IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

■ 50 """S^

2.2

1.8

m iiiM IIIL6

^> >

om/

Phntnoranhir

Sciences
Corporation

'V»"^

t^N"*. -f^A. ^rOV

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 872-4503

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHIVI/ICIVIH
Collection de
microfiches.

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques

\C) iVl

Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques

Tht
to 1

The Institute has attempted to obtain the best
original copy available for filming. Features of thid
copy which may be bibliographically unique,
which may alter any of the images in the
reproduction, or which may significantly change
the usual method of filrring, are checked below.

Coloured covers/
Couverture de couieur

I I Covers damaged/

Couverture endommag^e

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul^e

Cover title missing/

Lo titre de couve'ture manque

Coloured maps/

Cartes g^ographiques en couieur

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couieur (i.e. autre que blaue ou noire)

Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/ou illustrations en couieur

Bound with other material/
Relii avec d'autres documents

Tight binding may cause Siiadows or distortion
along interior margin/

Lareliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distorsion le long de la marge interieur^

Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es
lorsd'une restauration apparaissent dans l« te»te,
mais, lorsque cela litait possible, cas pages n'ont
pas iti film^es.

Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplementaires;

L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a ete possible de se procurer. Les details
de cet exemplaire qui soni peut-dtre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent axiger une
modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage
sont indiqui^s ci-dessous.

r~~| Coloured pages/

Pages de couieur

Pages damaged/
Pages endommag^es

Pages restored and/oi

Pages restaurees et/ou pelliculdes

I I Pages damaged/

f~~[ Pages restored and/or laminated/

Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/
Pages ddcolorees, tachetdes ou piquees

The
pos
of 1
filiT

Orij
beg
the
sior
othi
firsi
sior
or il

Pages detached/
Pages detachees

I A Showthrough/

Transparence

Quality of prir

Quality inigale de I'impression

Includes supplementary materia
Comprend du materiel supplementaire

Only edition available/
Seule Edition disponible

I I Quality of print varies/

I I Includes supplementary material/

f~~| Only edition available/

The
shal
TIN
whi

Mar
diffi
enti
begi
righ
requ
met

Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure tha best possible image/
Las pages totalement ou partiellement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata. une pelure.
etc.. cnt 6t6 fi!m.6es d nouveau de facon a
obtenir la meilleure image possible.

This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiqu^ ci- lessous.

10X

14X

18X

22X

26X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24X

28X

32X

etails
rs du
nodifjer
tr une
ilmage

The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:

Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library
Acadia University

The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.

Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when b,jpropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with & printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — *> (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "ENO"),
whichever applies.

Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:

L'exemplaire film« fut reproduit grflce d la
g6n6rosit4 de:

Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library
Acadia University

Les images suivantes ont dt6 reproduites avec le
plus grand &oin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire filmd, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimde sont film^s en commen^ant
p^f le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration. soit par le second
plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la
premidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression cu d'illusf-ation et en terminant par
la dernidre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la
dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: le symbole — ^signifie 'A SUIVRE". le
symbole V signifies "FIN".

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
fllmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir
de Tangle sur»6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mdthode.

rrata

pelure,
1 a

32X

OPliuTCD in tje ®o!on{eg.

No. 35.

i<(

SOME ACCOUNT

07 A

SOWINJ TIME

ON THE

RUGGED SHOEES OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

BT THE LATS

EEV. J. G. MOCJNTAm,

PBINCIPAL OF THE THEOLOGICAL OOLI.EGE AT ST. JOHK'S,
AND SOME TIME MISSIOKABY IN POBTUNE BAY.

it^ a P^ntoir ai t\it ^t^ot.

LONDON:

PRINTBD FOR
T^E SOCIETY FOR TBB FROPAOATldN OV THE GOSPEL;

AND BOIiD BT TRS

SOCIETY rOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

OKEAT QUEEN STKEET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS ;

4, ROYAL exchange; 16, HANOVEB STREET, HANOVER SQUARE;

RIYINGIONS, BELL & DALDY, HATOHARDS,

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

1857.

Feb.]

Price Eightpence.

■ (

i-HE CATHEDR.VL, ST. JOHN'S. XEWForNDLAND.

Front.

'""'"■'*-•**' 9ss»a(ii(fi„

(S^fjurcfj m t[)c OTolonfcs.

No. XXXV.

SOME ACCOUNT

OF A

SOWING TIME

ON ini;

PiUGGED SHORES OF NEWFOUNDLANI).

BY TIIF. LATK

REV. J. G. :M()[JXTATX,

I'lMNCIl'AI. OF TJIK THEOLOGICAL COLLEGP: AT ST, JOHN'S,
AND SOMJC TIMK .MISSIONAUY I\ FOKTUNE BAY.

t^xW} a JItcmoir of tljc ^utbor.

LONDON:

riiiNTii) I'dii

THi: SOCII-.rV for the PUOPAfJATION OPTHK GOSPKI,;

AND S<iI,U BV THE

SDCIETY roil PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

GKEAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;

•i, uoyal exchange; 16, hanover street, hanover square;

RIVIKGTONS, BELL & DALDY, HATCHARDS,
AND ALL DOOKSELLELS.

: 7.

LONDON :
H. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STHEKT HILL.

MEMOIR

OF THE REVERKVO

JACOB GEORGE MOUNTAIN.

The author of the accompanying record of " A Sow-
ing Time on the rugged Shores of Newfoundland "
died in October 185G, at St. John's, Newfoundland,
in his thirty-eighth year. The cause of his death
was a fever, caught in his constant visiting in in-
fected houses, — the same fever which, some months
before, took from us Archdeacon Bridge,* in the
midst of all his earnest labours. But it is believed
that previous toil and anxiety, caused by the sudden
pressure of over-much and arduous work falling
upon him on Archdeacon Bridge's death, had wasted
Jacob Mountain's strength, and rendered him unable
to meet an attack which might not otherwise have
proved fatal. He wdll never be forgotten by thoi^e
to whom he was known in England, as he will

* See Annual Report of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel for 1856, page Ix.

A 2

J50iiv3

JfEMOm OF THE

surely live long in the affections of his people in
Newfoundland. One of the truest, tenderest, most
loving hearts — he exhibited, throughout his brief
Missionary career, an unsparing self-Cv')votiun, single-
raindodness, and earnestness of purpose, which wc
can ill afford to lose.

He was the third son of the Rev. J. H. Brooke
Mountain, D.D., Rector of Blunham, Bedfordshire,
grandson of the first, and nephew of the present
Bishop of Quebec. He was born October 14, 1818.

Educated at Eton, — where he won the Newcastle
medal, a high distinction in that great school, —
he went from thence, in 1838, as a Postmaster to
Merton College, Oxford. He there obtained a second
class in Classics. Shortly afterwards he returned to
]^]ton, as a private tutor to Mr. Foljambe, of Osber-
ton, and gave himself to his charge with all his deep
earnestness ; but his heart was set upon the ministry.
He was offered a mastership at Eton, a post of honour
and gveat responsibility, scarcely ever offered to any
but a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge ; but he
still held firm t-^ the purpose with which he had been
inspired. Having been ordained Deacon, he became
a'ssistant Curate of Clewer, a parish in the inmiediate
neighbourhood of Eton ; and to his work there he
gave all the time that could be spared from the care
t)f his pupil. Keenly alive to the pleasure of society,
and much loved, he now whollv withdrew himself
from it, that he might be more entirely devoted to
his Master's service, and anxiously waited till the
time came v.'hen his pupil would leave school, to

^ '»

REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN.

give himself up undividedly to the ministry of souls.
His first intention, as soon as he was free to choose,
was to find work in some neglected and thickly-
peopled corner of England ; but no such opening
occurring to him, his thoughts were turned to the
Colonial Church. Natural desires would ha^e led
him to join his uncle, the Bishop of Quebec ; but
his purpose was to seek the hardeSt work and most
destitute spot that might be open to him .

It happened that a very touching appeal of the
Bishop of Newfoundland, speaking of the extremely
destitute spiritual condition of some portions of the
island, which appeared in the daily papers, came to
his knowledge, and instantly determined his course.
He sought out the Bishop of Newfoundland, then in
England, and offered to accompany him on his return.
He sailed in April, 1847. His ability and learning as
a scholar would have made him valuable for Avork
at the Missionary College in St. John's, then much
needing such help, and the Bishop pressed the
charge upon him ; but his heart was true to its
treasured desire for the direct cure of souls, and he
yearned for some hard and secluded sphere among the
poor. Accordingly, he was sent to Harbour Briton,
in Fortune Bay, as its first resident Missionary,
and there laboured, never leaving his post, for seven
years ; Harbour Briton being the centre of his
Mission, and the different settlements along 200
miles of c^ast being included under his charge.
What he endured during those seven years' service
along that bare and rugged coast, while ministering

MEMOIR OF THE

to those untaught fishermen, — sharing, during his
constant journey ings, their manner of life, their
homes, and their meals, able to move from spot to
spot only as they moved, in boats, often at much
hazard, and in great inclemencies of weather, never
wholly getting over the sea-sickness, with no single
companion of his own kind, during those long,
severe winters, —none can tell but they who have
experienced what it is to be alone in bleak and
desolate scenes, far from home and all companion-
ship of mind, with nothing for the heart to love,
save only what the inward life can sustain, and with
the special spiritual anxieties which a pastor's heart
alone can know. He had many sore struggles,
causing him often to ask for the prayers of his
friends in England. Occasionally the Bishop, coast-
ing along in his Church-ship, would put in at the
settlement where he was. Those necessarily rare
visits were the only change, and they were felt to be
seasons of a very blessed communion, and objects of
long and anxious anticipation, leaving a blessing be-
hind them. It is touching to read in his letters,
written at that period, the records of his inner life, —
tokens of the unseen strength which was upholding
him, which he was then practically learning, and
exhibiting in his course. The following is a short
sample : "I hold," he thus writes, " that the soft
and epicurean doctrine of the present day, of sparing
the body, is utterly contrary to the Gospel, and pro-
ductive of the most dangerous practical errors, the
mother of heresies, the daughter of self-deceit and

REV. J. G, MOUNTAIN.

