Norwich bulletin., 1917-09-15
Sunday Morning Talk
A New Birth of Freedom

among the anclent ana 1nFeterate enemies of the human race we must name fear. Primitive mar found him. self in he grip of powers stronger than he. evil-disposed for the most
 part, and capable at any moment of compa ssing his destruction. One pom generations of men. held in such
 bondage in the barbarous ages that preceded civilizations dawn. For our more remote ancestors the universe in which every mountain, grove, river and sea swa, med with deities of uncertain temper and designs must have been in- deed a r,ace of terror.
 Nor is fear of that old time type un known in modern times. Races of men still exist on the earth in whose daily experience the ancient apprehensions are repeated. missionary lately re- turned to the home land after B years of service in the New HebriGes makes this significant statement: Some per sons who think that the natives should be left alone to live their simple, happy lives free from care should live among them. Qlite happy, are they? In daily fear of malignant spirits: dreading to omit the smallest detail of their cere- monies, lest they should be smitten with disease, or their gardens blighted; huts lest they fall under the unseen bullet of the hidden enemy-their lives are miserable and it is the greatest mockery to say they are happy"
 We may grant the possibility of all this in heatherl islands of the sea, but what shall we say of fear in cultured Christian America? How shall we reconcile with honest faith in God the timidity with which thousands of us who may be respectable citizens and good churchfnen live out our lives? In view of the creeds we profess. with their emphasis on a God ot holy love in charge of human affairs, how can 1oi fInn fryp dor foy af with which we commonly survey both our personal fortunes and the developing life of the race? A man from Mars looking into the Christian Scriptures and noting the uncondi- tional assurances therein might in1ag- inc that a race accepting such a reve- lation would be afraid of nothing in heaven CT on earth. Yet how far his surmise would be from the fact!
 More important than naming the trouble is finding the remedy. How shall we of the modern age escape from our inherited bondage of fear? Is there victory for us over the tyranny of such evil imaginings as the cave man suf- fered?
 Fear is a malady of the spirit and the cure for it must be, essentially, a spiritual one. One must simply bring l his Christianity into actual practise. l He must, somehow, get his faith out of 1 the cold storage of church creed and put it to work as a principle of life | Let him actually iiv9 in the convictions that the world is fin control of AL | mighty God and not of the Devil; let 1 him heartily believe tha: all things | work together for good to them that | love God. It is surely not always an | easy conviction in the presence of so | much that seems to prove the contrary, l and yet t is the one real solution of l our problem. Best of all, it works in | the case of those who try it.
 ~ will fear no evil, for Thou are lid not expect that evil would wholly pass hi-n by. Life for him, as for all | he sons of men, would know it's diff ,ulties and dangers ( nd valleys of the shadow. But of none of tnese eXperi- snces would he be afraid. He would ear no evil for in Gods world no evil :ould touch him.
 Upon this high mood Of the soul wait. for any of us, beth physical lea1th and mental peace. Fear is a hamper on all human energies. The of it means freedom Free ourse is given for the abounding life when the old weight that pressed down on all the vital centers las been taken away. We are dealing lere not wit'I theory but with fact l low many men and women have testi- jed that they first began really to live n some such hour of clear vision and leliverance when banishing the old fears. they have moved out nto the glorious liberty of the sons .
 THE pARsoN U