on of small
churches. Certain parts of Connecticut were not much more advanced. In
1804 the Connecticut Missionary Society, therefore, appointed Mr.
Haynes to labor in the destitute sections of Vermont. In 1809 he was
appointed to a similar service by the Vermont Missionary Society. In
this capacity Haynes became a great factor in the religious awakening
throughout New England at that time.

In 1814 he was fraternal delegate from the Vermont to the Connecticut
Ministers' Association at Fairfield. On his way thither he stopped on
Sunday at New Haven, where, at the Blue Church (formerly Dr.
Edwards'), he preached a sermon to a crowded house, having in the
audience President Dwight of Yale and many distinguished people. At
Fairfield the association insisted on his preaching the annual sermon.

Haynes soon exhibited evidences of being no ordinary man. He readily
engaged in the heated theological discussion of his time, taking first
rank as a theologian.[11] His most interesting debate was that with
the famous Hosea Ballou, whom Haynes vanquished in his famous sermon
based on the text, _Ye shall not surely die_. Many strange doctrines
were then abroad. A writer says: "The Stoddardian principle of
admitting moral persons, without credible evidence of grace, to the
Lord's Supper, and the half-way covenant by which parents, though not
admitted to the Lord's Supper, were encouraged to offer their children
in baptism, prevailed in many of the churches. Great apathy was
prevalent among professing Christians, and the ruinous vices of
profaneness, Sabbath-breaking and intemperance were affectingly
prevalent among all classes. The spark of evangelical piety seemed to
be nearly extinct in the churches. Revivals of religion were scarcely
known except in the recollections of a former age. Some of the
essential doctrines of grace were not received even by many in the
churches.[12] Respecting the operations of the Holy Spirit, Mr. Haynes
adopted the same principles as Edwards and Whitefield. He became
effective in dispelling some of these clouds of doubt, bringing the
people back to a more righteous conduct. Out of it he emerged a man of
fame.

Happy as was this apostle in his work at Rutland the violent political
controversy of his time was divided between two militant parties with
one of which every freeman felt that he should be allied. Imbued with
the spirit of the American Revolution, Haynes could not be neutral.
"In principle,"