AC 7724 - True Worship: An Offering Made from Good Through Truth

 AC 7724

The truest kind of worship consists in an offering
made from good through truth,
for the Lord is present in good;
but worship offered from truth without good is not worship,
only outward religious ceremony and action alone
with nothing real in them
since without good
truth is no more than the knowledge of truth.
To become the truth of faith
that knowledge must be combined with good,
and when combined with good
it passes into the internal person and becomes faith.
. . . By the good from which worship springs
one should understand the good of life,
good that has been made spiritual
through combination with truth,
for spiritual good derives its particular nature from truth,
and the essence of truth is good,
so that good is the soul of truth.
From this one may again see what truth without good is like,
namely like a body without its soul, that is, like a corpse.