Rev. WILLIAM R. CHAMBERLIN, born in Brookfield, N. H., Nov. 2, 1816, was a man of marked ability, and a very acceptable preacher. In early manhood he was a successful school-teacher. He was ordained as a preacher in Dighton, Mass., in 1847, and was induced to go to Abington, Va., and engage in missionary work in that State. For two years he preached in the Virginia backwoods,--in its highways and byways, in school-houses, mills, and log cabins,--enduring great hardship, encountering many dangers, risking his life from violence, and depending for support solely on Divine Providence. In the autumn of 1849 he went to Cincinnati, O., and for twelve years was employed as a book-keeper. But though engaged during the week in secular pursuits, his activity in behalf of his faith did not in the least decline. He connected himself with the Second Universalist Church in that city, and for three years was superintendent of its Sunday school. Subsequently he became superintendent of the school at the First Church, and held the position for seven years. It was in this capacity that he was eminently useful and happy. His influence over children was unbounded; they were irresistibly drawn to him. He had a most fertile imagination, and was ever ready with stories such as children love to hear. He laughed and wept by turns, and with these emotions the school was always in close sympathy. He had all the gifts of an improvisatore of the olden time. Uneasy in his work out of the ministry, in 1867 he laid aside his accountant's pen, and entered it again. He was settled successively at Mendota, Ill.; Vinton, Council Bluffs, and Dubuque, Iowa; and at Clinton, N. Y., at which last place he closed his earthly life. His work in Clinton was very successful. He attached his people to him by his amiable disposition, his unselfish spirit, and devotion to his work. His sermons were always compact and often highly polished. Intellectual and cultivated people always admired and enjoyed them. When in 1873 he went on a kind of missionary tour to England and Scotland, wherever he preached, his sermons were highly spoken of, and it is known that they impressed on those who heard them a high idea of American Universalism. For the last three or four years of his life he was a great sufferer from an incurable disease, but he worked steadily on until nearly the end. His last service was held in his own house, in March, 1876, when he arose from his sick-bed and gave the right hand of fellowship to twenty-one persons, baptizing seven, and consecrating the babe of a friend. The announcement of his physician that his end was near he hailed with joy, and thus entered into the heavenly rest. [46] See Harper's Monthly Mag. for October, 1874. CHAPTER XVI. SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_. "Like angels sent from fields above, Be yours to shed celestial light." A. BALFOUR.