PROF. MOORE TRACES HISTORY OF CHAPEL

I am convinced that one reason at least of the indifference of many men to the religious activities and opportunities of the University is that such activities have heretofore been associated in their minds with some form of compulsion. They do not understand the liberty which is here accorded to them and the relation of that liberty to their own highest advantage.

Nothing is more certain than that services of worship and preaching were a part of the routine of Harvard College from the very beginning. I am not aware, however, that a special house of worship was provided until Holden Chapel was built in 1744. When University Hall was built by the distinguished architect, Bulfinch, in 1826, provision was made for a chapel in the upper floor of that building, the portion now used for the Faculty Room. This was used until Appleton Chapel was built in 1858.

For the first two hundred and fifty years of the life of the College, it never occurred to those responsible for its administration that the students should not be obliged to attend public services of worship on Sundays and weekdays. Even the custom of two services on each weekday does not seem to have given way until some time during the first half of the 19th century. In 1886 under the resolute leadership of President Eliot, with the support of the Corporation, and Board of Overseers as well, alteration was made in the statute of the University to the effect that attendance at religious services be thenceforth voluntary.

It can never be sufficiently emphasized that it was the love of religion and a sense of its importance in the life of youth which led to this change, which then seemed revolutionary. It was felt that if the services of religion maintained by the University were to be a means of awakening and sustaining the spiritual life of the men, participation in them must be free. The attitude of mind of men who attended such services under constraint impaired their value as expressions of religion.

The administration of the new order of things was committed to a resident professor and a board of five preachers to the University, the members of the board being elected annually. The board is composed of representatives of different denominations who reside in the University for periods of two weeks in each half year. Besides the conduct of the services of worship, the preachers keep hours every weekday morning from 9 to 11 in the study at Wadsworth House for consultation with any members of the University who may call upon them. The daily morning service is the most characteristic of the services. It is open to members of the University only. Its salient feature is that it contains a brief address of five minutes duration. It had not been the original intention that there should be such an address. Phillips Brooks, out of the overflowing fullness of his own spirit, set the example. The CRIMSON made request that other preachers should do the same. This is an example of the value of suggestion from the side of the students concerning the services