It is not necessary to
recapitulate the combination of circumstances which formed the religious
nature of the Scot. That they have succeeded in moulding a very strong
and earnest type of spirituality, is beyond question; its foes have
termed it rugged and stern, mainly because they failed to comprehend it,
but that it is a main feature of the national character, no one affects
to deny. The head or the heart may have too often rebelled in many a
Scotsman, and there are always traces of the inherited bias. Mr. W. R.
Greg, who evidently regards intellect as the antagonist of faith, says
that "Mr. J. S. Mill would have been a great Christian if he had
not been a great thinker," an involuntary complement to the
strength of Scotland’s spiritual grasp upon the natures of all her
sons. Even the unbelief of such men as David Hume, or George Combe is
not like that of Bolingbroke, Voltaire, or Strauss. And in the moral
world, though many a Scot has fallen away from the straight path, there
is the crucial instance of Burns to prove that underlying woful errors
there may slumber ever and anon to awaken reprovingly—a strong
religious nature.
The Scottish character
was strongly marked in those Sutherlandshire Highlanders who wintered at
Fort Churchill in the cruel winter of 1811. In the hew and untamed
wilderness to which they had removed, everything around them tended to
deepen their feelings of dependence on the Father of all, and their
religious trust in Him. Nature and man were against them there as they
had been to them, and to their fathers during many centuries in their
native land; and they craved for those religious ordinances which had
been the strength and the solace of those, who had gone
before. Unhappily, the first generation at Red River had passed away
before the settlement saw their fervent desire fulfilled. Many
circumstances combined to defer their just expectations. Lord Selkirk
had stipulated, at any rate with the settlers of 1811, that a
Presbyterian minister should accompany them. One was actually chosen in
the person of the Rev. Donald Sage, for whom the settlers had a natural
preference, since he was a son of the Rev. Alexander Sage, parish
minister of Kildonan in Sutherlandshire. At his father’s request, a
delay of twelve months was granted to enable the young missionary to
perfect himself in the Gaelic language. Whether the difficulties of the
Celtic tongue or the disturbed and uncertain state of the colony
deterred him, it is not easy to learn; but, for some cause or other Mr.
Sage never crossed the ocean, but settled down finally as parish
minister of Rosolis, in Cromarty.
Lord Selkirk,
nevertheless, in his anxiety to satisfy the spiritual wants of his
people, at their request, authorized Mr. James Sutherland, who
had been appointed an elder in Scotland, and was one of the settlers, to
marry and baptize; and he was gratefully received by the Scots as a
substitute, meanwhile, for the pastor they were not destined to see for
thirty-five years thereafter. Mr. Sutherland was, without doubt, the
first preacher of the Gospel in the Great North-West. [Mr. Ross is
highly, but not unnaturally, indignant that the author of Hochelaga,
and Bishop Mountain should seek to deprive the Presbyterian Church of
this honour. He points out that eight years before the Rev. Mr. West,
missionary of the Church of England, and Hudson Bay Company’s
Chaplain, "crossed the Atlantic, baptism was administered,
marriages solemnized, prayer meetings established, and the pure gospel
proclaimed both by Presbyterians and Catholics." Red River
Settlement, pp. 277-8. Probably the reply would be that neither of
these denominations preached the "pure Gospel," and that Mr.
Sutherland’s ministrations were irregular and uncanonical.] He
appears to have been a man of great natural endowments, though he could
not be called a learned man, and his services were welcomed, not merely
by his own people, but also by the Company’s officers and
servants of all creeds. "Of all men," says Mr. Ross,
"clergymen or others, that ever entered this country, none stood
higher in the estimation of the settlers, both for sterling piety and
Christian conduct, than Mr. Sutherland."(p. 31.) Unfortunately, as
if to crown their many other misfortunes, the settlers lost the services
of this excellent man in 1818, when he was carried off forcibly to
Canada by the agents of the North-West Company. Wearied out with the
heart-sickness of hope deferred, [It is almost difficult for readers in
more favoured times and localities to appreciate fully the yearning for
religious ordinances, evident in the letters and documents of this
period, and much later. Much more, indeed, than the war of the
Companies, religion constituted the politics and the daily life of these
poor Highland settlers. See Ross, Chap. v.] and no communication having
been received from Lord Selkirk’s agent, the settlers, appealed to Mr.
