The Gist of Swedenborg | Page 7

return, but likewise all the states of innocence
and charity; and when states of evil and the false, or of wickedness and
phantasy recur, these latter states are attempered by the former through
the Divine operation of the Lord.
--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 561

PRAYER
"O Thou who hearest prayer; Unto Thee shall all flesh come."
--_Psalm_, LXV, 2
Prayer, in itself considered, is speech with God. 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 God, 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 multitude 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 instituted 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 instituted 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 hell, 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
lusts called the lusts 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 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