“All religion is of life; and the life of religion is to do good.” - Doctrine of Life §1
Kempton New Church

Week 1
Day 2

    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 hard it is to go to heaven?

Enter ye in through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are they who enter in by it; for confined is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to life, and few are they who find it (Matt. 7:13, 14).

HH 528. It Is Not So Difficult to Live the Life That Leads to Heaven as Is Believed. There are some who believe that to live the life that leads to heaven, which is called the spiritual life, is difficult… because they understand this to mean that they must discard worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and honors; that they must walk continually in pious meditation on God, salvation, and eternal life; and must spend their life in prayers and in reading the Word and pious books….

But that this is not at all true it has been given me to know by much experience and from conversation with the angels. I have learned, in fact, that those who renounce the world and live in the spirit in this manner acquire a sorrowful life that is not receptive of heavenly joy, since everyone’s life continues the same after death. On the contrary, to receive the life of heaven a man must live in the world and engage in its business and employments, and by means of a moral and civil life there receive the spiritual life. In no other way can the spiritual life be formed in man, or his spirit be prepared for heaven; for to live an internal life and not at the same time an external life is like dwelling in a house that has no foundation, that gradually sinks or becomes cracked and torn apart, or totters till it falls.

HH 529. When the life of man is scanned and explored by rational insight, it is found to be threefold, namely, spiritual, moral, and civil. These three lives are distinct from each other. For there are men who live a civil life and not as yet a moral and spiritual life; and there are men who live a moral life and not as yet a spiritual life; and there are those who live a civil life, a moral life, and a spiritual life at the same time. These live the life of heaven, but the former live the life of the world separated from the life of heaven. This shows, in the first place, that the spiritual life is not a life separated from natural life or the life of the world, but is joined with it as the soul is joined with its body…. To will well is the province of the spiritual life, and to act well of the moral and civil life, and if acting well is separated from willing well, the spiritual life consists solely of thought and speech, and the will, left with no support, withdraws; and yet the will is the very spiritual part of man.

HH 530. That it is not so difficult as some believe to live the life that leads to heaven will now be shown. Who cannot live a civil and moral life? For everyone from his childhood is initiated into that life, and learns what it is by living in the world. Moreover, everyone, whether evil or good, lives that life; for who does not wish to be called honorable, and who does not wish to be called just? Almost everyone practices honorable behavior and justice outwardly, so far as to seem to be honorable and just at heart, or to seem to act from real honor and justice.

The spiritual man ought to live in a similar way, and can do so as easily as the natural man can, with this difference only, that the spiritual man believes in the Divine, and acts honorably and justly, not just because to do so is in accord with civil and moral laws, but also because it is in accord with Divine laws. As the spiritual man, in whatever he is doing, thinks about Divine things, he has communication with the angels of heaven. And so far as this takes place he is conjoined with them, and thereby his internal man, which regarded in itself is the spiritual man, is opened. When man comes into this state he is adopted and led by the Lord, although he himself is unconscious of it. And then whatever he does that is honorable and just, pertaining to moral and civil life, is done from a spiritual motive; and doing what is honorable and just from a spiritual motive is doing it from honor and justice itself, or doing it from the heart.

Questions
  1. Does it seem hard to go to heaven?
  2. Has it seemed that a lot of piety (going to church, reading the Word, praying, etc.) is required in order to go to heaven, and that this requirement makes life a drag?
  3. Is it comforting to know that the most important part of preparing for heaven is to live a good, useful life, not the practice of piety?
  4. The difference between a merely natural man and a spiritual man is that the spiritual man believes in God and acts honorably and justly because God commands it, not just to be well thought of and avoid penalties. Does it seem like a hard thing to do, to believe in God and to act for His sake as well as for our own sakes?
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