501.如今有人会问，神迹为何不象从前那样出现？因为人们认为，若有神迹发生，人人都会发自内心承认。但之所以不似从前那样行神迹，是因为神迹属强迫，并会拿走人在属灵事物上的选择自由，使人变得属世，而非属灵。在基督教界，由于主的降临，人皆有能力变得属灵，并且唯有通过主经由圣言才能变得属灵。但是，如果人通过神迹被引导相信，那么他变成属灵的能力就会毁灭，因为就象刚才说的，神迹会强迫人，并剥夺人在属灵事物上的选择自由。在这方面，凡属强制性的东西，皆存于属世人，可以说关上了属灵人的门，而属灵人才是真正的内在人，这会剥夺人在清晰的光中明白真理的所有能力，致使人此后只能通过属世人推理属灵事物，而属世人看待真正的属灵事物都是前后颠倒的。
然而，主来之前行神迹，是因为那时教会的人都是属世人，所以不能向他们揭示属内在教会的属灵事物。若它们被揭示出来，他们早就亵渎了。因此，他们的一切敬拜都限于仪式，用来代表和象征教会的内在事物；要引导这些人遵守这些仪式，唯有通过神迹奇事；并且由于这些代表性行为都有属灵的内在，所以有时甚至用神迹也不能奏效；这一点从旷野中的以色列民身上明显看出：尽管他们在埃及看到那么多神迹，后来在西奈山上看到了最大的神迹，然而摩西离开一个月后，他们就围着金牛犊跳舞，叫喊说是它带领他们出埃及。他们在迦南地的行为同样如此，尽管他们见证了以利亚和以利沙行的大奇迹，最后还见证了主所行的真正神迹。
如今不再行神迹，主要原因在于，教会已通过声称人本身无助于信的获得、皈依，或总体上的得救（见464节）而剥夺了人一切选择自由。凡接受这信的人，都变得越来越属世；而属世人，如上所述，看待一切属灵事物都是前后颠倒的，结果，所作的思考也与之相反。这种情况下，人心智的较高区域，也就是人在属灵事物上的选择自由占据主要位置的地方，由此被关闭了，并且看似由神迹确证的属灵事物占据了心智的较低区域，而它纯粹属世，关于信、皈依、得救等方面的谬论就这样存留在该区域之上，结果就使撒旦居上，天人居下，好比秃鹰在小鸡上面。用不了多久，撒旦会毁掉门闩，怒气冲冲地扑向在它们下面的这些属灵事物，不但否认它们，还会亵渎和玷污之。导致的后果就是，人后来的状况比之前更糟糕了。
501. 如今有人会问, 神迹为何不象从前那样出现? 因为人们认为, 若有神迹发生, 人人都会发自内心承认。 但之所以不似从前那样行神迹, 是因为神迹属强迫, 并会拿走人在属灵事物上的选择自由, 使人变得属世, 而非属灵。 在基督教界, 由于主的降临, 人皆有能力变得属灵, 并且唯有通过主经由圣言才能变得属灵。 但是, 如果人通过神迹被引导相信, 那么他变成属灵的能力就会毁灭, 因为就象刚才说的, 神迹会强迫人, 并剥夺人在属灵事物上的选择自由。 在这方面, 凡属强制性的东西, 皆存于属世人, 可以说关上了属灵人的门, 而属灵人才是真正的内在人, 这会剥夺人在清晰的光中明白真理的所有能力, 致使人此后只能通过属世人推理属灵事物, 而属世人看待真正的属灵事物都是前后颠倒的。
然而, 主来之前行神迹, 是因为那时教会的人都是属世人, 所以不能向他们揭示属内在教会的属灵事物。 若它们被揭示出来, 他们早就亵渎了。 因此, 他们的一切敬拜都限于仪式, 用来代表和象征教会的内在事物; 要引导这些人遵守这些仪式, 唯有通过神迹奇事; 并且由于这些代表性行为都有属灵的内在, 所以有时甚至用神迹也不能奏效; 这一点从旷野中的以色列民身上明显看出: 尽管他们在埃及看到那么多神迹, 后来在西奈山上看到了最大的神迹, 然而摩西离开一个月后, 他们就围着金牛犊跳舞, 叫喊说是它带领他们出埃及。 他们在迦南地的行为同样如此, 尽管他们见证了以利亚和以利沙行的大奇迹, 最后还见证了主所行的真正神迹。
如今不再行神迹, 主要原因在于, 教会已通过声称人本身无助于信的获得, 皈依, 或总体上的得救 (见464节) 而剥夺了人一切选择自由。 凡接受这信的人, 都变得越来越属世; 而属世人, 如上所述, 看待一切属灵事物都是前后颠倒的, 结果, 所作的思考也与之相反。 这种情况下, 人心智的较高区域, 也就是人在属灵事物上的选择自由占据主要位置的地方, 由此被关闭了, 并且看似由神迹确证的属灵事物占据了心智的较低区域, 而它纯粹属世, 关于信, 皈依, 得救等方面的谬论就这样存留在该区域之上, 结果就使撒旦居上, 天人居下, 好比秃鹰在小鸡上面。 用不了多久, 撒旦会毁掉门闩, 怒气冲冲地扑向在它们下面的这些属灵事物, 不但否认它们, 还会亵渎和玷污之。 导致的后果就是, 人后来的状况比之前更糟糕了。
501. These days people are asking why miracles do not happen any more the way they used to. There is the belief that if they did happen, we would all acknowledge God from the depths of our hearts. The reason miracles are not happening today the way they used to is that miracles are coercive; they take away our free choice in spiritual matters. They make us more earthly than spiritual. Since the time of the Lord's Coming, everyone in the Christian world has had the capability of becoming spiritual. We become spiritual solely from the Lord through the agency of the Word. If miracles induced us to believe, we would actually lose this capability, because, as I just mentioned, they are coercive and take away our free choice in spiritual matters. And when it comes to spiritual things, everything that is forced on us intrudes into our earthly self and closes the door, so to speak, to the spiritual level in us that is our true inner self. It deprives our inner self of all ability to see anything true in the light. After that, our only thought about spiritual matters would be reasoning on the part of our earthly self, and our earthly self sees everything that is truly spiritual upside down.
[2] The reason why miracles did occur before the Lord's Coming was that then the people in the church were earthly in nature and were not open to the spiritual matters that belong to the inner church. If spiritual matters had been opened up to them, they would have desecrated them. Therefore all their forms of worship were rituals that meant and represented the inner teachings of the church. The only way they could be induced to perform the rituals correctly was through miracles; and in fact not even miracles could persuade them, because there was something spiritual lying hidden within those representative acts of worship. This is clear from the fact that even though the children of Israel in the wilderness had witnessed so many miracles in Egypt and the greatest of miracles on Mount Sinai, Moses had not been absent for more than a month before they were dancing around the golden calf and shouting that it had led them out of Egypt. They engaged in similar acts once in the land of Canaan, even though they saw astounding miracles performed by Elijah and Elisha, and later on, the divine miracles performed by the Lord.
