1. THE ATHANASIAN CREED
PREFACE
Those things which the Lord spoke as recorded in Matthew [24:29-31] concerning the last time of the Church should here be inserted, giving the words themselves and their explanation as in the work HEAVEN AND HELL 1.
Heaven and Hell#1
1. Where the Lord, in the presence of His disciples, speaks about the consummation of the age, which is the last period of the Church, 1 towards the end of the predictions regarding its successive states with respect to love and faith, 2 He says this:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a trumpet and great voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:29-31.
Those who understand these words in accordance with the sense of the letter have no other belief than that at the final period which is called the Last Judgment, all those events will occur as described in that sense. Therefore, they believe not only that the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will fall from heaven, that the sign of the Lord will appear in the sky and that He Himself will be seen in the clouds as well as angels with trumpets, but also, as is foretold elsewhere, that the whole visible earth will be destroyed, after which a new heaven with a new earth will come into being. Such is the opinion of most men within the Church at the present day. But those who so believe do not know the arcana 3 which lie concealed in every particular of the Word. For, in every particular of the Word there is an internal sense in which are discerned, not the natural and worldly matters such as are in the sense of the letter, but spiritual and heavenly things. Moreover, this is true not only of the meaning of groups of words but it is also true of every single word. 4 For the Word has been written by means of pure correspondences 5 to the end that the internal sense may be in every particular. The nature of that sense can be confirmed from all that has been said and shown about it in ARCANA CAELESTIA, also from what has been summarized in the explanation of THE WHITE HORSE mentioned in the Revelation. It is in accordance with that sense that the words of the Lord, quoted above, concerning His coming in the clouds of heaven, are to be understood. In that passage, by the "sun" which is to be darkened is signified the Lord as to love, 6 by the "moon" the Lord as to faith, 7 by the "stars" cognitions 8 of good and truth or of love and faith, 9 by the "sign" of the Son of man in heaven the manifestation of Divine Truth, by the "tribes of the earth which shall mourn", all things relating to truth and good or to faith and love, 10 by "the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and glory", His presence in the Word and revelation; 11 by "clouds" is signified the sense of the letter of the Word, 12 and by "glory" the internal sense of the Word, 13 by "angels with a trumpet and great voice" is signified heaven whence comes Divine Truth. 14 Thence it is evident that by those words of the Lord is meant that in the end of the Church when there is no longer any love and consequently no faith, the Lord will open the Word in its internal sense and reveal arcana of heaven. The arcana now revealed in the following pages treat of heaven and hell, and at the same time of man's life after death. The man of the Church at this day knows scarcely anything about heaven and hell or about his life after death, although they are all set forth and described in the Word. Indeed, many people born within the Church even deny them, saying in their hearts, "Who has come from that world and told us?" Lest, therefore, such a negative attitude, which prevails especially with those who have much worldly wisdom, should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been granted to me to associate with angels and to talk with them as man with man, also to see the things in the heavens as well as in the hells, and this for thirteen years. Now, therefore, from what I have seen and heard I am permitted to describe these things, in the hope that thus, ignorance may be enlightened and unbelief dispelled. Such immediate revelation is now made because that is what is meant by the Coming of the Lord.
FROM ARCANA CAELESTIA
脚注:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] The consummation of the ago is the final period of the Church, Arcana Coelestia 4535, 10622.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] The Lord's predictions in Matthew 24; 25, concerning the consummation of the age, His advent, the successive vastation of the Church, and the Last Judgment, are explained at the commencement of each of the sections which precede several of the chapters of Genesis, namely, chaps. 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40. See Arcana Coelestia 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3905, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4661-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071.
3. [Translator's footnote] Arcana - plural of Arcanum - a secret, or hidden thing, hence a truth hitherto unknown, from arceo, to shut up or conceal.
4. [Swedenborg's footnote] In all and each of the things of the Word there is an internal or spiritual sense. Arcana Coelestia 1143, 1984, 2135, 2333, 2395, 2495, 4442, 9048, 9063, 9086.
5. [Swedenborg's footnote] The Word has been written by means of pure correspondences, consequently all and each of the things therein signify spiritual things. Arcana Coelestia 1404, 1408-1409, 5540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2900, 9086.
6. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word the "sun" signifies the Lord with respect to love, and in consequence love to the Lord. Arcana Coelestia 5529, 1837, 2445, 2495, 4060, 4696, 7083, 10809.
7. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word the "moon" signifies the Lord with respect to faith, and in consequence faith in the Lord. Arcana Coelestia 1529, 5530, 2495, 4060, 4696, 7083.
8. [Swedenborg's footnote] The term cognitiones, here used in the Latin, is translated "cognitions" to distinguish these knowledges from those that are meant by the Latin scientifica also used in the Writings of Swedenborg. Two of the meanings most commonly associated with cognitiones are (i) a particular species of knowledge, as knowledges of the Word, of good and truth, or of spiritual things (Arcana Caelestia 24, 3665, 9945; The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 51 Heaven and Hell 111, 351, 469, 474, 517-518); and (ii) a higher type of knowledge which is from understanding and perception (AC. 1486-7; Heaven and Hell 110, 353).
9. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word "stars" signify cognitions of good and truth. Arcana Coelestia 2495, 2849, 4697.
10. [Swedenborg's footnote] "Tribes" signify all truths and goods in the complex, thus all things of faith and love. Arcana Coelestia 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335.
11. [Swedenborg's footnote] The coming of the Lord is His presence in the Word, and revelation. Arcana Coelestia 3900, 4060.
12. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word "clouds" signify the Word in the letter or the sense of its letter. Arcana Coelestia 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8106, 8781, 9430, 10551, 10574.
13. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word "glory" signifies Divine truth as it is in heaven and as it is in the internal sense of the Word. Arcana Coelestia 4809, 5922, 8267, 8427, 9429, 10574.
14. [Swedenborg's footnote] A "trumpet" or "horn" signifies Divine truth in heaven, and revealed out of heaven (Arcana Coelestia 8158, 8823, 8915); and "voice" has a like signification (Arcana Coelestia 6971, 9926).
Genesis第27章
1
It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am."
2
He said, "See now, I am old. I don't know the day of my death.
3
Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison.
4
Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die."
5
Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
6
Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
7
'Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.'
8
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
9
Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good young goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.
10
You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."
11
Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12
What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."
13
His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me."
14
He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
15
Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
16
She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.
17
She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18
He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
19
Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me."
20
Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because Yahweh your God gave me success."
21
Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
22
Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23
He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him.
24
He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am."
25
He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.
26
His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son."
27
He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed.
28
God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
29
Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
30
It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31
He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me."
32
Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
33
Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."
34
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
35
He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing."
36
He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"
37
Isaac answered Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?"
38
Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39
Isaac his father answered him, "Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above.
40
By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck."
41
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob."
42
The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
44
Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away;
45
until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"
46
Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"
