The Service of Worship

“I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy; In Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple.” — Psalm 5:7

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, Section 1618

from The Gist of Swedenborg, The Light of Love and Truth

The Responsible Life in the World

Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me. — Matthew 11:29

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 lusts called the lusts of body and 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 God, 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 Hell, Sections 528, 533

from The Gist of Swedenborg, The Light of Love and Truth

Notes:

Heaven and Hell, Section 528: Published 12/23/2018

Heaven and Hell, Section 533: Published 12/28/2018

There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word (Continued)

Due to the marriage of divine goodness and divine truth in the individual details in the Word, many passages mention both “Jehovah” and “God,” or both “Jehovah” and “the Holy One of Israel,” as if they were two, when in fact they are one. “Jehovah” means the Lord’s divine goodness that comes from divine love. “God and “the Holy One of Israel” mean the Lord’s divine truth that comes from divine wisdom. For more on the point that “Jehovah” and “God,” or “Jehovah” and “the Holy One of Israel” appear in many passages in the Word together and yet they mean One Being, see Teaching on the Lord the Redeemer.

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 253

There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word (Continued)

The same is true of many other paired expressions. For instance, where the word “joy” occurs, the word “gladness” also occurs, as in the following examples:

Behold, joy and gladness, killing an ox. (Isaiah 22:13)

Joy and gladness will be attained; sadness and moaning will fee. (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11)

Gladness and Joy were cut off from the house of our God. (Joel 1:16)

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness will be done away with. (Jeremiah 7:34; 25:10)

The fast of the tenth will be joy and gladness for the house of Judah. (Zechariah 8:19)

Be glad about Jerusalem; rejoice in it. (Isaiah 66:10)

Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom. (Lamentations 4:21)

The heaven will be glad and the earth will rejoice. (Psalms 96:11)

They will make me hear joy and gladness. (Psalms 51:8)

Joy and gladness will be found in Zion, thanksgiving and the voice of singing. (Isaiah 51:3)

There will be gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. (Luke 1:14)

I will stop the voice of joy and the voice of gladness. The voice of the groom and the voice of bride. (Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10)

In this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness will be heard again, the voice of the groom and the voice of bride. (Jeremiah 33:10-11)

This pair of expressions also occur elsewhere.

Both joy and gladness are mentioned because joy applies to goodness and gladness applies to truth. Joy relates to Love; gladness relates to wisdom. Joy relates to heart; gladness relates to the spirit. Joy relates to the will; gladness relates to the intellect.

The marriage between the Lord and the church is obviously meant here when it mentions the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of bride (Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:10-11). The Lord is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. For the Lord as the bridegroom, see Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35. For the church as the bride, see Revelation 21:2, 9: 22:17. Therefore John the Baptist said of Jesus, “The One who has the bride is the groom” (John 3:29).

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 252

There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word (Continued)

To show from the Word that there are two-part expressions in it whose elements seem like repetitions of the same thing would take too long–it would fill pages and pages. To remove doubt, however, I wish to list passages that mention nations and peoples together, and others that mention joy and gladness together.

The following are passages that mention nations and peoples together:

Woe to a sinful nations, to a people heavy with wickedness. (Isaiah 1:4)

The peoples walking in darkness have seen a great light; you have increased the nation. (Isaiah 9:2-3)

Assyria is the rod of my anger. I will send it against a hypocritical nations; I will command it to go against a people of my wrath. (Isaiah 10:5-6)

It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the Root of Jesse, who stands as a banner for the peoples. (Isaiah 11:10)

Jehovah is striking the peoples with an incurable blow; he is ruling the nations with anger. (Isaiah 14:6)

In that day, a far-flung and shaven people will be brought out as a gift for Jehovah Sabaoth, a measured and trampled nation. (Isaiah 18:7)

A strong people, they will honor you; a city of powerful nations will fear you. (Isaiah 25:3)

Jehovah will swallow up the covering over all peoples, the veil over all nations. (Isaiah 25:7)

Approach, you nations, and hear, you peoples. (Isaiah 34:1)

I called you to be a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. (Isaiah 42:6)

All the nations should be gathered together and the peoples should convene. (Isaiah 43:9)

Behold, I will lift my head toward the nations and my banner toward the peoples. (Isaiah 49:22)

I gave him as a witness for the peoples, a leader and a legislator for the nations. (Isaiah 55:4-5)

Behold, a people is coming from a northern land, and a great nation from the sides of the earth. (Jeremiah 6:22-23)

No longer will I let you hear the slander of the nations; you will not bear the insult of the peoples any more. (Ezekiel 36:15)

All peoples and nations will worship him. (Daniel 7:14)

To prevent the nations from making cruel remarks about them and sying among the peoples, “Where is their God?” (Joel 2:7)

