Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-03-27
a NEW HEREsY.

A Methodist minister I'm Kansas Is II
trouble. He Is accused of heresy and
has been notified that he must be tried
on that charge on The 18Th Of this
month, IIeresy charges do Of course
not mean now What they did at a time
when orthodoxy had the power OF ST.
lencng arguments by dungeons and
flames but they are stu annoying
They very often are prompted by the
spirit Of persecution.
The peculiar heresy Of this minister
turns mainly upon the Mosaic account
Of the fan Of man. He does not believe
that the serpent was a talking reptile,
but man, one who had not come into
consciousness Of God ana therefore was
classed with the beasts
This theory presupposes human be-
ings on the earth others than Adam
and Eve. at the time Of the fan beings
| from whom these two were chosen and
made the special objects OF divine care,
as the children Of the Almighty The
preacher takes this view and finds cor
roboratlon for II In some Of the pas
sages IN Genesis. III not he asks,
"how did Cain find hls wife in the land
Of Nod, whore none Of Adams children
except Cain had gone?'
It is pertinent TO remark here, that
the gentleman cannot be a very close
reader Of the Scriptures, since he falls
into a very common error regarding
cain and the land Of Nod The historian
does not say that the errng son Of
Adam found his wife in the new coun.
try. He merely states that Cain went
out from the presence Of the Lord and
dwelt In the land Of Nod, on the east
OF Eden" From what follows, It Is az
logical to conclude that he took his
wife with him to the new locality as
to suppose that he found a wife when
arriving there
But without dwelling on this point
It is worthy Of notice that the gentle
man evidently has found It impossible
10 accept the Interpretation Of the brief
Mosaic history Of the creation Of man,
which holds that our first ancestors
were moulded out Of dust and en-
dowed with life by the touch Of the
divine breath. lie believes that God al
ways proceeds from lower TO higher
forms and that this process viii con-
tinue forever And therefore he
looks upon the introduction Of Adam
ana Eve into this sphere Of action as the
first elevation Of man from a condition
Of ignorance OF his origin to one Of
higher knowledge and, consequently
higher moral responsibility. In bis
view, the fan becomes partial re-
lapse to the former state, necessiatlng
the redemption.
The view Is certainly not well sup
ported In the Bible but is II so funda-
mentally wrong that one who holds II
merits the harsh name of 'heretic2'
The fact is that concerning the crea-
ton and fan of man there have always
been widely divergent opinions The
alegorical Interpretation has found adj
yocates among the most celebrated
church fathers and among modern
theologlans The Anglican church does
not demand, # we are correctly in
formed, the literal Interpretation Of the
first chapters Of Genesis as a matter
Of faith, but permits wide latitude In
this respect; and II seems to us that
wisdom would dictate to other dpnom-
nations to be as liberal IN this age.
The true meaning can be ascetaned
only through the spirit OF revelation,
and those who reject that spirit should
not hastily assume to Judge one an