/ 7 ^K CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. .53 D^ A SERMON PRKACIIEI) AT TIIK Cousccnttion of St. loljii's Cljapel, ^okrt College, OCTOBER 29, 1863. BY TriE REV. MORGAN DIX, D. D., RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK. WITH A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE DESIGN OF THE CHAPLAINCY. ^EW YORK EDWARD O. J E X K I X S , PRINTER, 20 NORTH WILF^IAM STIIEKT. 18G3. ml CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A SERMON PRKACIIED AT THE (Jonscd'atioii of St. |oj)n's Cljainf, IJobavt College, OCTOBER 29, 1863. REV. MORGAN DIX, D. D., RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK. WITH A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE DESIGN OF THE CHAPLAINCY. pi;blisih:d by request of the bo.\rd of tristees. KEW YORK: EDWARD O. JEXKIXS, PRINTER, 20 NORTH WILLIAM STREET. 1863. PREFATOEY NOTE. The subject of extinguishing the debt of the College, and enlarging its endowment, in order to increase the corps of professors, engaged the attention of the Board of Trustees at its annual meeting in June, 1858, and a committee was ap- pointed to devise measures for the attainment of these objects. Owing, however, to the state of the country, and to other temporary hinderances, nothing had been accomplished before the meeting of the Board at the time of the Medical Com- mencement in January, 1860. A new committee was then appointed, which promptly took the matter in hand, and pro- ceeded to arrange its plans. The first subscription came from a member of the committee, Mr. AVilliam B. Douglas, of Geneva, who ofifered to aid the general etfort by erecting, at his own cost, a suitable Chapel for the use of the College. Another member of the committee, Mr. John H. Swift, of New York, subscribed an endowment for a Chaplaincy. The views of the committee in regard to the place which the reli- gious element should occupy in a liberal education, are very clearly set forth in a Statement which they published in March, 1860, an extract from which is given below. The objects aimed at by the gentlemen to whom the College is indebted for so great an increase of its means of religious training and power of sacred impression, are more particularly designated in the Statutes for the government of the Chaplaincy, framed by them and accepted by the Board of Trustees. The extract from these statutes which is given below will sufficiently in- dicate these objects. The Chaplaincy went into operation in the autumn of 1862, 4 PREFATORY NOTE. with the Rev, Ilemy A. ITeely, lately the Eector of Christ Church, Rochester, as its first incumbent. The new Chapel has been in use only since the beginning of the present acad- emic year (Sept. lOth, 1863). It is still too soon to determine, experimentally, the full value of the Chapel-service as now conducted, or to place a just estimate on the influence of the Chaplaincy. But the whole tendency of the experiment is to powerfully second and confirm the subjoined estimate of their value. A very marked and noticeable harmony runs through the views of the committee, of the founders of the Chapel and Chaplaincy, and of the preacher at its consecration. It now remains for those who are charged with the realization of these views to cause this harmony to reappear and prolong itself in the practical working of a system so auspiciously begun. J, HoBART College, Nov. 2G, 18G3. EXTRACTS. [Extract from the Statement dated March, I860.] THE CHAPEL AND THE CHAPEL SERVICE. As a Church-College, the Chapel-Service lies at the heart of our whole system. It is here that the religious element must manifest its full power over the youth whose education has been entrusted to our care. The sacred truths of Christianity are indeed taught in every part of our course of study ; more especially in the depart- ments of Ethics and of the Evidences of Christianity is thorough and systematic instruction given on all the leading doctrines, as well as the positive grounds of our holy religion. The faith once delivered to the Saints is thus strongly impressed pn the minds of the students and they are at the same time furnished with decisive answers to the various objections of modern infidelity. But that which gives effi- ciency to the whole system is the daily service of the Chapel, This supplies the quickening, moulding element, which makes all the rest fruitful. Here, what has been learned as doctrine is reduced to prac- tice in the daily solemn worship of Almighty God. In confession of sin there is a constant recognition of our frail and fallen state ; while pardon and reconciliation are sought and proclaimed to the contrite heart through the atoning blood of Christ. Praise lifts the soul to God, in chant, and psalm, and hymn ; and prayer fixes it in com- munion with Him who is the fountain of light and life. The great leading facts of redemption are brought out to view, and are again and again impressed on the youthful mind by the ever-recurring and glorious circle of the Christian Year. The illuminating and sanctifying power of God's Holy Word, the teachings of his appointed ministers, in sermons and lectures espe- cially designed for students, and fitted to instruct, to warn, to arouse, and to win them to Christ and to the obedience