BY THE REV. DONALD MACLEOD, MISSIONARY.
LEAVING the Tail of the Bank, Greenock, by the T.S.S. “California,” of the Anchor Line, at noon on Saturday the 6th of June, I arrived safely at New York on Sabbath evening the 14th current. The voyage across the immense and majestic Atlantic was so full of interest, so exceedingly impressive, so very favourable to me, that I would be blind indeed if I failed to see and admire the immensity, omnipotence, wisdom and benevolence of Him who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Who, having made them to issue out of the womb of nothing by the fiat of His almighty power, gathered them by a like command into the then, as now, well-nigh immeasurable seas and, setting bounds, gave them as one comprehensive unit the perpetual decree: “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed”; Who, when “a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people,” made the proud and lofty billows His footstool, and to the surging waves, tempest driven, said: “Peace, be still,” and there was a great calm.
The sea, somewhat choppy the day after we left, was, the rest of the way, perfectly smooth, and with the single exception of a thick fog accompanied with piercing cold, met with on the Banks of Newfoundland, the passage was simply delightful. Not once did I feel any symptom of sea-sickness, and, being in good health, was able to be present at all the meals. I received the greatest kindness from all on board, but my special thanks are due to Purser Johnson, who kindly gave me a room to myself where I had every freedom and comfort, and at whose request I conducted divine service in the saloon on the second Sabbath at sea, which was attended by a large number of my fellow passengers.
On reaching New York, I was extremely sorry to have to plant my foot for the first time on the soil of the New World on the Lord’s Day, and to have, through sheer necessity, to attend to things which the regulations of the Custom House made imperative, and which, though I believe the same conditions prevail in all the great seaports of the world, are, in my humble opinion, unworthy of Christian nations. Mr. Donald Mackenzie met me on my arrival, and with him I stayed until Monday evening, and the great kindness shown to me by Mrs. Mackenzie and himself I shall not soon forget. My stay there was far too short to get a true and adequate idea of the life of that large and beautiful city, but from the crowds in the streets, cars, and trains, one could easily gather that among its large population must be counted thousands who are not lovers of the Sabbath.
I left at 6 o’clock p.m., travelling by the Le High Valley Railroad to Buffalo, which was reached early on the following morning; and though I would willingly have broken my journey there to visit the famous Niagara Falls, I considered it better to continue on to Seaforth, where I arrived in the afternoon, content with a passing look of the Falls from the train until, if spared and well, an opportunity to visit them more leisurely comes my way. I stayed with kind Mr. and Mrs. Clark, at Egmondville, until Thursday afternoon, when I went to Brucefield, which, owing to the kindness and hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Forrest, has been my chief resting-place since.
My time since then has been fully occupied in visiting the several stations of the Mission in Ontario, during which the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was dispensed at East Williams and Brucefield, and services on two or three Sabbaths kept at each place. Where necessary, services were held in Gaelic. As brief notices of my labours in that part of the Mission field have already appeared in the Magazine, it is not necessary here to repeat what was there said, and it only remains to say that on the last Sabbath of August I was at Newton, where the attendance at both morning and evening services was fair. There I parted with Mr. Clark, who had been my constant companion till then, and along with Mr. Alick Finlayson, Lochalsh, I left by the Grand Trunk Railway on Tuesday morning for Owen Sound.
Arriving there in the evening, we went immediately on board the S.S. “Manitoba,” of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which soon thereafter left, and was steaming fast through the calm waters of Georgian Bay, a large and beautiful arm of Lake Huron, on the way to the Soo, which we reached on the afternoon of the following day—a pretty town and lovely situated on the banks of the River St. Marie, which flows through it, forming the boundary between Canada and the United States. Passing through the loch of the canal on the American side, we were soon on the deep, clear, blue waters of Lake Superior, the largest sheet of fresh water in the world, covering an area of about 32,000 square miles, which all that evening and next day had nothing to support its bad reputation for cold and storms, as it was very warm and as smooth as glass. On Thursday afternoon we got to Port Arthur, which looks very fine as it is approached from the Lake, and an hour later to Fort William, as the two towns are not far apart. The trip, so far, was most enjoyable, as we had splendid weather, and the scenery of these magnificent lakes, with their many islands of various sizes, covered with timber, is really exquisite.
