Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-17
PASTOR SMITHS INAUGURAL
Il is Preached at First Methodist Church to
Immense Congregation.
MESSAGE is ONE OF FAITH AND CHEER
Mans Intellectual Development to
Tighten His Burdens and Assure
the Spiritual Sequence of
the Natural.

Quoid and DR.. Hirst and avowing his only
purpose to be ito do the work Of a Meth
odist minister" Rev. f. Combie Smith,
recently Of Leavenworth. Kas.. inaugurated
his formal pastorate of the First Metho-
dist church OF Omaha yesterday morning
with a sermon which dealt with the trans
ition Of man as from the natural to the
spiritual and tho text for which was pro-
vided by Paul when, in his second epistle
to the Corinthians, he proposed the query:
'Howbeit that is not first which is spirit
ual, but that which is natural; then that
which is spiritual?"
The congregation was very large and in
cluded many who has not heard Dr.. Smith
on previous occasions. These discerned, as
others already knew, that he approaches
religions more perplexing heights with
b~oldness, yet pauses often to yoke scien-
tihc exploit with homely illustration in
grading q smoother path for the faith OF
the listeners he leads so s:ridently. There
were smiles that we're all but provoked
into audible laughter yesterday morning
and there we're efforts at thought-empha-
SIS that amounted almost to the dramatic,
but at no period and in no effort was
there sacrifice Of either the dignity OF the
speaker or the forcefulness of his words
and to the end he retained absolute at
~tention, not merely respectful but inter-
ested.
Gospel of Good Cheer.
His message was wholly OF hope and
cheer. He spared no time from the en-
couraging of mans intellectual progress
and attendant spiritual growth, to picture
a tortuous penalty for him should he NOR
ALLY err. Indeed, for all the reference made
10 them in this inaugural sermon OF the
newly-come Methodist divine, the fires of
Inferno may be extinct and Satan turned
monk.
The discourse led only onward and up
ward-onward from the Garden of Eden
through the Garden of Gethsemane to that
greater paradise than Eden; upward from
the condition of primeval Adam to that
OF a spiritual minister in the temple of
God.
OF the progress onward no said, in part;
THE Bible began with a paradise and ends
with one. From the first to the last the
pilgrimage Of the human race seems long
and wearying. We often look back upon
Eden with regret and wonder II the pill
grimage is worth while. 1t is. for the last
is Infinitely better than the first. This
word 1.-THE Bible) holds out to us marvel
GUS expectations. 1t has promised us a new
heaven.
OF the Better World.
I'VE cannot now look out upon this
earth, which scientists tell us was once
but a hazy mass and later a rugged
sphere, without realizing that God has
given us a beautiful place in which TO
live, and yet this world is but a rough
draft OF that other world which is to be,
and in which there is no more of turmoil,
no more of storm"
OF mans progress upward he made such
remarks as these:
1--WE are told that man was made of
the dust of the earth. Men laughed at
that once, but they are not laughing now
at the processes of creation. They be-
lieve in them and glorify God.
Behold Adam the gardener and then
behold the Advancement. Haven't you no.
ticed that the tendency Of the time is
TO lift things off the back and lay them
on the brain-that men are doing less
with their hands and more with their
inteIlects? Farming once such an irksome
occupation, has become what John ]. In
gals was pleased to style a sedentary
occupation. Ny father used to say to me:
Put your shoulder to the wheel but
you say to your sons: place your finger
against the button Some people are al
ways looking for signs; the sewing ma
chine beats all the consultations as a
sign, We no longer hear the song of the
shirt, and l tell you that the time is
coming when all the irksome, wearying
tasks OF life are to be known no more.
Christ the Missing Link.
you have heard men speak Of that
peculiar organism called the missing link.
Scientists are always cropping to find some
thing which will link us to earth. What
! ask you to do is not TO grope in the
dirt for that link, but to look up and to
lay hold of Jesus Christ. That is the link.
You have noticed the trend of organ
isms. Butterfly from chrysalis! Eagle
from jelly pulp! Brethren. We are as the
chrysalis now, but we shall be as the
beautiful butterfly; We are as the jelly
pulp. but we shall be as the soaring eagle.
The chicken comes from the egg. whole,
but with not much before 1t. You admire
the beauty OF the young child, but you
admire more the aged man. The Garden
OF Gethsemane, through which WI pass
after We leave the Garden Of Eden, gives
us sorrowing and buneting that makes
as better than the man just from Eden.
When John was permitted to look behind
the curtain he was not shown the seraphim
and the cherubim, but them that had
washed their robes and come out of much
tribulation. What was the matter with
Gods celestial hosts? Simply this: The
perfected man is the true glory OF para
disc. And it is the process Of conquering
in Christ that makes us perfect. The per-
fected are not moulded in celestial at
mosphere.''
Those Who Preceded Him.
After the sermon Rev. Smith spoke
briefly Of his predecessors in the pulpit
he now has; asked that their memories be
treasured, and said that in entering this,
his largest field of labor. he hoped for the
prayers OF all.
The First Methodist church has had its
share Of tribulation in tho loss of so many
splendid pastors, but takes life and hope
anew with the coming of Rev. Smith, and,
apparently prompted by this thought, Mr..
Thomas J. Kelly, director Of the music,
had prepared his choir for yesterday
mornings service with selections most ex-
pressive OF the spirit OF the day, inspir>
lug to the congregation and doubtless help
full TO the new pastor.
TRUE FRIENDSHIP is HIS TOPIC