Vll

i»

sloth, the handmaid to self-induigence, the door to
secret unbelief, and virtual denial of the Cross of
Christ; and that there is no ground whatever in
Holy Scripture for believing that the trials and
chastisements which are inflicted from above are
quite sufficient, without adding our own ; else there
could be no meaning in St. Paul's * watchings and
fastings,' in addition to his * hunger and thirst,' and
* weariness and painfulness.' The former are mani-
festly voluntary, the latter involuntary ; or, again,
what need of * self-revenge,' and * indignation
against themselves,' for the Corinthians ? And
if those under the law could and must express such
bitter grief as David in the Psalms, if truly penitent,
what ought a Christian's grief to be, who must, in
some sense, if Holy Scripture be true, have sinned
against the Holy Ghost, and defiled the temple of
God, whose * temple ye are V " And then he adds,
correcting a possible misapprehension as to such
mortifications : " not, of course, as having any merit
in themselves, what has ? neither faith, nor works,
nor fasting, nor feasting, nor weeping, nor rejoicing j
all must be done in, and for, and by Christ. Would
that this were as easy to act upon as to write ! "

One who intimately knew him speaks thus gene-
rally of his character : — " He has great ability and
power of application, and a keen relish for classical
studies and intellectual intercourse, esnecially excel-
ling in Latin composition and verse ; but, from the
time of his determination to devote himself to the
work of the ministry, all was made subservient to

Vlll

MEMOIR OF THE

tiic study of divinity ; and he became an able
theologian, especially well-versed in the study of the
Fathers, St. Augustine, St. Bernard, and others. In
the composition of his sermons he took especial
cure, spending several hours in reading and prayer,
to prepare himself for writing. He never al-
lowed anything to interfere with his regular and
frequent devotional reading, and self-examination,
and his special delight was in every opportunity
of celebrating the Holy Communion. His temper
was naturally ardent, but so disciplined by the
Cross, that he seemed all gentleness and love ; and
his influence over all with whom he had any inter-
course was most remarkable : its secret lay in his
single-minded devotion and earnest reality. It was
felt even under the most unlikely circumstances.
The chaplain of a Government war steamer, in
which he was once passing from one part of his
mission into another, told me he never could forget
how not even the bustle and movements on ship-
board were allowed to interrupt his studies, or that
care of souls which seemed his one purpose of life.
One day, when they were together, some bad lan-
guage reached them from some of the men. " Do
you not remonstrate with them 1 " said Mr. Moun-
tain. " It would be of no use, while they ai'e all
together, and excited." To w^hich he replied : " A
word in season, how good is it 1" And with the
chaplain's consent he sjwke to the men j and then,
and frequently afterwards, when he addressed them,
they always received him with respect and marked

REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN.

IX.

attention, even those of them whom the chaplain
thought would scoff at any rebuke or advice. He
added, " that this puzzled him at first, till it stnick
him that it was Mr. Mountain's evident reality and
earnestness, that procured for him such ready respect
and attention."

The writer of this brief Memoir, who knew and
loved him well, may add, that what always struck
him as the most beautiful trait of character in his
f^^end, was the keen humility which seemed in-
stantly to reprove and melt the still faint, occa-
sional risings of what must once have been a lofty
and fiery temperament, and to subdue which must
have caused him long and painful struggles.

It seems necessary to account for the publication
of the following brief record of the Harbour Briton
Mission, entitled " A Sowing Time on the rugged
Shores of Newfoundland." It was written by Mr.
Mountain himself, some months before his death,
under the following circumstances. During his min-
istry at Clewer, and his life at Eton, he had won
the hearts of many. They were knit more closely to
him than ever when he gave himself to a Missionary's
life, under circumstances so very trying and arduous.
They did what they could to aid him in his work ;
and a special fund was kept up during his seven
years' Mission at Harbour Briton ; which, together
with the aid that he received from the Society for the
Propagation of ike Gospel^ enabled him to carry out
the objects that he had at heart. When he left the
Mission, he was requested to draw up some account

MEMOIR OP TnE

of the scene in which his lot had been cast, the
character of the people, and the prospects to which
he looked as the fruits of his labours. " The Sow-
ing Time" was his reply to their request, and was
intended only for the friends who had contributed
to the fund. Circumstances delayed its being printed ;
and it is now thought well by the Society to give it
a wider circulation than was originally contemplated.
On leaving his Mission, he addressed some fare-
well words to the flock which he had gathered in ^n
those rugged shores at their many scattered settle-
ments ; and some of these farewell words may show
what was the manner of his preaching, and what
were the appeals which he could utter before his
people, as he contrasts their past with their pre-
sent state. He could now appeal, not merely to
their own changed state, but also to the change
which had been going on in the aspect of the
Church around them. Having gone forth alone,
gradually other Missionary clergy and some school-
masters had been drawn near to him, and were now
at work at different posts, within the range of what
had once been spiritually " desert." Some of these
he had himself assisted to prepare for Holy Orders
during the long winter evenings, when the frost kept
him bound at his Mission-house ; and they now
remain behind him, to continue the witness which
his labours and his teaching first brought home to
the hearts of many of our people who were once
scattered abroad, "as sheep that have no shep-
herd."

REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN.

^"^r-

The following extract is taken from his letter to
his flock : —

" When I first came amongst you, with the exception of
some of those who had hved in England, there was very
little knowledge of the nature of Christ's Church, or the
office of His ministers, though there was, in many instances,
real religious feeling, and consequently the soil was ready to
receive the truth as it is in Jesus. But the means which He
has appointed for uniting the lost race to Himself, hy His
Church on earth, and of communicating Himself to the
children of men, by the weak elements in the sacraments,
and earthen vessels in the ministry, were almost entirely
unknown and unappreciated by the great majority. In most
places the minister of God was regarded rather as one who,
being able to read, was therefore tit to instruct the children,
to explain a chapter, or say prayers, to perform the office of
baptism or marriage ; and, having seen a little more of the
world than yourselves, was able to explain other matters
which ■ ere beyond your own comprehension; but as to his
being invested v/ith any sacredness of character or office, as
a steward of the mysteries of God, and an ambassador for
Christ, coming in His name and by His power committed unto
him, able and ready to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort with all
authority, to unloose in His name the heavy bands of sin,
and by the life-giving power of the sacraments to unite the
sons of men to the Son of God, becoming, by His ordinance
and appointment, the instrument whereby, as He partook of
their nature, they are to partake of His; all this was, indeed,
far above, out of sight. The highest view that was in
general attained of our character and commission was, that
we were, it was scarcely known why, in some way ihe proper
persons to perform sacred ordinances ; that it was * better-
like ' that such things should be done by those who came for
the purpose, and whose business it was, than by any ' common
man.' Still this idea arose rather from the persuasion that
we had more learning than others, than from any belief in
the sacred character of our office. Not unfrequently, when I
have remonstrated at the reckless way in which parents

XI 1

^lEMOm OF THE

would still procure their children to be bcaptized by the fir.st
comer, or with young persons for suflering themselves to be
* coupled together ' in their own houses by similar hands, I
have received the reply, 'Why, Sir, he was such a good
scholar; he could read almost as well as a parson.' Even
those who felt that we are set apart for those services, gene-
rally supposed (and, I fear, still suppose, in many cases) that
we are Government emissaries or agents, and derive our
authority and commission from the civil power; and this
capital error involves another scarcely less injurious in its
consequences, which is, that we are paid by Government.
This gives rise to a belief that it is unreasonable for us to
ask, and unnecessary for you to attempt, any serious effort
towards maintaining your own church; and thus all self-
denying exertions on this behalf are prevented, the privileges
of the Church are undervalued, and the ministers of God
lightly esteemed, in pro]tortion as they are supposed to be
at your command, and their services yours by right — not by
right of conscience, love, and duty on our part, which would
makfc us freely yield ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake,
but by the right of our being the paid agents of the civil
power, to which we shall have to answer if we fail in our
duty. I fear these notions are still not uncommon among
you ; yet some there are who have learnt (and a few knew
before) ' Whose we are, and whom we serve,'

'' The ministers of God can do you little good till you come
to know that we receive our charter, commission, and autho-
rity, from Him, and from Him alone. He gave and He can
take away ; He sent us foi-th to teach, and He can recal us.
Whatever we do, whether ministering, or teaching, or ex-
horting, or absolving, we do in His name. We are His repre-
sentatives, just as an ambassador or governor is the re-
presentative of the Queen. You know that whosoever insults
or disobeys any officer of the crown in the discharge of his
duty, thereby insults or disobeys not merely that officer, but
the crowned head whom he represents. The act of insolence
or disobedience passes at once on from the representative to
the person represented, from the inferior to the principal,
and is truly regarded and punished as an offence against the

flfi

REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN.

XIU

«*•

throne itself. In the same way (they are our LonVs own
words), * Whosoevor despiseth you/ (speaking to hia apostles,
and in them to their successors to the end of the world,
however unworthy they may be,) ' despiseth Me, and he that
despiseth J/c, despiseth Him that sent Me;' and ' He that
receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a
prophet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man in
the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's
reward.' * He that despiseth/ saith an apostle, ' despiseth
not 7nan, but God.' And therefore the punishment of those
who dhohep, and the reward of those who obey, are so great.
Against the one His ministers are ' to shake off the very
dust of their feet as a testimony against them.' For the
others, He that is faithful and true promises that even a
' cuj) of cold water, given to a disciple in the name of Christ,
shall in no wise lose its reward.'

** Now that I am removed from you, I desire to remind
you of the great debt of gratitude you owe to God, in
having at length opened that great and effectual door to you,
even his Son Jesus Christ, which had been so long, in a
great measure, closed to you for want of some one to open
it. Like the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, you had
no man to lead you down to the waters of repentance and the
fountain of life ; no minister of Christ to take you by the hand
to bring you to Him by His blessed sacraments, and life-giving
word, and holy ordinances. You were without a teaching
priest and without a law, as sheep having no shepherd,
' every one doing that which is right in his own eyes.' There
was no assembling yourselves together on the Lord's-day to
join with his holy catholic Church throughout the world in
offering the sacrifice of prayer and pi'aise. Those among
you who feared the Lord could but sit apart by themselves,
praying to their Father which seeth in secret. They could
meditate on His holy word ; they could join in pious con-
verse, or gather the children together to instruct them in
the way of the Lord, but they were deprived of the blessing
of united prayer ; and those who served Him not used to
wander away after the desire of their own hearts and their
own c^es on that holv dav= The children and. vounc? men

XIV

MEMOIR OF THE

were allowed, unrestrained and unreproved, to ' do their
own ways,' and ' find their own pleasure,' and * speaii their
own words,' — tco often words of filthiness and foolish
talicing, — or the day of rest was turned into a day of labour
on any slight pretext; and this precious memorial of the
rest and freedom in paradise, which was lost in the first
Adam, and we hope to regain in the second, was willingly,
even greedily, bartered and given up to Satan f(jr a mess
of pottage or a thing of nought. And when that day was
over, and each went forth, morning by morning, to his work,
how many bowed the knee to the God and Father of all at
their rising up, and asked one blessing or oflfered a single
prayer to Him ? Your own hearts will answer.

