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IDctbodism in Canada 
 
 ITS WORK AND ITS STORY 
 
 BEING THE THIRTY-THIRD FERNLEY LECTURE 
 
 DELIVERED IN PENZANCE, 3 ist JULY igo 3 
 
 BY 
 ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, D.D. 
 
 FIRST CANADIAN EDITION. 
 
 Toronto 
 
 METHODIST MISSION ROOMS 
 1904 
 
METHODISM IN CANADA 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 FOR more than a hundred years the Methodist Church in 
 Canada has been so busy making history that no one has 
 had leisure to write it. In fact, the time for such an 
 undertaking had not fully come. The period was too 
 short, the events too recent. They might be recorded 
 separately in private or public annals, but could scarcely be 
 combined into history. Within the past few years, however, 
 there has been a growing conviction that Canadian Method- 
 ism had reached a stage in its development when the story 
 of its first hundred years should be written ; and just at 
 the very time when this conviction began to voice itself, 
 accompanied by some gentle hints as to who ought to 
 undertake the task, the Board of the Fernley Lectureship 
 saw fit to honour me with an invitation to deliver the 
 lecture for 1903, and accompanied that invitation with 
 a request that the theme of the lecture should be the 
 work of the Methodist Church in Canada. 
 
 When considering how I might best fulfil the task 
 assigned me, the thought occurred of giving, first of all, a 
 brief statement of what the Methodist Church in Canada 
 is at the present time, and then so much of its story as 
 
 659 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 would show how it came to be what it is. In doing this 
 it will not be necessary to follow the minute details of a 
 continuous history, but only to present the salient features 
 of certain distinctive epochs when the inner life of the 
 movement gradually took form in visible institutions, and 
 the nebulous materials produced by an aggressive evangel- 
 ism resolved themselves into a compact and thoroughly 
 organised Church. For be it understood that what I 
 have to relate is not the method whereby men of mingled 
 passions like ourselves planned and reared a Babel-tower 
 to their own ambition, but it is the process of a divine 
 evolution whereby God made them to be a people that 
 were not a people, and raised up the weak things of the 
 world to confound the mighty. To change the figure, I 
 have to tell something of the story of how a grain of 
 mustard seed was planted in unpromising soil, but how 
 in the space of one hundred years it grew into so stately 
 a tree that to-day one million of people, or nearly 20 per 
 cent, of the whole population of the Canadian Dominion, 
 gather under its shadow and are called by its name. 
 
 To compress a detailed account of Canadian Methodism 
 into the limits of a Fernley Lecture would be impossible, 
 and it is not necessary to attempt it ; but there are, as 
 already intimated, certain well defined epochs in the growth 
 of the denomination which will not be devoid of interest 
 to British Methodists, and some of these I will endeavour 
 to describe. Taken as a whole, it is a story of heroic 
 endeavour inspired by a lofty purpose, with many a 
 romantic incident and a pathos peculiarly its own. It 
 is the story of an intense and aggressive evangelism, 
 seeking the lost sheep in the wilderness and bringing 
 
Prologitt 
 
 wandering prodigals home to God; the story of Christ's 
 redeeming love constraining men and women to lives of 
 self-sacrificing devotion unsurpassed in the history of the 
 Church ; of marvellous triumphs of divine grace in the 
 transformation of notorious sinners into rejoicing saints, 
 and of happy and useful lives ending on triumphant 
 deathbeds. More than that, it forms an integral part of 
 the story of the spirit of freedom, inspired by the gospel, 
 contending against irresponsible autocracy in civil govern- 
 ment and the assumptions of a tyrannical ecclesiasticism 
 in the Church, until the great principles of civil liberty 
 and religious equality were universally conceded and in- 
 corporated in the laws of the State ; the story of intellectual 
 emancipation, wrought by the gospel, finding its legitimate 
 outlet in the establishment of schools, the founding of 
 colleges, the dissemination of literature, the fostering of 
 intellectual pursuits. Last, but not least, it is the story 
 of a God-inspired movement for the unification of Method- 
 ism, prophetic, it may be, of a coming day when throughout 
 Christendom there shall be " one flock, one Shepherd." 
 
 I could honestly wish that the task now before me had 
 fallen into other hands ; for, altogether apart from that 
 sincerely modest estimate of one's own powers which is 
 proper and becoming, there are other reasons which, in 
 my case, make the undertaking one of no small difficulty. 
 Not only has a very busy life afforded little time for 
 historical or philosophical studies, but for the third part 
 of a century I have been in the thick of the events 
 which make up the later history of Canadian Methodism, 
 and by force of circumstances, more than from choice, 
 have been compelled to share largely in the discussions 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 out of which grew the present condition and polity of 
 the Church. Such an experience is not the best prepara- 
 tion for the historian. A soldier, it is true, may relate 
 in the most graphic manner certain incidents of a battle 
 as they fell under his observation, yet be poorly qualified 
 to outline the plan of campaign or describe the complicated 
 movement of the entire army. As a war correspondent 
 secures if possible some point of vantage from which he 
 can survey the entire field, so the historian of Church or 
 State must be far enough removed from the events which 
 he describes to be able to survey them as a whole, and to 
 weigh with impartial mind and unbiassed judgment the 
 motives and actions of men. Conscious of my limitations 
 in these respects, I can only attempt my little best, trusting 
 to the interest of my theme and the kindness of my hearers 
 to secure a lenient judgment. 
 
THE METHODIST CHUKCH IN CANADA 
 
 THE word " Church " is here used deliberately and with 
 emphasis. Methodism in Canada is a Church in all things 
 that the word properly implies. It is a body of Christian 
 believers united by a common name, a common faitli, u 
 common history. It accepts the Holy Scriptures as the 
 only authoritative rule of faith, and steadily aims to conform 
 its teaching and practice to the doctrine of Christ. Its 
 symbols of doctrine embrace the fundamental truths held 
 by the Church universal. Its forms of worship are in 
 harmony with New Testament teaching and the practice 
 of the primitive Church. It has a valid ministry, called of 
 God and ordained, by whom the ordinances of the Church 
 of Christ are duly administered. Should anyone demand 
 other evidence of the validity of the claim to be a true 
 Church of Christ, let him find the attesting seal in the 
 mighty works wrought by the Holy Spirit through its 
 instrumentality for more than a hundred years. 
 
 In giving an account of this Church and its work 
 some regard must be paid to the theatre of its operations. 
 Geographically considered, the field to be covered is one of 
 vast extent. A Dominion that stretches literally " from 
 sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth," 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 is no " pent-up Utica " whose story might be sketched in a 
 score of pages ; and as the theatre of the Church's history 
 is conterminous with so vast an empire, the foundations of 
 the story should be laid on similarly majestic lines. The 
 time limits, it is true, are not far apart only one hundred 
 years but into that brief period events of no ordinary 
 importance have been compressed ; for the history of 
 Methodism in Canada is, in a very important sense, an 
 integral part of the history of the Dominion, and its annals 
 chronicle a movement which has left an indelible impres- 
 sion upon the people and their institutions. Every careful 
 observer will admit that Methodism has been one of the 
 most potent factors in moulding the character of the 
 people in the English-speaking provinces of the Dominion, 
 and in shaping the destinies of the infant nation. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that he who would tell the 
 story of Methodism in Canada must not, if true to his 
 vocation, trace the history of a denomination cast in a 
 narrow groove, intent upon its own sectarian theology and 
 usages, indifferent to wider human interests and questions 
 of civic duty and responsibility, but the history of a great 
 evangelistic movement that in the sweep of its far-reaching 
 influence has regenerated individuals, purified homes, trans- 
 formed communities, moulded institutions, fought and won 
 the battle of civil and religious liberty, shaped the 
 educational policy of whole provinces, founded institutions 
 of higher learning, created a clean and wholesome literature, 
 left the impress of its thought upon the very speech of the 
 people, leavened the theology and stimulated the evangel- 
 istic zeal of sister churches, and in the brief space of one 
 hundred years gathered around its standard a million of 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 7 
 
 adherents, or nearly one fifth of the population of tin- 
 Dominion. 
 
 As already intimated, the field covered by the work of 
 the Methodist Church in Canada is of vast extent. It 
 comprises the settled portions of the Dominion, the island 
 of Newfoundland, the Bermudas, and two strictly foreign 
 missions, one in Japan and one in West China. But 
 these are only vague general statements which convey no 
 distinct meaning, and some comparisons' must be instituted 
 if the facts are to be made clear. In attempting a brief 
 description of the field we will begin at the Atlantic 
 seaboard and follow the course of the sun westward to the 
 great Pacific. 
 
 Lying off the south-eastern coast of the province of 
 Quebec and the southern extremity of Labrador (from 
 which it is separated by a narrow strait about 1 5 miles 
 in width) lies the island of Newfoundland, the ancient 
 colony, with an area of 162,200 square miles, which 
 means a territory more than twice the size of England and 
 Scotland put together, and nearly as large as Sweden. 
 Kugged, storm-beaten, much of it rocky and sterile, its 
 aspect is not particularly inviting : but there is vast 
 mineral wealth among the hills ; magnificent bays, in 
 any-one of which the combined fleets of the world might 
 ride at anchor without fear of overcrowding, indent its 
 shore-line ; while off the coast and out on the banks are 
 teeming fisheries, prolific enough to supply the markets of 
 the world. Outside of the city of St. John's the settle- 
 ments for the most part are not much more than fishing 
 villages around the rugged coast ; but in most of them the 
 gospel is preached with true Methodist fervour, and a 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 joyous experience is voiced in grand old Wesleyan hymns. 
 Within the bounds of the Conference there are 5 districts, 
 64 circuits and stations, 52 ordained ministers, 16 proba- 
 tioners for the ministry, 11,851 communicants, and 15,209 
 scholars in the Sunday schools. 
 
 Turning now to the Dominion of Canada (for although 
 Newfoundland, Methodistically, is included in its boundaries, 
 politically it is separate), we have to do with an immensely 
 vaster territory, though some of the provinces composing 
 it are but small. South-westward from Newfoundland we 
 touch the coast of Cape Breton, an island which forms 
 part of the province of Nova Scotia, the Acadie of the 
 old French regime. From north-east to south-west the 
 province has a length of 350 miles, with an average 
 breadth of 90 miles or thereabout; but Nova Scotia being 
 almost an island, connected with the mainland by a very 
 narrow isthmus, and Cape Breton being an island in 
 reality, the coastline is of enormous extent. The whole 
 province comprises an area of 20,550 square miles, nearly 
 equal to the combined area of the States of New Hampshire, 
 Rhode Island, and Vermont. The population is nearly 
 460,000, and for the most part they are a law-abiding 
 and God-fearing people. Methodistically, an Annual 
 Conference has jurisdiction throughout the province. 
 This Conference comprises 10 districts, 110 circuits and 
 stations, 124 ordained ministers, 12 probationers for 
 the ministry, 16,067 communicants, and 15,535 
 scholars in the Sunday schools. Communicants and 
 adherents combined number 57,500, or about 12 \ per 
 cent, of the entire population. 
 
 To the north-west of Nova Scotia, across the Bay of 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 9 
 
 Fundy, lies the province of New Brunswick. It has an 
 area of 28,200 square miles, nearly as large m Rivaim, 
 and about 1,600 square miles less than Scotland. Its 
 population exceeds 321,000, and in their characteristics 
 the people are not unlike those of Nova Scotia. The 
 Annual Conference embraces 8 districts, 92 circuits and 
 stations, 104 ordained ministers, 10 probationers for 
 the ministry, 13,792 communicants, 13,593 scholars in 
 the Sunday schools. Communicants and adherents together 
 number 35,973, or 8J per cent, of the population, includ- 
 ing Prince Edward Island, which is separated from New 
 Brunswick and Nova Scotia by Northumberland Strait, 
 and is included in the territory of the New Brunswick 
 Conference. It has an area of only 2,133 square miles, 
 slightly larger than the State of Delaware, and a popula- 
 tion of a little over 109,000, but maintains its own 
 provincial autonomy. 
 
 North of New Brunswick, we touch the easterly part 
 of that narrow strip of the province of Quebec which lies 
 south of the St. Lawrence Kiver. At a point approximately 
 east from the city of Quebec the strip begins to widen, 
 following the north-western boundary of the State of Maine 
 and the northern boundaries of the States of New Hamp- 
 shire, Vermont, and New York, till it strikes the St. 
 Lawrence Eiver at an acute angle at the upper end of 
 Lake St. Francis. On the nqrth shore of the lake the 
 province line between Quebec and Ontario starts near the 
 village of St. Louis de Gonzague, following an irregular 
 course until it reaches the Ottawa Kiver, near Carillon. 
 Thence the boundary between the two provinces follows 
 the course of the Ottawa to a point at the north end 
 
IO Methodism in Canada 
 
 of Lake Teiniscaniingue ; theiice it runs due north to a 
 point on James Bay. To the north the boundary of 
 Quebec is the East Main Kiver, which flows westward 
 into James Bay, and the Hamilton or Grand River flowing 
 eastward into the Atlantic Ocean ; while to the east the 
 boundary is the narrow strip of the coast of Labrador, 
 which is under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland. 
 
 Having entered this immense province, we have now 
 to deal with the territory of an empire for Quebec has 
 an area of 347,350 square miles, which is 22,600 square 
 miles larger than the German and Austrian empires put 
 together, more than seven times the size of the State of 
 New York, and more than equals the combined areas of 
 the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Within this province 
 lies the head of navigation for ocean ships coming in from 
 the Atlantic, and through the gateways of its cities will 
 pour, through the coming years, the fabulous wealth of 
 the great North- West. Within this province there is a 
 population of 1,648,898, and there is room for millions 
 more. Its land fit for agriculture is not all occupied, its 
 forests are by no means exhausted, its minerals scarcely 
 touched. But of the 1,648,898 people above mentioned, 
 1,322,000 are of French descent, speak the French 
 language, are imbued with French traditions, and the bulk 
 of them are devoted adherents of the most pronounced, 
 aggressive, and thoroughly organised type of Roman 
 Catholicism to be found in the world. 
 
 In this province the work of Methodism is confined 
 almost entirely to the English-speaking portions, and to 
 towns, cities, and rural sections where the population is 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada \ \ 
 
 mixed. Among the other race the work is represented by 
 a few scattered and somewhat feeble missions, where a 
 handful of French Protestants bravely strive to hold their 
 own against the overshadowing power of Rome. The 
 Annual Conference, called Montreal, embraces the English- 
 speaking portion of the province already referred to, 
 beginning at Gaspe on the Atlantic seaboard, and extend- 
 ing in the other direction some distance west of the city of 
 Kingston, far beyond the Ontario province line. The Con- 
 ference embraces 11 districts, 219 circuits and stations, 
 240 ordained ministers, 29 probationers for the ministry, 
 36,209 communicants, 32,110 scholars in the Sunday 
 schools. Communicants and adherents within the province 
 of Quebec number 42,014. 
 
 At the eastern angle formed by the junction of the 
 St. Lawrence and the Ottawa there are two counties which 
 belong to the province of Quebec. All west of this to 
 the Detroit Eiver, and thence along the shores of Lakes 
 Huron and Superior to Fort William, and extending north- 
 ward approximately to the 47th parallel, is included in 
 what is now called Old Ontario ; but within a few years a 
 vast territory to the north and west, popularly called New 
 Ontario, has been added. Its northern boundary is the 
 shore of James Bay as far as the Albany Eiver, thence 
 ascending the course of that stream westward till the 
 eastern boundary of Manitoba is reached at the Lake of 
 the Woods. The area of the whole province of Ontario is 
 222,000 square miles, a territory larger than France, 
 nearly as large as Spain and Portugal combined, and 
 nearly twice the size of Great Britain and Ireland. From 
 the Quebec boundary to the Detroit Eiver the distance, 
 
12 Methodism in Canada 
 
 as the crow flies, is approximately 500 miles; from the 
 shore of Lake Erie to the Albany Eiver the distance is 
 about 750 miles; while the distance from Ottawa to the 
 Manitoba province line is approximately 1,000 miles. 
 The resources of this vast region in agriculture, timber, 
 and especially minerals, are practically boundless, and 
 manufactures are developing at a rate undreamed of a 
 generation ago. The population at the last census 
 numbered 2,167,978. As already intimated, the Montreal 
 Conference extends a considerable distance into Ontario ; 
 but west of that, and still within the province, there 
 are four other Annual Conferences, named respectively 
 Bay of Quinte, Toronto, Hamilton, and London. Taken 
 together, these Conferences embrace 53 districts, 739 
 circuits and stations, 978 ordained ministers, 102 pro- 
 bationers for the ministry, 182,739 communicants, 
 166,634 scholars in Sunday schools. Communicants and 
 adherents taken together number 666,360. 
 
 The province of Manitoba constitutes the first political 
 division of the almost illimitable prairie region of the 
 West. Scarcely more than a generation has passed since 
 this vast country came under the control of the Canadian 
 Government, and it was almost at the end of the sixties 
 when the first missionaries of the Methodist Church were 
 sent to the English-speaking settlers who were beginning 
 to enter the country. Previous to this the Methodist 
 Church had a few missionaries among the Indians of the 
 farther north ; but the Scotch settlers on the Ked Eiver 
 of the North were cared for by Presbyterian clergymen, 
 while the mixed bloods, scattered over an enormous 
 territory, were dependent for the most part upon the 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 13 
 
 ministrations of the Roman Catholic and Anglican 
 Churches. 
 
 When the North-West was ceded to Canada, conditions 
 underwent a rapid change. Farmers and others from the 
 older provinces began to turn their faces toward the new 
 land of promise, and the Churches saw the necessity of 
 providing for the religious needs of those who were 
 seeking homes on the Western prairies. In 1868 the 
 Methodist Church sent out the Rev. George Young, D.D., 
 to plant the standard at Fort Garry on the Red River. 
 At first he preached to a handful of people in his own 
 dwelling ; but he laid foundations broad and deep, and 
 where in 1868 there was only the naked prairie sur- 
 rounding the walls of the H.B. Company's Fort, there 
 now stands a handsome city of 50,000 inhabitants, with 
 all the appliances of modern civilisation, while Methodism 
 is represented in the same city by more than half a 
 dozen churches with flourishing congregations, and a large 
 and handsome college building filled with students. 
 
 The province of Manitoba is one of the smaller 
 divisions of the North- West, having an area of only 73,956 
 square miles ; but even this is no petty State, as it in- 
 cludes a territory nearly 6,000 square miles larger than 
 Great Britain. This, however, is only the gateway to 
 the greater West. Beyond Manitoba, to the west, north, 
 and north-west, are the vast territories of Assinaboia, 
 Saskatchewan, Alberta, Athabasca, Keewatin, Mackenzie, 
 and Yukon. In Keewatin Methodism is represented by 
 two or three Indian missions ; in Athabasca and Mackenzie 
 it has no work at all ; in the Yukon there are but three 
 ministers of the denomination ; but there is a vast net- 
 
14 Methodism in Canada 
 
 work of agencies covering the province of Manitoba and 
 much of the territories of Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, 
 and Alberta, known as the Manitoba and North-West 
 Conference. The divisions just named cover the follow- 
 ing areas in square miles: Manitoba, 73,936 ; Assinaboia, 
 90,340; Saskatchewan, 114,000; Alberta, 100,000. 
 Taken together, the area is 378,276 square miles, which 
 is equal in extent to France and Sweden combined, and 
 almost every square mile is rich agricultural soil. The 
 same may be said of the western half of Athabasca, 
 which, with the outlying territories of Keewatin, Mac- 
 kenzie, and Yukon, represents an area of 1,768,800 square 
 miles, a region so vast that the whole of Europe, excluding 
 Eussia, does not equal it by nearly 2*50,000 square miles. 
 If now we add together Manitoba and the two groups of 
 territories above named, we have a total of 2,147,096 
 square miles, which is larger than the whole of Eussia 
 in Europe, including Poland and Finland. 
 
 In the Manitoba and North-West Conference there 
 are 15 districts, 251 circuits and stations, 241 ordained 
 ministers, 28 probationers for the ministry, 22,392 
 communicants, 20,355 scholars in the Sunday schools. 
 Communicants and adherents together, 72,117. 
 
 We have now reached British Columbia, the most 
 westerly province of the Canadian Dominion. Large in 
 area, it comprises 383,300 square miles, or over 18,000 
 square miles more than the combined States of California, 
 Nevada, and Oregon. The mountainous character of the 
 whole country does not permit of agriculture on a large 
 scale; but land in the valleys is very fertile, timber 
 resources are immense, the fisheries, especially of salmon, 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 
 
 are prolific almost beyond belief, while the supply of 
 minerals coal, iron, copper, silver, gold, etc. are 
 practicably inexhaustible. The Methodist Church in the 
 province comprises 1 Annual Conference, 8 districts, 
 81 circuits and stations, 69 ordained ministers, 11 
 probationers for the ministry, 6,116 communicants, 
 7,088 scholars in the Sunday schools. Communicants 
 and adherents together, 25,021. 
 
 Outside of the territory occupied in the Dominion of 
 Canada, Newfoundland, and Bermuda, the Methodist Church 
 has two foreign missions one in Japan, the other in West 
 China. The former was begun in 1873 by the Eev. George 
 Cochran, D.D., and the Eev. Davidson Macdonald, M.D. 
 There is now an Annual Conference embracing 5 districts, 
 with 27 circuits and stations, 8 foreign missionaries, 
 26 ordained native pastors, 7 unordained preachers, 
 2,675 communicants, 2,236 scholars in the Sunday 
 schools. The West China Mission in the province of Sz' 
 Chuan was begun in 1891 by the Kev. V. C. Hart, D.D., 
 0. L. Kilborn, M.A., M.D., and Eev. George E. Hartwell, 
 B.A., B.D. On two separate occasions the mission has 
 been broken up by the Boxer insurrection, and the 
 missionaries were compelled to leave the province for a 
 time. This greatly retarded the work ; but a brighter day 
 seems to be dawning, and the missionaries are again on 
 the ground, labouring with good prospects of success. 
 
 Turning back over ground already traversed and 
 summing up results, we find in the Dominion of Canada 
 territory organised and under Government amounting to 
 3,170,629 square miles, and there is unorganised terri- 
 tory to the north amounting approximately to 500,000 
 
1 6 Methodism in Canada 
 
 square miles more, or say 3,670,000 square miles in all, 
 which is almost equal to the whole continent of Europe. 
 Of this enormous region a large portion is still unoccupied 
 save by the wandering Indian and the adventurous fur- 
 trader. According to the census of 1901, the population 
 of the Dominion was less than 6,000,000 ; but with a 
 soil capable of sustaining countless millions more, and 
 undeveloped resources of other kinds enough to enrich 
 the whole world, the filling up of all the country fit for 
 settlement with a prosperous population is only a matter 
 of time, and it is this tide of incoming population that 
 will constitute the great problem of all the Churches for 
 years and years to come. 
 
 In the early days Methodism in Canada, so far as its 
 government was concerned, took on the Methodist 
 Episcopal form. This was perfectly natural, for its 
 preachers were commissioned by the American Bishops, and 
 until 1832 were under his jurisdiction. But when, in 
 the year just named, a union was formed between the 
 Canadian Conference and the British Wesleyan Confer- 
 ence, Episcopacy was superseded by an annual Presidency, 
 and the government of the Church was modelled after 
 the Wesleyan type. When a union was formed between 
 the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada, the Methodist 
 New Connexion, and the Conference of Eastern British 
 America, some modifications were introduced, and the 
 united body took the name of the Methodist Church of 
 Canada. Nine years later another union was formed, 
 embracing the Methodist Church of Canada, the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Canada, the Primitive Methodist 
 Church in Canada, and the Bible Christian Church of 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada \ 7 
 
 Canada, and the legal designation adopted was The 
 Methodist Church. At the time of this union the 
 constitution which still exists was adopted, and some of 
 its features may be briefly described. 
 
 In some respects the polity of the Canadian Church 
 holds a middle position between British Wesleyan 
 Methodism and the Episcopal Methodism of the United 
 States. It maintains the ministerial equality of the one, 
 and, in a modified form, the general superin tendency of 
 the other. There is one Quadrennial General Conference, 
 composed of ministers and laymen in equal numbers, to 
 which is committed authority to make rules and regula- 
 tions for the whole Church under certain restrictions. 
 The ministerial members are elected by the ministers 
 in the Annual Conferences, and the laymen by the lay 
 members of the same bodies. The General Conference has 
 authority to elect one or more general superintendents, 
 who hold office for eight years and are eligible for re- 
 election. It also decides the number and boundaries of 
 the Annual Conferences, but does not interfere in their 
 internal administration. At the present time there is 
 one Annual Conference in Newfoundland, nine in the 
 Dominion of Canada, and one in Japan. The Annual 
 Conferences are composed of ministers and laymen in 
 equal numbers, the former holding their position ex 
 ojficioy the latter elected by the laymen in the annual 
 district meetings. Each Annual Conference elects its 
 own president and secretary. If a general superintendent 
 is present at the beginning of a session, he opens the 
 proceedings, presides during the first day, and afterwards 
 alternately with the president-elect. He also conducts 
 
1 8 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the ordination service, when present, and in his absence 
 the president officiates. All questions pertaining to 
 ministerial standing and conduct are decided by the 
 ministerial members of the Annual Conference, and the 
 preachers are stationed by a committee composed of the 
 chairmen of districts and one ministerial representative 
 elected by each district meeting, the president of 
 Conference being chairman. During the intervals 
 between sessions of the* General Conference, connexional 
 interests such as missions, education, publishing, etc. 
 are controlled by boards or committees, and in these 
 the principle of equality in numbers as between ministers 
 and laymen prevails. Other church courts, such as 
 quarterly official meetings, leaders' meetings, etc., are 
 patterned after the British Wesleyan type. There is 
 one court in the Canadian Church which, as far as I am 
 aware, is unique in Methodism. This is known as the 
 Court of Appeal, and is constituted for the purpose of 
 hearing and deciding appeals from the decisions of lower 
 courts, or officers of the same, on questions of law. This 
 includes appeals from decisions of presidents or presiding 
 officers of Annual Conferences on questions of law ; from 
 the decision of Annual Conferences when they have 
 exceeded their jurisdiction ; from decisions of general 
 superintendents on questions of law in the committees 
 and boards over which they preside ; and from decisions 
 of committees and boards of the General Conference when 
 they have exceeded their jurisdiction. 
 
 Among the various departments of work in the 
 Methodist Church that of missions holds foremost place. 
 As far back as 1824, while the Church was yet in its 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 
 
 infancy, a Missionary Society was organised. Its income 
 the first year was only about $144, and the field of 
 operation was correspondingly limited. At that time 
 a foreign mission was undreamed of, but it was thought 
 that something might be done for the scattered bands of 
 Indians in the central and western parts of Upper Canada 
 (now Ontario), whose condition was most deplorable, and 
 ultimately to afford a little aid to those who were carrying 
 the gospel to the remoter settlements. From the time the 
 society was organised until now no division has been made 
 as between the home and foreign work. One fund covers 
 both, and is controlled and administered by one board. 
 This board is composed of the general superintendent, 
 the officers of the Missionary Society, and 34 other 
 members, ministers and laymen in equal numbers, 14 
 of whom are elected by the General Conference for a four 
 years' term. The board meets annually, reviews the whole 
 mission work of the Church at home and abroad, and 
 apportions the funds at its disposal according to the needs 
 of the various fields. In the intervals of the sessions of 
 the board the business of the society is administered by 
 an executive committee composed of the general super- 
 intendent, the officers of the society, and 18 other 
 members, ministers and laymen in equal numbers, 
 appointed by the board. 
 
 The Women's Missionary Society of the Methodist 
 Church was organised in the autumn of 1881. The 
 income for the first year was $2,916; but the annual 
 receipts increased steadily, until in 1902 they reached 
 $49,776. This society has its own board and manages 
 its own affairs, but works in harmony and loyal co-operation 
 
2O Methodism in Canada 
 
 with the board of the General Missionary Society. It has 
 more than 40 agents in its employ all women and these 
 include evangelists, teachers, physicians, trained nurses, 
 Bible-women, etc. The property held by the Women's 
 Society exceeds in value $56,000. Besides its direct work 
 in the mission field, the society has rendered invaluable 
 service in the home churches in fostering the missionary 
 spirit, spreading information, cultivating systematic giving, 
 and furnishing an outlet for the zeal of consecrated women, 
 who on many different fields are proving their fitness for 
 every form of Christian service. Another branch of 
 missionary effort, and one of growing importance, is what 
 is known as the Young People's Forward Movement for 
 Missions. It is carried on through the agency of the 
 Epworth Leagues, under the direction of the General 
 Board of Missions. The motto of the movement is " Pray, 
 Study, Give," and from this may be inferred the character 
 and spirit of its work. By its campaign methods, diligence 
 in circulating missionary literature, careful study of 
 missionary problems, and plan of systematic giving, this 
 organisation has done much to develop the missionary 
 spirit in the churches. Although but a few years have 
 passed since the movement began, the annual income has 
 reached about $25,000, and 46 missionaries in the Indian 
 and foreign fields are supported, in whole or in part, 
 from this source. 
 
 In the councils and work of the Church an important 
 place is assigned to educational interests. The Methodist 
 Church does not concern itself with primary education 
 (except in its Indian and foreign work) as that is amply 
 provided for by a State system of common schools ; but at 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 2 1 
 
 an early period it led the way in higher education, having 
 established in Upper Canada the first college with 
 university powers. Since that time Canadian Methodism 
 has established and maintained 13 additional educational 
 institutions, 1 of which ranks as a university, 1 1 as colleges, 
 and 1 as an academy. All this is exclusive of the 
 educational work carried on by the Missionary Society, 
 which includes 19 day schools, 4 boarding schools, and 
 4 industrial institutes among the Indians, under the joint 
 supervision of the Methodist Church and the Indian 
 department of the Canadian Government, a French in- 
 stitute in the city of Montreal, and sundry schools in the 
 foreign field. The total value of all college and school 
 property owned by the denomination in 1902 was over 
 $2,000,000 ; and this does not include the school property 
 of the Women's Missionary Society, which aggregates 
 $56,000 more. 
 
 The publishing interests of Canadian Methodism have 
 grown steadily from the beginning, and have now attained 
 large proportions. The quadrennial report for 1902 shows 
 total assets amounting to over $640,000, a working 
 capital of $423,000, and net profits for the quadrennium 
 amounting to $85,000. A portion of the profits about 
 $12,000 annually is donated to the Superannuated 
 Ministers' Fund, and the remainder goes to increase working 
 capital. The various publications weekly, monthly, etc. 
 aggregate nearly 350,000 for a single issue. 
 
22 
 
 Methodism in Canada 
 
 STATISTICS OF THE METHODIST CHUECH 
 IN CANADA. 
 
 A brief rfeumt, of the preceding facts, so far as they 
 can be tabulated, may be useful for purposes of reference : 
 
 General Conference ...... 1 
 
 Annual Conferences . ..... 11 
 
 Ministers, including probationers . . . 2,030 
 
 Local preachers ...... 2,248 
 
 Exhorters 1,119 
 
 Class-leaders 6,791 
 
 Church members, including those on trial . 291,895 
 
 and adherents, as per census . 935,000! 
 
 Number of churches 3,413 
 
 Seating capacity 865,500 
 
 Value of churches and furnishings . . . $11,836,410 
 
 Number of parsonages 1,208 
 
 Value of parsonages $1,875,853 
 
 Universities, colleges, and other schools, in- 
 cluding those maintained by the Missionary 
 
 Society and the Women's Missionary Society 27 
 
 Value of college and school property . . $2,056,000 
 
 Sunday schools 3,425 
 
 Officers and teachers 33,396 
 
 Scholars 276,566 
 
 Epworth Leagues and other young people's 
 
 societies ....... 1,523 
 
 Active members 27,309 
 
 Associate members 20,952 
 
 Raised by Church for connexional funds, 1902 $461,943 
 
 circuit purposes . . $1,459,448 
 
 ministerial support . $854,432 
 
 Grand total raised for all purposes . . . $2,775,823 
 
 Such, in brief, is the standing and strength of the 
 Methodist Church in Canada at tbe present time. With 
 no cause for boasting, but much for gratitude, she faces the 
 1 Approximate. 
 
The Methodist Church in Canada 23 
 
 responsibilities of the coming century, strong in faith and 
 in the confident expectation that at the end of another 
 hundred years she will be able to say with undiminished 
 emphasis, " The best of all is, God is with us." Meanwhile 
 let us recall some historical epochs that may serve as 
 milestones to mark the route and the distance travelled. 
 
II 
 
 PIONEER DAYS 
 
 As a skilled biographer attaches a good deal of importance 
 to heredity, and sometimes begins by describing the 
 characteristics of his hero's ancestry, so he who would tell 
 the story of Methodism in Canada should keep in mind 
 the source from which it sprang. For he is not like a 
 traveller in some unexplored region who suddenly finds 
 himself upon the banks of an unknown stream, and 
 straightway follows whithersoever it may lead until its 
 tributary waters join some vaster flood. Eather does he 
 resemble one afloat upon a stream that has been diverged 
 from its parent river and is flowing onward in a channel 
 of its own toward the distant sea. He must breast this 
 diverging current upward to the point of separation from 
 the larger stream, and then in turn trace that larger stream 
 upward to the distant springs where it has its birth. 
 
 The true starting-point, then, for the story of Canadian 
 Methodism is not at Adolphustown,. where the first class- 
 meeting in Canada was regularly organised, neither is it 
 the site of the old sail-loft in John Street, New York, nor 
 the spot where stood the homes of the Hecks and the 
 Emburys. The historian must go farther afield. The 
 Meccas of his pilgrimage (there are more than one) will be 
 
 24 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 the rectory at Epworth where a devoted mother in Israel 
 lends her son to God, as did Hannah, that he may be 
 " established to be a prophet of the Lord " ; the room of 
 the Holy Club at Oxford, where a few young men, singular 
 enough in their habits to be known even then as 
 Methodists, spend their evenings in studying the Greek 
 New Testament, and such spare time as they can command 
 in visiting those that are sick or in prison ; the place of a 
 society meeting in Aldersgate Street where one who has 
 sought in vain to be justified by the deeds of the law 
 suddenly feels his heart " strangely warmed " by a heavenly 
 fire ; the Foundery, Moorfield, or Gwennap Pit, where 
 " a man sent from God whose name was John " proclaims 
 the rediscovered evangel " that a man is justified by faith 
 without the deeds of the law," and that " being justified by 
 faith we have peace with God " ; the church at Madeley 
 where the seraphic Fletcher both preached and lived the 
 higher life of faith, and the rectory where he wrote his 
 famous " Checks," which stemmed the flood of Antinom- 
 ianism that threatened to submerge the infant Church. 
 These be some of the places where we must search for the 
 hidden springs of that mighty river the streams whereof 
 have made glad many a barren wilderness. 
 
 Having discovered the source of the great movement, 
 one is tempted to dwell on the salient features of its 
 development for the first fifty years : its mission to the 
 highways and hedges; the beginning of its restless it- 
 inerancy ; the origin of its class-meetings ; the crystallizing 
 of its theology ; the founding of its educational work ; the 
 planting of the seed from which has grown the stately tree 
 of its literature; the methods by which it solved the 
 
26 Methodism in Canada 
 
 problem which to - day seems to be insoluble how to 
 reach the masses ; and last, but by no means least, the 
 beginnings of its far-reaching missionary plans, conceived 
 in the very spirit of the famous dictum, " The world is my 
 parish." Following this, some reference to the rise and 
 growth of Methodism in the American colonies would be 
 in place : the arrival of the Palatine emigrants, and their 
 endeavours to rekindle a fire that was wellnigh quenched ; 
 the appeal to Wesley ; the coming of Boardman and 
 Pilmoor ; the ordination of Thomas Coke ; the itinerating 
 labours of Francis Asbury, rivalling in extent and zeal 
 those of Wesley himself ; the story of the Christmas 
 Conference, where the polity of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church assumed form and substance ; the adoption of 
 Episcopacy as the type of American Methodism ; the 
 founding of a publishing-house ; the rapid development of 
 the itinerant system, leading up to the time when a branch 
 of the goodly tree " ran over the wall " and took root in 
 that wilderness which was destined to become in the 
 fulness of time the Dominion of Canada. But all this 
 by the way, as its only object would be to show that 
 Canadian Methodism, in its spirit and aims, in its 
 doctrines, methods, and usages, is a legitimate descendant 
 of British Wesleyan Methodism. 
 
 To fix the exact date when Methodism had its 
 beginning in any locality is almost as difficult as to fix 
 the moment when a seed begins to germinate, or the new 
 life begins to dawn in the soul. Speaking broadly, 
 however, Methodism may be said to have begun in 
 Newfoundland with the advent of Lawrence Coughlan 
 in 1765 ; in Nova Scotia with the coming of the Yorkshire 
 
Pioneer Days 27 
 
 emigrants in 1772; in Lower Canada with the preaching 
 of Tuffey, a commissary of the 44th Eegiment, in 1780 ; 
 and in Upper Canada with the coming of the Hocks ami 
 others to the banks of the St. Lawrence in 1778 (some 
 accounts say 1774). Years elapsed before regularly 
 appointed preachers took up the work ; but it is more 
 than likely that, in some cases, especially in Nova Scotia 
 and Upper Canada, neighbourhood exhortations and 
 prayer-meetings prepared the way for the coming of the 
 itinerants. 
 
 1. PIONEER DAYS IN THE CANADAS 
 
 The conquest of French Canada by British forces may 
 be said to date from the capture of Quebec by General 
 Wolfe in 1759. It is true that one hundred and thirty 
 years earlier Champlain had surrendered Quebec to 
 " Admiral " David Kirke, and the city, together with the 
 vast but scarcely explored country of which it was the key, 
 passed into English hands ; but three years later it was 
 restored again to France. For a long time it was a mystery 
 why this was done, but subsequently the mystery was 
 solved by the discovery of a letter from King Charles of 
 England to Sir Isaac Wake, his Ambassador at Paris. 
 The dowry promised to Queen Henrietta Maria, amounting 
 to 800,000 crowns, had been but half paid, and Charles, 
 who was at strife with his Parliament, and in sore need 
 of money, instructed his Ambassador that when he received 
 the balance of the dowry, and not till then, he was to 
 restore to France Quebec and Port Koyal, both of which 
 had been captured by Kirke. Thus for a sum equal to 
 
28 Methodism in Canada 
 
 about $240,000, Charles entailed on Great Britain and 
 her Colonies a century of bloody wars. 1 But although 
 Quebec had fallen, England's conquest was not completed, 
 and it was not until 1763 that Canada was formally 
 ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris, and the French 
 flag disappeared from a country it had held for more than 
 two hundred years. 
 
 On the conquest of Canada, George in. appointed 
 General Murray to be the first Governor, and with him 
 was associated a council of eight to advise in the affairs of 
 Government. The second Governor was Sir Guy Carleton, 
 appointed in 1768. In 1773 the population was estimated 
 at 100,000 French Roman Catholics and 400 Protestants, 
 the latter consisting chiefly of English merchants, officers 
 and disbanded soldiers, residing for the most part in 
 Quebec and Montreal. Free grants of land were offered 
 by the Government to officers and soldiers who had served 
 under Wolfe, but few availed themselves of the privilege. 
 In the rural parishes there were but nineteen Protestants, 
 and the soldiers preferred to keep public-houses or follow 
 some handicraft rather than clear forests and cultivate 
 the soil. For eleven years Quebec continued under the 
 system of Government established by the proclamation of 
 George in. ; and although it provided for the summoning 
 of general assemblies, no such assembly was ever called, 
 as the French-Canadian population were unwilling to 
 subscribe to the test oath. In 1774 the Parliament of 
 England interfered for the first time in Canadian affairs, 
 and by the passage of the Quebec Act modified con- 
 
 1 Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World, "Champlain," ch, 
 xvi. xvi}. 
 
Pioneer Days 29 
 
 siderably the system of government and greatly extended 
 the boundaries of the province. 
 
 In 1775 the revolutionary war was in actual progress, 
 and Canada was invaded by troops from the revolting 
 American colonies under Generals Schuyler, Arnold, and 
 Montgomery. For a time a series of successes encouraged 
 the invaders. Fort St. John fell, Chambly was captured, 
 Montreal surrendered, Sorel was occupied, and before the 
 year Quebec was invested. But here the tide turned. 
 Desperate efforts to take the city by assault were repulsed. 
 Arnold failed to reach the lower town, and a sortie of the 
 defenders cut off nearly the whole of his column, he himself 
 escaping in a wounded condition. Montgomery was killed 
 at the second entrenchment of the lower town, and his 
 troops retired in confusion. In the following May relief 
 came from England, and the Americans withdrew to Sorel, 
 followed by British troops. Subsequently they abandoned 
 all the posts down to Lake Champlain, leaving Canada as 
 it had been before the invasion. 1 In 1783 the revolu- 
 tionary war came to an end, but during its progress, and 
 immediately after, a great many sympathisers with the 
 British cause found their way to Nova Scotia and to 
 Canada. Many had to sacrifice nearly all their possessions, 
 and reached their new home at the cost of great priva- 
 tion. Some came by way of the sea and up the St. 
 Lawrence, some through the unbroken forests between 
 the settled parts of New York State and the province 
 ine. Six weeks were consumed in the voyage to Quebec. 
 In proceeding up the river supplies were hauled against 
 the current in boats, by sheer strength of muscle. To 
 
 1 G. Bryce, Short History of Canadian People, cli. vi. 
 
30 Methodism in Canada 
 
 accommodate these refugees, the Government resolved to 
 open up the western part of Canada, then an almost 
 unbroken wilderness. A few emigrants had settled on 
 the banks of the St. Lawrence from Cornwall to Brock - 
 ville, along the Bay of Quinte from Kingston to Bath, 
 and some French near the Detroit Eiver. The work of 
 surveying was pushed forward, and to encourage further 
 immigration from the United States the Government 
 offered liberal gifts of land. It is estimated that during 
 the period referred to not less than ten thousand loyalists 
 came into Canada from the United States, while an equal 
 number found their way to different parts of Nova Scotia 
 and New Brunswick. 
 
 It was not till 1791 that Quebec was divided into 
 two provinces, designated respectively Upper and Lower 
 Canada. The Bill for this purpose was introduced into the 
 English Parliament by Pitt, and after its adoption became 
 known as the Constitutional Act of 1791. It provided 
 that in each province there should be a Governor, a 
 Legislative Council, and Legislative Assembly. In Upper 
 Canada the Legislative Council was to consist of not less 
 than seven, and in Lower Canada not less than fifteen 
 members, chosen by the King for life, while the Speaker 
 was appointed by the Governor-General. In the Legis- 
 lative Assembly Upper Canada had sixteen members, and 
 Lower Canada fifty. The new Constitution was a step 
 a short one, it may be in the direction of popular 
 government, but it did not prove a success. Between a 
 popular Assembly and an irresponsible Council there was 
 sure to be conflict, and in Lower Canada this was aggra- 
 vated by race antagonism between French and English. 
 
Pioneer Days 3 1 
 
 Discontent increased from time to time till it culminated 
 in the rebellion of 1837. 1 
 
 In 1784 the population for both provinces was about 
 120,000, an increase of 20,000 in ten years. Of the 
 whole, about 10,000 were in Upper Canada, scattered in 
 small settlements along the St. Lawrence and the Niagara 
 frontier. Taking the various colonies together New- 
 foundland, Nova Scotia, Upper and Lower Canada the 
 population, though sparse, was somewhat heterogeneous 
 in its character : hardy fishermen from the coasts of 
 Ireland, Cornwall, and Devon ; crofters from Scottish isles ; 
 farm labourers from English dales ; small farmers from 
 half the counties of Great Britain ; toilers from the cities, 
 and many who knew not the meaning of toil, but were 
 compelled by declining fortunes to seek for new chances 
 in a new world ; prodigal sons hasting to a far country, 
 glad to get away from home restraints, and from the 
 unspoken reproaches of sorrowful fathers and mothers. 
 But among these were to be found immigrants of a 
 different type : scholars from famous universities ; retired 
 officers from the army and navy ; soldiers from disbanded 
 regiments ; sturdy yeomen and hard-handed mechanics ; 
 men of brawn and brain, and women of culture and 
 refinement and clean moral fibre. All these braved the 
 dangers of wind and wave and the perils of an unknown 
 wilderness, resolute in their purpose to find a home where 
 they need call no man master, and where they might 
 bequeath to their children a heritage of freedom and 
 hope, of intelligence and comfort, beyond what would 
 have been possible in the land from which they came. 
 
 1 Munro's Constitution of Canada, ch. ii. 
 
32 Methodism in Canada 
 
 One cannot fail to recognise the guiding hand of 
 God in timing the advent of the Methodist itinerants to 
 the condition and needs of the people. Not only were 
 the latter few in number, but they were scattered over 
 a vast territory in lonely cabins and isolated settlements, 
 often connected by no better highway than a cattle track 
 or a blazed trail through miles of lonely forest. Of mail 
 communication there was little, and it required almost 
 the proceeds of a day's labour to pay the postage on a 
 letter from a distant place. The press had scarce begun 
 the work of diffusing universal information, and its feeble 
 incipient attempts failed to reach the dwellers in the 
 remoter wildernesses. As yet the schoolmaster was not 
 abroad, and " the sound of the church-going bell " was 
 never heard in the forest solitudes. A people so cir- 
 cumstanced were sure to retrograde unless reached by 
 some counteracting influence. They were in danger of 
 relapsing into semi-barbarism and becoming utterly godless. 
 And such would have been the fate of many but for the 
 advent of the Methodist itinerant. To him it was given 
 to reach the scattered and lonely settlers, as no other 
 agency could have reached them ; to arouse the conscience 
 of the careless and cheer the soul of the distressed; to 
 " convince ... of sin, of righteousness, and of judg- 
 ment," and to point the sin-burdened to " the Lamb of 
 God that taketh away the sin of the world." For the 
 most part the men of the old " saddle-bag brigade " could 
 boast of but little culture. They were not learned in 
 the wisdom of the schools ; what they knew, however, 
 they knew thoroughly, and their knowledge embraced the 
 essentials. Their theology was not broad, but it was deep 
 
Pioneer Days 33 
 
 and high deep as the ruin into which man had fallen, 
 high as the heaven to which he might ascend ; and every 
 truth they taught was a direct spiritual force for the 
 conversion of men and their upbuilding in holiness of life. 
 What marvel, then, if the man who sought " these few 
 sheep in the wilderness " with such a message was wel- 
 comed by many as an angel from heaven ? 
 
 To laymen belongs the honour of introducing for the 
 first time the doctrines and usages of Methodism into 
 many of the colonies of the New World. Embury in New 
 York, Strawbridge in Maryland, Coughlan in Newfoundland, 
 Black in Nova Scotia, Tuffey and .Neal in Canada, are all 
 illustrations in point. Coughlan, it is true, was one of 
 Wesley's itinerants, but at the time of his first visit to 
 Newfoundland he was only a lay preacher. Tuffey was a 
 commissary of the 44th Eegiment, which was stationed at 
 Quebec in 1780, and was also a Methodist local preacher. 
 That his heart should have been stirred by the religious 
 destitution of the people need excite no surprise. The 
 French, it is true, had their priests and their parish 
 churches, which they faithfully attended, but the Pro- 
 testant population was poorly cared for. An Episcopal 
 clergyman resided in Quebec and one in Montreal, but 
 other ministers there were none, except, perhaps, a chaplain 
 connected with a regiment. Tuffey, perceiving the state 
 of the soldiery and the Protestant immigrants, began preach- 
 ing soon after his arrival, but no society seems to have 
 been formed. When peace was proclaimed in 1783, some 
 regiments were disbanded, among others the 44th, and 
 Tuffey returned home ; but of the seed he had sown some 
 fell on good ground and ultimately brought forth fruit. 
 
 3 
 
34 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Those who had listened to his preaching, and were after- 
 wards scattered through various settlements, were pre- 
 pared to listen to similar preaching from others in after- 
 years, to whom it was given to reap where Tuffey had 
 sowed. 
 
 The work done by Tuffey at Quebec was duplicated on 
 the Niagara frontier by Major George Neal. He was an 
 Irishman, as were many of the pioneer preachers in the 
 New World, and an officer in a British cavalry regiment 
 that had served during the revolutionary war. In 1786 
 he came to Canada, crossing the Niagara Eiver at Queenston, 
 and took possession of an officer's grant of land. At that 
 early day religious privileges were almost unknown, the 
 scattered settlers gave scant heed to spiritual things, and 
 Major Neal might easily have settled down into a similar 
 indifference, devoting all his time and attention to his 
 temporal concerns. But he was a good man and zealous 
 for the gospel, and was no sooner settled in his new 
 possessions than he began to preach to his neighbours. 
 Some received the word with gladness, others with the 
 dislike so characteristic of the unregenerate heart ; but he 
 persevered, and had the satisfaction of knowing that his 
 labours were not altogether in vain. 
 
 Two years after Major Neal began preaching on the 
 Niagara frontier, two lay workers appeared among the Bay 
 of Quinte settlements. The first was a young man named 
 Lyons, an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church of 
 the United, States, who came to Canada and taught a 
 school in the township of Adolphustown. He saw that 
 the people were as sheep without a shepherd, and his 
 compassion was stirred by their spiritual destitution. He 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 35 
 
 collected the people in different neighbourhoods, and on 
 the Lord's day sang and prayed and exhorted ; he also 
 visited the people in their homes, and prayed with them 
 when opportunity was given. These efforts were not 
 without effect, and some were turned from sin to God. In 
 the same year (1788) James M'Carty (another Irishman) 
 came to Canada from the United States by way of Kings- 
 ton. At Ernestown he found a few Methodists, who 
 encouraged him to hold meetings in their houses. M'Carty 
 had been converted under the preaching of Whitefield 
 during his last visit to America, and seemed to have caught 
 something of the spirit of the great evangelist. His speech 
 and manner were attractive, and considerable numbers 
 attended his preaching ; but here, as elsewhere, Methodism 
 had to fight its way to victory. There was resolute 
 opposition to M'Carty 's preaching, and that not only from 
 " the baser sort " ; men of position and influence were the 
 most pronounced in their antagonism. 
 
 The fact is, the loyalists, as they were termed, while 
 possessing many admirable qualities, were by no means 
 advanced in their notions of either civil or religious liberty. 
 Most of them were nominally adherents of the Church of 
 England, and very bigoted at that ; hence for a layman 
 and a Methodist to preach the gospel was an innovation 
 not to be endured. Better, they seemed to think, that the 
 people should be without preaching altogether than obtain 
 it from such a source. Prominent among the opponents 
 were three men a sheriff, a captain of militia, and an 
 engineer who resolved to get rid of the obnoxious 
 preacher in some way. One Sunday while M'Carty was 
 preaching in the house of Robert Perry, four armed men 
 
36 Methodism in Canada 
 
 came up and rushed into the house to seize the preacher 
 and carry him to Kingston Jail; but the congregation 
 would not allow this, and as Perry agreed to give bail for 
 M'Carty's appearance the men went away. The next day 
 Perry conveyed the preacher to the sheriff at Kingston, 
 but he refused to have anything to do with him. Under 
 some false plea, however, M'Carty was arrested and im- 
 prisoned, but was soon liberated again under bail and 
 returned home. When the bail expired M'Carty returned 
 to Kingston. In the meantime, it would seem, his enemies 
 had matured their plans. Instead of being tried before a 
 proper tribunal, he was seized by a band of ruffians, thrown 
 into a boat in charge of four Frenchmen, who conveyed 
 their prisoner through the Lake of the Thousand Islands to 
 the vicinity of the first rapid. At that part of the river 
 are many islands, at that time densely wooded and unin- 
 habited. On one of these M'Carty was left by his captors, 
 and was never seen again. It is but right to say that 
 there is another version of the latter part of this tragic 
 story. It is conceded that the four Frenchmen took 
 M'Carty down the St. Lawrence, and endeavoured to leave 
 him on a desolate island ; but owing to his resistance they 
 were induced to leave him on the main shore, whence 
 he made his way to his family and friends. It is also 
 affirmed that he had secured the goodwill of Sir John 
 Johnson, who furnished him with the money to prosecute 
 those who had persecuted him, and a lawyer at Montreal 
 assured him of a successful suit. But while on his way to 
 Montreal, or returning (it is uncertain which), he suddenly 
 disappeared, and was seen no more. The last place where 
 he was seen was near the Long Sault, and the cause of his 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 37 
 
 disappearance is shrouded in mystery. 1 incline to the 
 belief that this latter account is the correct one. 
 
 But what of those who had persecuted this man for no 
 other cause than that he had preached the gospel to those 
 for whose souls no man cared ? The engineer who ordered 
 the Frenchmen to leave M'Carty on a desolate island 
 survived the outrage for only eight or ten days ; Sheriff 
 L. to whom Mr. Perry said at the time of the commit- 
 ment, " You may kill M'Carty, but a hundred more will 
 rise at his burial whom you or your party cannot kill " 
 died suddenly in the course of two or three weeks ; 
 Captain C., who was most active in M'Carty's persecution, 
 afterwards wrote a confession stating that he had wrongfully 
 and wickedly persecuted an innocent man, and requested 
 Mr. Perry to present the confession to the judge ; but the 
 judge replied, " It is a concern of his own, and he alone 
 must see to it." This Captain C. afterwards fell into a 
 state of insanity which continued until his, death. 1 A 
 series of occurrences so remarkable cannot be classed under 
 the head of "accidents," and taken in connexion with 
 M'Carty's disappearance when on a journey to seek for 
 legal redress, afford a suggestive commentary on the 
 words, " Vengeance is Mine ; I will repay, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 Some time during the seventies several of the Palatine 
 families who had been identified with the first Methodist 
 society in New York came to Canada, and ultimately 
 settled in the township of Augusta, west of where the 
 town of Prescott now stands. They had removed from 
 New York City to Camden, N.Y., in 1770 ; but their 
 
 1 Meacham's Rise and Progress of the Methodist Church, pp. 448, 449. 
 
38 Methodism in Canada 
 
 strong loyalist proclivities led them to seek a home in 
 Canada, where they arrived in 1774, and located near 
 Montreal. In 1778 they came to Upper Canada, as 
 above stated. Among these Palatine immigrants were 
 Paul Heck, his wife Barbara (whose earnest remonstrances 
 fired the flagging zeal of Philip Embury, and led to the 
 foundation of the first Methodist society in America), and 
 their three sons ; John Lawrence, who had married the 
 widow of Philip Embury ; David Embury, brother of 
 Philip ; and others. These formed a class among them- 
 selves, of which a son of Philip Embury became the 
 leader. Paul Heck died in 1792, and Barbara Heck in 
 1804, and they lie side by side in the burying-ground 
 of the "Old Blue Church" in the front of Augusta 
 township. 
 
 The religious condition of the whole country at this 
 time was simply deplorable. There were but three or 
 four Presbyterian ministers in the whole of Canada, and 
 possibly about as many ministers of the Anglican Church ; 
 and if contemporary testimony is to be trusted, the example 
 and influence of some of the clergy did not conduce to 
 vital godliness. It is related that a godly man, who 
 opposed vain and sinful amusements, happened to meet 
 the clergyman of his vicinity, who abruptly accosted him 
 with the words, " You are going to hell." " And how do 
 you know that ? " mildly inquired the other. " Ah, I'm 
 sure of it," was the reply, " for you run out against 
 dancing, card-playing, and horse-racing, and you'll go to 
 hell for it." If the adage "like priest like people" be 
 true, it need not surprise us to hear Sheriff L., who was 
 concerned in the M'Carty affair, declare that " there 
 
Pioneer Days 39 
 
 should be no religious worship established but that of 
 the Church of England." 1 No wonder that one of the 
 old settlers should have said in after-years, " For some 
 years together it appeared as though there were neither 
 law nor religion in all the country." 
 
 The need of a vital gospel among a people so circum- 
 stanced cannot be gainsaid, and this want it now pleased 
 God to supply through the coming of the Methodist 
 itinerants. The first to enter Upper Canada was William 
 Lossee. Of his younger days nothing definite is known, 
 but in 1789 he was received on trial for the itinerant 
 work, enrolled in Freeborn Garrettson's pioneer band, and 
 sent to Lake Champlain under a superintendent. His 
 work does not appear to have been successful, as next 
 year his name does not appear in connexion with any circuit. 
 Possibly the fact that he had been known as a loyalist 
 had something to do with it. At the Conference of 1790 
 he was allowed to " range at large," and it was then that 
 he decided to visit Canada. Crossing the St. Lawrence, 
 probably at St. Eegis, he proceeded up the north bank, 
 preaching on the way at points in Matilda, Augusta, and 
 Elizabeth town ; then up to Kingston and on to Adolphus- 
 town, where his friends and acquaintances lived. Having 
 preached a few times along the Bay of Quinte, he spoke 
 of returning to the United States ; but the people having 
 again heard a gospel to which they had long been strangers, 
 were anxious for the continuation of such ministrations. 
 Accordingly a petition was drawn up and numerously 
 signed praying the New York Conference to appoint a 
 missionary to these new townships. Lossee carried the 
 
 1 Meacham's History, pp. 445-47. 
 
40 Methodism in Canada 
 
 petition to the Conference, and volunteered for service in 
 Canada. Bishop Asbury concurred, and Lessee was sent 
 with instructions to form a circuit. Delaying until the 
 ice was strong enough on the river to allow a horse to 
 cross, Lossee set out on his journey, following the course 
 of the loyalist emigrants through the wilderness of western 
 New York. For weeks he rode in the cold winter weather 
 " through a country almost without roads and nearly without 
 inhabitants, crossed the frontier at Kingston, and appears 
 to have been safely in Adolphustown again in the month 
 of February." l 
 
 At that time Lossee was about twenty-seven years of 
 age, tall and active, and, despite a shrivelled arm, a fearless 
 horseman. As a preacher he belonged to the exhorting 
 dispensation, fluent, impassioned, fearless, denunciatory 
 a veritable " son of thunder." His sermons were searching 
 and awakening to the last degree, sweeping away the 
 " refuge of lies " behind which sinners tried to hide, and 
 bringing them face to face with the realities of death and 
 the judgment. Such gifts were eminently necessary among 
 a careless and godless people, and the awakening which 
 followed Lessee's preaching was deep and widespread. 
 The circuit which he formed extended along the Bay of 
 Quinte to its uppermost settlements, and embraced the 
 settled parts of Ernestown, Fredericksburg, and Adolphus- 
 town. Societies were formed in various places, and 
 together with the erection of several churches (chapels 
 they were called in those days) gave the work an aspect 
 of permanence. Crossing the Bay of Quinte, Lossee 
 preached the gospel in the townships of Marysburg and 
 
 1 Playter's History of Methodism in Canada, p. 23. 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 Sophiasburg, in what is now Prince Edward County, and 
 laid the foundation upon which future labourers might 
 build. 
 
 The first Methodist church erected in this region, or 
 indeed in Canada, was on the farm of Paul Huff, on the 
 shore of Hay Bay. Two miles west lived a widow lady 
 named Koblin, with her family of four sons and four 
 daughters, and there Lessee made his home. Eeturning 
 from a meeting at Paul Huffs the preacher asked one of 
 the Eoblin young men how he felt. " Oh," was the 
 flippant reply, " what I heard was only as the tinkling of 
 a bell ; it went in at one ear and out of the other." 
 " But I know something," said the preacher, " which is not 
 like a bell and will make you feel." " What is that ? " 
 said young Eoblin. " Death," answered Lossee in his most 
 solemn tone. The reproof struck home. The next Sunday 
 the youth was found at the meeting, burdened with a sense 
 of sin and fears of death and the judgment ; but from the 
 meeting he went home rejoicing in the pardoning mercy 
 of God. Going to his room he returned with a frilled 
 shirt an article of adornment much affected by gay 
 young men who could afford it and said to his mother, 
 in the presence of the rest of the family, " Mother, as soon 
 as you can, take off these frills from my shirts. I shall 
 wear such no more. Mother, the Lord has converted my 
 soul this morning. Oh, let us all kneel down and pray ! " 
 Afterwards he went to William Moore's, a mile distant, 
 and exhorted and prayed with the family, leaving an 
 impression that resulted in the conversion of Moore, who 
 subsequently became a class-leader. The incident of the 
 shirt-frill may appear amusing or even grotesque ; but 
 
42 Methodism in Canada 
 
 remembering that young Koblin was a leader iii dancing 
 and other frivolities of the times, the discarding of the 
 shirt-frill simply meant cutting loose from all his sinful 
 associations, in which view the grotesqueness disappears. 
 And after all, " frills " of any kind, whether literal or 
 metaphorical, do not comport very well with vital 
 godliness. 
 
 At the meeting of the New York Conference in 1792, 
 Lessee reported 165 as having been received into church 
 fellowship, and pleaded so earnestly for an ordained 
 minister on the circuit that Darius Dunham was ap- 
 pointed, and the name changed from Kingston to Cataraqui. 
 Lossee was appointed to a new circuit, to which was 
 given the Indian name of Oswegotchie. This field was 
 on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, beginning at 
 a point about 50 miles east of Kingston, and extending 
 all the way to Cornwall, a distance of 60 or 70 miles, and 
 embraced the settled portions. of the townships of Eliza- 
 bethtown, Augusta, Edwardsburg, Matilda, Williamsburg, 
 Osnabruck, and Cornwall. The two preachers came together 
 from the Conference, and before parting arranged to hold a 
 Quarterly Conference on the Cataraqui circuit, according 
 to the practice elsewhere. The news soon spread over 
 the entire circuit, and on Sunday, 15th September 1792, 
 the first quarterly meeting that ever took place in Canada 
 was held in Mr. Parrot's barn in the township of Ernestown. 
 It was to all an occasion of profound interest and deep 
 solemnity. For the first time the converts received the 
 sacramental bread and wine from the hands of their own 
 pastors, and great was their rejoicing. 1 Though they 
 
 1 Playter's History, p. 35. 
 
Pioneer Days 43 
 
 knew it not, that first quarterly meeting was an epoch 
 hour of great significance in the history of Canadian 
 Methodism. 
 
 Within the bounds of Lessee's new circuit were 
 some German settlements, with a Lutheran pastor of 
 their own. Among them was a good woman whose 
 children were converted and joined the Methodist Church. 
 The mother thought because she had been baptized and 
 had received the sacrament she was a Christian ; but 
 her children, in the zeal of their new-found experience, told 
 her that unless she was born again and knew her sins for- 
 given she would be lost. In great indignation, and perhaps 
 with some alarm, she betook herself to her pastor : " Mr. 
 Schwartzfayer, my childern says dot I must be porn akain, 
 and know my sins forgifen." To which the pastor replied, 
 " What now, mother, have I been preaching to you so 
 long and you have not found that out yet ? " From 
 which it may be inferred that this good German pastor 
 knew something of the new birth if his parishioner did 
 not. 
 
 In 1791, as previously stated, an Act of the Imperial 
 Parliament divided Canada into two provinces Upper 
 and Lower Canada. This division was made partly to 
 prevent dissensions between French and English, and 
 each province was to have its own Legislature. In 
 many respects the new arrangement was an advantage ; 
 but the Imperial Act contained at least one provision 
 that became a source of strife and contention for many 
 a long day. An allotment of one-seventh of the Crown 
 Lands (afterwards called the Clery Keserves) was made 
 for the support of the Protestant religion. Provision 
 
44 Methodism in Canada 
 
 was also made for a rectory in every township. At this 
 time the population of Upper Canada was about 20,000, 
 " scattered along the St. Lawrence from Lake St. Francis 
 to Kingston, thence around the Bay of Quinte, along the 
 Niagara frontier, at Amherstburg on the Detroit Eiver,in the 
 French settlement on the Thames, and in the Iroquois or 
 Six Nations settlement on the Grand Eiver." 1 When 
 Governor Simcoe arrived in 1792, there was no town in 
 the whole province ; a small village at Kingston and 
 another at the mouth of the Niagara Elver were all. 
 At the latter place, called Newark (afterwards Niagara, 
 and now Niagara - on - the - Lake), Simcoe fixed his 
 residence, and here the first Parliament of Upper Canada 
 assembled on 17th September 1792. The house con- 
 sisted of sixteen members, farmers and traders for 
 the most part. A number of useful Acts were passed, 
 and after a five weeks' session the Governor prorogued 
 the House, saying in his closing address, " I cannot 
 dismiss you without earnestly desiring you to promote, 
 by precept and example, among your respective counties, 
 the regular habits of piety and morality, the surest 
 foundations of all private and public felicity." 
 
