The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-02-15
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RICHMOND. VA, December s, 1875.
Reu. George Woodbridge, ID. d., Rector
Monumental Church ::-srs-s-'s
Dear Sir,-We, theundersigned members
Of your church. who were 80 fortunate as
TO hear your sermon on yesterday morning,
desire copy Of it for. distribution among
the congregation aud friends of our church.
is not often, In the history OF church
| in this country, that a pastor can preach his
th;Tt;efh annual sermon, and such an event
should make us allthankful to the !" God OF
all mercies y for his goodness to us. May
the Bishop and Shepherd OF the Church
ever have you in his care and keeping. and
long spare you to us as our pastor and our
friend. Your obedient servants,
WIN. FL. POWERS, THOMAS POTTs,
?. Fl. MAYO, P. C. WARWICK,
JAS. II. GARDNER, JOHN 81. TYLER, i
THos. w. boswell, GEO. D. FISHER,
r. H. MEADE, III. d. WHITcoMB.
To MeSsrs. WilliGan 81. P01erS, Thomas
Potts, p. IL. Mayo, and Others:
Gentlemeu,-Y you think the sermon
preached last Sunday may be 8 ilsefuIfof
distribution among the congregation and
friends Of the church," it is at your dis
posal.
I would observe that the period OF g thir-
ty yearsr only begins with the 1st Of De-
celnber, 1S45. Previously to that minis
tered in Christ church from Whitsunday,
May %, 1883, the statistics OF which are left
out, as not material to the subject. But the
congregation is the same. So that my MIN
istry embraces but one congregation to the
present time-a period OF more than forty
two years.
Very truly, GEORGE WOODBRIDGE.
Richmond, December s, 1875.
THE SERMON.
The sermon referred to created profound
impression upon his people, and it might be
reproduced here with good effect; but the
following extracts from it will suffice to
show the zeal and spirit which actuated him
| in his labors:
GAS | look back on the years that
have passed I think I can say / have
tried to be faithful in the duties Of
my ministry. I have labored and prayed
to be faithful; and yet the prayer will in
voluntarily rise: Lord, enter not into judg-
19ent with Thy servant. Weigh not my
merits. but pardon my offences, for Jesus
Christ's sake. But in that Judgment which
will then take place the long gears we have
spent together will come up for review,
and the questions Of my faithfulness and
of your faithfulness will be among the
then be asked. When the great white
throne shall be set, on which shall be seated
the Judge Of all, the grand inquiry will be,
What have you done with all the time OF life
in yonder world? You spent thirty or
forty years there-perhaps seventy or eighty.
I gave YOU this time, with thousand op-
portunities aud means Of grace and saliva
ton. What have you done with them all
How many sermons have you heard? How
many Sabbaths, how many seasons, did
give you for prayer and retirement and con-
! verse with God and your own soul? Did
YOU improve your time? Did you pray !?
Did you converse with God and your own
soul? Or did you suffer them to slide away
without any improvement, and neglect the
one thing needful? " ~.
"If we look back on the year now near its
end, how small space do striking circum-
stances occupy in our individual IVes.
The daily tasks make the year; but surely
these are not unfruitful. God was in them,
visiting and trying US; silently, perhaps un-
observedly, raising up small trials, and then
as silently removing them; Offering us
means Of grace, and then laying them by
with their fruits for eternity; suggesting
holy resolutions and deeds Of self.denying
love. just suggesting them, softly uttering
them in the whispers of conscience, and
then leaving them to be heard and followed
by gentle, loving, watchful hearts, or tc be
sighted by the cold or drowned by the
world-en crossed hearts. Gods purposes
will be fulfilled in His own good time; and
our efforts, if sincere and earnest, will not
lose their reward, though we see not as yet
their fruit. And still less must we mourn over
worldly failures, the severance OF ties, the
changes Of circumstances, which time may
bring. Our work must be to use them to
Gods glory while they last-not to pine
after them when they are gone. If we
thus strive to use them to our profit they
will have done Gods work; and be sure
we shall hear OF them again with Joy in the
last great day-that day when all those seem
ing tri1es OF life, those daily tasks. OF
which the world takes but small reckoning,
but which are in truth so momenteus-for
are they not fraught with an eternity OF Joy
or woe ?-when all these trials of God shall
appear before the awful Judgment throne to
give up their fruit for heaven or hell, and
we by their reckoning shall live or die for
ever"
FRUITS OF HIS LAB0RS.
From the same sermon we gather the
following to show some Of the fruits Of
his labors and we may add that since the
discourse was delivered his church has con-
tinued steadily to increase:
"The second Sunday in Advent, the 1th OF
December, 1S45, the congregation OF Cnrlst
church took possession Of this church.
"At that time the number OF communi-
cants was one hundred and three, OF whom,
the following June, three were admitted to
holy orders. Since then, to the 1st OF last
Nav, eight hundred and siXty-four have
been admitted to the communion OF the
church: six hundred and twenty-five have
removed and received letters OF dlsmis-
sion: one hundred and fourteen have died;
and nineteen have either Withdrawn from
the holy communion or have been sus-
pended. The number OF communicates, as
last reported, is two hundred and thirty
seven. There have been one hundred ana
forty adults and seven hundred and thirty
three infants baptized. There have been
two hundred and sixtY-four marriages, and
there have been six hundred and twenty
three funerals. The amount collected, in
dependent of the regular expenses OF the
church, such as ministerial salary, music,
sexton, ETC., is $50, ,755.79. This amount is
| for the general purposes OF beneyolence and
Of the church, not only diocesan but gen.
eral.
mTen persons have been ordained to holy
orders in this church, OF whom three are
now resting from their labors in the grave,
three Others have been consecrated as
Bishops in the church, Of whom one, the
Right Rev. Claiming Moore Williams, is now
the devoted, seh-denying, single-hearted
missionary bishop TO Japan; another, the
Right Rev. Henry G.. Lay, OF EastoD, and
the other, the Right Rev. Thomas u. Dud.