~ The Lord Bless You ~

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face toward you
and give you peace.

(Numbers 6:24-26)

AC 1316 - Being One

AC 1316 [1, 2]

Behold, the people are one, and they all have one lip.
(Genesis 11:6)

The people is said to be "one," and their "lip one,"
when all have as their end the common good of society,
the common good of the church,
and the kingdom of the Lord;
for when this is the case the Lord is in the end,
and all are a one from Him.
But the Lord cannot possibly be present with a person
whose end is his own good;
the proprium itself of a person estranges the Lord,
because thereby the person twists and turns
the common good of society,
and that of the church itself,
and even the kingdom of the Lord, to himself,
insomuch that it is as if it existed for him.

But when the people is one, and the lip one,
that is, when the common good of all is regarded,
one person never appropriates to himself
another's delight,
or destroys another's freedom,
but insofar as he can
he promotes and increases it.
This is the reason why
the heavenly societies are as a one,
and this solely through mutual love from the Lord;
and the case is the same in the church.

 

AC 1311 - Judgment: The Punishment of Evil

AC 1311 [2-3]

Judgment is predicated of a state
when evil has reached its highest,
or, as it is termed in the Word,
when it is "consummated,"
or when "iniquity is consummated."
For the case herein is that all evil has its limits
 as far as which it is permitted to go;
but when it goes beyond these limits,
it incurs the penalty of the evil.
This is so both in particular and in general.
The punishment of evil is what is then called a judgment.
And because it appears at first
as if the Lord did not see or observe
that the evil exists --
for when a person does evil without punishment,
he supposes that the Lord troubles not Himself
about the matter,
but when he undergoes the penalty
he begins to think that the Lord sees,
and even that the Lord inflicts the punishment --
it is therefore said,
in accordance with these appearances,
that Jehovah came down to see.

To "come down" is predicated of Jehovah,
because "the highest" is predicated of Him,
that is, He is said to be in the highest,
and this too according to the appearance,
for He is not in things highest but in things inmost,
and this is the reason why in the Word
what is highest and what is inmost
have the same meaning.

AC 1304, 1307 - The Destruction of Loving Self

AC 1304

The church is of such a nature
that when charity toward the neighbor departs,
and the love of self succeeds in its place,
the doctrine of faith is of no account
except insofar as it can be turned into the worship of self;
and nothing whatever is accounted holy in worship
unless it is for the sake of self,
and thus unless it is self-worship.
All love of self is attended with this;
for he who loves himself more than others,
not only hates all who are not subservient to him,
and shows them no favor
except when they have become subservient,
but also, insofar as he is not under restraint,
he rushes on even until he exalts himself above God.

AC 1307

The love of self is that
which is least of all
in accord with the heavenly life;
for all evils come from it,
not only hatreds,
but also revenges, cruelties, and adulteries;
and still less does it accord
when it enters into worship, and profanes it.

AC 1295 - Two Ways Falsities Begin; AC 1296 - Stones and Bricks

AC 1295

There are two beginnings of falsities,
one from ignorance of truth,
the other from cupidities
(the greed for money or possessions).
Falsity from ignorance of truth
is not so pernicious as falsity from cupidities.
For the falsity of ignorance arises either
from one's having been so instructed from childhood,
or from having been diverted by various occupations
so that one has not examined
whether what professes to be true is really so,
or from not having had much faculty of judging
concerning what is true and what is false.
The falsities from these sources do not inflict much harm,
provided the person has not
much confirmed and thus persuaded himself,
being incited thereto by some cupidity
so as to defend the falsities;
for by doing this
he would make the cloud of ignorance dense,
and turn it into darkness
so that he could not see the truth.

But the falsity of cupidities exists
when the origin of the falsity
is the cupidity or love of self and of the world;
as when one seizes upon some point of doctrine
and professes it
in order to captivate minds and lead them,
and explains or perverts the doctrine in favor of self,
and confirms it both
by reasonings from memory-knowledges,
and by the literal sense of the Word.
The worship derived from this is profane,
however holy it may outwardly appear;
for inwardly it is not the worship of the Lord,
but the worship of self.
Nor does such a person
acknowledge anything as true
except insofar as he can explain it
so as to favor himself.
Such worship is that which is signified by "Babel."
But the case is different
with those who have been born
and brought up in such worship,
and who do not know that it is false,
and who live in charity.
In their ignorance there is innocence,
and in their worship there is good from charity.
The profanity in worship
is not affirmed so much from the worship itself,
as from the quality of the person
who is in the worship.

