The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mornings in the College Chapel, by Francis Greenwood PeabodyThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.orgTitle: Mornings in the College Chapel Short Addresses to Young Men on Personal ReligionAuthor: Francis Greenwood PeabodyRelease Date: January 20, 2008 [EBook #24373]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORNINGS IN THE COLLEGE CHAPEL ***Produced by Al HainesMornings in the College ChapelSHORT ADDRESSES TO YOUNG MEN ON PERSONAL RELIGION BY FRANCIS GREENWOODPEABODY, PLUMMER PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN MORALS IN HARVARD UNIVERSITYBOSTON AND NEW YORKHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANYThe Riverside Press, CambridgeCopyright, 1896,By FRANCIS G. PEABODY.All rights reserved.TOMY BELOVED AND REVERED COLLEAGUESTHE PREACHERS TO THE UNIVERSITYAND TO THE SACRED MEMORY OFPHILLIPS BROOKSOF THE FIRST STAFF OF PREACHERSWHO BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH AMONG USIN GRATEFUL RECOLLECTION OFHAPPY ASSOCIATION IN THE SERVICE OFCHRIST AND THE CHURCH{v}In the conduct of morning prayers at Harvard University, the Preachers to the University usually say a few plain wordsto interpret or enforce the Bible lesson which has been read. The entire service is but fifteen minutes long, so that thislittle address must occupy not more than ...
Copyright, 1896, By FRANCIS G. PEABODY. All rights reserved.
Mornings in the College Chapel
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge
SHORT ADDRESSES TO YOUNG MEN ON PERSONAL RELIGION BY FRANCIS GREENWOOD PEABODY, PLUMMER PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN MORALS IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORNINGS IN THE COLLEGE CHAPEL ***
Produced by Al Haines
Title: Mornings in the College Chapel Short Addresses to Young Men on Personal Religion Author: Francis Greenwood Peabody Release Date: January 20, 2008 [EBook #24373] Language: English
{v} In the conduct of morning prayers at Harvard University, the Preachers to the University usually say a fewplain words to interpret or enforce the Bible lesson which has been read. The entire service is but fifteen minutes long, so that this little address must occupy not more than two or three minutes, and can at the best indicate only a single wholesome thought with which a young man may begin his day. It has been suggested to me that some of these informal and brief addresses, if printed, may continue to be of interest to those who heard them, or may perhaps be of use to other young people in like conditions of life; and I have therefore tried to recall some of these mornings in the College Chapel. It is nowten years since it was determined that religion in our University should be regarded no longer as a part of College discipline, but as a natural and rational opportunity offering itself to the life of youth. It was a momentous transition, undertaken with the profoundest sense of its seriousness and significance. It was an act of faith,—of faith in religion and of faith in young men. The University announced the belief that religion, rationally presented, will always have for healthy-minded young men a commanding interest. This faith has been abundantly justified. There has become familiar among us, through the devotion of successive staffs of Preachers, a clearer sense of the simplicity and reality of religion, which, for many young men, has enriched the meaning of University life. No one who has had the slightest part in administering such a work can sum up its present issues without feeling on the one hand a deep sense of personal insufficiency, and on the other hand a large and solemn hope. I have indicated such sources of suggestion for these addresses as I noted at the time of their delivery, but it may well be that some such indebtedness remains, against my will, unacknowledged. CAMBRIDGE, October, 1896.
I THECLOUD OFWITNESSES Hebrewsxii. 1. (FIRST DAYOFCOLLEGETERM) No one can look for the first time into the faces of a congregation like this without thinking, first of all, of the great multitude of other lives whose love and sacrifice are represented here. Almost every single life which enters our chapel is the focus of interest for a whole domestic circle, whose prayers and anxieties, whose hopes and ambitions, are turning toward this place from every region of this land. Out from behind our congregation stands in the background a cloud of witnesses in whose presence we meet. There are the fathers, earning and saving, that the sons may have a {2} better chance than they; there are the mothers with their prayers and sacrifices; there are the rich parents, trembling lest wealth may be a snare to their sons; and the humble homes with their daily deeds of self-denial for the sake of the boys who come to us here. When we meet in this chapel we are never alone. We are the centre of a great company of observant hearts. And then, behind us all, there is the still larger fellowship of the past, the historic traditions of the university, the men who have adorned it, the inheritances into which we freely enter, the witnesses of a long and honorable associated life. Now this great company of witnesses does two things for us. On the one hand, it brings responsibility. The apostle says in this passage, "that apart from us they should not be made perfect." Every work of the past is incomplete unless the present sustains it. We are responsible for this rich tradition. We inherit the gift to use or to mar. But, on the other hand, the cloud of witnesses is what contributes courage. It sustains you to know that you represent so much confidence and trust. It is strengthening to enter into this rich inheritance. You do not have to begin things {3} here. You only have to keep them moving. It is a great blessing to be taken up thus out of solitude into the companionship of generous souls. Let us begin the year soberly but bravely. Surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which most easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is immediately set before us in the swiftly passing days of this college year.