[3] The main reason why miracles are not happening today is that the church has denied that we have any free choice in spiritual matters. It achieved this by sanctioning the notion that we are completely unable to contribute anything to our own acceptance of faith, and that we play no role whatever in our own conversion or our salvation in general (see 464 above). People who have these beliefs become more and more earthly, and the earthly self, as mentioned just above, looks at everything spiritual the wrong way up and therefore decides against it. In that circumstance, the higher region of the human mind - the primary location of our free choice in spiritual matters - would be closed; the spiritual teachings that were apparently corroborated by the miracles would inhabit the lower, merely earthly region of the mind, while false beliefs about faith, conversion, and salvation remained fixed in place on that higher level. The result would be that satans would live on the higher floor and angels on the lower floor, like vultures above hens. After a while, the satans would break the dead bolt and burst in with a fury on the spiritual teachings that were allotted a place below, and would not merely deny those teachings but would blaspheme and desecrate them. Therefore for such people the situation afterward would be much worse than it was before.
501. The question is asked today why miracles do not happen as they once did; for people think that if they took place, everyone would acknowledge them in his heart. The reason why miracles do not take place at the present time as they did formerly is that they compel and take away free will in spiritual matters, turning a person from a spiritual man into a natural one. Everyone in the Christian world since the Lord's coming has been able to become spiritual; and the only way to be made spiritual is by Him through the Word, and the ability to undergo this would be destroyed, if he were brought to believe by means of miracles. As I said before, they compel and take away his free will in spiritual matters; and everything in such matters done under compulsion lodges in the natural man, shutting off the spiritual man as if with a door. It is the spiritual who is the real internal man, and this deprives him of all power to see any truth in light. After this, therefore, his reasoning about spiritual matters comes solely from the natural man, who sees everything which is truly spiritual back to front.
[2] The reason, however, why before the Lord's coming miracles took place was that at that time the people in the church were natural men, to whom spiritual matters to do with the internal church could not be disclosed. For if they had been, they would have profaned them, All their worship, therefore, was confined to ritual acts, which represented and symbolised the internal matters of the church; and these people could only be induced to carry out the rituals properly by means of miracles. Because these representative acts had a spiritual internal, not even miracles could at times induce them to carry them out, as is plain from the Children of Israel in the desert, who, despite seeing so many miracles in Egypt and then the greatest one on Mount Sinai, still after Moses had been absent for a month danced around the golden calf, crying out that it had brought them out of Egypt. They behaved in much the same way in the land of Canaan despite seeing the outstanding miracles performed by Elijah and Elisha and in due course the truly Divine miracles performed by the Lord.
