WILLIAMS, STEPHEN
(14 May 1693, Deerfield, MA-10 June 1782, Longmeadow, MA). Education: B.A., Harvard College, 1713. Career: Teacher, Hadley, MA, 1713-14; minister, Longmeadow, 1714-82; chaplain, Louisbourg_ expedition, 1745; chaplain, Crown Point expedition, 1755.
Stephen Williams was the sort of earnest, hard-working minister who can be described as the "backbone" of New England Puritanism. His importance lies in his ordinariness. The most exceptional thing in his life was an event over which he had no control: his captivity by Indians at Deerfield in 1704, when he was only ten. He was "redeemed" with his father, John Williams*, a year later, grew up to attend Harvard, and became minister at Longmeadow in 1714, at age twenty-one. There he served for 68 years-a long ministry, but not unprecedented at a time when men began their ministries young, stayed in one parish, and lived long lives.
During the course of a clerical career that covered two-thirds of a century, he introduced a few innovations in the church. He persuaded the congregation to begin "singing by note," using an Isaac Watts hymnal; and overcoming lay scruples he carried a Bible into the pulpit and read from Scripture. The latter innovation was so contrary to Congregational tradition, though approved in some other parishes, that he was only able to adopt it when he was well along in his ministry. Williams was also one of the most influential backers of an Indian mission, established in 1735 at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the Awakening Williams was a moderate. He approved of the revival when led by responsible ministers like Jonathan Edwards*-Williams was in Enfield when Edwards preached "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." But he was bemused by the antics of his brother-in-law, James Davenport*, and he admitted that he "knew nothing of the raptures and transports that some speak of." He was even more bemused by the behavior of the patriots on the eve of the American Revolution. A man of eighty-three at the time of the Declaration of Independence, he at first regarded the revolutionary movement as a rebellion against the Lord, who told men to respect those in authority. He came slowly to approve of the rebellion, but less because he accepted its ideology, than because his people were engaged in a perilous struggle and he was their minister.
Longmeadow lay near one of New England's main highways, and throughout his life Williams entertained travelers at his home, often regaling them with the exciting story of his youthful captivity. In June 1782, although he felt that his end was near, the eighty-nine year old minister was carried to his church, where he baptized three children and gave his farewell blessing to the people. A few days later he was dead. In those days the living hung on the parting words of the dying, and Longmeadow's patriarch gave them an interesting speech in which he distinguished between the process of dying and the condition of death.
"It is a great thing," he said, "to die; I must say, I am afraid of dying; I am afraid of the pangs and throes of death; for death is the wages of sin; but I am not afraid to be dead: for I trust that, through the merits and grace of my dear redeemer and advocate, Jesus Chriit, the sting of death (which is sin) is taken away."
Bibliography
A: Sermon on the Ordination of Rev. Mr. John Kemp (Boston, 1772).
B: AAP 1,284-88; NCAB I, 189; SHG 6, 25-35; Robert Breck, Departure of Elijah Lamented (Springfield, Mass., 1782); George Sheldon, What Befell Stephen Williams in His Captivity (Deerfield. 1889) [includes Williams's own account of his captivity]; Mary P. Wells Smith, The Boy Captive of Old Deerfield (Boston, 1917) [novel].
Stephen Williams was the sort of earnest, hard-working minister who can be described as the "backbone" of New England Puritanism. His importance lies in his ordinariness. The most exceptional thing in his life was an event over which he had no control: his captivity by Indians at Deerfield in 1704, when he was only ten. He was "redeemed" with his father, John Williams*, a year later, grew up to attend Harvard, and became minister at Longmeadow in 1714, at age twenty-one. There he served for 68 years-a long ministry, but not unprecedented at a time when men began their ministries young, stayed in one parish, and lived long lives.
During the course of a clerical career that covered two-thirds of a century, he introduced a few innovations in the church. He persuaded the congregation to begin "singing by note," using an Isaac Watts hymnal; and overcoming lay scruples he carried a Bible into the pulpit and read from Scripture. The latter innovation was so contrary to Congregational tradition, though approved in some other parishes, that he was only able to adopt it when he was well along in his ministry. Williams was also one of the most influential backers of an Indian mission, established in 1735 at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the Awakening Williams was a moderate. He approved of the revival when led by responsible ministers like Jonathan Edwards*-Williams was in Enfield when Edwards preached "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." But he was bemused by the antics of his brother-in-law, James Davenport*, and he admitted that he "knew nothing of the raptures and transports that some speak of." He was even more bemused by the behavior of the patriots on the eve of the American Revolution. A man of eighty-three at the time of the Declaration of Independence, he at first regarded the revolutionary movement as a rebellion against the Lord, who told men to respect those in authority. He came slowly to approve of the rebellion, but less because he accepted its ideology, than because his people were engaged in a perilous struggle and he was their minister.
Longmeadow lay near one of New England's main highways, and throughout his life Williams entertained travelers at his home, often regaling them with the exciting story of his youthful captivity. In June 1782, although he felt that his end was near, the eighty-nine year old minister was carried to his church, where he baptized three children and gave his farewell blessing to the people. A few days later he was dead. In those days the living hung on the parting words of the dying, and Longmeadow's patriarch gave them an interesting speech in which he distinguished between the process of dying and the condition of death.
"It is a great thing," he said, "to die; I must say, I am afraid of dying; I am afraid of the pangs and throes of death; for death is the wages of sin; but I am not afraid to be dead: for I trust that, through the merits and grace of my dear redeemer and advocate, Jesus Chriit, the sting of death (which is sin) is taken away."
Bibliography
A: Sermon on the Ordination of Rev. Mr. John Kemp (Boston, 1772).
B: AAP 1,284-88; NCAB I, 189; SHG 6, 25-35; Robert Breck, Departure of Elijah Lamented (Springfield, Mass., 1782); George Sheldon, What Befell Stephen Williams in His Captivity (Deerfield. 1889) [includes Williams's own account of his captivity]; Mary P. Wells Smith, The Boy Captive of Old Deerfield (Boston, 1917) [novel].