of his Gospel — this whole service — this Common Praijer, repeated with general solemnity and earnestness, week-day and Sunday, will take hold of the inner life, and find its issue in pure and gentle influences, sweetly moulding the daily course of action, and gradually passing into the confirmed habits of a ripe Christian character. We do not say that all this will be always accomplished, or that it will be even in the majority of instances. But we are holding forth our ideal of what we ought to work towards — of what ought to be the place and influence of tho 6^ EXTRACTS. religious element in a Church-College, and of what, by God's bless- ing, we can in a good degree attain to. Effects will be wrought by this system of religious training which will be felt through life. Very often, even when the student appears thoughtless and careless during much, perhaps the whole, of his stay in College, seeds of truth and love will, nevertheless, have been sown, which will germinate and bear fruit in more thoughtful years. The Chapel-Service forms a strong bond of union, and is a most important means of cultivating brotherly affection throughout the academic body. The Common Prayer is almost the only common ground in College life. In lectures, recitation, and recreation, all are dispersed in classes and companies. But here in the Chapel both officers and students come together twice each day ; they kneel together as the children of the same Heavenly Father ; they implore the forgiveness of the same sins, and ask for the supply of the same wants ; they give expression to a common faith and a common hope ; with one voice and heart they invoke the divine blessing alike on instructors and pupils, and on the institution which is dear to both. Let us make the Chapel and the Chapel-Service what they ought to be, and this will be the one sacred spot to which the thoughtful stu- dent will look back with the tenderest associations in after years. As an element of order too, pervading with a silent and persua- sive influence the whole College, it is difficult to over-estimate the value of a well arranged Liturgical daily service, performed with all the impressiveness and solemnity of which it is susceptible. It tends constantly to imbue the minds of the students with that quiet and orderly spirit which is so beautiful a characteristic of the Church. The tone and spirit of the service pass over into the life, and become therein a regulative force which reduces all to order and peace. We are anxious, therefore, so to arrange and order the Chapel- Service as to give to it the utmost solemnity, earnestness, and reality. And to further the attainment of this end, we propose to erect a new Chapel, such, for durability, architectural beauty, and fitness, as may serve for this sacred use in all time to come, and such as will aid us with all the impressiveness of effect which can be derived from a material temple skillfully planned, beautifully wrought, and duly consecrated to the service of Almighty God. And we are happy in EXTRACTS. 7 being able to announce for the encouragement of those who will feel an interest in this movement, that a member of the Board of Trus- tees has offered as his contribution towards it, to build for the Col- lege such a Chapel as we have described, at his sole cost. THE CHAPLAIN. But this offer to build a Chapel is made on the express condition that a foundatiori for a Chaplaincy, equal in amount to a Professor- ship shall be secured. On this foundation a Chaplain is to be placed, who, in connection with such duties of instruction as Avill harmonize with his sacred office, shall devote himself exclusively to the religious training and culture of the undergraduates. He will officiate in the daily service of the Chapel. lie will be the College Preacher, And the College will form a congregation or parish of which he will be the Pastor. He will, of course, maintain order in his classes so far as he shall be an officer of instruction, but other- wise he will have nothing to do with the discipline of the institution. He w'ill thus be known to the students only as their Pastor and Teacher in things pertaining to God. There will be everything in his position to invite affection and confidence, and to draw into inti- mate relations. The influence of such an officer, standing in such relation to the students, and possessed of the requisite character and abilities lor his sacred office, must be great and salutary. For our own part we regard this Chaplaincy as of the very first importance to the complete development of the College as a seat of Christian learning. And it gives us sincere pleasure to be able to state that another member of the Board of Trustees has said, that he will try to do his part towards this effort in behalf of the College, by endow- ing the Chaplaincy. He is actuated in this by a high sense of the value of this particular department, when thus put in charge of an officer specially and exclusively devoted to its sacred duties, in giv- ing energy to the working of the religious element throughout the whole academic system. EXTKACTS, [^Extract from the Statutes goveriving the Ghaplaincy.] " The oi'iginal subscribers to en dow a Chaplaincy and to build a Chapel were moved thereto