In South Carolina. 285 



clred houses. I lodged at the house of Brother Smith, 

 formerly au eminent and successful traveling preach- 

 er. It is most lamentable to see so many of our able 

 married preachers (or rather I might say, almost all 

 of them) become located merely for want of support 

 for their families. I am conscious it is not the fault 

 of the people; it is the fault of the preachers, who, 

 through a false and most unfortunate delicacy, have 

 not pressed the important subject as they ought upon 

 the consciences of the people. I am astonished that 

 the work has risen to its present height on this conti- 

 nent, when so much of the spirit of prophecy, of the 

 gifts of preaching — yea, of the most precious gifts 

 which God bestows on mortals, except the gifts of his 

 only-begotten Son and his spirit of grace — should thus 

 miserably be thrown away. I could, methinks, enter 

 into my closet and weep tears of blood on the occasion. 

 Many of the inhabitants of Camden, as I was informed, 

 are Deists, so I endeavored to suit my discourses ac- 

 cordingly. After preaching two sermons in this town, 

 and one at Brother Lenoir's, a planter, who lives a few 

 mil es from Camden, we set out for Brother Bembert's, 

 who is descended from French ancestors, and of con- 

 siderable property. On Christmas-day I preached at 

 our chapel in the neighborhood, on the history of the 

 wise men, and afterward administered the Lord's Sup- 

 per. About dinner-time a son of Brother Bembert re- 

 lated to us the following interesting anecdote : 'A (skep- 

 tical) gentleman of Columbia (the seat of government 

 for South Carolina, not far distant from Mr. Bembert's) 

 had (about a fortnight past) drunk immoderately for 

 three successive nights, by which he brought on a fe- 

 ver, which ended in his death. A little time before he 

 died, he asked his physician whether there were any 



