Norwich bulletin., 1920-06-18

tIllS clly, at the organ, scripture reading | by Pastor E. E. Andross of Washington, D. C., and prayer by Pastor E. K. Slade l of Massachusetts, Mayor Herbert M l Lerou delivered a brief address of well i come to the delegates and visitors in at- tendance. The mayor spoke as fol- l lows to the congregation of 100 in the | church:
 MT. President, officers, delegates and friends, it is with no little pleasure and a great deal of pride as the chief execu- tive of this city that I welcome you to these borders.
 Norwich finds much to recommend it as a convention city, it's central location, it's hospitable homes. This building in which we are now meeting is made accessible by the union of two Congregational 1 churches, and is an ideal place for con- ventions with it's large auditorium, ample | dining room and beautiful organ.
 | Your work at home and abroad needs are located they tend to make the spirit | are l A ed they end to make the spirit ual li1e of the community richer and better, and I hope that the remaining l services here will be of great benefit to l you all, and to the city of Norwich, and 1 that when you leave this city, it will be | with great deal of pride, and 1 hope that you will some day return.
 | The opening address of the convention was given by Pastor A T. Robinson, of | Hartford, who said in part: Coming to this beautiful city of Norwich, for our ten days convention, accepting the court esies extended to us by the business men i; listening to the kind words of welcome by the mayor of the city, and sharing the hospitality of a large number of homes, naturally suggests the question which we have adopted as the subject of this open irg address: Why Seventh-Day Advent ists?" Sev6ntX-f1ve years ago there was no such question: because there were no such people in the world. Surely, with some seven hundred different Protestant sects and denominations in the field, it could not be argued from that viewpoint that there was need of another being add ed The "Why Seventh-day Adventists? ?'
 Unless it shall be made clear by those who shall follow me on this platform, said we bring to the people of Norwich a clear distinct, Scriptural message of the gospel which is due the world at this time-a message that meets the world S need in this crisis hour-we owe the good people of this city an apology for being here.
 The gospel has met the worlds need in every great crisis that has arisen in the history of the church. In the time Of the first advent of Christ, Rome ruled , the world with iron hand. One man in the person of the Roman Caesar, dom- mated both the state and the church. As l expressed by one historian: "The world was one vast Roman prison house, from a which the only means of escape was death" The shacllles were bound SC 0 firmly upon the consciences of men that as stated by another historian: No man dared to think for himself, until g - voice was heard in Judea. breaking day : for the darkest night that had ever Il settled down upon the human race" That : one lone voice-of one so poor that il ,' was said of him: "The foxes have holes ' and the birds of the air have nests bu : the Son of man hath not where to lay d his head"-was lifted against a system of error and superstition backed up by l. al the wealth, the pomp, and the power e of the nightiest empire that had evel ). ruled the world. The Roman law a y that time made it crime punishable with death, for any man to introduce z new religion. the tendency of which wa: . to unsettle the minds of men concerning Y the religion Of the state. Jesus came tt l i the world to set men free, and to plan . in the human soul the principles of re- 2 ligious liberty. He flung to the breeze the banner of truth He threw down the battle-gage between truth and error. Tc personify the contending factors in tha T great conflict, we behold truth, shaclled e handcuffed, thrust behind prison walls t chained down to the damp, cold prisor s floor: but O, it is truth, destined tC 7. triumph, yea, on her way to victory. Or I | the other hand we behold error /; seated h upon a throne of gold, with a golden scep 1 ter in her hand and with worshippin; l. millions lowing at her shrine; but hid
 den beneath all the ponp and display, ii l., hideous old error destined to go down & yea, on her way to overthrow and de
 feat. The world at that time was il | -,1,s C T a new setting of the same old gospel tha U was enunciated in the garden of Eden e in those pregnant words: ''The seed 0 O the woman shall bruise the serpenti i head" The gospel messa ge proclaime N by Jesus and His immediate follower
 met the needs of the world at that time
 Truth al that time was represented il inspired prophecy under the symbol o
 "a white horse and he that sat on hir 2 had a bow and a crown was given unt
 him; and he went forth conquering an
 to conquer" That conflict went on unt
 truth won a glorious victory.
 In A. D. 313 the Edict of Milan" wa
 issued, proclainling liberty to every ma
 to think and act for himself in matter
 of faith Would to God that victor
 of truth over error might have continue
 until the whole earth had been tighten
 ed with it's glory. But, alas, that vic
 tory was no sooner won than ambition
 religio-politcal priests and bishops mad
 use of it for their own personal agrand
 Izement, until about the middle of tn
 sixth century we again behold one ma
 seated upon the throne of eccleasticaI dc
 mnion, dominating both the church an
 the state. The sha ckles were again boun
 so firmly upon the consciences of me
 that, in the early part of the sixteent
 century it could once more be sail trutl
 fully that mo man dared to think fc \ himself until voice was heard in Gel many, breaking day for the darkest nigl
 that had then ever settled down upo
 humanity" The world was then in nee
 not of a new gospel but new settin
 of the gospel to meet the worlds nee
 Luther's message furnished such
 setting The banner of truth was aga
 flung to the breeze. The battles gage b i tween truth and error was again throw
 down. The sound of Luthers hamm
 when he nailed up his ninety-five thes , ] against the prevailing errors of his tim ' echoed and re-echoed to the ends of u
 earth, until, in 1776 another edict of tc
 eration was issued, the greatest and u
 grandest the sublime and far-reachil
 document ever penned by human han
 the declaration of independence
 this glorious land of the free and hor
 of the brave.
 Would that the glory of that victo
 of truth over error had never be
 eclpsed, that its splendor might have
 creased until men and nations were aC
 uated by those holy principles, whi
 made this the greatest of all nations ev
 established among men. But let us tu
 our eyes for a moment upon the pictu
 of our own time. The speaker read e
 tracts from current leading magazine ar
 cles setting forth the gravity of u