Excerpt from Historical Sketch of Monmouth Presbytery and Its Churches But this new Presbytery scarcely has a history of its own. It may point to good work already done; but it is too soon even to attempt to set forth the fruits of this labor; and we would not sit in judgment upon ourselves. There seems, then, to be only one thing left for the historian to do, and that is to sketch the history of the individual churches composing the Presbytery. Please permit, then, first the statement of the great law of the Church's existence on earth, and then a glance at the history in illustration of this law. That law is growth. It is essential to the existence of religion in the soul that the believer shall grow in grace. It is essential to the existence of the Church on earth that she shall grow. This is not merely a truth that is common to all human organizations. It is of the very essence of religion that it be expansive, aggressive, progressive. It is a leaven hidden in a measure of meal - it must operate to leaven the whole mass. If it does not, there is no life in it. This is true of the indi vidual, and of the masses. You cannot fill up a church, and then, like a bottle of preserves, seal it up and set it away. The Church, considered either in its collective or individual capacity, must grow. And the most critical period for an individual church is when it is flourishing and full, She must find room for further growth, or decline will ensue. 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.