EZRA STILES was born at North Haven, in the State of Connecticut, on the 10th of December, 1727. His ancestor, John Stiles, came from Milbroke, Bedfordshire, England, in 1634, and settled in Windsor, Conn., in 1635. His son, John Stiles, was brought, an infant, from England. His son, John, the president's grandfather, had fourteen children, two of whom, Isaac and Abel, were ministers of the gospel. Isaac was born at Windsor, Conn., July 30, 1697, and graduated at Yale college in 1722. In June, 1725, he married a daughter of the Rev. Edward Taylor, of Westfield, Mass. She died on the 15th of December, 1727. Her only child, Ezra, was born with a feeble constitution, and it long remained doubtful, whether he would survive the age of childhood.. At the age of nine years, he began to learn his Latin grammar; and, having finished his preparatory studies, under the instruction of his father, at twelve he was prepared to enter college. An admission at so early an age being judged inexpedient, he waited three years longer; and in September, 1742, entered Yale college, in the 15th year of his age. His principal tutor was Thomas Darling, afterwards judge Darling, of Woodbridge, a faithful teacher, and a man of science. While at college, he was dependent, in a degree, on the patronage of friends. President Clap, among others, was his benefactor, and, by various acts of friendship, lessened the expenses of his education. Among the proofs of his diligence at college, are observations on a comet, made in his sophomore year; an account of the number, periods, distances, velocity, and other properties of comets; numerous geometrical mensurations; and a copious chronological compend of Bible history. He was naturally inquisitive, fond of books, patient of application, and always delighted with literary society.

Having finished his academic course, he delivered, by the appointment of the president, an oration, in the college hall, at the public examination of his class in July. On the 3d of September, 1746, at the age of nineteen, he received the degree of bachelor of arts. On this occasion, he had as distinguished a part, as a syllogistic exercise would admit; and, at that period, the candidates for the first degree had no higher appointment

For nearly all the facts in the following brief memoir, we are indebted to the full and valuable Life of Dr. Stiles, written by the Rev. Abiel Holmes, D. D., LL. D., of Cambridge, and published in one vol., Evo., Boston, 1798. Brief notices of president Stiles, with remarks on his character, may be found in Trumbull's History of Connecticut; Holmes's Annals; Chancellor Kent's Phi Beta Kappa Oration; Baldwin's History of Yale College; and in professor Kingsley's Historical Sketch of Yale College, published in the present volume of this work. The portrait in this number, is from the plate engraved for Dr. Holmes's Life of Dr. Stiles. It will be observed that a period, inserted by mistake, occurs after the first L, in the title LL. D. 25

VOL. VIII.

at commencement, except a salutatory oration. He was respondent in defence of the following thesis, “The hereditary right of kings is not of divine authority." In professor Meigs's funeral oration on president Stiles, it is stated that "he was esteemed one of the most perfect scholars, that had ever received the honors of the seminary."*

Believing his religious principles to be settled, and impressed with a conviction of the duty and importance of making a Christian profession, he united with the church at North Haven, under the pastoral care of his father, on the 23d of November, 1746. He then returned to the enjoy ment of his beloved literary privileges at New Haven. A new benefactor appeared in Capt. David Wooster, (afterwards Gen. Wooster, mortally wounded at Ridgfield, April 27, 1777,) who invited him to reside in his family. About this time, he drew up the following rules for his own use. "Ratio vivendi.

"1. In every action and station of life, act with judgment, prudence, calmness, and good humor of mind. 2. Endeavor to make the business of your life your pleasure, as well as your employment. Labor ipse voluptas. 3. Be contented with whatever condition and circumstances Providence shall allot you in the world; and therein endeavor, some way or other, to be useful to your fellow men. 4. Persuade yourself that to live according to the dictates of reason and religion, is the surest, and indeed the only way to live happily in this world, and to lay a foundation of happiness in the other. 5. Extirpate all vicious inclinations; cultivate and improve the mind with useful knowledge, and inure it to virtuous habits; think, live, and act rationally here, that you may be progressively preparing for heaven. Nulla dies sine linea."

