Norwich bulletin., 1912-12-16

 l tendance at the morning service of the Greeneville Congregational church on Sunday. The day was the 10th anni- versary of Rev. c. H. Rickett's pastor ate in Greeneville, and the pulpit was graced by fifteen magnificent roses, the gift of the Heartsease circle of Kings Daughters. Rev. MT. Ricketts took for his text Fifteen Years in Norwich" name appropriate to the day. The sermon was in a way re- view of his life in this city and was given as a heartfelt talk to the people of his congregation.
 He said in part: The statement l made last Sunday in announcing this anniversary sermon will serve as the text of this discourse. These years have meant a great deal to me, and I trust that they have meant a great deal to you. My thought flows along two lines: what significance have these years had to me, and how they have entered into your lives
 We all have something to thank God for every moment of our lives, and as l my mind goes back over the years feel like thanking Him for my vigorous health which I still possess. It is inn possible to overestimate the blessings and advantages of sound physical
 
 but to the average minister it is quite | indispensable to successful parish work Minister Needs Time.
 Some parishes feel that they must be everlastingly entertaining their ministers, and the many social func- ! tions given for their benefit rob them of that which is most valuable to them l and that is their time. In this respect s1zqA T l grateful for it. A Ministers Work.
 1 AS to the character of a ministers l work two lines of direction are open l to him. he may be a recluse, shutting 1 himself up in his study and make | some important contribution to human | learning by publishing a book. Some | of our greatest books have come thai 1 way. On the other hand, minister may use his spare time by throwing himself into the life of the parish along all the lines of it's activity. have followed the latter rather than l the former, for many good reasons 1 The church pulpit is by no means the 1 only place in which an honest mar may preach glorious and powerful l gospel. This feeling has borne in up- 1 on me increasingly during the pas 1 fifteen years, and that is the reason that I have accepted as many invita-. tions as I could to speak at all sort: of gatherings and in all sorts of places l It has given me an opportunity tt preach in my own way, and I car honestly say to you on this flfteenti l anniversary that have always dont it with single eye to His honor ant | glory
 Sunshine and Joy, Sorrow and Grief
 If I have been with you in seasons of sunshine and joy. I have also -beei with you when the clouds were heav! and your hearts were bowed witt grief. One of the very hardest place for a pastor is the burial of the dead A minister must have strange near who does not make some very clos friends in the course of decade an, half, and when he is called to off ciate at their funeral he almost feel that he is out of place as the clergy man and ought to be among tn mourners. That feeling came to m 1 with great force last Tuesday as fell to my lot to speak at the funera of Edward H. Preston, the Rockvill l undertaken. One hundred and twent, times we had been together at funer als, and with such great human per sonality near me 1 felt cheered in m, efforts to try to comfort those who's eyes were filled with tears and who's hearts were bowed with grief.
 Many Pastors Have Come and Gone
 There is so much that crowds int my mind on this fifteenth anniversar occasion that I am puzzled in makin a selection. These years float befor my mind like panorama and I an made to feel the changes. Dr. How | and Rev. MT. Brown are the only pas tors in active service who were preach ing when I came. The North Mai street Methodist church has had seve | or eight pastors; the Trinity Meth odist has had six; the Third Baptis five, and is now Dastorless. With tn exception of the Rev. MT. Bryan, wh is today quietly observing his 93 birthday, all of the older minister have passed away, some of whom
 knew intimately I shall never forge the kindness and courtesy that wer shown me by Dr. Leonard Woolse Bacon. Who can ever forget th kindly face of Rev. John Avery, whC had he been living in the middle age! would have been canonized as a sain Norwich has had some strong layme called WI s,ncr m coming. most ( whom l knew. There was David 4 Wells, of international reputation as I writer on economies; John T. Wait,
 great legal authority. had the pleas ure of meeting that stalwart mai Hugh H. Osgood, and also Frank ] Brown, and of those more recent taken, Solomon Lucas and Nathan 1 Bishop. No city can be poor that ha among its citizens men of this calibe and their influence remains as one ( it's most valuable assets.
 Taken from This Parish.
 But I am more keenly alive to thos whom death has removed from thi parish Not long after my arrivs here Charles D Browning was trans lated, and I have never seen ma who loved his church more than M