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♦

A C H A It (J E

DPl.lVERKIi TO THK

C M'.!! (i Y OF Tit K DIOCESE

nil-

RUPERT'S LAND,

AT HIS

I> lU M A R Y VISITATION.

DAVID ANDERSON, D.D.

I.ORI) HIBIIOI' or Ri;i'KUT 8 I.ANO.

!, O N J) O xV;
T. UATCJIAIID, 187, TIC CAD ILLY.

1851.

MllNTl.l' BY fi. (.

LONDON :

PALMIlli, SAVnV Sri;i:i,l, -.11;

A.v I'

TO THE

» LERGY OF THE DIOCESE

RUPERT'S LAND,

^Did ©barge.

■\

PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST,

IS DKDIUATUn,

WITH SINCERE R K S I' E C T AND EST

E E M,

BY THEIR

AFFECTIONATE FRIEND AND BROTHER,

DAVID RUPERTS LAND

mtHts>^^!h

..JM*s^

A CHARGE,

Sfc.

I My Reverend Brethren,

^ You are well aware that it was my original

^ purpose to have assembled you for my Primary

Visitation towards the close of the last winter,
very soon after my arrival among you. But
upon more mature consideration. 1 determined to
defer it until I had obtained some acquaintance
with your spheres of ministerial duty, and had
also gained some insight into the Indian charac-
ter, and formed some idea of the prospects of the
Church throughout this land.

Nor do I repent of the delay. Even at home,
where the circumstances of the dioceses so much
resemble each otlier,—where parochial labour in
each presents few peculiarities,— an interval of
time between consecration and a Primary Visita-
tion has been found desirable and profitable.*
How much more then in the case of a colonial

* See the Primary Clmrgo of the Bishop of Ripon, 1838.

diocese, where the position of a minister (lifters
in very many points from tliat at borne, — where
the i)arochial system cannot always be entirely
carried ont, — where the snbjcct of Ecclesiastical
legislation still j)resents many anomalies, so as to
require nmch patient thougiit and study to adapt
it to the wants of the Church in anv case, more
especially when that Church is comjjosed partly of
those of European habits, ])artly of those brought
in from heathenism ! In this way, although I have
to acknowledge with gratitude the paternal ad-
vice and counsel received from many prelates be-
fore leaving England, particularly from that re-
vered prelate, whom the Providence of God has
elevated to the highest position in our Church,
and from him, on wdiom has devolved the charge
of ordaining for colonial dioceses, yet I found it
impossible to gain from any the exact information
which I desired, on those peculiar features which
give to a colonial diocese a character altogether its
own. From one alone T gained before starting much
valuable instruction, many full and satisfactory
answers to the questions, which naturally arose in
my mind ; and the obligation T am the more
anxious to acknowledge on this occasion, because
I little knew when enjoying his hospitality and
kindness, — when favoured by him with access to
all his papers and documents bearing on the first
formation of the diocese of Barbados, — that the
hand of God was about to remove him so soon
from that sphere at once of retirement and
labour, in which, after eighteen years of active

']«

♦ 'inplovmont ahro.'ul. lie luid Ixm-ii so li(inour:il»Iv
fixed.*

liut iHUtlicr tlio carlv history of tl)(? diocese of
Harl)ados, nor the annals of the Clnirch in Aus-
tralia and New Zealand, })resent any exact coun-
terpart of the work, to which God, my reverend
brethren, lias called us here. The ti'n»n-e by
which this territory is held l)v the charter of the
Iton. Co]n])anv, — the fact that wIkmi wc 2".>ze on
the lakes and rivers and mighty interlyin*]^ plains
of liupcrt's Land, not a single city or town meets
the eye;— the manner in which a small body of
settlers planted in it by a benevolent nobleman,
forms now the centre of lio^ht, the little oasis in
the wilderness; — the way in which over the rest
of the conntry, the forts are thinly scattered, with
but a handful in each professing the Christian
faith, and all darkness around ; — the method in
which the native population seek their subsistence,
wandering about from spot to spot, according as
the necessity of the chase, the want of fish or of
wood may compel them ; — all this, joined to many
other things which readily suggest themselves to
your own minds, stamp upon this diocese a dis-
tinctiveness of feature, to which, I am bold enough
to affirm, no parallel exists at the present hour on
the surface of the globe. They give a character
to the work of the gospel here, which belongs not

* The Right Rpv. W. Hart Coleridge, D.D., late Bishop of
Barbrtdos, and Warden of St. Augnstine's College, Canterbury,
who received at tlie Collpi'e those consecrated at Canterbury,
May 29, 18 19, and died in the December following.

to it elsewhere ; the full idea of which exists
vividly impressed in your minds, yet an idea
which it is difficult, if not impossible, to transfer
to another, in the exact shape in which it occupies
and fills tlie minds of those, before whom the |)ic-
ture is daily spread. It is well for us however,
my brethren, often to recur to this, to examine
well those circumstances whicli make our lot pe-
culiar, — to dwell on them carefully and patiently,
until we feel that the gosjiel, as a remedial
message, is to be adapted to what we see around
us. Easy were it to imagine a changed scene,
and to allow the mind to roam in forming vision-
ary plans of what under different circumstances
might be realized. Our duty is with the present
moment ; so to study the condition and character
of the land wherein we dwell, — so to imbibe the
idea of it as a whole, as to be prepared for the
profitable consideration of the great subject,
How shall I best imprint upon it the mark and
stamp of heaven? How shall a living Christianity
be best diffused among those so different in race
and condition, so scattered and destitute, yet in
equal need with ourselves of the Saviour, in equal
want of the word of life to guide their feet into
the way of peace .''

For these purposes we ought to study well our
position, in order to see clearly where we stand
among the churches of God, when and where we
are called to work in the Lord's vineyard. Now
this is, brethren, the remotest diocese in the west.
If we are all travelling westward, as the poet

"mi

lately tak«Mi Ihmjcc lias sunf(,--if tlio <i[()spors
course lias btjcii westward, and if it is to bi»
jiroaclied as a witness ainon^' all nations before tlie
end come, tlien it has well ni<>li nm its conrse in
this part of this ]ni<ifhty continent. America is
nearly embraced. This, the remotest diocese,
stretches as far as the rocky mountains, almo^■t
within siofht of the wateis of the i^icific. 1
should have called it the youn;[;'est, the last-formed
diocese a week a^^o ; but intelligence has just
readied us, that another bishop has been conse-
crated since, — that the diocese of Montreal is se-
parately constituted, so that now the dioceses of
l^ritish North America ak^ seven.* Of these we
are the most distant ; beyond us there is but one
lerg-yman on the other side of the mountains at

kit

Vancouver. Should necessity require, and no
means of Episcopal ministration be supplied, I
might hereafter have to visit that spot for the pur-
pose of confirmation ; or, should the population of
Vancouver Island increase, and any number of
clergymen be planted in the Columbia, Vancou-
ver migiit then be suitably selected as a spot for
a bishop of its own. Then from China to the
Pacific the chain of sees would be complete;
from Victoria the eye would pass to Calcutta with
her three sutFragan bishoprics, from Bombay to
Jerusalem, thence along the Mediterranean to
Gibraltar, and, crossing the Atlantic to New-found-
land, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, Quebec,

* Another may ere this have been formed by the division
of tbe Diocese of Toronto.

