All Things of the Word Treat of the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Genesis 26:4, 5. And I will cause thy seed to be multiplied as the stars of the heavens, and I will give unto thy seed all these lands; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.

And kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws. That this signifies by means of continuous revelations from Himself - that is to say, as by means of temptations, so also by means of these revelations the Lord united the Divine Essence to the Human - is evident from the fact that these words, "keeping His charge, commandments, statutes, and laws," involve all things of the Word, namely, "charge," all things of the Word in general; "commandments," the internal things; "statutes," the external things; and "laws," all things specifically. Inasmuch as this is predicated of the Lord, who from eternity was the Word, and from whom all these things are, in the internal sense it cannot be signified that He observed these things, but that He revealed them to Himself when He was in a state of unition of the Human with the Divine.

These things do indeed appear at first view rather remote from the sense of the letter, and even from the proximate internal sense; but still when the words are read by man, this is their sense in heaven; ... in its ascent toward heaven the sense of the letter is put off; and instead of it another heavenly sense comes into view, so different that it cannot be known to be from the same source. For they who are in heaven are in the idea that in the internal sense all things of the Word treat of the Lord; and also that all things of the Word are from the Lord; likewise that when He was in the world the Lord thought from the Divine and thus from Himself, and acquired for Himself all intelligence and wisdom through continuous revelations from the Divine; and therefore from the above words they perceive nothing else.

For "keeping the charge, commandments, statutes, and laws" is not predicable of the Lord, because He Himself was the Word, consequently He Himself was the charge, He Himself was the commandment, He Himself the statute, and He Himself the law; for all these things have respect to Him as the First from whom they are derived, and as the Last to whom they tend.

Therefore in the supreme sense by the above words nothing else can be signified than the unition of the Lord's Divine with the Human, through continuous revelations from Himself. (That differently from other men the Lord thought from the Divine, thus from Himself, and that He acquired for Himself intelligence and wisdom by means of continuous revelations from the Divine.

Which Rules and Which Serves

Selection from New Jerusalem Heavenly Doctrine ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Everyone has an internal man and an external man; the internal is what is called the spiritual man, and the external is what is called the natural man, and each is to be regenerated, that the man may be regenerated. With the man who is not regenerated, the external or natural man rules, and the internal serves; but with the man who is regenerated, the internal or spiritual man rules, and the external serves. Whence it is manifest that the order of life is inverted with man from his birth, namely, that serves which ought to rule, and that rules which ought to serve. In order that man may be saved, this order must be inverted; and this inversion can by no means exist, but by regeneration from the Lord.

What it is for the internal man to rule and the external to serve, and vice versa, may be illustrated by this: If a man places all his good in pleasure, in gain, and in pride, and has delight in hatred and revenge, and inwardly in himself seeks for reasons which confirm them, then the external man rules and the internal serves. But when a man perceives good and delight in thinking and willing well, sincerely, and justly, and in outwardly speaking and doing in like manner, then the internal man rules and the external serves.

(NJHD 179 -180)

Prayers are Such as is the Character of the Man in Respect to His Life

From the Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Worship does not consist in prayers and in external devotion, but in a life of charity; prayers are only its externals, for they proceed from the man through his mouth, consequently men's prayers are such as they themselves are in respect to life. It matters not that a man bears himself humbly, that he kneels and sighs when he prays; for these are externals, and unless externals proceed from internals they are only gestures and sounds without life.

In each thing that a man utters there is affection, and every man, spirit, and angel is his own affection, for their affection is their life; it is the affection itself that speaks, and not the man without it; therefore such as the affection is such is the praying.

Spiritual affection is what is called charity towards the neighbor; to be in that affection is true worship; praying is what proceeds. From this it can be seen that the essential of worship is the life of charity, and that its instrumental is gesture and praying; or that the primary of worship is a life of charity, and its secondary is praying. From this it is clear that those who place all Divine worship in oral piety, and not in practical piety, err greatly.