to special recognition; and to these officers, also, the Council tenders its thanks for their faithfulness and efficiency. These resolutions were responded to in an appropriate and touching manner by the Moderator and first Assistant Moderator. The minutes of to-day's session were then read and approved. It was ordered that a committee of three be appointed to prepare and sign a Circular Letter to the churches, calling their attention to the principal points of action of the Council. Rev. Dr. Kirk, of Mass., Rev. Dr. Daggett, of New York, Rev. J. Guernsey, of Iowa, were appointed that committee. The first and last two verses of the 33d hymn, Sabbath Hymn Book, were then read and sung, as follows: Awake, and sing the song Of Moses and the Lamb! Wake every heart and every tongue To praise the Saviour's name. Soon shall we hear him say, Ye blessed children, come; Soon will he call us hence away To our eternal home. Soon shall our raptured tongue His endless praise proclaim, And sweeter voices tune the song Of Moses and the Lamb. Rev. R. Anderson, D. D., led in prayer by request of the Moderator; when the Doxology was sung, as follows: "To God the Father, God the Son, After which the Moderator declared the Council adjourned without day. Congregational Necrology. Miss FIDELIA FISK died at Shelburne, Mass., July 26, 1864, at the age of forty-eight years. She was born in that town, May 1st, 1816. Her great-grand-parents were among the few families that begun the settlement of that mountainous town about 1760. Rev. Pliny Fisk, the late missionary to Pal estine, was her uncle, and the late Rev. Dr. Ezra Fisk, of Goshen, N. Y., was a relative of hers, both of whom, with the late Rev. Dr. Amariah Chandler, of Greenfield, spent their early years in the same rugged district of that town and attended the same primary school. Her ancestors were a godly people of the Puritan stock, and she was religiously and faithfully trained by pious parents. She diligently improved her advantages in school, and her thoughtful mind felt a great respect for religion. She began to teach in her native town when about sixteen years of age, and pursued this employment more or less every year for twenty-six years, with the exception of the time while she was passing through the course of study at the Mount Holyoke Seminary. Having been from early years a Sabbath School scholar, she commenced teaching a class when only about fourteen years old, and it is believed that she has taught every year since in a Sabbath School in one form or another, in this country or in Persia, up to the time of her death-thirtyfour years. She was "apt to teach." By her kind and gentle spirit, and by the deep interest she felt in her pupils, she easily won their confidence and love to an uncommon degree. Rarely do we witness so tender and strong an attachment between teacher and pupils as existed between Miss Fisk and the numerous classes that she instructed from the Bible. Remarkable was her faculty of awakening a joyful interest in youthful minds in religious truth, and of leading them by pleasant steps into the meaning of God's word. A distinguished doctor of divinity once said publicly, that he would gladly sit at her feet and learn how to teach the Bible successfully as she taught it to her pupils. At about thirteen years of age she began to indulge a hope that she had become a Christian. For some length of time her senior pastor's eldest daughter was her Sabbath School teacher. When that teacher lay on her dying bed, in 1841, somewhat despondent from fear that she had never been the means of bringing one sinner to Christ for salvation, Miss Fisk came to her bed-side and told her for the first time, that her kind and faithful instructions to herself in the Sabbath School was the means of leading her to yield her heart to the Saviour of sinners. She united with the Congregational Church in Shelburne, July 10, 1831, that year in which some eighty persons united with that Church. She graduated at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1842, and was an assistant teacher in it the following autumn and winter. Miss Mary Lyon, then the principal, highly esteemed her, and coveted her services and her influence in the seminary, but thought she might be more useful among the benighted Nestorian females in Persia. She sailed for Oroomiah, in company with Rev. Dr. Perkins, and others of that mission, from Boston, March 1, 1843, and arrived there June 13 of the same year. After fifteen years of laborious, exhausting, successful service as a missionary teacher, her health became so much impaired as to demand a cessation of labors and a return to her native land. She left Oroomiah, July 15, 1858, and arrived at Boston the 17th of December following. Some indication of her usefulness among the Nestorians is given in the following extract of a sermon preached by Dr. Perkins when the tidings of her death reached the mission, viz.: "It is not necessary to follow Miss Fisk and her school minutely through the fifteen years of her most unremitting and indefatigable missionary toils, nor