The Gist of Swedenborg | Page 5

for obedience's sake to be honored according to the dignity of the thing he does, and to be delighted and recreated by the pleasures of the world;--yet all this for the sake of the end, which must be use. By this a man is in position to serve the Lord and to serve the neighbor. But when there is no love of serving the Lord and the neighbor, but only a love of serving oneself at the world's hands, then from being heavenly that love becomes infernal, for it causes a man to sink mind and character in his _proprium_, or what is his own, which in itself is the whole of evil.
--_Divine Love and Wisdom, n._ 396
THE NEED FOR SELF-ACTION
No one can cleanse himself of evils by his own power and abilities; but neither can this be done without the power and abilities of the man, used as his own. If this strength were not to all appearance his own, no one would be able to fight against the flesh and its lusts, which, nevertheless, is enjoined upon all men. He would not think of combat. Because man is a rational being, he must resist evils from the power and the abilities given him by the Lord, which appear to him as his own; an appearance that is granted for the sake of regeneration, imputation, conjunction, and salvation.
--_True Christian Religion, n._ 438

THE WARFARE OF REGENERATION
"Blessed be the Lord my strength, Who teacheth my hands to war, And my fingers to fight: My goodness, and my fortress; My high tower and my deliverer; My shield, and He in whom I trust; Who subdueth my people under me."
--_Psalm,_ CXLIV, 1, 2
"TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH"
Because man is reformed by conflicts with the evils of his flesh and by victories over them, the Son of Man says to each of the seven Churches, that He will give gifts "to him that overcometh."
--_True Christian Religion, n._ 610
Without moral struggle no one is regenerated, and many spiritual wrestlings succeed one after another. For, inasmuch as regeneration has for its end that the life of the old man may die and the new and heavenly life be implanted, there will unfailingly be combat. The life of the old man resists and is unwilling to be extinguished, and the life of the new man cannot enter, except where the life of the old has been extinguished. From this it is plain that there is combat, and ardent combat, because for life.
--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8403
REPENTANCE AND THE REMISSION OF SINS
He who would be saved, must confess his sins, and do repentance. To confess sins is to know evils, to see them in oneself, to acknowledge them, to make oneself guilty and condemn oneself on account of them. Done before God, this is to confess sins. To do repentance is to desist from sins after one has thus confessed them and from a humble heart has besought forgiveness, and then to live a new life according to the precepts of charity and faith.
He who merely acknowledges generally that he is a sinner, making himself guilty of all evils, without examining himself,--that is, without seeing his sins,--makes a confession but not the confession of repentance. Inasmuch as he does not know his evils, he lives as before.
One who lives the life of charity and faith does repentance daily. He reflects upon the evils in him, acknowledges them, guards against them, and beseeches the Lord for help. For of oneself one continually lapses toward evil; but he is continually raised up by the Lord and led to good.
Repentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Nor are sins pardoned on repentance of the mouth, but on repentance of the life. Sins are constantly pardoned man by the Lord, for He is mercy itself; but still they adhere to man, however he supposes they have been remitted. Nor are they removed from him save by a life according to the precepts of true faith. So far as he lives according to these precepts, sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far they are remitted.
--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 159-165
TEMPTATION AND PRAYER
When a man shuns evils as sins, he flees them because they are contrary to the Lord and to His Divine laws; and then he prays to the Lord for help and for power to resist them--a power which is never denied when it is asked. By these two means a man is cleansed of evils. He cannot be cleansed of evils if he only looks to the Lord and prays; for then, after he has prayed, he believes that he is quite without sins, or that they have been forgiven, by which he understands that they are taken away. But then he still remains in