My father made copies of many of his letters, which are in my possession, and others have been procured from newspapers and from friends. To the Librarian of Knox’s College, Toronto, I am much indebted for the letters from the Records of the Glasgow Society for providing Ministers for Canada. These Records were handed over to the library by the Rev. Dr. R. Burns, formerly of Paisley. My father’s notebooks also contain articles on a variety of subjects. I have found it difficult to make a satisfactory selection from his writings and to decide upon omissions and abbreviations. As I have had chiefly in view the choice of material which may be interesting and profitable to his descendants, in order to be more free to print what may not be thought suitable for the public, I have decided to issue the volume as a private publication. It will give my sister Elizabeth and my self much pleasure to present copies to relatives and friends, and to surviving members of the different congregations to which my father ministered. Others who may wish for copies can obtain them from Mr G. A. Morton, 42 George Street, Edinburgh, or from Messrs T. C. Allen & Co., Halifax, Nova Scotia. Should a wider circulation be thought desirable, the volume can afterwards be revised and published.

THE REV. JOHN Sprott was born at Caldon Park, Stoneykirk,Wigtownshire, Scotland, 3rd February 1780, and was the eldest son of James Sprott, farmer there, and Margaret Hannay, his wife. He was baptized and brought up in the Church of Scotland, of which his parents were God-fearing members. He was wont to say of himself that he “could not remember a time when he did not love the Saviour, or neglected secret prayer”, and in old age it was matter of deep thankful ness to him, that he had been preserved all his life from any great wickedness. At the age of eighteen he resolved to devote himself to the ministry, and after two years of preparatory study, he entered the University of Edinburgh, and continued there four years. Having connected himself with the Reformed Presbyterians, he studied at their Divinity Hail and was licensed as a preacher in 1809. After some years he joined the Synod of Relief.

He received several calls in Scotland, but was not settled, and in 1818 he sailed for America, and landed at St. John, New Brunswick, where he was welcomed by the Rev. Dr. G. Burns, afterwards of Tweedsmuir, who had been his fellow-student in Edinburgh. During the next few years, he preached in almost every part of Nova Scotia, and he was then ordained, and admitted to the pastoral charge of Windsor, Newport, and Rawdon.

In October 1821, he was married to Sarah, daughter of Mr. Clarke, of Windsor. This highly accomplished and excellent woman died in April 1823. In June 1824, Mr. Sprott was married to Charlotte, daughter of Mr. Leslie, of Shelburne, and was again left a widower in July 1825. At that time he was at Sheet Harbour, where he had been preaching every day for a week, and had just celebrated the Lord’s Supper. When he finished, an express arrived from Halifax, informing him of his wife’s dangerous illness. He at once mounted his horse, and rode on in the darkness, through the uninhabited forest and wilderness. At midnight he made a brief halt at Musquodoboit, and then pushed on, with the same horse, for fifty miles further, but ere he reached the city, his “inexpressibly beloved” wife was in her grave. In September 1825, he was admitted to the pastoral charge of Musquodoboit, when Messrs. Graham, Waddell, and Blackwood took part in the induction services. In May 1826, he sailed for Scotland, and in August was married to Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles Neilson, Wigtownshire, who was a helpmeet to him indeed, and he returned with her to his field of labour in October. For nearly twenty- eight years he devoted his whole strength to the duties of his charge, including the Eastern Shore, which he visited several times yearly, and to the people of which he was greatly attached. His labours were uninterrupted save by two “pilgrimages of affection” to his native land in 1834 and in 1844. During all this period the work prospered greatly in his hands, but in 1849, Some division having arisen among the people, he resigned his charge. He was then on the verge of seventy, but he found “idleness very inconvenient”, and for many years afterwards he preached wherever his services were most needed, as among the labourers employed in the construction of the railway, and to the congregations of the Church of Scotland, which were destitute of pastors. In 1850 he paid a visit to the United States, and in 1854 he spent some time in Newfoundland, supplying the pulpit of St. Andrew’s Church in St. John’s. In old age, he visited again nearly every part of Nova Scotia, preaching wherever he went, as he had done more than thirty years before, and he used to say that “his horse had been in almost every stable in the province”.

During these missionary tours, early and late, he had many hair-breadth escapes. He had crossed rivers on floating cakes of ice; once the floor of the house where he was preaching gave way, and the whole congregation was precipitated to the bottom of the cellar. On one occasion his horse and waggon went over the side of a bridge and fell into the stream below, and, on another, over the edge of a declivity, where a tree arrested their downward course, and his life was saved. In the forest, the bear and the moose frequently crossed his path, and once, on Sheet Harbour road, a pack of wolves pursued his dog, and chased it under the horse’s feet.