Alexander Macdonell, recently appointed Governor, for assistance, but in
vain. He was a Catholic, and therefore, says a writer, "did not
take much interest in Presbyterian politics; but told the Scotch, by way
of consolation, that they might live as he himself did, without a church
at all." The next step was an earnest petition to the Rev. John
Macdonald, of Urquhart Ross-shire, a minister well known to them, asking
him to ascertain Mr. Sage’s intentions, and, in the event of his
deciding to remain in Scotland, urging his good offices. It would appear
that this appeal was never received, as no answer ever reached the
distressed colony.
It cannot be said that
Lord Selkirk, who was now no more, in any way responsible for the
spiritual destitution of which the settlers complained. Not to speak of
the perpetual struggle in which he was engaged, the web of violence and
litigation in which his opponents involved him, or were involved along
with him unwittingly on both sides, his Lordship’s good faith was
conspicuous in the matter of religious worship. It was not his fault
that the people were shepherdless; he had obtained them the services of
Mr. Sutherland, and it was not he who abducted him. And he had marked
out land, chosen by the settlers as the site of a church and
school-house, giving those who had already obtained the lots an
equivalent elsewhere.
In October, 1821, the
Rev. John West A.M., an ordained minister of the Church of England
arrived in the colony. It is hardly surprising that his advent was the
signal for discontent rather than rejoicing. There may, perhaps, have
been a score of English churchmen in the colony, but nearly all the
Protestants were steadfast Presbyterians. Nor did the natural Scottish
aversion to prelacy cause all the trouble. They hated Episcopalian
ordination. There it stood before them surpliced as of old; they could
not away with "the mass-book," and Mr. West refused to yield
an inch in the matter of the liturgy; there was besides the trouble that
he spoke in English, and they longed to worship and to hear their own
native Gaelic from the pulpit. It was for this they had waited,
yearned and hoped during eight long and troublous years, and here was
the upshot of it all. As will be seen immediately, the settlers,
Highlanders as they were, proved not to be the bigoted creatures Scots
Presbyterians are sometimes represented, and it is unlikely that, if Mr.
West had been a Highlander, and could have read the liturgy and preached
to his flock in the old Celtic tongue, they might have submitted, with
some grimace perhaps, but still submitted with Christian resignation to
kneeling at communion, and the cross in the baptism. No compromise was
attempted, and the complaints of the Scots who regarded Mr. West’s
intrusion as a flagrant breach of the Selkirk stipulation were met, for
the time, by the assurance that Mr. West would soon be replaced by a
c1ergyman of their own Church. It must be remembered, by the way, that
the building employed for public worship had been erected by the efforts
of the settlers, and mainly with their money and labour. [The Rev.
gentleman appears to have reciprocated the feelings of the colonists,
for he remarks in his journal: "I cheerfully give my hand, and my
heart to perfect the work. I expected a willing co-operation from the
Scotch settlers; but was disappointed in my sanguine hopes of their
cheerful and persevering assistance, though their prejudices against the
English Liturgy, and the simple rites of our communion." Mr. West,
apparently knew nothing of Scottish ecclesiastical history, or, if he
did, it was to little purpose.] Mr. West, finding that he could not bend
the stubborn will of the Scots, confined himself to missionary labours
at the Company’s outposts and returned to England in 1823. [Hargrave: Red
River, p. 104; Ross: p. 74.]
Notwithstanding their
want of success, the Church Missionary Society sent out another
clergyman, the Rev. David J. Jones, and in 1825, another, the
Rev. William Cochran, who was destined to exercise much greater
influence during his prolonged career of forty years. [Mr. Ross, who
writes with too obvious a Presbyterian bias, referring to the period
when Mr. Jones was alone, says, "the Rev. Mr. Jones was the only
officiating clergyman among the (Protestant) Europeans, although he
belonged to the English, and they to the Scotch Church. It was rather
anomalous, in this section of the colony, an English clergyman without a
congregation of his own creed, and a Scotch congregation without a
minister." p. 81. One is tempted to ask, what was the old mother
Kirk of Scotland about all the time.] The two Anglican clergymen
laboured together for some years, Mr. Jones having established another
station some miles further down the river. During a short visit to
England this gentleman added fuel to the fire by some remarks which
appeared in the "Missionary Register" of December 1827:
"I lament to say that there is an unchristian-like selfishness and
narrowness of mind in our Scottish population; while they are the most
comfortable in their circumstances of any class in our little
community." Whether these "comfortable circumstances,"
considered from an offertory point of view, deepened Mr. Jones’
lamentations over the "unchristian selfishness" of the Scots,
is not clear; he certainly seems to have been quite unconscious that the
charge of narrow-mindedness might be retorted by the recalcitants with
at least equal reason.
