Dr. Lyman Abbott preached at Vespers yesterday afternoon.

Growth of life is into life not out of it. The child has, at first, no laws, but as time passes he discovers those in the objects about him and before long, new ones from his parents. When he goes to school he thinks that at last he shall be free, but is surprised to find more laws than ever. And so with college and after-life; always the same increase. If he seeks freedom from law he is surely disappointed. He never finds liberty except through obedience to it.

At a certain point in the inauguration of the governor of this state a phrase is addressed to the people "govern yourselves accordingly." They have expressed their decision as to the power they wish to have over them and must now fulfill their part of the obligation and govern themselves. This command is a brief statement of the path to liberty. The laws are to be made a part of the citizen's nature and are to be obeyed by him spontaneously and freely. If a man loves law so little, and has lived according to it so rarely that he hesitates about pursuing the lawful course he is not yet a good citizen free, just as a man is not honest who has to struggle with himself in order to tell the truth. Nor is anyone righteous until the best path is the only one for him; until his self-government is so complete and so exactly in accordance with the divine laws that in his obedience he is free, and he feels no restraint from restrictions that forbid what he hates.

No step forward is made in any branch of civilization without the addition of new laws, but as life becomes more complex the Christian has no more laws than anyone else. The true Christian obeys all right laws and is the pattern which other men should be following. The freedom of his life is not lawlessness but lawfulness.

The choir and Mr. Heinrich Meyn as soloist sang the following anthems: "O Worship the Lord," Watson; "The Shadows of the Evening Hour," Barri; "O God Have Mercy," from Mendelssohn's "St. Paul."