Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-27
GREENEvILLE PASTOR AT SECOND CONGREGATIONAL cHuR Rev. Charles H. Rieketts Preached on
 Greater Works of The Believer.

At the second Congregational church Rev. Chardes H. Ricketts preached Sunday morning on the theme, The Greater Works of. the Be- liever; taking his text from the gospel of John, fourteenth chapter and the twelfth verse: Verify. verify. I say unto you, he that helieveth on me. the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do: because I go unto the Father.
 When we read these words we are conscious of mental pause; how can these things be, we ask ourselves? :? And we think that never man sphke like this one. He. who made the deaf ear to hear, the silent tongue to speak and with his marvellous touch made the shrunken bones to heal and grow, again. We are filled with amazement Can we, mere bits of clay, do these things? "Oh mo- we say. And the latter part of the phrase-greater works-seems ever more of a stunbl- ing block Can the disciple be more than his Master, the servant greater than his Lord? As, however, we look into this text deeper. with a nine teenth century interpretation, we see it to be absolutely correct. We have been and are doing and will continue to do greater works than were accom-
 
 we say it.
 We may divide Christ's wrok into three groups; his work in human souls, lis subordinating natural forces the dead to life. Are we not today working along parallel lines? Christ could save the world without our help but he does not. We do the prepara- tory work. We build the foundation. As a house, no matter how well build n,1 <J Gr-r,, foundation So we must do this prepar- tory foundation for living.
 The stilling of the waves of Gallilee was great but is not the crossing by the submarines the width of the At lantic ocean greater? Many illustra- tions might be found. Christ touched the sisht1ess eyes and/ they saw. Is not this being done every day in a scientific way? And those who are bringing back to life souls dead in sin are surely doing parallel work.
 If we interpret greater work as great in the sense of doing good for humanity we have been doing this greater work for two thousand years. When we read of Moses rod being made to writhe and Elisha's axe-head to swim and even the loving miracle of Chrlst's turning the. water into wine We can see that these works have not the ma gnitude of that untutored fish, ermans act. who, humble and of no prestige, bade the lame man to rise up and walk. and immediately the man that greater? And the disciples Peter and Paul in their turn brought the dead to life. Greatness is that which accomplishes the useful and helpful in human life, If we in our humble spheres go about quietly drying the tears of grief. encouraging the weak. lifting the fallen we are doing a great CT work than trying to perform the impossible. To us the sairship ap- breaches the miraculous. It is of told possibilities in its range. But under the airship is the trolley, a thousand times greater in it's useful ness to human life in all it's ways. And so with Peary's discovery of the North I'ole. Great indeed, but of slight greater in service was the transport carrying nurses to aid at the front. In the rooms where the Red Cross wom- en gather a mightier work is being done than Palestine ever saw. There men were allowed to die for want of care and assistance. Much of this work is greater because it is greater in area. Christ's travels covered prob ably only about seven miles. A small area. Yet today there is no great na- tion where Christianity is not pro- claimed
 By going to his Father to intercede for us Christ has helped us to further His kingdom. We do it not in our own name and strength but through him. Finally, our Savior in going to His Father has given us power to make all these material forces into usefulness for men. We used to preach the saving of mems souls; now we preach the saving of men, as the whole is larger than the past,
 It is better to have lived twenty years of the present time than all of Methusalah's thousand years. When we consider the larger opportunities that make for a fuller life that all the modern inventions of steam, electric ity,' wireless and automobiles have given us. we must realize that we must live up to these opportunities. Let it be said of us that greater things have been done by us. That because Christ has gone to his Father we have received the strength from on high to accomplish.