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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