Montreal, Toronto, Rupert's Land, and, if it misfht
be so at a future day, Vancouver. A glowing
thought, that the Church of the British Isles
should span the world I *

Although however so far removed, we cannot
forget that the life and influence and energy of
our Church, must be derived in great measure from
Britain. England must still be regarded by us as
the heart and centre of life, from which the blood
circulates to the most distant parts of the body.
Our wisdom would be to keep up a lively inter-
course with the Church, whence we are sent
forth ; not to labour independently of her, — not
to frame a code of laws for our regulation differ-
ing from those which are in force at home, but
rather to adapt, as much as may be, our own in-
ternal government to that, which the wisdom of
our forefathers has devised, and the experience of
ages sanctioned.t And yet whenever we cast
our eyes towards the Church of our affections, —

* Those who are accustomed to give to their classical recol-
lections a Christiar application, will excuse me for referring to
the passage which always suggests itself o my mind, when I
reflect on my position, and look eastward to those who, from
the rising to the setting sun, are to be as " lights, holding
forth the word of life."

<j!)/auKTOS 8e (fipvKTOv Sevp air ayydpnv Trupo?
€7rc/A7rei', .... ovk airainrov 'iSaiov irvpn<i.
TotoiSc TOi jxot AafnraSr)<f>6p(i)v vofioi,
aXXo'i Tap aWov SiaSojj^ais vXrjpovjxevoi.

Aeschyl. Agam.
t The danger of an opposite course is clearly and forcibly
stated in a Letter to Sir Robert II. luglis on Colonial Church
Legislation, by the Rev. Henry Venn, IS.OO.

the Church in which we were reared and tniin-
ed, — the Church whose ministrations we are en-
deavouring to carry out, feebly it may be and im-
perfectly, in this country, — we cannot conceal from
ourselves, I cannot conceal from you, my reverend
brethren, that much of trouble and trial seem to
encompass her. Internal divisions have arisen
\,iiich cannot be viewed without alarm; and
although our Articles and Formularies were framed
in so wide and comprehensive a s})irit, as to in-
clude under them that diversity of opinion, which
will ever mark independent minds, yet cttbrts are
now making, which would interrupt the peace
which has long reigned within her bosom, and
which would settle and mark out definitively,
what had been left in some measure to individual
judgment. Of this we cannot be unconcerned
spectators, as we value the ])eace of our Church,
the doctrinal purity and the unfettered liberty of
her children. We must watch anxiously and
eagerly the directic^ns which error takes, the
sides on which error lurks ; and, if God so bless
us, seek to discover the means, by which error
may be most successfully met, and truth main-
tained.

Looking then at the tone and spirit of theolo-
gical writing during the few lust years, with the
view of discovering the dangers to which we are
most exposed, 1 cannot bnt apprehend the ap-
proach of evil, evil of a different shade and com-
plexion, from a growing indistinctness on three
subjects of deep and vital importance.

I. The first is very closely connected with the
Word of God, and the nature of the impressions
which we i 'ceive from it. It refers to the
subject of Inspiration^ che nature and extent of
that superintendence, that divine illumination,
communicated to the penmen of Holy Scripture.
And here I should depart from what I previously
stated to be the liberty allowed by our Church, if
I were to lay down a theory of my own as bind-
ing- upon you, or as if it were the only possible
one, which an earnest and religious mind could
adopt. I know that many, whom I respect and
venerate, hold on this point views differing from
my own, and so long as the Supremacy of God's
word is allowed, the authority of every part of it
on the conscience granted, 1 should not be dis-
posed to quarrel. But is there not m some quar-
ters a disposition to undervalue the letter of the
word ? Is there not a spirit of bold criticism afloat,
which scruples not to discover imperfections in
Scripture, which «peaks of a part of Scrij^ture as
not necessarily inspired, or attributes varying de-
grees of inspiration to that which God has em-
braced under one simple and comprehensive
term ? * It is customary often to speak of the
historical and prophetical inspiration as different,
and yet i can never understand, how more of in-
spiration was necessary for Isaiah to j)ropbesy of
events seven hundred years distant in the future,
than for Moses to write the history of an unfallen
world, the history of Paradise and God's com-

* TTucra yfiOLcfiii 6enir\'ev<TTo<i. 2 Tim. iii. 1(1.

o
o

•*>/

niunion with man there, which happened more
than two thousand years before his birth. Or
even, as this i)erhaps is more readily granted,
looking at the historical books of Samuel, the
Kings, or Nehemiah, how is it that so short a
record is given us, so concise an outline, and yet
through Divine Providence, one so sufficient to
give a j)erfect history of the world, which but for
this existed only in fragments, and never could
have been cemented into one whole. In this se-
lection of material, in this Divine arrangement,
I can recognize nothing short of the highest in-
spiration ; the same inspiration which guided the
seer and prophet in his noblest flights. For I
cannot separate, I cannot unravel that so curiously
woven by tl Spirit ; if any distinguish between
history and prophecy, I confess my inability. In
Genesis, prophecy marks the opening and closing
chapters, — in Exodus and Leviticus, we have the
prophecy of word, and that of type and symbol, —
in Numbers, we have Balaam unfolding the future
character of Israel, when their tents were pitched
beyond Jordan, — stamping them with the seal of
prophecy before one foot had yet crossed the sa-
cred river, — and in Deuteronomy, we have Moses
closing his books (shall we call them of history
or prophecy ?) when rapt in the Spirit, describing
the Jews such us our eyes behold them at the
j)resent hour. And so, throughout the books of
S<!rii)ture, the golden thread of prophecy is so
beautifully interwoven with the tissue of tljo vo-
lume, that 1 should ever fear to draw it out. On

this ground, I tremble to hear men speak of higher
and lower inspiration marking parts of God's vo-
lume. For all I would claim the highest inspi-
ration ; let us look to it as written within and
without with the finger of God.*

This is, I am aware, a danger into which few
of our Church have as yet fallen ; it lurks how-
ever almost unconsciously in many minds. It is
an error, the effects of which we see in the un-
sparing hand of the Socinian mutilating the volume
of God, or in the rash speculations of the Neolo-
gian of Germany. A little of the leaven has
latterly been introduced into our own theology,
and it surely is incumbent upon all to analyze well
their own conceptions on this subject, to see
well what are their real ideas of the agency of
God, and the instrumentality of man, as jointly
concerned in the inspiration of the Bible.

II. The next subject on which T would notice
a growing indistinctness of view, and from which
much painful error has already arisen, is the doc-
trine of Justification. As the very end and pur-
pose of the gospel is to reveal how man can be
just with God, so whatever tends to obscure and
darken the method of the sinner's acceptance

* Is there no such danger, when we hear Bibliolatry dis-
claimed and derided ? Was not a late estimable divine led ou-
V urdy to ijucstion the authority of the Book of Daniel, and
did not another eminent writer (not of our own Communion)
yive up altogether the inspiration of tiie Song of Solomon ?
For some of the thoughts on this subject 1 confess myself
indebted to Gaussen's Theopneustia.

e
d
le

inust weaken its very foundations. And was it
not on this point that he, whose was the leading
mind in the late movement, which has drawn off
from the service and allegiance of our Church so
many of her erring sons, —was it not on this that
he first unsettled the minds of many, sapping and
undermining, unconsciously perhaps at that time,
the superstructure of the faith ? * Has it not
been once more verified that this is " the Article
of a standing or falling Church?" And although
many of those, who spoke of this as an odious
and unpalatable doctrine, have fallen from our
ranks and gone out from among us, yet the un-
settling effect remains in the minds of many
others ; the trumpet gives from their lips an un-
certain sound, and there is not the same simple
and bold proclamation of the method, in which
being "justified by faith we have peace with
(;od."

