Rev A Brandram No 88
Montreal 15th November 1839
My Dear Friend,
The day before yesterday I arrived in this city from Quebec, and have now finished my tour for the season. This tour has lasted from the 25th of April to the 13th of November, a full six months and a half. My letters from Toronto, Sandwich, and the Falls of Niagara will have informed you of the most material of the occurring circumstances up to the 20th of September. The present letter will take up the narrative of these at the Falls, and come down to the closing of the tour the other day.
On the evening of the 21st of September I reached Toronto, and on the same evening there was held a meeting of the Committee of the Toronto Bible Society. It was well attended like all the other meetings of the same body I had witnessed. The principal subjects of discussion at this committee meeting were, regarding the change of the name and field of their Society, the prices at which their books should be sold, and the employment of an agent who should be constantly occupied in visiting all the branch societies within their sphere, in forming new ones, and in making sure that the word of God did come into every home on the one hand, and that on the other something should be got from every house towards the grand general purpose of sending the Bible to all nations and tongues over the world. Our friends finally fixed and arranged regarding the new name and a new extent of their Society. It is to be, and now is, the Upper Canada Bible Society, and embraces all the Province, except some portions lying on the Eastern boundaries, and which may be more advantageously joined to the Montreal Society. In regard to what passed about the prices of the books, I shall write you at a future time, taking a range of the subject to embrace all the societies in this quarter. On the subject of an agent all the Committee were agreed as to its utility, but they were afraid lest its cost at the present time would be more than they were able to bear. I would suggest to you a mode of your helping them as to this matter at the commencement. At different times this Society has paid to the amount of £136:14:3 sterling for procuring and printing a translation of some portions of the Scripture into the Chippeway tongue. Now if you could place this sum to your general foreign translation account, and give credit to our Toronto friends for the same amount, it would probably set them in motion as to that agency, and when they were fairly set agoing most likely they would be able to move on afterwards by their own energies. Please think upon this, and do what you may judge best. An agency such as is in question would I think greatly conduce to hasten and forward our Bible work, in both its two parts in Upper Canada.
In Toronto on the present occasion I was so happy as to meet with the Rev. Mr. Evans, one of the Wesleyan missionaries, who had just come there on a visit from Lake Superior where he was stationed among the Chippeway Indians. Mr. Evans I met with in 1830 at Rice Lake among the same tribe of Indians. With this people he has been ever since, and is therefore well acquainted with them. We had a good deal of conversation together on the subject of these Indians, the most extensive tribe in this country, and principally as to the procuring for them a version of the major part of the Scriptures, or rather the whole if practicable. I ventured to say to Mr. Evans, that you would readily lend your aid to this, and extensively. New please to say whether I was right in thus speaking in your name, and if so, direct me to what extent might pledge you in the case.
On the afternoon of Monday, the 23rd of September I left Toronto, and at midnight reached Whitby. Here on the forenoon of Tuesday we should have had a meeting: but the notice had not been sent on in time from Toronto by a friend acquainted with the place and persons, which I was not. On the evening of the same day, at Darlington, and on the 25th at Port Hope, we failed of our projected meeting from the same cause. On the 27th I was in Peterboro where we had a good meeting in the midst of very bad weather, as it snowed the greater part of the day, and was very cold during remainder. The Bible Society atmosphere however in Peterboro was clear and warm. There is a fine committee here and fine people, all armed and marshalled, and waiting impatiently I may say, to hear the word – "March." In addition to their care for their own Township, they have formed a connexion with several others. Their object is in all these to do their Bible work faithfully and completely. They were anxious to know what little directions and suggestions I could give them for commencing in carrying forward their work of Bible visitation, etc. I found them met in Committee constituted, previous to the assembling of the people for the Public Meeting. I complied with their wishes, and addressed them by themselves, around the stove, on the subjects they desired to be informed on. On closing I expressed how much gratification it afforded to see them so well affected and zealous in this noble cause, and intimated that I would look with some interest for an account of their movements and the results following, and hoped that I should be able to urge others onward in other places by their example. I may say that this Committee and Society have done well hitherto, and we may reasonably expect therefore that their future proceedings will be like, and may perhaps surpass, their former good deeds. The Rev. Mr. Gilmour, the Agent of the New England Company here on behalf of the Indians settled in the neighbourhood is a warm and active friend of your cause. He kindly entertained, and afforded every help to your agent during his short stay in Peterboro.