dwell on their wonderful results. She entered upon her arduous work with a calm, yet whole-hearted consecration, so characteristic of her subsequent life; and during that period it was her blessed privilege to witness and enjoy eleven distinct revivals in her school, and just before leaving the field to sit down with about seventy of her pupils together at the communion table, most of whom survive her, and as filial daughters deeply mourn her death, bearing much of her impress in their own characters, and many of them as faithful wives of pastors and as Bible women-centers in their respective important spheres-scattering far and wide the blessed truths which they learned from her lips." During the six years since her return to this country, her health having been in some measure restored, her labors have been abundant among her relatives and friends, in missionary circles of females in various parts of the country, and at the Female Seminary in South Hadley, Mass. To a great extent, during this time, she has had charge of the religious department of the seminary to the delightful satisfaction of pupils and teachers, and to the spiritual benefit of many within those walls. One of the teachers there writes thus of her: "She was connected with the Seminary much of the time after her return from Persia, as a religious teacher, wise counsellor, genial companion, and sympathizing friend of teachers and pupils alike. Her pleasant smile and cheerful words were the first welcome which many a new scholar received; they were cups of cold water through the perplexities of examinations, and the days of home-sickness; and they made rough places smooth for the teachers, while her own hands brought order out of confusion. To her were confided numberless joys and sorrows by those who could tell no one else, but were sure of her sympathy and sound advice. Miss Fisk's rare penetration of character, and ability to enter into the feelings of others, with her earnest piety and real interest in her pupils, fitted her peculiarly to be the minister of God to their souls; and as such they have loved her best and will remember her longest. She repeated many of Miss Lyon's teachings that no printed sheet has recorded; and her four short sermons each week at morning devotions were full of practical lessons." "Last winter, ever to be remembered as a season of rich spiritual blessing to the Seminary, she was in labors more abundant.' In physical weakness and pain, greater than those about her knew, she wrought and prayed until vacation came, and she went from them to return no more." She had assisted in preparing a number of works for the press-one a "Memorial of Mount Holyoke Seminary," and another, "Woman and her Saviour in Persia ;" and at the time of her death she was preparing a volume of "Reminiscences of Miss Mary Lyon," from numerous manuscripts hitherto undiscovered. Her last sickness of two months, in the family of her mother and sister, the only surviving members of her father's family, (and her mother went six months afterwards to meet her, we trust, in heaven,) was painful and distressing. "For the last fortnight she was unable to lie down, or even recline, and most of the time could sleep only as she was supported in her chair by two persons, one on either side. At first her great desire was for patience, but that gave place to intense longing that the will of God might be carried out concerning her to the utmost, and that he might be glorified in all." Her funeral was attended by a large concourse of people from the town and vicinity. The exercises, conducted by the pastor and Drs. Anderson and Kirk, of Boston, were highly instructive and impressive. Dr. Anderson, of the American Board, says of her, that "no missionary, whether in the ministry or out of it, could be missed more than she will be;" and Rev. Mr. Stocking, of the Nestorian Mission, has said that "she was more useful in Persia than any other two missionaries there." Rev. Dr. Jonas King, when in this country in 1827, visited at her father's and told them of his missionary travels and labors with their beloved relative, Rev. Pliny Fisk, and putting his hand on Fidelia's head, who was then eleven years old, told her she must go out as her uncle Pliny had done, and be a missionary, and teach people the gospel. The next time he saw her she was on her way to Persia to take charge of the Female Missionary Seminary among the Nestorians. She was characterized by a most amiable and affectionate disposition, a sweet and gentle spirit, a sincere and devout conscientiousness, and a deep and tender feeling of Christian benevolence. Her ruling passion was to do good to others. Genuine kindness shone brightly through her countenance, her motions, her tones of voice, her words, her actions, and her life. She had great confidence, enjoyment, and success in prayer. As she was enabled to maintain a living connection between her heart and the throne of grace, so God maintained a glorious connection between her prayers and labors, and the operations of the Holy Spirit. There is reason to believe, that