 The second session of this Parliament was convened 
 in May of the following year. Among a number of useful 
 Acts adopted there are two that call for a passing notice ; 
 the one because it throws light upon the circumstances 
 of the country in regard to religious ordinances, the other 
 because it shows that the principles of civil liberty were 
 even then taking deep root in the hearts of the people. 
 " Marriages publicly contracted before any magistrate, or 
 
 1 Playter's History, p. 29. 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 45 
 
 commanding officer of a fort, or adjutant, or major of a 
 regiment acting as chaplain, or any other person in any 
 other public office or employment," were declared valid, 
 while for the future a magistrate was authorised to per- 
 form marriages if there were less than five ministers in 
 the district, or none living within eighteen miles of the 
 persons to be married. The second Act referred to set 
 out with the unanswerable preamble, " Whereas it is 
 unjust that a people who enjoy freedom by law should 
 encourage the introduction of slaves," and went on to 
 enact that hereafter no negro should be imported as 
 a slave. To provide for the gradual emancipation of 
 others, it was enacted that all children hereafter born 
 of negro women ,were to remain in possession of their 
 owners until twenty-five years of age, when they were to be 
 discharged. Thus " ten years before slavery was abolished 
 in Lower Canada, and forty years before the British 
 Parliament abolished it in the West Indies, the farmer 
 legislation of Upper Canada had struck a deathblow to 
 the great oppression." l 
 
 When the Rev. Dr. Mountain, the first Anglican 
 Bishop of Quebec, reached his extensive diocese, which 
 then comprised the whole of Canada, he found only five 
 Episcopalian congregations throughout the whole extent. 
 To care for a scattered population of 20,000 souls or 
 more in Upper Canada there were but three or four 
 Episcopalian ministers, two or three Lutheran, and two 
 Methodist. In 1825 the Eev. John Strachan, D.D., first 
 Anglican Bishop of Toronto, referring to that early period, 
 said that among the Protestants of Lower Canada " some 
 
 1 Playter. 
 
46 Methodism in Canada 
 
 congregations might be found, but the western part of the 
 diocese, in regard to religion and education, presented a 
 dreary waste. The people were scattered over a vast 
 surface, and had the means been furnished of building 
 churches and schoolhouses, which ought always to go 
 together, there was little or no chance of their being 
 supported. Nor did this arise so much from any dis- 
 inclination on the part of the people as from their in- 
 ability. In new settlements families live of necessity far 
 apart ; they are for some years so wretchedly poor that 
 they cannot dispense with the services of their children 
 who are able to work ; and if a church is erected, the 
 families are for a long time too remote and the roads too 
 bad to attend. Settlers in a wilderness are often found 
 greatly changed in a few years. At first they lament 
 their distance from churches and schools, but by degrees 
 such lamentations die away, as well as the generous and 
 noble disposition from which they emanated ; and when 
 the accommodations for public worship are provided, bad 
 weather, bad roads, or any other trifling cause, prevents 
 anything like a regular attendance. Living without 
 restraint, and without the eye of those whom they respect, 
 a sense of decency and religion frequently disappear. 
 Here the disinclination to holy things presents itself in 
 all its deformity, a distaste for divine worship and neglect 
 of everything sacred, and a total estrangement from God ; 
 and although, from their situation, crimes against society 
 are few, the heart becomes entirely dead to true piety 
 and virtue. Were it not for the mothers, nothing engaging 
 or amiable would remain in many of the back settlements ; 
 but they, lamenting their separation from civilised society, 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 47 
 
 are still anxious to cherish and inculcate some of the 
 principles of social life." l 
 
 It does not seem to have occurred to the good Bishop 
 that conditions so unusual demanded unusual methods, 
 and that the Methodist itinerancy supplied the very 
 agency that was needed. When tidings reached Bishop 
 Asbury that settlements were extending in the remoter 
 wilderness of the United States or Canada, he simply 
 appointed a man to the unknown region with instructions 
 to "go and form a circuit." There was no promise of 
 salary, or any provision for it ; but every man so appointed 
 went forth without a moment's hesitation, trusting in Him 
 who feeds the ravens to supply food to eat and raiment to 
 put on, and more they did not ask. True, the raiment 
 was often of the coarsest, and food was sometimes scant, 
 yet these heroic souls were seldom if ever known to 
 murmur, but rejoiced in tribulation if only they might win 
 souls to Christ. The discipline of the period allowed a 
 preacher the munificent salary of $64 a year, and the 
 second General Conference ordained that the preacher's 
 wife should be entitled to a similar amount provided 
 they could get so much, which they seldom did. Add to 
 this the long, toilsome, and often dangerous journeys, the 
 hardships and exposure, the frequent and protracted 
 separations from home and family, the opposition of the 
 godless, the indifference of many, the impossibility of 
 making any provision for old age, should they be spared 
 so long, and the only wonder is that men could be found 
 willing to devote themselves to such a calling under such 
 conditions. Many of the pioneer preachers could have 
 
 1 Sermon on the death of the Rev. Dr. Mountain, Bishop of Quebec. 
 
48 Methodism in Canada 
 
 duplicated the experience of Asbury, who about this time 
 was obliged, in consequence of illness, to give up his 
 journeyings to what was then the far west, and wrote as 
 follows : " The American Alps (Alleghany Mountains, 
 just beyond which the preachers are now gone), the deep 
 snows, the great rains, swimming the creeks and rivers, 
 riding in the night, sleeping on the earthen floors, more 
 or less of which I must experience if I go to the western 
 country at this time, might cost me my life." 
 
 We have seen how Lessee, accompanied by Darius 
 Dunham, returned from Conference of 1792 to work in 
 Canada, the latter taking charge of the Cataraqui circuit, 
 while the former proceeded to organise the work on the 
 Oswegotchie field. Both seem to have laboured successfully, 
 and each returned an increase of ninety members at 
 the end of the year. Neither of these men attended the 
 Conference of 1793, and for some unexplained reason no 
 appointments to Canada appear in the Minutes. At this 
 time the name of William Lossee disappears from the 
 Minutes, and is never restored. The cause has a touch of 
 pathos. When on the Cataraqui circuit Lossee formed 
 the acquaintance of a young lady of admirable character 
 and rare personal attractions, for whom he formed a strong 
 attachment. How far the young lady may have returned 
 his affection we have no means of knowing, but when 
 Lossee left the neighbourhood to go to the Oswegotchie 
 circuit he doubtless cherished bright hopes. In the 
 meantime Dunham formed the acquaintance of the same 
 lady, and he also was powerfully attracted. Suffice it to 
 say, his suit proved successful, and the young lady 
 subsequently became his wife. Tidings of what had 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 49 
 
 occurred came to Lessee with a shock that so far overset 
 his mental balance as to render him entirely untit for his 
 work, and the Bishop quietly dropped him from the list 
 of itinerants. When his mental health was somewhat 
 restored, Lessee returned to the United States, engaged in 
 business in New York, served as a local preacher, and 
 after an interval of years revisited his friends in the Bay 
 of Quinte country. It is probable he never married. 
 
 For a time the work in Canada was almost stationary, 
 but in 1796 two young men were sent into the country, 
 under whom it pleased God greatly to revive His work. 
 And not in Canada only, for the sacred fire spread to 
 various parts of the United States. Hezekiah Calvin 
 Wooster was received on trial in 1793, and Daniel Coote 
 in 1794. These two offered their services for Canada and 
 were accepted, Wooster being stationed on the Oswegotchie 
 and Coote on the Bay of Quinte (formerly Cataraqui) 
 circuit, with Darius Dunham as presiding elder. Their 
 journey to Canada was slow and tedious. Twenty-one 
 nights were spent in the rude cabins of dwellers in the 
 New York wilderness before they reached their destination. 
 But once in Canada they entered upon their work in the 
 spirit of men who had much to do and little time in 
 which to do it, and it was not long before fruit appeared. 
 Calvin Wooster, as he was commonly called, was a man of 
 mighty faith and prayer. Often at houses where he 
 lodged his voice would be heard in the night season 
 pleading with God for the salvation of men. Wherever 
 he went he preached holiness, and he lived it. Such was 
 the fervency of his spirit and the pungency of his appeals 
 that sinners would escape if possible from the house, or, 
 
 4 
 
50 Methodism in Canada 
 
 overwhelmed with conviction, would fall down and cry 
 aloud for mercy. The other preachers caught the flame, 
 and were swept along under its impulse. 
 
 The way in which divine power often manifested itself 
 under Wooster's preaching was very remarkable. Once 
 at a quarterly meeting on the Bay of Quinte circuit, just 
 as Wooster began his sermon, a man in the front of the 
 gallery began to swear profanely, and otherwise to 
 disturb the congregation. The preacher appeared to take 
 no notice until he was in the midst of his sermon, when 
 suddenly fixing his eyes on the profane man, he pointed 
 his finger at him, and stamping with his foot cried with 
 great energy, " My God, smite him ! " Instantly the man 
 fell as if shot through the heart, and such a sense of God's 
 presence and power came down upon the congregation 
 that on every hand sinners cried for mercy, while the 
 saints shouted for joy. On another occasion, as Nathan 
 Bangs relates, " A stout opposer of the Methodists, hearing 
 that his wife was in a prayer-meeting, rushed violently 
 into the room, seized his wife and dragged her to the door, 
 when, attempting to open it, he himself was seized with 
 trembling, his knees failed him, he fell helpless upon the 
 floor, and was fain to beg an interest in the prayers of 
 those very people whom he had so much despised and 
 persecuted. . . . This man afterwards became an itinerant 
 minister." One more incident may be related. At a 
 quarterly meeting, while Dunham was meeting the 
 official brethren, Wooster remained in another meeting to 
 pray with some who were awakened and others who were 
 seeking full redemption. Suddenly a power from on high 
 came upon the congregation. Many shouted the praises 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 of God, while others in silent awe lay prostrate on the 
 floor. At this juncture Dunham came in and, seeing 
 what was going on, kneeled down and began praying to 
 God to stop the " raging of the wildfire." Meanwhile 
 Wooster kneeled beside his troubled brother and softly 
 whispered the prayer, " Lord, bless Brother Dunham ! 
 Lord, bless Brother Dunham ! " The prayer of faith 
 prevailed. Dunham fell prostrate on the floor, and ere 
 he arose received a baptism of the very " fire " he had 
 deprecated. A ministry so intense and burning as 
 Wooster's could not be expected to continue long. After 
 two years he returned to the United States, a victim of 
 consumption, and died in holy triumph, at his father's 
 residence, on 6th November 1798. 
 
 A different type of man in some respects, yet equally 
 devoted, was Samuel Coote. Exceedingly handsome and 
 graceful in person, as was his wife, affable and polite in 
 manner, he attracted immediate attention wherever he went. 
 In natural eloquence he far excelled any who went before 
 him in that part of the country, and long years afterward it 
 was doubted by those who had heard him if his equal was 
 to be found among those who succeeded him. His oratory 
 was smooth and flowing, and graceful like his person, and 
 being entirely different from anything to which the 
 primitive congregations in Canada had ever listened, it 
 attracted people in large numbers and held them spell- 
 bound while he talked. But far better than admiration 
 and applause, his preaching led men to Christ, and 
 hundreds were converted under his ministry. His methods 
 in pastoral work were sometimes singular. He would ride 
 up to a friend's house, alight from his horse, and take off 
 
52 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the saddle-bags. When the door was opened for him he 
 would enter, but before shaking hands or speaking with 
 anyone he would kneel down by a chair, spend a few 
 moments in silent prayer, then arise and greet each 
 member of the family with his accustomed affability and 
 affection. There was one circumstance, however, which 
 indicated that Coote was not altogether free from that 
 vanity which sometimes finds a lodgment in the most in- 
 genuous minds. Like Absalom, he had beautiful hair, and 
 he wore it long, falling down over his shoulders and 
 turning up in graceful curls. On retiring at night he 
 would tie up his flowing locks, and in the morning comb 
 them out and arrange them with scrupulous care. It must 
 have seemed rather strange, at a period when the sharpest 
 rebukes from the pulpit were often levelled at extrava- 
 gance in dress or any form of personal ornament. But 
 after all, one spot on the sun and that a small one is 
 scarcely noticeable against the brightness of the whole 
 disc. 
 
 In the closing year of the century Samuel Coote 
 returned to the United States ; but some time before his 
 departure a circumstance occurred that is worth recording, 
 as it throws some light on the attitude of the denomina- 
 tions toward each other in those early days, and the extent 
 to which religious controversy sometimes prevailed. A 
 Presbyterian minister in the Bay of Quinte country, named 
 M'Dowell, was a rigid Calvinist, who carried his doctrines 
 to their logical conclusions. When preaching at Adolphus- 
 town on one occasion, and enlarging upon his favourite 
 theme of unconditional election, he offered to publicly argue 
 the point with anyone who held a contrary belief. Coote 
 
Pioneer Days 53 
 
 heard of the challenge, and, although modest in regard to 
 his own scholastic attainments, resolved to accept it. The 
 place appointed was a Presbyterian church in Ernestown, 
 large for the times ; but the congregation was larger still, 
 and the discussion was held in the open air. The Presby- 
 terian, mounting a waggon, occupied the first half of the 
 day; then the Methodist preacher began, but after he had 
 been speaking about two hours, the Presbyterians, headed by 
 their minister, left the meeting, refusing to listen any 
 longer; which might mean either that they felt their 
 champion was defeated, or that their righteous indignation 
 was stirred by the attacks of the other speaker on their 
 favourite doctrine. Coote continued his discourse until 
 the shadows began to fall, and it was generally allowed that 
 he had the better of the argument. Be that as it may, 
 the discussion resulted in some modification of Calvinistic 
 preaching, and the " decrees " did not play so prominent a 
 part in pulpit discourse as they had done aforetime. 
 
 In the same year that Coote returned to the United 
 States Darius Dunham retired from the ranks of the 
 itinerant ministry and " located," fixing his residence in the 
 township of Fredericksburg, near the village of Napanee. 
 During his twelve years in the ministry he had rendered 
 much useful service to the infant church. He cared 
 nothing for public opinion, and feared not the face of man. 
 Utterly fearless in rebuking sin, and denunciatory in his 
 style of preaching, he obtained the sobriquet of " scolding 
 Dunham," which was not altogether undeserved. He was 
 aware of the appellation given him, and would often begin 
 a discourse by saying, " Well, scolding Dunham is come 
 again, and probably some of you would not have come to 
 
54 Methodism in Canada 
 
 hear if you had known who was going to preach." Such 
 a style might sometimes arouse, but it was not calculated 
 to attract. In building up the Church he was more con- 
 cerned about quality than numbers. On one occasion, 
 when giving an opportunity to any who might desire to 
 unite with the Church, a young woman who was present 
 seemed very wishful, and said in an audible tone to another 
 young woman who sat beside her, " Won't you join too ? " 
 " Oh," said the other, in an indifferent tone, " I don't care 
 if I do." " Better wait until you do care," was Dunham's 
 grim response ; and wait she did. After Dunham located, 
 he continued to serve God and the Church as a minister 
 in that capacity to the close of his life. 
 
 The first regular missionary in Lower Canada was the 
 eccentric but devoted Lorenzo Dow. Converted at the age 
 of fifteen, he soon became exercised about preaching the 
 gospel. Two years later he began to pray in public 
 and sometimes to exhort. But his parents repressed 
 what they considered his premature zeal. No man ever 
 triumphed over so many obstacles. When eighteen years 
 of age he attended some appointments with several circuit 
 preachers, but they all discouraged his attempts. He tried 
 again, but was told he had better go home. Three months 
 were spent on a circuit on Khode Island, and the Quarterly 
 Board discharged him. At the Conference of 1797 he 
 was proposed, rejected, and sent home. Yet, impelled by 
 a strong sense of duty, he went about preaching from ten 
 to fifteen times a week, and in eight months travelled 
 over 8,000 miles, chiefly where there were no other 
 preachers. At the Conference of 1798 he was again 
 proposed ; such, however, were the accounts of his strange 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 55 
 
 eccentricities, that the Conference, after a debate of three 
 hours, declined to receive him, but left him in the hands 
 of the presiding elder. These repeated rejections filled 
 Lorenzo Dow with unspeakable grief, and he remarks, " I 
 was afraid I should become insane." Still, he received 
 an appointment, and went to work in his accustomed 
 manner, preaching and visiting from house to house. But 
 his eccentricities went with him, and he was called " crazy 
 Dow." In the following year, 1799, he was sent to 
 " Essex," but this simply meant that he was to go and 
 form a circuit where none existed before. Dow fulfilled 
 his commission, and formed a circuit which lay partly in 
 Vermont and partly in the townships of Dunham and 
 Sutton in Lower Canada. That his labours were success- 
 ful may be inferred from the fact that at the next 
 Conference the circuit was returned as having 274 
 members. But however devoted he may have been, and 
 blameless in his personal religious character, Lorenzo could 
 never be a good Methodist. That is to say, he never could 
 work by rule and method, but must do good, if at all, in a 
 fashion of his own. He was something like a comet with 
 a very eccentric orbit, coming no one knew whence and 
 going no one could tell whither. The next year, in obedi- 
 ence to one of his strange impulses, he took passage in a 
 ship for Ireland, believing that the Lord had a work for 
 him to do there. 1 
 
 In 1795 the seat of the Provincial Government was 
 transferred from Newark, at the mouth of the Niagara 
 Eiver, to a point on the north shore of Lake Ontario, 
 about 40 miles from its western extremity. The land 
 
 1 Playter's History. 
 
56 Methodism in Canada 
 
 was cleared and surveyed, government buildings, barracks, 
 and a few private houses erected, and the place received 
 the name of York, destined to become, in after-years, under 
 the name of Toronto, the second commercial city in the 
 Dominion of Canada. At the second session of the second 
 Parliament an Act was passed the purport of which sounds 
 strangely in these modern days. Hitherto matrimony 
 could be solemnised only by the clergy of the Church of 
 England, though civil marriages solemnised before a 
 magistrate or other official were valid. But now the right 
 was to be extended to ministers of the Church of Scotland, 
 to Lutherans and Calvinists, whatever the latter phrase 
 may mean. Methodist ministers were entirely excluded, 
 and even in the case of others the privilege was hampered 
 with conditions that in these days would be regarded as 
 positively insulting. A Presbyterian minister, for example, 
 must take with him seven respectable members of his 
 congregation to testify his calling. He must produce 
 proofs of his ordination, take the oath of allegiance, and 
 pay five shillings to the clerk for a certificate of authority 
 from the court. But before doing all this the minister 
 must give notice of application at the previous session of 
 the court, and pay one dollar, the notice to be read in the 
 open court and posted in the clerk's office. These circum- 
 stances are referred to here Because of their bearing upon 
 the struggle in after-years for religious liberty. 
 
 Turning now from the region of the St. Lawrence and 
 the Bay of Quinte, where Dunham and Coote had been 
 succeeded by four new men, Joseph Jewell, Sylvanus 
 Keeler, William Auson, and James Herron, we proceed 
 to inquire how it fared with those who had crossed the 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 57 
 
 Niagara Eiver and formed settlements in the wilderness of 
 the Niagara peninsula. We have seen how the work of 
 Methodism in that region began under the preaching of 
 Major George Neal, but several years elapsed before a 
 travelling preacher was secured. In 1795 Niagara appears 
 on the list of circuits, with Darius Dunham in charge, 
 and a membership of 65. As no travelling preacher 
 had hitherto visited this region, we may infer that those 
 who had been influenced by Neal's preaching had been 
 enrolled as willing to unite with the Methodist Church on 
 the arrival of a regular itinerant. It appears that Neal 
 entered the travelling ranks in the United States after the 
 close of the war, but soon retired on account of impaired 
 health. His call to the ministry was peculiar. In those 
 days dreams and " visions," so called, were not uncommon, 
 and were treated with great deference. Neal dreamt that 
 a glittering sword was given him, having two edges, and 
 with the name of Wesley emblazoned thereon. He began 
 preaching again soon after his arrival in Canada, and bore 
 down so hard on the prevailing vices of the country that 
 the exasperated rabble pelted him with stones on one 
 occasion until the blood flowed down his face. Souls not 
 a few were converted under his ministry, among others 
 Christian Warner, who became leader of the first class in 
 the Niagara country, and near whose farm the first church 
 was built. " The Eev. George Ferguson, while yet a 
 preaching soldier during the war of 1812, found many of 
 Neal's converts in various places on the frontier, and still 
 more of them when he came to travel the Niagara circuit 
 in 1817." l The Kev. Kobert Corson, who preached Neal's 
 
 1 Carroll, Case and his Contemporaries, vol. i. p. 89. 
 
58 Methodism in Canada 
 
 funeral sermon, described him as follows to the Hev. Dr. 
 Carroll : " Neal was possessed of a good English education. 
 His preaching abilities were above mediocrity, very zealous, 
 and rising sometimes to eloquence. He was tall and erect 
 in person, retaining somewhat of his military bearing to 
 the last. Religious truth from his lips sometimes was 
 expressed in military phrase ; he was wont to call the 
 gospel a genuine Jerusalem blade, two-edged, cutting both 
 ways." 1 Far on in life he became blind, but still quoted 
 the Scriptures with correctness. He lived to the age of 
 ninety-one, and died in peace. 
 
 Eespecting the work in the Niagara country, for the 
 first few years after the advent of the itinerants, the 
 records are very scant. As we have seen, Darius Dunham 
 was appointed to that field in 1795, and was succeeded 
 the following year by James Coleman. In 1798 Michael 
 Coote (brother of Samuel) is associated with Coleman, but 
 in 1799 the latter is again alone on the field. This faith- 
 ful itinerant calls for at least a passing remark. In his 
 early years James Coleman grew up in ignorance and sin ; 
 about the close of the revolutionary war, however, Methodist 
 itinerants reached the neighbourhood, and young Coleman 
 " received the word with joy," but having no root in him- 
 self, when persecution arose because of the word he was 
 offended, and fell away. After a severe illness he earnestly 
 sought and obtained pardon, united with the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, and not long after received a licence 
 to exhort, and subsequently a licence to preach. Being 
 drafted to serve in the war against the Indians, he refused 
 to comply, informing the captain that he would not serve. 
 
 1 Carroll, Case and his Contemporaries, vol. i. p. 90. 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 59 
 
 " If you want to preach," said the captain, " you may go 
 and preach in the army," and sent an officer with two or 
 three men to seize him. When the posse arrived they 
 found Coleman preaching, listened to the end, and then 
 went away, troubling him no more. In 1791 he entered 
 the itinerant ranks, and in 1794 was sent to Canada. 
 On the route, in company with another volunteer and a 
 young Canadian who was returning to the United States, 
 they spent fifteen successive nights in the woods, building 
 fires to scare away wild beasts. Before the journey was 
 ended food supplies gave out, and they were reduced to 
 one cracker each per day. Two years were spent in the 
 Bay of Quinte country and on the St. Lawrence, after 
 which he was sent to the Niagara circuit. Here he seems 
 to have laboured for three years, and then returned to the 
 United States, where he served in the itinerant work 
 until 1824, when he became superannuated. He died 
 in 1842. During his last year on the Niagara circuit 
 his ministrations were made a great blessing to one who 
 was destined to become one of the most noted personalities 
 in American Methodism during the first half of the nine- 
 teenth century the revered Nathan Bangs. 
 
 In the year 1800 the name of Joseph Sawyer appears 
 in connexion with Niagara circuit. Joseph Jewell is 
 presiding elder of the Canada district. There are six 
 itinerants in all, and the membership of the church 
 amounts to 936. In 1801 Niagara is divided, and the 
 Long Point circuit is formed, with Joseph Sawyer and Seth 
 Crowell as circuit preachers. The number of preachers in 
 Canada is now 10, and the membership has increased to 
 1,159. About this time a train of providences raised up 
 
60 Methodism in Canada 
 
 a labourer in the Canadian field destined to fill a large 
 space in the history of American Methodism, and of him 
 we must give some account. 
 
 Nathan Bangs was born in New England, where he 
 received as good a common school education as the country 
 afforded at that time. Subsequently his father taught him 
 the art of surveying. When he was about thirteen years 
 of age, the family removed to the wilderness part of New 
 York State, and located on the east branch of the Delaware 
 Eiver. To this remote settlement the Methodist itinerants 
 made their way, and under their faithful preaching nearly 
 all of the Bangs family were converted, and united with 
 the Methodist Church. Four of the brothers ultimately 
 became preachers ; but at the time of which we speak, 
 Nathan fought against conviction and levelled his shafts 
 of sarcasm at the humble itinerants. When twenty years 
 of age, impelled by the restless pioneer spirit, he set out 
 for the wilds of Canada, in company with a devoted sister 
 and her husband. Their way lay through dense forests, 
 and the only mode of conveyance for the lady and their 
 few effects was an ox-sled. With such a vehicle progress 
 must have been painfully slow. Passing over the ground 
 where the city of Buffalo now stands, where they found 
 only two or three log huts, they crossed the Niagara at 
 Fort Erie, and followed the course of the river downward 
 to the neighbourhood of its mighty cataract. Nathan 
 Bangs had journeyed far from home, but was unable to 
 get away from himself or the stings of an accusing con- 
 science. His most serious impressions were deepened by 
 his very surroundings. " The mournful thoughts," he 
 writes, " which passed through my mind while wandering 
 
Pioneer Days 6 1 
 
 alone in the forests of this strange country I cannot well 
 express. Sometimes I would seat myself in the solitary 
 woods and bewail my condition till my heaving heart 
 found relief in floods of tears. The best satisfaction I 
 could find was in being alone, reading, praying, and medi- 
 tating. On one thing I resolved : being now separated 
 from my former associates, I determined not to entangle 
 myself again in the vain pleasures of the world." 
 
 It had been young Bangs' intention to support himself 
 as a land surveyor, but not finding employment in that 
 work he took a school in what was afterwards known as 
 the Warner neighbourhood. His success as a teacher and 
 his general demeanour won the respect of the people ; but 
 having accumulated some funds he was in danger of re- 
 lapsing into religious indifference. Still his mind remained 
 susceptible to serious impressions and slight occurrences 
 were sufficient to recall them. For months he was passing 
 through a series of mental struggles that racked his tender 
 conscience, but he found not the way of peace. His in- 
 veterate prejudice would not allow him to hear the few 
 Methodists with whom he occasionally came in contact ; 
 indeed, he shunned them as dangerous fanatics. A certain 
 clergyman, so called, came into the neighbourhood, but 
 being a card-player and a drunkard he had no medicine for 
 a soul distressed. A Calvinistic preacher came, and young 
 Bangs talked much with him, seeking relief in the dogmas 
 of election and final perseverance. A devoted Methodist 
 crossed his path, and the troubled youth must needs assail 
 his views; the Arminian, however, spoke of personal re- 
 ligion, and " his words," says Bangs, " came like a dagger 
 to my heart, and I could make no reply, but turned from 
 
62 Methodism in Canada 
 
 him, begging him to pray for me." But as yet he could 
 not receive the Methodist doctrine. " I supposed," he 
 writes, " that a people about whom so much evil was said 
 must be under a fatal delusion. Thus I went stumbling 
 over the truth and warring against my conscience." 
 
 About this time James Coleman, a Methodist itinerant, 
 reached the neighbourhood, and lodged with the family 
 where Bangs made his home. Coleman's abilities were not 
 great, but he was singularly devoted, and the unction that 
 attended his prayers was most unusual. His conversation, 
 preaching, and prayers produced a deep impression upon 
 the mind of Nathan Bangs, but he did not open his mind 
 to the sympathetic itinerant, and his distress continued. 
 But a day or two later, while walking in the forest and 
 meditating over what Coleman had said, he was constrained 
 to kneel in prayer, and then resumed his walk, looking for 
 light and comfort. Suddenly, like John Wesley, he " felt 
 his heart strangely warmed." " What is this ? " was his 
 instinctive thought ; and the answer seemed to be, " It is 
 the love of God." His new-found peace and joy continued 
 for several days ; but failing to confess Christ before men, 
 doubt and darkness returned. Hearing that two Methodist 
 preachers had arrived, and that a love-feast was to be held 
 at the house of Christian Warner, he went with gladness, 
 resolved to receive the truth from whatever source it might 
 come. The itinerants were Joseph Sawyer and Joseph 
 Jewell, men of power in their day. Sawyer was the 
 preacher ; his theme was the Beatitudes, and as he dis- 
 coursed on " Blessed are they that mourn," etc., " he 
 unfolded," says Bangs, " all the enigmas of my heart more 
 fully than I could myself." Further conversation with the 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 itinerant was very helpful. From this time forward he 
 took a decided stand, and daily opened his school with 
 prayer. This raised a storm of opposition, and some even 
 threatened personal violence. The result was, he collected 
 what was owing to him and left the school. 
 
 " I had now," he remarked, " taken a stand from which 
 I could not well recede. I felt much inward peace, and 
 tbe Holy Scriptures were indescribably precious to me." 
 Having joined the Methodist society, it never occurred to 
 him to do other than conform to the rules. He had 
 formerly dressed in the fashion of the times, with ruffled 
 shirts and long hair tied in a queue ; but now the ruffles 
 were discarded, and the long hair shared the same fate. 
 " When I became acquainted with the general rules," he 
 remarks, " I was struck with their scriptural character, and 
 could not but remark the truth of Wesley's saying, ' All 
 these we know the Spirit of God writes on truly awakened 
 hearts.' Before I knew these rules as in the Methodist 
 discipline, the Holy Spirit had written most of them on 
 my heart." It was not long after this that he entered 
 into the rest of faith. The Holy Spirit revealed to him at 
 once his own utter sinfulness, the righteousness of the 
 divine law, and the method whereby Christ had " fulfilled 
 the law and made it honourable." " At the same time," he 
 tells us, " I felt a gracious power to rely upon His atoning 
 merits by simple faith. Instantly I felt that my sins were 
 cancelled for Christ's sake, and the Spirit of God bore 
 witness with mine that I was adopted into the family of 
 His people." Having received this grace, he must needs 
 turn it to account. " I went from house to house," he 
 says, " declaring what God had done for my soul, exhorting 
 
64 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the people to seek His mercy, and praying with those who 
 would permit me. Some mocked, some wept, and some 
 received the word with joy." 
 
 Having obtained another school in a Methodist neigh- 
 bourhood, young Bangs set himself to a careful reading of 
 the works of Wesley and Fletcher, meanwhile exercising 
 his gifts in a somewhat private way. A constitutional 
 timidity was a great hindrance to public effort. When 
 leading in prayer he " trembled like a leaf," and an attempt 
 to lead a class " was an entire failure." About this time 
 he became an inmate of the home of Christian Warner, a 
 devoted Christian and useful class-leader, through whose 
 teaching and example, joined to the reading of Wesley's 
 works, he was led to a clear apprehension of the believer's 
 privilege to be sanctified wholly, and became an earnest 
 seeker of this grace also. To one so thoroughly in earnest, 
 hungering and thirsting after righteousness, the result 
 could not be doubtful. Shortly after, when uniting in 
 prayer with a few Christian friends, the grace of supplication 
 was vouchsafed in unusual measure. " My supplications," 
 he writes, " were importunate, so that I know not how long 
 I continued to pray. When I ceased I sank down into an 
 inexpressible calmness, as lying passive at the feet of God. 
 I felt relieved and comforted, as though I had been cleansed 
 from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. ... All my 
 inward distress was gone. I could look up with a child- 
 like composure and trust, and behold God as my heavenly 
 Father. ... I certainly was filled at that time with the 
 ' perfect love which casteth out fear,' for I had no fear of 
 death or judgment. . . . Such a sense of God's ineffable 
 goodness pervaded my soul that I seemed to sink, con- 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 founded by His love, into very nothingness before Him. I 
 felt that I was the least of all saints, but had an evidence 
 bright as the noonday sun that all my sins were taken 
 away, and without fear I could depart and be with Christ 
 at any moment He should see fit to call me. I here 
 simply relate the facts as they occurred. The change in 
 my nature was as evident to me as had been my justifi- 
 cation. Whatever name others may attach to this gracious 
 experience, I believe I was then sanctified by the Spirit 
 of God mercifully given unto me." 
 
 We have dwelt somewhat fully on the spiritual struggles 
 of Nathan Bangs, not only because the record is intensely 
 interesting in itself, but because it indicates the prominence 
 given in those pioneer days to the doctrine and experience 
 of entire sanctification, and explains the secret of the 
 spiritual power wielded by men like Bangs and Wooster, 
 and their phenomenal success in winning souls. They 
 realised the truth of what Wesley wrote in 1776:" When 
 Christian perfection is not strongly and explicitly preached, 
 there is seldom any remarkable blessing from God ; and, 
 consequently, little addition to the society, and little life 
 in the members of it. ... Till you press the believers to 
 expect full salvation now, you must not look for any 
 revival." The words are as true to-day as when first they 
 were uttered, and it is because ministers and people give 
 so little heed to them that a paralysis of worldliness and 
 formality has fallen upon the Church. Only let the old 
 testimony be revived, and the old power will return. 
 
 With such an experience it is not surprising that a 
 strong conviction came to the mind of Nathan Bangs that 
 he must preach the gospel; but his deep sense of in- 
 
 5 
 
66 Methodism in Canada 
 
 sufficiency for so great a work held him back, and he did 
 not open his mind to anyone. He prayed much, however, 
 and " one day," he writes, " as I was walking the road in 
 deep meditation upon this subject, a sudden ray of divine 
 illumination struck my mind like a flash of lightning, 
 accompanied with the words, ' I have anointed thee to 
 preach the gospel.' I sank to the ground and cried out, 
 ' Here am I.' " The work was done, the struggle ended. 
 From this time forward Nathan Bangs never wavered or 
 looked backward. To say that he had no temptations, or 
 even times of depression from the sense of his insufficiency, 
 would be equivalent to saying that he was not human ; 
 but none of these things moved him, and throughout a 
 ministry extending over half a century he could say, " One 
 thing I do." 
 
 Joseph Sawyer, like most of the preachers of his time, 
 was a quick and accurate reader of human character, and 
 he discovered in Nathan Bangs the qualities requisite for 
 a successful preacher of the gospel. The itinerancy at 
 that period was under an almost military discipline, which 
 explains in part its phenomenal success. Instead of being 
 trained for the ministry they were trained in it, as became 
 members of the legio tonans, or thundering legion. 1 When 
 the call came for men for the firing-line, there was little 
 disposition to confer with flesh and blood, and indeed there 
 was not time for it. The call was too urgent, and the 
 King's business required haste. Strongly pressed by 
 Sawyer to preach the gospel, the young convert yielded 
 
 1 In Christian tradition this name was given to a legion of Christians in 
 the army of Marcus Aurelius, in battle with the Quadi, whose prayers for 
 rain were answered by a thunder shower, which refreshed the thirsty 
 Romans, while it destroyed numbers of the enemy by lightning. 
 
Pioneer Days 
 
 so far as to consent to take an appointment fifteen 
 miles away. On Sunday morning he was on the ground, 
 earnestly praying for divine aid ; but, like many another 
 new recruit on the eve of battle, he was full of fears, and 
 wished he had not undertaken the task. But when the 
 time came, " I had no sooner opened my mouth," he writes, 
 " than the Lord filled it with words and arguments ; the 
 Scriptures seemed like a fruitful field before me. The 
 word of God was like fire in my bones, and its utterance 
 was attended ' with the Holy Ghost and with power.' " 
 Soon after he made a second venture in the neighbourhood 
 where his sister resided, but was unable to fix his mind on 
 a suitable text, and abandoned the thought of preaching, 
 purposing to exhort instead. When the moment came, he 
 opened his Bible, read the first words he saw, which 
 happened to be Luke xx. 14: " But when the husband- 
 men saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 
 This is the heir : come, let us kill him, that the inheritance 
 may be ours." Then for three quarters of an hour he 
 spoke with such readiness and power that the people 
 appeared as if thunder - struck, and the effect was 
 remarkable. 
 
 Another forward step was now taken. Sawyer took 
 the promising neophyte with him " around the circuit," 
 telling him, " You must exhort after I preach," a common 
 practice in those days. "When I rose to follow him," 
 writes Bangs, " I shook in every limb, my lips stiffened, 
 and I could hardly speak ; but soon they were loosed, and 
 the power of the Spirit descended on the assembly in such 
 a manner that some sobbed aloud, some praised God 
 audibly, and others fell to the floor as if shot dead." No 
 
68 Methodism in Canada 
 
 wonder the young exhorter " felt unusually comforted and 
 encouraged." More than that, however, he felt elated. 
 The adversary was not slow in perceiving the "joint in 
 the harness," and suggested, " See what you have done : 
 you have excelled even the preacher." Bangs strove hard 
 to repel the temptation, but it followed him all that day 
 and the next. At the next appointment he was taught 
 a needed lesson. " When I rose to exhort," he says, " my 
 mind was barren : I could only stammer out a few words, 
 and at last sat down, utterly confounded and mortified." 
 Other varying experiences he had, sometimes speaking 
 with liberty and sometimes with none. But he had 
 learned his lesson. His sufficiency was of God. Hence- 
 forth his trust would be alone in the Almighty arm. He 
 was now fully committed to the calling and work of an 
 itinerant, wherein we must follow him a little further, as 
 it belongs to the story of pioneer days. 
 
 Methodism in America at this period might be justly 
 termed the Church militant, and its itinerants were leaders 
 of what must have seemed, from the human standpoint, 
 a forlorn hope. And yet in its victorious march it carried 
 many thousands captive, and on its famous battlefields 
 " the slain of the Lord were many." This was due, in 
 large measure, to the singular devotion of the preachers. 
 Asbury's rule was absolute, and might appear arbitrary ; 
 but he never sent his preachers on a campaign where he 
 was unwilling to lead the way, or expose them to toil and 
 suffering that he did not fully share. His example was 
 itself an inspiration. The preachers caught his spirit and 
 went courageously wherever he sent them, esteeming the 
 post of danger and hardship the post of honour. And 
 

 
 Pioneer Days 69 
 
 among these devoted men no one rendered a more ready 
 obedience or more heroic service than did Nathan Bangs. 
 His first circuit as a travelling preacher was Niagara. " It 
 extended," he tells us, " from the head of Lake Ontario 
 over the Grand River, and comprehended all that part of 
 the country known as Long Point, which juts into Lake 
 Erie." But this is a very inadequate description. The 
 fact is, the circuit included the whole of the Niagara 
 peninsula, wherever there were settlements, from Lake 
 Erie to Lake Ontario, and from the Niagara Eiver westward 
 to the township of Oxford, and required a tour of six weeks, 
 and preaching almost daily, to complete a single round. 
 Roughly stated, the circuit embraced a territory about 
 30 by 80 miles in extent, or approximately 2,400 square 
 miles. " The settlements in this country," Bangs writes, 
 " were new, the roads bad, and the fare very hard ; but God 
 was with us in much mercy, awakening and converting 
 sinners, and this was abundant compensation for all our 
 toils." When filling some appointments in the town- 
 ship of Burford, word reached him of another settlement, 
 twenty-five miles farther west, where they were anxious 
 for the gospel, and he set out to visit them. " It being 
 the beginning of winter," he remarked, " the ground partly 
 frozen, the mud deep, and the road, if such it could be 
 called, running through a wilderness, though I made all 
 the speed I could I travelled only about fourteen miles 
 that day. I put up at a small log hut with a family 
 that had been educated as Baptists. I was treated with 
 hospitality, but they seemed to have little sense of religion." 
 The next day's experience was more encouraging. Reach- 
 ing the settlement for which he was bound, he lodged with 
 
70 Methodism in Canada 
 
 a Major Ingersoll, to whom he had a letter of introduction. 
 " I was received," he says, " with cordiality and treated 
 with respect. I preached here three times, and under the 
 last two sermons many were awakened to a sense of their 
 lost condition, and afterwards converted." 
 
 Shortly before receiving this encouragement the young 
 evangelist had been so sorely discouraged that he resolved 
 to return home. On reaching the Grand Eiver a thaw 
 had broken up the ice, and it was impossible to cross, and 
 he was compelled to retrace his steps. Dreams were not 
 lightly esteemed in those days, and Bangs had a dream 
 which was, to say the least, remarkable. He thought he 
 was working with a pickaxe on the top of a rock for 
 hours without making any impression. Quite discouraged, 
 he said to himself at last, " It is useless ; I will pick no 
 more." Suddenly a stranger of dignified aspect stood 
 beside him. " You will pick no more ? " asked the stranger. 
 " No," said the dreamer. " Were you not set to the 
 task ? " " Yes." " And why abandon it ? " " My work is 
 vain ; I make no impression on the rock." Solemnly the 
 stranger answered, " What is that to you ? Your duty is 
 to pick whether the rock yields or not. The work is in 
 your own hands, the result is not. Work on." Eesuming 
 his task, the sleeper struck a mighty blow, and the rock 
 flew into a thousand pieces. A glorious revival that came 
 soon after was regarded as the fulfilment of his dream. 
 And why not ? If it please God to instruct and encourage 
 His children " in thoughts from the visions of the night, 
 when deep sleep falleth on men," what do we gain by 
 doubting it ? Visions and dreams, whereby God " sealeth 
 instruction," were common in a simpler age than ours ; 
 
Pioneer Days 7 r 
 
 but in the gross materialism of later times it would seem 
 as though the vision had departed, and that our dreams 
 seldom rise above the dignity of a nightmare. 
 
 Many pages might be filled with spiritual experiences 
 of varying character ; my object, however, is not to write a 
 spiritual biography, but to present a picture of social and 
 religious conditions in those pioneer days ; and incidents 
 in the career of Nathan Bangs are so typical of the period 
 that I use them freely. The following brief quotation 
 aptly describes the circumstances of many of the early 
 itinerants : " One cold day, while riding through the woods, 
 I was deeply disturbed with the thoughts of my loneliness 
 and destitution ; for my pecuniary means were about ex- 
 hausted. My salary was next to nothing. I could see 
 no means for my future wants ; I lived from house to 
 house, from settlement to settlement, and the future seemed 
 dreary and forlorn. Here was another temptation by 
 which my mind was greatly perplexed, when taking out 
 my hymn-book from my pocket my eyes fell upon these 
 words : 
 
 Peace, troubled soul, thou need'st not fear, 
 
 Thy great Provider still is near ; 
 
 Who fed thee last will feed thee still ; 
 
 Be calm, and sink into His will. 
 
 As I read them such a sudden glow of joy filled and over- 
 flowed my soul that I praised God aloud, and I rode on 
 triumphing in His goodness to me and to all men." 
 
 The faithful preaching of the gospel, while it brought 
 many to Christ, stirred the hatred of opposers in no 
 ordinary degree. The following incidents were related 
 many years afterwards by one who had personal know- 
 
72 Methodism in Canada 
 
 ledge of the facts. Bangs was the first minister of any 
 denomination to visit the settlement of Colchester. A 
 man named W., though not a Christian, opened his house 
 for preaching. Bangs was unsparing in his denunciations 
 of sin of every kind, especially such as was common 
 among the people. Some of W.'s godless companions 
 resolved to put a stop to this, and it was finally decided 
 that they would meet at the next preaching-service, when 
 W., who was privy to the scheme, should turn the preacher 
 out of his house and forbid him to return. Somehow 
 the scheme got noised abroad, a crowd assembled, and 
 the nefarious plan was carried out to the letter. Where- 
 upon the preacher literally " shook the dust off his feet " 
 as a testimony against them for refusing the message of 
 salvation. He then departed amid the jeers of the crowd. 
 Now for the sequel. From that time peace and prosperity 
 began to forsake W.'s home. He became a wreck, morally, 
 mentally, socially. His wife was seduced from her home, 
 and never returned. In a few years all his property 
 was lost or squandered, and he became dependent on 
 charity for his daily bread. Years afterward this same 
 W., now old and decrepit, sickened and died. The Eev. 
 Horace Dean, then stationed in that region, called on the 
 wretched man, to impart, if possible, counsel and consola- 
 tion ; but no impression could be produced on his heart, 
 and he died in a state of stolid indifference. 
 
 The work of Bangs in the Niagara peninsula was now 
 ended, and he prepared to depart for another field, in 
 company with Joseph Jewell. Their destination was the 
 ]>;iy of Quinte country, but a series of unforeseen cir- 
 cumstances induced Bangs to tarry for a time at Little 
 
Pioneer Days 7 3 
 
 York (now Toronto). On Yonge Street there were settle- 
 ments extending northward from Little York for a distance 
 of thirty miles, and among these Bangs exercised his 
 ministry. " The settlements in this part of the country," 
 he writes, " were all new, the roads extremely bad, and 
 the people generally poor and demoralised. Our occasional 
 preachers were exposed to many privations, and often to 
 much suffering from poor fare and violent opposition." 
 Dr. Abel Stevens, the talented historian of American 
 Methodism, to whose Life and Times of Nathan Bangs, 
 D.D., I am indebted for many of these incidents, presents 
 a graphic picture of the conditions prevailing in those 
 pioneer days. Commenting on an observation of Bangs 
 concerning the people, that " all showed openly what they 
 were by their words and actions, and either accepted 
 religion heartily or opposed it violently," Dr. Stevens 
 observes, " Such is the character of frontier communities. 
 Moral restraints are feeble among them, conventional 
 restraints are few ; the freedom of their simple wilderness 
 life characterises all their actions ; they have their own 
 code of decorum, and sometimes of law itself. They are 
 frank, hospitable, fond of excitement and of hearty 
 if not reckless amusements. The primitive Methodist 
 preachers knew well how to accommodate themselves to 
 the habits and also to the fare of such a people ; hence 
 their extraordinary success along the whole American 
 frontier. Their simple and familiar methods of worship, 
 in cabins and barns or under trees, suited the rude settlers. 
 Their meetings were without the stiff order and cere- 
 monious formality of older communities. They were often 
 scenes of free debate, of interpellations and interlocutions 
 
74 Methodism in Canada 
 
 a hearer at the door-post or the window responding 
 to, questioning, or defying the preacher, who ' held forth ' 
 from a chair, a bench, or a barrel, at the other end of 
 the building. This popular freedom was not without its 
 advantages. It authorised equal freedom on the part of 
 the preacher ; it allowed great plainness of speech and 
 directness of appeal. The early memoranda before me 
 afford not a few glimpses of this primitive life of the 
 frontier : crowded congregations in log huts or barns 
 some of the hearers seated, some standing, some filling the 
 unglazed casements, some thronging the overhanging trees ; 
 startling interjections thrown into the sermon by eccentric 
 listeners ; violent polemics between the preacher and 
 headstrong sectarists, the whole assembly sometimes in- 
 volved in the earnest debate, some for, some against him, 
 and ending in general confusion. A lively Methodist hymn 
 was generally the best means of restoring order in such 
 cases." 
 
 Bangs continued to labour on the Yonge Street field till 
 the close of the Conference year, and was then appointed 
 to the Bay of Quinte circuit with Joseph Sawyer and 
 Peter Vannest. After the toils and privations of the two 
 preceding years, this must have been a delightful change. 
 " Here," he writes, " I found myself agreeably situated 
 among a people deeply experienced in religion, remarkably 
 kind, and attentive to all my wants ; and, in addition to 
 all my other comforts, I had the satisfaction of being 
 under the oversight of my spiritual father, Joseph Sawyer, 
 whom I loved and venerated as one of the best of men." 
 Of other noted workers in those pioneer days we get 
 occasional glimpses : Hezekiah Calvin Wooster, full of 
 
Pioneer Days 75 
 
 faith and of the Holy Ghost, preaching the doctrine and 
 exemplifying the experience of full salvation ; Lorenzo 
 Dow, eccentric to the verge of insanity, permeated with a 
 droll, quaint humour, yet ever hungering and thirsting 
 after God ; Darius Dunham, an arousing preacher, sharp in 
 rebuke and fearing not the face of clay, mightily baptized 
 in one of Wooster's prayer - meetings, and afterwards 
 spreading the holy fire wherever he went ; Elijah Woolsey, 
 a man of sweet spirit and greatly blessed in his labours, 
 these were some of the men who preached Christ wherever 
 they went in demonstration of the Spirit and with power, 
 until it became a tradition in the settlements, from the 
 Canadian frontier to the seat of Conference (commonly 
 New York), that the northern preachers had brought the 
 Canada fire with them. This was none other than the fire 
 of holiness, which at the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century spread like a prairie fire over the circuits in 
 Canada. 
 
 In the autumn of this year an epidemic of typhus 
 fever swept the settlements of the Bay of Quinte country, 
 and Nathan Bangs was stricken. For six weeks he 
 hovered between life and death, and on three occasions 
 friends were called in to see him die. Ultimately, 
 through the goodness of God, he was raised up again ; 
 but he carried the effects of that terrible sickness with 
 him to the close of his life. In other respects the 
 year was a glorious success. More than a hundred 
 members had been added to the societies, and the large 
 circuit had peace in all its borders. One can scarcely 
 repress a smile to hear Bangs relate with evident satisfac- 
 tion the full payment of his " quarterage " at the end of 
 
76 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the year, which meant the munificent sum of eighty dollars 
 for the entire year. And this suggests some remarks about 
 the sufferings of the itinerants of those days, in consequence 
 of deficits in such payments, and the loss to the Church by 
 the unavoidable " location " of many and the premature 
 death of many more, caused by their excessive labours and 
 wretchedly deficient support. This was felt in England 
 as well as America in the early days. One historian of 
 Methodism has affirmed that of two hundred and eighteen 
 whom he denominates the " first race of Methodist 
 preachers " in England, more than half retired from the 
 itinerancy, nearly all of them for these reasons. In 
 America the effect was still more marked. Of six hundred 
 and fifty whose names had appeared in the Minutes, about 
 five hundred died " located," and nearly half of those who 
 fell in the ranks died before they were thirty years of age, 
 and about two thirds after twelve years of service. And 
 what marvel ? Not only were their labours excessive and 
 their support of the scantiest ; but, as Dr. Abel Stevens 
 remarks, they suffered from " the exposures incident to a 
 new country and the severities of a variable climate, 
 wilting under the heats of the south or the wintry storms 
 of the north, swimming streams, braving snows, sleeping 
 but partially sheltered in frontier cabins or under the trees 
 of the forest." These were the common, everyday 
 experiences of the pioneer preachers in the United States 
 and Canada a hundred years ago. And it is equally true, 
 though not so well understood, that " pioneer days " in the 
 Dominion of Canada are not entirely a thing of the past. 
 At this very day, on the coast of Labrador and even New- 
 foundland, on the frontiers of " New Ontario," on lonely 
 
Pioneer Days 77 
 
 prairies of the great North-West, on isolated Indian 
 stations of the farther North, and in the mining-camps 
 of British Columbia, Methodist itinerants are rendering 
 just as heroic service as did their fathers; and although 
 receiving rather better support, are nevertheless familiar 
 with the exposures, the hardships, and privations which 
 were the common lot of the Methodist preachers at the 
 beginning of the last century. 
 
 Though Bangs had been greatly weakened by chills and 
 fever while in the Long Point country, aggravated by his 
 serious illness on the Bay of Quinte circuit, he did not go 
 to the Conference to ask for an easier field until he might 
 recruit his strength ; on the contrary, he made request to 
 be sent to what was then the extreme west of Upper 
 Canada, lying between the Long Point circuit, which he 
 had formerly organised, and the Detroit Eiver. Asbury's 
 eye kindled as he surveyed the wasted form of the young 
 itinerant, and recognising in him a man after his own 
 heart, answered with his usual prompt decision, " You shall 
 go, my son." A bit of history lies back of this. During 
 the first year of his itinerancy in the Niagara country 
 Bangs received a letter from a Baptist of German descent, 
 named Messmore, who lived on the river Thames, about 
 sixty miles east of Detroit, urging him to come and preach 
 the gospel in that spiritually destitute region. To the 
 ardent itinerant it seemed like a Macedonian call that 
 must be obeyed, and he repeatedly offered his services for 
 the new field ; but his presiding elder refused to send him, 
 deeming his health too feeble and the needs of other fields 
 too urgent to permit of this new venture, and he was sent 
 to Bay of Quinte. During his severe illness the vision of 
 
78 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the destitute western field was often before him, and 
 believing that his end was near he bequeathed his horse 
 and watch, all he possessed, to any preacher who would 
 respond to the call. Now that he had obtained the 
 desire of his heart, hindrances seemed to multiply. He 
 was greatly troubled with thoughts of his youth, want 
 of health, lack of money (he had but SI 5), the distance 
 (about six hundred miles), and many other things. But, 
 nothing daunted, he set out with two others, traversed the 
 wilderness of New York, entered Canada by way of Kings- 
 ton, then up the north shore of Lake Ontario, preaching at 
 the settlements on the way, till he reached his old ground 
 on the Niagara circuit. By this time " my money," he 
 writes, " was 1 all expended, and I had about eighty miles 
 still to travel . . . and I knew not how I could advance 
 any farther." What could he do ? Just what many 
 another had to do in similar straits : " I went into the 
 woods, kneeled down before God, and wept and prayed. 
 Finally the words came forcibly to mind, ' The earth is the 
 Lord's, and the fulness thereof.' I arose with renewed 
 courage, saying, * I will go in the name of the Lord, for He 
 has the hearts of all men, and He can turn them which way 
 soever He will.' Before I left these parts one friend and 
 another put into my hands money amounting to eleven 
 dollars, enough for my journey." 
 
 Spending a day or two with his sister and her family, 
 Bangs resumed his journey, accompanied by a young man 
 who had volunteered for the trip. In Oxford township 
 he spent a day or two among those who had been the 
 first-fruits of his ministry. Departing thence, they 
 journeyed thirty miles to Delaware township, "where," 
 
Pioneer Days 79 
 
 he remarks, " I preached and lodged in the last house 
 in the settlement. My bed was a bundle of straw, and 
 my supper mush and milk." Next morning at daybreak 
 the travellers started for a ride through a wilderness 
 forty-five miles in extent, with no road, only a blazed 
 trail, often at a loss to know whether they were 
 going right or wrong. For themselves the only refresh- 
 ment was a little Indian bread and dried beef, and 
 for the horses what they could nibble up as they passed 
 along. " We arrived," says Bangs, " about sunset, weary, 
 hungry, and thirsty, at a small log hut, inhabited by a 
 Frenchman. ... I asked the woman of the cabin if 
 she could give me a drink of tea, but she had none. 
 Being almost famished, I requested the man to procure 
 us some water, which we sipped, a little at a time, as 
 if it were nectar ; we then ate some Indian pudding and 
 milk, the best food we could obtain. After praying 
 with the family" a practice those early itinerants never 
 omitted " we lay down on a bundle of straw, slept 
 sweetly, and rose in the morning much refreshed and 
 invigorated in body and mind. The poor woman was so 
 kind as to send early to a distant neighbour to beg some 
 tea for us, but she had neither tea-kettle, teapot, nor 
 teacup ; she therefore boiled it in a dish-kettle, and then 
 poured it into a tin cup, from which we drank it with 
 more relish than ever a king drank wine from a golden 
 goblet." 
 
 Spending an hour or two with the Moravian mission- 
 aries on an Indian reserve on the river Thames, the 
 travellers pushed on to the house of the first white 
 settler, which they reached early in the afternoon. The 
 
8o Methodism in Canada 
 
 interview illustrates the direct methods of these pioneer 
 preachers. A man stood before the door, and after 
 the customary salutations Bangs inquired, " Do you want 
 the gospel preached here ? " After looking at him with 
 curious earnestness, the man replied, " Yes, that we do : 
 do you preach the gospel ? " " Yes," said Bangs. " Well, 
 then, get down and come in." But something else must 
 first be done before the mind of the evangelist could 
 be at rest. " I have ridden a great distance," he said, 
 " to preach in this region. It is now Saturday afternoon ; 
 to-morrow being the Sabbath, I must have a place to 
 preach in before I alight from my horse." Deliberating 
 a few moments, the man said, " I have a house for you 
 to preach in, victuals and lodging for yourself, and 
 provender for your horse, and you shall be welcome to 
 them all if you will come in." With such a reception no 
 wonder the itinerant breaks out, " God has made my 
 way plain thus far, and therefore I will praise Him." 
 Next day the house was crowded, and with great freedom 
 he proclaimed the message, " Eepent ye, therefore, and 
 be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when 
 the times of refreshing shall come from the presence 
 of the Lord." " I believe," he says, " I preached with 
 the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." At the close 
 of the service a stranger introduced himself. He was 
 from New Jersey, had been a member of the Methodist 
 Church there, and often entertained the preachers, among 
 others Bishop Asbury. For seven years he had lived in 
 the Canadian wilderness, totally destitute of religious 
 ordinances, there being no minister in all that region. 
 Ascertaining that he lived ten miles farther down the 
 
Pioneer Days 81 
 
 river, a messenger was dispatched to inform the scattered 
 settlers that there would be preaching in that neighbour- 
 hood at three o'clock the same afternoon. " When I 
 arrived," says Bangs, " the house and yard were full 
 of people, to whom I preached with lively satisfaction." 
 In the congregation was a venerable-looking man with 
 a long beard, who was subsequently introduced as Mr. 
 Messmore, the same person who two years before had 
 written so earnestly to Mr. Bangs to " come over and 
 help them." The next day the preacher was at 
 Messmore's house, twenty-one miles distant. Another 
 ten miles next day, and he preaches in the house of an 
 Indian woman, the widow of a French -Canadian, who had 
 left her in comfortable circumstances for that period. 
 She proved a veritable Shunammite, for she prepared for 
 the weary itinerant in an upper room, "a bed, a table, 
 a chair, and a candlestick, and no one was allowed to 
 enter that room in his absence except to keep it in 
 order." 
 
 The western extremity of this new field was reached 
 at Detroit. On the first occasion the people turned out 
 well, though most of them were French Koman Catholics ; 
 but on the Sabbath only a few children appeared, and 
 the disappointed evangelist " shook the dust off his feet 
 as a testimony against them," and departed. About four 
 weeks later the whole town was destroyed by fire. Bangs 
 proceeded down the river to Fort Maiden, then eastward 
 along the shore of Lake Erie, preaching in " settlements 
 of American, English, Scotch, Irish, and Dutch emigrants," 
 and thus completed a circuit which he travelled for about 
 three months. The moral and spiritual destitution of the 
 
 6 
 
82 Methodism in Canada 
 
 whole region was extreme, and yet, adds the preacher, 
 " they seemed ripe for the gospel, and received and treated 
 God's messenger with great attention and kindness." 
 Besides the moral destitution, that country had another 
 drawback. Much of it was a land of marshes, swamps, 
 and stagnant pools, where rotting vegetation made the 
 water very unwholesome, inducing fever and ague of the 
 most virulent type. Bangs himself was stricken, but the 
 attack was light ; he was kindly nursed, and was soon at 
 his work again. Everywhere the settlers were despond- 
 ent, and many were leaving the country in hope of 
 finding new homes in a healthier region. In one instance 
 a party of Scotchmen and their families were met in 
 haste to get away, no less than twenty-one of their 
 original number having died within a few days. Strange 
 to say, many of the men were uproariously drunk. 
 Faithful admonition produced such an effect that they 
 asked him to preach and pray with them, and next day 
 they parted from him with their hearty blessings. 
 
 Winter was now approaching, and he saw the im- 
 possibility of travelling such a region in the ensuing 
 months. Finally, he determined to go to the Niagara 
 circuit and return in the spring. About the middle 
 of November he set out, and in due time reached the 
 last house in the settlement a log hut beyond which 
 lay forty miles of unbroken forest. Here he was joined 
 by another solitary traveller, and in the early morning 
 they set out. The snow was several inches deep, the 
 streams high and still open and the mud deep. Night 
 overtook the wayfarers on the bank of a stream, and 
 as it was impossible to proceed after dark there was no 
 
Pioneer Days 83 
 
 alternative but to carnp where they were. Fortunately 
 they had carried with them some food for themselves and 
 their horses, and they succeeded after much difficulty in 
 kindling a fire, without which they must have perished. 
 " We tied our horses to the trees," is the record, " gave 
 them some oats, ate some food ourselves, went to the 
 creek and drank, and then, having prayed, lay down to 
 sleep in our booth" constructed of branches "the 
 stars shining brightly above us, and the winds moaning 
 through the solemn trees. ... At the break of day 
 we mounted our horses and went onward. We arrived 
 at the first house about three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. . . . After supper I 
 prayed with the family and went to bed, truly thankful 
 that the Lord had preserved my life and health through 
 all these fatigues and dangers." Eeaching his old Niagara 
 circuit, Bangs laboured for the rest of the year in 
 association with David Pickett, and their labours were 
 greatly blessed. At one appointment, which he describes 
 as a " very hardened place," an extensive revival occurred 
 and a vigorous society was organised. Among the con- 
 verts was a young lady whom Bangs subsequently married 
 the sharer of his toils and successes to the end of his 
 life. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow any further the labours 
 and experiences of this typical Methodist preacher of the 
 olden time. Enough has been said to show the conditions 
 of society in the wilderness of Canada a hundred years 
 ago, and what manner of men they were who laid the 
 foundations of what has since become the largest 
 Protestant Church in the Canadian Dominion. As we 
 
84 Methodism in Canada 
 
 survey the hardships, labours, and triumphs of these in- 
 domitable itinerants men " of whom the world was not 
 worthy" we can but say, that "there were giants in the 
 earth in those days." Perhaps the very circumstances of 
 the time gave them a prominence that they might not 
 otherwise have gained. They were few in number, and 
 for the most part lived and laboured alone, and there were 
 no others with whom to compare them. They came and 
 went " like angels' visits, few and far between," and the 
 message they brought to lonely dwellings, their personal 
 devotion and rude but impassioned eloquence, invested 
 them with a dignity and importance in the eyes of the 
 scattered dwellers in the wilderness that might not be 
 accorded to them to-day. But let not this detract from 
 the love and reverence which are their due. They were 
 men called and qualified by the Holy Spirit for a special 
 work, and with rare devotion their work was done. To 
 these men sin and salvation, death and judgment, were 
 tremendous realities, and they lived and laboured as in the 
 immediate presence of God. To some of them life was 
 one long martyrdom. " In journeyings often, in perils of 
 rivers, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in 
 perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils 
 among false brethren ; in labours and travail, in watchings 
 often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and 
 nakedness," these were things which made up much of 
 their daily experience. Now " they rest from their 
 labours, and their works do follow them." Peace to their 
 ashes. Their record is on high. 
 
Pioneer Days 85 
 
 A TYPICAL CAMP-MEETING. 
 
 One cannot well close this imperfectly told story of 
 pioneer days in the Canadas without reference to a 
 characteristic feature of a somewhat later time, namely, 
 the camp-meeting. Many persons have been under the 
 impression that camp - meetings originated with the 
 Methodists, but this is a mistake ; they originated with 
 the Presbyterians in the Western States of America, 
 where religious conditions justified extraordinary methods. 
 The Methodist itinerants were not slow to perceive the 
 value of such an agency, and being unhampered by con- 
 ventional rules of order and decorum, such as prevail in 
 long - established communities, they quickly adopted the 
 camp-meeting as a means of deepening religious interest 
 and reaching a class of persons who could not be reached 
 except by some unusual method. At the time of which 
 we speak, population was sparse and settlements were few 
 and far between. There were no " centres of population " 
 where the people might gather for social intercourse ; in 
 fact, about the only thing that broke the monotony of their 
 daily existence was the flying visits of the Methodist 
 itinerant, who came and preached in wayside cabin or log 
 schoolhouse, and then hurried on to his next appointment. 
 Among a people so circumstanced the announcement that 
 a camp-meeting, to last for a week, would be held at a 
 certain time and place, created quite a flutter of excite- 
 ment. Preparations would at once begin, and as the time 
 drew near the event was looked forward to with eager 
 anticipation. To some it came as a welcome respite from 
 the toil and sordid cares of their daily life ; to others it 
 
86 Methodism in Canada 
 
 afforded an opportunity for social intercourse which human 
 nature so strongly craves ; while others were attracted 
 solely by the novelty of the occasion and its unknown 
 possibilities of adventure, excitement, or amusement. But 
 there were others who were moved by deeper feelings 
 godly men and women who found it not easy, in the 
 absence of Christian intercourse and the means of grace, 
 to maintain a steady soul-growth and a daily fellowship 
 with God. These looked forward to the camp-meeting as 
 an opportunity for spiritual quickening that was sorely 
 needed, and also a time when unconverted children and 
 neighbours might be brought into the fold of God. 
 
