1327、“因为耶和华在那里变乱了全地的语言”表示这个古教会的状态，即：内在敬拜开始消失。这从以下事实清楚可知，此处经上说的是“全地的语言”，而不像前面（11:7）那样说的是那些开始建造一座城和一座塔之人的语言。“全地面”表示教会的状态，因为“地”是指教会，如前所示（662，1066节）。关于大洪水后的教会，情况是这样：圣言特别提到了三个教会，即：以挪亚命名的第一个古教会；以希伯命名的第二个古教会；以雅各命名，后来以犹大和以色列命名的第三个古教会。
被称为挪亚的第一个古教会是这样：该教会可以说是随后的教会之母；和通常众教会起初的情况一样，它比继它之后的教会更无瑕疵、清白无邪，这一点也可从本章第1节（11:1）清楚看出来，那里说它有一种语言，即有一种教义；也就是说，所有教会成员都视仁爱为本质。但随着时间推移，和其它教会一样，这第一个古教会也开始衰落，主要是因为许多人开始将敬拜转到自己身上，以便他们可以凌驾于他人之上，这一点从第4节（11:4）明显看出来，因为他们说，“来吧，我们要建造一座城和一座塔，塔顶通天；我们要为自己立名”。在教会中，这种人不可避免地就像某种发酵剂，或引发火灾的火把。当亵渎神圣之物的危险因此一触即发（参看571，582节）时，按照主的旨意，该教会的状态发生改变。也就是说，它的内在敬拜消失了，而它的外在敬拜保留下来，这在此由“耶和华变乱了全地的语言”来表示。由此也清楚可知，被称为“巴别”的这种敬拜在第一个古教会中并不盛行，而是盛行于随后的教会，那时，人们开始被拜为神，尤其在他们死后。这就是如此多的异教神明的起源。
之所以允许内在敬拜消失，外在敬拜保留，是为了防止神圣之物遭到亵渎。因为亵渎神圣之物伴随着永恒的诅咒。除了拥有信之知识或认知，也承认它们的人外，没有人能亵渎神圣之物。凡没有信之知识或认知的人都不能承认它们，更不能亵渎它们。能被亵渎的是内在事物，因为神圣之物居于内在事物，而非外在事物。这种情况类似于一个人虽作了恶，却没有恶意。他所作的恶不能归咎于他，就像不能归咎于一个并非故意作恶的人或缺乏理性的人一样。因此，凡不相信死后生命的存在，却仍有外在敬拜的人，都不能亵渎属于永生的事物，因为他不相信永生的存在。而那些既知道又承认它的人就不同了。
这也是为何宁可允许一个人沉浸在欲望和快乐中，从而与内在事物隔离开来，也不允许他进入对内在事物的认识和承认，从而亵渎它们。由于这个原因，今天的犹太人被允许沉浸在贪婪中，以这种方式防止他们承认内在事物，因为他们就是那种若承认它们，必会亵渎之的人。没有什么比贪婪更能将一个人与内在事物隔离开来的了，因为贪婪是最低级的世俗欲望。这同样适用于教会之内的许多人，也适用于教会之外的外邦人，尽管后者，即外邦人是所有人中最不能亵渎的。这就是为何此处说“耶和华变乱了全地的语言”，这也是为何这句话表示教会的状态发生改变，也就是说，它的敬拜变得外在，没有任何内在敬拜在里面。
以色列人和后来的犹太人被掳，囚禁在巴比伦就代表并表示这种情形。对此，耶利米书上是这样写的：
无论哪一族哪一国，不服侍这巴比伦王，也不把颈项放在巴比伦王的轭下，我必用剑、饥荒、瘟疫刑罚这民族，直到我藉他的手将他们完全消灭。（耶利米书27:8）
“服侍巴比伦王，把颈项放在他的轭下”是指被完全剥夺对信之良善和真理的认识和承认，由此被剥夺内在敬拜。
这一点在耶利米书的其它地方更为明显：
耶和华对住在这城里的一切百姓，就是未曾与你们一同被掳的弟兄如此说，万军之耶和华如此说，看哪，我必打发剑、饥荒、瘟疫临到他们，使他们像令人作呕的无花果。（耶利米书29:16-17）
“住在这城里，不去巴比伦王那里”代表和表示那些拥有内在事物或信之真理的知识，却亵渎它们的人。论到这种人，经上说祂必打发“剑、饥荒、瘟疫”，也就是对亵渎的各种惩罚，使他们“像令人作呕的无花果”。
“巴别或巴比伦”表示那些剥夺他人认识并承认真理的一切能力的人。这一点也由耶利米书中的这些话来代表和表示：
我必将犹大人全都交在巴比伦王的手中，他要将他们掳到巴比伦去，用剑击杀他们。并且我要将这城中的一切财富和劳碌得来的，并一切宝物，以及犹大列王所有的珍宝，都交在他们仇敌的手中，仇敌要掠夺它们，带走它们。（耶利米书20:4-5）
此处“一切财富和劳碌得来的，并一切宝物，以及犹大列王所有的珍宝”在内义上表示信的知识或认知。
又：
我必召巴比伦王与北方的众宗族来攻击这地和这地的居民，并四围一切的民族。我要将他们尽行灭绝，使他们成为一片废墟，一阵嘘声和永久的荒地。这全地必成为一片荒地。（耶利米书25:9，11）
此处“巴比伦（即巴别）”用来描述信的内层事物，或内在敬拜的荒废。事实上，如前所示（1321，1326:6节），凡崇拜自我的人都没有信之真理。这种人摧毁、荒废和囚禁一切真实事物。这就是为何巴比伦也被称为“行毁灭的山”（耶利米书51:25）。关于巴比伦的详情，可参看前文（1182节）。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1327. Jehovah muddled the language of the whole earth symbolizes conditions in this ancient church, in that inward worship started to die out. This can be seen from the fact that it refers to the language of the whole earth rather than the language of the people who started to build the city and the tower, as it did before in verse 7. The language{*1} of the whole earth symbolizes conditions in the church, since the earth is the church, as already demonstrated, in 662, 1066.
