Presbyterian Union -Synod of Nova Scotia.— Soon after the Presbytery of Pictou was organised, proposals were made to it by the Presbytery of Truro to the effect that each l6 EASTERN PROVINCES. should recognise the other as a court of Christ ; that, without judicial interference, they might consult with one another on matters of momentous and general concern ; and that ministers and private Christians belonging to the two Presbyteries might hold occasional communion with each other. As a reason for making these proposals, the brethren of the Truro Presbytery urged that they looked on it as a happy circumstance in their situation that there was in Nova. Scotia no foundation for those local controversies which had occasioned separation and division in Scotland, and that in their situation and circumstances the bar was so far removed that ministerial, brotherly and Christian intercourse and communion might take place consistently with the truth of the Gospel. To these proposals the brethren of the Pictou Presbytery did not think proper to accede at the time when they were made. Prejudices were still strong ; and for more than twenty years the two Presbyteries remained separate. During these years both, as they grew in numbers, grew also in friendlier regards, not merely towards each other, but also towards the brethren of the established Church of Scotland. At last it was felt, on all hands, that there were no sufficient reasons to prevent union between all the different branches of the Presbyterian Church in the Eastern provinces. The result was that on the 3rd July, 1817, an union was effected which included the Presbyteries of Truro and Pictou, and a few minis- ters of the established Church of Scotland. The united ,body assumed the name of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, and was organised as a Synod divided into three Presbyteries — those of Truro, Pictou and Halifax. On the roll of the Synod were the names of nineteen ministers, the most of whom had been ministers connected with the Secession Churches. There were a few Presb)Tterian ministers in the Eastern provinces in 1817 who did not unite with the Synod. Mr. Comingoe, now in the ninety-fourth year of his age, retained an isolated position as minister of the Dutch Reformed congregation in Lunenburg. Dr. Gray, of Halifax, was friendly to the union, but the peculiar constitution of his congregation prevented his bringing it with him into connection with the Synod, and therefore he did not join it. During the year 1817 two other ministers of the Church of Scotland, Dr. George Burns and the Rev. Donald A. Fraser, EASTERN PROVINCES. IJ arrived ; the one in New Brunswick and the other in Nova Scotia, but neither became members of the Synod. Unions in Ireland and Scotland.— The union of the Churches in Nova Scotia was not only approved, but speedily imitated by the parent Secession Churches in Scotland and Ireland. In Ireland the Burgher and Anti-Burgher Synods were united in 1818, and assumed the name of the " Presbyterian Synod, distinguished by the name of Seceders ; " declaring, at the same time, their independence of the Churches in Scotland, with which they had hitherto been connected. In Scotland the Burgher and Anti- Burgher Synods were united in 1820, and assumed the name of the United Associate Synod of the Seces- sion Church. Statistics. — In the year 1817, in which the Synod of Nova Scotia was organised, the whole population of the eastern Pro- vinces of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island might be estimated at 160,000. Of these, about 42,000 were Presbyterians, 32,000 Episcopalians, 26,000 Baptists and 13,000 Methodists. The number of Presbyterian ministers was 26, and of Episcopal ministers 26. The latter were lib- erally supported by Government grants, given chiefly through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The ministers of other Churches were almost entirely dependent for support on contributions from their own congregations. CHAPTER Til. WESTERN PROVINCES AND RED RIVER SETTLEMENT (1759-1818). Capture of Quebec. — In consequence of the capture of the City of Quebec by General Wolfe, in 1759, and the surrender of Montreal to General Amherst in the following year, the old Pro- vince of Quebec came into the permanent possession of Great Britain. At the time of the conquest the inhabitants of this province, of European origin, numbered about 70,000, nearly all of whom belonged to the Roman Catholic Church ; to which also belonged up'wards of 7,000 converted Indians. In no rural parishes there were only nineteen Protestants. General Murray, who succeeded General Wolfe, describes the Roman Catholics as frugal, industrious, moral and religious, but very ignorant. " Few," he says, " or none can read. Printing was never per- mitted in Canada till we got possession of it. Their veneration for the priesthood is in proportion to their ignorance." The character of the Protestants he describes as deplorably low. " I report them," he says, " to be, in general, the most immoral collection of men I ever knew; of course, little calculated to make the new subjects enamoured with our laws, religion and customs, and far less adapted to enforce those laws which are to govern them." Very poor, therefore, at this time, were the pros- pects of Protestantism. Rev. Geo. Henry, Quebec. — Very soon after the conquest a Presbyterian congregation was organised in the City of Que- bec. An apartment in the Jesuits' College was assigned to them as a place of worship. The Rev. George Henry was the first pastor