Rev. Lyman Abbott of Brooklyn preached last night before an audience that crowded Appleton Chapel to its utmost capacity.

Dr. Abbott took as his text the words of Christ: "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." The disciples of Jesus had expected that their master would found a kingdom on earth and they came to him to decide which of them should have the highest place. Christ rebuked them in the words of the text, meaning that their expectations must be wholly given up and that to inherit eternal life their spirits must be born again.

Many men think that in their youths they can sow their wild oats and live for pleasure. When they are ready to settle in life, they say, they will reform and become pure, religious men. They are mistaken. There is no short cut from sin to righteousness, and the only thing that can atone for their past is a complete change of inner feeling, which will not come at command. Good aspirations must precede any effort to reform, and the starting point must be the change of the very purpose of one's life.

The one thing to strive after is character; and of this, Christ is the true example. A man becomes a Christian for the the first time when he makes up his mind to change his soul from the very foundation and hereafter to try earnestly to become more like Christ.