AC 1296

In the Word, "stone" means truth,
and therefore "brick,"
because it is made by man, means falsity;
for brick is stone artificially made. 

AC 1285 - One End: The Lord's Kingdom and the Lord Himself

AC 1285 [3]

The doctrine is one
when all are in mutual love, or in charity.
Mutual love and charity cause them all to be a one,
although they are diverse,
for they make a one out of the varieties.
All people however many they may be,
even myriads of myriads,
if they are in charity or mutual love,
have one end, namely,
the common good, the Lord's kingdom,
and the Lord Himself.
Varieties in matters of doctrine and of worship
are like the varieties of the senses
and of the inner parts of a person, as has been said,
which contribute to the perfection of the whole.
For then, through charity,
the Lord inflows and works in diverse ways,
in accordance with the genius of each one;
and thus, both in general and in particular,
disposes all into order,
on earth as in heaven.
And then the will of the Lord is done,
as He Himself teaches,
as in the heavens, so also upon the earth.

 

~ Reward and Punishment ~

"'Do not make idols
or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves,
and do not place a carved stone in your land
to bow down before it.
I am the Lord your God.

"'Observe My Sabbaths
and have reverence for My sanctuary.
I am the Lord.
"If you follow My decrees
and are careful to obey My commands,
I will send you rain in its season,
and the ground will yield its crops
and the trees of the field their fruit.
Your threshing will continue until grape harvest
and the grape harvest will continue until planting,
and you will eat all the food you want
and live in safety in your land.

"'I will grant peace in the land,
and you will lie down
and no one will make you afraid.'"

"'But if you will not listen to me
and carry out all these commands,
and if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws
and fail to carry out all My commands
and so violate My covenant,
then I will do this to you:
I will bring upon you sudden terror,
wasting diseases and fever
that will destroy your sight
and drain away your life.
You will plant seed in vain,
because your enemies will eat it.
I will set My face against you
so that you will be defeated by your enemies;
those who hate you will rule over you,
ad you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.'"

(Leviticus 26:1-6, 14-17)
 

AC 1272 - Loving Children

AC 1272

. . . the brutes also, even the worst,
all have a love for their young;
and that this is no evidence
that there is anything good in them;
but that if they had loved children,
not from their love of themselves and their own glory,
but that human society might be augmented,
for the common good;
and especially if they had loved them
in order that heaven might thereby be multiplied,
thus for the sake of the Lord's kingdom,
then their love for children would have been genuine.

AC 1255 - Nativities or Birth

AC 1255

While a person is being born again,
or regenerated, by the Lord,
each and all things that he receives anew
are nativities or births.
. . . The Lord in no way destroys the basic attitudes
 a person acquires from early childhood,
but modifies (or bends) them.
And if these are held sacred by the person
and are such as do not stand contrary
to Divine and natural order
but are in themselves of little importance,
the Lord lets them alone
and allows them to remain with that person . . ..

 

~ The Lord's Sabbath ~

"Keep My commands and follow them.
I am the Lord.
Do not profane My holy name.
I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites.
I am the Lord,
who makes you holy
and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.
I am the Lord."

The Lord said to Moses,
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them:
'These are My appointed feasts,
the appointed feasts of the Lord,
which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

"'There are six days when you may work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest,
a day of sacred assembly.
You are not to do any work;
wherever you live,
it is a Sabbath to the Lord.'"

(Leviticus 22:3133; 23:1-3)

AC 1248, 1250 - "The Mountain of the East"

AC 1248

And their dwelling was from Mesha,
as you come towards Sephar,
the mountain of the east.
(Genesis 10:30)

These words mean the spread of the worship,
even from the truths of faith
to the good that stems from charity;
'Mesha' means truth,
'Sephar' good,
and 'the mountain of the east' charity.

AC 1250

That 'the mountain of the east' means charity,
indeed charity from the Lord,
is clear from the meaning of 'a mountain' in the Word
as love to the Lord
and charity towards the neighbor . . ..
And that 'the east' means the Lord,
and consequently
the celestial things of love and charity . . ..

~ Love Your Neighbor ~

"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge
against one of your people,
but love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord.

"'Keep My decrees.'"

