Student and Missionary.
It was, as has been said, in the summer of 1841, that John Black's
father with his family arrived in America. Though Canada was at this
time enjoying a large British immigration, yet the family of Highmoor
was led to find its way to the United States. Two sisters of William
Black, with their husbands, had years before found a comfortable home in
the State of New York. Twenty years' residence had made these Murray and
Davidson families fairly prosperous, and to their rocky home the
immigrants from Scotland came, ascending the Hudson River, reaching
Catskill, and then going by land carriage to Bovina, in the county of
Delaware. This region of the Catskill Mountains, though not suited for
ordinary agriculture, has long enjoyed, from its sweet grasses and clear
streams, a great pre-eminence as a dairy-farming district. No doubt this
was due to the skill, energy, and thrift of the farmers from the south
of Scotland who had settled there.
After reaching Bovina, the newly-arrived family took a farm in the
neighborhood. For a time John gave some help in the work, but his heart
was set on preaching the Gospel. In order to obtain the means of
continuing his studies, he engaged in teaching, and by his skill and
enthusiasm awakened much interest in education among the young people of
Bovina. The work of teaching John Black found to be an excellent
preparation for the work of the ministry. The power to manage a school,
the ability to understand the character of his scholars, and the habit
of patience acquired were to him of great value in after life.
Desiring to carry on his education further before entering on the
special study for the ministry, the young teacher looked about for an
academy where he might pursue his general studies. This he found in
Delhi, the chief town of Delaware county. Here a most accomplished
teacher, Rev. Daniel Shepherd, was in charge of a school of a very high
order. It is said that though this institution did not bear the name of
either college or university, and gave no degrees, yet in scholarship
many of its alumni were not behind university graduates.
John Black, now on fire with a high purpose, threw himself with all his
soul into his studies. He at once took a high place in the school. The
shepherd lad from the Gair school in far-off Eskdale reflected credit on
his old teacher, Mr. Roddick. He planned a course of study in the
needful branches of mathematics, but his chief delight was in classics.
So excellent a scholar was he in Greek that the original Greek oration
delivered by him on leaving the institution was for many years spoken of
as being unusually meritorious. His metrical translations of Latin
authors, such as Horace, were well done, and though not so often as
formerly, yet now and then his muse took a poetic flight.
Like many Scottish students, John Black lived very economically in his
school life in Delhi, "cultivating," as has been said, "the muses on a
little oatmeal." With him were two of his cousins as room-mates, William
and David Murray. These three lads, living in a little upstairs room,
cooking for themselves the provisions received from home, gained in
after life, though in different spheres, high and honorable distinction.
William Murray became Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, and Dr.
David Murray was the organizer of the educational system of Japan, and
for several years chief superintendent of education there. When he left
Japan to return to America he was invested by the Emperor with the
highest order of Japanese nobility. He has since been State Librarian at
Albany, New York. John Black may not have received such earthly honors
as fell to the lot of his cousins, although he had his share of these,
too, but he has the joy of those of whom it is said "they shall shine as
the stars for ever and ever."
CHURCH LIFE.
Though baptized in the Church of Scotland, and attached to its forms,
John Black became, on his arrival in Bovina, an active member of the
"Associate Church." This was one of the bodies which afterwards were
united and became the "United Presbyterian Church of North America." The
minister of the Bovina congregation was Rev. John Graham, a native of
Montrose, Scotland, a man of ability, especially as a writer. Before his
death he published his "Autobiography," a most interesting book. Of Mr.
Graham it was said that he "was a man with eccentricities, but far more
excellencies." In Mr. Graham John Black found a true friend, as he did
also in the other members of the congregation. True piety prevailed
among them. Perhaps some would call them narrow, but they were genuine.
They had brought with them from the old land customs such as the regular
observance of family worship, the keeping of the Sabbath, and the habit
of churchgoing, and these they put into practice in their new world
home. As the country settled, many congregations, which are now strong,
hived off from the original one in Bovina.
For three years John Black remained a member of this congregation, and
his family were very anxious that he should study for the ministry in
connection with the Associate Church. He was unable to accept all the
views of the Church, however, and this kept him for some time in grave
doubt. The Associate Church held that the Scottish covenants were
binding on the Church in later times. It will be remembered that these
covenants of 1638 and 1643 represent one of the grandest periods in
Scottish history. Nobles and people alike, in Greyfriars churchyard,
Edinburgh, and elsewhere in Scotland, signed, in some cases with pens
dipped in their own blood, the covenant or pledge to oppose prelacy and
popery, and to keep the Church of Scotland pure and true. John Black
loved and admired the martyrs and Covenanters who fought so nobly for
liberty, but he was not sure that two centuries after those stirring
times it was still necessary to subscribe these notable documents. The
Associate Church required of those who entered its ministry to declare
adhesion to "public covenanting," and this threw an obstacle in the way
of the young candidate.