This is how the case was with the churches that followed the Flood: There were three of these churches, and they are specifically mentioned in the Word. They were the first ancient church, named for Noah; the second, named for Eber; and the third, named for Jacob and later for Judah and Israel.
[2] In regard to the first, referred to as Noah, it was like a parent to the churches that followed. It was also more unblemished and innocent than they, as churches usually are in their beginnings. This can be seen from the first verse of the present chapter, which says that they had one language, or in other words, one doctrine: the universal recognition of charity as essential.
But with the passage of time, the first church started to backslide, as churches do. The main cause was that many of the people in it began to redirect others' worship to themselves, so as to make themselves more important than anyone else. This too can be seen above, in verse 4, since they said, "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its head in the sky, and let us make ourselves a name." People of this type in the church could not help acting as a kind of fermenting agent, or as firebrands. When sacred things were in imminent danger of being profaned by their contagion (as discussed in 571, 582), conditions in this church changed, by the Lord's providence. The church's inward worship died out and its outward worship remained, which is symbolized here by Jehovah's muddling the language of the whole earth.
This also demonstrates that the kind of worship called Babel was prominent not in the first ancient church but in the time of the later churches, when human beings began to be worshiped as gods, especially after they died. That is why the non-Jewish nations had so many gods.
[3] The point in allowing internal worship to die out and external worship to remain was to prevent profanation. The profanation of what is holy carries eternal damnation with it. No one is capable of profaning anything holy except those who possess a knowledge of the faith and acknowledge what they know. People who do not have the knowledge cannot profess it, let alone profane it. Deeper dimensions are what can be profaned, because they have a holiness to them, which shallower dimensions do not.
The situation resembles that of people who do evil things but do not think evil thoughts. They cannot be held to account for the evil they do, just as those who unintentionally do wrong cannot, and likewise those who lack rationality. So people who do not believe in life after death but do engage in outward devotions cannot profane anything that has to do with eternal life, because they do not believe in eternal life. The case is different with those who do know of and acknowledge it.