In 1859 his jubilee was kept, when all classes of his old flock, and many friends from a distance, met to offer their congratulations, and to testify their respect for his character and services. The last time he officiated in public was in December 1867, at New Antrim, when he assisted at the opening of a new church in connection with the Kirk, and in the celebration of the communion. He was in his eighty-eighth year, and was so much crippled with rheumatism, that he had to be lifted in and out of the carriage. He died on the 15th of September 1869, having nearly completed his ninetieth year. By his third wife, who survived him, he had five children—Jane, married to the Rev. Dr. Murray, Cape Ereton; Rev. George W. Sprott, D minister of North Berwick, Scotland; Elizabeth, wife of R. Putnam, Fort Belcher; Charles, who inherited his father’s land in Musquodoboit; and John, who studied medicine in Edinburgh, and died in early life.

Mr. Sprott was a man of middle height, stoutly built, and of great strength and endurance. Through life he enjoyed almost perfect health, and often said that he never felt the infirmities of age till after he was eighty. Re was endowed with a powerful and original mind, a rich imagination, and, to use his own expression, “a memory like a camel”. In one of several high testimonials which he carried with him from Scotland, he was described as “a man of genius”. He was a great reader and a keen observer, and in the course of a long life had accumulated large stores of knowledge. He was one of the most humorous men of his time in Nova Scotia, and his humour was accompanied with a vein of satire which he did not always repress. This, together with his plain speaking and his disregard of conventionalities, sometimes provoked hostile comments, but he was greatly beloved and revered by his family and friends, and was regarded by all classes as a man of genuine and solid worth. He had a warm and tender heart, and his piety was deep and ardent. In an early testimonial given him by the minister of his native parish, he is described as filled with “a strong inclination to do good,” and this was the ruling principle of his life. Wherever he was, on sea or land, and in all companies, he sought to advance his Master’s cause. He was one of the most pleasant of companions, and his was one of those larger natures which can pass at once from mirth and laughter to seriousness and devotion. He made little of ecclesiastical differences, and deplored the divisions among Christians. To the Church of Scotland he cherished a warm affection, and he often said that there were “many things in the Church of England which Presbyterians would do well to imitate”. His sermons were carefully prepared and committed to memory, except in later years, when he frequently extemporised. They were earnest and practical, full of common sense and weighty matter, set forth in plain and forcible language, and, though less ornate than his other compositions, were not wanting in the flowers of imagination. His public prayers, to which he gave much consideration, were richly devotional and often very beautiful. Almost his only contributions to the Press were letters written to the Wigtownshire and Halifax newspapers. One of his chosen fields of usefulness was the writing of letters to those mourning the death of friends. These letters were often exceedingly beautiful and touching, and were greatly appreciated.

—Letter from Rev. Dr. McCulloch, 5 August, 1826, in Supplement to 1st Report of the Glasgow Society for Promoting the Religious Interests of the Scottish Settlers in B.N.A. The exception referred to was the Rev. Dr. Gray of St. Matthew’s, Halifax, and his reason was the constitution of that Church which was originally Congregational. His own sympathies were with the Union. There was another exception, the Rev. Mr. Comingoe of the Dutch Reformed Church in Lunenburg, who had been ordained in St. Matthew’s, Halifax, on the 3rd of July 1770, by the Rev. James Murdoch, then of Horton, afterwards of Meaghers Grant, and other ministers. At the time of the Union Mr Comingoe was in his ninety-third year. in 1817 there “was no barrier to Union, between Seceders and ministers of the Church of Scotland, arising from differences of opinion, regarding the connection between Church and State, in so far as money for the support of the Church was concerned. For all were at that time waiting to receive, and indeed afterwards applied far a share in the funds appropriated by Government for religious purposes” (Rev. Dr. Gregg). I was informed by the late Dr. Paterson of New Glasgow that they purposed seeking incorporation with the National Church, but that the ministers who had come from the Secession, and who formed the great majority (though it was otherwise with their flocks) were dissuaded from this step by their brethren at home. New immigrants from the Highlands. were anxious to obtain ministers from the Church of Scotland, and Dr. McGregor made application to eminent parish clergymen in Scotland for such men to be sent out. The Glasgow Society for providing Ministers from the Church of Scotland for British North America was formed in 1825, but the rise of the voluntary controversy and other muses led to the formation of a separate Synod of the Church of Scotland in 1833. This deplorable schism did much injury to the cause of religion, and was a great hindrance to the progress of the Church. In a few years, proposals for reunion were set on foot, but the Disruption of 1843 led to a fresh schism. The congregations with which my father was connected remained in the Union, though those of their number who were from Scotland had been for the most part members of the National Church. He mentions in one of his letters that five of his elders were Kirkmen. After praying in church for “the lands of our fathers Great Britain and Ireland”, he frequently prayed for “our National Zion”. I thought he meant the Church of Scotland, but a friend suggested that he referred to the Church of England, which had then a quasi-establishment in the province, and, considering his ecclesiastical views, this is quite probable.