To these rules of his own, he added others, drawn from various sources, and closed the whole with the following sentiment and resolution:

"I consider myself as a citizen of the intellectual world, and a subject of its almighty Lawgiver and Judge; by him, I am placed upon an honorable theatre of action, to sustain, in the sight of mortal and immortal beings, that character and part which he shall assign me, in order to my being trained up for perfection and immortality; and shall, therefore, from this time forth, devote my life to the service of God, my country, and mankind.”

In 1749, he was chosen a tutor of Yale college, and was inducted into office on the 25th of May. In the spring of this year, Dr. Franklin sent an electrical apparatus to Yale college. Nothing could have been more opportune than this to Mr. Stiles. In connection with his fellow tutors, he made a variety of curious experiments, above twenty of which are entered into his manuscripts. These were the first electrical experiments made in New England. Having received a license from the New Haven Association of Ministers, he preached his first sermon at West Haven, in June, 1749. At the commencement in September, he received the degree of A. M., and delivered a valedictory oration.

In April, 1750, he took a journey, and preached to the Housatonic Indians, at Stockbridge, Mass. This occasioned an earnest application to him, from the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians, to undertake the mission to this tribe, as successor to the Rev. John Sergeant, who died July 27, 1749. But his health being unequal to so arduous a

The members of his class were eleven in number. Among them were Hon. Lewis Morris, and Hon. John M. Scott, members of congress. Rev. Elihu Spencer, D. D., and Rev. John Brainerd, a missionary,

and brother of David Brainerd.

service, he declined it. On the 12th of December, he pronounced a Latin funeral oration, in honor of Gov. Law, which was printed.* He wrote Latin with much facility. In September, 1752, it being the completion of the fiftieth year from the first commencement of Yale college, he delivered, at the request of the president, a Latin half-century oration. This year, he was invited to a settlement in the ministry at Kensington; but he declined the invitation. The exercise of preaching being prejudicial to his. health, he determined to pursue the profession of the law, and accordingly applied himself to the study of it; not without the influence of religious considerations, which will be alluded to hereafter. In November, 1753, he took the attorney's oath, before the county court at New Haven, and practised at the bar till 1755. During this period, he studied the most important law treatises, particularly the great principles of the law of nature and of nations. The political and legal knowledge thus acquired, was of great service to him afterwards.

At the commencement in 1753, he pronounced a Latin oration in memory of bishop Berkeley, a liberal benefactor of Yale college. In 1754, he resolved to make an effectual effort for the restoration of his health, which had been for sometime, feeble. He accordingly rode to Deerfield, Mass., Boston, Newport, R. I., New York, and Philadelphia; about 1,000 miles. He attended the commencement in Cambridge, where he received the degree of A. M. On the 5th of February, 1755, he pronounced a Latin. oration, in compliment to Dr. Franklin, then on a visit at New Haven. A friendship now commenced between Mr. Stiles and Dr. Franklin, which was never dissolved till death.

In April, being invited to preach, during the vacation, at Newport, R. I., he went to that town for the benefit of the journey, and with no view to a settlement. In May, the second church and congregation in Newport, gave him a unanimous call to settle with them in the ministry. This appointment embarrassed him, as he had fully determined to continue in the practice of the law. "At length," he says, "partly, my friends, especially my father's inclination; partly, an agreeable town, and the Redwood library; partly, the voice of Providence in the unanimity of the people; partly, my love of preaching, and prospects of more leisure in pursuing study than I could expect in the law, which, however, I love to this day, induced me to yield; and I gave an affirmative answer to the church and society."

