233# 我曾蒙准与许多死后之人交谈；他们生前相信自己将在天堂如星辰发光。因为按他们所言，他们以圣言为圣，屡次通读之，又从中采集诸多材料，以确认其信仰教条；并因此被称誉为博学之士，由是便信自己将成为米迦勒与拉斐尔。然而，他们中多有人受察验，以明其研习圣言本于何种爱；结果发现：有些人本于自我之爱，为要如教会首领一般受人崇敬；有些人则本于世界之爱，为要获取财富。
及至他们又受察验，看其从圣言中究竟知道何物，遂发现：他们由此并不知任何纯正真理，所知不过是那被称为“被歪曲之真理”的东西；而此物本身乃腐败之伪谬，在天堂中甚至发臭。于是有人告诉他们：这所以临到他们，是因为他们读圣言时，以自己与世界为目的，而非以信之真理与生活之善为目的；当自己与世界成为目的时，心智在读圣言时便滞留于自己与世界之中，因而不断从自身之自我所有而思；而人的自我所有，在凡属天堂与教会之一切事上，皆在幽暗之中。人在此状态中，不能被主从其中抽离，并被提升入天堂之光；故也不能经由天堂领受任何从主而来的流入。
我也看见这些人被准入天堂；但当他们在那里被发现并无真理时，便被逐下；然而其内仍残存一种骄矜，以为自己乃配得者。
至于那些本于求知真理之情感而研习圣言者，情形则另然；他们求知真理，因真理即真理，并因真理服务于生活之用，不仅服务于己身，也服务于邻舍。我看见他们被提升入天堂，因而进入那里神性真理所在之光；同时也被高举入天使的智慧，并进入其幸福，即天堂天使所在之幸福。
233# 我曾被允许与死后的许多人交谈，他们以为他们会像天上的星星一样发光，因为如他们所说的，他们视圣言为神圣，经常通读圣言，从中收集许多经文来证实他们信仰的教义，因此获得了学者的声誉；出于这个原因，他们以为他们会是米迦勒或拉斐尔。但他们中的许多人被检查是什么样的爱驱使他们研究圣言；结果发现，其中一些人出于自我之爱来研究圣言，以便他们可以作为教会领袖受到尊敬，一些人则出于世界之爱来研究圣言，以便他们可以获得财富。当这些人被进一步检查他们从圣言中所知道的东西时，结果发现，他们没有从中学到一个真正的真理，只学到可称为被歪曲的真理的那种真理；被歪曲的真理本身是腐臭的虚假，因为在天堂，它有臭味。他们被告知，这就是以自己和世界为目的，而不是以信仰的真理和生活的良善为目的阅读圣言的结果。当自我和世界是目的时，心智在阅读圣言中就会沉浸在自我和世界中；因此，人们总是出于他们的自我来思考；而人的自我在与天堂和教会有关的一切事物上都处于黑暗。在这种状态下，人不可能被主引导，并被提升到天堂之光中，因而不可能接受从主那里经由天堂而来的任何流注。我也看到这些人被允许进入天堂；然而，当被发现缺乏真理时，他们被赶了出去；但他们配上天堂的骄傲自负仍留在他们身上。对那些出于对认识真理的情感，因为它是真理而研究圣言的人来说，情况就不同了，因为真理可服务于生活的功用，不仅服务于他们自己生活的功用，还服务于邻舍生活的功用。我看到这些人被提升到天堂，从而进入那里的神性真理之光中；我看到他们同时被提升到天使般的智慧和天堂天使所享有的幸福中。
233. I have been given the opportunity to talk to many people after death who believed that in heaven they were going to shine like stars because (so they said) they regarded the Word as holy, read it through many times over, and collected many passages from it that they used to support the dogmas of their faith. As a result, they became famous scholars and believed they were going to become Michaels and Raphaels. Many of them were examined to learn what love had driven them to study the Word. Some of them were motivated to study by love for themselves so that they could become respected leaders of the church. Others were motivated to study by love for the world so as to increase their wealth. When they were subjected to another examination to find out what they knew from the Word, it was discovered that their knowledge of it contained nothing genuinely true. All they knew was what is called falsified truth that is actually putrid falsity, so called because in heaven it smells like something that has gone bad. They were informed that this had happened to them because their objective in reading the Word was not to find a truth to believe or a good way to live but to reach some selfish or worldly goal. When people have themselves or something worldly as their objective, as they read the Word their mind is preoccupied with themselves or the world. As a result, they are constantly thinking of their own self-importance, and human self-importance is in pitch darkness when it comes to anything related to heaven and the church. People who are in this condition cannot be raised by the Lord into the light of heaven; they cannot accept any influence from the Lord through heaven.
