If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, so that thou doest not thine inclinations on the day of My holiness, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own desire, nor speaking a word (Isa. 58:13). To "turn away the foot from the Sabbath" denotes such things as are of the natural man; "doing one's own inclinations" denotes doing those things which favor the cupidities and evils of the loves of self and of the world; "doing one's own ways" denotes favoring the falsities of evil; "finding one's own desire" denotes living according to the delights of these loves; and "speaking a word" denotes thinking such things. From this it is evident that by "profaning the Sabbath" is signified being led by one's self and one's own loves, and not by the Lord, who in the supreme sense is "the Sabbath," as has been shown just above. [2] Like things are signified by "works on the Sabbath day," such as cutting wood, kindling a fire, then preparing food, by gathering in the harvest, and many other things which were forbidden to be done on the Sabbath day. By "cutting wood" is signified doing good from one's self; by "kindling a fire" is signified doing it from one's own loves; and by "preparing food," teaching one's self from one's own intelligence. No one can know that such things are involved in these prohibitions except from the internal sense. [3] Be it known further that to be led by self, and to be led by the Lord, are two opposites; for he who is led by himself is led by his own loves, thus by hell, because man's own loves are from hell; and he who is led by the Lord is led by the loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor. He who is led by these loves is withdrawn from his own loves; and he who is led by his own loves is withdrawn from the loves of heaven, because they by no means agree together; for the life of man is either in heaven or in hell. It is not possible that it be at the same time in one and in the other. This is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will cleave to the one, and slight the other (Matt. 6:24). From all this it is evident what is signified by "doing work on the Sabbath day."