“The Church is... where the Lord is acknowledged, and where the Word is.” - The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §242
Kempton New Church

Week 1
Day 5

    Listen:

Piety and Charity
External Worship and the Worship of Life

That to do good is to worship the Lord, appears from the Lord’s words: Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24; NJHD 127)

How are worship rituals “signs” of charity?

O come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before Jehovah, our Maker. (Psalm 95:6)

Charity 173. The Signs of Charity Are All Things That Pertain to Worship. All things of charity have regard to looking to the Lord and shunning evils as sins, and doing the goods of use that pertain to one’s calling. But all things of worship are externals, of the body and of the mind. The externals of the body are performed by acts and by words; and the externals of the mind are those that are performed by the will and the thought, which are closely joined with the externals of the body.

Charity 174. The externals of the body which pertain to worship are: (1) Frequenting temples. (2) Listening to sermons. (3) Devoutly singing, and praying on the knees. (4) Partaking of the Sacrament of the Supper.

And at home: (1) Prayer morning and evening, and at dinners and suppers. (2) Conversing with others about charity and faith, and about God, heaven, eternal life, and salvation. (3) And in the case of priests, preaching, and also private instruction. (4) And with everyone, the instruction of children and servants in such matters. (5) Reading the Word, and books of instruction and of piety.

Charity 175. The externals of the mind which pertain to worship are: (1) Thought and meditation concerning God, and concerning heaven, eternal life, and salvation. (2) Reflection upon one’s thoughts and intentions, as to whether they are evil or good, and that the evil are from the devil, and the good from God. (3) Aversion of one’s mind from impious, obscene, and filthy language. (4) Besides thoughts, there are also affections which come to the sight and sense of a man.

Char 176. These are called externals because they are closely conjoined and make one with the externals of the body.

Charity 178. Charity itself is in the internal man, and its sign is in the external…. The internal man is called the spirit, and the external is called the flesh… For it is said and it is known by some that there is a conflict between the spirit and the flesh. The spirit that contends against the flesh is the internal man, who is charity.

Charity 179. The quality of the internal man cannot manifest itself to a man except by the external. It manifests itself when there is a conflict with the external. It especially manifests itself when a man examines himself, sees his evils, and from knowledge confesses them and thinks about repentance, and then resists his evils and sets about living a new life.

Charity 180. If a man does not do these things, his internal man is evil; but if he does them, his internal man is good. For through the internal man the Lord operates into the external; and as evil is then residing in the external, a conflict arises. For spirits from hell, who are called the devil, are admitted into the external man, which is called the flesh, and the Lord in man fights against the devil. And if, as of himself, the man also fights, he conquers; and as far as the devil is conquered, so far there is place for goods from the internal man to enter. Thus he gradually becomes a new man and is regenerated.

Charity 181. Whatever the internal man produces and presents to sight and sense in the external is called a sign. If charity is in the internal, it leads a man to reflect on the evils within him, and actually to take cognizance of and know them, and so on. If he does not do this, his external is not a sign of charity; and even if his external is in worship and piety, it is not a sign of charity, but is external charity without internal charity, which is not charity.

Charity 183. There is no internal without its sign and indication. If charity is in the internal man, or in the spirit, and this does not fight against the external man and his flesh, then charity perishes. It is as a fountain of pure water; if there is no outlet it stagnates, and then it either ceases its flow, or by stagnation the water becomes putrid….

Questions
  1. How many of the “externals of worship pertaining to the body” can you check off as something you do? Are there some you want to give more attention to?
  2. How many of the “externals of worship pertaining to the mind” can you check off?
  3. The most important “sign of charity” discussed in this chapter is that a person examines himself, sees his evils, and resists them. Is worship, therefore, meant to assist us in practicing repentance?
  4. By repentance, the devil is conquered, and then goods from the internal man can flow into our conscious life. See the similar purpose of worship described on page 18.
previous next