第四章 论圣言
第一节 圣经或圣言是神性真理本身
189# 人人皆曰：圣言出于上帝，乃由神性所默示，故为圣。然而，迄今为止，人尚未知其神性究竟寓于何处。盖圣言按字义而观，似不过寻常文字；其文体别异于世俗文辞，既不显崇高，亦不见炳耀，不如世间著述在外观上所呈现者。由是之故，凡以自然为上帝，或尊自然于上帝之上，并由此从自身及其自我而思想，而非从天堂、由主而思想者，极易在圣言之事上陷于谬误，并转而轻蔑圣言；其诵读之时，心中便曰：“此为何物？彼又为何物？此果为神性乎？具无限智慧之上帝，岂能如此言说？其圣性何在？又从何而来？岂非仅出于宗教之习染，并由此生出一种确信而已乎？”
189# 每个人嘴里都说，圣言来自神，是神启的，因而是神圣的。然而，迄今为止，没有人知道神性在圣言中居于何处。从字面上看，圣言就像普通的著作，写作风格奇特，缺乏现代著作所具有的崇高和光辉或清晰。因此，如果一个人拜自然，而不是拜神，或拜自然胜过拜神，因此思维来自他自己或他的自我，而不是从主那里来自天堂，那么他就很容易陷入对圣言的错误看法，甚至陷入对它的蔑视；当阅读圣言时，他心里可能会说：“这个那个是什么意思？这是神性吗？拥有无限智慧的神能这样说话吗？它的神圣性在哪里？神圣性除了来自某种宗教信仰和随之而来的说服外，还能从哪里来？”
189. Chapter 4: Sacred Scripture, the Word of the Lord{1}
Sacred Scripture, the Word, Is Divine Truth Itself
IT is on everyone's lips that the Word comes from God, is divinely inspired, and is therefore holy. Nonetheless, until now we have not known where the divinity is in the Word. At the literal level the Word seems like poor writing in a strange style, lacking the sublime and lucid quality that modern works seem to have.
There are people who can easily fall into the wrong perspective on the Word and into contempt for it - people who respect nature more than God or as God and who therefore think under the influence of themselves and their own identity rather than the influence of heaven from the Lord. When people like this read the Word they are prone to say to themselves, "What is this? What is that? Is this divine? Would a God who had infinite wisdom be capable of talking this way? Where is its holiness? Where else could the holiness come from except [the reader's] religious attitudes and convictions?"
189. CHAPTER FOUR
THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD 1
I. The sacred scripture, that is the Word, is Divine truth itself.
Everyone professes the Word to be from God, divinely inspired and therefore holy, but up to the present no one has known where in it the Divine is. For taken literally the Word looks like any ordinary book, written in a strange style, neither high-flown nor brilliant as many secular books appear to be. This is why if a person worships nature as God or in preference to God, so that his thought comes from himself and his own personality (proprium) rather than from heaven inspired by the Lord, he can easily fall into error about the Word and come to despise it. Thus he may say to himself when he reads it: 'What does this or that mean? Can this be divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, talk like this? Where is there anything holy in it, and where does this holiness come from, except from religious belief and the conviction it carries?'
Footnotes:
1. The whole of this chapter is closely modelled on THE DOCTRINE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, published in Amsterdam in 1763.
189. CHAPTER 4. THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, OR WORD OF THE LORD
I. THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD IS DIVINE TRUTH ITSELF.
It is on everyone's lips that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word its Divinity resides. For in its letter the Word appears like ordinary writing, foreign in style, neither lofty nor brilliant as the writings of the present time are in appearance. For this reason the man who worships nature instead of God or more than God, and whose thought therefore is from himself and his selfhood and not from the Lord out of heaven, may easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, and when reading it may say to himself, What does this and that mean? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite speak thus? Wherein and wherefrom is its holiness, except from some religious notion and consequent persuasion?
189. CHAPTER IV
THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD
I. THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, OR THE WORD, IS THE DIVINE TRUTH ITSELF.
It is generally agreed that the Word is from God, is divinely inspired, and therefore holy; but hitherto it has remained unknown wherein its divinity resides; for the Word in the Letter appears like common writing in a strange style, lacking the sublimity and brilliance which are apparently features of the literature of the world. For this reason the man who worships nature instead of God, and who consequently thinks from himself and his own proprium 1 and not from heaven from the Lord, may easily fall into error respecting the Word and into contempt for it, and say within himself as he reads it "What does this mean? What does that mean? Is this Divine? Can God, to whom belongs infinite wisdom, speak in this way? Where is its sanctity, or whence is it derived but from man's religious credulity?"
Footnotes:
1. The Latin word proprium, used as a substantive, means "what is one's own." Swedenborg uses it in a special sense, involving "what is of the self."
189. CAPUT QUARTUM
DE SCRIPTURA SACRA SEU VERBO DOMINI.
I. Quod Scriptura Sacra seu Verbum sit ipsum Divinum Verum.
In omnium ore est, quod Verbum sit a Deo, Divinitus inspiratum, et inde Sanctum; sed usque hactenus nescitum est, ubinam in illo Divinum est, nam Verbum in litera apparet sicut Scriptum vulgare, stylo peregrino, non sublimi nec lucente, sicut ad apparentiam sunt Scripta saeculi. Ex eo est, quod homo, qui Naturam pro Deo, aut qui illam prae Deo colit, et inde ex se et suo proprio, et non e Coelo a Domino, cogitat, facile in errorem de Verbo, et in contemtum ejus possit cadere, et secum dicere, cum id legit, quid hoc, quid illud, an hoc est Divinum, an Deus, Cui infinita Sapientia est, ita loqui potest; ubi et unde Sanctum ejus, nisi ex Religioso, et inde persuasione.