The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-04-09
swEDENBoRGIAN CHURCH.

THE REHABILITATION OF A DESoLATE SOUL
SERMON By THE REV. cHAUNcEY GILES.
the swedenborgian, or snow Church, /" in East
Thirtynth street, yesterday morning the Rev. Chaun-
coy Giles preached ssThe Rehabilitation OF Desc
late Soul, sermon in which the reverend speaker
ably set forth some OF the peculiar doctrines OF tho
swedenborgian Sect The text taken from Isaiah
XIX, 1923
One OF the saddest effects OF SIM said Mr. Giles 10
tho blindness which It and the stupor which 1t
induces upon The mind In regard TO all our spiritual
capacities. II nils the mind with illusions, unscttes
the judgment and destroys all the liked standards OF
value md renders incapable OF distinguishing the
apparent from tho real the ansitory from the eter-
nal The Lord is In the constant effort 10 wake
from this ssupor and to give him some consciousness
OF the real greatness Of his being The Lord declares
that He has iorsaken His people. Every purpose
OF Infinite love and every act oil Infinite wisdom has
reference solely human good. Now He calls upon
us 10 SEQ this grand truth --"Litt up thine eyes
roand about and behold" Ii we would Ill
up our cyes should that all blessings
ga herring themselves together and coming 10 u.s. We
should see That every angel ~ heaven, that every
sancted spirit, who has passed Into tue spiritual
world; that every good man aud woman and Innocert
child yes, that every material thing was working Tor
u.s. The Lord gives US tho most positive assurances
that this is so. People often wonder why the Lord, Il
He is being Of lnlnite love and goodness, does not
bless us more richly: Because and only because We
will not receive Il. Ho can only Ill our hearts with
love open thcm 70 Him. Tho cause Of our bind
aud spiritual poverty Is not due 10 any unwilling
the Lords part to give, butto our unwilling
ness 10 receive
REHABfLITATiNG TIN SINFUL SOUL.
The burning aud barren SANDS oil a desert arc not so
dcsoatc all NAL and vegetable life soul cursed
by destitute OF all tue living and beautiful forms
oil spiritual HE The soul is waste and des0lato, land
OF obstruction until tho seeds OF spiritual truth arc
planted in IL and spiritual and heavenly affections arc
cultivated. Heroin lies tho great difficulty IN gaming
hearing tor spiritual truth. What tho Lord regards
us comparatively vaueless we prize the most highly
Our wisdom, in tho Divine estimation, Is folly The
great Guilty which ali have contend with 10
living rcgcncratc lie consists reversing the false
Judgment the natural mind and acting contrary TO
appearances. We are unwilling to give up tho shadow
tor the substance, because the shadow seems subsan-
tial aud tho substance seems 70 BIO unreal We are
afraid let 60 hold upon tho means al gratifying
our natural desires because we doubt whether
the Lord will keep His promise TO give us
something better IN their place When. man
tails his undertakings loses his property. Is be-
roaved Of his children, NO iees as though nothing
could replace thcm. But the Lord is always In the
effort give u greater Tor u lesser good. Every
human being who is actunted by the love OF self and
OF the world trying get the most Tor the smallest
equivalent Buy cheap and soil dear Is the rule. This
precisely what the Lord seeking 70 do tor u.s. He
will give US q spiritual good tor natural one, which
is equivalent to giving US gold Tor brass.