 A spot was usually selected in the wooded portion 
 of the farm of a staunch Methodist, and in a Methodist 
 neighbourhood, near to a good supply of pure water. If a 
 piece of ground could be discovered sloping gently in one 
 direction, so much the better. Some days in advance of 
 the camp-meeting a group of sturdy axe-men would put 
 in an appearance, and proceed, under the direction of a 
 senior itinerant, to prepare the ground. The smaller trees 
 and underbrush are carefully removed, and afterward 
 utilised in building a brush fence or stockade around the 
 camp-ground, leaving an opening at one side only, usually 
 in the direction of the nearest highway. Inequalities in 
 the surface of the ground are levelled as much as possible, 
 and all roots and rubbish cleared away. Then a " preach- 
 ing-stand " is erected at the foot of the slope, constructed 
 both walls and roof of rough deal boards, and divided 
 into two parts, the front part having a long seat for the 
 preachers and a sloping desk for Bible and hymn-book, 
 the rear part a small room where the preacher who is to 
 
Pioneer Days 87 
 
 officiate can retire for meditation and prayer, unless he 
 prefers a dim forest aisle, which is sometimes the case. 
 Large trees are cut down and the stems dragged to the 
 spot to serve as supports for seats. If it be a neighbour- 
 hood where lumber is easily obtainable, perhaps a tabernacle 
 of good size is erected, in which services may be held in 
 case of rain. In front of the preachers' stand a long pole 
 is stretched on short supports a convenient place for 
 penitents to kneel at when the battle is fairly begun and 
 " the slain of the Lord are many." Several waggon-loads 
 of straw are brought from neighbouring farms and strewed 
 liberally over the ground, contributing to cleanliness and 
 affording protection from damp. Lastly, several light- 
 stands are erected at convenient points. These are con- 
 structed of four upright poles, with cross pieces at the top, 
 on which other poles are laid side by side, making a 
 foundation on which earth is piled to the depth of a foot 
 or more. On this is placed a quantity of fuel pine 
 roots if possible, as these burn freely and give excellent 
 light. 
 
 Preparations, so far as the ground is concerned, may 
 now be regarded as complete. Families in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and some from adjacent neighbourhoods, have 
 already prepared their rough board or cotton tents, and 
 are in a position to extend hospitality to wayfarers from 
 distant places until these also have their temporary 
 shelters in order. Among the earlier arrivals are the 
 itinerants from various fields, who have come praying for 
 and expecting glorious displays of saving power. On the 
 first day of the meeting the tide fairly sets in, and the 
 people begin to arrive in considerable numbers, some of 
 
88 Methodism in Canada 
 
 them from a distance of thirty, fifty, or even a hundred 
 miles. They come in waggons, on horseback, on foot, some 
 in the earlier days even on ox-sleds, bringing such store of 
 provisions, bedding, and cooking utensils as might suffice 
 for their simple wants during the ensuing week. As they 
 meet on the outskirts of the camp-ground tongues are 
 loosed. There are hearty greetings between friends who 
 have not met for years, kind inquiries after children and 
 neighbours, and hopes expressed for a " good time " during 
 the meeting. Then the bustle of preparation goes on, 
 erecting temporary shelters and stowing away food and 
 other supplies. 
 
 The noonday meal is quickly dispatched, and not 
 long after a rousing blast from the preachers' stand 
 on a tin horn in the hands of a stalwart itinerant 
 goes echoing through the forest glades, notifying the 
 people that the time has come for the first service to 
 begin. They assemble quickly, for this is a summons 
 that must not be neglected, and the service opens with 
 a stirring Methodist hymn. It is sung to an old-fashioned 
 tune, sometimes in a minor key, but it bears on its wings 
 the pleading of earnest hearts. The object, at this stage 
 of the service, is to quicken the faith and zeal of God's 
 children and draw out their sympathy for the unconverted. 
 Then follows an earnest, heartfelt prayer, to which there 
 are a few timid responses (they will be more frequent 
 and much heartier by-and-by). Another hymn is sung, 
 and the preacher takes the stand for the opening sermon 
 or exhortation as the case may be. The text is brief and 
 pointed, and the sermon equally so. Without preliminary 
 the opening words ring out distinct and clear, " Brethren, 
 
Pioneer Days 89 
 
 pray." " Wilt Thou not revive us again ? " or the like. 
 No time this for learned exposition, but a splendid op- 
 portunity for exhortation, of which the speaker avails 
 himself to the fullest extent. The praying brethren and 
 sisters understand him perfectly. It is a trumpet-call to 
 form the " far flung battle line," for well they know " the 
 day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." A 
 prayer-meeting follows, in which earnest though uncultured 
 men and women tell out in homely phrase their longing 
 for a baptism of the Holy Spirit, or plead for the conver- 
 sion of children and neighbours. The prayer - meeting 
 ended, an intermission follows till the time of the evening 
 service, which resembles that of the afternoon. 
 
 On the following day the people assemble in larger 
 numbers and the interest deepens. In the early morning 
 the voice of family devotion is heard in the tents. After 
 breakfast a prayer-meeting is held in front of the stand, 
 and some present themselves as seekers of full salvation. 
 At ten o'clock there is preaching, again at two, and in the 
 evening after the fires are lighted, each sermon followed 
 by a lively exhortation and a prayer - meeting. The 
 number of " seekers " has increased, and among them are 
 some awakened, sinners pleading for pardon. But these 
 services are only preliminary skirmishes, preparatory to 
 the decisive battle which is yet to come. By the end of 
 the week (such meetings usually begin on Wednesday) 
 the few hundreds present on the first day have increased to 
 thousands it may be, and with anxious hearts the preachers 
 and praying helpers survey the multitudes, hoping for 
 a general " breaking down " before the Lord's day dawns. 
 For the first two or three days the tide of battle ebbs and 
 
9O Methodism in Canada 
 
 flows, but victory always turns on Israel's side. As the 
 decisive hour draws near interest is intensified. No one 
 can tell when the culminating point will be reached, but 
 come it will. Perhaps it is during an evening service. 
 A multitude is there. Every seat is occupied, and on the 
 outer circle hundreds are standing, most of them careless, 
 unawakened people, some of them scoffers, and some of 
 the rowdy type, it may be, bent on mischief. A chosen 
 band of reliable men patrol the outskirts of the crowd, 
 ready to check the first symptoms of disorder. On the 
 stand all the preachers are seated, save the brother who is 
 to officiate, and he is in the inner room, prostrate on the 
 floor, his face resting on his open Bible, pleading with God 
 " with groanings which cannot be uttered," for " grace to 
 help in " this " time of need." Fires have been kindled 
 on the light-stands, and the resinous pine roots send up 
 shoots of flame that light up the whole encampment with 
 a lurid glow and penetrate the gloom of the surrounding 
 forest. What a scene for the pencil of a Eembrandt or the 
 pen of a Dante ! Nay, rather what a scene for the pen of 
 inspiration ; for these earthly lights and shadows are but 
 tame, neutral tints compared with the stronger lights 
 
 and shadows which sin and salvation cast athwart the 
 
 
 
 human soul. 
 
 But now it is time for the service to begin. A hymn is 
 sung, something to stir the martial ardour of every soldier 
 of the cross, and hundreds of praying hearts respond to the 
 
 challenge : 
 
 Hark, how the watchmen cry, 
 Attend the trumpet's sound ! 
 Stand to your arms, the foe is nigh, 
 The powers of hell surround . 
 
Pioneer Days 9 1 
 
 Who bow to Christ's command, 
 Your arms and hearts prepare ! 
 The day of battle is at hand ! 
 Go forth to glorious war ! 
 
 Prayer follows, earnest, pleading, tender, and importunate 
 by turns, as if the suppliant would storm the very mercy- 
 seat and compel the blessing he so much desires. A 
 portion of Scripture is read, something which bears upon 
 the theme of the coming discourse, and then another 
 hymn a hymn of invitation, instinct with the gospel 
 
 message : 
 
 Come, sinners, to the gospel feast, 
 Let every soul be Jesu's guest ; 
 Ye need not one be left behind, 
 For God hath bidden all mankind. 
 
 Very plaintive and entreating it sounds, as some tune in 
 a minor key carries the words across the encampment and 
 upward toward the listening stars. 
 
 And now the congregation settles down, and with faces 
 turned toward the stand, where the preacher has just 
 arisen to announce his text, await the message that 
 is coming. The theme is in keeping with the circum- 
 stances of the hour : " Eepent ye, therefore, and be con- 
 verted, that your sins may be blotted out when times 
 of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." 
 There is no display of learning, no graces of artificial 
 oratory, but an intense earnestness that carries conviction 
 to every heart. As the preacher proceeds, his soul kindles 
 with an intense fervour which quickly reacts upon his 
 susceptible audience, and the saints begin to respond with 
 fervent " Amens," or to shout aloud for joy. And then, 
 suddenly it may be, the grace of exhortation descends 
 
92 Methodism in Canada 
 
 upon the preacher ; the repressed feelings of his soul 
 overleap all barriers, and a torrent of expostulation, warn- 
 ing, entreaty, and appeal beats like a tempest in the 
 faces of the spellbound multitude, who listen as if an 
 angel spake to them. Pausing for a moment, as though 
 to gather strength for a fresh effort, the silence is broken 
 by the bitter cry of someone whom the Spirit's sword has 
 wounded, quickly answered by another and yet another 
 from different parts of the ground. A wave of deep 
 emotion sweeps over the congregation, for they know the 
 crisis of the battle has come ; and the feeling is intensified 
 when some careless onlookers, perhaps a scoffer at holy 
 things, is seized with pungent conviction and falls to the 
 earth with a loud cry as though stricken suddenly in 
 battle. Before the bystanders have recovered from their 
 amazement another and yet another is similarly affected, 
 and in a short time a score, it may be, who up to that 
 time were careless and unconcerned are now prostrate on 
 the ground, some still and silent as if already dead, 
 others convulsed with agony and crying aloud to God for 
 mercy. 
 
 During this critical time the preachers have not been 
 idle. Descending swiftly from the stand they make their 
 way through the congregation, exhorting, instructing, 
 praying, and pointing sinners to the Lamb of God. In a 
 short time perhaps half a score of praying circles have 
 been formed around the awakened ones, where parents are 
 praying for their children, wives for their husbands, and 
 neighbour for neighbour. In a church such a scene would 
 be dire confusion ; but out in the open air beneath the 
 lofty dome of God's leafy temple, where each Christian 
 
Pioneer Days 93 
 
 heart is intent upon the one thing of leading troubled 
 souls to the source of peace, the confusion is scarcely 
 noticed. Perhaps there comes a lull in the concert of 
 prayer and a voice is lifted up in song. For the moment 
 Charles Wesley's stately measures are laid aside and 
 feeling finds expression in a homely camp-meeting melody 
 with many repetitions. Such a stanza as 
 
 Venture on Him, 
 
 Venture on Him, 
 
 Venture on Him just now, 
 
 may be very poor poetry, but it supplies just the direction 
 and encouragement that the penitent seeker needs, and 
 under its inspiration some do venture ; they " step on 
 the seeming void, and find the rock beneath." Then the 
 shouts of victory begin to resound. Charles Wesley is 
 recalled, and the woods re-echo the strains of his grand 
 salvation hymn : 
 
 My God is reconciled, 
 
 His pardoning voice I hear, 
 He owns me for His child, 
 
 I can no longer fear, 
 With confidence I now draw nigh, 
 And Father, Abba, Father, cry ! 
 
 The hours have passed almost unheeded, and there is 
 regret when the service is brought to a close. Many find 
 it hard to leave the sacred spot, and sometimes the 
 midnight hour will pass ere sleep and silence settle down 
 upon the scene. 
 
 The Sabbath is in some respects a great day. In the 
 early morning prayer-meetings are going on in many of 
 
94 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the tents ; at nine o'clock a fellowship-meeting begins, and 
 many joyous testimonies are borne to Christ's saving power. 
 The congregation is largely increased by people from the 
 surrounding neighbourhoods who come in for the day. 
 Sermons calculated to deepen the impression already made 
 are delivered, followed by exhortation and prayer. And 
 so the time passes until Tuesday or Wednesday, which is 
 not only the last, but is also the great day of the feast. 
 The morning prayer-meetings are unusually tender, for the 
 time of parting is near. At nine o'clock or thereabout 
 the love-feast begins, and for an hour and a half testi- 
 monies follow in rapid succession, mingled with strains 
 of triumphant song. Perhaps there is a short discourse 
 from an experienced preacher words of counsel and 
 encouragement that will be helpful alike to new convert 
 and mature Christian as they return to their homes to 
 face the toils and temptations of daily life. After this the 
 sacramental bread is broken and the wine is poured, and 
 preachers and people together commemorate, in that 
 leafy temple, the dying love of their divine Kedeemer, 
 and anticipate the day when they shall sit down at the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb. But one thing more 
 remains to be done, and this is never omitted. After a 
 short interval the preachers take their places in front of 
 the stand, while the people, starting from the upper part 
 of the ground, pass them in single file, receiving from each 
 a cordial hand-shake and a word of counsel or of prayer. 
 What marvel if every face is bathed in tears ; for they 
 have fought and triumphed together, and now they are 
 about to part, some of them to meet no more till they 
 pass beyond the river. But even in this solemn hour 
 
Pioneer Days 95 
 
 faith triumphs over doubt and fear, and they lift their 
 voices in victorious song: 
 
 And let our bodies part, 
 
 To different climes repair ! 
 Inseparably joined in heart 
 
 The friends of Jesus are ! 
 
 Jesus, the corner-stone, 
 
 Did first our hearts unite, 
 And still He keeps our spirits one, 
 
 Who walk with Him in white. 
 
 let us still proceed 
 
 In Jesu's work below ; 
 And, following our triumphant Head, 
 
 To farther conquests go ! 
 
 The vineyard of the Lord 
 
 Before His labourers lies ; 
 And lo ! we see the vast reward 
 
 Which waits us in the skies. 
 
 let our heart and mind 
 
 Continually ascend, 
 That haven of repose to find 
 
 Where all our labours end ; 
 
 Where all our toils are o'er, 
 
 Our suffering and our pain ! 
 Who meet on that eternal shore 
 
 Shall never part again. 
 
 The service is over, and now begins the preparation 
 for departure. Tents are struck, household effects placed 
 in vehicles ready to receive them, and soon the faithful 
 few who have remained to the last are wending their way 
 to their various homes. Meanwhile the itinerants have 
 mounted their horses and turned their faces toward their 
 distant fields of labour. For a few days they have enjoyed 
 sweet communion and have been sitting "in heavenly 
 places in Christ Jesus"; now they go back to solitary 
 
96 Methodism in Canada 
 
 journeys, to hardship and privation, to loneliness and 
 poverty ; but their hearts are strong in the Lord, and no 
 murmuring thought has place. For a time, perhaps, they 
 ride together ; but soon their ways diverge, and each rides 
 forward alone, meditating on the goodness and faithful- 
 ness of God and planning fresh campaigns for the truth. 
 Noble and heroic men, may your memories be ever kept 
 green ! Meanwhile, to us who linger a few moments 
 by the deserted camp-ground there comes, mellowed by 
 distance, the strains of a familiar hymn sung by a group 
 of rejoicing converts as they wend their homeward way. 
 Gradually this also melts into silence. The feast of taber- 
 nacles is ended. 1 
 
 2. PIONEER DAYS IN NEWFOUNDLAND 
 
 The first to proclaim the saving truths of the gospel, 
 as understood by Methodists, to the hardy and neglected 
 fishermen around the rugged coasts of Newfoundland, 
 was Lawrence Coughlan, a warm-hearted Irishman, con- 
 verted to God in the early days of Methodism in his 
 native country, and received into the itinerant ranks by 
 Wesley in 1755. Being both zealous and diligent, he 
 built up the societies where he laboured, especially by his 
 fidelity in visiting from house to house ; but he seems to 
 have been deficient in staying power, which may account 
 for some of his erratic movements. In the early sixties 
 he embraced some novel views, as did Mr. Maxfield, 
 respecting Christian perfection, and when convinced of 
 
 1 The foregoing may be accepted as a fairly accurate sketch of a typical 
 camp-meeting in the middle of the nineteenth century. 
 
Pioneer Days 97 
 
 his mistake threw the blame on Wesley. This led to 
 strained relations for a time, but in the following year 
 the two seem to have been in full accord. Another step 
 of Wesley's led to more serious results. In 1763, feel- 
 ing the urgent need of ordained helpers, and knowing that 
 he could not obtain the necessary (as he then thought) 
 ordination from bishops of the Church of England, Wesley 
 applied to Erasmus, a bishop of the Greek Church, who 
 was visiting in England at the time, to ordain one of 
 his lay itinerants. The bishop consented, but on the fact 
 becoming known several other itinerants Coughlan 
 among the number sought and obtained the same favour. 
 This brought forth indignant remonstrance and protest 
 from Charles Wesley, and the parties who had bee.n 
 ordained were offered the alternative of refraining from 
 the exercise of their ministerial , functions or removal from 
 the Methodist Connexion. Coughlan, it would seem, was 
 unwilling to submit, and withdrew from the itinerant 
 ranks. But that his friendship with Wesley continued 
 unbroken may be inferred from the correspondence of 
 future years. 
 
 In 1765 Lawrence Coughlan is in Newfoundland. 
 Under what auspices or impulse he was led to those 
 rugged shores there are no contemporary records to tell, 
 but read in the light of subsequent history we can ascribe 
 his movements only to the guiding hand of God. He was 
 not commissioned by any church nor appointed by any 
 human authority, and we can only surmise that he heard, 
 as did Paul, a divine mandate, " I will send thee far hence 
 unto the Gentiles." Certain it is he could not have found 
 a more needy field. The moral and religious condition 
 
 7 
 
98 Methodism in Canada 
 
 of the people was simply deplorable. Two clergymen of 
 the Church of England were the only religious teachers 
 on the island, one at St. John's and one at Trinity Bay ; 
 but around the shores of Conception Bay Inhere was a 
 population of more than five thousand souls utterly uncared 
 for. About 80 per cent, of these were English or of 
 English descent, chiefly from Dorsetshire; the rest were 
 Irish Koman Catholics. So far as can be learned, no 
 minister had ever visited these settlements up to the time 
 of Coughlan's arrival, and it need not surprise us to learn 
 that " the Sabbath was unknown ; there was no person 
 to celebrate marriage, and marriage was lightly regarded, 
 while oppression, violence, profanity, and licentiousness 
 were practised without any check." l In after-days an old 
 Methodist, speaking of this period, said, " Imagine any sin 
 you will, and you cannot think of anything too bad." 
 Coughlan's testimony is equally emphatic : " As to the 
 gospel, they had not the least notion of it. Drinking 
 dancing, and gaming they were acquainted with ; these 
 they were taught by the Europeans who came annually 
 to fish." 2 
 
 Such was the unpromising material among which 
 Lawrence Coughlan began his ministry. For more than 
 a year he preached without apparent results, and yet he 
 must have impressed the people, for they united in a 
 request to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 that Mr. Coughlan might be appointed as missionary 
 among them. The request was complied with, and 
 Coughlan immediately went to England to receive 
 
 1 Smith's History of Methodism in Newfoundland, p. 46. 
 
 2 Wilson's Newfoundland, its Missionaries. 
 
Pioneer Days 99 
 
 Episcopal ordination, from which we may infer that the 
 English bishops did not recognise the validity of the 
 ordination by Erasmus, or else that Coughlan kept that 
 circumstance secret. In the autumn of 1767 he returned 
 to Newfoundland and resumed his labours, teaching the 
 people " publicly and from house to house." To the Irish 
 he was able to preach in their native Celtic ; and although 
 they were Eoman Catholics, numbers of them attended 
 his ministry. But although Lawrence Coughlan was 
 " instant in season, out of season," and longed with desire 
 unspeakable for the salvation of souls, three long years 
 passed without any visible results. Disheartened and 
 discouraged, he prepared to leave the country, being 
 determined so he writes that he would not stay in 
 such a poor desolate land and spend his strength for 
 nought. But in this, as in many another case, the time 
 of man's extremity was God's opportunity. The Lord, 
 whose presence the discouraged missionary had often 
 invoked in vain, came suddenly to His temple, and the 
 settlements around Conception Bay were swept by a 
 mighty revival. The old indifference disappeared, and 
 many, as Coughlan relates, " were pricked to the heart, 
 and cried, ' What must we do to be saved ? ' Some 
 prayed aloud, others shouted for joy, telling what God 
 had done for their souls. . . . Under almost every 
 sermon and exhortation some were cut to the heart, and 
 others rejoiced in loud songs of praise." l 
 
 In the midst of these exciting scenes Coughlan's 
 Wesleyan training was apparent, not only in the methods 
 he employed but in the way in which he regarded the 
 
 1 Coughlan's Account of fa Work of God in Newfoundland. 
 
ioo Methodism in Canada 
 
 outward manifestations of the Spirit's working. He had 
 mourned over the absence of results, and now he was 
 deeply concerned, as Wesley had been in England, lest 
 the noisy demonstrations might redound to the injury of 
 the work. As a true son of Wesley, Coughlan wrote re- 
 garding the crying out, " I never encouraged it, nor dare 
 I speak directly against it." As he feared, the report 
 did go abroad that the inhabitants of Harbour Grace and 
 Carbonear had gone mad ; but this only had the effect of 
 bringing people from a distance of many miles to see and 
 hear for themselves, and not a few " who came to scoff 
 remained to pray." Thus the work spread around Con- 
 ception Bay, and a marked change took place in the 
 habits of the people. " Hours that had been wasted in 
 Sabbath-breaking, drinking, gaming, and other prevalent 
 vices, were now spent in praise, prayer, and the reading 
 of the Scriptures." l At Black Head, about eighteen miles 
 from Carbonear, the people were so desirous of having 
 a place of worship that they went into the woods, cut 
 down and prepared the necessary timber, and in less than 
 fourteen days erected and covered in a building large 
 enough to accommodate four hundred people. It is 
 worthy of note that through all this period Coughlan, 
 though an ordained clergyman of the Church of England, 
 was a pronounced Methodist in experience, teaching, and 
 plans of work. Writing to Wesley shortly before leaving 
 Newfoundland, he affirms, " I am and do confess myself 
 to be a Methodist. The name I love, and hope I 
 ever shall. The plan which you first taught me I have 
 followed, both as to doctrine and discipline. Our married 
 
 1 Smith's History, p. 50. 
 
Pioneer Days 101 
 
 men meet apart once a week, and our married women do 
 the same. This has given great offence, so that repeated 
 complaints have been made to the Governor. But truth 
 is mighty, and will prevail. In the winter I go from 
 house to house, and expound some part of God's word. 
 This has also given great offence. " But God is above 
 men, devils, and sin." x 
 
 Mission work in Newfoundland at the present time, 
 though a railway spans the island and commodious steam- 
 ships ply between distant ports, is no child's play ; but in 
 the old pioneer days it involved hardships of no ordinary 
 kind. Coughlan had an unconquerable dread of the sea 
 when sailing in small boats, which made his life " one 
 continued martyrdom." In many houses which he visited 
 the accommodation was very poor, and on a winter's 
 morning it was no uncommon thing to find a covering 
 of snow upon the bed, and his shoes so frozen that they 
 must be thawed before they were put on. But trials of 
 this description were by no means the worst. His plain, 
 faithful preaching stirred the enmity of the carnal mind. 
 Some who had supported the missionary denounced his 
 preaching as madness, and threatened to withdraw their 
 aid. But Coughlan was not a man to be cowed in that 
 fashion. On the very next Sunday he took his text from 
 the words of Paul to Festus, " I am not mad," and pro- 
 ceeded to show that while drunkards, swearers, and such- 
 like might justly be called mad, the term could not fairly 
 be applied to those who feared God and wrought righteous- 
 ness. Failing to intimidate the preacher by the threat of 
 withdrawing support, a petition was sent to the Governor, 
 
 1 Published in the Arminian Magazine, 1785. 
 
IO2 Methodism in Canada 
 
 containing slanderous statements, and asking that Coughlan 
 be silenced or banished. But when brought up for exami- 
 nation, his innocence was completely established. Exas- 
 perated by their failure, Coughlan 's enemies even conspired 
 to take his life, but were foiled by the doctor, who dis- 
 covered the plot and put him on his guard. 
 
 Hardship, exposure, and opposition were telling upon 
 Coughlan's body and mind, and he resolved to return to 
 England, which he did in the latter part of 1773. His 
 connexion with the S.P.G. seems to have ceased at the 
 same time, probably by mutual consent. To have served 
 in the Church of England would have been impracticable 
 for a man of his temperament and habits ; for in writing 
 to Wesley shortly before his return, he says, " To be shut 
 up in a little parish church, and to conform in every little 
 thing for sixty or a hundred pounds a year, I would not ; 
 no, not for even a thousand." In 1776 we find him 
 ministering in a chapel in Cumberland Street, London ; but 
 under what auspices does not appear. Application was 
 made to Wesley for a circuit, but Coughlan's work was 
 done. While conversing with Wesley in his study he 
 was seized with paralysis. How long he lingered we do 
 not know; but Wesley was with him shortly before his 
 departure, as appears from a letter to John Stretton, of 
 Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in which the writer says, 
 " The last time I saw Mr. Coughlan he was ill in body, 
 but in a blessed state of mind. He was utterly broken 
 in pieces, full of tears and contrition for his past un- 
 faithfulness. Not long after I went out of town God 
 removed him to a better place." 1 So ended the life and 
 
 1 Wesley's Works, American edition, xii. 226. 
 
Pioneer Days 103 
 
 labours of Lawrence Coughlan, a veritable pioneer of 
 Methodism in a hard field, possessing many of the 
 sterling qualities which distinguished the workers of that 
 early day, and some of the infirmities which detracted 
 from the value of a useful career. 
 
 When Coughlan left Newfoundland the societies at 
 Carbonear and Harbour Grace were for a time as sheep 
 without a shepherd. But in these societies were some 
 devoted laymen upon whose hearts the burden of souls 
 was laid, and these began to stir up the gift that was in 
 them, and by exhortation and prayer strove to edify the 
 faithful and lead sinners to Christ. The names of very 
 few of these men have come down to us, but by common 
 consent the foremost place is given to John Stretton of 
 Harbour Grace. Like Coughlan, he was an Irishman, a 
 native of Limerick, where his father and mother were 
 among the early friends of Wesley. The son removed 
 to Waterford, where he engaged in a branch of the 
 Newfoundland trade. With the view of increasing his 
 business, he resolved to remove to that colony ; but 
 shortly before his departure he was led to a saving 
 knowledge of Christ, chiefly through the efforts of Mrs. 
 Eliza Bennis, a devoted Methodist at Limerick. On 
 reaching Newfoundland he immediately connected himself 
 with the Methodist Society,and remained steadfast to the end. 
 
 The action of the magistrates at Harbour Grace gave 
 cause for anxiety. They " took possession of the church, 
 read prayers and preached on alternate Sabbaths, with 
 the intention of holding the building until the arrival of 
 Coughlan's successor." x For this action of the magistrates 
 
 1 Smith's History, p. 62. 
 
IO4 Methodism in Canada 
 
 there was some show of justification. Coughlan, though 
 an avowed Methodist, was an ordained clergyman of the 
 Church of England, and in the employ of the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel. It was not surprising, 
 therefore, that the magistrates regarded the church as 
 belonging to that communion. Their further action in 
 refusing to allow the Methodist class to meet in the 
 church on Sunday evenings, as had been the custom, 
 was less kind, and savoured of persecution ; but even 
 this hardly justifies the strong language of Stretton that 
 " Mr. Arthur Thorney and I ... resolved to oppose the 
 torrent of iniquity." Be that as it may, it was evident 
 something must be done for the scattered society. Says 
 Stretton, " We gathered a few together who loved the 
 Lord Jesus, and found among them a poor fisherman who 
 was not ashamed of his heavenly Master, but boldly stood 
 up and spoke in His name." Not the first time that a 
 " poor fisherman " has been a faithful witness for Christ. 
 In providing the necessary discipline for the society, 
 which numbered about thirty, "we drew up the rules," 
 says Stretton, " as like Wesley's as we could, consistently 
 with local circumstances " ; which probably would have 
 drawn from Wesley the comment, had he been aware of 
 the action, " Don't mend our rules, but keep them." 
 
 These Newfoundland Methodists were no laggards in 
 religious duties. Arthur Thorney, writing to Coughlan, 
 tells how Christmas Day was spent : " We assembled at 
 J. P/s at five in the morning, sang praises, and prayed 
 and exhorted, and every heart rejoiced in our Christ. 
 We continued thus till eight o'clock, had prayers at 
 ten, and again at three in the afternoon, and our dear 
 
Pioneer Days 1 05 
 
 Lord continued present all the day. At night we had 
 a love-feast at S.'s (formerly your house), and such a 
 blessed meeting we never saw." It was about this time 
 that Stretton began to speak in public, " in great fear of 
 being one of those who run before they are sent." 
 Prompted by the constraining love of Christ, Stretton and 
 Thorney began to extend their labours to other settlements 
 around Conception Bay, and across the country to Heart's 
 Content on Trinity Bay. In some places their efforts were 
 crowned with marked success. At St. John's they had 
 pleasant fellowship with a little group of Congregationalists, 
 who, in the face of strong opposition, had erected a neat 
 little meeting-house; while at Old Perlican they found 
 that the gospel message had already been earned there 
 by another faithful though unlikely messenger. 
 
 An Englishman, John Hoskins by name, first heard 
 Methodist preaching in 1746, and, as he tells us, "the 
 word fell on my soul as dew on the tender herb." At 
 the age of fifty-six he decided to go to New England, 
 purposing to keep school and do what he could for the 
 salvation of men ; but means were scant, and he took 
 passage for Newfoundland, intending to work there for 
 money to pay the further passage of himself and son. 
 On reaching Trinity Bay five weeks later he found him- 
 self without friends and money, but rejoicing exceedingly 
 that he was "under the care and protection of an al- 
 mighty and all-gracious God." By the advice of Mr. 
 Balfour, the Episcopal missionary, he crossed the bay to 
 Perlican, seven leagues distant. The people, who had 
 mostly come from rural districts in England, seemed 
 glad at his coming, as they had no one to teach their 
 
io6 Methodism in Canada 
 
 children. Though without any missionary or any religious 
 ordinances, they seemed to have some concern for spiritual 
 things, for they invited Hoskins to read prayers and a 
 sermon on the Lord's day, an invitation which he gladly 
 accepted. Writing to Wesley, he says, " I read the 
 church prayers and some of your sermons, and sung 
 your hymns by myself alone, for many weeks. For my 
 congregation did not know how to behave in divine 
 service, not even to kneel in prayer, or sing at all, but 
 would stand at a distance and look at me as if I had 
 been a monster." And yet these people were not in- 
 sensible to the truth. Some became thoughtful and 
 knelt during prayer, and before long six or seven were 
 found seeking salvation. These were formed into a class, 
 and the number increased. In the winter of 1778 there 
 was a sudden work of awakening, and several found 
 peace with God. When Hoskins visited England in the 
 winter of 1778-79 the people of Old Perlican applied 
 through Wesley to the Bishop of London, Dr. Lowth, 
 to ordain him as their minister; but their request was 
 refused. This drew from Wesley a letter that for 
 Christian fidelity and plainness of speech, but without 
 tincture of animosity, has rarely if ever been equalled. 
 I quote the letter at large, not for the reason just men- 
 tioned, however, but because it turns a searchlight of 
 unusual intensity upon the religious conditions of the 
 time: 
 
 Wth August 1780. 
 
 "MY LORD, Some time since I received your lord- 
 ship's favour, for which I return your lordship my sincere 
 thanks. Those persons (at Old Perlican) did not apply 
 
Pioneer Days 107 
 
 to the society (the S.P.G.) because they had nothing to 
 ask them. They wanted no salary for their minister; 
 they were themselves able and willing to maintain him. 
 They therefore applied by me to your lordship, as members 
 of the Church of England, and desirous so to continue, 
 begging the favour of your lordship, after your lordship 
 had examined him, to ordain a pious man who might 
 officiate as their minister. 
 
 " But your lordship observes, ' There are three 
 ministers in that country already.' True, my lord ; but 
 what are three to watch over all the souls in that exten- 
 sive country ? Will your lordship permit me to speak 
 freely ? I dare not do otherwise. I am on the verge of 
 the grave, and know not the hour when I shall drop into 
 it. Suppose there were threescore of those missionaries 
 in the country, could I in conscience recommend these 
 souls to their care ? Do they take any care of their 
 own souls ? If they do (I speak it with concern), I fear 
 they are almosf the only missionaries in America that 
 do. My lord, I do not speak rashly. I have been in 
 America, and so have several with whom I have lately 
 conversed ; and both I and they know what manner of 
 men the far greater part of these are. They are men 
 who have neither the power of religion nor the form ; 
 men that can lay no claim to piety, nor even decency. 
 
 " Give me leave, my lord, to speak more freely still : 
 perhaps it is the last time I shall trouble your lordship. 
 I know your lordship's abilities and extensive learning ; 
 I believe, what is far more, that your lordship fears 
 God. I have heard that your lordship is unfashionably 
 diligent in examining the candidates for holy orders ; 
 yea, that your lordship is generally at the pains of ex- 
 amining them yourself. Examining them. In what 
 respect ? Why, whether they understand a little Latin 
 and Greek, and can answer a few trite questions in the 
 science of divinity. Alas, how little does this avail ! Does 
 
io8 Methodism in Canada 
 
 your lordship examine whether they serve Christ or 
 Belial ? Whether they love God or the world ? Whether 
 they ever had any serious thoughts about heaven or hell ? 
 Whether they have any real desire to save their own 
 souls, or the souls of others ? If not, what have they 
 to do with holy orders ? and what will become of the 
 souls committed to their care ? 
 
 " My lord, I do by no means despise learning : I know 
 the value of it too well. But what is this, particularly in 
 a Christian minister, compared to piety ? What is it in a 
 man that has no religion ? * As a jewel in a swine's snout.' 
 
 " Some time ago I recommended to your lordship a plain 
 man, whom I had known above twenty years, as a person 
 of deep, genuine piety, and of unblamable conversation. 
 But he neither understood Greek nor Latin ; and he 
 affirmed, in so many words, that he believed it was his 
 duty to preach, whether he was ordained or no. I believe 
 so too. What became of him since, I know not; but I 
 suppose he received Presbyterian ordination ; and I can- 
 not blame him if he did. He might think any ordination 
 better than none. 
 
 " I do not know that Mr. Hoskins has any favour to 
 ask of the society (the S.P.G.). He asked the favour of 
 your lordship to ordain him, that he might minister to a 
 little flock in America. But your lordship did not see good 
 to ordain him ; but your lordship did see good to ordain, 
 and send into America, other persons who knew something 
 of Greek and Latin, but who knew no more of saving souls 
 than of catching whales. 
 
 " In this respect also I mourn for poor America, for 
 the sheep scattered up and down therein. Part of them 
 have no shepherd at all, especially in the northern 
 colonies; and the case of the rest is little better, for 
 their own shepherds pity them not. They cannot, for 
 they have no pity on themselves. They take no thought 
 or care about their own souls. 
 
Pioneer Days 109 
 
 " Wishing your lordship every blessing from the great 
 Shepherd and Bishop of souls, I remain, my lord, your 
 lordship's dutiful son and servant, 
 
 "JOHN WESLEY." 1 
 
 But although Episcopal sanction of Hoskins' work was 
 denied, the Holy Spirit's influence was not withheld ! 
 While the worker was yet in England the work revived, 
 and Old Perlican had a day of gracious visitation. Num- 
 bers were awakened and converted, among them Hoskins' 
 own son. Thorney went over from Harbour Grace to 
 render what assistance he could. But, as might have 
 been expected, the spirit of opposition was aroused in its 
 most savage form. Men armed with clubs went to the 
 room where Thorney was preaching, and swore they would 
 kill him ; but several persons interfered, and the disturb- 
 ance was quelled. Meanwhile Hoskins returned to New- 
 foundland and resolved to extend his labours to Trinity ; 
 but the influential men of the place were bitterly hostile, 
 and no one dared open his house for preaching. After 
 several days of apparently fruitless effort, Hoskins went on 
 board a vessel to ask passage from a merchant on a boat 
 that was to sail for Old Perlican. No sooner had he 
 stepped on board than a sailor rudely asked, " Will you 
 preach us a sermon ? " and immediately struck him in the 
 face with a brush filled with tar ; whereupon some sailors 
 seized and held him, while others nearly covered him with 
 tar. The merchant and captain, so far from rebuking the 
 sailors, encouraged them in their brutality, and as Hoskins 
 left the ship a piece of wood was flung at him. Strange 
 results followed this outrage. I quote from Smith's 
 
 1 Wesley's Works, American edition, vol. vii. p. 230. 
 
1 10 Methodism in Canada 
 
 History, pp. 74, 75 : "The captain and the merchant soon 
 became ashamed of the transaction to which they had 
 given their approval, and the immediate actors in it were 
 visited with speedy retribution. In the course of a month 
 one fell overboard and was drowned in the harbour ; 
 another on the passage to England was killed by a fall ; 
 and the man who administered the tar received a death- 
 wound from an accident on board the vessel, and died in 
 great agony of mind on account of the share he had taken 
 in the guilty deed. Certain appearances connected with 
 the retribution, which may have been the results of an 
 accusing conscience, but which he believed to be real, made 
 such an impression upon the captain's mind that, on his 
 return to Newfoundland, he boldly assured the merchants 
 of Trinity that he would not for all the world abuse 
 Hoskins, or any other preacher of the gospel." 
 
 In 1785 Newfoundland appeared in the English 
 Minutes for the first time, and appended thereto is the 
 name of John M'Geary, whom Stretton speaks of as "a 
 good man and a good preacher." He had travelled among 
 the American itinerants for a time, but returned to Eng- 
 land in 1784. He may have been "a good man," as 
 Stretton observes, and also a " good preacher," but seems 
 to have been flighty and unstable to a degree ; a proof 
 that even Wesley, with his remarkable penetration, did 
 not always " size up " his men correctly. Before he had 
 been a month at Carbonear, Stretton wrote, " Everything 
 here appears so disagreeable to Mr. M'Geary that I fear 
 he will not abide long." He did remain for some time, 
 however, but failed to adapt himself to surrounding con- 
 ditions, and was soon out of harmony with both Stretton 
 
Pioneer Days \ 1 1 
 
 and Hoskins. He must have complained bitterly to 
 Wesley, for the latter wrote to William Black of Nova 
 Scotia, when M'Geary had been about sixteen months in 
 Newfoundland, saying, " Poor John M'Geary appears to 
 be utterly discouraged, not only through want of success, 
 but through want of the conveniences, yea, necessaries of 
 life. Truly, if I could have supposed a preacher to want 
 bread, I should have sent him into other parts where he 
 would have wanted nothing." The difficulties of the situa- 
 tion were further emphasised by disagreement between 
 Hoskins and Stretton, and at times Wesley was sorely 
 perplexed. He admits that M'Geary was "naturally of 
 a bold, forward temper," and in a letter to Stretton, written 
 in 1789, he laments that he "cannot find any union 
 between you northern preachers," for " each seems to be 
 afraid of the other." M'Geary put the finishing touch on 
 his imprudent course by marrying the daughter of a planter, 
 without her father's consent. This ended his influence, 
 which was not great at any time, and in the autumn of 
 1788 he returned to England, leaving little or no fruit 
 of his labours behind him, save dissensions and heart- 
 burnings. In the same year Stretton began the erection 
 of a church at Harbour Grace at his own expense, and it 
 was opened for worship in August. "This," he writes, 
 " is the only thing at present that keeps up the Protestant 
 name in the place. The Protestant minister is worse than 
 none, and few go to church ; while popery, like a deluge, 
 sweeps away all the rest." At the end of 1790 the 
 report was no better. " This place," he writes, " is like 
 Sodom in everything but fulness of bread, and I am here 
 alone, with not one family heartily religious that I can 
 
1 1 2 Methodism in Canada 
 
 associate with, or hold any profitable converse with, all 
 this dreary winter." 
 
 In 1791 William Black visited Newfoundland, and 
 this may be said to mark a new era in the progress of 
 Methodism in the island. By this time few traces of 
 Coughlan's work at Carbonear and Harbour Grace re- 
 mained; but under Black's first sermon at the former 
 place many were deeply affected. On the following 
 Sunday the impressions were greatly deepened. On 
 Tuesday evening, during the sermon, " some began to cry 
 out," says Black. "I stopped preaching, and began to 
 pray. My voice was soon drowned. I left the pulpit 
 and went up and down the church, exhorting those that 
 were wounded and crying for mercy to look unto Jesus 
 as their only Redeemer. . . . About thirty were under 
 deep distress. ... I requested those who were in distress 
 to withdraw to Brother M'Geary's house, 1 but they would 
 not leave the church." The foregoing is a fair sample 
 of the entries in Black's journal during his sojourn in 
 Newfoundland. Not less than two hundred souls were 
 converted in the settlements around Conception Bay 
 during these services, and the work was permanent. 
 Before his departure Black administered the communion 
 to about one hundred and thirty persons, and " an awful 
 sense of the divine presence seemed to pervade every 
 heart." The love - feast that followed was simply in- 
 
 1 This was the same M 'Geary of whom so much has been said; but 
 there is a discrepancy in dates which it is difficult to reconcile. Smith's 
 History, p. 279, informs us that M 'Geary returned to England in 1788, but 
 ulii-n Black reached Carbonear in 1791 he found M'Geary there. Smith 
 further says, p. 281, that "during the preceding year M'Geary had returned 
 to that station." This may be correct, although I have been unable to 
 verify the fact from any other source. 
 
Pioneer Days 1 1 3 
 
 describable. " It was hard work to tear away from them," 
 writes Black. " I was nearly an hour shaking hands with 
 them, some twice and thrice over, and even then we 
 hardly knew how to part ; but I at last rushed from 
 among them, and left them weeping as for an only son." 
 It appears that M c Geary remained but a short time after 
 Black's departure. He returned to England, and at the 
 Conference of 1792 was appointed to a circuit; but in 
 the following year withdrew from the ministry a final 
 proof of his unstable character. 
 
 There is much more which belongs to the early 
 period of Methodism in this interesting field, but enough 
 has been written to give an idea of " pioneer days in 
 Newfoundland." 
 
 3. PIONEER DAYS IN THE MARITIME PROVINCES 
 
 Nova Scotia is supposed by some to be identical with 
 the Markland of the Norse sagas ; and if this is correct, it 
 gives it priority, in point of discovery, over the discoveries of 
 Columbus and Americus Vespuccius, of more than five hundred 
 years. Of these early days it is not necessary to speak, 
 nor of the period of French occupation down to the time, 
 1710, when Acadia was conquered by an army from the 
 New England colonies, and the French flag disappeared 
 from that part of the New World, though it was not till 
 nearly half a century later that it finally disappeared from 
 Cape Breton by the capture and destruction of Louisburg. 
 By the Peace of Utrecht various places and territories 
 the long - disputed province of Nova Scotia among the 
 number were recognised as dependencies of the British 
 
 8 
 
114 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Crown. But the recognition of England's supremacy in 
 Nova Scotia did not secure her in peaceable possession of 
 the coveted territory. The French settlers, or Acadians 
 as they were called, refused to take the oath of allegiance 
 to the British monarch, and being stimulated to at least 
 passive resistance by their priests, who were in constant 
 communication with the French of Cape Breton and Canada, 
 they became a dangerous menace to the stable government 
 of the country. After persistent efforts by successive 
 Governors, extending over a period of nearly forty years, 
 to secure their peaceable submission, the English Govern- 
 ment resolved upon the unprecedented step of removing the 
 Acadians by force from their settlements and dispersing 
 them among the New England and other colonies. What- 
 ever may be said in vindication of this harsh measure, it is 
 impossible to reconcile it with modern ideas of justice or 
 humanity, and it is referred to here only because of its 
 bearing upon the future settlement of the country. 
 
 The expulsion of this irreconcilably disloyal element 
 from the population left some of the richest agricultural 
 districts in Nova Scotia unoccupied and untilled, and so 
 they remained for several years. But in 1758 Lieutenant- 
 Governor Lawrence issued a proclamation with the view 
 of inducing people from the New England colonies to come 
 to Nova Scotia and take possession of the vacant lands. 
 As the proclamation made no reference to freedom of 
 conscience and of religious worship, the New England 
 colonists, imbued with the spirit of their Puritan ancestry, 
 hesitated to accept the Governor's invitation, fearing a 
 course similar to that pursued by the authorities of New 
 York and Virginia. This induced Governor Lawrence to 
 
Pioneer Days \ 1 5 
 
 issue a second proclamation, in which full religious liberty 
 was guaranteed to all Protestants ; and on the strength of 
 this assurance a large number of settlers came from New 
 England, and were subsequently followed by others from 
 across the sea. 
 
 A still more marked effect on the religious future of 
 the country was produced by the arrival, in 1772, under 
 the influence of Lieutenant-Governor Franklin, of a party 
 of emigrants from Yorkshire, who settled in Cumberland 
 county. They were followed by other detachments in 
 each of the three succeeding years, constituting altogether 
 a considerable number. These settlers were thoroughly 
 British in sentiment, and not a few of them were Methodists 
 of the true Yorkshire type. Their influence on the eve of 
 the revolutionary war was, from a political point of view, 
 most salutary, and their religious fervour was no less 
 salutary in other directions. An Episcopal clergyman who 
 resided at Cumberland spoke of these Yorkshire emigrants, 
 when reporting to the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel, as " a peaceable, industrious people, and lovers of 
 the constitution under which they were born." 
 
 It would be a pleasant task to give some account of these 
 pioneer Methodists in the maritime provinces, but space 
 forbids. I cannot refrain, however, from calling attention 
 to two families, one because of its connexion with the 
 past, the other because of its influence upon the future. 
 William Wells senior was among the first Methodists who 
 came to Nova Scotia. His former home appears to have 
 been at Thirsk in Yorkshire, and he was the builder of 
 the Wesleyan chapel in that place, concerning which 
 the following characteristic entry appears in Wesley's 
 
1 1 6 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Journal, under date of 29th April 1766 : "I preached at 
 noon in the new house at Thirsk, almost equal to that at 
 Yarm : and why not quite, seeing they had the model 
 before their eyes, and had nothing to do but to copy after 
 it ? Is it not an amazing weakness that when they have 
 the most beautiful pattern before them all builders will 
 affect to mend something ? . . . and the second building 
 scarce ever equals the first." Concerning the wife of 
 William Wells, and the coming of the family to Nova 
 Scotia, we have the following : " Margaret, the wife of 
 William Wells, was a native of Sowerby, near Thirsk, and 
 was converted in youth. Wesley and John Nelson made 
 their home at her father's house, when in that part of 
 Yorkshire. She had spent some time under John Nelson's 
 roof, and had heard both Wesley and Nelson preach at 
 Thirsk Cross, when they were pelted with stones and 
 rotten eggs, and such other offensive things as came to 
 hand. Previous to their departure for America, Wesley 
 knelt in prayer with Mr. and Mrs. Wells, and with a hand 
 on the head of each commended them to the divine 
 protection." 1 In his new home Wells led a class in his 
 own house, and frequently conducted public services. 
 
 A variety of circumstances conspired to render the 
 new home of the Yorkshire Methodists unfavourable to 
 religious growth. There was but one minister in the 
 country the Eev. John Eagleson ; distance from any place 
 of worship and bad roads made attendance at religious 
 services difficult ; while the unsettled state of the country, 
 owing to the revolt of the American colonies, and religious 
 
 1 Smith's History of Methodism in Eastern British America, vol. i. 
 pp. 85, 86. 
 
Pioneer Days 1 1 7 
 
 divisions among the people, tended still further to demoralise 
 the settlers. But God did not forget them. In 1779 the 
 Divine Spirit, which like the wind " bloweth where it 
 listeth," began to breathe over Cumberland. The spirit of 
 prayer revived. Meetings for prayer and exhortation 
 increased in frequency. Not a few persons became the 
 subjects of deep religious convictions, and some entered 
 upon the conscious experience of sins forgiven. Among 
 those thus graciously visited was the family of William 
 Black, whose former home was Huddersfield, Yorkshire. 
 The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Black, four sons, and 
 one daughter. The death of the mother in 1775, a year 
 after the arrival of the family at Amherst, was an irreparable 
 loss, as she seems to have been a godly woman whose 
 example and influence could ill be spared by her children 
 in a land where religious opportunities were few and tempta- 
 tions to sin were many. At the time when the revival 
 began, the spiritual declension of the whole family seems to 
 have been complete. In the strong language of one of the 
 sons, " Nothing but discord, jealousy, and ill-will were there. 
 Peace had for some time left our dwelling, and we, hurried 
 on by devilish passions, were urging fast to ruin." 
 
 But God had a purpose of mercy concerning this 
 family, especially one member thereof, which He alone 
 could foresee. All the members of the household seem to 
 have come under the Holy Spirit's influence, and one of 
 the first to emerge from the darkness of condemnation 
 into the light of conscious pardon and the favour of God 
 was the second son, William, then in his nineteenth year. 
 Like many another " chosen vessel," William had been the 
 subject of deep religious impressions from his earliest 
 
1 1 8 Methodism in Canada 
 
 years. He tells how, in his fifth and sixth years, he had 
 serious impressions, sometimes so pungent that he wished 
 he were anything but what he was. Repeatedly his godly 
 mother besought him with tears to yield to God ; but, 
 though deeply affected, he did not then find the way of 
 peace, and in his new home he sought in simple pleasures 
 an opiate for a troubled conscience. When the Holy 
 Spirit began to work among the people, William Black's 
 convictions returned with redoubled force. For weeks he 
 walked in darkness and had no light, weeping, fasting, 
 praying with others till midnight or dawn of morning ; 
 conviction of sin grew only the deeper, until in utter 
 despair he was tempted to rush into eternity that he might 
 know the worst. But, as in many another case, the 
 darkest hour was just before the dawn. While attending 
 a neighbourhood prayer-meeting, and while friends around 
 him were singing, with true Yorkshire fervour, 
 
 My pardon I claim, 
 For a sinner I am, 
 A sinner believing in Jesus's name, 
 
 the Lord revealed Himself to the soul of William Black as 
 the " mighty to save," and in an instant the burden was 
 gone, the darkness vanished, and " the peace of God, which 
 passeth all understanding," took possession of his heart. 
 The conversion of any soul, no matter how humble, is an 
 event in the history of the universe whose value no human 
 arithmetic can compute ; but there are some conversions 
 that mark distinct turning-points in the growth of the 
 divine kingdom, and reveal in clearest light the guiding 
 Providence of God. Such was the conversion of Saul of 
 Tarsus, of Martin Luther, of John Wesley, and many 
 
Pioneer Days 1 1 9 
 
 others ; and such, though in a narrower sphere, was the 
 conversion of William Black. He was not destined to 
 attain a world-wide celebrity like the others just mentioned ; 
 but his conversion was the beginning of an epoch in the 
 religious history of Nova Scotia, and out of it came divine 
 influences that have not yet ceased to operate. 
 
 Those whom God calls to a great work must learn to 
 " endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ," and 
 William Black was no exception to the rule. The sharp 
 conflicts through which he passed in his earlier religious 
 experience were a needed part of the discipline by which 
 he was trained for future usefulness.* His deep depression 
 when under conviction of sin qualified him to guide and 
 sympathise with those who were struggling in the " horrible 
 pit and the miry clay," and his after-conflicts with fierce 
 temptations qualified him no less to be a wise counsellor 
 of perplexed Christians. There were times when he was 
 sorely tempted to doubt the reality of his own conversion, 
 and even to doubt the existence of God ; and then came the 
 tormenting doubt that he could not be a Christian, or 
 such wicked thoughts could never arise. All attempts to 
 overcome his doubts by argument resulted in failure, but 
 when he cried to God in earnest prayer the victory was 
 won and the temptations vanished as suddenly as they 
 came. Concerning his spiritual state at this time, Mr. 
 Black writes in a strain to make one long for a return to 
 the Church of these old-time experiences : " My days did 
 glide swiftly away. I could eat my bread in singleness of 
 heart, praising God. I went up to His house with glad- 
 ness, and entered His courts with praise. His people were 
 my dearest companions. My Sabbaths became the most 
 
1 20 Methodism in Canada 
 
 delightful days in all the year. They were market-days to 
 my soul : I fed on marrow and fat things. Time, I saw, 
 was exceedingly precious, and I desired to improve every 
 moment. I could not bear that a single moment should 
 pass without being filled up for God." 
 
 Another evidence of the genuineness of the change 
 wrought in William Black is found in the fact that his first 
 efforts to do good were among those of his own household. 
 Within a very few days his father, two brothers, and a 
 sister were led into the light. Thus encouraged, his labours 
 extended. In co-operation with three other young men of 
 like mind, he visited three outlying settlements and was 
 cheered by tokens of good. But the good work was not 
 unopposed. " Hard names were plentifully bestowed upon 
 them, but in one instance only did hostility assume a violent 
 form. On that occasion the officer in command at Fort 
 Cumberland, in consequence of representations made to 
 him by the Episcopal minister of the district, deemed it 
 his duty to suppress the meetings, and for that purpose sent 
 a party of soldiers, who made prisoners of more than twenty 
 of the congregation, and carried them to the fort, where 
 they were detained for two hours. The officer, who soon 
 learned his mistake, was glad to dismiss his prisoners with 
 soft words." l 
 
 Concurrently with these labours, the conviction grew in 
 the heart of William Black that God was calling him to a 
 wider field. As yet he had not attempted to preach, in the 
 sense of announcing and expounding a passage of Scripture, 
 but contented himself with earnest exhortations to men to 
 " repent and believe the gospel," and it was not until he 
 
 1 Smith's History of Methodism, pp. 96, 97. 
 
Pioneer Days 1 2 1 
 
 began to itinerate at large that his practice in this respect 
 was changed. On attaining his majority in 1781 he pre- 
 pared to go forth, as did Abraham, " not knowing whither 
 he went." With no church or society behind him to 
 assure him of support, or any pledge from those to whom 
 he went, he cast himself upon the promise that his bread 
 should be given and his water sure. The prospect, from a 
 worldly point of view, was not alluring, and would have 
 daunted a less devoted man. Before him lay a territory 
 which now constitutes the three provinces of Nova Scotia, 
 New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, aggregating 
 over 50,000 square miles in extent; and although much of 
 it was yet unoccupied, there were numerous small settle- 
 ments at points widely separated, from Yarmouth to Cape 
 North and from Halifax to Baie Chaleur, not to speak of 
 the settlements forming on Prince Edward Island, then 
 known as the Island of St. John. To reach these isolated 
 communities required long, wearisome, and sometimes 
 dangerous journeys, and the heroic itinerant knew, like 
 Paul, what it was to be " in labour and travail, in watchings 
 often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and 
 nakedness." But again, like Paul, he could say, " None of 
 these things move me." 
 
 The somewhat heterogeneous character of the popula- 
 tion, their religious prejudices, and the social and political 
 conditions of the times, were all factors in the problem, 
 and added to its difficulty. In some places remnants of 
 the Acadian settlers still lingered; groups of Germans 
 from Pennsylvania or the Fatherland had formed small 
 settlements ; New England families moved in and took 
 possession of the farms from which the Acadians had 
 
122 Methodism in Canada 
 
 been forcibly removed ; fishermen from Nantucket and 
 around Cape Cod located where Liverpool, Barrington, and 
 Yarmouth now stand, while others from the " west 
 country " began a settlement at St. Margaret's Bay. 
 English, Scotch, and Irish emigrants were well repre- 
 sented at many points, while Huguenots and others from 
 Switzerland found homes at Tatmagouche. These varied 
 elements were reinforced a little later by the bands of U.E. 
 Loyalists who, during or after the revolutionary struggle, 
 left the American colonies and sought refuge under the 
 old flag they loved so well. 
 
 Excluding the Indians and Acadians, the population 
 of Nova Scotia was almost entirely Protestant, but in Cape 
 Breton perhaps two thirds were Eoman Catholics. At 
 this period four points in the province were occupied by 
 Episcopal clergymen namely, Halifax, Lunenburg, Fort 
 Cumberland, and Windsor and one clergyman of the same 
 order laboured in Prince Edward Island. The immigrants 
 from New England were, for the most part, Congrega- 
 tionalists, and the churches they established were of that 
 order. But being dependent upon New England for 
 pastors, and the churches there being characterised by 
 the absence of spiritual life, it was not to be expected 
 that the stream would rise higher than its source. More- 
 over, the revolutionary war had a disastrous effect on 
 these churches. Not a few of the members, being in 
 sympathy with their old friends and neighbours, returned 
 to New England, and the "New Light" movement (of 
 which more anon) completed the disintegration which the 
 revolution began. There was but one Baptist Church in 
 the province, based on open communion principles, and 
 
Pioneer Days 1 23 
 
 three or four Presbyterian clergymen ministered to con- 
 gregations at various points ; but Presbyterianism at that 
 period was not distinguished by the evangelical and ag- 
 gressive spirit which is its chief glory to-day. Indeed, with 
 every disposition to be charitable, it may be doubted if at 
 that time among the Protestant clergy of Nova Scotia there 
 was one who could be classed as evangelical, in the pres?nt- 
 day sense of that term, or who was competent to instruct 
 a sin-burdened soul in the way of life and salvation. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs at the time when 
 William Black was about to begin his itinerating ministry, 
 and it was at the same time that the New Light move- 
 ment was in progress in Nova Scotia under the labours 
 of Henry Alline. The latter belonged to a type not 
 uncommon in times of great spiritual declension, whose 
 teaching, spirit, and aims are in marked contrast with the 
 lifeless orthodoxy, or equally lifeless heterodoxy, of the 
 churches of their day. He had passed through spiritual 
 exercises almost rivalling in their intensity those of John 
 Bunyan. His conscience was never at rest, and the 
 terrors of death and judgment haunted him by night 
 and day for twenty years. When deliverance came it 
 was like noonday breaking suddenly through the gloom 
 of midnight, and profound depression gave place to the 
 most rapturous joy. That such an experience should be 
 followed by a desire to proclaim the gospel to others was 
 natural, but, conscious of educational deficiencies, Alline 
 endeavoured to reach New England that the lack might 
 be supplied. Failing to obtain a passage, he returned 
 and began to proclaim his message, first among his friends 
 and neighbours, and afterwards among the English-speaking 
 
1 24 Methodism in Canada 
 
 settlements throughout the province. Alline's preaching 
 was intensely emotional, and this being in marked con- 
 trast with the ordinary preaching of the time, it powerfully 
 affected the people. Though the period of his ministry 
 was short (he was converted at twenty-seven years of 
 age and died at thirty-six), other preachers from among 
 his converts were raised up, men of the same fervid and 
 zealous type as himself, and as these passed from settle- 
 ment to settlement, there was a veritable shaking among 
 the dry bones. " Families were divided ; neighbours 
 became opposed to each other ; pastors preached and pub- 
 lished in vain endeavour to stem the tide, and, failing, 
 submitted to the inevitable; old church organisations 
 were broken down and new organisations set up in their 
 places." 1 The effect of the whole movement cannot be 
 better described than in the words of the Eev. J. Davis, 
 in his Memoirs of Harris Harding : " It happened in 
 Nova Scotia as in New England. First there was torpor. 
 Then the shock of newly discovered truth. Then agita- 
 tion and alarm. Then separations, with dislike and heart- 
 burnings. Then a rushing into extremes, on this side and 
 that. Then reconsideration. The whole resulting in the 
 restored recognition of the vital elements of the gospel, 
 with a return to the decency and order of gospel institu- 
 tions." Of the sincerity of Alline, his devotion and godly 
 zeal, there can be no doubt ; but like many another poorly 
 instructed scribe, his views were narrow and rigid, with 
 a strong tincture of mysticism, and his theology, if he 
 could be credited with such a possession, was a strange 
 jumble of incongruous elements, in which Christian per- 
 
 Smith's History, p. 107. 
 
Pioneer Days 1 2 5 
 
 fection and antiiioiiiian licence, human freedom and the 
 final perseverance of the saints were " unequally yoked 
 together." Of the organisations he formed nothing is left. 
 Some of his converts subsequently found their way into 
 Methodist churches, but the bulk of them, together with 
 his successors in the ministry, gradually embraced the 
 views of the close communion Baptists. 
 
 While this movement was in progress, William Black 
 left his home in the autumn of 1781, and began those 
 remarkable itinerating labours that were to end only with 
 his life. Of systematic theology he knew but little, and 
 this is no cause for regret in view of the work to which 
 he was called. The Nova Scotia churches of that day 
 had been fed on the dry husks of a lifeless orthodoxy, 
 and the average conception of Christian living was a cold 
 morality divorced from vital godliness. The preaching of 
 Alline had rudely shaken the confidence of many, and in 
 the revulsion of feeling which followed it is not surprising 
 that they often rushed to the opposite extreme, and were 
 governed more by " frames and feelings " than by Scripture 
 and common sense. William Black was mercifully guided 
 in a different path. From the time of his conversion he 
 was a diligent student of the Holy Scriptures, and his 
 association in class -meetings and prayer -meetings with 
 Methodists of the Yorkshire type had rendered him familiar 
 not only with their phraseology, but also with their in- 
 tellectual conception of evangelical Christianity as taught 
 by Wesley and his itinerants. This conception was 
 deepened and intensified by the spiritual exercises pre- 
 ceding and accompanying his own conversion. While 
 his theological system, if such it might be called, was 
 
126 Methodism in Canada 
 
 by no means elaborate, it embraced the essentials, 
 and the "three KV- Kuin by sin, Redemption by 
 Christ, Regeneration by the Holy Spirit were enforced 
 everywhere with all earnestness and fidelity. The 
 marked difference between the two men and the work 
 they accomplished is seen in the results. The White- 
 fieldian appeals of Alline were mighty to arouse the 
 careless and the formal, and by them many were turned 
 from sin to righteousness ; but of the fruit of his labours 
 no organised trace now remains, and his brief but fiery 
 ministry is a dim tradition that grows fainter as the 
 years go by. If the preaching of William Black did not 
 arouse such a tempest of emotion, the feeling was deeper 
 and more abiding ; his converts were gathered into classes 
 where provision was made for their Christian nurture, 
 and by wisely administered discipline, after the Wesleyan 
 pattern, the permanence of the work was assured. Not 
 only are the name and memory of William Black enshrined 
 in multitudes of grateful hearts, but the work he did 
 underlies to this day all that is best and purest in the 
 Methodism of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 
 
 In the early days Methodist preachers were men of one 
 aim the salvation of souls. For this they preached and 
 prayed and suffered. Their theology was not broad, 
 perhaps, but it was deep and high ; deep as the ruin into 
 which men had fallen, high as the heaven to which they 
 might ascend. Their " arrows " were not highly polished, 
 but they were " sharp in the hearts of the King's enemies." 
 Aiming always at direct and immediate results, they could 
 not fail to achieve them. Among the leaders of the soul- 
 saving brigade William Black holds an honoured place. 
 
Pioneer Days 127 
 
 The end and aim of his preaching was to bring lost sinners 
 to God, and his expectations were not disappointed. In 
 the record of his first evangelistic tours it is instructive 
 and interesting to note entries like the following : " Many 
 were deeply affected." One " sturdy servant of the devil " 
 cried aloud for mercy. Perceived that the word had 
 " taken root in many minds." Many " were much affected, 
 and wept most of the time." " Jesus was in the midst 
 both to wound and to comfort." " Others who came with 
 heavy hearts returned home greatly rejoiced." No cooked- 
 up reports these, but veritable bulletins from the field of 
 battle. When shall we listen to their like again ? 
 
 After a journey which occupied eighteen days, during 
 which he preached twenty-four times, Black returned to 
 Amherst. Here he found the antinomian leaven of 
 Alline's teaching beginning to work with disastrous effect, 
 and he sorrowfully records that " many sucked in the 
 poison as if it had been the marrow of the gospel." For 
 about six weeks he confined his labours to contiguous 
 settlements, Amherst, Fort Lawrence, Point de Bute, and 
 Sackville, and in January 1782 set off with a friend on 
 snowshoes to visit outlying settlements. It could hardly 
 be called a pleasure trip. At the French village " a little 
 straw for a bed and two yards of wrapper to cover them " 
 was a poor protection from the severe cold ; but to find, a 
 little later, one " set at liberty," another rejoicing in 
 deliverance from guilt, and yet another receiving " the 
 spirit of adoption," more than compensated for the hard- 
 ships of the journey. On his return to Cumberland, Black 
 found not a few causes of anxiety. Eeligious strife had 
 not only divided some of the societies, but had lowered the 
 
128 Methodism in Canada 
 
 spiritual tone of many more. Persons suitable to lead 
 classes or conduct public services were hard to find, and 
 without such services vital godliness was not likely to 
 flourish. At this time Black was little more than a boy, 
 with scant experience and no training for his work. The 
 wonder is that he accomplished so much and made so few 
 mistakes ; and it can be accounted for only on the ground 
 of his singleness of aim and entire dependence upon God. 
 
