Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3870corresponding to them; which acts or gestures flow from the verycorrespondence of outward things with inward ones. Holy fear withits consequent humiliation (and therefore adoration) has acts orgestures corresponding to itself, namely, bending the knees, fallingdown upon the knees, and also prostrating the body down to theearth. In this state, if the adoration is from genuine humiliation, orif the humiliation is from genuine holy fear, there is a failing of thespirits, and hence a giving way of the joints in the border orintermediate region where the spiritual is conjoined with thenatural, thus where the knees are; for the parts below havecorrespondence with natural things, and those above with spiritualthings. Hence it is that the bending of the knees is a signrepresentative of adoration. With celestial men this act isspontaneous; but with spiritual men it is a result of will.[2] When the kings of old rode in a chariot, knees were bentbecause kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, and a“chariot” signified the Word. The rite of this adoration began whenit was known what it represented; and at that time the kings didnot ascribe the adoration to themselves, but to the royalty apartfrom themselves, although adjoined to them. With them theroyalty was the law, which, being from Divine truth, was to beadored in the king insofar as he was the custodian of it. Thus theking ascribed none of the royalty to himself beyond the custody ofthe law; and insofar as he receded from this, so far he receded fromthe royalty, knowing that adoration on any other ground than thelaw, that is, any other adoration than of the law in itself, would beidolatry. That the royalty is Divine truth may be seen above (n.1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068);consequently the royalty is the law, which in itself is the truth of akingdom according to which its inhabitants are to live. From whathas been said it is now evident that “abrech,” or “bend the knees”signifies adoration.[3] As a “cry” also is an act that corresponds to a living confessionor acknowledgment from faith, the rite of crying out was observedamong the ancients when this confession was to be signified; andfor this reason “crying” or “shouting” is frequently mentioned in