Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-07-19
LAY SERMON NO. 5.
Thoughts for Sunday sEciitatIO,

81 will open my mouth in parable. ."-Ps AIMS
lXXviiI, /.
In the Bible, there is perpetual
repetition of first principles, which
are presented to us in an endless vari-
city of form and application. These
principles are: First, the fact of spir-
itual existence; second, Jehovah, the
Lord, the Word; third, Heaven and
the Church; fourth, mans life as con-
nected with them; fifth, the final sep
aration of the evil and the good. There
is no portion of the inspired Scriptures
that does not refer, directly or indi-
rectly, to one of these first principles.
But, as stated in Lay Sermon No. A.,
the truth connected with these great
principles descends to us clothed or
shaded to suit the moral state in which
it finds us. If, in state of purity, the
truth comforts, elevates and strength
ems; while the reverse is the case with
the corrupt and vitiated mind. If all
men were pure, the Lord and angels
could communicate with the inhabit-
ants Of the earth as man commune
Gates with his fellow, but in the pro-
portion that corruption supplants pur-
ity, just in that degree does heavenly
communication become obscure.
From the day that man turned his
face from Heaven, has he rejected
heavenly intercourse, even the thought
of a ghost or spirit alarms him. Not
withstanding there is so much said
and written about spirit communica-
ton at the present time, there is not
one in ten thousand that would not be
shocked and unnerved if they were
brought face to face with spirit
When nan sinntd against Heaven,
his first effort was to hide himself
from God, and from that day he has
avoided spiritual intercourse And
from the date of that sad event, all the
spiritual truths that have been COM
municated to mankind were commune
Gated through man, or some being
assuming the shape and appearance of
a man. No other beings could have
approached sufficiently near to man to
instruct him on these mOmentOus
questions, for man could not endure
the presence of any other.
Spiritual truths, as well as spiritual
beings, were also shocking and repuls-
i've to man. Consequently the Lord
in His great love and mercy to man,
not only veiled Himself in humanity,
but He veilcd or shaded His word with
material things, in order that it should
reach man through his understanding.
This is not vague supposition; inspi-
ration declares the same truth. off [
speak to you Of natural things and you
do not understand, how can you UNDER
stand if [ speak to you of spiritual
things ?" There are many passages
in the Bible of the same purport.
Now with this understanding as
to the reason why the sacred
Scripture was written in SYM
bols, it does appear strange that any
thinking person should reject it. With
the acknowledgment Of this great
principle, we can readily see the ne
cessity for the great variety of SYM
bols to illustrate the same truths.
The perceptive faculties, the DISPOSE
ton and habits of the human race, are
as diversified as their faces; hence,
that all might be left without excuse,
the same truths were presented to
each one in Il manner to be most read
Lord clothed His truth in the parable
of the sower; to the merchant in the
parable of the jewel; to the house wife
by the parable of the lost penny, and
so to the shepherd, the wine-grower,
the builder, the warrior--in fact, every
class of humanity are taught the same
great truths in a manner best adapted
to suit their understandings. Thus
the truths of the Bible surround these
first principles as the limbs and foli-
age of tree surround, adorn and rep
resent the trunk. And as every limb
and every leaf in some measure pre-
sents to view the tree on which it
grew, so does every symbol in Gods
word present to the mind the great
spiritual truths which it represents.
When reading the Bible by the
light of these symbols, we shall see
that what ails man is not that he is
under the " curse u of divine judicial
"wrathn and "justice," but that he is
under the curse simply of disease. For
we shall see that mans relation to
God is that of the branch to the vine,
and hence that the laws he has vio-
lated are not those of external arbi-
trary command, but they are simply
laws of life-i. e., laws OF spiritual
health, which is mans life. We shall
see that man is, in his relation to his
Heavenly Father, as sick child,
which was or is in bondage to de-
generate dispositions, and therefore
needed to be redeemed or rescued
from such bondage, and to be cured or
restored to spiritual health, thus to
his true relation to his Father, as a
healthy branch to the vine. And
with these views we can understand
why the Lord clothed Himself in the
form of q man and came near to us to
teach us the way to Heaven and hap
pinesS.
To impress this truth more forcibly
upon your mind we will illustrate it
thus: suppose you possessed a pet bird
that was very fond of you and gave
you great pleasure. BY some misfor-
tune it was caught in a storm and
driven into distant forest, it soon be-
comes wild and afraid of man. If you
fo nj 1n II ir1