[4] This is also why we are allowed to live lives of indulgence and self-gratification — which lead us to disengage from deeper concerns — rather than come into the knowledge and acknowledgment of those deeper realities and profane them. For the same reason Jews today are permitted to immerse themselves in greed, so that they will therefore be all the more unlikely ever to acknowledge deeper realities.{*2} Their nature is such, after all, that if they acknowledged these things they could not help profaning them. Nothing distracts a person more from deeper concerns than greed, since this is the lowest earthly appetite. Many people in the church are in a similar situation, and those in lands outside the church are too. The latter (non-Christians) are the least capable of all of committing profanation.
This, then, is the reason the present verse says that Jehovah muddled the language of the whole earth. It is also the reason these words mean that the status of the church changed, in that its worship became superficial and devoid of any inward devotion.
[5] The captivity in Babylon into which the Israelites and later the Jews were carried off had a similar representation and symbolism. Jeremiah deals with it this way:
And there will be a nation and kingdom that have not served Babylon's king, and those who have not put their neck into the yoke of Babylon's king. With sword and famine and contagion I will exact punishment on that nation, until I finish them off with my hand. (Jeremiah 27:8 and following verses)
To serve Babylon's king and put one's neck into his yoke is to be stripped of all knowledge and acknowledgment of the goodness and truth that faith embraces. So it is the loss of inward worship.
[6] This is even more evident elsewhere in the same prophet:
This is what Jehovah has said to all the people in this city: "Your sisters and brothers who have not gone out with you into captivity — " This is what Jehovah Sabaoth has said: "Look, now, I am sending sword, famine, and contagion on them, and I will make them like revolting figs." (Jeremiah 29:16-17)
Staying in the city and not going out to Babylon's king represented and symbolized those who had a knowledge of deeper things (religious truths) and profaned them. The passage says that sword, famine, and contagion — the penalties for profanation — would be sent on them and that they would become like revolting figs.
[7] Babylon symbolizes those who rob others of all their ability to know and acknowledge the truth, and this representation and symbolism appears in the following words from the same prophet:
All Judah I will give into the hand of Babylon's king, and he will carry them off into Babylon and strike them with the sword. And I will give all the wealth of this city and all its toil and everything precious in it and all the treasures of Judah's kings — I will give it into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder it all and seize it. (Jeremiah 20:4-5)
At an inner level all the wealth, all the toil, every precious thing, and all the treasures of Judah's kings symbolize religious knowledge.
[8] In the same author:
I will bring the king of Babylon (and the clans of the north) over this land and over its residents and over all these nations all around. And I will exterminate them and turn them into a ruin and a hissing{*3} and eternal wastelands. And this whole land will become a wasteland. (Jeremiah 25:9, 11)
These verses use Babylon as an image for the way the deeper aspects of faith — inner worship, in other words — are wiped out. Anyone who embraces self-worship is devoid of religious truth, as shown above [1321, 1326:6]. Such a person destroys and devastates everything that is true and leads it into captivity. So Babylon is also called a ruinous mountain (Jeremiah 51:25). In addition, see previous remarks about Babylon in 1182.
