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THE

IN WITH THE BOOK

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7

MEMOIRS OF

cSoHu Ross OF Brucefield;

?^NNH ROSS.

Tr..iqi\:fiea u^y -jft'o/d above alt t.)\y j\an\er ;*-,;U«; . • . T|j«i a,raKi5 wirliererh,, tlje fiowef : ' '-f -^m Ga4 ;!hal; sriM forever."

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Iv.'S-iVJivTO, ONT. «v R. G McLran, 32AN'I>34 Lombard St. .897.

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MAN WITH THE BOOK

OR

MEMOIRS OF

'John Ross of Brucefield."

T

BY flNNH RCSS.

"Tl^oti nast magnified ttiy v/ord above all tl)y i^anie " " All flesn is grass : . . . tlie grass v/itlieretl), tl^e flower fadetn, but ttie v^ord of our God sl^all sta^d forever "

TORONTO, ONT. Printed by R. G. McLean, 32 and 34 Lombard St.

1897.

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PREFACE.

This little book is not a biography. It is only an attempt to preserve a memory that is blessed, and to extend an influence that has been for good. It has been executed in the midst of uncommon difficulties. The fact that it has been brought to completion confirms the hope with which it was started, that ** The Lord hath need of it." This I know, that to those who want to find faults it will not be difficult to dis- cover them ; but of this, too, I am fully persuaded, that those who want the inspiration of contact with one to whom God was a reality and prayer a power, and the Word of God the living link between earth and Heaven, can scarcely go through this volume without finding touches here and there that will make them glad. There are two causes for regret — that so many precious things have been lost because no one has gathered them, and that those here given have largely had to reach the page through the unaided memory, and the necessarily imper- fect wording of another. This must be remembered in reading, particularly if anything written should seem to have a sting as well as an edge. With the chapters touching the Headship of Jesus Christ and His Second

IV

PREFACE.

i i

Coming, peculiar pains have been taken to give Mr. Ross's views as he held them, and, as far as possible, as he expressed them. Most of the statements are given, not merely from a general recollection of his views, but from special recollections of actual conversations. Where this was the case, much . of his own wording has, I am satisfied, been consciously and unconsciously reproduced, as some who knew him best will readily recognize. Though these chapters may occasion the most fault finding, they will, I am persuaded, be the most prized, as containing truths not often met with and sorely needed. If, in any measure, this little book is "meet for the Master's use," it shall, in that measure, prove a power for good ; if not, it might better never have been written. •* Commit thy works to the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."

ANNA ROSS. Clinton, Ont., April 15th, 1897.

CONTENTS.

Chapter. Page.

I. His Boyhood 5

II. D AWNINGS OF THE BETTER LlFE ... 1 7

III. A Chapter in Church History ... 30

IV. A Student and Student Missionary 47 V. Brucefield 60

VI. The Union of 1861 74

VII. The King's Messenger 90

VIII. The Guiding Eye and the Hearing Ear 105

IX. Studies and Recreations 121

X. The Union of 1875 136

XI. Division in Brucefield ...... 154

XII. Home Life and Happy Talks. . . . 168

XIII. London, Huron and Bruce Railway . 182

XIV. The Second Coming of Christ . . . 195 XV. Sunset Lights and Shadows . . . . 212

XVI. Closing History of Mr. Ross's

Congregation 235

XVII. Anecdotes 238

XVIII. Echoes of Past Utterances .... 246

1

1 ■

INTRODUCTION.

T was a keen Canadian winter morning. A tall man in a racoon-skin coat and a rounded beavf*r cap, stood ready, valise in hand, to board the train even now slackening toward the station, the moment it came to a stand.

While the wheels were still turnin.«r, a short, sl;^,iit, elderly gentleman, with the white hair and withered face of age, but the a tiir movements of a ^oy of thirteen opened the car-door, and, before the would-be traveller had time to .set his foot upon the step, sprang lightly to the platform. There was an instant greeting, in which the cordial hand-shake was prolonged while a few sentences of rapid explanation were interchanged. The elder gentleman had intended to pay a brotherly visit, and now there could be only a few seconds between them, for trains have always made it a point of honor to spend no unnecessary time at Brucefield.

A business-like "All aboard!" The train moved, and the conductor was in the act of springing on —

*' Who-o-a ! " rang out in a stentorian voice of authority.

The signal was instantly given for delay, but the con- ductor, angry with himself for paying any heed to such a word, faced the tall traveller with the question —

" Do you think my train is a team of horses that it should stop for you like that ? "

A parting word to the disappointed friend, a gently spoken word to the annoyed conductor, and the tall traveller, with an appreciative, comical look in his blue eyes, mounted the steps and entered. He placed his valise in the first empty seat, and deliberately took up his position beside it. The thoughtful eyes, out of which

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2 . THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

the comical look had entirely passed away, made a survey of the various fellow-passeng-ers, but did not linger in ^ inspection. Almost immediately a well-worn Bible bound in soft black leather was drawn from his pocket, and hand and eyes were soon busy with its contents.

A mother and child at the extreme end of the car, soon began to attract general attention. The child, a boy between three and four years of age, was evidently accustomed to rule his mother. He issued orders so per- emptorily, and resented delay in obedience so vocifer- ously that the mother was sorely put to the blush, and the rest of the passengers were both amused and annoyed. My little lord, waxing more and more unreasonable, an- nounced his determination to open the car-door and stand out on the platform, for he '* wanted to see the man turn the wheels round." The mother, full of fears for her darling, forbade,' but in vain. Then she pleaded, but still in vain. The young potentate had made up his mind, and began twisting at the door-handle, loudly demanding of his mother to help him, for his little hand was not strong enough to turn it.

At this moment the tall man rose from his seat. He fixed his eye upon the spoiled child, and moved slowly towards him, pouring out at the same time a continuous stream of unintelligible denunciation, getting wilder and louder until he was only a few feet from the young hero. The child stood spellbound, with the door knob still in his hand ; but the color left his cheek, and his eyes grew large with surprise and terror. The stream of denun- ciation stayed. The tall man stood and gazed on the child in perfect silence for about thirty seconds, then turned leisurely round, and with a perfectly grave face, but fun shining out of his eyes, went back to his seat, while the car resounded with laughter and applause, and the horrified child took refuge in its mother's arms, not to be heard any more during the journey.

But the leather-bound Bible quickly engrosses his attention again. He who "giveth to every man sever- ally as He will," has chosen to give to this man a method of communion with Himself quite different from ordinary

INTRODUCTION.

methods. In apt passages upon which his eye falls while turning the leaves of his Bible, he is constantly receiving direct messages from his Lord. Where there might be uncertainty a reduplication is given in a second or third text containing and emphasizing the same thought. The rapt attention of the student need be no mystery; it is the sheep hearing the voice of the shep- herd, the soldier listening to the voice of his commander, the friend hearkening to the voice of the "Friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

After a time the turning of the leaves stopped. The book lay open at the passage recognized as the special message for the present. With his finger on the words he leaned over the seat in front and addressed a rough- looking man who occupied it.

" Will you listen to this word ?" he said, *' and see if there is not a message in it for you ? * My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.' Now the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to you in these words. If you are one of His sheep you will hear His voice, and you will follow Him. He is a good master. If you give yourself to Him He would not part with you for a thousand worlds."

The rough-looking man looked furtively up into the speaker's face, —

*' If you knew what business I follow," he said, "you would not speak to me like that."

" It does not matter what you are," was the reply. ** His voice is calling to you in that verse that I have read to you. You know that He is speaking to you now. It would be well for you to hear, and put your hand in His at once."

** I am a tavern-keeper," was the answer, as though that settled the matter.

*' That makes no difference. The Lord is speaking to you just as you are. Answer Him as the child Samuel did, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.'"

*' But if I were to give up the tavern I don't know what else I could do."

'* I do not ask you to give up the tavern," was the

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4 • , THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

surprising- rejoinder. "AH I ask is that you will listen to the voice that is now calling you. Listen to it, answer it. Keep on listening and doing what He tells you to do. If He lets you stay in the tavern, then stay there ; but if He tells you to leave it. He will go before you and lead you the right way out of it and into some- thing else."

The brakeman passed through the car, calling out the name of the next station. The rough-looking man rose, picking up a hand-bag at his feet. He turned and looked seriously into the kind eyes regarding him with the solicitude of •' one bearing precious seed." The two men clasped hands and parted.

Whether the seed sown germinated or not may never be known till "the day shall declare it." But the tall traveller was acting upon his orders, — "In the morning sow thy 'seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both shall be alike good."

Dear reader, "The Man With the Book" has been introduced to you.

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

HIS BOYHOOD.

|OHN ROSS was born in Dornoch, the county town of Sutherlandshire, on the i ith of Novem- ber, 1821. Hewas the firstborn, and round him clustered many tender hopes which, in the years to come, were not to be disappointed. He in- herited no title to broad lands or social rank, for it was the humble home of a Scottish farmer that was glad- dened by the advent of the blue-eyed boy. But in a godly ancestry, with all the natural and spiritual benefits flowing from it, he had a more precious possession, one that the world can neither give nor take away.

Something of the character of these god-fearing progenitors may be gathered from an incident recorded of his great grandfather, who was a blacksmith. A farmer had brought a span of horses to be shod. He was in a hurry, and before the work was completed was impatient to be off, saying, **That will do; that will do." "Man," replied the old hero, "man, it worCt do. I'm doing it for eternity."

John's grandfather, George McKay, son of this worthy, and following the same trade, was also a man of note as an advanced Christian, and of a strong and most interesting character. "The men," in a Highland community, were the experienced Christians who were able to "speak to the question " in the great Friday gathering at communions, or to lead in prayer, or to explain the spiritual difficulties of inquirers. George McKay was not only one of "The men," his ordinary

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6 ' THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

title was Duine Righ-lochan, TAe Man of King-lochan. T/ie Man of any locality among us is usually the great, specially rich or influential man. But so decidedly did the things of God occupy the uppermost place through- out those Highland parishes that, with them. The Man was the one, blacksmith or laird, who was pre-eminent in the knowledge and service of God. This godly grandfather had a share all his own in laying the foundations of the boy's character.

John's mother was a remarkable person. She in- herited much of the piety and peculiar ability of his father and grandfather. The description of the wise woman in Proverbs might almost be rewritten as a description of her. Wonderful stories are told of her skill in "working willingly with her hands." "She opened her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue was the law of kindnesp. " It was a large-hearted kindness, accompanied by a quick sort of wit that could lodge an arrow in the heart of an evil-speaker with a very short word. Her delight was to " stretch out her hands to the poor " and needy, and actions which some regarded as extravagances of benevolence have been recorded of her. The characters of both father and mother have been preserved in a remark meant to be criticism rather than praise : " Bessie Ross would give away her last loaf, and David would never say her nay."

His father was a man of deeds rather than words, physically powerful, and strong in principle and purpose. Thoroughness characterized all he did, and the most unwearying diligence. A neighbor in the new land, who took some pride in his own early rising, laid his com- plaint in the following terms : " Let me get up as early as I will, David Ross's axe is aye ahead of me." Some- thing of his energy may be gathered from the fact that, when over eighty years of age, he set out to walk from Embro to Kincardine, a distance of nearly one hundred miles. He made the journey as he intended, with only a few stopping-places by the way.

John's mother acted upon the proverb: "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare

k-i

HIS BOYHOOD.

for his crying." When punishment was necessary, it was her habit to pull a little switch from the heather broom with which to administer it. One of his earliest recollections was of seeing- his mother turn to that broom in the corner, and begin to pull at a bit of the heather. He could remember distinctly the thoughts that ran swiftly through his brain : " How shall I stop mother? It's no use telling her it will hurt. It's no use crying ; I've tried that before." But a bright idea flashed in upon the perplexed mind.

" Mother," he said, as she tugged still at the tough switch, "you will soon use the broom up, if you go on like this."

The shrewd child had made a point, though not quite the one intended. The tugging at the switch lost its energy, and his mother's sides began to shake with suppressed laughter. A moment more, and she turned her back on the broom and let the laugh ring out. The little boy knew he was safe for that time.

John McKay, afterwards a respected citizen of Kincardine, Ont., was for many years our hero's boon companion. At one time the two boys were for days very earnestly engaged in constructing a little mill. The mill required a dam to be thrown across the rattlipg Highland stream, by whose side the mill stood. The work went on steadily and rapidly until it came suddenly to a complete stand for want of timber. This was very perplexing. Giving up the enterprise was not to be thought of ; but where would they get some sticks ? Had they been among the forests of Canada, no such difficulty would have existed. But they were then in Scotland, where trees are the wealthy man's pride and every stick has a market value.

Again a bright idea shed light upon the difficulty. There was a sheep shed at the end of the fold, which evidently was of no use whatever. The two little lads agreed that the sheep were not now ever brought up into the fold, let alone penned up in the shed. It was plain (while summer's sun was shining) that the shed had outlived its usefulness, and there was splendid

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

timber in its roof. Why not pull it down ? No sooner said than done. The two boys were up in a twinkling, and the sods and thatch were flying in all directions. It was well for the sheep that not many minutes of this work went on till it was descried from the cottages, and such a hue and cry was raised that, at its first note, the young marauders scrambled down from the roof and ran away, never to return to that enterprise.

Another boyish plan they had, which made a deeper impression upon John Ross's memory. Away up on the mountain there was a huge stone. So high was it, and leaning so much out from the mountain side that it was for some time an object of fear. " What if it should smash over just when I was below it," was the thought with which its possible pathway would be crossed.

But there was a fascination about that stone. The grandeur of the roll it would make down the mountain if once started took iieep hold of his imagination. The two companions talked the matter over with some of the other boys. They were all agreed that the stone should be started.

But there was one serious obstacle. Directly on the path along which the boulder must crash stood a little cottage inhabited by the grandmother of one of the boys. It would not do to hurt that old woman. But one day she was noticed shutting her door and taking the path that led to her son's house some distance away. Now was the time !

The rest of the boys were quickly summoned, and the matter put before them by the seven-year-old orator somewhat in this shape, —

*• The old woman is out of her house and safe. If the stone were to go now there would be no danger of doing her any harm, and as for the house, would it not be the best thing that could happen her to have it smashed ? It is not a very nice thing for a poor feeble old woman to be living alone. She would be far more com- fortable if she were living with her son." Her grand- son, who was one of the party, was appealed to for his opinion, and quite approved of the idea.

HIS BOYHOOD.

All were agreed. A crow-bar was obtained, and a spade, and operations commenced at once. Very care- fully at first they tried to pry the rock up from behind, afraid lest it might yield too suddenly and carry them with it. Gentle hints were found to be of no use, and soon they were digging and pryingand tugging away with might and main. The boulder did not move. A rest was taken and the situation discussed. It was a genuine council of war. A further manful attack was decided on and resolutely made. But the grim old rock, which was really an out-jutting shoulder of the mountain itself, did not even laugh at their scratches, but conducted itself exactly as if they were not there. The discomfited heroes had to pick up their tools and turn their faces homewards with at least one lesson on their own feeble- ness and the " strength of the hills" which **is His also."

When John was eight years old the family came out to Canada. A heavy storm overtook them at sea. The memory of that experience lived vividly in the boy's mind. The thought of shipwreck in the midst of such a night of darkness and tempest was one to tax the faith of the strong men and women on board. But it was not a panic-stricken crowd that thronged the tossing vessel. The fear of God was among them, and where that is strong other fears do not take the same hold. Echoes of that night of anxiety and godly converse have sounded down through the intervening years.

The children had been put to bed, but John could not sleep. The thought of perishing in those seething waters, — going down into their depths, being tossed .ind then swallowed up by them — would not go out of his head. But along with that came two other thoughts — God rules these winds and waters and God hears Prayer. The child is the father of the man. The boy of eight did just what the man of twenty, forty or sixty would have done. He began to lift up his heart in prayer to God, but with the heart went the voice as well, for he prayed with all his might

"John," said his mother, "John, you must be quiet."

** Oh, mother," he rephed, "must I not cry loud to God to save us?"

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"Then they cried unto God in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. Then were they glad because they were quiet ; so He brought them into their desired haven."

They reached Canada in safety, and made their home in the township of West Zorra, in Oxford county, Ontario, forming part of that remarkable settlement that has given many men of influence to the present generation.

It may be understood from the character of those men who took possession of the hills and levels and beautiful rolling land around Embro that the church and the school would not merely follow them ; it was neces- sary that these institutions should go with them. Very early they were formed into a congregation, and the Rev. Donald McKenzie, whose memory Mr. Ross al- ways delighted to ,honor, was chosen as their minister.

They must have been excellent stock, those High- landers of Ross and Sutherland. Soon was laid low a generation of forest trees, and there rose up in place a generation of scholars and men of might. Up to the year 1894 thirty-eight young men from amongst them have studied for the ministry, probably quite as many for medicine, and a goodly number more in other pro- fessions appear in circles of influence throughout the Dominion.

