A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
introduction to Professor Pillans, who treated him very kindly and
4152 words | Chapter 58
presented him with a free ticket to his class. In this class he gained
two prizes, one on the direct and indirect forms of speech, and another
for superiority in private studies. At the close of the session he
returned to his old employment at Manor, where he remained till the
following November, when he went home to Biggar, where he taught a short
time, and then accepted a school at Roberton, in Lanarkshire. About this
time his mother died, and shortly afterwards, his own health failing, he
returned to Biggar, and spent the summer and fall in teaching a son of
Mr. Gillespie, Biggar Park. At the opening of the college session of
1824, he had not saved money enough to support himself and pay the
necessary college expenses; but an old lady, a friend of the family,
lent what was necessary to make up the deficiency. During this session,
he seems to have devoted his energies chiefly to Latin, and gained a
prize for an essay on the eighth satire of Juvenal. At the close of this
session he received an appointment as tutor in a large boarding school
at Eddleston, in Peeblesshire, where he remained for eighteen months. It
was here that a favorable change took place in his spiritual condition.
He had for a long time had doubts and difficulties on the subject of
religion; but at this time, after a careful study of “Chalmers’
Evidences of Christianity,” his doubts were removed, his difficulties
solved, and he became a believer in revealed truth, so far as the
exercise of the intellectual faculties could make him so. From this time
he had a deep conviction that the reading of the heathen classics had
deeply injured his moral and spiritual condition. The contempt which an
intelligent mind cannot but feel for the heathen mythology, seems to
have confirmed his doubts in regard to religion altogether. And it is
indeed surprising that Christian people should encourage the study of
the heathen classics to the neglect of the ancient Christian classics.
In this way we believe that unspeakable mischief is done. And there is
no excuse for it; for some of the ancient Christian classics wrote
sufficiently pure Greek and Latin. We have often been surprised that the
dialogue entitled Octavius, of Minutius Felix, and the letters of
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, should not have been generally introduced
into our schools and colleges. Their latinity is beautiful, and their
religious and moral teaching such as cannot fail to exercise a
beneficial influence on all who read them with attention. The same thing
may be said in regard to the writings of Justin Martyr, whose Greek, if
not so pure as that of Xenophon or Plato, is sufficiently good for all
practical purposes. His first Apology, addressed to the emperor
Antoninus Pius, is especially valuable, and ought to be read by all
students of divinity. On leaving Eddleston, at the end of October, 1826,
he had saved money enough to pay the little debt which he had contracted
the year before, and to meet all his expenses during the ensuing session
at college. But before returning to Edinburgh, a friend had procured for
him abundance of private teaching, so that he had now money enough and
to spare. From this time he had private teaching enough, so that he no
more required to lose a session at college. But what was of more
importance, his faith in the glorious truths of the gospel was now
confirmed, and he was growing slowly in grace and Christian experience.
In 1828, Mr. Clark entered the Divinity Hall the same year in which Dr.
Chalmers came to the University of Edinburgh as professor of divinity.
It is needless to say that he profited greatly by the teaching of that
devout and extraordinary man, who not only communicated instruction in
the most effective and memorable manner, but infused somewhat of the
fire of his own soul into the minds of his students. Mr. Clark not only
made great progress in the systematic knowledge of divine truth, but
imbibed something of the spirit of his master. One of the exercises
prescribed to Mr. Clark was an exegesis on the subject, “An Christus sit
colendus summo cultu deo patri debito?” that is, “Ought Christ to be
worshipped with the supreme worship due to God the Father?” This led him
to an investigation, on biblical principles, of the grand fundamental
truths of the gospel, which resulted in a firm conviction in his mind of
the truth of the grand evangelical principles embodied in the
Westminster Confession of Faith. The preparation of this discourse
produced a most salutary effect on his mental character; but it did
more, it deepened his religious convictions, and called forth in his
soul more lively emotions of gratitude and love to the God of salvation.