from having seen the peculiar dangers and temptations that attend young men on leaving their homes and. passing from under the watchful eyes of parents, or guardians and pastors, to enter upon life within the walls of a College ; and from having felt the need of more vigilant and loving pastoral care than is secured to students in our colleges, under the common systems that prevail. These considerations led them to attempt to secure to the members of Hobart College, for all future time, the presence and the influence of a Pastor, to be charged with the care of their souls, and, so far as may be, to supply, for the time being, the places of parents, or guardians and pastors, from whom they are separated ; who, being disconnected with the general enforcement of discipline, and from any considerable amount of mere academic instruction, should be free to train, guide, and influence the students in the principles of the Christian faith, and the practice of the Christian life, by systematic pulpit and class instruction, specially adapted to their minds, by a well ordered and reverent daily worship, accord- ing to the provisions of the Church in her Holy Liturgy, by assidu- ously cultivating with the members of the College those kindly rela- tions known to the loving Pastor, whereby he may often be enabled to win their affections, gain their confidence, and restrain many irreg- ularities of living incident to college life, and so not only benefit them, but the institution and all connected with it." The following notice of the consecration of the Chapel is taken from the Church Journal of Nov. 4, 1863, with slight correction : Messrs. Editors : — The Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Dr. DeLancey, consecrated St. John's Chapel, Hobart College, to the ser- vice and glory of Almighty God, on the 29th ult. The procession, con- sisting of twenty-three clergymen, in surplices, with the Bishop at its head, was formed at the college library. On reaching the porch of the new edifice it was received by the Board of Trustees. The twenty- fourth psalm was recited responsively by the Bishop and clergy as they moved up the alley. The Request to consecrate was placed in the Bishop's hands by Mr, D. S. Hall, the senior trustee present, and was read by the Rev. Henry A. Neely, Chaplain. The Sentence of EXTRACTS. 9' Ck»nsecratioii was read by the Rev. Dr. Jackson, President of the College. The Consecration service ended, Morning Prayer was be- gun by the Rev. Dr. Van Rensselaer, President of De Veaux Col- lege, The proper psalms were chanted antiphonally by the choir; the first lesson was read by the Rev. L. Ward Smith, of the Diocese of Pennsylvania ; the second by the Rev. J. M. Clarke, of Syracuse ; the Creed (Nicene) and Collects by the Rev. R. N. Parke, of Water- loo. The Ante-Communion was read by the Bishop, the Rev. Prof. Wilson, D. D., reading the Epistle, and the Rev. Prof. Met- calf, D. D., the Gospel. The sermon, from Psalm xxxvi. 9 — In Thy light shall we see light — was preached by the Rev. Morgan Dix, D. D., Rector of Tj-inity Church, New York. The sentences in the Offertory and the prayer for the Church Militant were read by the Rev. Dr. Payne, of the Diocese of New York. The Bishop was assisted in the Holy Communion by the Rev. Dr. Jackson and the Rev. H. A. Neely. The Rev. Dr. Schuyler, of Rochester, read the Post-Communion, the Bishop pronouncing the Benediction. The sermon, which we learn is to be published, was a noble effort of saci'ed oratory. The preacher struck the very key-note of those designs which seemed on that day to be crowned with success, in the completed Chapel and the present Chaplain. His fervid delivery showed how deeply he sympathized with the effort which is here being made to secure the most perfect union between religion and learning. Miiny earnest prayers, beside his own, ascended on that day for the entire success of the generous experiment. The Chaplaincy, which is an essential part of this scheme, was endowed by a wise and large-hearted layman of New York, a Vestryman of Trinity Church. The music on this occasion w\as rendered, as at the ordinary ser- vices of the College Chapel, by a double choir, chosen from the stu- dents. It was simple in its character, but appropriate and inspiring. The chants used were, for the Venite, Robinson in ¥J> ; Psalms, Arnold in Bb, Nares in A, and Folton in F; Jubilate, Turner in A. The Te Deum was Walter's in C, and the Sanctus a Gregorian from Walter's Manual. For the accompaniment, it is enough to say that Mr. W. H. Walter presided at the organ, and to him the members of the choir have expressed themselves as much indebted, both for valuable hints at rehearsal, and for skillful assistance in the service, K word ought here to be said concerning the new orjian of St. John's 10 EXTRACTS. Chapel. It is an instrument of twelve stops, and two octaves of pedals, with reversed and extended action, built by Mr. J, G. Mark- love, of Utica, and is a masterpiece both in tone and workmanship. The cost of the instrument was $1,055, which sum was cheerfully contributed by churchmen of Buffalo, Syracuse, Auburn, and Geneva, and by the officers and students of the College. The Chapel, which is built of Waterloo limestone, is in the