Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-06
OCCUPIED FORMER PULPIT
 AT BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. pr. Siocum Preached On the Suf- fering Church in Borrowing World.

| AT BAPTIST CHURCH
 Rev. pr. siocum Preached On the suf- fering Church in Borrowing World. Rev. Joel B. Slocun, D. D., pastor of the Warburton Avenue Baptist church at Yonkers, N. Y, was greeted by many of his former Norwich friends on | Sunday evening when 1A occupied his | former pulpit at the Central Baptist | chrch. The Suffering Church in a | Borrowing World was the topic of his
 sermon and the text was Colossians | 1:24-I fill up on my part which is
 lacking of the affiliations of Christ. 1 In part Mir. Slocum spoke as fol-
 lows:
 l There is something in that word "af- 1 f1ictions' that takes us into the very heart of the labors of Jesus. The l apostle never uses that word in con- nection with the death of the Lord, so | it is evident that here he includes in l the term everything that Jesus did for l people except the sublime climax of 1 His death. Only Jesus Himself could l life for the world. Nothing that Paul could do would add anything to the completeness of that act. But the way of suffering was still open, and Paul could travel that via dolorosa. To him it was a solemn joy that by taking g up His cross and pressing forward un- der it's burden. he could add some thing to the completeness of the af- f1ictions of Christ.
 The long road of human pilgrima ge
 has been marked with suffering. It is
 the red trail by which the weary steps
 of men and women can be traced in all generations. Through the Old Testa- ment the story runs in letters that are
 crimson with the blood of sacrifice. In the New Testament we find Him whose
 life was foretold as a Man of sor- rows and acquainted with grief. The same prophet, Isaiah, had declared Tn all their affliction was He afflicted and the angel of His presence saved them.'' And when Jesus had completed His gigantic task, the apostolate under took the business of Christianity in the same sacrificia1 spirit. The controlling purpose of the apostle as expressed by himself was no less than this: That may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.' "Sufferings, there fore. seems to have been part of the out all generations. The author of the book of Hebrews declares that.S"it became Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
 But somehow, suffering and sacrf- hce have always accompanied pro-
 
 the night, and the dark has always preceded the dawn. If the world had it's Dark Ages, it also had it's revival of learning in. the Renaissance If Christianity was in danger of dwind- ling into lifeless formali lisnn it broke forth into new day in the Reforma- tion- Even the physical world has not entirely emerged from it's period Of growing pains. Every once in awhile some great upheavaI like a San r FrAncISCO aarfhunatp hpl ing forth like a Mt. Pelee of Vesu- vius remind us that the planet is still grooming in it's expansive life.
 Likewise in human history there has never been a time when the whole world has been at peace. Though we deplore war, yet we have to confess that .ut of many of the wars of the world have come the great forward of the worlds history.
 And now, on a scale so gigantic tha t 1t involves nearly the entire roll-call of nations, the whole world is at war The sufferings that have already fol- millions of the worlds popu1at ation There is nothing new about it all ex- cept the immence extent CT it and the diabolicaI devices for reducing hu- man bodies to pulp.
 And what is the duty and at once the | privilege of the church with respect | to this vast, far-rea ching, complicate | area of suffering? Shall we be able to l discharge our duty by generous con to some phase of relief work !? | Will a confession of our regrets and | an expression of our sympathy Suf- | ice Can we cOmplacently dismiss the | whole situation as something we did i not bring about and therefore some | thing concerning which we have no re- | sponsibility? What is the spirit and | genius of the church of Christ in this | unparalleled crisis? Is she sufficiently | mbubed with the spirit Of the secri- | 5-.1 l.. nert, the high devotion of Jesus as | pictured in the Gospels. the aggres- sive conservation of the apostoIate | and the early church, and the un- 'Wervins fidelity of the Christian mar -yrs? If not. then, I fear the church | will fail; for the challenge makes up- Dn the church the greatest derna nds hat have ever confronted the follow ars of the humble Nazarine. But I be- ieve the church will meet the new day with the old faith and the old pow 1T. If she succeeds. there are a few outstanding things that she must do.
 The first of these is that she must 'egard the war as mighty serious hin~ and not allow herself to lose the poignant sense of it's horror One sol Her writing home from Flanders pie ured his sensations of depression and disgust when he saw in a newspaper hat had been sent to him from home whole column of the frivols of | ashion close alongside of an account If an enga cement al the front that had ut regiment to pieces. If there s any horror greater than the horror If war if is the horror of not being terrified by it's deadly harvests. There s danger that in reading so much bout this terrible thing, we shall lose 'ur delicate senSitiveness to it's brutal 'utrages. And yet we must not brood 'ver its borrowing details, and we must not allow hate to take possession If our minds and hearts. It is not an asy thing to maintain our Christian in the midst of the violent | tornas Of passion that are now sweep ne across the world. But the first uty of the church is to keep sane and pen -eyed and sensitive and quickly theic.
 Another imperative privilege and uty of the church in this awful time f war is to pray; to pray not as the 'hariseeS prayed; not Journalists