Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/290

 and act foolishly and madly until this covering breaks. Then they call out for help, but in vain, for they have long since forfeited it; sometimes they are dragged up again, but in their foolish pride they let go the Saving Hand, they spurn the healing repentance, and continue their course of vain talk and idle sport. So does the Christian world, and they think that all that is necessary for them is to have a priest to speak to them a few hours in the week about God and the Saviour; and they do not think that any more is required of them than to hear and to forget. They therefore believe that it is outward gesture, the singing of psalms, and the tones of the organ, together with the empty sound of recited prayers, which penetrate to the Lord in heaven. Truly when the people prostrate themselves in the churches, then it is the voice of a few only that penetrates to the Lord.

"'Let me tell you something. To-day there was a little child sitting in the street, a little blind girl, who folded her little hands upon her lap, and turned her darkened eyes towards heaven; and when I saw her, and asked her, "What makes you look so happy, although you