Norwich bulletin., 1913-04-21
THE NEW COMMANDMENT
 ONE DE | ONE
Is Theme for Strong Sermon by Rev. F. w. Coleman at Methodist Church.

F. W. Coleman at Methodist Church. preached upon the subject The New Commandment, at the Sunday evening service at the Trinity M. E. church. Mrs. William Grove, Jr, rendered the otfertory solo, Jesus My Shepherd
 Key. Mir Coleman took his text from John, 13-34: "A new commandment I give unto you: that ye love one an other, even as 1 have loved you" This commandment, he said seems far be- yond and above us as we strive to understand and carry out it's ideas, to translate it into action. Perha ps the disciples did not realize it's mean ing fully It seemed like blasphemy to the Jews who thought the com mandments of Moses enough. They said, Who is this man. that he should add to the commandments? ?" Yet he mad the right to give the command for he was the son of God come to reveal God to man.
 Old Commandments Insufficient
 The old commandments are good, but they are not enough. They have been wonderful power in the past and are just as imperative today. but this new commandment includes them all and goes beyond them. One may keep the old commandments literally and yet be outside the pale of Chris nan1ty The new commandment car ries us beyond the mere observance of a set of laws. The old command ments say, Thou shalt not kill" The new commandment adds fuller mean ing to this. It not only says that one shall not break into another mans house and take his goods but that he shah not take from another in a way that, though lawful, is yet unjust. The old commandments say, Thou shalt not kill" yet Christ says that he who has murder in his heart is guilty of breaking this commandment. The new commandment precludes murder from the heart.
 That ye love one another, even as I have loved you.' This seems a hard command, but it is hard only as we fail to understand it. It is so with Christ's statement that he who would save his life shall lose it and that he who loses his life shall save it. When he uttered those words the peo- pie did not understand them. but to- day we see his meaning. The time will come when this new command ment will not seem so hard as it does today.
 Fight Against Nature.
 I feel that this is an unnatural law. Love indicates that we think of an other and would share our goods, our joys and our sorrows with that one. When we apply this to some relative or brother in the church we feel how far short we come of fulfilling the commandment. When we enlarge the field, considering the Jew and the gen tile, the heather and all the world. we feel that it is indeed hard command. It is natural to obey the commands of the decalogue through conscience and the knowledge of their necessity to the preservation of human society, but Christianity Itself is an unnat- ura1 thing. Christ came to regenerate us by his divine power against our nature. Christ reveals a new idea of man and God. Gods love was un- known until the coming of Christ. He came to reveal father. a God of love rhO olNDr-c tI9n !, .ls and who sees. :he sparrow's fall, and if we believe in the fatherhood of God, then we must also recognize the broth erhood of man. Thus this unnatural life will be made natural by love of the Father and in no other way. Chris tianity is something above rules and laws, something which comes into the soul, governs the life and controls the heart.
 Gods Kingdom on Earth.
 The dream of socialism is a beauti- ful dream, but it cannot come to pass now, because of human nature. Only when mankind is regenerated by the spirit of Jesus Christ will the dream come true and there will be a new earth; brought about only as the in diViduals are made over by the power of Christ. He loved everyone and saw in the face most marked with sin a being created in the image of God. The time is coming when the text will not seem but the utterance of a remote V1S1On. W e can see it's advance for few years ago, man hated all outside his immediate companions. In the old Roman empire more than half the pop ulation existed in slavery. A stranger was hated and was to be enslaved if possible. But time is advancing and we no longer look upon strangers. nor people of other nations with hate and desire to analyze them. There was a time when there were B 000 little chil- dren of half 3 dozen years employed for long hours in the factories of a single county in England. But this is changed and every day conditions are bettered for our fellow men. We pray for the time when the real broth erhood of man will be recognized in the laws of the land. and for that bet ter time when those laws will not be necessary, when there will be the low ing spirit of Christ in everyone Thus Gods love is the dynamic power which is to set men free and bring the Lords kingdom to earth.