VAN NEST, Rynier, clergyman, born near North Branch, New Jersey, 8 February, 1739 ; died in Schoharie, New York, 24 February, 1776. His ancestor, Peter, came to this country from Holland in 1647. Rynier was licensed to preach in the Reformed Dutch church in 1773, and was pastor on Long Island and in New York state from that date until his death, he was president of the General synod in 1767-'88. He was devoted to the Whig cause, and gave liberally in support of the Continental congress.-His great-nephew, Abraham Rynier, clergyman, born in New York city, 1 February, 1823, was graduated at Rutgers in 1841, at the New Brunswick theological seminary in 1847, and was licensed to preach in the Reformed Dutch church. He was pastor in New York city in 1848-'62. in charge of the American chapel in Paris in 1863-'4, of the American chapel in Rome in 1864-'5, of the American Union church in Florence, Italy, in 1866-'75, and of a church in Philadelphia in 1878-'86. He received the degree of D. D. in 1860 from the University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers. He was president of the evangelization committee of the Free church of Italy in 1875, of the General synod in 1879, and organized the Reformed Dutch church in Geneva, Switzerland. He has published "Signs of the Times" (New York, 1854) ; "Reports of Union Church, Florence" (1868, 1870, 1872) ; "Life of Reverend George W. Bethune" (1869) ; and "Reports of the Florence Orphan Asylum" (1876); and edited James S. Cannon's "Pastoral Theology" (1853) and George W. Bethune's "Lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism" (1864).