of the congregation and the first Presbyterian minister settled in the province. He was a minister of the Church of Scotland, had been a military chaplain, and is said to have been present at the capture of Quebec. He seems to have become the stated pastor of the congregation there in 1765. He died in 1795, at the advanced age of eighty-five. In an obituary notice WESTERN PROVINCES, ETC. ig of him, which appeared in the Quebec Gazette, it is said that " to the character of an able divine he united that benevolence of heart and practical goodness which made his life a constant example of the virtues he recommended to others." During the pastorate of his successor, the Rev. Alexander Spark, D. D., a church building was erected on a lot of ground granted by the Government. It was opened for public worship in 1810, and became known as St. Andrew's Church. Rev. John Bethune, Montreal. — The first Presbyterian minister who was settled in Montreal was the Rev. John Bethune, a minister of the Church of Scotland. He was a chaplain of the loyal militia in North Carolina during the revolutionary war, and, having been captured, he was imprisoned and reduced to great distress. When released he was appointed chaplain of the 84th Regiment. »He came to Montreal in 1786, and, in the same year, organised a Presbyterian congregation in this city. He remained in Montreal little more than a year, and then removed to the County of Glengarry, which was largely settled by United Empire Loyalists. Here he laboured as pastor for twenty-eight years. He died in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He is described as a man of great zeal and piety, deservedly esteemed by all who knew him, and his name is still held in grateful remembrance. Two of his sons " took orders " in the Church of England ; one became Dean of Montreal and the other Bishop of Toronto. Rev. John Young— St. Gabriel St. Church.— After Mr. Bethune's departure to Glengarry, the Presbyterians of Montreal obtained as their pastor the Rev. John Young, who was a licen- tiate of the Church of Scotland and ordained in the United States. He first preached in Montreal in 1790, and in the follow- ing year was appointed, by the Presbytery of Albany, as stated supply of the Montreal congregation. From this Presbytery he was disjoined, in 1793, to be connected with the Presbytery of Montreal, which probably consisted of Messrs. Bethune, Spark and Young, with ruling elders from their congregations. This was the first presbytery constituted in the western provinces, but it had only a temporary existence. In 1792 the Montreal con- gregation erected the church afterwards known as St. Gabriel Street Church. Previous to this time they were accommodated 2O WESTERN PROVINCES in a Roman Catholic Church belonging to the Order of the Recollets, for the use of which the Recollet Fathers politely refused any remuneration ; but it is recorded that they were induced to accept a present of two hogsheads of Spanish wine and a box of candles in acknowledgment of their good offices, and that " they were thankful for the same." Separation Between Upper and Lower Canada.— In 1791 the old Province of Quebec was divided into the two pro- vinces of Upper and Lower Canada, now called the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. At that time the Province of Upper Can- ada was covered by almost unbroken forests. Kingston and Newark (now called Niagara) were but small towns, and there was scarcely another town or village in the province. The whole population was estimated at 20,000, consisting chiejfly of United Empire Loyalists from the United States. Most of these were Protestants, of whom a considerable number were Presbyterians of Scotch or Irish origin, or of the Dutch and German Reformed Churches. Rev. Jabez Collver. — At the time of the separation the Rev. John Bethune was the only Presbyterian minister settled in Upper Canada. The next Presbyterian minister who came to it was the Rev. Jabez Collver, who began his ministry in New Jersey, where he was ordained according to the " Cambridge Presbyterian Order." He was not an educated man, but was a devoted Christian and had great force of character. He came to Canada in 1793, at the solicitation of Governor Simcoe, and settled in the county of Norfolk in a tract of land of 1,000 acres granted by the Government. He at once organised a congrega- tion which was Presbyterian in form, but which was necessarily independent of presbyterial supervision ; there being no Presby- tery with which it could be conveniently connected. He con- tinued to preach till almost the day of his death, which occurred in 1818. Rev. Robert Dunn. — In the year after Mr. Collver's arri- val in Upper Canada there came to the Niagara District another minister, the Rev. Robert Dunn, who seems to have been a licentiate of the Church of Scotland. He laboured for two years AND RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 21 in Stamford and Newark. Becoming sceptical regarding the doctrines of the Church, he abandoned the ministry, entered into mercantile business and soon afterwards lost his life in the Speedy, which foundered in Lake Ontario. The Rev. J. L. Broeffle. — In 1795 there came from the United States the Rev. John Ludwig Broeffle, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, who laboured in the counties of Stor- mont and Dundas. Here there was a large number of Presby- terians of German origin, to whom he preached in the German language. He is described as a good and faithful pastor. His income was small ; it is said that his a-ctual stipend never exceeded $100 a year, and that he was destitute of private means. He died at the age of seventy-six, in 1815, the same year in which Mr. Bethune died. The immediate cause of his death was over-exertion, in walking fifteen miles to preach in Osna- bruck. Applications for Ministers.