Norwich bulletin., 1921-03-28
THEMES IN NORWICH CHURCHES
 fconkinued from Page Five)

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 the worthwhile facts men. un- chanEsable. potent. the only real and permanent values.
 The last enemy of man, and the one ! most feared, was defeated, on that day. | when 1t was said 'Sf Jesus. "Hc Is not l here,. but risen" ID this there is an as | l surance of an, increasing succession of the renewal of everything which has the, stamp of God upon 1t the flowers Tor the life of mankind preparing to turn again to closer communion with IGod's world. l The Christian conception of iinmortali- ty is so generally understood that .i Is accepted now as the ultimate os CIT present life. and need not b a-zued
 for.
 ffuerce. First. 1t meaus tha. all gre I taetly agreed that life in the present
 and life in the beyond Is but of one d piece each part of the eternal life and the one of some extent influencing the other.
 There; may be a difference in exp,es-
 sion and to be sure, in quality, but not
 in it's essential nature.
 Secondly, the: conception of imm5rtali-
 ty Is directly responsible for the best moral life. .-- t
 Other beliefs that have arlsen from
 time to time have been dropped anl eur higher life has not suffered. But 1t would not be so with this. Because. in the fl thought of immortality Hes the thought of the value Of the human soul II We give our time and our power to nothing that has no value, IT Is not in some measure permanent If this life were, all, we might pity men. We could
 do little else. But because the-s Is no
 end, eternity Is befofe. men Htruggle and II give, learn and embrape. become and re- tain something.
 Men act from some motive, We are .l confident thse every unseifish act ,f se.- B vice performed has In the background l the religious motive. based on the ,n- : finite possibilities of the soul
 Third, the hope of eternal life Is nee ]. essary. Man cannot do his best shut in. n | He cannot be his best. with low ho1- n [ zon; He must have possibilities alwa ys e , beyond him. This gives direction and value to life. It brings the song to the - lips and disperses sorrow. IL brings cei : r. tinty.
 ,. Greensvine Congregational L At the Greeneulle Congregasional i, church. Sunday morning, Rev Charlss ,. H. Ricketts preached an Eas.sr sermon h on The Evidence of the Resurrection. Tbs l. text was from the Gospel of John, the '-1 goth chapter. the 37th verse: 'Then
 saith He to Thomas, re.icl hitner thy l. fhger, and behold, my hands: reach t nither thy hand, and thrust il :n;a InS n side; and be not fa-thlAss bat 5eIey l. ing." The Christian ia fully justine, l, that his Lord rose 'r1u the dAal .Taer, r,i IS as much evidence of his resur.eci;nr T. from the tomb. as there is of His birtl n at-Bethelem. or his bapsism n sne Jor {. dan, or His death soa Calvary Pecrl. Snose faith does not faltcr at the nang 'e CT or the cross find diff >I.iy at tht
 te mI',, We ought not to be .rarsh v .;I F tncss who find 1t ,harI l. acct nt ti, E. restir: ection. - T2Omas belonged 'n t:!s c'ass s S,m j. people are so1 cins tusel by. iemre-me: 3. that they find 1t easy to believe alints anvthhg.H Not SO Th,max; he nus III have strong eviden~e. for his. beliefs. No o- word is said in -the gospel against tn i Sdrling integrity Of his character Jesu
 ldid not. scold him for .doubting. H
 simply could not believe Sn the hearsa,
 Of others: He must have indisputabI
 evidence before accepting what ran
 counter' to universal belief and experi
 ence. .>.
 N Eight days. after the resurrection; thi
 evidence came in the closed room wher \ Thomas was in company with the othe
 disciples. Jesus appeared in the mids of, them. and. having .been informed o Thomas doubt, addressed him in tn language of the test. After he had ac cepted-the challenge and applied the tes
 his doubt immediately. changed into CT
 thusiastic belief as evidenced in his joy gt ful excfafnat ton: My Lord and my God. H Then Jesus added these comforting an eihnifcapt words: Because thou ha:
 seen Me thou hast believed blessed ar they that have not seen. yet have b, flieyed."-
 In the special music of the day. Mi.
 Elihabeth Olaf rendered the soprano S,
 To- Open the Gates of the Temple (Stail
 er) with fine effect at the mo- Ino se h vice. The Sunday school sesson co. SIS
 cd of an Easter concert a, the -egui; Sunday school hour.
 St. Andrews.
 At St. Andrews Episcopal churc
 N there was plain ce.e5flti of Il OR holy communion, at a. m an1 an Eas .ed CT festival service followed by chor ,,, communion at 1o.30, a. m During {. rd. church school festival servi.e at 33J lev m. the chocolate eggs were distribate and the scholars preseu-el .hem I.ni ew nite-boxes at the: altar.
 ri. In his Easter sermon at the mcrni lue service the Rev. Willil n H. Smith e re- for his text St. John xx-,i: Hut Ma is- stood without at the, seonlchre weeping 4o part he said:
 ' The lone figure of Mary S1ag.la;e ,r weeping before the tomb a the Gal v6o dawn of the first Fla ster day, !, ,... through her tears = she stone rol .ta,A away; the empty grave; the min sr hc-1 ing angels; the living Lo-L A we, mi. ing Mary before the empty. grave yhe appears in every age. A man los s,sr sight of God for many years A drea ,ir. CT of absorbing dreams or an eager m 14i, lof business buries Jesus within a ton .,,s- Then quite suddenly there comes into
 soul desire to commune with God. w
 Marw Magdeiene he visits the sepulcl =. of his religious life, but like Mary '.A's finds the mouth of the grave wide oI viii and the body of Jesus is gone. There theI the sepulchre he mourns the past. Pr; em-1 CTS seem now meaningless, the scriptu y no glonger appeal to him. The sense who actual contact with the living God is nor thing of 'bygone days. They have t; N en. the Lord out of the sepulchre' a Gel he knows not where they have l. D6lI- Him.
 J. Mary Magdelene had forgotten a1or meaning of the lapse of tine She I sseil been absent from the tomb and so l and mised the events which linked the pr
 T. ett to the past She expected to the conditions of Good Friday on Ea hichl CT morning. That Is mans mistake. its1 entombs his religious life in the d. Ight past, and then, when years have pa
 N.