Chapter XVII Holding the Ropes Mr A V Timpany, who was God's instrument in arousing the Baptists of Ontario and Quebec to organized effort in foreign mission work, entered the Canadian Literary Institute at Woodstock in the autumn of 1860. The study of missionary literature and contact with returned missionaries, especially the elder Mrs Vinton, fanned the flame of missionary enthusiasm in his heart, and the conviction grew upon him that God was calling him to the foreign field. He made known his purpose to Dr Fyfe, who had a true missionary spirit, and the latter corresponded with Dr Murdock, Secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union. When the Convention of Canada West met in Beamsville, on October 17th and 18th, 1866, Dr Murdock was present and delivered a powerful address. The members of the Convention pledged themselves to renewed interest, greater liberality and closer co-operation in the Foreign Missionary enterprise, and appointed a committee to meet with Dr Murdock and confer with him as to the best method of enlisting the sympathy of the churches. The members of this committee were: R A Fyfe, DD, T F Caldicott, DD, Hoyes Lloyd, MA, Daniel McPhail, William Stewart, BA, and John Alexander, all ministers of the gospel. The meeting took place in the study of the parsonage. The first resolution called on the churches to take an interest in the Foreign Mission work and urged them to observe the monthly meeting of prayer for Missions. Rev Wm Stewart was recommended for appointment as secretary and Mr T S Shenston as treasurer, to receive contributions and transmit them to the Missionary Union. This report was adopted, and thus was organized on October 18th, 1866, the Canada Auxiliary to the American Baptist Missionary Union. Some months later Mr Timpany met the Executive Committee and was appointed to the Telugu Mission. He spent the summer of 1867 in visiting the churches and met with a warm welcome, the sum of $1,200 being collected by him. The first annual meeting of the Canada Auxiliary was held at Ingersoll, on October 17th, 1867. The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer were received and then followed a deeply interesting service in which Mr Timpany was solemnly set apart as a missionary to the Telugus. The charge was delivered by Dr Murdock of Boston, and Mr Timpany replied in a most touching address. Dr Davidson, Secretary of the Home Missionary Society, extended the hand of fellowship and pledged the support of the denomination, and Rev John Bates offered the designation prayer in words that touched every heart. Then followed scenes which it is impossible to describe. Spontaneously the people began to give. Such holy enthusiasm and earnest liberality were never witnessed before, even by the oldest ministers present. Not till after midnight did the meeting close, for the people would not go away until they had given of their substance to the Lord. The offerings amounted to nearly one thousand dollars. The missionary interest continued to spread among the churches, the visits of Rev F A Douglass, returned missionary, contributing to this. Then in 1869 Mr John McLaurin, who was at the Canadian Literary Institute when Mr Timpany was there, and had afterwards become pastor of the Baptist Church at Stratford, offered himself for the work and was accepted, and spent several months in visiting the churches. On October 12th he was married to Miss Mary Bates, the younger daughter of Rev John Bates, and on December 22nd they sailed from New York for India. At the annual meeting this year an Executive Committee of three was appointed to assist the secretary and treasurer when any occasion arose. The members of this committee were Rev John Bates, Rev Hoyes Lloyd, MA and Mr H E Buchan, MD. At the meeting in 1870 a new constitution was adopted, a society being organized under the name of 'The Regular Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Canada.' The officers elected were President, Rev John Bates; Vice-Presidents, H E Parson and William Craig; Secretary, Rev Wm Stewart; Treasurer, T S Shenston; Board of Managers, Dr Davidson, Dr Cooper, Revs H Lloyd, John Dempsey, James Coutts, D McPhail and A Gillies; Messrs R Baker, Jas Mills, Jr, Rowley Kilborne, T J Claxton, A R McMaster, John McDiarmid and David White, and Professor Wells. The Executive Committee consisted of the Secretary and Treasurer and Rev H Lloyd and Messrs Parson and McMaster. In the annual report the Bond St Sunday School is commended for undertaking the support of Ezra Keller, preacher at Ramapatam, and it is stated that the pastor's Bible-class in Chatham, the Sunday School of the First Church in Brantford and the First Church in Montreal were offering similar help. During 1872 and 1873 while Mr McLaurin was in charge of the Ongole field, hundreds of