FUNERAL SERMON.

West Coast Times, Issue 245, 5 July 1866, Page 3

FUNERAL SERMON.

The Rev. Mr M'Lean preached a sermon j en Sunday morning, in which reference was made to the murders which are at present engrdssing the attention of all persons in this province, as well as all over New Zealand. The reverend gentleman chose for j his tex*. Luke xiii, Ito 5. The text referred to Pilate mingling the blood of certain Galileans with their sacrifices, and gave Christ's words respecting the men who were killed by the falling of the tower of Siloam. An excellent sermon was preached on the occasion, and we add a brief report of some of the more particular portions in which mention was made of the murders : — " On studying the Old Testament Scriptures we cannot help being struck with the, fact that human life, merely as life, is of gznall account in the eyes of the Almighty. The laws forbidding the taking of life, no doubt were strict, and the penalty severe : 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' Yet there were cities of refuge for the inadvertent manfilayer; and again and again Israel was ordered utterly to destroy idolatrous nations. Those Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, and those eight men upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, had lost their lives ; but those persons ' wbpm our Lord was addressing were distinctly told that they had not lost them as a penalty for their misdeeds, seeing that they were no worse sinners than than those of their fellows whose lives were spared. This passage of scripture, occurring as it does in the second lesson for morning's service, seems, as it were^ a guide to us in forming a right judgment upon the dark tragedy which has just happened in our very midst. Four men, in health and vigor, after partaking of their last meal on earth, were proceeding unsuspectingly from one scene of toil and honest labor to another, along an unfrequented road, when, suddenly, armed men started from concealment in their front and rear— bound their hands behind their backs — led them about half a mile into the hush, and there butchered them. ' The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.' Were His eyes darkened that he could not see ? Were His ears stopped that he could not hear their cry ? Was His arm shortened, -that he could not interfere to stay the deed? Is our faith in Hiß over-ruling Providence to come to a stand-still, or to be overturned, when we find that no help was ,'afforded them in their dire distress ? The deed was done; the men lie dead, awaiting Christian burial at our hands, and yet the deep conviction of each one of us is, that God is the Lord, just and merciful ; and that though these four men have been cut off violently in the prime of life, He holds the fscales of justice so nicely balanced that their state before Him is no worse than if they had lived out what we should call the natural number of their days. They lost their lives.notbecause they were sinners, for we sinners are spared — but * unless we repent we shall all likewise perish.' Death, when he comes to us will conje to us suddenly, even in old age and on a bed of sickness, unless we repent — unless we not only call ourselves .the followers of Christ, but are renewed us long as we live, more and more after His image. At any critical period of a man's life the impressions then made upon him, no matter how trivial, are almost indelible. As a community, we are deeply moved — stirred from our lowest depths at this moment. Perchance, we have been dwelling securely like the Sidonians, or, like Moab have been at ease from our youth, and not having been poured from vessel to vessel, have settled upon our lees. Who can tell what spiritual lesson God would teach us by suffering this great evil to come upon us ? Our deep emotion, evident in the manner and on the countenance of all, is fitting soil for spiritual seed to fall in ; for, while on ordinary occasions the impressions made on us seem to be written in sand, those made under excitement remain upon the memory as though graven in marble."