In Cobourg I saw the Ministers of the different denominations, and found a good feeling prevailing in favour of our Society. Considering the lateness of the season, and what yet lay before me demanding my attention, I could not wait the necessary time for arrangements and sufficient notice for a public meeting. I was obliged to content myself therefore with preparing the way for a meeting at another time, whether I could return to attend it or not. – In Belleville I also saw the several Ministers who were all very favourably disposed towards us. I declined staying there as I had done at Cobourg, and for the same reason. – In Kingston I made but a short stay, intending to return to it from Brockville in a few days, if a public meeting could be held profitably. I saw the Rev. Mr. Machar who had but just returned to Canada from England. The shortness of his time since returning, prevented him, he said, from looking into the concerns of the Society. He considered therefore that we could hardly have a public meeting there at the time with proper advantage. The meeting therefore was put off, so that I gave up my intention of returning that in a few days as above intimated. In Kingston I saw also Mr. Hardy who likewise had just returned from the old country. He mentioned his having called that your Great House in Earl Street, where he delivered the note of introduction which I gave him to Mr. Jackson in the beginning of May when I passed through Kingston. Mr. Hardy spoke very warmly of Mr. Jackson's kind and very serviceable attentions to him. I have great pleasure in mentioning this circumstance, and beg you will notice it to our good friend as a little return for his kind services.
On the 3rd of October I came to Brockville. How to get all things put in proper working train there was a matter of more than common thought and arrangement. After visiting several persons, I proposed a meeting of all those who had formerly been connected with the Committee of the Society. Notices were sent accordingly. The meeting took place, all was harmonious, and we came to the Resolution to form a new Society. On the evening of the 8th we held our public meeting for the formation of the same. It was pretty well attended, and most of those connected with the previous Society of both parties were present. We all agreed in our resolution to terminate the old Society and to form a new one, leaving the affairs of the former to be settled by the Secretaries with the Agent of the Parent Society. Mr. Smart, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Sabine, and Mr. Freeland were with us, and took part in the business of the meeting. The whole transactions of the meeting were gratifying to all present, as far as I could judge from what then to place, and from what I heard afterwards. I felt glad and thankful to see things brought to this pleasant close on the one hand, and to see also a new Society formed with goodly prospects, without involving either of the two parties in unpleasant compromises. Mr. Sherwood, the Sheriff of the District, is as before the President of the Society, Mr. Freeland is Vice-president, Mr. Glasford is Treasurer, the Rev. P C Campbell and Mr. William Hynes are Secretaries and Mr. Smart is a member of the Committee.
The only thing that yet remains as somewhat unsettled in this Brockville concern, is in respect of Mr. Campbell's letter. I am inclined to think that this also could be accommodated had I a copy of the letter in question. I would be glad therefore if you would let me have a copy of it, and if you do that I shall not make a bad use of it, if I can help it, but a good one. Please send it early, lest it should be too late for my opportunities of doing good with it.
Mr. Smart gave me the sum of £68:14:5 Upper Canada currency, being all the monies he had on hand for the Society. This sum I have paid in to the Treasurer of the Montreal Bible Society, together with some other sums I have received, as I do not wish these monies to pass into or through my own accounts with the Society. They will be taken notice of in due order in the Montreal Society Books and Accounts. Mr. Smart also gave me a note of some outstanding accounts with societies for books, and likewise a list of the books in his possession which he has placed at my disposal.
