Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/172

166 as a person, but it is to love the divine good and truth which are the Lord in heaven and in the church. And these two principles are not loved by knowing them, thinking them, understanding them and speaking them, but by willing and doing them." (Ap. Ex. n. 1099.)

"He who thinks that he loves the Lord when he does not live according to his precepts, is greatly deceived; for to live according to his precepts, is to love Him. These precepts are the truths which are from the Lord, and He is in them; therefore so far as these are loved, that is, so far as the life is formed according to them from love, so far the Lord is loved. The reason is, that the Lord loves man, and from love wills that he may be happy to eternity; and man cannot be made happy except by a life according to his precepts. . . . The Lord also teaches in John: 'He that hath my precepts and doeth them, he it is that loveth me.' 'He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings,' xiv. 21-24." (A. C. 10,579.)

All Christians believe in the need of prayer. It is enjoined as a duty and its importance and use are clearly implied in both the Old and New Testament Scriptures. The Psalmist says: "Evening and morning and noon will I pray." "The Lord will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer." " Elisha prayed