Norwich bulletin., 1921-07-04

U UI- . the Christian can always hope, that it is never too late for the Christian to make another start. Bouyant optimism, cheerfulness-that is the message that
 the cross will ever bring to you.
 Down in my country in the south, in ; Washington, there is a picture in the
 capitol there that some of you may re- 1 member to have seen, it is in the turn of the stairs as you ge up into the sem ate chamber. It.-is. called. Westward. op'-as better name would be Hope" il It is just the antithesis of our thoughts today; it represents party of early
 pioneers crossing the continent; 16ey have gained one of the summits of the Rockies. and two women with their children in their arms, are sitting on a ledge of rock and gazing out into the distance to the land of their hopes and ! | dreams, We can see in their faces. | though it is 5only picture that they l have forgotten the present hardships and | dangers and the picture now before our i l eyes is, the picture within their hearts, i l the scene of those future homes out there | where the sun is setting, -2Id~.where the |
 memory. of these hardshps and dangers i
 will finger but as the remembered dreams 1 ofsyesterday.
 This, is what men are always doing, | 1 reaching out into the tomorrow trying l | to find courage and recompense for the
 burdens of today. And yet we Know l the ending of that story; lonely grave | by the. side of the trail, with their lit tie babies on their breasts, marks their
 homecoming. .>
 It is always the way with these earth
 ly hopes of ours. remember in France
 many a boy who used to talk about his
 homecoming, the only homecoming that
 came to him was the thought that 4iis mother had as the other boys came down the old familiar street. I remember in
 France, We had just come out of the T Argonne and I got a letter from a wo- 1 man in the states. She told me that her husband belonged to n1y regiment she said that he had always been eager ? for a baby boy, and that God had sent them one. She had cabled and written !, but she had received no answer. She Q asked me to see him and tell him. went l over to his battalion, and as I got into l the little town-you boys remember them : So well cafe and a blacksmith shop and r a long, gray piece of road-a company = came marching down the road. I asked f soldier what company it was. He said, I Company c, sir" I said. Where is the s captain!" He said. Didn't you know. he s was killed in the Argonne the other day" I | That is the way our dreams come true. But today you are building yourselves a refuge from all this change and disap- e pointment; you are building against loss t and pain and sorrow, and even death. t YoaI are building yourselves a place of refuge whose foundation is God. You q are building a refuge for yourselves even q against Tpur weakness and perhaps your
 sin For if there is one path the church [ of Jesus Christ makes plain it is the
 path of repentance, the path of the con-
 fessional. where you can lay your sins
 at the feet of the -forsiving Christ and
 make another start today. not burdened
 l with the sins of yesterday.
 You are building yourselves a city of
 hope where promises will never ~afll Oth-
 CT cities-we see them with the morning ~ sun on their pinnacless and temples. but
 when the tired feet have gained their
 goal there remains only the dust and the | heat and the weariness of noontide..
 You will come here as to a place Fi refuge. We have asked so much without
 the temples walls and we have been re-
 fused. We have asked for sympathy
 and men have misunderstood us. w,
 have asked for love and we have beer
 refused. We have asked for helpin, : ] hand and men have turned their backs But here we have Gods promise: "Asi
 and ve shall receive" And we hav sought for so much without the temple 7 walls, and we did not find, nd in tn search we have gone so far afield. Mos
 of the things We sought were like the DO ! of gold that childhood's fancy buries a ! the Id1uDOW IStl anu II we r1Ound Nnd
 seemed to be a golden answer we ha
 only to breathe upon it and hold 1t Il
 rhese human hands and it turned to tin
 sen. But God promises that what v
 seek for here we will find, and we hay
 knocked at so many doors and they woul ] not open. Ye have knocked at the doc eu of happiness, the door of peace, the doc ,at of health, but the only answer to ou -a- knocking was the empty echo of failul t1e and disappointment. But God promise ,at that if we knock at the door of this ten av pie it shall be opened
 id That is what your church muet star -i for: Hope, buoyant hope because Chri tie is stroug enough to keep His promise on and He promises that just beyond u of gate He will give us back the thinEs4 V The l leave behind : the things we passed | er in our carelessness and indifference; thi of we learned to love too late the tiinl nd that God, in His wisdom, took from nd we should spoil them; the things that . nd killed by our folly and our sin. G len promises He will give them back to we beautiful, purified, glorifed, irnmorta be- ized That is what yonr church mu he mean Hope that Is strong with all u vrc strength of Christ Hope that is strol ,ve ins the love with all the love and pow ,evl and wisdom of Christ can even See To na and pain and suffering coming down il md road towards it and yet opening it's arr batl in trust Hope that can even look in rst the face of our dead and smile becau sayI just beyond the gate there he has pror oil ised to make the old things new again. say Live thou in Christ, and that dei id past shalt be alive forever with etern of years, and planted on His bosom tn tbel shalt see the flowers revive that seem be to wither by the way amid the thin age you left behind" you Mayor Lsrou Speaks.
 rst After. the hymn. Holy God We Prai lust Thy. Name, sung by the iMaidens. of t rcn Sacred Heart, Father Keefe introduc ,s. GSh Mayor Lerou to speak as the represe o. tatiye of the city ro,, Mayor Lerou was applaEAAd, when .hs+ spoke as follews: , +a Right Reverend Bishop Milan, in I sw half of the municipality which I ha
 nr the honor to represent, extend to y inc and the other distinguished clergym be- of your diocese as well as those frt rms Ineighboring states. a most cordial W all come to our city.
 . Tt We look upon these exercises tod ian, not only from a religious point of vi and but from a civic one as we'll A cit
 It richest asset is the church. It is ( .eur etsuzchss tea. iaZe s,z the highest idei