Footnotes:
{*1} The translation here assumes the reading labium ("lip;" here translated "language") for the first edition's faciem ("face"). On the translation "language" for labium, see note 1 in 1279. [LHC]
{*2} On Swedenborg's attitude toward Jews, see note 4 in 259 and the reader's guide, pages 51-55. [Editors]
{*3} A "hissing" (the Hebrew is שִׁרֵֵקָה [širēqā]) here means an object of contempt, something to be hissed at derisively. [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 1327
1327. There did Jehovah confound the lip of all the earth. That this signifies the state of this Ancient Church, that internal worship began to perish, is evident from its being said, "the lip of all the earth," and not, as before, at verse 7, "the lip of those who began to build a city and a tower." By "the face of all the earth," is signified the state of the church, for "the earth" is the church (as has been shown before, n. 662, 1066). As regards the churches after the flood, the case stood thus: there were three of these churches that are specifically mentioned in the Word; namely, the First Ancient Church, which was named from Noah; the Second Ancient Church, named from Eber; and the Third Ancient Church, named from Jacob, and afterwards from Judah and Israel. [2] As regards the first of these churches, which was named from Noah, that church was as the parent of those which succeeded it; and, as is wont to be the case with churches in their beginnings, it was more unimpaired and guiltless than its successors, as is evident also from the first verse of this chapter, in that it had "one lip," that is, one doctrine, in consequence of all its members holding charity to be the essential thing. But in process of time, like other churches, this First Ancient Church began to fall, and this chiefly from the fact that many of them began to aspire after the worship of self, so that they might take precedence of others; as is evident from verse 4, for they said, "Let us build us a city and a tower, and its head in heaven; and let us make us a name." Such men in the church could not but be as a kind of ferment, or as a firebrand causing a conflagration. As the peril of the profanation of what is holy thence impended (see n. 571, 582), of the Lord's Providence the state of this church was changed, so that its internal worship perished, while its external worship remained, which is here signified by the statement that Jehovah confounded the lip of all the earth. It is also evident from this that such worship as is called "Babel" did not prevail in the First Ancient Church, but in those which followed, when men began to be worshiped as gods, especially after their death, whence arose the many gods of the Gentiles. [3] The reason why it was permitted that internal worship should perish and external remain, was that what is holy might not be profaned; for the profanation of what is holy is attended with eternal damnation. No one can profane what is holy except one who is in possession of the knowledges of faith, and who acknowledges the truth of them. A person who does not possess them cannot acknowledge, and still less profane them. It is the internal things that can be profaned; for what is holy abides in internal, and not in external, things. The case in this respect is the same as it is with a man who does what is evil, but does not purpose what is evil. To him the evil that he does cannot be imputed, just as it cannot be imputed to one who does not do it of deliberate intention, or to one who is destitute of reason. Thus a man who does not believe that there is a life after death, and yet performs external worship, cannot profane the things that belong to eternal life, because he does not believe that there is any such life; but the case is quite different with those who know and who acknowledge these things. [4] And this is the reason why it is permitted a man rather to live in pleasures and in cupidities, and by them to remove himself from internal things, than to come into the knowledge and acknowledgment of internal things, and profane them. For this reason the Jews are at this day permitted to immerse themselves in avarice, that in this way they may be further removed from the acknowledgment of internal things; for they are of such a character that if they were to acknowledge them, they could not but profane them. Nothing removes men further from internal things than avarice, because it is the lowest earthly cupidity. And the case is the same with many within the church; and it is the same with the Gentiles outside the church. These latter, to wit, the Gentiles, are least of all capable of profanation. This then is the reason why it is here said that Jehovah confounded the lip of all the earth, and why these words signify that the state of the church was changed, so that its worship became external, and devoid of all internal worship. [5] The like was represented and signified by the Babylonish captivity into which the Israelites, and afterwards the Jews, were carried away, concerning which it is thus written in Jeremiah:
And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the king of Babylon, and whoso will not put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, upon that nation will I visit with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand (Jer. 27:8). "To serve the king of Babylon and to put the neck under his yoke," is to be utterly deprived of the knowledge and acknowledgment of the good and of the truth of faith, and thereby of internal worship. [6] This is still more plainly evident in the same Prophet:
Thus hath said Jehovah to all the people in this city, Your brethren who have not gone forth with you into captivity, thus hath said Jehovah Zebaoth, Behold, I send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I will make them like horrible figs (Jer. 29:16, 17). "To abide in the city and not go forth to the king of Babylon," represented and signified those who were in the knowledges of internal things, or of the truths of faith, and who profaned them, upon whom it is said there would be sent the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, which are the penalties of profanation; and that they should become like horrible figs. [7] That by "Babel" are signified those who deprive others of all the knowledge and acknowledgment of truth, was also represented and signified by these things in the same Prophet:
I will give all Judah into the hand of the King of Babylon, and he shall carry them into Babylon, and shall smite them with the sword. Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all the toil thereof, and all the precious thing thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, will I give into the hand of their enemies, and they shall spoil them, and take them (Jer. 20:4, 5). Here by "all the riches, all the toil, all the precious thing, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah," are signified the knowledges of faith, [8] Again:
With the families of the north I will bring up the king of Babylon upon this land, and upon the inhabitants thereof, and upon all these nations round about, and I will give them to the curse, and will make them a desolation, and a hissing, and everlasting wastes; and this whole land shall be a waste (Jer. 25:9, 11). Here the devastation of the interior things of faith, or of internal worship, is described by "Babylon." For the man who worships self possesses no truth of faith, as has been shown before. Everything that is true he destroys and lays waste, and carries away into captivity. And therefore Babylon is called "a destroying mountain" (Jer. 51:25). (See what has been further said concerning Babel above, n. 1182.)
