Norwich bulletin., 1919-10-27
FINAL 9EiqAAoN fN sERfEs BY
 REV. ALEXANDER H, ABBOTT

l Concluding his interesting sermons I on The Convictions of Modern Man Rev. Alexander H. Abbott of the Unit l ed Congregational church. prea ched on Sunday on his Idea of the Kingdom of God.
 There is not one of us who does not build and re- build our castles in the air, and this habit has grown out of the very continual dissatisfactions of our lives: that is mans daily experi- ence. Castles in the air are the vis- ions of ideal things through which the i'm mpulSe leads the race out in a search towards God.
 Sorrows. and hopes are the parents of our dream children. and out of them we people our imaginations. The very kingdom of God is. first of all. a beau time it becomes tangible. If it is the habit of the individual to picture cas- ties in the air. then, so is it the habit of any race to picture some loved com munity, which is their idea of God The ancient Greeks, Romans Italians all believed that every other race were bal rbarians. Every single nation fully believes that within itself are qualities peculiar to it's own people. We sing of America. that America that has in itself a certain splendid atmosphere. essentially choice and righteous and when Jesus refers to the Kingdom of God, He is doing exactly the same thing. Over His mind went the pie IuTe or d DelOVe0 community II was for that dream that He lived sacri- feed and died.
 Every act of dreaming or visioning of ours is always followed by a period of reaction or despair. Every single hope is checked by sadness: there are hills in our lives. only because there are valleys. and aScents into the mountains of joy are always followed by descents into the valleys of depres- sion.
 
 | blossomed in the gardens of our lives? Victories in any material or moral combat come but slowly Long before the Christian era. the hope of being free was stirring in mems hearts That hope still goes on in our very midst. but the victory is not yet, nor ever will be in our human life This old dream is a long time com ing. and the vision of the Beloved Community comes just as slowly. An ideal like building. grows bit by bit: hope gradually bears frtsi- .tion. and the kingdom of God becomes real. now progressing. now retarded in it's growth We all help or retard the Kingdom; whenever the race djscoy- CTS that any movement of life has moral issue and seeks to make that is sue plain. that race helps forward the coElrIetion of that Beloved ComE,u- nifty. where man walks in love wi-n his felIowmen.
 War began simply because cf cer- tain economic pressure and selfishne ss of nations. When it was understood clearly that there was great borai issue at stake. the nations forgetting themselves, but standing fas. in ioy- atty, canle in. and the Kingdom of God moved on. We are living the midst of cnaos today, yet even s9. we are irrevocably convinced that the. king dom Of God is among Us. Men are not altogether the democrdc:es of human relation ships. When we sec an5r act that seeks to make this 3a.oved Com munity fact, we are SC ing men < ii- rection towards a kingdom of Iiuma godliness.
 Jesus said. .@The Kingdom of God is within youi" and whether we believe it or not. we are living in the pres Every time we lift our own community in reality. living in honorable fellow ship with human souls, we are build ing for God, and every time we retard any moral or mental uplift. whether at home or abroad, even so. we stop the building of Gods Kingdom.
 There is d house not builded with mons hands. house whose spirit is in all. our souls. the inhabitants of which believe in God: if that ideal captures us if that actuates us in our course towards experience. we. need have no fear of the outcome of these tortur- ous days, for throughout life God g hand is upon the race. and when we touch that hand we can do nothing less than deal honorabiy. and truly with all human souls. reTne em berng that this kingdom Of God is the Be- loved Community where men who live fA stimulating fellow ship with hu- n, nit