Second Pointed style. It is about 20x79, internal measurement, with a massive stone porch on the south side. There is also an am- ple robing-room in connection with the chancel, at the east end of the building. The side walls are appropriately buttressed ; from the top of the walls rises a steep and ornamented roof of red, green, and purple slates, the whole surmounted with a ridge crest of beautiful design. The interior arrangements are very complete and conveni- ent. The roof is open and richly moulded. The seats are arranged parallel with the side walls, and rise from the aisle. They will accommodate 250 students. All the furniture is of black walnut of appropriate design. The chapel is singularly effective in the moral impression which it is fitted to produce on all who enter it. The architects, Messrs. Upjohn & Son, are entitled to high praise for so beautiful a design. They have realized what Bishop Wilberforce, in his sermon at the consecration of the new chapel of Exeter College, Oxford, requires as the true ideal of such a holy temple: "It must be certain that it becomes us to make the College Chapel such in all its outward arrangements as will fit it to stamp its own impression on every mind. Its first a pect should speak its separation from the hall or the lecture room. It is provided for those in whom the force of association is even unusually strong ; and it should seek to seize, through that power, on the first thoughts of every one who enters it, and secure them for God." The stained glass, with which the windows throughout are glazed, was made by Henry Sharp, of Nevr York, and reflects great credit on his taste and skill. The chancel window in particular, is, for its size, one of the finest in the country. The figure of St. John in the central light is a masterpiece. It is not the least interesting circum- stance connected with the Chapel that it is the munificent gift of a single friend of the College. The Font, a singularly beautiful piece of carving in Caen-stone, is EXTRACTS. XI the gift of another friend. The Communion Service, of richly chased silver, by Cooper, of New York, is another gift. Still other gifts are the books for the altar, and the alms basins carved of black walnut. The eagle lectern, finely carved from black walnut, is a striking object. It serves both to read the Holy Scriptures and to preach from. 0crmon AT THE CONSECEATIOX OF ST, JOHN'8 CHAPEL, HOBAPwT COLLEGE, GENEVA , OCTOBEK 29Tn, 18G3, BY THE REV. MORGAN DIX, D. D., EECTOE OF TRINITY CHURCII, NEW YORK. "We are assembled, beloved brethren in tlie Lord, to keep a feast of dedication. We are here to set apart from all unhallowed, worldly, and common nses, forever, a temple of God ; to light another lamp before the shrine of heavenly- intercession ; to consecrate a material house, that it be hence- forth a place for the Lord to dwell in by His Holy Spirit. Hither hath the Bishop summoned ns to assist at such an office ; and so, in answer to his call, are we here. But, beloved brethren, there are circumstances in this case which confer upon it a special and peculiar interest. This is the Chapel of a College. It is the place where prayer shall be made by those who are engaged in giving and receiving instruction in the arts and learning of the day. The Institution here existing is not altogether a secular one. It is, in some respects, above the age, and beyond it. For its founders held fast certain principles which the age does not receive; and in its very constitution there lives an element foreign to the spirit of these times. It is, avowedly, a Chris- tian College. Nay more; it is a College of the Episcopal Church, They who fill its chairs must be believers ; and they who are instructed within its walls are taught, not merely after the rudiments of the world, but with reference to ihe mind of Christ. There is a method here, over and above the way and method of the world. A recognition of Almighty God ; of the doctrines of redemption and grace ; of the positive institutions of Christianity ; a profession of the 14 CONSECJRATION SERMON. perpetual Creeds, a reverence for the authority of the Church of God. It may be said of this University, that her founda- tions are upon the holy hills. That her corner-stone is laid upon the old Catholic :ba;sijs.i Hi may be inferred that, in every department, these profound relationships are, and will evermore be, borne in mind and held in view. Thus, if his- tory be taught here, it will be taught as the manifestation of the personal God, acting through the course and events of time. If Philosophy be taught, it will be as under correction from the divinely attested dogmas of Theology, If science be pursued, it will be in such a way as that materialistic tenden- cies shall be forestalled. If languages be studied, they will be recognized as the gift of God, and not the invention of men. Thus, in all things, this is, and is to be while time shall last and while its walls shall stand, a Christian College, a College of the Church of our love. But these rare features must have their visible expression. These root-ideas must be placed, in symbol, before the eyes of men. And that is done to-day. The sign is given at last. It is given in the dedica- tion of this Chapel ; in