Elliott(1983-1999) 1327
1327. 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth' means the state of this Ancient Church, that internal worship started to perish. This is clear from the fact that the phrase used is 'the lip of the whole earth' and not, as previously in verse 7, the lip of those who started to build a city and a tower. 'The face of the whole earth' means the state of the Church since 'the earth' is the Church, as shown already in 662, 1066. The story of the Churches after the Flood is as follows: There were three Churches which receive specific mention in the Word - the first Ancient Church which took its name from Noah, the second Ancient Church which took its name from Eber, and the third Ancient Church which took its name from Jacob, and subsequently from Judah and Israel.
[2] As regards the first Ancient Church, that called Noah, this was the parent so to speak of those that followed, and as is usually the case with Churches in their earliest phases, it was more untarnished and innocent, as is also clear from verse 1 of this chapter which says that it had one lip, that is, one doctrine. That is to say, everyone regarded charity as the essential. But in the course of time, as usually happens to Churches, that Church also started to decline, chiefly because many people started to divert worship to themselves so as to set themselves above others, as is clear from verse 4 above - 'they said, Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves'. In the Church such people were inevitably like some fermenting agent, or like firebrands that start a fire. When the danger of profaning what is holy was consequently near at hand, referred to in 571, 582, the state of this Church was, in the Lord's Providence, altered. That is to say, its internal worship perished but its external worship remained, which here is meant by the statement that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth'. From this it is also clear that the kind of worship called Babel was not prevalent in the first Ancient Church but in those that followed when people started to be worshipped in place of gods, especially after they had died. This was the origin of so many pagan deities.
[3] The reason internal worship was allowed to perish and external remain was to prevent what is holy being profaned. The profanation of what is holy carries eternal condemnation with it. Nobody is able to profane what is holy unless he possesses cognitions of faith and also acknowledges them. Anyone who does not possess them cannot acknowledge them, still less profane them. It is internal things which may be profaned, for it is in internal things, not external, that holiness resides. The situation is similar with someone who does evil but does not have evil in mind. The evil he does cannot be attributed to him any more than to someone who does not deliberately intend evil, or to anyone devoid of rationality. Thus anyone who does not believe in the existence of a life after death, but who nevertheless has external worship, cannot profane the things that belong to eternal life because he does not believe that they exist. The situation is different with those who do know and acknowledge them.
[4] This too is why a person is allowed rather to live engrossed in lusts and pleasures, and so to isolate himself from internal things, than to enter into a knowledge and acknowledgement of internal things and so profane them. The Jews of today therefore are allowed to immerse themselves in avarice so that in this way they may be removed from an acknowledgement of internal things, for they are the kind of people who, if they acknowledged them, would inevitably profane them. Nothing does more to isolate a person from internal things than avarice, for this is the lowest of all earthly desires. The same applies to many inside the Church, and to gentiles outside, though gentiles, least of all people, are able to profane anything. This then is the reason for the statement here that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth', and the reason why these words mean that the state of the Church was altered, that is to say, its worship became external, having no internal worship within it.
[5] The same situation was represented and meant by the Babylonish captivity into which the Israelites, and later on the Jews, were carried away This is spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,
And there will be a nation and a kingdom that will not serve the king of Babel, and who will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babel. With the sword and famine and pestilence I will visit this people, until I have consumed it by his hand. Jer 27:8and following verses.