— About the time of Mr. Bro- effle's coming to Canada, applications were made by the Presby- terians of Upper Canada to the Churches in Scotland for a supply of ministers, but long years elapsed before any systematic efforts were made by the Established Church to provide for the spiritual wants of the Colonies, and the Secession Churches were now devoting their missionary efforts to the Eastern Provinces and the United States. Applications were made also to the Associate Reformed Church, in the United States, which resulted in the sending of a few ministers to make brief missionary tours, and in the writing of letters expressing great concern .for the spiritual welfare of the applicants, lamenting inability to send stated ministers, and advising them, in the meantime, to form themselves into societies for the maintenance of religious wor- ship. " It would be well for you," it is said in one of these letters, " and your families if, in your present destitute state, you should meet, such as can, in societies on the Lord's Day for prayer and conference, and, as some of you would bring good books from Scotland, a sermon might be read at such meetings. This would be better than to have vagrant preachers, concern- ing whose call and commission and soundness in the faith you can have no reasonable assurance." 22 WESTERN PROVINCES The Dutch Reformed Church— The Rev. Robert Mc- Dowall. — The first systematic efforts to send Presbyterian ministers to Upper Canada were made by the Dutch Reformed Church of the United States. In the year 1798 the Classis or Presbytery of Albany sent the Rev. Robert McDowall to labour as a missionary in this province. He preached and organised congregations in different places between Elizabethtown (now Brockville) and York (now Toronto). In 1800 he accepted a call from the congregations of Adolphustown, Ernestown and Fred- ericksburgh, on the Bay of Quinte, where he continued to labour till his death (1841), and where his memory is still cherished as that of an able, faithful and laborious minister of the Gospel. For several years after his settlement he was the only Presby- terian minister in the central part of Upper Canada, and as, at that time, Methodist ministers were not permitted to celebrate marriages, he was frequently called on to unite in marriage members of Protestant Churches who did not belong to the Church of England. It is estimated that 1,100 marriages were celebrated by him previous to 1836. Besides Mr. McDowall, the Dutch Reformed Church sent several other missionaries to Upper Canada, none of whom, however, were permanently set- tled in the province, but who rendered valuable service in preaching the Gospel during their brief visits, and also in organ- ising congregations — eleven of which were in existence in 1819. The Rev. Daniel W. Eastman.— In the year 1801 there came from the United States to the Niagara District the Rev. Daniel Ward Eastman, a licentiate of the Morris County Asso- ciate Presbytery. He preached at Beaver Dams, near St. Cath- arines, and at Stamford, where he found a Scotch settlement, a Presbyterian congregation, and a small but creditable church building. Traversing a large extent of country, he preached the Gospel to the solitary settlers by whom his visits were cordially welcomed. In 1802 he was ordained by the Ontario Association in East Palmyra, N.Y., and, returning to Canada, he continued his ministerial labours in the Niagara District till 1850, when, suffering from failing sight, he was compelled to retire from regular work. He afterwards became- totally blind, but continued to preach occasionally till his death, in 1865. In a monument AND RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 23 erected to his memory, he is described as the Father of the Presbyterian Churches in the Niagara and Gore Districts, and eminently useful as a faithful and zealous labourer in his Mas- ter's vineyard. Like Mr. McDowall, he was authorised to cele- brate marriages, and is said to have married 3,000 couples during the course of his ministry. The marriage fees formed an important part of his income ; his annual stipend for the first fifteen years of his ministry seldom reached fifty dollars of money. Presbytery of the Canadas.— In the year 1817 applica- tion was made to the Associate or Burgher Synod of Scotland for authority to organise a Presbytery in Canada. The applica- tion was made by four ministers who had been connected with the Associate Synod. These were the Rev. Robert Easton, who had been settled in Montreal since 1804, the Rev. William Smart, who, since 1811, had been labouring in Brockville, to which he had been sent by the London Missionary Society ; the Rev. William Bell, of Perth, and the Rev. William Taylor, of Osna- bruck. Messrs. Bell and Taylor came to Canada in 1817, having been sent by the Edinburgh Presbytery of the Associate Synod ; each of them obtained a grant of £100 yearly from the English Government. The application was laid before the Associate Synod at its meeting in 1818, when the authority asked for was granted ; but before an answer came from Scotland the brethren in Canada, on reconsidering the matter, thought it best to form a Presbytery which would be independent of any of the Scottish Churches. It was