[3] The main reason why miracles do not happen at the present time is that the church has taken away all free will from people. It has done so by decreeing that man can make no contribution to the reception of faith, nor to his conversion or his salvation as a whole (see above, 464). Anyone who believes this becomes more and more natural; and the natural man, as I said before, looks at everything spiritual back to front, so that in thought he opposes it. The higher region of the human mind, the chief seat of free will in spiritual matters, would then be shut off. Spiritual ideas, which would have received a sort of confirmation by the miracles, would occupy the lower or purely natural region of the mind, while false ideas about faith, conversion and salvation stayed on top. This would make satans live above and angels below, like vultures living over hens. Then a little while later the satans would burst the bolts and rush furiously on the spiritual ideas occupying the lower position, not only denying them, but cursing and profaning them. So the person's last state would be much worse than his former one,
501. It is asked at the present day, why miracles do not take place as formerly; for it is believed that if they were to occur, there would come from everyone a hearty acknowledgment. But miracles are not now wrought as formerly because they compel [belief] and take away man's freedom of choice in spiritual things, and make man natural instead of spiritual. Everyone in the Christian world, since the Lord's coming, has the ability to become spiritual, and he becomes spiritual solely from the Lord through the Word; but the capacity to become so would perish if man were led to believe through miracles, because, as just said, miracles compel and deprive man of freedom of choice in spiritual things; and everything that is compulsory in such matters betakes itself to the natural man, and closes the door, as it were, to the spiritual man, which is the truly internal man, depriving it of all power to see any truth in clear light, with the result that man then reasons about spiritual things from the natural man alone, which sees everything truly spiritual inversely.
[2] But before the Lord's coming miracles were wrought because the men of the church were then natural men, to whom spiritual things, which belong to an internal church, could not be disclosed; for if these had been disclosed they would have been profaned. Therefore all their worship consisted in rituals which represented and signified the internal things of the church; and they could be led to observe these rituals only by means of miracles; and not even, indeed, by means of miracles, because those representatives had in them a spiritual internal, as is evident from the children of Israel in the desert, who, although they had seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterward that greatest of miracles upon Mount Sinai, still, after Moses' absence for a month, danced around a golden calf, and shouted that it had led them out of Egypt. In the land of Canaan they acted in a like manner, although they witnessed the great miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, and finally the truly Divine miracles by the Lord.
[3] Miracles are not wrought at the present day, especially for the reason that the church has deprived man of all freedom of choice. This it has done by decreeing that man is unable to contribute anything whatever toward the acquisition of faith or toward conversion, or in general toward salvation (see above, n. 464). The man who accepts this belief becomes more and more natural; and the natural man, as said above, looks at everything spiritual inversely, and consequently thinks in opposition to it. In this case the higher region of the man's mind, where freedom of choice in spiritual things has its primary seat, is thereby closed up, and the spiritual things which miracles seemingly confirm occupy the lower region of the mind, which is merely natural, and the falsities respecting faith, conversion, and salvation, thus remain above this region, and in consequence it comes to pass that satans have their abode above and angels below, like hawks above chickens. Then after a little while the satans break down their bars, and rush forth with fury upon the spiritual things which hold a place below them, not only denying these, but also blaspheming and profaning them; and the result is that the latter state of man becomes worse than the former.
501. The question is asked to-day why miracles are not wrought as in times past, for it is believed that if they were to be performed every one would be fully convinced. Miracles, however, are not wrought at this day as formerly, for they have a compelling influence, and destroy free will in spiritual things, and cause a man from being spiritual to become natural. Since the Lord's Advent everyone in the Christian world has the capacity to become spiritual; and he is made spiritual solely by the Lord through the Word. Now this capacity would be destroyed if a man were induced to believe by miracles, since these, as was said above, compel assent and destroy his free will in spiritual things. Everything in such matters that is received from compulsion enters the natural man only, and closes up, as with a door, the spiritual man, who is really the internal man, depriving this of all power of seeing any truth clearly. Therefore he would afterwards reason concerning spiritual things from the natural man alone, who sees everything truly spiritual from an inverted point of view.
