... Some of
the vestries, as their records painfully show, did what they could to
displace unworthy ministers, though they often failed through defect of
law. In order to avoid the danger of having evil ministers fastened upon
them, as well as from the scarcity of ministers, they made much use of
lay-readers as substitutes.... The reading of the service and sermons in
private families, which contributed so much to the preservation of an
attachment to the Church in the same, was doubtless promoted by this
practice of lay-reading. Those whom Providence raised up to resuscitate
the fallen Church of Virginia can testify to the fact that the families
who descended from the above mentioned, have been their most effective
supports.... And when, in the providence of God. they are called on to
leave their ancient homes, and form new settlements in the distant South
and West, none are more active and reliable in transplanting the Church
of their Fathers.
* * * * *
=_Jared Sparks, 1794-1866._= (Manual, p. 490.)
From "The Life of General Stark."
=_124._= THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.
The German troops with their battery were advantageously posted upon a
rising ground, at a bend in the Wollamsac (a tributary of the Hoosac),
on its north bank.
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