After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.” Matthew 25:19

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"After a long time the Lord of those servants
comenth and reckoneth with them." Matthew 25:19.
-
A most striking representation of human
life was given by the Patriarch when he spoke of
it as a Pilgrimage. We are travellers. Our starting
point is the cradle, our goal the grave. As
we advance we encounter some points of deeper
interest than others. Day by day, as we go on
in the previous portion of the way, we come to regard
surrounding scenes and objects with
a kind of indifference. But suddenly we reach
one of these prominent points, and our attention
is at once [arrested] attracted by them, and we pause
to consider them more closely. As the traveler
in Alpine regions toiling over cliffs
which rise before him, often attains some towering summit


summit from which he can command a view of
the tract of country behind him as well as of
that which he's yet untrodden before him, so
in the pilgrimage of Life, there are periods of
remarkable interest which are ever recurring
as we journey towards the grave, at which when
we arrive be find ourselves arrested by the
interest with which they are invested. Memory
is sent back to review the past, and the mind
by a natural impulse involuntarily looks onward
to the future. The close of one year and
the opening of another constitute together one
of those eras of deep & solemn interest. Here we
may take our position as upon an eminence
and with mingled emotions of joy and sorrow,
of gratitude and of regret, of encouragement and


mortification we may review the past. On the
other hand, with an imagination chastened
by this review we may anticipate the future
and enter upon the new year with more
hopeful & trustful spirits. I invite you to spend
with me this morning a brief space in looking
back upon the [closing] year that has closed, so that together
we may trace with grateful hearts, God's gracious
dealings with us; and together we may take
note of our unfaithfullness, and be stimulated
to greater diligence in the future. One of
The most prominent thoughts in this verse is
that the Lord of those servants delayed the
period of settlement with them "a long time."
This is a representation of God's patience, inasmuch
as He allows us time to improve all


the talents, opportunities and privileges He has bestowed
upon us. It will be well for us to decide,
upon this proposed review, whether we
are fully prepared for the reckoning to which
God calls us today.
I propose a very simple plan and it will
embrace the objects following, viz:
I. What god has enabled us to do, during the
past year, [and] as a Church and as a people;
II. What privileges and exemptions we have
enjoyed;
III. What improvement and spiritual advancement
we have made.
1. What have we done by God's help during the
year? I remark first as regards our financial
operations, that the Church and Congregation


have been enabled by the good spirit and Providence
of God to contribute to every one of the prominent
departments of Christian Benevolence
organized under the care of the Gen. Ass., as
follows:
To the cause of Foreign Missions, -- $50.00
" Sustenation, -- 43.90
" Publication, -- 24.15
" Education, -- 138.90
Relief of disabled ministers, & the widows & orphans
of deceased ministers, ------- 39.00
For the evangelistic fund -- 40.40
Total, $336.35
366.97
1350
2083.32
Total average for member -- $4.20
For. Miss " " 62ch- _ Sustenation, 5i5ch-0.
Publication, 30ch- _ Education, 1.73, Dis. in. 48ch- Ev. _ 50 ch-.


Now I wish you to notice the fact that these averages
are for above those of our Chhs. in general. We
have reported 112000 members in round numbers,
in the So. Ch. You will see that if all had contributed
to these causes in the same proportion the
sum for For missions would have been $69,440. instead
of $45,054. For Sustenation, $60,500 instead of $39,591
Ed. 193.760 instead of about 18,000. Pub. 33,600 - 8,666.
Ev. 56,000 inst of 15,500. Invalid 53,460 inst. of 9,641
And the grand total of the whole amt. of [benevolent]
contributions of the So. Ch. to these 6 causes wd have been
$470,400 instead of $150,974. In other words if
the whole of the Chhs had averaged for the 6
causes the same amt as given by the Sandersdale
St. Ch., we should have raised in the
So. Ch. more than thrice as much as was raised.


It is to be observed that this estimate does not
include four other subjects that are embraced
in the tabulated summaries of our
Gen Assembly's minutes; viz: Presbyterial (Com. fund) Pastor's sal.
wh. in this Ch.
Congregational (building repairs) Miscellaneous;-
amtg altogether to the sum of = 1380
In addition to which we have raised funds for
the poor $46.81 for contingent expenses $320.16 = $366.97.
Our Sab. School children have raised $106.45.
All of these various amts. combined and
aggregated give as the result of the financial
operations of the year the sum of $2083.33 $809.77
Besides, as another part of the material or
more secular operations of the Ch. we record
with gratitude to God, and under God to many
friends into whose hearts it pleased Him to
put the Kindness, for their liberal pecuniary


and whereby we have been enabled to purchase the
most [beautiful] eligible lot in the city, and to erect
upon it a beautiful & commodious House
of Worship at a cost of $10868.12 which has been paid up. II As to our privileges & exemptions,
During the [year] year the stated dispensation
of the regular ordinances of God's House
and worship have been kept up during
all the sabbaths (& wednesday evenings) except four or five during
my necessary abscences, and 108 discourses & Lectures
have been delivered by your own minister, besides
22 by Dr Chall, 2 by Rev Dr Marshall, 2 by Rev Mr Young, by
Dr Witherspoon, and 1 by Dr Palmer, 1 Dr Stainbtack, + 1 by Rev Mr.
Daniel. [*Rev Mr. of miss & [??ans of this city - Drs Abby mi & Jones Jackson of the M E Ch] [*142] The Sacrament of the lord's supper - 4 times.
There have been added to the Church membership
during the year twenty-one, of which eleven
joined by certificate, and ten by profession of faith.


Our present membership numbers 80 after taking
into the account dismissions, deaths and absences.
The exercises of the Sabbath school have been
kept up without interruption, [and] with great efficiency on the part of Sup!- & teachers, and the
number of scholars on the roll has
been as high as 117 while the average attendance has been [?????] 1st 6 mos 101 2 6 mos 71 for the yr 86. [76 thru the year]
The Ladies' weekly Prayer meeting and Society, has held
its regular meetings and I have always
regarded it as a most important and
valuable auxiliary to the spiritual advancement
of the Church, and I doubt not that
God has made it the channel of great
blessings to many, the full value of which
will be revealed only when Eternity shall
bring its light to shine upon all things
earthly. It ought to be stated for their
encouragement that by their energy & zeal


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they have contributed to the ornamentation
and furniture of the House of Worship
the handsome sum of about $600.
For all these works of love and faith done
by the Church in all its Departments of
labor, let us not forget that we are
indebted to the Kind Providence of God
and His Holy Spirit. Through these
Divine sources of aid we have been
enabled & inclined to do them. Our
Heavenly Father has not only furnished
us the means, but He has put it into
our hearts to do these things.
To our beloved and distinguished brethren,
Rev Drs. Palmer and Witherspoon we all
owe a debt of gratitude for the precious


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sermons delivered by them in our house of worship,
as well as for their able and valuable
Lectures in behalf of the Ladies' Association,
rendering to them important and timely aid
in their work for the House. May the
Lord who endowed these beloved brethren
and all the others who have filled our pulpit during the yr.
so richly with their eminent gifts and
graces, reward them for their labors
of love among us!
Above all let us recognize the special goodness
of God in enabling us to complete the
House of Worship, and dedicate it to the
service of the Triune Jehovah, free from
debt. Leaving us thus with no embarrassment
or obstacle in our career as a Church, but
having before us a clear [pathway] field of labor for God's


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Glory and the salvation of souls.
With all these privileges, we should bear in
mind the exemptions from calamity, and
evil with which we have been blessed
during the year. It has been a year of almost
unparalleled health in our congregation.
[*1873 -- 1876 -- Savannah & Memphis]
True we have followed to the grave a beloved
sister, Mrs. Susan Allen, and mingled our
sympathies with the sorrows of her bereaved husband & family,
and lament the loss of one so fitted by her
piety to fill a valued place in God's Ch.
But it must not be forgotten that our loss was her
gain, and while Earth has lost Heaven has
gained, in attractions. Her dying hours were
marked by a faith in Jesus Xt. that enabled
her to triumph over all doubt and fear, [????] and so


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her testimony to the truth of the religion of her
Savior was eminently honoring and full of comfort.
Death is always sad to surviving friends, and at [so] a
time so near to the event, it cannot fail to
re-open the wound inflicted upon sorrowing
hearts, to recur to another death, and this
is the case of [one] a member of our Sabbath School.
I need hardly tell you that I allude to
dear Sallie Semaster. You know how bright
& lovely she was; how full of life and joy she
seemed just before her illness occurred, when
she was with her Class on her last sabbath;
how suddenly she was prostrated by disease;
how rapidly she was borne to the grave; in spite
of all that the skill of the Physician could do, or


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the tenderest attentions of most devoted friends. But
blessed be God! We do not sorrow as those who
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.
The deaths of such characters has been compared
to the disappearance of the morning star.
"They set as sets the morning star, which
goes not down behind the darkened west
nor hides obscured amid the tempests of
the sky, but melts away into the light
of Heaven."
[Only] One more death [has] occurred last summer [for] among
our congregation - another member of our
sabbath school - little Sidney Pleasants. He was
with us not long; but from his death let all


the little Chn. learn that none of them are too
young to die; and let three instances serve
to warn us all [what] to be always prepared
to meet our God in death, judgment
and Eternity. But just as we were closing up the
year's accounts, the messenger of Jesus came again and carried
home one other little lamb from His earthly hook to His heavenly fold.
[*This was little Eva Sects, 15, who with little warning was
taken away from our little sabbath circle of learners to
the Sanctuary above.]
III. And now we have one more exercise
to go through in this review, and that
is to consider what improvement, and advancement
in the Divine Life we have
made. "Tis greatly wise to talk with our past
hours and ask them what report they bore to
Heaven." They have made some report. All
is on record [against] about us, in the book of
Remembrance & these reports will appear
at the great Day of reckoning. Yet we need
not wait for that solemn season. Let us see


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now how the account stands. If against us
we may find time to reform. If by God's
grace we have done something for His
cause, and have grown in grace & in
good works, then we may rejoice in
the grace and goodness of God.
1. Do we take to ourselves the credit of all the
good we have done this year? I admit that as
instruments we have done something. But if
we "sacrifice to our own net and burn incense
to our own drag"; if we find ourselves
claiming the merit of what has been accomplished
then we are guilty of robbing God of His own
glory and idolizing self. Nothing can be more
offensive to God than this. Let us be cautious
about self worship. If we have done well, give


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God the glory; and wherein we have failed to do
even as well as we might have done, (and who
can or dare say that we might not have done
more & better) let us take all the shame and
humiliation of our failures to ourselves. So we
shall grow in humility.
2. Have we been more peaceful & harmonious among
ourselves, cultivating brotherly love, and being
always on our guard against saying or doing
or even thinking evil about our neighbor, to a
greater degree than formerly? If we closely
observe Society around us; I think we shall
find that there is always a propensity in men
& women to think uncharitably, and then as out of
the abundance of the heart & the mouth speaketh,"-
there is a like propensity to utter uncharitable thoughts,
and then positive & palpable form is given to these thoughts


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and words, in acts of unkindness, or involuntary
slights in manner. There is also in some a
sensitiveness of nature, that sometimes gives a misconstruction
to words & deeds not intended by
the speaker or actor and then such interpretations
proceeding upon their own conceptions of what is
intended, and estimating over highly what is due
themselves, become offended and a breach of peace
is made, and oftentimes the peace of Zion is
marred. I have no charge of this kind to make
against any one. But as we have hitherto lived
and labored together in fraternal harmony let us
be careful to be more & more imbued with
that Charity which "suffereth long;" "thinketh no evil;" [suffereth] "beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endoweth
all things." So shall we assure ourselves of a Conscience