 Black's next journey was in a new direction, and he 
 entered upon it, as he tells us, " deeply dejected." But it 
 was not long before the sun broke through the gathering 
 clouds and cheered him with the promise of brighter days. 
 He preached whenever opportunity offered, sometimes in 
 Baptist churches of the open communion order, sometimes 
 in private houses, and nearly always with a sense of God's 
 presence and with many tokens of His favour. The character 
 of his preaching may be inferred from the texts of his 
 sermons. Now it was, " I determined not to know any- 
 thing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified " ; 
 again, " God so loved the world, that He gave His only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
 perish, but have everlasting life " ; and yet again, " Fight the 
 good fight of faith." At Cornwallis " a spirit of tenderness 
 pervaded the assembly," while at Horton many " cried for 
 mercy, while others shouted hosannahs to the Son of David." 1 
 At Windsor the itinerant found a few Methodists whom 
 he formed into a class under the leadership of John Smith, 
 formerly of Yarm, Yorkshire, who on occasion had acted as 
 precentor when Wesley preached in the market-place of 
 that town. On the 5th of June 1782 Black preached 
 
 1 Richey's Memoirs of William Black. 
 
Pioneer Days 129 
 
 the first Methodist sermon ever heard in Windsor. It 
 was delivered in the house of Mrs. Scott, with " much 
 liberty," and " many were in tears." A week later we find 
 him in Halifax, where he preached " to a stupid set of 
 people." At that time religion and morality in Halifax 
 were both at a low ebb. In 1760 a resident of the town 
 wrote to the Rev. Dr. Stiles of Boston as follows : " The 
 business of one half of the town is to sell rum ; the other 
 half to drink it. You may from this simple circumstance 
 judge of our morals, and infer that we are not enthusiasts 
 in religion." Concurrent testimony seems to show that 
 " religion was treated with indifference by the many, with 
 scorn by some, and with reverence by but few." l Under 
 such circumstances it is not surprising that Black's preach- 
 ing awakened opposition, so much so that some " lewd 
 fellows of the baser sort " greatly disturbed the meetings. 
 But noisy demonstrations of this sort soon subsided, and 
 subsequently " the utmost decorum was maintained." The 
 name and fame of William Black had now extended beyond 
 the limits of his early journeys, and earnest requests to 
 visit other places began to reach him. He revisited 
 Horton, Cornwallis, Granville, and preached for the first 
 time at Annapolis, and at each place the word was with 
 power. But the condition of affairs in the Cumberland 
 societies recalled him again to Amherst. During Black's 
 absence Alline had been busy, and " had persuaded nearly 
 seventy members of the Methodist societies to withdraw 
 from them." 2 Consultation was had with some of the 
 faithful ones, classes were reorganised, and new leaders 
 appointed. 
 
 1 Smith's History, p. 119. - Hid. p. 123. 
 
 9 
 
130 Methodism in Canada 
 
 The extension of the work, and the calls reaching him 
 from new places, impressed the mind of Black with the 
 need of more labourers. In the spring of 1781 he had 
 written to Wesley, giving an account of his conversion 
 and of the work of God so auspiciously begun in his 
 father's household. This letter Wesley transcribed in his 
 Journal under date of 15th April 1782. 1 Toward the 
 close of that year Black wrote a second letter request- 
 ing Wesley to send out missionaries to Nova Scotia, to 
 which the latter replied as follows : " Our next Conference 
 will begin in July, and I have great hopes we shall be 
 able to send you assistance. One of our preachers informs 
 me that he is willing to go to any part of Africa or 
 America. He does not regard danger nor toil ; neither 
 does he count his life dear unto him, so that he may testify 
 the gospel of the grace of God, and win sinners to Christ. 
 But I cannot advise any person to go alone. Our Lord 
 sent out His disciples two and two, and I do not despair of 
 finding another young man as much devoted to God as he." 
 In the following year the need of additional labourers was 
 emphasised by the coming in of more than twenty thousand 
 British loyalists from the revolted American colonies. On 
 the 19th of October 1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered 
 his army and artillery to Washington at Yorktown, 
 Virginia. This disaster to the British army virtually 
 settled the question of American independence, creating 
 enthusiastic joy among the revolutionists, and correspond- 
 ing alarm among the friends of England. For years the 
 latter had found an asylum in New York, but they knew 
 that the defeated party in the struggle could expect scant 
 
 1 Wesley's Works, American edition, vol. iv. p. 558. 
 
Pioneer Days 1 3 1 
 
 mercy from the victors, and when, in 1782, an Act was 
 passed by the British Parliament authorising the conclusion 
 of peace with the American colonies, the loyalists foresaw 
 that this would mean speedy banishment for them, and 
 they resolved to anticipate the course of events by seeking 
 refuge elsewhere. Before the summer was quite ended 
 thousands of men, women, and children had gone on board 
 ship and sailed for Nova Scotia, where they were joined 
 later in the season by thousands more. On their arrival 
 the refugees scattered in various directions, some to different 
 parts of Nova Scotia, some to what afterwards became the 
 province of New Brunswick, and some to the shores of 
 Prince Edward Island. Perhaps the most important 
 settlement formed in Nova Scotia at this time was at 
 Point Kazoir. Here in the spring and autumn of 1783 
 about ten thousand loyalists and disbanded troops con- 
 gregated and began to build a town to which they gave the 
 name of Shelburne. But its early history was one of 
 disaster. Business failures and disappointments followed 
 each other, until ultimately nearly all the original settlers 
 were scattered and scarce one remained to tell the tale. 
 
 Among those who came to Shelburne with the loyalist 
 exiles was Eobert Barry, who had been connected with the 
 Methodist Society in New York. One month later he was 
 visited by William Black, who, on the following Sabbath 
 morning, " from a table placed among the stumps," preached 
 the first sermon ever delivered in Shelburne. At the 
 afternoon service there was serious disturbance. A 
 commissariat officer with two companions, all under the 
 influence of liquor, threatened the preacher with grievous 
 bodily harm ; but the congregation interfered, and the 
 
132 Methodism in Canada 
 
 disturbance ceased. Notwithstanding the opposition of 
 some and the indifference of others, a class was formed, 
 of which Robert Barry became the leader, and he was 
 shortly cheered by the arrival of one or two others whom 
 he had known in New York. In the meantime, Black was 
 pursuing his labours in other directions, extending his 
 journey as far as Prince Edward Island, where, however, 
 he found little encouragement. Returning to the main- 
 land, the winter of 1783-84 was spent at the scene of his 
 earlier labours in Cumberland county ; but in the following 
 spring his journeys were resumed. Windsor, Halifax, and 
 Shelburne were visited, and Burchtown, a negro settlement, 
 six miles from Shelburne, afforded the itinerant peculiar 
 satisfaction. " It is indeed wonderful," he writes, " to see 
 what a blessed work the Lord has been carrying on among 
 these poor creatures. Within seven or eight months past 
 sixty of them profess to have found peace with God. And 
 what is further remarkable is that the principal instrument 
 God has employed in this work is a poor negro who can 
 neither walk nor stand. He is usually carried by another 
 man to the place of worship, where he sits and speaks to 
 the people, or kneels and prays with them." 
 
 Every day the need of labourers for Nova Scotia was 
 more deeply felt. To supervise effectively so vast a field 
 was far beyond the ability of any one man, and Wesley 
 was again appealed to for assistance. From his reply it 
 appeared he was under the impression that one or two had 
 been sent from the United States, but of this arrangement 
 the Methodists of Nova Scotia knew nothing. About the 
 middle of September Black went to the United States to 
 plead in person for reinforcements. There he met Richard 
 
Pioneer Days 133 
 
 Whatcoat, and later, Dr. Coke. In the month of December 
 the Christmas Conference assembled, and Black was much 
 impressed with the character of the gathering : " Perhaps 
 such a number of godly -men " about sixty "never 
 before met in Maryland, perhaps not on the continent of 
 America." Dr. Coke presided ; and while he impressed 
 everyone with his greatness of soul and fervent spirit, it 
 is worthy of note that at this Conference he himself 
 received his chief missionary inspiration. Abel Stevens, 
 in his History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, relates 
 that " at the Baltimore Conference Dr. Coke heard the 
 appeal of Black for Nova Scotia. He responded to it with 
 his whole heart, begging money for a mission to that 
 province, ordaining preachers for it, and especially 
 commissioning Garrettson for it." With Garrettson was 
 associated James Oliver Cromwell, who had already had 
 several years' experience in the itinerant ranks. The two 
 sailed from New York in the following February, and after 
 being tossed about by a severe storm for fourteen days 
 landed at Halifax. Black had thus obtained the desire of 
 his heart he had secured co-labourers for the Nova Scotia 
 field. Tarrying some time to visit friends in Boston, he 
 did not reach home till the following May, but soon 
 set out again to meet Garrettson, whom he found at 
 Falmouth. 
 
 Garrettson began his ministry in Halifax ; but while 
 he received encouragement and sympathy from some in 
 prominent positions notably the Kev. Dr. Breynton, rector 
 of St. Paul's, and Governor Parr he did not escape the 
 enmity of the baser sort. " For two nights we had a little 
 disturbance. One night the stones flew, and one nearly a 
 
134 Methodism in Canada 
 
 pound weight was levelled at me, but missed its aim, and 
 struck out two panes of glass near my head. . . . This is 
 but trifling if I can win souls to Jesus." Toward the end 
 of winter Garrettson made a tour in the country, and in the 
 space of a fortnight travelled three hundred miles through 
 deep snow, and preached twenty times. A second tour 
 took him to Windsor, Cornwallis, Wilmot, Granville, 
 Annapolis, and Digby, the last place, as he remarks, 
 being " entirely destitute of a minister, and I fear of religion 
 too." Nevertheless he formed a society at Digby, during 
 the following summer, of sixty members, nearly all of whom 
 were coloured people. 1 Through the Annapolis valley he 
 came into frequent contact with Alline's followers, "as 
 deluded a people as I ever saw," he remarks. The extent 
 to which the antinomian poison had infected these people 
 may be inferred from the following typical case. " I was 
 conversing," writes Garrettson, " with one who seems to be 
 a principal person among them. She said she believed 
 death would slay more sins for her than ever were destroyed 
 before. ' As for sin/ said she, ' it cannot hurt me ; 
 not even adultery, murder, swearing, drunkenness, nor 
 any other sin can break the union between me and 
 Christ/ " 
 
 During the summer a month was spent at Liverpool, 
 where the New Light movement seemed to have rent every- 
 thing in pieces ; yet Garrettson found a people " willing to 
 hear the word." During his stay the little Methodist 
 society increased from twenty members to forty. In 
 August and September six weeks were spent at Shel- 
 burne and adjoining settlements, which resulted in 
 
 1 Smith's History, p. 157. 
 
Pioneer Days 135 
 
 adding one hundred and fifty persons to the societies. 
 " A work so successful," says Smith, 1 " was not carried 
 on without serious opposition. Sometimes stones were 
 thrown at him (Garrettson), at other times rotten eggs. 
 The preaching - house, hastily constructed, stood on posts 
 on the brow of a hill. One evening when Garrettson was 
 preaching to nearly four hundred persons, a mob en- 
 deavoured to remove the posts, intending to push the 
 building down the hill. During the sermon the preacher, 
 ignorant of their intention, quoted in a loud tone, ' Without 
 are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, 
 and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.' 
 Some of the mob, supposing the discovery of their design, 
 gave the alarm, when the whole party ran off with hideous 
 yells, and left the congregation to conclude the service in 
 peace." 
 
 During Garrettson's sojourn at Liverpool and Shelburne, 
 Black had been prosecuting the work at Halifax and out- 
 lying towns with fidelity and success. In the meantime, 
 John Mann of Shelburne had become an itinerant, and was 
 preaching with tokens of divine approval. Leaving him 
 in temporary charge at Halifax, Black visited Liverpool 
 and Shelburne, and in the following winter (1785-86) 
 returned to his old ground in Cumberland county. At 
 this time Cromwell was stationed at Shelburne, Mann at 
 Liverpool, and Garrettson at Halifax. Black's labours at 
 this period were not followed by the results to which he 
 had been accustomed. The divisions and heart-burnings 
 in the societies were not entirely healed, and this was a 
 serious hindrance to the work. Garrettson's work, though 
 1 History, p. 160. 
 
136 Methodism in Canada 
 
 not uniformly successful, was more encouraging. If 
 diligence counted for anything, his labours should have 
 been very fruitful. When in Halifax he was accustomed 
 to conduct five preaching-services on the Lord's day. At 
 some of the country places on his extensive field the work 
 prospered. At Windsor he found " a loving society," at 
 Liverpool "a lively society." "Alline's small party," he 
 writes, " oppose us warmly. The greater part of the town 
 attend our ministry, and the first people have joined our 
 society." Arrangements for church building were inaugu- 
 rated at Windsor, Annapolis, and Cornwallis, and altogether 
 the external circumstances of the Methodist congregations 
 showed great improvement. 
 
 At Barrington an unpromising beginning resulted in a 
 successful ending. The place was reached under difficulties, 
 the route along the coast being only a narrow path through 
 miles of lonely forest. Literally through mud and water 
 Garrettson and a travelling companion reached Barrington ; 
 but there seemed to be no one to receive them, perhaps for 
 the reason that the people had been warned against the 
 Methodist itinerant, first by a Now Light preacher, who 
 represented Garrettson as " legal and destitute of faith," 
 and also by a Calvinist minister, who denounced him as a 
 " dangerous Arminian." There was a meeting-house, 
 however, that had been built by the Congregationalists ; and 
 although it had neither doors nor windows, notice was 
 given that a stranger would preach there " an hour before 
 sunset." About twenty people came, listened in silence, 
 and went away ; but one woman, touched with compassion, 
 returned and invited the weary travellers to her home. 
 This woman was subsequently converted under Garrettson 's 
 
Pioneer Days 137 
 
 preaching, lived a consistent Christian, and died at the age 
 of ninety-six. On the Sunday the congregation increased 
 to one hundred, but still regarded the preacher with cold- 
 ness and suspicion. During the week several islands were 
 visited, and on the following Sunday Garrettson returned 
 to Barrington. At first the outlook was darker than ever, 
 for when he reached the meeting-house at the appointed 
 time no one was there to meet him. Like many another 
 discouraged preacher, Garrettson betook himself to prayer. 
 " I retired into a wood," he says, " about a quarter of a mile 
 from the place, and entreated the Lord to send out the 
 people and bless His word. Upon returning to the meet- 
 ing-house I saw the people assembling from every part of 
 the town, and in a little while we had a large company. 
 The cloud that had oppressed my mind instantly vanished, 
 the Scriptures opened to me, and the word of the Lord 
 reached the hearts of the hearers. Between two or three 
 hundred were awakened in a greater or less degree. After 
 the meeting it appeared that their shyness and their pre- 
 judices were all removed, and they came around me on 
 every side, with tears inviting me to their homes." Ke- 
 turning again to Barrington some days later, Garrettson 
 found that the work of the Holy Spirit had been so general 
 that nearly all the families had been influenced. He 
 visited diligently from house to house, and succeeded in 
 forming a society of fifty members, with four leaders and 
 two stewards. 
 
 In the spring of 1786 William Black transferred his 
 headquarters to Halifax. Speaking of the religious 
 divisions of the people, he says, "There is one large 
 English church, one small Dutch church, one Presbyterian 
 
138 Methodism in Canada 
 
 meeting-house, one Eoman Catholic chapel, besides a small 
 society of Quakers, one of Sandemanians, and one of the 
 followers of Swedenborg, together with a few of Lady 
 Huntingdon's society, and a great swarm of infidels." 
 Methodist preaching had been heard but seldom, and the 
 little society was scattered ; but Black succeeded in forming 
 another, and some time subsequently reported " thirty-two 
 in society." 
 
 The fewness of the labourers and the largeness of the 
 field, the irregular mode of working, and the fact that New 
 Brunswick, with a population of many thousands, was yet 
 untouched, led to arrangements for a Conference in the 
 autumn of 1786. Dr. Coke expected to be present, but 
 failed to appear, and no explanation of his absence was 
 received. 1 Nevertheless the Conference was held, and six 
 preachers were stationed as follows : Garrettson and Black 
 at Halifax, a circuit extending all the way to Digby ; John 
 Mann at Liverpool ; Cromwell and James Mann (brother 
 of John) at Shelburne and Barrington ; Grandon (a new 
 recruit) at Cumberland. The number of members reported 
 was five hundred and ten. 
 
 It had been Wesley's desire that Freeborn Garrettson 
 should be appointed superintendent of the work in the 
 British American provinces and in the West Indies, and in 
 
 1 Subsequently the cause was ascertained. Dr. Coke, with three 
 missionaries (two intended for Newfoundland), embarked at Gravesend, 
 24th September, but head winds and stormy weather delayed them many 
 days. The voyage was a succession of tempests of unusual violence, and at 
 last the captain, in despair of reaching Halifax, resolved to run for the 
 West Indies. No sooner was the course changed than the weather changed 
 also, until, as Dr. Coke said, "it seemed as if angels blew the gale." On 
 the morning of Christmas Day the battered, leaking ship reached Antigua. 
 The rest of the story is well known. 
 
Pioneer Days \ 39 
 
 this wish both Coke and Asbury concurred. At first 
 Garrettson was very averse to the proposal. He seemed 
 to feel that he had a wider commission, and could not 
 think of confining himself to Nova Scotia; but at the 
 Baltimore Conference of 1789 he gave a qualified assent, 
 provided he found, during the next year, that the ministers 
 and people among whom he was expected to labour would 
 give their approval. Much to his surprise, however, when 
 the stations were read he found his name announced as 
 presiding elder of a district in his own country. He was 
 never informed of the reason for this change of policy ; 
 and as those were the days when men took the work 
 assigned them, without any thought of choosing for them- 
 selves, he asked no questions. This was a matter of great 
 regret alike to Wesley and to the preachers in Nova 
 Scotia, where Garrettson, by his devotion, abundant labours, 
 and success in winning souls, had endeared himself to all. 
 His biographer, the Eev. Nathan Bangs, D.D., tells how 
 this devoted itinerant " travelled mountains and valleys, 
 frequently on foot, with his knapsack at his back ; up and 
 down the Indian paths in the wilderness, where it was 
 inexpedient to take a horse ; had often to wade through 
 the mud and water of the morasses, and frequently to 
 satisfy his hunger from his knapsack, to quench his thirst 
 from a brook, and to rest his weary limbs on the leaves of 
 trees." Once he nearly lost his life in a snowstorm ; at 
 another time, when crossing a river which flows into the 
 Bay of Fundy, he barely escaped a tidal wave which swept 
 over his horse's back as the animal sprang up the river- 
 bank. But not alone for the perils and hardships he en- 
 dured do we honour the memory of this great and good 
 
140 Methodism, in Canada 
 
 man, but for the work he accomplished in extending the 
 Master's kingdom. " It may be fairly questioned," says 
 Dr. Bangs, " whether any one minister in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, or indeed in any other church, has been 
 instrumental in the awakening and conversion of more 
 sinners than Garrettson." 
 
 In 1788 James Wray, an English preacher, was 
 appointed by Wesley to superintend the work in the 
 maritime provinces. At this time not one of the Nova 
 Scotia preachers was ordained, a circumstance which 
 militated somewhat against their usefulness, or at all 
 events their influence, and three of the number William 
 Black, John Mann, and James Mann resolved to attend 
 the Conference at Philadelphia to obtain ordination there, 
 which was readily accorded them. Wray attended the 
 same Conference, and after its conclusion the four returned 
 to Nova Scotia and resumed their labours. Wray's 
 administration does not appear to. have been very success- 
 ful, and differences arose between him and two of the 
 brethren. Friendly consultation at a later date restored 
 harmony ; but Wray was convinced, it would seem, that 
 he could not bring the irregular methods of the New World 
 under subordination to the rigid military discipline to 
 which he had been accustomed, and he requested Dr. Coke 
 to relieve him from the responsibilities of his office. Coke 
 consented, and William Black was appointed superin- 
 tendent of the work in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
 and Newfoundland. For many succeeding years the 
 work continued to be of the same arduous and self- 
 denying character that I have endeavoured to describe ; 
 but as the appointment of William Black to the super- 
 
Pioneer Days \ 4 1 
 
 intendency marks the beginning of a new era in the 
 development of Methodism in Eastern British America, 
 so it affords a convenient point at which to break off 
 this brief and imperfect sketch of " pioneer days in the 
 maritime provinces." 
 
Ill 
 
 THE FIEST UNION WITH THE BRITISH 
 CONFERENCE, AND THE CAUSES WHICH 
 LED TO IT 
 
 WHAT we have written respecting pioneer days by no 
 means exhausts the theme. Volumes might easily be filled 
 with records of the heroic deeds of those men " of whom 
 the world was not worthy," who in the face of obloquy, 
 persecution, and poverty carried the banner of Methodism 
 all over the North American continent, and vindicated 
 her theology against a world in arms. But enough has 
 been said to show what were the social and religious 
 conditions of the country when Methodism was introduced 
 into the British provinces, and the difficulties which the 
 preachers had to encounter in the prosecution of their 
 work. The story thus far told covers the last quarter of 
 the eighteenth century and the opening years of the 
 nineteenth. In 1808 there were two Methodist districts 
 in the Canadas: the Lower Canada District, comprising 
 three circuits Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa ; and the 
 Upper Canada District, with nine circuits Cornwall, St. 
 Lawrence, Augusta, Bay of Quinte, Smith's Creek, Yonge 
 Street, Niagara, Ancaster, and Long Point. Besides these 
 there were parts of two circuits in Lower Canada extend- 
 
 142 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 143 
 
 ing beyond the American boundary : Dunham, connected 
 with ^he New York Conference ; and Standsteacl, connected 
 with the New England Conference. On the whole ground 
 there were nineteen preachers, including two presiding 
 elders, and a membership of about three thousand. Be- 
 tween the date just referred to and the first union with 
 the British Conference in 1833 there intervenes a period 
 of nearly a quarter of a century. The latter date may be 
 regarded as an epoch year, when a new trend was given to 
 the work of Methodism in the Canadas ; but there were 
 some occurrences in the preceding twenty years that call 
 for mention because of their connexion with the subse- 
 quent history of the Methodist Church. 
 
 The first of these was the disastrous and altogether 
 unnecessary war of 1812 between the United States and 
 Great Britain. For some years preceding public feeling, 
 especially in the Middle and Western States, had become 
 increasingly hostile to England. The ostensible reasons 
 for this resentment were of the flimsiest kind, and as a 
 justification of war were utterly untenable. This was 
 keenly felt by large numbers of intelligent Americans, 
 who endeavoured in all constitutional ways to avert the 
 threatened calamity. The whole Federalist party stood 
 opposed, and its leaders in Congress and out of it did not 
 fail to utter their protest against the war measure as 
 impolitic, unnecessary, and unjust. Nor was this opposition 
 confined to Federalists alone. Not a few Republicans were 
 equally opposed, as the vote in Congress plainly showed. 
 " In the House, Pennsylvania and the States south and 
 west of it gave 62 votes for the war and 32 against 
 it ; the States north and east of Pennsylvania gave 
 
144 Methodism in Canada 
 
 17 yeas and 32 nays in all 79 for and 64 against 
 war." l In the Senate the vote was 1 9 for and 1 3 
 against. The alleged grounds of complaint against Great 
 Britain were three in number, or, to speak with strict 
 accuracy, two. In the first place, seamen had deserted 
 from the Eoyal Navy and were sailing under the American 
 flag: England claimed the right to search for these and 
 take them as deserters, though found on American ships. 
 The exercise of this right was highly irritating to American 
 pride ; and as it was sometimes exercised in a very high- 
 handed and dictatorial way, and at times was extended to 
 include the impressment of American seamen, it was no 
 wonder that feeling ran high. Still, it was a matter to be 
 settled by diplomacy and treaty, and not by the stern 
 arbitrament of the sword. The second grievance was the 
 blockade of the ports of France and her allies. Napoleon 
 by his " Berlin Decree," issued on the 1st of November 
 1806, declared a blockade of the entire British coast, and 
 let loose French privateers against her shipping, and that 
 of all nations trading with her. Great Britain retaliated 
 by " Order in Council," proclaiming a blockade of all 
 French ports, and declared all vessels engaged in traffic 
 with that country, with their cargoes, liable to seizure. 
 At this time much of the world's commerce was carried in 
 American bottoms, and the action of the two European 
 powers was a disastrous blow to American maritime trade, 
 though not so intended. Napoleon sought only to cripple 
 England, and England sought to checkmate Napoleon, and 
 the injury inflicted on American shipping was an incidental 
 result, not the object really aimed at. There was a bitter 
 
 1 C. Schurz, Life of Henry Clay, vol. i. chap. v. 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 145 
 
 outcry in the United States against England's action, and 
 the politicians, except those who opposed the war, found 
 it convenient to ignore the fact that Napoleon's Berlin 
 Decree was responsible for the whole trouble, and that 
 England's action was inevitable under the circumstances. 
 Strange to say, however, the final blow to American 
 shipping was dealt by the American Government. In the 
 autumn of 1807 a special session of Congress was sum- 
 moned, and President Jefferson sent a message to the 
 Senate recommending an embargo on all shipping in 
 American ports. An Act to this effect was immediately 
 passed, and the ruin of the American navy was complete. 
 " As the order was carried along the seacoast, every artisan 
 dropped his tools, every merchant closed his doors, every 
 ship was dismantled. American produce wheat, timber, 
 cotton, tobacco, rice dropped in value or became unsale- 
 able ; every imported article rose in price, wages stopped, 
 swarms of debtors became bankrupt ; thousands of sailors 
 hung idle round the wharves, trying to find employment on 
 coasters, and escape to the West Indies or Nova Scotia. A 
 reign of idleness began, and the men who were not already 
 ruined felt that their ruin was only a matter of time." 1 
 In New England the embargo came like a thunderbolt 
 from a clear sky. As it became apparent that the utter 
 paralysis of trade would be a matter not of months but 
 of years, bitter passions were aroused. It was confidently 
 believed by many that Jefferson had sold himself to France, 
 that his object was to ruin American commerce and strike 
 a deadly blow at England at the same time. The mis- 
 
 1 H. Adams, History of the United States, Second Administration of 
 Jefferson, vol. ii. chap. xii. 
 
 10 
 
146 Methodism in Canada 
 
 chievous effects of the embargo measure led to its repeal 
 the following year, and the substitution of a Non-inter- 
 course Bill, which " excluded all public and private vessels 
 of France and England from American waters, forbade 
 under severe penalties the importation of British or French 
 goods . . . and gave the President authority to reopen 
 by proclamation the trade with France or England in case 
 either of those countries should cease to violate neutral 
 rights." 1 Shortly afterward a satisfactory arrangement 
 was reached between the United States Government and 
 Mr. Erskine, the British Minister at Washington, and the 
 Non-intercourse Act was suspended so far as Great Britain 
 was concerned ; but it soon transpired that Erskine had 
 acted in utter disregard of the instructions of his Govern- 
 ment. He was promptly recalled, and the Non-intercourse 
 Act was restored by proclamation of the President in 
 August 1809. France continued hostile. American 
 ships found lying at Amsterdam were seized, and subse- 
 quently, by the decree of Kambouillet, every American ship 
 found in any French port was confiscated and ordered to 
 be sold. This high-handed proceeding, by alienating the 
 sympathy of the United States, seemed to open the way 
 for more friendly relations between the latter power and 
 Great Britain. Napoleon was not slow to perceive this, 
 and in the following year (August 1810) he suddenly 
 changed the whole situation by revoking the decrees of 
 Berlin and Milan, " such revocation to take place on the 
 first day of the following November, provided the British 
 Government revoked their Orders in Council, or (and this 
 was the important provision) the United States caused 
 
 1 H. Adams, History of the United Slates, vol. ii. p. 445. 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 147 
 
 their rights to be respected." 1 Such an announcement, 
 which committed Napoleon to nothing, carried duplicity 
 upon its very face ; but the American Government was so 
 completely deceived by the crafty appeal to the national 
 vanity that commercial intercourse with England, which 
 had been resumed the preceding May, was again suspended ; 
 and this was supposed to be " causing American rights to 
 be respected." 
 
 At the election of 1808 Jefferson was succeeded by 
 Madison in the presidential chair, and it was under 
 Madison's administration that events drifted rapidly 
 toward a conflict with England. It is doubtful if 
 Madison himself really desired war ; but a number of hot- 
 headed young Eepublicans had recently come to the front, 
 and Madison was swept along in the tide of a new national 
 spirit and expectation. These fiery spirits were convinced 
 that the only way to maintain the dignity of the Republic 
 and make the nation respected was to fight somebody, 
 and they preferred to fight the English, whom they cordially 
 hated, rather than the French, for whom they had a kindly 
 regard, although beyond all question the French under 
 Napoleon had been the worst transgressors. Besides this, 
 a spirit of cupidity had been aroused. Canada lay 
 conveniently near, and was almost entirely defenceless. 2 
 True, it had not been a factor in the grievances of which 
 the American Government complained ; but to capture it 
 
 1 G. L. Rives, Selections from the Correspondence of Thomas Barclay, 
 chap. vi. 
 
 2 The New York Tribune, in 1861, made the following remarkable 
 admission respecting the war of 1812 : "That war, as everybody knows, 
 was pre-eminently a Southern measure, of which the great object and 
 leading end and aim, by which it was alone justified as an expedient under- 
 taking, was the conquest and annexation of Canada." 
 
148 Methodism in Canada 
 
 would extend enormously the jurisdiction of the United 
 States, inflict a wound upon a nation of which the American 
 politicians were extremely jealous, and above all would 
 bring great renown to the administration under which all 
 this had been accomplished. Moreover, it looked like a 
 very safe undertaking. The white population of the 
 United States amounted to nearly six millions, that of 
 Canada to three hundred thousand. There was a frontier 
 of a thousand miles to be defended, and England, hampered 
 and weakened by her long continental wars, could not be 
 expected to render much assistance. Besides, England 
 was far away, and in those days of sailing ships it took 
 a long time to transport troops and stores across a 
 thousand leagues of sea. Then why not make an 
 immediate descent on Canada ? It may be captured 
 before England can strike a blow. Yes, it looked easy ; 
 but there was one factor in the problem with which the 
 American politicians forgot to reckon, namely, the 
 Canadian people. They were under a delusion from which 
 many Americans have not escaped to this day, that 
 Canadians were longing for an opportunity to throw off the 
 British yoke and find freedom under the Stars and Stripes ; 
 and it required three years of disastrous war, with many 
 reverses and ultimate defeat, to convince them that they 
 were mistaken. The Eepublic that began the war without 
 just cause, continued it with few and indecisive victories, 
 and was compelled to retire in the end shorn of much of 
 its prestige, and, but for the (perhaps unwise) magnanimity 
 of Great Britain, denuded of much of its territory. The 
 verdict of history justifies, to some extent at least, 
 the revolt of the American colonies in 1776, but has 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 149 
 
 scarcely a word of apology to offer for the cruel war 
 of 1812. 1 
 
 It was impossible that a conflict of such duration and 
 bitterness could be waged between the two countries 
 without affecting the work of the Methodist Church, 
 especially in Canada. With the exception of two circuits 
 in Lower Canada, close to the American border, the whole 
 of the Canadian work was connected with the Genesee 
 Conference. On the 23rd of July 1812, about a month 
 after the declaration of war, this Conference met not far 
 from the Niagara frontier. None of the Canadian 
 preachers was in attendance ; but the bishop, with sublime 
 faith in God, calmly proceeded to arrange the work and 
 station the preachers as if no conflict was at hand. 
 Preachers of British or Canadian birth were allowed to 
 remain in Canada, and only two or three Americans were 
 appointed, among whom was Nathan Bangs. He relin- 
 quished his charge, however (Montreal), with the consent 
 of the bishop, and another Josiah F. Chamberlain did 
 not go to his field. It was just as well, for when news of 
 the declaration of war arrived at Quebec, the Government 
 issued a proclamation commanding all American citizens 
 to leave the province by the 3rd of July. As in 1812, 
 none of the Canadian preachers attended the Genesee 
 Conference of 1813, but in each year of the war they met 
 together and made their own arrangements for the work. 
 
 1 In the American Congress on the 2nd of January 1813 Mr. Quincy 
 denounced the war in no measured terms. " We seized," he exclaimed, " the 
 first opportunity to carry the war among the harmless colonists. It was not 
 owing to our Government that the bones of the Canadians were not mixed 
 with the ashes of their habitations. Since the invasion of the buccaneers 
 there is nothing in history more disgraceful than this war." 
 
150 Methodism in Canada 
 
 This year no appointments were made by the bishop. 
 Although the war had not yet touched Quebec, Montreal, 
 Ottawa, or the St. Francis Eiver, yet these circuits are 
 vacant ; but in Upper Canada the preachers seem to have 
 remained at their posts, caring for their disturbed and 
 scattered flocks, although some of the circuits had been 
 scenes of strife and bloodshed. During this and the 
 following year many of the preachers located, and their 
 names disappear from the Minutes. In fact, only seven 
 remained in active service during the entire period of the 
 war four in the Niagara country and three on the Bay 
 of Quinte and the St. Lawrence Eiver. 
 
 During the interregnum caused by the war, some 
 correspondence took place between members of the 
 Methodist society in Montreal and the authorities of the 
 British Wesleyan Missionary Committee, requesting and 
 recommending the appointment of missionaries to Lower 
 Canada. The request met with a favourable response, and 
 in 1814 .John Strong was sent to Quebec and Samuel 
 Leigh to Montreal. Not only was this done without 
 communication with the American bishops, which was 
 perhaps impracticable during the war, but it was done at 
 the request of certain individuals in Montreal, and not of 
 the society as a whole ; and in this lay the germs of 
 future trouble. At the close of the war in 1815, the 
 Genesee Conference resumed its control of the work in 
 Canada ; but, recognising the difficulties of the situation, the 
 bishop exercised unusual care in the selection of men, so 
 that no offence might be given to a people whose feelings 
 had been rendered very sensitive by the three years' 
 struggle. Quebec and Montreal were left to be supplied, 
 
The First Union with the British Conference \ 5 1 
 
 but the British Conference appointed Kichard Williams to 
 the former place and John Strong to the latter. When 
 Strong reached Montreal, he desired to use the chapel 
 .already erected, but was opposed by Henry Ryan, the 
 presiding elder of the Lower Canada district. Eyan 
 belonged to the Church militant he was a natural 
 fighter; but in this instance he simply discharged a duty 
 which devolved upon him as the official representative of 
 the Church under whose labours the Montreal society had 
 been gathered and the chapel erected. But as once it 
 happened at Iconium, where " the multitude of the city 
 was divided, and part held with the Jews and part with 
 the apostles," so now it happened in Montreal the 
 society " was divided, and part held with " Mr. Strong " and 
 part with" Elder Eyan. The latter wrote to Bishop 
 Asbury, rehearsing the facts; and the bishop, in turn, 
 wrote to the Wesleyan Missionary Committee in London. 
 The committee replied at length, the part of the letter 
 referring to the Montreal difficulty being as follows : 
 
 " To preserve the mutual good understanding, and the 
 unity of the spirit, and as far as possible a co-operation in 
 promoting the good work of the Lord, we feel it our duty 
 to state to you a subject of local difference which to us 
 has been painful, and which we feel a delicacy in stating, 
 but to which we are compelled from the necessities of the 
 case, that the work of the Lord be not hindered. In conse- 
 quence of applications being made to the British Confer- 
 ence from the society of Montreal, a missionary was sent 
 to that place, and received as a messenger of the gospel of 
 peace ; but we are sorry to learn that some misunder- 
 standing has taken place between Brothers Strong and 
 
152 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Williams, our missionaries, and Brother Eyan, your presid- 
 ing elder for Lower Canada. From the former we have 
 received a statement of their proceedings, and from the 
 latter a letter of complaint. We have also received a letter 
 from Brother Bennett, the chairman of the Nova Scotia 
 district, who has visited Montreal, etc., and reported to us 
 his proceedings. Upon a review of the whole, and from 
 the most serious and deliberate consideration, we are led 
 to conclude that, considering the relative situation of the 
 inhabitants of Montreal and of Canada to this country, 
 and particularly as the principal part of the people appear 
 to be in favour of our missionaries, it would be for peace 
 and comfort, and the furtherance of the gospel, for our 
 brethren to occupy those stations, especially the former ; 
 and to which we conceive we have a claim, as a considerable 
 part of the money for building the chapel and house was 
 raised in this country. We trust our American brethren 
 will see the propriety of complying with our wishes with 
 respect to those places, not to mention their political 
 relation to this country, which, however, is not of little 
 importance, for we are conscious that their general habits 
 and prejudices are in favour of English preachers, being 
 more congenial to their views and feelings, which should 
 certainly be consulted, and will tend to facilitate the 
 success of the gospel and their spiritual prosperity. As 
 your and our object is mutually to diffuse the knowledge 
 of Him whose kingdom is not of this world, and by every 
 possible means to promote the immortal interests of men, 
 let us not contend we have one Master, even Christ 
 but give place to each other, that the word of the Lord 
 may have free course, run, and be glorified. We cannot 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 153 
 
 but hope that, from the contiguity of the labours of the 
 brethren belonging to the Conferences, the spirit of unity 
 and love will be promoted, and by this measure a more 
 perfect reciprocal intercourse established. As you have 
 kindly invited our esteemed brethren, Messrs. Black and 
 Bennett, to take a seat in your Conference, we have 
 directed them to pay you a visit at Baltimore for this 
 purpose, and to amicably arrange and settle this business, 
 whom we trust you will receive as our representatives and 
 as brethren." 
 
 When the General Conference assembled in Baltimore 
 in the month of May 1816, the recent death of Bishop 
 Asbury cast a shadow over its sessions. Bishop M'Kendree 
 presided ; Messrs. Black and Bennett were present to 
 represent the British Conference, and William Case and 
 Henry Eyan were there as delegates from the Genesee 
 Conference ; hence there was no danger that Canadian 
 affairs would be overlooked. Statements were presented, 
 the letter to Bishop Asbury was read, and the whole sub- 
 ject referred to a committee. At a subsequent stage the 
 committee presented a report in which they recognise "an 
 earnest desire to have all existing difficulties terminated " ; 
 deprecate the unhappy dissensions in Montreal ; claim that 
 the circuits in Canada had been supplied during the war 
 as regularly as circumstances would permit ; also " that it 
 is the desire of the great majority of the people in Upper 
 and Lower Canada to be supplied as heretofore with 
 preachers from the United States " ; and concluded by sub- 
 mitting the following resolutions, which were adopted by 
 the Conference : 
 
 " 1. That we cannot, consistently with our duty to 
 
154 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the societies of our charge in the Canadas, give up any 
 part of them, or any of our chapels in those provinces, to 
 the superintendence of the British Connexion. 
 
 " 2. That a respectful letter be addressed to the London 
 Methodist Missionary Society, explaining the reasons for 
 the above resolution." 
 
 The letter was written, but no good came of it, and 
 the unhappy divisions continued. Instead of withdrawing 
 their missionaries, the Wesleyan Missionary Committee 
 increased them, and even sent some into Upper Canada. 
 There can be no doubt that some of the people immigrants 
 from Great Britain chiefly desired English preachers ; but 
 there is reason to believe that the bulk of the Methodist 
 congregations were quite content with the ministrations to 
 which they had been accustomed, and desired no change. 
 The argument that Canada was a British colony and should 
 have British preachers was not without weight, but was 
 scarcely sufficient to justify the establishment of rival con- 
 gregations under the Methodist name. 
 
 In 1817 the Upper Canada House of Assembly pro- 
 posed to consider grievances connected with lands reserved 
 for the Crown and the Clergy. In laying out a township 
 of about twelve miles square for settlement, it was first 
 divided into concessions, and these into lots of two hundred 
 acres each ; but in each township seven lots were reserved 
 for the Crown and seven for the Clergy, or two sevenths of 
 the entire area. From a purely business point of view this 
 was a grievance, for these reserved lands paid no taxes, 
 bore no part of the public burdens, although their value 
 was steadily advanced by the improvements made by 
 adjacent settlers. Moreover, so much uncleared and un- 
 
The First Union with the British Conference \ 5 5 
 
 cultivated land in a township was a hindrance to local 
 improvements, such as roads and other conveniences, and 
 some began to agitate for a change. But above and beyond 
 all this, many were conscientiously opposed to the endow- 
 ment of any religious denomination out of the public domain, 
 and began to affirm their convictions with some degree of 
 boldness. When it became apparent that the House of 
 Assembly was disposed to deal with this question, the 
 Governor, whose irresponsible Council was entirely opposed 
 to an investigation, cut short the proceedings by proroguing 
 the House. This was the beginning of the Clergy Reserves 
 agitation within the walls of the Provincial Parliament, and 
 it continued to be one of the absorbing questions in the 
 country's politics for many years. 
 
 In the same year the first Methodist Conference ever 
 held in Canada assembled in a chapel in the township of 
 Elizabethtown on the Augusta circuit. It is memorable 
 chiefly as marking the beginning of the most extensive 
 revival of religion that had ever occurred in the country, 
 and it may be questioned if it has ever been exceeded to 
 this day. It is believed that during the sessions of the 
 Conference more than one hundred persons were awakened, 
 of whom the greater part found peace in believing. The 
 revival extended to all parts of the Augusta circuit, and 
 then through the fields westward. In fourteen months 
 more than three hundred persons in the Bay of Quinte 
 region professed conversion, many of whom were heads of 
 families. From the Bay of Quinte the work spread to 
 Niagara, where about four hundred were converted in one 
 year. The total ingathering from the revival which 
 began at the Elizabethtown Conference was about fourteen 
 
156 Methodism in Canada 
 
 hundred. There would be nothing remarkable about all 
 this in some crowded centre of population where people 
 could be reached in large masses, but in a population as 
 sparse as that of Canada at the time the results were 
 really wonderful. In this respect that first Conference in 
 Canada stands without a parallel, as far as I know, among 
 Methodist Conferences throughout the world. 
 
 It would be pleasant to record that the revival put 
 an end to divisions and estrangements in the Methodist 
 societies, but this was not the case. In the year of which 
 we speak, nine English preachers were stationed in the 
 two provinces, of whom five were in Upper Canada. 
 There might be some grounds for the action of the 
 Wesleyan Conference in such places as Quebec, St. 
 Armands, and Melbourne, since these places were not 
 supplied by the Genesee Conference ; but these grounds 
 did not exist in places like Montreal, Augusta, Kingston, 
 Bay of Quinte, and York. There can be no doubt that the 
 authorities in England acted in perfect good faith ; but they 
 were misled by the partial and one-sided statements of 
 persons in Canada who, while speaking for themselves, 
 were assumed to be speaking for the bulk of the Methodist 
 people. The contentions arising from the presence of two 
 Methodist bodies on the same ground were much deplored, 
 and led Bishops M'Kendree and George to remonstrate 
 with the British Missionary Committee, and to lay before 
 them a full statement respecting the situation in Canada. 
 The reply of the Secretaries Rev. Jabez Bunting, Eichard 
 Watson, and Joseph Taylor indicated clearly their desire 
 to promote the most amicable relations between their 
 missionaries and the Canadian preachers ; but circum- 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 157 
 
 stances seemed to render this impossible. The Canadian 
 preachers claimed that the country belonged, Method- 
 istically, to those who first supplied the religious needs 
 of the people, and were still able to do so ; and they 
 were disposed to regard the English missionaries as so 
 many Jacobs, or supplanters, who had come to take away, 
 or at least to divide, the inheritance. The divisions con- 
 tinued, and the irenical resolutions of the Wesleyan 
 Missionary Committee seemed like water spilt upon the 
 ground. 
 
 The General Conference which met in Baltimore in the 
 month of May 1820 gave careful consideration to the 
 condition of affairs in Canada. Numerous petitions and 
 memorials were received from the Canadian societies, 
 protesting against the interference of the English preachers, 
 and praying for a continuance of ministerial service from 
 the United States. The letter from the secretaries of the 
 British Missionary Committee was also read, after which 
 it was " Kesolved, . . . that it is the duty of the bishops 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church to continue their 
 episcopal charge over our societies in the Canadas, all 
 except Quebec." At a subsequent stage this resolution 
 was so far modified as to authorise the delegate who might 
 be sent to England to consent to the transfer of the whole 
 of the Lower Canada district to the jurisdiction of the 
 Biitish Wesleyan Conference. Another resolution 
 authorised the episcopate, with the consent of the 
 Genesee Conference, to establish an Annual Conference in 
 Canada, should they deem such a step expedient. The 
 Eev. John Emory was chosen delegate to England. He 
 was cordially received by the English brethren, and the 
 
158 Methodism in Canada 
 
 address of the General Conference, as well as Mr. Emory's 
 representations of what he regarded as the true state of 
 affairs in Canada, received careful consideration, and elicited 
 a most friendly response. After reciprocating the kindly 
 sentiments of the American brethren, providing for the 
 appointment of a fraternal delegate to the next General 
 Conference, an exchange of books, periodicals, etc., the 
 Wesleyan Conference adopted the following : 
 
 " 1. That as the American Methodists and ourselves 
 are but one body, it would be inconsistent with our unity, 
 and dangerous to that affection which ought to characterise 
 us in every place, to have different societies and congrega- 
 tions in the same towns and villages, or to allow of any 
 intrusion on either side into each other's labours. 
 
 " 2. That this principle shall be the rule by which 
 the disputes now existing in the Canadas between our 
 missionaries and the American preachers shall be ter- 
 minated. 
 
 " 3. That the simplest and most effectual manner of 
 carrying this rule into effect appears to us to be to accede 
 to the suggestion of the American Conference, that the 
 American brethren shall have the occupation of Upper 
 Canada, and the British missionaries that of Lower Canada, 
 allowing sufficient time for carrying this arrangement into 
 effect, with all possible tenderness to existing prejudices 
 and conflicting interests on both sides." 
 
 Thus the dispute which had continued for years was 
 happily terminated, peace and goodwill were restored, and 
 the preachers of the two Connexions pursued their work 
 in separate provinces without interfering with each other's 
 fields. When brethren cannot " dwell together in unity," 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 159 
 
 it is better to dwell apart ; and there seems to have been 
 enough human nature in both the American and English 
 preachers to render this course desirable. 
 
 Previous to the General Conference of 1824, the 
 question of admitting laymen to the Annual and General 
 Conferences had been the subject of a good deal of discus- 
 sion ; so much so that the Conferences seem to have 
 elected their delegates largely on that issue. The Genesee 
 Conference, with which the two districts in Upper Canada 
 were connected, was generally favourable to the change ; 
 for instead of sending the presiding elders to the General 
 Conference, as was the usual practice, on this occasion they 
 were passed by. This gave great offence to Henry Ryan, 
 the presiding elder of the Bay of Quinte district, and he 
 immediately began an agitation all over his district by 
 violent appeals against the " reformers," as they were 
 termed. Although Kyan was never a favourite among the 
 preachers he was very popular among the people, and his 
 appeals to the latter to seek a separation from the juris- 
 diction of the Church in the United States made some 
 impression. He was joined in the crusade by a local 
 preacher named Breakenridge, and together they called 
 conventions and harangued the people. These conventions 
 delegated Ryan and Breakenridge to attend the General 
 Conference and effect a separation; but when they pre- 
 sented themselves at Baltimore they were refused a seat, 
 which gave further offence to the Canadian elder. Under 
 the then existing law, Breakenridge, being a layman, could 
 not be admitted, and neither could Ryan unless duly 
 elected by his Conference. Both of them must have been 
 aware of this, and their attempt to override the discipline did 
 
160 Methodism in Canada 
 
 not have a good effect. Moreover, the Conference was not 
 slow to perceive Kyan's inconsistency ; although he had 
 violently opposed lay delegation, he was now endeavouring 
 to secure a place for a lay delegate in the General Confer- 
 ence. The question of lay delegation, and all the petitions 
 and memorials relating thereto, was referred to a committee, 
 which after full discussion adopted a report to the effect 
 that the proposed change was inexpedient ; and the report 
 was confirmed by the Conference. The further question 
 of the formation of an independent Methodist Church for 
 Canada, with a resident bishop, was next taken up, and 
 the two delegates from that country, though not favourable 
 personally to the proposed change, advocated some con- 
 cessions for the sake of peace. It was finally decided that 
 there should be a separate Conference in Upper Canada 
 but under the superintendency of the American bishops. 
 
 When Kyan and Breakenridge returned from Baltimore, 
 the agitation for entire separation was resumed. A large 
 meeting was held in the Elizabethtown chapel, and it was 
 resolved that as the General Conference had not allowed 
 the independence of the Canadian body, they would break 
 off from the American Church without permission. A 
 constitution and rules were adopted, also a letter to the 
 Canadian societies. This high - handed proceeding was 
 received with general favour on the Bay of Quinte district, 
 and efforts were at once made to extend the agitation to 
 the district farther west. Ryan, with characteristic energy, 
 threw himself into the struggle, and during the summer of 
 1824 the societies were much disturbed. Tidings of the 
 state of affairs having reached the bishops, steps were at 
 once taken to allay the agitation. Bishop George, who 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 161 
 
 was known and beloved in Canada, and whose instru- 
 mentality in promoting the great revival was still grate- 
 fully remembered, came into the country and passed 
 through the circuits of the Bay of Quinte district, preach- 
 ing to the congregations, explaining the true state of affairs, 
 and assuring them that if they really desired separation 
 the next General Conference would doubtless grant it. 
 Elijah Hedding, one of the new bishops, accompanied by 
 Nathan Bangs, entered the country by way of Niagara, and 
 travelled slowly through the principal circuits, preaching, 
 exhorting, and advising the people, until they reached 
 Hallowell (now Picton), where the Annual Conference was 
 to meet. The efforts of the two bishops and Nathan 
 Bangs had a most salutary effect, and by the time the 
 Conference met the agitation had subsided, and affairs had 
 resumed their normal calm. 
 
 The first Conference of the Canadian preachers met in the 
 village of Hallowell, 25th August 1824. Bishops George 
 and Hedding presided, and William Case, who had entered 
 the itinerant ranks nineteen years before, was chosen 
 Secretary. Thirty preachers composed the entire Confer- 
 ence. Peace and harmony reigned during the session, 
 but it was evident there existed a general desire that 
 Methodism in Upper Canada should become an inde- 
 pendent body not later than the General Conference of 
 1828. To prepare the way, a memorial to the several 
 Annual Conferences was adopted, setting forth the reasons 
 for the proposed change. It was pointed out (1) That 
 the prejudices of the early settlers, who had been com- 
 pelled to leave their homes in the American colonies at 
 the time of the revolutionary war, because of their devotion 
 
 ii 
 
1 62 Methodism in Canada 
 
 to the British Government, had been revived and inten- 
 sified by the unjust war of 1812, but that these prejudices 
 would subside if the preachers became permanent residents 
 of the country. (2) That the difficulties in the way of 
 episcopal supervision were so great as to be almost 
 insurmountable, resulting in many inconveniences to the 
 Canadian societies. (3) That jealousies had been awakened 
 in political circles because a number of the Methodist 
 ministers in Upper Canada were from the United States, 
 and the circumstance was used to the detriment of the 
 Canadian Church. (4) That in the event of another war 
 between the two countries, the difficulties of intercourse 
 would make it impracticable for the bishops to discharge 
 their duties in Canada. (5) That under present circum- 
 stances Methodist preachers were not permitted to 
 solemnise matrimony, nor could titles to chapel property 
 be secured. 
 
 The formation of an Annual Conference in Canada 
 caused only slight changes in the personnel of the ministry. 
 One preacher located and two remained with the Genesee 
 Conference ; but six new men were received as probationers 
 for the ministry, and three others were taken out under 
 the presiding elders. At this Conference Henry Eyan was 
 relieved of official responsibility, and Thomas Madden was 
 appointed to succeed him. This was inevitable. Eyan 
 had plainly violated the rules of the Church by " sowing 
 dissention in the societies," and to retain him in office 
 would be to put a premium on disloyalty. But he was 
 not dealt with harshly. A new mission was created called 
 " Chippawa and Grand Kiver Falls, and new settlements 
 near " ; and as Eyan owned a farm and other property at 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 163 
 
 the first-named place, the arrangement was a convenient 
 one for himself and his family. Still, to be " reduced to 
 the ranks," so to speak, was irritating to a man of his 
 temperament ; and although at the Conference he seemed 
 to be satisfied with the decision reached in regard to 
 separation from the Church in the United States, dis- 
 satisfaction soon returned and influenced his future 
 conduct. In the following year, 1825, he was super- 
 annuated. 
 
 At the same Conference the educational status of the 
 younger ministers came under review, and the " presiding 
 elder and others of our senior brethren " were " requested 
 to pay special attention to this matter, taking the oversight 
 thereof, and affording to our young men all the aid in 
 their power for the attainment of the object." It is true 
 the young men had not been left entirely without a course 
 of study. In order to be received into full connexion it 
 was indispensably necessary to be well acquainted with 
 Wesley's Sermons, Fletcher's Checks, Clarke's and Benson's 
 Commentaries, Watts' Logic, Mosheim's and Milner's 
 Church Histories, Murray's English Grammar, and Morse's 
 Geography. But now they were recommended to study in 
 addition such books as the following : Wesley's Natural 
 Philosophy, Goldsmith's Histories of Greece, Rome, and 
 England ; Eollin's Ancient History ; Prideaux and Shuck - 
 ford's Connections of the Old and New Testaments ; Clarke's 
 Chronological Tables; British Nepos ; Milton's Paradise 
 Lost ; Young's Night Thoughts ; Cowper's Poems ; and 
 biographies of Wesley, Fletcher, Coke, Bramwell, and 
 Francis Xavier. Taken in connexion with the " Confer- 
 ence course," this was not a bad regimen on which to rear 
 
164 Methodism in Canada 
 
 devout and aggressive evangelists, and to promote ac- 
 quaintance with such literature as was available at the 
 time. That such a course should be mapped out for young 
 men who were almost constantly in the saddle, and who, 
 in addition to pastoral work, had to preach from twenty to 
 thirty times in the month, indicated unbounded confidence 
 in their zeal and devotion, and gave assurance that they 
 were giving good heed to Wesley's counsel : " Never be 
 unemployed ; never be triflingly employed." 
 
 As the General Conference was to assemble in May 
 1828, the Canadian Conference of the preceding year chose 
 its allotted number of delegates. They were instructed to 
 present the memorial drawn up in 1824, and to use all 
 proper means to secure independence for the Canadian 
 Conference. The arguments in favour of separation in 
 1824 were increasingly cogent in 1828. Everywhere the 
 Methodists were maligned for being subject to the juris- 
 diction of the American bishops, and their loyalty was 
 constantly called in question, so that the position of the 
 preachers was becoming altogether unbearable. To add to 
 the tension, Henry Eyan, though a superannuated preacher, 
 resumed his former agitation. He knew that the Canada 
 Conference desired independence, that the Methodist people 
 in general were favourable to that policy, and that it would 
 doubtless be granted at the approaching General Con- 
 ference ; but he professed to believe that it would not be 
 granted, and so continued his agitation. As the Conference 
 would not follow his lead, he determined to separate from 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, with as many as could 
 be persuaded to join him, and form a new connexion under 
 a new name. It is usually the case that when men 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 165 
 
 inaugurate separations in the Church they attempt to 
 justify their action by bitter attacks upon those from whom 
 they separate ; and so it was with Henry Eyan. He 
 assailed the preachers as ambitious, proud, foppish, 
 covetous, and persecuting ; the members and all who 
 adhered to the Conference as dupes and slaves ; while all 
 that the bishops were doing for the independence of the 
 Church was merely hypocrisy and pretence, as they had 
 no desire to lessen their own power and jurisdiction. One 
 of the preachers, David Breakenridge junior, son of the 
 local preacher who took part in the first agitation, sided 
 with Eyan now ; but all the rest stood firm, while of the 
 members less than two hundred could be persuaded to 
 secede. It was very significant that Eyan's strongest 
 supporters were found among the haters and foes of 
 Methodism. Wordy " loyalists," government officials, even 
 the Speaker of the House of Assembly gave his encourage- 
 ment ; while the Eev. Dr. Strachan, first bishop of Toronto, 
 and a life member of the Legislative Council, rendered 
 still more substantial aid by sending Eyan fifty pounds. 1 
 Napoleon's favourite motto in warfare was, " Divide and 
 conquer " ; the foes of Methodism were now pursuing the 
 same tactics, and, it is to be feared, with the same object 
 in view. Eyan and Breakenridge with their followers, 
 having cut loose from the Church, proceeded to form a new 
 organisation under the name of the " Canadian Wesleyan 
 Church." 
 
 The General Conference of 1828 convened in the city 
 of Pittsburg, the first time that body had assembled west of 
 the Alleghanies. Five bishops were present and delegates 
 
 1 Playter's History, pp. 297-99. 
 
1 66 Methodism in Canada 
 
 from sixteen Annual Conferences, including five from 
 
 Canada. The request of the preachers and people in 
 
 Canada for a separation from the jurisdiction of the 
 
 Church in the United States was one of the chief subjects 
 
 of discussion, and occupied considerable time. It was first 
 
 considered in a committee, which reported, in the- first 
 
 instance, that the Conference had no constitutional right 
 
 to set off the brethren in Upper Canada as an independent 
 
 body. Their duty was to preserve the integrity of the 
 
 Church, not to break it up into fragments ; hence to grant 
 
 the prayer of the memorial would set a precedent of a 
 
 dangerous character, and would contravene the very 
 
 purpose for which they were constituted a delegated 
 
 Conference. This view, which was generally accepted, 
 
 threatened to block further proceedings, until John Emory 
 
 (afterward bishop) suggested " that the preachers who 
 
 went to Canada from the United States went in the first 
 
 instance as missionaries, and that ever afterward, whenever 
 
 additional help was needed, Bishop Asbury and his successors 
 
 asked for volunteers, not claiming the right to send them 
 
 in the same authoritative manner in which they were sent to 
 
 the different parts of the United States and the territories; 
 
 hence it followed that the compact between us and our 
 
 brethren in Canada was altogether of a voluntary character 
 
 we had offered them our services, and they had accepted 
 
 them and therefore, as the time had arrived when they 
 
 were no longer willing to receive or accept of our labours 
 
 and superintendence, they had a perfect right to request 
 
 us to withdraw our services, and we the same right to 
 
 withhold them." 1 This was regarded as both clear and 
 
 1 Bangs' History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, vol. iii. i>. 3 ( J1. 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 167 
 
 convincing, and it was on this understanding that the 
 consent of the Conference was obtained. The answer of 
 the General Conference to the request from Canada was 
 couched in the following terms : 
 
 " Eesolved by the delegates of the Annual Conference, 
 in General Conference assembled 
 
 "That whereas the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in the United States of America has heretofore 
 been extended over the ministers and members in connex- 
 ion with the said Church in the province of Upper Canada, 
 by mutual agreement, and by consent of our brethren in 
 that province ; and whereas this General Conference is 
 satisfactorily assured that our brethren in the said 
 province, under peculiar and pressing circumstances, do 
 now desire to organise themselves into a distinct Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, in friendly relation with the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in the United States 
 
 " Therefore be it resolved, and it is hereby resolved, by 
 the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Con- 
 ference assembled : 
 
 " If the Annual Conference in Upper Canada in its 
 ensuing session, or any succeeding session previous to the 
 next General Conference, shall definitely determine on 
 this course, and elect a general superintendent of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in that province, this General 
 Conference do hereby authorise any one or more of the 
 general superintendents of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in the United States, with the assistance of any two or 
 more elders, to ordain such general superintendent for 
 the said Church in Upper Canada : 
 
 " Provided always, that nothing herein contained is 
 
1 68 Methodism in Canada 
 
 contrary to, or inconsistent with, the laws existing in 
 the said province ; and provided that no such general 
 superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 Upper Canada, or any of his successors in office, shall at 
 any time exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdiction whatever 
 in any part of the United States, or of the territories 
 thereof; and provided also that this article shall be 
 expressly ratified and agreed to by the said Canada Annual 
 Conference before any such ordination shall take place." 
 
 Thus the separation of Methodism in Canada from the 
 jurisdiction of the Church in the United States was 
 sanctioned, or at least permitted. To some it must have 
 been a painful moment. The work in Canada began and 
 continued under the labours of preachers from the United 
 States. Its development under the fostering care of the 
 American Church had been watched with the keenest 
 interest, and the prospect of separation must have caused 
 feelings of deep regret. But believing such action to be 
 in the order of divine providence, the General Conference 
 yielded up its oversight in a calm and dignified manner, 
 "and in a spirit becoming bishops and elders in the 
 Church of God." This was a great surprise to Mr. Kyan 
 and his friends. When the delegates returned from the 
 General Conference, Ryan was informed of the action that 
 had taken place. It was afterward reported that " he 
 looked astonished, trembled, and could scarcely utter a 
 word." It is believed that he would have retraced his 
 steps but for the influence of the Government and the party 
 supporting him. But perhaps he felt that he had gone too 
 far to recede, although the ground on which he had based 
 his action had been taken completely from under his feet. 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 169 
 
 The General Conference having relinquished its jurisdic- 
 tion over the Conference in Canada, it became necessary for 
 the latter body to adopt measures for its own government 
 and that of the societies under its care. Accordingly, 
 when, in October of the same year, the Conference 
 assembled in Switzer's chapel in the township of Ernes- 
 town, under the presidency of Bishop Hedding, this 
 subject engaged attention during the greater part of the 
 session. The first step was to organise into a distinct and 
 independent church, taking the name of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Canada. This being done, Bishop 
 Hedding announced to the Conference that he had now 
 no further jurisdiction over them, and that it would be 
 necessary, before proceeding further, to appoint a presid- 
 ing officer. The Conference immediately requested Bishop 
 Hedding to act in that capacity, which he consented to 
 do, and accordingly presided over the deliberations till the 
 close of the session. It was resolved to adopt the discipline 
 hitherto in use, with such changes and additions as local 
 circumstances might require. Provision was also made for 
 a General Conference, to be composed of all travelling 
 elders who had travelled the four years immediately 
 preceding, and been received into full connexion. As the 
 Conference had decided to adopt the Episcopal form of 
 government, it became necessary to elect a bishop. Over- 
 tures had been made to the Rev. Nathan Bangs and the 
 Kev. Wilbor Fisk, but they both declined the appointment. 
 It was determined, therefore, to elect a general super- 
 intendent, pro tempore, and the Kev. William Case was 
 unanimously chosen to that office. The Conference also 
 appointed a committee of three to correspond with the 
 
170 Methodism in Canada 
 
 British Wesleyan Conference, with a view of establishing 
 friendly relations with that body. 
 
 In the transactions of this Conference three facts 
 deserve especial notice: (1) An entire separation from 
 the jurisdiction of the Church in the United States 
 had taken place. (2) A new name had been adopted. 
 (3) Extensive alterations had been made in the discipline. 
 And yet no one thought, even for a moment, that the 
 identity of the Church had been impaired, much less 
 destroyed, or that the Conference had exceeded the powers 
 which, by the very constitution of Methodism, it possessed. 
 If proof upon this point were needed, it might be found 
 in the words of Bishop Hedding at the Conference of 
 1830. He had come to visit the Conference, and was 
 requested to preside at the Sunday services, and ordain 
 the preachers who had been received into full connexion. 
 At the administration of the Lord's Supper he remarked, 
 " It had frequently been said that the Wesleyan Methodists 
 were one in every part of the world. By the Wesleyan 
 Methodists, he understood, first, the Mother Church, or 
 Wesleyan Connexion in Europe ; secondly, the elder sister 
 in the United States, called the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in America ; thirdly, the younger sister in this 
 country, distinguished by the name of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Canada. These bodies, though they 
 are perfectly independent of each other in all their 
 ecclesiastical relations, are one in all the prominent 
 features of their discipline, perfectly one in doctrine, one 
 in name, one in spirit, and one in aim ; they are indeed 
 one great family." Thus the changes that had been 
 made, being perfectly constitutional, had not impaired 
 
The First Union with the British Conference \ 7 1 
 
 the identity of the Church, and the chain of Methodistic 
 unity continued unbroken. 
 
 We have thus traced the progress of Methodism in 
 Canada down to the time when it became a distinct and 
 independent Church. It now remains to state the causes 
 which led that Church to unite itself in filial bonds with 
 the parent body of England. It will be remembered that, 
 in 1820, the American and British Conferences had 
 agreed to divide their jurisdiction in the Canadas, the 
 latter body confining its labours to the lower, and the 
 former to the upper province. But when, in 1828, the 
 societies in Upper Canada became a separate and in- 
 dependent Church, the British Conference considered the 
 former agreement as no longer binding, and that they 
 were at liberty to send their missionaries into any part 
 of the province where their services might be desired by 
 the people. In accordance with this view, the British 
 Committee decided upon an immediate increase of their 
 labourers in the Canadas. It was doubted by many 
 whether the view referred to could be justified. A 
 bargain is a bargain, and all the rights, privileges, and 
 responsibilities descend to " heirs, executors, and assigns " 
 with undiminished force, unless the terms of the compact 
 contain a proviso that under certain conditions the agree- 
 ment shall lapse. Some of the reasons assigned by the 
 British secretaries were not without weight. It was 
 affirmed that within a few years a large number of 
 Methodist emigrants from Great Britain had settled in 
 Upper Canada, and these had strongly urged the British 
 Committee to send missionaries among them. Moreover, 
 the Canada Conference was entirely unable to meet the 
 
172 Methodism in Canada 
 
 spiritual wants of the people. The population of the 
 province at this time was about 175,000, while the 
 number of Methodist preachers was only 43 ; and the 
 Missionary Society in Canada, yet in its infancy, was 
 able to afford but little aid. But supposing all this to 
 be true, brotherly courtesy, if nothing more, demanded 
 that the Canada Conference be consulted before the 
 compact was broken ; and this was not done. 
 