'Serving the king of Babel and putting its neck in his yoke' is being utterly deprived of the knowledge and acknowledgement of the good and the truth of faith, and so of internal worship.
[6] The point is clearer still in the same prophet,
Thus said Jehovah to all the people in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity, thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Behold, I am sending on them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs. Jer 29:16, 17.
'Remaining in the city and not going out to the king of Babel' represented and meant people who possessed the cognitions of internal things, that is, of the truths of faith, and who profaned them - people on whom, it is said, He was sending 'the sword, famine, and pestilence', which are forms of punishment for profanation, and whom He was making 'like rotten figs'.
[7] That 'Babel' means people who deprive others of all knowledge and acknowledgement of truth was also represented and meant by the following words in the same prophet,
I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babel, and he will carry them off to Babel, and will smite them with the sword. And I will give over all the wealth of this city, and all its lab our, and all its precious things; and I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them and seize them. Jer 20:4, 5.
Here 'all its wealth, all its lab our, all its precious things, all the treasures of the kings of Judah' means in the internal sense cognitions of faith.
[8] In the same prophet,
With the families of the north I will bring the king of Babel against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them and make them into a ruin, a hissing, and everlasting wastes. And this whole land will be a waste. Jer 25:9, 11.
Here 'Babel' is used to describe the vastation of the interior things of faith, that is, of internal worship. Indeed, as shown already, anyone whose worship is worship of self possesses no truth of faith. He destroys and lays waste, and leads off into captivity, everything that is true. This is why Babel is also called 'a destroying mountain' in Jer 51:25.
For more concerning Babel, see what has been stated already in 1182.
Latin(1748-1756) 1327
1327. Quod 'confudit Jehovah labium totius terrae' significet Ecclesiae hujus Antiquae statum quod internus cultus perire inciperet, constat ex eo quod dicatur 'labium totius terrae,' non ut prius vers. 7, labium eorum qui aedificare coeperunt urbem et turrim; per 'faciem totius terrae' significatur status Ecclesiae, nam 'terra' est Ecclesia, ut ostensum prius n. 662, 1066. Cum Ecclesiis post diluvium ita se res habuit: fuerunt tres Ecclesiae, quae memorantur in specie in Verbo, nempe Ecclesia Antiqua prima quae a Noaho nominata fuit; Ecclesia Antiqua altera quae ab Ebero; et Ecclesia Antiqua tertia quae a Jacobo, et postea a Jehuda et Israele: [2] quod primam Ecclesiam attinet quae nempe Noahus dicta, illa fuit sequentium sicut parens: et sicut solent Ecclesiae in suis initiis, magis illibata et insons, ut constat quoque a primo versu hujus capitis, quod ei fuerit unum labium, hoc est, una doctrina, nempe omnibus charitas pro essentiali; sed temporis successu coepit, ut solent Ecclesiae, etiam labi, et quidem imprimis ex eo quod plures eorum coeperint derivare cultum in semet, ut ita eminerent prae aliis, sicut supra ex vers. 4 constat, 'dixerunt enim, Aedificemus nobis urbem et turrim, et caput ejus in caelo, et faciamus nobis nomen'; tales in Ecclesia non potuerunt aliter esse quam sicut fermentum quoddam, aut sicut torres ex quo incendium; cum periculum profanationis sancti inde, de quo n. 571, 582, immineret, status hujus Ecclesiae, ex Providentia Domini, mutatus est, nempe quod periret cultus ejus internus et remaneret externus; quod hic significatur per quod 'Jehovah confuderit labium totius terrae': exinde quoque constat quod talis cultus qui vocatur Babel, non invaluerit in prima Antiqua Ecclesia, sed in sequentibus