[2] The reason why miracles were wrought before the Advent of the Lord was, that the men of the Church in those days were natural, to whom the spiritual things of the internal Church could not be revealed; for if these had been revealed, they would have profaned them. All their worship, therefore, consisted in rituals, which represented and signified the internal things of the Church; and to the due observance of these they could not be brought except by miracles. Miracles, however, could not bring about an understanding of the fact that those representative rituals contained within them a spiritual internal; nor were they even sufficient to ensure the due observance of those rituals. This is evident from the conduct of the Children of Israel in the wilderness; for, although they had witnessed so many miracles wrought in Egypt, and later that greatest of all on Mount Sinai, yet when Moses was absent from them for a month, they danced round a golden calf, and cried aloud that it had brought them forth out of Egypt. Their conduct was similar in the land of Canaan, notwithstanding the wonderful miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, and at length the truly Divine miracles wrought by the Lord.
[3] The principal reason why miracles are not wrought at this day is, that the Church has taken away from man all free will, by teaching that he can contribute nothing at all towards receiving faith, towards conversion, and in general towards salvation, as may be seen above in 484. The man who believes this becomes more and more natural; and the natural man, as was said above, sees everything spiritual from an inverted point of view, and consequently turns his thought against it. The higher region of his mind, where free will in spiritual things primarily resides, would then be closed up, and spiritual things, which miracles have almost but not quite, confirmed, would occupy the lower region of the mind. This is merely natural, and falsities respecting faith, conversion and salvation would thus remain their habitation above, and angels beneath, like vultures above it. The consequence would be that satans would have their habitation above, and angels beneath, like vultures between them and rush furiously upon the spiritual things below; which they would not only deny but also blaspheme and profane. Hence the latter state of the man would be above fowls. Soon the satans would break down the barrier between them and rush furiously upon the spiritual things below; which they would not only deny but also blaspheme and profane. Hence the latter state of the man would be much worse than the first.
501. Quaeritur hodie, cur non Miracula fiunt quemadmodum olim, nam creditur, quod si fierent, quisque corde agnosceret: sed quod hodie non fiant sicut prius, est causa, quia Miracula cogunt, et auferunt liberum arbitrium in spiritualibus, et hominem a spirituali faciunt naturalem; omnis 1 in Christiano orbe post Adventum Domini potest spiritualis fieri, et spiritualis fit unice ab Ipso per Verbum, et facultas ad hoc periret, si homo per Miracula adduceretur ad credendum, quoniam haec, ut supra dictum est, cogunt et auferunt ei liberum Arbitrium in spiritualibus, et omne coactum in talibus se infert in naturalem hominem, et occludit sicut ostio spiritualem, qui vere est Internus homo, et orbat hunc omni potentia videndi aliquod verum in luce, quare postea de spiritualibus ratiocinaretur ex solo naturali homine, qui omne vere spirituale videt inverse.
[2] Quod autem ante Adventum Domini facta sint Miracula, fuit causa, quia tunc homines Ecclesiae erant naturales, quibus spiritualia, quae sunt internae Ecclesiae, non potuerunt aperiri, nam si aperirentur, prophanavissent illa; quare etiam omnis Cultus illorum consistebat in Ritualibus, quae Repraesentabant et significabant interna Ecclesiae, et hi non potuerunt adduci ad illa rite obeunda, 2 quam per Miracula; et quod ne quidem per miracula, quia repraesentativis illis inerat internum spirituale, patet a filiis Israelis in deserto, qui tametsi tot Miracula viderunt in Aegypto, et postea maximum illud super Monte Sinai, usque post mensem dierum absente Mose, saltaverunt circum Vitulum aureum, ac vociferati quod ille eduxerit illos ex Aegypto; consimilia facta sunt ab illis in terra Canaan, tametsi viderunt excellentia 3 miracula per Eliam et Elisaeum facta, et demum ipsa Divina a Domino.
[3] Miracula non fiunt hodie, imprimis propter hanc causam, quia Ecclesia omne Liberum arbitrium homini adempsit, et hoc adempsit per hoc, quod sanciverit, quod homo prorsus nihil conferre possit ad accipiendum fidem, nec quicquam 4 ad conversionem, et in genere ad salutem, videatur supra, 464; homo qui haec credit, fit plus et plus naturalis, et naturalis homo, ut supra dictum est, omne spirituale spectat inverse, et inde cogitat contra illud; Regio superior mentis hominis, ubi Liberum arbitrium in spiritualibus primario residet, occluderetur, et spiritualia, quae per miracula quasi confirmata sunt, Regionem inferiorem mentis, quae mere naturalis est, occuparent, remanentibus sic supra hanc falsis de fide, conversione et salute, inde fieret, quod Satanae habitarent supra, ac Angeli infra, sicut vultures super gallinis, inde post aliquod tempus satanae rumperent repagulum, et cum furore erumperent in spiritualia, quae infra locum sortita sunt, et illa non modo negarent, sed etiam blasphemarent et prophanarent; inde sors hominis posterior multo pejor priori fieret.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: omnes.
2. Prima editio: obcunda.
3. Prima editio: ex cellentia.
4. Prima editio: quisquam.