 The action of the British Missionary Committee was 
 regarded by many in Canada with grave apprehension. 
 They foresaw that collisions would inevitably occur 
 between the Canadian preachers and the English mission- 
 aries, and the respective societies under their care, which 
 would result in heart-burning and estrangements among 
 brethren, while it would put a reproach into the mouths 
 of enemies and rob the Church of her hereditary boast, 
 " The Methodists are one all over the world." Under 
 these circumstances it is not surprising that the question 
 arose in many thoughtful and pious minds, " Would it 
 not be for the interests of religion and of Methodism in 
 these provinces if a union were effected between the two 
 bodies ? We are one in faith and one in usage, while the 
 differences between our respective forms of government 
 are not of a character that need keep us still apart." 
 This question soon became an engrossing topic in 
 Methodist circles. It was informally discussed at official 
 meetings, as well as among the people at large; and 
 although many were of opinion that the action of the 
 missionary authorities in England had been hasty and 
 inconsiderate, it was better to sacrifice something than 
 allow rival altars to be established. 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 173 
 
 Although the Conference of 1828 had appointed a 
 committee to correspond with the British Conference, 
 nothing was done till 1831, when the action taken by 
 the British Missionary Committee induced the Rev. 
 Egerton Ryerson to address a letter to the principal 
 Secretary, the Rev. Richard Watson, giving a full state- 
 ment of the case as it then stood, and also of the views 
 of the Canadian preachers in reference to the matter. 
 In the following year the committee sent out the Rev. 
 Robert Alder as their agent and representative, and with 
 him communications to the Mission Board of the Canada 
 Conference at York (Toronto). Mr. Alder delivered the 
 communications and stated the object of his mission, 
 which was to prepare the way for the appointment of a 
 number of British Wesleyan missionaries among the 
 British emigrants in various parts of the province. The 
 board admitted that it was unable to supply the religious 
 needs of the population, but informed Mr. Alder, and also 
 the British Committee, of the evils likely to arise from 
 the establishment of two bodies of Methodists in the 
 province, and suggested the propriety of uniting the means 
 and energies of the two Connexions for the evangelization 
 of the Indian tribes and the new settlers of the country. 
 The board also invited Mr. Alder to attend the session 
 of Conference to be held in about six weeks from that 
 time. 
 
 Some account of these preliminary steps having been 
 published in the Christian Guardian, interest in the 
 question was increased throughout the whole Connexion ; 
 consequently, when the Conference assembled at Hallowell 
 on the 8th of August, all the preachers who had been 
 
174 Methodism in Canada 
 
 received into full connexion (except one or two detained 
 by sickness) were in attendance. A number of leading 
 laymen also had come to the seat of Conference, 
 attracted by a desire to hear the discussions ; and such 
 was the anxiety of the Conference that all things should 
 be done openly, and that the members of the Church 
 should be fully informed of all points in the scheme, that 
 the laymen were freely admitted into the chapel where 
 the Conference was held (which was contrary to the 
 usual practice) during the whole time in which the 
 question of union was under discussion. On the first 
 day of the session the President of the Missionary Board 
 laid before the Conference the correspondence which had 
 taken place between the Board and the British Missionary 
 Committee. It was read and referred to a committee of 
 nine, chosen by ballot. After a consideration which 
 continued till the fourth day, the committee presented a 
 report in the form of a preamble and resolutions, recom- 
 mending a union, on certain terms, with the British 
 Conference. The Conference took up the report, and 
 after a full discussion of all the points involved, the 
 resolutions were adopted by a very large majority. There 
 was one resolution which, as it involved the relinquishing 
 of Episcopacy, required the sanction of the General 
 Conference before it could become law. The president 
 was requested, therefore, to call a special session of the 
 General Conference, which he did, naming six o'clock of 
 the following Monday morning as the time of meeting. 1 
 
 1 This was quite regular, because the discipline of the Church provided 
 that the General Superintendent might call a meeting of the General 
 Conference at any time at the request of the Aumiftl Conference. 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 175 
 
 It may be necessary here to explain the difference 
 between the Annual and the General Conference. The 
 Annual Conference was composed of all travelling preachers 
 who had travelled two years, and had been received into 
 full connexion ; the General Conference was composed of 
 all travelling preachers who had travelled four years, and 
 been ordained elders. There were present, however, at 
 the Hallowell Conference no less than seventeen travelling 
 preachers who had been received into full connexion and 
 elected to elder's orders, but not ordained, because there 
 was no bishop to ordain them, and the discipline, at that 
 time, did not admit of ordination in any other way. It 
 was felt to be a manifest injustice that these brethren 
 should be excluded from the General Conference on the 
 sole ground that the ceremony of ordination had not been 
 performed ; hence, when the General Conference assembled 
 on Monday morning, its first act was to pass the following : 
 " Kesolved, that the first answer to the second question of 
 the third section of the discipline be expunged, and the 
 following inserted in its place : ' The General Conference 
 shall be composed of all the elders and elders-elect who are 
 members of the Annual Conference.' " The admission of 
 the seventeen elders-elect on this occasion did not alter 
 the final vote, for one of the number was absent through 
 sickness, and of the remaining sixteen, eight were known 
 to be opposed to the contemplated union. The resolution 
 to supersede Episcopacy by an Annual Presidency was 
 then taken up, and adopted by a majority of more than 
 three fourths. After which the Conference adjourned. 
 
 The Annual Conference then reassembled, and ap- 
 pointed the Kev. Egerton Kyerson as its representative, 
 
176 Methodism in Canada 
 
 with instructions to proceed to England and confer with 
 the British Conference on the subject of the proposed 
 union. The overtures of the Canadian Conference were 
 received by the parent body with lively satisfaction, and 
 warmly supported by leading members of the Conference. 
 The Eev. Mr. Beecham, at the conclusion of an able speech 
 reviewing the principal facts bearing upon the question, 
 read the address of the Canada Conference proposing a 
 union with the British body. He was followed by the 
 Kev. Jabez Bunting, who strongly advocated the proposed 
 union as desirable for the interests of our common 
 Methodism, our common Christianity, our common Empire. 
 The proposals for union were then carefully considered, and 
 the views of the Conference embodied in a series of resolu- 
 tions differing but slightly from those adopted in Canada, 
 the Eev. George Marsden and Joseph Stinson being 
 appointed representatives, with authority to perfect the 
 arrangement so happily inaugurated. The delegates 
 reached Canada a few days before the assembling of the 
 Conference, which met at York on the 2nd of October 
 1833. After preliminary business, the address and 
 resolutions of the British Conference were read, and the 
 Kev. Mr. Marsden gave an account of what had taken 
 place in England on the subject of union, and assured the 
 Conference of the deep interest in the question felt by the 
 English preachers. Mr. Ryerson also presented and read 
 the report of his mission to England. The articles of 
 union, as agreed to by the British Conference, were then 
 taken up seriatim, and after a careful examination it was 
 unanimously " resolved that this Conference cordially 
 concurs in the adoption of the resolutions agreed to by the 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 177 
 
 British Conference, dated Manchester, 7th August 1833, 
 as the basis of union between the two Conferences." A 
 session of the General Conference was then called to con- 
 sider certain changes in the discipline rendered necessary 
 by the union measure. These having been ratified by the 
 requisite constitutional majorities, the Annual Conference 
 resumed ; whereupon the Secretary reported the action of 
 the General Conference, and the union, so earnestly desired 
 by the great body of preachers and people, was an accom- 
 plished fact. 
 
 In consummating the union, no principle essential to 
 Methodism was abolished or changed. The doctrines were 
 untouched, and from every Methodist pulpit in the land 
 sounded forth, after the union, the same glorious truths as 
 before. Nor was there any change in the distinctive usages 
 of Methodism. The weekly prayer-meeting still sent up its 
 cloud of incense ; in the class-meeting the faithful still 
 "spake one to another"; while in the quarterly love-feast, 
 these scattered lights of individual experience were gathered 
 into an intenser focus, showing " how good and how 
 pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." 
 Nor yet was anything done whereby the rights and 
 privileges of the membership of the Church were invaded 
 in the slightest degree. All that they enjoyed before the 
 union they enjoyed equally after. They heard the same 
 doctrines, candidates were received into the Church in the 
 same way, held their membership by the same tenure, and 
 could be excluded only by the same disciplinary process. 
 Nor could any change be made in the temporal economy 
 of the Church without the consent of two thirds of the 
 quarterly official meetings of the Connexion. In no 
 
 12 
 
1 78 Methodism in Canada 
 
 other branch of the Methodist Church at that day was an 
 equal influence wielded by the laity. 
 
 The sentiment enunciated by the Eev. Jabez Bunting, 
 that the proposed union was in the interests of our common 
 Empire, is deserving of especial emphasis. At that time 
 those political agitations which culminated in the rebellion 
 of 1837 were already in progress. It does not fall within 
 my province to express any opinion as to the causes which 
 led to that unhappy strife, nor to decide whether armed 
 resistance to the Government was in any degree justifiable. 
 I merely express the conviction of all thoughtful men that 
 the separation of Canada from the British Empire in 1837 
 would have been a calamity of no ordinary magnitude. 
 This was perceived by many persons years before the 
 rebellion actually took place, and they felt that it was the 
 part of loyal and patriotic men to do everything in their 
 power to strengthen those filial ties which united Canada 
 to the Mother Country. That a union of the Canadian 
 with the British Conference would have this tendency, no 
 one could fail to see ; and this was one reason why the 
 union was, in some quarters, so strongly opposed. No 
 reflection whatever is intended upon those who on purely 
 ecclesiastical or denominational grounds opposed the 
 union ; their loyalty and devotion to the Empire was 
 beyond question ; but it is an undeniable fact that some 
 of the strongest opponents of the measure were persons 
 not connected with the Methodist Church, foremost among 
 whom was the late William Lyon Mackenzie, the leader of 
 the rebellion, and others who sympathised with his views. 
 I do not for one moment argue that any religious principle 
 should ever be sacrificed to mere expediency, or that the 
 
The First Union with the British Conference 179 
 
 Church should ever be employed for political ends ; but I 
 do say that the men who in 1833 waived all personal 
 considerations in order to consummate a union which, 
 without sacrificing any principle of Christianity or of 
 Methodism, aided the work of God and strengthened the 
 connexion existing between Canada and Great Britain, 
 were men who deserved well of their Church and their 
 country, and are fairly entitled to be remembered both as 
 Christians and as patriots. 
 
 Certain events which occurred in the next fourteen 
 years the Episcopal Methodist separation, the dissolution 
 of the union in 1840 and its restoration in 1847 are 
 reserved for consideration in another connexion. Although 
 they are things of the past, they all had an important 
 bearing on the development of Canadian Methodism, and 
 are entitled to a place in its annals. But for the present 
 I turn to a series of events in which Methodism became 
 unexpectedly a powerful factor in shaping public opinion, 
 and in securing for all creeds and classes both civil and 
 religious rights and privileges which to some of them had 
 long been denied. 
 
IV 
 
 THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL AND 
 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 
 
 To understand the nature of this energetic and protracted 
 struggle, as well as the relation of Methodism thereto, it 
 is necessary to recall the civil conditions of the period 
 and the character of the Government that had been 
 established in both Upper and Lower Canada. As yet 
 the principles of representative and especially of re- 
 sponsible government were imperfectly understood, and 
 in official circles were not recognised at all. Even the 
 tremendous object-lesson of the American Eevolution had 
 failed to teach English statesmen that a period had been 
 reached when " government from Downing Street " had 
 become impracticable among Anglo-Saxon colonists, how- 
 ever well it might answer among " lesser breeds without 
 the law " ; and it was only when a second revolution had 
 almost succeeded on Canadian soil that they awoke to 
 the full significance of the situation, and recognised the 
 principle of responsible self-government as the indispensable 
 basis of an intelligent and enduring loyalty to the Crown. 
 All impartial students of Canadian history are glad that 
 the rebellion of 1837 did not succeed. Had it been 
 otherwise, it would have meant the absorption of British 
 
 130 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 181 
 
 America by the American Republic, which would not have 
 been a good thing for the Republic nor for us, and would 
 have rendered impossible the establishment of a system of 
 government having all the stability of English political 
 institutions, affording the fullest measure of civil and 
 religious liberty, but with checks and safeguards that 
 would prevent liberty from degenerating into licence, and 
 ensure a reign of law and order instead of virtual mob 
 control. 
 
 Attention has already been called to the fact that in 
 1791 the province of Quebec was divided into two, named 
 respectively Upper and Lower Canada. This was accom- 
 plished under Mr. Pitt's administration, and is known as 
 the Constitutional Act of 1791. Whatever may have 
 been the ostensible reasons for this legislation, it was, in 
 effect, less a geographical than a race division, and for 
 this reason was strongly opposed by Mr. Fox, who con- 
 tended that the separation of the English from the French 
 inhabitants was most undesirable. Mr. Fox was right in 
 theory, but it seemed to the statesmen of the period that 
 his views were sentimental rather than practical, and 
 did not meet existing conditions. Fox contended for a 
 principle ; Pitt's measure was a mere expedient, and, 
 like expedients in general, proved defective when exposed 
 to the strain of conflicting interests. In fact, it was the 
 deliberate intention of the law-makers that Lower Canada 
 should be French and Roman Catholic, and that Upper 
 Canada should be English and Protestant, and Mr. Pitt's 
 legislation was shaped with that end in view. To suppose 
 that this could be effected by an imaginary line laid out 
 by surveyors and drawn to a scale upon a map, seems 
 
1 82 Methodism in Canada 
 
 almost ludicrous. Race instincts and human enterprise 
 pay small heed to legislative enactments, and so, spite 
 of the good intentions of the politicians, thousands of 
 English-speaking Protestants mingled with the business 
 and political life of Lower Canada, while tens of thousands 
 of French Canadians swarmed across the Ottawa and filled 
 up whole counties on its south-western banks. 
 
 The system of government instituted by Mr. Pitt's 
 legislation held within it elements of conflict and disaster. 
 Each province was to have a Legislative Assembly, elected 
 by British subjects possessing certain property qualifications, 
 and a Legislative Council, whose members were appointed 
 by the Crown. Two such chambers the one elective 
 and responsible, the other non-elective and irresponsible 
 could not long exist side by side without conflict, and in 
 the long-run the one must dominate the other. In both 
 provinces there was a steady effort to establish and 
 maintain the supremacy of the Legislative Council, and 
 to make the popular Assembly the servant of its will. 
 For a time this policy succeeded only too well. In Upper 
 Canada all administration and patronage was in the hands 
 of the Legislative Council, and that body secured the 
 election to the Assembly of many of its servants post- 
 masters, sheriffs, registrars, revenue officers, and the like 
 who conceived it to be their chief duty to support the 
 Government from which they had received their appoint- 
 ments, irrespective of the rights and wishes of the people. 
 The ruling faction in the Council became known as the 
 " Family Compact," not because its members were united 
 by family ties, but because their close association and 
 resolute purpose to control the affairs of Government 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 183 
 
 recalled the Pacte de Famille of the Bourbons of France, 
 Spain, and Italy in 1761, in their combination against 
 Great Britain. This junto had imported from Europe 
 the tradition of a " ruling class," and the twin doctrines 
 of its political creed were loyalty as they understood 
 it to the British sovereign and a bigoted attachment to 
 the Church of England. It must not be supposed that 
 the opposing party, in Parliament or out of it, were one 
 whit less loyal to the Crown, but their loyalty was of a 
 different type, for they held tenaciously by the dictum 
 of Burke, that " the subject who is truly loyal to the 
 chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary 
 measures." The abuses which had grown up under the 
 reign of the Family Compact were tersely described by 
 the Earl of Durham in 1838, in his Report on the Affairs 
 of British North America : 
 
 " For a long time this body of men, receiving at times 
 accessions to its members, possessed almost all the highest 
 public offices, by means of which, and of its influence 
 in the Executive Council, it wielded all the powers of 
 government. It maintained influence in the Legislature 
 by means of its predominance in the Legislative Council, 
 and it disposed of a large number of petty posts which 
 are in the patronage of the Government all over the 
 province. Successive Governors, as they came in their 
 turn, are said to have either submitted quietly to its 
 influence, or, after a short and unavailing struggle, to 
 have yielded to this well organised party the real conduct 
 of affairs. The Bench, the magistracy, the high offices 
 of the Episcopal Church, and a great part of the legal 
 profession, are filled by the adherents of this party. By 
 
184 Methodism in Canada 
 
 grant or purchase they have acquired nearly the whole 
 of the waste lands of the province ; they are all-powerful 
 in the chartered banks, and, till lately, shared among 
 themselves, almost exclusively, all offices of trust and 
 profit. . . . The principal members of it belong to the 
 Church of England, and the maintenance of the claims of 
 that Church has always been one of its distinguishing 
 characteristics." l 
 
 The Act of 1791 not only provided for the government 
 of the provinces it had created, but also for the maintenance 
 and support of a Protestant clergy. To accomplish this 
 end, one seventh of all the public lands in Upper Canada 
 opened for settlement, and one seventh of all that should 
 be opened in future in Lower Canada for a similar purpose, 
 were set apart and became known as the " Clergy Eeserves," 
 and authority was given for the erection of " parsonages or 
 rectories, according to the establishment of the Church of 
 England," to be endowed out of the lands so reserved. 
 At the conquest of Canada the right of the French Eoman 
 Catholic inhabitants to the enjoyment of their language 
 and religion was guaranteed by the Treaty of Paris (1763), 
 and in the following year an Act of the British Parliament 
 secured to the clergy of that Church the right to their 
 accustomed tithes and dues. The same Act made provision 
 for the encouragement of the Protestant religion and the 
 support of a Protestant clergy by other tithes and dues, 
 and these continued to be collected for nearly forty years ; 
 but in 1821 a declaratory Act was passed by the Legislature 
 of Upper Canada, and sanctioned by the Crown, providing 
 that hereafter " no tithes shall be claimed, demanded, or 
 
 . 105. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 185 
 
 received by any ecclesiastical parson, rector, or vicar of the 
 Protestant Church within this province." 
 
 In the struggle for religious equality the Legislation of 
 1764 was not a very important factor, and the real battle 
 was waged around the Clergy Keserves and the Legislation 
 of 1791. The tithe system, so far as Protestantism was 
 concerned, found few defenders, and was bound, soon or 
 later, to go to the wall ; but the Clergy Keserves rested 
 upon a somewhat different footing, and not a few doughty 
 champions were found to defend the wisdom and righteous- 
 ness of the arrangement. Foremost among these was the 
 Kev. John Strachan, D.D., Archdeacon of York, and 
 afterwards the first Anglican bishop of Toronto. Like 
 many another man who has made his mark in the world, 
 the archdeacon was the son of humble Scottish parents, 
 staunch adherents of the Kirk of Scotland. With that 
 thirst for knowledge which is characteristic of his country- 
 men, young Strachan obtained some classical training, and 
 served as a tutor, first in Scotland and afterwards at 
 Kingston in Upper Canada. Subsequently he taught a 
 grammar school at Cornwall, where he had under his 
 tuition a number of lads who afterwards became men of 
 note in the history of the province. Here he united with 
 the Church of England, and when he entered its ministry 
 became, in rapid succession, Eector and Archdeacon of York, 
 chaplain to the Legislative Assembly, a member of the 
 Legislative Council, and in 1839 was raised to the 
 episcopal dignity as the first bishop of Toronto. Small 
 in stature, by no means impressive in appearance, but 
 resolute,- energetic, untiring, an astute politician by nature, 
 an ecclesiastic from choice, and a bigoted Churchman 
 
1 86 Methodism in Canada 
 
 withal, he was for many years a power in the religious 
 and political life of the country. 
 
 About this time there appeared upon the stage another 
 man who was destined to play a very important part in 
 the religious, educational, and political development of 
 Upper Canada; a man who for years fought, sometimes 
 almost single-handed, the battle of civil, and religious 
 liberty, and proved himself the only competent and 
 successful antagonist of the astute and able Anglican 
 bishop in the latter's lifelong attempt to make the Church 
 of England the dominating power in the religious, social, 
 and even political life of the province. Egerton Kyerson 
 was the son of a U.E. Loyalist, who held a commission in 
 the Prince of Wales' Eegiment of New Jersey, of which 
 place he was a native. At the close of the revolutionary 
 war he emigrated to New Brunswick, where he married, and 
 toward the end of the century removed with his family to 
 Upper Canada, and settled on a farm in the Long Point 
 country, on the northern shore of Lake Erie. Egerton was 
 the youngest of four brothers, the three older being named 
 respectively George, William, and John. All four became 
 deeply religious, all four joined the Methodist Church, and 
 all four became Methodist preachers, much against the 
 will of their father, who was a staunch, not to say bigoted, 
 Churchman. So strong was his opposition that he gave 
 Egerton the choice to leave the Methodists or to leave his 
 father's house. It was a most painful alternative, but the 
 young convert did not hesitate. The next day he left 
 home and became an usher in a district grammar school. 
 
 Of the four Ryersons who entered the Methodist 
 ministry, the eldest brother served for only three years, 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 187 
 
 when he located. Subsequently his views of divine truth 
 and church order underwent considerable change, and he 
 undertook to found a new church on what he conceived to 
 be the apostolic model, naming it the " Catholic Apostolic 
 Church." The term " Catholic " proved almost a grim 
 satire, as only a very few congregations were ever gathered, 
 and I know only one which exists to-day. The remaining 
 three brothers, especially the youngest, all became men of 
 mark in Canadian Methodism, and for many years exerted 
 a controlling influence in the councils of the Church. 
 John had the characteristics of an ecclesiastical legislator, 
 and had much to do with shaping the discipline of the 
 Methodist body ; William was the popular orator, mighty 
 in exhortation, and his pulpit appeals are still a tradition 
 in the land ; Egerton was a born statesman, far-seeing and 
 sagacious, and as a controversialist had no peer in his day. 
 In him was illustrated the saying that " the child is father 
 of the man." From the time of his conversion he became 
 a diligent student. While serving as usher in a grammar 
 school, at eighteen years of age, he read with avidity such 
 books as were available, taking " great delight in Locke 
 On the Human Understanding, Paley's Moral and Political 
 Philosophy, and Blackstone's Commentaries, especially the 
 sections of the latter on the Prerogatives of the Crown, 
 the Eights of the Subject, and the Province of Parlia- 
 ment." 1 All this was an unconscious preparation for 
 providential tasks that awaited him in future years, and 
 stood him in good stead when fighting the battle of civil 
 and religious equality. In 1824, at the request of the 
 presiding elder, Mr. Eyerson consented to supply a circuit 
 
 1 Ryerson's Story of My Life, p. 27. 
 
1 88 Methodism in Canada 
 
 left vacant by the illness of one of the preachers. The 
 following year he was received on trial for the ministry, 
 ordained a deacon in 1827, and an elder in 1829. The 
 same year it was decided to begin the publication of a 
 weekly newspaper a most courageous venture in those 
 early days. Mr. Kyerson was chosen as the future editor, 
 and was instructed to proceed to New York to procure the 
 necessary plant. There were very few newspapers in the 
 country at the time, and the Christian Guardian so the 
 new paper was named came at once to the front as a 
 powerful organ of public opinion. Its objects were 
 " defence of Methodist institutions and character, civil 
 rights, temperance principles, educational progress, and 
 missionary operations." l And it was conducted with such 
 vigour that it soon became recognised as the champion of 
 equal rights and privileges for all creeds and classes, and 
 a fearless opponent of a dominant church establishment 
 in Upper Canada. It should be understood that up to 
 this time the Methodist and other denominations had no 
 right to hold land for places of worship or for the burial 
 of their dead, nor had the Methodist ministers the right to 
 solemnise matrimony even among their own people. 
 
 In 1825 Egerton Kyerson had been stationed at York, 
 and it was during this year that he was unwillingly drawn 
 into the great controversy. At that time the York circuit 
 comprised the town of York (now Toronto) and ten town- 
 ships to the east, west, and north, and over these the 
 itinerants travelled, preaching from twenty-five to thirty 
 sermons every four weeks, besides meeting numerous classes 
 and visiting from house to house. " The roads (if in any 
 
 1 Ryerson's Story of My Life, p. 98. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 189 
 
 sense they could be called roads) were bad beyond descrip- 
 tion, could be travelled only on horseback and on foot, the 
 labours hard, and the accommodations of the most primitive 
 kind ; but we were received as angels of God by the people, 
 our ministrations being almost the only supply of religious 
 instruction to them ; and nothing they valued more than 
 to have the preacher partake of their humble and best 
 hospitality." x Such conditions were by no means favourable 
 to those habits of wide reading, close thinking, and careful 
 writing which would seem to be indispensable in a con- 
 troversy involving in the long-run great constitutional 
 principles, and covering much historical ground both 
 ecclesiastical and civil. That the task should have been 
 undertaken by a youth not long out of his teens, and 
 entirely untrained in controversy, would seem to indicate 
 extraordinary temerity, or else such an overwhelming sense 
 of duty as rendered him insensible to all personal considera- 
 tions. That the latter consideration was the dominant 
 factor there can be no doubt ; and now that we look back 
 upon the period, over the lapse of three quarters of a 
 century, the conviction deepens that in the Methodist 
 stripling we behold the divinely anointed David whose 
 providential call it was to smite the Goliath of civil 
 oppression and religious intolerance who had defied the 
 armies of the living God. Features and physique were 
 alike striking. Of medium size, or a little over, well 
 proportioned and firmly knit, fair complexion, large speak- 
 ing blue eyes, firm lips, well defined eyebrows, a head 
 unusually large but well balanced, and a height, breadth, 
 and fulness of forehead that attracted instant attention, 
 1 Ryerson's Story of My Life, p. 47. 
 
190 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Egerton Kyerson impressed himself, even upon casual 
 acquaintances, as a man of no ordinary powers. In middle 
 and later life his was one of those lion-like faces that 
 recalled William Ewart Gladstone and Daniel Webster, 
 but with a far more benevolent expression than Webster's 
 face revealed. Such, in outward appearance, was the 
 youthful champion who, at the call of duty, boldly crossed 
 swords with the most skilful controversialists of his 
 time. 
 
 The immediate cause of his first controversy may now 
 
 be stated. In April 1826 a pamphlet appeared 
 
 entitled, Sermon Preached and Published ly the 
 
 Venerable Archdeacon of York, on the Death of the 
 
 late Bishop of Quebec. This publication contained a 
 
 sketch of the rise and progress of the Church of England 
 
 in the Canadas, and an appeal on behalf of that Church 
 
 to the British Government and Parliament. Had the 
 
 archdeacon stopped at that point it is doubtful if the 
 
 sermon would have attracted much attention, but he 
 
 proceeded to attack the character and standing of other 
 
 religious communions, especially the Methodists, " whose 
 
 ministers were represented as American in their origin and 
 
 feelings, ignorant, forsaking their proper employments to 
 
 preach what they did not understand, and which, from 
 
 their pride, they disdained to learn ; and who were 
 
 spreading disaffection to the civil and religious institutions 
 
 of Great Britain." l It was claimed that the Church of 
 
 England was the Established Church not only of Great 
 
 Britain but of the whole Empire, and as such was 
 
 exclusively entitled to the Clergy Reserves of Upper 
 
 1 Ryersoii's Story of My Life, p. 48. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious L iberty \ 9 1 
 
 Canada. Besides this, an appeal was made to the British 
 Government for an annual grant of $300,000 to enable 
 the Church of England in Upper Canada to maintain the 
 loyalty of the people of that province to the English 
 Crown. The utterly undeserved character of the as- 
 persions thus cast upon the Methodist Church aroused 
 feelings of strong indignation. Scarcely more than a 
 decade had passed since the close of the unprovoked war 
 of 1812-15 with the United States, at which time the 
 Methodists, both ministers and people, had been con- 
 spicuous for devotion to their country and Government. 
 But let the circumstances be as they might, the arch- 
 deacon did not seem to be aware how he was degrading 
 his own Church by seeking to have it endowed as a police 
 institution to dragoon the people of Upper Canada in the 
 knowledge and practice of " loyalty," which, from his point 
 of view, meant not so much intelligent devotion to the 
 Crown and Constitution, as entire subservience to the 
 Church of England. 
 
 There was consternation in the little Methodist camp in 
 York, which at that time numbered only about fifty persons, 
 though the entire membership for the province was seven 
 thousand five hundred. It was felt that something must 
 be done, and by tacit consent they turned to the " Boy 
 Preacher," as Eyerson was then called, on account of his 
 youthful appearance, as the one who should undertake the 
 task. He strongly objected, on the grounds of his youth 
 and incompetency, but finally suggested that on their next 
 country tour the superintendent of the circuit (Rev. 
 James Richardson) and himself should each write on the 
 subject, and on their return something might be compiled 
 
192 Methodism in Canada 
 
 from the two documents that would meet the case. On 
 the return of the preachers they met the leading members 
 of the society, when it was found that young Eyerson had 
 written something, but his superintendent had not. Those 
 present insisted that the paper should be read, and when 
 this was done they insisted, with equal earnestness, that it 
 be printed. Finding remonstrance in vain, the author 
 offered to rewrite the article more carefully, and then 
 return it to the brethren to do what they pleased with it. 
 This was agreed to, and when the manuscript was finished 
 it was taken to the printer and promptly issued. It was 
 entitled a " Eeview of the Sermon published by Archdeacon 
 Strachan," and appeared in the Colonial Advocate over the 
 signature of "A Methodist Preacher." The immediate 
 effect of the " review " was remarkable, for it was not only 
 a defence of the Methodists against unjust aspersions, but 
 a vindication of the civil rights of all religious persuasions, 
 and a protest on legal and constitutional grounds against 
 the erection in Canada of a dominant Church. The 
 archdeacon's sermon was the third formal attack by 
 Church of England clergy upon the Methodist Church and 
 its ministers, but thus far no line had been written or 
 word spoken in public in their defence. When the 
 " review " appeared great was the excitement. It was 
 read as eagerly as a bulletin from the field of battle would 
 be read to-day. The Methodists were jubilant. They 
 felt that at last a champion had appeared capable not only 
 of defending their Church from unjust assaults, but of 
 advocating with convincing force the great constitutional 
 principles of civil and religious equality so imperfectly 
 understood at the time. The interest was all the greater 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religwis Liberty 193 
 
 because, outside of a very narrow circle, no one knew who 
 the new champion might be. 
 
 In the opposing camp there was positive consternation. 
 Feelings of astonishment, of dismay, of anger, followed 
 each other in rapid succession ; astonishment that anyone 
 could be found to defend the despised sect of Methodists, 
 dismay because their own stronghold was so fearlessly 
 assailed, and anger that anyone should have the temerity 
 to attack existing civil conditions or to question the 
 right of the Church of England to lord it over God's 
 heritage. The battle was fairly on. Within two weeks 
 four answers appeared in the newspapers, three by 
 clergymen and one by a layman of the Church of England. 
 But in these answers epithets were more plentiful than 
 arguments. The writers were all agreed that the author 
 of the " review " could not be a Methodist preacher : he 
 was " an American," " a rebel," " a traitor," and the 
 pamphlet was " the prodigious effort of a party." It would 
 be idle to pretend that Mr. Kyerson was not affected 
 by the storm he had raised ; it affected him very keenly. 
 There were days when he could not eat and nights when 
 he could not sleep. But he felt that the battle was not of 
 his seeking the attack had come from the other side and 
 that either he must continue the conflict or acknowledge 
 defeat. Those who knew the man in after-years would 
 not be surprised to learn that he decided to fight. As a 
 characteristic preparation he devoted a day to fasting and 
 prayer, and then having drawn the sword in what he felt 
 to be a righteous cause, he flung away the scabbard and 
 went at his adversaries in dead earnest. To follow the 
 details is not necessary. Suffice it to say that in less than 
 
 '3 
 
194 Methodism in Canada 
 
 four years from the commencement of the controversy laws 
 were passed authorising the various religious bodies to hold 
 land for churches, parsonages, and burial - grounds, and 
 empowering their ministers to solemnise marriages. At 
 this time there were members of the Legislature not a few 
 who were in favour of reform, and without their aid the 
 desired enactments could not have been secured ; but 
 beyond question Mr. Eyerson's advocacy did more than all 
 other agencies combined to arouse public opinion and 
 bring pressure to bear upon the law-makers of the day. 
 His " review " was first published in the Colonial Advocate, 
 a paper established by William Lyon Mackenzie, and we 
 obtain a glimpse of its effect in some directions in the 
 following extract : " The sermon was ably reviewed in the 
 columns of the Colonial Advocate in a communication over 
 the signature of 'A Methodist Preacher.' Mr. Metcalf 
 and I took the paper into a field, where we sat down on 
 the grass to read. As we read we admired ; and as we 
 admired we rejoiced ; then thanked God and speculated as 
 to its author, little suspecting that it was a young man 
 who had been received on trial at the late Conference 
 (1825). We read again, and then devoutly thanked God 
 for having put into the heart of someone to defend the 
 Church publicly against such mischievous statements, and 
 give the world the benefit of the facts in the case. . . . 
 This was the commencement of the war for religious 
 liberty." 1 Quite different, however, was the effect in 
 another direction. When visiting his parents a few 
 months after the controversy began, Mr. Eyerson found 
 that his father's conversation turned constantly to the 
 
 1 Life and Times of Anson Green, D.D., pp. 83, 84. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 195 
 
 subject that was agitating the country, though he did not 
 know as yet who was the author of the letters. Something 
 must have aroused his suspicion, however, for one day he 
 turned abruptly to his son and said, " Egerton, they say 
 that you are the author of these papers which are con- 
 vulsing the whole country. I want to know whether you 
 are or not ? " Egerton admitted that he was ; whereupon 
 his father lifted his hands with a despairing gesture and 
 exclaimed, " My God, we are all ruined ! " 1 
 
 The people of Canada have long been so accustomed to 
 the fullest measure of civil liberty and religious equality 
 that they fail to appreciate the importance of the interests 
 involved in the controversy of 1826 and succeeding years, 
 or the bitter and unscrupulous opposition with which the 
 champion of popular rights had to contend. Perhaps the 
 situation cannot be better described than in the language 
 of J. George Hodgins, LL.D., the lifelong friend of Dr. 
 Kyerson, his associate for many years in the Education 
 Department of Ontario, and editor of Dr. Kyerson's Story 
 of My Life : 
 
 "Few in the present day can realise the magnitude 
 of the task thus undertaken. Nor do we sufficiently 
 estimate the significance of the issues involved in that 
 contest a contest waged for the recognition of equal 
 denominational rights and the supremacy of religious 
 liberty. All these questions are now happily settled upon 
 the best and surest foundation. But it might have been 
 far otherwise had not such men as Dr. Eyerson stepped 
 into the breach at a critical time in our early history, and 
 had not the battle been fought and won before the dis- 
 
 1 Ryerson's Story of My Life, p. 51. 
 
196 Methodism in Canada 
 
 tasteful yoke of an ' establishment ' had been imposed 
 upon the young country, and burdensome vested interests 
 had been thereby created, which would have taken years 
 of serious and protracted strife to have extinguished. 
 
 " To those who have given any attention to this 
 subject, it is well known that the maintenance of the 
 views put forth by Dr. Eyerson in this controversy 
 involved personal odium and the certainty of social 
 ostracism. It also involved, what is often more fatal to a 
 man's courage and constancy, the sneer and personal 
 animosity, as well as ridicule, of a powerful party whose 
 right to supremacy is questioned, and whose monopoly of 
 what is common property is in danger of being destroyed. 
 Although Dr. Ryerson was a gentleman by birth, and the 
 son of a British officer and U.E. Loyalist, yet the fact 
 that, as one of the ' despised sect ' of Methodists, he dared 
 to question the right of ' the Church ' to superiority over 
 the ' Sectaries/ subjected him to a system of petty and 
 bitter persecution which few men of less fortitude and 
 nerve could have borne. As it was, there were times 
 when the tender sensibilities of his noble nature were so 
 deeply wounded by this injustice, and the scorn and 
 contumely of his opponents, that were it not that his 
 intrepid courage was of the finest type, and without the 
 alloy of rancour or bravado in it, it would have failed him. 
 But he never flinched. And when the odds seemed to be 
 most against him he would, with humble dependence upon 
 divine help, put forth even greater effort ; and, with his 
 courage thus reanimated, would unexpectedly turn the 
 flank of his enemy ; or by concentrating all his forces on 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 197 
 
 the vulnerable points of his adversaries' case, completely 
 neutralise the force of his attack. 
 
 " Those who had the courage, and who ventured to 
 oppose the church claims put forth by the clerical and 
 other leaders of the dominant party of that time, were 
 sure to be singled out for personal attack. They were 
 also made to feel the chilling effect of social exclusiveness. 
 The cry against them was that of ignorance, irreverence, 
 irreligion, republicanism, disloyalty, etc. These charges 
 were repeated in every form, and that, too, by a section 
 both of the official and religious press, a portion of which 
 was edited with singular ability ; a press which prided 
 itself on its intelligence, its unquestioned churchmanship 
 and exalted respect for sacred things, its firm devotion to 
 the principle of Church and State, the maintenance of 
 which was held to be the only safeguard for society, if not 
 its invincible bulwark. An illustration of the profession 
 of this exclusive loyalty is given by Dr. Eyerson in these 
 pages (The Story of My Life). He mentions the fact that 
 the plea to the British Government put forth by the 
 leaders of the dominant party as a reason why the Church 
 of England in this province should be made supreme and 
 subsidised, was that she might be enabled ' to preserve the 
 principles of loyalty to England from being overwhelmed 
 and destroyed ' by the ' Yankee Methodists ' as represented 
 by the Kyersons and their friends." * 
 
 In the troublous times of which I now speak the only 
 possible way of obtaining redress of grievances was to 
 
 1 Ryerson's Story of My Life. Editorial comment by J. George Hodgins, 
 LL.D., pp. 95-98. 
 
198 Methodism in Canada 
 
 appeal to the British Government; but it was by no 
 means certain that such an appeal would be successful. 
 The dominant faction in the Legislative Council was 
 resolutely opposed to everything in the shape of reform in 
 Church or State, and as official etiquette required that 
 memorials or petitions to the Crown should pass through 
 the medium of the King's representative, there was 
 abundant opportunity for the opponents of reform to 
 acquaint themselves with the contents of any document 
 intended for transmission to England, and to take steps to 
 counteract its influence. In 1830 attention was called, 
 through the Christian G-uardian, of which Egerton Ryerson 
 was then the editor, to a case of this kind. Eeferring to 
 the Religious Societies Relief Bill of that period, the editor 
 remarked that " His Majesty's royal assent would have 
 been given to that Bill had it not unfortunately fallen in 
 company with some ruthless vagrant (in the shape of a 
 communication from our enemies in Canada) who had 
 slandered, abused, and tomahawked it at the foot of the 
 throne." 
 
 The extent to which the spirit of religious intolerance 
 and contempt for Methodism had permeated the highest 
 official circles may be inferred from the following incident. 
 In 1831 the Conference presented a respectful address to 
 the Governor, Sir John Colborne, remonstrating against the 
 establishment of a State Church in Canada, the exclusive 
 control of the Clergy Reserves by that Church, and the 
 endowment of a university under the same control. In 
 the present day such an address would be regarded as 
 quite within the rights of any body of men, but not so in 
 1831. In his reply the Governor said: 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 199 
 
 " Your dislike to any church establishment, or to the 
 particular form of Christianity which is denominated the 
 Church of England, may be the natural consequence of the 
 constant success of your own efficacious and organised 
 system. ^The small number of our Church is to be 
 regretted, as well as that the organisation of its ministry 
 is not adapted to supply the present wants of the dispersed 
 population in this new country ; but you will readily admit 
 that the sober-minded of the province are disgusted with 
 the accounts of the disgraceful dissensions of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in its separatists, recriminating memorials, 
 and the warfare of one church with another. The utility 
 of an establishment depends entirely on the piety, 
 assiduity, and devoted zeal of its ministers, and on their 
 abstaining from a secular interference which may involve 
 them in political disputes. 
 
 " The labours of the clergy of established churches in 
 defence of moral and religious truth will always be 
 remembered by you who have access to their writings, and 
 benefited by them in common with other Christian societies. 
 You will allow, I have no doubt, on reflection, that it would 
 indeed be imprudent to admit the right of societies to 
 dictate, on account of their numerical strength, in what 
 way the land set apart for the clergy shall be disposed of. 
 
 " The system of education which has produced the best 
 and ablest men in the United Kingdom will not be 
 abandoned here to suit the limited views of the leaders 
 of societies who, perhaps, have neither experience nor 
 judgment to appreciate the value or advantage of a liberal 
 education." 
 
 The most charitable construction which can be put upon 
 
2OO Methodism in Canada 
 
 this extraordinary document is to suppose that it was 
 written by some prejudiced private secretary or member 
 of the Council, and read by the Governor without being 
 revised. Not content with informing the deputation, in 
 effect, that they were only a parcel of ignorant boors, who 
 had neither experience nor judgment " to appreciate the 
 value or advantage of a liberal education," his Excellency 
 proceeded to administer a sharp rebuke on " the absurd 
 advice offered by your missionaries to the Indians, and 
 their officious interference." It appears that in some cases 
 at least the Indian agents were men who cared nothing 
 for the moral and social elevation of the Indians, but 
 exploited them for their own profit, and were bitter against 
 the Methodist missionaries who opposed their designs. 
 The " absurd advice " was to the effect that the Indians 
 should apply to their great Father to remove such agents 
 from among them. Very sound advice, one would think, 
 but not so thought the agents, who sought to prejudice the 
 Governor and his Council all too willing to listen 
 against the Methodist missionaries who had the courage to 
 bring the abuses to light. The matter was fully investigated 
 by a representative of the Methodist Church (the Kev. 
 James Kichardson) and thoroughly ventilated through the 
 columns of the Christian Guardian, leading to the conclusion 
 expressed by the editor " that the advice given to the 
 Indians was both prudent and loudly called for, and 
 perfectly respectful to his Excellency." The result of it 
 all was that the Governor reconsidered the case, reproved 
 the officers of the Indian Department, and gave suitable 
 instruction as to their treatment of the Methodist 
 missionaries. 
 
The Striiggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 201 
 
 The attitude and claims of the Church of England at 
 this period involved two vital issues. The first was the 
 inherent right of the Church of England to be an 
 established church in every part of the British Empire, 
 and therefore in Upper Canada ; and this carried with it 
 the right of that Church to the exclusive control of the 
 Clergy Reserves. The second issue was the undoubted 
 fact that the admission of this inherent right would 
 extinguish the claim of each of the Nonconformist bodies 
 to the status of a Church. It will be seen, therefore, that 
 these bodies were fighting for their very existence, and 
 that in the struggle no quarter could be asked or granted. 
 It was literally a battle to the death. As an evidence 
 that the dominant party contemplated nothing short of the 
 extinction of Methodism in Upper Canada, I may refer 
 to the fact that in 1831 Donald Bethune of Kingston, 
 and certain others, petitioned the House of Assembly " to 
 prohibit any exercise of the function of a priest, or ex- 
 horter, or elder of any denomination in the province, 
 except by British subjects ; second, to prevent any religious 
 society connected with any foreign religious body to 
 assemble in Conference ; third, to prevent the raising of 
 money by any religious person or body for objects which 
 are not strictly British," etc. The petition was clearly 
 aimed at the Methodists, but the petitioners did not seem 
 to be aware of the fact that all official connexion with the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States had been 
 severed more than two years before. The House, after 
 referring the matter to a committee, and calling a number 
 of witnesses, expressed the judgment " that it was incon- 
 sistent with the benign and tolerant principles of the 
 
2O2 Methodism in Canada 
 
 British Constitution to restrain by penal enactment any 
 denomination of Christians, whether subjects or foreigners," 
 from the exercise of their worship or duties. 
 
 In the sermon by Archdeacon Strachan, already referred 
 to, aid was sought from the Imperial Parliament on this 
 ground, among others, that unless the Church of England 
 was greatly strengthened there was danger that republican 
 principles would be instilled into the minds of the people 
 by the religious teachers of other denominations, who, he 
 affirmed, " come almost universally from the United States 
 of America." Combating this statement, the reviewer 
 boldly affirms, " The assertion is not true. They are not 
 Republicans, neither are they infected with republican 
 principles, nor have they come almost exclusively from 
 the republican States of America. Seven eighths of the 
 teachers among dissenters are British-born subjects. And 
 out of the whole body of Methodist itinerant preachers, 
 who seem to be the principal butt of the Doctor's hatred, 
 there are only eight who have not been born and educated 
 in the British dominions. And of those eight, all except two 
 have been naturalised British subjects according to the 
 statute of the province." Continuing his defence of his 
 brethren the reviewer inquires, " Have the dissenters in 
 this country ever shown a disposition in any way hostile 
 to the true interests of the colony ? Have they not been 
 quiet in time of peace and bold in time of war ? Answer, 
 ye parents who mourn the loss of patriotic sons who 
 yielded up the ghost on the field of battle. Speak, ye 
 fatherless children, the dying groans of whose dissenting 
 fathers proclaimed that they could die in defence of the 
 British Constitution and yet be unconnected with a 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 203 
 
 religious establishment. Bear witness, ye disconsolate 
 widows, whose dissenting husbands' loyalty has doomed 
 you to perpetual melancholy. Lift up your voices, ye un- 
 fortunate invalids, whose lacerated limbs speak more than 
 volumes that they are slanderers and liars who say that the 
 religious any more than the political dissenters in Canada 
 are not true to the ' political institutions of England.' " 
 
 It should be distinctly understood that in this bitter 
 controversy, which disturbed the whole country for years, 
 the Methodists were not the aggressors. Though repeatedly 
 assailed and maligned, in public and in private, they 
 kept silent until forbearance ceased to be a virtue. When 
 forced at last into controversy, they stood on the defensive, 
 and it was only when driven by continued injustice into 
 aggressive action that they " carried the war into Africa," 
 and assailed those who had assailed them, and that to 
 such good purpose that in a few years the original ag- 
 gressors were driven from every stronghold, and the claim 
 of all denominations to a status of religious equality was 
 universally recognised. As early as 1820 the clergy of 
 the Church of Scotland in Upper Canada, though very 
 few in number, began to assert their claim to a share of 
 the Clergy Eeserves, The question came before the 
 House of Assembly in 1824, and in that and the three 
 succeeding years resolutions were passed remonstrating 
 against the exclusive claims of the Church of England. 
 For five or six years there was much controversy, but the 
 Methodists took no part in it, although they suffered more 
 than others from malicious attacks and civil disabilities. 
 The first public defence of the Methodists, and incidentally 
 of other denominations, appeared in the review of Arch- 
 
204 Methodism in Canada 
 
 deacon Strachan's sermon already referred to, and even 
 then the Church question was but lightly touched. 
 
 As the archdeacon's extraordinary sermon on the 
 death of Bishop Mountain precipitated the first battle 
 of the war for civil and religious liberty, so his still more 
 extraordinary chart and accompanying letter precipitated 
 the second. The object of the chart and letter, and of 
 Dr. Strachan's visit to England in 1827, was to procure 
 additional grants for the support of the Church of England 
 in Canada, and a charter and endowment for a university. 
 In the letter, which was intended for the information of 
 Lord Goderich, Principal Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, it is affirmed that " the teachers of the different 
 denominations, with the exception of two ministers of the 
 Church of Scotland, four Congregational ministers, and 
 a respectable English missionary who presided over a 
 Wesleyan Methodist meeting in Kingston, are for the 
 most part from the United States, where they gather 
 their knowledge and form their sentiments. Indeed, 
 the Methodist teachers are subject to the orders of the 
 United States of America, and it is manifest that the 
 Colonial Government neither has nor can have any other 
 control over them, or prevent them from gradually render- 
 ing a large portion of the population, by their influence 
 and instructions, hostile to our institutions, civil and 
 religious, than by increasing the number of the established 
 clergy. . . . Two or three hundred clergymen living in 
 Upper Canada, in the midst of their congregations, and 
 receiving the greater portion of their income from funds 
 deposited in this country (England), must attach still 
 more intimately the population of the colony to the 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 205 
 
 parent State. Their influence would gradually spread ; 
 they would infuse into the inhabitants a tone of feeling 
 entirely English, and acquiring by degrees the direction 
 of education, which the clergy of England have always 
 possessed, the very first feelings, sentiments, and opinions 
 of the youth must become British." 
 
 There could be no mistaking the objects which lay 
 behind so remarkable a document. They were three in 
 number. (1) The complete recognition of the Church of 
 England in Upper Canada as the State Church and its 
 endowment out of Imperial revenues and the Clergy 
 Keserves. (2) The extirpation of various sects, especially 
 the Methodists. (3) The absolute control of education 
 throughout the province. A more complete scheme of 
 ecclesiastical domination it would be difficult to imagine, 
 and had it succeeded neither civil nor religious freedom 
 would have been possible for generations. It is not sur- 
 prising, therefore, that when the chart and letter found 
 their way into the provincial newspapers, public feeling rose 
 to fever heat. The slanderous attack upon the Methodist 
 ministers, and the appeal to the Home Government to 
 aid in exterminating heresy (for that is what it amounted 
 to) excited widespread indignation and sympathy. Peti- 
 tions were circulated in various parts of the province, and 
 signed by nearly 5,700 persons, asking for a full in- 
 vestigation. In March 1828 these petitions were laid 
 before the House of Assembly, and referred to a committee 
 of five, who conducted a searching investigation, examining 
 no less than fifty-two witnesses from various parts of the 
 province and from various walks in life clergymen, doctors, 
 thirty members of Parliament, several members of the 
 
206 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Legislative Council (including Archdeacon Strachan), the 
 Speaker of the House, two Indians, etc. The petition, 
 on the basis of which the investigation was ordered, 
 read in part as follows : 
 
 " In this communication (Dr. Strachan's letter) his 
 Majesty is informed that the ministers of the different 
 churches in this province, unconnected with the Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church, c are for the most part from the 
 United States, where they gather their knowledge and 
 form their sentiments.' The Methodist preachers are 
 particularly stigmatised with the charge of mixing up 
 sedition with the word of God ; and ' the other denomi- 
 nations ' are represented as having few teachers, and those 
 seemingly very ignorant. 
 
 " Could it be true that the Methodist preachers were 
 rendering, by their influence and instructions, a large 
 portion of the population hostile to our institutions, both 
 civil and religious, the evil would be most alarming ; and 
 if the charge be credited in any degree by our gracious 
 Sovereign, we feel with deep regret how low we must 
 sink in his estimation, and how hopeless is our expectation 
 of enjoying his royal confidence. Your petitioners know 
 no difference between those who preach disaffection and 
 those who habitually hear it. We notice with much 
 anxiety in the same document a disposition expressed 
 and recommended to pursue a policy which shall augment 
 the number of the clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church from three hundred to two thousand; and by 
 the addition of wealth, to be shared by no other 
 denomination of Christians, gradually to acquire to 
 themselves exclusively the superintendence of the 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 207 
 
 education of our children in the public schools. The end 
 of such a system must be ecclesiastical dominion. It is 
 asserted with much confidence by this sworn adviser of 
 the representative of his Majesty, that ' the tendency of 
 the population is toward the Church of England/ and 
 that ' nothing but the want of moderate support prevents 
 her from spreading over the whole province.' 
 
 " We have ascertained that a Royal Charter has been 
 granted for the establishment of a university amongst us, 
 the principle of which, we have good reason to fear, will be 
 found inconsistent with the unimpaired preservation and 
 maintenance of our civil and religious rights and privileges. 
 
 " We humbly pray that your honourable House would 
 inquire into the principle upon which a university is to 
 be established amongst us, so that no power to hold 
 lands or other property be granted to, nor any addition 
 to the number of members composing the House of 
 Assembly made from or out of any ecclesiastical or 
 literary body corporate, at whose hands danger could or 
 might be apprehended to the Constitution, or to our 
 religious liberties : and also that your honourable House 
 would inquire into the truth of the above recited cruel 
 charges and statements against the ministers and the 
 people, and further to take such steps upon the premises 
 to preserve us and our children from ecclesiastical domi- 
 nation, as to your wisdom shall seem fit." 
 
 In accordance with the inquiry the committee 
 formulated a series of fourteen questions, out of which 
 grew a few others, covering the main points raised by the 
 archdeacon's chart and letter. These questions were 
 printed, and the witnesses were asked to hand in written 
 
2o8 Methodism in Canada 
 
 answers. Most of the answers displayed remarkable 
 unanimity of opinion. While occasionally differing upon 
 minor points, or on what were purely matters of opinion, 
 the witnesses, with few exceptions, were entirely in accord 
 in their answers to the main questions. They were con- 
 clusive that, in the judgment of the witnesses, the 
 ministers of denominations unconnected with the Church 
 of England were not, for the most part, from the United 
 States, and did not gather their knowledge or form their 
 sentiments from that source ; that the influence and 
 instruction of the Methodist preachers had no tendency to 
 render the people hostile to British institutions ; l that an 
 increase in the number of missionaries of the Church of 
 England would not render our people more attached to 
 our civil and religious institutions ; that the tendency of 
 the population in the province at this time was not toward 
 the Church of England, nor was it spreading to the extent 
 that had been claimed ; that the people of the province 
 were not in favour of having one or more churches or 
 denominations established by law with exclusive rights, 
 privileges, or endowments ; that they did not wish the 
 proceeds of the Clergy Eeserves to be given to clergymen 
 of the Church of England, but that they be devoted to 
 general education and internal improvements. Eeplying 
 to a question concerning the relative strength of other 
 denominations compared with the Church of England, the 
 witnesses concur in giving the Methodists foremost place. 
 The Speaker of the House thought " they might, in regard 
 
 1 It was clearly shown that in the war of 1812 the Methodists were as 
 zealous as any in defence of the province ; that several ministers voluntarily 
 served in flank companies, and were in several engagements, in which two 
 of them were wounded. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 209 
 
 to numbers, be arranged thus : 1st, Methodists ; 2nd, 
 Presbyterians (including Scotch Kirk, Seceders, Inde- 
 pendents, Congregationalists, etc.) ; 3rd, Catholics ; 4th, 
 Baptists; 5th, Church of England." Questioned about 
 the ecclesiastical chart, the witnesses were agreed that it 
 was not a fair representation of the standing and character 
 of the various denominations in Upper Canada. As to 
 the relation of Methodist preachers in Upper Canada to 
 the Conference in the United States, the Eev. William Case 
 gave the following evidence: 
 
 " The Methodist preachers who came into this province 
 were from the Methodist Conference in the State of New 
 York, about the year 1790. They continued to be 
 accountable to that Conference for their moral deportment, 
 and their characters were carefully examined, till August 
 1824, since which time the affairs of the Methodist Church 
 in Canada have been transacted by the Canada Conference. 
 At no time did the Methodist Conference in the United 
 States exercise or claim any control of a temporal nature 
 over the Methodists in Canada. Their services were 
 purely of a spiritual nature. To supply the wants of a 
 destitute country they laboured freely and for many years 
 at considerable sacrifice of property and even of health 
 and life ; and some of their ministers, by excessive toil in 
 a new country, expended both. The Colonial Government, 
 I conceive, has the same control over the Methodists in 
 this country that the British Government has over others 
 of its subjects both in Europe and America." 
 
 The select committee having concluded its labours, 
 the chairman, Marshall S. Bidwell, informed the House 
 that a report had been adopted, and an address to his 
 
 14 
 
2io Methodism in Canada 
 
 Majesty founded thereon. On the following day the 
 House went into committee of the whole, and, on the 
 question of receiving the report, divided with the following 
 result yeas 22, nays 8. This was virtually a test vote, 
 and indicated how the whole subject would be dealt with. 
 The report was received and adopted ; the address to the 
 King was read a second time, adopted, and ordered to be 
 read a third time on the following Thursday. On that 
 day the address was passed by a vote of 21 to 9, 
 and signed by the Speaker. The report and address were 
 both remarkable documents. Calm, dignified, and explicit, 
 they stated the results of the committee's deliberations 
 with clearness and precision, and made request in a spirit 
 befitting a grave, deliberative body. The parts of the 
 report bearing more directly on the questions at issue are 
 as follows : 
 
 " The committee have examined all the members of 
 the House of Assembly whose testimony they could 
 obtain ; some members of the Honourable the Legislative 
 Council, of long residence, high standing, and large 
 possessions in the province ; various clergymen of different 
 denominations in York and its vicinity, and a few other 
 individuals. 
 
 " From the evidence it will be perceived that the letter 
 and chart were calculated to produce in many respects 
 erroneous impressions respecting the religious state of this 
 province and the sentiments of the inhabitants. As it 
 seems from Dr. Strachan's evidence that they were drawn 
 up suddenly from memory, and without the means of 
 reference to sources of authentic information, it is much 
 to be regretted that these circumstances had not been at 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 2 1 1 
 
 least hinted in the letter itself, and the more so when it is 
 considered that, as he stated to the committee, he had 
 never known the number of the Church of England in 
 this province. The assertions in the letter, ' the people are 
 coming forward in all directions offering to assist in 
 building churches, and soliciting with the greatest anxiety 
 the establishment of a settled minister ; and that the 
 tendency of the population is toward the Church of 
 England, and nothing but the want of moderate support 
 prevents her from spreading over the whole province,' are 
 completely contradicted by the evidence. 
 
 " The insinuation against the Methodist clergymen the 
 committee have noticed with peculiar regret. To the 
 disinterested and indefatigable exertions of these pious 
 men this province owes much. At an early period in 
 its history, when it was thinly settled and its inhabitants 
 were scattered through the wilderness and destitute of all 
 other means of religious instruction, these ministers of the 
 gospel, animated by Christian zeal and benevolence, at the 
 sacrifice of health and interest and comfort, carried among 
 the people the blessings and consolations and sanctions of 
 our holy religion. Their influence and instruction, far 
 from having (as is represented in the letter) a tendency 
 hostile to our institutions, have been conducive, in a degree 
 that cannot be easily estimated, to the reformation of their 
 hearers from licentiousness, and the diffusion of correct 
 morals, the foundation of all sound loyalty and social order. 
 There is no reason to believe that, as a body, they have 
 failed to inculcate, by precept and example, as a Christian 
 duty, an attachment to the Sovereign and a cheerful and 
 
212 Methodism in Canada 
 
 conscientious obedience to the laws of the country. More 
 than thirty-five years have elapsed since they commenced 
 their labours in the colonies. In that time the province 
 has passed through a war which put to the proof their 
 loyalty. If their influence and instructions have the 
 tendency mentioned, the effects by this time must be 
 manifest ; yet no one doubts that the Methodists are as 
 loyal as any of his Majesty's subjects. And the very fact 
 that while their clergymen are dependent for their support 
 upon the voluntary contributions of the people, the 
 number of their members has increased so as to now, in 
 the opinion of almost all the witnesses, be greater than 
 that of the members of any other denomination in this 
 province, is a complete refutation of any suspicion that 
 their influence and instructions have such a tendency ; 
 for it would be a gross slander on the loyalty of the people 
 to suppose that they would countenance and listen with 
 complacency to those whose influence was exerted for such 
 base purposes." 
 
 Referring to the question of a State Church, the 
 committee pointed out that besides the Methodists there 
 were other denominations more numerous than the Church 
 of England, and that the latter constituted but a small 
 part of the population of the whole province ; " hence it 
 would be unjust and impolitic to exalt " that " Church, by 
 exclusive and peculiar rights, above all others of his 
 Majesty's subjects who are equally loyal, conscientious, and 
 deserving." It was further pointed out that there existed 
 in the minds of the people generally " a strong and settled 
 aversion to anything like an Established Church, and that 
 an attempt to incorporate the Church of England, or any 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 2 1 3 
 
 other church, in such a capacity would excite alarm 
 throughout the country, and the actual execution of such 
 a measure would produce the most general and lasting 
 discontent." There was no necessity for such an 
 establishment, either for the ends of loyalty or religion. 
 Moreover, were such a church established, men who were 
 conscientiously opposed to its doctrines or form of worship 
 would be compelled, in the very nature of the case, " to 
 oppose one of the civil institutions of the country, a part 
 of the Government itself," which would render them objects 
 of jealousy and suspicion, until " their very conscientious- 
 ness comes by degrees to be regarded and treated as a 
 crime." The next paragraph of the committee's report, 
 dealing with a different matter, deserves to be transcribed 
 at length : 
 
 " In the course of their inquiries, the committee 
 obtained information which, to their surprise and regret, 
 gave them reason to believe that, to create in the minds 
 of the Indians recently converted, under the divine 
 blessing, to the Christian religion an influence unfavour- 
 able to their present religious teachers, through whose 
 exertions this change has taken place, the name of his 
 Majesty's Government had been used ; and even that 
 intimation had been made of an intention to compel them 
 to come under the Church of England. The great and 
 surprising changes which have occurred within a short 
 period of time in the character and condition of large 
 bodies of the Mississagua Indians is well known. From a 
 state of vice and ignorance, wretchedness and degradation 
 almost brutal, they have been brought to habits of industry, 
 order, and temperance, a thirst for instruction and know- 
 
214 Methodism in Canada 
 
 ledge, a profession of the Christian religion, and apparently 
 a cordial and humble belief of its truths and enjoyment 
 of its blessings. In this change the Methodists have been 
 chiefly instrumental. They have manifested the most 
 benevolent zeal in accomplishing it ; they have sent 
 missionaries and established schools among them which 
 are supported by voluntary contributions, and they are 
 still labouring among them with the same disinterested 
 spirit and the same surprising encouragement and 
 success." 
 
 The report of the committee then deals with the 
 question of the Clergy Eeserves. A statute had recently 
 been passed by the Imperial Parliament authorising the 
 sale of a part of the reserves, but it was not yet known 
 how the proceeds would be applied. The Upper Canada 
 House of Assembly had already expressed its opinion 
 against devoting the proceeds to the purposes originally 
 intended, and in favour of devoting them to purposes of 
 education. The committee now advanced the further opinion 
 that the fund should be placed at the disposal of the 
 Provincial Legislature for the purpose last mentioned. 
 
 The Charter of the University of King's College next 
 engaged the attention of the committee. In the report 
 the main provisions of the charter are recited, and 
 attention is called to the sectarian character and tendency 
 of the institution: In a pamphlet published in London 
 by Dr. Strachan, entitled An Appeal to the Friends 
 of Religion and Literature, in 'behalf of tlie University 
 of Upper Canada, he states distinctly that it would be 
 essentially a missionary college, " for the education of 
 missionaries of the Church of England," and " as an 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 2 1 5 
 
 argument," says the report, " to obtain from the members 
 of the Church contributions towards the funds of the 
 college, maintains that the effect of establishing this 
 university will be ultimately to make the greater portion 
 of the population of ' the province members of the Church 
 of England." It was clearly recognised by the committee 
 that a university adapted to the character and circum- 
 stances of the people would confer untold benefits upon 
 the province ; " but," it is added, " to be of real service, the 
 principles upon which it is established must be in unison 
 with the general sentiments of the people. It should not 
 be a school of politics or of sectarian views. It should 
 have about it no appearance of a spirit of partiality or 
 exclusiveness. Its portals should be thrown open to all, 
 and upon none who enter should any influence be exerted 
 to attach them to a particular creed or church. . . . Such 
 an institution would be a blessing to the country, its pride 
 and glory." 
 
 The report having been adopted by the House by a 
 majority of more than two to one, an address to the King, 
 based upon the report, was submitted, and adopted by 
 a similar majority. After referring to Dr. Strachan's 
 ecclesiastical chart and letter, the address proceeds : 
 
 " We beg leave to inform your Majesty that of your 
 Majesty's subjects in this province only a small proportion 
 are members of the Church of England ; that there is not 
 any peculiar tendency to that Church among the people, 
 and that nothing could cause more alarm and grief in their 
 minds than the apprehension that there was a design on 
 the* part of your Majesty's Government to establish, as a 
 part of the State, one or more church or denomination of 
 
216 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Christians in this province, with rights and endowments 
 not granted to your Majesty's subjects in general of other 
 denominations, who are equally conscientious and deserving, 
 and equally loyal and attached to your Majesty's person 
 and Government. In following honestly the dictates of 
 their conscience, as regards the great and important subject 
 of religion, the latter have never been conscious that they 
 have violated any law or any obligation of a good subject, 
 or done anything to forfeit your Majesty's favour and 
 protection, or to exclude themselves from a participation 
 in the rights and privileges enjoyed by your Majesty's 
 other subjects. 
 
 " We humbly beg leave to assure your Majesty that 
 the- insinuations against the Methodist preachers in this 
 province do much injustice to a body of pious and de- 
 serving men, who justly enjoy the confidence and are the 
 spiritual instructors of a large portion of your Majesty's 
 subjects in this province. We are convinced that the 
 tendency of their influence and instruction is not hostile 
 to our institutions, but, on the contrary, is eminently 
 favourable to religion and morality ; that their labours 
 are calculated to make the people better men and better 
 subjects, and have already produced in the province the 
 happiest results." 
 
