Norwich bulletin., 1914-08-03
NEW VOICES IN NORWICH PULPITs
Vacation Season Brnss Three Whiting Pasors HereHart ford Ministers, Rev. Sherod Soule and Rev, Dr. H. J. White at Congregational and BaPtist Church Rev. Dr. NJ $. Kaufman Ut Trinity Methodist Church.

Sunday the vacation sesson for the pastors brought new voices to the put : pits, and there were good sized c)n- gregatiens In all to hear the inspiring messages of the visiting preachers. At Central 6aptist Church. At the Central Baptist church the preacher was Rev. pr. Herbert !. i White of the First Baptist church of Hartford. He off1ciated at both morn ing and evening services. and at the evening service spoke from the text, Follow me and will make you fish CTS of men. His theme was The Claims of Jesus Upon the Twentieth Century Man.
 In these words to the two brothers whom he called into his dtscipleship Jesus set pa new claim which they were obliged to measure up to against all the other claims of their lives, said 1 the preacher The fine art of living consists in knowing how to put the l first claim in the first place. All the mixups in life come through putting rome twenty third rate claim into first place.
 At the water edge. of Nazareth that day was heard a voice that set up 8 new claim in the lives of those men. It is evident from what we know of their lives that they put the claim of Christ first.
 But some twentieth century man will say that that was long time ago and 1 will admit that Jesus possibly had some claim on the lives of those f1sh- ernen. but will ask what claim he has on my life.
 To this question we can answer that he has claim on your life because of his divine authority, because he is the 1 father and the creator revealing him. n ha a hi 1r, rNt1r life also because of the service that | he has rendered you. No one has gone I so far for you. no one who has given l you gifts had made such gifts as he has. no one had such plans or is pre- pairing such things for you as he is. In return for such service he should be crowned with our respect, regaI d l and gratitude
 But, more than this. Jesus has a 1 claim on your life because of the ser vice to which he can, lead uou. It is | the highest and noblest service con- bfe. and the one who can lead you into the highest and nobiest ser vice Is the one who has first claim on your life. If that is so, can you not say. I will follow thee whithersoever thol goest.
 Congregational Union Service. The second of the union Congrega- tional services was held Sunday morn- | AAt6 cS lAC oCSOnQ 1OIlSt 0&aI1OTdl church with a large attendance. The preacher was the Rev. Sherrod Soule Of Hartford. who gave an address on Self Discovery and Solitude, taking as his text Matt. IA: 23. He went up into q mountain apart to pray; and when alone.''
 Ths Is more than the mere record of an event; 1t is the revelation of a hab- It. This habit of seclusion and supplf- cation was as sure an element of Jesus life as that of going about doing good. They are probably related as cause and effect. Activity is always prefaeed by receptivity Christ never appeared to be harrassed or hurried The majesty Of his mission gave him mementum Great things are never finished with the closing of the coffin lid. Those who would do great things like him must be like him in their lives. Like him. they must mediate in order to minister. There is place for meditation both in public and in private worship. The silent prayer fs the most important part of the service. entertainment Is not all there Is to public worship. Nor Is 1t a fairy wand that will put us in the right attitude worship Is to make us responsive to the spirit of God. to make us realize our relations to Him. to make us think For we can minister wisely only when
 
 to stop thinking to talk than they are to stop talking to think. The test of any religion or of any church is whether its members can worship God without that church-without that particular form and ceremony If 1t and made them think. so that they can find God everywhere 1t has failed In all the book of Revelation. with It's wonderful descriptions and magnificent metaphors. there Is nothing so impress slve as the, one verse, And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour" When Christ talked with the Samaritan woman at the Patrt- archs' we'll. he said. Not in this noun tain. nor yet at Jerusalem, shall man worship. The limited horizon line of Samaria was lifted to include the whole world. But the fault of the ascetic life is that it sees only half the truth. Meditation should be usad to increase ability
 It was alone Tn the wilderness that Christ was tempted of Satan and alone in the darkness of Gethsemafe. Here he conquered them both Men who are tempted to prostitute their powers for passing delights. to seem to be what fhey are not. or to compromise with uhe world. should also tell Satan to go to the rear. The man who has mas
 
 one who counts in society As Solo mons temple was fashioned in tie quarry and the forest and put together without sound of hammer so the eIa- ments of holy endurance and beatty are nolseless. The secret of the Mas !ers life or of any other saintiy fife IS not found in what they did in crises Thear sources of strenEth came fr JfI1 prayer in solitude as the sources If :! tne majestic river are found high up among the hills in the depths of the silent forest
 At Trinity Methedist Church, church Sunday morning, Rev Dr M 5. Kaufman was greeted by a eoodly number of former parishioners and Friends After a brief prelude on the european war cloud, he preached upon SoNeFeignty of the Passive Virtues.
 Tn his prelude Rev. Dr. Kaufman said that the biggest blackest, most threatening war cloud that ever hung Tn the European sky is the one that now now seems s ready to break in fury upon that dlsturbed continent It looks as though nothing could avert the awful calamity it portends. And vet we should not forget that God is on His throne. He can make the wrath of 1 man to praise Him. Whatever may be the outcome can we not rest assured that Ills plans for advancing the race , toward that one far off divine event toward which the whole creation moves will ultimately triumph?
 Taking up his sermon theme. the preacher said in part: iasf Tn the whir1 and scramble and rush or thls high preasure age we are in clired to place all the emphasis upon what may be called the active virtues.