At Fort William we had a long wait, which was partly spent in seeing the town, with its huge elevators for the export of the grain from the prairies of the great North-West. It is a busy town of considerable extent, and with the appearance of much prosperity, but I was not favourably impressed with it, as I saw more men there that one afternoon under the influence of strong drink than anywhere else in my travels. Our train, which was specially made up there owing to the Pacific express not being able to get through because of the burning of a bridge by bush fires, left at 8 o’clock, and it being night we could not see much of the country, although we were glad to have an occasional look at it in the moonlight as we lay awake on a bed spread upon hot steam pipes, perspiring like one in a Turkish bath. What we did see of the country from daybreak the next morning seemed very barren—rock and sand covered over with shrubs the most of the way. Late in the forenoon we reached Winnipeg, where we were met by Mr. William Sinclair, who, taking his holidays then, was my principal guide and companion while there.
Winnipeg is a large and rapidly growing city of over 100,000 inhabitants, with some noble buildings, fine broad streets, and bearing the aspect of a thriving commercial city, upon whose signboards Scotch names are much in evidence. Taking into account the miscellaneous character of its citizens, hailing from every quarter of the globe, I was surprised at the order which prevailed in the streets, although from accounts and reports of the Police Courts’ proceedings in the public Press, immorality seems prevalent in certain districts, which, however, I was pleased to see is being suppressed with a firm hand. The people, I was told, are great church-goers, and from the number of churches belonging to every denomination and sect, heard and unheard of, accommodation seems not lacking. But viewing the electric cars on the Sabbath, as they discharged their burdens of humanity in the streets in the evening, I felt compelled to take that report cum grano salis, and from my own observations to believe that there are in Winnipeg, as elsewhere, large numbers who prefer the public parks to the House of God.
We met for worship in the Trades Hall, and for the first two Sabbaths we had an English service in the forenoon, and English followed by Gaelic at night. But that arrangement not giving satisfaction to some, it was for the rest of the time changed to English in the morning, Gaelic in the afternoon, and English again at night. Which of these arrangements would have yielded the best results from a numerical point of view, had it been observed from the beginning to the end, I am not in a position to say, but there is undoubtedly a great desire for the Gaelic, some being present at the Gaelic services who are natives of the Maritime Provinces, such as Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton, as well as natives of the Highlands of Scotland. As things were, taking a survey of the attendance at all the services, the gatherings, though not very large, were yet larger than I anticipated, and in every way fitted to encourage, considering that the movement is only in its infancy, and that our Church is not yet sufficiently known there. The prospects are certainly as bright as could reasonably be expected, and the need of such services being kept correspondingly great. I cannot better explain it than by quoting here the words of a Reformed Presbyterian from the north of Ireland, who spoke as he felt:—”In my opinion, as one who has been here for some time, and has sampled many of the churches, Winnipeg is as much needing a missionary that would preach the truth, and hold to the Scriptural form of worship, without man-made additions, as any part of the heathen world,” adding that, until he began to attend our meetings, he had not felt that he was worshipping God since he came there. He, and other Reformed Presbyterians, also from Ireland, spontaneously offered to attend and support our meetings as best they could.
It was at first thought that an appeal should be made at once to the Synod in Scotland, for a suitable man to be sent as soon as possible to take charge of the Mission in Manitoba, making Winnipeg his headquarters, but after due consideration it was resolved to postpone the appeal, as things have not yet matured so far as to warrant the people making it. I have been, in the mercy of God, able to arrange that regular services will be held during the winter and spring in the Trades Hall, James Street, English beginning at 11 o’clock a.m., and Gaelic at 7 p.m.* every Lord’s day, and a weekly prayer meeting in both languages on some day during the week, to be agreed upon by the people themselves as circumstances will permit, in some house belonging to one of the congregation. Mr. William Sinclair has been appointed Treasurer, with instructions to pay all congregational expenses, to keep a record of the income and expenditure, and to deposit the surplus in the bank in the name of the Winnipeg Congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in Canada, it being absolutely necessary for the congregation, in view of present conditions and future prospects, to make a special effort to accumulate as much funds as the Lord will enable them. All the meetings, with all other congregational affairs, are under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Lachlan A. Ross, elder, Foindle House, M’Millan Avenue, from whom information about the meetings can be obtained by any inquirers. I do hope that the congregation now organised, so far as circumstances allow, will continue to prosper and increase so that the appeal delayed will be made at no distant date, and that the Lord of the harvest will provide a man for them to take the oversight and care of the Mission in that part of the Dominion. The sooner one is sent the sooner will the cause be established.