It would not be fair, just, or generous to close these Brockville notices without saying a word or two as immediately affecting the interests of Mr. Smart. By his interest I mean his character, and his general deportment as your Agent. I am glad to say that I can find nothing injurious to him on these scores. There was, I may say, one or two things that seemed to bear another aspect. But it happened in this case, as it does in many others, that a nearer contact and inspection made to disappear and pass away that which before seemed something and unseemly. Mr. Smart's error was in having applied to you for the Agency without previously consulting the Committee at Brockville. He must have known well that they wanted a foreign prophet, shall I say, and not one of and among themselves whose every relation and concern they knew. The disappointment and consequent dissatisfaction was felt as everybody would have anticipated; and I told Mr. Smart that he could not have expected anything else. Others besides the Brockville Society felt disappointed in a similar manner, and hence the fact of various communications to you on the subject, and from hence also their nature and colours. You, on your part, were, I do not say in error, but a misunderstanding regarding Mr. Smart on two points, as I suppose, when you made the appointment. You thought, and you could not well have thought otherwise, that Mr. Smart had not only communicated his proposition made to you to the Brockville Bible Society previously, but that he also had their full approbation. You considered therefore, I believe, that your appointment would be not only acceptable but gratifying to our Brockville friends. The other point is this. When inquiring concerning Mr. Smart's character and standing, as you mentioned in one of your letters to me about the time, some of your colleagues said that the fact that Mr. Smart was the Secretary to the Upper Canada Synod was testimonial ample on these scores. You supposed all of you, I believe, and probably still do, that this Synod was the general body of the Church of Scotland ministers of this country. It is not so, and has no connection with that body. It consists of about 20 ministers or under, some of whom were formerly connected with the Synod of Ulster. Had Mr. Smart been the Secretary of the large influential body here of the Church of Scotland, it would have gone far in his favour as a savour and advantage, and might greatly have contributed to acceptableness. – As to Mr. Smart's fitness for an Agent of your Society, I have not seen anything unfavourable; and if stealing or coveting were lawful, I should feel disposed to take from him something that I would be the better of, and you too perhaps. But we must both be contented with such things as we have, and turn them to the best advantage. – The poor foreigner now here as your Agent enjoys an advantage very extrinsic to his character. It is, just because he is a foreigner, and perhaps also, because he can tell some travellers' stories. I am glad however that my disadvantage is your advantage, and though I have no certain dwelling place now, I look for one to come. Forgive this sigh for want of, and for – a home. If an Apostle, and the highest one of them, felt the disadvantage in question, and if God has given the sigh a place in his Book, the same feeling is forgivable perhaps in your poor Western wanderer whether at Cape Horn or in Canada.
I have given you our Brockville notices together without interruption, although our Prescott business took place intermediate. On the 3rd of October, as I have said above, I arrived in Brockville. On the 4th at noon I set out for Prescott, 12 miles to the east, driven by our good friend Mr. Freeland in his own vehicle. When I arrived I called on the Secretary of the Prescott Bible Society, the Rev. Mr. Boyd, and the chief member of the Committee, and made arrangements for a public meeting on the 7th, the Monday following. We then returned to Brockville late on a very cold frosty night, for the winter was even then commencing. – On the 7th I set out for Prescott to the public meeting, accompanied and driven by our worthy coadjutor Mr. Campbell, in a vehicle which a Bible friend lent us. We held the meeting accordingly, and though it was not so numerously attended as we had reason to expect from the notices given, yet it was a gracious meeting, which those who were there felt according to their statements, as I have no doubt they did. They all seemed anxious to keep up and extend the Bible feeling which God had inspired him to us that evening. For this end therefore they appointed another day about a week onward for a second public meeting. Mr. Campbell and I passed the night at Mr. Boyd's, where we were both much gratified with his courtesy and his conversation. – I beg leave to anachronise a little here, in order to give you a favourable notice of the second the Bible meeting above-mentioned, and the good results of both, and a third. Mr. Boyd wrote me on the 25th October saying, "We have had two meetings of the Bible Society since you were here, and there seems to be a good deal of interest manifested. The Committee are to visit the town and country." This agreeable communication was accompanied by an order for supplies of Books. I felt glad to see these good results at Prescott, for things were very dull there, as I indicated to you in my letter No 84 when mentioning my passing through the place in the end of April. Prescott had suffered in its Bible interests, and in all its interests, by the attack made upon it towards the end of last year by the Americaneers from the other side of the River. I hope as its Bible interest are again reviving, all its interests will revive with these; and in truth, all the real interests of every place rise and fall with the Bible interest.
On the 9th I left Brockville before daylight for Perth. The distance is 42 miles, and a great portion of the road was as bad as you could well imagine. I wish you had been with me on the journey, by way of proving the famousness of some of our Canadian roads, and to have a trial of our corduroy macadamising. Had you been in our waggon, you would have had shaking exercise enough to counteract your sedentariness for a week or a month.
