Telegram-herald., 1890-10-27
NEW ERA OF THINGS
TIE Old Doctrines Being Discarded
by DiyiGes-
CRElTIsC TEE WORLD ANEW
Ess. g y. saith PFs@ehss ~ ths ss~
chareh After AessHSs of >s~ris
60 Years. Aasrs 10 kstdsee~ of
ths LsFa's NszFsE fEsssnSs.

Rev. q. n. Smith preached the ser
mon 81 the New Church, corner Of
Lyon and Dlvision-sts., last night, TO
al appTecl2tIye audience. The reysT-
end gentleman IS well known BY tas
older residents Of Grand Rapids lie Was
pastor or the New Church from 1853 TO
1857. Since then he has been dong
missionary work IN ONO, Indiana and
Illinois. The text last evening was
taken from isaiah, o5-l7 ''For behold,
| create new Heavens and new earth,
and the former shall not be remem-
bered, nor come into mind" lie com
mencsd by saying that the Lord IS now
fulhlling His promise here gwen. lie
is most truly, yea, even in a sense
most literally, creating the world anew,
as there is almost as much a renewal OF
the physical as OF the mertsl and splr-
itusl plane.
at is coming in way very different
from that which has been expected, ne
continued. IL is not in the way of the
great confiagrstion that has for so long
been Looked Tor, not in the crash OF the
world, but IN a way much more adapt
ed 10 accomplish the promised object,
rendering the earth better fitted for the
birthplace and nurture of human and
immortal souls"
He said the world was becoming new
in the new knowledge and arts of lite,
ID the new and better understanding of
the laws and order of nature, and q
new facility in the use of her various
resources for human good. This he
said is most truly and emphatically 4
new age IN all matters of science and
art. 1t has revolutionlzed the whole
physical world in this respect. 1t has
brought out of the deepest darkness
and widest chaos of ignorBnce and su-
perstluon, clear and true knowledge
of science In all matters of natures op-
eratlons. These sciences, which are
Justly the boast of age, he explained
are all new, all the gifts of the age, to
the world, A full score OF chem nave
grown up within the century, and they
nave grown from absolutely no knowl-
edge, or else from the most false and.
wild ideas OF the subjects which they
concern. He said that what is now the
noble science and art OF chemistry, was
only lately the Wild fancles OF the al
chemists. What is now the excellent
and beneticient science and art as the
physician, was lately system of black
art, employing charms and amulets to
drive away evil spirits. What is
now the profound and rational
science of geology was lately the alb
surd fancies of llteralists. And so the
world over where lately Irrltationallsms
and absurd conjectures of ignorant
minds were the rule, while now true
and rational knowledge and practical
uses of natures facts and forces for the
purposes of life. He said the time
was not far distant, and i'll many cases
now, when the poorest peasant may be
truer practical philosopher and
may have a truer knowledge of the
facts and principles of the world he is
in than the very princes of the old
philosophers once had. He also spoke
of how the people were mlsled as to
the earth being fiat in olden days and
how they thought the planets moved
around the world.
Chow long will theology exist that
,nly goes skulking around in old musty
looks, and denying its own existence?"
ne continued, Heaven be thanked,
not long A prominent divine of the
Methodist church, in speaking OF the
clause of the Athenaslsn creed which
saws: That we worship one God IL
trinity and trinity in unity, neither
confounding the persons, nor dividing
the substance ne adds mo man has
q right to put such scholastic
Instructions in the way of souls
No one can doubt who knows what the
old doctrine of the atonement was, as
revamped by Anselm. by putting the
Father in place of the devil, as the
enemy of man, from whose hand
Christ must redeem them. This was
exactly what was meant when these
words were put INTO the eighth book of
common prayer, and thence copied
into the Methodist Discipline. 1t Is re-
freshing to see the leaders of that de-
nomination denouncing what was lately
their own doctrine, and their consttu-
ency sustaining them as most sound
and orthodox teaching. Similar cases
from the leaders of other Evangelical
churches show that the tendency IA
general to keep hidden the remains OF
the tritheistic dogmas that came down
from the middle ages. Here Is another