" And what was the consequence ? Through the livelong
summer day, through the wintry storm, on the tossing wave,
on the shore, in the stage, and in the woods, that gracious
God was hour by hour provoked, and His Holy Spirit grieved
by uncontrolled tempers, and bitter, evil words, from Chris-
tians who were living without Christ in the world; and when
the evening closed, a few hurried prayers were uttered, the
body wearied with toil, the hands ready to hang down, and
the eyes to close in sleep.

" And what is the state of things now ? It is painful to
reflect how little change has taken place, yet by God's mercy
something has been done, not, by any means, chiefly through
me, but by those faithful teachers and ministers whom God
hath sent among you. Some of you know and love the
Church ; to more she has been a witness against sin, and
thus her mission has been fulfilled ; the Gospel has been
preached, the sacraments and ordinances of Christ adminis-
tered, your little ones have been taught, young men warned
and instructed, the old exhorted and entreated. I feel sure
that by many a bedside daily morning prayer is oftered, and
many a mouth that once delighted in cursing and lies now
F-peaks words of truth and gentleness. In many places
where, on the Lord's-day, the people were once as sheep
without a shepherd, they have one to guide and lead them,
or of themselves they gather together in Christ's name, and
ofi'er, in spirit and in truth, the sacrifice of righteousness.

REV. J. 0. MOUNTAIN.

" Three times has your faithful Bishop, upon whom falla
daily ' the care of all the churches,' come to visit and to bless
you. The first time there were but one or two ready for
confirmation. "Y ou held him in all reputation, and received
him ' even as your father in Christ Jesus;' but you knew not
the value of that holy ordinance. On the second and third
visits, old and young flocked together for the manifold gifts
of grace by the laying on of hands and prayer, having learnt
to prize the privilege of walking in the old paths, and, by
keeping steadfastly to the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
of sharing the apostolic blessing."

At the close of his letter he adds, in a short
summary, the main substance of his teaching, that
his doctrine conveyed in these condensed texts
might the more easily dwell in their memories.

" Let me, then, endeavour to sum up, in a few words, the
substance of what has been mainly taught among you from
the word of God, by myself and others, during the last seven
years, I will put it in the form of rules, that you may more
easily bear them in mind.

" 1. There is none other name imder heaven given unto man
whereby thou mayest be saved, but only the name cf our
Lord Jesu.s Christ, and Him crucified.

" 2. Therefore, if you would be Christ's, you must not
only crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts,— for a
life without mortification is a life without Christ, Rom. viii.
13, — but you must also deny yourselves daily, (your eyes in
seeing, your eaia in hearing, your tongue in talking,) and
take up your cross ; that is to say, bear patiently your daily
trials.

" 3. If you would come unto Christ, you must enter in by
the way of His holy sacraments, wL.jh Ht, Himself has com-
manded : ' Except one be born of water and of +' ' -'?it, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God ; ' and, ' e eat

the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, , , aave no
life in you.'

" 4. Whatsoever hinders you from coming to Christ, cut it

xvi

MTlMCin np TOE

oX or it will Hurely cant yoix into hell, * into the fire that
never shall ho quenched; where the worm dioth not, and
tiio fire is not quenched.' St. Mark ix. 43.

" 5. • Without hoHness no man shall see the Lord.' To
this end pray without ceasing ; keep ITissabbnthrt ; reverence
flis sanctuary, His priests and ministerr ; read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digest His word (especially the holy Gospels,
the Book of I'salms, Job, IVoverbs, the Epistles of St. John,
St. James, St. Peter, and St. Paul) ; follow and obey the
counsel ot them that are over you in the Tiord.

" 6. Never be iifraid or ashamed of being poor, but be
greatly afraid and ashamed of being proud, or i»as.sionat<',
or envious, or covetous, in your poverty. This is most
wretched of all, to suffer hero, but not with Christ, and
tliereforo not to reign with Him ; to have the evil things of
liazarus now, yet to be tormented with Dives hereafter.

"■ 7. It is dishonest not to pay every man his due, mucli
more not to pay the offerings of the Lord.

" 8. Follow not after vain teachers, who daub with un-
tempered mortar. As long as you hold the catholic faith
in a pure conscience, you are safe ; but beware of being
carried away by every wind of doctrine.

*' 9. In all things put the kingdom of God Jirsf, or you will
never enter therein. Whatsoever you do, remember the
end> and you will never do amiss.

" 10. Remember that a morning without prayer is a
morning lost, though you find a bag of gold.

♦' 11. When inclined to join in filthiness and foolish talking,
remember the presence of God, and that it is written, ' Woe
unto you that laugh now, for ye shall meurn ami weep.'

" 12. Prayer, fasting, and alms are Mh v, )ons of the
saints, by which, through Christ, they drive out Satan; oaths,
drinking, and surfeiting, are those by which the Evil One
goads on sinners to destiniction.

" 13. Make not too much of thy son, lest he bilng thee to
Len/iness; ana let him not learn sin at thy mouth, lest he
i:irsf: tliee hereafter.

•' 14. * He that forsaketh his father is as a blas^ihemer, and
he that angereth his mother is cursed of G (k1 ; whoso hououreth

L.^

> firo that
L not, and

.orci; To

roverenco

vrk, learn,

y GosiieLs,

St. John,

obey the

r, but be
las.sionat'',
9 is moat
hrist, and
[ things of
lifter.
:lue, much

with un-

lolic faith

of being

)r you will
luber the

ayor is a

sh talking,
ten, ' Woe
veep/
ns of the
,au; oaths,
Evil One

ig thee to
-h, lest he

emer, and
lonoureth

-3

REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN.

XVll

■A

his father shall have joy of his own childi'en, find when
he maketh his prayer, he shall be heard.' * My son, help
thy father in his age, and grieve him not as long as he
liveth; in the day of thine atfljjtion it shall be remembered,
thy sins also shall melt away as the ice in the fair warm
weather.' Ecchis. iii. 16.

" 15. ' Grudge not one against another.' St. James v. 9.
' The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart,
and good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' 1 Tim. i. 5. See
also 1 John iv.

" The time would fail me were I to take more out of this
treasury of God ; may He bring all thingf. '^^o your remem-
brance, and teach you to observe and do them ! Be of one
mind ; liv^e in peace ; and may the God c^ peace sanctify you
wholly. And I pray God your whole body, soul, and spirit,
be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

" Your attached pastor and

" Faithful sei'vant for His sake,

" JACOB G. MOUNTAIlSr.

After his seven years' service at Harbour Briton,
the Mission being now formed, and sufficiently pro-
vided for, at the Bishop's express desire he came to
St. John's, to take the Principal's office at the Mis-
sionary College. This was the centre of the Bishop's
hopes for providing the future ministry in the
island, and it was now without a head. With the
charge of the college he had also a cure of souls
at two of the out-harbours adjacent to St. John's.

In July, 1854, Jacob Mountain came to England
for a few months, and married one whom he had
known in early life, and who shared his labours
for the short time they were destined to live to-
gether. On the death of Archdeacon Bridge, while
still retaining the charge of the college, he was

XVlll

MEMOIR OF THE

made the cliiof minister of the parish and cathedral
church of St. John's, with the good-will and entire
approval of the clergy and parishioners ; and thus
succeeded to the chief offices in the Diocese under
the Bishop.

On St. Matthew's-daj, 1858, seven months after
the death of the Archdeacon, Jacob Mountain sick-
ened of the fever. St. IMatthcw's-day fell on a
Sunday. On the morning of that day he catechised
at great length in both schools, and then ministered
at the Holy Communion in the Cathedral. It was
the last publin service in which he participated on
earth. It had been his special joy at those times
to see those gathered in whom ho had been seeking
during the week-time. The number of communi-
cants at the Cathedral were just doubled since he
had come to St. John's.

He was to have preached in the Cathedral at the
evening service in aid of some charity, but he was
too ill to be there. Next day it became known that
the fever had fallen upon him. The kindness of the
people, offering all possible aid, and calling continu-
ally to inquire, was very touching, and told as much
for their own tender care for their minister as for his
worth. All through Monday he continued very ill.
A valued servant was lying dangerously ill in his
house. On Saturday he had convulsions, and was
expected to die any hour. He died on Monday
night ; and just before his death Jacob Mountain
had strength sufficient to stagger to his room, and
commended his departing soul to God.

REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN.

XIX

athedral
d entire
nd thus
;e under

hs after
lin sick-
(11 on a
techised
nistered
It was
atcd on
e times
seeking
nmuni-
ince he

I at the
he was
vn that
I of the
)ntinu-
5 much
for his
ery ill.
in his
id was
[on day
untain
m, and

There were hopes of his recovery for a few days ;
but after a week's interval from his being taken
ill the complaint assumed a new and alarming cha-
racter, typhus of a severe kind. For nearly ten
days he was generally insensible, with only occa-
sional glimpses of consciousness. He could but
utter a few words from time to time.

It happened, that the man who came to shave his
head was a parishioner, a black, one with whom he
had often had serious conversations. He was heard,
m the agony of the pain in his head, speaking ear-
ijestly to this man about the Holy Communion.
On the Sunday before St. Michael's-day, when his
complaint was passing into its most alarming state,
the bells of the different churches and meeting,
houses were distinctly audible in his room ; and he
whispered: "All that I can do to-day, is to pray
that we may all be united." On the" feast of St.
Michael he received the blessed Sacrament for the
last time ; the Bishop, who throughout his illness
nursed him with the utmost tenderness and con-
sideration, administering. His words became very
few towards the last : « Father, I thank Thee, I
thank Thee ;" the constant repetition of the name
of "Jesus;" expressions of happiness, mingled with
touching thoughts of prayer for his relations, were
all that transpired ; and the last day he could
speak, it was of the love and glory of God, as if he
were r.ddressing a congregation.

He was buried in the cemetery of St. John's. It
was not proposed to make a public demonstration ;

MEMOIR OF THE REV. J. G, MOUNTAIN.

but the parishioners, anxious to exhibit their respect
and concern, i-ssembled in large numbers, and walked
in procession from the Cathedral to the Cemetery.
His Excellency the Governor was present, with his
private Secretary. The children of the Sunday-
school led the procession, and were followed by the
boys of the Church of England Academy, with their
master ; the students of the College, the physicians
and clergy. The widow of the deceased and the
Bishop walked together as chief mourners, and were
followed by the churchwardens and a very long train
of the parishioners and friends.

