Chapel Services Last Evening.

Appleton Chapel was crowded to overflowing at the inauguration last evening of the new system of religious services. About 600 students were present. All the preachers to the university, with the exception of Rev. Richard Montague, were in attendance. The wonderful improvement was to be noticed in the music, the choir singing its hymns and anthems in a manner which cannot be too much praised. Rev. Mr. Gordon opened the services by the reading of a psalm; this was followed by the reading of three portions of the New Testament and a prayer by Dr. Mackenzie. Dr. Peabody then ascended the pulpit and began his sermon on the text Joel ii 28: "And it shall come to pass that our old men shall see visions and our young men shall dream dreams." The speaker spoke with great earnestness of the important place which this world of ideality should have among any body of broad minded men, and said that its presence was not lacking amongst us now. "These are the signs which shall mark the coming of the spirit of God, and which to-day shows the working of the divine power within us. Although these visions have often led to mistakes and excesses, yet the effect has always been, as a whole, good. They have remained as that which was permanent in the old Jewish system of theology and in the Christian church. In fact, Christ's life is but a monstrous, aspiring dream, which for centuries has astounded and will continue to astound men. The dreams are what to the lower nature seem unreal, - but the things which are seen are temporal and the things which are unseen are permanent. As to nations, so to individuals, visions arise of duty, of nobleness. And although such a vision will often disappear, still, having once shined upon our inward eyes, its inspiration remains after its rays are extinguished. A helmsman during a temporary lifting of the fog sees a light upon the coast; once seen, the fog may again fall over it and hide it from his sight; enough, he has seen his light, and now has his bearings. What part can religion have in a university life? It cannot interfere with neighboring churches or set up individual creeds. No, it must have a prophetic office; it must say to the religious experiences "this is God." Many people, especially parents, think however good a university may be for the wits it is not so for the soul, which, after all, is the important thing. But it is only by the increasing of this ideality that a college justifies its existence. Nothing is so small as an acquisition of knowledge without accompanying ideality. The highest type of man is he in whom the world of knowledge grows into the world of ideality. University life has shown itself in history to be a success by the fact that all great reforms have sprung from it as a centre." Rev. E. E. Hale then spoke as follows: "In its pride over the completion of a quarter millenium, the college attempts an enlargement of its religious privileges. Nowhere have I witnessed a grander service than the daily morning chapel service heartily conducted by a thousand gentlemen. But as I look over this sea of faces, I ask myself, 'how shall I be brought into closer sympathy with these men?' It is absurd to talk of irreligion and atheism here; for a university is the thermometer of the community from which the students are recruited. There are many electiues here, but life is not one of them; we must live. Therefore let us live that largest life possible, the life of a true, christian gentleman. We are the leaders of the American community; we must be it when we go forth from here. For this we must have life, and let us get it here at its fountain. We, as preachers here, have for our object to become better acquainted with you, to know you as man knows man, and to offer you what alone makes the difference in our feelings, our experience of life."

The closing address was made by Rev. Phillips Brooks: "There are two influences at work for the future as in the past, our principles, which like everything else are most powerful when most pure, and our personal qualities. These personal qualities must be brought out to do their utmost, this is education. In history, there have always been those who spread faith and those who purified it. We purify it by casting out what was foreign to it, compulsion. Our appeals mast be to your humanity, not so much to your student nature. The quantity of religion is not to be changed as much as the quality. We call not upon the religious societies, but upon all.