the most obscured, and the most hopeless of the nations who sit in darkness.

But to the claims of Bishop's College on the assistance, the liberality, and the prayers, of all who love our English Church, or desire that it may be made an instrument of enlarging the general Church of Christ among mankind; to all which it now does, and the much more which with due support it may accomplish; and to the meritorious labours, I will add, of him who now single-handed supports the whole burden of the establishment, it is my hope, on some future day, more specifically to call your attention.

In the present instance, that attention, I am aware, must be exhausted, from the length of this morning's solemnity', and I feel myself less able to do justice to a subject of such importance, while I am suffering under the recent loss of a distinguished and excellent friend; from whose eminent talents, from whose amiable temper, from whose high religious principles, and his repeatedly ex

The visitation at Calcutta, to which alone these two paragraphs relate, was lengthened by the addition of an ordination service, that of the native catechist of Schwartz, Christian David, of Tanjore, who is alluded to in the earlier part of the charge.Calcutta Editor.

2 The friend whose sudden loss is thus feelingly alluded to by the Bishop, is the Honourable Sir Christopher Puller, Chief Justice of Bengal, who had but recently arrived in the country, and died, after a short illness, May 25, 1824, but a few hours before the delivery of this charge in Calcutta.-Calcutta Editor.

pressed intention of devoting his ample means and powerful mind to the service of that God from whom he had received them, I had anticipated the most important aids in securing the prosperity of the Indian Church, and furthering the triumphant progress of that Gospel in which his hope and heart were laid up, and in which, while he yet lived, his life was hidden.

A few days only are gone by, since, with animation on his benevolent countenance, he expressed to me his gratitude to the Most High for the many blessings which he had received, and his desire to dedicate to God, through Jesus Christ, an increased proportion of his time, his means, and his influence. A few hours only are past since those good resolutions are gone thither, where they are treasured by a gracious Master whom he had served from his youth, and who, when his noon of life had scarcely begun to decline, saw fit to call him to his repose and his reward. In him India-in him the AngloIndian Church-in him the cause of missions here and throughout the world-in him the poor of every caste and country have lost a fearless, a kind, a bountiful, and unpretending friend; but he will not have died in vain if the consideration of his sudden mortality induces us to ponder the worth of this world in regions where, more remarkably than on any other part of its surface, the present moment is all that we can count on, where the sublimest and most awful phenomena of nature remind us every instant of our uncertain tenure,

and the still breath of pestilence, and the louder warnings of thunder, adjure us to apply our hearts to wisdom.

Finally, brethren, farewell! Be patient and watch unto prayer; for your flocks and for yourselves, that ye may be diligent in the discharge of your stewardships, for behold He cometh quickly, and blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing!

And "Oh, Almighty God! who hast built Thy Church on the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone, grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

SERMON I.

PREACHING OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.

[Preached at the Cathedral, Calcutta, Dec. 21, 1823.]

ST. JOHN i. 20.

He confessed and denied not, but confessed "I am not the Christ."

ABOUT the middle of the long reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, when all mankind were in hushed and anxious expectation of that Great Deliverer whom both Jewish and Pagan prophecies had foretold as about this time to make his appearance upon earth; a new and mighty teacher of morality appeared in the wilderness of Judæa. His dress, his voice, his aspect, were the image of austere holiness, and of the then almost forgotten severities of the ancient prophets and penitents. His hair and beard, unshorn, after the pattern of the Nazarites, hung wildly over his breast and shoulders; his half-naked body was macerated with frequent fasting; his raiment was the coarse hair cloth which covered the Arab's tent; his food, the insects of the air and of the field; and his luxury, the honey left by wild bees in the sun-burnt rocks of Arabia Petræa.

D