Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-18
FIRST METHopIsr CHURCH

l FIRST METHODIST CHURCH The reopening and celebration of the | 120th anniversary of the First Meth : odist church on Sunday called together large audiences both afternoon and evening. On all sides were heard ex-s pressions of delight in the beauty of the renovated church. About the plat : form were carnations, ferns mad pot ted plants.
 AS the hour set for the afternoon. service drew near, Is members of the girls vested choir of Trinity Methodist church came up the center aisle and the five ministers, District Superinten-s dent G. G. Scrivener, Rev. E. P. Phreaner, Rev. H. T. Arnold, Rev. F. W. Coleman and Rev. R. S. Moore of Willimantic. Up the right aisle passed l the choir of the First Methodist | church; the junior choir was seated in ! front on the right
 Rev. G. G. Scrivener presided. The scripture was read by Rev. H. T. Ar mold. Rev. MT. Coleman offered the l prayer of dedication. Most impressive
 was the rendering of the hymns Great One Foundation, by the three choirs I and the congregation. The anthem Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens Adore Him, was given in sweet, clear tones l by the vested choir; A Song of l Thanksgiving, by the choir of the church, and When Morning Gilds the
 Skies. by the junior choir, were listen
 ed to with pleasure. Miss Anna B. 1 Stewart of New London was heard most aceeptably in the offertory solo, ! He Knows and again in the evening l she rendered The Gates of Pearl. | Inc or&o, NP !, ,I,,,, II D l Phreaner,' spoke of the repairs costing
 about $1,500. The blessing of God has
 been upon every step of the way, even as His sunshine is upon us today. 1 When the $125, the sum promised in
 pledges, is paid. no one will be asked
 to make up Q dollar.
 l WiIIinnantie Minister Spoke. Rev. Robert s. Moore of Willimantic | was then introduced. I saw this church l two years ago. he said. I look at. it 1 now and l am proud. It is the Lords 1 doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. | This is truly the house of God; and
 may it be the gate of heaven to many 1 a soul. I will choose for my text | Wherefore seeing we also are com
 passed about with so great cloud of ! witnesses, let us. The present time i cannot be estimated in it's true value. | This church was born 26 years after l the Boston tea party. There were then men present whose great-grandfatfers ! could remember the little party of the May1ower who came on that bleak l 21st day of December As God counts | time 120 years is not long, but in 1 mans estimate it is an eternity We celebrate today venera ble institution.
 a church which stretches back four generations and has touched life on
 every side for many, many years. I am more interested in Connecticut fhan n FIn or,1
 scenes and places that are familiar are more important to me than many things of the past Some houses loom 1 larger than castle of a king. Some
 holy things my hands have touched my eyes have seen, mean more to me
 than all else combined. Some things ] call to us with louder voices than others. When I say Connecticut to a
 man whose forbears followed Hooker
 through the wilderness, he straightens 1 lifts his face to heaven and is trans formed.
 We are surrounded by a cloud o1
 witnesses with love in their faces;
 because of their valor, high faith, sac
 ridce and toll they look eagerly upon us and expect us to be consecrated to
 their task and bear the world still nearer the skies. All that we have is
 because they have been. It is a great
 thing to know your debt to the past
 No man is, has been, or ever will be self made.
 Gift of Pilgrim Fathers.
 The Pilgrim fathers. gave us the
 church, the school, the town house. Al
 roads led to the church for the king dom of God is the center of His uni 1 verse. What a God-forsaken place
 Norwich would be without the church
 of God. Our fathers were men who
 scorned complacent life, who mocke6
 at peril by sea and land, men who Jeff
 all save honor, who gave all they had
 so that they might found the church
 of God upon the earth
 l Some say the church is doomed il New England, that it has had its day this in the midst of scenes made sa cred by the fighting of wrongs. The
 real leaven is potent enough to leaver the whole meal of immigration. Moth. Ing in New England is impossible fol
 Jesus Christ. for men touched by Hi. spirit Do we say, It can't bedone, i has been and can be no more, tn. l world is immersed in secularisn, faitf | has gone. Shame on us to feel tha
 way. What shall we do if the progres, of men from lesser to greater thing.
 brings no inspiration? If the pas
 lives again, if those faces still love anG I speak, let us run with fortitude the race. that is set before us, confront tht Iexlstlng conditions even as did oul ancestors. If the past calls to us to 1 day 1t is that we may assert ourselve.
 as children of the living God. som' rf things are worth struggling after, de
 cency, sobrietg, manhood, these ar, the things under God to call out tn, force in life.
 1 When the church of God has behind
 1t the spirit of the Eternal, the way Ii clear The saloon is on the nov, towards hell, where it belongs. Som, things that have been can never b, again. The Conscienca of men is he ing awakened as never before Neve, was time when a life cost so littl, and when honor was held at so high rate.
 Strip yourselves of the handicaps \ help as best you can give this c11urcl of 120 years another 120 years of life Then shall come a time when nlal shall say. Through 240 years has tn, light shone here, has the stream fiowes for the healing of the nations. It vii ] be worth all it has cost the fathers