Heaven and Hell #226
226. All preachers are appointed by the Lord and therefore enjoy the gift of preaching. No one else is allowed to teach in church.
They are called preachers rather than priests. The reason they are not called priests is that heaven's priesthood is the heavenly kingdom, priesthood meaning the good of love for the Lord that characterizes the people in that kingdom. In contrast, heaven's kingship is the spiritual kingdom, kingship meaning the truth from what is good that characterizes people in that kingdom (see above, 24). 1
Voetnoten:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Priests represented the Lord in respect to divine good, kings in respect to divine truth: 2015, 6148. So a priest in the Word means people who are attuned to the good of love for the Lord, and priesthood means that good itself: 9806, 9809. A king in the Word means people who are attuned to divine truth, so kingship means what is true from the good: 1672, 2015, 2069, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044.