What is the secret of so much ambition and power ?

Mr. Ross regarded it as a peculiar seal to Mr. McKenzie's ministry thj^t so many of his young men rose up to offer themselves for the work of the Lord. Much of their early literary training he did himself, giving them lessons in the classics when they could not at the time have made their way to the grammar schools.

But a further explanation is to be found in the class of settlers themselves, for Mr. McKenzie had prepared material with which to work. Nearly all the families about Embro were from those godly communities so richly blessed during the early years of this century under Dr. McDonald of Ferintosh, Mr. Kennedy of Dingwall, and men of like peculiar spiritual gifts.

HIS BOYHOOD.

II

•* Times of refreshing-" had visited them — times to be remembered. God had set His eye upon those Highland settlements in the old land, so soon to be scattered by the great landowners. He prepared them for a blessed scattering by first filling- them with His own salvation. Then, when many little farms were put together to form great sheep farms, and the old tenants had to seek new homes in a strange land, they carried with them a fer- vent piety and large knowledge of the word of God which constituted them men of thought and principle and power. It need be no matter of surprise when the sons of such men rise up and step into the highest places in the land.

But to go back to the little boy of eight, who had *' cried loud to God to save them" when in the midst of the storm. His first exploit on American soil was a very questionable one in the eyes of those gocd Scotch housewives. Before reaching their final port, they touched — probably at Newfoundland, and tarried there a whole day. .Some of the women went ashore with their pots to do a little washing. John Ross and his companion got leave to accompany them, and spent some delightful hours investigating the peculiarities of this new world. A snake crossed their path, and the valiant pair succeeded in dealing him blows enough to mangle his body and terminate his career. Their glory in the achievement knew no bounds. John Ross picked up the mutilated snake on the end of his stick, swung it around his head and sent it flying through the air. The uncanny creature dropped into one of the precious household pots, and the consternation, not only of the owner, but of all the band of women there, was entirely out of proportion with the extent of the damage done. That pot was emptied and scoured, and " filled and emptied again, as though the poor little dead snake had been a ceremonially 'unclean thing, and the boy that hurled it fell under wrath in keeping with the horror his act had occasioned.

His doings in the Zorra home were quite in line with the above. Among the things that his careful father

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had bought before venturing into the wild woods was a rather large parcel of gunpowder. Most of this hung on the wall in a shining powder-horn. But the horn would not hold the whole of it, and John knew where, above the cupboard, still in the paper parcel, the remainder had been put. That paper parcel was an object of much interest to this Highland boy.

One day, when alone in the house, he climbed up to it, opened a little hole in one corner, and allowed about a thimbleful to run through into a small paper funnel of his own making. Quickly the parcel was put back into its place, the top of the funnel doubled up over its contents, and the whole thrust into his pocket. Then down he came again, excited and afraid, for his con- science was not quite easy.

He showed his prize to John McKay, and the two boys made wondrous experiments by themselves in the woods. The laying of trains, the management of the fire and the achieving of real explosions made them as happy and' important as if they had been blasting mountains.

All this was too delightful, not to be ventured again. Another and another tiny parcel of powder was secretly obtained from the same store until, to John's regret, there was very little of it left.

Pondering the situation, wondering whether he should venture to take any more, he suddenly decided upon one bold and final exploit. Snatching the whole parcel, with all that was in it, he crowded it into his pocket and ran away. The play must come to an end soon now anyway. Why not have one grand exhibition and be done with it ?

John McKay was ready for anything. They went this time farther into the woods than usual, lest the noise of the final explosion should attract attention. They piled the whole of the remaifting powder in a por- tentous heap, laid their train, arranged their tow, and struck the flint and steel for a spark. The tow caught fire, and the train began to turn in the desired direction. But, whatever was the reason, it's action was slow —

HIS BOYHOOD.

13

too slow for the eager Celtic nature looking on. John. Ross stretched himself at full length upon the ground and breathed just one good blow-ow, to help it along. The instantaneous roar that followed he never forgot. That one breath had wafted a spark from the smoulder- ing train to the heap of powder, and the pile went off like the firing of a cannon. The remarkable thing was that this inexperienced gunner escaped without injury from the very dangerous experiment, though his face at the moment was not many inches from the powder. The force of the explosion had gone in another direc- tion. Not even his hair was singed. But his heart quaked. The terrible danger from which he had been protected, even while he knew he was doing wrong, made a deep impression upon him.

** I rather think," he said, in telling the story, "that explosion is the secret of the dislike I have always had to playing with firearms, and I have never tried to overcome it."

John was a vigorous lad, and joined in the athletic sports of his schoolboy days with the same vehemence with which he gave himself to weightier interests in later days. Shinty was especially glorious. His clear eye and strong, steady hand enabled him to excel in that sport, and his ardor in its pursuit was not to be cooled either by sore shins or the breaking of a front tooth by the careless throwing of the wooden ball.

** When a boy," he said, '* my shins were scarcely ever free from wounds. To this day they are marked all over with old scars. Tokens of many a hard fought game. "

But as he grew a little older, books began to claim attention as well as games. Once he found what treasures of thought and knowledge were stored away in them, he bent his energies in that direction. Buying books at that time was not to be thought of. But many of these emigrant homes possessed a few choice volumes ; and by judiciously drawing upon these stores, he seldom was without reading matter. But when was he to get time to read them ? When school was over in those

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

early days, work was expected of everyone big enough to help. The evenings were very short, and all must go ^ to bed at the appointed hour. It was a tight place for an eager student.

On one occasion he had borrowed a copy of Shakes- peare's Tempest, When bedtime came he was not half done, and it was desperately hard to leave the book and go off to sleep. Indeed, sleep would not come. He lay with his eyes wide open, and his busy brain following the story and reaching out to its completion. At last the even breathing of all around assured him that sleep had taken hold of everyone but himself. Mow was the time ! He would take another little peep at the book.

Softly he rose, uncovered the coals, laid on a few sticks of the kindling set ready for the morning's fire, and sat down on the warm brick hearth with his book. Stick after stick* of the kindling was added, until the whole morning's store was gone. The light waxed dim. Nearer and nearer went the head that the glow of the coals might fall on the page. His head got very hot. Reaching up to the pin on the wall, he snatched from it his Scotch bonnet, and donned it for protection. Now there could be peace ! and soon he was lost to every- thing except the charm of the play. Heat that broke in through the spell made him suddenly clap his hand on his bonnet. A hole was burnt through it, and was quickly getting bigger and bigger. Here was trouble.

He extinguished the fire, and examined the extent of the damage. The hole was large enough to put a teacup through it — hopelessly large for concealment. Well he knew that much worse than the heather switch would be his portion if the mattev were discovered. So he rolled up the bonnet in a tight ball, and hid it in a hole between the logs of the house. Then he crept back to bed, feel- ing very unhappy.

The dead coals and missing kindling in the morning led to trouble enough, but no one asked after the bonnet. As the weather was warm, he sped off to school with a bare head, and nothing was noticed. When the cold, autumn days came, it was impossible to go bare headed

HIS BOYHOOD.

15

any longer. Carefully was the dama,^ed article drawn from its hiding place, straightened out, and carried judi- ciously in hand until out of sight ot home.

••It was remarkable," he would say, "how well mannered I suddenly became. No sooner did my father appear, or any of my superiors come in sight, than the bonnet was reverently taken off, and carried properly in hand while they were in the company."

The boy who could get so much absorbed in the unreal world of the poets, was sometimes a serious perplexity to his most thrifty and energetic father. While his hands were at his work, his mind was still busy with his books. One winter < » ening the cattle had been tethered in the stable, but not yet fed. As John came in from school, he was told to feed and bed them. Obediently he went at once, but, forgetting his orders, and feeling, not thinking, that it was morning instead of evening, he unloosed them all and turned them out into the barn- ' yard.

The preceding incidents show plainly that John Ross was a boy full of life and fun and ambition. Whether it was a hard mathematical problem or a school fight, a game of shinty or a tough debate, he was always ready, and whatever he did he did with all his might. He who in manhood's prime began to be known as the Man with the Book, was not, in his early days, one of those quiet and thoughtful lads, whose story makes other boys feel that they were made of different stuff from themselves. He was felt by his companions to be •* a boy every inch of him," and one with real and serious faults besides.

The Captain who took and drilled this fiery young Highlander into "a good soldier of Jesus Christ," is seeking for recruits now, dear young reader.

I would net ask you to try to be a Christian if our Captain were dead, for you could never make yourself into anything like a real Christian if you tried forever. But He is not dead. He is living and risen, and sitting at the right hand of Power. Not only is He risen. He is very soon coming back again to enlist an army for

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

Himself that shall in very deed conquer this old rebellious world to His sway. Indeed, He may be gathering up His recruits for that grand conflict and victory even now. Dear young reader, you have only one life to live — one chance to take sides in this great battle of the universe. Do you not want to join the winning side ? For Christ's side is going towin, and that most gloriously, even in this world. If you want to be His, just tell him so, for he is hunting recruits. Look up in His face and say to Him, ** Lord, be thou my Captain," and then take up as the keynote of your daily life Paul's question, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " Probably the first thing He may give you to do will be work you do not like, as He gave to Paul some severe study over his own sinfulness and helplessness and blindness. Do not be discouraged. That is often the very first part of His dn'//. Only keep dlose to Him with the question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me — poor, sinful, useless me — to do ? " and He will lead and drill you wonderfully, as He did the Highland boy of whom you have been reading.

ellious ing up , nnow. » live — of the r side ? riously, tell him ace and en take Liestion, ably the

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CHAPTER H.

DAVVNINGS OF THE BETTER LIFE.

R. ROSS seldom spoke of his own inner experi- ences, except as they might be interwoven with some precious word of Scripture, or as they came out incidentally when talking of something else. It is, therefore, impossible to trace closely his pathway across that "very wide field" lying between the City of Destruction and the Wicket Gate. A few glimpses can be caught, but rather of those that helped to start him on the pilgrim's life than of himself or his own doings in the earlier stages of the journey.

The God to whom he cried aloud in the storm at sea was a great reality to him all through those youthful days. He would often forget, as other boys do, and run on his own road full of the trifles of the day, yet in the midst of his sports, and fishing and studies the great question of eternity would often come up for con- sideration. This boy knew that life is short. The early death of a schoolfellow from scarlet fever b»-ought the reality and certain cy and possible nearness of death vividly home to his }Oung heart. "What must I do to be saved?" was a question often asked in the dark, quiet hours of the night. Yet John Ross did not turn his back definitely on the City of Destruction.

The fear of God reigned in his early home. His grandfather and great grandfather, like Christian of old, "pilgrims of note," drew his young enthusiasm strongly out to a pilgrim's life. He wished himself one of their company, yet he lingered still about tho City of Destruction.

When the rebellion broke out in 1837 he was nearly

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

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sixteen. His parents saw with anxiety that the eye of their eldest born was turned towards the camp. They knew the nature they had to deal with, and laid their plans accordingly.

"John," said his father one day, '* I think you may go back to school again for a while."

That was enough. Back to school he went, and the camp was forgotten.

Who was his teacher ? What an important matter to a boy just shaping for eternity! He was a young divinity student, with the bloom of the Scottish heather still upon his cheek. Short of stature, with a long <^ace and kindly, intelligent eyes, and with a wealth of the most exuberantly curly brown hair that ever crisped to northern mists and breezes.

*' I never knew anyone," Mr. Ross once said, "who came so close to my idea of what a divinity student should be as Mr. Lachlan McPherson in those days. It was his habit occasionally to have a close, serious talk with his scholars. In one of these talks his subject was Attendance at the House of God. He said that he had noticed us Sabbath after Sabbath in that respect ; that, though some of us were regularly in our places there, others were absent oftener than he could understand, unless there were dangerous carelessness on the subject. He continued somewhat in this strain : What God may yet do for those of you who are careless about His house, no one may tell ; but this much I can tell : The fear of God is not yet in your hearts. Go on as you are doing, and you will go through life ' having no hope, and without God in the world.' But of you who are serious and careful to be in your places every Sabbath day, I will say this : Of you I have a strong hope that God will yet show Himself and His salvation to you, and * make you joyful in His house of prayer.' "

** As a family," Mr. Ross went on, " we were regu- larly at church ; but in those early days it was not always easy to have dress and hat and boots just as young people think suitable for appearing among others. I knew as he spoke that I had allowed these things

DAWNINGS OF THE BETTER LIFE.

to influence me more than I should in deciding' whether to go out on Sabbath or not. I saw then that I had been risking eternity for a bit of pride. That was a good talk for me. "

Why was it ** a good talk ?" Because it was /aid to heart. It was *' a wise reprover upon an obedient ear."

May it not be that here was the definite turning of his back upon the City of Destruction, and setting his face to the way of the pilgrim ? He was some time in getting across the "very wide field," but thenceforth he began to be known as one "inquiring the way to Zion with his face thitherward."

" What manner of man " was this young school teacher, whose serious talk was so much blessed to his scholar ? What manner of boy was he ? Lachlan McPherson as a boy will reveal the secret springs in the life of Lachlan McPherson as a man. When he was a child of nine the family was moving from one part of Scotland to another. While spending a night at an inn his mother was taken suddenly and alarmingly ill. In the morning hope for her life was almost gone. The awfulness of the sorrow with which he was threatened entered into the boy's soul. What could he do ? He could not give up his mother. So he crept, child as he was, into a quiet closet in that roadside inn, and, throw- ing himself down on the floor, pleaded with God for mercy. He told God He could do anything. He could save his dear mother if He only would. He urgently asked Him to spare her life, and, growing bolder, he pleaded that she should be left with him for forty years fHore!"

"God heard my prayer," recorded the man of seventy. "He raised up my mother and gave her back to me for the forty years I asked, and added several more. Many a time since I have thought of his good- ness."

On one occasion, while he was in company with several young people, the conversation turned upon the wisdom of reading the Bible through from beginning to end.

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

Mr. McPherson did not express any dogmatic opinion, but said he would tell how it was with himself.

** When I was a boy at school," he said, ** several of us agreed to start at the beginning of the Bible and see who would keep at it the longest, — especially who would persevere till he reached the end of the book. We began, and the thought of not being beaten kept me to our purpose until I had read through the Levitical law and into Joshua. After that, interest itself carried me on, so that I had no disposition to stop. One after another the rest dropped out. Before long I was the only one left. By the time I had finished I was more eager to begin it again than I had been to start it at first. The Bible stories gained interest every time they were read, and when through it the second time I began at the beginning again.

"I think I may say," he added, not solemnly, but gladly and tenderly, "that God made Himself known to me first in that continuous reading of His own word."

Admiring intercourse with such a young teacher as this may help to account for the steady set Biblewards which John Ross's religion had from the beginning to the end.

Unlike many young disciples, the boy John Ross did not attempt to keep his interest in the things of God a profound secret. He had the courage to go with his difficulties to those fitted to give him instruction, and so the foundation of his religious character and know- ledge were laid deep and broad. His special, chosen counsellor during all those early years of concern was one of the elders of the Embro congregation, Mr. Alex- ander Murray.

A rare man was he, with a powerful mind and a profound knowledge of scripture. He had, besides, what is, perhaps, rarer than these, that sympathetic kindliness which attracts the young. The friendship between these two was very beautiful and strong.

'* Often," the elder man said, years after, "often I used to mentally set before me John Ross and my own four boys, and wonder which of the five I loved the most. But I could never tell."

DAWNINGS OF THE BETTER LIFE. 21

Many a time the schoolboy would go over to his friend's home carrying his Bible. Before the talk began the two would kneel down together and seek the guid- ance of Him who alone "teacheth to profit." Then the boy brought out his difficulty, and the man showed the broad teaching of Scripture upon it.

One night in harvest time, Mr. Murray, as was often the case when the weather was exceedingly warm, had gone to sleep in the barn among the fragrant fresh hay. He awok j with the first streak of light, and found, to his surprise and pleasure, that he was not alone. John Ross was sleeping at his side and the Bible lay between them. The lad had come over in the evening for one of their talks. Finding the lights out in the house, and guessing that he would find the man he wanted among the hay, he had climbed into the loft, hoping that sleep had not yet claimed him. Disappointed in this, he lay down by his friend, with the book between them, ready for the talk as soon as morning light should wake them.

As the boy became a man, and the man became a student, the friendship only waxed closer and stronger. Very frequently, as years and diligence added to the knowledge of the younger man, conversation took the form of argument. Up to the time of entering college, though he delighted in doing his best to meet the argu- ments of his friend, yet he constantly felt his own inferi- ority as to grasp of the subjects and breadth of know- ledge.

" It was not until after my first year in college," he said, "when I got hold of Jonathan Edwards, that I began to find myself able to cope with him."

A touching evidence of the strength of the affection between these two was given not many years ago.