The following day a deputation waited on the
Bishop to express the wish of the parishioners to
place in the Cathedral or in the Cemetery a me-
morial to their much-lamented minister, in such
manner and of such a character as would be most
acceptable to his lordship and to Mrs. Mountain.
A memorial is also about to be placed in the chapel
of Eton College.

Thus fell asleep one who exhibited a noble
pattern of the Missionary of the Cross ; who, in a
short time, fulfilled many labours worthy of the
best days of the history of the Gospel ; whose work
was cut off in the midst of his years, but whose
memory still ministers before God, in drawing
heavenwards the affections and aims of many hearts
that had learnt to love him for his own and for his
work's sake. C.

SOME ACCOUNT

OF A

SOWING TIME

ON THE

RUGGED SHORES OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

SOWING TIME IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

The Rural Deanery of Fortune Bay, on tlie south-
ern shore of Newfoundland, extends from St. George's
Bay, at the south-west extremity of the island, to
Point Ray, a length of coast between three and four
hundred miles, abounding in harbours of sufficient
size for the craft which usually jjly on the coast,
but unsafe to the inexperienced mariner, from the
frequent occurrence of sunken rocks at their en-
trance.

The sea-cliffs are for the most part bold and lofty,
with deep water close at their base. Too precipitous
to climb, and for the most part destitute of beach or
sands, they offer little chance of escape to those who
should be so unfortunate as to be driven on them in
the storm, or, what is more frequent and perilous, to
be gradually drawn in by the swell, during the pre-
valence of calm and fog.

This shore is inhabited by fishermen of the English
and Irish race, who have either themselves come out
to settle or have been born in the country ; these last
are called " Shumachs" or "the country-born." The
present population was called into existence by the

4 SOWING TIME.

enterprise of wealthy merchants from Devonshire
and Jersey, who built large fishing establishments or
"stores," as they are styled, in different parts of the
coast, at convenient sites, and every spring engaged
a number of men (from one to two hundred for each
establishment), who came out for a term of eighteen
months. These men were in all respects the servants
or " wages men " of the merchant. They went out
to fish in small decked boats provided by him, and
brought in all the fish they caught; receiving in
return a regular amount of wages, and living in the
" Rooms " or merchant's establishment.

In process of time, some of the men brought out
their wives with them, and settled. They took to
fishing on their own account, built houses and stages
to split fish on, procured boats, nets, and other fishing
gear ; and their connexion with the merchant con-
sisted no longer in being engaged by him as servants,
but in dealing with him as customers. They brought
the fish they had caught and dried to him, and were
supplied in return w^ith the necessaries of life, which
in those days they generally procured in suflficiency,
not to say abundance. A man of ordinary activity,
keeping one or two servants, would catch five or six
hundred quintals of fish in the course of the year,
which, during the late war, were worth eighteen
shillings per quintal, and frequently more. The
price of provision and clothing corresponded, so that
their gains were not so large in reality as in figure ;
still they had an abundance of all the necessaries
of life. Many saved considerable sums of money,

she
con
raai

*^^

._>/,. |.:,,|

*^»::.n

J*"

thr
per
the

THE PISUERMEN,

which otlicrs too frequently spent in drink, the
prevailing snare and Bin of the settlement.

Thus a native population sprang up : yet the
merchants still engaged an equally large number of
men every year to come out, as their labour was
required for various purposes connected with the
shipping of the fish ; and the demand for men in the
"Rooms" increased with the population and the
supply of /s/i, i. e. the cod, the well-known produce of
these seas.

Thus arose the existence of the two-fold race ; that
is to say, the "country-born," and the non-residents.
The latter are chiefly from the coasts of Devonshire
and Cornwall, and the island of Jersey. These for
the most part return home for the winter, about
twenty or thirty men being retained for the neces-
sary labour of the "Rooms," or to go into the
" Winter House," to cut a sufiicient supply of fire-
wood for the consumption of the rooms during the
remainder of the year. After a time, the fishery in
these parts was extended to the winter, which caused
some change and increased the hardships of the
fisherman's life. Before this practice, they used, at
the close of the summer voyage, to retire into some
sheltered valley or hill side among the woods, and
construct a very simple and small log hnt, with one
main room about six feet by eight and six feet high,
raid two small sleeping compartments. Here, with
three or four barrels of flour, one or two barrels of
pork and beef, and tea and molasses in proportion,
the earnings of the summer, or rather the supply

SOWING TIME.

given liy the mcrcluuit in lulvuncc for the forth-
coining "voyage" {i.e. catch offish), the family
passed two or three months in the enjoyment of
every bodily comfurt, though sadly cut off from
everything which might minister to their spiritual
wants or moral improvement. The wind and storm
might howl without, and the snow-drift whirl in fury
all around, find the deep ponds become almost solid
blocks of ice; yet within, the little room was
thoroughly warmed by a huge square-piled fire of
wood, which sometimes half filled the area of the
floor; and as the flame blazed np the wide open
wooden chimney, it mattered little if it caught fire,
for a cup of water extinguished the flame as soon as
it was caught, and a little clay repaired the damage.

The man was fully occupied in preparing for the
spring fishery. He had his saw-pit close at hand,
where also he generally built a fishing punt, a craft
of somewhat peculiar frame, but usually an excellent
sea-boat. It is about six feet keel, and six feet
wide, with "standing rooms" to row in, and the
midships and stern, where the fish is stowed when
caught, covered with movable boards, forming a sort
of deck ; one mast, a low, snng main-sail, jib and dri-
ver at the stern, though occasionally two masts, and
foresail as well as mainsail. The latter is called a
skiff, the former a " punt and driver," to distinguish
it from a punt without that appendage. They have
other punts, called "shore punts," merely for tlie
purpose of hauling the nets and \ inging wood, &c.

These skiffs are not calculated for fishing away

M ()DE OF F18IIIN0.

from homo, and tho ir.vn in most cases return from
the fi.shing-gromid every evening; though during the
summer, in tho height of tho fishery, thoy occa-
bionally pass the whole night out at sea, lying d(nvn
in the skiff for a few hours' rest. The usual eourse
is to rise before dawn, and haul tho herring nets,
which r'e generally near the mouth of the harbour.
They then proceed with their little wooden box,
containing l)iscuit and butter, and a kettle of water,
to the fishing-ground, where the water is from about
thirty to eighty fathoms, I. e. two-aad-a-half lines, in
depth, Arrived on the spot, they cast out a home-
made anchor called a " killock," composed of a long
shaped stone encircled with pliant strij)s of wood,
bound tightly at one end ; and thus they ride out for
hours, often in very heavy seas. If they find no fisli,
they pull up their anchor, and try elsewhere. Fre-
quently half the day is past without taking a single
fish, and then comes a sudden run of success, and
they catch them as fast as the lines can be hauled,
and in a few h.^urs the boat, which holds about six
quintals, may be half loaded. The average catch is
about a quintal, rather less than more, but it is
extremely variable ; and during some months in the
year it is seldom that more than twenty fish, about
a quarter of a quintal, are caught. A man who had
any other occupation might be more profitably
employed ; but even if he had anything else to do
(and the ingrata tellus scarcely yields a due return),
the merchant looks with a jealous eye on a desertion
of the main busincjss. He is so far right that it is

SOWING TIMI

au imcleniable truth that all depends on the fishery,
and that neither merchant nor fisherman could sub-
sist if it were neglected. In the " Capelin scull " fre-
quently as much as two or three quintals are caught
in the day. This period, so called from a small fish
of that namo making its appearance in such aston-
ishing quantities that even the greedy cod and the
greedier fisherman are satiated with them, is of
a very fluctuating and uncertain length. It generally
lasts from three to six weeks in the months of May
and June. At this season the poor fellows are
literally at work day and night. They do not come
in till dark, the task of splitting and salting the
fish then occupies several hours, and before dawn
they are off again to the fishing-ground. I have
known men not take off their clothes for a week
together, or get more than a snatch of an hour's
broken sleep with their clothes and boots on for the
whole time. Except at this season, the men begin
to come away from the fishing ground a few hours
before sunset ; the splitting and salting are done
shortly after dark ; and then follow supper and bed.

This is the opportunity of the Missionary : when
on his visits he arrives at one of the smaller of these
settlements, where there is no school, and few
families, he can occupy himself most profitably
in teaching the childreu and women ; or if they a^e
not ripe for even this partial and occasional instruc-
tion, he has to wait patiently till the hour when the
cod fishing has ceased, and his fishing o^men can begin.

Then he has his time ; and, wearied as they are,

BOAT-FISHING.

in most cases tliey willingly attend prayers, as soon
as they have concluded their hasty meal ; and, in
many cases, chough not so generally, they will also
attend prayers in the morning before setting off to
fish, if the Missionary can be early enough on his
ground. This practice was first instituted in my
mission by the laborious and faithful Coliey,^ in spite
of his weak and declining state of health.

There is still another class of fishermen to be
taken into account ; namely, those who, having
gained a small capital, embark on a larger scale.
These keep a decked boat besides the skiffs ; and,
as soon as the fishery ftiils on their own immediate
shore, they go off with a crew of two or three ser-
vants to any part of the island where they hear of
fish, and returning after an absence of a month or
so, unload their cargoes of fish to be " made," i. e.
dried by the women and children, and again set sail
on another trip. These boats are, for the most part,
decked, of about thirty or forty tons' burden, and
can be worked by two hands, though they usually
carry four when engaged in fishing. The risk in-
curred in this boat-fishing is even greater than that
of fishing at home : they are seldom able to procure
good tackling or sufficient gear, and are obliged to
go long distances from home, where they are com-
paratively unacquainted with the shore. The very
wildest part of the western coast is the spot where,
of late years, the fish have congregated during
the depth of winter in the greatest numbers.
1 Now the Rev. J. CoUey, I\lissiouary at Hermitage Cove.

SOWING TIME.

These poor fellows follow them thither, and at that
inclement season are exposed to as much hardship
as often falls to the lot of man to endure, while their
less enterprising or poorer brethren are snugly en-
sconced in some mountain gorge or wood-clad glen,
preparing at their leisure, by their own fire-sides,
for the spring and summer fishery.