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1821.

Newport, 28th Oct. —This day, rose at four of the clock, read the last chapter of Proverbs on the qualifications of a good wife, and wrote a letter to Miss Sarah Clarke of Windsor. I set out before daylight unaccompanied for Windsor, and reached it at eight of the dock. The Rev. Robert Blackwood united Miss Clarke and me in marriage. None were present except her father, John Hall and Mr. MacDonald. The servants did not know it till I told them of it.

After breakfast I rode to Newport, preached the anniversary sermon of the Hants Bible Society, and returned to Windsor late in the evening, having travelled on that day nearly forty miles.

My wife is country born, but a sprig of the shamrock, being the youngest daughter of John Clarke, Esq., who sixty years ago left Donegal, Ireland, and landed without fortune or friends in Nova Scotia. He is still in life in his eighty-second year, has a good flow of spirits, and is a fair and respectable specimen of his Countrymen.

My wife is the youngest of eight daughters. She is a lively, energetic character, and the most valuable woman I have seen at any period of my life. For piety, prudence, decorum and general eminence she is worthy to stand in the same rank with the very best of my acquaintance on either side of the Atlantic. Sarah Sprott, for such I now call her, has an Irish heart, a Scottish head, and English hands. I cannot be too thankful to the Almighty for such a gift. May I long enjoy her, and may we both be prepared for separation on earth and a meeting in heaven. The Rev. Dr. Cochran (1), the Honourable Judge Wilkins, Rev. W. King, Mr. Haliburton (2), Captain Mackay, Mrs. Tongue, Dr. MacLeay, the Honourable James Fraser, and all our friends in town and country called on us.

Nov. — Mr. John Stevenson (1) came to Windsor, a young man of great modesty, good sense and good morals. He often spends with us the heel of an evening, talking over the tales of our dear native country.

2 Dec. — Rode to Falmouth to hear Dr. Cochran preach.

1822.

24th Feb. — Visited Cheverie, attended a funeral, and preached. While thus employed the flooring of the house on which we stood gave way, and precipitated the whole company to the bottom of a deep cellar. No lives were lost

1st Mar — James took a farm at Windsor.

11th April. — Married James Sprott to Lamira Smith of Newport.

1st May. — Planted a hundred apple trees on the Ferry farm.

28th Oct. — It is one year since I was married. The honeymoon still continues, the streams of social felicity flow on smoothly. My wife has equalled my highest anticipations and doubled my happiness.

1823

12^th Jan. — This morning my wife became the mother of a still-born infant. It perished on the very threshold of life. Fell death, like an untimely frost, nipped this young budding flower. We often see the parent build the tomb of the child.

27^th. — Sarah is still poorly. She is not so strong as she was this day fortnight being the day of her confinement. She cannot sit with a lame leg, but she is free of pain I hope she will recover. That true religion, which has been the business and bliss of her life, has supported her during this trying period.

28th. — This day I counted my manuscript sermons. I have about 120 bound, and about 30 in loose papers—a small stock. I hope to add 1o every year.

2nd Feb. — One of the greatest storms I have seen in Nova Scotia. No person called on us but Mr. Stevenson. I went to the Ferry farm on foot. It was as much as I could do. I was nearly exhausted with fatigue. I could scarcely face the storm. It nearly choked me.

11th. — Sarah is better, but awful and anxious times pass over our heads, and our minds are agitated by fear and hope.

24th. — Had some affecting conversation with Sarah on the probable issue of the disorder and the final prospect of man. She has all that consolation which a well-spent life and unshaken faith in the merits of the Redeemer on afford. In the evening we had a prayer meeting for her recovery. She took great delight in the meeting, and most cheerfully raised her feeble voice in the praises of her Redeemer.

16th Mar. — There has not been such a storm since ‘1798. Sarah has been nine weeks confined to her bed, and has had heavy affliction all that time. She said to me that she had no wish to live; that we must part soon to meet again. Resignation is the highest attainment of a Christian, and she seems to possess it in a high degree. I still hope she will recover and have reason to bless God for her present affliction.

This the Sabbath day. The roads are so bad that I cannot go to Newport. Hard is the lot of many emigrants who have lately been removed from the flail light of religious institutions to the darkness which spreads its gloomy shades beyond the western main. Their children relieved from Christian restraints are daily ripening to be outcasts from God. The Sabbath returns, but where are its wonted joys? No temple is there, no messenger of salvation, no song of Zion ushers in this blessed morning. The voice of devotion is not heard, except in the whispers of a broken heart, and the children are not baptized except by a mother’s tears.