Mr. Murray was a very old man, approaching ninety years of age. His powerful mind was losing its grasp of many things and would often get completely astray as to the chronology of events and even the identity of persons. His son, Dr. Murray, of Kincardine, visited him shortly before his death, and, though he often called him by his own name and recognized him per-

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

fectly, he quite as often called him John Ross, and spoke to him as his young friend of early days.

Mr. Ross knew of his failing health, and became very desirous of seeing once more the friend to whom he owed so much.

When he was ushered into the room, the old man rose, took his hand in both of his, and said with deep feeling —

**The Lord bless you, John Ross, for showing me this kindness in my old age."

Then they sat down, and had a few hours of happy converse. The clear intellect of former times came back again. They went over "all the way the Lord had led them," and "took sweet counsel together" as of old. They sat down to the table and had tea, and up to the final handshake the happy intercourse continued. But scarcely had the dearly beloved Timothy turned from his door when the old man tottered to his bed. There he lay almost without a word for about a week, and then passed away to be " forever with the Lord." The strong feeling and unwonted mental exercise of those bright hours of converse were too much for the failing physical frame. It was not a fiery chariot, but a chariot of purest love and joy that was sent to summon him from earth.

During these days of early religious anxiety, a com- munion was held at Embro.

For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the methods of these old Highland communions, it may be well to explain a little. The celebration of the ordi- nance on Sabbath is preceded by three days of religious services, and followed by Monday as a day of thanks- giving. The P'riday meeting is the most characteristic of these extra services. It is devoted especially to prayer, and to a general discussion calculated to help Christians in the work of self-examination. The public discussion is called "speaking to the question." After eason of prayer and singing, one of the ministers re- i nests that someone in the congregation shall suggest a i^a .s<;.ge of Scripture that may open the discussion. Usually one of "the men" — the old established elders

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23

of repute — rises and gives a text containing- some test or pre-eminent marks of the true Christian, and briefly opens it up to the best of his ability. Others follow, each giving his own views or experience, and seeking to shed light on the subject. This is the people's service, and the ministers as much as possible leave it to them. Sometimes interesting and helpful views of truth are re- ceived from unexpected quarters.

At the Friday service of the communion mentioned, the preliminary exercises had been gone through, the time for the discussion had come, and the request had been made that someone should open the question. The usual few minutes of waiting were slowly ticking them- selves away, for those old Highlanders were never in unseemly haste to put themselves to the front. Sud- denly to the amazement of all, a stripling rose from amongst the people and proposed a text. The old people listened with breathless attention while the lad gave forth the verse, and in a very few words made plain the point in it that needed elucidation. He was at the time deeply interested in the subject of discussion, and was not afraid, youth though he was, to stand up in the presence of the most august assembly he had ever known, and ask the question upon which he was searching for light. "From that day," my informant writes, "John was a marked man, and was expected to do something great "

There was another whose special mission to this young pilgrim was not helping him out of the Slough of Despond, but keeping him from any expectation of help from a residence in the town of Morality. He was a young minister recently out from Scotland, Mr. Allan, afterwards of North Easthope. Very brothers these two men became in later years, but at this time they were far apart.

Mr. Allan occasionally preached in Mr. McKenzie's pulpit.

" Many a night you kept me awake," Mr. Ross said to him years afterward. "The arrows from your bow went r1?ht home, and thev were so barbed that it was

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impossible to draw them out again. Once after service.

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

as I was watching' you coming" clown from the pulpit, and one and another of the congregation speaking and shaking hands with you, my own internal comment was, *' I would as soon shake hands with the //(,'///«/>/^. "

From the facts already given it will easily be under- stood that John Ross had no trouble in shaking off worldly companions. As soon as he began to "show his colors" as a recruit for Christ's army, these all drop- ped away from him of their own accord.

" I was an old man when I was a boy," he said in later life, "and now I am a boy when I am an old man." The word of God was his companion. Not only was it read but studied. Not only studied, but large portions of it committed to memory, that every clause and phrase might be mastered, and that it might also be ready for thought when no books were at hand.

On one occasion he was prevented from going to church. As soon as the rest of the family had gone and he was left in quietness, he took his Bible and seriously went to work to master the Epistle to the Hebrews. If memory has preserved the story correctly, the whole of it was "hid in his heart" by the time the churchgoers had returned. At another time he learned tht one hun- dred and nineteenth Psalm in the same way. This was not merely an occasional thing. He was constantly at it till the whole field of Scripture was his own.

This early, whole-hearted study of the Word of God was sowing seed in seed time, and it yielded to the stu- dent a rich and abundant harvest in after days. It is enough to make one's heart ache to see young Christians and Sabbath scholars spending their one seedtime sow- ing nothing better in their memories than pretty Sab- bath school stories. Dear young people, do you want to be strong, living, growing Christians ? Go to work now, using your precious Sabbath hours and week day leisure storing heart and memory with chapter after chapter of the Word of God. As you study it lift up your heart in the prayer, " Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Study and pray, pray and study, and boldly put into practice

DAWNINGS OF THE BETTER LIFE.

25

what you find, and see what the results will be. That word so studied was to John Ross a **lamp to his feet and a light to his path," and "the joy and rejoicing of his heart" all the days of his life.

But when and how did he definitely pass from death unto life ? When and how was he *' delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God's dear Son ? "

The only time so far as known, when he spoke directly on that point, was in a very interesting letter written a year or two before his death. The anti-Roman strain of the letter is really the heart of it. It was called forth by the fear that thefriend to whom it was addressed, had been led to take a dangerously superficial view of the difference between Christ and Anti-Christ. His own experience is characteristically given, not for its own sake, but to help in bringing out into strong relief tiie truth he is seeking to explain and impress.

" If I am born again," he writes, " my spiritual birth took the most pronounced anti-Roman form. I first fled from God and the Gospel, to which my heart refused to bow, though I was still believing it. I fled on down to dark despair, and for years refused to leave that loathsome dungeon. At last in my dungeon or den, God gave me a sight of myself, which made me feel that there was not an eye among all God's creatures that could endure to turn one look on such a man. With this sense of overwhelming shame at its height, I sprang over at one bound to God for covering, saying, — ' If thou wilt not look on me, no creature can.' That one leap changed my relation and attitude towards the universe. I fled from all God's creatures to Himself as my hiding place. Freedom from human — say rather creature — authority, in all matters concerning God and my soul, is one characteristic of my spiritual liberty to this day, and it had its birth in that leap. If I allow the church to put hand or foot into that domain, I make the church an idol there and then If the church lays claim to such a dominion, she sets herself up to be the most fearful idol ever set up under the sun. There is

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Rome for you ! Look at her ! I leaped over her and away from her, among the rest of created things, when I made the Eternal my refuge.

" Look at me again and say, what would Roman works have done for me in my position when about to take that leap ? I have no words to describe or convey my sense of the mockery done to the poor soul — the snare laid before him — the affront done to God, and the blindness of those who lead and those who follow in that whole great business of work which Rome is carrying on. It is better to spring over to Him who is * in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.'"

Such is his own account of the manner of his pass- ing from death unto life.

His experience as given above, is evidently the root out of which sprang many of his remarkable utterances. The hope of utter iiopelessness ! The power of utter helplessness ! The necessity of the hopelessness in order to the hope ! of the realized helplessness in order to effective junction with the Source of the "power that worketh in us ! " This is pre-eminently the *' secret of the Lord " which is "with them that fear Him." The experimental knowledge of this is what makes the differ- ence between a Christian life of constant failure and one c'f joyful communion and conquest. Paul knew it when he sang, — " When I am weak, then am I strong." He did not look at weakness and infirmity as disqualifica- tions, but only as giving larger opportunity for Christ to show His own strength. Paul preached it when he said, — " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." But the fulness of joy and power in the second clause can be apprehended only by those who have dis- covered the actual reality of the first. It is "all plain to him that understandeth." To such the following utterances will be full of interest. And may it be that some who have not caught the great double truth before may get a first glimpse as they now read.

While quite a young man he spoke impressively to his hearers at one of his mission stations. "You will

DAWNINGS OF THE BETTER LIFE.

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not receive Christ while there is one tvhite spot on you."* These searching words have been echoing in that place ever since. They were recently communicated to the writer by t)ne of his hearers.

Many years later, at a prayer meeting, he unravelled the perplexities of an inquirer by one short sentence, as deeply true as it is striking : " * Blessed are the pure in heart' The pure in heart is the one who sees himself to be utterly impute.'^ He made his meaning plainer by a homely, but most apt illustration. "A slovenly woman," he said, "cannot see dirt. But put a tidy woman into a dirty house, and she feels and is distressed with every spot that is about her. That is because she has a clean heart.^'

Several times since has this been passed on to some of God's precious ones, much cast down at their own unworthiness. Tears have started with the quick revul- sion of feeling to see, in their own painful consciousness of vileness, a God-given proof of purity of heart in His sight.

On one occasion Mr. Ross was impressed with a similar thought uttered by an old man "speaking to the question."

" Ever since the Lord took me in hand, I have been sore vexed at my sins. They were so great and so many, and my good deeds were so few and so small. But lately I have come to see it differently. I see now that I am a/l sin, and I have no good deeds at all. I can do nothing now but let myself alone and take hold of the name of the King — ' The Lord our Righteous ness.' The Lord our righteousness? But that is enough."

*' When I heard him speak," the listener remarked, *' I thought of the law to the priest about the leper.

M

*ThouRh the above statement is generally true, it is not universally so. There are some who are drawn by the loveliness of Jesus Christ to receive and rest upon Him, who, in the first instance, know very little of the plague of their own heart. This is frequently the case with those who believe on Him as little children. Let not these be troubled that the Good Shepherd leads them by a different and a gentler way than others.

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

■ I, .1

If the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pro- nounce him clean. It is all turned white ; he is clean. I looked at the old Christian, and said to myself: 'You are not long for this world. You are about ripe for Heaven now.'

** I was back at the next communion. He was not there. I asked after him, and found that he had been called away to behold • the King in His beauty.' "

He referred in illustration of the same idea to a con- versation with an old Highlander, who was once asked: '* Were you ever perfectly happy?"

**Yes," he replied, "the first time it was made plain to me that the burden of my salvation /ay entirely upon the Lord."

In listening to a story like the one above, the hearer was not apt to miss the point. Mr. Ross was speaking what he experimenjtally understood, and the words, as he uttered them, had a significance that they might not have had in the lips of another.

This same experimental significance of words, often heard in vain, is illustrated in the following fact men- tioned by one of the most gifted and spiritual of the members of his Brucefield congregation.

** I had walked for years in doubt and trouble, for I could not find how to come acceptably to Christ. One Sabbath Mr. Ross simply read out the verse : * No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him.' "

"Then," she said, "I saw it plainly. I could not even do that myself, and God knew I could <-;ot. He had to do the whole. That was a great resting-place for me, and I have never lost the liberty I got then, just looking to God to do the whole."

How was it that this word simply read out by his voice could have such power to bring liberty to a soul in bondage ?

Was it not because the special truth that was in it had entered into his own soul, making him, as far as it was concerned, " meet for the Master's use?' Then the Spirit of Christ could use him in passing the power of that truth on to the soul of another.

DAWNINGS OF THE BETTER LIFE.

29

One other instance may be given in which man's utter lack and God's aboundinpf fulness came out in strong relief.

He had been reading Dr. John Duncan's exposition of the New Covenant, which he deeply enjoyed. He commented on it in the following strain, —

" The Covenant of Grace is all promise. In it God undertakes to do the whole. All we have to do, at every turn, is to keep at Him with the prayer, ' Do as thou hast said.' That \s taking hold of His covenant. This is why the New Covenant exactly fits our need, for it comes to those who have no righteousness, no power, *no good thing.' "

" Sweet on His faithfulness to rest,

Whose love can never end, Sweet on the Covenant of Grace

For all things io de^Qnd.

Sweei in the confidence of faith

To trust His firm decrees. Sweet to lie passive in His hands.

And know no will but His." 1

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CHAPTER III,

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

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PECULIAR set of events, during- these years of youth and early manhood, was working- loyalty to Jesus Christ as king- into the warp and woof of John Ross's religious life. The Ten Years' Conflict which preceded the Disruption in Scotland was now veiging to the crisis. As the contest went on it was watched with the most intense and intelli- g-ent interest by the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland, to which body the congregation in Embro belonged. Mr. McKenzie, with whom Mr. Ross was taking classical lessons at the time, was deeply interested, and teacher and pupil watched together as the different phases of the struggle were developed. There was, indeed, at the time a very great deal of general interest and information on the subject throughout the whole country.

It is a sorrowful fact that very few of the young people of Canada have any correct knowledge either of the facts of the Disruption or the principles involved in it. But John Ross's life cann jt be intelligently followed without a knowledge of both of these. It may be well, therefore, to give here a short account of the whole matter, though that takes us a long way back, back as far as the Reformation.

The history of the Ten- Years' Conflict, stretching from 1833 to 1843, is often spoken of as the history ot the Disruption. But the beginning of the " Conflict" dates further back than that. In the year 1556, some years before the Reformation really took possession of

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

3>

Scotland, Knox was laboring a few months in his native land. One knotty problem was perplexing Protestant consciences at the time in many a cottage and castle: Is it lawful to attend the celebration of the mass ? It was anxiously propounded to the great Reformer.

" It is nowise lawful in a Christian to present himself before that idol," was the unhesitating answer.

There is the clear ring of spiritual loyalty in it. No compromise, no serving of two masters. That is the important part. That is the beginning of the "Conflict." If there must not be two masters in the Church of Scotland, who is to be her ^'■one master V "Jesus Christ himself, as He speaks in His own word." That was the answer of the Reformer.

" The king is head of the Church," announced Heniy VIII of England, and arrogated to himself the title and the rights appertaining thereto. In distinct contrast with that, the Reformers of Scotland proclaimed from the beginning that Jesus Christ and He alone is Head of the Reformed Church of Scotland. Neither were they empty protestations in the mouths of these men. In every item they watched and prayed and labored to make the word of the Head the rule of the Church. It was a practical and positive Headship they claimed for Jesus Christ. It was not the queen that was consulted in arranging the worship and doctrine of the Church, nor the nobles, nor tradition, nor inclination. With the utmost prayerfulness and diligence t' .y consulted Jesus Christ himself, and out of His word they drew the con- stitution, doctrine and worship ol the Church of Scotland.

Kings and queens and Act-^ of Parliament some- times sanctioned but oftener r-^Pired the work of the Reformers. Still, through all opposition, through in- justice and persecution, througli attempted bribery and real deceit and intrigue, the fixed purpose of the Church, acting through her General Assembly, was ever to keep for Jesus Christ, and fot Him alone, the posi- tion of Head of the Church of Scotland, Suresy I'iis is most reasonable. If the Church is His body and that is what Scripture asserts. He must be he; Herd, or there is marvellous monstrosity somowheie

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

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\ James I. of Eng-land resorted to all the devices that cunning, linked with high-handed presumption, could contrive that he might insert some subversive, man- made contrivances (bishops especially) among the simple and beautiful machinery of the Scottish Church. He saw quite clearly that, if he could once establish his bishops, they would soon gain power to control the clergy, and the clergy would guide the people, then he would have his own hand on the helm, and that was precisely what he wanted — not Jesus Christ, but King James, was to be Head of the Church of Scotland.

He was met by the prolonged and intense resistance of the very heart of the Scottish nation. It is thrilling to read the story of the struggle in " McCrie's Life of Andrew Melville." "There were giants in the earth in those days."

In the end, by? most unscrupulously thinning out the leaders, James partially accomplished his purpose. He effectually accomplished a purpose larger and far nobler than his own. He began to educate the Scottish people to understand the conflict between the two kings, each claiming the right to rule the Church of Scotland. King James or King Jesus, which should guide the consciences of Scotchmen? By his senseless and aggravating inter- ferences, James taught Scotchmen to understand their own position and to prize it. No king but Christ Him- self shall tell us how to regulate the affairs of His own house. Christ and He a/one is Head of the Church of Scotland.

Charles followed his father, and carried his mad interferences further still, till Jennie Geddes threw her stool at the dean and the whole nation was stirred to its depth to say : " We will have no king over our kirk but Jesus Christ Himself." Then they bound themselves as individuals and as a nation to stand by the simplicity and purity of the faith and discipline laid down by the Reformers. The world looked on in wonder to see noblemen and tradesmen, laborers and lairds, vieing with each other in signing the Solemn League and Covenant, in which each signer pledged

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

33

i that could ^ m an- il inple . He Sii his 3l the len he it was ; King

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sciences g inter- id their st Him- iis own urch of

is mad rew her irred to ver our bound and by ine laid on in lers and I Solemn [pledged

himself and his all in support of tl.e Crown Rights of the Redeemer.

