PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. THE PUBLISHER has the pleasure of announcing that the present volume is the commencement of a series which will be continued in the same style, and published in book form, as fast as they accumulate, at the rate of one sermon each Sunday; and it is believed that the many thousand admirers of the author will all, or nearly all, appreciate the advantage of possessing these valuable sermons in a form that they may continue to preach to their children and children's children long after the voice that first uttered them shall have been hushed in death. And what legacy could be more appropriate to leave to the rising generation than all that can be collected of the burning words that flow from the great heart of this gifted divine? The Publisher is happily free from the necessity of speaking in the modest terms which the author employs in reference to this volume, and believes he expresses the opinion of a large majority of Dr. Chapin's friends in saying that, while all must admire the high order of his written sermons, they will find in these discourses the additional charm of those spontaneous bursts of eloquence which proceed from the inspiration of the moment, and which render his extemporaneous efforts so popular with his hearers. It may be proper also to state, that most of these sermons were taken down by two different reporters, whose published reports have been carefully compared, and any omissions of importance on either side are embraced in the book. The second series of the "EXTEMPORANEOUS DISCOURSES" will probably be ready as early as June next. NEW YORK, February, 1860. EXTEMPORANEOUS DISCOURSES. GOD'S REQUIREMENTS. And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?-Micah vi. 8. HE consummate result of all education consists in the power of applying a few scientific principles. All the possibilities of literature are enfolded in the alphabet. The most abstruse and bewildering calculations, ciphering up in columns and platoons of figures, are only the combination of familiar units. Out of one clear rule or method spring all the products of this branching and luxuriant science. So the highest art and achievement of man's life is but the flowering of one or two germinal truths. Stately philosophies and complex creeds may be reduced to a proposition that can be written in the palm of the hand. So far as they are genuine, so far as they have any real force to help us concerning the great end of our being, this is the sum and substance of them all; they are reducible in the last analysis to this: "Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God." These, you will see at once, are requirements very easy to understand-worth whole tons of sermons and dissertations. These, the wayfaring man, though a fool, may comprehend. And yet, my friends, these are precepts which whole tons of sermons and dissertations, somehow or another, have not yet made practical in the hearts and lives of men. It is the application of the theory that is requisite; for there is a vast difference between principles to be applied, and the power of applying principles; just as there is a difference between the alphabet and the Iliad of Homer; between the first signs in algebra and the calculations of Leibnitz; between the school-boy's lesson and the achievements of Newton. Anybody can read the propositions in the text, but who converts them into flowers of the soul, and products of daily life? Words easily said are these, but what is the essence of them, and what do they call upon us to do? I maintain that they unfold and point out the entire essence of religion -vital, evangelical religion. Some people seem to entertain a dread of plain propositions. They do not like to have religion put in simple words; they want it left with some vagueness and complexity mingled with it. The moment it is put in plain and simple words like these in the text, they begin to suspect it of being merely natural religion, or theol |