23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. -Matthew 5:23-24 Bible, King James Version (KJV)
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
[20] In Matthew: Jesus said, if thou
shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there remember that thy
brother hath aught against thee, leave the gift before the altar, and
go; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming offer thy gift
(Matt. 5:23-24). "To offer a gift upon the altar" means in the spiritual
sense to worship God, and to worship God means worship both internal
and external, namely, from love and from faith, and thus from the life;
this is meant because in the Jewish Church worship consisted chiefly in
offering sacrifices or gifts upon the altar, and the chief thing is
taken for the whole. From this the meaning of these words of the Lord in
the spiritual sense can be seen, namely, that Divine worship consists
primarily in charity towards the neighbor, and not in piety without
that; "to offer a gift upon the altar" means worship from piety, and "to
be reconciled to a brother" means worship from charity, and this is
truly worship, and such as this is such is the worship from piety. (On
this see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 123-129; and in the work
on Heaven and Hell, n. 222, 224, 358-360, 528, 529, 535; and above, n.
325.)
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