At any rate, the settlers
addressed the Governor more than once, demanding the fulfilment of Lord
Selkirk’s promise; but all proved vain. Unhappily, some indiscreet
member of the Church Missionary Society still further exasperated the
Scots, by writing to a friend, "Red River is an English colony; and
there are two English missionaries there already; and if the petitioners
were not a set of canting hypocrites, they might very well be satisfied
with the pious clergymen they have got."
The Rev. Mr. Jones,
however attached to his communion, was essentially an amiable and
charitable man; at this time, therefore, he "became extremely kind
and indulgent to the Scots, and among other things laid aside such parts
of the Liturgy and formula of the Episcopalian Church as he knew were
offensive to his Presbyterian hearers. He also held prayer-meetings
among them after the manner of their own Church, without using the
prayer-book at all, which raised him higher than ever in their
estimation, especially as they understood that he could only do so at
the hazard of forfeiting his gown. His own words were, "I know I am
doing good; and so long as I can do good to souls, the technical forms
of this or that Church shall not prevent me." [His fellow-labourer,
the Rev. Mr. Cochran, was not inclined, at first, to follow Mr. Jones in
his laudable efforts at conciliation. The latter’s apology, which is
too long for insertion (see Ross, p. 131, 132), proves him to have been
not merely a man of tact and judgment, but a clergyman of an earnest,
devout, and truly missionary spirit.] The Rev. William (afterwards
Archdeacon) Cochran was not so conciliating at this period. According to
Mr. Ross, he said, with some warmth, "I will preach to them the
truths of the Gospel, and they must listen to me; they have nothing to
do with our forms, I will not allow them an inch of their will."
The settlers, however, admired the rev. gentleman, in spite, perhaps
unconsciously because of his stubbornness, coupled as it was with
transparent candour and fervent zeal as a minister; and from that time
until the close of his long work (1865) he remained a great favourite
with the Scots. Nevertheless, another application was made to Governor
Christie, and the answer was the cool suggestion to make an application
to Lord Selkirk’s executors, who, as the Company well knew, had ceased
to have anything to do with the Colony. [Mr. Christie, it is proper to
note, was himself a Presbyterian, and an exceedingly kind and affable
man.]
Meanwhile, so deeply
rooted was the love of the Scots for their Church, that continued
disappointment seriously affected their industrial energies—about 114
left, in one year, for the United States. Mr. Cochran, who was a pious
and earnest man, followed Mr. Jones’s example and all went on well,
until two fresh labourers appeared in the field to undo the work and set
the clergy and their Presbyterian flocks by the ears. Fresh from
head-quarters, and knowing nothing about the Colony, they immediately
upbraided Mr. Cochran with faithlessness to the Church, and he, giving
way in a moment of weakness, kindled the old discontents once more.
Matters were in a more or less unsatisfactory state, until the arrival
of Mr. Finlayson, as Governor, at Red River. The new ruler was a man of
great intelligence and active business habits, shrewd, honest, and
impartial. The Presbyterians at once resolved to lay their case before
him and ask his counsel and assistance. Having listened to their
complaints, he expressed his conviction that they had been badly
treated; at the same time, as the matter rested with the Directors of
the Hudson Bay Company, he advised them to draft a petition which he
undertook to forward to Sir George Simpson, the Governor-in-chief of
Rupert’s Land. This petition was signed by forty-three heads of
families, at the head of the list being the name of Alexander Ross, the
author of the work so frequently cited. It contained a temperate
statement of their grievance, with a reference to Lord Selkirk’s
stipulation. [This petition, together with all the correspondence and
affidavits, will be found in Ross’ work, pp. 342-351. One clause of
the first seems worth inserting, because it expresses, in mild terms,
the deep-seated anxiety of the settlers upon the subject. "That the
attention of your petitioners has long been turned with painful
solicitude to their spiritual wants in this settlement, that widely as
they are scattered among other sections of the Christian family, and
among many who cannot be considered as belonging to it at all, they are
in danger of forgetting that they have brought with them into this land,
where they have sought a home, nothing so valuable as the faith of
Christ, and the primitive simplicity of their own form of worship; and
that their children are in danger of losing sight of those Christmas
bonds of union and fellowship which characterize the sincere followers
of Christ."] This document which was transmitted in June, 1844, was
violently assailed by the opponents of Presbytery, but those who had
signed it waited patiently till June 1845, when an answer came from
London. The Secretary of the Company was instructed to state that the
Company knew nothing of any such stipulation, and that, had any such
engagement of the Scots been, in fact, entered into by Lord~Selkirk, it
was singular that he had taken no steps to carry it out. It was declared
to be without precedent that the Company should maintain a Presbyterian
minister at Red River, and the only concession that could be made was a
free passage for any clergyman the settlers might choose to engage and
undertake to pay. In reply, the petitioners entered into the facts of
the case from the outset and forwarded two explicit affidavits. The
first having reference to the agreement with Lord Selkirk, the attempt
to engage the services of Mr. Sage, the temporary ministrations of Mr.
