Appleton Chapel.

There were but two vacant seats in Chapel yesterday on the opening of the Vesper service. After a short prayer by Rev. Phillips Brooks, the choir sang Tuckerman's "God so Loved the World." After the reading of the thirty-fourth Psalm, the "Lord God of Abraham," from Mendelssohn's "Elijah," was powerfully rendered by Mr. D. M. Babcock of Boston, a member of the class of '77. The Rev. Francis G. Peabody delivered the address, his text being taken from the third chapter of Revelations. We are as men who stand on the threshold of knowledge, but who do not enter. The door lies open, but we have not the courage to advance and explore the unknown regions. The possibilities and chances of life are of two sorts. Those we strive after and desire to possess, and those to which we turn a deaf ear. The latter are continually knocking for admittance. They are love, truth, tenderness, purity, faith, fidelity, etc. Sometimes they gain admittance to a man's heart, but oftener are driven away by the all-absorbing cares and duties of every-day life. It is so even in religion. Religion is everywhere seeking ingress to the heart of man, and the knowledge of Christ is ready for those who are willing to search. The door is open, but no one enters. We can liken to this our modern discoveries. The knowledge of electricity, of the telegraph and telephone has been knocking from time immemorial at the minds of men; but it was not until some great man threw open the doors of his intellect to these things, and gave them ingress, that they became known to the world.

The services closed by the singing of Mozart's "O, Great Jehovah," a bass solo by Mr. Babcock.