E-text prepared by Larry B. Harrison, Martin Pettit,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive
(https://archive.org)
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/johnblackapostle00bryciala |
REV. JOHN BLACK, D.D.
The Apostle of the Red River.
JOHN BLACK
THE APOSTLE OF THE RED RIVER
OR,
HOW THE BLUE BANNER WAS UNFURLED
ON MANITOBA PRAIRIES
BY
REV. GEORGE BRYCE, M.A., LL.D.
Professor in Manitoba College, Winnipeg.
TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS
Wesley Buildings.
C. W. COATES, Montreal. S. F. HUESTIS, Halifax.
1898
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the yearone
thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, by William Briggs,
atthe Department of Agriculture.
PREFACE.
We are in the habit of referring to the heroic deeds of our fathers,whether English, Scottish, Irish or French, in the struggles theyendured and the sacrifices they made for country or religion. Theservice rendered to liberty and religion by Cromwell and his Ironsidesat Marston Moor or Naseby, by Hamilton and his Covenanters at Drumclog,by King William and his followers at Boyne and Londonderry, or by Henryand his Huguenots at Ivry, may well stir our bosoms with emotion.
But this century has, in the piping times of peace, developed a new and,perhaps, greater heroism in the army of Christian adventurers going toall lands, and proclaiming under King Jesus a war against sin andidolatry, in which battles for the truth are fought against"principalities and powers" as real as those against Prince Rupert, orthe bloody Claverhouse. Even the quieter life of a pioneer[Pg vi] missionarylike Carey or Livingstone requires the highest daring and the sublimestperseverance.
To this class belongs the career of Rev. John Black, the Apostle of theRed River of the North. To leave home and friends at the call of duty,to cross the trackless prairies of the north-western States in order toreach the northern and secluded plains of Rupert's Land, to bury himselfin obscurity, albeit he was engaged in laying the foundation of aspiritual empire of the future, was to give John Black a true claim tothe honor of self-sacrificing fame and highest pa