Normally I don’t spend much time reading through minutes unless I have to but I stumbled across an interesting book the other day. It was entitled “Minutes of the Synod of Nova Scotia in Connection With The Established Church of Scotland When Met at New Glasgow, on the 9th Day of August, 1837. Try saying that 3 times fast! Sounds thrilling, huh? That was my first reaction until I started thumbing through the pages. It turns out that most of the book consists of reports from Presbyterian ministers on the status of their church. Each report contains information about the town or city in which the church is located as well as accounts of the activities undertaken by the ministers and their commentary on the spiritual health of the congregation. These reports provide an interesting snapshot of churches in Nova Scotia 30 years before Canada was even a country. The following excerpt is about St. James Presbyterian Church in Dartmouth. Note the expansive and flowery language.