Now the true path of safety in any such case,
vvliere the substance of the " faith once delivered
to the saints " is endangered, is to recur " to the
law and to tlie testimony," to the lively oracles of
Ciod, and the authoritative explanation of them as
contained in our own Articles. We must, especially
in the present day, " examine well the founda-
tions." I If our object as ministers is to lead
man to joy tiiid ]»eace in believing here, and to
present him })erfect. without spot, and blameless
before the presence of (jiod hereafter, we must
often ask, How shall these things be ? We must

■'■ NcwMiHu's Ltc'turcs on Jiistilicalioii.
t Willx irdrcc'N P);u'li('iil Mew.

analyze the medicine provided for us, the balm of
Gilead which the good Physician has consigned to
our care. And the scriptural answer seems to
be furnished by the apostle, when he prays to
be " found in Christ, not having his own righte-
ousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness
which is of God by faith." In that he prayed to
be found on earth ; in that he hoped to stand in
heaven. And the Articles agree therewith when
declaring, " We are accounted righteous before
God, only for the merits of our Lord Jesus
Christ bv faith, and not for our own works or
deservings." In the merits of Christ we can
rejoice as pardoned sinners now ; in those merits
we can hope to stand accepted and justified
before the bar of God hereafter; because "He
was made sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him." Yet in the doctrinal statement of these
great truths, is there not sometimes an indistinct-
ness, — a confusion between sanctification and jus-
tification, akin to the doctrines of the corrupt
Church of Rome on the subject, — a confusion be-
tween inherent righteousness and that which is
imputed, — a confusion between our own best and
holiest works, our own righteousness which is but
as filthy rags, and that everlasting righteousness,
which the obedience of the Saviour to God's per-
fect law has introduced, and which shall be a gar-
ment of glory and beauty to all that believe.*

* For a full discussion of this subject, see the Lectures of
Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Ossory, on Justification ; and for a clear
and simple statement, see a short Treatise by the Archbishop
of ( ■anlerbury, and another by Bishop Wilson of Calcutta.

'«

♦

III. But there remains one other subject, on
which error seems now to take its stand, and
threaten danger to the simplicity of the faith, and
tliat is, — Extreme views of sacramental ifficacy. As
of the two former errors, the one referred to the
w^ord of God, the other to the j)rimary doctrine
of tile Gospel, so this relates to the channels
through wliich grace is conveyed. Now of the
two holv sacraments of our Church, as ordained
by the Saviour for our great and endless comfort,
we can never speak too highly, nor think too re-
verently ; and yet the eye may dwell so exclu-
sively on these or any other points as to derange
" the analogy of the faith,"* — the proportion in
which scripture reveals these things. Coincident
with the extreme views, to which I refer, is often
a depreciation of preaching, regarding which, as
the mighty engine by which it has " pleased God
to save them that believe," the apostle has said so
much. There is also often a depreciation of fiiith,
by which the sinner is at once brought nigh unto
God, on which the apostolical epistles enlarge so
fully. Is there, then, no distorting of the scrip-
tural analogy, when the two sacraments are d\\elt
on so exclusively ? Is there no danger when
something of a sacramental efficacy is claimed for
other ordinances, — when it is said that they are in
some sense sacraments of the Church ? Have
not the extreme views in question led, as a con-
se(|uence, to the melancholy |)osition, that for sin
after baptism there is no direct pledge or promise

* T7)V avakoyiav t^9 TTwrTCCDS. — Rom. xii. 6.

of pardon ; and in the case of the other sacrament,
to views scarcely to be distinguished from the
transubstantiation of the Church of Rome ? Now
here too recourse to the Articles and Formu-
laries would appear at once the safe path ; and if
it be alleged that difficulty exists, if there be any
necessity of reconciling apparent diversity of ex-
pression, is it not the fairer course to take the
general definition of the sacraments as found in
Article XXV., and then contemplate its applica-
tion to the two sacraments ? If of the sacraments
generally it is stated, in Article XXV., that " in
such only as worthily receive them they have a
wholesome effect or operation," if an express
Article limits the effects of the Lord's Supper to
the worthy recipient, (Article XXIX.,) why may
not something of a like limitation be admissible
in the construction of Article XXVII. ? Are
we derogating from the sanctity of a sacrament,
if we say a limitation is possible in the one, which
all allow in the case of the other sacrament ?

But it is said, the case of baptism prevents the
admission of any such hypothesis, as there cannot
be, in the case of infants, worthiness or unworthi-
ness. Yet here again is it not just to pass from
the higher case of the adult to the particular case
of infant baptism ? In the case of the adult, the
benefit and grace are acknowledged to be contin-
gent, not always and universally bestowed ; and
shall we still say that all children necessarily
obtain the fullest gift of God's grace ^ Are we
derogating from the sacredness of the sacrament

rily
we
ent

in saying that there may perchance be a limitation
in their case ?

And liere, my reverend brethren, as you may
have perceived from these remarks, I cannot but
feel grateful to God for the late decision, which
has filled the minds of many with terror and
alarm. On such an occasion as this I am bound
to put you in i ssession of my own opinion, and
soniethinf]r of the ofrounds on wliich I have formed
it. Far from foreseeing the evil consequences
whiclj some anticipate as likely to arise from it, I
would regard it as only continuing to us a liberty
and latitude which seem to have existed ever since
the Reformation. I think the case has been satis-
ftictorily and fully argued from the views of the
compilers of our Articles, and proved to be in
perfect consonance with the language of charity,
on which the whole of our liturgy proceeds. On
these grounds, therefore, I do not dwell. One
point occurs to me as a strong one and not suffi-
ciently brought forward, which is, that on this
question the same writers of our own Church, and
the same early fathers, are continually quoted on
either side. And what solution, then, can be
given of this, that the same writer is cited in
favour of views apparently so opi)osed ? Surely
it is because there lurks beneath some ambiguity
of terms ; because there is a sense in which all
the baptized are in covenant with God and
adopted into his family, while there is also a
sense, a higher and peculiar sense, in which those

c 2

alone who are led by the Spirit are in living cove-
nant with Him, possessing " the spirit of adop-
tion, whereby they cry Abba, Father :" that there
is a sense in which all the baptized are his chil-
dren, while there is a higher sense in which they
alone are his children who have " the Spirit befir-
ing witness with their spirit that they are the
children of God ; and if children then heirs,
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ."
From the fact, then, that writers are quoted as
holding the opposed views, I would argue that
the higher and fuller blessing is not universally
bestowed, — that even to those baptized the call is
not unnecessary, to examine themselves whether
they be born again of the Spirit, whether they be
indeed in the faith, to prove their own selves.