not a few in our own country have received spiritual benefit through her counsels, efforts, and prayers; and doubtless many Nestorian females of Persia will hereafter rise up amid the revelations of eternity's scenes and call her blessed. Persia's proud emperors and valiant warriors, when coming ages shall roll onward and bury in oblivion all worldly glory, will be forgotten and their crowns and garlands fade away- -but the humble disciple of her Lord, who was the instrument of turning some of the daughters of that dark land to righteousness, shall shine as the stars forever and ever. T. P. Rev. THOMAS L. AMBROSE, Chaplain of the 12th N. H. Reg., died in the Chesapeake General Hospital, Fortress Monroe, Va., Aug. 19, 1864. He was wounded while passing from the intrenchments to the hospital in the rear. His wound at first appeared to be not very severe, and he had the attention of a skilfu! surgeon and kind friends, but they could not save him. After suffering for nearly three weeks he was released from pain. He was a noble Christian man, of fine talents, indomitable courage, and strong powers of endurance. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1856, spent one year in the Theological School in New York, and in 1857 entered the seminary at Andover. His health being somewhat impaired, he left the class in 1858. In July of the same year he was ordained to the work of the ministry. On the second of the following month he sailed for missionary ground, and spent nearly three years among the mountain Nestorians in Persia. The privations and hardships which he endured seriously affected his health, and he returned to this country in November, 1861. His purpose was to return to heathen land, if such should be the will of God, and that he might be more useful he entered upon the study of medicine. But feeling that his country made demands, and receiving unasked the appointment of chaplain, he entered the service, where he fell a sacrifice to our righteous cause. He was once taken prisoner, remaining with the rebels about two weeks.* He was a man who always would go where duty called him. His great object was to serve his Lord, and thus do good to other men. His own life he accounted of little worth if he might win souls to Christ. He was affectionate, sympathizing, and brave; hence he received the greatest respect from both the officers and men of his regiment. He was generous, high-minded, and firm in what he believed to be the right. He was an earnest minister of Christ, kind to the poor, forbearing with the ignorant, and plain with the wilfully vicious. The life of such a man was worth much to the world, but it has been taken to help establish freedom. T. V. H. Rev. SIMON PUTNAM, Chaplain of the 3d reg't Minn. volunteers, died in Afton, Minn., Sept. 11, 1864, aged 42 years. * At Chancellorville, where he remained with his wounded, and proved a ministering angel to a multitude of sufferers. A. H. Q. This bereavement falls heavily on the family and friends of the deceased. Early in the war he left his quiet pastoral labors, and, enlisting with his only son in the Minnesota 3d, remained in the service about a year. Discharged for disability, he resumed his pastoral duties; but in September, 1863, received the appointment of Chaplain of the 3d Minnesota regiment, and continued with them (in Arkansas) till Aug. 8, 1864, when with the regiment he came home on a veteran furlough. He came feeble and emaciated, and lingered but seventeen days, which were marked by quiet resignation, when he was laid beside his beloved son, who had died during his last absence. Rev. AMARIAH CHANDLER, D. D., was born in Deerfield, Mass., October 27, 1782, and at about five years of age removed with his father's family to a secluded and rugged corner of Shelburne in the same county. He passed his early years in the same school district where were born and sionary to Palestine, and Rev. Ezra Fisk, schooled Rev. Pliny Fisk, the deceased misD. D., late of Goshen, New York. In that memorable revival in Shelburne, in 1801, in which the pastor of the Church was so successfully assisted by the preaching and labors of Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, an early theological professor at Princeton, New Jersey, both Dr. Fisk and Dr. Chandler, and the missionary Fisks' mother, began their Christian life. Here also in this rocky, mountainous, romantic district of the town, was born and converted to Christ and to usefulness the Nestorian missionary teacher, Fidelia Fisk. The piety and prayers of those eminently godly families, who early settled in that neighborhood and were living there half a century ago, have borne golden fruit. That rough isolated section of a hilly New England town, called the Patin, and now greatly deserted of its inhabitants, may be found hereafter to have been the birth-place of influences largely tributary to the river of salvation which is to flow over all the earth. Dr. Chandler, while in his school-boy days, was marked in the mind of his pastor, the late Rev. Dr. Packard, as a bright, shrewd, promising