Norwich bulletin., 1912-08-19

 Congregational church. la spite of the storm a geodly number were in at- tendance to listen to the inspiring ad- dress delivered by Rev, Edwin W, Bishop of Grand Rapids, Mich.
 His text was from Psalms 121i l, From whence shall my help eomeT He spoke of the heading given this Psalm in the standard revision in which 1t Is called the Song of Ascents. Literally 1t means the "goings up And how profoundly true this is, all travellers know who have made the approach to Jerusalem and found the ascent to the city on all four sides. Always in the scriptures we read of going up to Jerusalem. A new inter pretation has been given this Psalm in the past ten years. We have heard that the Hebrews had no poetry. They did have. Its expression was a pas sionate outburst of song. Professor Moulton of Chicago has given this in- depreciation to this 121st Psalm. Imagine a band of pilgrims going up to Jerusalem to the annual feast. AS they climb up the mountain road they come to one of those lookout points from which they can get a wide view of their surroundings and from which they get their first sight of the city itself Its walls and battlements stand out in bold relief against the sunset sky and the slanting rays of the sun are shining on golden roofs and tow CTS Suddenly one voice among the pilgrim band says: ' will lift up mine eyes unto mountains" Another voice takes up the song, saying: From whence shall my help come?" Then the whole band answers in chorus: My help cometh from the Lord, which FT7a dn Td rfh ism of the two voices and the refrain continues all through the Psalm. This question by the soloist and answer by the chorus is as true 3,500 years later as 1t was then. Many soloists today are propounding questions which they l themselves cannot answer, but which a mighty world chorus can answer.
 Too Strong for Control.
 There was never a man who at some | time did not need help. His self | sufficiency may be sustaining for a | long time, but eventually will not avail. Where he has always been strong he finds himself suddenly impotent; the | lightning which he has chained has l broken loose. the sea which he had curbed has burst it's barriers, the pow erty which a bank account had kept away has appeared after the bank ac- count is gone, temptations which once had no power have finally overcome | him. The forces of nature and per 1 sonality have been too strong for his control. All men believe in something. l They have some theory to fit their l lives into Fewer soloists today than formerly are singing My help cometh | from chance which made heaven and 1 earth.
 No Chance in Nature.
 Nature is not conglomerate of ma | terials thrown together by the dice box of the universe with no intelligent cause. Science is showing us that l there must be a cause commensurate 1 with the result. And chance is blind: it does not help explain. It would be | as absurd to lay the gorgeous plumage of the birds to chance as 1t would the dramas of Shakespeare. Then there is l another soloist-the soloist of fataltsm. Chance means fxity in things-fatal- ism means flxity in events. To them the river of time flows on bearing on its tide the fotsam and 1etsam of all events and circumstances. If a man ia | born poor, be must stay so; if he Is sick, he can either die or get well; if he fails to train his children and they show vicious traits, well, never mind, they get that from a great grand any way 1ISy SlllS tue lOldE song, My help cometh from fate which made heaven and earth.
 Law Better Than Anarchy.
 But law is better than anarchy, The right to choose is better than the i'm pertalism of necessity, We de not ei necessity always obey the law oi gravitahon. Man may choose to ge
 up in balloon Instead of down. Ma | io r3o La io1 hut is not necessary to shake and die that is not the will of God. Oul
 great grandmother may have beer
 very great sinners, but that is no req
 son why we should be. The third so-
 loist is the one who sings My hell
 cometh from myself who am Lord o1 1 heaven and earth. He is the anttthesis
 of the fatalist. He recognizes only two
 things-matter and mind. He is illus.
 trated by the Slav miner who said th(
 other day: Mitchell am God" and b.
 the other Sla.v miner who answered
 Mitchell am more than God" Whe1
 Napoleon was planning his campaign
 in Russia the Russian ambassador re
 minded him that Man proposes, GoC
 disposes." He answered.: GO back anC tell the czar that l propose and I alon, | dispose" What was the result? Tht
 tiny snowf1akes foated down over thu steppes earlier than usual that year It is one thing to telaim second place tt God reverently and discreetly and an other to do it impiously and challeng ingly. And so we come back to tn,
 old chorus of the old refrain My hell cometh from the Lord which mad
 heaven and earth" It Is the best on,
 after all. When philosophical doubt
 assail a man he wants to have throwl an anchor where it will hold at thi period of skepticism. One who ha not grasped the ultimate and put hi
 anchor into the rock that never give Is never safe After 25 years the on , cast here in this church, I am glad t
 say. still holds. Even if the Bible wer closed, science would still reveal Go f to us. The microscope shows us hi , presence in the smallest things, tn [ vegetable world tells us as much as P did Job about God, and the telescop
 finds him for us in far off corners O , the universe.
 s In one bolt of silk fabric woven i 7 the looms of France there are 1,5O0. 100000 threads. If man can combin
 so many threads into one beautiful de
 sign, cannot God plan the lives of a
 the people of the earth?