 The remainder of the address refers to the Clergy 
 Reserves, and the application of the proceeds arising from 
 their sale. 
 
 Of the immediate effect of the report and address upon 
 the British Government it is unnecessary to speak at present. 
 It may be mentioned, however, that in the British House 
 of Commons in 1831, in answer to a question put by 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 2 1 7 
 
 Mr. Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton) whether 
 ministers intended to continue parliamentary grants to 
 support Episcopal clergy in Canada, and whether they 
 intended to apply themselves to the subject of the Clergy 
 Reserves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer observed that 
 <; ministers did not defend this vote upon principle. The 
 point, the committee was aware, was one of considerable 
 difficulty, as it involved the whole question of the church 
 establishment in Canada ; it was therefore impossible to 
 take any step rapidly ; but it did appear to him that it 
 was not fitting that the people of England should be called 
 upon to provide funds for the support of the clergy and 
 church establishment of Canada. It was the intention of 
 ministers gradually to reduce the grant, and to abolish it 
 as soon as possible. The Clergy Reserves were highly 
 detrimental to the prosperity of the colony, but he could 
 give no pledge on the subject, which was one of great 
 difficulty." From all this it may be inferred that the 
 Home Government saw that the whole question of Church 
 Establishment and Clergy Reserves must be dealt with in 
 the not distant future, and desired to find some way of 
 retiring with dignity from a position that was no longer 
 tenable. In Upper Canada the effect of the report and 
 address were far more marked and decisive. The contro- 
 versy was by no means settled, it was only fully opened ; 
 but the whole question was brought within the sphere of 
 practical politics, and the people had taken a step through 
 their Legislature from which they would never recede. In 
 successive Parliaments,resolutions,addresses,and Acts against 
 the sectarian character of King's College Charter were 
 passed ; but the will of the Popular Assembly was thwarted 
 
218 Methodism in Canada 
 
 by the Legislative Council, and fifteen years elapsed before 
 King's College was transformed into a provincial institution 
 under the title of Toronto University. 
 
 The controversy respecting the Clergy Eeserves was 
 much more protracted, and nearly a quarter of a century 
 elapsed before the last vestiges of State - Churchism 
 disappeared from the Statute Book. In 1835 public 
 feeling was intensified by one of the last official acts of 
 Sir John Colborne, who, before leaving Canada, " erected 
 fifty-seven rectories of the Church of England, and endowed 
 them with glebe lands out of the Clergy Eeserves." x It 
 should be clearly understood, however, that this was not 
 a controversy between Methodists on the one hand and the 
 Church of England on the other. It was a struggle in 
 which the whole population was engaged, and the 
 prominence which Methodism obtained was due to the 
 fact that from the ranks of its ministry came by far the 
 ablest champion of the rights of the people and the 
 equality of the churches. At the same time, it was well 
 known that the Methodists, ministers and people, were 
 almost a unit in their opposition to an endowed State 
 Church, and this identified them, in popular estimation, 
 with the Eeform party that was battling for responsible 
 government, and incidentally against State - Churchism 
 and the Clergy Eeserves as obstacles which lay in its 
 way. 
 
 So long as the Eeform party pursued its ends by 
 constitutional means, it carried with it the sympathy of 
 a large proportion of the population ; and had it not been 
 for the persistent obstruction of the Legislative Council, 
 
 1 Epochs of Methodism, p. 220. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 219 
 
 the House of Assembly would have brought about the 
 desired changes in a peaceable and orderly manner. But 
 the stubborn resistance offered by the irresponsible branch 
 of the Legislature to necessary reforms exasperated the 
 temper of the people, and gave an opportunity to a few 
 rash, hot-headed men to precipitate a struggle with the 
 Executive in a mad endeavour to secure by revolution 
 what they had failed to accomplish by milder methods. 
 Foremost among these was William Lyon Mackenzie, a 
 Scotchman, who came to Upper Canada in his twenty- 
 fifth year, and after a varied experience as a storekeeper 
 in several places, came to York, where he seemed to find 
 his true vocation as a journalist. In 1826 he established 
 the Colonial Advocate, and for more than a decade was the 
 " stormy petrel " of Canadian politics. Wherever he went 
 a storm was sure to follow. For ferreting out abuses he 
 had no equal ; and this, coupled with his pungent and 
 irritating style of editorial criticism, made him the lte 
 noire of the Government and its supporters. As a 
 champion of popular rights he obtained wide influence, 
 and was soon returned to the Assembly as Eeform member 
 for the county of York ; but as a leader he was rash, 
 impulsive, and unsafe. In the House he was continually 
 unearthing abuses, while outside of it " he traversed the 
 country, held public meetings, and circulated petitions to the 
 throne, which were signed by more than twenty thousand 
 persons, praying for the secularisation of the Clergy 
 Reserves, for law reform, for the exclusion of judges and 
 the clergy from Parliament, for the abolition of primo- 
 geniture, for the legislative control of public moneys, and 
 for other reforms which have long since become the law 
 
22O Methodism in Canada 
 
 of the land." 1 Again and again Mackenzie was expelled 
 from the House for assumed breach of parliamentary 
 privilege, and as often was triumphantly returned again 
 by his constituents. 
 
 When Egerton Ryerson visited England in 1833 as 
 representative of the Canadian Conference, he was the 
 bearer of a petition to the King, signed by upwards of 
 twenty thousand persons, against the Clergy Reserve mono- 
 poly and the establishment of a dominant church in Upper 
 Canada. He visited England again in 183637 seeking 
 aid and a Royal Charter for Victoria University. On 
 this occasion he was astounded by a prevalent impression- 
 among public men that the people of Canada were going 
 to set up a republican government and separate from 
 England. He indignantly denied the statement, but 
 further inquiry revealed the fact that for some time 
 correspondence had been proceeding between William 
 Lyon Mackenzie and Joseph Papineau of Canada, and 
 Messrs. Hume and Roebuck, of the British Parliament, 
 with this very end in view. Mr. Ryerson at once 
 addressed six letters to Hume and Roebuck, through the 
 Times newspaper, over the signature of " A Canadian," 
 showing that they were the originators and advisers of 
 the change from reform to revolution in Canada, and for 
 throwing off what Mr. Hume called " the baneful 
 domination of the Mother Country," and for establishing 
 a republic in Canada. 
 
 After his return to Canada in 1833, Mr. Ryerson 
 published in the Christian Guardian, of which he had 
 again been elected editor, a series of articles giving his 
 1 Withrow's Abridged History of Canada, p. 107. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 221 
 
 impressions in regard to public men, religious bodies, 
 and the general state of the nation. These " impressions " 
 gave huge offence to the Mackenzie-Papineau section of 
 the Reform party. The former clearly perceived what 
 would be the probable effect on the public mind of such 
 outspoken criticisms, and he proceeded to attack the 
 writer with that unscrupulous and bitter invective in the 
 use of which he was a past master. Other papers of the 
 extreme radical type took up the cry, until the whole 
 vocabulary of abuse seemed to be exhausted in denouncing 
 a man who sought to give a faithful picture of men and 
 parties as he saw them in England. The sting of the 
 " impressions " was in this, that if the author was right, 
 then the revolutionary wing of the Eeform party in Upper 
 Canada was wrong, and would have to retrace its steps, 
 or else incur a tremendous responsibility. For a time 
 these attacks had their effect. Feelings of deep resent- 
 ment were excited in many quarters, and some who had 
 been Mr. Ryerson's warmest friends turned against him. 
 Even his own brothers seemed to think he had made a 
 mistake. The Rev. John Ryerson, in a letter written about 
 this time, said : 
 
 " What will be the result of your remarks in the 
 Guardian on political parties in England, I cannot say. 
 They will occasion much speculation, some jealousy, and 
 bad feeling. I have sometimes thought you had 
 better not have written them, particularly at this time, 
 yet I have long been of the opinion (both with regard to 
 measures and men) that we leaned too much toward 
 radicalism, and that it would be absolutely necessary to 
 disengage ourselves from them entirely. You can see 
 
222 Methodism in Canada 
 
 plainly it is not reform but revolution they are after. . . . 
 There are some things in your remarks I don't like ; but, 
 on the whole, I am glad of their appearance, and I hope, 
 whenever you have occasion to speak of the Government, 
 you will do it in terms of respect. I am anxious that 
 we should obtain the confidence of the Government, 
 and entirely disconnect ourselves from that tribe of 
 levellers with whom we have been too intimate, and who 
 are, at any time, ready to turn around and sell us when 
 we fail to please them." 
 
 As time went on it became apparent there would be a 
 division in the Reform party, and this increased the rage 
 of the revolutionary element. The controversy developed 
 their plans perhaps more rapidly than they intended, and 
 Mackenzie began to utter sentiments which could only be 
 interpreted as encouraging armed resistance to the Govern- 
 ment. The object, doubtless, was so to commit the Eef orm 
 party to his revolutionary policy that they would find it 
 impossible to recede. The only thing to be regretted is 
 that the more moderate leaders did not at once repudiate 
 Mackenzie's treasonable sentiments and cut loose from his 
 dangerous designs. Perhaps they thought his violent 
 utterances were but the outcome of temporary excitement, 
 and would not lead to any overt act ; but Egerton Ryerson 
 clearly perceived that the trend of events, unless promptly 
 checked, must inevitably end in revolution, whether so 
 intended or not, and lifted up his voice in timely warning 
 against the mad attempt. For this he was assailed with 
 torrents of abuse. He was denounced as traitor, renegade, 
 and arch-apostate, as one who had abandoned friends and 
 principles and gone over to the camp of the enemy. 
 
The Struggle for Civil and Religious Liberty 223 
 
 Nothing could be more unjust. The fact is, that from 
 first to last Egerton Kyerson was the uncompromising 
 advocate of great principles, but never the slave of a party ; 
 and hence he did not hesitate to oppose those with whom 
 he had formerly co-operated when convinced that they had 
 adopted an unwise policy, or had abandoned principle for 
 expediency. The storm which had been raised by the 
 " impressions " gradually subsided. Before the crisis came 
 the Methodist people and many others saw that Kyerson 
 was right, and it was subsequently his proud boast that not 
 a single member of the Methodist Church was implicated in 
 the rebellion of 1837-38. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow in detail the history of the 
 next few years. The ill-starred rebellion was quickly sup- 
 pressed. Some of the leaders escaped, and some were sent 
 to the gallows a most impolitic act, but not suprising in 
 view of the excited state of public feeling. Only a small 
 section of the Eeform party actually participated in the 
 uprising ; but all had to bear the odium caused by the 
 rashness of a few, and for a time the party was practically 
 extinct. It was only after the coming of Lord Durham, 
 and the publication of his masterly and statesman-like 
 report on Canadian affairs, that the tide of feeling fairly 
 turned. The cause of popular rights had been retarded, 
 but could not be permanently turned back it was too 
 deeply imbedded in the convictions and aspirations of the 
 people to admit of that ; but years elapsed before the 
 controversy was fully ended, and it could be affirmed, with- 
 out a shadow of reservation, that the great battle of civil 
 and religious liberty had been fought and won. 
 
 Calmly surveying, after the lapse of more than half 
 
224 Methodism in Canada 
 
 a century, the events of those troublous times, Methodism 
 has no occasion to blush for the part she played. While 
 her ministers carefully abstained from interference in party 
 politics, and never alluded to such questions in public 
 address or sermon, they were known, for the most part, as 
 staunch adherents of the demand for responsible govern- 
 ment, and uncompromising opponents of a dominant State 
 Church. The membership, as a rule, co-operated, in public 
 affairs, with the Eeform party, for that was the party which 
 championed the popular cause ; but when they saw that a 
 section of the party were abandoning reform for revolution, 
 they did not hesitate to oppose their former associates, and 
 even to take up arms in defence of law and order. And 
 when strife subsided, and the smoke of battle cleared away, 
 it was clearly seen by all reasonable men that, alike by its 
 spiritual ministrations and its attitude on great public 
 questions, Methodism had rendered service of unspeakable 
 value, and had fairly earned the respect and gratitude of 
 the whole country. No longer treated as a despised sect, 
 no longer overshadowed and brow-beaten by a haughty 
 ecclesiastical establishment, Methodism took its stand on 
 terms of equality with other denominations, and by virtue 
 of its numbers, intelligence, and active support of whatever 
 made for the weal of the people, it was henceforth regarded 
 as a force to be reckoned with in the conduct of public 
 affairs. 
 
UNION WITH THE BRITISH CONFERENCE 
 DISSOLVED AND RESTORED 
 
 HAVING given some account of the causes which led to the 
 union between the British and Canadian Conferences in 
 1833 (pp. 142179), it now becomes necessary to recall 
 the circumstances which led to a dissolution of that union 
 in 1840, and to its restoration in 1847; for these occur- 
 rences were not unimportant links in the chain of events 
 which combined to make the Methodist Church in Canada 
 what it is to-day. Previous to 1833 the trend of affairs 
 was such as necessitated a union of forces if Methodism 
 was to be saved from complications that would have retarded 
 its progress for years. Two Methodist bodies the British 
 Wesleyan missionaries and the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 were working in the same field among a sparse popula- 
 tion. For a time the understanding formerly reached with 
 the General Conference in the United States, that the 
 British Wesleyan Committee should confine its labours to 
 Lower Canada, was observed; but when the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Canada became an independent body, 
 free from the control of the American General Conference, 
 the British brethren considered that the original compact 
 was no longer binding, and that they were now at liberty 
 
 '5 
 
226 Methodism in Canada 
 
 to send missionaries into any part of the country where 
 their services might be desired. As a result of this, 
 missionaries of the British Conference were sent into Upper 
 Canada. In some cases preachers of both Connexions were 
 appointed to the same stations, and thus altar was set up 
 against altar, societies were divided, and the preachers were 
 placed, by force of circumstances, in a position of antagonism 
 to each other which could not fail to be prejudicial to the 
 interests of true religion. 
 
 When the union was consummated the whole situation 
 seemed to be changed for the better. It would be incorrect 
 to say that everybody was pleased ; but those who would 
 have preferred to maintain their former connexion with 
 the British Missionary Committee were willing, for the 
 sake of peace, and in the interests of the work, to accept 
 the new arrangement ; and those who were strongly 
 attached to the Methodist Episcopal Church, under whose 
 ministry they had been converted and in connexion with 
 which they had laboured, resolved to forego their prefer- 
 ences for the sake of what seemed a greater good. It may 
 be that even the leaders in the movement did not realise 
 how diverse and conflicting were some of the elements they 
 were trying to unite. At that time so little was known 
 about Canada in the Mother Country that it was practically 
 impossible for Englishmen to see questions from a Canadian 
 point of view, and it was just as impossible for those who 
 had grown up in the unconventional atmosphere of a new 
 colony, where everything, from the rights of the humblest 
 subject to the prerogatives of the Crown, was discussed 
 with the utmost freedom, to understand the conservatism 
 of English opinion or its deference to prerogative and 
 
Union ivith the British Conference Dissolved 227 
 
 vested rights. Years of misunderstanding and conflict 
 elapsed before these initial difficulties were surmounted, 
 and the two parties learned to adjust themselves to each 
 other and to existing conditions. 
 
 In effecting the union certain changes in the discipline 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada were rendered 
 necessary to meet the new order of things. There was, 
 first of all, a partial change of name. That which had 
 been known as " The Episcopal Methodist Church in Canada" 
 now became " The Wesleyan Methodist Church in British 
 North America" Then the designation of the presiding 
 officer was changed from " bishop " to " president," and the 
 office, instead of being for life, was made annual ; but no 
 change was made in the functions of the officer referred 
 to. In the ministry the term "elder" was changed to 
 " superintendent," and the ordination of deacons was 
 dispensed with. It was also understood that, from the 
 time of the union, the practice of ordaining local preachers 
 should be discontinued. In regard to this latter point it 
 should be observed that in 1834 the new rules respecting 
 local preachers were submitted to the whole Church and 
 ratified by more than three fourths of the quarterly 
 official meetings of the Connexion. At the Hallowell 
 Conference in 1832, when a union with the English 
 Conference was proposed, and at the York Conference in 
 1833, where it was ratified, there were some ministers who, 
 on various grounds, were opposed to the scheme, but when 
 it was carried by the requisite constitutional majorities 
 they readily acquiesced, and gave their best aid to make 
 the union a success. Among the membership of the 
 Church there seemed to be almost entire unanimity, and 
 
228 Methodism in Canada 
 
 with one exception no memorial or protest against the 
 union was heard from any quarter. The exception con- 
 sisted of a few local preachers who assembled in the 
 Trafalgar meeting-house, 6th July 1832, and adopted the 
 following resolution : " Resolved That as it appears from 
 the Christian Guardian that a union between the missionaries 
 from Britain and our Church is contemplated, we address 
 our Annual Conference on the subject of our privileges as 
 local preachers, and that Brothers Picket, Gulp, and Brown 
 be the committee to draft such address and forward it for 
 presentation." At the Conference of 1834, a year after 
 the union was consummated, some amendments to the 
 regulations respecting local preachers were adopted. By 
 these amendments local preachers' Conferences were dis- 
 continued, and also the practice of ordaining local preachers. 
 These two changes caused some alarm and even resentment. 
 A convention was called at Belleville late in the autumn 
 of 1834, which is said- to have been attended by twelve or 
 fifteen persons, when resolutions were adopted condemning 
 the " local preachers' resolutions," and also disapproving 
 of the union with the British Conference. During the 
 following spring or early summer a few persons met to 
 reorganise on the old Episcopal plan, and to form a General 
 Conference. This action was greatly to be deplored, for it 
 resulted in a " schism in the body " that was not healed for 
 nearly fifty years. The conflict that followed developed 
 all the bitterness of a family quarrel, which grew more 
 intense as the years went by, and was eagerly seized upon 
 by politicians as a means of discrediting and weakening 
 the Methodist Church. Certain political papers teemed 
 with bitter articles on the tyranny, despotism, political 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 229 
 
 depravity, and religious apostasy of Wesleyan Methodism. 
 But, happily, all this belongs to a bygone day. The breach 
 which began in the division of 1834 was healed by the 
 union of 1883, and there we leave the story of the 
 unhappy strife. Peace and brotherhood are reigning now. 
 " Let the dead past bury its dead." 
 
 It would have been a happy thing for Methodism had 
 the division just referred to been the only one ; but another 
 was to follow in the course of a few years which was in 
 some respects more deplorable than the first. Besides 
 the ostensible causes of the rupture, there were other 
 influences equally potent though less manifest. The union 
 which had been effected in 1833 was distasteful to various 
 party politicians. The dominant party in the Legislative 
 Council may have favoured it, for although their favourite 
 policy was to foment discord and disunion in the Methodist 
 Church, they may have seen in this union something which 
 they fondly hoped would neutralise the efforts of the 
 Canada Conference for the secularisation of the Clergy 
 Reserves and to prevent the recognition of a State Church ; 
 but the radical element in the Liberal party disliked a 
 union which meant resolute opposition to revolutionary 
 schemes ; while even the constitutional Reformers regarded 
 it with some degree of suspicion. Moreover, the union 
 held within itself elements that were not easily fused into 
 one. The English missionaries had been brought up under 
 conditions very different from those in which the Canadian 
 preachers had received their training. They were more 
 conservative in their methods, more disposed to defer to 
 " the powers that be," whether right or wrong, and 
 perhaps were not altogether free from that spirit of lofty 
 
230 Methodism in Canada 
 
 condescension with which Englishmen of that period and 
 some later periods were wont to regard " mere colonials." 
 The Canadian preachers, on the other hand, had grown up 
 with the country from its very beginning. They were of the 
 people and knew the people, had shared their struggles and 
 sympathised with their aspirations, and in common with the 
 people were imbued with an intense dislike of irresponsible 
 or autocratic authority in Church or State. All this may 
 have rendered them impatient of anything that savoured 
 of dictation, and almost too ready to assert the right of 
 self-government. But it should be remembered that all 
 they possessed of civil or religious liberty had been won 
 after bitter and protracted struggles, and was prized 
 accordingly. Above all, it should be remembered that at 
 the time of which we speak public opinion on many 
 questions, civil and religious, was at fever heat ; men's 
 minds were so sensitive that grievances which in a time of 
 profound peace would have seemed very trifling loomed up 
 in large proportions in the heated atmosphere of political 
 excitement and controversy. 
 
 The events which led ultimately to a dissolution of the 
 union between the British and Canadian Conferences had 
 their origin in the revival of the Clergy Keserves dispute. 
 For some years after the union the British Conference and 
 English missionaries co-operated with the Canadian Con- 
 ference and the Christian Guardian in the demand for 
 equal rights before the law for all creeds and classes, and 
 the secularisation of the Clergy Keserves ; but the insurrec- 
 tion of 1837, and the bitter agitation which preceded and 
 grew out of it, resulted in a change of attitude. The 
 Family Compact (which really meant Archdeacon Strachan 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 231 
 
 and his supporters in the Legislative Council) made all 
 possible capital out of the rebellion, by affirming that the 
 whole trouble had grown out of the opposition of the 
 pretended advocates of equal rights and privileges to the 
 British Constitution and Government. In these efforts the 
 dominant party was seconded by the new Governor, Sir 
 George Arthur, and it is not surprising that their 
 representations had considerable effect, especially in 
 England. The Wesleyan Missionary Committee in 
 London, looking on from a great distance, and receiving 
 their impressions, to a large extent, from the communica- 
 tions of bitter enemies of reform, could hardly be expected 
 to understand the situation or to comprehend the intense 
 desire of the victims of oppression and misrule for deliver- 
 ance from the burdens under which they were groaning. 
 It might have been supposed that the English missionaries 
 in Canada would have understood the true position of 
 affairs; but these men had been spectators of a battle 
 rather than participants in it ; their courage had not been 
 tested or their muscles hardened on the field of conflict, 
 and when the rebellion was suppressed they may have 
 thought that the cause of reform was hopelessly lost, and 
 that there was no use in contending against fate. Be that 
 as it may, signs began to appear which indicated that the 
 bond of union between the two Connexions was weakening, 
 and that at no distant day the old line of cleavage would 
 reappear. 
 
 When the editor of the Gruardian perceived that the 
 policy of William Lyon Mackenzie and his followers meant 
 sedition, he unhesitatingly took his stand on the side of 
 law and order of constitutional reforms by constitutional 
 
232 Methodism in Canada 
 
 means and against the schemes of the revolutionists. 
 By this change of attitude (for so it seemed to the 
 extremists) he incurred the bitter hostility of the radical 
 element, lost for a time the confidence and friendship of 
 many of the more moderate reformers, and did not lessen 
 by one jot the rancour and bitterness of the Government 
 and their friends. Any man of less nerve and tenacity 
 of purpose in pursuing what he believed to be the right 
 would have quailed before the storm he had raised ; but 
 not so Egerton Eyerson. Though his life was in danger, 
 he steadily held on his way, and was most courageous in 
 darkest days. When the heat of the rebellion had cooled 
 a little, the Guardian, of which Mr. Kyerson had again 
 been elected editor, resumed the discussion of the Clergy 
 Keserves question, as though the rebellion had only been a 
 trifling incident which had temporarily delayed but could 
 not prevent a final settlement. This, to the opponents 
 of popular rights, was utterly beyond endurance. The 
 furnace of their indignation was heated seven times hotter 
 than its wont, and the editor of the Guardian was 
 threatened with personal violence, with persecution, with 
 banishment. But, undeterred by threats, as at other times 
 he had been undeterred by flattery, Egerton Kyerson 
 stood firm, and redoubled his exertions to defeat the 
 monopolists. Finding other means ineffectual, Sir George 
 Arthur wrote to the Wesleyan Missionary Committee in 
 London, complaining of the course of the Guardian and 
 calling upon the committee to interpose. Such a com- 
 munication, virtually asking the committee to undertake 
 something which the Canadian Government were unable 
 to accomplish, could not be otherwise than flattering ; and 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 233 
 
 as there was a perfectly natural wish to stand well with 
 the Government, the committee sent what was regarded 
 as a complimentary and encouraging reply. They also 
 wrote to the Rev. William M. Harvard, President of 
 Conference, Joseph Stinson, Superintendent of Missions, 
 and Matthew Eichey, Principal of Upper Canada Academy, 
 to interfere in arresting what was regarded as the unjustifi- 
 able course of the Guardian and its editor. The three 
 brethren referred to were men of high repute and con- 
 spicuous ability, but, with the exception of Mr. Stinson, 
 they were new in the province, and hardly capable, on 
 such short acquaintance, of taking in all the bearings of 
 the case. The alleged ground of complaint was not that 
 the Guardian discussed the Clergy Reserves question, but 
 that it had become a political paper, discussing party 
 questions and committing itself to party issues. That 
 there were some grounds for this view cannot be denied. 
 Both John and Egerton Ryerson have admitted that the 
 Guardian, at this period, was intensely political for a 
 religious paper, and many of its best friends thought it 
 ought to modify its course in that respect. 1 But was there 
 not a cause ? The reform party had been utterly crushed 
 by the rebellion, and the reform press was silenced. The 
 dominant party now considered themselves secure in the 
 possession of unquestioned irresponsible power, and how 
 they would use it there was only too much reason to fear. 
 At this crisis Egerton Ryerson was practically the one 
 surviving champion of civil liberty and religious equality 
 in Upper Canada, and knowing that he was backed by 
 all his Canadian brethren who had re-elected him to the 
 
 1 Epochs of Methodism, p. 314 and footnote. 
 
234 Methodism- in Canada 
 
 editorial chair of the Guardian on this very issue, " he 
 determined to defend to the last the citadel of Canadian 
 liberty, by whomsoever or from whatsoever quarter 
 assailed." l He contended " that all political questions 
 then pending had a direct or indirect bearing on the great 
 question ; that in warfare belligerents were not expected 
 to be exceedingly nice in regard to the instruments they 
 employed in making a breach into the enemy's camp and 
 pulling down his bulwarks ; that he employed no illegiti- 
 mate means, but that he would not be turned aside from 
 the great object until it was attained ; that the real object 
 of the Government and the London Missionary Committee 
 was not so much to prevent the introduction of politics 
 into the Guardian as the discussion of the Clergy Eeserves 
 question itself, and the equal religious rights of the people 
 altogether, so that the High Church party might be left in 
 peaceable possession of their exclusive privileges, and their 
 unjust and immense monopolies, without molestation or 
 dispute." 2 It is probable that in this matter Mr. Eyerson 
 judged too harshly. Doubtless the object of the Church 
 party was correctly stated ; but it is not at all likely that 
 the Missionary Committee, as a whole, was swayed by any 
 such considerations, whatever may have been true of one 
 or two individual members. All that can be said is that 
 the committee were not cognisant of the real facts in the 
 case; they relied upon ex parte statements, and were 
 misled accordingly. 
 
 Further, letters and verbal communications between 
 the Government and the London Committee did not serve 
 
 1 Epochs of Methodism, p. 314, footnote. 
 * Ibid. pp. 315, 316. 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 235 
 
 to lessen the tension but rather increased it, and in 1839 
 the Kev. Eobert Alder was sent to Canada, ostensibly to 
 ascertain the state of affairs and parties and if possible 
 adjust matters upon a satisfactory basis. Shortly after 
 his arrival a strong pamphlet appeared over the signatures 
 of Kev. J. Stinson and M. Richey, giving a statement, 
 from their point of view, of the facts in the case. To this 
 pamphlet the editor of the Guardian prepared a reply, and 
 also to a letter from the Rev. Dr. Alder, which was 
 published when the Conference assembled. Another 
 element in the controversy was introduced by a letter 
 brought by Dr. Alder from the British Secretaries to Sir 
 George Arthur, eulogising his Government and condemning 
 the editor of the Guardian. The letter was promptly 
 published in the Patriot, the organ of the Government, and 
 was as promptly copied into the Guardian and replied to 
 by the editor. This led to further letters from Dr. Alder 
 in defence of the committee, and further replies from Mr. 
 Ryerson. The Conference assembled at Hamilton under 
 the presidency of the Rev. Joseph Stinson. Dr. Alder 
 was present and introduced resolutions supposed to express 
 the views of the British Missionary Committee, which 
 were discussed for the greater part of three days. After 
 Mr. Ryerson had been heard in reply a vote was taken, 
 and the resolutions were rejected by fifty-five to five. 
 Subsequently Mr. Ryerson was re-elected editor of the 
 Guardian by an almost unanimous vote. 
 
 At the same Conference Dr. Alder represented that 
 certain resolutions adopted by the Conference in June 
 1837, on the subject of certain grants made by his late 
 Majesty to the Wesley an Missionary Committee out of 
 
236 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the Casual and Territorial Kevenue, especially the second, 
 fifth, and sixth, interfered with the usages of the English 
 brethren and materially retarded their interests. The Con- 
 ference agreed, in the interests of peace, and to avoid 
 disturbing the union, to rescind the objectionable clauses. 
 The rescinding of these resolutions had no particular effect 
 upon the general question one way or the other, but as it 
 was desired by Dr. Alder, and was understood to remove 
 some embarrassments out of the way of the Missionary 
 Committee in London, it was done. Another resolution of 
 the series, still remaining on the Journals of the Conference, 
 shows conclusively that the opinion of the Connexion in 
 regard to the Clergy Reserves remained unchanged. It 
 reads as follows : 
 
 " 7. That it is the strong conviction and deliberate 
 judgment of this Conference that the interests of religion, 
 the stability of the Government, and the welfare of the 
 province requires the earliest possible settlement of the 
 long-agitated Clergy Reserves question, in accordance with 
 the wishes and circumstances of the inhabitants ; and that 
 those interests have been very seriously sacrificed by the 
 delays which have attended the proposed adjustment of 
 that question, so frequently urged upon the attention of 
 the Provincial Legislature by the Imperial Government." 
 
 In a conversation with Dr. Alder, after the close of 
 the Conference, the editor of the Guardian pointed out 
 that he (Dr. Alder) had entirely mistaken the state of 
 Canadian feeling and the views of the Methodist Con- 
 nexion ; but in order to avoid even the appearance of 
 discounting the British representative, an editorial would 
 be published in the Guardian to the effect that the 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 237 
 
 differences and misunderstandings which had arisen 
 between the London Wesleyan Committee and the 
 Canadian Conference had been adjusted in an amicable 
 spirit, and the unity of the Church maintained inviolate. 
 Dr. Alder gladly accepted the suggestion ; but on his 
 return to England, he used the editorial in his report as a 
 proof that the Canadian Conference and the editor of the 
 Guardian had acceded to all his demands, and that his 
 mission had been entirely successful, when in point of fact 
 nothing had been conceded save the rescinding of three 
 out of eleven resolutions adopted in 1837, which did not 
 affect the main question. Dr. Alder's resolutions, as 
 before pointed out, were sustained by only five votes in a 
 Conference of sixty members. 
 
 In the meantime, a new element had been introduced 
 into public affairs by the appointment of the Earl of 
 Durham as Governor-General of the two Canadas and High 
 Commissioner for the settlement of public affairs, and by 
 the superseding of Sir George Arthur and the appointment 
 of the Right Hon. Poulett Thompson (afterwards Lord 
 Sydenham) as Lieutenant; -Governor of Upper Canada. 
 The Constitution of Lower Canada had been suspended by 
 the Home Government, and the Governor and his Council 
 were supreme ; but Lord Durham was a nobleman of 
 exceptional character, and ability, educated in a liberal 
 school, and one who could be trusted to deal with public 
 affairs in a just and impartial manner. On assuming 
 office he announced himself as the friend and arbitrator 
 of the people without distinction of party, race, or creed, 
 and nobly did he fulfil his pledge. He appointed a com- 
 mission to inquire into the state of the country, and many 
 
238 Methodism in Canada 
 
 grievances were redressed. An amnesty was granted to 
 most of the rebel prisoners, and proclaimed on the day of 
 the Coronation of Queen Victoria. Unwilling to appeal to 
 the decision of a court-martial, whose sentences would 
 doubtless have been very severe, the Governor banished 
 Wolfred Nelson and eight other leading insurgents to 
 Bermuda, and forbade Papineau and other fugitives to 
 return to the country under penalty of death. The Home 
 Government annulled this action as ultra vires, whereupon 
 the Governor at once resigned his commission and returned 
 to England, discouraged and dispirited, with broken health. 1 
 The loss to the country was irreparable. His quick 
 comprehension of the real situation and his far-seeing 
 statesmanship, both of which were clearly indicated in his 
 elaborate and impartial report on Canadian affairs, would 
 have enabled him to deal wisely and effectively with grave 
 complications, and would have saved the country years of 
 political turmoil and acrimonious debate. 
 
 Although the English missionaries were not favourable 
 to a policy that turned the Christian Guardian into a 
 political sheet rather than a religious newspaper, they 
 seem to have held pronounced views on the Clergy 
 Reserves question and the claims of the Church of 
 England. I infer this from a letter addressed by the Eev. 
 Joseph Stinson to the Eev. John Ryerson in April 1838, 
 shortly before the Conference at which Egerton Ryerson 
 was re-elected editor. That letter contained the following 
 passage : 
 
 " I am quite of your opinion that Brother Egerton 
 (Ryerson) ought to take the Guardian next year. There 
 
 * Witjirow's Abridged History of Cctnada, pp. 110, 111, 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 239 
 
 is a crisis approaching in our affairs which will require 
 a vigorous hand to wield the defensive weapon of our 
 Conference. There can be no two opinions as to whom 
 to give that weapon. We now stand on fair grounds 
 to maintain our own against the encroachments of the 
 oligarchy, and we must do it or sink into a comparatively 
 uninfluential body. This must not be." 
 
 It seems to be clearly established that in 1838 Messrs. 
 Stinson and Blchey both voted for Mr. Eyerson as editor ; 
 nor can it be said they did so in ignorance of the latter's 
 views or his intentions for the future. Previous to his 
 election, Mr. Eyerson clearly stated the course he intended 
 to pursue in regard to both civil and religious affairs, and 
 subsequently embodied his remarks in an editorial pros- 
 pectus, to which neither the Church in Canada nor the 
 committee in London took any exception. But when the 
 policy thus enunciated began to develop, and the domi- 
 nant party felt the force of the Guardian's onslaught, 
 strong pressure was brought to bear, first upon the com- 
 mittee in London, and subsequently upon the English 
 missionaries in Canada. It was then that the letter of 
 the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Arthur, was sent to 
 the Wesleyan Missionary Committee, complaining of Mr. 
 Eyerson's course and requesting their interference, and it 
 was then that the views of the English missionaries under- 
 went a change. It is true that in the preceding January 
 (1838) a meeting of several leading ministers was held (at 
 the call and under the presidency of the Eev. William M. 
 Harvard, at that time President of the Conference), and 
 that meeting pronounced in favour of a distribution of 
 tlje proceeds qf the Clergy Reserves among the different 
 
240 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Protestant denominations ; but the Conference had pro- 
 nounced in favour of the appropriation of the Keserves to 
 educational purposes, and for that the Guardian contended. 
 But should the other course be taken, it was argued that 
 the share that might fall to the Methodist Church should 
 be utilised in two ways : (1) For educational purposes ; and 
 (2) to assist in the erection of churches and parsonages ; 
 but not a penny to be for the endowment of the clergy in 
 any way. 
 
 In the editorial prospectus already referred to, a 
 paragraph occurs which so clearly defines Mr. Kyerson's 
 attitude, and the attitude of the entire body of Canadian 
 preachers, that I quote it in full : 
 
 " The present is an epoch in the affairs of this province 
 in which no man of intelligence or consideration can be 
 safely or justifiably neutral. The foundation of our 
 government is being laid anew ; the future character and 
 relations and destinies of the country are involved in 
 pending deliberations ; the last whisper of rebellion is to 
 be silenced in the land. My decision, however, is not one 
 of party, but of principle ; not one of passion, but one of 
 conviction ; not of partial prescription, but of equitable 
 comprehensiveness. To be explicit as well as brief, I am 
 opposed to the introduction of any new and untried theories 
 of government. As the organ of the Methodist Church, I 
 assume that the doctrines and discipline are true and right. 
 I take them for granted, as far as the members of that 
 Church are concerned, and expound and recommend and 
 act upon them accordingly. So in civil affairs I assume 
 that this country is to remain a portion of the British 
 Empire, and view every measure not in reference to any 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 241 
 
 abstract political theory, however plausible that theory 
 may be, but in reference to the well-being of the country 
 in connexion with Great Britain. As in church affairs I 
 take my stand upon the constitution of the Church, in its 
 doctrines and rules, as expounded by its fathers and ablest 
 theologians and illustrated by general usage, so in civil 
 affairs I take my stand upon the established constitution 
 of the country, as expounded by royal despatches and 
 illustrated by the usages of the British Parliament, 
 British Courts of Justice, and the common law of 
 England." 
 
 In 1838, as already noted, the Eev. Joseph Stinson 
 strongly supported the election of the Kev. Egerton 
 Kyerson as editor of the Guardian, under the conviction 
 that he was the only man available who could successfully 
 oppose the " oligarchy " and defend the character and just 
 claims of the Methodist Church. But after the visit of 
 Dr. Alder to Canada in 1839, and as a result of corre- 
 spondence with the Wesleyan Missionary Committee in 
 London, Mr. Stinson assumed a different attitude toward 
 Mr. Kyerson and the great questions on which the 
 Canadian preachers were practically a unit. In a letter 
 addressed to the Governor-General, the Eight Hon. Poulett 
 Thompson, in January 1840, and signed by " J. Stinson, 
 President of the Conference, and M. Kichey, Superintendent 
 of Toronto City," the following passages occur : 
 
 " The Church of England being, in our estimation, 
 the Established Church of all the British Colonies, we 
 entertain no objection to the distinct recognition of her 
 as such ; and had the Eeserves been exclusively 
 appropriated to her, according to the original intention of 
 
 16 
 
242 Methodism in Canada 
 
 his gracious Majesty George Third, we should not have 
 interfered with this matter ; but as the disposition of them 
 has been referred to the Colonial Legislature, we confess 
 we are at a loss to conceive any just reason why the 
 Wesleyan Methodist Church should be placed in a position 
 in any degree inferior to the Church of Scotland. . . . 
 In any settlement of this important question that may 
 be made, we regard it as of vital importance to the 
 permanent peace and prosperity of the province, as a 
 British colony, that the sum to be appropriated to us be 
 given to the Wesleyan Methodists who are now, or who 
 may be hereafter, connected with the British Wesleyan 
 Conference." 
 
 That Mr. Stinson, in his private capacity, had a perfect 
 right to his opinions on the Clergy Keserves, or any other 
 question, no one will dispute ; but that, in his official 
 capacity, he should have expressed sentiments so utterly 
 at variance with those of the Conference of which he was 
 the head, seems to indicate an imperfect conception of 
 official responsibility and duty. At this time the dissolu- 
 tion of the union with the British Conference was almost a 
 foregone conclusion in the minds of the London Committee, 
 whose representatives were preparing to assert their claim 
 not only to the annual grant from Casual and Territorial 
 Kevenue, but also to that share of the Clergy Keserves that 
 might fall to the Methodist Church, should the Govern- 
 ment decide to divide the proceeds among the denomina- 
 tions. It is much to be regretted that the money question 
 should have formed so important a factor in the discussions 
 of the period, and that the great principles involved in the 
 Clergy Reserves question, and the recognition of a dominant 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 243 
 
 State Church, should have been almost lost sight of in the 
 scramble for the loaves and fishes. 
 
 When the Conference of 1839 adjourned, the members 
 were full of hope that peace would now reign between the 
 Conference and the British Committee; but their hopes 
 were doomed to disappointment. Signs of division began 
 to appear. Some were strong in the opinion that the 
 question of the Clergy Eeserves should no longer be 
 discussed in the Guardian, while others were equally 
 pronounced in affirming that it ought to be discussed until 
 a righteous settlement was reached. This continued, more 
 or less, until the Conference of 1840, when a communica- 
 tion from England was read containing serious charges 
 against the Kev. Egerton Eyerson. These charges may be 
 summarised as follows : (1) That he had practically 
 superseded the Kev. Joseph Stinson, representative of the 
 Wesleyan body, in communicating with the Governor- 
 General. (2) That he had shown a want of integrity and 
 ingenuousness in attempting to gain possession, on behalf 
 of the Canadian Conference, of the grant made by the 
 Crown to the Wesleyan Missionary Society. (3) That the 
 Christian Guardian, instead of being conducted as a 
 religious paper, had become more than ever a political and 
 party organ. (4) The committee express the hope that the 
 Canada Conference will utterly repudiate Mr. Kyerson's 
 unjustifiable proceedings at their next annual sitting, and 
 that the Guardian, if continued at all, shall be exclusively 
 a religious publication. (5) But if this reasonable 
 expectation should be disappointed, the committee will 
 " recommend to the next British Conference to dissolve 
 the union which at present subsists between the two 
 
244 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Connexions, and to adopt such measures for the main- 
 tenance and extension of the Indian missions in Upper 
 Canada as may appear to be necessary." 
 
 The issue thus raised was sufficiently distinct, and 
 was further emphasised, after the Conference assembled, 
 by the following resolution, moved by the Eev. Matthew 
 Kichey, who prosecuted the charges on behalf of the 
 British Committee, and seconded by the Kev. Ephraim 
 Evans : 
 
 " Kesolved That this Conference has heard, with great 
 surprise and regret, of brother Egerton Kyerson's attempt 
 to deprive the British Wesleyan Committee of the annual 
 grant received by them from the Imperial Government, to 
 enable them to extend their missions in this province ; 
 and that they utterly repudiate such proceedings on the 
 part of Mr. Kyerson, not only as irregular and un- 
 authorised, but directly opposed to a resolution adopted by 
 this Conference at its last session, rescinding the second, 
 fifth, and sixth passed by this Conference in June 1837, on 
 the subject of the grants in question, because those 
 resolutions were represented by Mr. Alder as interfering 
 with the usages of the British brethren, and calculated 
 materially to retard their interests." 
 
 Before beginning his defence, Mr. Kyerson insisted that 
 the memorial of Kev. Messrs. Stinson and Kichey to the 
 Governor-General be read, as the Conference, up to that 
 moment, were not aware of its existence. At the 
 conclusion of Mr. Ryerson's address considerable discussion 
 followed, after which a vote was taken on Mr. Kichey 's 
 resolution, and it was negatived by a majority of fifty-one 
 in a Conference of sixty members. Without advancing 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 245 
 
 any opinion on the merits of the dispute, one cannot 
 but feel surprised that, in view of the well understood 
 opinions and feelings of the Conference, such a resolution 
 should have been proposed at all, and that some more 
 pacific method of settling the dispute had not been 
 attempted. But probably the English missionaries felt 
 that they were under obligation to carry out the instruc- 
 tions of the London Committee, and that failure to do 
 so would be interpreted as disloyalty to the parent 
 Connexion. 
 
 The vote of censure having thus been disposed of, the 
 Conference proceeded to deal with the resolutions of the 
 British Missionary Committee, and reached conclusions 
 which may be summarised as follows : (1) That we cannot 
 recognise the right of the committee to interfere with 
 the Canada Conference in the management of its own 
 affairs, except as provided for by the Articles of Union. 
 (2) That as these articles expressly secure to the Canadian 
 preachers all their rights and privileges inviolate, it is an 
 alarming precedent for a committee in London to accuse 
 and condemn a member of the Conference and to enjoin 
 upon it to carry their sentence into execution on pain 
 of a dissolution of the union. (3) That we decline to 
 recognise the President appointed in England as the 
 representative of the Wesleyan body in Upper Canada 
 in the transaction of our affairs with the Government, 
 having always a committee or representative of our own 
 for that purpose ; and this Conference at its last session 
 appointed the Eev. Egerton Kyerson to confer with the 
 Government on matters affecting its civil and religious 
 rights. (4) That it was the imperative duty of the Eev. 
 
246 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Egerton Ryerson to confer with the Governor-General on 
 the financial affairs of the Conference, and we fully concur 
 in the exposition given in his letter to the Governor- 
 General dated 17th January 1840. (5) That as the Indian 
 missions in Upper Canada, with two or three exceptions, 
 were established prior to the union, and sustained chiefly 
 by funds raised in this province, we cannot, under any 
 circumstances, relinquish our pastoral connexion with 
 these missions. 
 
 While thus expressing, with plainness and force, its 
 attitude on the points in dispute, the spirit of .the Con- 
 ference may be understood from the last resolution of 
 the series, which I append in full: 
 
 " (6) That firmly believing, as we do, that the resolu- 
 tions of the committee in London have been adopted upon 
 erroneous impressions ; and being satisfied that our fathers 
 and brethren in England could not have intended, nor 
 would intend, anything unkind toward the members of 
 this Connexion, or unjust to its interests; and deeply 
 anxious as we are to maintain inviolate and unimpaired 
 the principles of the Articles of Union between the 
 British and Canadian Conferences ; and being disposed 
 to do all in our power to prevent the dissolution of the 
 union; therefore, resolved, that a delegation be sent to 
 the Wesleyan Conference in England to lay all the 
 matters of these resolutions before that honourable body, 
 and to use all proper means to prevent collision between 
 the two Connexions." 
 
 In accordance with the foregoing resolution the Rev. 
 Egerton and William Ryerson were chosen delegates, and 
 by unanimous request of the Conference, the President, 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 247 
 
 Rev. Joseph Stinson, accompanied them on their fraternal 
 mission. As a further evidence of the desire of the 
 Canada Conference to promote the most amicable relations, 
 and remove all causes of offence, the following resolution 
 respecting the Guardian was adopted : " Resolved That 
 in order to prevent all disagreeable and unnecessary 
 discussions in future on the general course of the 
 Christian Guardian, the paper be confined to purely 
 religious and literary subjects, and items of general 
 intelligence ; the Clergy Reserves question being con- 
 sidered a religious question as a matter of course." But 
 however well intentioned the last two resolutions may 
 have been, they were not sufficient to counteract the 
 effect of the belligerent resolutions that preceded them. 
 In the estimation of the British Conference the red flag 
 was more in evidence than the olive branch, and when the 
 Canadian delegates arrived in England they found them- 
 selves in a decidedly frigid atmosphere. From a few 
 members pre-eminently Mr. Lord, who had been 
 President of the Canadian Conference in 1835 and 
 1836 they received kind attention, but by the officials 
 and other leading members they were treated at first with 
 studied coldness. This was all the more to be regretted 
 in view of the fact that the Canadian Conference had been 
 assured that its representative would be received with 
 cordial affection by the British Conference, and that 
 every attention would be paid to his statements and 
 representations. That this pledge was not fulfilled was 
 due chiefly, if not solely, to the appointment of Egerton 
 Ryerson as representative of the Canada Conference. 
 Whether justly or unjustly, he was regarded by the 
 
248 Methodism in Canada 
 
 English brethren as the chief cause of the whole difficulty, 
 and his appointment was construed as an open defiance of 
 their views and wishes. This explains, though it does not 
 justify, the attitude of the Conference officials. 
 
 At this distance of time it would be unwise to revive 
 unpleasant memories, and I shall not further refer to 
 the details of proceedings, first before a committee, and 
 afterward before the Conference just previous to its 
 adjournment. Suffice it to say that the Conference re- 
 affirmed in the most positive manner the resolutions of 
 the committee of 1839, embodying charges against the 
 Rev. Egerton Eyerson, declaring that these had been fully 
 and conclusively proved. A series of resolutions were 
 adopted, endorsing the action of the committee of 1839 ; 
 expressing distrust and disapprobation of the resolution 
 of the Canada Conference respecting the Christian 
 Guardian, recognising the existence of " a decided 
 difference between the two Conferences on the con- 
 struction of the Articles of Union in reference to the 
 fundamental principles essential to the working of the 
 union"; endorsing the action of Rev. Messrs. Stinson 
 and Richey ; admitting the desirableness of " maintaining 
 the existing union between the two bodies for reasons 
 which relate to the general interests of our common 
 Christianity, and to the continued connexion of the 
 province with the Mother Country " ; yet affirming that 
 the union could not be advantageously maintained except 
 by strict adherence on the part of the Canadian Conference 
 to certain principles and regulations. These regulations 
 embodied the following: (1) That the continuance of 
 Government grant be cordially assented to by the Canadian 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 249 
 
 Conference, even if the payment should be transferred 
 from the Casual and Territorial Kevenue to the Clergy 
 Reserve fund, and that " the Rev. Egerton Ryerson shall 
 address a letter to Lord John Russell, disclaiming any 
 intention or wish to deprive the Wesleyan Missionary 
 Society of the grant of 700 per annum, secured as a 
 fixed charge for missionary purposes in Upper Canada, 
 requesting that its regular payment be continued, and 
 assuring his lordship that any other construction which 
 may have been put upon his letter to the Governor- 
 General was founded in a misapprehension of his mean- 
 ing." (2) That the Christian Guardian, or other official 
 organ of the Canada Conference, should " abstain from all 
 party political reasonings and discussions." (3) That such 
 organ should "admit and maintain all the acknowledged 
 principles of the Wesleyan Connexion." On this point 
 the committee who framed the resolution had " special 
 reference to that principle of our body which asserts it 
 to be the duty of civil government to employ their 
 influence and a portion of their resources for the support 
 of the Christian religion." 
 
 Such resolutions, couched in language so peremptory 
 and dictatorial, could have but one fate. On hearing the 
 report read, the Canadian representatives gave it as their 
 opinion " that the Canada Conference could never be in- 
 duced to listen to the views therein contained, and the 
 maintenance of such views by the British Conference 
 would be regarded by the Canada Conference as a virtual 
 dissolution of the union." Upon hearing this, the Con- 
 ference was reluctantly led to the conviction " that a 
 continuance of the more intimate connexion established 
 
250 Methodism in Canada 
 
 by the Articles of 1833 is quite impracticable." 1 And 
 thus the union, which began under such favourable 
 auspices, and from which so much was hoped, was broken, 
 and an era of " civil war " introduced into the societies in 
 Canada that wrought untold evil. 
 
 On the return of the Canadian representatives a 
 special session of the Conference was summoned to meet 
 in Toronto on the 22nd of October 1840. This was 
 rendered necessary by the altered circumstances caused by 
 the dissolution of the union. Eleven preachers withdrew 
 from the Conference and cast in their lot with the 
 English missionaries, and this made it necessary to 
 rearrange the work so far as the stations were concerned. 
 The prospects were far from encouraging. There was a 
 scarcity both of ministers and resources, and the defection 
 of eleven itinerants, increased to fifteen at the Conference 
 of June 1841, was a serious blow. At this time there 
 were nine Indian missions, six of which remained with the 
 Conference, while three went with the British Missionary 
 district. The Canada Conference had no missionary fund 
 of its own, and had to face the support of six Indian and, 
 eight domestic missions without a penny in the treasury. 
 But the issue was met with undaunted courage. Shortly 
 after the Conference adjourned a few ministers and 
 laymen met to consider what could be done. It was 
 finally concluded to begin a subscription among them- 
 selves, and then to send forth the Kev. John Eyerson and 
 Peter Jones to hold missionary meetings throughout the, 
 
 1 Proceedings and Decisions of the (English) Conference on matters relating 
 to the Union between the British Conference and the Upper Canada Conference, 
 c, pp. 7.5-79. 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 251 
 
 Connexion. About four months were employed in this 
 work, and at the end of the year it was found that 
 upwards of one third more had been contributed for 
 missionary purposes than had ever been contributed in the 
 province in any previous year. 
 
 But the embarrassment of insufficient resources was as 
 nothing compared with the pain caused by depleted ranks, 
 divided societies, and the conflict of altar against altar. 
 The British Missionary Committee had both men and 
 money, and proceeded to strengthen its forces in Upper 
 Canada. Every year the number was increased, and in 
 Kingston, Belleville, Peterboro, Toronto, Barrie, Hamilton, 
 Brantford, London, Goderich, Guelph, and other places the 
 societies were divided. Add to this the fact that in its 
 struggle for religious equality and the just settlement of 
 the Clergy Eeserves question the Canada Conference must 
 now reckon the British Committee and missionaries 
 among its foes, and it will be seen that the Church was 
 passing through the darkest period of its history. 
 
 At this juncture (1841) an important change took 
 place in the civil affairs of the Canadas. The Home 
 Government had determined on a legislative union of the 
 two provinces, and in the new constitution the principle 
 of responsible government was recognised. The Bill 
 passed the Legislatures of the two provinces, was ratified 
 by the Imperial Government, and went into operation on 
 the 10th of February 1841. The Act provided .for a 
 Legislative Council of not less than twenty life members 
 appointed by the Crown, and an Assembly of eighty-four 
 members elected by the people, each province being equally 
 represented. This was a great advance over former 
 
252 Methodism in Canada 
 
 conditions, for now responsibility was placed where it 
 properly belonged, and the control of all the public 
 revenues passed into the hands of the people's repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 But let changes in the political or ecclesiastical 
 sphere be what they might, the storm-centre of Canadian 
 politics was still the Clergy Reserves. It is true that 
 behind this was the broader question of responsible 
 government, but when that was conceded it only opened 
 the way to deal effectively with the other question. For 
 twenty years irresponsible government had been the 
 bulwark of the Clergy Reserves monopoly and the State 
 Church pretensions which it involved ; and now that the 
 bulwark was removed, it seemed reasonable to hope that 
 the standing grievance would follow. But in this the 
 friends of equal rights reckoned without their host. 
 Monopolies die hard ; and of all human passions, religious 
 exclusiveness, backed by cupidity, is the least likely to 
 surrender what it regards as vested rights without a 
 determined struggle. Gladly would the politicians have 
 seen this troublesome question banished to " the tomb of 
 all the Capulete," or some other limbo from which it 
 would never return ; but nothing save a righteous settle- 
 ment could drive it from the field. Like an unquiet 
 ghost, it " would not down," and how to exorcise it was 
 the perplexing question. For twenty years it had agitated 
 the whole country, and was one of the main grievances 
 that provoked the ill-advised rebellion of 1837. During 
 the same period the Methodist Church had steadily and 
 unitedly opposed the claims of the monopolists, and the 
 history of the Clergy Reserves and the Methodist Church 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 253 
 
 touch each other at so many points that a knowledge of 
 the one is necessary to a right understanding of the other. 
 It may be serviceable, therefore, at this point, to recall 
 briefly the chief features of the case. 
 
 In 1791, when the province of Quebec was divided 
 into Upper and Lower Canada, one seventh of the public 
 lands was set apart for the support of the Protestant 
 clergy. Down till 1819 the lands so reserved were in 
 the hands of the Government and managed by it alone, 
 but for years they yielded scarcely enough to defray the 
 expenses of management. In 1817 the Upper Canada 
 House of Assembly objected to the provision as " beyond 
 all precedent lavish," and complained that the Eeserves 
 were an obstacle to improvement and settlement. In 
 1819 the right of the Presbyterians (Kirk of Scotland) to 
 share in the Eeserves was first mooted, and one congrega- 
 tion petitioned the Government for an annual grant of 
 100 out of the Clergy Keserves. At this time the 
 actual product was about 700 per annum. The matter 
 was referred to Lord Bathurst, the Secretary for the 
 Colonies, who stated that in the opinion of the law officers 
 of the Crown the provisions of 1791 were not confined 
 solely to the clergy of the Church of England, but might 
 be extended also to the clergy of the Church of Scotland, 
 but not to dissenting ministers. In 1819, on the applica- 
 tion of Bishop Mountain of Quebec, the clergy in each 
 province were incorporated for the purpose of managing 
 the Keserves, the proceeds to be paid over to the Govern- 
 ment. The following year the clergy of the Church of 
 Scotland memorialised the King for a share in the Eeserves. 
 In 1823 the House of Assembly passed resolutions 
 
254 Methodism in Canada 
 
 affirming the right of the Church of Scotland to share 
 in the Keserves, but the Legislative Council rejected the 
 resolution by a vote of six to five. 
 
 In 1824 Archdeacon Strachan was deputed by the 
 Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, and the Bishop of 
 Quebec to go to England and get authority from the 
 Colonial Secretary to sell portions of the Eeserves. 
 Meanwhile the Canada Company offered to purchase all 
 the Crown and Clergy Eeserve lands at a valuation. Some 
 misunderstanding having arisen between Lord Bathurst, 
 the archdeacon, and the Canada Company, Dr. Strachan 
 went again to England in 1826, and was deputed by 
 Lord Bathurst to arrange the differences with the 
 commissioner of the company. The original plan was 
 altered, and the lands were exchanged for one million 
 acres in what was known as the Huron Tract. Out of 
 the moneys received from the Canada Company the Home 
 Government appropriated 700 a year to the clergy of 
 the Kirk of Scotland and the same amount to the clergy 
 of the Church of Home. At a later . date (1830) 
 Presbyterian ministers of other bodies were put on the 
 same footing as those belonging to the Kirk. In January 
 1826 the House of Assembly memorialised the King to 
 distribute the proceeds of the Reserves for the benefit of 
 all denominations, or else apply them to the purposes of 
 education and the general improvement of the province. 
 The reply was so unsatisfactory that in the following 
 December the House of Assembly adopted a series of 
 resolutions deprecating the appropriation of the Eeserves 
 to the clergy of the Church of England, to the exclusion 
 of other denominations, and praying that the proceeds be 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 255 
 
 applied to the support of schools, a provincial academy, 
 and aiding in the erecting of places of worship for all 
 denominations. These resolutions passed almost unani- 
 mously, bub the Bill founded upon them was negatived 
 in the Legislative Council. 
 
 In 1827 a Bill was introduced into the British 
 Parliament to provide for the sale of the Keserves as asked 
 for by the Bishop of Quebec. In. the debate which 
 followed information was asked for concerning the state 
 of the English and Scotch Churches in Upper Canada. 
 Archdeacon Strachan undertook to furnish this information 
 by means of his famous letter and chart, dated 1 6 th May 
 1827. Objections being made to giving the clergy 
 corporation power to sell, the Bill was withdrawn, and a 
 new one introduced and passed confining the selling 
 power to the Executive Government. In 1828 the 
 House of Assembly memorialised the King to place the 
 proceeds of the Reserves at the disposal of the House for 
 the purposes of education and internal improvement. In 
 1829 two despatches on the Clergy Reserves question 
 were sent to the Colonial Secretary by Sir John Colborne. 
 An extract from one of these will be interesting as 
 showing not only the attitude of the highest official in 
 the province, but throwing light upon the influences that 
 were at work to checkmate the Methodists in their 
 stubborn resistance to a dominant State Church and the 
 Clergy Reserves monopoly. In his despatch dated llth 
 April 1829 Sir John Colborne observed: 
 
 " If a more ardent zeal be not shown by the 
 Established Church, and a very different kind of minister 
 than that which is generally to be found in this province 
 
256 Methodism in Canada 
 
 sent out from England, it is obvious that the members of 
 the Established Church will be inconsiderable, and that 
 it will continue to lose ground. The Methodists, ap- 
 parently, exceed the number of the Churches of England 
 and Scotland. ... If the Wesleyan Methodists in England 
 could be prevailed on to supply this province with 
 preachers, the Methodists of the country would become, 
 as a political body, of less importance than they are at 
 present." 
 
 In this same year (1829) the House of Assembly passed 
 a Bill similar to that of 1828, and again in 1830, but 
 both were rejected by the Legislative Council. In 1834 
 a Bill to revest the Clergy Reserves in the Crown was 
 finally passed, but was rejected by the Legislative Council. 
 In 1835 a Bill to sell the Reserves and apply the proceeds 
 to educational purposes passed the Assembly by a vote 
 of forty to four, but was rejected as usual by the Council. 
 The latter body then proposed that both the Houses should 
 request the Imperial Parliament to legislate on the subject. 
 The Assembly peremptorily refused to concur, and re- 
 monstrated with the Council on its refusal to pass the 
 measure or originate one of its own. In 1836 the Bill 
 of the previous year was passed by a vote of thirty-five to 
 five. The Legislative Council amended it so as to leave 
 the matter with the British Parliament ; but the amend- 
 ment was negatived by the House by a vote of twenty- 
 seven to one. This ended the matter for a time, and the 
 rebellion of 183738 held the question in abeyance for 
 several years. 1 
 
 In 1836 Sir John Colborne was succeeded by Sir 
 
 1 J. George Hodgins, LL.D., in Ryerson's 6Vory of My Life, pp. 220-224. 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 257 
 
 Francis Bond Head as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper 
 Canada. A general election was pending, and the new 
 Governor, with more adroitness than candour, made the 
 issue turn on the question of loyalty to the Crown, and 
 the real issues were kept out of sight. This so far turned 
 the scale that the new Assembly had a majority of members 
 whose views were in harmony with the dominant party 
 in the Legislative Council. Advantage was taken of this 
 circumstance to remove the Clergy Eeserves question to 
 the British Parliament, where sympathy with the Church 
 of England could be relied upon to shape the legislation. 
 At the third session of the Upper Canada Assembly in 
 1838 a Bill was introduced to" revest the Clergy Eeserves 
 in her Majesty." The moment the fact became known, 
 the Eev. Egerton Eyerson, who was stationed at Kingston, 
 wrote a letter to the Guardian in which he denounced the 
 Bill in vigorous terms. " The measure itself," he said, 
 " containing the provision it does, is a shameful deception 
 upon the Canadian public is a wanton betrayal of 
 Canadian rights is a disgraceful sacrifice of Canadian 
 to selfish party interests is a covert assassination of a 
 vital principle of Canadian constitutional and free govern- 
 ment is a base political and religious fraud, which ought 
 to excite the deep concern and rouse the indignation and 
 vigorous exertion of every friend of justice and freedom 
 and good government in the country." 
 
 In 1837 the Hon. William Morris, on behalf of the 
 Church of Scotland, and the Hon. W. H. Draper, on 
 behalf of the Church of England, were sent to England 
 to interview the Colonial Secretary, Lord Elgin, on the 
 subject. In the same year Mr. Eyerson was requested 
 
 17 
 
258 Methodism in Canada 
 
 to draw up a paper setting forth the views of leading 
 members of the Conference. The paper was signed by 
 Eev. Messrs. Harvard, Evans, Jones, Wilkinson, Beatty, 
 and Wright, and was published in the G-uardian of 
 17th January 1838. When recalled to the editorship 
 of the Guardian at the Conference of the same year, 
 Mr. Eyerson published a series of powerful articles on 
 " The Clergy Keserve Question, as a Matter of History, 
 a Question of Law, and the Subject of Legislation/' 
 addressed to the Hon. W. H. Draper, Solicitor-General. He 
 also prepared and circulated extensively a petition to the 
 House of Assembly on the Clergy Eeserves and kindred 
 topics. A counter petition was issued by the Government 
 party asking the Assembly to recognise the principle of 
 an Established Church. In those days the Guardian did 
 not merely speak on these absorbing public questions, 
 it thundered, and when its " thunders uttered their 
 voices " it was as a mighty trumpet peal, summoning the 
 hosts of freedom to battle. The effect was tremendous. 
 If former discussions provoked a storm this one raised 
 a hurricane, and for months its fury beat upon the head 
 of Egerton Eyerson. So intense was the feeling in the 
 latter part of 1838 that the promoters of the Eyerson 
 petition were threatened with personal violence and even 
 with death. 
 
 In the face of widespread and determined opposition, 
 and especially in the face of the declaration of the 
 Colonial Secretary, the dominant party did not venture 
 in 1839 to bring in a Bill to revest the Clergy Eeserves 
 in the Crown. In a despatch to Sir F. B. Head, Lord 
 Glenelg had said, " Imperial Parliament legislation on 
 
Union with the British Conference Dissolved 259 
 
 any subject of exclusively internal concern, in any British 
 colony possessing a representative assembly, is, as a 
 general rule, unconstitutional. It was a right of which 
 the exercise is reserved for extreme cases, in which 
 necessity at once creates and justifies the exception." 
 To get around this decision, an entirely different Bill 
 was prepared for each House. In the Assembly, after 
 a very protracted debate, the Bill was carried and sent 
 to the Legislative Council for concurrence. The Council 
 struck out all after the word " whereas," and substituted 
 its own Bill. This in turn was rejected by the Assembly 
 and an entirely new Bill substituted, which concluded 
 as follows : " The moneys to arise and to be procured and 
 henceforth received for any sale or sales shall be paid 
 into the hands of her Majesty's Eeceiver-General of this 
 province, to be appropriated by the Provincial Legislature 
 for religion and education." Now the Council had its 
 opportunity. The last words of the clause were amended 
 so as to read, " Imperial Parliament for religious purposes," 
 and then by adroit manoeuvring they succeeded in carrying 
 the Bill through the Assembly, on the last night of the 
 session, by a majority of one. The Home Government, 
 however, disallowed the Bill on technical grounds. 
 
