TABLE OF CONTENTS. [The starred pages indicate those in the October issue, so numbered a mistake having occurred in the A Congregational Home,.... A Fraternal Address,.. Alliterative Verses,.. ..... A Song against the Friars,....... Association, General, of Massachusetts, proposed union with Conference,.... 41 Associations, Ministerial, in Massachu- setts, History of,................... BY REV. ISAAC P. LANGWORTHY, CHELSEA, MS. THE world, degenerate as it is, has been blessed, perhaps at every age, with here and there an individual whose high intellectual and moral level, and whose even and consistent life no less challenge admiration than they defy exact and fitting description. Suitable words elude your most careful pursuit in any attempt to express what indeed is obvious, and impressive, and truly characteristic, but cannot be appropriately translated into language. Like a sphere in geometry, complete and beautiful to look upon, but furnishing no angle or sinuosity or irregularity as a starting point for satisfactory observation. Such is the character of the individual whose name is above, and such is the difficulty that confronts us at the outset of this brief sketch. If he had been less elevated, less uniform, less straightforward, more like other men, with a common share of eccentricities, or of such peculiarities as a certain kind of genius gives, then it were more easy to write down a brief history" with a beginning, middle and end," which would, clearly enough, identify its own original. Chief Justice Williams had no such irregularities. He moved through a long life, in the even tenor of his way, without variableness or shadow of turning, as very few have ever done. It may seem the more presumptuous, therefore, for one not having had the pleasure and honor of a personal acquaintance, to attempt even this small record, as a tribute to his memory. But the writer justifies himself on the pleas,-first, that he has utterly failed to secure able and willing hands to perform this service, which the public has a right to demand of some one; Secondly, he has had for over twentyfive years a pretty general knowledge of the public life of his subject, whom he has known only to honor and admire; Thirdly, and chiefly, he has available that which others, well qualified to speak, have said upon the very points he most wishes to develope. Little, therefore, is left for him to do, but to collate, connect and arrange the ample materials at command; and this plan has the advantage of securing the united testimony of a number of the most competent witnesses, in place of the opinion of any single individual. HIS ANCESTORS. Judge Williams had an honorable and pious ancestry. Robert Williams came to this country in 1638, and settled in Roxbury, Ms. He had four sons who survived him. Isaac was born the same year, and on "maturity" removed to Newton, Ms., which town he represented in the General Court five or six years, and filled other offices, both civil and military. His son William was an eminent divine. He was pastor of the Congregational church at Hatfield for about fifty-six years. In a sermon preached at his funeral by President Edwards, and in a sketch of his life by Dr. Chauncy, the highest qualities of mind and heart are attributed to him. Solomon, his son, was perhaps more distinguished than his father. He was pastor of the Congregational church in Lebanon, Ct., for fifty-four years, and deservedly bore the title of Doctor of Divinity. Ezekiel, his son, and the father of Thomas Scott, held many distinguished civil and military offices during the period of the American Revolution, but was generally called "Sheriff Williams," which office he held for many years. He was deacon of the Congregational church at Wethersfield, Ct., during a large part of his adult life, and is now remembered there by a very few, as a most excellent, though eccentric On his mother's side, Judge Williams was great grandson of the celebrated Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, man. Ms. HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. Thomas Scott Williams was born at Wethersfield, June 26th, 1777, and was the youngest but one of eleven children. He survived them all; and, indeed, few of his associates in his earlier life are now living. Little, therefore, is known of his childhood. That he had all the advantages of an early religious training, is in the clearest evidence.1 "A Scotch lady of high intelligence, and of warm, devoted piety, resided in the family of Sheriff Williams, the father of Thomas. It was so that he was committed almost to the entire care of this lady for the first nine 1 Memorial of Hon. Thomas Scott Williams, by Rev. Joel Hawes, D.D., Hartford, Ct, p. 17. When not above nine years of he age, read with this "foster mother," Rollins's Ancient History, quite mature reading for one so young. The brother referred to above used to speak to his children of the remarkable purity of their Uncle Thomas's childhood and youth; it being free from all the faults and follies which usually attend that period of life. "I recollect distinctly hearing my father say," writes his niece, "in speaking of his conversion, which it is generally supposed took place only about thirty years before his death, Thomas was like Jeremiah, sanctified from the womb;' and I think this was his deliberate opinion concerning him. Study was always a pleasure to him, and in it he needed to be held back rather than urged on. When he was quite young, he was placed for a while under the tuition of Mr. Azel Backus,2 afterwards a distinguished divine. When 2 Azel Backus was born in Norwich town, October 13th, 1765-graduated with high honors at Yale College in 1787, soon after which he took charge of a grammar school at Wethersfield, Ct.; after this studied theology with his uncle, Charles Backus, D.D., of Somers, was ordained pastor at Bethlem, Ct., April 6, 1791, the immediate successor of Dr. Bellamy; in 1812 was inaugurated President of Hamilton College, N. Y., where he died December 9, 1817. |