Norwich bulletin., 1912-03-29
BROTHERHOOD AND FAITH
 THE SHOP TALK SUBJECT Rev. c. H. Ricketts Speaks to Em- plcyes of the McCrum- Howell Go,

After a brief interruption through the shutdown of the McCrum- Howell plant, taking inventory, the shop talks there were resumed Thursday at noon, under the Y. M. c. A. aus pices. Rev. c. H. Ricketts of Greene vile Congregational church being the speaker His topic was Brotherhood and Faith. Three violin solos, which were greatly appreciated by the pen were rendered by Raymond B. Eldfed.
 Rev. MT. Ricketts said in part:
 One of the biggest things in the world that brings the races into the brotherhood and keeps them there is faith. Faith shares with love in be- ing the biggest thing in the world.
 Faith is belief on credible evidence. To believe anything and everything is not an act of intelligence because it is not grounded in the reason. But where believing is a rational act it rises to the dignity of faith.
 Faith has stamped itself upon all the great waymarks of history. The great explorations, discoveries and in ventlons that have done so much to advance human well being are tributes to faith. Think of the men who have left beaten pathways and have blazed ner trails into the realms of the un known because their faith was coiOs- sal! Abraham going into the south land of Gods mercy with nothing to ! lead him but a dauntless faithl Moses enduring the hardships of the desert because he believed in the coming Promised Land! Paul cutting away from the ties that bound him to the past because he believed that Europe, full of Macedonian cries for help, needed him! Boniface standing knee deep in snow and with streaming eyes, holding up the cruci1x before the wild German hordes because he be- lieved in the redeemability of their l souls. St. Patrick defying the Druidic fires of Ulster because he believed in l the unquenchabie fire of the Holy l Spiritl Take faith away from the rec ord of the past and what remains would hardly be worth having.
 Take faith, if you please, as prac- 1 tical idea in the workshop. Here you are banded together into a brother hood of a common pursuit. One of the l golden threads running through this | unity is faith. Does it mean anything | for each man here to haN laith in 1 the brotherhood? Do you realize what 1 it means to the other fellow to have | faith in him? You can make him or unmake him; help him rise or crush l him, by believing in him or not be- | lieving. The greatest obstacle in the | way of fallen men who want to rise | is the feeling that nobody has faith in ] them. The very lowest of men have | within them the blurred image of true | manhness. Let them see that you have | discovered it and believe in it's latent | possibilities.
 | Does faith stand for anything ir
 the great world of trade. The busi-
 ness equivalent of faith is credit anC
 the withdrawal of credit means a bus l mess panic Suppose every business man in Norwich had to pay spot casf l for his goods how would itaaffect him 1 Withdraw the thirty, sixty or ninety
 days credit and something worse thar | a mere furry would come to tht
 financial world. It Is perfectly safe tC l say that the great business activity O
 the world Is built up because meI have faith in one another. All kind! of business are made possible by faith
 I think we ought to have more faitl in corporations They are not al l devices for grinding the poor" Doei
 1t not occur to you that the financia
 situation would improve if more faitl
 were given to the men who stand higl
 in the management of great concerns 1 VI IdLG lnlS COlllpdily Iluso bCCl AOSSC'
 about somewhat on the uncertain l financial sea. Believe that this busi
 ness craft is seaWorthy enough t
 weather the gaIe But you say wha
 influence has my puny little faith il
 the field of government investigations l receiverships and the fluctuations o
 the stock market2 1t certainly ha l something to do with the men wh l are trying to straighten out the tan gle.
 It is important that workmen hay ? faith in themselves. How soon a ma, drops to a lower level when he lose
 faith in himself! While a man shoul guard against vanity and boasting an
 silly egutism, it is his right and dut to believe in the seriousness of hi ; mission, the integrity of his purpose
 and the dignity of his being. Unbelie
 in oneself as well as the other fellOV
 acts as a boomerang that more tha , belittles-it incapacitates him for do
 ing the nobler things of life.
 , But most of all we need to have 7 great faith Tn God because God ha shown great faith in us as seen
 what He has committed to us. Tn . great spirits of the world have bee . those who trusted Him even Whe
 forced to ascend the scaffold and en f ter the flames. The faith of the age n Polycarp when they were about [
 burn him shines out in his last words p These eighty years I have served m 1 God and He will not forsake me now
 Such faith as this ought to help | 1 make each day triumphant. Our live 1 will strike the note of reality whe 1 we believe in ourselves, in the oth, c l fellow, and in God. For such a fait