months before his death, and from which he almost despaired of recovery, his mind was calm and peaceful in the prospect of dissolution. To the writer, who visited him at that time, he expressed a strong and settled confidence in the Savior. He renounced all dependence on anything he had ever done, and rested his hope of acceptance with God entirely upon the righteousness of Christ. He was much afraid that his protracted affliction might render him impatient and lead him to dishonor religion, and his great desire was that he might honor Christ in his death, as he had sought to do in his life.' To the foregoing I would add that Dr. Williams had the happy faculty, beyond most men, of giving to conversation a proper direction. While with his intimate friends he would occasionally indulge in miscellaneous anecdotes, his common practice was to turn the conversation into a higher channel. With his ministerial brethren especially, he was in the habit of introducing such topics of a religious or literary character as would lead to profitable investigation. He rarely failed to place the subject of conversation in such a form as most effectually to elicit friendly discussion, and a free interchange of opinions on the part of those present. He was particularly fond of those social colloquies which afforded opportunity for debate and which, by drawing forth the mental powers and resources of the parties, secured for the subject under discussion a more thorough analysis. His controversial tactics on these occasions have often been witnessed with admiration. Sometimes strangers who knew nothing of his mental acumen and skill in debate, would be drawn into collision with him on some question of Theology or Mental Philosophy, but not rarely found that they must capitulate or suffer certain defeat. And if, in the progress of debate, he discovered that his opponent was puffed up with a vain opinion of his learning or his abilities, he was sure to make him feel before the conversation ended that he had little of which to be vain. In these discussions in the social circle he appeared to greater advantage than in the more set forms of public debate in our Ecclesiastical Courts. The method of private study then prevalent did not connect with it this sort of training, and after he entered the ministry, owing to his nervous temperament, he rarely attempted anything like a set speech in any of the judicatories of the church, especially in the larger ones. Indeed, I have heard him remark that it cost him a great effort to attempt to speak in a public body, and that the embarrassment which he experienced greatly impaired his self-possession and disqualified him for successful exertions in this way. But at the fireside and in the social circle his mind, free from these disturbing causes, never seemed to falter or to fail in meeting the heaviest drafts which were made upon it. With promptness and vigor it seized upon the most difficult points and moulded them into whatever form the nature of his argument required or the exigencies of the occasion demanded. It was not very often that he consented to take the direction of the studies of young men preparing for the ministry and when he did, he modestly declined being considered in the light of an instructor; hence, he neither delivered written lectures nor propounded formal interrogatories on the subjects of study, but, having suggested suitable works for their perusal, he frequently, as inclination or convenience led him, visited his students at their rooms and in a free and full conversation brought into view and discussed every topic embraced in their course of readings. During these conversations, in which he placed himself in the position of a friend or companion rather than that of a teacher, much valuable information was communicated on the one part and received on the other. Doctrines and principles were examined and analyzed by him with a clearness and precision beyond what is generally found in text books. Suggestions were made, and thoughts presented, which gave freshness to the subjects under examination and stimulated and quickened in And I owe it to his memory to say that to these free and unreserved conversations I feel myself largely indebted for assistance and progress in my theological studies. Every interview of this kind gave a fresh impulse to my mind and excited to a more careful and extended research in reference to the various subjects under investigation. He had high notions of the dignity and sacredness of the ministerial office and of the necessity for ample preparation for entering upon its duties. And he had but little patience with those weak and conceited young men who, with crude notions and superficial attainments in Theology, sought to thrust themselves prematurely into the sacred office. His taste for reading continued to the close of life. On my visits to him after he had, through infirmity, resigned his pastoral charge, I always found him engaged on some solid work, and as clear and cogent in his remarks upon its contents as he was accustomed to be in earlier life. His mind seemed to have lost nothing of its vigor, nor his thirst for knowledge to have suffered any abatement. No doubt by this constant employment of his mental faculties he did much to preserve them from decay and from the debilitating influence of diminished bodily activity. In stature Dr. Williams was about middle size, and was erect and dignified in his demeanor. He had a dark and penetrating eye, deeply set in his head, a face of regular proportions, and a well-developed forehead, .... the whole indicating deep and serious thoughtfulness and great discrimination and force of intellect. By his death the church lost an able and faithful minister of Christ, whose talents and acquirements, sanctified by the grace of God, fitted him to take rank with the most gifted minds of the denomination to which he belonged, and to dignify and adorn its ministry. With great respect, yours very truly, |