ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH. 83 



habitual public religious worship. A rigid morality 

 took the place of the religion of the gospel, and 

 many believed that morality was religion. The 

 churches which had not been destroyed were subse- 

 quently reopened, and their pulpits supplied by min- 

 ister^ from England. But these persons were too 

 vpften utterly unfit for their sacred office, some of 

 them positively wanting even the habit of a decent 

 morality. The people were disgusted with them, 

 and the churches were again closed. 



It is difficult to estimate the injury done to the 

 cause of religion by these unworthy ministers. It 

 may give you some idea of the state of destitution 

 of this prosperous district, when I tell you that in 

 1 786 I was baptized by a minister who lived more 

 than fifty miles off, and whose presence among us was 

 accidental, and that I never again saw a minister 

 until I was twelve years of age, and of course had 

 never entered a house of worship. The church was 

 not permanently reopened in St. Stephen's Parish 

 until 181 2. 



During this barren and mournful period, there 

 lived in the midst of us a man of God. He was poor 

 in the wealth of the world ; but in love, in faith in 

 his Redeemer, and in the works which characterize 

 a true disciple, he stood in the front rank of all the 

 men it has ever been my fortune to know. He was 

 a remembrancer to those about him of the reality 

 of God's existence, as the proper object of our af- 



