MICMAC MISSION

MICMAC MISSION.

FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT, 1865.

(Re-printed verbatim from old leaflet.)

To the Patrons and Friends of the Micmac Missionary Society.

Christian Friends,—It may be remembered that at the Annual Meeting of the Micmac Missionary Society held in January last year, it was agreed that the Rev. Mr. Rand, the Missionary, should furnish the Committee a Quarterly Report, to be published in the newspapers, if they saw fit. The Committee have carried out this arrangement up to the present, and the fourth quarterly report, which was read and adopted at the meeting on Monday last, is herewith presented to you. It speaks for itself.

I remain, Christian friends,

Yours sincerely,

Jas. Farquhar, Sec.

THE FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT OF THE MICMAC MISSION, FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31ST, 1865.

1. MISSIONARY LABOR.

This has been continued as usual. Indians have been visited at Hantsport, Cornwallis, Mount Uniacke, Londonderry, Amherst, Shediac and St. John, N. B. My reception has been uniformly kind, and without an exception good attention has been given to the Word of God, and to religions instruction. My aim has been to explain the way of salvation, and to direct them to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. White friends have occasionally accompanied me on these visits. Invariably the solemn attention witnessed has surprised, impressed and pleased them. They have owned that, had they been unacquainted with the facts of the case, they could never have imagined these people to be other than Protestants and devout Christians. For the sake of brevity I will omit details except in two cases. In one place in New Brunswick, I visited within a radius of about seven or eight miles, four small encampments, and some of them twice. The chief resided there and I called on him twice. I have known him for years. He treated me very courteously and at our last interview asked me to tell him more particularly what my object is in going round among the Indians. I told him. I said, I am a minister of the Gospel. My sole business as such is to read, and expound the Word of God, both publicly and privately, both among the white people and among the Indians, to teach the way of salvation and to urge people to love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ. I told him further that since I could speak Micmac, and read the Scriptures in their language, that I took special delight in going among them, to lead and sing and pray, and talk with them of their soul’s salvation. He enquired how the Indians around in that place received me. I hesitated for a moment whether I ought to tell him, as it might possibly be the means of bringing some of them into trouble. But after a little reflection and silent prayer, I resolved to conceal nothing. They receive me kindly, said I, as they now do everywhere in Nova Scotia—they listen attentively and invite me to repeat my visits. “Well,” he answered, “that is just what I was going to say to you. But you don’t come often enough, nor early enough in the day. We have been looking for you ever since your last visit, when you promised to come again, and now it is so near night and you are in such a hurry that we have not time to ask you half the questions we wish to ask, nor to learn half the things we wish to learn. We want you to come in the morning and stay with us all day.” Such in substance was the statement of this worthy chief. Surely no one can reasonably blame me for wishing to continue steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, while even such evidence is afforded that our labors are not in vain in the Lord.

The second incident has reference to the Maliseets, near St. John. They speak a dialect differing materially from Micmac—and usually live in houses or small huts. I can speak but a few words or sentences in their tongue—but we have published a tract in it which I can read, as can also many of themselves—I can also sing Psalms and Hymns in Maliseet, and as most of them speak Micmac and English tolerably well, we get on sometimes very bravely together. One evening I had entered a hut, as the sun was setting, had received a cordial welcome, had sung in Maliseet,

“Abide with me, fast falls the eventide;”

had spoken of Christ and his readiness to save, and now, said I, if you have no objections, I wish to kneel down in your hut and pray. “Certainly,” replied the man, “certainly,” and he and I bowed down together, though his wife, the only other person present, did not kneel, and I prayed. “Thank you, thank you,” said he as we arose—“that’s good, that’s very nice. It isn’t often we gets the likes o’ that here. It’s cus and swear and get drunk—that’s what we usually gets.” The words of the poor fellow and his earnest manner touched my heart. I could not but bless God that I am permitted by his grace—to visit the Indian’s lowly dwelling, to talk and sing and read of a Saviour’s love, and pray, where so many go merely for pastime—to curse and swear, and drink; but where few, alas, go to pray. People sometimes express astonishment that I can persevere and not get discouraged in the cultivation of so stubborn a soil, where so much labor and toil require to be expended, and so little fruit is seen. And I am sometimes amazed at it myself. But there is in my soul a deep-seated feeling that I am called to the work in which I am engaged, and incidents like the above wring tears from my eyes, bring me to my knees, and send me on in my work refreshed, and strengthened, with loins fresh-girded to the conflict, and full of joy and hope.

2. PECUNIARY SUPPORT.

Since Jan. 1st, 1865, up to the present time, Jan. 5th, 1866, I have received in aid no less than one thousand and sixty-five dollars and eighty-one cents. Thirty-seven dollars, twenty-one and a half cents have reached me since the present year commenced, though most of it was mailed sometime before. During the year my former allowance of two hundred pounds, with forty pounds for travelling expenses, has been received, and seventy-five dollars, nine cents and a half, over and above. Last spring, after listening to a charity sermon by Rev. D. Freeman of Canning, Cornwallis, I determined to lay by in store every Lord’s day, one tenth of all receipts during the previous week, to be expended in charity; to be laid up in heaven at a hundred fold interest against the time to come, and having followed up this plan, I have been enabled to devote not only the former allowance of forty dollars to charity; but more than double that sum, and have been prospered in proportion. By far the largest amount received during any period of three months, was received during the quarter just closed, the amount for the quarter being three hundred and eighty-six dollars, thirty-three and a half cents. And the most of it came in since the 26th day of October. That day must ever be a memorable one to me. In order to encourage my Christian brethren in the ministry and out of it, to pray more, and to believe more firmly, and to wait on the Lord for temporal blessings as well as spiritual, always remembering to put the spiritual far in advance of the temporal,—I will relate the events of that day.

