Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-01

were he3o III RoFWlcH on IHdfsouy' III the morning the congregations of I Christ and Trinity Episcopal churches gathered at the latter church to hear
 a strong sermon on topic of world wide interest. The sermon was de- I iivered by Rev. Richard R. Graham rector of Christ church
 Thursday evening there was union service at the Second Congregationat lechureh when the congregations of
 Trinity Methodist, Broadway and the Universalist and Central Baptist
 churches gathered to hear Rev. Joel l tra1 Baptist church.
 The order of service was as follows: Prelude; Invocation, Rev. H. J. Wyckoff; Hymn No. 267: responsive 1 Gloria Patri: Scripture reading. Rev. F. W. Coleman; anthem; prayer, Rev. J. F. Cobb; offertory; hymn No. 463; | sermon, Rev. Joel B. Slocum. D. D.; 1 hymn No. 467: The Poxelogy: bene- diction, Rev. E. S. Worcester; post | Jude.
 Rev. Dr. slocum chose as his text | Romans, 1:21. Because that knowing | God, they glorified Him. not as God, | neither gave thanks. In part he spoke l as follows:
 These words of the text, together
 with their context, present Paurs in- dictment of the thankless non-Chris- i tian Romans.
 The indictment of these Geatiles lis directed against their thanklessness, and it contains at least four counts. First, that they had left God out of their thinking and so had become emp | lty-headed; second. that they were hypocfitical shams. posing as wise peo- i ple in reality they were mere fools: third that they had become idolaters, worShipping animals and birds: fourth,
 that they had become licentious, prac- | n | rupt heather society.
 It is with q sort of pious fervor that l Paul flaws these people for their gross immortality and throughout his invec- tive these runs a relentless logic. | These people concerning whom he
 writes had made the fatal mistake of | leaving God out of their thinking and l their thanking. No wonder they be- came vain in their reasonings. The next step after forgetting to thank 1 God is to omit Him entirely from the programme of their life This the Ro- mans had succeeded in doing with such effrentery that they graduated into first class hypocrites. Profess Ing themselves to be wise they became fools" The other steps in their down ward course were entirely consistent with their false beginning. It was not l long before they lapsed into fdolatry, then they cast off all the restraints Of decency an dbecame deyotees of lust nits most loathsome forms.
 No More Flights of Fancy. This picture that Paul presents is no mere flight of fancy. It is a pho- tograph of actual conditions in the time in which he lived. Moreover. it is dramatic unfolding of what is like ly to take place everywhere with all peoples who forget God, neglect to thank Him and allow their minds. to i be flied With unworthy desires. Be- aiming sns, negative thanklessness, i they soor f""3sed over into positive az gressive sinfulness. Bishop Quale in his lecture on the poets of doubt il-
 lustrated this progress In evil I by describing Keats as the poet who | was simply without God. Keats was
 aesthetic and beautiful. His poetry l was frozen starlight: but he was sub ] Timely unaware of God. On the ott-
 CT hand. Shelly was actively, relent- 1 incensed that God had arrived here in | this world in advance and had made a decalogue. He determined to fight God, and fight God he did; until. as
 Bishop Quale said, one day the sea
 that is His laid a wet hand on his
 more, sing no more" Sc with these
 Romans, they began by simply omit
 ting infamous immoralities in the
 name of their self-credited deities. | Running through this discussion Paul
 breathes rather than writes the coun- l sel of Christian teacher. It isn't so
 much what he says in the lines as be- tween the lines, in reference to the | positive blessings of the thankful. One cannot help drawing very string in ferences as to the real teaching of Paul | with respect to thankfulness.
 1 Writing to the Thessolonians. this
 great Christian teacher said: ''In ev- 1 erything give thanks He did not say 1 that it is necessary to give thanks
 for everything. But he evidently did
 mean that there is no circumstance 1 that can arise in which the Christian forth his gratitude. There is a vast difference between those two little
 words, "in'' and "for'' in this con- nection.
 | It would be difficult to find a better authority on the duty and privilege and benefits of thanksgiving than Paul. l His writings abound with expres- sions of gratitude to God. Nearly all 1 his epistles open with thanksgiving. l In the midst of privatians ard suffer 1 ings such as few mer have been called upon to endure, he does not forget to l say thank you to God.
 Tharlins God for Daily Gifts. If he were here tonight. I believe he
 would talk to US about the reasonable 1 ness or SDu TOT HIS Qally 1 gifts that we designate as common.
 The air we breathe, the clothing we
 wear, the food we eat, the sleep that
 refreshes us, the homes in which we l live. the loved ones that are more 1 precious to US than all other things l combined. Then there are friends and 1 friendships and books and music and art and business and pleasure and altruistic servlce for OUT fellow men. 1 These are only a few of the many
 things that belong to our common 1 heritage. Do we thank God for them
 all? Take simply the first one men, tioned-air. Occasionally on the side 1 walk in front Of some business estab- lishment you will see a contrivance l bearing .his sign, Free Air" end you 1 know that would be a good place to 1 patronize when your tire gets flat But Go6's pure air is so free that He does l not even call attention to it by a sign
 Some man has figured out that the l average man takes about fifteen mil 1 lion breaths a year all free and all so necessary to his very existence. Does the average man stop even occasionally | to thank God for free air? It is per
 haps approaching tie time when air l will be about the only free thing; and wouldn't he surprised if sc,nc trust
 should soon attempt to corner the 1 hot ct Sod