hoped that in this way a comprehensive organisation might be effected which would include all the Pres- byterian ministers and congregations in the country. About this time a licentiate, the Rev. Joseph Johnston, from Ireland, who had been teaching a school and preaching in Cornwall, was desirous of being ordained as minister of a congregation there, and, in accordance with his wishes, Messrs. Smart, Easton and Taylor met as a Presbytery and ordained him. This Presbytery assumed the name of the " Presbytery of the Canadas," and agreed to hold its next meeting in Montreal on the gth July, 1818, and to invite all the brethren in Upper and Lower Canada " whose character and academical education " entitled them to 24 WESTERN PROVINCES respect, to be present at this meeting. Invitations were issued, but the only ministers present at the appointed time were Messrs. Easton, Smart, Bell, Taylor and Johnston, by whom, in a more formal way than at Cornwall, was constituted the Pres- bytery of the Canadas. At Cornwall no principles or standards seem to liave been agreed upon as a basis of union, but it was now unanimously agreed " that the doctrines, discipline and worship of the Church of Scotland should be recognised " by the Presbytery. The Presbytery of the Canadas, thus consti- tuted in 1818, was the first permanently organised Presbytery in Upper or Lower Canada. Previous to this time several minis- ters and elders had occasionally met as a Presbytery for special purposes, but there was no permanently organised court in the country under whose supervision the ministers and congrega- tions were placed. Statistics. — At the close of the year 1818, in which the Presbytery of the Canadas was organised, there were 16 Pres- byterian, 24 Episcopal and 38 Methodist ministers in Upper and Lower Canada. Two Presbyterian ministers received £50 each as chaplains to the army in Quebec and Montreal, and two others, Messrs. Bell, of Perth, and Henderson, of St. Andrews, in the county of Argenteuil, were in receipt of an annual Govern- ment grant of £100 each ; the rest were chiefly dependent for their support on the contributions of their people, which, in most cases, were small — not averaging, probably, so much as $300 to each. For the Episcopal ministers a liberal provision was made by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a great part of whose income was derived from a grant by the Imperial Parlia- ment; most of them received from the Society £200 sterling, yearly, besides contributions from their congregations. The Bishop of Quebec received £3,300 stg. per annum. The Metho- dist ministers received no allowance from the Government, and be4ng denied the right of celebrating marriages, were deprived of this source of income which Episcopal and Presbyterian min- isters enjoyed. The population of Lower Canada at this time might be estimated at 375,000, and of Upper Canada at 120,000. Of these, the whole number of Episcopalians might be estimated at 58,000; of Presbyterians, 47,000, and of Methodists, 37,000. AND RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 25 The great majority of the population were Roman Catholics, and resided chiefly in Lower Canada. Red River Settlement.— Lying to the north and west of Upper and Lower Canada, and stretching from Labrador to the Pacific Ocean, there is a vast territory about two-thirds the size of Europe, which now forms part of the Dominion of Canada. Until recent years this territory was little known, and was sup- posed to be unfit for agricultural purposes. It was occupied by some tribes of Indians and a few thousand settlers of European origin. It is now known to contain immense tracts of fertile land, capable of sustaining a population of many millions. In the central part of this territory is Lake Winnipeg, into which flows the Red River through what is now the Province of Mani- toba. The Assiniboine falls into the Red River at a place formerly called "The Forks," where now stands the city of Winnipeg. On the banks of the Red River was established, early in this century, a small colony consisting chiefly of High- land Scotch Presbyterians, the story of whose trials forms an interesting portion in the history of the Presbyterian Church in the Dominion of Canada. ^ Lord Selkirk. — The founder of the Red River Colony was the fifth Earl of Selkirk, a nobleman of great energy and enter- prise, public-spirited and benevolent. In the course of a tour through the Highlands of Scotland he became deeply interested in their Gaelic-speaking population, many of whom were living in a state of great discomfort. On succeeding to the peerage he devised plans for their relief, and, among others, proposed emi- gration to British America. In 1803, he provided homes for 800 Highlanders in Prince Edward Island, and afterwards visited Upper Canada, where he promoted the settlement of colonies and made liberal offers to the Government of opening up the country by the construction of roads. In 1810, he purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company, which had been formed in the reign of Charles II., an immense tract of land, about the size of Great Britain, including the valleys of the Red River and the Assiniboine. As conditions of the purchase he undertook to establish a colony within a limited time, and assumed the cost 26 WESTERN PROVINCES of transport, of outlay for the settlers, of Government, of protec- tion and of quieting the Indian title. North -West Company's Opposition.