Under ordinary circumstances, I must have been anxious and troubled. I had no money, no salary, almost no food for a large family, and winter with all its peculiar wants was at hand. Besides all this I was in debt. When I struck a balance with the society on the old plan last year, my salary was three hundred dollars in arrears, and I needed all that money to meet demands against me. It seemed a strange way to get out of debt, to forgive all one’s debtors. But so I read, as applicable to myself under the circumstances, the sweet petition taught me in my infancy, and repeated ever since; but never half believed or understood. I had determined to look to my Father in Heaven for the means of paying my honest debts, as well as for the support of my family, and to ensure his blessing I meant to do everything he required of me, to please Him in all things. By His grace I determined that no bills for 1865 should be sent in at the year’s end, and that as many as possible of the former ones should be paid. But on the day mentioned, Oct. 26th, with all our other wants, there were debts to be paid. No one was pushing us, but the honor of God was concerned and our own credit, and the people we owed ought to have their money. So I entered into my closet, and shut the door, and prayed to my Father who is in secret, and my Father who seeth in secret has according to His promise rewarded me openly. For several hours He seemed to hold me at a distance, but, as in the beautiful example held up for imitation of the Syro-Phœnician woman, I was enabled to struggle on and get nearer and nearer to His blessed feet. Then came triumph, peace, thanksgiving and joy. All the evening the language of my heart could be best expressed in Psalm 103. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” I awoke the next morning in the same tranquil thankful frame of mind. My plans for the future all opened out distinctly before me while on my knees. Then came deliverance. The mail that day brought me a letter containing twelve dollars, greatly needed that very day, and mailed to me the day before, while I was fasting and praying. In three days after that I had received money enough to meet all the pressing necessities of the family, and since that memorable day, without the slightest trouble or anxiety on my part, without having given even a hint of my necessities to any mortal, and without having asked even for a public collection, I have received—nearly all in money—no less than four hundred and three dollars and eighty-seven cents. I have not been able to pay all old bills, and meet daily wants. But the amount of debt has been greatly reduced, and all fear for the future has been removed. Thanks be to God who heareth prayer, and thanks to the friends who have been prompted to aid us.

With great reluctance I refrain at present from publishing extracts from many of the letters which I have received during the year, containing contributions to the mission, and breathing encouragement to myself, kindness to the Indians, and love to the precious Redeemer. Suffice it to say that the hand of God has been strikingly manifest in many of the contributions received throughout, and particularly during the last quarter. I cannot withhold the following letter received from a poor orphan girl, a school-teacher in New Brunswick, enclosing as a “birthday offering,” a piece of gold, value $2.50. “Rev. Sir, when two weeks ago the enclosed piece of gold was handed me, I was immediately impressed with a desire to send it to you for your great mission. Not knowing the best manner of doing so, I made it a subject of prayer. Your own acquaintance with the willingness of the precious Redeemer to hear and answer prayer, will reveal to you my joy at hearing you were actually in the place. I will add no more, except, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.’ Such a contribution and letter require no comment. In ways as unlooked for, have five cent pieces, five dollar pieces, five pound pieces, with sums of intermediate value, been received, and the gold and silver have seemed to sparkle with a celestial lustre as they have been dropped as if by angel fingers into my hands. Even the love of money may be lawful when it is inspired by the love of Christ, when the money is consecrated to Him, and used for His glory and the best interests of man. Surely under such circumstances it is neither filthy lucre nor the Mammon of unrighteousness.”

Another friend writes: “I am much pleased with the stand you have taken. Since I saw you I have had about eighteen hundred pounds removed from under my stewardship, making, with other losses, more than four thousand pounds. But as my Heavenly Father has done it, it is all right.” The brother goes on to speak of his tranquility of mind in submitting to privation and suffering, and sends the handsome sum of four dollars, evidently a thank-offering to the Lord.

I know not who the author of the following is: “Dear Brother, I herewith enclose to you four dollars, to be appropriated either for your own immediate requirements, or for the prosecution of the Micmac Mission as you may deem best.”

“I have every confidence in your work of faith, and would say persevere. I fully believe that the prayer of faith is answered by the Almighty. Pray, brother Rand, for my dear wife, who is yet, I fear, without Christ. My heart would rejoice in her conversion. I long for it. Yours, &c., A Sincere Friend.”

3. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.

Thus has closed what has been in some respects one of the most eventful years of the Mission. The plan of “Trusting in the Lord” for support—“Muller’s plan,” as it is called, but which, in reality, dates much further back—found at first but little favor in the eyes of our friends. It might do, they said, for England, but not for Nova Scotia,—as though the Lord were not the same everywhere. It was looked upon as an experiment, and one that would probably fail. But a plan upon which scores of ministers and missionaries both at home and in heathen lands have acted for years, and acted successfully, can hardly be regarded as an experiment. I cannot but hope that not only my own faith, but that of many others has been somewhat strengthened already. My desire to continue in the same course has been increased. The Lord can and will give us more grace, and we will go forward in His strength, giving to Him all the glory, and making mention of His righteousness, even of His only.