ago, and afterwards found that the
priest had been unwearied in calling upon the woman who was a professed
Protestant, and never ceased to repeat to her their opinions of
heretics, till, with the persuasion of her husband, they prevailed upon
her to be re-baptized, and re-married by them in the _nominal_
profession of the Catholic faith. And I was assured by a Swiss
gentleman at the Settlement, who had married a Catholic from Montreal,
that some months after their marriage, one of the priests called upon
his wife, and told her that it would have been better for her to have
married a heathen, than a Protestant. A heathen, he said, might be
converted to the Catholic faith, and be saved, but little hope could be
entertained of a Protestant. These circumstances prove that Popery, as
it now exists, at least in this quarter of the globe, is not contrary
to what it was in the days of the Reformation.

Christmas is again returned, and appears to be generally known amongst
us, as in Europe, only as a season of intoxication. Will not the very
heathen rise up in judgment, at the last day, and condemn such a gross
perversion of the supposed period of the Redeemer's birth; the
knowledge of whose name, they have hitherto been unacquainted with. We
had divine service at the Fort:--text, Luke ii. 8-11. The Indian boys
repeated some hymns, and joined in the singing Hallelujah! to the
"Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is, God with us." I meet with many
discouraging circumstances in my ministerial labours; but my path is
sometimes cheered with the pleasing hope, that they are not altogether
in vain; and that the light of Christianity will break in upon the
heathen darkness that surrounds me. _The promises of God are
sure_; and when cast down, I am not disheartened.

JANUARY 1, 1822.--Oh thou God of mercy, as thou hast brought me
hitherto, be pleased to support and direct me in the wilderness; order
my footsteps, and make my path acceptable to thyself--"Hoping all
things, may I endure all things," in the desire of usefulness, as I
proceed in the journey of life, and be endued with a Spirit of Love,
and of a sound mind, as year after year revolves over my head.

The 16th. We are suffering great privations at the Settlement. Very
little buffaloe meat has been obtained from the plains, and our
principal subsistence is from grain boiled into soup. Few have either
pepper, salt, flour, or vegetables. One of the Swiss was lately frozen
to d