converts were baptized and the reports of this awakening in India stirred the churches greatly. The income increased to the very respectable sum of $4,488. At the annual meeting in October, 1873, Rev Wm Stewart resigned after having served the Society very efficiently for seven years. He was succeeded by Rev J L Campbell. It was at this meeting of the Society that it was decided to begin an independent Mission by taking up Mr Gabriel's work at Cocanada. A somewhat full account is given in Chapter III of this movement as well as of the events that led to it. Dr Fyfe went to Boston on behalf of the Board, and after consulting with the officers of the Missionary Union he sent a cable message to Mr McLaurin authorizing him to go to Cocanada. These instructions were carried out as soon as possible, and Mr McLaurin and family reached Cocanada on March 12th, 1874. For the next two years our Society had the full responsibility of this new enterprise while continuing to support Mr Timpany and his work through the Missionary Union. In 1875 another forward movement was made when a co-operative union was formed with the Baptists of the Maritime Provinces. The missionaries sent by the latter to evangelize the Karens of Siam found that they were both few and scattered, and reported this fact to their Board. The latter addressed the Board of Ontario and Quebec in a letter dated April 26th, 1875, inquiring whether the co-operation of the Maritime Baptists in the Telugu field would be acceptable, and upon what basis. Our Board met on May the 4th, and adopted a reply, cordially inviting them to send their missionaries at once to help in the work, proposing that each Board should continue to support and direct its own missionaries and suggesting that articles of agreement were unnecessary because the missionaries of the two Boards, being of the same nationality and the same faith and order and having the same life purpose, would be bound together by this threefold cord. They suggested also that our missionaries should write to the Baptist papers of the Maritime Provinces, and their missionaries to the Canadian Baptist, in order that a common interest in the whole work might be created and extended. These propositions were presented to the Baptists of the Maritime Provinces at a special Convention, which met at Amherst, NS, on the 13th and 14th of May, by the Rev J L Campbell, Secretary of the Society of Ontario and Quebec, who attended as the Board's delegate. The Committee appointed by the Convention to consider them, brought in a report in which they thanked the Board of Ontario and Quebec for the promptness of their action, and the frankness and fulness with which they had answered all questions relative to the Telugu Mission. The Committee recommended the Convention to accept the invitation of the Ontario and Quebec Board, and instruct their missionaries to remove immediately to Cocanada. This report was adopted by the Maritime Provinces' Convention. The Society lost its first President on May 8th, 1875, when Rev John Bates passed away. He had not only given his two daughters to the Telugu Mission, but had also given greatly of his means, and his prayers followed his gifts. At a meeting of the Executive Committee at Paris on June 5th Mr G F Currie, of New Brunswick, was appointed. His designation took place at the annual meeting which was held at Guelph, when the Rev D A Steele, of Amherst, NS, was present to represent the Board of the Maritime Provinces. Mr and Mrs Timpany arrived home with their children in July, 1876, and received a very warm welcome. On October 2nd, Mr Timpany resigned his connection with the ABM Union and became exclusively a missionary of our Society. The Executive Committee of the Union regretted deeply the necessity to part with him. On the same date Mr John Craig wrote to the Secretary of our Society offering himself for India, and was appointed at the annual meeting a few weeks later. At this meeting the name of the Society was changed to read 'The Regular Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Ontario and Quebec,' and it was decided to seek incorporation. Although Mr Timpany was worn out by his eight years of strenuous service in India he travelled the length and breadth of Ontario and Quebec in his visits to the churches, and aroused great interest in the work. At the annual meeting in 1877 Mr Craig was designated to the work, and left at once for India with Mrs Craig. Mr and Mrs Timpany returned the following year. On September 4th there died the man who was so largely instrumental in the organization of the Society, and who at the time of his death was its President - Rev R A Fyfe, DD. At the annual meeting in October Mr T S Shenston, who had been Treasurer from the beginning, was appointed President; and Mr T Dixon Craig was elected