Loyalty is a beautiful thing ; it is a marvellously powerful principle. When Christianity develops in the shape of loyalty to Christ as King, it puts on its highest istrength and appears in its most beautiful garments. Whole-hearted loyalty to Jesus Christ is the highest type of Christianity. It is the type that shall yet subdue the whole world to the Redeemer's sway. It is pre- eminently the type of Scottish religion in its best days. It wat loyalty to Christ as King that devised the C"''en;'-nt and signed it, and stood to it — stood to it r • li nj, enthusiasm and obstinacy that few nations or ndi'/iduals know how to combine. You often see entlmsiasm, and oftener still obstinacy ; but in combina- tion they are rare.

And Charles had to yield and let them have their way, Charles had to abandon his purpose, but God accomplished His. He had given another and a deeper lesson to the Church and to the world — Christ, and He alone, must be Head of the Church.

Thirty years later, and another Stuart king sat on the throne of England. Charles the Second, light and flippant in everything else, was strongly determined in this : to red"-^" the Church of Scotland from its simple allegiance to i Lord Jesus Christ. Martyr blood flowed like vater and money was extorted by hundreds of thousyMi.!^: o'^ pounds. Charles only partially accom- plished li..s pu - ise, but again God accomplished His. The leson thir c.n\^ had been so written out in letters of blood that it never could be forgotten : Christ, and He alone, at any cost, must be Head of the Church of Scotland.

The world looked on and wondered, for most people could not understand why Scotchmen would rather die than attend the ministry of the curates. But they knew it was for tht rights of the Lord Jesus Christ that they were suf^:i•in^^f. The spirit in which they met death in such a ca'isc i^; .-^ctn in one who had fallen on the moor under his iU::t.h- wound. Rising for a moment from a

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

pool of his own blood, he cried in a voice that has since echoed down the ag"es : "Though every hair on my head were a life, I would give them all for the Crown Rights of my Redeemer ! "

James the Second followed for a terrible three years, and then came the Revolution. No more royal inter- ference. The Church of Scotland was legally established in her double right — her right to receive her maintenance from the Crown, and, along with it, her infinitely more precious right to take i r laws as a Church only from Christ, her King and H» '

Though legally free u >' In the possession of her rights, the Church of Scotian^ rose from the years of persecution in a terribly crippled condition for the exer- cise of them. The flower of her ministry were all swept away, perished among the i8,ooo sufferers for the Crown Rights of Jesus Christ. Her pulpits were filled with half-hearted or positively antagonistic men, and they, with their elders, must constitute her General Assembly, through which alone she could authoritatively act. There were no trained, godly students ready to step into the vacancies as they should occur. The out- look was dark ; but the heart of the people was generally true, and steadily the Church worked up towards efficiency as the years went by. Patronage was abolished, so that each congregation, as it became vacant, was left free to choose its own pastor, and to a considerable extent men of the right stamp were chosen. Left thus in the simple exercise of their legal rights, the people of Scotland in one generation would have filled the General Assembly with men as loyal to Christ as the sole Head of the Church as they were themselves.

For a few years this process went on. Then came the Union of England and Scotland in 1707. The then established rights of the Church of Scotland were solemnly guaranteed to her by the articles of union. But how was faith kept in this respect ?

As Professor Gregg puts it in his short and valuable history : '* In violation of these articles, an Act was

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A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

35

rushed through the British Parliament in 171 2 restoring^ patronage, and virtually placing the appointment of ministe* . in the hands of the Government, of noblemen, and oiner parties or persons who might have no sym- pathy with the Church. Against this invasion of its liberties and violation of national faith the Church long protested, but protested in vain."

Bolingbroke, who introduced the bill, was a pro- fessed iniidel. He did not pretend that, in transferring the right of choosing ministers from the God-fearing people of Scotland to the godless Government and worldly nobility, he was at all seeking to advance the cause of Christ. Everybody knew that the reintroduc- tion of patronage was a direct violation of the articles of union to which the national faith had been pledged only five years before. But it put a vast amount of power into the hands of the new patrons, and the Scot- tish representation in the British Parliament was exceed- ingly small, so, with less opposition than should have been expected, the bill was rushed through and became law.

Bolingbroke accomplished his purpose. What was God's purpose ? One thing was certainly accomplished — Christ's loyal people in Scotland passed through a time of testing far more severe than even the times of persecution. Pulpits were now chiefly filled by men of the world, and the people had no power to prevent it. The reign of '* moderatism " began, and the darkest cloud the Reformed Church of Scotland had known, set- tled down upon her. The Church as an Assembly soon ceased altogether to contend for the rights of Jesus Christ, and gave itself rather with right goodwill to censuring and hindering those whose hearts were set upon the advance of Christ's real kingdom.

During the early years of the century an old book, '* The Marrow of Modern Divinity," was largely circu- ated in Scotland, and began to fill many corners of the land with the fragrance of the doctrines of grace. Now these docvrines were not in repute among the generation of worldly ministers forming the mass of the Genera!

36

THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

Assembly in those days. • Anything in the shape of a strong, living Christianity savored too much of the old Covenanters, and was misunderstood and looked upon with a jealous eye. The book was brought up before the Ecclesiastical bar, was tried, found guilty and con- demned as a fanatical and dangerous production, and one that ought to be discountenanced in every possible way. Twelve of the most Godly ministers of the Church appeared before the Assembly and strongly "repre- sented " the real character of the book, and of the doc- trines of grace therein taught, and urged the reversing of the sentence pronounced against it. After much vexatious opposition, thi twelve Representers were dismissed from the bar of the Assembly with rebukes and admonition, and narrowly escaped deposition as favorers of dangerous d ctrin^s.

In 1732 the Etangeiical minority in the Assembly to the number of more than forty ministers, presented an address asking for redress of grievances. They were supported by a petition signed by hundreds of elders and private Christians, earnestly asking action in the same direction. Both ministers and laymen were refused even a hearing, and the Assembly proceeded to act directly in the face of their requests. The decided opposition o( the minority roused the Assembly to personal action against them, and four of their leaders, of whom Ebenezer Erskine was chief, were first suspended from the office of the ministry, and afterwards deposed. It was not now king or bishop or parliament that was fighting against the Crown Rights of Jesus Christ. It was the corrupted General Assembly herself. She pushed out of her midst the most valiant soldiers that were left, and then settled down to exactly a century of worldliness and stagnation.

The deposed men, separated from the Church of their fathers, protested that an unjust sentence could not ex- clude them from the office of the ministry, that they would still feed the flock of God as He might open doors for them. The four formed themselves in what they called the Associate Presbytery, and began at once to act as a properly constituted body.

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

37

Thus originated the Church of the Secession, which, during the dark century between 1733 and 1833 grew and multiplied, and held high the light of life among a "people that sat in darkness," till its ministers were numbered by hundreds, both in Scotland and England, and later in the Colonies and mission fields as well. Much '* gold, silver and precious stones " were built by these builders upon the one foundation, while " wood, hay and stubble " were the order of the day in the Mother Church.

They were a people who knew much about self- denial. Excluded from the Establishment, they had no means of support but the voluntary offerings of their attached, but often humble congregations, who had not been trained thus to support their ministers as we are now. This state of matters developed much self-^'cnial on the part of both ministers and people. But self- denial is excellent Christian gymnastics, and the Seces- sion throve amazingly on it. That which at first was regarded as a disability, was soon found to be a source of power, and like Paul, they learned to glory in their infirmity that the power of Christ might rest upon them.

All this was right and proper. They found the volun- tary method a good method. Very good. They found, as years went on, and its effects on all parties began to be tested, that the voluntary method is the best method. Better still. It was a grand discovery, and one for which the world should thank them. But they went further, and began to announce with more and more boldness that the voluntary method is the only rif!;ht method for the support of Christ's cause. Had they rested in opinion no serious harm might have been done. But the instinct of the Caledonian mind is to go deep down past mere opinion, and find an everlasting principle at bottom — a principle which shall make the opinion, not only right, but necessarily and exclusively right, and all opposers, not only wrong, but necessarily and radically wrong.

The principle they evolved to prove their position was a new view of Christ's mediatorial office and claims.

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

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Christ, they said, does most assuredly claim to be the Head of the Church, but He does not claim to be Head of the nations. He certainly claims the allegiance and service of king's and magistrates as individiiixls^ but He asks nothing from them as kings and magistrates but the honest performance of their duties towards their fellow- men, diligently securing to all classes and individuals their rights as members of society. Not only does a king or magistrate owe no official duty to Jesus Christ or His cause, he has no right to use the powers of his office to advance that cause. For a civil ruler to endow a church is wrong, and for a church to accept endowment is another wrong.

This was materially different from the teachings of the Reformers, they had stoutly maintained not oi.ly the Headship of Christ over the Church, but also the glorious Headship of Christ over the nations. They maintained in terms that gave no uncertain sound, that it is the bounden duty of the Christian ruler of a Christian nation to endow and sustain the Church of Christ within it, wherever the circumstances are such as to make such a step advisable, and yet a still higher duty for him to leave the Church absolutely free from all control in mat- ters spiritual. The Reformers taught that kings should be " nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers " to the Church whenever it needed such nursing. The Secession maintained that no such nursing was ever admissible at all.

This is what has been termed Voluntaryism. It holds high Christ's Kingship over the Church, but it robs Him of His Kingship over the nations — robs Him, except in a modified sense, of a title which He surely claims, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

There were several divisions and subdivisions, unions and reunions among these Seceders, till at last they became, about the middle of this century, the United Presbyterian Church, a Church almost identical in doc- trine and discipline with the old Church of the Reformers, were it not for this one significant departure touching the Headship of Christ over the nations, or.Voluntaryism,

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

39

3 the Head ^ ; and It He jt the ;llow- iduals loes a Christ of his sndow ivment

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holds )s Him Lcept in [claims,

unions >t they I United 1 in doc- )rmers, )uching laryism.

Nearly a century passed away, and God seemed to have forgotten to be gracious to the poor, shackled Church of Scotland. But it was not so. His time was drawing near.

Thomas Chalmers, a "moderate" young minister, who cared more about winning distinction in mathema- tics than about winning souls to Christ, was brought in a very interesting way to know the Gospel as the "power of God unto salvation." He at once began to preach it and two young men were led to Christ by that first sermon. Soon the voice that was stirring the dry bones in the little village of Kilmany, was transferred to Edin- burgh. The Power that descended in the day of Pente- cost was in him, and life flowed from his lips and radiated from his pen. The genius of the man made way for the simplicity of the Gospel among the rich and cultured, and the simplicity of the man made way for him, and for it into the hearts and homes of the very poorest. After that, first in St. Andrews and then in Edinburgh itself he was called to the professor's chair. There, with the young men clustering about htm in one long enthusiasm, he magnified Christ among them.

Another man of might was doing much the same work in the same spirit. Dr. Andrew Thompson, of St. George's, Edinburgh.

Largely through the influence communicated by means of these two men, a spring-time visited the long- forsaken Church of Scotland. Signs of life were every- where. Whether God converted the " Moderate" min- isters as he did young Chalmers, or converted the god- less patrons so that they chose godly ministers, or so drew the young students to Himself that it became hard for the patrons to find a worldly one, I do not know. But the "Moderate" majority in the Assembly that had so long ruled for darkness and death began to find its numbers diminishing. The godly minority that, during the darkest days, had been lifting up a voice for the King, saw its numbers increasing. In 1833 the Evan- gelicals were in the 'majority, and could now manage the aff"airs of Christ's Kingdom in His interest and under His guidance.

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But it is not wise to make too many changes at once. What should they seek first to set right ?

One of the most grievous things during all these years of Moderatism had been the setting over congre- gations by the mere will of the patron, men nowise fitted for the office and utterly distasteful to the people. For many years the Moderate majority had made no effort to mitigate or abolish the evil. Indeed, they rather rejoiced to have it so, for it was through the working of this very law that most of them had obtained their positions.

The only thorough cure was to appeal to Parliament, and get the unjust law of patronage repealed. Those who know anything of the difficulty of interfering with *' vested rights" know something of the opposition and delay that might be looked for before anything could be gained in that quarter. How many years or decades of years would pass' before the conscience of the British Parliament would be moved ? Who could tell ?

Could anything be done in the meantime in the way of mitigating the evil ? They could not, till the law was changed, interfere wi'^h the right of the patron to choose and present the minister. But they could empower the Christian people, by a sufficient majority, to decline the minister presented, leaving it still to the patron to choose another.

A law putting this power into the hands of the Christian people was passed by the General Assembly of 1834. It was called the Veto Act, because though it could not give the people the power of choice in the matter of their minister, it gave them, in certain circum- stances, the power to veto the choice of the patron.

Professor Gregg gives the following account of the noted case of Auchterarder :

" A few months after the passage of the Veto Act, the parish of Auchterarder became vacant, and the Earl of Kinnoul, who was the patron of the parish, nomin- ated Mr. Young to the charge. A call to Mr. Young was prepared to be signed by the parishioners, but only three persons, one of whom was the patron's factor, and a non-resident, signed it, On the other hand, out of

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A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY. 41

350 male heads of families who were members of the congregation, 287 appeared before the Presbytery and recorded their opposition to the settlement of Mr. Young. The Presbytery refused to sustain the call, and their refusal was sustained by the superior courts, the Synod and the General Assembly. Regarding them- selves as robbed of their rights, the patron and his nom- inee appealed to the judges of the Court of Session, who by a majority of eight to five, decided that the Presbytery had acted in violation of the law of the land, and par- ticularly of the act of 1712."

Mr. Young now demanded that the Presbytery should proceed to settle him as minister over the people that had so unanimously declined his services. The case came before the Assembly, \\hich decided that, though the civil courts had a right to deal with the stipend and church property as they might deem fit, they had neither right nor power to require the Church to settle an un- suitable minister over an unwilling people. Let them give Mr. Young the salary and manse if they chose. He could not occupy the pulpit or take the position of min- ister of the parish. They also empowered the Presby- tery to appeal from the Court of Session to the House of Lords. But their appeal was dismissed by the House of Lords, and the finding of the Court of Session was declared to be law. Mr. Young now enjoyed the stipend, but he was not content. He claimed that he must be settled over the parish as its minister. This the Presby- tery refused to do, and the case was again carried before the Court of Session. That court again decided against the Church, and required the Presbytery to proceed at once with the settlement of Mr. Young, prohibiting at the same time the placing of any other minister over the parish, even though he should be sustained by the vol- untary offerings of the people.

Thus the old Church of Scotland, awakened from her long lethargy, "putting on her strength, shaking herself frcm the dust," and going to do her King's work in the King's name, was met by the Court of Session and told she was to do exactly what as the handmaid of

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Christ she knew she oiig^ht not to do, and forbidden to do the very thing her real Kinj*- required her to do. It was the old issue up again, who is the head of the Church of Scotland ?

Case after case arose all through those years of con- flict, and the eves of the civilized world looked on with the deepest interest.

Mr. McKenzie, of Embro, sympathized intensely with the Church in her determination, in matters spiritual, to acknowledge no authority but that of Christ himself. And the young school teacher who watched with him for all the most recent news from the battlefield did so with the soul of a soldier. Every beat of his enthusi- astic young heart responded to the old Scotch battle- cry. The Crown ki,i:;hts of Our Redeemer.

Then came the final action of the House of Lords in rejecting the C^laim of Rights. This rejection left nothing to the contending ministers but either meekly to obey the civil ruler to the neglect of the rights of Christ, or still to hold up the rights of Christ and step out of the Established Church. ^

The answer of the Government was received in January, 1843. The Assembly met on the i8th of May. What would be the result then ? How many of the ministers would prove true to their principles? How many of them, for conscience sake, would leave the Establishment — churches and manses, and stipends anJ all — that they might be free to obey Christ, and Christ aione, in all matters spiritual ?

" I venture to assert, from pretty accurate informa- tion," said Dr. Cumming, of London, " that less than one hundred will cover the whole secession. . . . But I am not satisfied that any will secede."

*' Mark my words," wrote one of the best-informed and most sagacious citizens of Edinburgh, " mark my words, not forty of them will go out."

The young school teacher in Canada was watching, with breathless interest, an exhibition of faithfulness sufficient to convince the world that Jesus Christ is Still Head of the true Church of Scotland. Judging by

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

43

his habits in later life, we may well imag-ine the voice of that younj^ Hij^hlaiuler sounding up to Heaven cliirinj;^ those weeks of suspense, seeking '• grace •^Mflicient " for the brothers so put to the test.

* " The clay of trial at last arrived. ... So early in the morning as between four and five o'clock the doors of the church in which the Assembly was to convene opened to admit those who hastened to take up the most favorable positions, in which they were content to remain for nine weary hours.

