Excerpt from History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Illinois, Containing Sketches of the First Ministers, Churches, Presbyteries and Synods: Also a History of Missions, Publication and Education I AM not insensible to the magnitude and delicacy of the task I have undertaken. It is one, however, which I have considered of great importance to the cause of Christ, and to Cumberland Presbyterians in particular. A true history of the Church is but a record of God's providences and dealings with men, in the kingdom of His grace. Not an um important portion of these special dealings and providences has God communicated to the world through the medium of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. I know of no branch of the Church, for the time it has existed, which has been attended with greater marks of approbation from the great Head and King of Zion, than has been vouchsafed to us as a people. Wonderful seasons of refreshing and salvation, scarcely excelled by the dav of Pentecost, attended the early ministrations of our fathers, and with some modifications, have continued with their sons in the ministry to the present time. At a very early day after the organization of the de nomination in Dixon county, Tennessee, February 4, 1810, our ministers visited Illinois and planted the germ of the present Church on the soil of the great Prairie State. This germ, though small and struggling for life for many years, has, with God's blessing, acquired finally a name and position among the permanent institutions of the country. Beginning here, as everywhere, poor in all things commonly regarded by the world as essential to success, yet a degree of prosperity has been attained by their labors not to be despised, even by those to whom greater facilities have been available. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.