The remnants of my people will plunder them and the remainders of my nation will inherit them. (Zephaniah 2:9)

Many peoples will come, and numerous nations, to seek Jehovah in Jerusalem. (Zechariah 8:22)

My eyes seen the salvation that you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light of revelation to the nations. (Luke 2:30-32)

You have redeemed us in your blood, [some] from every people and nation. (Revelation 5:9)

You need to prophesy again upon peoples and nations. (Revelation 10:11)

You will put me as the head of the nations; a people whom I had not known will serve me. (Psalms 18:43)

Jehovah makes the counsel of the nations useless; he turns the thoughts of the peoples upside down. (Psalms 33:10)

You will make us a proverb among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. (Psalms 44:14)

Jehovah will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. Jehovah rules the nations; the willing among the peoples have gathered. (Psalms 47:3, 8-9)

The peoples will confess you and the nations will rejoice, because you are going to judge the peoples in uprightness and head the nations on earth. (Psalms 67:3-5)

Remember me, Jehovah, with the good pleasure of your people, so that I may rejoice in the joy of your nations. (Psalms 106:4-5)

There are more passages like this as well.

Both nations and peoples are mentioned because “nations” mean those who focus on goodness or, in an opposite sense, on evil; and “peoples” mean those who focus on truths or, in an opposite sense, on falsities. For this reason, those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called “peoples” and those who belong to the Lord’s heavenly kingdom are called “nations,” since all who are in the spiritual kingdom focus on truths and therefore intelligence; and all who are in the heavenly kingdom focus on good actions and therefore wisdom.

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 251

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, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder'” — Matthew XIX:4-5

from The Gist of Swedenborg, The Light of Love and Truth

There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word (Continued)

Readers who pay attention to it can see that the Word has two-part expressions whose elements seem to be repetitions of the same thing. For example, brother and friend, the poor and the needy, wasteland and desert, emptiness and void, enemy and adversary, sin and wickedness, anger and wrath, nations and peoples, joy and gladness, grief and weeping, justice and judgment, and so on. These seem like synonyms when in fact they are not. Brother, the poor, wasteland, [emptiness,] enemy, sin, anger, nations, joy, grief, and justice apply to goodness or, in an opposite sense, to evil. Friend, the needy, desert, void, adversary, wickedness, wrath, peoples, gladness, weeping, and judgment apply to truth or, in an opposite sense, to falsity. Yet it seems to readers who do not know this secret that the poor and the needy, wasteland and desert, emptiness and void, and so on, are the same thing. They are not, in fact, although they combine to form one thing.

In the Word there are also many things that are paired, such as fire and flame, gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone, [bread and water,] bread and wine, purple and find linen, and so on. Again this is because fire, gold, bronze, wood, bread, and purple apply to goodness, while flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine, and fine linen apply to truth.

Something similar occurs when the Word says we have to love God with our whole heart and our whole soul, and that God is going to create in us a new heart and a new spirit. “Heart” applies to the goodness of our love, while “soul” and “spirit” apply to the truth of our faith.

There are also words that share in both goodness and truth. they are therefore stated alone without a connection to other terms.

These and many other features, though, stand out only to angels and to people who are aware of both the earthly meaning and the spiritual meaning at the same time.

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 250

There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word (Continued)

The Heading above states that in the individual details in the Word there is a marriage between the Lord and the church and therefore a marriage between goodness and truth, because wherever there there is a marriage between the Lord and the church a marriage between goodness and truth is also present, since the latter marriage comes from the former one.

When a whole church, or just an individual within a church, has truths, the Lord flows into these truths with goodness and brings them to life. To put it another way, when people who are part of a church understand something true, the Lord flows into their intellect and enlivens it by bringing goodwill into it.

We all have two faculties of life called the intellect and the will. Our intellect is a vessel for truths and therefore for wisdom; our will is a vessel for goodness and therefore for goodwill. For us to become part of the church, these two parts of us have become one. The two parts do in fact become one when we build our intellect with genuine truths (which happens to all appearance as if we were doing the building ourselves) and our will is filled with goodness and love (which is done by the Lord). Then the life of truth and the life of goodness are in us–the life truth in our intellect and the life of goodness in our will. When these two lives are united, they become one life, not two. This is the marriage between the Lord and the church; it is also the marriage between goodness and truth in us.

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 249

There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word

Until now people have not seen that there is a marriage between the Lord and the Church, and therefore a marriage between goodness and truth, in the individual details in the Word. It has been impossible for people to see this because the Word’s spiritual meaning was not revealed before, and this marriage is visible only through the spiritual meaning.

