The Gist of Swedenborg Part 3

PRAYER

"O Thou who hearest prayer; Unto Thee shall all flesh come."

--_Psalm_, LXV, 2

Prayer, in itself considered, is speech with G.o.d. There is then some inward view of the objects of the prayer, and answering to that something like an influx into the perception or thought. Thus there is a kind of opening of the man's interiors toward G.o.d, with a difference according to the man's state and according to the nature of the object of the prayer. If one prays out of love and faith and only about and for things heavenly and spiritual, then there appears in the prayer something like revelation, which shows itself in the affection of the suppliant, in hope, solace, or an inner gladness.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2535

THE SERVICE OF WORSHIP

"I will come into Thy house in the mult.i.tude of Thy mercy; In Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple."

--_Psalm_, V, 7

One should not omit the practice of external worship. Things inward are excited by external worship; and outward things are kept in holiness by external worship, so that things inward can flow in.

Moreover, a man is imbued in this way with knowledge, and prepared to receive celestial things, so as to be endowed with states of holiness, though he is unaware of it. These states of holiness the Lord preserves to him for the use of eternal life; for in the other life all one's states of life recur.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 1618

THE SACRAMENTS

Baptism and the Holy Supper are the holiest acts of worship. Baptism and the Holy Supper are as it were two gates, through which a man is introduced into eternal life. After the first gate there is a plain, which he must traverse; and the second is the goal where the prize is, to which he directed his course; for the palm is not given until after the contest, nor the reward until after the combat.

--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 667, 721

I. BAPTISM

Baptism was inst.i.tuted for a sign that a man is of the Church and for a memorial that he is to be regenerated. For the washing of baptism is no other than spiritual washing, which is regeneration. All regeneration is effected by the Lord through truths of faith and a life according to them. Baptism, therefore, testifies that a man is of the Church and that he can be regenerated; for it is in the Church that the Lord is acknowledged, Who regenerates man, and there the Word is, where are truths of faith, by which is regeneration.

--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 202, 203

The sign of the cross which a child receives on the forehead and breast at baptism is a sign of inauguration into the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord.

--_True Christian Religion, n._ 682

II. THE HOLY SUPPER

The Holy Supper was inst.i.tuted that by means of it there might be conjunction of the Church with heaven, and thus with the Lord. When one takes the bread, which is the Body, one is conjoined with the Lord by the good of love to Him, from Him; and when one takes the wine, which is the Blood, one is conjoined to the Lord by the good of faith in Him, from Him.

--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 210, 213

In the Holy Supper the Lord is fully present, both as to His glorified Humanity, and as to the Divine. And because He is fully present, therefore the whole of His redemption is; for where the Lord the Redeemer is, there redemption is. Therefore all who observe the Holy Communion worthily, become His redeemed, and receives the fruits of redemption, namely, liberation from h.e.l.l, union with the Lord, and salvation.

--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 716, 717

THE RESPONSIBLE LIFE IN THE WORLD

"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me."

--_Matthew_, XI, 29

There are those who believe that it is difficult to live the life which leads to heaven, which is called the spiritual life, because they have heard that one must renounce the world, must divest himself of the l.u.s.ts called the l.u.s.ts of the body and the flesh, and must live spiritually. They take this to mean that they must cast away worldly things, which are especially riches and honors; that they must go continually in pious meditation on G.o.d, salvation, and eternal life; and must spend their life in prayers and in reading the Word and pious books. But those who renounce the world and live in the spirit in this manner acquire a melancholy life, unreceptive of heavenly joy. To receive the life of heaven a man must by all means live in the world and engage in its duties and affairs and by a moral and civil life receive the spiritual life.

That it is not so difficult to live the life of heaven, as some believe, may be seen from this: when a matter presents itself to a man which he knows to be dishonest and unjust, but to which he inclines, it is only necessary for him to think that it ought not to be done because it is opposed to the Divine precepts. If a man accustoms himself to think so, and from so doing establishes a habit of so thinking, he is gradually conjoined to heaven. So far as he is conjoined to heaven the higher regions of his mind are opened; and so far as these are opened he sees whatever is dishonest and unjust; and so far as he sees these evils they can be dispersed--for no evil can be dispersed until it is seen.

--_Heaven and h.e.l.l, nn._ 528, 533

THE DECALOGUE

"Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten."

--_Jeremiah_, L, 5

The conjunction of G.o.d with man, and of man with G.o.d, is taught in the two Tables which were written with the finger of G.o.d, called the Tables of the Covenant. These Tables obtain with all nations who have a religion. From the first Table they know that G.o.d is to be acknowledged, hallowed and worshipped. From the second Table they know that a man is not to steal, either openly or by trickery, nor to commit adultery, nor to kill, whether by blow or by hatred, nor to bear false witness in a court of justice, or before the world, and further that he ought not to will those evils. From this Table a man knows the evils which he must shun, and in the measure that he knows them and shuns them, G.o.d conjoins him to Himself, and in turn from His Table gives man to acknowledge, hallow and worship Him. So, also, He gives him not to meditate evils, and, in so far as he does not will them, to know truths freely.

--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 1179

As one views the two tables, it is plain that they are so conjoined that G.o.d from His table looks to man, and that in turn man from his table looks to G.o.d. Thus the regard is reciprocal. G.o.d for His part never ceases to regard man, and to put in operation such things as are for his salvation; and if man receives and does the things in his table, reciprocal conjunction is effected, and the Lord's words to the lawyer will have come to pa.s.s, "This do, and thou shalt live."

--_True Christian Religion, n._ 287

MARRIAGE

"Jesus said: 'Have ye not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh. What, therefore, G.o.d hath joined together, let not man put asunder.'"

--_Matthew_, XIX, 4, 5

A PRICELESS JEWEL

The conjugial inclination of one man to one wife is the jewel of human life and the depository of the Christian religion.

--_Conjugial Love, n._ 457

THE PROGRESSIVE CHASt.i.tY OF MARRIAGE