THE fruits of Christianity constitute its excellency. It is the developments and ameliorating influences of religion that give character and importance to its claims upon the confidence and consideration of man. The tree that produces no good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. That system of religion that does not improve the intellectual and moral condition of its subjects, is without intrinsic merit--it has no recommending qualities, and as a consequence, the intelligent mind, in its pursuit of happiness, turns from it to something that promises positive good in this life, and salvation in the life to come. That the Christian Religion is a positive benefit; that it does better the condition of man; that it does elevate him in the scale of moral and intellectual being, may be regarded as axiomatic truths. If, however, evidence be necessary to illustrate this, the lives of the good and the useful of every age may be presented; for their pious walk, holy conversation, "work and labor of love," is Christianity in its practical developments.

In the following "Biographical Sketches" we have our holy religion exemplified. The characters of twenty-one ministers of the gospel are introduced. They were in some respects peculiar men--raised up in the providence of God, it may be, for a special and an important purpose. Some of them were the instruments in the organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They lived to see the vine which, in the hands of God, they planted, spreading its branches "far and wide," and the precious seed of truth which they had sown yielding a most bountiful harvest. Having finished their work, they were gathered into their fathers, to be followed by others no less consecrated to the great work of saving souls. In the perusal of the following pages, the reader will discover interesting portraitures, drawn by a faithful hand--portraitures of the Fathers and their immediate successors in the ministry of our beloved Church. He will learn something of their early history, their incipient efforts in the ministry, their pious walk, their extensive labors, and their triumphant death. He will see what animated them in their progress through a world of suffering--how they endured hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ--what enabled them to resist temptation, to overcome difficulties, and to brave persecutions. He will see in the lives of these worthies the great truths of our holy religion elucidated, not merely in the morality of their actions, but in the purity of their principles. Finally, he will see them witnessing a good profession, and in the darkest hour of trial bearing their testimony to the truth of Christianity, living by faith upon the Son of God, and dying in the triumphant assurances of his salvation. These things being true, we trust that this volume may receive a hearty welcome into hundreds and thousands of Christian families, and that it may be read with profit by them all, and that it may prove a blessing to the Church and the world.                                                           J.C. PROVINE.

NASHVILLE, APRIL, 1867.