Sutherland, and the repeated applications to every successive Governor,
was signed by Angus and Alexander Mathieson, two of the settlers of
1815. The second proved the assignment of two new lots to Alexander
McBeath and his son, John, one of the deponents, by Mr. Alexander
Macdonnell, the Governor, at the instance of Lord Selkirk, these lots
being set apart for a Presbyterian Church and a school. The only reply
vouchsafed to these representations from the Hudson Bay House was the
information the Company "can neither recognize the claim therein
advanced, nor do anything more towards the object you have in view, than
they have already expressed their willingness, to do." This curt
note was dated 6th June, 1846, fully two years after the original
petition had been drafted and nearly a twelve-month later than the
communication to which it replied.
The settlers expecting
this result from the tone of the Company’s first answer turned for
assistance to another quarter. Stirring events had occurred in the old
land within a year or two. The Disruption of 1843 had infused new life
into the decaying spirituality of Scotland, and the marvellous zeal and
energy which piled together the Sustentation Fund seemed to betoken the
dawn of a new era in the history of Presbyterianism. The Red River
Settlers were perhaps scarcely so strongly impressed with non-intrusion
controversy as their brethren over the sea; indeed they felt too forlorn
and desolate to care much about patronage. They at once, however,
appealed with hope to the Free Church in a letter, accompanied by all
the correspondence with the Company and other documents, addressed to
the Rev. Dr. Brown, of Aberdeen, Moderator of the General Assembly.
Owing to delays and miscarriages of letters, no reply was received until
the Summer of 1849, when the Rev. Dr. Bonar, Convener of the Colonial
Committees wrote expressing his regret that all efforts to secure a
suitable minister had hitherto failed. A dispute followed regarding the
Church and school lots, which had long been occupied by the English
Missionaries, the result was a sort of informal offer of arbitration by
Governor Colville, one of the terms of which was that the dissidents
should be paid off, and suffered to have their own Church and burial
ground.
At length, by the efforts
of the Rev. Dr. Burns, Rev. Mr. Rintoul and others, the long-promised
Missionary arrived on the 19th of September, 1851, in the person of the
Rev. John Black, late minister of Kildonan, in the Province of Manitoba.
The joy with which the first clergyman of their Church—the pastor for
whom they had been looking and longing in vain during thirty-three years—was
welcomed it is easy to imagine. So soon as he set foot in the settlement
three hundred Presbyterians left the English Church in one day, and were
at last restored to the Communion of their fathers. The final decision
of the Committee on the Church property question was so far in favour of
the settlers, that neither Church nor churchyard were to be consecrated,
but left open to all. In 1853, however, the Presbyterians erected a
handsome stone edifice at Frog Plains or Kildonan, and were at home at
last.
The Rev. John Black, or
Dr. Black, as he is entitled to be called, deserves a more extended
notice inasmuch as he was not only the first Presbyterian Minister at
Red River, but has approved himself by twenty years’ faithful service,
the model of all that a Christian Missionary in a new and unsettled
Country should aspire to be. By the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Reid, who
has furnished the facts, the following account of Dr. Black’s life and
services are laid before the reader. [The writer desires to make a
general acknowledgement here to this indefatigable Agent of the
Presbyterian Church in Canada, for much assistance in preparing the
portion of this work devoted to religious programs in the Dominion.] He
was born in 1818, in the parish of Eskdale Muir, Dumfrieshire, Scotland,
whence his family removed to Kirkpatrick. When John Black was about
twenty-three years of age, the family emigrated to the United States.
