17. PERIODS OF PRESBYTERIAN GROWTH BETWEEN 1810 - 1845 AND 1845 - 1875

“It is of interest to learn of the vast change that had taken place in the state of things since the induction of Doctor Keir in 1810. At that period, the country presented the appearance of an almost unbroken forest. Only here and there at wide intervals might be seen a few solitary settlers dwelling for the most part in poor log huts with a little clearing around them. The moral and religious condition of the people also was very affecting. The few that made any pretensions to piety were as sheep scattered abroad, having no shepherd. But how great the change in 1845. In- stead of one dense, uninterrupted forest, an extensively cultivated country stretched before the eye; instead of a few lonely huts, numerous and comfortable habitations; instead of a handful of struggling settlers, a population of fifty thousand; instead of a feeble band of isolated Christians, having none to care for their souls, a number of laborious ministers and flourishing congregations. ‘Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.’

The great sucession, or as it is commonly called, the disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843 had so little effect on Prince Edward Island that it calls for no special notice in this book. It is true that there was a Free Church Presbytery com- posed of strong men, but as early as 1845 there were negotiations for union between the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia and that of the Free Church.’“

“In 1866 the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces united with the Free Presbyterian Synod of New Brunswick to form the Synod of the Lower Provinces, with 113 ministers. In 1868, the Synods of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick in the Maritime Provinces, in connection with the Church of Scotland, united to form the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of the Maritime Provinces of British North America in connection with the Church of Scotland, composed of thirty-three ministers. These several unions resulted in there being four denominations of Presbyterians in 1870 in Canada, two in the Maritime Provinces, and two in western Canada. Leaders in all sections saw the necessity of union. Congregations were weak through division and barely able to support their pastors. Negotiations were opened in 1870, and a union was effected in 1875, and The Presbyterian Church in Canada was formed with 627 ministers, 706 congrega- tions, 88,228 members, 176 missionaries in the home field and 16 in the foreign, with a revenue of nearly one million dollars for all purposes.”"5

“The union took place of all the sections of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, into which all the Presbyterians on the Island entered with the exception of those who were under the ministry of the Rev. John Goodwill, the able, successful and hard-working successor of the Rev. Donald McDonald.

94 Fullerton, op. cit., p. 310A. 95 New Schaff—Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. op. cit., p. 238.

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