Soon after this, Dr. Chalmers recommended Mr. Clark for one of the
government bursaries, and it was conferred upon him. The bursary was one
of ten pounds a year; but it had been vacant for a year, so that he got
twenty pounds sterling the first year and ten pounds a year for the two
succeeding years. With his revenue from private teaching, this placed
him in very comfortable circumstances. And as he succeeded about this
time to a small property left him by his father, he had now more than
sufficient for all his wants. In the summer of 1832, Mr. Clark was
licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Biggar, but as there
was at that time a superabundance of preachers in connection with the
Established Church, no opening appeared for him in that line, so he
continued his labors as a private teacher. His work now consisted almost
exclusively in assisting in their studies young gentlemen attending the
Edinburgh Academy. About this time a society was formed by the preachers
of the Establishment in Edinburgh for voluntary missionary labors among
the poor in the most destitute parts of the city. Mr. Clark was chosen
by the venerable Dr. Inglis to labor in his parish of Old Greyfriars,
and the scene of his operations was the Cowgate, with the closes
extending from it to the Lawn market and High street. Dr. Inglis soon
after this died, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Sym, a young man of
fine talents, very popular as a preacher, and of genuine Christian
character. Mr. Clark was soon after his appointment introduced to Mr.
Sym, when he engaged him at a respectable salary as his assistant, to
labor among the poor of the parish. As Old Greyfriars was a collegiate
charge, his services were not required in the parish church; but he
preached regularly in an old church in the Cowgate, whose spire is still
visible from the South Bridge. At that time it had passed out of the
hands of the church, and was the property of the Society of Hammermen,
who kindly gave the use of it for missionary meetings. It was in this
church that the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was
held, and it has now happily passed into the possession of the Free
Church. The scenes of poverty and wretchedness and vice which Mr. Clark
had to encounter in his visits among this people were often
heartrending. On one occasion, when urging a poor woman to attend the
church, he was met by the reply, “Oh, sir, our thoughts are mainly taken
up about how we are to get the next meal of meat.” It was not uncommon
to find houses in which there was no bed, and only some litters of
straw, or even shavings, as a substitute. This was afterwards the scene
of Dr. Guthrie’s labors when he became colleague to Mr. Sym, in the
parish of Old Greyfriars, and no doubt furnished the materials for his
book on the sins and sorrows and sufferings of the great cities of the
old world. When Mr. Clark’s health was beginning to fail, he was
relieved from the severe and often painful work which he had to perform
in the Cowgate and its closes. In 1835 he was recommended by Dr.
Chalmers to Lady Maxwell, of Springkell, who had requested him to send a
young man to take charge of the parish of Half-Morton. This parish was
then in a peculiar condition. It was still a distinct parish _quo ad
civilia_, but was united, _quo ad sacra_ to the parish of Langholm, of
which the minister was a Pluralist, having to preach three Sabbaths in
the month at Langholm and one at Half-Morton. A suit was afterwards
instituted in the Court of Tiends for the separation of the two
parishes, which was successful; and in 1839 Mr. Clark was presented by
the Crown to the resuscitated parish of Half-Morton. Meanwhile he had
been married to a distant relation of his own, Jane Brown, a daughter of
James Brown, of Edmonston, but as there was no suitable residence for
them in the parish, they had to reside at Longtown, a village of
Cumberland, on the English side of the border, till a manse was built at
Half-Morton. Here they spent four years in comfort and happiness, till
the disruption took place, when they had to leave their pleasant home.
