AC 9188 - Sorceress, Sorceries; AC 9193 - Worship the Lord

AC 9188 [1, 2] - Sorceress, Sorceries

A sorceress.
(Exodus 22:17)

That this signifies those in whom
something of the church has been conjoined with
the falsities of the evil of the love of self,
is evident from the signification of "sorceries,"
as being the falsities of the evil of the love of self
conjoined with such things as are of the church.

The reason why these falsities
are falsities of the evil of the love of self,
is that all evil springs chiefly from this love,
and together with evil, falsity,
because they cohere together.
From this it is evident
that in such persons there is no spiritual life,
because it has been destroyed by falsities of evil;
and insofar as they have conjoined
these falsities with truths,
so far they have extinguished spiritual life within them;
and as in this way
instead of being alive, they have become dead . . ..

AC 9193 [3] - Worship the Lord

The main feature of the worship of the Ancient Church
was the worship of God under a human form,
thus of the Lord.
But when they turned aside from good to evil,
they began to worship the representatives themselves,
such as the sun, the moon, the stars,
also groves, statues, and God under various idol forms,
thus external things apart from anything internal,
as is the case when the internal person has been closed.
The internal person is closed by a life of evil;
for the Lord flows in by good,
and opens the internal person;
and consequently it is closed by evil.
And when the internal person has been closed,
truths are turned into falsities;
and where they remain as truths,
they merely serve the evils
which are of the love of self and the love of the world.
The main thing of internal worship
is to acknowledge the Lord as the one and only God,
and that everything good and true is from Him.
Those in the church who do not acknowledge Him
cannot be in good, thus neither can they be in truth.
Those acknowledge Him who are in faith,
and at the same time in the good of life;
but not those who are in evil of life.
That to acknowledge and worship the Lord
is to live according to His commandments,
that is, to live a life of faith and charity.
A life of faith consists
in doing the commandments from obedience
and a life of charity
in doing the commandments from love.