OBITUAKY NOTICES. 
335 
God—no matter where it might lead him—through what depths soever of 
pain and abnegation. But in those months of suffering he enjoyed a con¬ 
sciousness of the presence of his Saviour; consolations from the Holy Spirit; 
views of the glory soon to be revealed, such as no pen may describe, no 
gratitude of ours may equal. 
“ Much that he said has been preserved, and dimly shadows the delightful 
visions by which his sick room was made sacred.” 
The |death of Mr. Willard occurred in the autumn of the present year, 
(1867), and, though for some time anticipated by those who knew his condi¬ 
tion, nevertheless, to a large number of the multitude of his personal friends 
in this State, came as a sudden shock. 
As a citizen and neighbor, Mr. Willard was a noble specimen of a Chris¬ 
tian gentleman. He was honored for his unwavering adhesion to principle 
and dut}^, and for his zeal and liberality in the promotion of all worthy objects 
while the graces of his personal character, and his amiable disposition won for 
him the love of his fellow citizens. 
Socially at home, in his “ Forest Cottage,” his virtues and personal gifts 
shone with a beautiful and benign lustre. 
The social attentions, it was his pleasure always to extend to those who 
visited him there were but the generous expressions of his characteristic hos¬ 
pitality. His conversation was ever of an exalted character, pure and en¬ 
riched with useful and varied information derived alike from books, from 
men, and from experience and observation, marked also by originality of 
thought, yet with an absence of self-assertion or thoughtless or unkind words 
that might inflict a wound. 
Though his career was characterized by no remarkable achievement, his 
life was, nevertheless, remarkable for its purity and for its consecration to the 
best interests of his family and of his fellow men. 