Treasurer. At the same time Rev J L Campbell resigned the Secretaryship, and was succeeded by Rev James Coutts. Mr and Mrs McLaurin arrived home in May, 1879, and received a warm welcome. Early in 1880 Mr McLaurin was appointed to a professorship in the Theological Department at Woodstock. While engaged in this work he made as many visits as possible to Associations and churches. Early in 1882 Mr and Mrs McLaurin returned to India. In October, 1883, Mr Coutts resigned the secretaryship and was succeeded by Rev J W A Stewart. In the early summer of 1884, Mr and Mrs Currie and Mr Craig returned from India. Mr Currie's home being in the Maritime Provinces prevented him from visiting our churches, but Mr Craig was able to visit every church in several of the Associations during the fall and winter. When the sad news came that Mr Timpany was dead Mr Currie heroically offered to cut short his stay in Canada and return to India, leaving his family behind. He sailed in May after a farewell meeting had been held in the church at Guelph of which he was a member. There had been a certain amount of apathy concerning the work in India, but Mr Timpany's death created a profound impression among the churches, and awakened them as nothing else could have done. Mr J R Stillwell responded at once to the call for volunteers, and sailed for India with his wife and Mr and Mrs Craig on August 1st. They were followed a few months later by Mr and Mrs F W Auvauche. At the annual meeting in 1888 Rev John McLaurin was appointed as paid secretary of the Society to devote all his time to the work. We have given in chapter VI, the appeal sent home by the Union Conference in 1889 and also the reply of the FM Board. This year the Foreign Missionary Society united with the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, the Society's work and property being entrusted to the Foreign Mission Board of the Convention. The income this year exceeded $20,000. In May, 1891, the Foreign Mission cause lost a warm friend by the death of William Craig, Sr, of Port Hope. He had been a Vice-President of the Society for seventeen years and President for two years, and had given very liberally to its support. For a year or two before his death he had found it necessary to withdraw from active participation in the work. At the Convention in October, Rev John McLaurin resigned the secretaryship and soon afterwards left for India to engage in literary work under the American Baptist Missionary Union. Rev D G McDonald was appointed secretary for a year. In October, 1892, Rev A P McDiarmid, MA, accepted the position of Secretary, and took up the work early in 1893. During the spring of 1892, an effort was begun to raise a special fund to be known as the 'Carey Centennial Fund,' in honour of William Carey, who went to India in 1792. By October, 1893, a total of $9,354 had been raised. Mr Craig was in Canada for some months during 1892, and assisted in securing donations to this fund. On his journey from India by the Pacific route he visited a number of churches in British Columbia and Manitoba and the North West, and attended the Convention at Winnipeg. In 1895 the time for the meeting of the Convention was changed from October to the latter part of May. When the Executive Committee of the FM Board met on March 2nd of this year, it had to face an overdraft at the Bank of $10,000. It was then decided to make a special appeal to a number of individuals to pay off the debt, and at the same time it was resolved to recommend to the Board that in future the appropriations passed for the work of any year should not exceed the income of the previous year. This meant that no advance could be made except by a special effort. The response to the appeal was most encouraging. Some members of the Executive Committee gave large donations, and their example was followed by others, so that the debt was soon wiped out. When the Convention met in the following May, the need of reinforcements was so great that it was decided to make a special appeal for funds to send out Messrs Priest and Stillwell. Whether this special giving interfered with the regular income of the Board may be a matter of opinion, but the financial year closed on April 30th 1896, with a deficit of over $6,000. It need hardly be added that this was a most discouraging showing to those who had cleared off the debt of $10,000 about a year before. On March 15th, 1895, there passed to his reward one of the warmest and truest friends of our Foreign Mission work, [T S Shenston] who for nineteen years was Treasurer of the Society, and for five years its President. How much of his thought, time and money he gave to the Mission no one will ever know. About a year later the death occurred of Mr W E Watson, who had been treasurer for nearly three years. The visit to Canada