Download or read book History of the Congregations of the United Presbyterian Church, Vol. 1 of 2 written by Robert Small and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-18 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from History of the Congregations of the United Presbyterian Church, Vol. 1 of 2: From 1733 to 1900 The second volume, though too long deferred, is less complete than I could have wished. First, it was intended that a list of all the Moderators in the various Synods from 1745 to 1900 should appear in the Appendix, but up to 1820, owing to the smallness of the three Synods, the occupancy of the Chair went for little, and since 1847 the names have been given in faithful array in the Clerical Almanac, so that it was thought this addition might be fitly dispensed with. Hence some who attained to this dignity among us have the fact passed over, though with most of them it is incidentally mentioned. Second, I would have much inclined to annotate and correct the list of students given at the close of Dr MKelvie sAnnals, especially that part which includes the Antiburgher section. Though both Dr MKelvie and Dr George Brown profess to give the names of the students who entered the Antiburgher Hall each session, they can have had no authentic documents to draw from, and must have ever and again made entries and determined dates by conjecture. We have means for supplementing their defects, but, unfortunately, time is wanting, and also ability to prosecute the needed inquiries. The reception which the first volume has met with is more encouraging than I had ventured to hope for. Interest, of course, has been confined very much to the United Free Church and, as was to be expected, to the United Presbyterian section thereof. After two rivers have peacefully coalesced they may show for a time by the colour of their waters that they had flowed in separate channels. The bitterest complaint I have met with has been the reverse of what was looked for. I have been blamed for concealment of facts one example being that I wound up a ministers course by simply stating that he was loosed from his charge; whereas I ought to have told that the root evil was drink. There are cases in which more may be read between the lines than is expressed, and balancing between the feelings of relatives and the claims of truth is like attempting to split the apple under the terror of wounding the child. Looking back over the completed work I see many omissions which cannot now be supplied, e.g. books ignored, owing to the authors limited reading, or because they did not come within the current of his narrative. Minor inaccuracies are certain to be discovered. It is as when a wayfaring man, having passed through a locality, describes it to a general audience, among whom one or two are natives of the place and familiar with its every nook and crevice, (ireat are my obligations to Mr William Crawford for the invaluable service he has done me in my disabled condition. But for him and members of my own family the present volume must have been either held back indefinitely or given to the press in an unrevised and unfinished state. Thanks are also due to those brethren who have favoured me with communications of which readers will get the benefit in the list of corrections and additions. R.S. 46 CoMisTON Drive, Edinburgh, December 1904. 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.