Norwich bulletin., 1912-06-24
SERVICE IN GROVE.
Rev. C. H. Rieketts Spoke on The
 Clutch of the Dead Hand.

Sunday afternoon at { o'clock an out of door service led by Rev. Charles h. Ricketts was held in the Shetucket company's grove near Boswell avenue. The service was under the auspices Of the Greeneyille Congregational church. The large number present took great interest in the sermon and also in the musical part of the programme, MT, Ricketts took for his subject The Clutch of the Dead Hand. He said in part: The life of man is divided into two parts between which the line of demarkation is closely drawn. The past is unuseful beyond all power of change Neither tears noc entreaties can modify that record. The present is useful because it is that part of life which actually lives. The present life is ours to exalt or to demean, which it shall be is something everyone must determine for himself. Every intelH- gent person knows that his present living is to modify the future. l do not underestimate the importance of the future, but the future is nothing more than the logical fulfillment of the present. For this reason l plead that every man shall have a free hand to do his best. I would not have him hampered by any past institutions. If they do him good. all right; if they do him evil and drag him down, let him cut himself free from them. Don't clutch him with the dead hand.
 There is a sense in which the past is of value It is a rich mine of in- formations; it is a guideboard to point out thS way but not a hitching post to tie up to. The main reason for this position is the past is dead as far as nvtnv f,an, so attractive as living temples. Our fellow men are not living in temples and in pyramids, but in the workshop are they living and struggling, and ir too many cases dying.
 When a young man is trying tC work out his industrial salvation why should the fiend whisper into his ear Don't be ambitious; remember the stock you came from; remember thai your grandfather was a thief. If you try to rise the family name will pull you down"
 Now if young man is trying to rise why should he be clutched by the dead hand? l have nothing but admiration for the fellow who tries to do what nc one else of his family ever had the courage to undertake. One great trou- ble with the world is that everyone thlnBS ne must do what everyone else has done for the last thousand years Men in Palestine and Mexico plov with a crooked stick simply because their families have plowed that way for the past 20 centuries. The clutch of the dead hand still holds.
 The world of theology is not a free world. Years ago men were so cock sure that they were everlastingly right in their views that when they endowed seminaries a provision was made that any departure from those views would forfeit the endowment. It went upor the assumption that there could be nc new revelations of the truth If meI of science had not broken away from the clutch we should still be in the grip of the old Ptolomaic astronomy We should not be enjoying the moderr discoveries of science as to the lanC and sea.
 We shall never get the most satis- factory results if we hang the sword o. Damocles on mems necks while they are searching for the truth. Education also in some respects is antiquated Boys and girls are still learning a vas amount of truck they will never use Colleges still insist on studying Ian