Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by W. R. C. CLARK & MEEKER, In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. HILTON, GALLAHER & CO., PRINTERS & STEREOTYPERS, PREFACE. In the following pages an effort has been made to realize the idea of the editor and projector, viz.: to present in a single volume a record of the Church of Christendom in all its details. In the prosecution of his task, however, the writer, though prepared at the outset for some disappointment, has had an addition to his experience in the fact that it is more easy to undertake an enterprise than to accomplish it. Applications for information and facts, in many quarters, were not met so generously as he anticipated; in others, perhaps from not wholly understanding the scope and aim of his work, they were treated with silence and indifference; while in not a few, they were regarded as impertinent. But he has great satisfaction in adding that by far the greater number of his applications were cheerfully and promptly responded to; if not in all cases as fully as he could wish, at least with a generous cheerfulness that he shall never forget. The result of his labors is before the reader. It does not meet his original expectations; but he takes courage in the hope that when churches and societies perceive the design and character of his publication, they will feel a common interest in its welfare, and generously contribute such facts and information as will make it complete and authentic, and interesting to the Church generally, for the sake of the common good. Our aim is to make a work giving all the current facts of Christendom, from year to year, for general reference. These ought to comprise everything of interest to Christians generally-for example, the statistics, institutions, clergy, literature, yearly history, and names and post-office address of workers in every department of every denomination throughout the Christian world. It will be manifest that the frequent changes in the ministry render it difficult to ascertain, in many instances, their post-office address. A letter addressed to their late post-office will generally reach them. In this, our first effort and first volume, we have come far short. Still we have accomplished something, and gained in the effort an experience that gives us hope of a nearer approximation in our next. Desiring to make the RECORD a complete work of reference on all subjects of interest to the Church, we earnestly invite all who feel an interest in the estab lishment and permanency of an authentic record of the Church, in all its departments, to send to the editor, care of the publishers, whatever information may contribute to that end. Minutes of all religious bodies, large and small; changes in the ministry; ordinations and installations; deaths of clergymen; changes of post-office address; lists of collegiate and theological professors and students; reports of religious and benevolent societies; reports and proceedings of individual churches, will be especially welcome, and their receipt and source, when so desired, carefully acknowledged; while we shall be grateful for any and every suggestion or item of information that may be made useful in the prosecution of our enterprise. Who will generously respond? In the preparation of the present volume, we are under obligations to the secretaries of very many religious and benevolent societies, whose politeness and attention we appreciate but cannot sufficiently express; to the general religious press, whose columns we have carefully scanned, and from which we have gleaned much; to the stated clerks of several religious associations, whose promptitude and courtesy we should be glad to acknowledge in plainer terms, did time and space permit; to the annual publications of many church bodies; to various Church Histories, "Appleton's Encyclopedia," the "Religious Encyclopedia" (press of Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia), "Rupp's History of Denominations," &c.; and last, though not least, to the acknowledged organs of the various denominations and benevolent societies, from whose columns, opulent with valuable facts, we have gathered bounteous stores. In conclusion, we earnestly repeat our invitation to clergymen, officers of religious bodies, editors of religious periodicals, collegiate and theological professors, and all who in any way have to do with the moral and religious interests of men, to send us minutes, reports, statistics, and their own post-office address, at home or abroad, that our next issue may more worthily represent the great interest and lever of the world. NEW YORK, January, 1860. THE EDITOR. |