771．圣经一章说明了，圣言字义通过表象和对应写成，因此它的每一个细节皆包含灵义，真理居于灵义，处在自己的光中，而字义处于阴影。所以，为防止新教会的人象旧教会的人那样，迷失在使圣言字义模糊不清的阴影中，尤其关于天堂和地狱，人死后的生活，以及主的这次来临，主乐意打开我的灵眼，从而将我引入灵界。我蒙允许与灵和天人、亲朋好友，甚至结束尘世课程的国王和王子交谈，还见识了天堂的壮观和地狱的悲惨，因而得知，死后，人并非在地球的某个角落，也非又聋又瞎地在太空或空气中四处徘徊，而是作为拥有实质身体的人而生活，倘若受到祝福，则处于更完美的状态，胜过先前以物质身体生活时的状态。所以，为了防止人们在错误观念上陷得更深，这些观念涉及可见之天和可居之地的毁灭，以及灵界（由于这种无知，自然主义，连同无神论，在学者当中已开始扎根于内在理性心智，并象肉体的坏疽一样，传播得越来越广泛，甚至延伸到控制言语的外在心智），主吩咐我叫世人知道我耳闻目睹的各种事，包括天堂和地狱，最后审判，对启示录的解读，启示录的经文涉及主来、先前的天和新天，以及圣城耶路撒冷。对于这些主题，倘若阅读并理解了我的相关书籍，谁都会明白主来、新天和新耶路撒冷是什么意思。
771. 圣经一章说明了, 圣言字义通过表象和对应写成, 因此它的每一个细节皆包含灵义, 真理居于灵义, 处在自己的光中, 而字义处于阴影。 所以, 为防止新教会的人象旧教会的人那样, 迷失在使圣言字义模糊不清的阴影中, 尤其关于天堂和地狱, 人死后的生活, 以及主的这次来临, 主乐意打开我的灵眼, 从而将我引入灵界。 我蒙允许与灵和天人, 亲朋好友, 甚至结束尘世课程的国王和王子交谈, 还见识了天堂的壮观和地狱的悲惨, 因而得知, 死后, 人并非在地球的某个角落, 也非又聋又瞎地在太空或空气中四处徘徊, 而是作为拥有实质身体的人而生活, 倘若受到祝福, 则处于更完美的状态, 胜过先前以物质身体生活时的状态。 所以, 为了防止人们在错误观念上陷得更深, 这些观念涉及可见之天和可居之地的毁灭, 以及灵界 (由于这种无知, 自然主义, 连同无神论, 在学者当中已开始扎根于内在理性心智, 并象肉体的坏疽一样, 传播得越来越广泛, 甚至延伸到控制言语的外在心智), 主吩咐我叫世人知道我耳闻目睹的各种事, 包括天堂和地狱, 最后审判, 对启示录的解读, 启示录的经文涉及主来, 先前的天和新天, 以及圣城耶路撒冷。 对于这些主题, 倘若阅读并理解了我的相关书籍, 谁都会明白主来, 新天和新耶路撒冷是什么意思。
771. As the chapter on the Sacred Scripture has shown, the Word's literal meaning was written in apparent truths and correspondences [193-209, 215, 226, 254-260]. As a result, there is a spiritual meaning within every detail. In that spiritual meaning, truth stands forth in its own light. The literal meaning is in the dark.
To prevent people in the new church from wandering off into the darkness of the Word's literal meaning the way the people of the old church have done - especially on the topics of heaven and hell, their own life after death, and the Lord's Coming - the Lord has chosen to open my spiritual sight and bring me into the spiritual world. He has allowed me not only to speak with spirits and angels, with friends and relatives, and even with monarchs and other political leaders, whose lives in the physical world had come to an end, but also to see the amazing conditions in heaven and the wretched conditions in hell. I have learned for a fact that after we die we do not spend time in some somewhere-or-other underground; and we do not fly around blind and mute in midair or deep space. We live on in a substantial body. If we come into the company of the blessed, we have a much better quality of life than we had while we were living in a physical body.
[2] Humankind now has the belief that the visible heaven and the habitable earth are going to be destroyed, and this affects people's thinking about the spiritual world. This belief is based on ignorance. In this state of ignorance, materialism and even atheism have begun to be rooted in the inner rational minds of the educated. The Lord wishes to prevent the human race from plunging still further into these views and to keep materialistic atheism from spreading further (like necrosis in flesh) among educated people; otherwise the outer minds of the educated and their statements before the public will be infected by it as well. Therefore he has commanded me to publish various things that I have heard and seen, both concerning heaven and hell and concerning the Last Judgment, and to explain the Book of Revelation. That book speaks of the Lord's Coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. Anyone who reads and understands these works can see the true meaning of the Lord's Coming, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem.
771. In the chapter on the Sacred Scripture I showed that the literal sense of the Word is written by appearances and correspondences. Each of its details therefore contains a spiritual sense in which truth is illuminated by its own light, and the literal sense is in shadow. So to prevent the people of the new church, like those of the old church, going astray in the shadows obscuring the literal sense of the Word, especially as regards heaven and hell, how they will live after death, and on the present occasion about the Lord's coming, the Lord has been pleased to open the sight of my spirit, thus admitting me to the spiritual world. I have been allowed not only to talk with spirits and angels, with relations and friends, even with kings and princes, who have met their end in the natural world, but also to see the astonishing sights of heaven, and the pitiful sights of hell. So I have seen how people do not pass their time in some pu deep in the earth, nor flit around blind and dumb in the air or in empty space, but live as human beings in a substantial body, in a much more perfect state, if they come among the blessed, than they experienced previously when living in material bodies.
