18
Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy them.
Jeremiah第17章:18
Heaven and Hell#364
364. Poor people do not get into heaven because of their poverty but because of their lives. Our lives follow us whether we are rich or poor. There is no special mercy for the one any more than for the other. 1 People who have lived well are accepted; people who have lived badly are rejected.
Poverty can actually seduce people and lead them away from heaven just as much as wealth can. There are many people among the poor who are not content with their lot, who covet much more, and who believe that wealth is a blessing; 2 so when they do not get what they want, they are enraged and harbor evil thoughts about divine providence. They envy other people their assets, and given the chance would just as soon cheat them and live in their own foul pleasures.
It is different, though, for poor people who are content with their lot, are conscientious and careful in their work, prefer work to idleness, behave honestly and reliably, and lead Christian lives. I have sometimes talked with rural and common people who had believed in God while they lived in this world and had behaved honestly and righteously in their jobs. Because they were impelled by a desire to know what was true, they kept asking what thoughtfulness and faith were, since they had heard a lot about faith in this world and were hearing a lot about thoughtfulness in the other life. So they were told that thoughtfulness is all about living and faith is all about doctrine. This means that thoughtfulness is intending and doing what is fair and right in every task, while faith is thinking what is fair and right; so faith and thoughtfulness go together like doctrine and a life according to it, or like thought and intent. Faith becomes thoughtfulness, then, when we intend and do the fair and right things that we think. When this happens, they are not two but one. They understood this perfectly well and were overjoyed, saying that in the world they had not understood believing to be any different from living.
脚注:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] There is no direct mercy, only mercy through means - that is, for people who live according to the Lord's commandments, whom he in his mercy is constantly leading in this world, and afterwards to eternity: 8700, 10659.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] High rank and wealth are not real blessings, so both evil and good people have them: 8939, 10755, 10776. Real blessing is the acceptance of love and faith from the Lord and a consequent union [with him], because these bring us happiness forever: 1420, 1422, 2846, 3017, 3408 [3406?], 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584, 4216, 4981, 8939, 10495.
Luke第14章:16-24
16
But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
17
He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'
18
They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'
19
"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'
20
"Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come.'
21
"That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
22
"The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'
23
"The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24
For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"
