It has been said of Scotchmen that next to love of country they revere their religion. Indeed, the love is as warm for the one as it is for the other. The Bible and Home. God and Scotland. Their religion has been compared to their native Grampians, and some have said that it was as hard, cold, determined and unyielding as those grand old hills themselves, the very name of which sends a thrill through every Scotchman's breast. Every Scottish poet has sung of home, every native bard has written hymns and psalms. Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night" contains the germs of the Presbyterian faith, and Tannahill, Thomson, Campbell, Hogg and all the other tuneful minstrels have sung in the same key, and told of the old
faith which the Covenanters felt on their bleak hill-tops years ago, when it was deemed by some to be a crime to worship God in more ways than one. It is as rare to find a Scotchman unacquainted with the leading events in the Bible, the gist of the shorter catechism, and the whole of the Psalms of David, including the cxix, word for word, as it is difficult to enter a city all the world over, and not find the sons of the old land filling the leading positions in the place. Our readers may be sure that among the sturdy loyalists not a few Presbyterians were to be found. When they reached St. John, they settled in Lower Cove, and the first thing they did was to consider the advisability of building a kirk. In 1784, the leading men drew up a petition for a grant of land on which to lay the foundation for a house of worship. It was sent to Governor Parr, and on the 29th of June, of the same year, the grant was issued under the Great Seal of Nova Scotia. John Boggs and others, for the Church of Scotland, were the grantees. Their associates were Andrew Cornwall, James Reid, John Menzie, Charles McPherson, William Henderson, John Gemmill, and Robert Chillis, their heirs and assigns in trust. The document runs as follows, and sets forth that the grant was, "for the erection, building and accommodation of a meeting house or public place of worship for the use of such of the inhabitants of the said town as now or shall hereafter be of the Protestant profession of worship, approved of by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland * * * and further for the erection and building and accommo
dation of a dwelling house, outhouse, casements and conveniences for the habitation, use and occupation of a minister to officiate and perform divine service in the meeting house aforesaid, according to the form and professing aforesaid * * * and further for the building and erection of a public school house and public poor house, with proper accommodation and conveniences for the use of the inhabitants of the said Township of Parr,[D] forever, and upon this further trust and confidence to secure and defend the said piece and tract of land, and all such buildings, edifices, and improvements, commodities and appurtenances, to and for the several and respective public uses, intents and purposes aforesaid forever, but to or for no other or private use, intent and purpose whatsoever."
It further states that in case of the lands coming into possession of any other persons, they shall take the prescribed oath of allegiance within twelve months, and in case of their neglect to do so, the lands shall revert to the Crown. The grant was registered at Halifax, 29th June, 1784, and at Fredericton on December 23rd, same year. These lands were situate on the north side of Queen Street, extending east and west from Sydney to Carmarthen Streets, and north from Queen Street 100 feet. They contain 10 city lots and form a block of 100 by 400 feet.
Charles McPherson, once the owner of "Coffee House
Corner," survived the other trustees, who died before any of the buildings mentioned in the grant were set up. A change had come over the people's views since then, and the site was not approved of by those interested. It was not central enough, and in 1815 it was decided to ask for a site in the upper part of the town. Wm. Pagan, Hugh Johnston, senr., John Thompson, James Grigor, John Currie, Alexander Edmonds, and William Donaldson were the new Committee whose duty it was to provide "a meeting house for the use of such of the inhabitants as are of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland." In this year the survivor of the trustees of 1784, Charles McPherson, relinquished his interest in favour of the new Committee. James Grigor selected the present site of the church in Germain Street, and in 1815 he purchased it for £250 from J. V. Thurgar's uncle, Mr. John L. Venner. The lot is 100 feet in width and 200 feet in depth. Mr. Grigor and wife, by deed, on the 20th June, 1815, just sixty-two years ago, on the day of the fire, conveyed the property to Wm. Pagan and the rest of the Committee. On June 4th, 1816, another grant of land was given to the Committee by the Corporation of St. John. This lot was in Duke's Ward, and known on the plan as one of the public lots, letter B, bounded on the east by Carmarthen Street, on the west by Sydney Street, and on the south by lots 1086 to 1077 inclusive. The latter lots are on St. James' Street. This also was in special trust for the Kirk of Scotland in this city, and the grant was unconditional. This block was four
hundred
feet square, and a vacant field. The Committee built houses upon it some years after, and laid out the street from Sydney to Carmarthen, known as St. Andrew's Street. William Campbell was Mayor, and Charles J. Peters, Clerk.
The Act 56 George III., cap. 28, passed 16th March, 1816, recites to this effect:
"Whereas sundry inhabitants of the City of St. John and its vicinity, being of the Protestant profession of worship, approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, have, by voluntary subscription, aided by a grant[E] of money out of the Province (1814), erected a large and handsome building for a place of public worship, which shall be in connection with the said Church of Scotland: And whereas, the title of the lots on which the said church has been erected, situated in Queen's Ward in the said city, and fronting on Germain Street, is now in the possession of the inhabitants of the said city, who hold the same in trust: Be it enacted, that the minister and elders of the said church, commonly called by the name of Kirk, whenever such ministers shall be chosen and appointed, the said lots shall be vested in them, they being known by the name of the minister and elders of the Church of Scotland in the City of St. John."