"Then the hour of trial came. After the solemn opening prayer, Dr. Welsh, the retiring Moderator, rose and read a Protest, closing with the words : 'This our enforced separation from an Establishment which we loved and prized, through interference with con- science, the dishonor done to Christ's Crown, and the rejection of His sole and supreme authority as King in His Church.' Having finished the reading of this otest. Dr. Welsh laid it upon the table, turned and

^ed respectfully to the Commissioner, left the chair, and proceeded along the aisle to the door of the church. Dr. Chalmers had been standing immediately on his left. He looked vacant and abstracted while the Protest was being read ; but Dr. Welsh's movement awakened him from his reverie. Seizing eagerly upon his hat, he hurried after him with all the air of one impatient to be gone. Mr. Campbell (of Menzie), Dr. Gordon, Dr. Macdonald and Dr. Macfarlane followed him. The effect upon the audience was overwhelming. At first a cheer burst from the galleries, but it was almost instantly and spontaneously restrained. It was felt by all to be an expression of feeling unsuited to the occasion ; it was checked, in many cases, by an emotion too deep for any other utterance than the fall of sad and silent tears. The whole audience was now standing, gazing in stillness upon the scene. Man after man, row after row, moved on along the aisle, till the benches on the left, usually so crowded, showed scarce an occupant.

* Memoirs of Thos. Chalmers, Vol. IV., page 332.

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

More than 400 ministers, and a still larg^er number of elders, had withdrawn." And so the Free Church was born.

When the news of the Disruption had come to Canadian shores by the slow progress of the sailing vessel, the meeting of Synod, which was to take place in July, was close at hand. That Synod, with the news of the noble conduct of the Free Church brethren warm in their hearts, sent them stirring resolutions of sym- pathy and approval. This they had done throughout the struggle, encouraging the Church to maintain the conflict.

Was there any need for a Disruption in Canada ? None took place in Nova Scotia ? How did they avoid it ?

The designation of the Synod there was : The Synod of Nova Scotia, /*«' connexion 7vtth the Church of Scotland. At its meeting in 1844 it resolved almost unanimously to drop the clause, in connexion with the Church of Scot- landf and the connexion which it declared, and to sub- stitute another, so that the name should read. The Synod of Nova Scotia, adhering to the Westtninster Standards. In this way the Synod of Nova Scotia stood distinctly on its own feet, and the controversy scarcely touched them.

The circumstances of the Canadian Church were essentially the same, and could have been met in the same way. The Evangelical party, at the meeting of Synod in 1844, were urgently desirous that this course should be pursued. But the majority refused to do so. The very body that, during the struggle, had repeatedly encouraged the Evangelical party in Scotland to main- tain the conflict at all costs, decided by a majority of fifty-six to forty to keep connexion with what was left of the Church of Scotland, and to retain the clause in its name which declared that connexion.

Those in sympathy with the Free Church felt that, in retaining that name and the connexion it declared, they were sanctioning the action of the Church of Scot- land, refusing to lift a clear testimony as to the Head-

A CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY.

45

ship of Christ over the Church, and virtually receding from the solemn declaration already given of attachment to the great principle for which the Free Church party had been contending.

On the loth of July, the day after the vote was taken, the minority entered their Dissent to the action of the Synod and withdrew to a separate building, to constitute themselves into the Synod of the Presby- terian Church of Canada, commonly spoken of as the Free Church of Canada.

It looks easy on paper ; but tbe Disruption in Canada, as to self-denial, meant much the same as it did in Scotland. The ministers who, for conscience sake, signed that Dissent and withdrew from the Synod in connexion with the Church of Scotland, knew that they thereby risked their churches, manses and salaries. Some of them were required, in very grievous circum- tances, to yield al' up, though some (Mr. McKenzie was one), from the unanimous adherence of their congrega- tions, were spared that trial. But their new college, in whose behalf some of these men had labored hard and denied themselves much, had to be left behind. And all interest in Government endowments were lost.

But they gained more than they lost. They gained the right to put in the forefront of their testimony the glorious fact of the Headship of Christ over His own Church. Alongside of that, in shining letters, they put a testimony to the twin truth, the Headship of our Lord Jesus Christ over the nations, for they would have it distinctly understood that, though looking now for support to the voluntary offerings of the people, they were not, on that account, going to leap downwards into Voluntaryism. And thus, poor in this world's goods, but glorying in their King, they set their faces to their work. And did not the King smile upon them and bless them, and signally use them? For many years there were tokens of His prospering hand, that made glad the hearts of those who had borne loss for His sake.

Was it without a providential purpose that God

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

cause*^ :iius a lesson on the Headship of Christ to be written deep in the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Canada? There is an impression abroad that the whole matter is a '* dead issue " now ; but the his- torian of the struggles culminating in the Millennial victory may take a different view.

These were formative facts in connexion with John Ross's character and history. Without a knowledge of them neither character nor history could be intelligently surveyed.

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CHAPTER IV.

A STUDENT AND STUDENT MISSIONARY.

HE newly-formed Synod of the (Free) Presbyter- ian Church in Canada acted with great unan- imity and decision. Though they left behind them, in many cases, churches, manses, and salaries, they carried with them a large proportion of the people, and the enthusiasm of a victorious army was throughout their ranks. With finances, church-building and reorganizing all on their hands, they did not forget that vital matter if their cause was to grow, a college. From July to November was a short time in which to organize and equip a theological seminary, but zeal never says '*I can't," and the 5th of November, 1844, saw the college hall opened.

"The place of meeting was a room in the house of Professor Esson, James Street, Toronto, Its furniture is described as consisting of a long deal table, two wooden benches, a few chairs and a range of shelves containing Mr. Esson's library and some books kindly lent by clergymen and other friends for the use of the students."

There were fourteen young men in attendance the first session, several of whom entered college then for the first time, but a large proportion were from Queen's. Though the old church party held the college building and equipments, it could not hold the students. Nearly all the members of their theological classes cast in their lot with the Free Church, and presented themselves at the opening of the modest new college on James Street. The young Zorra school teacher did not begin his college course till the next year, 1845. As the group of

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new students, on the day of the re-opening, came for- ward to enter their names on the college register, that of John Black, afterwards so well known in connection with Kildonan, Manitoba, was given in first and that of John Ross came second.

The impression Mr. Ross made on others during his college life is beautifully put by Professor McLaren: —

"The present writer entered college two years later, and well remembers the powerful impression made by Mr. Ross's strong personality upon his fellow-students. He did not parade his religion. He spoke comparatively little of his religious feelings and experiences, but no one could come into close contact with him without learning something of his deep spirituality and profound earnestness. He was very natural and unconventional in his style of dealing with religious matters. His reli- gion was not a garment put on, but a life which mani- fested itself, and his character was so transparent and the currents of his religious, nature so strong, that the spirit which reigned in him was visible to all around him."

Another friend writes of the same period :

*' I first became acquainted with Mr. Ross at Knox College in the autumn of 1845.

*' He was at once marked as a man of no ordinary character. His favorite theologian was Jonathan Edwards, and he seemed to revel in the deep and often awful mysteries which Edwards, above all men of modern times, seemed to have the power to unfold.

"Trained in the school of Zorra, he early imbibed the deep piety of Rosshire and Sutherlandshire, one point of which was that young people should not at an age so common at the present time, approach the com- munion table. In consequence, though he was regarded in Zorra as a young man of deep piety, he did not unite in the communion of the church till he came to college, when he united at the same communion with myself, under Dr. Burns. I happened to be in the room with some others when Dr. Burns and Mr. Ross were con- versing upon the subject of membership, and I shall

A STUDENT AND STUDENT MISSIONARY. 49

never forget what took place at that time, or how Dr. Burns was impressed with the knowledge and deep spiritual experience of the young man who yet had great difficulty in overcoming his deep-rooted impression of the awful sacredness of the communion.

*' When at college he was quite an explorer in the dark places of Toronto, and a frequent visitor at the hospitals. He took special pleasure when he could use the Gaelic, which was, he always contended, next to the Hebrew, the most powerful language for religious work.

"One day he came back from the hospital in great glee. He had found a patient by the name of John Shaw, whom I afterwards knew better as a member of my own congregation. John was deeply concerned for his soul. He had the worst English I ever knew, but revelled in the Gaelic.

"The first time Mr. Ross met him was by accident. He had been visiting the hospital, and an attendant told him that there was one man there whom nobody could understand. Mr. Ross settled the difficulty : the un- known tongue was the Gaelic. He spent a long time with Shaw, and told me on his return how delighted the poor man was to meet with one who could speak to him * in the original.' After that Shaw did not want a coun- sellor and friend."

Another dear friend and fellow-student writes : —

"I cannot say that in college we were intimate chums ; he was a senior while I was a junior. I felt he was my superior in every sense, and felt such, — I was going to say, respect for him, but 'respect' is not suffi- ciently strong to express my feelings towaird him. I revered him, and my reverence was so deep as to make me very backward in approaching him. But in the providence of God, when we became co-presbyters, and workers together in our pastoral and mission fields, my backwardness disappeared, for his warm heart and ster- ling principles and character drew me very near to him."

" When I entered college," said another college mate, " Mr. Ross was one of the senior students, and on

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that account, as well as on account of his quickly esti- mated character, was at once regarded with profound respect. A few days afterwards I met him at a corner of a street. I instantly took off my hat, greeting" him with much the same respect I would have paid to the Principal himself. His thoughtful countenance gave no sign of recognition, and he passed on a distance of some yards. Then he suddenly removed his hat with every mark of respect, turned and bowed, saying : —

" How do you do, Mr. McLaren ?"

Entirely engrossed in his own meditations, the greet- ing of his young fellow student, though distinctly appre- hended by eyes and ears, failed to win the attention of the soul until several seconds had elapsed, and so its recognition was ludicrously tardy.

The power o^ mental concentration, which is one secret of pre-eminent success, was developed in Mr. Ross to a very high degree. Consequently difficulties were a delight to him. If his mind took hold of a per- plexity his whole nature bent itself with the intensest eagerness to compass and master it in every detail. It was no hardship to him to hold on. The hardship was to relax for a moment until the object sought was attained. As a student he yielded too much to this fascination of intellectual conquest, yielded to it to the disregard of ordinary and valuable rules. Midnight was nothing to him. Indeed, the hours when everybody else was asleep and all was quiet were by far the prefer- able hours of study for him. A consequence of this hurtful habit is chronicled by one who was well acquainted with him at this time : —

" When Mr. Ross was on hand for breakfast, we knew he had stayed up all night. When he did not stay up all night, he never was in time for breakfast. But at all times John Ross was sure to be in time for prayers. "

"During his college course," writes Dr. McLaren again, " Mr. Ross took a very high place as a student. He was a thinker, but his thinking did not always run very closely in the lines of his class work, and he would

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not have distinguished himself in cramming for a modern examination. Even in his ordinary class work he always took a good place ; but it was as a profound and original thinker, who had a peculiarly clear grasp of divine truth, that he became specially known both to professors and students. He Was pre-eminently a theologian. Like many men of genius, he had not the habits of study which would have enabled him to do full justice to his powers ; but his strong personality impressed all who knew him with the conviction that he was no ordinary man."

*' Mr. Ross's gifts were such," writes another friend, " that he could start to Toronto with little more money than would pay his fare and depend on prizes, etc., for the expenses of the college term."

He entered into his studies with all the enthusiasm of his earnest nature, and yet, as suggested above, it was quite as often the books in the library as the lectures of the professors which got the concentrated attention that cannot be given to two things at once. He regretted in after life that he had not more com- pletely allowed his mental activities to be directed into the ordinary lines of college instruction. But his intel- lectual appetite was strong, and books — especially such as taxed and stimulated thought — were to him an intense delight.

The habit of diligently gathering intellectual stores from the book shelves was one that Principal Willis frequently and strongly urged upon his students to cul- tivate. It was a regret to him that some of the young men wore very slack in following his advice in this direction. But between him and the Zorra student there were strong links of sympathy — this, one of the strongest. He knew Mr. Ross to be an earnest student in many lines outside the college course.

One day the dignified Principal looked into the library. He saw a young man up on the step-ladder, poring over a book, evidently too much interested to think of getting down and making himself comfortable. This little display of enthusiasm pleased him, but he

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turned quietly and left the room, unwilling" to disturb the reader.

Some hours later he came back. What was his interest to see the same student in the same position, still poring over the same book. His appreciation could not be restrained any longer. Addressing him by name, he spoke a few words of paternal commendation. John Ross, for it was he, began to back down the ladder with the book still open in his hand. When he reached the floor he turned without a word of response and presented the book, still open, to the eyes of the benignant Principal, who read with a somewhat peculiar change of countenance the title of the book — " Ifotv to Choose a Wife/"

There was strong sympathy between these two. To the last Mr. Ros^ cherished the memory of Principal Willis.

** Never," he said, '* did schoolboy answer the dinner- bell with more alacrity than I did the bell that sum- moned me to Principal Willis' class."

A fellow-student came in one evening and asked leave to read over his class exercise. It was freely given. Mr. Ross was a keen critic. The faults of the composition were honestly laid bare, and the student went away saying, *' I'll write it over again."

The next evening he came back with a fresh paper, or rather the old one remodelled and rewritten. But the critic went at it again, not savagely, but with painful frankness, and again the student left the room saying, a little more sorrowfully this time, " I think I'll write it over again."

Soon he came back once more ; but, as he entered the room, he announced in an energetic tone : ** But, remember, I am not going to write it over again." The hitherto merciless critic, feeling that to find fault now would be to do harm, allowed the production to pass without further adverse criticism.

And this to the last was his manner of doing his own literary work. A paper for the public prints or an important letter would be written over and over again.

A STUDENT AND STUDENT MISSIONARY. 53

All the spare time for weeks has been taken up with the writing of a single letter, and a pile of rejected copies, inches high, would gather up at the side of the desk before one that quite expressed his ideas was produced.

Deeply Mr. Ross enjoyed the college training throughout its whole course. But He who leaves it to no mere college to equip His chosen ministers was sending another powerful spiritual teacher to give him some of the higher drill for the spiritual warfare.

In August, 1844, W. C. Burns, a young minister who had already been signally used of God in the revivals preceding the Disruption in Scotland, took passage in the good ship Mary for Montreal. He em- barked for Canada in answer to urgent invitations from the Christian people ow this side the water.

It was September, 1845, before Mr. Burns made his way to Toronto. His uncle, Dr. Burns of Knox College, made an appointment for him to preach on the very day of his arrival at a place near the city bearing the memorable name of Hog's Hollow. Though he arrived on the day on which he was expected, he was not early enough to meet the appointment made for him, and a young min'ster, Mr. Wallace, kindly con- sented to take the service.

Two of the students — Mr. John Black, afterwards of Kildonan, and Mr. John Scott, afterwards of London-^ went to meet him on his arrival and conduct him to the college. He was introduced to the assembled students. His grave and serious deportment impressed some of the young men deeply. He told them he had no special message for them, and therefore would give no address; but, if they wished, he would read to them a passage from the Word of God.

Mr. Ross afterwards spoke of that first meeting with Mr. Burns as a peculiar experience. " I have heard him speak many times," he said, '* sometimes very powerfully and sometimes not so, but I never got so much from him as when he simply read the Word of God. The truths he had himself been taught by the Spirit of God shone out of the words as he read them, more clearly to me than when he tried to expound them."

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While reading- the passaj^^e of Scripture chosen, his tongue was loosed to speak freely and most impressively on several of the points in it. The service produced a deep impression among the young men.

In the evening Mr. Wallace, who had previously taken his appointment at Hog's Hollow, reported him- self to welcome the young Scotchman. As the two clasped hands, Mr. Burns said :

'* Brother, you have been preaching for me. Let us now kneel down together and ask God's blessing upon the message you delivered. "

There was a fascination to Mr. Ross about the deeply spiritual services and conversation of William Burns. He was much in the evangelist's company, and watched to be present whenever possible, at any meeting where he was expected. The friendship between them was not unlike that between John Knox and the gracious Wishart, and ready indeed would the young Highlander have been to have carried the sword in his friend's defence, if that had been needful. He spent several months in Montreal while Burns was working in and about the city, con- stantly frequenting his services ; and more than once he stood at his side while stones and mud were madly hurled at them both. On one occasion Burns had been cut over the eye by a too well-directed missile. Mr. Ross called the next day to see him. The evangelist made light of the circumstance, saying :

" The one important thing is that we go out tn the name of the Lord. "

"As he spoke the words," Mr. Ross said, years after- wards, as he narrated the incident, " I saw as I had never seen before the mighty significance of the expres- sion, to go out * in the name of the Lord.'' "

"And as Mr. Ross was speaking the words," said the friend who reported the above, *' I saw as I had never seen before the power of the expression. It was just at the time of Lord Napier's being sent out to Abyssinia to demand the prisoners in the name of the Queen. That incident flashed in along with the words Mr. Ross had spoken, and I saw that, as the whole

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power of the British Empire was at the back of the man who went out in the name of the Queen, even so the whole omnipotence of the Godhead is at the back of ^he man who jjoes out in the name of the Lord."

The same thought thus caujjht from the Spirit-taufjht lips of the wounded evangelist, appeared at a somewhat different angle on another occasion.