I have seen these people let into heaven. When it was discovered there that they had no truths, they were thrown out. Nevertheless a misplaced pride and a feeling that they were deserving stayed with them.
There was an entirely different outcome for people who had been motivated to study the Word by a desire to know the truth because it is true and because it is helpful and useful not only for their own lives but also for their neighbors' lives. I have seen these people raised into heaven into the light of divine truth there and lifted into angelic wisdom and the happiness that heavens angels enjoy.
233. 1 I have been permitted to talk with many people, who believed that after death they would shine like stars in heaven. For, so they said, they had regarded the Word as holy, frequently read it right through, and collected many passages from it to prove the dogmas of their faith, and by this means gained a reputation for their learning. As a result, they thought they would become like Michael or Raphael. Many of these, however, were tested to see what love had impelled them to study the Word; and it was discovered that some had been impelled by self-love, wishing to receive the reverence due to the leaders of the church, and some by worldly love, hoping thereby to become wealthy. When they went on to be tested to see what they had learned from the Word, it proved that they had learned no genuine truth from it, but only the sort called falsified truth. This really is rotten falsity, for in heaven it stinks. They were told that the reason this happened to them was that the ends they had in view in reading the Word were themselves and the world, not the truth of faith and the good of life. When one's ends in view are oneself and the world, then while reading the Word the mind cannot rise above oneself and the world; and one's thinking is constantly dominated by the self, and a person's self is enveloped in thick darkness in all he thinks about heaven or the church. In that state a person cannot be withdrawn by the Lord and lifted into the light of heaven, and so cannot receive any influence from the Lord through heaven.
I have also seen these people allowed into heaven; and when it was discovered there that they were devoid of truths, they were thrown out. Yet they still retained their proud conviction that they had deserved admission. Quite different was the treatment of those whose study of the Word had been impelled by a desire to know the truth because it is true and serves to promote a useful life, not only their own, but their neighbour's too. These I saw lifted up to heaven, to enjoy the light which there surrounds Divine truth, and at the same time they were raised to a state of angelic wisdom and the happiness it brings, which the angels of heaven enjoy.
Footnotes:
1. This section is repeated with minor changes from Apocalypse Revealed 255, 5-6.
233. It has been granted me to talk with many after their death, who believed that they were to shine like stars in heaven, because, as they claimed, they had regarded the Word as holy, had often read it through, and had gathered from it many things by which they had confirmed the dogmas of their faith, and in consequence had become celebrated as learned men, for which reason they believed that they were to be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were examined in respect to the love from which they had studied the Word; and it was found that some of them had studied it from love of self, that they might be worshiped as leaders in the church, and some from love of the world, that they might gain riches; and when these had been examined in respect to their knowledge of the Word, it was found that they had learned from it nothing of genuine truth, but only such truth as may be called truth falsified, which in itself is putrid falsity, for in heaven it has a putrid odor. To these it was said that this was the case with them because self and the world had been their ends when they read the Word, and not the truth of faith and good of life. And when self and the world are ends, the mind in reading the Word sticks fast in self and the world, and in consequence their thought is always from what is their own; and man's own is in darkness respecting everything that pertains to heaven and the church; and in such a state it is impossible for man to be lifted up by the Lord and raised into the light of heaven, and therefore to receive any influx from the Lord through heaven. I also saw these persons admitted into heaven, and when found to be destitute of the truths they were cast down, and still their pride in their own merit remained with them. It was otherwise with those who had studied the Word from an affection for knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it subserves the uses of life, not only their own but also the uses of the neighbor; these I have seen raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which Divine truth there is; and I have seen them exalted at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its happiness in which the angels of heaven are.