— At this time the fur trade was carried on by the Hudson's Bay and the North- West Companies, between which there existed a bitter rivalry. The North-West Company, which had established posts on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, were opposed to Lord Selkirk's proceedings, and protested against the Hudson's Bay Company selling lands to him, and objected to his establishing an agricul- tural colony in the North- West, which, they supposed, would prove injurious to the fur trade. But, undeterred by difficulties, he sent out a company of settlers consisting of seventy High- landers, chiefly from Sutherlandshire, and about fifteen or twenty natives of the west of Ireland, who, after a long and tedious iourney, reached the Red River in 1812. Here they found them- selves unwelcome visitors. The Half-breeds, who were con- trolled by the North -West Company, presented themselves armed, painted, disfigured and dressed after the manner of savages, and warned them that they must leave. At the same time they were in danger of perishing from want of food. They were, therefore, constrained to betake themselves to Pembina, seventy miles distant, their children being carried by Indians mounted on horses, the men and women travelling on foot. Having spent the winter in Pembina, where they subsisted chiefly on the flesh of the buffalo and lived in hastily-constructed huts and tents, they returned to the settlement, and, with a fresh band of emigrants, they began to cultivate the soil, but had to subsist during the summer chiefly on wild parsnips and a species of nettle. After another winter spent in Pembina and another return made to the settlement, they, along with a third band of emigrants, were met by new troubles. A spirit of discontent was fomented among them by the agents of the North-West traders They were told that Lord Selkirk had evil designs in sending them from Scotland. Offers were made to them of a free pas- sage to Canada, and of 200 acres of land there to each family. Three-fourths of the emigrants, thus influenced, abandoned the settlement and were conveyed to Upper Canada. The few remaining settlers, being warned that they must retire immedi- AND RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 2y ately, betook themselves to Norway House, to the north of Lake Winnipeg, but were brought back under the protection of the Hudson's Bay Company. With a fresh band of emigrants, they again commenced to cultivate the soil and to rebuild their houses, which had been burned in their absence. Massacre of Governor Semple and Party. — A deadly encounter was now at hand. On the igth June, 1816, in accord- ance with a plan devised by the North-West traders, a band of Half-breeds, with a few Indians, advanced against the Red River Colony. The Governor of the Hudson's Bay Territories, Mr. John Semple, with a few gentlemen and attendants, walked out apparently to discover their intentions, but were at once fired upon, and twenty-one, including the Governor, killed. The unhappy colonists were now at the mercy of the victors, and were ordered to ieave the settlement on pain of being hunted down or shot like wild beasts. Their homes were ransacked* their goods pillaged and again they were driven into exile and again found refuge at Norwa\T House. Lord Selkirk's Visit, — While these events were taking place, Lord Selkirk was on his way to the Red River Settlement, at which he arrived in June, 1817. He now, for the first time, beheld the scene to which his anxieties and labours had been for years directed. Without delay he endeavoured to restore order. The banished settlers were brought back and reinstated in their lands, and several concessions were made to them in considera- tion of their losses and hardships. Two lots of land were granted by Lord Selkirk as sites for a Presbyterian church and school* and he renewed a promise, formerly made, that he would send to the settlers a minister of the Church of Scotland. He now also gave to the place the name of " Kildonan," which was the name of the parish in Sutherlandshire from which most of the settlers had come. Having afterwards made arrangements for the con- struction of roads and bridges, he took his final leave of the settlement, and, passing through the United States and Canada, returned to England. He then went to the Continent to recruit his health, which had been seriously impaired by his manifold labours and struggles. But he did not rally. He died at Pau, in 1820, in the fiftieth year of his age. 28 WESTERN PROVINCES'. An Elder Sent to Preach, Baptise and Marry Mr. Sutherland. — In accordance with Lord Selkirk's promise, a minister was selected for the Red River — the Rev Donald Sage. His departure was delayed for a year, in order that he might perfect himself in the Gaelic language. In the meantime an elder, Mr. James Sutherland, was sent, and was authorised to marry and baptise until Mr. Sage should arrive. Mr. Sage never came to the colony, which enjoyed Mr. Sutherland's services for only a few years, when he was forcibly carried off to Canada b)' the servants of the North -West Company. While at the settle- ment, his services were of great value and were highly appreci- ated. It is said that "of all men that ever entered this country, none stood higher in the estimation of the settlers, both for ster- ling piety and Christian conduct," than he. After his expulsion, which occurred in 1818, he came to reside in West Gwillimbury, to which many of the Red River settlers had previously come. Here he continued to preach and baptise among his country- men, and here he died, in 1828, universally esteemed and respected. CHAPTER IV. EASTERN PROVINCES — (1817-1844).. Synod of Nova Scotia— Ways of Promoting Reli- gion.