Excerpt from Brief Biographical Sketches of Some of the Early Ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 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 pro duces no good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. That system of religion that does not improve the intellec tual 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. 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.