private benefactions, manifest that they love to do good, or it may refer to the payments which are often made by the Most High in this life, of what the faithful in charitable acts lend unto him, or it may refer to the lofty pleasures, to the transcendent rewards, which in the day of retribution, shall be given to those whose benevolent and useful deeds shall have commended them, through the mediation of Jesus, to the favour of heaven. If in any, or all of these ways, he who promotes the temporal welfare of his fellow beings, does good unto himself, how much rather he, who directed his exertions and charities to the promotion of their spiritual and eternal interests. Surely the pillow of that man's death-bed must be smooth, and hope will lift up upon him the light of her most peaceful countenance, who can perceive in the review of life, that he has done what he could for securing the safety, and extending the blessings of that Ark of God, in which are disposited for his human offspring, wisdom, virtue, and everlasting salvation.

Does there arise to check the operation of these motives, the inquiry, what is the necessity of this institution? The increas ing population of the state, in parts of it where the fountains of living water have not yet been set open; the decayed state of the churches in which your forefathers, in goodly numbers, once ate with reverence the bread of life; the unhappy influence of skepticism on the one hand, and not less unhappy influence of fanaticism on the other, will, in the Christian bosom, furnish a sufficient reply.

Does there arise the chilling suggestion, this society is young, what can it do? Everything must have its beginning. The majestic river has its origin at a little spring; the cloud which contained the rain that fertilized Samaria, was at first no bigger than "a man's hand;" the intelligence which illumines a nation, had its dawn in the infant hanging upon the breast. Because this institution is young, we should the more readily, and more liberally befriend it.

Does the thought present itself that the fruits of your beneficence will be gathered in other times? This is in some degree

true. Before the benevolent designs of this society can be fully realized, its first benefactors will probably have been gathered to their fathers. But is there not something sweet in the thought, that while we shall be slumbering in the grave, posterity will be reaping great and important benefits from what we shall have done? Is there not something consoling in the reflection, that the power of death, so dreadfully to abridge our connection with the scenes of our affection and usefulness, may, in some measure, be counteracted by this posthumous operation of our works? Much good, it is believed, will immediately ensue from the benevolent exertions of this institution. But it is the expectation of great future benefits to be derived from it by posterity, that will give to your beneficence a more disinterested character; yea, that will assimilate it more perfectly to the beneficence of God. For are not his blessings often bestowed in the sublimest character of goodness, where his hand is unseen, and his name unknown.

You see then, my hearers, that this institution presents itself before you, as an infant friend of your Redeemer. It stretches out its hands to you for your smiles, and your help. It says to you, I would be strong, that I might go forth and build up the waste places of the city of God, and bring much people to the enjoyment of his peace and salvation. The spirits of those worthy laymen, who anciently sought the prosperity of the church in these parts, seem to me to look down upon it, from their places of rest, and say, Jehovah prosper you. The spirits of the mild and pious Johnson, of the sensible and dignified Garden,* and of those patient and intrepid clergymen, who, in the difficult years of the settlement of these regions, laboured in the word and doctrine, seem to me to lean from their seats of bliss, and behold with delight, the appearance of an institution which will take up the work, in which they expended their labours and their lives. The spirits of your fathers, who once

* The Rev. Dr. Johnson, the first President of King's College, New York, and the Rev. Mr. Garden, the Bishop of London's Commissary in South Carolina.

worshipped in the temples which are desolate, and whose ashes rest in their cemeteries, seem to me to call to you from the skies to patronize in their steads, this infant advocate of the church which they loved. Yea, the Spirit of Jesus seems to me to be heard, saying to you, from his throne, "Take this child, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy reward." Daughters of Jerusalem, love ye your Lord? I know that you love him. When you have read of the faithful, the happy women who embalmed his body, you have envied them their felicity. To share it with them is not in your power. But he hath a mystical body, the church. Upon that you may bestow the expressions of your regard for him. And how can you do it so effectually, as through the instrumentality of this institution, which as Joseph cherished in its humiliation his earthly body, would cherish the mystical one in which he delights to dwell. Sons of the church, love ye your Lord? I trust that ye love him. When ye behold the wise men coming to-day to bring to him their "gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh," ye are struck with the grandeur of the scene, and are ready to say to the author of so much good to our race, would we could do likewise. To bring your gifts to His presence, who has died, that your sins might be pardoned, and is gone into heaven to intercede for you there, is not in your power. But you may bestow your gold, your frankincense, and your myrrh upon the church, which is his body. And how can you do it so effectually, as through the instrumentality of this institution, which as the angels ministered in the days of his humiliation to his earthly body, would strengthen his mystical one with all the services it can devise. Men and brethren, know ye that the Son of God shall come again from heaven? Assuredly ye have heard it. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and you also shall stand before him. And if there shall be found among his attendants, many happy spirits who shall have been conducted to the knowledge of him through the beneficence of this society, would you not exchange the recollection of every earthly vanity, for the remembrance which would enable you to say to

the institution which was instrumental in bringing these to their bliss, I, in the days of my flesh, gave a portion of my goods? Go, then, indulge the emotions which the Spirit of God exciteth within you, and the fruits of which the recording angel waiteth to enter "in the Lamb's book of life." Go, and as Jacob held the angel with whom he wrestled, hold ye this opportunity fast; let it not go until it have blessed you.

SERMON

XXVII.

FOR A COLLECTION IN AID OF THE FUNDS OF THE "PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH CAROLINA.”

NEHEMIAH, xiii. 14.

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“Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done, for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof."

AM filled with wonder, my brethren, to behold a mortal man claiming of the Almighty a remembrance for good on account of his deeds. Man cannot be too humble before his God. So frail is his nature, and so imperfect are all his performances, that the language which becomes him when he approaches his Maker, is "God be merciful to me a sinner." What, then, are the works which a mere man, and he a pious and humble man, ventures thus to name to the Eternal God? It is the good Nehemiah who uses this language. What are the deeds with the remembrance of which we find him solacing himself, and for which he calls upon the Most High to remember him? They were services done for the advancement in his country of the worship of God, and the religious instruction of the people. Jerusalem lay desolate. In the holy temple its services were unheard. On the altars, no sacrifice was laid, for there was a want of priests. In the city, no Sabbath was hallowed, for the house of God was forsaken. There, where once the church had been seen in all the grandeur of her Mosaic state, with the law to instruct, and the prophets to console her children, and the