members of our society; you will come to the help of the Lord against the mighty; you will contend with us against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

"And see! the Captain of the host of heaven himself descends to be our leader! He stands in the centre of our earth, and, by his assuring presence, encourages all the exertions of his followers :-from His beaming crown flows that flood of light which is dissipating the clouds of heathen darkness; at his foot is fastened that chain which limits the ravages of Satan; army above army wait the glittering ranks of cherubim and seraphim. It is the same Lord, who, with the thunder of Omnipotence, pursued Satan o'er the battlements of Heaven, what time the rebel sought in the bottomless abyss a refuge from his wrath. It is the same Lord, who, once in Palestine, offered himself a sacrifice on the altar of Justice, that the family of Adam might find access to the path of salvation. It is the same Lord, who, rising from the tomb, where, for the perfecting of his saints, he for a season had reposed, led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.

"Communicants!

"It is the same Lord whose human nature was wounded, was broken, was bleeding, for your transgressions. It is the same Lord who is your Advocate with the Father: through whom you have access to a throne of grace.

"Friends of morality!

"It is He who is the only successful teacher of morals. It is He before whose banner alone will the torrent of corruption roll back upon its source. It is He from whom alone can spring the principle and the practice of holiness. "Patriots!

"It is He who alone exalteth a nation :-He who alone can make firm its foundation, and clothe with happiness its

superstructure. It is He who alone can say to the waves of revolution, Peace, be still: to the ravages of time, thus far, and no farther.

"Mortals!

"It is He who alone can clothe your dying bodies with unfading beauty: He who alone can dispense to your immortal souls a name and a place among the sons of God.

ye

"He stands, and earth owns his presence, for her wars are hushed. He stands, and the moral world blooms, and flourishes, and teems with life; and the chronicle of passing years is radiant with events that cause joy among the angels of God. The kings of Tarshish and the isles bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. Prepare the way of the Lord! make strait in the desert a highway for our God! is beginning to be heard from one end of the globe to the other; the sound floats on the banks of the Gambia, and mingles its accents with the murmur of the Ganges; the Hottentot hears it and abandons his idol;— the Brahmin hears it and throws away his cast;-it lingers around the synagogue of the Jew, and echoes throughout the sanctuary of the Gentile; it makes vocal the long night of the Esquimaux, and wakes into song the islands of the sea: China hears it and starts from her slumbers :-Ethiopia hears it and stretches forth her hands: Christendom hears it and summons all her energies. We have heard it, and

come to you this day, to ask of the widow her mite, and of the rich man his abundance, that we may send forth the warning, through all our valleys, and over all our mountains, to put on the wedding garment, and be ready for the coming of the Lord.

"Come forward, ye contributors to the treasury of Jesus, and may the memorial of what ye are about to bestow, be found in that day when it shall be said-Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have

done it unto me."

My brother and his co-workers in the Valley, were led to adopt another plan for the revival of the Church in their region. From the view of the immense field which the Diocess of Virginia presented for the labours of one Bishop, and the additional consideration of the parochial charge with which their present beloved Diocesan was necessarily burthened, also his increasing age and infirmities, induced them to propose a division of the Diocess.

A meeting was held on the 4th and 5th of January, 1820, in Winchester, to take the subject into consideration. At this meeting, the Rev. Enoch M. Lowe, Edward Colston, Esq., and Robert Page, Esq., were appointed a Committee to correspond with the Bishop and Standing Committee, on the proposed division of the Diocess.

The answers received from the Bishop, and Standing Committee, were decidedly opposed to the contemplated division.

On the 21st and 22d of March, another meeting was held in Winchester, and the above answers were committed to a Committee composed of Rev. Wm. Meade, Rev. E. M. Lowe, Rev. B. Allen, Philip Nelson, and Strother Jones, Esqrs.

This Committee proposed that the contemplated division be abandoned, and that a letter be written to the Bishop and Standing Committee, announcing this conclusion:-Their Report was unanimously received, and the same Committee appointed to make the proposed communications.

One of the members of the Standing Committee wrote afterwards to my brother

"ALEXANDRIA, April 6th, 1820. "Rev. and Dear Brother :-We are very well pleased in this quarter, with the magnanimity with which you have relinquished your scheme of cutting us off from that friendly union which has so long bound us together. The only

204 MEMOIR OF REV. BENJAMIN ALLEN. aminde honorable that we shall now be willing to accept as an expiation of your offence is, that you love us hereafter the better, in proportion to the defalcation you have shown forth.

"We are looking forward with great anticipations for the assembling of our brethren in Convention. There appears to be but little that will occupy our attention in that capacity but we may at least provoke one another to love and to good works. Very many people will be here, expecting much preaching. May the Lord crown our meeting with his presence and blessing.

"Praying that God may accompany you by his blessing, I remain with love to Mrs. Allen,

"Your affectionate friend and brother,

grace and

W. H. WILMER."

CHAPTER XIII.

NOTICE OF FUNERAL SERMONS-PUBLISHES HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.

A NUMBER of the funeral sermons preached by my brother, during 1820, were published at the request of the bereaved.

The first sermon that we notice, is entitled, "Christ the only victory over Death." It was preached in Charlestown, Virginia, March 31st, 1820, at the interment of Lieut. John Packett, of the United States Navy. "There is no man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in this war. Ecclesiastes, 8th ch. part of 8th verse."

He delivered two other sermons under peculiarly distressing providences. Two infant sons of Capt. Thomas Hammond having eaten freely of poke-root, were taken suddenly ill, and though every medical means were resorted to, they died; one on the 25th March, and the other on the 3d of April.

The father, a man of peculiar sensibility, was weighed down with grief. He survived his beloved little ones only a few days; for on Thursday, the 18th of April, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, he fell and expired immediately.

His first text was, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Jer. viii. 22."

"Be ye

also

The second was from Matthew xxiv. 44. ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh."