1790] ■ REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 319 



General Stewart* and Colonel Francis Johnston were appointed 

 to wait on Dr. Smith for this purpose. 



Though the notice was a little short, Dr. Smith, who was mni- 

 quani non paratiis, and ever ready to oblige, preached in Christ 

 Church, Philadelphia, before the Society agreeably to their request. 

 The subject of his discourse was " Temporal and Spiritual Salva- 

 tion," from the text from Isaiah iii. 12. 



The thanks of the Society were afterwards given to him, through 

 Governor McKean, General Walter Stewart and the Rev. Dr. 

 Rogers, who obtained from him his manuscript of the serm.on, in 

 order to have it printed. 



This sermon (published in Maxwell's edition of Dr. Smith's 

 Works) is a fine sample of his abilities. Parts of it have fre- 

 quently attracted attention. I do not recall the name of any man 

 who seems to me to have beheld in truer vision, though the 

 vision then, of prophecy — the expansion over this continent of the 

 glories of civilization, religion and learning. What a remarkable 

 passage, for example, to have been written A. d. 1790, two years 

 or less after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, is this ! We 

 have quoted it once already, in another place. It will bear a repe- 

 tition in this for a different purpose : 



Transported at the thought, I am borne forward todays of distant re- 

 nown ! In my expanded view these United States rise, in all their 

 ripened glory, before me. I look through, and beyond, every yet peo- 

 pled region of the New World, and behold period still brightening upon 

 period. Where one continuous depth of gloomy wilderness now shuts 



* General Walter Stewart died in 1796. He was a native of Ireland, and was born 

 in Londonderry. He came to America while young, and was earnest in the American 

 cause. He was appointed a captain in one of the four battalions of Pennsylvania 

 troops for the Continental service, January 5th, 1776. He became colonel of the Thir- 

 teenth Pennsylvania Battalion, and served during the greater part of the war. The 

 Thirteenth was afterward consolidated with the Second, and Colonel Stewart remained 

 in command of the organization under the latter title. After the Revolution he resided 

 in Philadelphia, and lived in ease on the north side of High street, between Fifth and 

 Sixth streets — nearly opposite the house occupied during the time that the Government 

 was in Philadelphia by President Washington. He married Deborali, the daughter of 

 Blair McClenachan — a beautiful woman, and a leader of society. He succeeded Major 

 General James Irvine as Major-General of the First Division at Philadelphia in 1794, 

 and had command in the city and county during the absence of Governor Mifflin wiili 

 the regular troops during the Whiskey war. General Stewart was reputed to be one of 

 the handsomest men of his day. He enjoyed the friendship of General Washington in 

 a marked degree. 