* Mr. R. Macsween officiates at the Gaelic Services.
In response to an application from Carman, a small town 59 miles west of Winnipeg, I went there along with Mr. William Sinclair, expecting to have a service on a week-day as I could not give them a Sabbath owing to the short time at my disposal. When we got there we were met by Mr. M’Iver, in whose hospitable house we stayed that night, going next day a mile further on to the house of Mrs. Taylor, who was kindness itself to us. It was their threshing time, and they were all so busy that we could not keep a meeting as I had hoped, but our visit, though not crowned with the success that we wished, was not profitless, as we gleaned information about the place of which previously we knew nothing, which will be very useful for another visit in the future, and met a few friends worth making their acquaintance. It gave me a fair idea of what the harvest of the North-West is like. There, after the wheat is thrashed, the straw, being of little value, is burned. While watching several huge piles of it burning in the distance at night, that passage of scripture came into my mind with much light and force, giving me an insight into its meaning that I never had before, and making a great impression on me at the time, as I so vividly realised the certainty and awfulness of its fulfilment: “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
I made several visits in Winnipeg, but was not able to visit all the people. I also visited the General Hospital to see a young man, Davidson, from Helmsdale, who has been a patient there for some months, and was, by the kindness of one of the men in charge, shown over the whole Hospital, which is a fine and commodious place, to all appearance well equipped for its work, and a pleasure to see.
I received the greatest kindness from everyone connected with the meetings, and, when leaving, several tokens of their goodwill which I highly value.
The great distance between Ontario and Manitoba, which is close on a thousand miles, makes it very expensive to go there, and that is one reason why my visit was so short, as I could reduce the expenses considerably by taking a return ticket for a month, and also my work here demanded that I should not stay longer. I am very glad to say that the collections, after defraying all local expenses, were able to meet my travelling expenses too, which fully testifies to the liberality of the people and their interest in the Cause.
I left on Monday night after the last Sabbath, and after a series of unavoidable but tedious delays, supplemented by a storm on Lake Superior, arrived back at the Soo, where Mr. Finlayson, who had come on a week before, again joined me on the S.S. “Assiniboia,” and we travelled together to Listowel where we parted on Friday afternoon, I proceeding to Newton, and he to Lochalsh. He was of much service to me, and his kindness and company were much appreciated.
I was at Newton for the last two Sabbaths, as the repairs on the church at Lochalsh were not completed. Our Newton congregation, since the trouble in it some years ago, has been quite small, but our followers there are steadfast, and worthy of every encouragement. I came to Brucefield last Monday, and I am leaving again on Friday for Lochalsh, where the Communion is to be (p.v.) on the last Sabbath of this month. I need add nothing more than that our people both in Ontario and Manitoba are well, and that ever since I came among the people here I have been treated with kindness of which I consider myself utterly unworthy.
In humbly presenting this report to you of the work which, in the goodness of the Most High, who has given me a good measure of health and strength, I have been able to overtake, I do so with a deep sense of the many weaknesses and imperfections with which it was done, hoping that it may meet with the approval of the Foreign Mission Committee and members of the Synod; and that my feeble efforts in the strength of His grace may be accepted of the Lord, and blessed by Him for His own glory in the furtherance of His Kingdom in the earth. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”
Dishonest Heretics.—Heresy is a sin, and is classed by St. Paul among the “works of the flesh” along with “adultery, idolatry, murder, envy, and hatred,” which exclude from the Kingdom of God.—(Gal. v. 19-21.) . . . A heretic who acknowledges that he is such is a better man than he who pretends to be orthodox while subscribing to a creed he dislikes, and which he saps under pretence of improving it and adapting it to the times. The honest heretic leaves the Church with which he no longer agrees; but the insincere subscriber remains within it in order to carry out his plan of demoralization.—Shedd’s Calvinism Pure and Mixed.