Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/179

Rh love and faith, and it is only celestial and spiritual things for which he prays, then in prayer there is something like a revelation which manifests itself in the affection of the person praying, as to hope, consolation, or some inward joy." (A. C. 2535.)

Formal worship—praying orally on bended knees in the temple or the closet—was the only kind of worship that Christians generally thought of a hundred years ago. But Swedenborg, without in the least discouraging this practice, tells us of another and higher kind—a worship which consists in the conscientious and faithful performance of each one's daily duties, and for which it is the chief end of oral prayer to fit and prepare us. And this higher kind of worship is held by the New Church to be that of all true worshipers—that of which the Bible speaks—that which the Heavenly Father especially approves and loves, and which is said to be in "spirit and in truth;" a worship offered continually, and in all places where the voice of duty is reverently heeded—where sorrow and suffering are patiently borne, where loving service is faithfully rendered, and useful work of whatever kind is honestly done. To cite two or three passages by way of confirmation:

"By the worship of God at this day, is meant