has been his whole life, and so religiously composed his dying hours, that we may well exclaim, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

In May, 1801, the Rev. Samuel Haskell succeeded to the rectorship of the church, in which situation he remained till September, 1803, when he resigned his charge, and accepted an invitation from the church in Gardiner, in the state of Maine.

At the request of the wardens, your present rector officiated, for the first time in this church, as lay reader, on the 23d of October following. In this capacity he continued his services till the summer of 1805, when, at the solicitation of the congregation, he applied for holy orders, and was ordained deacon on Wednesday, July 31, and priest, on Friday, August 2, in Trinity church, in the city of New York, the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, D. D., bishop of the diocese of New York.

by

During the last twenty years, my brethren, you have had the satisfaction of seeing your church gradually rising from a state of feebleness and depression, and going on from strength to strength. Through the Divine blessing on your united counsels, your zealous and persevering exertions, you now behold it in a more pros

perous and flourishing state than it has enjoyed since the death of its first rector. And may we not indulge the hope, that the same period has been marked by a corresponding growth of its members in the virtues and graces of the divine life; that, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, they have been growing unto a holy temple in the Lord?

Since the year 1805, the ordinance of baptism has been administered to six hundred and fiftyfour persons: two hundred and thirty-eight have been confirmed; two hundred and seventy have been admitted to the holy communion; two hundred and forty couple have been united in the bands of marriage; and over the remains of nearly two hundred, the funeral solemnities have been performed. The number of families, which compose the present congregation, is eighty. The number of individuals, including adults and children, about five hundred, of whom about two hundred are communicants. In June, 1815, a Sunday school was established, to which more. than one thousand children have been admitted, among whom upwards of three thousand books, of different sizes and descriptions, have been distributed. The school at present consists of about one hundred and thirty scholars, a superintendent, eighteen teachers, and a visiting committee of six.

The average attendance of the children is from seventy-five to one hundred.

From this concise statement of the origin, progress, and present prosperity of our church, does it not become us, my brethren, to remember, and gratefully to acknowledge, the loving kindness of God in the midst of his temple? It is he who inclined the hearts of our forefathers to erect this house to his name, and crowned their labours with success. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. It is to his guardianship and protection that we owe its preservation. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. If the ministrations of this house have contributed to the conversion and salvation of any who have worshipped within its courts, it is owing to his blessing on the means of grace; for, though Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, it is God who giveth the increase. Not unto us, therefore, but to his name be the praise.

By the view we have taken of the past, we are forcibly reminded of the flight of time, and of the desolations which mark its progress. Where are now the persons who built this house, and the congregation which first assembled within its wails? Not an individual is to

be found among the living. All have been long since gathered to their fathers. The seats they once occupied are filled by others.

The light of the returning sabbath cheers not their dark abode. Their ears are insensible alike to the sweet accents of mercy, and the fearful denunciations of a judgment to come Their hearts no longer swell with the raptures of devotion. Hosannas to the Son of David no longer dwell on their tongues. Whether they were wise or unwise in their day and generation; whether they dissembled with their Maker, or worshipped him in spirit and in truth; whether they persisted to the last in rejecting the counsel of God against themselves, or believed to the saving of their souls; the term of their probation is ended, their warfare is accomplished, their destiny is unalterably fixed. How solemn, how affecting the thought! Soon, my brethren, will it be said of us, as it is now said of those who are gone before us. The places which now know us will shortly know us no more for ever. Whether we are abusing, or profiting by our religious privileges, whether we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling, or consuming our days in vanity and sin, we are hastening, with rapid step, to that "country from whose bourne no traveller returns." Before another the congregation

century shall have rolled away,

here assembled will be numbered with the congregation of the dead. Before half that period shall have elapsed, many, probably most, of us shall have finished our course. What manner of persons then ought we to be? If our interests through eternity depend on the use we make of our present privileges; if there be no repentance in the grave; if after death cometh the judg ment, at which every one shall receive according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil; how highly should we estimate the means of grace and salvation which we now enjoy? With what zeal and perseverance should we labour, in the use of these means, to become reconciled to God, and to make our calling and election sure. How assiduously should we watch and pray against whatever may divert us from our Christian course, or endanger the prize to which we aspire. Let us work the work of him that sent us, while it is day, remembering that the night cometh when no man can work. Let us be steadfast, unmoveable, always aboundin the work of the Lord, knowing that our labour will not be in vain in the Lord.

The church, whose history we have been tracing, presents no ordinary claims to our reverence and regard. It has become venerable for its antiquity. It has survived three generations of