The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-03
NEW-CHURCH DOCTRINES.
TO BE EXPLAINED BY REV. ALEX
ANDER HENRY.

The Doctrine of Unity Discussed in
the First of a Series of sunday
Night Lectures-The Doctrine of
Trinity to BE Explained by Mr.,
Henry Next Week.
Rev. Alexander Henry. pastor of the
Park New Church, began last night a
series of Sunday evening lectures on
THE Four Leading Doctrines of the
New Church" His opening lecture was
on What the New Church Teaches
About the Unity of God. and His Iden-
tity With the Lord Jesus Christ"
THE terms doctrine and 'prac-
tice' have been rather unhappy con-
trasted," said Mr.. Henry. with the
result that what is designated as doc
trinal apparently suffered from the
comparison, and has come to be re-
garded by many as of little or no i'm
portance. 1t seems characteristic of
our times that men are loudly calling
for what they term practical sermons,
practical talks, even declaring that
they do not care about doctrines. If
this opposition is found to be directed
against what is merely abstract, then
the term doctrine is incorrectly
used; for a doctrine is a truth held or
taught and is always PRACTICAL that is,
capable of being turned to use, and of
being applied in daily life.
But if this opposition means an in
difference" Mr.. Henry said, las to
what one holds as an article of faith,
OF belief, it manifests a deplorable
state of mind and heart. Nothing can
be more certain than this, that as a
man thinks or believes, so he is. The
quality of ones life and character is
determined by ones beliefs. To be
Indifferent about ones creed is to be
careless of ones conduct. Faith and
life the Lord Himself has joined to-
gether by an eternal law and has
said of this union that it is in
dissoluble.
The Doctrine of Unity.
The doctrine and belief of the New
Church is one God of Heaven and
earth.
I'VE need not quote more than a
few words from Gods book" said Mr..
Henry, to show that it emphasizes the
truth that He is one, and that besides
Him there is no other. Who, then. is
this God? The scriptures are equally
clear in stating that it was He who
CdIIle INTO IIllS world TO be lis Savior
and Redeemer
Has the Christian Church with un-
swerving fidelity held to the doctrine
of the unity of God ?" he asked. THE
Apostolic Church seems to have so
held and taught. 1t seems to have
been characteristic of her worship
that it was directed to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and how beautiful was the life
OF those early Christians. Following
in the footsteps of their Master they
exhibited in their daily walk and con-
Versation that love of which He was
the incarnation. so much so that the
world said, How these Christians love
one another. But of the protesting
Christians of later day it had to be
said, How they hate each other
Many are for the most part agreed
that the falling away of the church
from the life and faith of the early
apostolic church dates from about the
time of Constantine the Great. We
holce a marked difference between the
character and spirit of the leaders of
the church about this period and that
OF the apostles and their immediate
successors That pure and unselfsh
love which was the most distinctive
feature OF such men as Paul and Peter
and John was losing it's glowing
warmth and fading away. and
as consequence true faith was be-
coming dim.
History of Church's Dissension.
"Arius began disturbing the church
and all true lovers of the Lord nv de-
nying the equality of the Son with the
Father. In order to settle this and
other disputed points the council of
Nice was convened by Constantine.
Inc members of this council seem to
nave agreed with Arius in holding
that he who is spoken of in the Bibla
as the Son of God was a being dis
tinct from the Father, arguing from
certain passages in the Gospel which
seem to imply that Father and Son
are different persons. Had these lead
ers OF the church of that period pass
ed through the rich spiritual expert
ence that some of their predecessors
enjoyed, had they lived close to the
heart of the Christ, they might have
seen that these passages did not
necessarily imply that the Father and
the Son were separate and distinct
persons, and that by making them two
persons they clearly destroyed the
unity Of God.
But this council declared and de-
clded for the Christian Church that
there were not only two but three per-
sons in the Godhead, Father, Son and
holy spirit, all divine from eternity,
'and in order to preserve the unity
which they could not but see that the
Word so clearly taught, they said that
these three persons were one in sub
stance. equal in power and glory, yet
that this was all a mystery which the
human mind is incapable of under
sta nding.
1.-THE heresy of Arius that Jesus
Christ was mere man was put down,
but one almost as burtful was intro
duced-a trinity of persons which is
logically a trinity of gods. About a
trinity of persons the apostolic or
primitive church knew nothing The
Apostles Greed makes no mention of
three persons in the godhead. One err
ror is usually the parent of a thou
sand; false premises inevitably lead
to false conclusions
The Beginning of False Doctrines
"A single flaw in the logic of an ar
gument is subversive of the truth of
all succeeding statements. A mistake
in one figure at the beginning of a
protracted arithmetical' calculation
will grow into an error of millions in
| the outcome. And the false doctrine
of a trinity of persons has given
rise to innumerable false doctrines,
to systems of theology false at their
very core. After making the Son a
different person from the Father If