youth, and was offered the opportunity of living in the minister's family and pursuing study. The parents being in moderate circumstances gladly accepted the offer, and he was prepared in a short time for an advanced standing in Burlington College, whither he went on foot with his scanty wardrobe packed on his back, received his board in the family of a married sister in the town, and graduated in 1807. He studied theology with his pastor; was licensed to preach by the Franklin Association in 1808; was ordained pastor of the Church in Waitsfield, Vermont, February 7, 1810; was dismissed February 3, 1830; preached some two years in Hardwick, Vermont; was installed in the first Church in Greenfield, October 24, 1832, and died there in the pastoral office, October 20, 1864, lacking but a week of completing eighty-three years; and his funeral was attended on the thirty-third anniversary of his settlement in Greenfield. Probably no minister of any denomination now survives in Western Massachusetts of a greater age, with the exception of Rev. Joseph Field, of Charlemont, whose age is about ninetythree years. Dr. Chandler received his doctorate from his Alma Mater in 1846; was a delegate to the Massachusetts Convention for the revision of the State Constitution in 1853; published several sermons and treatises, and among them all perhaps none more valuable for the honor of evangelical religion, and more corrective of error and misrepresentation, than his "Review" of Rev. Dr. Willard's Historical Semi-Centennial Discourse preached in Deerfield in 1857. Of his predecessors in the pastorate of the first Church in Greenfield, Rev. Edward Billings was pastor from 1754 to 1760; Rev. Roger Newton, from 1761 to 1816; Rev. Gamaliel S. Olds, from 1813 to 1816; and Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, from 1817 to 1823; and none of them are living. Dr. Chandler was thrice married, and his last wife survived him only a few weeks. Of his children and grand-children who are widely scattered abroad, several have done service in our army in the present war. The doctor, in addressing one of our departing regiments at one time, expressed his regret that he could not be in a situation to call them fellow-soldiers, and exhorted them not to allow themselves to be shot in the back. He once had an ardent ambition for a soldier's life, and practised hardships-sleeping in the open air and plunging into iced water in the winter-to fit himself for military service. In becoming a soldier of the cross, he brought to the Master a strong constitution, vigorous health, and great power of endurance. He was endowed with strong powers of mind. In his views, and principles, and sentiments, he was somewhat independent, and was more inclined to investigate subjects for himself than to fall in with the prevailing current of thought around him. He read but few books; yet he thought, reflected, and studied the more. His habits were simple and plain. In his dress, and diet, and equipage, and manners, he was one of Nature's noblemen, not bound by the fetters of despotic fashion. He expended but little for his support, and at one time cheerfully relinquished a part of his small ministerial salary. While on some doctrinal points he differed somewhat from some of his brethren in the ministry, and in a kind conciliatory spirit discussed those differences, yet he was for the most part a sound believer in the great fundamental doctrines of the cross, and plainly, faithfully, and affectionately preached "Christ and him crucified." His sermons ever afforded solid, substantial, wholesome food for thoughtful minds. To display the beauties of style and the graces of rhetoric was not his aim. In his preaching he was clear, methodical, impressive. His valuable counsel and aid were often sought among his ministerial brethren and the churches, both in Vermont and Massachusetts. His venerable form and patriarchal appearance, his social powers and kindly spirit, gained respect and esteem for him as a man; and his deep, cheerful, unostentatious piety secured largely the love of ministers and Christians. His removal breaks one more link of the chain that binds the present generation with the past century. T. P. Rev. WILLIAM FOWLER VAILL died, after an illness of five days, at Weathersfield, Ill., Feb. 24, 1865. He was born in Hadlyme, Conn., June 7, 1783. His father was Rev. Joseph Vaill, who for more than fifty years was pastor of the Church in that place. This son, from his early youth, was distinguished for his sober, moral deportment; and receiving the faithful religious training of eminently Christian parents, he early became a subject of converting grace. He united himself with the Church of which his father was the pastor, at the age of eighteen, and through his long life was an eminent example of the religion he professed. He had from his youth an ardent desire to obtain an education, with his eye on the Christian ministry; but being of narrow means, it seemed to him at times a very hopeless undertaking. But his courage at length so far rose above all difficulties as to |