The danger, reverend brethren, of such extreme
views of sacramental efficacy is twofold, according
to the complexion of the mind on which they are
brought to bear. Addressed to those without
depth of religious feeling, and listened to eagerly
by those who wish to rest on something external
to themselves, and so to satisfv the alarms of
conscience, they lead to Formalism — a depend-
ence on those outward sisrns as necessarily con-
necting them with God, and ensuring vital union
with the Saviour. To minds of a different tem-
perament, to those of a highly meditative and
contemplative cast, their tendency is to lead
to Mysticism — to something of a transcend-
ental theology. They are thus either as opiates,
which lull the soul into a false sense of security ;

♦

•

-»

■ •

or tlioy throw a mysteriousness and dread around
it, resulting more from the feelings and imagina-
tion than the sober realities of the faith.*

Such, my reverend Brethren, are the directions
from which I chiefly apprehend danger at the
present hour, — the tendencies which we have to
dread, as likely to lead to the rash speculations of the
Continent and the doctrinal errors ci' the Church
of Rox^^^% — the evils of Formalism or a refined
Mysticism. Far however be it from me to damp
the ardour of hoi)e, or check the sanguine expec-
tation which would look for better things. There
are many earnest and eager minds raised up,
which are endeavouring to stem the tide of evil ;
much advance and 2)rogress are made in theology,
even if some opposing forces are at work. Es-
pecially would I notice, as the branch in which
most has been done in the last [e\v years, the
amount of labour bestowed on the framework of
scrij)ture, develoi)ing the beauty of its constituent
l>arts, and its symmetry as a whole. Much, very
much, has been done in bringing out the traces of
the manifold wisdom of God as seen in His own
volume — its manifoldness and yet its unity — its di-
versity of style, all converging to one simple end
and purpose. The structure and gradual forma -

* All, I think, must allow that there was much of mys-
ticism in the sermons of Dr. Pusey on Baptism and the
Eucharist. Is there not something of the khid also in such
expressions as these, — "The sacraments are the extension of
the Incarnation :" "Through the sacraments we are united to
the man's nature of Christ ?"

•7«>

tion of scripture are thus better understood ; and
if only such researches are conducted by minds
deeply impressed with the inspiration of the
volume on which they are engaged, how much of
light may yet arise ! " Out of the eater shall come
forth meat, out of the strong shall come forth
sweetness !"*

But such errors trouble us not in the more im-
mediate practical duties to which we are called.
Indeed I have not much fear of their appearing
among ourselves. Called as I have been to the
office which I now hold at a very early age, and
soliciting on that ground a double interest in your
prayers, my confidence would be in the character
of my clergv, in their faith ripened in trial and
adversity, and strengthened by many a shock.
Our practical work removes us from the atmo-
sphere of theological controversy ; our distance
from home keeps us in some degree of ignorance
of it ; and yet, as dutiful sons of the Church of
England, we cannot be idle spectators of what
threatens her interests or affects her peace.

Turning, however, from the painful subject of
the errors of others, and looking inwards and
around us here, have we no short-comings to de-
plore — no necessity for a spirit of increased ac-

* Much was done in Townson's Discourses on the Gospels,
and Davison's Discourses on Prophecy. Of more recent works
I would refer especially to Stanley's Essays on the Apostolic
Age, Dr. Tait's Suggestions to a Theological Student, and
Trench's Hulsean Lectures. The last is full of glowing
thought on " the manifold wisdom of God " as seen in His
word.

•23

livity and diligence ? Are there no subjects
which press themselves upon our notice on such
a solemn occasion as this, when met together to
stir each other nj), to give and to receive words of
counsel and exhortation ? Are we estimating
aright our duties, doing all that we ought — all
that we might do ? A year is almost closing upon
us ; but a few more days remain of ity — a remark-
able year surely, as introducing us to the latter
half of the century. If in it events follow each
other with as great rapidity as in the former half,
how mighty will be the march of events — how
great the changes which may be witnessed and
recorded by those who may see its closing year !
Ought we not then, brethren, to endeavour to
ascertain our true standing ? Could we have a
more suitable season for meeting together than
the close of this memorable year, a more fitting
prayer than the collect for the day, " Merciful
God, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of
light upon tliy Church ?" Be it ours to copy the
pattern of the apostle whom we this day comme-
morate. His was said to be the martyrdom in
will, not in deed ; be it ours, if called upon to
suffer, to bear it patiently as followers of the Lord
Jesus. The spirit of St. John has been said to
be the true spirit of controversy. If called upon
to contend for the faith, may we do so in the
spirit of love, imbibing the spirit which he de-
rived from his Saviour's breast.* Some have

* See Suggestions to the Theological Student under Present
difficulties, by A. C. Tait, D.C.L., Dean of CarHslc.

thought that, as the world waxes old, the discii)les
of Christ in the latter day will most resemble the
beloved apostle.* If the shadows of evening are
around us — if anything betoken the approach of
the evil of the last times, — let us seek to be found
as he was, tarrying until Jesus come. For all
these purposes the best preparation will be an eye
directed often heavenward, soaring aloft in faith
and prayer, and a heart and affections dwelling much
amid those eternal realities to which the apostle
was caught up by the Spirit in that vision, the
first chapter of which is the appointed lesson for
the morning, the last that for the evening service
of the day.

Looking back, then, with the experience of the
past, (and yours a much longer and fuller expe-
rience than my own,) what are the leading charac-
teristics of your work on which I ought to dwell, —
what the hindrances which check a greater activity
and devotedness to God, — what the encourage-
ments which His gracious hand si)reads before us ?

Now I am inclined to give prominence to the
necessary secularity connected with your minis-
terial work, as distinguishing it from the more
exclusively spiritual character of labour at home.
This is lessened gradually as a station advances,
— as it passes from being purely missionary to
something of a settled parish. But in the earlier
history of all the churches in this diocese, has
there not been a great amount of secular labour

"■ See Sermons and Essays on the Apobtolieal Age, l>v the
Rev. A. P. Stanley, page 2(12.

laid upon those engaged in the ministry of the
word ? And necessarily so. The minister is not
only the ])astor but the friend, — the ])ronioter, not
only of the spiritual, but the temporal welfare of
his people. His mental energies are anxiously
devoted to the roaring of the sj)iritual temple, but
his hands assist at the same time in rearing the
fabric of the material temple, if it is to proceed
at all ; yea, beyond this, his counsel is looked to
in the erection of the private dwelling, and in the
cultivation of the field. And I do not mention
this to wish it otherwise ; rather would I feel
w^th joy that it brings us nearer to primitive and
apostolic Christianity ; that those who have thus
laboured with the hand, while labouring also in
tlie word and doctrine, are thereby the closer to
him who could ^ay, "These hands have ministered
to my necessities, and to them that were with
me," juid who wrought as a tent-maker, when
sojourning at Corinth, that he might not be bur-
densome to any. You may look then to him as
a pattern, my reverend brethreii, when yourselves
compelled to assist in the sowing of the seed, or
in getting from the lakes the winter store, or
aiding in erecting for the wandering Indian a
comfortable and substantial dwelling. A debt is
owing to you for your work and labour of love in
these res])ects ; and if this settlement look back
with gratitude to the philanthropic exertions of
the Nobleman who founded it,"*' surely, for the
amount of social comfort which we nowunjov, and
' r\\v laic Kail ()l\Si'lkiik.

