Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-01


 North River, New York-or call upon G. w. Adams, Depot Tx. Ast, Nor wieh-
 selves, therezfs at least danger that we may fail to learn the great lessons that true self sacrifice teaches, and that therefore our Thanksgiyings should degenerate into shallow self | eongratulation, or even lead us to of fer our thanks to God for things which are not real blessings sent by Him.
 We knew that we cannot stand aloof from or remain urinfuenced by the rest of the world. This world war is
 not simply a great military spectacle on which we can look down with in terest from our safe places in the seats of the arena while we applaud the victors and extend our sympathy
 to those who suffer defeat. The financial and commercial results of the war arc affecting us, it is from them that has come a large portion of 1 that great material prosperity for which we offer our thanks to God to- l day.
 America Richer and Stronger. America is rnquestionably richer and | stronger, from the material point of | view, as a result or the war;. but how have the moral and spiritual results affected us. Can we. with anything like the same certainty, thank God that we ar: thus richer?
 Of course. we cannot measure spir- itual results as we do material: the pure gold of higher national ideals cannot be figured out as we would the gold in the treasury, but surely we ought not to be content to thank God for the increase in material wealth if there has been a shrinking in our l spiritual wealth, or even if there has not heeu a distinct growth The world is being shaken as it 1 perhaps never has been before, and for good or evil we must share in the re- 1 suit S.
 There are those who believe that | the immediate result of this great up- heaval will be the deepening and strengthening of the moral and spir- l ituEll life of the world; that this great l tempest of var will of necessity leave | behind it a clearer and better atmo- | sphere through which the light of l Gods truth will shine more brightly | than it has ever done in the past. We all hope and pray that this will l b ethe final outcome; that this world = sorrow will lead men to the God of all pity; that the splendid self sacrifice l of nations and individuals will make | the sacrifice of the cross a greater and | clearer truth than ever. But what grounds have we for this l hope, and how are we preparing our | selves for its fulf1Irnen+?
 | Is it not looking for grapes from 1 thorns and figs from missiles to expect i that, apparently as a matter of course, | the dreadful evils Of war will produce 1 beneficial results in the moral and spiritual life Of those who have ex- perienced these horrors?
 | We look at those districts of Poland
 which have been fought over by the
 coEtending armies and we are told i that there is not a child under five years of age left alive, or we hear of
 half a million Polish women who have 1 suffered a worse fate than death itself | If these things mean of necessity the
 spiritual regeneration of Poland ought not we to hope for an outbreak of in- | fantile paralysis which will carry off 1 all our young children; would it not be a good thing if the women of 1 America had to face the same shame | the sams horror as their sisters in | Poland have endured?
 | God may and does reveal Himself to | the innocent in and through their suf- | ferings, but what about those hof1o are
 the guilty agents of that suffering?
 Must Prepare for Blessings. No, brethren. The war can only
 bring spiritual blessings to us and the l rest of the world when we have pre-
 pared ourselves to receive these bless | ings; whether the final results are l | are now reacting to the effects pro- | flueed by the war.
 | That remarkable novel. MT. EritIins 1 Sees It Through" shows how a DOT | tion of the English people is reacting | and that these reactions are towards a
 better and more spiritual conception l We recognize that the spiritual life of | France has been auickened in a won ! derful way.
 But on this Thanksgiving day-this I purely local and American festival l we are justified in thinking of our
 selves, though nor as isolated from l or uninfluenced by others.
 | How are we, as a people, reacting te l the stimulus of the war? It is of course impossible to gen.
 eralize and say America feels thus and so. Our nation is too big. 100 1 many opinioned, too diverse in it's ccm- position and character to be classified 1 exactly, or to give any single-voiced
 expression to its feelings.
 Yet there are certain reactions | which we can recognize.
 Perhaps the most obvious Of these Is the sympathy which has been
 aroused by the sufferings of the war 1 victims.
 America has expressed ti4is sympa- L.
 thy and translated it into action in her l gifts for war relief. But have these gifts been as liberal as they might
 have been? Some of the figures given l must make Us pause, and if they are even approximately true, should pre-
 vent any top complace41t satisfaction with our own generosity.
 | We know that the war has brought material wealth to this country, and lit is calculated that out of every doI- | lar of war profits this country has I made we. haze given one cent and a l half to war relief,
 | Not Excessive Generosity.
 This may be good business, but we cannot regard it as excessive generos-