these sacred solemnities. Here is the place of the presence of God. Here is the shrine of the Spirit of Truth. Here is the ark in the midst of the camp. Here, in the circumference of these scholastic fields, is the candle- stick ; and hence the light is poured on all around. The sun is at last in the midst of your firmament. The centre of dll your system is marked and shown in outward, visible sign. This chapel is the key to all ; the explanation of all. Last in time, but in importance first. Only now finished. But such, that, until it was finished, nothing was finished, nothing was complete, nothing could have been complete. Holy, therefore, is this our work. And blessed are the hands that have reared this structure. And happy beyond all of us to-day is he whose heart God did move to make this offering and to build this house. And blessed in their own way are all who minister, this hour, before the Lord in the solemn acts and offices of consecration. With humble rever- CONSECRATION SERMON. 15 ence and gratitude do we bear our part, as tliey wlio, in ancient times, brought forth the headstone of the temple with shoutings, crying grace, grace unto it. (Zech. iv. 7.) Yea, breth- ren, your Bishop is proclaiming, in this place, and in the execution of his office, Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his to crown the work that went before. And now, if God's Word be true, the consecrating hands shall draw down largeness of bene- diction, and pour abroad, on all around, great influences and powers for good. My brethren, upon being invited to preach to you on this interesting occasion, it was a question much debated in my thoughts upon what topic to address you. But the quiet expectation of the scenes in the midst of which I find myself at present did, long ere this, induce to the selection of a sub- ject. In pleased forecasting of this day ; in the attempt to picture to himself a place, a scene, to which the passing hours were preparing for him an access, the preacher found himself led away towards wider prospects. All that is now before his eyes was foreseen. Your beautiful town, by its placid lake. Your college buildings, overshadowed by the ancient trees. The seat of learning, and the cradle of letters in this region. The good Bishop, so much beloved ; the brotherly clergy, the friendly people, assembling themselves together. In the midst, this fair Chapel, the reverend sanctuary, and the place where prayer is wont to be made ; the liturgy, the voices of praise and joy, the offices of our religion, the unison of the everlasting Creeds, the oblation at the altar. But it were not strange, if, in the endeavor to call up a scene like this before the time, a man should find his thoughts leading him away beyond the limits set at first. And thus it chanced with me. For, in thinking over these things, the particulars would seem to have enlarged themselves and multiplied. There came a widening and broadening on every side, until the narrower scene, on which the mental eye was fixed, had expanded into a suggestive vision of the world at large ; and 16 CONSECEATIOISr SEEMON. the cliapel, even while the mind was trying to conjecture its shape, and size, and look, seemed to grow and^row, until in its place there arose, right stately in her grand proportions, the Church Catholic of the ages. So that involuntarily a parallel had been made. In your lands and fertile acres I saw an image of the wide world and all that is therein. Yonder academic halls became a representraent of that do- main, in which the intellect of man is ever busy in its own marvellous way. And the Chapel was a symbol of the mountain of the House of the Lord, standing in the midst, God's gift in the latter days to men. Thus the particulars had changed to universals ; and what is here presented seemed to be but in miniature, a reduction of far wider things ; a reflection of the grander ways of God's Providence in its relations to the whole race and family of man. And then, it was natural to think, that such as is the Chapel to your college, such is the Church to the Intellectual World : that such as these halls would be without the light of the Divine mind, such would be the intellectual world without revelation. And thus a subject came looming up before the thoughts. A subject too large to be handled in one sermon, A subject on which I shall say but a few words, and make a few suggestions, assured that they will be neither out of place on such an occasion as this, nor out of harmony with the bent of your thoughts today. My brethren, yve hold these propositions to be most true : that the human mind needs light for the right use and play of its energies ; that this light must come, not from within, but from without ; not from itself, but from God ; and that the Church is the reservoir and dispenser thereof. It is not proposed to speak at length in proof of these positions ; but since the very cause which has brought us hither argues your deep conviction of their truth, it shall be my office to re-affirm them, as though I spoke for you, to enunciate them as axioms, to state them frankly, to illustrate and enforce them as, in substance, the lesson of the day. % CONSECRATION SERMON. 