This slight outline will convey some idea of the
mode of life among the fishermen, of whose religious
state and spiritual progress during the last eight
years I am anxious to give some account to those
friends in England who " have naturally cared for
their state," and who have shown that care, not only
or chiefly by word, but also by supplying, during the
whole of that period, the means of support to a
second Missionary and fellow-helper to the one
already maintained by the venerable ^OQietij for the
Propagation of the Gospel,

When T was first appointed to this deanery, in the
autumn of 1847, there were two deacons, both
Missionaries of the S. P. G. : one at La Poele,
ninety miles distant from my own station at Har-
bour Briton; and the other thirty miles nearer,
at Burgeo, the largest settlement on the coast,
numbering about 700 souls, all belonging to the
Church of England. Besides these, there was one
deacon-schoolmaster of the Newfoundland School
Society at St. George's Bay, the extreme point
of the deanery ; and another at Grole, twenty-
four miles from Harbour Briton ; and a third at
Belleoram, about the same distarce ou the other

1
t

FUND FOR A SECOND MISSIONARY.

side. ^ly own misfslon extended from Cape La
Hume, to within twelve miles of Belleoram, a line
of coast 0£ about 150 miles, with forty settlements,
at intervals of three or four miles, consisting, for the
most part, of four or five families each ; in some in-
stances, of two or three ; in a few, of as many as
eighteen or twenty. At Gaultois and Harbour Briton,
besides the fishermen's families, there wvas a mer-
chant's establishment, each consisting of an agent
and flxmily, storekeepers, and other officers, and
about 200 men. I found at once that it was quite
impossible to visit these various settlements Avith
any regularity, and at the sam.e time keep up the
services at my own station ; and it was the more
important that the latter should not be intermitted,
in order that the inhabitants of the neighbouring
settlements might be induced to come up to Harbour
Briton on Sundays ; a practice in which they w^ould
hardly persevere if they were liable to disappoint-
ment on their arrival.

It was to supply this deficiency that a subscrip-
tion w\as set on foot by some kind and Christian
friends in England to maintain a second Missionary ;
who was accordingly appointed, and brought round
by the Bishop in person, during my second year at
Harbour Briton. With my hands thus strengthened,
we entered on a regular plan of operations, by which
one was always to be found at home, and the other
engaged in a round of visits. This latter duty
chiefly devolved on me, owing to the weak health of
my colleague. A fortnight was generally sufiTioieut

SOWING TIME.

to enable me to visit the settlements from Cape La
Hume to Harbour Briton, and another fortnight
completed the other half of the Mission ; and this
occupied me during the greater part of the summer ;
Avhilc, in the winter, I was confined more immedi-
ately to Harbour Briton itself, or to shorter circuits
in the neighbourhood. My usual course in visiting
was to proceed to the nearest settlement, eitlier by
land or sea, according to the direction in which I
was bound ; and thence to the next, halting for one
night at each place. On arriving, it was my custom
to visit, if possible, each family, and to endeavour
to instruct the children in their prayers and
catechism, if they were not too rude and illite-
rate. In the evening, the old and young were
assembled in the house where I lodged, usually the
most commodious one in the place ; when, after
prayers and a sermon, the time was spent either in
catechising the children, or in such discourse and
directions as the people most needed or the occasion
called for.

It is with a mixture of pain and pleasure that I
look back upon those visits — of pain, at the recol-
lection of the utter ignorance among the people in
general of the ministerial office, of the nature of
their own gifts and privileges, in a word, of the
kingdom of Christ, either without or within them ;
and of pleasure, at the change which God has
wrought in these respects, not only, or chiefly,
through my ministry, but through the labours of
other faithful teachers and pioneers of the Gospel,

HOLY ORDERS NOT APPRECIATED.

When I first came among them, the people regarded
me in the same light as they had always been accus-
tomed to regard the itinerant teachers who had
occasionally visited or sojourned among them ; that
is to say, that I could "read ray book," and was a
fine " scholar," and could teach the children. Some
had an indistinct idea, that, in some way or other, I
was the proper person to perform baptisms and
marriages, and other ordinances ; but, in general,
there was a rooted idea that any one who could
read was equally competent. This amount of
scholarship ipso facto qualified in their eyes any
man for functions of the nature of which they had
so very limited a comprehension. Even up to the
last year of my residence, when I have remonstrated
against their unlawful practice of lay-baptisms and
marriages at the hand of any chance person, the ready
answer has been, — " Why, Sir, the man w^as a Jlne
scholar; he read the service as w^ell as any parson!"

It lay like a sad and heavy weight at heart, to
go about from place to place, feeling that one
was the commissioned merchant of a treasure
beyond all price, which no man cared for ; while,
if I had been a trader in bales of goods and barrels
of flour, all would have met me with an eager
welcome.

It must not be understood that there was a
general unwillingness for instruction ; for the arrival
of a resident schoolmaster would have been hailed
with delight; but there was everywhere an utter
ignorance of the office and benefit of the ministry :

SOWING TIME.

and how co'ild it be otherwise ? In some places, on
iny first arrival, I received from all as respectful a
Avelcome as a priest of God could desire. At Push-
thro', in particular, I shall never forget the kindly
eagerness with which I was received by one of the
chief inhabitants, who in sj ; ' Mth had ever
opened his house to all who c . in the name of
Christ, and felt himself honoured by their sojourn
under his roof He stood at his stage head when I
landed, and received me with open heart and arms.
The whole time of my stay his one thought seemed
to be how he naight most promote my comfort, and
minister to my wants. Nor was he unmiudful of
the better part ; his ear was open to hear what
Christ midit teach him bv me. What his ear re-
ceived, his neart pondered — a heart as tender and
as true as any I have known in any rank of life, and
in which I am glad to claim the place of a brother
in affection, as well as of a minister in respect.
This man was one of four brothers, each of them of
the same sterling character as himself, and having
great infl uence for good in their respective spheres.
Two of them lived in the same settlement, composed
of their own and two other families of the same
worth. Here, too, I was from the first well received ;
and I found so much simplicity, earnestness, and
willingness to be instructed more perfectly in the
way of God, tliat I was enabled, before a very long
period, to administer the Holy Communion to some
of the more advanced among them. The number
steadily increased, and before my departure every

INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN EXAMPLE.

adult in tlic place had become a communicant,
although even here they had previously entertained
a firm persuasion that that holy feast was not in-
tended for '' such as them," and in other places it had
not so much as been heard of. After a time, they
began, at my instigation, to meet together on
Sundays for Divine Service, the two brothers leading
the rest of the congregatiori, and reading sermons
supplied by me : the rest of the day was spent in
catechising and instructing thf children. Daily family
prayer, private devotions in the morning as well as
evening, became the rule in every family ; books
were eagerly sought and i-ead, the children and
parents rapidly progressed. At each succeeding
visit I had a class of children quite as intelligent as
their equals in a good school at home. I look back
on those happy homes and that band of children as
my own ; friends with w^hom I have sojourned, as
well as a flock whom I have taught. Those humble
communions in their low-roofed house, with deal
table, and benches for the rail, have as sweet a
savour in my remembrance as many in the holy and
consecrated shrines of dear and happy England.
And these people were known by their fruits ; their
nearest neighbours bore witness to their blameless
life and conversation. It was from seeing their
example that they were stirred up to emulate it.
They heard no oaths or evil words from their lips on
the fishing-ground ; they saw them patient under the
same trials and disappointments which daily pro-
voked other men to wrath ; they saw them bearing

SOWING TIME.

one another's burdens, kindly affectioned one to
another; wives submitting, husbands loving, chil-
dren obeying ; no sound of provocation or answering
again, but the voice of joy in their dwellings ; all
their works done in love ; having salt in themselves,
and having peace one with another. " I wish," said
a man of the neighbouring settlement, " we could
live as theij do there." " Well," I said, " begin and
try; you have the same means, the same grace will
not be wanting." They did try ; they, too, all be-
came communicants, and, I trust, are striving to
walk in the same way of life. This was more or less
the case with four or five settlements on this shore,
and a feeling sprang up between pastor and people
which could hardly have existed imder ordinary
circumstances. Sleeping,' under the same roof, and
eating at the same board, seemed to unite us with
the bands of a man and the cords of love, and to
establish a feeling of communion and affinity.

Beyond Pushthro' and Bonne Bay my visits were
less frequent, and the fruits of means which at
best were but very scanty and inadequate were of
course less evident ; and it need hardly be stated
that there were many discouragements, and too
many tokens of indifference and dislike, barely con-
cealed by the habitual self-possession of the people.
Too often is the messenger of glad tidings regarded
as an unwelcome intruder; his presence felt as a check
and rebuke, his warnings and entreaties rather dreaded
than desired, the precious gift he bears reckoned
less than the trouble or cost of his passing visit.

DIVERSITY OP RESULTS.

The settlements a few miles beyond these wei*o
separated from the next by a long interval (fourteen
miles), with the exception of one or two families in
a wild and romantic creek ; then came three or
four together, namely, New Harbour, Kencontro,
Francois, Caj c la Hume, in which there wei'e a
sufficient number of children and families to form
one good-sized school and congregation ; but, un-
happily, they were as usual separated by two, three,
and six nules of stormy sea, which is nearly the only
mode of communication, that by land being so wild
and precipitous that it would be out of the (piestion
for children to attempt it, and no very easy task for
men. Here I frequently stayed for a week together,
making either Rencontre or Cape la Hume my head-
quarters. There was much ground for encournge-
ment and incentive to labour in every place ; but
the manners and ways of the people were strikingly
different. In one place you will find them clean,
tidy, thriving; houses neatly and substantially built,
and a certain air of sobriety and self-respect about
the people; the children a picture of delight, with
their beautiful eyes, well-formed faces, soft flaxen
hair. In another, close by, the very reverse of all
this ; houses, or rather hovels of studs, the crevices
gaping svide or filled with moss, the roof covered
with rinds of trees and sod, the entrance obstructed
by heaps of dirt, often nothing that deserved the
name of a door, the aperture so low that one must
stoop to enter, the interior without any furniture
but a low table and a rough stool, scarcely raised

SOWING TIME.

throe inches from the ground, the children, wretch-
edly ragged and dirty, crouching round, or creeping
into the smoky wood fire, an old sail and a few more
studs forming the only partition between the kitchen
and sleeping-room, if such terms can bo applied to
such miserable dens.

I have seldom seen a more picturesque spot than
Rencontre, excepting a place of ti>o same name in
another part of Fortune Bay, which is even more
beautiful. In the place of which I am now speaking,
a deep bay of four or five miles runs in from the
point of New Harbour, with magnificent headlands,
and bold, romantic caverns and rocks, with almost
fathomless water close at their base. The main part
of the little settlement is pleasantly situated on a
sloping beach, on which the treasures of the deep,
the countless swarms of cod, have been dried year
after year, since the father of the settlement, an old
Jerseyman, lately deceased, first established himself,
and took possession of the place.