— The Synod of Nova Scotia, as related in a previous chapter, was organised in 1817, and had on its roll the names of nineteen ministers, the most of whom had come from the Seces- sion Churches of Scotland, and a few from the Established Church of Scotland. Soon after it was organised, the attention of the Synod was directed to " Ways and Means of Promoting Religion." A committee was appointed, and in accordance with1 its recommendation it was agreed that frequent meetings of Presbyteries should be held, at which, besides attending to othe^ matters, each clergyman in rotation, " for the exercise of hisi talents should receive a subject for discussion, his treatment of it to be subject to the critical remarks of his brethren." It was also agreed to adopt " the order of the primitive Church ; that, those received into communion be divided into full members and catechumens ; and that the latter, at an early period of life,' be taken under the inspection of Sessions for instruction and the exercise of discipline, according to circumstances." As there were many places destitute of the stated ordinances of religion, a Committee of Missions was appointed, charged with the duty of raising funds and making arrangements for missionary tours by ministers who might be able to devote a few weeks or months each year to destitute settlements. But, as it was evident that for the supply of the wide missionary fields it would be unwise to depend on ministers from abroad, it was deemed necessary that measures should be taken for the training of a native ministry. Measures were accordingly taken for supplying theological train- ing in connection with the Pictou Academy, which had been established for the purpose of supplying the higher branches of education to students of all religious denominations, and which was opened towards the close of 1817. 3O EASTERN PROVINCES. King's College Exclusiveness. — The origin of this Aca- demy is traceable to the exclusive policy adopted by the gover- nors of King's College, Windsor. For the support of King's College an Act of-the Nova Scotia Assembly was passed, in 1789, granting it £400 stg. yearly, and £500 to purchase a site. A grant of £4,000 stg. was afterwards made by the British Parlia- ment for the erection of buildings, and also cf £1,000 stg. yearly for the support of the college. It was hoped that this institution would be equally available by all classes ; but, according to one of its statutes, no degree was to be conferred till the candidate had subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eng- land ; while the terms of another statute were the following : — " No member of the University shall frequent the Romish mass, or the meeting houses of Presbyterians, Baptists or Methodists, or the conventicles or places of worship of any other dissenters from the Church of England, or where divine service shall not be performed according to the Liturgy of the Church of Eng- land, or shall be present at any seditious or rebellious meetings." King's College was thus practically closed against all but mem- bers of the Church of England. It therefore became neces- sary to make provision for the higher education of the conscien- tious members of other Churches, and, to make this provision, the Pictou Academy was established. Dr. Thomas McCulloch.— In the establishment of Pic- tou Academy, the chief mover was the Rev. Thomas McCul- loch, D.D., who had been minister of a Secession Church in Scotland, had come to Nova Scotia in 1803, and, in the following year, had been inducted as minister of the " Harbour " or town of Pictou. Under his leadership a society was formed, funds sub- scribed and an Act of incorporation obtained for the Pictou Academy, of which he was elected president, and in which he taught Greek, logic, and moral and natural philosophy. At the request of the Synod of Nova Scotia, he also taught Hebrew and systematic theology, while at the same time he continued, for several years, in charge of the Pictou congregation. In 1838 he was induced to accept the position of president of Dalhousie College, Halifax, where he continued to give instructions in theology, and where he died, in 1843, in the sixty-seventh year EASTERN PROVINCES. 31 of his age. He was a singularly accomplished scholar, profound theologian and able administrator. With indomitable energy and marvellous versatility, he discharged, at the same time, the multifarious duties of pastor, president and professor ; in all which positions he rendered invaluable services, which deserve to be gratefully remembered. Pictou Academy. — For the erection of buildings for the academy a Government grant of £500 was made, to be drawn by the trustees as soon as they had expended £1,000 raised by its friends. It was supported by private contributions in the province, which were supplemented by a Government grant ol £400 yearly, continued for about twenty years, and by donations from friends in Scotland belonging chiefly to the Secession Church. But its income from all sources proved inadequate. In the course of years its friends became less energetic in its behalf, while there was increasing opposition on the part of its enemies, among whom were several ministers of the Established Churches of England and Scotland. It suffered also from poli- tical rivalries ; its friends belonging chiefly to the Liberal, and its opponents to the Tory, party. In 1831, it was on the brink of ruin. Its charter was then changed. Seven of the old trustees were retained, and to these were added the Governor of the Province, the Roman Catholic Bishop and two ministers of the Church of Scotland. Theological instruction was discontinued. The institution now became weaker and weaker, and four years after the removal of Dr. McCulloch to Dalhousie College, it was closed. It was afterwards remodelled and reopened for the education of pupils in such branches as are usually taught in grammar schools. During its existence, notwithstanding the difficulties it had to encounter, the Pictou Academy was emi- nently successful in training a goodly number of ministers of the Gospel, and of others who have rendered signal service both in Church and State. Synod's Claim to Equal Rights.