17 And, first, the mind has need of an atmosphere of light, for the right use and exercise of its powers. It nnist have a medium of vision, or ever it can see. And that medium, that atmosphere, is not the same as the mind which sees through it, nor can the mind supply such a medium unto itself. Con- sider the bodily eye. That organ is in itself complete : all things considered, it is perhaps the most wonderful tiling in the human frame. But, yet, it is useless until it have light. Made for the light, it is, without light, as though it were not. The light is not from the eye, nor is it a part of the eye, nor is it, in any wise, a power or a product of the organ which sees. But it is an outer medium, formed by the Ahnighty Creator, and poured around, to the end that the eye may be used. The supply of light is a condition to the availability of the eye. We think precisely thus of the intellect. That it is, in itself, an admirable work of God. But, yet, that it is helpless, and useless, and worthless, to any practical result, until it have a medium for the exercise of its j^owers. So that He who gave to man the mind and intellect, must also provide the atmosphere wherein to employ it; and that unless He do this there can be no true intellectual vision ; and that, if He had not done this for us, we should have been in darkness even until now. AVe, therefore, hold as entirely distinct the intellect, re- garded as a potential phenomenon, and that same intellect in operation in the midst of its proper light. The instrument may be used, even though there be no light, or a false light, or a dim and partial light, or a light of one's own kindling. But all such use is vain. Just as, in the darkness, the eye- ball may turn in its socket, and the lids may close and open, and the optic nerve may scintillate with imaginary im2)res- sions, and the pupil may dilate or contract with involuntary motion and tentative effort. But in each case the effort proves abortive, and the power is thrown away. What we mean to say is this : that although the reason may act, and act with vigor, and with mighty attempts, and with prolonged 18 GONSECEATION SEEMON. and protracted force, yet all shall be to no purpose, except it act, and work, and strive, in that medium for which it was created. That medium is the light of God. And, therefore, is that light in some measure shed abroad w^herever the spirit of man is found alive, with its work before it, and with the hour of activity prescribed. The mind must have light, and that light must reach it, and be shed upon it, from without. "We infer this, first, from analogy. As to our physical existence, we are dependent beings. There is about us no sign of self-sufficiency. In every direction are we restrained by limits ; and all our life, and all our existence, in every particular, is contingent, vari- able, and finite. The fact will not be disputed, as touching our material existence : why then should any doubt that the same thing holds good with reference to our intellectual and spiritual state? May we not reason from the seen to the unseen ? From what we know of the body, may we not infer of the soul ? If, as to the whole order of this bodily life, we are dependent creatures ; if we bear upon our frames the stamp of inadequacy ; if we be so constituted as to need the perpetual stay of the hand and arm of the Most High : then might it be inferred, until the contrary could be shown, that this same weakness, inadequacy, dependence must be found in respect to the operations of the mind and spirit. But this inference does not remain an inference. If there can be, in a moral argument, the force of a demonstration, if there be compelling weight in universal experience, that inference must ascend to a certainty. Go and study the history of the hu- man mind. There have been times when, uncertain and doubtful, through the loss of light, it has bent itself to the earnest eftbrt to come, in the exercise of its own powers alone, at the knowledge of the truth. Read the works of those philosophers, as well of ancient as of modern time, who have taken in hand to learn, by reasoning alone, the nature of God, the nature of man, the duties and destiny of our race, the manner and results of human action. Precious are those CONSECRATION SERMON. 19 volumes; nay, beyond price, since tbey prove the natural helplessness of the mind. For nothing could be more con- spicuous than the failure of all those investigations, and nothing more deplorable than the results which have ensued. The mind, unaided, is powerless before the problem of eternal truth. The history of intellectual i)hilosoi)hy in the past; the history of the variatious of popular religionism in the present, tell one and the same story. The old philosophers, having lost the primitive tradition, knew nut God. They thought to find Ilim by their own mental processes, by the way of argument and investigation. But the conclusions were as many and as diverse as the brains which drew them, and the results were utter skepticism in thought, and utter abandonment in morals. The moderns, having despised and rejected the truth as it was presented to them by the Holy Spirit through the Creeds of the Church, went a]x>ut to con- vince themselves, by their own subjective processes, what it might be reasonable