Norwich bulletin., 1920-06-22
LESSONS FROM ENCOURAGEMENT
 IN SERMON BY DIR. HOWE

Lessons from Encouragement made the conclusions of a helpful sermon by Rev. pr. S. H. Howe at the Sunday morning service at Park Congregational church. He spoke upon the theme The Discouraged, using the text Isaiah 4e:4 l have labored in vain and spent my strength for nought, yet my judgment is with God. In part he said:
 This is the speech of a discouraged man. And yet he is a visioned seer. an optimist of the Past-Master degree. pre- dieting the glories of the worlds great golden age. It is Encouragement in un- expected places. We thought the vale tudinarian had exclusive monopoly of the word and the mood. But We find it is the mood at times of the worlds might jest. Moses wanted to give up his im- possible task. Elijah asked that he die. This prophets faith dropped to the minor note. Apostles staggered before their mountainous barriers. Reformers were disheartened in their work. Luther and Calvin thought they had wrought in vain- Jesus wondered at human unbe- lief which blocked His apeals to faith. And God seemed to repent that He had made man, tempted it would seem to Hing down redemptive processes which ] seemed to issue in failure
 And yet there is something to the credit of Encouragement It would be | sad indictment to the sanity of the | universe if evil life brought anything but disappointment, if an Eden awaited the prodigal instead of the sty of swine If wrong doing got the same wage as goodness. It is a blessed thing that | there is no rest to the wicked. It would discredit the cosmos if a profigate's conscience approved when ours lays upor l h to ocha 0F n- 2 | Encouragement took no offices to the re | ligious man? The disparity between oul | ideals and our achievements disheartens | Clinch what heights we may the fal 1 off summits of what we aspire to be l retreat before us. We toll for human betterment and leave the world a weItel l of evil life. It is the sign manual o greatness that our reach exceeds oul
 grasp. The beast is satisfied and ; stranger to disheartement. You and are grR enough to sin and to fail ant to lament our sin and our failure.
 But we are heartened by the fact tha
 this sort of disheartenment is the sect plot of fresh resolves and new undertak
 ings. We can organize success out o
 failure and sometimes what we regart as failure may be our triumphant sue
 cesses. The prophets failure and tn
 Psalmist's threnodies and the apostle
 prosecutions may be the inspiration o
 great life to others. Virgil ordered tn
 burning of his masterpiece but tn
 Aenead is no failure. Kipling threw hi
 Recessional in the waste-basket but i
 was his surest patent to immortality
 Milton discredited his Paradise and sol
 it for a pittance. Paul wrote His letter without thought that they would
 transmitted to the far off ages. Our dar
 ing ventures of faith, our impassione enthusiasms that seem to issue in fruit lessness are stirring the decadent iner
 tias of those who have looked upon ou ineffective efforts. Moses failure l build that brittle shale into a righteou
 nation and E1ijah's failure to eradicat
 idolatry and Daniels failure to kee
 himself in the blaze of Babylonian court
 by reason of his higher royalties hay d all been the inspiration of all high-soule r men and martyrs who have stood for tt : true realities.
 d And there are Jesus failures of whic y bat-blind skeptics are so sure. But the = were staged and planned He set H a face steadfastly to enact them. Now V e know that from His sufferings, His eros h His resurrection new dawns have broke n over the world and in these things V
 glory and through these things u
 world has been made new
 e From our Encouragement there a n four suggestions.
 s 1. A square look at these great fac
 Wh1ah uassed for failure. These a