1. 前言:新天國與新教會的信仰

首先, 將本書中所講述的真實的基督徒信仰, 也就是新天國和新教會的信仰, 分別以總體和具體的形式概要地說明。作為接下來全書的引言, 或作為進入聖殿的大門, 又或作為詳細內容的概要。此信仰被稱為新天國和新教會的信仰, 因為天人(angel)組成的天國和世人組成的教會, 如同一個人的靈魂與肉體, 內外一致,行動如一。因此, 若教會之人活在良善與真理之中, 對於思想內在而言, 他就是天國的一名天人。在肉身死後, 他便進入天國, 照著良善與真理在他裡面聯合的狀態在那裡安享極樂。當知道, 在主現在正建立的新天國中, 這樣的信仰是新天國的引言,入門和概要。

8603. 'And Moses, Aaron, and Hur' means levels of Divine Truth that follow one another in order. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as Divine Truth that goes forth directly from the Lord, dealt with in 7010; from the representation of 'Aaron' as Divine Truth that goes forth from the Lord in an indirect way, dealt with in 7009; and from the representation of 'Hur' as Divine Truth that goes forth again in an indirect way, but through the latter. Thus there are levels of truth that follow one another in order.

[2] What is meant by levels of truth that follow one another in order must be stated briefly. All things without exception in the entire natural world spring in order from others on a more internal level; they derive from them and follow in order after them. But the interior things do not connect with the exterior by gradually merging into them; rather, they are distinct and separate, and are joined through extensions from themselves like fibres, which act as channels of communication. Some idea of the nature of things which derive from others and therefore follow in order from them may be conveyed by considering fruits such as lemons, apples, and the like. Their most external parts are their surrounding skins, their interiors are the surrounded flesh or pulp, and their yet more interior parts are the seeds; and the seeds have casings around the outside, then on the actual seeds membranes, under which lies an inner pulp containing the initial form, the soul so to speak, from which again spring new trees and fruit.

[3] All these things follow one another in order; but they are distinct and separate, yet at the same time are joined together. The communication of interiors with exteriors is effected in a wondrous fashion through fibre-like passageways. When those interiors and exteriors are first formed they are very closely connected; but in the course of time they are separated. For before the initial form, the inmost part within the seed, can expand into forms like its parents it must be opened in stages following one another in order. When it is opened and starts to grow, the pulpy parts surrounding it adapt themselves, serving first as its 'soil', and after that as its fertilizing sap. After this phase, which is its time in the womb, it is born; at that point it is left to the soil of the earth, in which it is sown as a seed.

[4] All this enables one to form some idea of the nature of things that derive from and follow one another in order. As is the nature of them in the vegetable kingdom, so it is also in the animal kingdom, yet in a far more perfect way. In the animal kingdom there are exterior things, interior, and inmost, which in like manner follow one another in order, are distinct and separate from one another, and yet at the same time are joined together. But they are different in that forms in the animal kingdom have been created to receive life. Consequently just as forms receiving life follow one another in order, so do the resulting kinds of vitality. For the forms or substances receiving life are the subjects ¹ , and the things which result from changes and modifications of those forms are the forces, which should be called vitalities because they are life-forces. From all this one may now see what is meant by levels of Divine Truth that follow one another in order. For everything constituting life has connection with truth, and the perfection it possesses with good, or in the contrary sense with falsity, and its imperfection with evil. Their transitions in order from one to the next are also called degrees.

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