With them he resided for some years, in the State of Delaware, employing
himself, as most young Scots do in the "auld land," both in
teaching and study. Amongst his pupils, who rose to eminence, were the
Hon. W. Murray, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and
Dr. David Murray, Superintendent, of Education in Japan. Even before
leaving Scotland, Mr. Black had conceived a desire of entering the
ministry, and a residence in the United States had not only deepened
that aspiration, but given it definite form. He loved his native land
and its Church, and with that truly Scottish form of patriotism he had
inherited, his religion and his love of country seemed to have been
inextricably mingled together. The train of thought in such a mind—not
difficult to follow—led Mr. Black to look towards Canada, where his
connection with Scotland, and some members of the Presbyterian family of
churches would be more intimate than was possible in the United States.
It was after the disruption had done its work in Canada (1844) that, in
correspondence with the Rev. Mr. Stark, of Dundas, first Moderator of
the Presbyterian Church in Canada—the Free Church branch of Canadian
Presbyterianism—he learned of a provision in the making, to train
young men for the ministry in Knox College, then on the eve of
organization. At the opening of the first session of Knox College, in
the Autumn of 1844, Mr. Black presented himself as a student,
and, after having prosecuted the course of study prescribed in the
curriculum of the College, and passed the required examinations, was
licensed, in due form, as a preacher of the gospel. For a considerable
period, the Rev. Mr. Black was engaged in the work of French
evangelization; and it was in the midst of these labours that he was
summoned to step higher, and become the first Presbyterian minister of
the Red River Settlement. This sudden call to a sphere of labour almost
boundless in extent, and rich in opportunities for missionary
usefulness, must have impressed Mr. Black with a full sense of its
value, as well as its difficulties. The first Presbyterian minister in
the great North- West had a wide door opened to him, but to enter in
meant the sacrifice of much which an ambitious man holds dear. The fame
and the emoluments of the city clergyman; nearly all the comforts and
pleasant companionship of society life in settled communities must be
left behind; and, taking his cross upon his back, he must encounter all
possibilities in missionary life, to do the work of his Master—no
human mentor by his side; alone, yet not alone. It can hardly be
ambition which tempts a man to undergo danger and difficulty in the
missionary field; it is certainly not hope of earthly reward, nor even
love of adventure which stimulates the explorer, which prompts the
pioneer missionary to undertake the work. Whatever Mr. Black’s
feelings may have been, or whencesoever his inspiration and strength
were drawn, he set about his mission with the determination of an
ambassador who was not without credentials. The Scots settlers grouped
about him enthusiastically; but beyond their little oasis, lay a vast
Sahara of spiritual desert. Mr. Black’s first step was to make sure of
his own ground. From the first, he resolved to keep aloof from politics,
and adhered to that resolution throughout. During the prolonged struggle
with the Hudson Bay Company, he held aloof, firmly persuaded that the
mission of the clergyman ran upon a higher plane, and in a purer
atmosphere, than that of the agitator, or the conservative, however
sincere. Even at the unhappy period when the Anglican clergymen whom the
Company had championed opposed it, to the moral destruction of one of
them, Mr. Black, whose church the reigning authorities had persistently
opposed, stood aloof from the agitation of the malcontents.
The Rev. Dr. Black,
throughout a distinguished career, endeavoured to promote solely the
religious and educational progress of the people. When they found
themselves excluded from the schools, it was he who founded and set in
operation the germ of Manitoba’s educational system. In early
years, he had, "in addition to his usual clerical duties at both
stations, to teach a French and Latin class ever since Bishop Anderson
prohibited Presbyterian pupils from attending his schools."
[Ross, p. 360. Of course, our author is alone responsible for a view of
Bishop Anderson’s course, of which the writer of these words would be
sorry to judge ex parte.] At this time Mr. Black’s stipend, we
are informed, amounted to only £150 per annum, 50 of which were
subscribed by the Hudson Bay Company. The rev. gentleman, however, did
not stop there. The Kildonan station on Frog Plains, had been
supplemented by another, fourteen miles further down, now apparently
termed "Little Britain." It was to his untiring energy that
the first systematic attempt to christianize the Indians, owed its
origin. To the Rev. Mr. Cochran, afterwards Archdeacon, much praise is
due for fruitful efforts in that direction. Perhaps as the pastor of the
Hudson Bay Company, he felt that they had hitherto made no effort to
fulfil one of the primary conditions of their charter; most certainly as
a Christian pastor, he did what he could, not as a hireling of the
monopoly, but as the faithful servant of a Diviner Master. Dr. Black
died in 1882. [It should be mentioned that the Rev. Dr. Black’s degree
of Doctor was bestowed upon him, as was fitting, by the University of
Queen’s College, Kingston, in 1876.]