— In Nova Scotia the Church of England received annually thousands of pounds from public funds for the support of its bishops, ministers and college professors ; and also enjoyed exceptional privileges in the mat- ter of Church property and the celebration of marriages, while 32 EASTERN PROVINCES. little countenance was given by the State to other Churches. It was therefore deemed proper, by the Synod of Nova Scotia, to appoint a committee " to draw up a memorial which the Gov- ernor of this Province shall be requested to transmit to His Majesty, soliciting His Majesty's countenance and aid to the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia." Special aid was asked for the purpose of establishing a professorship of Divinity in Pictou Academy. But, at the meeting of Synod, in 1822, " Dr. McCulloch stated that the committee appointed to memorialise His Majesty about aid in founding a professorship of Divinity in the Pictou Academy had done so, and that His Majesty had declined all such aid." The Synod, however, did not abandon its claim. In 1825, a commission of Synod was authorised to correspond on the subject with the Methodist and Baptist Churches, and to solicit their cooperation in forming a board of different denominations, similar to the board of the three denominations in England, which aimed at securing equal rights to ail the Churches. At the meeting of Synod, in 1826, the commission gave in its report, and a committee was appointed to define the special objects to be aimed at by the Nova Scotia Board of Dissenters. These, as reported by the committee, were the following : — First, the right of marrying by license without proclamation of banns ; Second, the right of congrega- tions to hold real estate — so far, at least, as regards places of worship and glebes; Third, the right to enjoy a proportional share of whatever money is granted by the British Parliament for the support of the Gospel in this Province ; Fourth, that admissibility to be trustees in Pictou Academy be extended to dissenters of all denominations." It does not appear that any benefits were secured by these proceedings; the Government still persisted in its partiality to Episcopalians and unfair treat, ment of others. Statistics. -Notwithstanding various discouragements, the Presbyterian Church under the care of the Synod of Nova Scotia made steady progress during the period now under review (1817- 1844). When organised, in 1817, there were nineteen ministers on the roll of the Synod; the number was twenty-nine in 1845, in which year the number of communicants was about 5,000. EASTERN PROVINCES. 33 Glasgow Colonial Society.- In the year 1825, a public meeting was held in Glasgow and a society formed for the pur- pose of establishing a society in connection with the Church of Scotland, "for promoting the moral and religious interests of the Scottish settlers in British North America." One of the rules of the society, which was usually called the Glasgow Colonial Society, was the following :— " No minister shall be sent out under the patronage of the society who has not been licensed or ordained by one of the presbyteries of the Established Church, and no teacher or catechist who is not a communicant with the Established Church." The Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-General of British North America, was elected patron, and Dr. Robert Burns, of Paisley (afterwards of Toronto), became the chief active secretary of the society— indeed, the very life and soul of the enterprise. The organisation of the society was regarded with great satisfaction by the ministers and adherents of the Church of Scotland in the British Colonies. On the other hand, many ministers of the Synod of Nova Scotia, which was chiefly composed of ministers of the Secession Church, were afraid that harm might result from the setting up of a rival Church in the Eastern Provinces, and they suggested that the proper course to be adopted by the Glasgow Society was to act as an auxiliary to, or in union with, the Synod of Nova Scotia. A memorial to this effect was presented to the society by Dr. McCulloch. Adher- ing, however, to its own views of what was right and expedient, the Glasgow Society devoted itself with great energy to the col- lection of funds and the sending out of missionaries, both to the Eastern and Western Provinces. The income of the society was never large ; the yearly average was about £500 stg., but it was carefully and judiciously expended. Within ten years the society sent to the British American Colonies upwards of forty ordained clergymen of the Church of Scotland. It continued in existence for fifteen years. Colonial missions were afterwards prosecuted under the superintendence of a committee directly appointed by the General Assembly of the Established Church. Synod of Nova Scotia in