Chauncey Giles

“ There was no more necessity for him to learn the principles of right than there is for a tree to learn how to grow, to put forth leaves, to cover itself with the beauty and glory of blossoms, and distil its blood into delicious fruit. There was no more necessity for man to learn how to get the greatest amount of the most precious good out of the conditions and means of life, than there is for the bee to learn how to build its cell and gather honey from the flowers to fill it. Unperverted love contains this power within itself. Man has lost it, and now he must be instructed by an outward way. ”

“ It is not necessary to examine every organic form to learn the nature and laws of organization. When we have learned how one plant or animal is organized, we have learned the general principles of all organization. So when we know the nature of a pure, unselfish love in our own hearts, we know what it is in the Lord's heart. Human love is, indeed, weak, often impure and perverted, but its existence in man's nature is indisputable evidence that his nature is an image of the Divine nature, and was derived from it. Man's capacity to know the qualities of anything is hoed on similarity of nature. ”

“ The Divine life is law and order in itself, and it is of its nature to give to every thing and being it creates to be law and order unto itself. Right and wrong are not arbitrary distinctions. The laws of the Divine and infinitely perfect life constitute right. Man was created according to those laws. They were embodied in him; they were God's likeness and image in him. ”

“ No one has taken in so wide a range of creation. The scientist limits his observation to one section of it, and to the superficial part of that; while Swedenborg takes in the whole circle of life, from its inmost principles to its most external manifestations. He brings religion itself and the mysteries of spiritual life into clear and logical connection and harmony with science. No profounder, more philosophical, rigidly scientific and logical works have been written than his "Divine Love and Wisdom" and "Divine Providence." ”

“ We can only know what love, goodness, truth, mercy, hope, fear, or any of the qualities of human character are, from the nature which is common to us all, and which we inherit from the Father of all men. If this doctrine is not true, then revelation is a misnomer; it has no meaning. If this doctrine is not true, there is no common bond of union between man and man, there is no medium of intelligence between man and the Lord. Human beings are like pebbles on the sea-shore, having no connection and no relation but proximity in spaces There is no evidence of a Supreme Being. ”

“ In this way the husband and wife, the parent and child, the laborers in the field, the mechanic in his shop, the merchant in his store, the teacher in the school, and every one who is doing anything for the good of others from love to them, is acting from the same motives that move the heart of infinite love to create and sustain and bless the universe of intelligent beings. ”

“ The word life in the original is in the plural number to denote the two factors which constitute the spiritual plane of his being, his will and understanding. The distinctly spiritual degree of his being, which constitutes his human faculties, man does not derive from his natural parents, and it is only in the lower degrees of his nature that he resembles them. When these higher faculties which constitute the Lord's image and likeness in man, are developed by the action of the Holy Spirit, which is the breath of the Lord, he is born again or from above ”

“ Their organization is formed in the same way, and is subject to the same laws. But man is something quite distinct from an animal. His physical nature does not constitute his manhood. If it did we might call an ape or a fish or a worm a man, at least in the process of evolution. If we admit that man's material body was evolved from the ground through the various steps of ascent in the animal form until it reached the human, it does not follow that those principles which are distinctly human were derived from them. ”

“ Man becomes a living soul, and gains all those intellectual, moral, and spiritual qualities from the Lord without the intervention of any human instrumentality. This fact is revealed in the words, "And the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul." ”

“ The other theory begins at the infinite fountain of life and power and substance, and teaches that all things and all created beings descend, or are evolved from that. It assumes that matter is the product of life, and is then used by it to manifest its own qualities. It teaches that all substance and all power and life exist in the First Cause who is God, and are evolved from Him. There is a descent from firsts to lasts where substance rests, becomes inert and passive ”

“ Human love is the Divine love in finite measure and power in human affections. It is the likeness of God in human character, however faint in outline and feeble in action it may be. It is the proof of man's descent from God, organized in his spiritual nature, and testifying in every unselfish affection and useful deed.
Again, man has a moral nature. That is, the principles of right and good are organized in his understanding and will.. The principles of the Divine order which constitute right are embodied in his spiritual faculties. ”

“ Man cannot create, but he can select, arrange, adapt, and apply what the Lord creates, for the good of his fellow-man. He can see how the love of God is manifested in everything around him; in the provisions which He has made to supply human wants and secure human happiness; and he can reciprocate the love which the Lord is constantly exercising towards him. He can do to others as-the Lord is doing to him. ”

“ It affirms that life is a product of organization. The materialist begins at the bottom and evolves motion from inaction, power from inertia, organization from matter in mass, the greater from the less, life from death. ”