233. I have been permitted to converse with many after death who believed that they would shine like stars in heaven, because, as they said, they had regarded the Word as holy, and had often read it. They had gathered many passages from it by which they confirmed the dogmas of their faith. For this reason they had acquired the reputation of being learned scholars, and in consequence they supposed they would be Michaels 1 or Raphaels. Several of these were examined as to the love from which they had studied the Word, and it was found that some had done so from self-love, that they might be held in reverence as leaders in the Church; and others from love of the world, that they might acquire wealth. When these were further examined as to what they knew from the Word, it was discovered that they did not know a single genuine truth, but only what may be called truth falsified, which in reality is putrid falsity, for in heaven it stinks. They were informed that this was the result of reading the Word with themselves and the world as the ends in view, and not the truth of faith and the good of life. For then the mind is immersed in the things of self and the world, and therefore men constantly think from their proprium; and man's proprium is in darkness respecting everything relating to heaven and the Church. In this state man cannot be led by the Lord and raised into the light of heaven, and consequently he cannot receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.
I have also seen such persons admitted into heaven; when, however, they were discovered to be without truths, they were cast out; but there remained with them the conceit that they merited heaven. It is different with those who have studied the Word from the affection of knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it is serviceable to the uses not only of their own life but also the life of their neighbor. I have seen these persons raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which is Divine Truth, and at the same time exalted into that angelic wisdom and its happiness which the angels of heaven enjoy.
Footnotes:
1. Michael, the archangel.
233. Datum est loqui cum multis post mortem, qui crediderunt se sicut Stellas lucituros in Coelo, quia, ut dixerunt, sanctum habuerunt Verbum, saepius perlegerunt illud, plura inde collegerunt, per quae fidei suae dogmata confirmaverunt, 1 et propter id ut Docti celebrati sunt, ex quo crediderunt se Michaeles et Raphaeles futuros; sed plures ex illis explorati sunt, ex quo amore studuerunt Verbo, ac inventi, quod aliqui ex amore sui, ut sicut Primates Ecclesiae colerentur, et aliqui ex amore Mundi, ut lucrarentur opes; hi dum etiam explorati sunt, quid scirent ex Verbo, compertum est, quod inde nihil genuini veri scirent, sed modo tale, quod vocatur Verum falsificatum, quod in se est putre falsum, in Coelo enim putet; et dictum est illis, quod hoc illis esset ex causa, quia Ipsi et Mundus essent fines, dum legerunt Verbum, et non verum fidei et bonum vitae; et cum ipsi et mundus sunt fines, tunc Mens in legendo Verbum haeret in seipsis et in mundo, et inde cogitant jugiter ex suo proprio, et Proprium hominis in caligine quoad omnia, quae Coeli et Ecclesiae sunt, est; in quo statu non potest homo a Domino subduci, et elevari in lucem Coeli, proinde nec aliquem influxum a Domino per Coelum recipere. Vidi etiam hos in Coelum admissos, et cum ibi inventi sunt quod absque veris essent, dejecti sunt; sed usque apud illos remansit fastus quod meruerint. Aliter factum est cum illis, qui studuerunt Verbo ex affectione sciendi Verum quia est verum, et inservit usibus vitae, non modo suae, sed etiam proximi; illos vidi elevatos in Coelum, et sic in lucem, in qua est Divinum Verum ibi, et simul tunc exaltatos in Sapientiam Angelicam, et in felicitatem ejus, in qua sunt Angeli Coeli.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: confirnaverunt.