parts of the United Kingdom and other countries, ‘as Divine Providence might 
     
     open the way’. In 1831, John Glass and Francis Metherall were sent as mis- 
     
     sionaries to Canada West and Prince Edward Island respectively. The Bible 
     
     Christians also organized missions in 1846 in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan. In 
     
     1850, James Rowe and the devout James Way were set apart to open a mission 
     
     in South Australia, which prospered exceedingly and extended into the neighbor- 
     
     ing colony of Victoria. Missions were later established in New Zealand, 
     
     Queensland, and China. In the report to the Ecumenical Conference in 1881 its 
     
     number of communicants had reached 31,542.”5° 
     
    
   
   
    
     For the next twenty-five years, the Bible Christians enjoyed undisturbed pros- 
     
     perity, operating three publishing houses, and establishing a denominational 
     
     college in Shebbear, Devon. In 1882, there were three hundred ministers and 
     
     34,000 members reported which proved later to be the highest number ever claimed 
     
     ed by the Bible Christians. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The tiny Missionary Society of the Bible Christians which had been organiz- 
     
     ed in 1821 in Devon, England had begun to realize the increasing demand for 
     
     missionary work beyond the borders of England although home missions con- 
     
     tinued to occupy most of their time and resources. In the early 1800’s, hundreds 
     
     of English people left their native country to settle in the growing colonies of the 
     
     British in North America. The tiny, struggling colony of Prince Edward Island 
     
     attracted many of those settlers even though the primitive life in the Island at 
     
    
   
   
    
     that time tested the hardiest of the pioneers. 
     
    
   
   
    
     9. EARLY CONDITIONS IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     The first census was taken in Prince Edward Island in 1827 and 23,000 people 
     
     were listed of whom 2,000 resided in Charlottetown. There was a great lack of roads 
     
     and bridges which made travelling a tremendous hardship. Much of the interior of 
     
     the Island, particularly its western reaches, was an unbroken wilderness, with a few 
     
     blazed trails which usually led to the shore, providing another means of travel. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The second census was recorded in 1833, and the population had grown to 
     
     32,000, an increase of 9,000 in only six years. The number of residents in Charlot- 
     
     tetown had also advanced to 2,500 indicating a growth of 500 citizens in the same 
     
     period of time. Immigration, extending the frontier, and providing roads and 
     
     bridges seemed to be on the mind of leaders in the colonial government of Prince 
     
     Edward Island, but roads remained very primitive. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Most of the early Island colonists were Methodists, Presbyterians, and Bible 
     
     Christians who brought their religious faiths with them only to find a great lack of 
     
     preachers to lead them. Without doubt, letters were sent from Prince Edward Island 
     
     to their friends and former pastors in England detailing their need for religious 
     
     leaders. Since a large number of the English immigrants were from the West 
     
     Country of England, Devon to be precise, many of the Bible Christians among them 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     50 Ibid., pp. 84—85. 
     
    
   
   
    
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