:> H

the rich abundance of produce around us, we ar^?
not a little indebted to the labours of the clergy,
and not least to one still among us, whose name is
connected with every church, and whose exertions
are closely linked with almost every domestic im-
provement in the settlement.*

But, while 1 notice with praise and approba-
tion what the untiring activity of the clergy has
achieved at Red River, and what others are still
doing at this hour in their spheres of severer
labour in the country, I cannot but feel that this
is a snare and a temptation against which it is
necessary to struggle. Does it not require an in-
creased spirituality of mind to counteract the
tendency of such employment ? Does it not re-
quire more of prayer, more of watchfulness, — a
double amount of secret and private communion
with God, to repair what is lost by tliis necessary
contact with worldly things? I feel it myself,
brethren, and would imj)ress it upon you. More of
mv own time here has been devoted to the work of
education, and intellectual training of the young,
than under other circumstances would have been
justifiable ; but in this I feel that 1 am ]>reparing
some who may be hereafter employed in the
ministry of the word ; and to others I am impart-
ing a tone of mind which may be of use in im-
proving the general character and aspect of the
country. Let us not then, on this account, labour
the less, brethren, but let us pray the more, that
our daily employments, not exclusively spiritual,
* The Ucv. \V. Cochran.

may even minister to our growth in grace, " being
sanctified by the word of God and by prayer."

Nor ought the effect of climate to be omitted,
as sometliing against which you have to combat.
Now, healthy I believe it to be, although the
extremes of heat and cold are so great ; yet it is
trying, and has an influence of its own. It stands
in the way of many social improvements, the
period of j)0ssible labour being so short ; and when
the country is bound up for so many months, there
is little disposition to indulge in much labour for
the sake of mere appearance. Add to this the
anticipation, which cannot be banished from the
mind, of periodical floods, creating a wide-spread
desolation and destruction of property, — the uncer-
tainty that any spot, however favourably chosen,
may long escape, when the bed and channel of
the river or lake are much changed by the melt-
ing of the winter snows. All this, as I need not
tell you, creates in the native mind an indiffer-
ence, a quietude, which arrests the attention on
first arrival. Am I wrong in saying that some-
thing of this effect creeps over European minds
after a long sojourn here? Ought we not to
struggle against the inroads of such a feeling ?
We certainly have not the enervating torj)or
which the heat of India often produces; and in
the clear, dry cold of winter there is felt an elas-
ticity of spirits which counteracts, in some mea-
sure, the effect of the summer. Yet still the
tendencv of the climate is to lead to a (le<rree of
apathy uncongenial witii spiritual ^n^wth. So

many causes may arise to destroy the effects of
labour, that the s])irit to labour decays.

Climate too hinders in other ways. Are there
not many spots in which labourers might be
planted, yet where ministerial work would in-
volve much hardship ? Why should York, the
first spot on which most of us set foot, be still
without a Clergyman ; why should the shores of
the bay towards Churchill, and along the East
Main, be still unknown to us ? A winter in such
spots might certainly be attended with privation
and discomfort : but surelv climate ought not to
discourage, it we consider the self-denying exer-
tions of the Moravians for many years on the
coasts of Labrador and Greenland. When one
thinks of what that little apostolic band has been
enabled to effect in those ice-bound countries, as
well as at Cinadendal in Africa, or the Leper
Hospital at llemel-en-Aarde,* — when we find,
too, that now clergymen of our Church, under a
bisho}) of our own, are undertaking the work on
the coast of Labrador, shall we not be eager to
meet them along the Straits, by passing upwards
on the East Main?! But all these difficulties
ought to lead us to feel our greater dependence
on God, and that is ever a blessed condition.

* See Krantz's History of Greenlimd; and Holmes's History
of the United J i otliren, and a Sermon on Behalf ot tlic Mora-
vian Missions, full of interes;.j.ig detail, by the llev. J. Steven-
son, Vicar of Patrixhourne.

f See the Two Journals of Visits (o the Coast of Labrador,
by the Bishop ol Newfoundhnul.

The fear of famine, of flood, and ot cold, leads us
to feel that all we have we derive from God ;
that it is His to give, His to withhold. On this
account I appointed, in spring, special prayers to
be used in every church as the waters rose upon
us, and when they were withdrawn, and the un-
exj)ected plenty of autumn once more greeted
our eyes, we joined together in the offering of
praise and thanksgiving. Many felt then their
dependence on the hand which alone upholds,
and your united testimony must be that the
threatened visitation has indeed left a blessing
behind it. For the measure of health which God
has given you for years of labour in this climate,
1 feel deeply grateful. For one alone would I
feel anxious, — one who is among us at some risk
and sacrifice. In his case, however, it is not only
the body weakened through climate ; there is also
the effect of mental anxietv, the watchin": for
souls, without as yet much of a stirring among
the dry bones.*

But the greatest and most formidable check is
still unnoticed, and that is the difiiculty which you
have to encounter as regards lanf^uaue. Here, of
course, I s]>eak especially to those engaged in
native work ; and yet to which of us is it not a
hindrance ? We all behold the Indian continu-
ally, we gaze upon him as a fellow-creature,
possessing the same immortality with ourselves,
we notice him as he passes, and he gives and re-
ceives the usual salutation of his countrymen.

* The Rev. A. Cowley.

I -

Ho proceeds onwards, and thinks that God has
created different races for different ends, and that
an insuperable barrier divides the White from
the Red man. We know that God has created
all of one blood, yet we cannot tell him this ;
our tongue cannot speak to him of a Saviour, and
warn him of the terrors of a world to come. Now
it appears a small thing to master the difficulties
of a language. And so it might be if it were one;
but the number of dialects meets us, and creates
a fresh difficulty. Blessed be God, much has
been already done among the natives, and the
prayers of our own beautiful liturgy ascend up in
their tongue every Sabbath day in four congrega-
tions at least in this land. But then, in visiting
these, I find varieties in each. There are the
two races of different tongues, though evidently
sprung from one common origin, the Saulteaux and
the Crees ; and of the latter there is the Cree of the
Plains and the Cree of York, of Churchill, and of
the Low Countries I have but little hesitation
in adopting the Cree of the Saskatchewan, or that
of the Plains, as the purest, or, to use the term,
the most classical ; but of those around me there
are few who speak it in purity of pronunciation
and accent. Of those with whom I am myself
brought into immediate contact, almost all speak
the other, the Chippeway or Saulteaux dialect, and
that only in a degenerate form.

Regarding the language itself, however, J have
no fears. I have done far less than I anticipated
in the time since my arrival in the country, but

my ear is now pretty well accustomed to its
sound, and the vocabulary becomes daily more
familiar to me. When the words fill the mind,
and suggest themselves to the memory, — when,
if that day should ever arrive, I can think in the
language, I should be much more in a position to
write it and reduce it to system ; for whate^^er be
its origin, it is, brethren, a noble language, or the
remains of a noble tongue. It is very philoso-
phical and systematic, as a reference to that
grammar which still stands p solitary one, and
to the author of which I bear a willing testimony
of gratitude to-day,* will prove to any one. It is
very complex and artificial, as the structure of the
verbs alone would be sufficient to show. I do not
imagine that it possesses many roots, and that
w^ould make the formation of a dictionary (in
which one of yourselves has made great pro-
gress)t comparatively easy. Therein it would
resemble Hebrew, as it does also in its system
of prefixes and afiixes, and in its number of con-
jugational varieties of a single verb. Among the
classes into which philologists have divided lan-
guages, it has obtained the name of Polysynthetic,
from the facility with which it can group together
a numoer of ideas in one word..]: In this flexi-

* See Grammar of the Cree Language, by J. Ilowse, Esq.

f Rev. J. Smitliurst.

