148# 这类人的内里与外在，好比裹着甜糖外皮的毒药；亦可类比先知门徒采来入汤的野瓜，众人食下之时便惊呼：“锅中有致死之物！”（王下 4:38，41）
他们又如从地里上来的兽，长有两角如同羔羊，言语却如龙一般（启 13:11），后文称这兽为伪先知。亦如同城中盗匪：安居城内之时，言行合乎道义、谈吐合乎情理；一旦遁入山林，便露出野兽本性。又如海盗，在陆地尚且是人，行于海上便如凶残鳄鱼。
这般人行走市井世间，恰似身披羊皮的豹子，或是套着人身、人前挂着人脸假面的猿猴。亦可比作娼妇，周身涂抹香膏，以脂粉修饰容颜，身着纹样华美的白衣；可独处家中、与放纵之辈相处时，便全然展露丑态，以自身败坏玷污旁人。
凡心中轻贱圣言的神圣、否认主之神性之人，皆是这般表里相悖。这是我多年在灵界观察所得的确切见识：灵界之中，众人起初皆停留在外在表象；待到外在假面剥落，人便显露内里本相，彼时人前的虚饰喜乐，尽数转为悲苦的结局。
148# 这类人的内在和外在可以比作包着糖衣的毒药，也可以比作先知门徒采摘的野瓜，他们把野瓜放进汤里，吃的时候都喊叫说：“锅中有致死的毒物”（列王纪下4:38-41）。他们还可以比作从地里上来的兽，两角如同羔羊，说话好像龙（启示录13:11）；后来，这兽被称为“假先知”。他们就像强盗，住在城里时是市民，行为道德，说话理性；但当回到森林时，他们就成了野兽。或者他们就像海盗，在岸上是人，但在海上就是真正的鳄鱼。这些人在岸上或城里漫步时，就像披着羊皮的豹子，或穿着人的衣服、戴着人脸面具的猿猴。他们也可以比作涂脂抹粉的妓女，穿着绣有花朵的白色丝绸长袍；但当回到自己家里时，她就在情人面前脱衣服，把她的疾病传染给他们。我被允许通过多年在灵界的经历得知，这就是那些从心里否认圣言的神圣性和主的神性之人的性质；因为在灵界，起初所有人都被保持在他们的外在中，但后来他们的外在被除去，他们被引入他们的内在；那时，他们生活的喜剧就变成了悲剧。
148. The inner and outer selves of people like that are like poisons with a coating of sugar, and like the wild gourds that the servants of the prophets gathered and put into a stew, but shouted when they ate it, "There is death in the pot!" (2 Kings 4:38-41). These people can also be likened to the beast from the earth that had two horns like the Lamb but spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:11). Later in the Book of Revelation that beast is called the false prophet.
These people are like robbers spending time in a city where upright citizens live. The robbers behave morally and speak rationally while they are in town, but when they return to the woods they are wild animals. Or they are like pirates who are humans on land but crocodiles at sea. The pirates on land and the robbers in the city go around like panthers wearing sheepskins.
These people are like monkeys dressed in human clothing, with a mask of a human face in front of their own face. They can be likened to a woman preparing to go out, who puts on perfume, makeup, and a white silk dress embroidered with flowers; but when she comes home again, she strips for several lovers and gives them her disease.
This is the nature of those who take holiness away from the Word and divinity away from the Lord in their hearts, as years of experience in the spiritual world have allowed me to know. In that world all are kept at first in their outer selves; but afterward their outer selves are removed and they shift to their inner selves. At that point their comedy becomes a tragedy.
148. The internal and external of such people can be compared to poisonous substances coated with sugar; or to the gourds which the prophets' lads gathered and put in their porridge, so that when they came to eat it, they cried, 'Death in the pot' (2 Kings 4:38-41). Another possible comparison is with the beast from the land 1 , which had two horns like a lamb's and which had a voice like a dragon's (Revelation 13:11). Later on the beast is called 'the false prophet.' Such people are like brigands in town among well-behaved citizens, who so long as they are there behave properly and speak reasonably, but when they return to the forest are wild beasts; or again like pirates who behave like human beings ashore, but like crocodiles at sea. Both of these groups, while they are ashore or in town, walk around like panthers dressed in sheepskins; or like monkeys dressed in human clothing, with a mask of a human face tied in front of their faces.