(Leviticus 19:18-19)

AC 1224 - The Ancient Church; AC 1226 - "The Sons of Shem"; AC 1228 - When a Church Is Internal

AC 1224

. . . the Ancient Church, which was internal,
was endowed with wisdom,
intelligence, memory-knowledge,
and the knowledges of truth and of good.
Such things are contained in the internal sense,
although here are only names
from which nothing else appears in the literal sense
than that there were so many origins or fathers of nations,
thus nothing doctrinal,
much less anything spiritual and celestial.
Such is the case also in the Prophets,
where, whenever a series of names occurs,
which in the internal sense signify actual things,
they follow one another in a beautiful order.

AC 1226

That by "the sons of Shem"
are meant the things that are of wisdom,
is evident merely from Shem's being an internal church,
the sons of which are none other than things of wisdom.
Everything is called wisdom that is begotten of charity,
because it comes by means of charity from the Lord,
from Whom is all wisdom,
for He is wisdom itself.
From Him comes true intelligence,
and also comes true memory-knowledge,
and also comes true knowledge,
which are all sons of charity,
that is, sons of the Lord through charity.
And because they are sons of the Lord through charity,
wisdom is predicated of each of them,
for wisdom is in each of them,
and they draw their life from it,
and this in such a manner that neither intelligence,
nor memory-knowledge, nor knowledge,
has life except from the wisdom which is of charity,
which is of the Lord.

AC 1228

A church is internal when charity is the principal of it,
from which it thinks and acts.
The first offspring of charity is none other than faith;
for faith is from it,
and from no other source.

 

AC 1203 - Spiritual and Celestial Things Joined Together

AC 1203

It is customary in the Prophets
for spiritual and celestial things to be joined together,
that is, where spiritual things are treated of,
celestial things are also treated of;
for the reason that the one is from the other,
and there is a certain want of perfection
if they are not conjoined;
so that there is an image of the heavenly marriage
in each and all things of the Word.
. . . Spiritual things, as has often been said before,
are those which are of faith;
and celestial things are those which are of love;
and again,
spiritual things are those
which are of the understanding,
and celestial things are those which are of the will.

AC 1186 - "Asshur" and "Egypt"

AC 1186

By reason and rational things
are properly meant things that are true;
and by reasoning and reasonings,
those which are false.
Because "Asshur" means reason and reasoning,
it is very frequently connected with "Egypt,"
which means memory-knowledges;
for reason and reasoning are from such knowledges.

AC 1175, 1176 - Believing That Faith Alone Saves

AC 1175, 1176

. . . the truth is
that external worship without internal is no worship.
Such is the religion of those
who separate faith from charity,
in that they set the things which are of faith
before those which are of charity . . ..

Knowledges of interior things
are what they call matters of doctrine,
which they also distinguish from rituals.
For example,
their chief doctrine is that faith alone saves;
but they do not know
that love to the Lord
and love toward the neighbor
are faith itself;
and that the knowledges which they call faith
exist for no other end
than that by means of them
people may receive from the Lord
love to Him and love toward the neighbor;
and that this is the faith which saves.

AC 1158 - Friendship & Politeness

AC 1158 [2]

Friendship is not charity,
and still less is politeness charity --
these are degrees below charity;
and the more they derive from charity
the more sincere they are.

~ Approaching the Lord ~

Moses then said . . .
"This is what the Lord spoke of when He said:
"'Among those who approach Me
I will show Myself holy;
in the sight of all the people
I will be honored.'"

(Leviticus 10:3)

AC 1153 - Humiliation and Adoration

AC 1153 [2]

. . . all true worship consists in adoration of the Lord,
adoration of the Lord in humiliation,
and humiliation in one's acknowledgment
that in himself there is nothing living, and nothing good,
but that all within him is dead, indeed, cadaverous;
and in the acknowledgment
that everything living and everything good
is from the Lord.
The more a person acknowledges these things,
not with the mouth,
but with the heart,
the more he is in humiliation;
and consequently the more he is in adoration,
that is, in true worship,
and the more he is in love and charity,
and the more in happiness.
The one is in the other,
so conjoined as to be inseparable.

 

 

~ The Grain Offering ~

"'These are the regulations for the grain offering:
Aaron's sons are to bring it before the Lord,
in front of the altar.
The priest is to take a handful of fine flour and oil,
together with all the incense on the grain offering,
and burn the memorial portion on the altar
as an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
Aaron and his sons shall eat the rest of it,
but it is to be eaten without yeast in a holy place;
they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.
It must not be baked with yeast;
I have given it as their share
of the offerings made to Me by fire.
Like the sin offering and the guilt offering,
it is most holy.'"

(Leviticus 6:14-17)