In 1862, much of the Rev.
Dr. Black’s labour and anxiety was removed by the advent upon the
field of the Rev. James Nisbet, the second Presbyterian minister at Red
River, and the first missionary especially set apart for labour amongst
the Indians. A native of Glasgow, Scotland, he came with his father and
family to Canada in early life. "Like Dr. Black," the Rev. Dr.
Reid informs us, "he was one of the first fruits of Knox
College." After his ordination, he was appointed minister of the
church at Oakville, where he laboured diligently in the sacred calling
for twelve years, from 1850 to 1862, and in addition to his ordinary
pastoral duties was constantly engaged in the Home Missionary work of
his Church. In 1862, he was invited to assist Dr. Black in the work at
Red River, and cheerfully undertook the duty. During the two years of
his co-operation with Dr. Black, he was in preparation for his special
work, and, in 1864, he was formally designated as a Presbyterian
missionary to the valley of the Saskatchewan, and at once entered upon
the arduous duty assigned him. He was accompanied by Mr. George Flett,
and Mr. John McKay, both natives of the North-West, and well versed in
the Cree language. The mission received the name of Prince Albert, and
there for ten years, Mr. Nisbet pursued his work, with zeal and
devotedness, although in the midst of grave difficulties and much
discouragement. He died at Kildonan, worn out prematurely by his
evangelical labours on the 30th of September, 1874, only a few weeks
before the death of his wife, who together with him had been spent in
the arduous work given them to do, leaving four orphan children. The
testimony Mr. Nisbet left behind him might be coveted by many an ardent
seeker after posthumous fame, "he was a singularly unselfish and
devoted missionary, and all felt that his heart was in his work."
[On the chapter 36 page, you refer to
Reverend James Nisbet. Rev. Nisbet was also accompanied by his wife
(Mary MacBeth), her sister (Christy MacBeth), the wife of John McKay,
and also a brother of Mary MacBeth, of whom the name escapes me. The
MacBeth name has seen several spelling in the course of three
generations - McBeath, McBeth, and MacBeth. The correction I am most
concerned about is the death dates of Rev. Nisbet and Mary MacBeth
Nisbet. Mary died September 19, 1874 in her father's house, Robert
MacBeth I, with Rev. Nisbet at her side, shortly after her return from
Prince Albert. Rev. James Nisbet died just 11 days after her on
September 30, 1874, also in Robert MacBeth's house. They left behind
four small children, Mary Jane (9), Isabella Catherine (6), Thomas
(4), and Robert (2). I have visited their graves many times in the Old
Kildonan Cemetery (http://www.kildonanpresbyteriancemetery.com/index.html) in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. If you require any further information,
please do not hesitate to contact me at
Doug Braden]
Of the other Presbyterian
ministers engaged in the North-West, only brief notice can be taken. The
Rev. Alex. Matheson, a Scot, by parentage, is a native of Red River. He
also was educated at Knox College, and for some time laboured at
Lunenburg on the St. Lawrence. Returning to his native Manitoba, he
became; and is now, the Minister of "Little Britain," at the
Lower Fort Garry. The Rev. G. Bryce, M.A., is also a Scots Canadian; he
graduated in the University of Toronto, and pursued his theological
studies at Knox College. In 1871, he was placed at the head of the
College of Manitoba. The Rev. Thomas Hart, M. A., professor in the same
institution is from Perth, Ontario, and also of Scottish extraction. His
degree was obtained from Queen’s University. One of the latest
additions to the clerical strength of the Presbyterian Church in
Manitoba, is the Rev. James Robertson, of Knox Church, Winnipeg. He
studied at University College, Toronto, and took a theological course at
Princeton, N. J.
