Norwich bulletin., 1921-11-25
NORWICH BULLETIN
 WiLLlMANTlc OFFICE Telephone b5s-s e3 Chureh St.

Tho Thanksgiving Community service of tho Protestant churches of the city, held Thursday morning at 3 o'clock at the First Congregational church house. was well attended in spite of weather conditions and handicaps for travel. The meeting was opened by Rev. Har- " s. Mccready. pastor of the First Con- gregationai church, who read tine Thanks giving proclamation of Gov. Everett J, Lake. Tho scripture lesson was read by Rev. Arthur D. Carpenter. pastor of the First Baptist church, and prayer was offered by Rev. Walter F. Borehert, rec tor of St. Paul's Episcopal church. The morning sermon was delivered by Rev. John Pearce. pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal church, his topic be- 1 ing A Great Nation. He said in suS- l stance;
 l We know in o1r hearts what Amsrica l means. The problem Is to teach it to our 1 fellows: to share with them an under standing and an appreeiating of it. We l wish to htild Q nation fit to serve; & na- l ton that does not find It's end in it's own ] aGgrandisemen1, however great that may | be: nation that does not it's purpose Il complete in a1nasaing wealth; but that can only achieve it's aim by carrying a message to mankind of what has been Il found possible on this continent. Saxon
 and Celt, Teuton and Sl2v, Latin and ! HNn, are all here not as aliens but as citizens: not as Immigrants but as mem
 bers Of a body polite which is new ir conception in human history, as 1t is new
 in it's own thought Of it's high purpose Can America integrate itself at this
 crisis; can 1t show. that here is natior which, out of various and varied ele ments, can be brought into g. genuin, unity by devotion to high principle ant by moral purpose before the face of al mankind? Can VIC make an America tha
 shall go down the corridors of time wit | 8 proud place on the pages of history 1 America spells Man With all ou boast of democracy are we not slow t grasp the meaning of patriotism and ob ligation? In the light of our spiritua history dare we say that we are lovin God above everything else on earth? Tn I l practical structure of which true life made; is not crushed and negIecte while we really worship the god of pleas 1 ure and the plague of avaricious desire In our daily toll arc not the vast majorit E allowing business cares and the smoke ( the shop to shut out completely the Go E of our security and heaven from ou E lives?
 kl Though we boast of our institution We are living in @ very riot Of materia | ism where the church and Christians ot
 ligation are forgotten in mad rush f. amusement and idle gossip of the hou ; The old fable waich talked of soils SOW :. with tho teeth of dragons looks lil = = reality in a land which ought to be u safest and happieet on earth. Legior ,. of unseen troubles are lowering arour ~ us, ready for a dash like the fOrmidab . cavalry of the days of Haggai. Robberie o murders, defalcations. divorces, are d. E. tails Of every morning. There is a spir
 of dissatisfaction and discontent througl k out the land.
 1' Now here Is the situation of per r. facing this nation. Our fathers paid f A civil liberty and equal rights with the !, blood and treasure, and we are beir .. engulfed with greed. and forgetting u IA common brotherhood of mutual helpfu ness. Many of our boasted Americai ]. are poor in patriotism. weak characte 's and rich only in dollars and cents Ina
 mark you, is exactly the condition upc e which autocrats and dictators feed, ar
 shall I say that our American life is fu + of them?
 It is the beginning of slavery not
 realize that you are being enslave
 Many 8 man is a slave in his own so
 because he has never gained the master
 over himself. Many 8 good man is k slave because he Is controlled by slavis sf unfair conditions. It is a crime befo
 God and history to receive a blood-earnt
 legacy from our fathers and hand 1t dow !. reduced in quantity and tarnished l. quality to generations yet unborn On ]. half Of the money spent on material T :. forms and judicial administration if spel ;s on an aggressive and positive evangelis
 would save the nation and her saer,
 institutions.
 Thoughtful people are learning tods 3 as never before that the very height E folly is for them to try to get along wit
 out God. That the man who takes E stock in religion and contributes notfi1
 for it's support is a traitor to his count E and Is out of touch with the better soci and political influences of his age. 7 H cut loose from the church Is to cut loo from the greatest social factor of hum: \ | blessedness under the sun.
 \ Some 60 years ago Abraham Linco in his debate with Senator Douglas ma \ use of this scriptural saying that
 | house divided against itself cannot stan and, he added, do not expect the hou E will fall; but I do expect the house v cease to be divided. We do expect tn our America will como to the full co sciousness of its purpose; that the sere . courage of Washington, the construct wi E ~ m~ 1.