Elbert's Divine Providence Proverbs
Page 5
Under inspiration of Divine Providence by Emmanuel Swedenborg (1755, Sweden)
The Lord cannot rid us of (the) evil (in our outer nature) without our help. D.P. 114
In all Christian churches the accepted teaching is that before we come to take Holy Communion we should:
1. Examine ourselves
2. See and admit our sins
3. Repent by fraining from them and rejecting them because they come from the devil.
Otherwise our sins are not forgiven, and we are damned. D.P. 114
When people hear sermons on salvation by faith alone, they dismiss the Holy Communion vow. D.P. 114
All Christian churches share the basic conviction that we need to examine ourselves, see and admit our sins, and then refrain from them; and (that) otherwise we face not salvation but damnation. D.P. 114
Think about this, then, with some clarity of mind and if you are religious you will see that repentance from sins is the pathway to heaven. D.P. 114
You will see that faith apart from repentance is not really faith and that people who are without faith because they are without repentance are on the road to hell. D.P. 114
Some people accept a faith separate from charity. D.P. 115
Paul lists the laws of faith and says that they are in fact deeds of charity. D.P. 115
(In the Word) are lists of evil deeds (which) people who do them cannot enter heaven. D.P. 115
Whatever we hear, see, think, intend, say, and do seems to belong to us completely. If it did not seem like this, we would not be able to accept divine truth, decide to do good, or internalize love and wisdom. We would have no charity and faith. D.P. 116
Does it not seem exactly as though we ourselves think about what is good and true in spiritual, civil, and moral matters? D.P. 116
We should do what is good and think what is true. D.P. 116
We are to expel evils. D.P. 116
Many people do not know that they are involved in evil. They do not do evil things outwardly. They are afraid of civil laws and of losing their reputations. D.P. 117
Avoid evil deeds on religious grounds because they are sins and are in conflict with God. D.P. 117
Examine your thoughts and intentions. D.P. 117
Don’t believe that the law does not condemn sins. Pay attention to them. Don’t doubt whether there are such things as sins. They are sins in God’s sight. D.P. 117
Natural moralists believe that everything depends on our civic and moral life. D.P. 117
Natural moralists (only) cultivate a reputation and a name for decency and honest for the sake of position or profit. D.P. 117
Struggle against sins. D.P. 118
Don’t only prevent sins from being visible in the world D.P. 118
The Lord cannot cleanse us until we have done our part. D.P. 119
Cooperate with the Lord. D.P. 119
We are forms of hell when we are in the grip of our compulsions and the evils they cause. D.P. 119
The Lord is constantly pressing us, urging us, to open the door. D.P. 119
There are infinite things in the inner state of our minds. D.P. 120
Our thought or our inner self is our actual spirit. D.P. 120
Our senses tell us nothing about the way our minds or souls work. D.P. 120
We do not know how the Lord is at work in our minds or souls. D.P. 120
Don’t believe:
1. Simply believing what the church teaches cleanses us from our evils.
2. (Just) doing good cleanses us.
3. (Just) knowing, discussing, and teaching about churchly matters cleanses us.
4. (Just) reading the Word and devotional literature cleanses us.
5. (Just) going to church and listening to sermons and taking Communion cleanses us.
6. (Just) renouncing the world and being resolutely devout cleanses us.
None of these cleanses us unless we examine ourselves, see our sins, admit them, accept responsibility for them, and repent by not committing them any more. By the Lord’s power. D.P. 121
Don’t do 1-6 for credit or hypocritically. D.P. 121
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