of Mr Laflamme in 1895-96 and of Messrs Davis and Craig in 1896-97 did much to stimulate interest in the work. Mr Davis spent several weeks visiting churches in Manitoba and the North West. So deep was the interest created by his enthusiastic addresses that the Convention there adopted him as their representative in India and became responsible for his support. At the Convention in May, 1899, Rev A P McDiarmid, DD, resigned the secretaryship to accept the presidency of Brandon College. He had been secretary for about six and a half years, and had borne the burden of the treasurership also since 1895. His work for the Society in this dual capacity was most efficient. Rev J G Brown succeeded him as secretary and Rev E T Fox as treasurer. At this time the Convention decided on a forward movement to mark the close of the nineteenth century. The annual meeting having been changed back to October, it was decided to attempt to raise $150,000 in the intervening seventeen months. The sum allotted to Foreign Missions was $60,000, of this amount the Treasurer received over $55,000 by October 15th, 1900. In 1904 the publication of a small quarterly paper was begun in conjunction with the Home Mission Board. It is called the 'Bulletin,' and is sent out to the churches for free distribution. This year the Foreign Mission Board published a booklet called 'Nine Beacon Lights,' which had been prepared by the Secretary, giving a brief account of the work in India up to that date. Owing to the great increase in the cost of living, and especially in the matter of house-rent in Toronto, missionaries on furlough found it very difficult to secure proper accommodation. The Board therefore appealed for gifts for the purchase of a house. In 1906 Mrs Wm Davies, Sr, responded to this appeal by the gift of $2,000 shortly before her death. Her daughter, Mrs Fox, and her son, Mr R H Davies, added $2,600, and requested that the Home should be named after their mother. In 1907 No 48 Howland Ave was purchased and named The Emma Davies Missionary Home. Mr and Mrs Craig, who had been living in Toronto for a year, moved in on May 1st with their family, and enjoyed the ample accommodation of the Home till their return to India in October, 1908, when Dr and Mrs Woodburne took possession. The year 1907 was marked by the opening of the Laymen's Missionary Movement campaign in Canada. Messrs S J Moore and J N Shenstone were appointed to represent the Foreign Mission Board on the general committee. These brethren have given themselves heartily to this work. Many other Baptists have entered on this campaign with enthusiasm, but these are mentioned specially because of their connection with the Foreign Mission Board. The churches in Toronto and in many other places have responded nobly to the appeal for a great advance in their gifts to Missions at home and abroad. In May, 1908, a convention was held in Toronto when delegates were present from various places in Ontario and Quebec, and much inspiration was derived from it. Allusion has been made to the devoted service of Rev John Bates and Dr Fyfe and Mr T S Shenston and Mr Wm Craig, Sr. Then there are the secretaries: in the first years, Rev Wm Stewart and after him Rev J L Campbell and Rev James Coutts and, later, Rev J W A Stewart. These men did a great work for the Foreign Mission cause, combining these duties with the work of the pastorate as was also done by Rev D G Macdonald in 1891-2. For the three years before that and the sixteen years since Rev John McLaurin, DD, Rev A P McDiarmid, DD, and Rev J G Brown, DD, have served the Board as its paid secretaries, devoting all their time and talents to this work. For many years Mr T J Claxton, of Montreal, was a member of the Board and a warm friend of the Society. Mr A A Ayer was elected one of the Vice-Presidents in October, 1874, and has been on the Board ever since. Mr Charles Raymond of Guelph, was another warm friend of the work, and served as President and Vice-President for some years. Rev S S Bates, DD, has been Chairman of the Board for eighteen years, thus continuing the service rendered by his father. On the Executive Committee are others whose names remind us of men who loved this work in the past. These are Messrs Wm Craig [Jr] and Jos N Shenstone. A few years ago the latter showed his personal interest in the missionaries by supplying them with bicycles. Professor J H Farmer and Messrs J G Scott and John Firstbrook have served on the Committee for many years. In April, 1904, Mr Harry Ryrie paid a hurried visit to some of the Mission stations in India. On his return he was elected a member of the Board, and of the Executive Committee also. Rev E T Fox served the denomination as treasurer not only for the Foreign Mission Board, but also of several other Boards without renumeration for many