my arrival, and had gone to the landing-place to meet me and convey me to the village.

"Ah!' he exclaimed at once, when he saw me, you are the minister come out to us from England?'

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'Yes,' I replied, 'I am.'

“Then I am right glad to see you, sir,' he said, as he got out of his rude carriage, and offered me his hand, which he cordially shook; and, oh! what a relief it was to me to meet with even this slight mark of friendship. Fortunately for my comfort then, I did not know how valueless it was.

"He asked me where I had been, and wondered how he could have missed me. He told me, too, that several hours had elapsed since the boat that had brought me had reached the landing-place. Indeed I now perceived that the sun had set, and night was coming on apace; already were the tiny flashes of the fire-fly seen in myriads among the pine-trees. I began to think certainly I must have slept: and I do not know but that I had been dreaming too. "Your name is Johnstone?' said my friend to me, requesting me at the same time to get into his waggon.

"No,' I replied, as I paused with foot upon the step, in the act of acceding to his kind request, My name is Musgrave.'

"That's very strange,' he said: and, after hesitating for a moment, he added, Never mind! Get in.'

"I did so; and he drove me to the village-tavern, as I declined going to a private house, where he wished most anxiously to take me.

"During our drive he several times adverted to my name being Musgrave instead of Johnstone, as it evidently ought to have been, in his opinion. He clung to this idea with such extraordinary pertinacity, that I at length, probably from my confused state of mind, began-I must not say to doubt my own iden tity-but to reflect whether or no I was really in my right senses. He seemed to read my thoughts, at least he saw some hesitation, and triumphantly exclaimed- Why, Colonel K--'-this was the colonel I have mentioned as my fellow-passenger-' said that your servant told him your name was Johnstone.'

"His own he must have meant,' I said: for it so happened that my servant's name was Johnson, and perhaps he might have said, in answer to some question, which he did not see they had any right to ask, that mine was Johnson too: or they might have mistaken his trunk for one of mine, and seen his name upon it. However this might be, on arriving at the inn, when the landlord came to the door, my pertinacious guide introduced me, by saying, ' Here's the Rev. Mr. Johnstone, the minister we sent for, and have been expecting up by this day's boat.'

"This somewhat annoyed me, and I immediately declared with some warmth, that my name was not Johnstone.

"Then you're not the minister appointed to this place.'

'Yes, I am.'

"Then your name is Johnstone-must be Johnstone.'

"Well,' I said, beginning to feel more amused than vexed,

my name

was Musgrave before I left England, and I am certainly appointed as minister in this village and neighbourhood by the bishop.'

"My guide gave a loud, contemptuous, and long-continued whistle, and then drawled out the first syllable of the word-bishop, at the same time laying an absurd accent upon the last-Be-e-shopp!' adding, with a derisive laugh, We are bishoped indeed, and the milk's burnt with a vengeance!" My landlord seemed to feel more reverence for the title, and a contest commenced between them, which was too intricate for me to understand, and soon became too hot for me prudently to witness: I therefore lost no time in making my way into the house.

"Well, well,' I heard my quondam friendly guide exclaim, as if deprecating his own want of penetration,' that I, so long a ruling elder in the 1846.

3 T

church, should have mistaken a prelatical and papistical--' something, but I did not hear what, as the door was just then closed behind me.

"I mention this trifling incident, not only to show the bitterness of that hostility which for years continued to annoy me, but to enable the reader to understand the cause of the virulent persecution which I had to endure.

"My predecessor had been dead nearly two years. The measures taken for the appointment of his successor had of course been confined to the bishop and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, without the knowledge or concurrence of the people in the place. There were no steamers crossing the Atlantic then; it therefore took a much longer period to complete the arrangement than it would do now. Besides, some months elapsed before I could relinquish my curacy. During all this time the Presbyterians, who were the most numerous among the various sects of which the mixed population consisted, were by no means idle. They had sent home a petition to the secretary of state for the colonies, for a salary of £100 a-year for a Presbyterian minister. To this petition they had received a favourable answer, and by getting the other dissenters, as well as most of our own people, who had begun to despair of obtaining another clergyman of their own to unite with them, they managed to make up this salary to a very respectable amount. They then applied to some leading men in the Kirk of Scotland for a minister, when this Mr. J., from a small town on the English side of the Scottish border, was recommended and accepted; and by one of those extraordinary coincidences, which happen so often as to induce us to wonder at their being called extraordinary, this minister was expected up from the port on the very day that I arrived, and he actually did reach his destination the day after."-(pp. 10—13.

Such were Mr. Musgrave's (?) prospects. Other trials awaited him.

"I felt greatly disappointed and annoyed," he proceeds, "when I found that there was neither a church nor a parsonage-house. At first I was utterly confounded; I did not know what to do. One thing, however, I was determined not to do: I was determined not to stay there without both the one and the other; and I called the people together to tell them so. They met, and I informed them that the bishop had recommended me to ascertain what encouragement I was likely to meet with; and if it was not satisfactory to me, he would send me to some other settlement. I then proceeded to say what would be satisfactory.