They found a temporary residence at Annan, a town ten miles from the
church of Half-Morton. This distance from the scene of his labors
occasioned great additional labor and hardship to Mr. Clark, more
especially as he had often to preach in the adjoining parishes of
Canonbie and Langholm, where a strong feeling in behalf of Free Church
principles had been excited. During the summer of 1843, the preaching in
country places had to be done chiefly in the open air; but at Canonbie a
marqué, capable of sheltering several hundred people, was erected in a
pasture field near the road-side. Mr. Clark had officiated only two
Sabbaths in this place when he was interdicted by the Duke of Buccleugh,
who was the sole proprietor of the parish. The duke’s interdict was
obeyed, but preaching was immediately begun on the road-side, where
increasing numbers attended. A preacher was immediately procured for
Canonbie, and when Mr. Clark appeared after a few Sabbaths’ absence, he
chose for his text, Philippians i., 12: “I would ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather
unto the furtherance of the gospel.” The opposition of the duke only
intensified the determination of the people. It is only justice,
however, to his grace to add, that some time afterwards he granted a
site for a church and manse with a piece of land on easy terms. Towards
the close of 1843, Mr. Clark was called to Maxwelltown, a suburb of
Dumfries, but the presbytery refused to release him from Half-Morton. In
the spring of 1844, however, difficulties having arisen in the
congregation of Maxwelltown, the call to him was renewed. This time the
presbytery withdrew their opposition to his removal, and he was
transferred to Maxwelltown in the spring of 1844. With a good manse and
large and beautiful garden which he had planted with the choicest fruit
trees, and in the midst of a satisfied and increasing congregation, here
Mr. Clark lived with his family in great happiness and comfort till the
spring of 1853, when, under the impression that he was called of God, he
removed to Canada. This was a great trial to him, more especially as his
wife, who was in delicate health, was unwilling to go. She was too good
a woman, however, to resist what her husband believed to be a call from
God, and, trusting in the Lord, consented to go. In February, 1853, Mr.
Clark sailed for New York alone, thinking it better to leave his family
to come out the following summer. On reaching New York, he proceeded
immediately to Quebec, which he reached on the 1st of March, and
immediately entered upon his labors there. He was treated with great
kindness by the late James Gibb, of Woodfield, who very handsomely kept
him in his house till the arrival of his family in September. Mrs. Clark
was very feeble when she arrived at Quebec; the sea voyage appeared to
have weakened her, and she did not improve much by the change of air and
rest which she now enjoyed. And when the cold weather set in, she began
gradually to sink. But she had perfect faith in Jesus, no complaint
escaped her lips, and in February, 1854, she died in the full assurance
of a blessed resurrection. Instead of enlarging on her beautiful
character now, it will answer the purpose better to insert a poem which
Mr. Clark wrote on the occasion of her death:—
With a sorrowful heart,
She prepared to depart
From dear old Scotland’s shore;
For well she knew,
That its mountains blue,
Her eyes should behold no more.
But when duty called,
No danger appalled
That heart so devoted and true.
She had left, for the truth,
The sweet manse of her youth,
And now bade her country adieu.
In weakness and pain,
O’er the dark, stormy main,
She came to this old fortress town;
Where, in slow decay,
She wasted away,
My faithful Jeanie Brown.
But severe though her pain,
She did not complain;
For it taught her, she told us, to see
More clearly the woe,
In the regions below,
From which the redeemed are set free.
By St. Lawrence’s side,
As he rolls, in his pride,
To the great Atlantic down,
By a walnut’s shade,
The dear dust we laid
Of my sweet Jeanie Brown.
And now she sleeps,
Where the green wave sweeps
Past the ocean’s river’s shore;
But I’ll meet her again,
In that blessed domain,
Where the weary part no more.
Mr. Clark remained unmarried for sixteen years, when he was united in
marriage to Amelia Torrance, widow of Thomas Gibb, of Quebec. She has
been to him a wise counsellor, a true and affectionate wife, and while
she was able, a help meet for him in his great work. After some time,
however, she was seized with rheumatism, which at first gave little
inconvenience; but it gradually increased in severity, till at last, in
the winter of 1872, it completely prostrated her. Towards the summer of
1873 she recovered a little, and it was thought advisable to try the
effect of a sea voyage upon her. Mr. Clark, also feeling his strength
giving way, after having labored in Quebec for upwards of twenty years,
thought himself justified in resigning that important and laborious
charge. Accordingly they sailed for the old country in the autumn of
1873; and Mrs. Clark felt more benefit from the sea voyage than from all
the medical treatment which she had received. After visiting Mr. Clark’s
sister, the widow of Henry Scott Riddell, at Tiviot Head, they spent the
winter partly at a hydropathic establishment, near Melrose; partly in
Edinburgh, and partly in Dumfries. They then started for the south,
spending a short time in London, a week in Paris, and then started for
Aix-les-Bains, in Savoy, famous for its hot sulphur springs. After
spending some time there they returned to Scotland, through Switzerland
and France, arriving in Edinburgh near the end of May, a little before
the closing of the Free Church General Assembly. They spent the
remainder of the summer very pleasantly among their friends in the rural
parts of the counties of Roxburgh, Peebles, and Dumfries, and in the
neighborhood of Glasgow, from which port they sailed, and reached Quebec
in safety in September, 1874. Mr. Clark was now too old to think of
looking after another ministerial charge, but preached occasionally at
Quebec and elsewhere as circumstances required till 1880, when he was
called to be professor of Church History in Morin College, Quebec, which
situation he still holds. While in Half-Morton he prepared a book for
family worship, which was published by T. Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, and
obtained a large circulation. While in Maxwelltown, after the death of
his only son, he wrote a little volume entitled, “Asleep in Jesus,”
which was also published by the Nelsons, and extensively circulated.
