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 the mass of humankind.

It will, we think, be found very appropriate to the present occasion and circumstances, that we should show you how the secret of greatness is contained in those words of our blessed Saviour which

we have chosen as our text. Our assertion is, that, in awarding the palm of true greatness, men are accustomed, however unconsciously, to act upon the principle, that whosoever will be chief must be the servant of all. To make good this assertion, it will only be necessary that we observe the cases in which, by universal consent, the title "great" is bestowed.

Now if a man have displayed extraordinary patriotism, so that, when his country has bent beneath the yoke of oppression, there have been the stirrings within him of an indomitable resolve to overthrow tyranny, and correspondent strivings to wrench off the chain by which his native land was bound-we may safely affirm of this man, that his name will be shrined in the hearts, and woven into the songs, of successive generations; and that there will be a thorough unanimity, amongst all who hear his deeds, as to the justice of assigning him the appellation of great. You will not find a dissentient voice, when opinions are being gathered as to the merits of one who stood up nobly in the face of the enemies of liberty, and won for a country, trampled down by a despot, that blessing of freedom which gives its worth to every other. Yet what has this patriot made himself but the servant of his countrymen? It was in order to the ministering to the well-being of thousands, that he threw himself into the breach, and challenged tyranny to the battle. It was for the sake of securing the rights of those who trod

the same soil with himself, that he arose as the champion of the wretched and injured. We will not indeed say that his motives were unmixed, so that he has been actuated by nothing having alliance with selfishness. On the contrary, there may have been little which could rightly be called disinterested; and his actions, if analyzed in their springs, might lose half their splendour. But, practically at least, whatever may have been his design, this patriot has acted as the minister to others; and it is simply because he has so acted, that he has encircled himself with imperishable renown. He has pleaded the cause of others, and dashed away the chain of others, and wrought a vast deliverance for others; and the result is the same as though, with a fine forgetfulness of self, he had devoted every energy and every resource to the good of others, and cast time, and talent, and strength, into one mighty sacrifice, that others might be advantaged by the prodigal oblation. So that, whilst a world is pronouncing his panegyric, and his fame seems only to increase as it is borne along from one age to another, we can confidently point him out, as exemplifying the truth of what Christ said to his disciples in our text: for if you would describe the mode in which he has gained his pre-eminent honours, you could not do it more accurately than by representing him as having acted on the maxim, "he who would be chief amongst you, let him be your servant."

The case is the same with the philosopher as with the patriot. We gladly give our praises to the individual, who, by the force of genius, and the labour of research, has enlarged the sphere of human knowledge, and pushed discovery further into the mysteries of nature. There is not a greater benefactor to the world than he who increases our acquaintance with the properties of matter, and lays open to us agencies which may be successfully employed in the occupations of life. We are not, for example, to regard the astronomer as a man busied indeed with high and brilliant speculation, but whose lofty calling is altogether unconnected with those of less-gifted spirits. None know better than many of the present audience, that, in his searchings over the beautiful and spangled face of heaven, he is gathering material for the guide-book by which the mariner shall make his way across the trackless waste of waters; and that thus are his sublime musings, and his mystic calculations, subservient to every operation of trade, and every movement of commerce. Truth is no isolated and uninfluential thing: let it once be discovered, and a thousand consequences may be traced, ramifying into the minutest concerns and the most ordinary occurrences. Accordingly, he who labours in the mine of truth, and presents to the world the results of his investigations, furnishes his fellow-men with new principles on which to act in the businesses of life, and thus equips them for fresh enterprises, and instructs them how to add to

the sum total of happiness. We need not exemplify this in particular instances. You are all aware how scientific research is turned to account in everyday life, and how the very lowest of our people enjoy, in one way or another, the fruits of discoveries which are due to the marvellous sagacity, and the repeated experiments, of those who rank foremost in the annals of philosophy. And thus is it evident that the man who is great in science, is great in the power of serving his fellow-men, and that it is this latter greatness which insures him their applauses. If his discoveries were of no benefit to the many; if they opened no means by which enjoyments might be multiplied, toil diminished, or dangers averted; his name would be known only within a limited circle, and there would be nothing that approached to a general recognition of superiority. But just in proportion that his discoveries bear on the universal happiness, will he be the object of the universal approbation; in proportion, that is, as he has been of service to many, will the many concede to him a high degree of honour; so that with philosophy as with patriotism, the achieved greatness will but illustrate the truth of the saying, "he who would be chief amongst you, let him be let him be your servant.'

And if further evidence be needed, that, in giving utterance to our text, Christ was not introducing a strange precept, but one which is virtually acted on by the world, may we not urge generally that the men who are most eminent in life, are the men who