But all are bad roads were forgotten on our getting into Perth, or rather on coming near to it, for there on the road outside the town I found the Rev. Mr. Bell the Secretary of the Perth Bible Society waiting to receive your messenger, and to take him to his own house. We took up Mr. Bell into our stage, and drove on to his door, which opened as it were of its own accord, and I was introduced to Mr. Bell's family in which I passed very pleasantly my short stay in Perth.
From Brockville on the day of my arrival there, the 3rd, I wrote to Mr. Bell to give notice on the Sunday, and make all proper arrangements for our public meeting on the 10th. Our business postmaster however at Brockville thought it proper to keep the letter two days before he sent it off, in consequence of which it did not arrive in Perth on the Friday as it should, but on the Monday. The opportunity arranged for, of giving notice in the congregations, on the Sunday, was therefore lost. Mr. Bell however by extra exertions continued to give as wide notices possible of our meeting. On the 10th in his church it was held, and notwithstanding all the disadvantages the assembly was good, and good I trust was produced. I should not forget to notice one of our audience, a Mrs. Davidson, whom I knew in Edinburgh 22 years ago. This good lady walked in from the country to our meeting a distance of seven miles. This was no mean exertion, as you will know, when I tell you that in body she would weigh you and me both. I was glad to see this old friend, as you may suppose, and felt it as a mark of particular kindness her having walked so far to our meeting, from old acquaintanceship in part, as well as from Bible interest: and an interest she has in the grand subject of the Bible, she is an old disciple.
The Perth Bible Society has done well, and is going on still in a proper and prosperous manner. I endeavoured in my address to urge to worthy and noble exertions, in this great work of giving the Bible to all around us, and to the whole world; and pressed greater personal attention on the part of all to the word of God, in order that we might attain to our highest standing in the Christian life, and might the more advance the kingdom of God.
From Perth I went to Bytown along the Rideau Canal. Here on the 14th October we held a Bible meeting in the Scotch Church which was well attended. At the close of the meeting a good many persons given their names as subscribers, and several pounds were paid down. On the day following a meeting of the Committee was held, in which there was a full attendance. An order was made out at this meeting for 230 Bibles and 220 Testaments. This Society I think bids fair to do well. In general visitation is forth with to be begun, and a Ladies' Association formed. Bytown occupies a very important position at the junction of the Rideau Canal with the Ottawa River, and is likely to become a place of increasing note as our colonization extends. The Rev. Mr. Cruickshank the Scotch minister has taken up our cause there warmly, and will I think be able to render us very efficient services.
I fear at every step the extension of this letter, yet despite the same you shall have an extract from the Bytown Bible Society Report read at our public meeting there. It is as follows: – "The teachers of the Wesleyan Methodist Sabbath school found many of their scholars anxious to obtain a Bible of their own to take home to search, so that they might be able better to answer those questions on scriptural truths put to them every Sabbath by the conductors of that school. Your secretary was applied to to know if Bibles could be issued from your depository to these children who were willing to pay 2d. weekly until they had paid the full amount, and the Sabbath School Society becoming responsible for the amount. The result is that 38 of those children have obtained Bibles, and several others Testaments at this easy rate, who did not have the comfort of such a treasure before; and Scripture knowledge of spreading in the same ratio."
