Daniel McPhail: A man of continual prayer

It was in the depths of a Canadian winter – on 17 February, 1836 – that various delegates from six Baptist churches met in Montreal to form the Ottawa Baptist Association.

While two of the churches were based in Montreal (an Anglophone work and a French-speaking congregation), the others came from what was a considerable distance to travel in those days: Breadalbane, Dalesville, Hull, and Clarence. Among the stated aims of this Association were the deepening of the ties of fellowship between those “Baptist churches as agree in holding the sentiments commonly called Evangelical” as well as “the advance [of] the cause of Christ”. For the latter, it was stressed, a certain type of man was needed: “Men of deep personal piety – of compassion for ruined undying souls, strong as power, yet tender as a mother’s heart – of love to Christ, which glows with unceasing ardour – of holy, harmless zeal, which never tires – of humility, that sinks into the insignificance of a cypher – of moral courage, which meets difficulties, insurmountable to others, as little things…”

Now, in the minds of many who became members of the churches of this association, the Scottish-Canadian preacher, Daniel McPhail (1811‒1875) was a paragon of such piety.