X This name was first given by M. du Ponceau, and since
adopted by Humboldt. For interesting examples and re-
marks on the general features of the American languages, see
Prichard's Researches, vol. v. pp. 302 — 320. Sec also School-
craft's History of the Iroquois, chap. xi.

bility, and the ease with which compound words
are formed, it seems to resemble the Greek lan-
guage ; and if, on this very account, the provi-
dence of God was seen in making Greek the
language of the New Testament and the early
Church, in which all the nicer shades of technical
theology were readily given, so the possession of
a similar feature in the language of this I; ad
would give one favourable omen for the tran:la-
tion of God's word and our own invaluable
liturgy. To my own ear (it may be from par-
tiality) it sounds now with softness ?nd sweetness,
whether in the full Indian service, which I heard
at Cumberland, and in which I sought to take a
feeble part, or in the sermons of him who is the
first native minister, of my own ordination, in the
land.

The question of orthography remains still in
some measure unsettled, To a symbolical alpha-
bet or the syllabic system I feel opposed, as it
seems to present a double labour to the Indian, —
to learn the symbols in order to acquire his own
tongue, and afterwards our alphabet for the
study of the English language. Nor do I see
myself the gain of adopting an alphabet differing
much from our own, artificial and unnatural al-
though ours may be. Our object is to teach the
Indian through our language, and to introduce
him to our habits of thought. Our object is not
to lose the amount of labour bestovved on the
Cree and Chippeway language in the grammars
already comi)iled, but rather to abridge and in-

l1-

troduce more of system. A short grammar of
the two languages, a few elementary lesson-
books and primers might first be prepared ; and
then we should be the better fitted for the solemn
and responsible task of translating the volume of
inspiration. All this, my reverend brethren, we
must do ourselves, for the fact is, that none of
those who speak the language, and interpret for
us, understand it grammatically ; they can speak,
but they cannot analyze, they can give us a sen-
tence, but they cannot parse its words.

For the very use of language as an instrument
has to be taught to the Indian. He knows not
the Bible, the book of God, and we wish to give
him the word of life ; but we must take l lower
level, and remember at the same time that he
knows not any book, nor the value of those mys-
terious signs which give us the thoughts and feel-
ings of others, who lived and breathed many
thousand years ago. And this you must have felt
yourselves as a metaphysical difficulty, one may
say, impeding your free intercourse with the In-
dian. You talk to him of the life of the Saviour,
His miracles, Kis crucifixion, and ascension ; and
the Indian, when you tell him of the blind re-
stored to sight, or the dead brought to life, an-
swers by producing some tale or legend, which
has passed from mouth to mouth, and been re-
ceived as traditionary truth, of some similar case
among themselves. He cannot discover the
difference he thinks as much credit may be

;j4

attucljed to his legend us to our Gospel. lie has
to learii the vahie of a l)ook; how its contents
travel from a'^c to aiic;, — how it can come "witli
the seal of anti(|uity u])on it, and claim the reve-
rence and homa;^e of mankind. lie has to learn
this of anv book, and then he will come to look as
he ouoht upon the hook of God, the voice of the
Most llio'h sj)eakin<>* to us from heaven.

Let me not be understood as speakin<v with
anything of despondency of the language and its
difficulties. Far from it : a mighty step has been
taken in the ordination of one native of the soil
to })lead with his fellow-countrymen in their own
tongue. And now that his preparation for orders
is over, I hope to have much more time to devote
to "^uch studies. In this work 1 would solicit
your freest suggestions : the more immediate con-
sideration of it I would Hx for summer. As
last winter w^e held something of a diocesan
meeting for mutual conference and arrangement
of matters connected with parochial and minis-
terial duty ; so, next sunnner, when, if it please
God, one now absent may be among us,* I hope
we may meet as a kind of translation- committee,
for the purpose of furthering God's word, and, as
its handmaid, our own Prayer-book.

If such, so various and complicated, are our
discouragements, what, it may be asked, has yet
been ertected in tlie land ? has any real progress
been made ?

'■' l?ov. ,1. Ilmitor.

L'ess

My answer is, Look around, and coni])are tlie
oircumstancos of the Red River now with wluit
they were thirty years a^^o. We can scarcely
imagine the country without a minister to com-
fort and encourai»e the inquirer, to cheer and
gladden the sick by his visit, and raise the eye of
the dying to a better land. We can scarcely
imagine the condition of the family, when no ma-
trimonial bond had been solemnly entered into,
no blessing of God invoked on the union : we
cannot imagine children growing up w^ithout any
dedication to the Saviour in infancy, no educa-
tion to pre])are them for their duties in life, none
to fit them for an endless eternitv. We cannot
imagine the dead consigned to the grave without
any religious service, — -no minister to comfort the
bereaved and to solemnize the occasion to those
left behind. Yet such things must have been :
weeks without their sabbath, — sick beds without
comfort, — death beds without hope. And is there
no chanQ-e now ? Let the condition of the settle-
nient convince the bliudest. There is a very
exemplary observance of God's holy day ; a
good attendance in the house of God ; a very
large number of communicants, and I hope, at
home, much patient and careful study of God's
word. We may still be far removed from what
we ought to be, as a people living in the fear
and worshi]) of God, but, in the retrospect of the;
past, we must be guilty of the deepest uuthank-
fulness, were we not to say, " What hath God
wrought '"

D '1

3(>

And, j)assing iVoiu the settlement, what is the
effect elsewhere as regards the scattered Indians ?
To judge of this, you must see (as T have seen)
the houses around Christ Church, Cumberland,
and the canoes conveying the worshippers to it
each Sunday morning; or must [)ass beyond, and
see the little band enjoying this winter, for the
first time, tlie ministrations of a clergyman at Lac
La Ronge.* Great already is the influence of the
Gospel in those quarters, and very hopeful the
prospect as regards the Indian mind. Our posi-
tion at present I sometimes contemplate in the
following way : I compare it with what existed in
apostolic times, between the Day of Pentecost
and the publication of the first gospel or epistle.
Was there not an interval of time when those
enlightened by the Spirit at Jerusalem went forth
and spread the tidings to others, who in their
turn took up the news, and bee ime publishers of
the word themselves ? Thus, doubtless, many
were gathered in, and added to the Church ; and
yet tliis was the interval, as was well shown by a
late lamented divine,f when error crept in, and
those heresies, the mention of which at first star-
tles one in the apostolical epistles. And so too
very many are they, who brought into the Red
River have heard the word of life, and converted
by th^ Spirit have embraced Christianity : very

* The Rpv. Robt. Hunt.

t The Rev. Ed. Burton, D.D., Reg. Prof, of Div., Oxford,
in his Bampton Lectures. I have not access to the book, and
quote only from memory.

many those, who at Cumberland have accepted
the glad tidings. When they return to their
tents, " out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh :" of one I have personal
knowledge, who thus continued speaking for a
week together without allowing himself his usual
repose, so great was the anxietv to hear him. And
yet, we must fear, that some error would be
mingled with the trutli, and that the amount of
error would increase with each successive channel.
The word of God then is passing from lip to
lip, M'hether we will or no, and let us not stay the
voices of those vvho would tell it abroad, but let
us at the same time endeavour to obtain addi-
tional agency, so that none who desire the know-
ledge may lack it in its purity. The Indians
already recognize a power and life in the treasure
we possess ; they acknowledge that a greater
than human arm is with the white man; they
feel that on him their arts of conjuring are inef-
fectual ; that '* there is no enchantment against
Jacob, neither any divination against Israel."

