2605. 我也曾与古教会的一些人交谈过. 那时, 他们知道那将要来的主, 也吸取信仰的良善品质. 但他们终究堕落了, 沦为偶像崇拜者. 他们在左前方一个黑暗地域, 处境悲惨. 他们的说话声听上去就象单调乏味的笛音, 几无理性思想. 他们说, 他们已在那里呆了许多世纪了, 有时被放出来为别人执行某些卑微的任务. 这让我反思许多基督徒在来世所面临的命运, 虽然表面上看, 他们并不敬拜偶像, 但内心里却是偶像崇拜者, 因为他们从心里否认主, 从而也否认信之真理.

21章

A congregation is a group of people with common loves, interests, and purposes. It often refers to a church group. In the Word it is almost always used to speak of the whole group of the Children of Israel, as the tabernacle of the congregation, or the people of the congregation. Sometimes the original Hebrew is translated as assembly, too. This is a case where readers and translators need to be aware of the context and potential nuances of meaning. Swedenborg writes that,'The congregation of the people' stands for people who are ruled by truths constituting intelligence, since 'congregation' is used with reference to truths... as also is 'people'... 'the assembly of the old' stands for people who are ruled by good. The usage of the term congregation also implies an ordering, or arrangement of truths.

(Посилання: Apocalypse Explained 417; Arcana Coelestia 6338, 7843, 7891; The Apocalypse Explained 724 [17])