years. In 1907 he requested to be relieved, and Rev C J Cameron was appointed in his place. After the great effort at the close of the century, there was a falling off in 1901, leaving a deficit of $7,495. The income has grown since then, but the growth of the work in India and Bolivia has necessitated a steady increase in the appropriations, and the deficit has continued as a clog upon the work. For several years the estimates from India were cut to the serious detriment of the Mission. It was anticipated that the good effect of the Laymen's Movement would be seen in the income for 1907-1908. The treasurer has reported the total receipts as $55,830.70, a gratifying response to the appeals. When Rev A V Timpany was on furlough in 1876 he succeeded in so arousing the Baptist women of Ontario and Quebec to the need of their Telugu sisters, that he led them to organize into two Societies both acting as auxiliaries to the General Foreign Mission Society and united in the express purpose of helping the women and children in heathendom. The Society which is now known as The Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Eastern Ontario and Quebec, was organized in Montreal, on September 27th, 1876, in the parlour of St Catherine St Baptist Church, under the name of the 'Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Eastern Canada.' The officers were: President, Mrs T J Claxton; Vice-Presidents, Mrs D McPhail, Mrs Thos Leeming; Recording-Secretary, Mrs D K McLaren; Corressponding Secretary, Miss M Wilson; Treasurer, Miss Nannie E Green. Their sisters of Western Ontario, under the same persuasive enthusiasm banded together one month later. Through all the years to 1908 the Eastern Society has been blessed with consecrated leaders, chief among them the honoured President, Mrs Claxton. She has not filled this office continuously but the Society has had the benefit of her guidance and interest since its inception. Some others who took an active part in the days when it required unusual courage for a woman to plead any cause in a meeting, have gone 'before the King,' and no doubt rejoice that for His dear sake they put aside their timidity and carried the message He gave them. Others are still leading the enlarged company to greater service. The first year the Eastern women reported 7 Circles and a total income of $434.37, while in 1907-08 the income had grown to $2,602.66. Fifty-two Circles and eighteen Bands reported to the Treasurer, four of the Bands belonging to churches where the Circle was not represented in this year's list, but that still leaves a considerable margin for organization in a total constituency of 108 churches. From the very beginning they have united with the larger membership in Ontario in responses to calls from India, so that in a brief sketch it would be impossible to trace the share of each in the work described in Chapters XI and XII. Recently they erected the 'Jennie McArthur Bungalow' at Akidu, each Society paying one-half of the total $3,000, and the Eastern women have also paid $600 for Dormitories for the Girls' Boarding School, Akidu. As this necessary equipment has been provided, they are now planning a larger share in direct support of missionaries and native workers. At a meeting held in Jarvis St Church, Toronto, on October 24th, 1876, the Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Ontario (West) was organized. Mrs Wm McMaster was elected President; Mrs H H Humphrey, Corr Secretary, and Miss Erskine Buchan, Treasurer. During the first year thirty Circles were formed. In 1877 the Adelaide St Church, London, reported the organization of a Mission Band, but the Paris Juvenile Mission Band, organized by Mrs James Grant and others, was the first Band to send a contribution to the treasurer, that was in March, 1879. In that year the Circle of the First Baptist Church at Winnipeg was welcomed by the Board as an auxiliary. Ten years after the Society was organized, 112 Circles and 38 Bands reported. Before this, some Associational Societies had been formed. The first was that of the Brant Association formed in June, 1882, with Miss Anna Moyle as Director. Early in 1884 the Bands had become so numerous that the Board found it wise to appoint a Secretary for that part of the work. Mrs E W Dadson was chosen. It has always been a rule of the Society not to incur debt. The income has grown steadily through all the years with few backward movements. One of the most successful years was 1894, when 213 Circles raised $5,305 and 113 Bands $1,332, the total income of the Society amounting to over $8,000. During a time of financial depression that followed the income was not so large. During 1907-08 236 Circles, 112 Bands and 35 other Organizations sent money to the Treasurer, the total income being $13,664.94. This included a general