A brother minister was giving to Mr. Ross his out- line for a proposed sermon on the subject of David's exultant run to meet Goliath. He announced as his third head, "The stripling's equipment for meeting the giant — five smooth stones and a sling — rather small — but he went out in the name of the Lord,''''

"Yes," responded Mr. Ross, with a Celtic gesture of enthusiasm, " and that is a weak thing you strike in the name of the Lord^

" I have never preached that sermon since," said the friend to whom these words were spoken, " without giving that masterly sentence from Mr. Ross. And re- member," he added, " I gave the right man credit for it every time."

But it is not always easy to give the " right man credit." How much of the deeper spiritual insight which Mr. Ross enjoyed in handling the word of God, was owing to hallowed intercourse with this young Scotch- man who walked so very near his Master, who may tell ? This much is clear. He had an honorable share in fitting the young Canadian student for the work the Master had for him to do.

In these early days, as now, the summer months of the students, between the College sessions, were utilized among the mission fields.

Though Mr. Ross was nearly twenty-four years of age when he entered College, his face and figure, from his student habits and his extremely fair complexion, re- tained the youthful, almost boyish appearance.

Very early in his College course he was sent for the summer to a mission field where the Gaelic was in great demand. One prayer meeting held among these people yields our first glimpse of him as a missionary.

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The subject chosen for the Scripture lesson was the close of the Sermon on the Mount, especially the verses about the man who built the house upon the sand. In preparing for the service the younjj missionary laid his text before him, and thought out his address on this line. ** What are the sandy foundations on which / am most tempted to build?" He knew that, "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man," and concluded that if, in the Wght of his own temptations, he should open up the passajje, he would not be drawing the bow at a venture, but would, in all probability, be making" straight for the joints and marrow of the souls that were to gather before him.

There was a good meeting, and amongst the rest, there came a rather conspicuous figure, an old elder whose name was John. Though scarcely yet acquainted with this old man, 'Mr. Ross had heard of him as one whose temper was touchy, and who needed to be dealt with judiciously

The address was given along the lines of preparation. The young preacher felt that John paid critical attention. He did not gather whether the impression made was favorable or otherwise, but, according to his pre- arranged plan, for he was anxious to do whatever could be properly done to lead the old man to a kindly disposi- tion towards himself, he asked at the close of the address —

" Will Mr. John , please lead us in prayer? "

He was not prepared for the tirade that followed. John rose, but it was something like a scold that was poured out in the shape of a prayer. The old High- lander had taken the searching exposition of the young preacher as a succession of barbed arrows directed wit- tingly against himself. He seemed to have imagined that the occasion of that discourse was information re- ceived of his own peculiar infirmities, and, though he did not disclaim them, and was willing, on the whole, to take a humble place before God on account of them, he felt it hard to be thus publicly rebuked by so young a man.

A STUDENT AND STUDENT MISSIONARY. 57

•* And how is this thus?" he be^-an, adclressinjj the Ahni^-hty, "that a^ed Eli is aj^-ain rebuked by whey- faced Samuel ? "

This orijjinal word-painting" of his own youthful appearance helped to secure for the scene and all its de- tails a permanent place in the missionary's memory.

During the summer of 1848 or 1849 Mr. Ross did missionary work in and around Bradford. The impres- sion left upon some of his hearers there has proved deep and strong. The writer lately had the pleasure of spend- ing" an evening" with one of them, an old man of over eighty-five years of age. It was delightful to see how the enthusiasm of youth would return as he told of this prayer meeting and that Sabbath service. One peculi- arity of these recollections struck me as he talked. Though few of the remarks of the preacher had been preserved in memory, in every case the text stood out distinctlv. The power of the sermon was seen, not in tlnit it lived itself, but in that it had been made effectual to the indelible writing of the text in the heart and mind of the hearers.

He recalled also a prayer-meeting in which the close of the eighth chapter of Proverbs was the passage ex- pounded. The young preacher explained that the Christ of the New Testament is the Wisdom of Proverbs. In passing from verse to verse he showed that it is Jesus Himself who is the speaker, asserting His fellowship with Jehovah, and Sonship as well. But the word which lingered most lovingly with the white-haired pilgrim who was recalling these things was this sentence : '*My del-o-hts were with the sons of men."

cannot tell you now what he said, but that word he opened up to us, and it was good."

" here were a few good men amongst us in those days, lie went on, *' and they all set much store by Mr. Ross."

Then, as though accounting for this unanimous par- tiality on the pa t of those "good men," he quoted this verse with accompanying anecdote :

" ' Of aloes, myrrh and cassia A smell thy garments had.'

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' ♦« * Do you think,' said one of our old worthies, * that the child of God has no nose that he should not be able to smell the savor of the Lord's garments upon those who are much in His company ? ' "

Then he went on to tell of another prayer meeting in which the first chapter of I. John was commented on.

**You should have heard him," he said, "opening up that word, * That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life — that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.' "

The following are some striking utterances, most of which were communicated in writing :

To those who kick against God's rule, and want to manage themselves and the world according to their owi"! ideas, he said :

** Vou would wrest the sceptre out of your Maker's hands. But you would not hold the reins long till you would be glad to restore them."

A friend told him on one occasion : " Some of the Bradford people were angry at what you said to-day."

"I am glad to see them get angry," he answered. ** It is the non-caring Gallioes that are the more hope- less cases."

While urging sinners by the terrors and doom of the Day of Judgment to seek refuge now in a crucified Saviour, he said :

**God is awful in His mercy, out of His treasury sending thunder and lightning to do us good. What will He be in His ivrath /"

** I had asked a neighbor," explained my informant, "if it is in a sinner's own power to believe. * Can you pluck the sun down to earth ? ' was his answer. One day I told Mr. Ross the answer I had received, and asked him if it conveyed the truth. He replied in this way : * To such an inquiry I would say. The sin of unbelief is an inexcusable sin, for it makes God out to be a liar, and then it is the prolific mother of all other sins. Still the gift of faith is by, to, through and for

A STUDENT AND STUDENT MISSIONARY. 59

Jesus. Then, upward look, however distressed at your own unbelief. 'Look unto me,' the Lord has said, • and be ye saved.'' "

"As I wrote these words to you," sa;d the ag'ed Christian who had penned them, ** the truth of them shined in upon me as it never did before — that I am just to look to ]esus /or faifk and everything else, and that Jesus will do the 7vhole I "

The time came, in the spring of 1850, when the last college exercise was written and the last examination passed. The student, as a student, stepped for the last time out of the college building, ready now to go out among the people and *' tell them all the words of this life." He afterwards described his sensations in one short sentence :

"Then," he said, ** I danced a jig on the college green, for now I could be off to my work."

The church at that time required of her young ministers that one year at least must be given to the mission fields before settling over any congregation. This was the work above all others that Mr. Ross loved best. He had hitherto enjoyed refreshing tastes of it between the college sessions ; but now, without hin- drance or delay, he could give himself wholly to it.

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CHAPTER V.

BRUCEFIELD.

few years ago a burly farmer was standing on the platform of a railway car as the train was steaming slowly out of Brucefield station. The conductor eyed him good naturedly, as he was evidently looking for something. ♦

"Where is the town?" inquired the good farmer, still searching across the country for something he could not find.

" Humph ! there is no town," replied the conductor, " but that's Brucefield," pointing with his thumb over his shoulder, "You can see it now we're past the station."

*' You don't say ! I've heard so much about Bruce- field I thought it was something to look at," replied the farmer in a disappointed tone, and retreated to his seat.

Brucefield is a quiet, tidy little place, clustering about the crossing of two main thoroughfares, the London Road and the Bayfield Road. Its chief import- ance is that it is the centre of a thriving, energetic settlement in one of Canada's choicest agricultural sec- tions. Because of its central position in the county and the excellent roads leading up to it, it hat. enjoyed a celebrity out of proportion with its size fron^ the hold- ing there of important county meetings, and also the great annual county show of stock and implements.

But Brucefield's real title to consideration lies in the class of people settled in and around it. A few choice families represented England and the north of Ireland. There were also a good many Lowland Scotch of the best type, but the larger proportion were godly High- landers, some of whom in the first instance had no

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English whatever, and many others felt to the end that English was a foreign tongue. Altogether they were a God-fearing community who, in those early days of straitness and difficulty, '* forsook not the assembling of themselves together." It was a touching exhibition of faithfulness in this respect when Gaelic-speaking men and women attended seriously the preaching of the Word of God in a language they could not understand, and attempted to join in singing the praises of the God they loved in words that conveyed no meaning to their ears. One good woman, recently out from the High- lands, said to her husband on their way home from the English service, while the tears were running down her cheeks : —

"And am I never more to hear the Word of God preached in my own tongue ?" The question went to his heart, and the result was that, though they had already taken up land, they threw up their claim and moved to another district, where they were within reach of Gaelic preaching.

Rev. Wm. Graham, a missionary recently out from Scotland, was the first Free Church minister under whom the Brucefield people were gathered as a congre- gation. He had accepted a call from the congregation of Egmondville, a village about six miles further east, and Brucefield was added to his charge as a station. This arrangement was very satisfactory, for the Bruce- field people did not yet feel able to maintain a minister by themselves, and they were much pleased at securing the regular services of a man of God and an excellent preacher. Though he had not the Gaelic, and that was a great sorrow to some, yet Gaelic preaching was some- thing they scarcely dared look for, especially in those days when the harvest was so grfeat and the laborers of any description were so very few.

But soon the Egmondville people became anxious to have the whole time of their minister for themselves, and steps were taken to carry this wish into eflfect. The people of Brucefield were at first deeply disappointed at losing a minister whose services they had highly prized.

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But they did not yield to discouragement. There was enterprise among-st them, and it was not long until they were taking energetic measures to secure a minister for themselves.

As there were so many Gaelic-speaking people amongst them, they were particularly anxious for one who could preach in that language as well as in English. Mr. McKenzie of Embro, moderator of Presbytery at the time, was communicated with on the subject, but his answer was that the demand for such services was so great, and those who could render them were so few, that he could not encourage them to hope for success in that matter.

About a mile north of Brucefield, on the only hill for miles along the London road, there had settled a godly and energetic Higjilander, Mr. Neil Ross. He was personally acquainted with Mr. Lachlan McPherson, now a Free Church minister settled in the township of Williams not far from London.

In the early autumn of 1850 Mr. Neil Ross was down at London on business. While there he heard that the communion was to be dispensed at Lobo, only a few miles from the church where Mr. McPherson preached. He decided to tvait and attend the services.

He drove over early and had a little conversation with his friend before the service commenced. To the genuine Highlander's question as to what Gaelic minis- ters were expected to take part, Mr. McPherson replied, —

"There is a young man with us, one John Ross. He is a gifted man, the son of his grandfather, George McKay, of Embro, Duine Righ-lochan."

The stranger took his seat in the church. He watched with keen interest for a first glimpse of the young Gaelic minister, whose name he had just heard for the first time. In a few minutes a rather tall, fair, youthful-looking man entered and passed up into the pulpit. He conducted the opening services with unusual seriousness, and then gave out his text, Isaiah liii. 12, "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide his spoil with the strong : because

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he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transg^ressors ; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession f-^r the transgressors."

The stranger listened with the intensest interest. He marked the text.

** Well, young man," he said within himself, ** if you can handle that text, you'll do."

But he did handle the text, and the listener's heart was drawn with a love and appreciation that waxed ever warmer as the years swept by to the young man who could so speak of Jesus Christ.

As he was moving slowly out of the church, he heard Mr. McPherson's voice in conversation with another voice he at once recognized as that of the young min- ister : —

" How do you expect to get to Kincardine ?"

"I can walk if there is no other way," was the reply, "only it will take a good deal of time."

** There is a man here to-day down from the Huron tract," Mr. McPherson said, ** I know you can get up with him if you wish, and that would take you more than half way."

Mr. Neil Ross now turned around and addressed Mr. McPherson, and those who understand his generous nature will know with what heart the words were spoken.

"I will drive Mr. Ross as far as my place and farther, if he will ride with me."

During the long drive which followed a personal friendship was begun which never knew a break, not even a ruffle.

The Brucefield people at once acted with energy. Mr. McKenzie was again communicated with, and, over- riding difficulties that stood in the way, they succeeded in securing two precious Sabbaths from the young Gaelic preacher as he was passing southward, after fulfilling his Kincardine appointment. In the spring of the next year, 1851, they again secured his services for six weeks, and at the end of that time they were ready to extend a "call."

THE PRCPERTY OF

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THE MAN WITH THE BOOK.

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Mr. Allan of North Easthope moderated in the "call," — Mr. Allan, the young Scotch minister whose arrows in years gone by had kept the Zorra boy awake at night — of whom that same boy had thought, " I would as soon shake hands with the lightning." Many a hearty hand- shake was between them in subsequent years, with all the real brotherliness that ?. handshake is meant to imply.

Mr. George Walker, one of Brucefield's elders, was appointed to carry the call to London and lay it before the Presbytery. When he had done so he found, with some anxiety, that another call, one from Aldboro', was before that body as well as the one from Brucefield. "

It cost Mr. Ross anxious thought and prayer before he could make sure which was the call he was to follow. There were strong reasons in favor of each, and some specially weighty 6nes that told in favor of Aldboro'. The thought that finally overbalanced all opposing reasons and brought him to decision was this :

" Brucefield will be an open door to the mission fields in the north."

So Mr. Walker carried home the glad news that their minister was to be set over the congregation in a few weeks — on the 25th of the September following. Those who know anything about the deep delight of godly Highlanders rn the preaching of God's Word in their own tongue can have some measure of sympathy with the joy and expectancy of the Brucefield people. The day of the ordination and induction was a point of eager anticipation. None were more glad and humbly grateful than Mr. and Mrs. Neil Ross up on the hill.

But a sorrowful surprise awaited the good couple. Shortly before the day appointed Mr. Neil Ross received an official summons from Goderich to report himself at the Court House on the morning of the 25th of Septem- ber, that he might act on the jury required on that day.

Here was a dilemma for a Highlander. He could not be at Goderich and Brucefield both at the same time. The law imperatively required his prompt appearance at Goderich. His whole man — spiritual, national, social — clamored to be at Brucefield. What could be done !

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He went up to Goderich the day before, and sought an interview with the sheriff. This considerate officer did not make light of the case. He thought over it a little.

*' No doubt," he said, ** you would like to be at the ordination of your minister. Wait till the Court opens to-morrow morning. If the jury is pretty numerous, you might take your chance and slip. It might be all right."

Thi,s he did, and to his great satisfaction he found that the jury was full without him. He "slipped," according to the suggestion of the considerate sheriff, and hastened over the twenty miles between Goderich and Brucefield, to attend the ordination and induction of their young Gaelic minister, John Ross.

Mr. McKenzie, of Embro, was present and preached the sermon on the text, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may he of God." And then was formed the bond between pastor and people which must have been first formed and registered in heaven, for it stood tests which would surely have broken any links of mere earthly origin. For thirty-five years the young man who entered that day into a covenant of the Lord with his flock was known wherever he went as John Ross of Brucefield, and as John Ross of Brucefield he filially laid down his armor and passed out of sight.

Mr. Ross's views and feelings concerning this very peculiar bond were entirely different from those that usually find expression in these days. The overruling consideration that determined which *'call" to accept was not the amount of salary nor the smallness of the labor involved ; it was the opportunity one field offered for more abundant and arduous labors.

When, the spring following his ordination, his beloved young wife ** fell asleep," and friends were very anxious to remove the body to the family burying-place in Zorra. Some of his Brucefield people came to ask his wishes in the matter. His answer was :

" I have come to live among you, and I intend to

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die among" you: That body must lie Aere." It was accordingly buried in the middle of the little church- yard which lay a few yards from the manse door.

When, twenty years later, he received a most urgent ** call " from the historic congregation of Indian Lands, Glengarry, he was for a while a great deal perplexed as to the path of duty. Some special features of the case made him question for a time if it might not, after all, be a call from the Master. It was not for long, how- ever. He positively declined to go, saying to a friend, as he told of his decision, " It seems to me I love the sinners about Brucefield better than the saints anywhere else." They were not a particularly amiable class of sinners either that drew his heart so strongly at the time. The special individuals present in his mind were a number of godless lads that for a while seemed to have agreed together to annoy him in small ways. Some of these very young men, a few years later, watched with grateful eagerness on a dying bed for the visits of the Man with the Book.

The love he cherished for his people was most beau- tifully reciprocated by them. In ways so many and so unusual that only genuine love could have devised them, they testified that love throughout the thirty-five years that he was with them ; and through the ten years that have passed since, it has blossomed perhaps even more freely than before. One thing he was particularly grate- ful for, they never hindered him in the missionary work upon which his heart was set. If supply for his pulpit could be obtained, it was obtained ; but if not, his elders were always ready and willing to conduct a prayer meet- ing in his absence.

*' One blessing," Mr. Ross said, near the close of his life, *' one blessing God has given me ever since I came to Brucefield, and for which I cannot thank him too much, is a harmonious and helpful eldership. When I see the trouble some of our best ministers have from that quarter, I cannot but rejoice in this peculiar blessing."