cum inceperunt homines coli pro diis, imprimis post mortem, inde tot gentium dii. [3] Cur permissum, quod cultus internus periret et externus maneret, causa est ne profanaretur sanctum; profanatio sancti secum habet damnationem aeternam; profanare sanctum nemo potest nisi qui cognitiones fidei habet et qui agnoscit illas; qui autem non habet, non potest agnoscere, minus profanare; interna sunt quae profanari possunt, nam in internis est sanctum, non autem in externis; se habet hoc sicut homo qui facit malum, nec cogitat malum; ei non imputari potest malum quod facit, ut non ei qui non deliberato animo facit, aut ei cui non rationale; ita qui non credit dari vitam post mortem, sed usque cultum externum habet, is non profanare potest illa quae sunt vitae aeternae, quia non credit dari; [4] aliter se habet cum illis qui norunt et qui agnoscunt; hoc quoque causa est quod permittatur homini in voluptatibus, inque cupiditatibus potius vivere, seque per eas removere ab internis, quam ut in cognitionem et agnitionem internorum veniat et illa profanet; Judaeis ideo permittitur se avaritiae hodie immergere, ut sic elongentur eo magis ab agnitione internorum, nam sunt tales ut si agnoscerent, non potuissent aliter quam profanare; nihil magis ab internis removet quam avaritia, quia est cupiditas infima terrestris; similiter se habet cum multis intra Ecclesiam, et similiter se habet cum gentibus extra Ecclesiam; hae, nempe gentes, omnium minime profanare possunt; haec nunc causa est quod hic dicatur quod 'Jehovah confuderit labium totius terrae,' et quod haec significent Ecclesiae statum quod mutatus, nempe quod cultus ejus externus factus, in quo nullus internus: [5] simile repraesentatum et significatum fuit per captivitatem Babylonicam in quam abducti sunt Israelitae, et postea Judaei, de qua ita apud Jeremiam, Et erit gens et regnum, quae non serviverint regi Babelis, et qui non dederit collum suum in jugo regis Babelis, gladio, et fame, et peste visitabo super gentem hanc, donec consumam eos per manum ejus, xxvii 8 seq;'servire regi Babelis et dare collum in jugo ejus' est prorsus privari cognitione et agnitione boni et veri fidei, ita cultu interno; [6] quod adhuc manifestius constat apud eundem Prophetam, Sic dixit Jehovah... ad omnem populum in urbe hac, fratres vestros, qui non exiverunt vobiscum in captivitatem, sic dixit Jehovah Zebaoth, Ecce Ego mittens in eos gladium, famem et pestem, et dabo eos sicut ficus horridas, xxix 16, 17;
'remanere in urbe, et non exire ad regem Babelis' repraesentabat et significabat eos qui in cognitionibus internorum seu veritatum fidei essent, et profanarent illa, in quos dicitur quod 'mitteretur gladius, fames, pestis,' quae sunt poenae profanationis, et quod fierent 'sicut ficus horridae.' [7] Quod per 'Babelem' significentur illi qui deprivant alios omni cognitione et agnitione veri, etiam repraesentatum et significatum est per haec apud eundem Prophetam, Omnem Jehudam dabo in manum regis Babelis, et transportabit eos in Babel, et percutiet eos gladio; et dabo omnes opes urbis hujus, et omnem laborem ejus, et omne pretiosum ejus, et omnes thesauros regum Jehudae, dabo in manum hostium eorum, et diripient ea et capient ea, xx 4, 5;
ubi per 'omnes opes, omnem laborem, omne pretiosum, omnes thesauros regum Jehudae' in sensu interno significantur cognitiones fidei: [8] apud eundem, Cum familiis septentrionis... regem Babelis,... adducam... super terram hanc, et super habitatores ejus, et super omnes gentes istas circumcirca, et devotioni dabo eos, et ponam eos in desolationem, et in sibilum, et in vastitates saeculi,... et erit tota terra haec in vastitatem, xxv 9, 11;
ubi vastatio interiorum fidei seu interni cultus, per 'Babelem' describitur; cui enim cultus sui, ei nullum verum fidei, ut prius ostensum; is perdit et vastat, inque captivitatem abducit omne quod verum est, quare etiam Babel vocatur 'mons corrumpens,' Jer. li 25, porro videantur quae de Babele dicta prius n. 1182.