Norwich bulletin., 1919-11-27


 departure in recent years s.shsIt has been made too aeasy- for people to be- 1 come members of the church in these days and the line of denarkation be- tween the church member and the man in business and fraternai circles has become practically obliterated.
 The union!A service opened as usual with a stirring song service, led by the chorus choir directed by Chorister Charles F. Allen. Rev. William Craw- ford of Norwich Town offered prayer and special invitation to the people or the city was extended to attend the union Thanksgiving service this ,(Thursday)s evening att 7.S1 when Mr. Smith. will speak upon the subject, Is There Any Room: in Norwich For Jesus?s
 Mr. Smith took for his text Wed nesday evening, a passage of scripture from the first chapter of the gospel according to St. Mark, and part of the 18th verse, Repent ye and believe the Gospel" Tine evangelist said that the fundamental doctrine of the New Testament was that of repentance, and also, saiG it has been one of the most unpopular doctrines, too. And for every sermon that you hear on re- penTance. you hear twenty on the love of God, until, there is a tendency in these days, of the twentieth cen- tury, to become love sick. It is nec- essary for. us to know, that while God loves you, He hates your sin, for that is the thing that is robbing you Of your manhood and wornanhood. It is kalways a great deal easier to congrat- ulate than to expostulate, and that is why the doctrine: of reDentence. has never been popular. In these days we have made 1t, too easy for people to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ. It never used to be easy. The early church fathers never made it easy, the Apostles didn't and Christ Jesus Christ, meant warfare, a pil- grimage. It meant "rlucking out the right eye sin for Christ,s sake. Ii meant '.cutting off the right arm sin for Christ's sake. It meant that you and I must be willing to be called ! fool for Christ's sake. But. now, we have made, it too. easy. until the pec. pie come into the Church of Jesus Christ without giving up a blessed thing. and they can be very busy and ! fussy about the. non-essentials and absolutely careless: about the funda- mental. Every letter that is wrttteE in the New Testament was to show us how we might repent. I said, 3, few minutes ago. that Christ never made l it easy for men and women to follow him. Let me try and prove that 1 There was a .nnanfwho came to Chris
 and said 'are there Few that be say ed?' The Master answered. you J strive, you struggle, you agonize, tt enter, in at the straight and marrow gate" Nothing. easy about that An other man came and said "what mus II do to inherit eternal life?' And the Master diagnosed his case. ant i putting His finger on the cancer spo 1of his life, said, 'go sell that that tho, l hast and give to the poor. Tberl isn't anything easy about that. Then another man came. who had see, sen7ething Of the Masters popularity and who thought lie would like to b
 attached to those who went .arount with Him. He was one Of. those sen i tiInental fellows who hadn't counte, | the cost of discipleship.. said, 'Tord l will .g2 with You wherever Yo' go," and the Master turned to him an
 beasts Of the field have a hole wlie, they cali home, and the birds of tn air have a nest which they also cal home, but the son, of man doesn't know where he is to lay his head an
 never knows when and where he ma feat.",. and when this young fellow ha
 heard that,-he turned on his heel an said, "good bye to Jesus Nothin
 easy about that [. And. them enc day
 the Master being followed, by trerren T dous crowds, and afraid that they ha not grasped the, genius of His mes
 sage, and afraid that they were car
 ried away from tn moment, He turn cd around and held up a cross ar ssid, eff any man would be My disci pie. let him take h!s cross and den himself and follow Me" No. th Master never made 1t easy for an man to follow Him, and the man wh
 breaches an easy gospel, breaches
 mengrel gospel, The first man .wh l preached this gospel. of repentanc man had an opportunity to be popu . lar, John the Baptist had. But h went into the throne room. of Kin Herod on his throne. and by his. sid lanother mans wife. Hecod had bee gratly attracted by the preaching John the Baptist, and t looked g 7 though he Were sincere. and homes
 and now, as John faces him in tf, throne roorl,r he has only to congrai . ulate Herod to be very popular. br
 instead of that, he Is trl1e, and |
 says 'it is not lawful for thee to hay that woman by thy side" and frlrae diately, Herod ordered the irprisor , ment of John the Baptist. and I sur ,, pose when they turned tlle key in th 5 lock they thought they had the doc
 Urine of repentance locked Up, but In , medlatefy the skies opened and ti, f Son or God came through, and II
 first message to the world was "R, .f eent ye, and believe the gosoei." AT if you care to look for His last tne,
 sage with His deciplea around Hir . He gave them the commission to 2 } and preach the doctrine Of repentan nt
 and then, as though the last wo, had not been said. after the Mast, had reached the Glory Land, and we cemed by the muititudes there. or day He leaned down over the hattf, ments Of Heaven, just as though F
 were afraid that some of His mini
 ters would not drive this old doctrf,
 home, and He spoke to one of H
 servants by the name Of Saul. ay
 said: Saul, go to the Gentiies a,
 make them do works for repentance \ Sc all through the. scriptures Is th
 old doctrine 9f repentance infcrce III What is repentance? First of a
 let me say that there area great ma,
 conceptions of repentance, which a
 popularly believed to be right, and
 clear the ground, let me say, in
 few words, just what repentance
 not. Firsf:>It is not fear. A gre
 many people think that 10 rene
 they must be afraid of God and
 hereafter without God. ,For an flu J tration. we have man who Is si = and thinks he Is going to die, Or.
 he gets in some business tangfe a 9 sees bankruptcy staring hira-l in f
 face, he is very 1uick to cali on G