When I knevr it first there were eight families,
nearly all his child)-en and grandchildren. His wife
was a treasure to them ,s well as to him. She was
a woman of little or no education. When she was
very young, her father was swallowed up in the ice,
with all his crew, on a howling, wiitry day, before
the eyes of his shrieking wife and children, in a
desolate creek where tlioy lived alone. In those
d lys there were no schools on the whole coast ; she
was reared by her widowed mother, without any
o])Dortunitv of reo^ular instruction, vet she brought

A MOTHER IN ISRAEL.

up her own chiklren admirably; their unusual clefer-
uncc and tenderness to her, when full-grown men,
bore witness to her judicious training, and her prac-
tical good sense and piety pervaded the whole
settlement. Nothing was done without her advice
and counsel, and nuthing seemed to prosper as well
as when she was the doer of it. The only clergy-
man who had ever visited the place before my
arrival was Archdeacon Wix ; and he, I believe, was
here only once, and for a short time. A few passing
visits from Methodist teachers were the only other
advantages of this kind which they had ever enjoyed;
yet I have seldom witnessed a congregation so or-
derly, and who joined in the service with so much
devotion and earnestness. Of their own accord the
"maidens" used to range themselves on one side of the
house, and the men on the other, and only the Feast
of the Lord was wanting to supply all our need. I
never succeeded in introducinof it here. Thouah
they were sorely tried and chastened, and I attended
the mother of this Israel in her last moments, after
she had seen more than one son and daughter cut
off with fever, neither she herself nor her children
ever received the bread of life at my hands. They
had a neat graveyard, but no school or a building
for Divine Service of any kind, though we had fre-
quent projects and aspirations for both. The grave-
yard was consecrated by the Bishop on the occasion
of a visit from him in " the Hawk," never to be for-
gotten by any of us. At the neighbouring settle-
ment, amid much kind,iess of heart and some

SOWING TIME.

exception, there was a sad contrast in all things,
temporal and spiritual.

l>ut 1 was not long left alone and singlo-hnnded in
the work. My coadjutor, indeed, returned to Eng-
land, after being with me between two and three
years ; but a faithful friend and fellow-labourer, who
came out at the same time with me in "the Hawk"
and had been placed at Grole as schoolmaster, was
<jrdained deacon, and took a great part of this shore,
i. e. from the Cape to Pushthro', as well as his own
side of the Bay, under his immediate charge, while
I still retained the chief superintendence and duty
of occasional visiting. About the same time I re-
ceived another great accession ; the same kind hand
which organized the fund for supplying me with an
assistant Missionary sent out a schoolmaster, whom
the ]>oard of Education (of which I. w^as chairman)
emj^loyed. He was placed at Pushthro', witli a charge
to visit and instruct the nuiu-hbouring settlements :
and well has he fulfilled his eliarge. Tiicse two have
))een true help-fellows to me. Botii cc tantly
visiting, teaching, exhorting, instructing and re-
proving, along a wild and rugged shore, with the
rough lodging and liard fare which fishermen have
to offer, with little strength of constitution or bodily
aptitude for the work, they have persevered beyond
their strength, and at each succeeding visit (at far
wider intervals thau I had hoped to make them)
I found the fruit of their labours in the increased
(hsire at least for something better among the
people^ a deeper sense of sin and shame in the worst.

INFLUENCE OF A SCIIOOLMASTKR.

a higher aim and more consistent walk in the better
.sort. Tiie i)rlvik'ges and (hitie.s of ('hnrch member'
whip and the natnre and oiWco of tiie Ministry began
to bo luiderstood and recognised in every place
which tiiese two faithfnl men visited, and, ofconrse,
more evidently where they resided, 'i'he school-
master for some time occupied part of the same
house in which I was always entertained fit Pushthro'
(I need hardly say without charge) till it was burnt
down while the family were at Divine Service in the
school-room, and he lost all his books and other little
property in the fire, as I had now no assistant
clergyman with me, and the fund for his support
kindly placed at my disposal, I was enabled to assist
in building him a small dwelling-house, the pcoi)le
cutting the frame, and giving their share to the
work (twelve days' labour each) ; subsequently he
married the daughter of our worthy host, and as
soon as the house was habitable (it is not yet more
than half finished) I used to take up my abode with
them, and never visited the place without a deep
sense of thankfulness.

No one is better aware than the worthy school-
master himself how much remains to be done, and
there are many traits among the people of this
country which a man of very staunch character and
inflexible uprightness would sensitively feel ; yet the
fruits of his painful visiting and prudent converse
among the elders, his gratuitous instruction of the
young men in night-schools (by no means valued or
requited an it ought to have been), and his able and

SOWING TIME,

assiduous training of the children in the school, were
evident in the improved tone and character of all.
The minister is indeed received as a Messenger of
Christ ; and when we were collected together in the
humble school-room (so small tliat I was obliged to
have three services to enable all to attend), at the
celebration of the Holy Communion, those who rose
to depart were the minority, — the greater part
remained behind.

I could with equal or even greater pleasure dwell
on my visits and early Communions at Grole, those
days of unmixed repose of heart and refreshment of
spirit with my faithful friend and his ^rue-hearted
partner, but that they do not fall so directly under
the history of the Fund, of which it is my object to
give an account ; though here too, as well as at
Pushthro', I was enabled to apply a small portion
of it to assist in building the Mission-house. I must
turn to give some description of that part of the
same Bay where Gaultois is situated, and of two or
three settlements in its neighbourhood. My recol-
lections here are of a more mingled character.

The English labourers, living in two large common
rooms and in most cases without domestic life, were
under greater disadvantages; and although the agent
was ever most assiduous and attentive, and every
preparation which the place allowed of was always
made for Divine Service (generally in a large, clean
sail loft), I could not but feel, that with the few visits
I was able to make (still fewer when I was without
a fellow-labourer) and the little consequent inter-

SUNDAY VISITING.

course, there could be no very strong bond between
pastor and people.

When I came for a Sunday, the a.m. service was
well attended, the agent and clerks being most
exemplary in this respect ; but in the afternoon the
temptation to avail themselves of the only oppor-
tunity in the week of walking and paying visits was
too strong for the greater part of my congregation,
and they were encouraged in this laxity by my being
obliged to divide ray day (weather permitting)
between them and one of the other settlements.
Often have T set out, against my better judgment,
to row four miles against a heavy wind and sea,
rather than re-nain to see the empty sail loft, and
the two or three " scattered ones," like the gleaning
grapes when the vintage is done, who appeared at the
P.M. service. A stout boat and crew was always at my
service, and a congregation of sixty or one hundred
people waiting at Hermitage Cove; and seldom have
I had to put back, though once every thole pin, and
almost every oar, was broken by the straining tug
against the rolling sea. Would that some of those
men could know the thoughts of a Missionary
towards them, and the deep feeling of regret and
sadness that the coldness of his own countrymen
caused, yet far more for their sakes than for his

own !

Hermitage Cove had been, for some time before
my arrival, the station of a Wesleyan teacher, and
afterwards of a schoolmaster of the Board of Educa-

i/IUU

say that miich fruit has

SOAVING TIME.

resulted from tlic labours of either teacher. I found
that very few could read sufficiently to make the
responses ; and although this part of the Bay was ia
general the fairest and goodliest of my vineyard, they
were not stirred up to emulation by the zeal and
good-will of their neighbours.

Though the number of inhabitants was larger here
than elsewhere, it was seldom, if ever, that I could
succeed in gathering a congregation on week days as
in other j)laces. I trust, however, that the day is
coming, or even now come, when this re^jroacli will
be rolled away. One of the merchants of a long
established and respected house in this Bay has
lately erected, at his solo expense, a substantial and
liandsome church, tlie only one not built of wood
within many hundred miles. It is of brick with
stone facings, about eighty feet long and thirty
broad, the style early English, and in very good
taste. His first desi<j;n was for a buildin"r which
might answer the double purpose of a church and
school, and to build a dwelling-house for the teacher;
but this plan was partly laid aside. It was proposed
tliat the old school-room should be repaired, and that
the new building should assume the full proportions
of a fair and seemly church ; and the undertaking
grew so much under his 1. nds that, to secure so
great an improvement, I gladly consented to provide
for the erection of the dwelling-house with the funds
at my disposal. I accordingly engaged a carpenter
at once, and procured the necessary materials. It
was commenced in the spring of the year 18.33; and

ijh

PARSONAGE AT HERMITAGE COVE.

}

( -

owing to the difficulty of procuring proper assist-
ance, the sickness of tlie carpenter, and the great
rise in the price of timber, &c., the estimated cost
lias been nearly doubled. It is now almost completed,
and has cost nearly 300^. sterling ; of this 200/. have
been supplied by the fund, oOl. by the Church Society
in St, Jolni's. It is obvious how great and manifold
are the advantages which may be anticipated, with
God's blessing, by this good work, not only in Her-
mitage Cove itself, but in the whole bay. A resident
clergyman at Hermitage Cove (who should also com-
bine the character of teacher with that of minister)
W'ould be able at once to instruct the rising generation,
and hold services with tolerable regularity atGaultois;
and although I do not anticipate that there will be
any general or regidar attendance of tlie men from
that establishment at the church at Hermitage Cove,
it would certainl}^ be possible during the greater part
of the year, and is no doubt the desire and expec-
tation of the munificent donor.

May the Lord, who hath at length opened this
door, give many grace to enter therein, and He that
hath set the candle on the hill grant many to walk
by the light therof !

My hope is to see Colley (now in Priest's orders)
transferred from Crole to Hermitage Cove, with a
youth whom he is training for under-schoolmaster,
or some more competent person. If this desire of
my heart is accomplished, there will then be a fair
provision for the spiritual wants of this Bay. Grolc
is a station of the Is ewfouudiaud School Society, and

SOWING TIME.

ought to be supplied by them ; Pushthro' of a
Government school ; and at Furly Cove, a few miles
below Hermitage Cove, I have been enabled to place
a very worthy old schoolmaster, quite sui generis,
self-taught, and whose life would be well worth
writing and reading. He is maintained by friends
in England, some of whom are ladies working with
their own hands for this object. This old man him-
self built the chief part of a very neat school-room
at Furly Cove (the people willingly assisting with
materials and work) and a small adjoining compart-
ment where he lived, and which he always vacated
for me on my arrival ; and besides other smaller
boats, he built the decked boat for me, in which
I made the round of my mission the last :''ear of my
residence.

