00.01 Introduction

INTRODUCTION

IT has been a great joy to me to learn that a life of my dear friend, Bishop Bompas, is being prepared for publication. Quite apart from the pleasure which the perusal of the record of his life will afford to a large circle of friends, it is, I consider, in the interests of missions that the Christian public should know something more of the heroic work of that great "Apostle of the North." That work was carried on in the seclusion of a prolonged isolation in the wilds of a land which was entirely shut out, except at rare intervals, from communication with the rest of the world. The Bishop loved to have it so. He had no care to speak to galleries or to come to the front. On the contrary, he retired before an approaching civilization, and when he saw it coming he retreated into "regions beyond." His first episcopate covered what is now comprised in the districts of Athabasca, Mackenzie River, and Yukon. When the first subdivision took place, and the diocese of Athabasca was formed out of his jurisdiction in 1883, he selected, not the part most accessible to civilization, but the northern portion, and became Bishop of Mackenzie River. When, subsequently, another subdivision took place, he gave up Mackenzie River, retreated again farther North, and assumed charge of the distant Yukon. This "hiding of self" was typical of the man. His life was "hid with Christ in God," and he hid the activities of it in an unselfish shrinking from the world’s gaze. Some of us thought that in this latter he made a mistake, and he was frequently urged to give us the help and inspiration of his presence at our Synods once in three years at least. We longed to see and show "our hero." But it was of no avail. His unvarying answer was, "You can do without me at your meetings. My work is with my Indians." As a consequence of this self-imposed isolation, the work of Bishop Bompas was little known to the general public outside of those who were near enough to see it. I rejoice, therefore, that we are to be privileged to have placed before us in this biography a short record of his work, and I pray that its story of simple devotion may appeal to some hearts, and draw from them, while the harvest still is great and the labourers few, the self-surrendering cry, "Here am I; send me." No matter how vivid the story is made, it will be hard to portray the real greatness of the man. In order even measurably to appreciate William Carpenter Bompas and realize his personality, so simple and yet so great, it was necessary to see him and hear his self-effacing words. After we write our best about him, we have to recognize the inadequacy of verbal description, and are constrained to exclaim, "Quantum mutatus ab illo!"

S. P. RUPERT’S LAND.

BISHOP’S COURT, WINNIPEG, January, 1908.