To make amends for detaining you with this extract, I make a leap at once from Bytown to Quebec, a distance of 300 miles. Our public meeting there was held on the 7th instant. The weather was very unfavourable and yet we had a pretty good assembly. The report was interesting, and the effect produced by the various things spoken on the occasion was good and gratifying, as was to be gathered from the observations afterwards made by those who were present. All seem to agree in that the same meeting was the best of all the Bible meetings yet held in Quebec. This place may be considered as in and at the very centre of the French Catholic population of this country, and is far removed from the large Protestant and Bible population touching different parts of the circumference line. This peculiar situation makes it of course more difficult for the Bible Society work to move onward. As a counterpart to this there are many warm Bible friends in Quebec, consisting of clergy and laity of all the different Protestant denominations in the place. The Society has maintained its ground and advanced as well and better than could have been expected considering its disadvantages; and I trust that soon a new and nobler stand will be taken by it as a sort of second series in its operations. It has much yet to do, in the first work of a Bible Society, namely, the getting the word of God into every house over all the field embraced by the Society; and from the nature of the people around the work of the Quebec Bible Society must be hard, and of the considerable continuance. – At the meeting your long tried friend Mr. Hale read the Report, which he also wrote, and which will by and by be in your hands in a printed form. The Chief Justice, the Honourable Mr. Sewell, President of the Society, was to have been in the chair, but he was very ill at the time. In his illness however he took the trouble to write a letter to the meeting which was read, and in which he expressed his regret at not being able to be present with us as he had wished, and assured us of his continued affection for our institution. In a few days after, he breathed his last; and he is now therefore in a better position than any of us for forming the proper estimation in value of the Bible, and of Bible Societies. He died on the 13th instant, aged 74.
From the 9th to the 12th current, your agent was in Three Rivers, a town halfway between Quebec and Montreal, on the north bank of the St. Lawrence. This was the last place to be visited in his tour. It was not however the least interesting in the occurring incidents, but rather perhaps the most. The Catholic priest of this parish, and who is also the Vicar of the whole district, is very friendly to the circulation of the Scriptures among all his people from the Nun to the Ploughboy. I called on him soon after my arrival in the place, and made him also a second visit before I left it. On both occasions we talked freely on the subject on hand, namely, the circulation of the Scriptures among the people of the parish, and of his permission and encouragement of the same. His approval and encouragement extend only to the De Sacy's version. The New Testament is what he wishes his people to possess and use rather than the Old. His only obstacle in regard to the latter is, that he thinks the people in general are not enlightened sufficiently to perceive the proper connection of the Old Testament with the New. A free and general use of the New Testament is certainly a good preparation to qualify the people in this way, and towards this preparation he gives full encouragement. There is a Nunnery in the town, and in it is contained a large female school. Both the nuns and their scholars have received the New Testaments readily. There is also a large school in the place for Boys, having about 100 in it. Into this school also the Scriptures have been freely introduced. I paid a visit to it, and had a good deal of conversation with the two Masters on the use of the Scriptures by their pupils, and was much pleased with the views they expressed on the subject. I had a class read the 12th chapter of the Romans which I pointed out to them. I heard some other classes read also, and they likewise read from the Scriptures, in large sheet lessons, hung upon the walls, according to the Lancasterian plan on which the school is established. Both the Masters begged to have a couple of dozen of New Testaments, the one asking for them in the French and the other in the English language to suit the two departments of their school. But you will observe that though the children learn English as well as French, (the latter being their native tongue,) yet they are all of the Catholic religion, and the school is taught by, and is under the management of Catholics. I spoke to the Masters about reading aloud to all their scholars a chapter from the Bible at the commencement of the school, and at the close of it. Into this they both entered readily. To enable them to do so I engaged to send them two Bibles, one in French and the other in English. They are to begin at the first chapter of Genesis, and to read regularly through. – There is an English widow lady living there by the name of Buddon, formerly of Camberwell in your neighbourhood. She takes a lively interest in the circulation of the Scriptures around her. She has a list of petitioners for Testaments, partly from the Nunnery, and partly from the town, amounting to 58. They were waiting, and anxiously, the arrival of your De Sacy's Paris edition of the duodecimo.
Thus happily stand things, blessed be God at Three Rivers; and the circumstances are enhanced by the consideration that, after Montreal and Quebec, this is the largest town in the Province, and in its position, advantages, and influence, it is also I may say next in order to the two places mentioned. Add to this, the Priest under whose influence the Scriptures have thus so free course, is the Vicar of the district which is of considerable extent. It is true that he has not power over the Priests in the several parishes under his jurisdiction to make them think and act like himself and encouraging the use of the word of God; yet he will necessarily have much influence in this way, and that may be greatly beneficial to our cause. A pleasing case of this influence occurred not long ago. A Priest from a parish some 20 miles higher up the River on the same side, was on a visit at Three Rivers. When there the young woman showed him the New Testament which she had got, and asked him about it. He spoke much against her for having it and using it, and urged her to destroy it, or to give it back to the person from whom she had got it without delay. Next day this Priest was in company with the Vicar, and mentioned to him the case of the young woman and her Testament, and stating what advice he had given her. The Vicar told him the book in question was "The New Testament of Jesus Christ", and that it was profitable for all to have and use it there. On the first opportunity after this the Priest sent for the young woman, and told her he had seen the Vicar since he had spoken with her, and had learned the book she showed him was "The New Testament of Jesus Christ." He then said that he was very sorry for what he had said to her before on the subject, and counseled her to keep, and carefully to use, her New Testament.