The best general view of
the work of the Church of England in the North-West will be found in
Hargrave’s Red River, chap ix. The position in which
Episcopalian ministers were placed was anomalous. The Rev. Archdeacon
Cochran is justly regarded as the founder of that branch of the Church
of England which now boasts of no less than five bishoprics in the
North-West. It was he who, in 1836, made the first attempt at Indian
evangelization, amongst the semi-civilized aborigines by founding the
Indian Settlement, or Parish of St. Peter. Mr. Cochran was apostolic to
the letter, for he "laboured with his hands"at the little
edifice designed for instruction and worship. He was pastor, teacher,
architect, builder, and mechanic combined; what is pleasing to learn is
he did not toil in vain, since what there is of civilization and settled
life amongst the Indians of the Province of Manitoba, may be justly
traced to his early labours. It was no wonder that be was beloved by the
natives and warmly esteemed by the Presbyterians, against whom, in the
days of ignorance, he had sternly set his face. He was too near akin to
them in the national characteristics of fervour, persistence and
devotion to the highest interests of his fellow-men, to be permanently
estranged from their hearts by differences in form or discipline. In
their former foe they learned long before the termination of his forty
years’ ministry to recognise one of their closest friends. Of the
other Anglican clergymen who took an active part in the work of early
days, may be mentioned the Rev. John McCallum and the Rev. James
(afterwards Archdeacon) Hunter.
The present Bishop of
Rupert’s Land—a diocese constituted in 1849—was, and is, the Most
Reverend Robert Machray, D.D., the son of a Scottish advocate. He was
born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1832. Educated in the first place at King’s
College in his native city, he graduated with honours in mathematics at
Cambridge. He was elected Foundation Fellow of his college (Sidney) in
1855, and, in the year following, ordained as Deacon and Priest
successively by the Bishop of Ely. Having been honoured by other
University appointments, he was for a short time Vicar of a parish near
the University town. In 1865 he was consecrated Bishop of Rupert’s
Land at Lambeth, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London,
Ely and Aberdeen, as well as his predecessor the Rt. Reverend David
Anderson. [Some of these biographical facts, as well as others which
follow, are taken from The Clerical Guide and Churchman’s
Directory, edited by Mr. C.V. Forster Bliss, and published at
Ottawa.] The diocese, as originally established, included the entire
area now embraced in the Province of Manitoba and the North-West
Territories. Bishop Machray entered upon the arduous duties of his
extensive charge in the true missionary spirit. He fearlessly
encountered the perils and privations of the wilderness in the
visitation of the distant and widely scattered mission stations of his
diocese, and for several years pursued a career of almost continued
hardship and endurance, travelling thousands of miles by canoe and
dog-sleigh, to the remotest confines of the then little-known region
under his spiritual charge, in order to familiarize himself with its
needs. When owing to the influx of settlers, it became necessary largely
to extend the work of the Church, his practical knowledge of the country
and its religious requirements enabled him to present the case earnestly
and successfully to the Church in Canada and in England. In order to
meet the continually increasing necessities arising from the progress of
settlement, the diocese was subdivided by the constitution of other
bishoprics, the See of Rupert’s Land since 1874, comprising the
Province of Manitoba, with a portion of the district of Cumberland, and
the districts of Swan River, Norway House, and Lac La Pluie. On the
sub-division of the diocese, Bishop Machray was appointed Metropolitan.
His zeal and energy in the pioneer work of religious and educational
organization are recognised, not on1y by his fellow-churchmen, but by
all interested in the moral and intellectual advancement of the
North-West. Bishop Machray’s sterling qualities of head and heart,
have won the respect of all classes. His pulpit style is direct and
practical rather than ornate, and is oft times characterized by the
eloquence which glows with the warmth of earnest conviction, though it
may not glitter with the tinsel of rhetorical embellishment. He holds
the position of Chancellor and Warden of St. John’s College, Manitoba,
and Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Theological College.
Another of the pioneer
prelates of the North-West, claims Scotland as his native land. The
Right Reverend John McLean, D.D., D.C.L., was born at Portsay,
Banffshire, in 1828. He graduated at Aberdeen University in 1851. He
came to Canada shortly afterwards, and in 1858 was ordained by the
Bishop of Huron. His first charge was the curacy of St. Paul’s
Cathedral, London. He removed to the North-West in 1866, where he was
appointed rector of St. John’s Cathedral, and Divinity Professor of
St. John’s College, Winnipeg. A few years later he became archdeacon
of Assiniboia. In 1871, he received the degree of D.C.L., from the
Universities of Trinity College, Toronto, and Bishop’s College,
Lennoxville, and that of D.D., from Kenyon College, Ohio. When the
Diocese of Saskatchewan was constituted in 1874, the ripe scholarship
and marked executive abilities of Dr. McLean, were recognised by his
nomination to the new See. He was consecrated at Lambeth the same year
by the Archbishop of. Canterbury - and has since laboured with assiduity
and success to meet as far as possible the rapidly increasing spiritual
needs of the extensive and fertile region under his charge, to which so
large a proportion of the influx of settlement has been directed.
