Spiritual Life and the Word of God by Emanuel Swedenborg
page 105 of 136 (77%)
page 105 of 136 (77%)
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separate from internal, and does not know that the worship by which he
can be saved is external worship from internal. (A.E., n. 1061.) Those who give themselves up wholly to a life of piety, who walk continually in pious meditations, who pray frequently upon their knees, and talk about salvation, faith, and love at all times and in all places, and yet do not shun frauds, adulteries, hatreds, blasphemies, and the like, as sins against God, nor fight against them, such are the kind that are more fully profaners; for by the impurities of their minds they defile the piety of their lips, especially when they renounce the world and lead solitary lives. Of this kind there are some who are still more profaners; these are like those just described, but by reasonings and by the Word falsely interpreted they defend their vices as adulteries and lusts that belong to their nature, and thus to their enjoyment. Such first regard themselves as free from danger, afterward as blameless, and at length as holy; and thus under the veil of sanctity they cast themselves into uncleannesses with which both themselves and their garments are polluted. (A.E., n. 1062.) To this class of profaners those especially belong who read the Word and know about the Lord; because from the Lord through the Word are all things holy that can be profaned; things not from that source cannot be profaned. That is said to be profane that is the opposite of what is holy, and that offers violence to what is holy and destroys it. From this it follows that those who do not read the Word and do not approach the Lord, as is the case with the Papists, still less those who know nothing about the Lord and the Word, like the Gentiles, do not belong to this class of profaners. Those who belong to this class of profaners appear after death at first |
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