His thought was then turned to Princeton College, the seminary of the
Old School Presbyterian Church, as it was then called. Some five or six
years before this time the Presbyterian Church of the United States had
been rent by doctrinal differences, and perhaps more especially by the
question of negro slavery. Princeton College would have satisfied the
young aspirant to the ministry, but belonging, as it did, to the body
which seemed unsound on the slavery question, John Black, like all of
British blood, was horrified at the thought of being connected in any
way with so hideous and cruel a thing as slavery, and so he could not
conscientiously join the Old School. He still kept up correspondence
with Scotland, and his love was strong for the Scottish Church. At this
time, too, a great religious movement was going on in Scotland, which
led to the Disruption in 1843, and the formation of the Free Church of
Scotland. After this event the young student in Bovina began to turn his
attention to Canada, where the Church was strongly Scottish in its
character and customs.
Just at this time, early in 1844, a minister from Canada came on a visit
to his friends in Bovina. This was the Rev. James George, then a
minister of the Church of Scotland in Scarboro, in Upper Canada. Mr.
George's father and brothers were nearest neighbors of William Black and
his family in Bovina. Mr. George was at this time an examiner in Queen's
College, Kingston, and, indeed, afterwards became a professor in that
institution. Young John Black called upon Mr. George during his visit to
Bovina, and enquired as to the opportunities for studying for the
ministry in the Canadian Church. He also sought information as to what
the Church in Canada would do in view of the disruption which had taken
place in the mother Church in Scotland. Mr. George stated that he had a
strong hope that the Church in Canada would satisfy all parties, and
thus prevent a division on this side of the Atlantic. Having examined
Mr. Black, Mr. George expressed himself as highly satisfied, and advised
the young student to come over to Canada in the autumn and to enter
Queen's College. Mr. George returned to Canada, the Canadian Synod met
shortly afterwards in Kingston, and there the disruption took place. Mr.
George thereupon wrote to Mr. Black informing him as to what had
happened, but still urging him to come over and enter Queen's College on
its opening. After all the kindness which had been shown him he felt it
to be a painful trial to refuse; but John Black's sympathies were with
the Free Church in the struggle, and he could not accept the kind
invitation of his friend. It was with great grief that he saw the
division in Canadian Presbyterianism. He never ceased to desire
reconciliation, and he was greatly overjoyed that he lived to see the
happy reunion in 1875.
COLLEGE LIFE.
John Black had not an acquaintance in Canada other than Mr. George. He
had noticed in the newspapers that the Rev. Mark Y. Stark, of Dundas,
had been moderator of the synod at the time of its division, and that he
had taken the side with which he himself sympathized. Accordingly, he
wrote to this gentleman about the arrangements for starting a college in
connection with the new body, and the answer came, greatly to his
satisfaction, that the commission of synod would meet in October to deal
with this matter, and that it would be well for him to be present at the
meeting.
The synod was held in Toronto, and, a number of students having sent in
their names, Knox College was founded. John Black waited over for the
opening of the college, which took place on November 5th, 1844, and he
may be said to have been its first student. The establishment of this
college was a great and notable event, for here many well-known
ministers of the Presbyterian Church have been trained for their work.
There were two professors to begin with: the polished Henry Esson, who
taught arts, and a gentleman from Scotland, Rev. Andrew King, acting
professor of theology. Mr. King afterward became professor of theology
in Halifax. The beginning of the college was almost as simple as that of
the well-known "Log College" which gave instruction in early days to
Presbyterian students in the United States. It began in a single room in
Professor Esson's house in Toronto. Shelves around the room contained
the professor's library and a number of books for the use of the
students, lent by other ministers. In the middle of the room was a long
pine table, surrounded by benches and a few chairs. Fourteen students
received the attention of the two professors. This first session was a
busy one, and at its close the enthusiastic young men were sent as home
missionaries to different places.
The session was one of great interest to John Black. Well prepared as he
had been, a good Greek scholar, well instructed in English literature,
and well read in philosophy, he took a foremost place among his
fellow-students. Bursaries and prizes were won by him, and the session
was thoroughly profitable. Now fairly committed to the Christian
ministry, he thought often of the motives which were leading him. His
letters of this time show a growing love for spiritual things, and,
while there is always in them a spice of humor or of fancy, yet there
runs through them a deep and earnest vein.
Among the greatest influences brought to bear upon him were those of
the company of good friends, for he was a man of most sociable
disposition. In after days he often spoke of the influence of that
devoted man of God, William C. Burns, who went as a missionary to China.
This remarkable man was a nephew of Dr. Robert Burns, of whom we shall
speak more fully, and a friend of Robert Murray McCheyne, one of the
most spiritual of the young preachers of his time. Many a story is yet
told of the remarkable sayings and doings of William C. Burns during his
memorable visit in Canada. His influence, though that of a passing
visitor, was very great over the students of Knox College, and over
young Black in particular.
