flock, should fall, as Abel fell, beneath the malice of the wicked, there would go up from the shed blood a voice that would be hearkened to in the heavenly courts, and prevail to the obtaining whatsoever it should ask. hat, when God would bring an accusing | to whom Abel had had respect in prevoice against Cain, He could only find senting in sacrifice the firstlings of his it in the dumb earth reeking with blood, though the soul of Abel was before Him, and might have been thought ready to give witness with an exceeding great and bitter cry? Abel forgave his murderer-otherwise could he not have been forgiven of God-and we learn that he forgave his murderer, from the fact, that it was only his blood which cried aloud for vengeance. Blessed be God that this blood does not plead for vengeance alone. It does plead for vengeance on the obdurate, who, like Cain, resist the invitation of Thus is there something very in- God: but it pleads also for the pardon structive in the absence of any voice but of the murderers, so that it can expiate the voice from the ground. There is the crime which it proves and attests. also matter for deep thought in the fact, And whilst the blood of the slain pleads that it was blood which sent up so pene- for us, the slain Himself is not silent. trating a cry. It was like telling the Abel could only refrain from specch in young world of the power which there the invisible world-but Christ is not would be in blood to gain audience of merely not our accuser, He is even our the Most High. I do not say, that, advocate. O blessed and glorious differwhilst there were yet but feeble notices ence! We have not, like Cain, raised of a Redeemer, men might gather, from the hand to slay a brother, but alas! we the energy ascribed to the blood of Abel, have destroyed ourselves; and the cry the virtue which would be resident in for vengeance ascends from a creation that of Christ. But to ourselves, unto which "groaneth and travaileth" through whom has been laid open the great this our iniquity. But this cry is lost scheme of redemption, it may certainly in a mightier, the cry, "It is finished," come like one of the first notices of the cry of a surety, the cry of an Interatonement through blood, which speak-cessor. Let us only then take heed that eth better things than that of Abel, that we copy not Cain in his insolent refusal so mighty a voice went up in accusation of Cain. What was there in blood, that it could give, as it were, life to inanimate things, causing them to become vocal, so that the very Godhead Himself was moved by the sound? The utterance, we think, did but predict that when one, to acknowledge his guilt, and though, as against him, there be a cry from the earth, demanding our punishment, there will be a cry from the firmament which was silent, if it did not accuse the murderer-" Deliver them from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom." THE first five of the following Sermons were preached by the appointment of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, and printed by the Corporation of Trinity House for their own use. It has been intimated to the author by several friends, that their publication in the present form would be acceptable, more especially if combined with other of his Sermons delivered upon public occasions. He has therefore been induced to commit this Volume to the press, hoping that it may not altogether disappoint the expectation so kindly entertained. East India College, Nov. 15, 1846. SERMONS PREACHED ON PUBLIC OCCASIONS. SERMON I. THE GREATNESS OF BEING USEFUL. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."-ST. MATTHEW XX. 26, 27, 28. We can easily suppose, that, if we introduced these words, without illustration or comment, into a circle of men unaccustomed to the acting on high Christian principles, they would be received with feelings of scorn and dislike. If in addressing an individual, whose prime object it is to make himself distinguished upon earth, we were to recommend to him the becoming the servant of his fellow-men, as the surest mode of reaching the coveted eminence, it is more than probable that our counsel, on first hearing, would be considered as an insult. Yet we believe it susceptible of the clearest proof, that in the precept or direction of our text lies the secret of that chieftaincy which alone deserves the name. We may venture to affirm, that it is to those who are the servants and ministers of their fellow-men that the world itself attaches the appellation of great; and that in proportion as the service and ministry are more laborious, and extend over broader districts of the earth, is there greater alacrity in bestowing the title. We will not deny that there may be apparent exceptions, and that some have been designated great, though even flattery could scarce urge that they had rendered signal service to others. But however it may sometimes happen that those who tread a dazzling, but destructive, career, win from the world the reputation of greatness, the falseness of the ascription is sooner or later acknowledged. When a man's achievements have become matter of history, and we can sit in judgment on his pretensions without the bias caused by too great proximity, the verdict is commonly reversed: neither the boldness of his undertakings, nor the brilliancy of his success, will prevail on us to ratify a decision which awards the denomination of great to one who has wrought injury, and not benefit, to tho mass of humankind. It will, we think, be found very ap * Preached before the Corporation of Trinity propriate to the present occasion and House, on Trinity Monday, 1838. circumstances, that we should show you |