On the subject of discipline and order, I have
but little to remark. In the former there is more
of strictness than at home, — long may it remain
so ! It depends much on the respect with which
the individual clergyman is regarded, and the
authority which he is thus enabled to exert over
his people. Such hitherto has been your control
quietly exercised over your flocks, that as regards
the api)roach to the Lord's table, you have been
able to observe a most wholesome vigilance. You

'li

have been able to keep back those, of whom you
stood in doubt ; and allowed none to draw near
for the first time, without previous application to
yourselves. I have only to request you to perse-
vere in the same spirit, acting in this painful part
of your duty with the utmost tenderness and cir-
cumspection.

As regards external order and ritual con-
formity, there is as little necessity to say much.
In the services conducted in St. Andrew's church,
in the Middle and Indian churches, there is
scarcely an improvement which I could desire,
and to them I may add Christ Church, Cumber-
land. All is done, which can recommend the
simplicity of our beautiful services to the hearts
of the humble worshipper ; and surely, the prayer
and adoration of our last Sunday within these
walls * lead us, who have come from afar, to feel
that worship is of no time and place. All
seemed then of one heart and mind in the sanc-
tuary, and wliile we enjoyed communion together
before God, we felt the blessedness of that com-
munion of saints, which is the best earnest and
foretaste of heaven.

Of the services in other places I cannot speak.
Where the congregation is an infant church,
gathered from heathenism, some latitude must be
allowed the clergyman in abridging the service, as
is the case in India.f He must avail himself of

* The Ordination Simday, when the coiifireuution oxcecdecl
1>100, and the number of communicants was ahout 'MM).
t This is done I find al Manitolm,

;]9

the assistance of the best interpreter, until a
translation of the Prayer-book is completed and
sanctioned by authority. If aL the Upper Church
some things still remain, ^vhich may require
change, it is because I am unwilling to make any
alteration, until the tenure of that church is finally
settled, and the question of the Ciiurch-lands de-
cided.* Of the favourable arrangement of this
long agitated point during the next summer I
have every assurance.

Shall however our exertions be limited to these
spots already occupied, shall nothing be done to
gain fresh stations? These may call for some
remark. Of new stations under contemplation, I
would mention five. The district of the Assini-
boine, in wdiich I hope hereafter to ])lace the
Church of St. James, 1 may regard as already
commenced, service being held in a licensed
school-room, and 1 trust it may prove a blessing
to the growing population of that river. Moose
Lake too I may consider as commenced, as to it
Mr. Hunter has already paid periodical visits.
Tiiere, during the present winter, a catcchist is
labouring.! It will form Mr. IVadd's more im-
mediate charge when he can leave Cumberland,
and there, 1 hope, i, goodly number will, in a
month or two, be bajUized by him. As his first
ministerial si)lu're, let it have an es])ecial i)lace in

* Tills qucstiun is, iii some measure, similar to that of the
Clerffv lleserves in Canada.

t IJe is supported by a part of tlie Grant, made to me for
dioeesan purposes by the Christian l\.now!e(l<;'e Society.

our prayers. Two others, Moose Fort, James's
Bay, and Swan River, were offered to me by the
Hon. Company. From the former the Wesleyans
have latterly withdrawn, and I hope it may be
occupied in summer by a clergyman from the
Church Missionary Society, who will gradually
open communication and intercourse with the
Indians at Albany, Rupert's House, and the East
Main. In Swan River I have no immediate
prospect of a clergyman, and am therefore obliged
to forego a sphere, where, I believe, the Indians
are promising and anxious for instruction. Of
York I have already spoken, and would only fur-
ther say, that I feel it a reproach that, when the
vessels annually arrive from England, there should
be no clergyman and representative of our Church
to meet and welcome them.

To sum up then my own labours, and our pre-
sent numbers and condition. Tw^o churches have
been consecrated, that of St. Andrew's, Red
River, and Christ Church, Cumberland, with the
burial-ground of the latter. Two Ordinations have
been held ; at the first one deacon, at the second
one deacon and two priests were ordained. Be-
sides this, there have been five Confirmations,
four at the Red River and one at Cumberland.
The number of clergy at the present moment,
with myself, is ten. Of the nine, four have, I
may say, parochial charges, including that of the
Assiniboine. The other four have native charges,
and more purely missioiiaiy work. Indeed, that
of the Indian settlement I niav surelv cull a

parish, as also that of Cumberland : when I
think of the two churches, the worshippers and
the communicants, they are like " fields which
the Lord hath blessed." May the other two soon
possess living worshippers and a material temple !
To these we have only to join Mr. Budd, as as-
sisting at Cumberland and labouring between that
and Moose Lake. Nor ought I to forget the one
laborious and earnest-minded catechist, who has
prepared the way for Mr. Hunt, and is now his
fellow-helper in the work.*

On education, you may expect me to say some-
thing, but time forbids me to enter upon the
subject at length. To the schools of the settle-
ment I can buar willing and conscientious testi-
mony. They are very numerous, more so than
the population would require, were it not that the
houses are built only on the bank of the river,
and chiefly on one side. A solid, substantial, and
scriptural education is thus afforded. There is
no excuse for any child growing up without in-
struction, as in each school there is a proportion
of free scholars, through the liberality of the
Church Missionary Society. There is, as the re-
sult of these schools, together with the respective
Sunday-schools, an amount of intelligence among
the young which agreeably surprised me on first
coming hither, and from which I augur the hap-
piest consequences as regards the rising genera-
tion.

Besides these, there is the higher school, almost
* Mr. James iScttec.

i.i'i

I may say consigned to my care, by liim who
lived not to see me in the flesh : conducted with
great zeal and activity for many years by that
lamented clergyman, whose name and memory 1
would ever hold in reverence.* Dying the day of
my entrance into the Red River, his wish was
that the first offer of it should be made to me by
those whom he left Ijehind. And (iod seemed to
direct me not to refiise. It has laid upon me
more of labour, but that labour has been its own
reward. To it, in anticipation of the future, I
have given the name of " St. John's Collegiate
School." Should I be permitted to rebuild the
church there, it would be St. John's, my own
cathedral church, called so after the apostle of
whom we think to-day. Near it would be re-
built then, if circumstances permit, with more of
architectural plan, the collegiate school. As a
j)art of it, at j)resent and hereafter, it may be a
separate building, would be the institution for the
training of a native ministry, St. John's College.
And over all, whether the youth training in wis-
dom's ways and growing <laily in earthly know-
ledge, or those to be prepared in theological
study for the service of the sanctuary, 1 would
inscribe as the motto of duty and of hope, " In
thy light shall Ave see light."

These arc among tlie sui)iects which crowd

upon my mind, when calhnl on to address you.