to accept and believe : and the end has been reached in a looseness and vagueness of thought disas- trous to the proper use of the intellect ; in the adoption of changeful opinions in place of a positive religion ; in a wav- ering between the extremes of Materialism on the one hand and Spiritualism on the other, until that point has been reached at which the scene, intellectually and theologically, is one of vast and far-spread lawlessness, disorder, and con- fusion. Building, then, upon facts in the present and in the past, we reassert, without fear, our propositions : that the intellect is but an organ of vision ; that it is de23endent on external conditions for its value ; that without light it is useless ; and that it cannot furnish for itself the light which it requires. These are truths which men have not received. Their great mistake has been to confound the instrument with the condi- tions necessary to its exercise. They have thought of the mind as though it were complete, alone, for all its purposes ; they have looked on it as a principal instead of an accessory ; 20 CONSECRATION SEEMON. they have made a Deity of that which is but a created thing. Tliey have forgotten the words, " In thy light shall we see light." They have forgotten, at once, those words, and Him to whom they refer. In idolizing a part, a function of this nature of ours, they have forgotten the God of that nature ; and in elevating a thing created, they have removed the Creator far away. And thus the mind has drifted slowly towards a general chaos and confusion, a state which it had reached in the days when the Gospel was first given to the world ; a state to which, in our time, it would unquestionably have relapsed ere now but for the presence and influence of the Catholic Church, the pillar and ground of the truth, the witness and keeper of the faith. For do not think, dear brethren, that this great subject is left in a loose and unpractical shape. On the contrary, it is presented with a rigid exactness which no art could improve. The light which the human mind requires, and without which it is and must be blind forever — that light is shed abroad from our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the agency of His Holy Spirit. He is the light, and the man that followeth Him shall not walk in darkness ; qui seqidtur Me noii ainbulat in tenehris. He is the Light of the World, in every sense in which that expression can be taken, not after the manner of a poetical thought, nor as though we dealt in figures of rhetoric ; but the Lord is truly, and practically, and positively the Light of Light to men. So that out of Him there can be no true knowledge, nor device, nor learning, nor wisdom. That is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into this world. And then, lest we might wander, uncertain where to find Him, behold, His Church is set in the midst of the earth. Lest we should grope in the darkness, not know- ing where to find that fount of light at which our pale torches may be kindled, lo, the city set on a hill ! It is the function of the Church of Christ to show us perpetually of her Master. In her are we brought to communion with Him. In her sacramental institutions, all divine of origin, are we made the , CONSECRATION SERMON. 21 members of Christ, enlightened by his neighborhood and presence, endued with His Holy Spirit, enriched with His heavenly grace. Christ is realized to us in His Church. Out of her He might have been to us no better than an abstrac- tion and a name. To whom shall we go for the right know- ledge of him, to whom, O Mother of Saints, O School of the Wise, but to thee ? We know, my brethren, that it is only the inflexible Creeds which, under Divine Providence, pre- serve in this world a fixed and positive conception of the God- head, and of Christ, and of the supernatural order on which we depend. Ye know how loose and vague is modern reli- gious thought, how crude are modern religious ideas, how wide are the variations of belief, how men glory in the boast of freedom to believe what they choose. Place yourselves face to face with the state of the world, and say what would become of the Faith as we have received it if the Creeds were taken away ? And where would the Creeds be if the Church had gone down ? Brethren, it is an assertion made under the strongest conviction of its truth, that nothing saves the Chris- tian Faith to-day but the calm, clear, and everlasting repeti- tion of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds by believing and earnest men ; and that, if they were no more heard among us, a very short time would see the religious thought of the country dissolve and deliquesce into a mere slush of inane and useless opinions. The points of this brief statement, which it was desired to make, are as follows : 1st. That the intellect of man needs light for the due dis- charge and exercise of its functions. 2nd. That this light must come to it from without, and not in any wise from within. 