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void of offense toward God & Men;" and we shall properly
value that "peace on earth, and good will to
men," which is the substance of the Angel song of
heralding Christ's advent into our world. So we shall grow
in Charity & brotherly Love.
3. Have we been advancing in Holiness, and in
purity of motive? This is a comprehensive question,
and one we may find it difficult to answer in
each case. Sometimes [a] modest & Humble children of
God, more disposed to judge in [his, or her] their own cases,
severely & looking at the occasional uprisings
of inner simple suggestions, and words not exactly
what they should be, and acts performed under
impulse, is ready to decide & write bitter things against themselves and
to feel almost that they have no right to consider themselves
Christians at all. On the other hand, there are those


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But no one of these classes can be judged by any human
standard. You may decide against one class, when indeed
this class may have God's grace. You may eulogize
another that has little or no grace. God's word is
the only infallible rule, and the fidelity of the magnet
to the Pole even amid occasional disturbances & vacillations finely illustrates the condition of many a heart
the main tendency of whose affections points faithfully
to God though subject to many interruptions from surrounding
influences. As we cannot decide whether there
is any daily and progressive growth and enlargement
in the young sapling in our yard which we see
every day, so we cannot perceive our own growth & enlargement


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in the divine life day by day, because it is gradual, so
described in S.S. But as after long absence from
the spot returning, we are surprised to find that
the slender Scion, has grown taller, and larger, &
its foliage has become more widely spread, showing
that there has been steady and impressive growth,
real growth; so we may compare our present spiritual state on
this [last] day of the last month of the year, with
that state we held on the first day of the first month of the year, and if
there has been growth and enlargement in Holiness
and purity of motive it cannot escape our notice.
I doubt not, my brethren, that this will be the experience
of many of my beloved friends before me today,
and that you by God's grace & Spirit's help have increased your intrusted talents from
5 to 10; or from 2 to 4. God forbid that there shd. be among
us any unprofitable servant, who during the past year has buried his


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Lord's money beneath a mass of worldliness, vanity, and
neglect!
In Conclusion I remind you all, my brethren, & friends,
that God our Sovereign Lord is present this day, &
that after the lapse of another year "He cometh
and reckoneth with" us. In His great name then
and as His servant I demand of you all, both
children of God; and impenitent Sinners, "How
much owest thou my Lord?"
How much for health, and Life, and food & raiment,
and prosperous circumstances in Life; a place to
work and reward for your labor? How much for
spiritual privileges;- an open bible; [and Sanctuary;]
the blessed sabbaths you have enjoyed; the successful enterprises
of the Ch.; the erection of a new & beautiful Sanctuary
on premises of your own, free from all encumbrance;


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the growing sabbath school; the happy prayer meetings
and the privileges of Sanctuary worship, and closer
communion with the Father and His Son Jesus
Christ? What is the amt. of your indebtedness to
your gracious Lord and Master? Have you the
arithmetical account all made out and are you ready
to pay? The blessings bestowed on us are infinite in value,
and priceless in their very nature, and so I see not
how we can meet God's claims in kind. But God
is very merciful, and, I am authorised this morning
to say that all He demands in return for all He
has done is your heart. "My Son" tc. Let us, therefore, this
morning enter into new covenant engagements with
the Lord; realizing that the "living sacrifice of our bodies
to Him is but our reasonable Service," & that "Love so
amazing, so Divine, demands our souls, our lives, our All!"


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But my careless impenitent friend, I demand of you "how much
owest thou, my Lord? You have done nothing for God either,
instrumentally or otherwise. You have forgotten God. You
have slighted Jesus. You have done despite unto the spirit
of all Grace. You have been invited, and intrusted, and and
urged time after time to come to Jesus. You have been raised
up from a bed of sickness, & granted time & space for repentance.
You have not been called to lie down in a dark & hopeless
grave. [*No astabula disaster] This morning you are here in life & health. Are
you ready to settle? This is a good time for settlement.
This is but a type of another day of settlement - Great Day!
Come & meet God, & accept His terms. Accept Xt.'s righteousness & be saved
Then when the Last Day of Accounts shall come, altho' all your
sins will be found in God's book of record, yet they will be [blotted] balanced
on the credit side by the Atonement of J.C., & you will be forever free from
the Law & entitled to Everlasting Life. But if not, the long black list will stand
unliquidated with an awful balance against you, -- & it will stand thro' Eternity.