When the record of
North-Western evangelization is complete, and Christianity has gone hand
in hand with civilization, in reclaiming the land from desolation and
pagan barbarism, no name in the list of those who laboured and suffered
for this glorious consummation will be held in greater honour or more
affectionate remembrance, than that of the Rev. George McDougall,
Methodist missionary to the Indians, who crowned a life of heroic
struggle and self-sacrifice by a martyr’s death, at his perilous post
of duty. But, little information can be obtained as to his early
antecedents. Born of a hardy sea-faring ancestry belonging to the north
of Scotland, he combined a hereditary courage and love of adventure,
which enabled him cheerfully to brave the dangers and hardships of life
on the prairies, with a singular gentleness and refinement, and an
overflowing kindliness of disposition which drew all hearts towards him.
Early in life he became convinced that duty called him to a career of
missionary effort among the Indians of the North-West. He began his
labours about the year 1850, travelling westward through the wildest and
most desolate regions of what was then an almost unknown land,
establishing mission stations, familiarizing himself with the language
of the Indians, and carrying the light of the Gospel into the haunts of
heathen darkness. In the winter of 1875-6, he was stationed at
Morleyville, Bow River, in the Rocky Mountain region, where he proposed
to establish an orphanage for the support and education of destitute
Indian children. Letters which he wrote a few weeks before his death to
the Hon. James Ferrier, superintendent of the St. James’-street
Sabbath-school, Montreal, which had largely aided his schemes by
contributions, give a vivid and interesting picture of his work and its
glorious results. Speaking of his journey westward from Victoria to Fort
McLeod, he says: "We were guided by the Stony interpreter, James
Dixon, a very remarkable man, who for years has been the patriarch of
his people. James, in a five days’ journey could point out every spot
of interest; now showing us the place where more than twenty-five years
ago, the venerable Rundle visited them and baptized many of their people—a
little further on, and the location was pointed out to us, where his
father was killed by the Black-feet, then again from a hill our friend
pointed out the spot where a company of German emigrants, while crossing
from Montana to the Saskatchewan were murdered—not one left to tell
the painful story. This occurred seven years ago. How wonderful the
change! We can now preach the Gospel to these very people, who, but a
few years ago sought the life of every traveller coming from the
American side." The destitution of many of the Indians; owing to
the disappearance of the buffalo, on which they were almost entirely
dependent, excited his deepest commiseration and redoubled his
determination to make some provision for the physical necessities of the
young and helpless, while imparting together with a Christian education,
such an industrial training as would fit them to become self-supporting
under the new order of things. "November 6th," he writes,
"we reached the encampment of our friend Dixon. There were 380
Stonies present. Next morning we held a service, and though the frozen
grass was the best accommodation we could offer our hearers, yet no
sooner was the announcement made, than men, women and children gathered
round us, and sang with great energy, ‘Salvation, Oh, the
joyful sound.’ Here I counted over 100 boys and girls who ought to be
attending school, and who I hope will be as soon as we can get a place
erected sufficiently large to accommodate them." To effect his
plans he laboured steadily with his own hands at the work of building.
"At present," he sensibly says, "if your missionaries
would succeed, they must not he afraid of a little manual labour."
Unfortunately this
valiant and stout-hearted soldier of the Cross was never destined to put
his benevolent project into operation. On the 24th of January, 1876,
while hunting buffalo about thirty miles from Morleyville, to procure a
supply of meat for the mission, he started to return to camp in advance
of his party. It was a wild, stormy night, and a fierce wind swept the
prairie laden with drifting snow. Mr. McDougall missed his way, and as a
protracted search by his friends proved fruitless, the painful
conclusion that he had perished from cold and exhaustion forced itself
upon them. Twelve days afterwards his body was found by a half-breed,
stretched in death on the snow-covered prairie, the folded hands and
placid expression of the features, showing that the intrepid soul of the
missionary had met death in the spirit of calm and trustful resignation—
"Like one who draws
the drapery of his couch
Around him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
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