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April 7, 1909. THE PRESBYTER
where they simply rest and wait until the last great day.
Then comes with the opening of the sixth seal the
bestowal of the awards of heaven; to the disobedient,
punishments; to God's children, blessing.
Finally in the first verse of chapter 8 we have the
opening of the seventh seal and there is "silence." There
is peace and rest. The labors and the conflicts of earth
are all over, and there remaineth rest for the people of
God. 'Through the conflicts of earth have come glory
for Christ and happiness for his people.
Thus endeth the third picture in this heavenly drama.
A BRAVE AND FRUITFUL MINISTRY.
It has been ten or fifteen years since Ralph Connor,
*the Rev. Charles M. Gordon, of Winnipeg, gave to the
English-speaking world "Black Rock," now in its five
hundreth and fiftieth thousand, and "The Sky Pilot,"
now selling in the three hundredth and tenth thousand.
Then catnc "The Man from Glengarry," "The Prospector,"
and "The Doctor." These were fictitious stories,
that* were yet true to the great Canadian West, and its
opening to settlement and the conditions of life through
that time. Mr. Gordon has now given "The Life of
James Robertson," the stalwart Presbyterian mis
anu piuspccior, wnose lite was the inspiration
of the famous novels, and who for twenty-five years
was the missionary superintendent of the Presbyterian
Church in Canada and the great northwest territories
from the great lakes to the Pacific ocean.
This book is not fiction, but the life story of a great
and faithful servant of God, stranger than fiction and
far more- interesting. Born at Dull, in the Tav Valley,
in Scotland, he came with his family, sixteen years of
age, to Western Ontario, Canada, in 1855. A farmer's
hoy, of strong make-up in body and mind, he soon became
a teacher in the rude school of the settlement, and
out of poverty and hard toil made his own way to collece
and univ*?r?it? ?.-.n ?1?
^ w?. t C*uvi Liiv~n lvj uicuiugictii training at
Princeton and at Union Seminary, New York. A good
providence guided his steps, in each new period of his
young manhood giving some additional preparation for
the great work to be appointed him to do. The village
church of Woodstock, Ontario, gave two men to the
service of Christ in the extension of his kingdom, Mackay,
of far Formosa, in the foreign field, and Robertson,
of Manitoba and the northwest territories, in the ,
home field. Two splendid gifts they were, men of strong
faith, of robust energy, of heroic courage and fortitude,
who gave their lives to Christ and built the house of
God in far and strange places.
After five years of ministry at Norwich and surroundincr
rlictri/'f t ^
?0 .vi, i\cv. james Kooertson was selected as
the man to superintend the mission work of the Canadian
Church in the vast northwest, and for twenty-five
years, until he lay down and died, the great west was
the passion of his soul. He had waited ten years to
marry the young woman he loved and to whom he was
engaged, and after the brief and happy life in the manse
at Norwich, he went out at the call of the west and
with utmost ' self-denial gave himself with untiring
energy to the great task given him to do.
With Winnipeg, the new city of Manitoba, as his
IAN OF THE SOUTH. 5
point of departure, he went out to gather the scattered
people who were beginning to pour into the great, new
country from every part of Great Britain and Canada:
farmers, lumbermen, miners, railroad builders, an ever
increasing stream, good, bad, all coming into a life
rough beyond description. He followed the trails
everywhere, preached the Word, blessed the new
homes, gathered into churches. He called loudly for
men to preach, he fought for means. He established
and administered a church and manse building fund.
He went to the farthest and loneliest settlements,
through flood and frost; and went back to Toronto
and the seminaries and the General Assemblies to plead
for his vast field. He went over the seas to Scotland
and Ireland to tell the churches there of their sons and
daughters in the West and ask both for nien and money.
It is a splendid story of Christian-manhood, battling
for Christ, for the souls of men, for an empire to be
won and established in righteousness and peace.
When Dr. James Robertson had worn himself out,
after twenty-five years, there were over 200 churches,
400 missions, 1,200 stations or preaching places, thirteen
Presbyteries, and 20,000 communicants. There were a
multitude of schools, there were colleges. a universitv
and a theological seminary. The great Canadian west
had been rescued from disorder and vice and crime, and
saved to order and morals and the Church of God. Like
Wolfe at Quebec, Robertson might well be "content to
die." This is a Presbyterian book telling what a typical
Presbyterian minister can do, with Presbyterian ideals
and rules, according to Presbyterian methods. It is a
fine contribution to the literature of home missions.
Nothing in foreign missions is more heroic and nothing
more fruitful through coming time than the life of
Tnmpd Rr?hf?rtcr>n Think nf IVTarL-nv n( Fnrmnsa anrt
Robertson, of Manitoba, bringing their sheaves home
to the foot of the throne of God.
Written on the tomb of James Robertson' are these
words: "Endowed by God with extraordinary talents,
entrusted by his Church with unique power, he used all
for the good of his country and for the glory of God.
The story of his work is. the history of the Presbyterian
Church in Western Canada, and while Western Canada
endures, that work will abide."
METHODIST MISSIONS IN CUBA.
The Southern Methodist Church has been practically
put in possession of the Cuban field, so far as the
various bodies of that denomination are concerned.
Ten years ago, when the war with Spain ended, it had
one nominal church, -\yith forty scattered and linfindable
members. It entered the field with vigor and
started work in all the larger places on the island. Tocfay
there are only two or three communities of more
than ten thousand inhabitants where there is not either
a church or a preaching station. There are now three
schools, with three hundred and ten pupils, over three
thousand communicants, and $200,000 worth of property.
Five married preachers and their families are
supported entirely by the natives, and the three thousand
members, all of them very poor in this world's
goods, contributed all told last year $12,000. It is said