"
--_Psalm_, V, 7
One should not omit the practice of external worship. Things inward
are excited by external worship; and outward things are kept in
holiness by external worship, so that things inward can flow in.
Moreover, a man is imbued in this way with knowledge, and prepared to
receive celestial things, so as to be endowed with states of holiness,
though he is unaware of it. These states of holiness the Lord
preserves to him for the use of eternal life; for in the other life
all one's states of life recur.
--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 1618
THE SACRAMENTS
Baptism and the Holy Supper are the holiest acts of worship. Baptism
and the Holy Supper are as it were two gates, through which a man is
introduced into eternal life. After the first gate there is a plain,
which he must traverse; and the second is the goal where the prize is,
to which he directed his course; for the palm is not given until after
the contest, nor the reward until after the combat.
--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 667, 721
I. BAPTISM
Baptism was instituted for a sign that a man is of the Church and for
a memorial that he is to be regenerated.
Pages:
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37