INTRODUCTION.

GOD, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live, has, in his providence, appointed means and ways to accomplish his wise purposes, in the redemption of fallen and sinful man. It is therefore the duty of all the members of his mystical body, the church, as branches of the true vine, to apply, according to their several abilities, those means and ways which are appointed to be used for the spread of the glorious Gospel, the extension of his kingdom, the diffusion of light and knowledge, and the promotion of his church.

And, as our pious ancestors and brethren in the Lord, who, since the days of Christ and the Apostles, and at the time of the Reformation, maintained the doctrine, That the kingdom of Jesus Christ is to be a kingdom of peace, and his church to be composed of true believers and holy members, where all manner of wars, and shedding of blood, is to be abolished; where, according to an ancient prediction, They shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; where nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shal they learn war any more. Isa. 2: 4.-Moreover,