SAI.EM.
(b) The fortress or citadel of Shechem, all the occu- pants or garrison of which joined in proclaiming Abiin- elerli tlieir king (Jiulg. ix, 6, 20). See Betii-.millo;
SlI.l.A.
Mills, Abraham, LL.D., a prominent American author, was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., in 1796.
' After having received a thorough academic education,
I he oi)ene(l a classical school in New York City. He had not been long engaged in this school when he was appointed professor of mathematics and ])hiloso])hy in the Baptist Literary and Theological Institute, then es- tablished in New York. Three years after, when the institute was transferred to Hamilton, N. Y., Jlills sev- ered his coimection, anil tlourished as a highly-esteemed teacher of an<l lecturer on rhetoric and belles-lettres.
j He died July M. 1^67. Mills issued text-books on the topics on which he gave instruction. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Madison Uni-
I versity. He deserves a jdace here on account of his Compendium of the History of the .4 ncient llebreus (1856).
I See Drake, Dirt, of Amer. Biogr. s. v.; Appleton's An-
I HH(,/r//r/(V). 1867,"p. 511.
1 Mills, Henry, D.D., a Presbyterian divine, was i born at Morrislown, N. J., March 12, 1786 ; pursued his
MILLS
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preparatory studies in his native to^vn; graduated at Princeton College in 1802 ; for a considerable time taught in the academy at Morristown, and also at Elizabeth- town, N. J. ; was tutor for two years at Princeton Col- lege; studied theology with the Rev. Dr. James Rich- ards ; was licensed by the Presbytery of New Jersey, and in 1816 was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, N. J. In 1821 he was called to the professorship of Biblical criticism in the theological seminary at Auburn, N. Y., where he continued to per- form his" duties with eminent ability until 1854, when he resigned, and was made professor emeritus. He died June 10, 1867. Dr. MiUs was a man of marked charac- teristics—impressive in personal appearance, instructive in conversation, sharp in intellect. As a preacher, his style was simple, chaste, and direct. As a scholar, he was most eminent — thoroughly versed in Hebrew and master of the German language. He published in 1845 Horai Germamca, a Version of German Hymns. — Wilson, Presh. Hist. Almanac, 1868, p. 218.
Mills, Nathaniel B., an early and eminent min- ister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born in Newcastle County, Del, Feb. 23, 1766; was converted in 1783 ; entered the Baltimore Conference in 1787 ; in 1790 was stationed at Hartford, Conn. ; in 1804 at Bal- timore ; filled various important circuits, etc., until 1835, when he became superannuated. He died in Carroll County, Md., Feb. 20, 1845. He preached with great zeal and success for nearly sixty years. — Minutes of Conferences, iii, 594; Stevens, Memorials of Methodism.
Mills, Samuel, a minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, was born in Northampton County, N. C, in 1780; was converted in 1800; entered the itinerancy in 1804 ; was stationed at Columbia in 1806, at Charles- ton in 1809, at Milledgeville in 1810, and at Camden in 1811, where he died, June 8, 1811. He was a plain, earnest preacher, possessed of good abilities, and " a wit- ness of sanctification, which he frequently pressed on his hearers." — Minutes of Conferences, i, 206.
Mills, Samuel John (1), a Congregational min- ister, was born Jlay 16, 1743, in Kent, Conn. He grad- uated at Yale College in 1764, and was ordained June 29, 1769, in Torringford, Conn., where he resided until his death. May 11, 1833. He published a few occa- sional sermons, and two sermons on the religious senti- ments of Christ, in a volume entitled Sermons Collected (1797), See Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, i, 672.
Mills, Samuel John (2), popularly called the "Father of Foreign Mission Work in Christian Amer- ica," an efficient minister of the Congregational Church, was the son of the minister of Torrington, Conn., and was born April 21, 1783. He was educated at Will- iams College (class of 1809). He next entered the the- ological seminary, having decided to preach the Gospel, and while at school in Andover his mind was deeply impressed with the importance of foreign missions, and he endeavored to awaken a similar feeling in the hearts of his fellow-students. He united with Judson, Newell, Nott, and Hall in a resolution to undertake a foreign mission. In 1812 and 1813 he and J. F. Schermerhorn made a missionary tour in the Western States. He was ordained, with other missionaries, at Newburyport, June 21, 1815. He ascertained in March, 1815, that not a Bible could be found for sale or to be given away in New Orleans ; he thereupon distributed many Bibles in French and English, and visited the sick soldiers. Find- ing that sevent}' or eighty thousand families at the South and West were destitute of a Bible, he suggested at the close of his report the formation of a national society like the British. His efforts contributed to the establishment of the American Bible Society, May 8, 1816. The plan of the United Foreign Mission Society. which, however, accomplished but little, originated with him while residing with Dr. Griffin at Newark, N. J., as did also the African school, which existed a few vears