[2] So to prevent people from plunging yet deeper into erroneous ideas about the destruction of the sky we see and the earth we live on, and consequently about the spiritual world, as the result of ignorance, which leads to worshipping nature and this automatically to atheism - something which at the present time has begun to take root in the inner rational minds of the learned - to prevent then atheism from spreading more widely, like necrosis in the flesh, so as to affect as well the outer mind which controls speech, I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things which I have seen and heard. These include heaven and hell, the Last Judgment, and the explanation of Revelation, which deals with the Lord's coming, the former heaven and the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. If my books on these subjects are read and understood, anyone can see what is meant there by the Lord's coming, a new heaven and the New Jerusalem.
771. It has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that the Word in the letter was written by appearances and correspondences, consequently in all its particulars there is a spiritual sense, and in that sense the truth is in its own light while the sense of the letter is in shade. In order therefore that the man of the New Church may not wander about, like the man of the old, in the shade that obscures the sense of the letter of the Word, especially in respect to heaven and hell and man's life after death, and here in respect to the Lord's coming, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and thus introduce me into the spiritual world, and permit me not only to talk with spirits and angels, relatives and friends, and even with kings and princes who have finished their course in the natural world, but also to see the wonders of heaven and the miseries of hell, and thus to learn that man does not abide in some indefinite place in the earth, nor fly about blind and dumb in the air or in vacancy, but lives as a man in a substantial body in a much more perfect state (if he is among the blessed), than that in which he formerly lived when in the material body. In order therefore, that man from ignorance may not immerse himself still more deeply in this opinion respecting the destruction of the visible heaven and habitable earth, and in respect also to the spiritual world (because of which ignorance naturalism together with atheism, which among the learned has begun to take root in the interior rational mind, is spreading more widely, like mortification in the flesh, even extending to the external mind from which man speaks), I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things that I have seen and heard respecting Heaven and Hell and respecting the Last judgment, and also to explain the Apocalypse, which treats of the Lord's coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. From these, when they have been read and understood, anyone can see what is meant by the Lord's coming, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem.
771. Now it has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that the Word in the Letter is written by appearances and correspondences, and that there is, therefore, in all its details a spiritual sense in which truth appears in the light of truth, while the sense of the Letter is in the shadow of darkness. Lest, therefore, a man of the New Church should wander like those of the Old in the shade in which the sense of the Letter of the Word is, especially respecting heaven and hell, the life after death, and respecting this present subject the Coming of the Lord, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and so to introduce me into the spiritual world. He has thus permitted me not only to converse with spirits and angels, with relatives and friends, and also with kings and princes, but also to behold the mighty wonders of heaven and the miseries of hell. I have also seen that a man after death does not pass his time in some indeterminate location in the earth, nor flit about blind and dumb in the air or in the empty void; 1 but that he lives as a man in a substantial body, and in a more perfect state, if he joins the company of the blessed, than when he lived in a material body.
Accordingly, lest man from ignorance should immerse himself more deeply in this opinion concerning the destruction of the visible heaven and the habitable earth, and thus concerning the spiritual world; and lest from the same cause materialism, and with it atheism which at this day among the learned has become deeply rooted in the interior rational mind, should spread further, like mortification in the flesh, even into the external mind from which man speaks, it has been enjoined upon me by the Lord to publish accounts of what I have seen and heard concerning heaven and hell as well as concerning the Last Judgment. I have also been enjoined to explain the Book of Revelation, which treats of the Lord's Coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem. Every one who reads and understands these things will thus be enabled to see what is there meant by the Coming of the Lord, the new heaven and the New Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
1. Pu, Greek pou, where?, somewhere, whereabouts, abode.
771. Quod Verbum in litera per Apparentias et Correspondentias conscriptum sit, et quod ideo in singulis ejus sit Sensus spiritualis, in quo veritas est in sua luce, et Sensus literae in umbra, in Capite de Scriptura Sacra ostensum est. Ne itaque homo Ecclesiae novae, sicut homo Ecclesiae veteris, erret in umbra, in qua est Sensus literae Verbi, imprimis de Coelo et Inferno, deque Vita sua post mortem, et hic de Adventu Domini, placuit Domino aperire visum spiritus mei, et sic intromittere in Mundum spiritualem, et non modo dare loqui cum spiritibus et angelis, cumque cognatis et amicis, imo cum regibus et principibus, qui fata sua in Mundo naturali obiverunt, sed etiam videre stupenda Coeli, et miseranda Inferni, et sic quod homo non degat in aliquo Pu terrae, nec circumvolitet caecus et mutus in aere aut in inani, sed quod vivat homo in corpore substantiali, in multo perfectiori statu, si inter beatos venit, quam prius cum in corpore materiali vixit.
[2] Ne itaque homo se ulterius profundet in Opinione de interitu Coeli aspectabilis et Terrae habitabilis, et sic de Mundo spirituali, ex ignorantia, ex qua naturalismus et simul tunc atheismus, qui hodie inter Eruditos in mente rationali interiore coeptus est radicari, latius, sicut morticinum in carne, etiam in Mentem ejus externam, ex qua loquitur, se circumspargat, injunctum a Domino mihi est, varia ex visis et auditis promulgare, tam de COELO ET INFERNO, quam de ULTIMO JUDICIO, 1 et quoque APOCALYPSIN, ubi de Adventu Domini, et de Coelo priori, et de Coelo novo, deque Sancta Hierosolyma, agitur, explicare; a quibus lectis et intellectis, quisque videre potest, quid ibi per Adventum Domini, perque Novum Coelum, et per novam Hierosolymam, intelligitur.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: JUDICIO.