Sunday, April 14, 2013

AC 4981
. . . the "blessing of Jehovah," in the external sense
or in the sense which relates to the state of a person in the world,
is to be content in God,
and on that account to be content
with the state of honor and wealth in which one is,
whether it be among the honored and rich,
or among the less honored and poor;
for he who is content in God
regards honors and riches as means for uses;
and when he thinks of them
and at the same time of eternal life,
he regards the honor and riches as of no importance,
and eternal life as essential.

AC 4984
All uses from truths are goods of truth.
Truths which are not for use are separated;
some being retained, and some rejected.
. . . In their beginning all uses are truths of doctrine,
but in their progression they become goods;
they become goods
when the person acts according to these truths.
Thus the very action gives quality to truths,
for all action descends from the will,
and the will itself
makes that become good
which before was truth.
From this it is plain
that truth in the will
is no longer the truth of faith,
but the good of faith;
and that no one is made happy
by the truth of faith,
but by the good of faith;
for this affects the very thing
which is of a person's life,
namely, his will,
and gives it interior delight or bliss,
and in the other life
the happiness
which is called heavenly joy.

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