The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-25
WORSHIP AT THE ACADEMY.
Tremendous Rush-Dr. Chapin's Sermon ON
Christian Life.

A Tremendous Rush-Dr. Chapin's Sermon ON
Christian Life.
There was tremendous rush to the Academy Of
Music last evening. Dr. f. H. ChapIn, OF New York,
was the attraction and hundreds OF people who ar
rived at the Academy before a quarter past seven
O'Clock were compelled to retrace their steps, as
'standing roomn could not be obtained at that hour
larger congregation was probably never wit.
messed within the walls of the Academy. Even the
asles and orchestra were filled, while the Hobbies
were also densely crowded. The crush last evening
presented strange difference to the comparatively
meagre houses Of the several preceding Sunday
evenings.
The services were opened by singing by the choir
and reading OF portion OF the Scriptures and
prayer by Rev. Henry Powers, who conducted the
services
DR.. Chaplin then came forward and announced his
text from Ephesians III, IL IL, 19:-
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that We, being rooted and grounded In love,
:, May be a5e to comprehend win all saints what
And to know the love OF Christ, which passeth
knowledge, that ye might be hled with all the full
The text formed part OF q prayer. The first thing
he asked them 10 consider was the example or
model set before them OF Christian prayer. 1t
might be said that In one form another most men
prayed. The aspiration or desire OF man was In
some respects prayer. Genuine Christian devotion
was distinguished by Its scope and quality and the
passage to which the text belonged contained strk-
ing illustrations of botn those characteristics.
Was 1t not the case that many petitions were
selfish prayers ?-amost or quite limited
to personal considerations He said nothing
against desire Tor personal benefit as we
No man would dare TO limit the now Of his PRAYER
to MS own personal considerations. Were not men
apt TO ask for temporal good alsof II prayer was
anything more than the exercise Of
SPIRITUAL GYMNASTICS,
something chiefly for bringing blessings down, then
he did not see why we might not ask Him who con.
asked in dial Submission 10 Ills will will E Even through
petition FOR temporal, spiritual things came.
Prayer foremost, chefes the agent Of spiritual
blessings The prayer when formed this text was
were nmied to selfish purposes and to temporal
things Therefore IL was In amost expressive sense
Ghrs,an PRAYER DR. Cnapin then proceeded to
which was the process Of Christian life:
stra,ning OF fact we might call It the tree OF spir-
ltual iife we had here statement OF the seminal
seed. 1t showed what kind Of Christ we must be.
lieve IN. We conld not extract the ideal
preacher was quite that Chris, OF conscious.
ness-no shadowy myth, no mere skeleton OF a
Jesus-would have moved the world as Christ had
moved y. The world moved; where was the force
that had moved IL Sometimes men in critical
MOOD
COMPARED CHRIST AND SOCRATES
the PHILOSOPHERS, and the comparison was sometimes
made win balance signify In favor OF Socrates.
How had Socrates moved men and turned them
from the error OF their waysp VINO had died with
socrates on his lips hundreds OF thousands mad
been moved by Christ There were many nominal
Christians. continued DR.. Chapin-Chrlstians by
eusiom-by holding vague respect for Christ.
Profession OF faith might be very little
thing. Confession, however, implied not
only an utterance Of words but conse.
Grated testimony. He could conceive wavering, q
backsiding CHRISTIAN, hut he could not conceive Of
an exclusive Chrlstan--a narrow-souled Christian
"a mean Christian There could lie no such thing
as that. We had an atmosphere IN which was this
process OF Christian life. The tree must have air
and light. favorable soil, and it must have
also the help and influence nom above. Man could
not help himself entirely In the WORK Of Christian
lie. with the seed IN us, the sun, the air,
the sunshine, the boundless heavens, the illimt-
able breadth ana length. the indispensable love OF
Christ 10 which We asplred and to which we were
attracted, this the speaker sail, was the way the
process OF the Christian life worked to its consum
nation, to what might be termed iruition, 10 he
nlled with the iulness OF God. This was
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
Tor which the Apostle prayed. There was a great
zeal OF good as well as bad In this world. There
were more saints than we thought We were
bound TO them on earth and bound to them In the
other world. In his conclusion DR.. Cnapn inqul. I'd
what PRAYER was more truly Christian than that
Christ might dwell In our hearts 10y falthS