 In 1840 the Governor, Mr. Poulett Thompson, sent a 
 message to the House outlining the provisions of a Bill 
 which Solicitor - General Draper submitted with the 
 Governor's sanction. It provided that the annual proceeds 
 of the whole fund realised from the sale of the Clergy 
 Reserves should be divided (one half to the Episcopal 
 and Presbyterian Churches, and the other half among other 
 religious bodies desiring to share it) for the support of 
 
260 Methodism in Canada 
 
 religious instruction within the province. The Bill was 
 fiercely assailed by Dr. Strachan, recently appointed 
 Bishop of Toronto, but he thought the Church need be 
 under no apprehension that the Bill would pass. " If any 
 of her children inclined to despondency, let them turn 
 their eyes to England, where we have protectors both 
 numerous and powerful, watching the struggle, and holding 
 out the hand of fellowship and assistance." Of course Mr. 
 Eyerson (he was not yet " Doctor ") took up the gage of 
 battle, and pointed out that " the Provincial Legislatures 
 have nothing to do, either directly or indirectly, with the 
 Eomish Church ; but the same Legislature may repeal or 
 modify the 31st Geo. III. cap. 31, as far as it respects 
 the Church of England." The Bill passed the House of 
 Assembly by a vote of 31 to 7, and the Legislative Council 
 by 13 to 4, in spite of a most vigorous protest by the 
 Bishop of Toronto. It was sent to England accompanied 
 by a despatch from the Governor imploring the Home 
 Government to sanction it. In the House of Lords the 
 Bishop of Exeter moved that the question of the right of 
 the clergy to reserve property in Canada should be referred 
 to the twelve Judges of England ; but their decision proved 
 adverse to the claims of the monopolists. A conference 
 was then had with Lord John Kussell in order to set aside 
 the Canadian Bill and introduce one into the Imperial 
 Parliament which would accomplish what the Church of 
 England was aiming at. Lord John Russell became a 
 consenting party, and it was against this Bill that Messrs. 
 W. and E. Ryerson (then in England) so strongly re- 
 monstrated on behalf of the Wesleyan Church in Canada, 
 in an elaborate letter to Lord John Russell. The 
 
Union wit k the British Conference Dissolved 261 
 
 measure was far more sweeping than anything proposed 
 by the High Church party in Upper Canada, and was a 
 most disheartening blow to the friends of equal rights for 
 all under equal conditions. At the session of the Con- 
 ference held in Toronto in 1841 the following resolutions 
 concerning it were adopted : 
 
 " What are the sentiments of the Conference on the 
 measure which had been adopted by the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment on the question of the Clergy Eeserves in Upper 
 Canada ? 
 
 " 1. That we feel deeply aggrieved that unmerited 
 injustice has been done to the Wesleyan Methodist Church 
 in Canada, as well as to several other legally recognised 
 denominations of Christians in Upper Canada, by the 
 unequal and unjust provisions of that Act, so different 
 from every expression of opinion and feeling which has 
 ever been made by the inhabitants of Upper Canada, so 
 opposed to the recorded opinion of both branches of the 
 Provincial Legislature, and the strong and reiterated 
 opinion of his Excellency the Governor - General of 
 Canada. 
 
 " 2. That notwithstanding we feel ourselves, as a body, 
 injured and aggrieved by the invidious and partial 
 provisions of this Act, we recommend, in the present 
 circumstances of the country, an abstinence from any 
 re-agitation of the question. We submit to it as a law 
 for conscience' sake, whilst our representatives properly 
 remonstrated against it as a Bill." 
 
 It might be supposed that this vexed and vexing 
 question was disposed of for all time, but, strange to say, it 
 was reopened three years later by the very party in whose 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 interests the measure had been adopted. In 1843 the 
 Attorney - General and the Solicitor - General of Canada 
 reported that having attentively examined th'e Act it was 
 their opinion that the proper construction of the law 
 threw upon the revenues of Canada the burden of making 
 up any deficiency in the Clergy Eeserve fund in paying the 
 usual allowances to the ministers, and while that deficiency 
 lasted the Imperial Treasury could not be called upon to 
 make any payments to the two churches. This resulted 
 in an agitation for " better terms." No relief was afforded, 
 however, and the Act remained unrepealed until 1853. In 
 that year an Act was passed which, after providing for a 
 commutation of existing claims, devoted the balance of 
 the Keserves fund to purposes of education. And thus 
 at last that for which the Methodist Church had con- 
 tended for more than thirty years was conceded, and 
 the great controversy was ended. 
 
 Meanwhile, the controversy between the Canada 
 Conference and the British Wesleyan Committee, and 
 between the agents of the two bodies in Canada, continued, 
 to the disadvantage of both and to the cause of God in 
 general. The enemies of Methodism, who had been active 
 in fomenting the misunderstanding, rejoiced, but every 
 friend of true religion mourned. At one stage of the 
 controversy Mr. Eyerson offered to refer the points in the 
 dispute to an impartial tribunal for arbitration, but the 
 offer was declined. It had been intimated more than once 
 that he was the Jonah in the ship, and that if he were 
 thrown overboard the storm would quickly subside ; but 
 the crew (the Canada Conference) showed no disposition 
 to resort to so drastic a measure. In 1840 Mr. Eyerson 
 
Union with the British Conference Restored 263 
 
 retired, finally and absolutely, from the editorship of the 
 Guardian, and was succeeded by the Kev. Jonathan Scott, 
 a brother who had taken no prominent part in any of the 
 disputes. But in the Guardian or out of it, the former 
 editor was still a force to be reckoned with, and was 
 universally regarded as the champion of Conference rights. 
 At the Conference of 1842 he sought to relieve the 
 situation by resigning his seat in the Conference, and 
 voluntarily relinquishing any participation in its legislative 
 and executive councils ; but the Conference utterly refused 
 to entertain the proposal. 
 
 While this controversy was going on, the possibility of 
 a reunion was privately discussed between leading men 
 in both Conferences. In the autumn of 1843 the Eev. 
 Joseph Stinson, then in England, wrote to Mr. Eyerson 
 stating that there was a strong desire on the part of many 
 influential ministers that the work in Canada might be 
 consolidated. In December of the same year he wrote 
 again in still stronger terms : " Let us still labour and pray 
 for the great object of union. Every day, and every aspect 
 which the Church and the world presents, deepens the 
 conviction in my mind of its necessity, and I hope we 
 shall live to see a united and prosperous Church in Canada, 
 against which the gates of hell cannot prevail." When 
 Mr. Eyerson visited England in 1844, after his appoint- 
 ment as chief Superintendent of Education, he wrote to 
 the Eev. Joseph Stinson and the Eev. G. Marsden on the 
 union question, and from both of them received encouraging 
 and sympathetic replies. At the Canada Conference of 
 1845 a note was received from the sub-secretary of the 
 British Conference, enclosing resolutions passed two years 
 
264 Methodism in Canada 
 
 before, appointing a committee to settle matters with the 
 Canada Conference. The latter body appointed a similar 
 committee, but, if one may judge from some of the 
 correspondence of that period, with faint hopes of 
 accomplishing anything. In fact nothing did result from 
 the correspondence ; but when Mr. Ryerson returned to 
 Canada he wrote to the Rev. Peter Jones, who was then 
 in England, requesting him, on behalf of the committee, 
 to see the Rev. James Dixon, and urge him to come to 
 Canada. Mr. Dixon was favourably impressed with the 
 invitation, and wrote to Dr. Ryerson in March 1846 on 
 the subject. There is one part of his letter which displays 
 such far-seeing statesmanship that I reproduce an extract : 
 
 " The time must come when the North American pro- 
 vinces will be united, ecclesiastically, by having a General 
 Conference of their own, in connexion with the Provincial 
 or District Conferences, after the manner of the United 
 States. Things must come to this at no remote period ; 
 and this being the case, it seems reasonable to consider 
 such scheme in connexion with the measure now under 
 review. ... I am deeply convinced myself that the organ- 
 isation of such a body as I refer to must, in the nature 
 of things, develop the energies of Methodism in the 
 provinces infinitely more vigorously than can be secured 
 by the action of a distant Government." 
 
 There were not only "giants in the earth in those 
 days," there were prophets also men who could forecast 
 the future " men that had understanding of the times, 
 to know what Israel ought to do." Nearly thirty years 
 elapsed before what James Dixon foresaw came to pass, 
 but events have justified the wisdom of his thought. 
 
Union with the British Conference Restored 265 
 
 At the Kingston Conference of 1846 the division 
 in Canadian Methodism was the subject of anxious and 
 prayerful deliberation, and it was decided " to send a 
 deputation from this Conference to the British Conference 
 at its next annual session, with proposals to settle the 
 differences between us on the plan of North American 
 Conferences." In accordance with this resolution, the 
 Rev. John Eyerson and Anson Green were chosen 
 delegates, and in the address to the British Conference the 
 scope of their mission and the spirit of those who sent 
 them were indicated in the following words : 
 
 " The unhappy divisions which have for several years 
 existed in this country between the two legitimate 
 branches of the Wesleyan family have again engaged 
 our Conference deliberations ; and in reply to the 
 resolution of your last Conference, we have determined 
 to send a deputation to you, with a view to the 
 termination of these unmethodistic and unchristian 
 differences, and in the hope of consolidating Wesleyan 
 Methodism in British North America in one great religious 
 community. . . . We deeply regret the discussion of former 
 differences between the two bodies which has arisen in 
 this country during the last few months. Such discussions 
 cannot be more strongly disapproved of by you than they 
 are deprecated by us and our people generally. It is our 
 earnest desire and determination to put an end to such 
 unseemly and injurious discussions, and to cultivate a 
 spirit of Christian forbearance and brotherly kindness." 
 
 When the delegation from Canada reached England 
 they put themselves in communication with the authorities 
 of the Conference, but at first their reception was any- 
 
266 Methodism in Canada 
 
 thing but encouraging. The Rev. John Eyerson, writing 
 to his brother Egerton, declares, " The difficulties in the 
 way of any proper adjustment of our differences seem to 
 be almost insurmountable. . . . Our situation is any- 
 thing but pleasant ; it is even distressing and painful." 
 The only alleviation was found in the cordial and affec- 
 tionate attention of the Kev. Joseph Stinson and William 
 Lord, both of whom had been in Canada and knew much 
 about the circumstances and temper of the Canadian 
 Conference. The reception of the Canadian delegates 
 and address was now moved by Dr. Bunting and seconded 
 by Dr. Alder, but the' great influence of these men did 
 not prevent a somewhat warm debate, in which some 
 contended that the union had been only a source of 
 trouble and injury to their work, and as it had been 
 dissolved they had better keep aloof from all further 
 intercourse with the Canada Conference. However, the 
 resolution received warm support not only from the mover 
 and seconder, but also from Drs. Beaumont and Dixon, 
 and Messrs. Lord and Stinson, and was passed by a vast 
 majority. But the troubles of the delegates were not yet 
 over, and at the end of a week John Ryerson wrote to his 
 brother, " Were I to follow the strong impulse of my 
 mind, I should leave at once and return to America." 
 
 But, as so often happens, the darkest hour was just 
 before the dawn. The whole matter was referred to a 
 committee which met in London, and then light began to 
 break. " There was," says the Rev. John Ryerson, in a 
 letter under date of 16th September, " a most full, frank, 
 and undisguised explanation of many missionary and 
 domestic matters. . . . After this full unburdening of 
 
Union with the British Conference Restored 267 
 
 ourselves, the one to the other, a totally different 
 feeling seemed to come over Drs. Bunting, Alder, and the 
 whole committee, which consisted of about thirty leading 
 members of the British Conference. . . . More kindness, 
 more nobleness of sentiments and feeling, I never wit- 
 nessed than was manifested toward us after we had 
 succeeded in removing suspicion and allaying fears." The 
 basis of the new agreement cannot be better summarised 
 than by an extract from the same letter from which I 
 have just quoted : 
 
 " The plan of settlement to which I have agreed is 
 a union with the British Conference on a basis similar 
 to that by which the British and Irish Conferences are 
 united. The British Conference appoints our President 
 and the Superintendent of Missions, as in the former 
 union ; all of our missions become missions of the Wesleyan 
 Missionary Society ; our Missionary Society is auxiliary to 
 their Society. The 700 grant to be placed under the 
 Missionary Committee to be appropriated for missionary 
 purposes in Canada. On the other hand, all the regular 
 British missionary circuits in Canada are to be placed 
 under the Canada Conference, the same as any other 
 circuits ; and there are to be no missionary districts, but 
 the missionaries are to be members of the different dis- 
 tricts in the bounds of which their missions are situated. The 
 missionaries are to be stationed by our Stationing Committee 
 the same as other ministers. The British Conference is to 
 appropriate 600 sterling annually to our Contingent Fund, 
 and the Missionary Committee is to place 400 at the 
 disposal of our Conference for contingent purposes." 
 
 Dr. Alder was sent out as President of the Conference 
 
 
268 Methodism in Canada 
 
 of 1847, which assembled at Toronto on the 8th day of 
 June, with the Rev. Matthew Kichey, M.A., as co-delegate, 
 and the Rev. Enoch Wood Superintendent of Missions. 
 The new basis of union was discussed in all its bearings, 
 and adopted by an almost unanimous vote. The breach 
 was healed ; the strife and discord of seven long years 
 was ended, and Methodist unity was restored. Dr. Dixon's 
 splendid vision of a wider federation was not realised ; 
 but that could afford to wait the time was not ripe. 
 But the union that had been accomplished had within 
 it the promise and potency of greater things to come. 
 With grateful hearts and tear-dimmed eyes the brethren 
 " thanked God and took courage." Misunderstandings 
 had been removed ; estrangements were a thing of the 
 past. And as the war-worn itinerants separated to 
 return to their distant fields of toil, words written long 
 afterwards, and referring to another union, would have 
 aptly expressed the feelings of their hearts : 
 
 Let us then, uniting, bury 
 
 All our idle feuds in dust, 
 And to future conflicts carry 
 
 Mutual faith and common trust ; 
 Always he who most forgiveth 
 
 To his brother is most just. 1 
 
 Thank God that from the day on which that second union 
 was consummated a union founded on mutual confidence 
 and esteem Canadian Methodism entered upon a career 
 of growth and development that has continued with un- 
 abated force to this day. 
 
 1 W. H. Withrow, D.D. 
 
VI 
 
 FOUNDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 MISSIONS 1 
 
 IT is often said that the Church of Christ is essentially 
 missionary. The saying is trite but true. The great 
 purpose for which the Church is organised is to " preach 
 the gospel to the whole creation," and its mission is ful- 
 filled only in so far as this is done. But the saying, as 
 commonly used, is the recognition of a principle rather 
 than the statement of a fact. It is clearly perceived that 
 the Church ought to be intensely missionary in its spirit 
 and practice, and this view is often pressed as an argument 
 to quicken flagging zeal, and to revive, if possible, the 
 apostolic spirit in the Church of to-day. Compared with 
 apostolic times, missionary zeal and enterprise is yet below 
 high-water mark ; but compared with the state of affairs one 
 hundred years ago, it cannot be affirmed that the former 
 times were better than these. Within the past century 
 indeed, within the last few decades there has been a marked 
 revival of the missionary spirit. The sleep of the Church 
 has been broken. Her dormant energies have been aroused 
 
 1 This section is in part a transcription of an article contributed to the 
 Centennial Volume of Canadian Methodism in 1891, with such changes and 
 additions as present conditions require. 
 
270 Methodism in Canada 
 
 and an aggressive policy initiated. Kesponsibility, even to 
 the measure of a world- wide evangelism, is freely ac- 
 knowledged, and the disposition to consecrate money and 
 service on the altar of missionary sacrifice grows apace. 
 All this gives token of a coming day when it may be 
 affirmed without qualification that the Church in fact as 
 well as in profession is essentially missionary. 
 
 It may be claimed, without boasting or exaggeration, 
 that Methodism has not only contributed somewhat to the 
 revival of the missionary spirit, but has been, under God, 
 a chief factor in promoting it. The place of her nativity 
 was hard by the missionary altar, and a spirit of intense 
 evangelism gave the first impulse to her work. Born anew 
 amid the fervours of a second Pentecost, her first preachers 
 were men baptized with the tongues of flame, symbol of a 
 comprehensive evangelism that found expression in the 
 saying of her human leader, "I look upon all the world as my 
 parish." In the spirit of that saying Methodism has lived 
 and laboured, and after the lapse of more than a hundred 
 and fifty years the primitive impulse is yet unspent. 
 Wherever the banner of the cross is unfurled Methodist 
 missionaries are found, and this is the battle-cry of the 
 legions, " Christ for the world, and the world for Christ." 
 
 As we have already seen, the beginnings of Methodism 
 in Canada -reveal the same providential features that 
 marked its rise in other lands. No elaborate plans were 
 formulated in advance, no forecastings of human wisdom 
 marked out the lines of development. But men who had 
 felt the constraining power of the love of Christ, and to 
 whom the injunction to disciple all nations came with the 
 force of a personal mandate, went forth at the call of God, 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 2 7 1 
 
 exhorting men everywhere to repent and believe the 
 gospel. Out of that flame of missionary zeal sprang the 
 Methodist Church in Canada ; and if the missionary cause 
 is still dear to the hearts of her people, it is but the 
 legitimate outcome of the circumstances in which she had 
 her birth. Methodism is a missionary Church, or she is 
 nothing. To lose her missionary spirit is to be recreant 
 to the great purpose for which God raised her up. Nor 
 can she give to missions a secondary place in her system 
 of operations without being false to her traditions and to 
 her heaven-appointed work. 
 
 While Methodism in Canada was, from the very first, 
 missionary in spirit and aims, organised missionary effort 
 did not begin till 1824. In that year a Conference 
 Missionary Society was formed. It was a bold movement, 
 such as could have been inaugurated only by heaven- 
 inspired men. Upper Canada (at that time ecclesiastic- 
 ally distinct from Lower Canada) was just beginning to 
 emerge from its wilderness condition. Settlements were 
 few and, for the most part, wide asunder. Population was 
 sparse and the people were poor. Moreover, Methodism 
 had not yet emerged from the position of a despised sect, 
 and prejudice was increased by the fact that it was under 
 foreign jurisdiction. Such a combination of unfavourable 
 circumstances might well have daunted ordinary men, and 
 led to a postponement of any effort to organise for 
 aggressive missionary work. But " there were giants in 
 the earth in those days," whose faith and courage were 
 equal to any emergency ; men who could read history in 
 the germ and forecast results when " the wilderness and 
 the solitary place " should become " glad," and " the desert " 
 
272 Methodism in Canada 
 
 should " rejoice and blossom as the rose." As yet it was 
 early spring-time and sowing had just begun; but from 
 freshly opened furrows and newly scattered seed those men 
 were able to foretell both the kind and the measure of the 
 harvest when falling showers and shining suns should ripen 
 and mature the grain. In that faith they planned and 
 laboured. They did not despise the day of small things, 
 but with faith in the " incorruptible seed," they planted 
 and watered, leaving it to God to give the increase. In 
 this, as. in other cases, wisdom was justified of her children. 
 When the Missionary Society was organised in 1824, two 
 or three men were trying to reach some of the scattered 
 bands of Indians ; the income of the society the first year 
 was only about Si 44, and the whole field of operation was 
 a small section of Upper Canada. To-day the missionary 
 force at home and abroad is a little army of over one 
 thousand persons (including the wives of missionaries) ; 
 the income exceeds $300,000, while the field covers half 
 a continent and extends far into " the regions beyond." 
 
 The development of the missionary idea in the 
 Methodist Church in Canada has been influenced by epochs 
 in her history, marking changes in her ecclesiastical polity. 
 In 1828 the Canadian societies were severed from the 
 jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 
 United States, and formed into an independent branch of 
 Methodism, with its own Conference and government. In 
 1833 a union was formed with the British Wesleyan 
 Conference, whereby the field of operation was extended. 
 In 1840 that union was dissolved, and for seven years the 
 two societies waged a rival warfare, which was by no means 
 favourable to the growth of a true missionary spirit. In 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 
 
 1847 the breach was healed, and from that time onward 
 the missionary work of the Church steadily developed, 
 embracing the Wesleyan Indian missions in the far north, 
 and extending the work in all directions throughout Upper 
 and Lower Canada. 
 
 The year 1873 marks a distinct epoch in the history 
 of missions in connexion with Canadian Methodism. In 
 that year the bold step, as some considered it, was taken 
 of founding a distinctively foreign mission, and many indi- 
 cations pointed to Japan as a promising field. The wisdom 
 of the step was doubted by some who thought the home 
 work was sufficiently extensive to absorb the energies and 
 liberality of the entire Church. Viewed from the stand- 
 point of mere human prudence, the objectors were right. 
 The home missionaries were struggling along on very 
 inadequate stipends ; many Indian bands were still un- 
 reached ; the calls from new settlements were loud and 
 frequent, and the vast French population of the province 
 of Quebec was scarcely touched by Methodistic agencies. 
 It is not to be wondered at that, under such circumstances, 
 some were inclined to say, " We have here only five barley 
 loaves and two small fishes, and what are these among so 
 many ? " * But there were others who remembered the 
 lesson of the " twelve baskets of fragments " taken up after 
 five thousand men, besides women and children, had been 
 fed. Conspicuous among these were the late Dr. Punshon, 
 and the late Senator Macdonald, at that time lay treasurer 
 of the society ; and these said to the doubting ones in 
 effect, " Let us have faith in God ; let us bring our little 
 at Christ's command, and His blessing will cause our little 
 
 1 The income of the society at this time was only $108,369. 
 
 18 
 
274 Methodism in Canada 
 
 to multiply until there will be enough* to feed the hungry 
 multitude, and the Church shall be recompensed far beyond 
 the measure of what it gives away." Thus in prayer and 
 faith the forward movement was inaugurated, and a mission 
 planted in Japan which, from the very beginning, has 
 shared largely in blessings from on high. Nor did the 
 home missions suffer because of this new departure, for 
 the missionary spirit thus revived in the Church was 
 followed by a corresponding liberality, and the increased 
 contributions more than sufficed to meet the increased 
 expenditure. 
 
 The next development affecting the polity and work 
 of the Church occurred in the following year, 1874, when 
 the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Methodist New 
 Connexion Church, and the Wesleyan Church of Eastern 
 British America united in one body under the name of the 
 Methodist Church in Canada. This union extended the 
 home missions of the Church by consolidating the forces 
 east and west, thus covering the whole extent of the 
 Canadian Dominion, and embracing, in addition, Newfound- 
 land and the Bermudas. This arrangement involved the 
 peaceful separation of the three churches named from the 
 jurisdiction of the parent bodies in England, and the 
 relinquishment, after a few years, of certain missionary 
 subsidies which two of them had been receiving from the 
 parent treasuries. The loss of these subsidies, and the 
 increased expenditure in consequence of unavoidable 
 readjustments of the work, caused temporary embarrass- 
 ment, and the accumulation of a somewhat serious debt ; 
 but an appeal to the Church met with so liberal a response 
 that the debt was extinguished without reducing the 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 275 
 
 regular income, and the work went on as before. It was 
 felt, however, that, for a time at least, the duty of the 
 Church would lie in the direction of consolidation rather 
 than expansion ; and hence for several years no new 
 movement was made beyond the prudent enlargement of 
 fields already occupied. 
 
 The missionary spirit, which for years had been 
 growing in the Methodist Church, found a new outlet in 
 1880 in the organisation of the Women's Missionary 
 Society. In June of that year a number of ladies met 
 in the parlours of the Centenary Church in the city of 
 Hamilton, on the invitation of the General Missionary 
 Secretary, when the project of a Women's Missionary 
 Society was carefully considered, and the conclusion 
 reached to organise forthwith. That afternoon meeting 
 marks the beginning of what has become one of the most 
 potent forces in connexion with the mission work of the 
 Methodist Church. Nor can a thoughtful observer fail to 
 see 'how divine Providence controlled the time as well 
 as the circumstances. The union movement which 
 culminated in 1883 was just beginning to be discussed. 
 Four distinct churches were looking forward to union as at 
 least a possibility ; but whether it would be possible so to 
 amalgamate their varied interests as to make of the four 
 one new Church, was a problem that remained to be solved. 
 In the accomplishment of this difficult task the mission 
 work of the Church was a prime factor, for it served by 
 its magnitude and importance to turn the attention of 
 ministers and people from old differences, and even 
 antagonisms, and to fix it upon a common object. What 
 the work of the General Missionary Society did for one 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 part of the Church, the Women's movement did for 
 another. Just at the right moment Providence gave 
 the signal, and the godly and devoted women of Methodism 
 in all the uniting churches joined hands in an earnest 
 effort to carry the gospel to the women and children of 
 heathendom, and in that effort they mightily aided to 
 consolidate the work at home. A constitution for the 
 society was not adopted till 1881, but since then the 
 income has steadily risen from $2,916 in 1881-82 to 
 $49,776 in 1901-2. At the present time the society 
 has under its control "eight boarding schools or homes, 
 besides a share in two institutes, eight day schools, two 
 night and two industrial schools, four kindergartens, three 
 orphanages, one hospital and dispensary, fifteen Bible- 
 women, seven nurses, making forty-five missionaries. . . . 
 Property is now owned by the society to the value of 
 $56,383." i 
 
 Another movement, destined to exert a far-reaching 
 influence on Methodist missionary enterprise, had its 
 beginning in 1896. Some years before this the Christian 
 Endeavour movement swept over the churches of the 
 United States and Canada, and tens of thousands yea, 
 hundreds of thousands of young people were enrolled in 
 the organisation. It was to be non-denominational, or 
 rather inter-denominational, in its character, and it sought 
 to unite the young people of all denominations for Christian 
 work. The aim was good, the intentions were of the 
 best, and the results in many directions have been helpful ; 
 but in the phenomenally rapid growth of the society the 
 problem of utilising the newly developed force so as to 
 
 1 Report for 1901-2. 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 277 
 
 prevent it from evaporating in mere convention talk that 
 meant nothing, had to be faced. As an organisation the 
 society had nothing before it sufficiently definite and 
 comprehensive to give scope for its energies, and the 
 leaders advised, among other things, that the members 
 co-operate with the boards of their respective denominations 
 in missionary work. How far this may have answered in 
 other churches I am not prepared to say, as the facts are 
 not in my possession ; but in the Methodist Church it did 
 not answer at all. Whatever be the cause, young people's 
 societies in the Methodist Church, organised on the 
 Christian Endeavour plan, have very rarely manifested 
 any interest in Methodist missions, and their contributions, 
 for the most part, have either gone to other denominations 
 or to independent missionary organisations. 
 
 In 1890, following the example of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in the United States, provision was made 
 to organise the young people of the Methodist Church in 
 Canada in a society to be called the Epworth League. 
 The object defined in the society's constitution, as 
 enlarged in 1894, is "to unite" the "young people in 
 Christian fellowship and service ; increase their spirituality 
 by edification in Scripture truth and by prayer; instruct 
 them in Methodist doctrine and church history ; enlist 
 their co-operation in missionary activities through existing 
 denominational organisations, and stimulate and interest 
 them in the formation and development of leagues." The 
 growth of the Epworth League, like that of the Christian 
 Endeavour Society, was phenomenally rapid, although in a 
 great many congregations the ground was preoccupied by a 
 Young people's Society on the Christian Endeavour plan, 
 
278 Methodism in Canada 
 
 But when a few years had passed some began to inquire, 
 " Well, what next ? We are well organised, but what is 
 to be the outcome of it all ? We have our meetings for 
 prayer and testimony and Scripture study, and these are 
 good and profitable ; but what shall the young people do ? 
 Where is there a safe outlet for the zeal that has been 
 awakened ? Is there not a danger that the organisation 
 will degenerate into a mere social club, with an occasional 
 
 4 
 
 literary entertainment as the sum of its endeavours ? 
 
 True, we have a missionary department ; but the young 
 
 people know next to nothing about the mission work of 
 
 our own Church', and there is a tendency to divert their 
 
 missionary givings into some other channel than our own." 
 
 It was just at this juncture that some of the young 
 
 men in the Methodist colleges probationers for the 
 
 ministry, medical students, and others felt the claims of 
 
 the missionary enterprise resting with unusual weight upon 
 
 their hearts. They knew how the Board of Missions was 
 
 hampered in its operations by an insufficient income ; they 
 
 were convinced that important sources of revenue were as 
 
 yet almost untouched ; and it occurred to them that the 
 
 Epworth Leagues would supply an agency ready made, 
 
 through which an educational campaign might be conducted 
 
 that would turn the interest and sympathies of the young 
 
 people into line with the general missionary policy of the 
 
 Church. As loyal sons of Methodism, these young men 
 
 first put themselves into communication with the Board of 
 
 Missions, soliciting permission, with the consent of the 
 
 Annual Conference authorities, to visit the various Epworth 
 
 Leagues with the view of organising them on missionary 
 
 Jines. The desired permission was given, and in the autuimi 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 279 
 
 of 1896 a number of students inaugurated the "Students' 
 Campaign for Missions." In the course of a single year 
 good results were so apparent that the board was encouraged 
 to proceed. The young men readily responded to the appeal, 
 and on district after district, in all the Conferences, the 
 leagues fell into line. The organisation is now known as 
 the " Young People's Forward Movement for Missions," and 
 has assumed such proportions that the General Conference 
 of 1902 authorised the Board of Missions to appoint a 
 secretary to give undivided attention to this department. 
 The young people have adopted the principle of systematic 
 giving two cents per week or upwards for missions and 
 the income from this source has now reached about $25,000 
 per annum, with a prospect of steady increase for many 
 years to come. The leagues on various districts are con- 
 tributing, with the consent of the board, for the support of 
 particular missionaries ; and at the present time forty 
 missionaries in the French, Indian, and foreign work 
 are supported, in whole or in part, from this source. 
 On many districts summer or winter schools are held " for 
 the study of the Bible and missions," and missionary 
 literature is extensively circulated. As educating agencies 
 both the Women's Missionary Society and the Young 
 People's Forward Movement for Missions have rendered 
 valuable service. 
 
 As at present organised, the mission work of the Metho- 
 dist Church embraces a number of distinct departments. 
 All are under the supervision of one board and are sup- 
 ported by one fund. Each department, in view of its 
 importance, claims separate mention. 
 
 \. The domestic or homework includes all the missions 
 
280 Methodism in Canada 
 
 to English-speaking people throughout the Dominion and 
 in Newfoundland and the Bermudas. From the very first 
 inception of missionary operations the duty of carrying the 
 gospel and its ordinances to the new settlers in every part 
 of the country has been fully recognised and faithfully 
 performed. This was the work to which the Church sejb 
 herself before the beginning of the last century, at a time 
 when missions, in the more extended sense, had not been 
 thought of. At that period the population was sparse, as 
 in some parts of the country it still is. Of home comforts 
 there were little, and of wealth there was none ; but the 
 tireless itinerant, unmoved by any thought of gain or 
 temporal reward, traversed the wilderness of Upper Canada 
 and the maritime provinces, often guided only by a " blaze " 
 on the trees or the sound of a solitary woodman's axe ; 
 sometimes compelled to sleep on the bare ground in the 
 forest, where fitful dreams were broken by the fierce cry of 
 the catamount or the long-drawn howl of the wolf. But 
 in rough log schoolhouses, in the cabins of frontier 
 settlers, or beneath shady trees on an improvised camp- 
 ground they proclaimed the message of reconciling mercy, 
 bringing peace and hope to troubled hearts. No wonder 
 that their message was listened to with eagerness, and often 
 embraced with rapture. Many of the settlers had enjoyed, in 
 early years, religious privileges in lands far away, and these 
 welcomed again the glad sound when heard in their new 
 homes ; while others, who under more favourable circum- 
 stances had turned a deaf ear to the gospel message, were 
 touched with unwonted tenderness as they listened to the 
 fervid appeals of an itinerant preacher amid the forest 
 solitudes. Thus by night and day was the seed scattered 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 2 8 1 
 
 which since has ripened into a golden harvest. And if a 
 time shall ever come when a truthful history of the 
 English-speaking provinces of the Canadian Dominion shall 
 be written, the historian, as he analyses the various forces 
 that have helped to make the inhabitants of these provinces 
 the most intelligent, moral, prosperous, and contented people 
 beneath the sun, will give foremost place to the work of 
 the saddle-bag itinerants who traversed the country when 
 it was a wilderness, educating the people in that reverence 
 for the word and worship of God which is alike the founda- 
 tion of a pure morality and the safeguard of human 
 freedom. 
 
 While steady enlargement had characterised the growth 
 of home missionary enterprise, it was not till 1858 that 
 the society in Upper Canada inaugurated a forward move- 
 ment that reached out to " the regions beyond." For some 
 time the thought of connexional leaders had been exercised 
 respecting the spiritual needs of the scattered dwellers in 
 British Columbia, at that time a region better known to 
 intelligent Englishmen than to the inhabitants of Upper 
 Canada. In fact, to the latter it was almost a terra, incog- 
 nita ; for between them and it lay the breadth of more than 
 half a continent, unspanned by railway, telegraph, or 
 travelled highway, its streams unbridged, its prairies and 
 mountains unexplored, its solitudes untenanted save by vast 
 herds of buffalo on the plains and bands of nomadic Indians 
 or solitary hunters and trappers. A voyage to England 
 was a much less arduous undertaking than to journey to 
 the distant Pacific colony. In the fifties, and for more than 
 a generation later, the route was vid New York and the 
 isthmus of Panama, involving a journey of more than six 
 
282 Methodism in Canada 
 
 thousand miles. In the days of the Cariboo gold excitement 
 there were some adventurous spirits who essayed the over- 
 land journey, and I have repeatedly seen and conversed 
 with one who, starting from near Toronto, made the whole 
 journey on foot, finding his way as best he might from post 
 to post of the Hudson's Bay Company, often hundreds of 
 miles apart ; subsisting on what food he could carry and 
 on what his gun supplied ; sleeping where night overtook 
 him ; wandering amid mountain fastnesses, repeatedly on 
 the verge of starvation ; fording unbridged and dangerous 
 streams, but finding his way at last in safety to the shores 
 of the Gulf of Georgia. Some who tried the same route 
 were not so fortunate. Unable to sustain the rigours and 
 hardships of the journey, they fell on the way, leaving 
 their bones to bleach in a desolate mountain canyon or 
 beneath the waters of a mountain torrent which they 
 tried in vain to cross. 
 
 In April of 1858 the Rev. Dr. Wood, General Super- 
 intendent of Missions, addressed a letter to the General 
 Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in London 
 respecting the establishment of additional missions west- 
 ward toward the Eocky Mountains. Later in the same 
 year the spiritual needs of British Columbia were brought 
 before the General Secretaries, but without making any 
 formal application for aid. Promptly and generously the 
 British Committee took the initiative, and a grant of 500 
 sterling was sent for the immediate opening of a mission 
 in British Columbia. As soon as it became known that 
 this distant field was to be occupied, more than a dozen 
 ministers, among whom were several chairmen of districts, 
 volunteered their services, and after much solicitude a.nc| 
 
Founding a net Development of Missions 283 
 
 prayer the Eev. Ephraim Evans, D.D., Edward White, 
 Ebenezer Eobson, and Arthur Browning were selected. Of 
 the four beloved brethren the first two have long since 
 passed to their reward ; but Edward White lives again in 
 the person of his son James, who is now Superintendent 
 of Missions in British Columbia. Ebenezer Eobson now 
 Dr. Eobson still survives, hale and vigorous. Arthur 
 Browning is in quiet retirement near Toronto, but delights 
 in revival work when the way opens, and preaches with 
 much of his old-time fire. In British Columbia, owing to 
 the sparseness of the population and other circumstances, 
 the growth of the Church was slow ; but growing out of 
 the seed planted by the pioneers of more than forty years 
 ago, and their successors, there is now a Conference of 80 
 ministers and probationers, 7 districts, 77 circuits and 
 stations, 6,116 members, and 7,088 scholars in the 
 Sunday schools. These statistics include missions to the 
 Indians, Japanese, and Chinese ; but the story of that work 
 will be referred to in another connexion. 
 
 In 1868 another forward movement took place when 
 the Board of Missions resolved to open work at Fort Garry, 
 in what had been known till then as the Hudson's Bay 
 Territory. Of this enormous region the outside world had 
 only the vaguest notion. Men spoke of it as the Great 
 Lone Land, and pictured it as a sterile, inhospitable region 
 which even on its southern boundary was scarcely touched 
 by the advancing frontiers of civilisation, while northward 
 its gusty leagues of prairie, swamp and arctic forest 
 stretched into the darkness and rigour of the Polar night. 
 But the federation of the British American Colonies in 
 1867, when provision wa,s made for the incorporation of 
 
284 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the Hudson's Bay Territory in the Dominion, had turned 
 attention toward the hitherto unknown region, and 
 emigrants from the older provinces began to set their faces 
 toward the West. It was felt that something should be 
 done to meet the spiritual needs of these new settlers, and 
 the Board of Missions took action accordingly. Much 
 would depend upon the selection made for this important 
 mission, and the thoughts of many turned toward the Kev. 
 George Young, D.D., an able and trusted minister, who 
 had served in succession some of the most important circuits 
 in the Connexion, and was at this time Chairman of the 
 Toronto district and Superintendent of the Toronto West 
 circuit, which included the largest church and congregation 
 with one exception in Canadian Methodism. To sever the 
 endearing associations of years, relinquish the conveniences 
 and privileges of city life, and return in his forty-eighth 
 year to the arduous toil and meagre pay of a pioneer 
 missionary, was no small sacrifice ; but it was cheerfully 
 made, and in company with the Kev. Egerton E. Young and 
 the Eev. Peter Campbell, who were sent to reinforce the 
 Indian work, Dr. Young set out for his distant field. The 
 party were able to proceed by rail and steamer as far as 
 St. Paul, in the State of Minnesota, from which point a 
 further journey of between six and seven hundred miles 
 had to be made by horses and waggons over prairie trails 
 before reaching Fort Garry. As the party proceeded 
 northward they passed at intervals the blackened ruins of 
 deserted homesteads, sad mementoes of a terrible massacre 
 by the Sioux Indians that had occurred a year or two- 
 before. Then for a week together no sign of human 
 habitation appeared; but at length, after a toilsome 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 285 
 
 journey of over a month from St. Paul, the party reached 
 Fort Garry on the Eed Kiver of the North. 
 
 The little village beginning to spring up in the vicinity 
 of the fort had been named Winnipeg, but in 1868 it was 
 a sorry affair. " A mass of soft, black, slippery and sticky 
 Ked Eiver mud," says Dr. Young, " was everywhere spread 
 out before us. Streets with neither sidewalks nor cross- 
 ings, with now and then a good-sized pit for the traveller 
 to avoid or flounder through as best he could ; a few small 
 stores with poor goods and high prices ; one little tavern 
 where ' Dutch George ' was ' monarch of all he surveyed ' ; 
 a few passable dwellings, with no rooms to let nor space 
 for boarders ; neither church nor school in sight or in 
 prospect; population about one hundred, instead of one 
 thousand as we expected such was Winnipeg on 4th July 
 1868." But these were not the only discouragements. A 
 plague of locusts was in the land, and fields that a little 
 while before bore promise of a bountiful harvest were now 
 bare as if swept by a devouring fire. Flour was selling, 
 even at that time, at from twenty- five to thirty shillings 
 sterling per hundred pounds, and oats at eight shillings a 
 bushel. Besides this, the buffalo hunters had met with 
 very poor success, and there was the prospect of a positive 
 famine. 
 
 Having secured, with very great difficulty, a place in 
 which to live, and in which to conduct religious services, 
 Dr. Young set himself to the laborious but very necessary 
 task of laying foundations. Even at that early period he 
 foresaw something of the possibilities of the future. " I 
 am not a prophet," he wrote to the Mission Eooms in 
 December 1868, "but I will predict for this mission, 
 
286 Methodism in Canada 
 
 whose foundations I am now trying to lay, a glorious 
 future." How abundantly the prediction has been verified 
 is well known to all who have visited the beautiful city 
 of Winnipeg in recent years. In the true spirit of a 
 Methodist itinerant Dr. Young extended his labours to the 
 west beyond Portage la Prairie, a distance of seventy-five 
 or eighty miles, and down Ked Kiver to lower Fort Garry, 
 about twenty miles or more, visiting the scattered settlers 
 on the way, conversing on matters pertaining to personal 
 religion, reading from the Scriptures when opportunity 
 offered, and praying with those who were willing he should 
 do so. Keeping steadily in mind the establishment of a 
 permanent circuit, Dr. Young was diligent in securing 
 permission to preach regularly in private houses, the only 
 places available at the time, as there were no public build- 
 ings as yet in the settlements. As a rule the desired 
 permission was cheerfully given, and in many of those 
 neighbourhoods there are to-day commodious churches, good 
 congregations, and flourishing societies. 
 
 The ordinary difficulties incident to the founding of a 
 mission in a new country, where everything has to be 
 created from the beginning, are serious enough ; but in 
 Manitoba these were greatly augmented during the 
 troublous times of 1869-70 by the revolt of the French 
 half-breeds under Louis Kiel. This bold, able, but 
 thoroughly selfish and unscrupulous man had succeeded in 
 ingratiating himself with his compatriots and co-religionists, 
 and by impassioned appeals aroused their fears in regard 
 to what he affirmed would take place when government 
 from Ottawa would once be established. The French half- 
 breeds were not only extremely ignorant (few of them 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 287 
 
 could either read or write), but they possessed in a large 
 degree the excitable Gallic temperament, combined with 
 the fighting instincts of their Indian ancestry, the very 
 kind of people who could easily be roused to desperate 
 undertakings by any unscrupulous demagogue who possessed 
 as Kiel undoubtedly did the gift of popular oratory. 
 When once their prejudices were excited and their 
 religious fanaticism aroused, such a man could lead them 
 whithersoever he would. It is significant that, as the 
 agitation went on, Kiel was in the habit of delivering his 
 inflammable harangues at the church doors on Sundays 
 after the celebration of Mass. It is not too much to 
 say that at any time a word from the Eoman Catholic 
 hierarchy could have stopped the whole agitation. But 
 that word was never uttered, and by ominous silence the 
 revolt was tacitly if not openly encouraged. 1 
 
 The Government of the province or territory of 
 Assiniboia, of which the Eed Kiver settlements were at 
 this time a part, consisted of an elective Council, presided 
 over by Governor M'Tavish of the Hon. Hudson's Bay 
 Company, and this was recognised by both the Imperial 
 and Canadian Governments. In due time this was to be 
 superseded by a Government fashioned after those of the 
 other provinces of the Dominion. During this interval 
 Kiel and his fellow-conspirators were busy circulating 
 alarming rumours among the people. For some time the 
 signs of discontent were small, and little heed was paid to 
 them. In this, as in many another case, " the beginning 
 
 1 It is but just to say that during this period the Roman Catholic 
 Archbishop, Monsignor Tache, was absent in Rome. It is the belief of Dr. 
 Young and others that had he been in his diocese the designs of Riel 
 would have been checked, 
 
288 Methodism in Canada 
 
 of strife " was " as when one letteth out water," and when 
 the flood came it could not be stayed. Soon the agitation 
 took the form of drilled and officered military companies, 
 consisting exclusively of Kiel's co-religionists and almost 
 exclusively of French half-breeds. When word came that 
 the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. Wm. 
 M'Dougall, and a party of officials were en route for Fort 
 Garry by way of Pembina, a detachment of armed men 
 took possession of the highway at a point where the 
 Governor's party must necessarily pass, and erected a huge 
 cross and a barricade to stop all travellers. In some cases 
 trains of freighting carts were allowed to pass, while others 
 were stopped and their contents confiscated. This occurred 
 on the 21st of October 1869. On the 25th the Council 
 of Assiniboia met and urged the leaders of the insurrection 
 to cease their opposition, but without effect. A document 
 was sent to Lieutenant-Governor M'Dougall at Pembina, 
 forbidding him to enter the country. He did enter, how- 
 ever ; but soon after was met by an armed force, under 
 command of one Lepine, and threatened with dire conse- 
 quences if he and his party did not leave by nine o'clock 
 the next morning. Being entirely defenceless, Mr. 
 M'Dougall retraced his steps across the boundary to await 
 further instructions from Ottawa. 
 
 On 3rd November 1869 Kiel, with a hundred and 
 twenty-five armed followers, marched through the gates of 
 Fort Garry and took possession of the fort with its imnnen.se 
 stores. This gave the command of thirteen six-pounders 
 and four hundred Enfield rifles, with abundance of 
 ammunition and food supplies, and here for ten long 
 months the petty tyrant lived in luxury and lorded it over 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 289 
 
 the surrounding country. A month after the capture of 
 Fort Garry, Lieutenant-Governor M'Dougall (who still 
 remained at Pembina), having been assured that the transfer 
 of the territories would take place on 1st December, issued 
 on that day a Queen's Proclamation, and also commissioned 
 Colonel Dennis as his Lieutenant and Conservator of the 
 Peace for the North-West Territories, with authority to 
 appoint officers and organise and equip companies of 
 loyalists for service in suppressing the rebellion. In a 
 short time four hundred men were enrolled, but finding 
 no sufficient supply of munitions of war, and no competent 
 leadership, they fell away, until only about fifty were 
 left to guard the lower fort, while fifty more, poorly 
 equipped and officered, were sent to guard some govern- 
 ment stores in Dr. Schultz's buildings in Winnipeg. As 
 these buildings were within range of the guns of Fort 
 Garry, and could be easily surrounded and cut off from 
 supplies of wood and water, the impossibility of holding 
 the position became at once apparent. Preparations were 
 made by Kiel for an assault on the buildings, and this 
 induced Dr. Young (whose son was among the volunteers) 
 to interview the self-styled " President " to try to dis- 
 suade him from an act that would result in much blood- 
 shed and misery, but was insulted and brow-beaten in true 
 half-breed style. On nearing the building, however, Dr. 
 Young succeeded in getting his son away. He then 
 pleaded for others of the volunteers, whose families needed 
 their help, that they also be allowed to depart, but was 
 indignantly dismissed. At this juncture a merchant of 
 the town approached Eiel to negotiate for a surrender on 
 terms that might be agreed upon. After some delay these 
 
 19 
 
290 Methodism in Canada 
 
 were made known and assented to, and were to the effect 
 that the surrendering party should " leave guns, ammuni- 
 tion, etc., in the buildings, and be marched to the fort, and 
 then allowed to go where they pleased." Some doubted the 
 sincerity of the promise, but the merchant Mr. Bannatyne 
 assured them the agreement would be faithfully kept, 
 and he would personally guarantee all private property ; 
 and on this assurance the surrender was made. Then 
 followed an act of treachery which, apart from his other 
 crimes, should suffice to hand down the name of Louis 
 Eiel to deserved infamy. About fifty disarmed loyalists, 
 with three ladies (Mrs. Dr. Schultz, Mrs. Dr. O'Donnell, 
 and Mrs. Mair, who accompanied their husbands), were 
 surrounded by Kiel's guards, marched to the fort, the gates 
 of which closed upon them as soon as they entered, and 
 they were prisoners without hope of escape, at the mercy 
 of a man who was alike without honour and without 
 humanity. 
 
 The indignities, privations, and sufferings endured by 
 these betrayed people almost surpass belief. They were 
 first located in the upper flat of a two- storey building, 
 containing five or six small rooms opening into a central 
 corridor. The latter was used as " guardroom," while the 
 small rooms, without stoves, beds, or chairs, were packed 
 with prisoners, so crowded that, to prevent suffocation, a 
 pane of glass in each window had to be broken, and 
 through these openings the biting frosts and piercing 
 winds of a Manitoba winter had free entrance. The food 
 supplied was the poorest quality of pemmican and tea; 
 and when a number of kind-hearted women in the town 
 prepared and sent baskets of bread, biscuits, cooked potatoes, 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 291 
 
 etc., these luxuries (for such they were under the circum- 
 stances) were often snatched and appropriated by the 
 rapacious guards. But why go into such harrowing 
 details ? I speak of these things merely to show how 
 Methodism, through its representatives, faithfully did its 
 duty, as often before, in a crisis of the country's history, 
 and vindicated its true character as " the friend of all 
 the enemy of none." 
 
 On the morning following the surrender Dr. Young 
 went to Eiel and solicited permission to hold service with 
 the prisoners on the Lord's day ; but the request met with 
 this curt response : " No, you cannot meet them all 
 together, nor speak to them ; but you may go and pray 
 with them only, for they much need to be prayed for." 
 The faithful minister availed himself of the grudging 
 permission, and thenceforward, twice during the week and 
 once on Sabbath morning, held brief service in the different 
 rooms. But this was always in the presence of an armed 
 guard. And even when visiting the invalid wife of one of 
 the prisoners in her own home, a rough fellow invariably 
 entered the room at the same time, and seating himself on 
 the side of the sufferer's bed, remained there while the 
 minister prayed. And yet who can tell when and where 
 and how a good seed may fall ? Years afterward a 
 surveyor from a remote settlement met Dr. Young and, 
 in the course of conversation, said to him, " I feel that 
 you should know a fact that came to my knowledge not 
 long ago. The half-breed who used to stand guard over 
 you during your services in the prisons in 1869 and 1870, 
 and who recently died, when urged in his last illness to 
 have the priest brought, said to his friends, ' If you can 
 
292 Methodism in Canada 
 
 bring Mr. Young, I should like him to come and pray for 
 me as I used to hear him pray with the prisoners in Fort 
 Garry.'" 
 
 About the middle of February another movement for 
 the release of the prisoners took place. A number of 
 loyalists from Portage la Prairie, and other places west, 
 proceeded to Kildonan, east of Winnipeg, where they were 
 joined by others, and from there sent a demand to Eiel to 
 release the prisoners. This was followed by an interchange 
 of further messages, which resulted in an agreement that 
 the prisoners would be discharged, while the relieving force 
 would disband and return to their homes. At Eiel's 
 request they agreed to diverge from the regular trail so 
 as not to pass near the fort ; but while struggling through 
 deep snowdrifts on the un tracked prairie they were 
 suddenly surrounded by an armed force from the fort, and 
 informed that Kiel desired them to call and see him before 
 they returned home. Though feeling tolerably certain 
 that they were betrayed, resistance was useless. As soon 
 as they entered the fort the gates were closed as before, 
 and they were declared prisoners and thrust into the very 
 same rooms from which their friends had been released 
 only a day or two before. A reign of tyranny and cruelty 
 far worse than the past now seemed to be established, 
 and no one could foresee whence deliverance would come. 
 Some of the prisoners were known as leaders, and were 
 regarded by Kiel with especial enmity. Among these 
 were Major Boulton, who had commanded the relieving 
 party, Scott, Powers, M'Leod, and Parker. No sooner were 
 the prisoners secured in the fort than a " council of war " 
 was called, when it was decided that Boulton was guilty of 
 
Foimding and Development f Missions $ 9 3 
 
 " treason," and Kiel sentenced him to be shot at noon the 
 next day. Through the earnest intercessions of Arch- 
 deacon M'Leod and Commissioner Smith (now Lord 
 Strathcona) the execution was postponed, but only on the 
 promise that they would proceed that very night to the 
 lower settlement and persuade the people to elect repre- 
 sentatives to an "Assembly" that Eiel desired to see 
 established. The efforts of the archdeacon and the 
 commissioner were successful, and Major Boulton was 
 spared. 
 
 It would be pleasant to relate that this was the end 
 of Kiel's barbarity, but worse was yet to come. A loyal 
 young Irishman, Thomas Scott by name, had been 
 treacherously arrested at the time of the attack on Dr. 
 Schultz's building, but with some others he effected his 
 escape on the 9th of December 1869. He subsequently 
 volunteered with Major Boulton's company, and was a 
 second time taken prisoner. For reasons never clearly 
 understood, Kiel cherished or seemed to cherish feelings 
 of intense enmity to Scott ; or possibly it may have been 
 that the murderous instincts of his Indian nature had been 
 aroused, and could be satisfied only with cruelty and 
 bloodshed. Be that as it may, Scott's death was decreed. 
 At his trial by the so-called " council of war " Kiel was 
 prosecutor, witness, and judge, and when Scott pleaded 
 that he did not know of what crime he was accused, as he 
 did not understand the language used, he was told that he 
 was " a very bad man and must die." Returning from an 
 appointment in the country, Dr. Young received a message 
 from the fort that Scott was to be shot at noon on the 
 morrow, and desired to see him. Fearing the worst, 
 
294 Methodism in Canada 
 
 everything possible was done to administer spiritual 
 consolation to the doomed man. Dr. Young also sought 
 an interview with Kiel, and interceded with all the 
 earnestness and pathos he could command on behalf of 
 the prisoner, and was faithfully seconded by Commissioner 
 Smith ; but all to no avail. On the morrow Scott was 
 led out to die. To the last Dr. Young continued to plead, 
 but with no effect. A few moments later poor Thomas 
 Scott fell, pierced by rebel bullets, and his heart's blood 
 crimsoned the snow where he knelt. While his body lay 
 quivering in death a half-drunken guard approached and 
 fired a revolver at the victim's head. A fouler murder 
 was never committed, and covers the name of Eiel and of 
 his Lieutenant O'Donohue with endless infamy. 
 
 It is not necessary to follow further the course of 
 public events the arrival of the expedition under Colonel 
 Wolseley, the precipitate flight of the rebels, and the 
 collapse of the bubble confederacy. What has been 
 written has simply been to show in what troublous times 
 the foundations of Methodist missions in the North-West 
 were laid, and how much the courage and fidelity of the 
 liev. Dr. Young had to do with the hold which the work 
 subsequently gained upon the people. With the sub- 
 jugation of the incipient rebellion the dark days passed 
 away. Lawful authority was soon established ; the 
 machinery of government and the law courts was set 
 in motion, and business, freed from the dangers of revolt, 
 began to prosper and extend. Additional missionaries 
 were sent out to assist Dr. Young, and the work took 
 definite shape. In 1872 a cheering impulse was given 
 by the visit of a deputation from the Board of Missions, 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 29$ 
 
 consisting of the Kev. Dr. Pimshon, President of 
 Conference, Rev. Dr. Wood, Superintendent of Missions, 
 and John Macdonald, Esq., Lay Treasurer of the Society. 
 The missionaries had been summoned six months in 
 advance, and arrived from far-distant Indian fields in 
 time for the first Missionary Conference ever held in 
 the North-West. The days spent in consultation, fellow- 
 ship, and prayer were times of refreshing to the isolated 
 and sometimes discouraged labourers, and they returned 
 to their fields of toil with renewed courage and zeal. 
 As the population increased, additional missionaries were 
 sent, though for a length of time progress in both respects 
 was comparatively slow. But in the later eighties, when 
 the Canadian Pacific Eailway spanned the continent and 
 millions of fertile acres were thrown open for settlement, 
 the whole situation was changed, and development in all 
 directions became phenomenally rapid. Instead of the 
 little handful of missionaries, most of them from Indian 
 stations, that greeted the deputation in Winnipeg in 1872, 
 there is now a Conference covering a territory fifteen 
 hundred miles in length by from one hundred to three 
 hundred miles in width, with two hundred and fifty 
 ministers and probationers, and over twenty-two thousand 
 members ; and by far the greater part of this growth 
 dates within the past fifteen years. Every year the 
 momentum is increasing, and from the older provinces of 
 the Dominion, from the United States, and from lands 
 across the sea, population is rushing in at a rate that is 
 simply bewildering. It is not too much to say that the 
 home mission problem is to-day the all-absorbing topic 
 in the Councils of Canadian Methodism, and the conviction 
 
296 Methodism in Canada 
 
 grows that nothing less than Pauline faith and consecration 
 can meet the responsibilities of the hour. 
 
 2. Those who are familiar with the story of Canadian 
 Methodism know how strongly the evangelization of the 
 Indian tribes has appealed to the sympathies and zeal of 
 the Church. At an early period attention was turned to the 
 needs of these neglected and degraded people, and some of 
 the noblest workers the Methodist Church ever produced 
 cheerfully gave many of their best days to the Christlike 
 task of seeking these lost sheep in the wilderness. The 
 names of Egerton Kyerson, William Case, Peter Jones, the 
 M'Dougalls (father and son), James Evans, Henry Stein- 
 hauer, Thomas Crosby, and many more, will ever be 
 associated, in grateful remembrance, with the work of 
 Indian evangelization. At the close of the revolutionary 
 war there was a large emigration of Indians of the Six 
 Nations from the Mohawk valley to the banks of the 
 Grand Eiver in Upper Canada, where a tract of land, 
 sixty miles from north to south and twelve miles from 
 east to west, was set apart by the British Government for 
 their use. Within this tract, beginning at the river's 
 mouth, were located the Cayugas, Dela wares, Senecas, 
 Tuscaroras, Onondagas, and Mohawks. These Indians, 
 under a celebrated chief named Tyendenaga, commonly 
 known among the whites as Captain Joseph Brant (after 
 whom the city of Brantford is named), rendered substantial 
 aid to the British forces in the revolutionary war, and it 
 was as a reward for services, and to compensate for losses 
 sustained, that the reservation was set aside. They 
 numbered about two thousand and were all pagans except 
 the Mohawks, who were nominally adherents of the 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 297 
 
 Church of England, but bore the reputation of being 
 rather worse in their morals than the pagan tribes. 
 An Anglo-Saxon may be moral after a fashion without 
 religion ; but not so an Indian, especially if he has come 
 into contact with white civilisation. He must be converted 
 through and through if he is to make any headway 
 against temptation. 
 
 In 1823 Alvin Torry was appointed by the Methodist 
 bishop to the Grand Kiver Mission. His commission was 
 to the white settlers on his extensive field, but his route 
 led him through parts of the reservation, and his heart was 
 stirred by the spiritual destitution of the Indians. He 
 held services at intervals among the Delawares, with 
 encouraging results. He also preached to the Tuscaroras 
 and Mohawks, who seemed pleased with his visits. But 
 even before the advent of the missionary a little had 
 been done. A pious shoemaker named Edmund Stoney, 
 a Methodist local preacher, held prayer-meetings in the 
 house of Chief Thomas Davis, who was in the habit of 
 reading portions of the Scriptures to his neighbours and 
 the Church prayers in the Mohawk tongue. Stoney 
 also preached occasionally, and a few Indians were 
 awakened. The second labourer was Seth Crawford, a 
 pious young man from the eastern States. When converted, 
 a conviction took hold upon him that he ought to devote 
 his life to the evangelizing of the Indians. Unexpected 
 providences led him to the Mohawks on the Grand Eiver. 
 He told them he came to learn their language and 
 teach their children, and they consented that he might live 
 with them and fare as they did. It was after his coming 
 that the first awakening occurred. A marked event 
 
298 Methodism in Canada 
 
 about this time was the conversion of Peter Jones, a 
 young mixed-blood, son of a white father and an Indian 
 mother. The father, after hearing the Methodist preachers, 
 was converted, and sent his son to school, where he 
 mastered the usual rudiments of an English education. 
 In 1823 he became acquainted with Seth Crawford, and 
 heard Edmund Stoney preach on the subject of the new 
 birth. Later he went with his sister to a camp-meeting 
 on the Ancaster circuit, and while listening to the sermons, 
 " I began," he said, " to feel very sick in my heart. ... I 
 thought the blackcoats knew all that was in my heart, 
 and that I was the person addressed. ... In spite of 
 my Indian heart, tears flowed down my cheeks at the 
 remembrance of my sins." At midnight he went to his 
 tent and fell asleep ; but soon two of the preachers came 
 and awoke him, saying his sister was converted, and he 
 must return to the prayer-meeting. Here he found his 
 sister rejoicing in the Lord. Continuing in prayer till 
 day-dawn he was enabled to trust in the mercy of God 
 revealed in Christ Jesus. " That very instant," said 
 Peter, "my burden was removed; joy unspeakable filled 
 my heart, and I could say, Abba, Father. . . . Everything 
 now appeared in a new light, and all the works of God 
 seemed to unite with me in uttering the praises of the 
 Lord." Soon after a little class was formed by Alvin 
 Tony, at the house of Chief Davis, among whom were 
 Peter Jones and his sister, and put in charge of Seth 
 Crawford, and some wonderful displays of saving power 
 occurred. On Torry's return from Conference in June, 
 twenty were admitted as members of the society. A 
 gracious work began on another part of the reservation, 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 299 
 
 where both whites and Indians were converted and a 
 society formed. No wonder that Torry writes : " In 
 weariness my mind is comforted and my soul is delighted 
 in feeding these hungry natives with the provisions of the 
 gospel. Oh, I could endure hunger, or sit down thankfully 
 to their humble fare, or lie down in Indian wigwams all 
 my life, to be employed in such a work as this, and 
 especially if favoured with such consolations as at times 
 I have enjoyed since I commenced my labours on this 
 mission." 
 
 In 1825 a camp-meeting was held at Mount Pleasant, 
 a few miles from where the city of Brantford now stands, 
 and was especially noteworthy for a number of conversions 
 among the Mississaguas. These Indians were notoriously 
 the most drunken and filthy in the country, the very lowest 
 of the low, and yet they received the gospel more readily 
 than others, and its transforming power among them was 
 wonderful. Up to this time they had depended upon 
 hunting and fishing for their precarious livelihood ; now 
 they began to clear and cultivate the soil, and to live in 
 settled homes in a Christian fashion. In the summer 
 of 1825 the Mississaguas were notified by the Indian 
 agent to assemble at the river Credit, about thirteen 
 miles west of York, to receive their customary annual 
 presents and payments for the surrender of their lands. 
 On the Sunday following their arrival Peter Jones 
 preached to an audience of three hundred, whites and 
 Indians, first in Ojibway and then in English. The power 
 of God came down upon some of the Indians, and they 
 fell to the ground, some crying for pardon, and others 
 rejoicing in the Lord. Next day the Indians repaired to 
 
300 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the Humber Kiver, twelve niiles nearer York. Many 
 heathen were assembled, besides the Christians from the 
 Grand Eiver, and were met by the Indian agent, Col. 
 Givens. Archdeacon Strachan, who had come out to see 
 the Christian Indians, heard the children sing some hymns, 
 and afterwards heard two read from the New Testament 
 and others from a schoolbook. He spoke to them kindly, 
 advising them to settle on their lands at the Credit, 
 promised them assistance from the Government, and then 
 prayed with them. The Indians agreed, and this was the 
 origin of the Indian settlement on the Credit, which 
 became a noted Methodist mission, and so continued 
 till the Indians moved to the New Credit on the Six 
 Nations' Eeserve. 
 
 When the Christian Indians returned to the Grand 
 River they were accompanied by a large number of pagans, 
 some of whom were already awakened. On the following 
 Sunday Alvin Torry preached, with Peter Jones as 
 interpreter, and the word of the Lord was with power. 
 As the result of that day's services forty-five were publicly 
 baptized. Torry was much impressed with the spirit and 
 ability of Peter Jones. " He is a youth," he said, " of much 
 promise to his nation and the Church, and his labours are 
 a continual blessing to his people." Knowing that there 
 were bands of Indians on the river Thames who had not 
 heard the gospel, Torry and Jones agreed to visit them. 
 One band was known as Moravians, because a Moravian 
 missionary resided among them, and a few scattered ones 
 were remnants of the Delawares who had been taught by 
 David Brainerd and some Moravian missionaries in the 
 United States. The rest were pagans. The first to show 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 30 1 
 
 an interest in these neglected Indians was John Carey, a 
 pious school teacher, and it was at his request that Alvin 
 Tony and Peter Jones carne to visit them. On this first 
 visit the missionary and his interpreter spent five days, 
 with scant food and sleep, and travelled sixty miles on foot 
 through the wilderness. Subsequent visits were made, and 
 by degrees the gospel was introduced among the Indians of 
 the Thames. At the Conference of 1825 the first Annual 
 Eeport of the Missionary Society was presented. The 
 meeting was addressed by Chief Thomas Davis and Peter 
 Jones, and there was much joy among the brethren because 
 a great and effectual door unto the heathen had been 
 opened. At the same Conference Elder Case, who was 
 deeply interested in the evangelization of the Indian tribes, 
 was transferred to the Bay of Quinte district. In the 
 following winter he requested Peter Jones and Chief John 
 Crane to visit the Indians in the vicinity of Belleville and 
 back of Kingston. In the spring Peter Jones repeated his 
 visit, and as a result of services held Case baptized twenty- 
 two Indian converts, while perhaps fifty more were 
 earnestly seeking the Lord. Among the converts was John 
 Sunday, who became a faithful and useful missionary among 
 his people. 
 
