Norwich bulletin., 1920-11-19

Jesus but she had not counted 1t as too great a sacrifice. Neither did Jesus count it so.
 There is a wealth of later experiences of mne which testify to this great fact of costly sacrifice for them; wherein the sacrifice is not too great for it was willingly undertaken and no regret came to share their thots, as in later years they searched in retrospect those things which stood out, written in large letters across the pages of their lives, reminding them Of what they had done.
 We are here today to celebrate the
 one hundredth anniversary of the found
 ing of the First Uniyersalist Society in
 Norwich
 It is not my purpose to trace the exact
 course of the history of this society. Men
 have come and they have gone. Minis
 ters have moved across the pages Of your history and have disappeared. They have
 contributed something, some of them iit-
 tie some of them much. to the life of the society. Some have been here many years, Others served for a short time. With few exceptions and those in tho very earliest history they inspired confi- and blameless devotion to their duty. They established and maintained high grade, personal and social life. They were fit leaders, varying only according to their natural talents. Theta have been heard in Norwich Universalist min isters whose intellectual abilities class them as giants. John Murray wSs here one hundred and forty eight years ago One Of his theological opponents was not only honest but stated an apparent truth, when after debate in which he
 came out second best, he said of Murray that he was the worst fish I ever han dled" Elhanan Winchester visited here before
 the year 1890. A great power in our early life
 Hosea Ballou snd; whittemore and others form an array, which have held you steady.
 Then there are the names of Browne l Williams. Johnson. Ienk :ns, who wor their way into the hearts of the people there to remain forever enshrined, tes 1 tirnany to the manhood Of these men i their zeal, their spiritual life. l I speak of those of whom you have
 spoken Your memory will supply what 1 ever l ought to have said. There are families also Many have come and some have gone Some o them were identified with it's very be ' ginnings and their descendants still carr, 1 on the work they 50 well began. ! For the sake of purely sectarian ant l doCtrinal appeal, that will draw peopla 1 to certain standard it is quite certain 1 that the tendency of religious affairs il l all wrong, today.
 1 If any particular church is to grow to 1 day. f must show not only it's faith bu 1 its works. In other words if cilurci l Is doing something. not only believing i but doing; if there is a visible evidence ] of works, it is quite likely, that 1t shal 1 be easy to obtain the visible evidence o i members.
 1 Sometimes the works are altruistic l ti,at draw; sometimes and perhaps to i often the works that draw are Of a pur 1 soci;:! nature.
 But the point is, we are not so sur now Of people who become avowed mem l bers of any church. entering on the dec l laration of acceptance Of the faith whicl !, that church professes. as they were il those days of our fathers, one hundre years go.
 If there was any vigor. any stamina