This little book was afterwards published in Philadelphia without the
author’s knowledge. Mr. Clark produced another little work, entitled
“The Promise of the Spirit,” which was published by Robert Kennedy, at
Prescott. This book did not attract much attention, and was never
republished.
* * * * *
=Thompson, Hon. John Sparrow David=, Q.C., Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Dominion of Canada, Ottawa, was born at Halifax,
on the 10th of November, 1844. He is a son of John Sparrow Thompson, a
native of Waterford, Ireland, who, after coming to this country, was for
a time Queen’s printer, and afterwards superintendent of the money order
system of Nova Scotia. Hon. Mr. Thompson chose law as a profession, and
was called to the bar of Nova Scotia, in July, 1865, and appointed a
Queen’s counsel in May, 1879. He was for six years alderman of the city
of Halifax, and for five years a member of the Board of School
Commissioners, being for some time chairman of the board. He was also a
member of the Senate of the University of Halifax. He was for the last
two years of his residence in Halifax honorary lecturer in the Halifax
Law School, on evidence and the construction of statutes. He entered the
political arena in 1877, and was elected for Antigonish county a member
of the Nova Scotia legislature, by a majority of 517. He was returned by
the same constituency at the general election of 1878, and was appointed
attorney-general in 1878, and was again elected by acclamation. In 1882,
on the retirement of the Hon. Mr. Holmes, he was chosen premier and
attorney-general; and at the election that followed that year, he was
returned by a majority of over five hundred. In July, 1882, he resigned
office, and was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Nova
Scotia. This office he held until the 25th of September, 1885, when he
resigned, and was chosen by Sir John A. Macdonald to fill the important
offices of minister of justice and attorney-general for the Dominion of
Canada. He sat in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia from December,
1877, until his elevation to the bench in 1882; and was first elected to
the House of Commons, at Ottawa, in October, 1885, and re-elected at the
general election of 1887, for Antigonish. Hon. Mr. Thompson in politics
is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion is a member of the Roman
Catholic church. In 1870, he was married to Annie E. Affleck, daughter
of Captain Affleck, of Halifax, and has a family of five children.
* * * * *
=MacLean, Alexander=, Parliamentary Printer, Ottawa, was born on the 9th
December, 1834, in the township of Dumfries, county of Brant, Ontario.
His parents were John MacLean and Isabella McRae, both natives of
Inverness, Scotland, from which country they emigrated, and settled in
Canada. Alexander received his education in the public and grammar
schools, and remained at home, his father being a farmer, taking a share
of the farm work, until he was twenty years of age. He subsequently
taught school for a while, and also served for some years as a
mercantile clerk. He abandoned these pursuits for the newspaper press,
to which he had become a casual contributor, and became the publisher,
in 1865, of the Cornwall _Freeholder_, then the home organ of the late
Hon. Sandfield Macdonald, and continued its publisher until shortly
after that gentleman’s death, in 1872. He then joined the staff of the
Toronto _Globe_, as its Ottawa correspondent, and this position he held
for several years, until he became (with Mr. Roger) one of the
contractors for the printing of the Senate and House of Commons, and of
the government at Ottawa, and such he has been for the last fourteen
years. Mr. MacLean is a justice of the peace for the united counties of
Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry; a director of the Metropolitan Street
Railway Company; of the Canadian Granite Company, both of Ottawa; and of
the Cornwall Gas Company. He is also interested in several other public
enterprises. He early joined the Masonic order, and is now a past
worshipful master. He is a Liberal in politics, and in religion, belongs
to the Presbyterian denomination. On November 20th, 1863, he was married
to Sarah, daughter of John Smith, St. George, county of Brant.
