MAN'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. A SERMON DELIVERED AT THE INSTALLATION OF REV. THOMAS OSBORNE RICE AS PASTOR OF THE INDEPENDENT OR CONGREGRATIONAL (CIRCULAR) CHURCH. Charleston, S.C., April 1, 1860. By Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D.D., of Boston, Mass.

Charleston, [S.C.]: Evans & Cogswell, 1860. 8vo [23.1 cm.] 33 pages. Original printed wraps. Library stamp on front wrap, but no other signs of institutional use. Otherwise good plus. Scattered foxing; some corners a little creased or bumped. FIRST EDITION. Scarce. Thomas Osborne Rice, a native of Brighton, Massachusetts, served as minister of the Circular Church for four years, remaining in South Carolina after secession and for much of the Civil War. Before coming to Charleston, he served as minister in West Killingly, Connecticut, and then in Boston (1858-1860). He resigned from the Circular Church in 1864 and crossed the lines to return to Massachusetts. Rice was the last minister of the old Circular Church, an architectural landmark of antebellum South Carolina. It was a great domed structure built in 1804 after the designs of Robert Mills, the esteemed Charleston architect best known for designing the original Washington Monument. The Circular Church was destroyed by a fire in December, 1864. It was not until 1867 that a new minister was installed and a new church built. Delivering the keynote speech at Rice's installation was fellow New Englander, Nehemiah Adams, (1806-1878), a Boston minister best remembered for his controversial book, "A South Side View of Slavery" (1854). Based on a several month visit to Georgia, the work was attacked by Northern abolitionists for providing a largely favorable portrayal of slavery. In addition to Adams's sermon, this pamphlet includes: Rev. John Todd, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, "Charge to the Pastor," (pp. 19-22); Rev. Thomas Smyth, of Charleston, "Address on Giving the Right Hand of Fellowship" (pp. 23-28); and Rev. George W. Blagden, of Boston, "Address to the People" (pp. 28-33). Not in Turnbull.