the Word. Some of them were motivated to study by love for themselves so that they could become respected leaders of the church. Others were motivated to study by love for the world so as to increase their wealth. When they were subjected to another examination to find out what they knew from the Word, it was discovered that their knowledge of it contained nothing genuinely true. All they knew was what is called falsified truth that is actually putrid falsity, so called because in heaven it smells like something that has gone bad. They were informed that this had happened to them because their objective in reading the Word was not to find a truth to believe or a good way to live but to reach some selfish or worldly goal. When people have themselves or something worldly as their objective, as they read the Word their mind is preoccupied with themselves or the world. As a result, they are constantly thinking of their own self-importance, and human self-importance is in pitch darkness when it comes to anything related to heaven and the church. People who are in this condition cannot be raised by the Lord into the light of heaven; they cannot accept any influence from the Lord through heaven.
I have seen these people let into heaven. When it was discovered there that they had no truths, they were thrown out. Nevertheless a misplaced pride and a feeling that they were deserving stayed with them.
There was an entirely different outcome for people who had been motivated to study the Word by a desire to know the truth because it is true and because it is helpful and useful not only for their own lives but also for their neighbors' lives. I have seen these people raised into heaven into the light of divine truth there and lifted into angelic wisdom and the happiness that heavens angels enjoy.
233. 1 I have been permitted to talk with many people, who believed that after death they would shine like stars in heaven. For, so they said, they had regarded the Word as holy, frequently read it right through, and collected many passages from it to prove the dogmas of their faith, and by this means gained a reputation for their learning. As a result, they thought they would become like Michael or Raphael. Many of these, however, were tested to see what love had impelled them to study the Word; and it was discovered that some had been impelled by self-love, wishing to receive the reverence due to the leaders of the church, and some by worldly love, hoping thereby to become wealthy. When they went on to be tested to see what they had learned from the Word, it proved that they had learned no genuine truth from it, but only the sort called falsified truth. This really is rotten falsity, for in heaven it stinks. They were told that the reason this happened to them was that the ends they had in view in reading the Word were themselves and the world, not the truth of faith and the good of life. When one's ends in view are oneself and the world, then while reading the Word the mind cannot rise above oneself and the world; and one's thinking is constantly dominated by the self, and a person's self is enveloped in thick darkness in all he thinks about heaven or the church. In that state a person cannot be withdrawn by the Lord and lifted into the light of heaven, and so cannot receive any influence from the Lord through heaven.
I have also seen these people allowed into heaven; and when it was discovered there that they were devoid of truths, they were thrown out. Yet they still retained their proud conviction that they had deserved admission. Quite different was the treatment of those whose study of the Word had been impelled by a desire to know the truth because it is true and serves to promote a useful life, not only their own, but their neighbour's too. These I saw lifted up to heaven, to enjoy the light which there surrounds Divine truth, and at the same time they were raised to a state of angelic wisdom and the happiness it brings, which the angels of heaven enjoy.
Footnotes:
1. This section is repeated with minor changes from Apocalypse Revealed 255, 5-6.
233. It has been granted me to talk with many after their death, who believed that they were to shine like stars in heaven, because, as they claimed, they had regarded the Word as holy, had often read it through, and had gathered from it many things by which they had confirmed the dogmas of their faith, and in consequence had become celebrated as learned men, for which reason they believed that they were to be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were examined in respect to the love from which they had studied the Word; and it was found that some of them had studied it from love of self, that they might be worshiped as leaders in the church, and some from love of the world, that they might gain riches; and when these had been examined in respect to their knowledge of the Word, it was found that they had learned from it nothing of genuine truth, but only such truth as may be called truth falsified, which in itself is putrid falsity, for in heaven it has a putrid odor. To these it was said that this was the case with them because self and the world had been their ends when they read the Word, and not the truth of faith and good of life. And when self and the world are ends, the mind in reading the Word sticks fast in self and the world, and in consequence their thought is always from what is their own; and man's own is in darkness respecting everything that pertains to heaven and the church; and in such a state it is impossible for man to be lifted up by the Lord and raised into the light of heaven, and therefore to receive any influx from the Lord through heaven. I also saw these persons admitted into heaven, and when found to be destitute of the truths they were cast down, and still their pride in their own merit remained with them. It was otherwise with those who had studied the Word from an affection for knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it subserves the uses of life, not only their own but also the uses of the neighbor; these I have seen raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which Divine truth there is; and I have seen them exalted at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its happiness in which the angels of heaven are.