You perceive what a happy opening this is for our operations. But that you may see it more distinctly, I shall set it out in relief by a contrast. Soon after I arrived in this country in the end of last year, we learned that a Priest in a large parish some 25 miles from Montreal down the River had taken some Bibles from the people and burned them. I went down to see him, accompanied by one of our Montreal Bible Committee, and to inquire into the truth and the circumstances of the case. We called on him and inquired about the matter, and he told us plainly that he had burned five Bibles and one New Testament. We tried to set out before him the evil of this in different lights, but probably without much effect. In this place are vender Mr. Hibbard had taken the precaution from fear what might occur to lend the books, not to make them over to the people as their own. We saw the people from whom the books had been taken, and they were ready to depose, that they stated to the priest when the books were taken away, that they were not their own property. We had thus a noose for the Priest, and we thought we would cast it over him, to teach him honesty, if not religion. We therefore got a lawyer friend of ours to write the Priest a letter about this our property which he had destroyed. Presently up came the Priest to Montreal, and sent his lawyer our lawyer about this concern. Our friend of course made himself big, as having all the law and the justice on his side, (and so he had,) and advised that the Priest should pay the price of the books, intimating that the sooner and quieter this was done the better. The lawyer went back to the Priest to tell him the result of his expedition, and presently after returned to our lawyer, and paid him for the five Bibles and one Testament which the Priest had burned. This movement of ours has had just effect we aimed up, for the Priest has never taken any more books from the people to burn, and further we learn, that he has never said a word in the Church or in the Confessional against our books. – I did not notice the subject to you at all before, because it was not terminated when I went to the Upper Province; but it now is, and in the manner above described: the whole sets out in relief, as I said, the conduct of the good Priest and Vicar at Three Rivers.
I now terminate this long tour, and long letter, for your relief in one way, and for mine doubly. I would who however just at closing notice a tour I made within this tour. I began to read at the first chapter of Genesis when I set out, and during the tour have made a tour through the whole of Our Book closing with the end of Revelation. In this new reading I have received, as you may well suppose, new lessons, and I have tried to learn them, though I cannot say with what success, nor ought I perhaps to say if I could. I may say to you however, that at our public meetings I often try to show how greatly we are all in error, and how greatly we all suffer, by neglecting to read and study as we ought God's Blessed Book, which is profitable for all things, for the life that now is, and for that which is to come. God's Book, I say it often, publicly and privately, and with all and increasing confidence, God's Book can and will cure all our evils in church and state, and without it we cannot be cured. How blessed therefore, My Brother, is the employment, which God has graciously given to you and to me, to administer this panacea. May the Lord make us good and faithful servants, and at the close of our service admit us into heaven, through our Lord Jesus Christ: to whom be glory for ever: Amen.
I remain, affectionately,
Your Fellow Servant,
James Thomson.
P.S. Since the 20th September, I have received letters from Earl Street as follows: – Yours (in copies) of the 20th of February and 5th March, both on the 17th October: – Yours of the 3rd July, on the 17th October: – and the Invoice per Pr. George of the 22nd of August, with Mr. Jackson's note of the 2nd September, on the 19th October.
We are very glad at the arrival of the 650 De Sacy's French Testaments by the Prince George. This supply will not however supersede the request in my letter No 87.
But what has become of the large order in my letter from Toronto of the 23rd May? For the supply we have been looking our eyes out these last two months: but we have seen or heard nothing of it, and the season is now far advanced, we see is closed.
P.S. 2nd I advise a Bill drawn say the 25th instant, in favour of William Greig, for Fifty Pounds, at sixty days: – and to be charged to my Travelling Account. Please notify this to Mr. Hitchin. J.T.