3d. That this light is, personally and practically, the Lord Jesus Christ. And 4th. That He is shown to us, in that character, in the doc- trinal and theological system of His Church. And, having laid down these principles, let my remarks 22 CONSECRATION SERMON. be drawn towards their conclusion, in the farther assertion, that these points and principles furnish the only logical expla- nation of the existence of a Church College. If these prin- ciples be admitted, then we must found and endow institutions like this ; we must — it is a solemn duty alike to man and to God. While, on the other hand, if these principles be denied, or any one of them, then does the mere existence of a College such as this involve an inconsistency and an absurdity. For consider, beloved brethren, and you, especially, matriculated students within yonder walls, why came you to them ? You did not come to learn theology. It is not a divinity school. You came to learn the arts, and sciences, philosophy, lan- guages, and letters. But yet you came to study them here, knowing that this institution has an essential element of reli- gion as its basis. Why should this be ? Why should it have come into the minds of men to found such an institution as this ? Why should it have seemed good to that Corporation far away, over which, in the order of God's Providence, I am the head, to have made a grant of money for the carrying out of this design ? Why should it have been determined by one servant of God now in his quiet grave to endow this institu- tion in a spirit of munificence which has attracted the atten- tion and admiration of the times in which we live ? There is an explanation of all this, and there is but one. The pro- found conviction that if man is to see light at all, he shall see it in the light of God. The settled assurance that the intel- lect needs to its well-being the divine illumination of the Holy Ghost. We hold, of any and of all the operations of the human mind the same that we hold of all human efforts, that, except they be sanctified and hallowed, they shall fail. You may study the arts and sciences, languages and letters, as long as you will ; you may become deeply versed in them, yet, unless your acquirements that way be prevaded and per- meated by the light that cometh from above, all this shall be to you but emptiness and vanity. Like Moses, you may be- come learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, yea, mighty CONSECRATION SERMON. 23 in words and in deeds. But you shall be no more than a pagan if you stop with that. You must go up intg the Mount, and enter into the heavenly sanctuary, and take up thither what you have reeeived, before the glory shall gather into your countenance, and before you can dare to speak and think in the spirit of truth, and as a man of God. The doc- trine and devotion of the apostolic days are necessary to civili- zation and advancement. Without them the idea of progress is a delusion. The Church preserves them from age to age. Therefore is she here, founded in the midst of this continent. And therefore is the Chapel here in the midst of these clus- tered halls of learning. The logical solution of what you see is this: that knowledge without religion is ignorance, and that the key of knowledge is in the hands of her to whose first Apostles were given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. There are those among us who, in their poverty of thought, regard the Church of Christ as a mere aggregate of believers, as an accidental conglomeration of units, constituted merely by that cohesion. There are others who think of her as an institution of a quasi divine nature, but not as one by which men are to be moulded, but as though she had a mystic character, yet without any practical relation to the race. To such men the work done here must involve a fallacy. To such men, if they are profane as well as ignorant, it might become a jest or a reproach. Tliey cannot comprehend why we act as we do. They do not understand this linking to- gether of secular learning and of dogmatic religion. But we have our work before us, and that work must go on, whether a man will hear, or whether he will forbear. We must work in faith, in living faith, that our foot standeth right. In faith in the Church as the revealer of Christ, as the illuminator of the world, as having the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; as the conservative power in the state, though the state acknowledge her not ; as the kingdom of Gud, though sore, marred, and defaced ; as strong, albeit, to the carnal 24 CONSECRATION SERMON. eye in ruins ; so strong, even in lier present weakness, that we trust her still, and triumph in the thought of all that she shall hereafter be, when it shall please the Lord to build up Zion, and when His glory shall appear. Teach, brethren, in her ways, after the analogy of the faith. Study, young men, as she enlightens you. Test by her creeds each floating doctrine of the day. Apply them, as a touchstone, to all the heresies of this age. Live in the Church, and, in her, near to Christ. Exemplify in your course the power of that Word wherein ye have been in- structed. So shall ye be aiding your generation, and helping to save this nation, if it can be saved. Let us spread through all our borders the name and Word of Christ, and this shall be of a truth good work for them that come after, and the people which shall be born shall praise the Lord. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 028 346 095 2