[2] They can also be likened to a prostitute who steeps herself in perfume, makes up her face with rouge, and dresses in white silk with a floral pattern; but when she returns home, she strips in front of a lascivious audience 2 and infects them with her contagion. Years of experience in the spiritual world have taught me that those who in their hearts deny the holiness of the Word or the divinity of the Lord are like this; for in that world all are at first kept in their external forms, but later on they are exposed in their internal forms, and then the comedy turns into tragedy.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin has 'from the sea', but this is not in this passage, but in Revelation 13:1.
2. Latin luperci, the name of the ancient Roman worshippers of a fertility god.
148. The internal and external of such men may be likened to poisons coated with sugar; also to those wild gourds which the sons of the prophets collected and put into pottage and ate them, and then cried out, "There is death in the pot" (2 Kings 4:38-41). They may also be compared to the beast coming up out of the sea, which had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:11); and afterwards that beast is called "the false prophet." They are also like robbers in a city where they dwell as citizens, acting morally and talking rationally; but when they return to the forests they are wild beasts. Or they are like pirates, who on the shore are human beings, but at sea are very crocodiles. These when on land or in a city go about like panthers clothed in sheep-fleeces, or like apes in men's clothing and wearing a mask like the face of a man. They may also be likened to a harlot, who anoints herself with balsam, paints her face with rouge, and clothes herself in white silk interwoven with flowers, but when she returns home denudes herself before her visitors, and infects them with her diseases. That such is the character of those who in heart detract from the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord it has been granted me to know by years of experience in the spiritual world; for there all at first are kept in their externals, but afterwards their externals are taken away and they are introduced into their internals; and then their comedy is turned into a tragedy.
148. The internal and the external of such persons may be likened to poison coated with sugar; and to the wild gourds which the sons of the prophets gathered and cast into the pottage; and while they were eating it they cried out: "There is death in the pot" 2 Kings 4:38-41. They may also be compared to the beast coming up out of the sea (A.V., earth),
"and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon" Revelation 13:11.
That beast is afterwards called the false prophet. They are like robbers in a city where good citizens dwell; and then they act morally and speak reasonably; but on returning to the woods they are wild beasts again. They are also like pirates who are men when on land, but savage monsters at sea. Whether they parade on land or stroll about the city they are like panthers clothed in sheep-skins, or like apes dressed in men's clothing, wearing masks over their own faces to represent the human countenance. They may also be likened to a courtesan who anoints herself with perfume, rouges her face and puts on a robe of white silk, embroidered with flowers; but when she returns to her own house, she, unadorned, infects her paramours with her own disease. That such is the real character of those who in their hearts deny the sanctity of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord it has been granted me to know by the experience of years in the spiritual world. For there all are at first suffered to remain in their externals, but afterwards, on the removal of these, they are brought into their internal state, and then the comedy of their lives is turned to tragedy.
148. Internum et Externum talium aequiparari possunt Venenis obductis crustis saccharinis: tum colocinthidis, 1 quas pueri prophetarum colligentes miserunt in pulmentum, quod dum comederent, clamabant, mors in olla, 2 Regnum 4:38-41. 2 Et quoque comparari possunt Bestiae e terra, 3 quae habebat duo cornua sicut Agni, et loquuta est sicut draco, Apocalypsis 13:11, in sequentibus bestia illa vocatur pseudopropheta. Et sunt sicut latrones in Urbe, ubi cives morati, qui in illa moraliter agunt et rationaliter loquuntur, at cum redeunt in sylvas, ferae sunt: aut etiam sicut piratae, qui super terra homines sunt, at in mari crocodili: hi et illi incedunt dum super terra aut in urbe sunt, sicut pantherae indutae pellibus ovis; aut sicut simiae amictae vestibus humanis, ante cujus vultum appositus est typus faciei hominis.
[2] Assimilari etiam possunt meretrici, quae inungit se balsamo, fucat faciem purpura, ac investit se serico albo cum intextis floribus, quae cum in domum suam redit, nudat se coram lupercis, ac inficit illos sua lepra. Quod tales sint, qui sanctum Verbo et Divinum Domino corde derogant, per annorum experientias in Mundo Spirituali mihi datum est cognoscere, ibi enim omnes primum tenentur in externis suis, at postea his ademptis immittuntur in Interna, et tunc comoedum eorum fit tragicum.
Footnotes: