Excerpt from American Congregational Year Book, for the Year 1856, Vol. 3 One department of the year-book which ought to be greatly enlarged has been in the present volume reluctantly but necessarily contracted, -the presentation of elevations of new churches, with a condensed history of their origin and present condition. To procure suitable engravings would add too much to the cost of the year-book, - but if individuals or churches will supply such views and histories, it would greatly increase the useful ness of the year-book to churches about to erect houses of worship and be a public benefit by improving our church architecture. Special attention is directed to the valuable extracts from the address of President Sturtevant, delivered at the annual meeting of the Union; and from Dr. Bacon's article in the New Englander on Presbyterianism. They are inserted because peculiarly appropriate to passing events. Although the year-book falls far short of the ideal which the Editor has of such a volume, he trusts the volumes which have been issued during his official connection with the Union will prepare the way in a more complete series to be prepared by his successors in office. He now te turns to the much loved duties of the Pastoral office, with the h0pe that the American Congregational Union will very greatly enlarge its opera tions, and be the means of uniting more closely the far spread churches of our land, and that the year-book will increasingly become the annual his tory of the churches, ministry; educational institutions and literature of the Congregational body. T. Atkinson. 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.