It was not an ordinary band of elders that gathered around the young minister of Brucefield. At the begin- ning there were five.

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Mr. George Walker was a born leader of men, with a large heart, a clear understanding, a singularly correct judgment, and most felicitous powers of expression. A more powerful ally could hardly be imagined, and all his powers and all his resources were ever held ready when his minister needed either them or him. Many a time Mr. Ross thanked God from the bottom of his heart for Mr. Walker's ready and efficient friendship.

Mr. Hugh Mustard was one of " The Men " of the Highlands, and a rare specimen of the same. During Disruption days in Scotland, when Free Church ministers were not always within reach, the people did not go away without spiritual bread if he opened to them the Word of God.

It was said of him by one who knew him well in Canada, '* You cannot be long in Hugh Mustard's com- pany till the conversation will turn to things of Christ."

His short and simple counsel to one who told him of the temptations of the great adversary, was given in these words, " Meet him with Christ."

Toward the close of his life he had been sitting quietly thinking one evening. Suddenly he rose full of a thought. "Christ does the whole," he said with emphasis, " and yet, blessed be His name. He speaks as though we did it."

When, in the quiet of the Communion Sabbath morning, this spiritual Christian opened the book and spoke briefly on some passage to the waiting people, they were words of "weight that fell from his lips. Upon one such occasion he gave them one of Christ's parting promises, spoken on that memorable night of the first communion. " I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice." He gave it as a word of cheer to those whose hearts were out after their absent Lord, and as a word of searching to those who "love not our Lord Jesus Christ."

It may easily be understood that such an elder was a continual blessing.

Mr. Robert Carnochan was the sweet singer of the congregation. His voice was singularly rich and clear,

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with a spiritual ring- in it that could not be mistaken. He always knew how to adapt tunes to words, and sang with a sweetness and solemnity that could be felt, and yet with a power that easily carried the whole congreg^a- tion. His very countenance, and tall, dignified figure, were an influence for good, for he evidently completely forgot himself, and his whole being was filled with the thought to which he was giving most musical utterance. As to personal character he was mild, judicious, firm and .full of the sort of lovingkindness that is described in the 13th chapter of I. Corinthians.

** Why did you call your boy Robert?" I asked once of a father who had just given that name to his first- born son.

'* I called him after Mr. Carnochan ; " was the signi- ficant answer, "^nd I did it because I thoug^ht I could not name him after a better man."

Mr. Angus Gordon did not remain long with Bruce- field, as a congregation w'as soon after formed in Clinton, where he lived. But he left a fragrant memory with the people among whom he had worshipped ; and his benignant, serious countenance and helpful presence were much missed. Something of his gracious character can be seen to this day in the countenance and conduct of some of his great grandchildren, marking them out as different from their fellows.

Mr. John McQueen was the fifth. He was a worthy man, well known for his sterling qualities and steady friendships ; but he died many years before Mr. Ross.

In later years Mr. George Forrest was added to the Brucefield eldership. He was a man of like character with the rest, always holding up his minister's hands and making i'\e things of the Kingdom the first concern.

Each name on the list proved cause for an additional note in Mr. Ross's song of gratitude for " this peculiar blessing from God, a harmonious and helpful session."

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The following extracts from one of Mr. Ross' note- books will let the reader into some of the secrets of this young minister's life, especially his conversational

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method of studying the Scriptures and his own estimate of the work committed to his hands— of the power by whicli it was to be done and the spirit in which it must be prosecuted.

"Meeting" this morning- the two blind men who cried to him for light, I cried for light for myself, and was met by the words, * And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I command you?' Another turn of the pages, and there was the story of blind Bartimeus, who asked that he might receive his sight. Again I asked light for myself, and then was met by the words, ' Many will say unto me in that day. Lord, Lord, etc., etc., to whom He will answer, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.'

" Let me, therefore, see that I attend to the words and do what He saith — read and preach what He bids me read and preach, 1^0 where He bids me go, shun what He bids me shun, put away what He bids me put away, and study what He bids me study."

The next entry is evidently a meditation on paper, meant for his own improvement, not an outline of the sermon.

" Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, ' I'ollow me, and I will make you fishers of men,' and they straightway left their net and followed Him." (Matthew 18-20.)

IV

FISHERS OF MEN.

" Those who become in this sense ' fishers of men' are made such by Jesus Christ. But, ist, He makes those who become ' fishers of men ' first followers of Himself. 2nd, they become ' fishers of men ' in answer to His own call. Without the direct work of Christ in Him to that end, no man in His sense o( the words can become a ' fisher of men.' He must be made by Christ a follower of Himself, and he must be called by Christ himself to the work.

"It is Christ alone who can give him men to be caught, for none are caught or can be caught but those

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whom He has redeemed by His blood, and whom He in due time calls by His gospel.

•* It is Christ alone who can recover them out of another sort of net in which they are entangled, even the snare of the Devil, by whom they are taken captive at his will.

•* Again it is Christ alone who can give the wisdom and skill necessary to be used with men in order that they may be caught.

*' 'Then opened He their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures.' This is necessary in order to be 'fishers of men.'

"The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, patient, in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves. This is also quite necessary in order to become a 'fisher of men.'

" The 'fisher of men' must be a man of faith — faith in the Word of God, that one jot or one tittle of it cannot pass away, and faith in the power of Christ such as the Centurion had when he said, ' Say in a word and my servant shall be healed.'

" He must exhibit the grace of the gospel and the mercy of God as illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son. There are loops in the gospel woven by the Holy Spirit on very purpose to catch sinners in, and let us take heed that we do not unravel them and spoil the net. A whole row of such loops is to be found in those Scriptures in which particular sinners, or sinners guilty of particular sins, are brought into immediate contact with Christ and His grace. Such a one is that in Romans xiii. : 13, 14, ' Not in rioting and drunkenness, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.' Here the man who is rioting and drunken is called upon to put on Christ, and put off these. ' Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.' These are loops in the Gospel net in which to catch drunkards even in their drunkenness.

" Seeing it is by the Gospel men are caught, the ' fisher of men ' must in his own spirit exhibit the spirit of the Gospel, and he must know the Gospel and preach it in its simplicity and purity.

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" Seein{^ it is the Holy Ghost who catcheth men by the Gospel, the 'fisher of men ' must be full of the Holy Ghost, and be led by Him.

** Seeing the Cross of Christ is an offence to the carnal mind, the ' fisher of men ' must see to it that he ' gives no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.'"

There are hints in the above, especially for those who may be just putting their "hand to the plow," hints which, if laid to heart, will lead to much watch- ing, much prayer, much of the humbleness to which Ciod'giveth grace, of the emptiness which affords room for God's fulness, and of the weakness in which God's strength is made perfect.

The next extract is an ainplification of a sentence of Paul's, and is again meant probably for his own benefit as a minister of the Gospel rather than for that of any congregation.

" ' I am sure that when I come unto you I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.'

" I St. He meant to come to them as a preacher and teacher of the Gospel of Christ, to make it known to them in its fulness. He was not going to them as a preacher and teacher of the law or of the legal dispen- sation, nor as a teacher of morality, nor as a lecturer on Grecian or Roman literature or philosophy, nor as a politician, nor in pursuit of any worldly business. As at Corinth, so in Rome, he determined ' not to know anything among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'

" 2nd. Neither did he intend to teach and preach to them a mutilated Gospel — the Gospel stripped of anything that belongs to it, but the Gospel in its fulness; not something sound about the Gospel, but to preach the Gospel itself directly ; not a Gospel text here and there opened up and taught, but the Gospel itself in its glorious fulness ; facts and doctrines and fruits.

"3rd. The fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Not the Gospel as a theory, or as the principal part of theology, or as a matter of speculative know-

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led^e; but the Gospel as that which carries in it to men a fulness of needed blessing. He was coming to them as a man entrusted with abundant supplies of provision for a famishing city, or of sure medicine for a plague- stricken district, or as bearing the King's pardon for a community of condemned men. The fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ comprehends a great deal. Who can set forth all that these words cover ? Pardon, reconciliation, liberty, holiness : or, (as we have it in the Catechism) effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life accompany these, together with all that are matters of assured hope for the world to come. To come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ was not simply to come to speak to them of these blessings, bu^ so to preach those blessings to them that they might possess them in their fulness, each one for himself, so to preach the Gospel to them that they might be blessed with the fulness of its blessings, ' to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.'

"4th. To come to them in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ was to come to them infallibly sure of the truth and certainty of the Gospel. His own knowledge of it and faith in it were of the most decisive character, and he preached it with no uncertain sound, not with vagueness and doubt, but as the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, who is the Truth, the Way and the Life.

" 5th. Sure also of the errand on which this Gospel is sent into the world, viz., to open the eyes of men, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in Christ. The errand of the Gospel is to convey to men all the blessings with which it is fraught.

" 6th. Sure also that the Gospel must prosper in the thing whereto God has sent it. It is not to return to Him void. It must do its work. The power and faitli-

BRUCEFIELD.

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fulness of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are pledged for Its complete success, and for the final salvation of everyone who rests in it and its provisions. "

h. V'^ ^.K°''^ ^^'i'' ^''^" '^^P'^'^ *■•*«'" Mr. Ross's unstudied note book w,th scarce y even a verbal alteration. Had They bee,, pre" ToflH h P"''':'^^^'"" by the hand that penned then at fiS they' uould have been written and rewritten until thev exacHv expressed the very shade of thou,,ht intended But ^ does ndt seen, r.ght for a,iy other hand to attempt such revis io .

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CHAPTER VI.

THE UNION OF 1861.

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"HE early months of Mr. Ross's ministry in Brucefield were clouded by the shadow of death steadily darkening down upon his home. His sweet young wife, to whom he had been deeply attached almost from boyhood, died the February after his settlement, and left, as he said twenty years later, an " utter desolation " behind. His sister. Miss Jane Ross, came nobly to his help in these circum- stances, and was a tower of strength to him for many years until her own health somewhat ;.;ave way.

His Vi/ork during those early years in Brucefield was broken, according to his heart's desire, by frequent missionary tours in the Northern counties. It was also very constantly and pleasantly varied by faithful attendance at Church Courts. He enjo3'ed with no common zest intercourse with brother ministers, and ticking his own share in the debates that then occupied their attention.

One special subject of debate all through those early years, from 1851 to 1861, and one in which Mr. Ross took a somewhat important part, was the proposed union between the (Free) Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Presbyterian Church in Canada. Every year, as regularly as the Synod met, the subject occupied an important place in their deliberations. That the reader may be prepared to take an intelligent interest in the matter, it may be well to go back a little, and make plain the antecedents and character of the United Presbyterian Church with whom it was proposed to enter into union.

THE UNION OF 1861.

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Thore who read with interest the chapter on Church History, will remember that the Free Church was not the first secession from the Church of Scotland. The cluster of godly men rallying round Ebenezer Erskine in 1733 stood on exactly the same ground as the Free Church 1 10 years later. They, like their brethren of the later date, had contended earnestly within the Church for the rights of Jesus Christ and His people, until that Church could bear them no longer and thrust them out. Then they '* strengthened their hands in God " and contended as earnestly outside of the Church for the self-same ob- jects, finding themselves freed thenceforth from many of their former difficulties. During the dark century that followed, they were abundantly used and blessed of God in feeding His scattered sheep, many of whom had othtrv. re been left "fainting, and scattered abroad, sheep having no shepherd." Indefatigable laborers were these, under whatever name they wrought. First they were known as the Secession, later, as the Asso- ciate Synod ; and later still, from the year 1847, as the United Presbyterian Church. Diligence and self-denial — ^lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes — characterized them wherever they went. These were not the men to leave the co'onies without care. Early in the century missionaries were sent from this energetic body of Christians to minister to the emigrants then leaving the shores of the Old World in great numbers for the dark forest lands of Canada. In 1844, at the time of the Canadian Disruption, their Missionary Synod, as it was called, numbered twenty-two ministers, while the roll of the newly formed (Free) Presbyterian Synod contained the names of twenty-three.

Here then, after the Disruption, were two bodies of Presbyterians, alike in origin, a'ike in faith, alike in Church government, alike in everything (except one thing) — why should not these two unite and work together for their Lord, instead of forming all over the land rival camps ?

Before that question could be decided, the nature and importance of the one thing on which they differed would need to be understood.

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There was no difference between them regarding- Christ's Headship over the Church. They enthusiasti- cally agreed in honoring Jesus Christ as the sole Head of His Church, in condemning the civil ruler who, on any pretext wliatever, interferes with the spiritual jurisdic- tion of Christ's Kingdom, and in as strongly condemn- ing the church that shall, on any pretext whatever, allow such interference.

But the P'ree Church as enthusiastically held, with John Knox and his fellows, that Christ is also God's appointed Head over the nations, and that, consequently, the Christian ruler of a Christian nation owes it to Jesus Christ to use His power as a civil ruler in the interest of the Kingdom of Christ, as far as such exercise of His power can be of service to that cause. They believed that the serious word of counsel given at the close of the 2nd Psalm to the kings and judges of the earth is given to them as kings, not merely as individuals. They held that the duty there imperatively laid upon kings is, loyally to yield their official poiver to the King God has set over Zion. The practical issues of this view of the duties oi the civil ruler bear especially in four directions : ist. It lays a solemn duty upon nations and their rulers, publicly and nationally to do homage to God, and to Jesus Christ wliom He hath appointed mediatorial King. This recognition should appear in the very constitution of the state, and manifest itself in the appointment and honorable observance of days of public, national thanks- giving or humiliation, according to God's providential dealings with the nation. 2nd. It justifies the state, in proper circumstances, in taking public funds for the maintenance of religion, and the Church in receiving such assistance, always providing that no infringement of spiritual privilege is made by the one or allowed by the other. 3rd. It lays it as a duty upon the Christian ruler of a Christian country to protect the Sabbath by law, and not to leave it to the slow growth of a Christian public opinion to establish a universal Sabbath rest. 4th. It requires the ruler, especially if he assumes the responsibility of general education, to see that Scripture

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knowledge shall be given along with secular knowledge — teaching not dogma but Scripture— ^o that not one child educated in the Public Schools should fail of an adequate knowledge of God as communicated through Scripture narrative in Scripture words.

The United Presbyterian Church, not in the days of its founders, but especially since the dawning of the present century, have practically repudiated this doctrine of the Headship of Christ over the nations, and all its bearings upon the duties of the civil ruler. They pro- ceed upon the principle that Jesus Christ claims no alle- giance whatever from nations as n?itions. nor from the civil ruler as such. That,ai a man, the magistrate is bound to serve the Lord, but, as a m/er, his whole duty consists in guarding the natural rights of his subjects, leaving it to the Church alone to advance Christ's cause throughout the nation and the world. They maintained : ist. That national, constitutional recognition of God is out of place, and that the appointment by the Governor of days of thanksgiving or humiliation is an interference with the duty of the Church. 2nd. That it is always and necessarily wrong for the magistrate to endow or assist the Church, and equally wrong for the Church to accept such endowment or assistance, even though left free in matters spiritual. 3rd. That the Sabbath as the Lord's Day is no concern of the magistrate ; but that as a day of rest, known to be beneficial to man, he may, if the majority desire it, protect it by law. 4th. That in no circumstances whatever has the civil ruler a right to do anything towards the religious instruction of the children of the land. That matter must be left entirely to the Church.

It will be seen that in this whole field of truth and duty, full of practical issues, the two churches were diametrically opposed.

Nevertheless, negotiations for union were entered into immediately. Though the differences stated above were felt on all sides to constitute a most serious diffi- culty in the way, yet they had so much in common, and the hurtful effects of continued separation were so mani-

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fest and so serious, that there was a strong wish on both sides to come to an agreement.

Toward this end, in 1845, a union committee was appointed by each of the Synods. These committees met, year after year, each seeking : 1st. To modify the opinions of the other, that there might be a nearer approach to real unanimity on the subject of difference ; and 2nd. (when that was found to be hopeless. ) To con- struct such a document as a basis of union as would give adequate expression to the views of each and yet give no vital offence to either. The negotiations continued during sixteen years, and at length a basis of union was drawn up which, whether satisfactory or other'vise, was almost unanimously accepted by both churches

For several years Mr. Ross was a member of the union committee appointed by the Synod of the Free Church. Throughout the negotiations he was anxious to advance the cause of union. Some of his warmest ministerial friends belonged to the United Presbyterian body, and very beautifully they dwelt together and worked together in unity. He deeply respected the founders of the Secession, and their century of heroic labor, where- by they had earned an honorable title long before the Free Church as a body had even buckled on its armor. He appreciated the character of the men occupying their pulpits, and of the people occupying their pews, and he was ready to do anything that rightly lay in his power to clear away the hindrances to union. But he was also deeply anxious to prevent any concession that would neutralize the ringing testimony given by the Free Church to the Headship of Christ over the nations.

