ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT (pt. 7)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT
(pt. 7)

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Dignity and honor ought to be paid to priests on account of the holy things which they administer; but they who are wise give the honor to the Lord, from whom the holy things are, and not to themselves; but they who are not wise attribute the honor to themselves; these take it away from the Lord.

They who attribute honor to themselves, on account of the holy things which they administer, prefer honor and gain to the salvation of souls, which they ought to provide for; but they who give the honor to the Lord, and not to themselves, prefer the salvation of souls to honor and gain.

The honor of any employment is not in the person, but is adjoined to him according to the dignity of the thing which he administers; and what is adjoined does not belong to the person himself, and is also separated from him with the employment.

All personal honor is the honor of wisdom and the fear of the Lord.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 317)

ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT (pt. 6)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT
(pt. 6)

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Priests ought not to claim to themselves any power over the souls of men, because they do not know in what state the interiors of a man are; still less ought they to claim the power of opening and shutting heaven, since that power belongs to the Lord alone.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 316)

ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT (pt. 5)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT
(pt. 5)

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With respect to the priests, they ought to teach men the way to heaven, and also to lead them; they ought to teach them according to the doctrine of their church from the Word, and to lead them to live according to it. Priests who teach truths, and thereby lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are good shepherds of the sheep; but they who teach and do not lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are evil shepherds.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 315)