Name/Title
PaperEntry/Object ID
RF1,GlengarryKirkDescription
RF1 - Reference Paper 1:
"The Passing of a Glengarry Kirk"
A new generation has grown since the memorable year of 1875, when the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada convened. The young people now enjoying the spiritual privileges of that prosperous and progressive church find it hard to realize the convulsive throes with which it came into being, but there are many persons who can recall vividly that stormy period, and the violent agitation in the ranks both of the loyal adherents to the Church of Scotland, and the seceders from that allegiance.
Personal associations of the winter have made the history of one Kirk supremely interesting, and especially as from the fact that it withstood absorption into the ecclesiastical union the longest, with one exception, of any other in the Dominion. The dear old Minister who fought stanchly and almost single-handed in Glengarry County, Ontario, against the union of the Presbyterian churches, had been for a dozen years and more in the heavenly throng before his church surrendered, and no doubt he would to-day admit the wisdom of that surrendered. He became the Minister in 1843, bringing with him to the Village a young Scotch bride who could scarcely have foreseen the vast difference between her former home and the new one, nor have realized the lonely position occupied by the mistress of the manse. But the spirit of both was indomitable, and from the first they won the love and respect of the settlers, most of whom were also from the Highlands of Scotland.
The Parish had a radius of many miles in every direction, roads were bad and winters severe, so there were plenty of hardships to be endured. There was no Doctor in the village till years afterwards, and the Minister, who had been sent out by the Church of Scotland as a medical missionary, secured a double claim upon the gratitude of his people. The came to have almost unlimited faith in his pills and powders, feeling sure that when he declared a case hopeless, there was no escaping death. Long after a physician had come there, the Minister's advice was sought in physical matters as well as in spiritual, and more recent methods of treatment were often scorned in favor of his. The village is on the bank of the St. Lawrence, and till 1855 the church with its surrounding graveyard, stood almost on the river's edge. Then a new house of worship was built about half-way between the village and the manse, which stood solitary on rising ground hear the middle of the Glebe property. After the railway had penetrated the woods a mile or so inland, second village began to grow around the station, but the one Kirk and the one Minister were sufficient for both. Another Kirk for alternate services was subsequently built five or six miles out in the country, and in it the services were held in Gaelic quite as often as in English, so the Minister was kept very busy. But he never tired of serving his people, and after a score of years had passed, his influence had broadened far beyond his own Parish, and the manse was a centre of both religious thought and social enjoyment throughout the country. The solemn austere worship of the Kirk never changed, and the Minister was not so strict in his ideas regarding music as were the elders, no instruments of the Evil One ever sounded within these walls. The Psalms of David in metre were the only songs permitted, the congregational singing being usually led by an elder, or occasionally the Minister's young daughters
Peaceful days; their calm was not to last. Somehow from somewhere, there stole into Glengarry county a breath of the Free Church principles, and, quite innocently at first, the hard-headed scotch people began to discuss those principles. But when at last their significance was understood, some of the Minister's flock decided that adherence to the Church of Scotland was undesirable and unnecessary, and before long a handful of these seceders began to hold services from house to house. The Minister could scarcely believe at first that such disloyalty was possible, but once convinced that it really existed, he fearlessly remonstrated with the recreant ones. To his amazement, not only did his words have no effect upon them, but their numbers increased, till at last they built within a stones throw of the glebe boundary, a small church of their own, the pulpit of which was supplied once or twice a month with a hard-worked preacher to several such congregations in the country. Now did civil war begin in earnest, and the peace-loving kindly minister developed into a pulpit pugilist. He had an able second in his wife, who lost no opportunity for debate, often prolonged and bitter, with such people as she thought needed verbal castigation, and both vigorously did, -
"Expound the faults o' ither Kirks,
An ' show the best o' them
No muckle better than mere Turks,
When a;s confessed o, them".
Meanwhile the Free Church congregation grew and multiplied, till at last it was strong enough to support a minister of its own. It soon became evident that the Scottish Kirk in the concessions was to be the principal seat of war, for the members were almost equally divided between the old and the new attachment. Some bold spirits suggested that it become a Free Church, leaving the village Kirk for those who preferred to abide by the old order. This proposition made the manse people fairly boil with indignation, tho they scarcely thought such a thing would really ever happen. But at last the Free Church faction decided that it had a perfect right to the building, and by stealing a march on the other some Sabbath morning, would get possession of pulpit, church and all. But the plan reached the ears of some Kirk people, who warned their minister of what might happen, and none too soon, for an excited foe let drop the information that the very next Sabbath was to be the day of decision. The manse people slept but little Saturday night, and some two hours earlier than usual, the Minister and family started on their drive to the concessions Kirk, reaching there as they expected, before any of the congregation arrived. The Minister walked to the pulpit and seated himself with a look of fierce determination on his usually mild countenance. Soon the unwonted throng that crowded in, and the general sir of excitement, gave evidence that an interesting time was expected, and through the open door the Minister saw his rival draw back as he discovered that the pulpit was already occupied. But only for an instant. A hurried conference between some of the Free Churchmen was held, then promptly at the hour for service, their minister walked up the aisle and ascended the pulpit stairs. He paused at the door, for facing his was a man with the countenance of a lion, who uttered never a word, but stood with clenched hand as if to beat back the intruder. The people held their breath and so did the Free Church Minister for a minute, then he decided that retreat was wore dignified than conflict, and slowly turning, went down the stairs and towards the door. As by a common impulse, his adherents rose and followed him, and there passed out into the quiet churchyard about one-third of the congregation. As the last member of the retreating force went out, the visitor rose in the pulpit, and waving his hand towards the door, exclaimed triumphantly "Let the chaff go;" then went on with the service as tho nothing had happened. Years afterwards in relating the incident to a friend, he said (speaking of the Free Churchman) "If he had come into the pulpit, I'd have knocked him down;"
Not long after this the Presbyterian Church of Canada began its independent existence, and from the very start, an amazing quantity of "chaff" was gathered in. After his many years of work, the Kirk minister found himself deserted by almost half his village congregation, and a strong "Union" church grew and flourished near the railway station. Within three years the old minister retired from his two pulpits, for the remnants of both his congregations had stood loyally aby him, his spirit was broken and years weighed heavily upon him. But once out of the conflict himself, he quite enjoyed seeing his successor carry it on, and the remaining six years of his life were peaceful and contented.
At last, however, the inevitable day for the Kirks arrived, and they joined hands with their old time foes. But then only a pitiful few remained of the village congregation, and to his day it has never recovered the loss. The country church is stronger than ever, and, as formerly, one minister supplies both pulpits. He is young and energetic with truly advanced ideas, but even these qualities do not offset the attractions of the Upper Village church, for, as one member of the latter expressed it; - "Our parents came here twenty-five years ago, and we don't want to leave the church where we have been brought up. If the Kirk has joined the Union then, it would never have lost all those people". Only on every other Sunday is service held, and even that may de discontinued before long, as the score or so of people who attend are but little interested. The old minister, with part of his family hear him, rests quietly under the shadow of the Kirk walls, and should the bell overhead cease forever to ring, the last trace of a brave struggle will have passed away.
"And in their restin graves, the deid",
Will "Sleep aye the deepest"
------Harriet M. Soper.