But the fact of the matter was, as he saw very clearly later, that the securing of such a union apart from compromise somewhere, was an impossibility. The one party believed in special duties as owing by the civil ruler to Jesus Christ as mediatorial King. The other party frankly and continuously disbelieved in these. The attempt to produce a basis that would satisfy both Churches was an attempt to produce an ambiguity which should mean one thing to one party and another thing to the other.

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At the last meeting- of the union committees, when the wording of the preamble was finally arranged, a seemingly slig^ht change was proposed by the United Presbyterian Committee. It-was only the introduction of a short clause, or the modification of one already there, and no serious alteration of meaning seemed to result from allowing* il. After a little discussion, the Free Church party yielded the point, Mr. Ross among the rest, though he was conscious of a vague feeling of unrest' in connection with it. It was not until he had retired for the night, and was lying quietly awake thinking over the matter, that the full significance of the change flashed upon him. So vivid was his impression of having made a blunder which must be rectified at once that, from an instantaneous impulse, he sprang out of bed, as though he could and must by some energetic action set it right again. He saw that the slight change seriously affected the' integrity of the Fourth Article of the Union Basis, which it had been the special care of the Free Church Committee to conserve in full strength throughout the negotiations.

The following are the Preamble and Basis of Union finally agreed upon between the two Synods :

" The Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Presbyterian Church in Canada, believing that it would be for the glory of God and for the advancement of the cause of Christ in the land that they should unite ar.'l form one Church, do hereby agree to unite on the fol- lowing basis, to be subscribed by the moderators of their respecti'/e Synods in their names and behalf, declaring at the same time that no inference from the fourth article of said basis is held to be legitimate, which asserts that the civil magistrate^has the right to prescribe the faith of the Church or to interfere with the freedom of her ecclesiastical action ; further, that unanimity of sentiment is not required in regard to the practical applications of the principle embodied in the said fourth article, and that whatever differences of sentiment may arise on these subjects, all action in reference thereto shall be regulated by, and be subject

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to, the recognized principles of Presbyterian Church order :

"I. Of Holy Scripture. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being the inspired Word of God, are the supreme and infallible rule of faith and life.

*' H. Of the Subordinate Standards. That the West- minster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, are received by this Church as her Subordinate Standards. But whereas certain sections of said Confession of Faith, which treat of the power and duty of the civil magistrate, have been objected to as teaching- principles adverse both to the right of private judgment in religious matters and to the pre- rogative which Christ has vested in His Church, it is to be understood : — .

*' I. That no interpretation or reception of these sections is required by this Church which would inter- fere with the fullest forbearance as to any difference of opinion which may prevail on the question of the endow- ment of the Church by the State.

"2. That no interpretation or reception of these sections is required by this Church which would accord to the State any authority to violate the liberty of con- science and right of private judgment which are asserted in Chapter XX., Sec. 2, of the Confession, and in accordance with the statements of which this Church holds that every person ought to be at full liberty to search the Scriptures for himself, and to follow out what he conscientiously believes to be the teaching of Scripture, without let or hindrance, provided that no one be allowed, under the pretext of following the dic- tates of conscience to interfere with the peace and good order of society.

" 3. That no interpretation or reception of these sections is required by this Church which would admit of any interference on the part of the State with the spiritual independence of the Church, as set forth in Chapter XXX. of the Confession.

"HI. Of the Headship of Christ over the Church. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only King and Head of His

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Church ; that He has made her free from all external or secular authority in the administration of her affairs, anc^ that she is bound to assert and defend this liberty to the utmost, and ought not to enter into such engagements with any party as would be, prejudicial thereto.

"IV. Of the Headship of Christ over the Nations, and the Duty of the Civil Magistrate. That the Lord Jesus Christ, as Mediator, is invested with universal sovereignty, and is therefore King of Nations ; and that all men, in every capacity and relation, are bound to obey His will as revealed in His Word ; and par- ticularly that the Civil Magistrate (including in that term all who are in any way concerned in the legislative or administrative action of the State) is bound to regu- late his official procedure, as well as his personal conduct, by the revealed will of Christ.

" V. Of Church Government'. That the system of polity established in the Westminster Form of Presby- terian Church Government, in so far as it declares plurality of Elders for each congregation, the official equality of Presbyters, without any officers in the Church superior to said Presbyters, and the unity of the Church in a due subordination of a smaller part to a larger, and of a larger to the whole, is the government of the Church, and is, in the features of it herein set forth, believed by this Church to be founded on, and agreeable to, the Word of God.

"VI. That the ordinances of worship shall be administered in this Church as they have heretofore been, by the respective bodies of which it is composed, in a general accordance with the directions contained in the Westminster Directory of Worship."

The above document is a study. The fourth article expresses the doctrine of the Headship of Christ over the Nations in terms explicit enough and strong enough to satisfy the Free Churchman ; but that same article in the Preamble is so qualified and guarded that the Voluntary need experience no inconvenience by it. The Westminster Confession, in treating of the duties of the Civil Magistrate, asserts or implies the doctrine of the

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Headship of Christ over the Nations, and, in Article H., the Confession is accepted as a subordinate Standard for the whole Church, but under-sections i, 2, 3 so modify all these statements of the Confession that they mean, to a Voluntary, just what he wishes them to mean.

On the 6th of June, 1861 , the union was consummated between the (Free) Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Presbyterian Church in Canada. The united body took the name of the Canada Presbyterian Church.

Dr. John Bayne, of Gait, and a small party with him, had all along firmly opposed union upon any basis but one stating in clear terms the whole truth and the un- modified truth, as held by the P'ree Church, on the Headship of Christ over the nations. Within a few months of the consummation of the union, the great man fell in the harness, and so his powerful voice was not heard on the day of union. His absence was sorely felt by the few who sympathized with him, and may have been one reason of the smallness of the number that were ready, " having done all to stand " when the day of trial came. Only Mr. Ross's early friend, Mr. Lachlan McPherson, of Williams, and a handful of people in the county of Bruce, stood firmly against the union by refusing to enter into it.

Mr. Ross did not stand out against it. He had been one of the active men about its formation. But his heart was ill at ease on the subject.

♦• The days that followed the union of '61," he said, years afterward, " were t-^rrible days to me. The majesty and supreme importance of the Kingship of Jesus Christ began so to shine into my soul as to make my very flesh tremble.

"One day on horseback I took out my book and my eyes fell upon that pasrage, * until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ : which in his times he shall show, the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord ot lords ; who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen nor can see : to whom be honor and power everlnsiing. Amen.' The very words seemed to shine

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like the face of Moses. My eyes could not help looking at them, and I shut the book. My mind was full of this thought. The glory shining in these words is the glory with which God has clothed the Kingship of His Son, and yet men will cut and pare and trim it off to suit the notions of their fellowmen.

*' As the Church went on on the crest of the union wave, ready in a few years to do anything that was con- venient with the kingship of the King, I was drawn back farther and farther from the position taken in '61, so that extended concession from me in that matter was an impossibility, — except by such a deed as that of Judas."

His part in the matter was a bitter thing to him, and the inner conflicts of those days were written plainly on his countenance, though few understood the cause.

It was early in the year 1862, just after the consum- mation of the union, while his mind was deeply exercised upon the subject, that the writer first caught a glimpse of his face.

There was a tea meeting in the Bayfield Road chapel, over which my father was minister, and Mr. Logic, of Rodgerville, was one of the speakers expected. The tea was nearly over when he appeared, and with him as he walked up to the walled platform where the ministers sat was a tall, fair, very serious-looking man. As soon as the stranger was fairly seated among his brethren he turned around with a sort of exploring look, and I saw his countenance. The sadness, the settled sadness, that lay in his blue eyes touched my childish heart with a great pity, and well do I remember asking God in prayer that night to put forth His own power to comfort that very sorrowful minister.

"As one whom his mother comforteth, so'^ did the Lord comfort him, though some who knew him during the few following years of unrest might not feel the apt- ness of the quotation. How does a wise and loving mother comfort a child who has sinned against her, and who has been brought to see and own the wrong that he has done ? She will draw the child away from his

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sports, and even from his ordinary lessons, into closer communion with herself. In seeking to comfort she will be very careful not to weaken his sense of the sinful- ness of his sin, or to give him the impression that the sin is less in her eyes than it is in his. Yet she will seek with all a mother's tenderest skill to shine into that child's heart the love and forgiveness that are yearning for safe and wise expression. Then the distinctive peculiarity of the comfort a mother gives is, that she makes herse/fth^ comfort. It is not what she does or what she gives that satisfies the heart of her child ; it is what she is — what she is to him — in her overflowing love and strong appropriation.

So the Lord comforted his servant during the years that followed this first union. He led him deeply to see the sin and danger of the course which he, along with the rest of the Church, had been running with inexcus- able heedlessness. Deeper and deeper that lesson was pressed home till his soul was often ready humbly to say : " I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned ag^c'nst Him." But along with these bitter lessons there was much tender drawing into closer communion with Himself.

A characteristic incident occurred about this time showing the trouble of spirit and the directness of inter- course between him and his Master.

A dark presence seemed to himself to be with him wherever he went, and his soul was harassed. His experience bore some resemblance to that of John Bunyan as described in Grace Abounding, and depicted in Christian's journey through the Vailey of the Shadow of Death. Thoughts that did not spring from his own brain distressed his spirit and refused to be dismissed. But through all the confusion one refrain would come up — not constantly, but at intervals — " I will put my hook in his nose, and my bridle in his lips, and turn him about by the way that he came."

For days the discord continued, and still the word oi power, ever and anon, kept ringing through the chambers of his soul : " I will put my hook in his nose.

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and my bridle in his lips, and turn him about by the way that he came." At last, in a sort of impatience, he took up the words and threw them back, saying-, "/*«/ thy hook in his nose, and thy bridle in his lips." That moment the dark presence vanished, and his spirit was calm again. Though in very different circumstances, yet it was David over again, *' Do as thou hast said."

Through those years the conversational method of handling the Bible passed from an occasional to almost a continual thing with him. He looked up to God for a word, and then in the passage to which his finger turned he would find a special message in reply. If there was some uncertainty, another turn of the leaves would give a reduplication of the messag^e, and then he was satisfied that he had the very thought that his Lord wished him to ponder or to use. In this way, while turning over the leaves of his Bible, a real conversation took place between him and his Master, and he lived much in close companionship with an unseen friend.

One afternoon about this time he was preparing for a journey by train. He looked up for a word while dress- ing, and the one upon which hiseyefell was this: ''Who- soever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

*' ' Ashamed of me and of my wordSy^ " he thought. " Does the Lord mean that to be ashamed of His words is to be ashamed of Him ? Would I be ashamed to enter the car this afternoon in Christ's company ? Per- haps not. Would I be ashamed to read His words to my fellow-passengers ? I think I would. ' Of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.' Let me escape that at whatever cost. "

From that day he began his wayside reading of the Word of God. Many a straight message fell from the skies into ears that could not choose but listen, and sometipies into hearts that answered, " I will arise and go to my Father."

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Some may be tempted to copy Mr. Ross in this. That would not be wise, unless specially led and trained for the service. If called^ a man will be gujded and used. But no man can do this or any work effectually " except it were given him from above." There is surely great danger, in these days of tremendous activity, of will- service as well as of will-worship ; and the one is as vain as the other. The only safety is in keeping constantly to Paul's prayer: " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

In the following, a brother minister gives his testi- mony concerning Mr. Ross's peculiar methods : '* He carried his Bible wherever he went, holding it generally in his hand, and always ready to read a passage from it to any with whom he conversed. I was often struck with the adaptation of the passages which he would read, to persons or circumstances which concerned him. On one occasion I told him that I could not agree with his mode of applying Scriptures without noticing the connection in which they were found ; that God had placed within us a reason which He expected us to ex- ercise, rather than notice the passages upon which our fingers rested, and that I had often condemned from the pulpit his mode of applying Divine truth. ' You do right,* was his reply, 'to condemn it, and it would be wrong on your part to follow my mode ; but yet,' said he, ' the Spirit directs my very fingers to the passages He would have me, at the time, to read. If I only get any person or thing under my fingers ' — pointing to his Bible — * within th.e covers of this Book, then I am sure the Spirit has something to do with that passage to which my fingers are led ; I feel therefore bound to read it, in confidence that the Spirit of God is to do something with it connected with the person to whom I read it. This is one way,' said he, * which God uses in speaking to my soul, and He leads me to understand His will.'"

He did not blindly read any word that came. Some- times the writer has seen him turn page after page, and then say disappointedly, ** I cannot get a message at all." On one occasion I asked him the question, '* How

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do you know when He is speaking to you in the words to which you turn ? " His answer was prompt and un- expected, ** How do I know that you are speaking to me ? " and then he answered himself; " Because 1 know your voice." Thus he declined to reason about it.

There was no miracle in this direct communication by means of the written word ; neither was there preter- natural skill in manipulating" the leaves of the book, as has been suggested by some who could not deny the facts. There was simply a real and beautifully minute special providence. Probably there is scarcely a Christian living who has not occasionally had similar experience ; in sore need of comfort or direction, the very thing re- quired has been supplied by the simple opening of that wonderful Book. Then we have felt, *' Surely God was in this place and I knew it not;" so vivid was the impres- sion produced of His gracious nearness. With most this is a rare matter ; but is it incredible that, when God found one who was ever on the watch for such tokens of His providential goodness. He should take pleasure in con- stantly revealing Himself in this way ? It is well known that the habit of watching for sweet special providences in daily life is always rewarded by an increasing supply of them, or an ever-increasing power to see and enjoy them, probably both.

Another thing about this time became very marked in his experience — prayer about what the world calls little things, and answers so direct land clear that the little things were at once invested with the interest and preciousness of great things.

It may have been two — possibly three — years after the night of the tea-meeting before the writer saw Mr. Ross again ; and a most marked change had evidently taken place in the meantime. A deputation had been sent by the Presbytery to the various congregations to awaken a deeper interest in missions. Mr. Ross, Dr. McDonald, now of Seaforth, then of Clinton, and Mr. Barr, of Harpurhey, were its members. Their boyish pranks and spirits were a source of great interest and

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amazement that, afternoon they spent at our home. Snowballing, upsetting of each other's cutters, and jokes of all descriptions, practical and verbal, were quite the order of the day. It was happy, catching merri- ment.

The other two ministers went away after the even- ing meeting, but Mr. Ross returned with the family, and spent an hour or two in delightful talk before retiring. The conversation was not general ; my father and he carried it on themselves, while the rest sat around and listened. They were speaking especially about prayer. Mr. Ross gave several instances of prompt answers to special prayer. Then for the first time I heard the story of the loss of his watch in the great cranberry marsh extending for many miles in the County of Huron. He told the story somewhat as follows :

*' We drove over one afternoon for a jaunt, to get cran- berries if there were any, but to see the place and its curiosities if there were none. There were no cranberries. We amused ourselves for some time as a company ; but after a while I wandered away from the rest, on what track of my own I do not now remember. Some hours passed, and I noticed suddenly that the sun was getting low ; it was evidently time to gather the party together and go home. As the eye went up to the sun, the hand went to the vest pocket ; but my heart sank within me, for it was empty. The first thought was, * Well, my watch is gone, and it is gone forever.' The absurdity of looking for a watch in the long grass aud tangled growths of a cranberry marsh almost made one smile. But the next thought was — * I/is eye sees it exactly where it is ' — the next, ' He can guide me to it if He will.' •

** I had not moved from the spot or the position where I had first discovered my loss. Without moving from either I dropped on my knees in the grass, and told Him the two thoughts that had come into my heart — that He now saw the watch just where it was lying, and that He could, if He thought bes:, guide me back to the exact spot. I did not ask Him to do so. My prayer consisted simply in stating to Him the case.

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" Then I arose with my position still unchanged. That, I saw, was my only clue to my backward track. Wheeling- around I walked slowly back, hoping in that way at least to start right for the retracing of my steps. I went some distance, and then stopped to look around and see if there was any tall clump of grass, or bit of stump or bush, or anything I might recall as having impressed itself upon me in my forward journey. I could see nothing and was just going to move on, when my eye fell to my feet, and there, touching the toe of my left boot, lay the missing watch."

A very vivid impression was left by that e"ening's intercourse. Here was a man like those described in the Bible. God was real and near to him as He was to Moses when He talked with him face to face. He told God about his missing watch as a little child would tell his father about a lost marble, and God acted in the matter just as a kind earthly father would have done. Then he spoke about it in a happy voice and with a smiling countenance. Do not many Christians pass over the injunction, "Talk ye of all His wondrous works," hiding their best things deep in their own hearts, forgetting that the ringing testimony of another will often cheer the young and downhearted with a great courage.

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CHAPTER VII.

THE king's messenger.

N the preceding chapter we followed the subject of these pages through periods of deep soul- conflict and out again into sunnier regions. These were times of special training for years of special service. He now began in a peculiar sense to act the part of the king's messenger.

He had been given clearer views of the King Himself. He had "seen the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." He had shared in the prophet's responsive