This selected edition of twenty-seven sermons delivered by Bishop Robert Smith (17321801) from the pulpit of Charleston's oldest Episcopal church gives voice to an influential clergyman and his rhetoric in support of a colonial rebellion. Wilbanks has edited Smith's previously unpublished sermons, which were written, delivered, and sometimes repeated during a forty-year career. In his analysis of these sermons, Wilbanks illustrates how a theology of community, civic duty, and national piety led to Smith's advocacy of American independence.