"As to building a church, they thought it was utterly beyond their power, but they would do their utmost. They would make any sacrifice, if I thought such an immense undertaking could be accomplished, although they themselves had no idea that it could be done. But they would willingly build me a house, and would set about it immediately.

"No, I said; I must have my church first. But then there was that unfortunate subscription-list which I have mentioned, and which nearly all had signed. But was it right under the present altered aspect of affairs, that they should fulfil all engagements into which they had been led by the most insidious arts and erroneous representations? I did not see, nor indeed did they, how this could honestly be avoided, and I believe every farthing of it was honourably paid. As I perceived that this circumstance would detract materially from their contributions towards the erection of the Church, I consented, though very unwillingly, to allow them to build the house first; and we patiently submitted in faith and hope, to the mortifying necessity of uniting in our holy services, for a whole year, in a place where they could not well be performed 'decently and in order,' namely, in a common village school-house; and even this we could not have exclusively to ourselves, but

only from half-past ten o'clock on the Sunday morning till one in the afternoon. Nay, an attempt was made to deprive us even of this privilege.

"I was very much disappointed at the turn things had thus taken. I certainly wanted a house very much, but I had set my heart upon a church. However, I do not think I could have accomplished it then, nor even afterwards, had not an incident occurred which induced my people to exert themselves to the utmost. But I must not anticipate.

"Until this meeting took place I had been staying at the inn where I first went on my arrival; but now that I had determined to remain in the settlement, it became necessary for me to look out for more private lodgings."(pp. 14, 15.)

Not succeeding, however, a tent was our missionary's residence for the summer, with a night-lodging in a farmer's cottage.

"By the time the winter set in," he adds, "when living in a tent would have been impossible, my host had got a room for me so far furnished as to be habitable and tolerably comfortable, not, however, sufficiently so to make me regret that the parsonage-house was to be built before the church...... Immediately after the meeting of the people, which I have mentioned, I set to work most industriously to get subscriptions for building the parsonagehouse. A glebe, consisting of about forty acres chiefly of wild, uncleared land, was generously given by the principal person in the place, together with £30 in money. Everybody, indeed, subscribed very liberally, and I therefore contracted for the work at once."-(pp. 15, 16.)

The succeeding summer, it seems, saw the parsonage so far completed, that he was able to strike his tent and move into it. The following winter our young missionary was favoured with a visit from his bishop. We give his account of it, and of its immediate result.

"His Lordship spent the night in my new and half-finished dwelling: he slept in the bed-room of one of my servants; I put him there because it was better and more comfortable than my own. His servant, as well as my own, slept upon buffalo-hides on the floor by the kitchen-fire.

"In reply to some apologetic observations which I made while conducting that holy and apostolic, and now sainted Christian shepherd, to his rude dormitory, he said, with his accustomed kindness and simplicity, 'No, no, never mind; the accommodation which you are satisfied to put up with during a whole winter, is surely good enough for me for a single night.' On the following day he confirmed twenty young people in the school-house. "As his Lordship shook hands with me, and bade me adieu, he promised me a hundred pounds from the Society towards my church: the Society itself had promised me fifty pounds.

"It may be asked why I so briefly pass over so important an occurrence as a confirmation held in my parish, the more especially as it was the first. I can only say, that although on no subsequent occasion of a similar nature did I ever receive stronger or more encouraging proofs of my diocesan's approbation, yet I felt deeply mortified and annoyed at a confirmation in a school-house. In fact, it was so humiliating to such of my people as had witnessed this solemn rite at home, as well as to myself, that I do not like to dwell upon it; and it was evident that the fact of the Presbyterians having succeeded in erecting their chapel, added gall to the bitterness of our feelings on this occasion.

666

We must have a church,' one of my parishioners whispered to me at the door, after the service was over, and I will give ten pounds more than I.

intended.' I did not expect so much from him altogether. He gave twenty pounds.

"Our good bishop, as he was always called-for 'his praise was in all the churches,' I never saw afterwards, except for a moment to receive his blessing. "During the next summer the house was finished, except painting. The subscriptions were sadly deficient, that is to say, they were badly paid. Perhaps I did not press them with sufficient urgency; at any rate the house cost me nearly a hundred pounds.

"Discouraging as this might seem, it did not deter me from commencing a new subscription for building my church. I have already said my heart was set upon it, and I was determined to carry it into effect. I thought, indeed, from my past experience, that I could in future manage better; nor was I, as the event proved, entirely mistaken.”—(pp. 16, 17.)