Tiiese, as vou will readilv believe me, are the

subjects which occupy my daily tli'iughts. These

"• Tlu' Rev. .1. Mjifalliiiii,

T;:^ I

.:so

subjects — " the care of all tlie cliurches," few
though they be — and beyond this, there is the
longing for fresh openings, when I look upon the
land in its length and breadth. It is this longing
which wears the spirit at times, as you can your-
selves testify, and which is the peculiar portion of
a missionary Bishop. The population appears small;
but how are t'ley to be approached and gathered to-
gether? Conferences with Indians I have held i'rom
time to time, — messages of inquiry I have sent.
Three of these are not without hope, though at the
time unsuccessful : the one wdth the Indians of
Beaver Creek, in consequence of Mr. Cochran's
self-denying visit there ; another with those of
Lac la Pluie ; the third, in which there w^as no
drawback, with those of Swan River.*'

Ungrateful however should I be, and ill-litted
to discharge my duty as your representative on
this occasion, were I not to acknowledge the
munificence and liberality received by the Church
in llu])ert's Land.

To the Church Missionary Society I know not
how the debt of gratitude can be discharged. It
is her happy satisfaction to feel, that she has been
the founder and cherisher of the Church in this
land. Munificentlv has she contributed towards
this object from year to year, not alone support-
ing the clergyman, that was but a small thing,
but constantly clothing, feeding, and supporting

* I have since urnuitrcd to send the ])resent eatechist at
Maiiitoha to eoinmence the work there in spring, and, I trust,
prepare the way tor n eU'riivman hereafter.

I 'I

ti-; '.

the poor Indian and his family. The outlay has
been great, but the return has been far greater,
— many rescued souls, many bright crowns of
glory. We thank them for the past, in the
name of the poor Indian, as w^U as of the Eu-
ropean settler ; we ])ray them not to withdraw
tlieir outstretched hand of mercy. A little we
have this year endeavoured to do in return ; far
more would be done had the people ability, had
they the power to convert in a British market
their corn into money; what they could give,
that, I bear witness, they have given cheerfully
and liberally.

To the Society for Promoting Christian Know-
ledge I have to acknowledge our obligations for
the liberality of their votes to the Church in
Ruperts Land at their meeting the day before I
quitted England. Of the £300 assigned to me
for diocesan purposes, most of the churches have
reaped some benefit. £50 were given by me
towards the com})letion of the church in w^hich
we are now assembled ; £50 towards the erection
of the school, which will, I hope, soon meet the
eye between the parsonage and church.

To the Bible Society you were all of you much
indebted before my arrival for their unvarying
kindness from year to year. In my own name I
have to thank them for two large grants, by
which I hope a depot of Bibles in English,
French, and Ciaelic, may be kept at York, Cum-
berland, and the Red River.

From the Society for the Pro[)agation of the

Gospel I have not yet derived aid ; but I am not
without hope, that a memorial which I have sent
home may lead them to make a grant for the
support of one clergyman at least. As they are
connected already with all the other dioceses of
British North America, so I trust they will not
refuse to take some interest in this, the remotest
and not the least need v.

To these noble and venerable Societies, in
praise of which I need not speak before you, my
reverend brethren, I have ventured to add one
among ourselves for the benefit of the diocese
exclusively; a Diocesan Church Society for
grants to Schools or Churches, or the salaries of
Clergymen. It will be to aid those spots where
parishes are gradually formed, and from which
missionary assistance is consequently withdrawn.
It exists as yet only in name ;* my chief wish is
to make it a centre for legacies, should any from
a distance wish to benefit the country permanently,
or should any, who have acquired wealth in it,
desire, after the example of him whose munificent
bequest founded the bishopric,f to leave behind
some token of their anxiety for the welfare of
those, through whose labour they have amassed
their riches.

And are there not those besides, whom we are

* This fund, as yet, only amounts to ^£130. It is not my
intention to draw from it until a considerable sum shall have
been raised.

t The late Alex. Leith, Esq., Chief Factor in the H. H. B.
Company's service, Cumberland.

f; .

I »

3 i'.

3 j(

!*»,

4f)

bound to tlitink to-day ? Althougli our ea<^{-T
wishes for tlio spiritual welfare of tlie Indian may
at times n^o beyond the views of the Hon. Com-
pany, to whom God has committed the govern-
ment of this land, yet surely we ought to make
some acknowledgment for the courtesy and kind-
ness, which have marked an intercourse of many
years. From their representatives I have myself
experienced great attention, and have ever found
mv suo'irestions met in a friendlv and cordial
sj)irit. To the Hudson's Bay Company, along
with the bequest referred to, we are solely in-
debted for this bishopric. I have a satisfaction
in feeling that I am supported, not by distant
liberality, but from this very soil, and to this soil
it is my wish to dedicate all I derive thence, and
whatever of strength and energy I possess. One
thing, I am aware, is still wanting, that we should
in our ])ublic services unite in prayer to (lod for
those bearing rule in the land, that they might
ever use the power, of which they are stewards,
with a view to the glory of God, and the best and
hiij^hest interests of those committed to them.
Such a form of })rayer I hope shortly to sanction,
as used in other colonies and dependencies of the
British Empire.

And now, my reviuend brethren, I dismiss you
to your work ; and may the Lord strengthen and
bless you in it. It is a work of difliculty, as has
been suHiciently shown ; it is a work in which 1
wouhl be engag(>d with you heartily and fervently.
My own is no easy task, so to lay the foundation,

so to consolidate tlic Churcli of Clirist, as its
tirst Bisho]! liore, tliat daina<>e may not be re-
ceived ill aiiytlni^i,^ Great the responsibility of
commencing episcopal ministrations here : vet
this ] feel tliat I scarcely do, as the visit of
the Bishop of Montreal, by his winning and
conciliatory manners, smoothed the way, and pre-
sented our church in the most favourable aspect,
and disarmed many a prejr .e even before my
arrival. We are now, I trust, stronger, although
still a little band ; already we double the number
of those engaged in the ministry the winter before
I came. What may be the future destiny of the
land we know not ; whether the gradual diminu-
tion of the means of subsistence, the failure of
the chase and fishery, the increasing want and
distress of the Indian population, may bring in a
brighter day of Gospel light, is know only to God.
Our concern with them is as immortal beings,
whose souls we must endeavour to save. And
with our flocks already gathered in, our concern
is for eternity, — to labour as those to whom will
soon be addressed the solemn words, " Where is
the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful
Hock r

Return then, brethren, to preach and minister
to your flocks, and may it be in the fulness of the
blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Preach to them
affectionately, so that they may feel, that they
live in your hearts, and that you long for their
souls. Preach to them fully " the whole council
of (lod ;" dwell not on favourite and isolated

texts ; but keep to the proportions and " analogy
of faith," as it stands before you in the volume of
Scripture. On this ground adopt often expository
preaching, passing through books and larger por-
tions of the word ; thereby you will relieve your
own consciences, and best consult the everlasting
welfare of your people. They have to learn God's
word ; let them have more than detached texts
explained to them. Be diligent students, that
you may be faithful preachers. Deal also in ex-
planation of the services of the Church, for then,
they will not only love what they hear from the
pulpit, but they will love and reverence those
prayers, in which they first commune with God
and His word, before they listen to the words
of man. And, what you preach, live ; be a pat-
tern and example to the flock ; lead them in their
journey heavenward, and then, " when the Great
Shepherd," who is at once their Shepherd and
ours, ' shall appear, you shall receive a crown of
glory that fadeth not away.'

»>

THE END.

LONDON :

PRINTBD BY G. J. P.\LMER, SAVOY STRRKT, STRAND.

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