“These humble ambassadors of Christ, and other pious relatives, often visited Mr. Miller’s house at Poultney; and, although he received them with affection and respect, and entertained them in the most generous manner, he was in the habit of imitating, with the most ludicrous gravity, their words, tones of voice, gestures, fervency, and even the grief they might manifest for such as himself, to afford a kind of entertainment for his skeptical associates, which they seemed to enjoy with peculiar relish. “Little did he then think that he was measuring to these faithful men what was to be measured to him again, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. And probably it was not known to him that these praying men had already expressed the hope—almost a prophecy—that their prayers would be answered, and that he would some day be engaged in perpetuating the work they were endeavoring to advance. “There was more than one heart that was almost inconsolably afflicted by this conduct of Mr. Miller. His mother knew of it, and it was as the bitterness of death to her. Some of his pious sisters witnessed, with tears, his improprieties. And when his mother spoke of the affliction to her father Phelps, he would console her by saying, ‘Don’t afflict yourself too deeply about William. There is something for him to do yet in the cause of God!’ “Although Mr. Miller avowed himself a deist, and was recognized as such by deists, this offense against all propriety, in trifling with what his dearest relatives regarded as most sacred, this thoughtless trifling with the humble messengers of the gospel was the darkest feature in his character. To him it was the most natural course which the circumstances of his position could suggest, and, undoubtedly, appeared to be the least violation of former convictions and educational proprieties which would allow him to stand as he did, in the favor and confidence of his unbelieving associates. He had not then become acquainted with the Source of strength by which he might have been sustained before the enemies of the Christian faith; he was unprepared to take the Christian position, and he became what the influence around him naturally determined. To give the true state of the case, the darker shades must appear with the lighter. He took the position of an unbeliever. But that he was not a deist of a rank type will appear more fully from his own statements. “We have thus stated Mr. Miller’s social and public position, his worldly prospects, and his religious state. The longsuffering of God was still to be exercised toward him. He was to become satisfied with the insufficiency of the world. Then the light which had become darkness was to be revived within him; the breath of life from God would disclose the all-sufficient portion, and he would go forth to build again the faith he had destroyed.