At the end of his second year in Knox College the young student was sent
as a missionary to preach the Gospel in a number of new settlements. The
townships of Brock, Reach, Uxbridge, and Scott were then filling up with
immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland. John Black thus writes to his
brother:
"Brock, May 27th, 1846.
"I came here about five weeks ago, and have been very busy ever
since. I have four preaching stations, two here and two in the next
township south. I preach in three schoolhouses and a large barn.
The people are mostly Scotch, Irish, and English. The four would
make a decent congregation. I take them two each Sabbath, and have
prayer-meetings, when I can manage it, as well as week-day
'preachings.' To-morrow night I must ride six miles northwest to
hold a meeting among some English people (whom I like best of all
my people), and next day, Friday, come back ten miles to a
prayer-meeting in another place, Saturday ten miles again to
another, and Sabbath two meetings."
This shows the spirit of the man whose faithful and unremitting services
in after years told so powerfully on the banks of the Red River.
A MISSIONARY.
As John Black drew to the end of his college course the work of the
ministry became very real to him. His sympathies became more intense in
his desire to reach and rescue perishing men. The little band of
students in 1846 were all aglow with missionary zeal. The Knox College
Missionary Society, which has ever since been so good a training school
for young missionaries, was formed in that early time. The society at
that date not only did city mission work in Toronto and cultivated the
missionary spirit, but helped the Missionary Society of the Free Church
of Scotland to support a missionary in a foreign land. During the
session of 1846-7 the Rev. Mr. Doudiet, a Swiss Protestant missionary,
in the service of the French-Canadian Missionary Society, visited Knox
College and addressed the students. The students decided to assist this
movement. John Black had, as we have seen, some knowledge of French, and
was therefore urged by his fellow-students to enter upon this work. He
would have preferred preaching in English, for he had enjoyed his summer
in the mission field very greatly, but it was agreed that he should
spend the following summer at Pointe aux Trembles, a French school near
Montreal, ever since well known. This he did, and returned in the autumn
to take his last year in college.
At the opening of this session he was made glad by his brother James
joining him from Bovina, to study for the ministry in Knox College. Not
only had he intimate companionship with his brother, but there were
three other students with whom he associated much and of whom he spoke
with the highest regard to the day of his death; these were afterward
well known as Dr. Robert Ure, of Goderich; Dr. John Scott, of London;
and the Rev. John Ross, of Brucefield--all of whom exercised a great
influence on the western peninsula of Upper Canada. He was strongly
attached to his professors. Dr. Burns he regarded as a fearless champion
of the truth; Professor Esson he admired for his refined taste and wide
scholarship; and Professor Rintoul, he tells us, he loved as he did his
own father.
FRENCH MISSIONS.
On the close of the college session of 1848 John Black was ready to
enter on the work of the Christian ministry, a work lying very near to
his heart. It seemed, however, as if it were not to be. The Students'
Missionary Society insisted on his taking a part in the movement among
the French Roman Catholics. He proceeded to Montreal, and was soon busy
studying French. He was not, however, allowed to continue at his work,
for there were so many English-speaking congregations in and about
Montreal that he was compelled to take service in these week after week.
This interfered with his plans, and we find him writing, in 1849, from
Pointe aux Trembles: "I left Montreal and came here about five weeks
ago. I have been making some progress in French, especially in
conversation, for it is now the vacation and there are no lessons. It is
a dour (difficult) job. I fear I shall never be able to use the French
effectively."
The estimate in which Mr. Black was held as a preacher and pastor may
be seen from the fact that Côte Street Church, Montreal, the leading
Free Church in Canada, having failed to receive continuous help from
Scotland, was supplied for months together by the young missionary. He
was in request by congregations in different parts of Lower Canada, but
he still remained working for the French-Canadians. At length, in May,
1851, he resigned the secretaryship of the French-Canadian Missionary
Society. His letters at this time breathe a spirit of earnestness and
devotion. He had paid a visit to his former home in New York State, and
had seen his old father and mother, and always spoke with the most
tender regard of their claims upon him. He was always anxious about the
welfare of his brother, to whom he writes. He had then a habit which
clung to him to the last, of enquiring minutely into his friends'
affairs. His letters abound with direct questions to his brother, such
as: "How do you do your work? Do you sermonize, or expound, or what? Do
you write out your sermons? Are the professors harmonious in the
college? Have you prayer-meetings in college and city? Do you go out on
Sabbaths? How are you situated for money?" This habit arose from his
warm interest in his friends. His questions at times may have seemed
abrupt and forward, but the warmth of his nature showed that it was only
"his way."
Three years had now passed in visiting congregations in Canada and the
United States, and in preparing himself more fully for his life work,
although seriously interrupted by the pressing demands from new
congregations. It was a time of great spiritual hope, and the minds of
the students of that day had a strong evangelistic bent, which they
retained throughout life.