In South Carolina. 237 



be all a hoax. Some wag, knowing how much such a 

 circumstance would trouble him, probably originated 

 the tale just for that purpose." 



At a protracted-meeting in one of the larger towns, 

 a talented minister, who a few days before had been 

 married to a most excellent young lady of the place, 

 preached a carefully prepared sermon to a large con 

 gregation — in which the bride, the family, and divers 

 friends were included — on the " Frailty of man and 

 the immutability of the gospel," from 1 Peter i. 24, 25. 

 In the discourse, which, was throughout highly rhe- 

 torical and excessively ornate, there occurred, in par- 

 ticular, a passage in which the pyramids of Egypt 

 were made to stand out very conspicuously to view. 

 Mr. Jenkins, who had been trained in a widely differ- 

 ent school of homiletics, and who had been requested 

 to close the exercises after him, began his exhortation 

 by saying: "Brethren, the hour is gone, and nobody 

 profited. I should like to know what the pyramids of 

 Egypt have to do with the converting of souls. Eire- 

 Holy Ghost — -power — is what we want." And he pro- 

 ceeded to criticise in unsparing terms of severity a style 

 of preaching so revolting to his taste, and so foreign 

 from his conception of the proper object of the pulpit. 

 Notwithstanding the mortification on the one side, 

 and the merriment on the other, produced for a time 

 by the severity of his strictures, yet, by his honesty 

 of purpose and earnestness of spirit, which all were 

 obliged to recognize, he brought the service to a close 

 amid feelings of deepest solemnity and awe on the part 

 of the congregation. 



During the session of one of the Conferences, Mr. 

 Jenkins felt bound by his conscience to make com- 

 plaint against a young preacher who had allowed him- 