* * * * *
=Perrigo, James=, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S., (Eng.), Montreal, was born in
the city of Montreal in 1846. His parents were John Perrigo and Eleanor
Reeves. The doctor’s family have always been Conservative in politics,
and we find that in the war of 1812 his grandfather served against the
Americans; and it was in consequence of his patriotic services on this
occasion that he escaped being expelled from the country during the
troublesome times of 1837, he having commanded the rebels in the
skirmish that took place near Beauharnois in that year. He received his
education at McGill University, and afterwards went to England, where he
further prosecuted his medical studies, and while there he was elected
honorary secretary of the Obstetrical Society of London. Returning to
Montreal in 1872, he began the practice of his profession, and now
occupies a front rank as a medical practitioner in that city. He is a
professor of surgery in Bishop’s College Medical School. In religion Dr.
Perrigo is an adherent of the Episcopal form of worship; and in politics
is a Liberal-Conservative. In 1885 he was married to Marion G., daughter
of the late H. Chandler, who, during his lifetime, was a merchant in
Montreal.
* * * * *
=Medley, Rev. Charles Steinkopff=, B.A., Rector of Sussex, New
Brunswick, is of English birth, having been born in Truro, Cornwall, on
the 16th September, 1835. He is a son of the Right Rev. John Medley,
D.D., bishop of Fredericton, and Christiana Bacon, a granddaughter of
the great English sculptor of that name. The Rev. Mr. Medley received
his early education in the classics and mathematics at Marlborough
College, Wiltshire, England, and came out to New Brunswick in 1855, his
father having preceded him. Shortly after his arrival he entered King’s
College, Fredericton, where he took the arts course. He studied theology
under his father. In June, 1859, he was ordained deacon by his father,
and the following year priest. He was first sent to the mission of
Douglas, York county, New Brunswick, where he labored fifteen months,
serving meanwhile as a school trustee, and doing good religious and
literary work. At the end of this period Rev. Mr. Medley returned to
Fredericton to assist his father in the Cathedral. After a short
residence in Fredericton he removed to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where
he was incumbent of St. Mary’s Church for three years, and then returned
to New Brunswick in 1867, to become rector of Sussex. Since his
settlement here he has done good work for the Master. A neat and tasty
church edifice has been erected, with black ash and pine sheathing, one
of the finest houses of worship of its kind in the province. The old
church whose place it took was one of the earliest built in this part of
New Brunswick, Sussex having been settled by U. E. loyalists. It is
situated about half a mile from the village, and, like the residence of
the rector a few rods from it, has beautiful rural surroundings, and is
a most inviting place for man to worship God. Rev. Mr. Medley was
appointed canon to the cathedral at Fredericton in 1869; and rural dean
in July, 1880. He is an excellent scholar, a polished writer, a sound
theologian, and has a pleasant delivery in the pulpit. Canon Medley was
married on the 21st April, 1864, to Charlotte, daughter of Robert Bird,
of Birdtown, York county, New Brunswick.
* * * * *
=Macdonald, Charles De Wolf=, B.A., Barrister, Pictou, Nova Scotia, was
born on the 23rd October, 1854, at Pictou, N.S. His father was the late
Alexander Cameron Macdonald, Q.C., barrister, who, during his lifetime,
represented the county of Pictou in the Nova Scotia legislature for
eight years, and occupied the position of speaker in the House of
Assembly, previous to the confederation of the provinces. His mother,
who still survives, Sarah Amelia De Wolf, is a descendant of a
well-known loyalist family, of German noble origin. Charles received his
primary education at Pictou Academy; matriculated in 1869 at Dalhousie
College, Halifax, when fifteen years of age, taking the first provincial
scholarship, and, making the highest aggregate each year; graduated in
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