Norwich bulletin., 1913-03-14
THE PRACTICAL SIDE
 EXPRESSED IN RELIGION
Characteristic of the Present Age Says Preacher at Episcopal Lenten Service.

Says Preacher at Episcopal Lenten
 Service.
 With congregation of good pro- portions, the seventh of the united Lenten services was held on Thurs day evening at Trinity Episcopal church, where the rector, Archdeacon J. EIdred Brown and Rev. R. R. Gra- ham of Christ church conducted eve- ming prayer and the preacher was Rev. Arthur. P. Greenleaf of St. Pauls church, Wallingford.
 Rev. MT. Greenleaf's sermon, per- tinent to the times. was heard with commendation by his congregation as he spoke from the text Matthew 23. 23: Woe unto you, scribes and Phar- isees, hypocrites. for ye tithe mint and anise and cumrnin, and have left un- done the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith but these ye ought to have done and not to have left the other undone.'
 If we read this chapter with the thought of the religion of the Pharisees in mind, we come back to compare our religion with the principles and doe Urine laid down by Jesus Christ, said pecially applicable to the present age, while not meaning to infer that this is a pharfsafcal age for never have men been more deadly in earnest. In theage of the text, the expression of spiritual life had become largely rit- ual. The emphasis was upon the giv- ing of titffes and other obSefVdnceS.
 In the history of the Christianity there had been three different types of emphasis in the expression of the religious life.
 There was first the age of faith. the devotional age, and men paid little attention to the other sides of expres- sion. Men were satisfied with the cathedral worship and so long as a man observed all that was set down in the devotional and religious laws of the church they were satisfied.
 Then came the upheaval of the re- formation, introducing a new age and a new emphasis in the expression of spiritual, life. Ne longer were men not satisfied with the ritual Of the church, but they were even ham pered by it. and they threw it away. Then they laid the emphasis upon the in- teilectuai side of expression of re- ligious faith. That type of religious expression lasted deVn te New Eng land times, and men struggled so sharply that they sometimes forget that quality of ferbearance which should mark the discussions of relig- ious bodies.
 igious problems have passed away but men deep down in their hearts are as religious as ever were their fathers. Today most significant expression of spiritual life was that taken up by the Federation of Churches in Chicago. It is the gospel of social service. Men today are asking what shall we do, how make men comfortable in their homes how fight disease, how remove the pressure of poverty And men are saving today that this is the mes sage of the church and that the church that is not doing this will surely fail. The emphasis for the coming years is to be on social service If that is so, there will come a time, when men will say that does not satisfy totally the spiritual life, Then will men come again to the devotional religious ex- pression. Faith and knowledge gc hand in hand and we must take our part in the great expression of social ser vice which is to be characteristic for the coming age. The emphasis is to be the practical, but if we neglect either the religious or the rational, the Master will surely say this ought ye te have done and not te have left the other undone. But in the blend of all together will be 8 step nearer to the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ in whom dwei1s all and fs all
 The offertory solo, There Is a Green Hill Far Away. was expressively rem dered in admirable voice by Mrs. Wal ter M, Buckingham.