“ The Lord's power, by which man is created and sustained, is not limited to one line of communication it reaches man from every direction, through every medium, from within and from without, directly and indirectly. In this way there is a constant conjunction between man and the Source of his life which tends to enlarge and perfect every faculty of his nature. ”

“ I know He is generally regarded as a diffused essence, whatever that may be, but personality cannot be predicated of an atmosphere or an essence. If God is not in the human form, all the representations of Him in revelation are a delusion, and any idea or conception of Him is impossible. ”

“ Life gives motion to matter, life organizes, life causes sensation, consciousness, and all intellectual and moral power. Life creates the brain and uses it as its most perfect instrument and means of manifesting its nature and power. The size and quality of the instrument would necessarily determine the measure and quality of life manifested by it. This doctrine is adequate to its effects. ”

“ If that is a fact, does it not include external form as well as internal qualities? Man's external form is the combined effect of his whole organization. The human form is the highest of created forms; it possesses every excellence it, is possible to conceive, and it is capable of indefinite perfectibility. It is the highest form for the manifestation of life. Regarding it from its own qualities, we are logically borne to the conclusion that man inherits his form from the Lord. ”

“ He inherited them from God, and while he lived according to them he no more needed instruction how to live a good life, obtain complete happiness, and find his way home to the Lord, than the fish needs it to guide its way through the pathless waters to the stream in which it was born. Man is a part of the system of the creation. ”

“ It is a fact well authenticated by history that the intellectual and moral progress of the human race has been slow, but is now increasing with constantly accelerating rapidity, and the natural causes that have retarded or advanced it are described with much power and with many appearances of truth. ”

“ Every organ of the human form is attributed to Him. He has eyes, ears, hands, feet. He breathes, therefore He must have lungs; He speaks, consequently He must have vocal organs. Whenever He has distinctly appeared to men it has been in the human form. When He assumed our nature, and by means of it came upon the earth and dwelt visibly among men, He came in the human form. ”

“ Instinct was developed into the intellectual and moral qualities of a human being. These steps have beets traced with immense industry and learning. It has been clearly and truthfully shown that every step in this progress has been attended by perfection of organism, and increase in the size and quality of the brain. ”

“ If we regard it as a supposition, it is a much better working hypothesis than materialism, because it accounts for all the facts, and is in accordance with all the processes of nature, so far as we have any knowledge of them. It has also the Lord on its side, as He has revealed Himself and His methods of creating and sustaining the universe of matter and intelligent being. ”

“ Men are called His offspring. They are said to be born of God, sons of God, the children of God. These terms, which are often employed to express our relations to our Heavenly Father, are not figures of speech. They are clear and positive statements of fact. The Lord is our Father in a fuller, a more intimate and specific sense than our earthly father. ”

“ The creation of man was not one act which was suspended when performed. It is a constant act. As I stated in my last lecture, life cannot be created and transferred from one person to another as a commodity. ”

“ And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." This human perfection is also promised by our Lord when He says, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." ”

“ He calls men His children. He regards them as His children. He declares that He is their Father, and He treats them as His children. He watches over them, protects them, instructs them; feeds, clothes, guides, retrains, corrects, and in every possible way does all He can for their happiness. ”

“ They make us all agnostics whether we confess it or not. The fact that these qualities are infinite in purity, perfection, extent, and power is no hindrance to our knowledge of their nature, though it is often supposed to be. It is not necessary to examine every particle of water in the ocean in order to know the nature of that substance. Water is the same in its least as in its largest bodies. ”

“ He can view isolated facts in the light of general truths, and see the relations of the whole to the particular and of the particular to the whole. He can learn and constantly extend the horizon of his knowledge. ”

“ There is no difficulty of discovering what that method is, because we can see it in operation all around us. We see in every plant and animal, and in every material object. God creates by forces which flow in and are constantly operating. ”

“ We decide to inherit from Him just in the degree we learn His will as He has revealed it to us in His Word and regulate our affections, thoughts, and conduct by the commandments, which are the laws of eternal life. ”

“ This doctrine is stated with mathematical precision in the philosophical and theological writings of Swedenborg, and applied to every department of spiritual and natural life in a logical chain of causes and effects which has no missing link in it. No scientist has ever been more loyal to his theory, or has examined facts more patiently or acutely, and with more judicial impartiality, than he has. ”

“ There is not a grain of sand, a particle of earth, a rock or plant, a fish or worm, a bird or animal, that was not created for man, and is not rendering him directly or indirectly some service. Every term which means the descent of one being from another is employed to express our relations to the Lord. ”

“ It does not act mechanically. It operates by influence from within. We see, also, that like always tends to beget like; to give itself, its form and qualities, to others. But as this law of heredity will be the special subject of the next lecture, it is not necessary to dwell upon it now. ”