Norwich bulletin., 1922-05-26

odist Episcopal church. The sermon was l preached by Rev. Robert l.. Roberts Ph. D., pastor of the church.
 The Knights, headed by Tubbs' Mili-l tary band, marched from the Masonic Temple to the church, arriving there at | 8 o'clock They filed into the church | and took seats in the center reserved | for their use, as the processional, On ward Christian Soldiers, was sung. Fol | lowing the prayer tenor and sopra- l no duet, Will Magnify Thee, o Lord, | was rendered by Robert Gray and Mrs. William Grove, Jr. Following the re- sponsive reading and during the offer tory Mrs. Grove sang, The Lord Is Risen. The Scripture selection. Acts Ill, was read by Rev. pr. Roberts. Ascension Day Sermon.
 The Ascension of Christ was the sub ject of the sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Roberts
 The preacher said~in part:
 The story of the ascension seems to give special difficulty to many, and they
 do not accept 1t as readily as other stories of events in Christ's life Yet | 1t Is not one whit more incredible than stories of incarnation and resurrection | for example. Any of them incredible if related about any other person than Jesus, but seem natural enough about | SO UudEN1lOQS pC1SO1 e1S IACs HIS uAAO40 l life is as wonderful as any wonder re-
 corded of Him. Ills was living mira cle and the hardest one to explain on purely natural grounds. His sinlessness
 alone sets him apart.
 The story of the ascension is open to
 no serious objection that cannot with
 equal force be brought against the resur-
 rection. If we refuse to accept the -as-
 tension on the ground that it involves l SI11a o11f tbe other also on the same ground; they
 stand or fall together. Those who do l rule them out do so on exactly that
 ground, they reject all miraculous ele-
 ments in the gospels and reduce Christ | to a superior man and nothing more. A
 prominent school of German critics eX- | plain the story of the ascension in Acts as Luke's explanation of the response of the human spirit to the Spirit of God, and make the promised and fulfill l ed gift of the Spirit of Power a proof
 of that response They spiritualize the whole story and make it simply a sub | jeetive experience.
 The chief objection to this interpreta-
 tion is that it ignores all the facts in
 rative that Luke had any such thing in
 mind. He gives no material to use> This
 is not a case where a Greek philosopher
 is teaching deep things under the garb
 of story but simply the plain recital
 by plain man of the plain facts as he
 believes them. and nothing but the di-
 lemma of hard driven theory that
 must be sustained would cause any
 critic to try explain such a straightfor-
 ward story in any but a natural way. Better to say the author was mistaken better to say he lied. better do anything
 else than distort his plain meaning and
 make a mountain of what to him was
 not even a mole hill. There is not a
 sign to show a line of fgurative lan-
 guage in the whole story. The very sim plicity and matter-of-factness of the narrative plainly show that Luke had nc thought in mind of explaining away the great fact of Christ's ascension as Q mere explanation Of the response of the
 human spirit to the Spirit of God. Te make this fact teach what the author evidently never dreamed of putting in
 to it is a method of interpretation that
 will not bear inspection and leads tc false conclusions. The new school o1 psychology vitiates the whole theory. Another difficulty has to do with the
 meaning of heaven into which He as . cended. There has been long eontro versy on whether this a place or state of soul. Much good ink has been wasted
 and much good breath blown away oI
 the matter IL IS altogether. lkefy Una heaven is neither one nor the other. bu a union of both. Place denotes location so anywhere in the universe is place Outside of it 1t is the same Likely t
 be within or without the universe anf ~ probably be in some state of soul han : py. sad or indifferent. If we accept tn . idealistic philosophy. which is the gen 7 erally accepted brand today, both plac and time are but relations in the mint
 and have no objective reality. On tha
 basis as long as we have mind W : shall have special relation and conse L Quent location. I presume we shall b : no greater fools in any future life tha . now, and as the place relation seems no :. only convenient but perhaps neeessar ,i to our life as human beings it will prob
 ably be retained in any state in whic
 we may find ourselves. So heaven ma
 easily be place. as the world is a plac
 Or the universe is a place and we sha H likely be in some state of soul if aEv a at all. Simply because we cannot lc T cate it on star map is no argumer Il against the existence of home calle i- heaven. The argument from moderl ., astronomy and physical science agains 3 heaven being 2 place and in favor of ii ,e being merely state of soul is not cor y vincing.
 The ancients had one fiat world i ta space with one solar system While " f- have many round worlds with man a suns and systems and the earth is bl ,g a mere speck in the great universe. NDl n. to argue from that fact that heave H. cannot be a place but must be a cond 1- ton of the soul looks like pretty Ian ,d logic It would seem that as you il n, crease the size of universe and multip ar worlds you increase probability of hea' VI, en being p1ace. It is easy to hay aa place in Iimitless universe but in a sn1s 2 fiat world such as the ancients hs a heaven and hell might be crowded f s+ room. Whether heaven be a place or
 state is certainly not settled by mo H. ern views of astronomy-if any hi l.- given it favors the "placers" rather ths -s the "staters. '
 Jv This much may be said: Jesus b d. lieYed it to be a place as well as sta w of soul 'T 20 to prepare a place f
 you." Where I am ye may be also" O de Father-in heaven" will "done on ear he as in heaven" All New Testame -ai writers have the same idea and tho i1 who are there are in state of blesse nt, ness. have never found one valid a h. gument against heaven being a place ,g- not 8 city but having locality. T e. whole idea is taken from speculatii an not revelation It Is not demanded he scientific inquiry. nor modern philos ye- phy. It Is merely an attempt to sol
 a difficulty by the popular method
 banishing one set of facts as Christi
 Science gets rid of matter and Bergs
 defines God as motion without anvthl ss that moves. Like the cat in Alice at Wonderland that backed out of t r!s room and left the grin behind. Pla as and state belong together and no m ho must nut them asunder Those who : SQ | rt of fc r1la 5o