Who is Ezra Ripley, DD from Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and what is their importance?

Emerson regarded Ezra Ripley as a kind preacher. Ezra Ripley was Emerson's step-grandfather and a man he admired. Ripley was a Harvard-educated preacher, like Emerson, and represented "the rear guard of the great camp and army of the Puritans", which in its heyday had been a driving force for the American Revolution.