The
angels said that these are outward acts that ought to be done, but
are of no avail unless there is an internal from which they proceed,
which is a life in accordance with the precepts that doctrine
teaches.
223. That I might learn about their meeting in places of worship, I
have been permitted at times to attend and to hear the preaching. The
preacher stands in a pulpit at the east. Those who are in the light
of wisdom more than others sit in front of him; those who are in less
light sit to the right and left of these. There is a circular
arrangement of the seats, so that all are in the preacher's view, no
one so sitting at either side as to be out of his view. At the
entrance, which is at the east of the building and on the left of the
pulpit, those stand who are being initiated. No one is permitted to
stand behind the pulpit; when there is any one there the preacher
becomes confused. It is the same if any one in the congregation
dissents; and for this reason the dissenter must needs turn away his
face. The wisdom of the preachings is such as to be above all
comparison with the preachings of this world, for those in the
heavens are in interior light.
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