233. I have been permitted to converse with many after death who believed that they would shine like stars in heaven, because, as they said, they had regarded the Word as holy, and had often read it. They had gathered many passages from it by which they confirmed the dogmas of their faith. For this reason they had acquired the reputation of being learned scholars, and in consequence they supposed they would be Michaels 1 or Raphaels. Several of these were examined as to the love from which they had studied the Word, and it was found that some had done so from self-love, that they might be held in reverence as leaders in the Church; and others from love of the world, that they might acquire wealth. When these were further examined as to what they knew from the Word, it was discovered that they did not know a single genuine truth, but only what may be called truth falsified, which in reality is putrid falsity, for in heaven it stinks. They were informed that this was the result of reading the Word with themselves and the world as the ends in view, and not the truth of faith and the good of life. For then the mind is immersed in the things of self and the world, and therefore men constantly think from their proprium; and man's proprium is in darkness respecting everything relating to heaven and the Church. In this state man cannot be led by the Lord and raised into the light of heaven, and consequently he cannot receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.
I have also seen such persons admitted into heaven; when, however, they were discovered to be without truths, they were cast out; but there remained with them the conceit that they merited heaven. It is different with those who have studied the Word from the affection of knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it is serviceable to the uses not only of their own life but also the life of their neighbor. I have seen these persons raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which is Divine Truth, and at the same time exalted into that angelic wisdom and its happiness which the angels of heaven enjoy.
Footnotes:
1. Michael, the archangel.
233. Datum est loqui cum multis post mortem, qui crediderunt se sicut Stellas lucituros in Coelo, quia, ut dixerunt, sanctum habuerunt Verbum, saepius perlegerunt illud, plura inde collegerunt, per quae fidei suae dogmata confirmaverunt, 1 et propter id ut Docti celebrati sunt, ex quo crediderunt se Michaeles et Raphaeles futuros; sed plures ex illis explorati sunt, ex quo amore studuerunt Verbo, ac inventi, quod aliqui ex amore sui, ut sicut Primates Ecclesiae colerentur, et aliqui ex amore Mundi, ut lucrarentur opes; hi dum etiam explorati sunt, quid scirent ex Verbo, compertum est, quod inde nihil genuini veri scirent, sed modo tale, quod vocatur Verum falsificatum, quod in se est putre falsum, in Coelo enim putet; et dictum est illis, quod hoc illis esset ex causa, quia Ipsi et Mundus essent fines, dum legerunt Verbum, et non verum fidei et bonum vitae; et cum ipsi et mundus sunt fines, tunc Mens in legendo Verbum haeret in seipsis et in mundo, et inde cogitant jugiter ex suo proprio, et Proprium hominis in caligine quoad omnia, quae Coeli et Ecclesiae sunt, est; in quo statu non potest homo a Domino subduci, et elevari in lucem Coeli, proinde nec aliquem influxum a Domino per Coelum recipere. Vidi etiam hos in Coelum admissos, et cum ibi inventi sunt quod absque veris essent, dejecti sunt; sed usque apud illos remansit fastus quod meruerint. Aliter factum est cum illis, qui studuerunt Verbo ex affectione sciendi Verum quia est verum, et inservit usibus vitae, non modo suae, sed etiam proximi; illos vidi elevatos in Coelum, et sic in lucem, in qua est Divinum Verum ibi, et simul tunc exaltatos in Sapientiam Angelicam, et in felicitatem ejus, in qua sunt Angeli Coeli.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: confirnaverunt.