{"page_2": " his teacher in philosophy for Mr. Williams was a thoroughly loyal man\nOn December 15, 1774\nMr. Willians preached a Thanksgiving\n# Iove of Bur\nCountry\" Ps. 137: 5,6.\nThe sermon\nprinted and videly distributed. It breathered in\nIt breathed no spirit\nof defiance.\nIt counselled peace.\ntenderness\nand grief and under the apprehension that great\nevil would soon come.\nThe sermon proved a prophecy.\nyears later,\nMX.\nWilliams read fron the same pulpit the\nDeclaration\nof American Independence.\nThere is abundant testimony to the fidelity and evangelical character of the preaching of this Pastor.\nIn his early\nministry he delivered two sermons which were the key note of his preaching.\nThe doctrine of his sermons gives a very\n2ood symbol of his pastorate.\nThe subject was regeneration.\nHe set forth the importance of salvation,\nthe lost condition\nin sin.\nof change by the Grace of God.\nThe utter Inability of the sinner blessedness,\nLastly the\nof\nthat change as seen in love to God; lovo of Holiness; love to man and love of duty as crowning all.\nIe was dismissed June 14, 1780 to accept the professorshir\n7 Mathonatics ánd Natural Philosophy in Harvard College.\nHe received the degree of L. L. D.\nfrom the University of\nBdinburgh and from\nXale College.\nHe was Honorable Member\nof the Meteorological Society of Manheim\nGermany and of the\nPhilosophical Society of Philidelphia and of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Massachusetts, In 1788 he was dismissed\nBrom Cambridge, Mass.\nSome records\nstate that he had committed \" forgery\"\nand was discharged.\nHe settled in Ruti in the\nthe first minister in\nVermont, Parish,\nBast\nthen new country and was\nso called, in that\nHe preached there for six years.\nHe also preached at Burlington, Vt. some tuo years and derlivered a course of Lectures at the University of\nVermont\nwhere he contributed largely to the cause of education there.\nOn Dec. 4,\nin his Thanksgiving sermon,\nhe announced his\nintention\nactive work in the ministry.\nHe had been the first minister of the church as before stated.\nRutland itself was\nless\nthan twenty years old.\nVermont had\nbeen but three years one of the states of the\nlittle frontier commonwealth was a heroic post and a patrio\nrather than a\ntower of\nstrength in the policital\nThere was great need after the Revolution of the\npreacher and the teacher.\nThe college bred men of the state\ncould be counted upon\nthe fingers of two hands.\nEthan Allen\ncapture Ilconderoga, but he could not spell it.\nHis decision to withdraw from active work in the ministry filled the people of the\nBast Parish with consternation. ", "page_3": " Williams - 2\nIt was a period of religious and political contusion.\nThe\ntemperment which multinlied Tories\njust before the Revolution\nproduced after the war a kind of partisan who was destined to become a reproach to federalism.\nThe more\nrushed to the other extreme\nradical\nelements\nand laid the foundation of the\nJeffersonian denocracy•\nWith a hot tempered\ncrown calling\nfor less religion and less government and a conservative class violently demanding more religion and more government,\nthe\nwhole tone\nof public opinion declined and morals were in a\nsad way also.\nAt such a crisis the retirenent from most\nconspicious clergynen\nthe pulpit one of the\nof the state was an\nof no\nordinary moment.\nWilliams was a Federalist;\nRutland\ncounty was a republican or in modern phrase,\ndemocratic\nstronghold.\nHis reasons for wichdrawel, moreover bordered\nvery closely upon the sensational,\nHis congregation var\nhis church unwarmed\nsmother vas do te siste\nthe loose doors admitting drift and the words of the doctor\nin small clothes must have fallen with startling force fron the pulpit.\nFor six years and more he had preached without\nadding nore than one person to the church membership and that one his own wife.\nAs\nto the spiritual condition of his\nflock\nand of\nthe community he was very frank. In his Thanksgiving\nsermon he said:-\n\" Adverse appearances and events are to be regarded wich hum-ilitiation and repentance.\nWhile we seem to be crowned wit\nprosperity and\ntemporal and civil arfairs\neverything in our religious concerns seems to bear a contrar appearance and it is with mich difficulty that the very form and appearance of religion can be kept up.\nEvery attentp\nto spread among the people of this state\nthe principles of\ncivil liberty.\nof historical or scientific knowledge,\no be received much to\nwith their\ngreatest\napprobation and encouragement.\ntheir hono?? whon the attempt is made\nexplain and confirm\nthe great principles of natural and\nscarcely anybody will\nreveal trell hod lattered mysels that unen greater degrees\nregard it.\nof improvement and refinement should be introduced among us\nmore decorum, regularity and decency in our\nreligious assemblies and appearances.\nBut I cannot discern\nany appearances of the kind.\nA minister for a considerable\npart of the time must preach almost to the bare walls and see\none part of public worship laid aside as if it denended uoor che fancy or humor of the moment. discouragements\nIn such things.\nI find such\nthat I cannot\nsee a prospect of being very\nuseful in an office treated with so much neglect and inatten tion.\nAnd though I do not mean to make any sudden resolutions,\nI have it in contemplation when I have fulfilled my engage-be done unless\nments with you the people vill\nnot to pursue a calling in which no good\ncan\nIn effect De. Williams' conclusion was this:\nThings are in\na demoralizing\nstate in Rutland.\nI have\ntried preaching with-\nout success; I now propose to edit a paper. ", "page_4": " Thus,\nwith the ald of his first deacon, a man of means, he started the \" Futland Herald\" four days after his Thanks giving sermon;\nand this paper is still published.\nHe saw the possibilites of the public press and he devoted his energies and talents to turning that power\nsatriotic channels.\none story wooden building\n111 lizhted and uncomtorcable he\nread the\nproof took advertisements\nand subscriptions,\npearl ashes and in fact almost any market\nable produce.\na periodical called\nRural Magazine\",\nshortly after starting the o pulled list nory on t\nA short history or the\nAmerican Revolution\nwhich he wrote for the Rural Magazine\nsubsequently printed separatoly and for\nmany years was\nused as a childs\" reader in the schools of lew lingland.\nIn 1805 he sold the Herald and was for a time a lecturer at the state university in Burlington.\nUpon his return to\nRutland he lived on Main Street in a house still standing.\nIn those days it contained an enormous chimney with three\nrirenlaces.\nHere in honorable retirement he lived with his\nfamily.\nA ready conversationalist,\nand learned\nbeyond those\nhis renace in his old age,\nwe can imagine him tapping his snuff box beroze\nentertaining or instructing\nhis friends\nand using his influence for the elevations of\nthe state of his adoption.\nRef:\n\" History of Bradford,\nMass.\" by Kingsbury,\nto 102\nNew England. Magazine\" by\nWarren I.\nJune 1895\nKellogs, publisher\ni Bradford, Bible\nMass.\nVital Records \" pages 285, 370 "}