There are two meanings in the Word that lie hidden inside its literal meaning. They are called the spiritual meaning and the heavenly meaning. The elements of the Word’s spiritual meaning relate primarily to the church, and the elements of its heavenly meaning relate primarily to the Lord. The elements of the Word’s spiritual meaning also relate to divine truth, while the elements of the heavenly meaning relate to divine goodness. These two come together in the marriage that exists in the Word.

This is not apparent, though, to any except those who know what the names and the words stand for in the Word’s spiritual and heavenly meanings. Some words and names apply to something good, others to something true ; some words and names apply to both goodness and truth. If we do not know this, we cannot see the marriage in the individual details in the Word; this secret has not been discovered before, because of this blindness.

Because this type of marriage exists in the individual details in the Word, there are often two-part expressions whose elements seem like repetitions of the same thing. These are not in fact repetitions. One element relates to goodness and the other to truth. Both of them taken together form a composite and become one thing. The divine holiness of the Word is a result of this also. In every divine work there is goodness united to truth and truth united to goodness.

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 248

The Church Is Based on the Word; the Nature of the Church in Individuals Depends on their Understanding of the Word (Continued)

Many passages in the Prophets show that the church among the Israelite and Jewish nation was completely destroyed and was no longer a church because its members had falsified the meaning, or their understanding, of the Word. Nothing else destroys a church.

In the Prophets, especially in Hosea, the name “Ephraim” stands for an understanding of the Word, whether true or false. Throughout the Word, in fact, “Ephraim” means the church’s understanding of the Word. Because an understanding of the Word forms the church, Ephraim is called a precious child and one born of delight (Jeremiah 31:20); a firstborn (Jeremiah 31:9); the strength of Jehovah’s head (Psalms 60:7, 108:8); powerful (Zechariah 10:7) and someone outfitted with a bow (Zechariah 9:13); and Ephraim’s children are said to be armed and to shoot with a bow (Psalms 78:9). A “bow” means a body of teaching from the Word that fights against false ideas. For this reason Israel laid right hand rather than his left on Ephraim and blessed him, and Ephraim took the place of Reuben (Genesis 48:5, 11 and following). For this reason during Moses’blessing of the children of Israel, Ephraim and his brother Manasseh were exalted above all the rest as part of Moses’ blessing of their father, Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:1-17).

The Prophets, epecially Hosea, also describe as “Ephraim” what the church is like when it has lost its understanding of the Word. For example,

Israel and Ephraim will collapse. Ephraim will be desolate. Ephraim will be oppressed and broken in judgment (Hosea 5:5, 9, 11-14)

What will I do to you, Ephraim, since your holiness has gone away like a cloud at sunrise and like the dew that falls in the morning? (Hosea 6:4)

They will not live on Jehovah’s land. Ephraim will go back to Egypt and will eat what is unclean in Assyria. (Hosea 9:3)

“Jehovah’s land” is the church; “Egypt is scholarly syudy on the part of our earthly self; “Assyria” is reasoning based on that study. The latter two things together falsify our deeper understanding of the Word. This is why it says that Ephraim will go back to Egypt and eat what is unclean in Assyria.

Ephraim is feeding on the wind and pursuing the east wind. Every day he increases lying and devastation. He is making a pact with Assyria and oil is being carried down to Egypt. (Hosea 12:1)

“Feeding on the wind,” “pursuing the east wind,” and “increasing lying and devastation” means falsifying truths and thereby destroying the church.

Ephraim’s whoring means the same thing, in that “whoring” in the following passages means falsifying an understanding of the Word and its genuine truth:

I know that Ephraim has whored in every way and Israel has become defiled. (Hosea 5:3)

In the house of Israel, I have seen a foul thing. Ephraim has whored there and Israel has become defiled. (Hosea 6:10)

“Israel” is the church itself; “Ephraim” is the understanding of the Word on which the church depends and is based. This is why it says that Ephraim whored and Israel became defiled.

Since the church in Israel and Jewish nation was obviously destroyed by falsifying the Word, therefore we read of Ephraim,

I will go away, Ephraim. I will hand you over, Israel, like Admah, and I will make you like Zeboiim. (Hosea 11:8)

Because the prophet Hosea from the first chapter to the last is about a genuine understanding of the Word becoming falsified and the church being destroyed by that, and because “whoring” there means falsifying the truth, therefore the prophet Hosea was commanded to represent the condition of the church by marrying a whore and having sons by her (Hosea 1); and later by marrying an adulterous woman (Hosea 3).

I have quoted these passages to make known, and to support the concept, that the quality of the church is the quality of its understanding of the Word. If its understanding is based on genuine truths from the Word, the church is excellent and highly valuable. If its understanding is based on falsified truths from the Word, the church is ruined and in fact become something foul.

from True Christianity, Volume 1, Section 247