plary and eminent Christian-a living example of the truth and grace of the promise referred to, and an answer of peace to the prayer of the good man, backed with the orphan's prayer for himself."

Mr. Graham's congregation multiplied greatly, so that in 1805 he had people within its bounds enough to make two respectable congregations, and more able to support two ministers than they were when he went among them, fifteen years before, to support one. In consequence of this, the presbytery disjoined the Musquodoboit part of his charge, and erected it into a separate congregation. This took place in March, 1815, and in June of the same year the Rev. John Laidlaw was admitted its pastor. Mr. Laidlaw, however, left it a few years after, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Sprott, on the 13th September, 1825, who still survives.

Mr.Graham lived to a good old age. In a letter to his sister, Mrs. Margaret Hamilton of Whitburn, dated July 10, 1828, he says: "I am far advanced in my seventieth year; if I live to the 16th of October next, I shall have reached what is reckoned the standard of human life. Our father was born on the 16th of October, and his mother was born on the 16th of October, only in her day they reckoned by the old style. It is somewhat singular for three generations to commence on the same day of a month. May we all meet in the same Father's house, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens! . . . The time was when you and I lay in the same womb; may we through eternity lean on the same bosom of bliss; and all through grace, rich and free, and all to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved!" The subject of this sketch

died in April 1829, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The minutes of presbytery bear, that " on the death of Mr. Graham being mentioned, it was agreed, after some consideration of the affecting dispensation, to make the following entry: The long, laborious, and highly useful life of our deceased brother furnishes matter of pleasing reflection to us all, and it is our unanimous wish and prayer that we may be enabled to follow his exemplary conduct to the end. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace!' We visited his grave in the summer of 1846; it is distant about a mile or so from the church, and the road to it lies along the margin of the Stewiacke, a clear and gently flowing stream. On approaching the place of burial, which is close upon the road-side, we speedily discovered the object of our search. A large grey slab, resting horizontally on four feet or pillars, marks the spot of interment, having the following inscription on it :

SACRED TO THE MEMORY of the Rev. Hugh Graham, first pastor of this congregation; missioned by the Secession Church. He was first settled in Cornwallis, and thence translated to Stewiacke, where he laboured with fidelity and zeal for thirty years, and greatly endeared himself to his people. He was a man of peace, and an eminent example of meekness and piety. As a pastor, he was sound in his doctrine, earnest in his teaching, and truly devoted to the spiritual welfare of his flock. He died April, 1829, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

CHAPTER IV.

History of the Presbytery of Truro-Dissatisfaction on the part of some of the people with its constitution-Correspondence with the Rev. James M'Gregor and the brethren of the Presbytery of Pictou-Accessions to the Presbytery of Truro previous to its union with the Presbytery of Pictou.

SUCH were the three ministers who, at its original formation, composed the Presbytery of Truro-the first presbytery that was constituted in Nova Scotia. They were men of superior talent, experience, and piety, and indefatigable in their labours. Their income, however, was but scanty, and in addition to the hardships of preaching the gospel in a new country, they, in some instances, suffered from an actual deficiency of the means of subsistence. Under these circumstances, they generally accepted of land, which could be had at a merely nominal price, and depended upon it, to some extent, for the means of support. The same thing held true of most of the ministers in the province for some time after the commencement of the mission. To this step they were impelled, in a great measure, from necessity. The population was scanty, and money extremely scarce. The House of Assembly, in 1775, declared that there was not more than £1,200 of circulating medium in the country, and that only £200 of that sum would be found among the farmers. Congregations were but very imperfectly organized. Many of the people had scarcely surmounted the difficulties of a settlement in the

wilderness; a considerable proportion were completely careless, while the whole had been previously unaccustomed to the support of religious ordinances. The consequence was, that the minister's salary was seldom fully or regularly paid, and part of what was contributed was in kind. In these circumstances the early ministers, in order to continue in their several spheres of labour, required to adopt one or other of two courses-either to receive a partial support from a foreign quarter, or to minister with their own hands to their necessities; but as there was no source from which they could obtain foreign aid (for the Church at home in sending them out made no provision for their subsequent maintenance), they were obliged either to adopt the latter course, or to abandon the field altogether; and we regard it as an evidence of their selfdenial that they chose the former, and cast in their lot with the destitute, sharing their privations, and cheering them with the hope of a better life. It is gratifying to be able to add, that so different is the state of the country now, that the ministers of the Presbyterian Church of the province not only recognise and act upon the voluntary principle, but generally and strongly repudiate the conjoining of the labours of farming with the duties and responsibilities of the Christian ministry.

The Presbytery of Truro held its first meeting on the 2d of August 1786; but its constitution, it would appear, excited the jealousy of some of the people, who imagined that it aimed at a completely independent jurisdiction; and complaints to that effect were transmitted to the Associate Synod. This led the members of presbytery, at a meeting in Truro, held on the 6th of June 1787, to declare themselves

"subordinate to the Burgher Associate Synod in North Britain; at the same time still adhering to their first resolution of holding a friendly correspondence with all such as, either in Ireland or the continent of America, gave evidence of their stedfast adherence to the principles contained in the standards of the Church of Scotland."

It has already been stated that the Rev. James M'Gregor of Pictou did not account himself a member of this presbytery, and at a very early period discontinued attending its meetings. This was the occasion of deep regret to the brethren whom he left, and threatened, in the opinion of many, to retard the progress of the cause which all of them were alike anxious to advance. It led to a movement in the Truro congregation, in consequence of which the presbytery, in accordance with a representation and petition from said congregation, unanimously agreed to correspond with Mr. M'Gregor in regard to his conduct.

This correspondence, which was resolved on in July 1793, but seems to have been attended by no immediate result, was renewed in 1795, on the formation of the Presbytery of Pictou; and a meeting was agreed upon, at which the Truro brethren submitted the following proposals as a basis of harmonious action and co-operation :

"I. That we are free and willing to own and acknowledge the General Associate Synod in Scotland as a court of Christ, in consideration of their professed and solemn adherence to the truths and ordinances of the gospel, as contained in the Word of God, and exhibited in our excellent Confession of Faith, irrespective of the judicial acts and proceedings of said