Now, however, commenced the "most anxious and the most perplexing year" "of Mr. M.'s "whole life." We have the history of it in the next chapter, with his final triumph, and the establishment of his first Church. To give completeness to our sketch, we must here again quote the " Memoirs" at some length. The account thus proceeds

"All my disappointments, all my privations, and, what were worse than both, all my feelings of utter loneliness, were as nothing when compared with the trouble and anxiety, the positive and absolute distress, with which the building of this church overwhelmed me. Many were the sleepless nights I spent in ruminating upon the means of accomplishing it, or rather, upon the means of extricating myself from the pecuniary embarrassments in which it had involved me. The subscriptions came in so slowly and so irregularly that I could not calculate upon them until they were actually paid; that is to say, I could not anticipate them, and consequently could not venture to make any engagements on the strength of them. But the worst part of the business was, that in the first instance I had done so, and this was the main source of all my perplexities. I had, too, some of Job's comforters to remind me, with an air of ill-concealed triumph, that they told me that I could not build a church,' and that they knew how it would be; and, that we had better give it up at once, or we should make ourselves a laughing-stock, if we had not done so already, to the whole neighbourhood.' And then, when they saw that this annoyed me, they would suggest, by way of consolation, bitter though it was, some such excuses for my failure as, that I was young and inexperienced, and perhaps too enthusiastic, and quite a stranger to the ways and means of the people in this country.' This was from my friends. The taunts and sneering jests of our enemies no way affected me: I could expect nothing less from them.

"In the midst of all my difficulties a violent attack was made upon the tower of the church. It was strenuously urged that it was not absolutely necessary, and that what was built ought to be pulled down, since it was better to have a church without a tower than no church at all. This I could by no means consent to; the whole should stand or fall together-Aut Cæsar aut nihil!' I could not bear the idea of a church without a tower. 5 Let us examine the subscription list,' I said, ' and see what amount can be depended upon. This was done, the list divided into five equal portions, and five of my principal parishioners took each one to collect, and agreed to be answerable for the amount. They were all men of credit in the place, and well known, while I was as yet comparatively a stranger.

"Some brighter hopes began now to beam upon us, and under their cheering influence the work went on with renewed vigour. But not to weary the reader with further details, it will be sufficient for me to say, that, after six

months of unceasing toil and exertion, I got the body of the church up, the roof on, the steeple up to the same height, and covered with a temporary roof, to preserve it from the weather, until we should have time and means to carry it to its full height.

"When we had got thus far, the whole of my funds, as well from the subscription-list as from my own private means, were exhausted; and I should have been at an hopeless stand-still, if it had not been for the munificent grant of one hundred and fifty pounds from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, of which we could now, and not till now, avail ourselves, as the Society always, I believe, makes it a condition that such grants shall not be paid till the outer shell of the building is put up. This relieved me from all my difficulties, and was a source of joy and triumph

to me.

"It was indeed a bold undertaking, and one which, if my knowledge of mankind and my experience had been greater, I should not have ventured upon with such inadequate means as were then at my command. They were indeed inadequate. But I thought at the time that my parishioners could accomplish it, and I was determined they should do so, or I should leave them. They knew this, and manfully set their shoulders to the wheel, even while they despaired of success.

"The people belonging to the church, although more numerous than those of any single denomination, were still very few; and the first time I administered the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, I had only nine communicants. They were also very poor, as new settlers generally are, and this was comparatively, with the exception of the small village, a new settlement; and yet, strange as it appears to a dweller in the old country, they were all well off in the world. They had all the necessaries and comforts of life at their command, and even some of the luxuries; still they were poor as far as their ability to pay money was concerned. They had it not, neither could they obtain it without great exertions, and still greater sacrifices; and nothing else would build the church. Some of the work, it is true, could be done by themselves, and they willingly and freely did it.

"At length, by getting some temporary windows and closing in the rest, by laying down loose planks for a floor, and by setting up some rude benches, with other similar preparations, I was enabled to open the church for divine service. And, oh! what a triumphant day of rejoicing it was! and yet there were some who, like the Israelites in the days of the prophet Ezra, could not restrain their sorrow on comparing this new, and to them a second temple dedicated to the worship of God, with those more splendid and magnificent ones in which they had been admitted into the mystical body of Christ's holy catholic Church,-temples which, alas! they never hoped to see again.

"This feeling was but momentary, and confined to a few, the ancient men of the congregation;' while among the younger members all might have seen, in their joyous countenances, the cheering belief in the promise of the personal presence of Him to whom this more humble temple was now dedicated: Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them, and that to bless them.' (sic.)

"The following Sunday was the one appointed for the celebration of the Advent of our Blessed Lord. At a rude altar, temporarily raised for the purpose, I had no fewer than thirty communicants. This was indeed encouraging, and strengthened me in my glorious work. During the winter, with a large stove in the church, if we were not quite so comfortable as we could have wished, we were much more so than we had ever been before. The school-house, at best, was but a miserable substitute for a church; and the tenure by which we held our trifling occupation of it, the whim and caprice of the mixed public, made it still more objectionable; but now our bare walls with their sheltering roof-they could boast of little else-were our own, and we felt ourselves at home.

*

.

"Throughout the monotony of that dreary winter-for such, unaccustomed