AC 8935 - Worship from Truth to the Worship from Charity; AC 8941 [2] - The End or Goal of Truths From the Word

AC 8935 - Worship from Truth to the Worship from Charity

An altar of ground thou shalt make unto Me.
(Exodus 20:22)

There are two things from which
the worship of the Lord is effected;
good and truth.
Worship from good was represented by an altar of ground,
but worship from truth was represented by an altar of stones;
both kinds of altars are here treated of.
These two things from which worship is effected
are called faith and charity;
worship from truth bears relation to faith,
and worship from good to charity.
As regards worship from faith and worship from charity,
or from truth and from good, the case is this.
Before a person is regenerated
he is in worship from truth,
but when he has been regenerated,
he is in worship from good.
For before a person has been regenerated
he is led by means of truth to good,
that is, by means of faith to charity;
but when he has been regenerated
he is in good and from that in truth;
that is, he is in charity and from that in faith.
These two kinds of worship are
what are represented by altars of ground and of stone.

AC 8941 [2] - The End or Goal of Truths From the Word

The truths from which the Lord is to be worshiped
are to be taken solely from the Word,
for in every detail of the Word there is life from the Divine.
When truths are taken from one's own (proprium),
they regard and have as their end
dignity and eminence over all in the world,
and likewise earthly possessions and wealth
above all people,
and therefore they have in them
the love of self and of the world,
thus all evils in the complex.
But truths which are from the Word
regard and have as their end eternal life,
and have in them love to the Lord
and love toward the neighbor,
thus all goods in the complex.
When truths are hatched from one's own,
or from self-intelligence,
they rule over the truths which are from the Divine,
because these are applied to confirm them;
when yet the contrary should be the case,
namely, that truths from the Divine should rule,
and those which are from self-intelligence should serve.
Those which are from one's own, or from self-intelligence,
are called truths,
but they are not truths;
they only appear as truths in the external form,
for they are rendered like truths by means of applications
from the literal sense of the Word, and by reasonings,
while in the internal form they are falsities).