Connection with the Church of Scotland. — When the Synod of Nova Scotia was organised, in 1817, there were only a very few ministers of the Church of 34 EASTERN PROVINCES. Scotland in the Eastern Provinces ; but, during the next sixteen years, owing chiefly to the efforts of the Glasgow Colonial Soci- ety, their numbers were so far increased that those who were settled in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island deemed it proper to organise a Synod in direct connection with the Church of Scotland. They thought it better to do this than to join the existing Synod of Nova Scotia, which, although intended to embrace all Presbyterian ministers, consisted chiefly of ministers from the Secession Churches. Accordingly, on the 3oth August, 1833, there was organised the Synod of Nova Scotia in connec- tion with the Church of Scotland. The Synod was divided into the three Presbyteries of Halifax, Pictou and Prince Edward Island. At first there were only ten ministers on its roll, but within nine years the number was doubled and its limits were extended to the Bermudas and Newfoundland. In 1836 the Rev. Archibald O. Greig, who had been sent to the Bermudas by the Glasgow Society, was admitted as a member of the Synod, and in 1842 the Rev. Donald A. Eraser, who had been settled in Nova Scotia since 1817, removed to Newfoundland, of which he was the first Presbyterian minister and where he died in 1845. In the provinces more immediately under its supervision the work of Home Missions was prosecuted with vigour, but there was only a scanty supply of labourers, and therefore vigorous but unsuccessful efforts were made to establish a theological college in connection with the Synod. Union Negotiations. — At its first meeting, the new Synod of Nova Scotia appointed a committee to correspond with the Church of Scotland Presbytery of New Brunswick, and to invite it to become a constituent portion of the Synod ; but, as reported nex>t year, the Presbytery did not appear disposed to form any connection with the Synod. Still bent, however, on promoting union, the Synod, in 1836, appointed a committee to take steps towards bringing about an ecclesiastical union, not merely with the sister Church in New Brunswick, but with all the Presby- terians in the Eastern Provinces. In corresponding with other bodies, the committee was instructed to guard against any com- promise of the standing of ministers of the Synod as ministers of the Established Church of Scotland. In 1838, the old Synod EASTERN PROVINCES. 35 of Nova Scotia, which may now he called the Secession Synod, adopted a resolution to the effect that union with the Synod in connection with the Church of Scotland, if it could be effected on a proper basis, would be highly conducive to the interests of religion, and members of Synod were recommended to direct their attention to the best means of accomplishing so desirable a measure. Negotiations between the two Synods were carried on till 1841, when the Church of Scotland Synod adopted a reso- lution to throw open the door of admission to ministers and members of the Secession Synod, and declaring its willingness, if the Synod did not immediately join as a united body, to receive without delay those ministers and congregations who might desire to join the Synod on the same terms as Seces- sion ministers and their flocks had already been admitted by the parent Church of Scotland, by the Synod of Ulster and by the Synod of Canada. When this resolution was submitted to the Secession Synod, a committee was appointed to prepare a report respecting it. The committee prepared a report in which rea- sons are given for declining to accede to the proposal to merge the Secession Synod as a united body at once into the Church of Scotland Synod. 36 EASTERN PROVINCES. Disruption of the Church of Scotland. — In the year 1843 occurred the Disruption of the Church of Scotland ; and, as this led to similar disruptions in British North America, it will be proper to give some account of it. Previous to the union* of England and Scotland (1707) the law of patronage had been abolished, and each congregation was left free to choose its own pastor. This right was solemnly guaranteed by the articles of union. But, in violation of these articles, an Act was rushed through the British Parliament (1712) restoring patronage and virtually placing the appointment of ministers in the hands of the Government, of noblemen and of other parties or persons who might have no sympathy with the Church. Against this invasion of its liberties and violation of national faith the Church long protested, but protested in vain. When,, after a season of deadness, evangelical religion was revived in the Church of Scot- land, the yoke of patronage was felt to be intolerable, and, in order to lessen its pressure, the General Assembly,, in 1834, passed wHat was called the veto law, according to which the licentiate or minister presented or nominated by the patron might be set aside if the congregation were unwilling to receive him. It was found, however, that this law did not fully protect congregations against the intrusion of unacceptable ministers. Its operation was interfered with and counteracted by the civil courts, which declared that its enactment was a violation of the law of the land, and which also assumed the power to control the Church courts in spiritual matters. Two cases — those of Auchterarder and Marnoch — may here be cited as illustrations of the way in which the rights of congregations and the freedom of the Church were interfered with. 