قراءة كتاب Spiritual Life and the Word of God

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Spiritual Life and the Word of God

Spiritual Life and the Word of God

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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according to his life; thus not as he did in the world. In the world man is wont [accustomed], for the world's sake and to gain reputation, to speak and act otherwise than as he thinks and wills from his life. This is why it has been said that there can be a profanation that is inner and not at the same time outer. That there can be also a kind of profanation that is outer and not at the same time inner is possible from the style of the Word, which is not at all the style of the world, and for this reason it may be to some extent despised from an ignorance of its interior sanctity. (A.E., n. 962.)

He who abstains from profaning the name of God, that is, the holiness of the Word, by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy, has religion; and such as his abstinence is such is his religion. For no one has religion except from revelation, and with us revelation is the Word. Abstinence from profaning the holiness of the Word must be from the heart, and not merely from the mouth. Those who abstain from the heart live from religion; but those who abstain merely from the mouth do not live from religion, for they abstain either for the sake of self or for the sake of the world, in that the Word can be made to serve them as a means of acquiring honor and gain; or they abstain from some fear. But of these many are hypocrites who have no religion. (A.E., n. 963.)

III. The Third Commandment

The third commandment is, to keep the Sabbath holy.

The third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue contain things that must be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and that parents must be honored. The other commandments contain things that are not to be done, namely, that other gods must not be worshipped; that the name of God must not be profaned; that one must not steal, must not commit adultery, must not bear false witness, must not covet the goods of others. These two commandments are commandments to be done because the sanctification of the rest of the commandments depends upon these, for the "Sabbath" signifies the union in the Lord of the Divine itself and the Divine Human, also His conjunction with heaven and the church, and thus the marriage of good and truth in the man who is being regenerated. This being the signification of the Sabbath, it was the chief representative of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church, as is evident in Jeremiah (xvii. 20-27), and elsewhere. It was the chief representative of all things of worship, because the first thing in all things of worship is the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord's Human, for without that acknowledgment man can believe and do only from self, and to believe from self is to believe falsities, and to do from self is to do evils, as is also evident from the Lord's words in John:

To those asking, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom God hath sent" (vi. 28, 29).

And in the same,

"He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing" (xv. 5).

That the Sabbath represented that union and the holy acknowledgment of it, has been fully shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that the "Sabbath" signified in the highest sense the union of the Divine itself and the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the conjunction of the Lord's Human with heaven and with the church, in general the conjunction of good and truth, thus the heavenly marriage (n. 8495, 10356, 10730). Therefore the rest on the Sabbath day signified the state of that union, because the Lord then has rest; also through that union there is peace and salvation in the heavens and on the earth. In a relative sense it signified the conjunction of man with the Lord, because man then has peace and salvation (n. 8494, 8510, 10360, 10367, 10370, 10374, 10668, 10730). The six days preceding the Sabbath signified the labors and combats that precede union and conjunction (n. 8510, 8888, 9431, 10360, 10667). The man who is being regenerated is in two states, the first when he is in truths and by means of truths is being led to good and into good, the other when he is in good. When man is in the first state he is in combats or temptations; but when he is in the second state he is in the tranquillity of peace. The former state is signified by the six days of labor that precede the Sabbath; and the latter state is signified by the rest on the Sabbath day (n. 9274, 9431, 10360). The Lord also was in two states: the first when He was Divine truth and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them, the other when He was made Divine good by union with the very Divine in Himself. The former state was signified in the highest sense by the six days of labor, and the latter by the Sabbath (n. 10360). Because such things were represented by the Sabbath, it was the chief representative of worship, and the holiest of all (n. 10357, 10372). "To do work on the Sabbath day" signified to be led not by the Lord but by self, thus to be disjoined (n. 7893, 8495, 10360, 10362, 10365). The Sabbath day is not now representative, but is a day of instruction (n. 10360 at the end). (A.E., n. 965.)

IV. The Fourth Commandment

The fourth commandment of the Decalogue is that parents must be honored.

This commandment was given because honor to parents represented and thus signified love to the Lord and love toward the church, for "father" in the heavenly sense, that is, the Heavenly Father, is the Lord; and "mother" in the heavenly sense, that is, the heavenly mother, is the church; "honor" signifies good of love; and "length of days," which such will have, signifies the happiness of eternal life. So is this commandment understood in heaven, where no father but the Lord is known, and no mother but the kingdom of the Lord, which is also the church. For the Lord gives life from Himself, and through the church He gives nourishment. That in the heavenly sense no father in the world can be meant, and indeed, when man is in a heavenly idea, can be mentioned, the Lord teaches in Matthew:

"Call no man your father on earth; for one is your Father who is in the heavens" (xxiii. 9).

That "Father" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine good may be seen in the Apocalypse Explained (n. 32, 200, 254, 297). That "mother" signifies the Lord's kingdom, the church, and Divine truth, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897); that "length of days" signifies the happiness of eternal life (n. 8898); and the "honor" signifies good of love (n. 8897), and Apocalypse Explained (n. 228, 345). All this makes clear that the third and fourth commandments involve arcana relating to the Lord, namely, acknowledgment and confession of His Divine, and worship of Him from good of love. (A.E., n. 966.)

V. The Fifth Commandment

The fifth commandment is, "Thou shalt not steal." By "thefts" both open thefts and those not open are meant, such as unlawful usury and gains, which are effected by fraud and craft under various pretenses to make them appear lawful, or so done clandestinely as not to appear at all. Such gains are commonly made by higher and lower managers of the goods of others, by merchants, also by judges who sell judgments and thus make justice purchasable. These and many other things are thefts that must be abstained from and shunned, and finally renounced as sins against God, because they are against the Divine laws that are in the Word and against this law, which is one among the fundamental laws of all religions in the whole globe. For these ten commandments are universals, given to the end that in living from these a man may live from religion, since by a life from religion man is conjoined with heaven, while a life according to these from obedience to civil and moral law

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