It may perhaps be thought that the erection of a
dwelling-house at Hermitage Cove, and the further-
ance of others, were purchased too dearly by the
sacrifice of an assistant Missionary. It may be suffi-
cient here to say, that as the first who was with me
did not answer my hope and expectation, I was
unwilling to run the risk of again sufiering my
hands to be weakened, rather than strengthened, and
thus the kind intention of my friends in England
would have been altogether frustrated. I wished
therefore to wait till the desired fellow-helper could
be found. I felt more and more that schoolmasters
were more necessary at first to break up the fallow
ground, and afterwards the ordained minister to sow
the seed. One was accordingly sent, but he found

NEED OF PROPER TRAINING.

that the mode of life did not suit him, and he is now
working in the same capacity and in more comfort
at St. John's.

Meanwhile I felt that I could not expect a school-
master of a good stamp from England to be trained
to the multiforious trades which a genuine New-
foundlander exercises, who builds his own house,
makes his own boats and oars, mends his own nets
and boots, &c. ; but that some kind of dwelling, how^-
ever humble, must of necessity be prepared for him.
My plan, therefore, was to apply half the fund towards
the support of a schoolmaster, and the other half
towards building or aiding in building school-houses ;
and I contrived by the aid of CoUey, and the other
occasional visits of other clergymen, that the services
at Harbour Briton should still be carried on with very
little interruption, making my visits in the neigh-
bourhood as much as possible during the week, or
staying away for one Sunday only.

In the autumn of 1852 I was joined by a young
man from Jersey, who had been in the service of the
merchant at La Poele, but was very desirous to fit
himself, if possible, for holy orders. I received him
as catechist and companion, allowing him the same
salary as he had previously received as clerk ; he is
a young man of considerable promise, and has much
endeared himself to me and many others by his
affectionate character. He bore the sudden change
from the comforts of a merchant's office to the
exposure and hardships of a Missionary life with
singular zeal and cheerfulness. He has since come

SOWIXG TIME.

with me to St. John's, wlicre he has approved himself
to the Bishop, and is now a student in the College,
having charge of the boys who board in the prin-
cipal's house, and living with us and them.

It would extend the present sketch too far were
I to attempt to enter into any lengthened details of
the progress of the people in the remaining half of
my Mission, which may be called Fortune Bay
proper. A few particulars will suffice to convey
some idea of whatever fruits, by God's grace, have
resulted from the establishment of the ministry and
ordinances of Christ among them during the period
of which I am speaking.

At Harbour Briton, my place of residence, if the
ignorance in the first instance was not so great,
oieitlier was the improvement afterwards so manifest
as in many other places. The greater part of the
population being from England, there was, of course,
a better understanding of the nature of the Church -,
and I found in the agent and storekeeper two staunch
and well -affected members, who with their households
were uniformly consistent in serving the Lord, a
comfort to their minister, and an example to all.
This had its due effect on the clerks, and many
others connected with the establishment ; but I could
never succeed in drawing the labouring men on the
^' Rooms," either to church, or to a night-school at
my house. When I went among them, and warned
and remonstrated with them, though some were
inclined to listen, there w^as always one or more to
scoff and jeer ; and the one sinner turned the tide,

^^^^^^^

TWO ISLAND-CONGREGATIONS.

and made the rest ashamed of doing right. In
proportion to my grief at this faihire is my joy at
hearing that my successor has overcome them, by
actually cstablisliing the school in their own long
room, an attempt which I should certainly have
deemed impracticable, and I earnestly trust and pray
that it may be crowned with succevi.

There was always much of incerest in the two
islands at the mouth of the Bay, Sayona and Brunet.
In the latter I succeeded in establishing a Govern-
ment school soon after I came into the Mission ; and
although the schoolmaster was not very efficient, yet
the improvement in the children and people can
hardly fail to be considerable, when the former are
reclaimed from perfect wildness by the regular habits
of school, and the latter have at least the services of
the Church on Sundays, instead of every man doing
that which is right in his own e^'es, and following
his own pleasure on that holy day. The school
numbered nearly thirty scholars, a large number in
this country, where the settlements are so sadly
scattered. Even in this one island there were four
different spots inhabited, at the four quarters of the
island, two of which only were near enough for the
children to meet at school.

At Sayona the population was still larger, but
nearly a third were Roman Catholic; and I could
not persuade them to co-operate for the establish-
ment of a school, although at one time I nearly
succeeded in doing so. I left the frame of one
erected and boarded in, but little hope, I fear, of its

SOWING TIME.

being completed. Many a sad and heavy day I have
passed in tliis island ; the people being more intract-
able and " resolute " than ordinary, though by no
means without good ground to work upon; there
was more than one instance here of men who had
once been almost ready to turn and rend me, who
were afterwards among the most attacbed and faith-
ful of my flock. The settlements along the coast
from Harbour Briton towards Belleoram were at
each successive visit a source of renewed joy or
grief, almost alternately. In one I found, as I trust
and believe, the seed springing up in good soil, in
due season to bring forth good fruit ; in another it
seemed indeed to have fallen on a rock, and the
birds of the air to have carried it away ; and this
not always in proportion to the labour bestowed.

It was on one occasion a relief to walk from the
larger settlement which I and others had frequently
visited, and where there was a good school-room, but,
alas ! no schoolmaster for want of a house, to one
where the few inhabitants, all of one family, had
lately come from a distant part of the Bay, in
another Mission, and who were almost unknown to
jjie — their clean dwellings and substantial stages (or
fishing wharfs) bespoke their thrift and industry.
Duly was I honoured and kindly entertained,
and counsel sought at my lips. Before retiring
to rest, as I knew that nearly all hands were
only waiting for a fair wind to sail away in their
boat for their fishery, I thought it necessary to
remind the father that I should require a crew

THE LORD's-DAY SCRUPULOUSLY KEPT.

the next morning to carry me on to the nearest
harbour, and that he had better tell his boys of my
wish over-night. He replied very respectfully that
he would not fail to provide a crew from his own
sons in the morning, but that he never spoke to
them on Sunday night about the next day's work,
and they never thought of setting to work at any-
thing without his word. This answer struck rae the
more as it is so very seldom that children are brought
up in this country on any principle of obedience;
they are systematically indulged from infancy, and
gi'ow up in headstrong self-will. As soon as a boy
is strong enough to work and become a fisherman,
he assiimes all the airs of a master, his mother and
sisters w^ait upon him with eager assiduity, he is
allowed to act on the evil principle of its being a
gift whatsoever his parents may be profited by him
(Mark vii. 11), and it is painful to see the consequent
reversal of the natural order — the independence of
the children, and the dependence of the parents.
I have seen a youngster of fourteen, just in from
fishing, look to his sister, his elder by at least ten
years, and point in silence to a stool, which she
promptly brought for him ; and fiithers are not
ashamed to urge, in excuse for sailing in their boats
on Sunday, that they are not masters, — their sons will
have it so.

I w\as the more pleased and surprised by the
evident order and discipline of this family; the
manner of the young men was pleasing, and mingled
respect with cheerful ease in a very unusual degree.

SOWING TiMi:.

When we came to the mouth of the next harbour,
wo met a man co. Mig out with a skiff loadta with
veniHon, which he had lately killed in the woods, and
was going to Harbour Briton to sell. I urged him to
return with me only for a few hours, to avail himself
of the opportunity of prayers, which so seldom
occurred. He replied carelessly that he could not
wait, and my crew could scrucely repress their sur-
prise and shame at his conduct. He was but too
faithful a sample of those among whom ho dwelt.
Yet a few miles further, where the peoide enjoyed
but the same scanty advantages (this was the extreme
point of my personal JSIission, that beyon<l it which
I occasionally visited belonging to Belleoram), my
arrival was always a source of real and reciprocal
pleasure. I found a class of children fairly instructed
by one of the mothers, a true and humble Christian,
the people always ready to a man in the evening for
prayers, never weary of being instructed, and again
at early dawn. T once here concluded prayers at
ten :\t night, and began the next morning at four.
A few miles further on occurred one of those peculiar
contrasts which are sometimes seen in this country.
In one place all spoke of thrift, intelligence, and
comfort ; in the other, the wretchedness and filth are
more easily conceived than described : yet the sources
of comfort, the woods and sea, are equally open to
all. They seemed, too, of quite different races — in
one place the lieads of families were all the sons of
one man, remarkably fine specimens of fishermen ;
in the other, they were squalid, stunted, and ill-

^ KLL-DISPOSED WOMEN.

favoured. In neither of these places can I speak
very highly of the spiritual improvement whilst
I know them. In the ono place, the men, though
a kind and warm-hearted race, all sought first "after
their own heart and their own eyes ;" but some among
the women were much inclined to seek the better
kingdom. Four of them on one occasion rowed to
Harbour Briton to church (about twelve miles),
without u man or boy to help them, and came back
the same evening through a pouring rain, and did
not reach homo until a late hour, and in such pitchy
darkness that they could scarcely make out their
own harbour,

In the other, extreme ignorance precluded all hope
of improvement, without more permanent and re-
gular instruction than I could give in passing visits.
Each time I came the people sat round and repeated
the Creed and Commandments after me, but there not
being one among them who could read, all was for-
gotten, and on my return I had the same ground to
go over again ; yet a little further on there was so
much intelligence and wiUingness, that (although the
people were evidently of the same stock as the last)
even those who could not read rapidly learnt what
was necessary for confirmation; and most of the
children, in one fiimily especially (bound to me in
mutual afiectiou), learnt to read fairly under the
tutelage of the aged grandfather of the settlement.

In the last settlement on this coast nearest Jersey
Harbour, there was much of earnest and simple piety ;
and the people used frequently to come up to Har-

«>

bOWINO TIME.

boiir Briton to church, although they had throe
miles of swampy marsh to cross, and then three to
row, with the uncertainty of procuring u boat at
Jersey Harbour. How often have I arrived here
travel-worn iH body and wearied in mind, and have
been cheered b;y the ready kindness and hospitality
of the worthy and warm-hearted agent and his ,vifc,
and sent on my way ho.ne refreshed. They did what
they could to lighten a Missionary's cares and toils;
yet who could help mourning over the 200 souls in
that place, who seldom, if ever, come to church,
under the plea of its being too far for them, and
that the clergyman ought to come to them, and not
they to the clergyman ? I was frequently moved to
have one service there on Sundays, and trusted that
by so doing a deeper knowledge of their duty to
God and His cliurch might be produced ; but in the
Bishop's judgment this was not the wisest course,
either with respect to the present or the future, and
1 thought it safer to acquiesce in his judgment than
to follow my own. May the Lord in his good time
bring all into one fold, and give all the spirit of
godly fear and holy love 1

It would have been no little pleasure and interest
to me to have dwelt upon my visits to the happy
and well-ordered people of Belleoram and their
faithful pastor, as well as to the regions beyond them,
so full of promise and simple faith — the hard-living
and laborious men of Garmish, with their sterling'-
hearted schoolmaster, iron of limb and lion of heart,
and all the settlemencB around the bottom of Fortune

GENERAL RESULTS.

