New Britain herald., 1930-02-28

oS life that surges around us. On the morrow this celebration will be
 a mere memory, and men will ask
 what message these strangers Of
 yesterday have for men, what influ-
 ence their society has on the lives or the men who dwell round about you. My dear friends, you have 9 message and this society has a mighty mission. Your message IS one that speaks cloquently ;f obedience to law and authority. And such a message is absolutely vital 10 the men Of this day and generation, absolutely vital to the religious life, and to the civic hf- Of our commonwealth: absolutely vital 10 the religious life, and 10 the clvic life Of our commonuealth: ab- solutcly vital even to the stability Of cur national life. The most sacred thing in all the world is authority. Authority is the golden ladder whoq, lowest round rests upon earth. and whose top is bound to the great white throne of God. St. Paul speaks of the freedom wherewi.h Christ has made us free. Accept the law Of God, and you become q child Of freedom, despise that law, and you become the slave O, pas sion; accept the laws Of health, and you live a happy, wholesome life. Dtspise them, and nature will scourge You with whips and plaglc ycu with disease. Accept the laws oc the commonwealth and you move among your fellows majestic and in depdent as q. king; transgress these laws and you must shun the face of day and shulk in the darkness like 8 hunted, hated thing. Wherever you turn. whether to religion Or philosophy or history, whether to nature without or conscience with in, whether to the health of soul Or body, this lesson is written in let tcrs or fire over all the universa ,. "Obcy law or die" This is partly the message that goes out from your hall tonight; 1t is a message
 " 'A'NiA Nii'Nlo liOiIpl UpOil one U. the great principles Of your great society; 1t is a message that has I tremendous influence on the happj- ness of individual life for a well Dr. dered and well regulated life. with due respect for authority, is a. guar 2ntoe of hcalth and happiness in bcdy and soul
 A man who had been living a, lie that was, to put it mildly, a little ir- regular. wanted to have his life in Sured, and applied to friend an agent for q big company. for pol- cy. The agent sent the company's doctor to examine the applicant. and that was the last he heard of it for a time. Meeting his friend on the street, he said: Say. George, how about that life insurance policy of mine? Don't l get it?"
 well, said the agent, you know. ln our company it is the custom for the doctor, after he examines q man, to take a chart of the human body and he punches q hole in it wherever he finds anything wrong."
 "Oh, is that so, George? bid the doctor do that in my case?" He sure did; and he took the chart home and put 1t on his playcr-piaro, and 1t played Nearer my God to Thee
 Seriously, then, my dear friends. Most of the things and thoughts that interest men may find 8. place in a talk about life. Life is the thin. that VIC all have in common. Tn whatever else ono nah may differ from another, Tn this VIC are all alike, that in some way or other Hc all live. Life is the common posses sion, but 1t comes to men under very different guiscs, so different that 1t hardly seems to mean the sa me thing to one man and to a1- other. do not intend to dwell upon differences that are only skin dcen, such as those that arise from ra 1ii and wealth. Beneath every skin however variously colored, or with whatever diverse histories written over, you will find a mana human body giving d home to q. human soul. In this all men arc the same but men are not, so far as one can sec, equally weighted in the race of life. Bethlnk you what a diffcrenc, It makes to a man whether the body with which he begins life is healthy or not. The sound body" is an e,c- ment of great value in the life of q man-not only a body organica!ly sound, but, if I may so speak, in