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the present volume to an immoderate size. If what is now submitted shall be esteemed of any value as a Biography of our departed Friend, and as a History of the Church; if the portrait it presents of the venerable man, shall be viewed as upon the whole, a good likeness; and if what has been related therein of his virtues and services, shall be productive of any good, or shall contribute, in any degree, to the cultivation of genuine piety, and excite a more active zeal in the promotion of the best interests of our beloved Zion, I shall feel that I have not laboured in vain.

The representation I have given of his worth will not appear at all extravagant to you who knew him, and loved him: and to those, who were not personally acquainted with him, I flatter myself, that the opmions of eminent divines, out of the connexion with which I have been favoured, and which will be seen in their place, will show satisfactorily that that worth has not been too highly estimated.

Having made these introductory remarks, the work is now offered to the indulgence of the Christian reader.

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And, TO YOU, REV. FATHERS AND BRETHREN, at whose request it has been prepared, I beg permission, with all due respect, to inscribe it, — adding my fervent prayer, that the GREAT HEAD OF THE CHURCH, will render it subservient to the advancement of his kingdom, and that he will fill You "with all the fulness of God."

Your friend and fellow-labourer
    in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

        ALEXANDER GUNN.

New York, March 25, 1829.