and generous response to a special appeal for funds to send out three new missionaries. Coming as it did after appeals during a number of years for the Bungalow Fund the Board felt particularly grateful. Three Bungalows thus provided have been erected as the combined effort of the two societies of Ontario and Quebec, and the women of Manitoba and the North-West, Ontario (West) being responsible for that at Vuyyuru, one-half that at Akidu, and about $1,700 towards that finished in 1908 for the lady missionaries of the Ramachandrapuram field. When Mrs H J Rose resigned the office of Corr Secretary in 1886 Miss Jane Buchan was appointed, and continued in the work till her illness and death in 1904. The wisdom and devotion shown by her in all those years were greatly appreciated by the Society, and the lady missionaries in India expressed their appreciation by making her a life-member of the Society in 1901. In 1892 the members of the Board agreed to meet for prayer on the last Thursday in every month. This meeting has been continued regularly since then, and has proved a time of rich blessing. This indeed has been one of the best ways of 'holding the ropes,' by seeking the strength of the Almighty. In 1878 Mr Timpany advised the publication of a paper to report the work of the women at home and abroad. After much persuasion he induced Mrs Freeland, Mrs H J Rose and Miss Jane Buchan to undertake the work, the two former as editors, the latter as business manager. The paper was called 'The Canadian Missionary Link.' In May, 1885, Mrs Freeland found it necessary to remove to Manitoba, and the paper was handed over to the Ontario Board. Mrs A H Newman was appointed editor at that time. It seemed remarkable that those who had undertaken the work at Mr Timpany's request should have to lay it down just after his death. Mrs Newman continued in this work till 1901 when she left Canada, and was succeeded by Mrs W H Porter. For many years the Women's Missionary Union of the Maritime Provinces made the 'Link' its official organ, but a few years ago the Union began a paper of its own. A determined effort is being made to increase the circulation in Ontario and Quebec to make up for the serious loss of subscribers from that cause. The Baptists of Manitoba and the North-West entrusted their work for many years to their Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society. Until 1897 a lady missionary in India was supported, but in that year they undertook the support of Rev J E Davis and wife, and afterwards helped in supporting the work on his field. At the Convention in 1903 Miss Robinson offered herself, and the sum of $1,000 was given by those present. Since then her support has been provided as well as that of Mr Davis or his successor, Mr J R Stillwell. By a special effort the women have collected $1,100 as their share of the Ladies' Bungalow at Ramachandrapuram. In 1907 the Convention undertook the support of Rev J A K Walker also, through the advance movement of the First Church, Calgary. In 1898 the British Columbia Baptists determined to have a share in the foreign work of their brethren of Ontario and Quebec. Before this they had not been unmindful of their obligation to the heathen world, but their gifts had gone through the United States Board, as their churches had been aided by the American Baptist Home Mission Society. When Dr McLaurin visited their Convention in 1900 the churches of British Columbia undertook to pay $800.00 towards Rev A A McLeod's support. The latter had to take a long furlough in 1903-05, seeking to re-establish his health, and held a pastorate there, adding to their knowledge and interest. Their gifts for the year ending October 10th, 1907, amounted to $1,611.31, those of Manitoba and the North-West were $2,554.95. A union of the four western provinces was effected November 20th, 1907, and for the year of the Ontario and Quebec Convention, ending October, 1908, the total from the West was $2481.53. This serious decrease was mainly due to the financial stringency so keenly felt in the West, but may be partially explained by the change in the date of their Convention year and consequent re-adjustment of times of payment. Thus while the work is under the general oversight of the Foreign Mission Board of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, the Baptist membership from the eastern boundary of Quebec to the shores of the Pacific are now partners in this enterprise. Andrew Fuller remarked that 'there was a gold mine in India, but it seemed almost as deep as the centre of the earth.' 'I will venture to go down,' said William Carey, 'but remember that you must hold the ropes.' And it is to all the members, not only to the few who are filling official positions that our representatives to-day are saying: 'You must hold the ropes.'