I 7th. — Sarah is rather better. She took a glass of wine and drank our health, which cheered us greatly and brightened our prospects.

18th. — Sarah is much worse; she never was so ill. This evening she told me that she could give me up to be with Christ which was far better. She took farewell of her father, and gave all good counsel. Her mind is full of immortality.

23rd. — On going in this morning, my dear wife said to me that it was the Sabbath, the day she liked best, and that God had given her ten Sabbaths since she was confined to prepare for eternity. I stated my conviction that in a short time she would enter on an eternal Sabbath. She assented, avoided any positive declaration on that subject, but spoke with humble confidence. I was oppressed with grief. She gently rebuked me, saying that J retarded her in her flight to heaven. During the day I preached at ---. The audience was much affected. I mentioned this circumstance to her, and she was pleased to hear that tears were shed at --Hill, and she encouraged me to persevere in well-doing.

26th. — On going in this morning, she said to me that she longed to be home at her Father’s house. She mentioned her mother and some pious friends that she would meet in heaven. She stated to me distinctly her assurance of a happy immortality.

29^th. — Dr. Bayard last night proposed to cut off Sarah’s leg as the best chance of saving her life, and gave her till this morning to consider of it, but as it only amounted to a mere possibility, she refused to consent, and wished to die in peace.

30^th. — A prayer meeting was held this day at James Harvey’s for her recovery. I went over and found them at prayer. They were afraid to speak. They supposed she was gone, but learning she was still on praying ground, they resumed their pious services. The scene refreshed my mind.

4^th April. — She stated to me that she had a pleasant dream. She dreamed that she and many of her acquaintances had sailed for the better country. When she awoke and found herself on a bed of suffering she was much disappointed.

8th. — Our prospects are still becoming darker, but the Lord can easily restore her if it seem good to Him.

11th. — My painful journal has at last come to a conclusion. At half-past eleven my prayerful and peaceful wife dosed her earthly career, and we believe and are sure that she has entered into rest, and is with her Saviour and her God. She remained sensible till nearly the last. In the evening I read to her the 12th chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, and prayed with her three times. She delighted in those services even when death was making terrible havoc of her frame. She is now gathered to her fathers, and her death will be regarded as a public calamity.

I wish to follow her example. She was very sensible, highly pious and cheerful. I hope to meet with her in a better world to part no more. I hope the Lord will support me under this afflicting trial. I hope it will yet be for my good.

It was rather singular that on the Monday evening previous to her death, we all heard three smart raps on the middle-room window. Sarah heard it too, and asked what I thought of it. The same rap was heard before — death.

13th. — Sarah Sprott was yesterday committed to the dust in full hopes of a blessed resurrection. She was followed to the grave by a numerous train of mourners. The Almighty has taken away the highest of my created comforts. I hope to live nearer to Himself and to enjoy higher measures of grace.

15^th. — Came to Newport along with brother James. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers met us at the door, and received us kindly.

20th. — Preached at Rawdon a funeral sermon for my dear wife from these words, “Man dieth and wasteth away”. The people were much affected and shed tears in abundance.

TO THE REV. W. KING, RECTOR OF WINDSOR.

24th April.

I am here and well, and have received every attention from kind friends, but the wounds of the heart are too deep to be suddenly healed. The sun of my prosperity has set in a cloud, and my earthly happiness and hopes are buried in the grave of my wife. Her early death has made sad havoc of my affections and darkened all my prospects. She, whom I loved as my own soul, is as the clods of the valley. Her active limbs are mouldering in the clay, and her gentle and deathless spirit has escaped to the mansions of the just, to bejoined to her friends, and to receive that sentence of approbation which consummates the felicity of all the saints,“Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”.

She was too good a gift long to enjoy, and the Lord has been pleased to take her to Himself. “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord”. Time is short; the separation which I lament will not perhaps be of long duration, and in glory pious friends shall meet again to renew a friendship which never shall be dissolved. Sarah Sprott was no ordinary character. Every word she said was a lesson of instruction, and every action was an example. I wish to follow such a pattern in the ways of well-doing, that when fell death shall shut these weeping eyes I may share her tomb, and meet with her in that world of light and love where they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.

The death of near and dear friends is one of the severest trials of human life.

I walk among the hills and valleys. I listen to the music of the grove. I contemplate the beauties of spring; I think on the days that are past and joys which are departed never to return, and which like music on the sea are pleasant and melancholy. I bend my eyes to brighter regions where we shall meet again with the friends of our hearts, where the inconveniences of life shall be removed, where objects worthy of our affections shall be placed before us and within our reach, and where God Himself shall dry up all our tears; but in spite of all my efforts the wound often bleeds afresh and renews itself.