Bay; twice only could I visit them in the seven
years, and each time desired that those visits could
have beer* seventy times seven, so sim])le-hcarted
and willing did they seem ; but the account of the
last tour which I made in the " Messenger" has been
already sent to the S. P. G., so that there is the less
need to repeat the particidars here.

I must not attempt to touch upon the mission of
T^urgeo and La Poole, though situated within my
deanery, and assisted occasionally by me. The latter
especially wouk' require a separate account of itself,
from the growing importance of the settlement, and
the singular spirit of unity, and simplicity, and
earnestness which pervades the people, and attaches
them to their zealous and faithful pastor and to
each other in the bands of brotherly love. The
number of children in school much exceeds seventy,
and the clergyman, during the past winter, himself
supplied the place of schoolmaster, and still, I believe,
continues to add that labour (alone sufficient for one
man) to the burden of a large and laborious mission.

It is time that this sketch should draw to a close.
When it was decided that I should remove from
Harbour Briton to become principal of the College at
St. John's, and I set sail in the " Messenger," my little
decked boat, for a round of my mission, I naturally
looked back to the time of my first visit, and com-
pared the difference of my reception and the deoree
of progress in the various settlements. Scarcely
any, either old or young, had then been confirmed ;
seldom, could the children read; the practice of prayer,

SOWING TIME.

except at bed-time, was almost unknown; and
although there was a great desire tliat the children
should be instructed, and the parents themselves
usually taught them their prayers, the Creed, and
the Commandments, they were gabbled over by the
children in such a hurried jargon as to be quite
unintelligible : and so little value was set on the
office of the minister, that baptisms and marriages
were commonly performed without him. When
I left them, the children in many places could read,
and in most could repeat the Creed, the Lord's
Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and very often
the Catechism ; almost all who were of age had
been confirmed, the practice of daily private and
family prayer in the morning as well as the evening
was gaining ground, if it had not become general, and
I administered the Holy Communion in almost every
settlement, and in many cases to a majority of the
adults ; and of them I may safely say, that habitual
swearing or Sabbath-breaking was unusual, and so
scandalous as generally to lead to the amendment of

the offender.

Before I close, I should anticipate a question
which may well be asked as to the measure in which
the people themselves contributed towards the
maintenance of their Missionaries. This was a
subject on which I had expended much labour and
care, as I felt strongly that without the clear recog-
nition of the principle of self-maintenance, there
could be little real regard and attachment to their
church among the people. There was, and still is.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF CHURCn-MEMBERS.

a prevailing idea among them that the Government
at home supported the clergy, and that there was no
need for the people themselves to pay ; this feeling
was encom-aged by those who came out from Eng-
land, who knew that there the poor did not pay, and
they naturally transferred the same notion to this
country. I laboured patiently to explain the true
nature of the case to all ', here, of course, it is un-
necessary to enlarge upon it. In accordance with
the principle of the Church Society in St. John's,
I laid down from the first and gradually brought
forward a system of contrbution which was so
moderate that it would not press the poorest ; slowly
and by degrees the duty was recognised, and at last
the feeling was in its favour. The amount was 5s.
per annum for each single man, and 10s. for each
family, except at Harbour Briton, where it was
double. There were so many difficulties in the way
of the. collection, that a third of the whole amount
was perhaps the most that was ever actually contri-
buted in one year, in actual payment : this amounted
to about 100?. It must be borne in mind that, in
addition to this, it was a standing rule (which was
cheerfully complied with) for a crew of four hands
(if necessary) to carry a clergyman from one harbour
to the next, and during the height of the fishery
anyone but a clergyman would have been at con-
siderable expense in these expeditions. Fishermen
would not at times give up a day's fishing for less
than twenty shillings, or even twice that sum. It
may be reckoned that a Government agent, or other

SOWING TIME.

functionary, travelling as I did, would have spent in
the course of the year two or three hundred pounds ;
and this ought fairly to be taken into consideration
in estimating the amount of contribution on the
part of the people.

I have now endeavoured to convey some idea,
liowover inadequate, of what God has been pleased
to work in this Mission during the last seven years.
None can be more sensible than I am how much
that w^ork and those gracious purposes have been
marred by the short-comings of the w^orkman, nor
can T fail to see that where it has prospered He was
the Doer.

THE END.

R. CLAY. PRISTEK. BKEAI) SlUKKl EI ILL.

U-

■ I
■ 1

The following Works may also be had at the Depotilories of the

SOCIETY /or l^ROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

77, GREAT aUEEN STREET, 4, ROTAL EXCHANGE, AND 16, HAMOTCH-
■TRRKT, HANOVER-SaUARE; AND BBtl. AND DAIDY, 186, FLEKT-81.

CHURCH

No.

Published.

1843, Dec.

II.

1844, Feb.

III.

1844, March .

.IV.

1844, Aug.

1845, Feb.

VI.

1845, March .

VII.

1845, Aug.

VIII.

1845, Sept. .

IX.

1846, Oct.

1840, Jan.

XI.

1846, Feb.

XII.

1846, April

XIII.

1846, July

XIV.

1848, Oct.

XV.

1846, Nov.

XVI.

1846. Dec.

XVII.

1847, Feb. ^

XVIII.

1847, March

•'**"V^'

XIX.

1848, Dec.

XX.

1849, March

XXI.

1849, April

XXII.

1849, Oct.

XXIII.

ISiH), March

XXIV.

1850, June

XXV.

1850, July

XXVI.

1851, Feb.

XXVII.

1851, Sept.

XXVTII.

1852, Aug>

XXIX.

18.')4, May

XXX.

1854, . . .

XXXI,

1855, March

xxxu.

1855 June .

XXXIII.

1855, Aug.

XXXIV.

1856, June

XXXV.

1857, Feb.

IN THE COLONIES.

Diocese, Part.

. TOHONTO

• QUKB£C • •••••!#••

. NOVA SCOTIA . . . I. . .

. NRW ZEALAND. . . 1. . .

. AUSTRALIA .... I. . .

. AUSTRALIA . . . . IL .

. NEW ZEALAND. ,. . H. .

. NEW ZEALAND. . . III. .

. QUEBEC IL .

. NEWFOUNDLAND. . L. .

. FREDERICTON . . . 1, . .

. NEW ZEALAND. . . IV. .

. NOVA SCOTIA ... 11. .

. AUSTRALIA .... III. .

. NEWFOUNDLAND. . II. .

. FREDERICTON ... II. .

NOVA SCOTIA . . . in. .

QUEBEC % in. .

-.—fiLEWFOUNDLAND. . III..

„ NEW ZEALAND. . . V. .

. NEWFOUNDLAND. . IV..

. CAPETOWN .... I.. .

. TASMANIA.

. MELBOURNE. . . . L .

. NEWFOUNDLAND. . V. .

. NEWFOUNDLAND. . VI. .

. CAPETOWN . . . . IL .

. UUIANA

BARBADOS

rrii
«,

6
6

NEWFOUNDLAND. , VII. , .

MELBOURNE . . . 11^ . . •

CAPETOWN . . . in. . . .

MELBOURNE. . . . IIL ...

TRISTAN D'ACUNHA

NEWFOUNDLAND , . VIII. . .

Nos. I. to XXX. In six volumes, cloth lettered 20$. Od.

The MISSIONS IN TINNEVELLY ; with a Map, (1846) 3

HISTORICAL NOTICESoftlie MISSIONS of the CHURCHof ENGLAND,
in the North American Colonies 9

Indian Missions in Guiana, by Rev. W. H. Brett^ 58.

ANNALS of the COLONIAL CHURCH: Frbdebioton, If.; Nkw Zba-
X.AMD, Ss, ; Toronto, 3*. id. } Qoebec, St. 8d.

MISSIONS TO THE HEATHEN

Price.

No.

Published.

Mission.

Diocese.

Part.

«.

1844, Aug..

sawyerpooram. ,

Madrat

I.. .

1844, Dec.

EDEYFj-NKOODY . .

Madran

I.. .

\Si!i, Jan. ,

sawyerpooram. .

Madras

. IL .

IV.

1849, Feb. .

CAWNPORE . , .

Calcutta

• • •

1845, March

NAZARETH . . . .

Madrat

• • •

(»

184.5, June

LAKE HURON . . .

Toronto

I.. .

vn.

1845, Aug.

SAWYERPOORAM. .

Madrat

in. .

vin.

1845. Dec.

SAWYERPOORAM. .

Madrat

IV, .

IX.

18? 8, Jan. .

VISITATION TOUR .

Madrat

• • •

1846, March

EDEYENKOODY . .

Madrat

n. .

XI.

1846, May.

GUZERAT

Bombay

1. .

XII.

1846, June.

SAWYERPOORAM.

Madrat

V. .

XIIL

1846, Aug.

LAKE HURON . .

Toronto

n. .

XIV.

1846, Sept.

NAZARETH . . . .

Madrat

. H. .

XV.
XVL

1847. May.
1847, June

BARRIPUR . . .

Calcutta

SAWYERPOORAM.

Madrat

VL .

XVII

1847, Aug.
1847, Sept.

COLOMBO . . . . .

Colombo
Colombo

L. .

. IL .

XVHL

COLOMBO

XIX,

1847, Nov.

EDEYENKOODY .

Madrat

IIL.

1849, Jan. .
1849, April
1849, Dee.

TANJORE, &c. . .
MADRAS. ....

Madrat
Madrat
Madrat

XXI.

. 1,. .

IL .

XXII.

MADRAS

xxin.

1850, Nov.

TINNEVELLY , . .

Madrat

XXIV

1861, Nov.
1853, Aug.

COLOMBO

Colombo
Adelaide

IIL .

• • t

XXV.

POONINDIB . . . .

XXVL

1863, Aug.

CHINA

Victoria

• • •

-1/ j^ Tf T T

Mnt,

TANIOPir Orn

XV in.

1866, April

MILAGRAYA, &c. . .

Colombo

IV. .

>:xix.

1855, Nov.

WESTERN AFRICA

•

Barbadn

I.. .

.K.'CX.

1856, April

SOUTH AFRICA. . .

Grahamntown

• • •

-j\XI

1857, Feb,

TARANAKI , . .

New Zealand
(irahamstown

• • t

XXXII,

GRAHAM8T0WN , .

Nob, I. to XX vn

. in three volumes, cloth

lettered . .

• •

8(. id.