At the commencement in September, he resigned his office as tutor in the college, which he had filled for six years, with singular usefulness and honor. The period of his life from 1747 to 1754, was the most critical, and, perhaps, the most instructive in his whole career. His mind became involved in serious difficulties, and his religious faith was severely tried. "In the years 1747 and 1748," to use his own language, “I had not indeed, a disbelief, but I was in a state of skepticism, and ardently sought a clear belief of the being and attributes of God. Close attention to Dr. Clarke's Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, in 1747, and, above all, to the views of surrounding nature, at length pretty fully established me in this fundamental doctrine. From thence to 1750, I studied the Scriptures, and had no difficulty in receiving them for the word of God. But in 1750, a conversation with a young gentleman of an amiable and virtuous character, first raised in me scruples and doubts respecting Revelation, which have cost me many a painful hour. By this

*The following is a specimen; "Gloria conservandæ reipublicæ, ac peritè per procellas intestinas periculosissimasque confusiones fortiter et clementer administrandæ, sit soli, sapienti, et illustrissimo LAW."

time, I was so thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures, that I had no doubt what were the fundamental doctrines of Revelation; but I had a strong doubt whether the whole was not a fable and a delusion. I was alone, there being no person of my acquaintance near me, except the young gentleman above mentioned, who labored with these doubts. I had begun to preach in 1749; and my doubts increasing till 1752, I determined to lay aside preaching, and actually adopted the attorney's oath in 1753. An infirm state of health, at this time, was a sufficient pretext for relinquishing preaching." At the same time Mr. Stiles applied himself assiduously to the study of the Bible. After a protracted and painful investigation, accompanied with earnest and constant prayer to the Father of lights, and a conscientious obedience to the divine precepts, he became comparatively established in his faith. By 1755, his doubts had entirely vanished. We may here be permitted to remark, that he had probably indulged his speculative tendencies too much, without giving adequate attention to practical duties, and without sufficient communion with spiritually-minded Christians.

Mr. Stiles was ordained at Newport, on the 22d of October, 1755; on which occasion his venerable father preached a discourse replete with sound instruction, conveyed with the affection of a parent. His text was, Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus."* In February, 1757, Mr. Stiles was married to Elizabeth Hubbard, eldest daughter of Col. John Hubbard, of New Haven, “a woman of excellent accomplishments, intellectual, moral, and religious; and who, therefore, deservedly possessed his tenderest affection. By her prudence, and exclusive care of every thing pertaining to domestic economy, she left him in possession of his whole time, for literary pursuits and pastoral duties."

His ardor in literary investigations continued unabated. He wrote a learned letter in Latin, to the principal of the Jesuits' college in Mexico, in order to ascertain what discoveries the Jesuits had made in the countries beyond California. By a learned Jew from Palestine, he sent a letter to a Greek ecclesiastic, living in the Holy Land, or in Syria. Its design was, to obtain minute geographical and historical information of Western and Central Asia, and of the inhabitants. On the 23d of April, 1760, he delivered, before the Convention of Congregational Ministers of Rhode Island, a very elaborate discourse on "Christian Union," which was widely circulated. He commenced a course of chemical experiments, and also extensive inquiries respecting the aborigines of North America. He began in 1763, an interesting correspondence with Rev. Dr. Lardner, of London. Dr. Franklin having presented him with Fahrenheit's thermometer, he began a series of thermometrical and meteorological observations, which he continued with very little interruption, with his own hand, till within two days of his death. They are contained in six quarto volumes.

In 1765, he wrote a letter to the principal of the university of Copenhagen, respecting some ancient Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts, which had been brought from the East. On the 28th of March, through the intervention of Dr. Franklin, the university of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of doctor in divinity. In 1766, among other correspondence, he wrote to J. Z. Holwell, Esq., author of "Historical Accounts,

*Rev. Isaac Stiles died May 14, 1760, aged sixty-three. He was ordained to the pastoral care of the church in North Haven, November 11, 1724. His second wife was Esther Hooker of Farmington, by whom

he had ten children.

†Some account of this sermon may be seen in the Quarterly Register, vol. vii. p. 20.