 Space will not admit of further details of this most 
 interesting work. Suffice it to say that after the first 
 union with the British Conference in 1833 the work was 
 extended and strengthened ; and when the second union 
 was consummated in 1847 a real forward movement 
 began. Missions were opened in the Hudson's Bay 
 Territory at Norway House, Oxford House, and other 
 points. James Evans, of precious memory, was stationed 
 
Methodism in Canada 
 
 at Norway House, where he founded one of the most 
 successful missions in the whole field. To him belongs 
 the distinguished honour of having invented and perfected 
 a system of syllabic characters, so simple and yet so 
 comprehensive that an Indian of ordinary intelligence can 
 begin, after two weeks' teaching, to read the Scriptures in 
 his own tongue. In succeeding years grand work was 
 done in those distant regions by Charles Stringfellow, Henry 
 Steinhauer (a converted Indian, two of whose sons are now 
 missionaries to their people), Kobert Brooking, George 
 M'Dougall (whose son John is now Superintendent of 
 Indian Missions in the North-West), Egerton R Young, 
 John Semmens, and others. In the far West, near the 
 Piocky Mountains, Eobert Bundle introduced the gospel 
 among the Mountain Stonies with blessed effect ; Thomas 
 Wooley and Henry Steinhauer were sent to labour among 
 the Crees; and soon the M'Dougalls, father and son, 
 entered the same field. In early days of mission work in 
 British Columbia the Indians were not entirely neglected. 
 White, Kobson, Browning, and Pollard did what they could ; 
 but they were so occupied with the work among the 
 whites that they had scant time to spare for anything 
 else. Some pious laymen in Victoria interested themselves 
 in the degraded tribes, and a few were won to a better 
 life. 
 
 At this time a letter from Edward White was 
 published in the Christian Guardian, telling of the destitute 
 condition of the Indians and pleading for someone to go 
 and teach them. The letter came under the eye of an 
 ardent young Methodist in Ontario, Thomas Crosby by 
 name, and his heart was fired to respond to the call. He 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 303 
 
 borrowed from a friend enough money to pay the expenses 
 of the long journey, and went forth trusting in God. Near 
 the coal-mining town of Nanaimo was a band of Flathead 
 Indians, and among these he began his work, gathering the- 
 children in a school and speaking to the adults when he 
 had opportunity. The Chinook a jargon used by the 
 tribes for trading purposes was easily acquired, but it 
 was a wretchedly poor vehicle for conveying religious 
 truth. A knowledge of the Flathead tongue, which Crosby 
 laboured diligently to master, enabled him to work to 
 better advantage, and by his efforts, in association with 
 others, some of the Indians were savingly converted. 
 Among these was a lad named David Sallasselton, who 
 early displayed such burning zeal for the salvation of his 
 people, and such wonderful gifts as a speaker, that the 
 missionaries encouraged him in every way. Though 
 perhaps not more than sixteen years of age when con- 
 verted, his natural gifts of oratory were such that his 
 fame spread all over the adjacent country, and he became 
 known among the white people as the Morley Punshou of 
 the Pacific coast. His zeal was equal to his gifts, and 
 finally carried him beyond his strength. No labours were 
 too great, no journeys too difficult, if only he could reach 
 his people with the message of salvation. In his zeal to 
 reach an appointment he crossed a stream amid floating 
 ice, and though wet and chilled conducted a service. A 
 severe cold followed, which settled on his lungs and 
 ultimately terminated his life. But he died in holy 
 triumph. 
 
 Every year large numbers of Indians came down from 
 the North to catch salmon in the Fraser Eiver or pick 
 
304 Methodism in Canada 
 
 hops in the fields of Oregon, and Victoria was a common 
 stopping-place both going and returning. Here some 
 Indians from Port Simpson found their way to a building 
 where some pious laymen were holding meetings, and two 
 or three were converted. These at once began to plead 
 for a missionary. After some negotiation, and a visit to 
 the place by the chairman of the district, Thomas Crosby 
 volunteered for the service, and was sent accordingly. On 
 reaching his distant field, seven hundred miles north 
 of Victoria, he called the people together, told them who 
 he was and why he had come. Then he told them they 
 must have a house built in which to worship the Great 
 Spirit, and learn about His Son Jesus Christ, and asked 
 them to give whatever they could to help build the house. 
 With strange readiness they responded to the call, and in 
 the shape of guns, blankets, silver ornaments, and money, 
 that assemblage of heathen contributed to the value 
 of over $400 to aid in building a house for the worship 
 of One who to them was as yet " the unknown God." 
 Surely, thought the missionary, these people are ripe for 
 the gospel ; and so it proved. A commodious church was 
 built with aid from the Mission Rooms, and a revival 
 followed, in which scores were converted. Quickly the 
 news spread in all directions, and this was the form in 
 which the message went from village to village up and 
 down the coast and away into the far interior : " A great 
 light has come to Port Simpson, and they have built a 
 wonderful house for God." Large numbers of Indians 
 came from all directions to see and hear for themselves, 
 and these in turn carried back the tidings to distant 
 villages, saying that the half had not been told them. 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 305 
 
 Nor was this the only gracious visitation that Port 
 Simpson enjoyed. On one occasion a remarkable revival 
 broke out apparently without any human agency. Mr. 
 Crosby had gone to visit outlying villages on a tour that 
 would last several weeks. After his departure the Holy 
 Spirit began to work mightily among the people. In the 
 middle of the night several Indians went to the mission 
 house, awoke the inmates, and asked Mrs. Crosby to give 
 them the key of the church. Thinking it best to manifest 
 no surprise, she gave them the key and they went away, 
 Mrs. Crosby then lit a lantern and asked the lady who 
 taught the school to accompany her to the church, that 
 they might see what the Indians were doing. Softly 
 opening the door, they saw by the light of the lantern 
 some scores of Indians kneeling on the floor in the dark, 
 and with sighs and tears pleading with God for salvation. 
 For many days and nights in succession did those faithful 
 women carry on the services, and by the time Mr. Crosby 
 returned it seemed as though the whole village had been 
 profoundly moved. During and after some of these 
 wonderful outpourings, bands of young men would take 
 canoes and start off, in some cases scores of miles, to tell 
 the people of other villages of the good news of salvation, 
 and in this way the gospel was carried to many who other- 
 wise would never have heard it. Since then permanent 
 missions have been established at many points and are 
 still in successful operation. As the direct result of 
 missionary effort among the Indians of British Columbia 
 tribal wars have entirely ceased, heathen villages have been 
 transformed into Christian communities, and the gross 
 immoralities of the dance and the " potlatch " have given 
 
 20 
 
306 Methodism in Canada 
 
 place to assemblies for Christian instruction and sacred 
 song. In the North- West similar results have been 
 achieved, and it has been demonstrated that the advance- 
 ment of the native tribes in intelligence, in morality, in 
 loyalty, and in the arts of civilised life, keeps even step 
 with the progress of Christian missions. Very significant 
 is the fact that during the second revolt among certain 
 Indians and half-breeds in 1885, led by Louis Kiel and 
 Chief Big Bear, not one Indian member or adherent of 
 the Methodist Church was implicated in the disturb- 
 ance, and it is a well known fact that the unswerving 
 loyalty of the Christian Indians notably Chief Pakan and 
 his people at Whitefish Lake contributed more than any 
 other circumstance to prevent a general uprising of the 
 Cree nation. At the present time there are 61 Indian 
 missions under the jurisdiction of the Methodist Church, 
 with 43 missionaries, 14 assistants, 28 teachers, and 
 7 interpreters a total of 92. Besides the ordinary 
 day schools there are 6 industrial institutes and boarding 
 schools, with accommodation for about 500 pupils. The 
 membership returns from the Indian missions for 19012 
 show an aggregate of 5,286. 
 
 3. An interesting though not remarkably successful 
 department of the Church's work is that among the 
 French in the province of Quebec. In that province 
 there is a French-speaking population of over a million 
 and a quarter, and these, with the exception of a few 
 thousands, are adherents of the most solid, thoroughly 
 organised, and aggressive type of Komanism to be found 
 in the world. The church is virtually endowed, can 
 collect its tithes and levy its church-building rates by 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 307 
 
 law. Education is controlled by the bishops, and the 
 whole machinery is used to maintain the use of the 
 French language and inculcate a French national spirit. 
 As regards religion, evangelical truth is a thing almost 
 unknown. Such a population, under such control, con- 
 stitutes a serious problem, and it has led the various 
 Protestant Churches to make some effort to spread the 
 gospel among them. So far as Methodist missions are con* 
 cerned, numerical results have been small ; but it should 
 be borne in mind that the difficulties to be surmounted 
 are greater than in any other field, and that there are 
 causes for the comparatively small numerical increase 
 which do not exist elsewhere. Neither in the home, 
 the Indian, nor even in the foreign field, do civil or 
 social disabilities follow to the same extent a profession 
 of faith in Christ ; but in the province of Quebec a 
 renunciation of Komanism is the signal for a series of 
 petty persecutions and a degree of civil and social 
 ostracism which many have not sufficient nerve to endure, 
 and which usually results in their emigration from the 
 province. The difficulty of reaching the people by direct 
 evangelistic effort has led the Board of Missions to give 
 increased attention to educational work. In pursuance 
 of this policy, a commodious building has been erected in 
 a western suburb of Montreal, capable of accommodating 
 one hundred resident pupils. Over seventy pupils of 
 both sexes are now in attendance, and the future of the 
 institute is promising. 
 
 4. During the past thirty years large numbers of 
 Chinese have landed on the Pacific coast of the American 
 continent, and some thousands have found temporary 
 
308 Methodism in Canada 
 
 homes in British Columbia. In 1884 Mr. John Dillon, 
 a merchant of Montreal, visited the Pacific coast on 
 business, and his heart was stirred by the spiritually 
 destitute condition of the Chinese, especially in Victoria. 
 He wrote to a member of the Board of Missions inquiring 
 if something could not be done. The matter was con- 
 sidered at the next board meeting, and it was decided 
 to open a mission in Victoria as soon as a suitable agent 
 could be found. In the following spring, by a remarkable 
 chain of providences, the way was fully opened, and a 
 mission begun which has since extended to other places 
 in the province, and has been fruitful of good results. 
 Commodious mission buildings have been erected in 
 Victoria, Vancouver, New Westminster, and Nanaimo, 
 and schools established in all these cities ; many converts 
 have been received by baptism, and the foundation of a 
 spiritual church laid among these strangers " from the 
 land of Sinim" which gives promise of permanence and 
 growth. Work has also been established among the 
 Japanese in the Pacific province, and native workers 
 have been raised up who are rendering faithful and 
 efficient service. Throughout British Columbia there is 
 a strong prejudice against both Chinese and Japanese, 
 and this is diligently fostered by the labour organisations ; 
 but it is none the less the duty of the Church to seek 
 the evangelization of these outsiders who by the providence 
 of God have been brought to our shores. If these people 
 are a menace to our civilisation, the danger is enormously 
 lessened by their conversion to Christianity ; and when truly 
 converted, as many of them are, they are not behind their 
 white neighbours in showing forth the fruits of the Spirit. 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 309 
 
 5. While giving careful attention to the religious 
 needs of the home population, the Indian tribes of Ontario, 
 the North-West, and British Columbia, it was not until 
 1873 that Canadian Methodism decided to enter the 
 foreign field. Dr. Punshon had repeatedly pressed upon 
 the attention of the board the great value of foreign 
 missions in quickening the missionary zeal and deepening 
 the spiritual life of the Church at home, and there were 
 others who shared his convictions on that point. The 
 project was new, the claims of the home work were 
 urgent, but the faith and courage of those who urged 
 the venture if venture it was have been fully vindi- 
 cated by the results. After much anxious consultation 
 and prayer it was decided to begin a mission in Japan, 
 This most interesting nation, which for centuries had 
 been hermetically sealed against the world, had suddenly 
 opened its gates, and missionaries from various churches 
 were already entering the field. It is true the former 
 edicts against Christianity had not been withdrawn ; 
 popular prejudice against everything foreign was still 
 very strong, and those who volunteered for missionary 
 service took their lives in their hands. But the old 
 heroic spirit was not dead in the Church, and when the 
 call came for men to enter an open but dangerous door, 
 there were no signs of hesitation. From a number of 
 available men the choice fell upon the Eev. George 
 Cochran, D.D., and the Eev. Davidson Macdonald, M.D., 
 and they were sent forth with earnest prayers to found 
 the first foreign mission of Canadian Methodism. The 
 results proved the wisdom of the choice. The difficulties 
 encountered were many and great, and the missionaries 
 
310 Methodism in Canada 
 
 had to proceed with the utmost caution ; but in the end 
 faith and patience had their reward. Difficulties were 
 surmounted ; prejudice and suspicion were allayed ; and 
 the two missionaries gained a hold upon the confidence 
 and sympathy of the people that has not been shaken to 
 this day. In after-years, when the mission was in full 
 operation, a volunteer from another church was on his 
 way to begin work in Japan. On board the steamship 
 he met a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 of the United States who was returning after a year's 
 furlough. Naturally the new recruit was anxious to profit 
 by the experience of his fellow-passenger, and asked many 
 questions about the country and the people, and the best 
 methods of carrying on missionary work. In one of 
 their conversations, when touching on the latter point, 
 the Episcopal missionary said in substance, " I do not 
 think I can give you better advice than to study the 
 work and methods of the Canada Methodist Mission. 
 Their work has been conducted with singular tact and 
 skill." 
 
 In 1889 it was found that the growth of the work 
 in Japan had been such as to justify reorganisation and 
 an increased measure of autonomy, Accordingly an Annual 
 Conference was formed which now embraces 5 districts, 
 ^5 circuits, with many out-stations, and a membership 
 of 2,636. This is altogether apart from the work of 
 the Women's Missionary Society, which is a very im- 
 portant factor. The two brethren who founded the 
 mission are no longer connected with it. Dr. Cochran, 
 after many years of valuable service, returned home in 
 failing health, and since then has passed to his eternal 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 3 1 1 
 
 rest ; but in Japan, among the native Christians, the 
 students he trained, the converts he won, his name is 
 " as ointment poured forth." Dr. Macdonald, the " beloved 
 physician," still resides in Tokyo, honoured by natives and 
 foreigners alike, and trusted by the Japanese to a degree 
 to which a foreigner seldom attains. 
 
 For several years previous to 1900, leading men in 
 the Church were asking if the time had not come when 
 the Methodist Church should survey the vast field of 
 unevangelized heathendom with the view of extending the 
 foreign work. The suggestion took practical shape at the 
 General Conference of 1890, when the project of a new 
 foreign mission was commended to the General Board of 
 Missions, with authority to take such action as might seem 
 to be desirable. When the question came up in the 
 General Board it became evident that the suggestion was 
 not premature. With practical unanimity the board 
 affirmed the desirableness of at once occupying new 
 ground, and as concurring providences seemed to point to 
 China, the Executive Committee was authorised to take all 
 necessary steps to give effect to the decision of the board. 
 After careful consideration, the province of Sz' Chuan in 
 West China was selected as a promising field. The Rev. 
 V. C. Hart, D.D., who for twenty years had superintended 
 the missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Central 
 China, was secured as leader of the new enterprise, and 
 with him was associated the Eev. George E. Hartwell, 
 B.A., B.D., with 0. L. Kilborn, M.A, M.D., and D. W. 
 Stevenson, M.D., as medical missionaries. The Women's 
 Missionary Society also decided to enter the field, and two 
 lady missionaries Dr. Retta Gifford and Miss BrackbiU . 
 
312 Methodism in Canada 
 
 were appointed. In the spring of 1892 the missionaries 
 reached their distant field, and for three years pursued 
 their work with faith and patience, chiefly in the cities of 
 Chentu and Kiating. Then came the riots, during which 
 all the mission property was destroyed, and the missionaries 
 barely escaped -with their lives. For a time the mission 
 was completely broken up, but ultimately the missionaries 
 returned and resumed their interrupted work. Everything 
 continued peaceful till the time of the Boxer uprising, 
 when circumstances became so threatening that the 
 missionaries were strongly urged by the British Consul 
 at Chungking to leave the province and make their way 
 to the coast, which they succeeded in doing. After an 
 interval of a year and a half the missionaries again 
 returned, found the premises intact, and once more 
 resumed their work. As this is written there are rumours 
 of fresh disturbances in many parts of the empire, and no 
 one can predict what a day in China may bring forth ; 
 but our missionaries are in God's keeping, and living or 
 dying they are the Lord's. 
 
 There are eight missionaries of the Methodist Church 
 in Canada now labouring in West China, and an equal 
 number under the control of the Women's Missionary 
 Society. Beside the directly evangelistic work, there are 
 three hospitals and a printing and publishing house, which 
 is taxed to its utmost resources to supply the demand. 
 There is a widespread and urgent call, chiefly among the 
 student class, for instruction in the English language and 
 in Western science, and the number who ask instruction 
 from our missionaries is far greater than they are able to 
 accommodate. If only the Church were able to send the 
 
Founding and Development of Missions 3 1 3 
 
 needed reinforcements, a great harvest might be reaped in 
 West China. 
 
 Such is, in brief, an outline of the story of mission 
 work connected with the Methodist Church in Canada ; a 
 story abounding in thrilling incidents and wonderful 
 triumphs of redeeming grace, which there is not space to 
 record. But perhaps enough has been written to show 
 that the Methodist Church, in its origin, history, and 
 traditions, is " essentially missionary," and that its 
 providential mission, in co-operation with other branches 
 of Methodism, is to spread scriptural holiness all over the 
 world. If the spirit of this mission is maintained, her 
 career will be one of ever-spreading conquest. If it is 
 suffered to decline, Ichabod will be written upon her 
 ruined walls. 
 
VII 
 
 THE UNIFICATION OF CANADIAN 
 METHODISM 
 
 IN the early sixties there was a complete dead-lock in 
 Canadian politics. For this the system which gave equal 
 representation to Upper and Lower Canada in the Parlia- 
 ment of the two provinces was in part responsible, and the 
 system of party government was responsible for the rest. 
 A general election took place in 1861, and when Parliament 
 met in the following March party strife was renewed with 
 vigour. The American Civil War was now in progress, and 
 the position of the Canadian Government was critical 
 owing to complications between Great Britain and the 
 United States growing out of the Trent imbroglio. The 
 British Government, besides sending some of its choice 
 regiments and large munitions of war to Canada, undertook 
 extensive military works at Quebec, with the understanding 
 that the cost of works at Montreal and places west would 
 be defrayed from the provincial treasury. There was a 
 somewhat general feeling that the cost would be beyond 
 the ability of the provinces to sustain, while many regarded 
 the whole thing as a war-scare, for which there was not 
 sufficient justification. In the Legislature a Government 
 MUitia Bill was introduced, which was vigorously opposed, 
 
 314 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 315 
 
 resulting in an adverse vote, whereupon the Cartier- 
 Macdonald ministry resigned. Mr. John Sandfield 
 Macdonald was called to form a new cabinet, which he 
 succeeded in doing, and announced as leading features 
 of his policy the double majority principle in all 
 matters affecting locally either province, a readjustment 
 of representation, and an increase of revenue and 
 protection of manufacturers by a revised customs tariff. 
 When Parliament assembled, agitation for the increased 
 representation of Upper Canada was renewed, but was 
 defeated by the Lower Canada vote. Afterward the 
 Government was defeated on a straight vote of want of 
 confidence, and at once appealed to the country. In the 
 new Parliament the Government had a majority of only 
 three, and in 1864, finding themselves without a working 
 majority, resigned. Sir E. P. Tache succeeded in forming 
 a new cabinet, but within three months it also was 
 defeated. 
 
 The dead- lock was now at its worst. Parties were so 
 evenly balanced that neither of them could carry on the 
 Government alone, and a dissolution of the House and 
 change of ministry failed to improve the situation. At 
 this juncture a federation of all the British American 
 provinces, as a solution of existing difficulties, began to 
 assume form and substance. The Government leaders 
 approached the Opposition leaders with proposals for a 
 coalition ministry to carry out the scheme, and this was 
 hailed with general satisfaction, as the people were weary 
 of bitter and fruitless party strife. Conferences were held 
 with representatives of the maritime provinces, and in 
 1865 th.e Canadian Parliament adopted the Confederation 
 
316 Methodism in Canada 
 
 scheme. At first there was intense opposition in the East. 
 At a general election in New Brunswick not one of those 
 who had been delegated to the inter-provincial Conference 
 at Quebec was re-elected. The opposition in Nova Scotia 
 was equally strong ; but the Imperial Government favoured 
 the measure, and ultimately the tide of popular feeling 
 in the maritime provinces turned in favour of federation. 
 On the 1st of July 1867 the Confederation Act, known as 
 the r British North American Act, which had been passed 
 by the Imperial Parliament, went into effect, and the 
 confederated provinces assumed a position among the 
 nations as the Dominion of Canada. The Dominion 
 comprised the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada 
 (now designated respectively Ontario and Quebec), New 
 Brunswick, and Nova Scotia ; and provision was made 
 for the future admission of Prince Edward Island, the 
 Hudson's Bay Territory, British Columbia, and New- 
 foundland. With the exception of the last-named colony, 
 all the outlying territories have been admitted, and the 
 Dominion extends, without a break, from ocean to 
 ocean and from the American boundary to the Arctic 
 Sea. 
 
 The spirit of consolidation was now in the air, and the 
 example set in the political realm may have influenced the 
 churches. It is true that in one instance action in the 
 churches antedated any similar movement in the field 
 of politics, for in 1861 a union was effected between the 
 United Presbyterian and Free Churches ; but this embraced 
 only two branches of the same denomination, and its 
 scope in other respects was confined to Upper and Lower 
 Canada. Fourteen years later a far more comprehensive 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 3 1 7 
 
 measure was successfully carried through, which united 
 all the Presbyterian forces, with the exception of a very 
 few isolated congregations, throughout the whole Dominion' 
 Since then the growth of the Presbyterian Church has 
 been one of the marked religious features in the country's 
 history, and to-day it stands, in point of numbers, foremost 
 among the Protestant Churches of the Dominion, Methodism 
 alone excepted. 
 
 Some years before the second union in the Presbyterian 
 ranks took place, the question of the unification of 
 Canadian Methodism began to attract attention ; but 
 before this certain events took place which, as far as the 
 Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada was concerned, 
 helped to pave the way for a scheme of unification, though 
 not so understood at the time save by a few. The 
 Canada Conference having requested the appointment of 
 the Kev. William Morley Punshon, M.A., as its President, 
 the British Conference of 1867 concurred, and the 
 appointment was made. During the spring and early 
 summer of that year Dr. Kyerson was in England, and 
 was so impressed with the benefits that might accrue to 
 Canadian Methodism from a visit of Mr. Punshon that he 
 wrote him on the subject, and solicited the influence of 
 others to the same end. When news of the invitation 
 and appointment received confirmation, Mr. Punshon 
 wrote to Dr. Ryerson as follows : " All our affairs are 
 in higher hands than ours ; and if by God's over-ruling 
 providence I shall be assured of welcome in Canada, and 
 enabled to work for Christ on that continent, which I 
 have so often longed to see, I shall regard the disruption 
 of all older ties, and the sacrifice of personal position in 
 
318 Methodism in Canada 
 
 this country, as a small price to pay ; the more if I can 
 aid in the establishment of a grand Methodist confederacy 
 which shall be one of the great spiritual powers in the 
 New World." The last sentence indicates very clearly 
 that as early as 1867 the thought of a united Methodism 
 for Canada was taking shape in leading minds on both 
 sides of the Atlantic. In fact, the Canadian Conference 
 had adopted a resolution in favour of union as early as 
 1866, and repeated the same in 1870 in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " 1. That this Conference cordially reiterates the 
 expression of its conviction as to the desirableness and 
 importance of a union of all the Methodist bodies in 
 Canada who believe in the same doctrines, sing the same 
 hymns, have the same form of worship, the same love- 
 feasts, the same prayer and class meetings, and the same 
 general rules of society. 
 
 " 2. That the Conference reappoint a committee, 
 consisting of an equal number of ministers and laymen, 
 to confer with any similar committee or committees 
 appointed by other Methodist bodies on the subject of 
 union, and report to the next Conference." 
 
 Dr. Punshon returned to England before the dream 
 of union was fulfilled, but during a stay of six years in 
 Canada his noble Catholic spirit, unrivalled pulpit oratory, 
 comprehensive grasp of affairs, and skill in guiding 
 important connexional interests, not only conspired to 
 secure for Methodism a degree of social influence beyond 
 anythingit had previously enjoyed, but were important factors 
 in creating a spirit and temper through the whole Con- 
 nexion that prepared the way for a calm and sympathetic 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 3 1 9 
 
 consideration of the union question when it came within 
 the sphere of practical church politics. 
 
 While most of the Methodist bodies in Canada had for 
 several years given more or less attention to the subject of 
 union, to the Episcopal Methodist Church belongs the honour 
 of being the first to show its faith by its works. As early 
 as 1833, as we have already seen, a union was effected 
 with the missionaries of the British Wesleyan Conference 
 in Upper Canada; and although this was dissolved in 1840, 
 it was resumed again in 1847, and from that time con- 
 tinued unbroken. The Methodist New Connexion was 
 the next to put its theory into practice. Its missions 
 had been established for some time in the lower province, 
 and in 1837 the Kev. John Addyman was sent from 
 England to establish a mission in Upper Canada. While 
 prosecuting researches with this end in view, he repeatedly 
 met with ministers and members of what was known as 
 the Canadian Wesleyan Methodist Church. This was 
 a body formed by Elder Henry Eyan, who seceded from 
 the Episcopal Methodist Church in Canada in 1829, the 
 year after the latter body had been constituted an 
 independent church, separate from the jurisdiction of the 
 bishops in the United States. Mr. Addyman found 
 that the principles and polity of the two churches closely 
 resembled each other, and a union was proposed. A basis 
 was adopted and sent to the quarterly official boards 
 in Canada, and also of the Executive of the Methodist 
 New Connexion in England. After negotiations extending 
 over several years, the desired union was effected in 1847, 
 and the united body adopted the name of " The Canadian 
 Wesleyan Methodist New Connexion." Three years 
 
320 Methodism in Canada 
 
 later another union was formed with the Protestant 
 Methodists, a small community in Eastern Canada of whom 
 history gives no account, numbering, it was said, about five 
 hundred and fifty members. All this indicates that from 
 1837 the Methodist New Connexion Church had favoured 
 the policy of consolidation. The same might be said of 
 other Methodist bodies; but down to 1870, or thereabout, 
 the policy had been theoretical rather than practical. At 
 that period it began to assume more tangible form. Com- 
 mittees were appointed by all the Methodist churches, 
 and a meeting was held in Toronto in March 1871. 
 A series of resolutions were adopted, affirming the desir- 
 ability of union, and recommending a basis covering the 
 main points that had been discussed in the joint com- 
 mittee. When the report came before the Conference 
 of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, in June 1871, the 
 following items were adopted : 
 
 " That this meeting deems a union of the different 
 Methodist bodies in this country, upon such principles 
 as may be agreed upon by the said bodies, highly 
 desirable. 
 
 " That in the opinion of this meeting a scheme of 
 union to be generally accepted should embrace the 
 following points : 
 
 " 1. That a General Conference should be formed, to 
 meet say once in four years, having power to make rules 
 and regulations for the whole Church, subject to such 
 restrictions as may be mutually agreed upon by the 
 several uniting Methodist churches, acting according to 
 the provisions of their own constitutions. 
 
 " 2. That if on an appeal to the quarterly meetings 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 321 
 
 of the Connexion which shall take place before next 
 Conference it shall appear that there is a strong wish 
 on the part of our people for direct legislative repre- 
 sentation in a General Conference, rather than to retain 
 the indirect but ultimate and decisive veto power on 
 legislation which they now possess, this Conference, in 
 view and in view only of the proposed union, will not 
 let this question stand in bar ; provided always that there 
 be no interference with the recognition of the ministerial 
 order and office, with the ministerial power of stationing 
 ministers, and with the ministerial privilege of trial by 
 their own peers." 
 
 Consideration of the remaining portion of the report of 
 the Union Committee was postponed, and the following 
 resolution was adopted : 
 
 "That the Conference has heard with pleasure the 
 report of the united committees appointed on the 
 practicability of a union of the various Methodist bodies 
 in this province, and rejoices in the manifestation of a 
 growing desire for combined effort and united brotherly 
 ministerial influence, for the more speedy and effectual 
 diffusion of the blessings of our common Christianity. 
 As this movement is intimately connected with the 
 sympathies and privileges of the laity of our Church, 
 and especially with the members of the quarterly meetings, 
 therefore be it resolved, in order wisely to accomplish an 
 object so desirable, which involves such grave and 
 important subjects, the proposal be again remitted to the 
 consideration of a committee to be appointed for the 
 purpose." 
 
 The desirability of uniting the Methodism of Eastern 
 
 21 
 
322 Methodism in Canada 
 
 British America with that of Ontario and Quebec 
 having received more or less consideration, it was 
 resolved : 
 
 " That the Conference of Eastern British America be 
 invited to appoint a deputation to meet with the committee 
 appointed by this Conference, with a view to the union or 
 confederation of the whole Wesleyan Methodist work in 
 British America." 
 
 It will be seen that the proposed basis received only 
 a qualified approval from the Conference of the Wesleyan 
 Methodist Church, and the same may be affirmed 
 respecting the action of the Methodist New Connexion. 
 At the Conference of 1871 the basis was accepted "in 
 the main ... as moderate and fair to all branches of the 
 Methodist churches " ; but exception was taken to one 
 clause, and it was recommended that it " be so altered as 
 to make no distinction in the class of business to be taken 
 up by district meetings, composed, as laid down, of equal 
 numbers of ministers and laymen." 
 
 It would appear, however, that the resolutions adopted 
 by the Union Committees in 1871 were not satisfactory to 
 some of the bodies concerned, and from that time forward 
 the joint committee was composed exclusively of re- 
 presentatives from the Wesleyan Methodist and New Con- 
 nexion Conferences. During the Conference year ending 
 1872 no meetings of the committee were held, but the 
 question of lay representation in the proposed General 
 Conference was submitted to the quarterly meetings, and 
 their action was now reported. In the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Church the total number of quarterly meetings voting was 
 three hundred and sixty-four, and as these gave a con- 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 323 
 
 siderable majority in favour of the basis beyond the two 
 thirds required, the question of union, so far as the laity 
 was concerned, was practically settled. A resolution 
 adopted by the Methodist New Connexion Conference was 
 also reported as follows : 
 
 " That having considered the subject of Methodist 
 union, this Conference would renew its expression as to 
 the desirableness of an organic union of the various 
 Methodist bodies of Canada; and while adhering to the 
 action of our last Conference in regard to the basis 
 recommended by the united committee, this Conference 
 feels bound to say that we could not accept any scheme 
 of union by which restrictions would be imposed upon the 
 legislative powers of a General Conference, or upon the 
 right of the laity to co-operate with the ministry in such 
 Conference in all acts of legislation and discipline." 
 
 In reference to this deliverance the committee of the 
 Wesleyan Methodist Conference reported as follows : 
 
 " It is the opinion of your committee that the course 
 taken by the Wesleyan Conference on the subject of union 
 affords to other Methodist bodies evidence of its sincere 
 desire to lead the pending negotiations to a practicable 
 scheme of union ; and your committee recommend the 
 Conference to reaffirm its resolution of last year on 
 the desirability of union, and to appoint a committee to 
 confer with representatives of the Methodist New 
 Connexion, and with any committee or committees 
 appointed by any of the Methodist bodies who accept 
 the general basis laid down by the united committee, and 
 to report to the ensuing Conference." 
 
 As there was a measure of uncertainty respecting 
 
324 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the final action of the New Connexion Conference in 
 regard to union, the committee of the Wesleyan Conference 
 deemed it desirable to communicate separately with the 
 representatives of the Conference of Eastern British 
 America. This was done during 1871, and at the 
 Conference of 1872 the following resolutions were reported 
 and adopted : 
 
 " 1. That we have heard with great satisfaction the 
 statements of the Eev. Humphrey Pickard, D.D., and the 
 Kev. Duncan D. Currie, in reference to the practicability 
 of a union between the Canadian and Eastern British 
 American Conferences, and we rejoice to find that the 
 hindrances in the way are comparatively slight, and 
 are of such a nature that they may be easily over- 
 come. 
 
 " 2. That this committee recommends to the Conference 
 the propriety of taking immediate steps to consummate 
 a federal union with the brethren in Eastern British 
 America, being convinced that such a step would tend to 
 strengthen and consolidate Methodism, and promote the 
 work of God through the whole of British America." 
 
 During the following year decided progress was made, 
 and when the Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Church assembled in London in 1873, the report of the 
 committee on the division of the Conference and a federal 
 union with the Wesleyan Methodist Church in British 
 America was ready for discussion. The report, as amended 
 and adopted by the Conference, made provision for a 
 General Conference, with lay representation if desired by 
 the quarterly meetings of the two bodies ; the division 
 of the work in Ontario and Quebec into three Annual 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 325 
 
 Conferences ; the transfer of ministers, and various matters 
 pertaining to the temporal economy of the Church. At 
 the same Conference the report of the Union Committees 
 appointed by the Wesleyan Methodist and New Connexion 
 Conferences was received and carefully considered. It 
 indicated that meetings of the joint committee had been 
 held on 1st and 2nd days of October 1872, on the 30th 
 and 31st days of January 1873, and on the 9th and 10th 
 days of April 1873, and that a basis had been reached, 
 embodied in certain declarations of agreement, covering 
 substantially the same ground as the agreement with the 
 Conference of Eastern British America. Some modifica- 
 tions in matters of detail were adopted, but nothing 
 affecting fundamental principles, and the way now seemed 
 to be clear for giving effect to the union measure. It was 
 seen, however, that the action taken must inevitably 
 change the relation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church to 
 the parent body in England, and the following resolution 
 was unanimously adopted : 
 
 " This Conference, having considered the reports of 
 the joint committee appointed by this Conference and the 
 Conference of Eastern British America to prepare a basis 
 of union of these Conferences into one Connexion or 
 Church, and having nearly brought its labours to a close, 
 thereby initiating a movement which may somewhat alter 
 the relations we have hitherto sustained to the British 
 Conference, cannot allow the inauguration of the measure 
 proposed without expressing our deep and grateful sense 
 of indebtedness for the liberal support and paternal 
 care shown toward us by the parent body during the many 
 years of our past history. We devoutly pray that upon 
 
326 Methodism in Canada 
 
 our fathers and brethren of the British Connexion and 
 upon ourselves may continue to rest the peculiar favour of 
 the Great Head of the Church, and that the strongest ties 
 which should exist between the different branches of the 
 same great Christian family may continue to unite us in 
 uninterrupted harmony until the whole design of the 
 mediatorial reign of Christ shall have been accomplished 
 to the glory of His holy name." 
 
 The action of the Canadian churches having been 
 reported to the parent bodies in England, and duly 
 sanctioned by their respective Conferences, the way was 
 now open for the formal consummation of the proposed 
 union. In accordance with the provisions of the basis 
 that had been adopted, a delegated General Conference, con- 
 sisting of ninety-eight ministers and ninety-four laymen, 
 assembled in the Metropolitan Church, Toronto, on the 
 16th day of September 1874, and was organised by the 
 election of the Eev. Egerton Eyerson, D.D., LL.D., as 
 President; the Eev. George Douglas, LL.D., Vice-Presi- 
 dent ; and the Eev. Duncan D. Currie, Secretary. The 
 spirit that animated the Conference throughout was all 
 that could be desired, and the proceedings, from first to 
 last, were characterised by harmony and brotherly love. 
 On the second day of the session, a special committee 
 appointed to consider documents referring to the union, 
 and certain resolutions that had been adopted in relation 
 thereto, presented a report. This report embodied the 
 basis of union, as adopted by the joint committee and 
 confirmed by the Annual Conferences of the uniting bodies, 
 to which was added the resolutions of the British 
 Wesleyan Conference and the Methodist New Connexion 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 327 
 
 Conference in England giving formal sanction to the pro- 
 posed union. The report having been read, the following 
 resolution, after referring to the successive steps that 
 had been taken, was adopted by a unanimous vote : 
 
 " Resolved That this General Conference do now pro- 
 ceed to deliberate upon and adopt such measures as may 
 best conduce to the interests and good government of the 
 Methodist Church of Canada, 1 and to the advancement of 
 the Kedeemer's kingdom." 
 
 Thus the union which had been the subject of prolonged 
 discussion, and the occasion of no small anxiety and many 
 prayers, was happily consummated, and when the Con- 
 ference adjourned there was a prevailing spirit of hopeful- 
 ness throughout the Church that augured well for the 
 future. If any forebodings were felt they were soon 
 allayed, for there was no friction anywhere, and before 
 long there were reports of blessed revivals in many parts 
 of the Connexion. At the end of the first quadrennium, 
 the six Annual Conferences, into which the Church has 
 been divided, were able to report a net increase of 
 134 ministers, 20,659 members, 221 Sunday schools, 
 and 19,754 scholars. 
 
 During the quadrennium which intervened between 
 the General Conference of 1874 and 1878 no action was 
 taken in regard to union with those Methodist bodies 
 that still maintained a separate organisation, and at the 
 Conference of 1878 there was no formal deliverance on 
 the subject ; but in replying to the fraternal address from 
 the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 1 This was the official designation of the united Church as adopted by the 
 Conference. 
 
328 Methodism in Canada 
 
 in Canada there were utterances which indicated that the 
 General Conference of the recently united bodies had not 
 abandoned the hope of a wider federation among those who 
 agreed in so many things and differed in so few ; as 
 witness the following from the reply referred to : 
 
 " Though our external organisation as a church differs 
 slightly from yours, there is much that we have in common. 
 We are subjects of the same noble Queen, sharers of the 
 same constitutional rights and privileges which all good 
 citizens in our free and glorious country enjoy, heirs of a 
 heritage secured to us by the sturdy independence, unceas- 
 ing industry, indomitable courage, and high-principled 
 piety of our forefathers. Before us lies a future as full of 
 reward as the present is of promise. As fellow-Christians 
 and members of the great family of Methodism we have a 
 moral heritage, and work committed to us which angels 
 might covet. Nor should it be forgotten that our doctrines 
 are the same wherever Methodism exists. No differences 
 of organisation, no readjustments of modern thought, have 
 led to a single modification of our creed. The articles of 
 faith taught in our homes, our Sabbath schools, our theo- 
 logical halls, are such as we can proclaim without reserva- 
 tion before the world. May it be our glory to believe and 
 preach them fully and freely." 
 
 It is more than probable that the marked results 
 following the union of 1874, and the rapid growth of the 
 united Church during the first quadrennium, revived in 
 many minds a desire that a union might be brought about 
 embracing all the branches of Canadian Methodism ; but 
 before tracing the growth of this sentiment there is one 
 subject which engaged the attention of the Conference of 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 329 
 
 1878 which claims more than a passing reference. At the 
 Conference of 1874 a committee of eighteen members was 
 appointed " to revise and prepare the materials for a new 
 hymn-book, to be submitted for consideration on the open- 
 ing of the next General Conference." The committee 
 held its first meeting in the city of Quebec on the 17th 
 day of July 1878, and continued in session until the 23rd 
 of the same month. Of the eighteen members appointed 
 only ten were present, and these were exclusively ministers. 
 Before proceeding to the actual work of revision, certain 
 principles were adopted that might guide the committee in 
 their difficult task. To revise a hymn-book, a large part 
 of which had been compiled by Wesley himself, and 
 around which clustered the sacred associations of a 
 hundred years, was felt to be a delicate undertaking. It 
 was agreed, therefore, that each hymn should be read aloud 
 verse by verse ; that no hymn should be omitted, 
 abridged, or changed in any way by less than a two thirds 
 vote of the committee ; and that no change whatever 
 should be made in the hymns which, by long and frequent 
 use, had endeared themselves to the Methodist people. It 
 was also agreed that, in the selection of new hymns, 
 particular attention should be given to increase the number 
 suitable for public worship and for special occasions, and 
 that in such selections regard should be had to doctrinal 
 soundness and lyrical harmony. 
 
 A careful examination of the existing hymn-book 
 revealed the fact that a considerable number of the hymns 
 were rarely or never sung in any of the congregations 
 some because they were unsuitable for public worship, and 
 some because of their great length ; and it was concluded 
 
330 Methodism in Canada 
 
 that any hymn which after a test of one hundred years 
 had proved itself unsuitable for use in public worship, had 
 thereby forfeited its claim to a place in the psalmody of 
 the Church, and might very safely be omitted. In regard 
 to hymns good in themselves, but too long for use in 
 public worship, a remedy was sought in one of three ways : 
 By omitting one or more of the weaker or less used verses 
 where this could be done without breaking the connexion ; 
 by dividing the hymn into two when the sentiment would 
 admit of it ; by arranging in first and second parts without 
 separate numbers. 
 
 It was also found that there were verses, and occasion- 
 ally entire hymns, referring to the crucifixion of our 
 Saviour that were objectionable on account of their 
 extreme literalness, undue and therefore misleading promi- 
 nence being given to the physical sufferings of the Lord 
 to the scourging, the piercing nail, the crown of thorns 
 as though these constituted the main aspects of the 
 atonement. It was deemed advisable that such hymns or 
 verses should be omitted. Again, in not a few hymns 
 expressions were found that had become obsolete, or at 
 least were not used in the same sense as formerly. Where 
 these expressions could not be replaced by suitable words 
 the verse was omitted. A very few hymns were found to 
 be objectionable on doctrinal grounds. This may excite 
 surprise, but an explanation is found in the fact that at 
 one period the Wesleys, in the plenitude of their charity 
 and for the sake of peace, made large concessions to those 
 who differed from them in regard to unconditional election 
 and the extent of the atonement, concessions which after- 
 wards led John Wesley to ask in Conference, " Have we 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 331 
 
 not leaned too much to Calvinism ? " Traces of this 
 excessive charity still lingered in a few hymns, even in 
 Wesley's collection, while one or two had crept into 
 the supplement in which some of the most dangerous 
 errors of Plymouthism were expressed or implied. It was 
 felt that in a hymn-book which claimed to be a " body of 
 experimental and practical divinity," it was needful to 
 exercise great care in the matter of doctrinal teaching, and 
 that the wiser course was to omit such hymns and stanzas 
 as gave even an uncertain sound on the cardinal doctrines 
 of Holy Scripture. 
 
 As a result 01 very careful revision, the committee 
 decided to recommend the omission from the existing hymn- 
 book of about one hundred and thirty entire hymns, and of 
 verses equalling in the aggregate about seventy-five more. 
 This made it possible to select over two hundred new hymns 
 from the best available sources ; and when the whole was 
 properly arranged and classified, a hymn-book was produced 
 which, for purposes of public and social worship and private 
 devotion, is believed to be excelled by no other collection, 
 and equalled by very few. In 1878 the work was not 
 quite completed, but the Conference was so well satisfied 
 with what had been done that a resolution was unanimously 
 adopted reappointing the committee and authorising it to 
 complete and publish the hymn-book within two years. 
 
 About this time the union sentiment, which had 
 slumbered since the first General Conference in 1874, 
 began to show signs of returning animation, and the 
 sentiment was further quickened by the Methodist 
 (Ecumenical Conference which met in London in 1881. 
 In that Conference universal Methodism was represented, 
 
33 2 Methodism in Canada 
 
 and the undisturbed harmony of the proceedings proclaimed 
 the essential oneness of all who bore the Methodist name. 
 Still there were some perhaps many who felt that so 
 long as Methodists were divided into many bodies for no 
 better reason, for the most part, than some slight difference 
 in church government and administration, the affirmation 
 that " the Methodists are one people in all the world, and 
 that it is their full determination to remain so," was but 
 an empty boast, and these returned from the Conference 
 prepared to sympathise with any effort toward unification. 
 In connexion with each of the Canadian Methodist 
 churches there were standing Union Committees, but for 
 several years no meetings had been held. In the mean- 
 time, however, the interchange of fraternal addresses and 
 the visits of fraternal delegations did much to strengthen 
 sentiments of amity and prepare the way for definite action 
 when the proper time should arrive. 
 
 By the beginning of 1882 a spirit was abroad in the 
 churches which made it impossible to longer ignore the 
 union question. But between the former movement and 
 this there was one point of difference. Proposals for the 
 first union originated with the ministers, and it was chiefly 
 on their initiative and by their advocacy that it was 
 carried through ; but in regard to the later movement a 
 strong desire for an undivided Methodism seemed to spring 
 up spontaneously among the people, while its staunchest 
 opponents were to be found in the ranks of the ministry. 
 At this time laymen had not yet been admitted to member- 
 ship in the Annual Conferences, and in the Conference 
 debates the ministerial element alone appeared. This of 
 itself is sufficient to account for the fact that when the 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 333 
 
 second basis was under discussion it was defeated by a 
 small majority in one Annual Conference, and carried by 
 only a small majority in another. When it came before 
 the courts of the Church in which the laity predominated 
 (quarterly meetings) and in district meetings and General 
 Conference where they were present in equal numbers 
 with the ministers, a different result was obtained. To the 
 credit of the opposing ministers be it said, that when union 
 was carried they loyally accepted the situation, and co- 
 operated most heartily in the future work of the Church. 
 
 In 1882 a number of resolutions and memorials on 
 the subject of union were sent up to the General Conference 
 of the Methodist Church and referred to a committee. At 
 a subsequent stage the committee reported that resolutions 
 had been received from eleven district meetings, from the 
 tenor of which it appeared that there was a very general 
 desire on the part of both ministers and laymen " to see 
 the several bodies of Methodists in this country brought 
 into more intimate and friendly relationship with one 
 another ; and that they would be glad, if it could be effected 
 without the sacrifice of anything essential to the integrity 
 and efficiency of Methodism as a whole, that they should 
 be brought into organic union." The committee was also 
 gratified to learn that the feeling in favour of union was 
 " very generally shared by the other Methodist churches 
 of the country," as evidenced by the fact that resolutions 
 expressive of an earnest desire for union had been " passed 
 by fourteen Quarterly Conferences and by the three 
 Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and by at least one quarterly board and by two district 
 meetings of the Primitive Methodist body." Besides this, 
 
334 Methodism in Canada 
 
 two mixed conventions had been held in the interests of 
 Methodist union. In view of all these circumstances, and 
 the prospect of a speedy opening of the great North-West, 
 the committee considered the time opportune for the con- 
 sideration of the union question, and summed up their 
 judgment in the following deliverance : 
 
 "Your committee therefore commend the matter of 
 Methodist union to the sympathetic and prayerful attention 
 of our ministers and people. We believe the frank and 
 courteous discussion of it can scarcely fail to be attended 
 with beneficial results ; and although we do not close our 
 eyes to the practical difficulties which lie in the way of the 
 consummation of such a union as is desired a union which 
 will make the Methodism of Canada one in form, as we 
 believe it to be one in spirit we do know that, in answer 
 to our united prayers, wisdom will be given by which these 
 difficulties will be overcome, and a consummation so de- 
 voutly to be wished will be secured." The report con- 
 cluded by recommending the question to the favourable 
 consideration of the approaching General Conference. It 
 is noteworthy that the London and Montreal Conferences 
 gave no deliverance on the subject. This may have been 
 due to a conviction that the time had not come for express- 
 ing a decided opinion, but it was an open secret that in 
 these two Conferences the feeling in favour of union was 
 far less decided than in the Toronto Conference ; and this 
 probably accounts for the fact that no action was taken in 
 the district meetings. 
 
 The General Conference of the Methodist Church of 
 Canada met in the city of Hamilton on the 6th of September 
 1882, and the General Conference of the Methodist 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 335 
 
 Episcopal Church met in the same city at the same time. 
 It was ascertained, also, that arrangements had been made 
 for the Union Committees of the Primitive Methodist and 
 Bible Christian Churches to assemble in Hamilton at the 
 same date for conference with other bodies in the interest 
 of union. It was evident, therefore, that this was now a 
 live question that could not be ignored, nor could it be 
 settled by vague resolutions that meant nothing. A time 
 had arrived when a simple yes or no would be demanded, 
 for there was a general conviction that union must be now 
 or never. At an early period in the sessions of the 
 Conference of the Methodist Church a large committee 
 was appointed to which all matters pertaining to union 
 were referred. This committee met the committees of 
 the other churches, and by a unanimous vote the discipline 
 of the Methodist Church of Canada was accepted as a basis 
 of negotiation. In reporting back to the Conference, the 
 committee stated that in regard to doctrines, general 
 rules, usages, and constitution of the lower courts, no 
 difference of opinion was expressed, but that on some 
 other points mutual concessions would be necessary, 
 especially in regard to general superintendency and lay 
 representation in the Annual Conferences. The repre- 
 sentatives of the Methodist Episcopal Church attached 
 great importance to the principle of superintendency, but 
 not necessarily in the form to which they had been 
 accustomed. The representatives of the Primitive and 
 Bible Christian Churches, while not advocating the prin- 
 ciple, were willing to concede it, provided the other bodies 
 would concede the principle of lay representation in the 
 Annual Conferences in some form. The General Con- 
 
336 Methodism in Canada 
 
 ference accepted the principle of lay representation, 
 " provided no change is made in regard to the examination 
 of ministerial character or the composition of the Station- 
 ing Committee " ; also the principle of an itinerant general 
 superintendency, " provided the duties and powers of the 
 office are so defined as to prevent interference with the 
 duties and powers of Annual Conference officers or of 
 church courts." The next step was the appointment of 
 a large committee of forty-two members " to meet the 
 committees of the other churches in the city of Toronto 
 on the last Tuesday in November." The last two recom- 
 mendations of the committee's report, as adopted by the 
 Conference, indicate that the union of the various bodies 
 was regarded as a foregone conclusion : 
 
 " That should the present committee agree as to the 
 details of a basis of union, the plan agreed upon shall be 
 submitted to the quarterly boards for approval or other- 
 wise, at the next February quarterly meetings, and also to 
 the next ensuing Annual Conferences. 
 
 " It is further recommended that the superintendents 
 of circuits be required to report immediately to the 
 Secretary of the General Conference the vote of the 
 quarterly meetings, and should it be found that two thirds 
 of the quarterly meetings, and also a majority of the 
 Annual Conferences voting thereon, have declared in favour 
 of the plan of union proposed by the joint committee, the 
 President of the General Conference shall convene the 
 General Conference in order to give effect to the proposed 
 union ; said meeting of the General Conference to be held 
 subsequently to the meeting of the Annual Conferences." 
 
 In accordance with the understanding arrived at 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 337 
 
 between the representatives of the various Methodist 
 bodies, the joint Committee on Union assembled in the 
 Carlton Street Primitive Methodist Church, Toronto, at the 
 date agreed upon, and organised by appointing Bishop 
 Carman, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Chairman, and 
 the Kev. A. Sutherland, of the Methodist Church of 
 Canada, Secretary. It is not necessary to follow in detail 
 the work of the committee. Suffice it to say that the 
 sessions from first to last were characterised by harmony 
 and brotherly love. Differences of opinion there were on 
 some points, but they were treated with mutual respect, 
 and the spirit of conciliation which seemed to animate all 
 the members enabled the committee to reach unanimous 
 conclusions on all important points. The decisions of the 
 committee were then formulated in a distinct basis of 
 union, covering doctrine, general rules, ordinances, 
 church government, church property, church funds, book 
 and publishing interests, educational interests, and sundry 
 miscellaneous recommendations. The basis thus adopted 
 was printed and published throughout the several Con- 
 nexions. In due time it was laid before the quarterly 
 meetings, not for revision or amendment, but for an answer 
 to the question, Are you willing, for the sake of union, to 
 accept the basis agreed upon by the joint committee ? It 
 was also sent forward to the various Annual Conferences, so 
 that there might be the fullest possible discussion of every 
 point before a final decision was reached. The answer 
 from the quarterly meetings, which was given in February 
 1883, was overwhelmingly in favour of the measure, 
 making it clear that the laity desired union, and were 
 willing to make all needful concessions in order to secure it. 
 
 22 
 
338 * Methodism in Canada 
 
 The basis of union was now the absorbing topic of 
 conversation in Methodist circles, and the approaching 
 sessions of the Annual Conferences were looked forward to 
 with intense interest. The laity had spoken with no un- 
 certain sound, but it was known that strong prejudices 
 existed among the ministers, and while some were en- 
 thusiastically in favour of the measure, others were just as 
 strongly opposed. If the Annual Conferences should assume 
 a hostile attitude, the scheme would be imperilled, and the 
 good ship Union, that had been launched under favourable 
 auspices and steered safely thus far past rocks and shoals, 
 might after all be wrecked at the harbour's mouth. The 
 bare possibility of such a contingency gave rise to feelings 
 of deep concern in many minds, for it was clearly seen 
 that a collision between ministers and people on so im- 
 portant a question would be a great calamity, and many 
 earnest prayers went up to God that He would rule and 
 overrule in the whole matter. 
 
 The Annual Conferences of the Methodist Church of 
 Canada were accustomed to meet, as regards time, in the 
 following order : Montreal, London, Toronto, Nova Scotia, 
 New Brunswick, Newfoundland. In the first instance, 
 therefore, attention was turned to the Montreal Conference, 
 which assembled in the city of Ottawa on the 30th of 
 May 1883. Day by day the papers were eagerly scanned 
 for accounts of the proceedings, and when the debate on 
 union closed, and it was announced that the basis had 
 been adopted by a majority of only fifteen votes out of 
 a total of one hundred and seventeen, any feeling of relief 
 that was experienced was not very profound. Next in 
 order came the London Conference, which assembled in the 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 339 
 
 city of St. Catharines on the 6th of June, and continued 
 in session for nine days. Here, as at Ottawa, the absorb- 
 ing topic was the basis of union, and in this Conference 
 some of the staunchest opponents of the measure were to 
 be found. As the debate proceeded it became evident the 
 vote would be a very close one, and it was doubtful which 
 way the scale would turn. On the eighth day the dis- 
 cussion closed, and when it was announced that the basis 
 had been rejected by a majority of thirteen out of a total 
 vote of one hundred and eighty-nine little surprise was 
 felt or expressed. 
 
 When the action of the London Conference became 
 known, public attention at once centred on Peterborough, 
 where the Toronto Conference had assembled on the 13th 
 of June, the day before the vote in London Conference was 
 taken. The situation as regarded union was now felt to 
 be not only serious but extremely critical, and it is not 
 surprising that many were saying, " As goes Toronto Con- 
 ference, so goes the Connexion." Those who spoke in this 
 way did not forget that the Maritime Conferences were yet 
 to be heard from ; but it was understood that they were 
 less deeply concerned in the union movement than were 
 the Conferences farther west, because they had not experi- 
 enced the evil effects of a divided Methodism. It was 
 probable, therefore, that their action would be determined, 
 to some extent, by the attitude of the Conferences in 
 Ontario and Quebec ; and as the basis had been carried 
 in one Conference by the slender majority of fifteen, and 
 defeated by an almost similar majority in another, unless 
 Toronto Conference gave a much larger majority in favour 
 than many expected, and larger than some thought possible, 
 
340 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the union might be regarded as effectually buried, never 
 to rise again. Under these circumstances the debate in 
 the Toronto Conference began and was continued from day 
 to day by men who spoke under a sense of deep responsi- 
 bility. At first it was not easy to tell to which side the 
 feeling of the Conference inclined, for every speaker re- 
 ceived an attentive hearing, and every good point, on either 
 side, received a generous meed of applause. But as time 
 went on it became manifest that the arguments for union 
 were beginning to tell, for the applause which had greeted 
 opponents of the measure gradually ebbed away until it 
 seemed to be confined to a group of stalwarts who sur- 
 rounded their leader in one corner of the church, while 
 enthusiasm on the other side gathered strength with every 
 passing hour, and culminated on the evening when the 
 debate closed. 
 
 When the theme had been pretty well exhausted, and 
 nearly all had spoken who desired to do so, an under- 
 standing was reached that on a given evening the debate 
 on the floor of the Conference should cease, after which 
 those who had moved or seconded resolutions or amend- 
 ments might be heard if they so desired, the discussion to 
 be closed by the mover of the main resolution for the 
 adoption of the basis, and then the vote should be taken. 
 When the evening arrived the profound interest felt in the 
 union question was evidenced by the immense audience, 
 representing all denominations, which packed the large 
 George Street Church " from floor to ceiling," most of 
 whom listened with unabated attention until the vote was 
 called at one o'clock in the morning. While the utmost 
 freedom had been allowed during the debate it was tacitly 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 341 
 
 agreed that when the vote was taken there should be no 
 demonstration, but that the announcement should be 
 received by the Conference in solemn silence and with 
 heads bowed in prayer. At length the roll was called 
 and the yeas and nays recorded, when it was found that 
 the vote stood one hundred and thirty-seven to thirty -seven, 
 or one hundred of a majority in favour of adopting the 
 union basis. Twenty years have passed away since that 
 memorable evening, but there are persons not a few among 
 the older generation of Methodists in and around Peter- 
 borough whose manner grows animated and whose eyes 
 kindle as they recall " that wonderful debate on the union 
 question." 
 
 It was now generally conceded that the Toronto 
 Conference had " saved the day," and that the basis was 
 safe. This hopeful feeling was strengthened when it 
 became known that the Conferences of other uniting bodies 
 had adopted the basis, and that their quarterly meetings had 
 given large majorities in its favour. Still later the Nova 
 Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland Conferences 
 put themselves on record in favour of union, thus increasing 
 considerably the majority vote. Last of all, the Manitoba 
 Conference, which had just been organised and held its 
 first session in August of that year, adopted the basis by 
 a unanimous vote. Still, it could not be said that the 
 measure was entirely safe. It had yet to pass the ordeal 
 of a special session of the General Conference ; for although 
 that session had been authorised for the sole purpose of 
 " giving effect to the union," it was anticipated that the 
 opponents of the measure would insist upon another 
 discussion of the whole question, and would be prepared, 
 
34 2 Methodism in Canada 
 
 if they could rally a sufficient minority, to block the whole 
 movement at the eleventh hour. When the Conference 
 assembled this anticipation was fully realised, and it was 
 evident that the subject that had already been threshed 
 out to the last straw would have to be gone over again, 
 and subjected to the test of another vote. Further dis- 
 cussion might properly have been resisted on technical 
 grounds, and there were some who thought that further 
 discussion was out of order, as the Conference had been 
 called together " to give effect to the union " ; but the 
 union leaders judged it best to concede the demand for 
 free discussion, so that no possible ground of complaint 
 might remain. 
 
 In accordance with the decision of the General Con- 
 ference of 1882, the special session was held in the 
 Bridge Street Church in the city of Belleville, and began 
 on the 5th of September 1883. As the basis of union 
 was the only subject that could be discussed, it was 
 thought that preliminaries could be quickly disposed of ; 
 but quite a number of technical objections were raised, 
 and discussion on these occupied the whole of the first day. 
 During these discussions a resolution was adopted that the 
 basis of union be the order of the day at ten o'clock the 
 following morning, and notice was given that at that time 
 a resolution would be moved to accept and ratify the said 
 basis. When the Conference assembled on Thursday Gth 
 September, the President Eev. Dr. Eice made a general 
 statement respecting apprehended legal difficulties, and 
 the steps which he had taken to secure competent legal 
 advice. The Secretary of the Conference then read the 
 opinion of Mr. John E. Rose, Q.C. After further dis- 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 343 
 
 cussion, the opinion of Mr. James Bethune, Q.C., based 
 upon a case submitted by a private member of the Con- 
 ference, was also read. Preliminaries being thus disposed 
 of, the way was open for the main question, and the battle 
 was fairly joined. It was not to be expected that any- 
 thing new in the way of argument would be advanced. 
 In newspaper controversy and Conference debates every 
 phase of the question had been gone over many times ; 
 but the interest felt in the measure was so great that old 
 arguments were listened to as eagerly as if heard for the 
 first time, and sentiments that had been worn threadbare 
 by frequent repetition received generous recognition. 
 
 The order of the day having been called, the Kev. A. 
 Sutherland, Secretary of the Joint Committee on Union, 
 arose amid profound silence and strained attention to 
 move the adoption of the basis. The motion, which was 
 seconded by Eev. E. B. Eyckman, M.A., was as follows : 
 
 " Whereas this Conference, at its session in the city 
 of Hamilton in September 1882, adopted certain resolu- 
 tions affirming the desirableness of an organic union of 
 the various Methodist churches in the Dominion, and did 
 appoint a committee to meet in joint session with similar 
 committees appointed by the Conferences of the Methodist 
 Episcopal, Primitive Methodist, and Bible Christian 
 Churches, for the purpose of preparing, if possible, a basis 
 of union to be afterwards submitted to the quarterly 
 boards and Conferences of the negotiating churches for 
 approval or otherwise : 
 
 " And whereas this Conference agreed to meet at the 
 call of the President, if there were received from two 
 thirds of the quarterly meetings and a majority of the 
 
344 Methodism in Canada 
 
 Annual Conferences voting upon it declarations in favour 
 of the plan of union, and declared that the President 
 should convene the General Conference at Belleville in 
 order to give effect to the proposed union : 
 
 " And whereas the official returns show that six 
 hundred and forty quarterly boards out of seven hundred 
 and forty-nine, and six out of seven Annual Conferences 
 have declared in favour of the plan of union submitted ; 
 
 " Therefore this General Conference, recognising the 
 guiding hand of God in the movement, and feeling its 
 obligation to give effect to the wish of the Church as 
 expressed through the quarterly meetings and Annual 
 Conferences, hereby accepts and ratifies the basis recom- 
 mended by the joint committee as a basis of union with 
 the Methodist Episcopal, Primitive Methodist, and Bible 
 Christian Churches." 
 
 The mover having spoken briefly in support of the 
 resolution, the Rev. John A. Williams, D.D., moved the 
 following amendment, which was seconded by the Rev. 
 William Williams : 
 
 " That we hail with great satisfaction and pleasure the 
 tendency and desire of the several Methodist churches of 
 this country to form one organic body if a basis can be 
 found that will carry a majority of the ministers and 
 members of said churches. In relation to the basis of 
 union now presented to this Conference, we express our 
 deep regret that it contains certain provisions which we 
 cannot see our way clear to accept, and in addition to 
 these we fear that certain complications in relation to 
 at least one of the churches proposing to unite make 
 it extremely hazardous to consummate the union until 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 345 
 
 further information has been obtained as to the effect of 
 the action of the parent body of said church in England 
 upon titles to property involved. With respect to the 
 general superintendency, we declare our willingness to 
 accept it in harmony with the principles laid down by the 
 General Conference in the amendment to the report of the 
 Union Committee ; with the understanding, furthermore, 
 that the restrictive rules shall not be omitted from the 
 constitution of the united Church, that grave legal questions 
 shall be settled prior to the consummation of the union, 
 and that the principle of the amendment above referred to 
 affecting the general superintendency shall be adopted, we 
 heartily express our readiness to enter into union with 
 other Methodist bodies at as early a date as may be 
 found practicable." 
 
 On the submission of the resolution and amendment 
 there followed a debate never excelled and but rarely 
 equalled in any ecclesiastical assembly. It was a veritable 
 " battle of the giants," where " Greek met Greek " in high 
 debate on a question that vitally affected the future of 
 Methodism in the Dominion of Canada, and perhaps 
 throughout the world. For the most part the spirit of the 
 debate was admirable ; and if there were moments when it 
 grew somewhat acrimonious, the heat could be excused on 
 the ground of the interests at stake, and the fact that each 
 member of the Conference felt personally interested in the 
 issue. They were not contending in academic debate for 
 or against abstract propositions ; they were dealing with 
 questions that touched the fundamentals of church 
 organisation and invaded that region of sentiment and 
 historic association that is so potent a force in determin- 
 
346 Methodism in Canada 
 
 ing great issues. By tacit consent it devolved upon the Eev. 
 A. Sutherland, as Secretary of the Union Committee, to 
 move the adoption of the basis, and as he had been from 
 the first a pronounced advocate of union he had to bear 
 the brunt of assaults from the other side. The phrase 
 " by tacit consent " is strictly correct, for no plans were 
 laid by the advocates of union as to how the debate 
 should be conducted. They were so deeply convinced 
 that the union movement was under divine guidance that 
 they feared to mar it by plans of worldly wisdom. So 
 tenaciously was this thought adhered to that five minutes 
 before the Secretary rose to move the adoption of the 
 basis he did not know by whom his motion would be 
 seconded. The opposition to the basis was led by the 
 Kev. Dr. John A. Williams, and right ably and manfully 
 did he discharge what he felt to be a duty. But it 
 was uphill work, for from the first it was evident he was 
 fighting a losing battle, and that union was a foregone 
 conclusion. 
 
 The debate continued for five days, and the interest 
 grew as the days went by ; but it culminated on the last 
 evening, when, in accordance with previous agreement, the 
 debate on the floor of the Conference was to close at a 
 given hour, after which Dr. Williams and Mr. Sutherland 
 were to be heard, and then the vote would be taken. At 
 an early hour representatives from all denominations in 
 the city, and others from great distances in the country 
 round about, began to assemble, and long before the time 
 for opening the last stage of the debate arrived, the 
 spacious church was crowded to its utmost capacity by 
 the most deeply interested audience that ever assembled 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 347 
 
 within its walls. The devotional services were solemn 
 and impressive, for everyone seemed to feel that the 
 occasion was one of no ordinary kind, and that momentous 
 issues were at stake. The debate which ensued was fully 
 up to the level of the previous discussions, and maintained 
 the high reputation of the Conference as a deliberative 
 assembly ; but when the debate on the floor closed, and 
 Dr. Williams arose to speak, the strained attention of the 
 vast audience grew almost painful in its intensity. In an 
 able address of nearly an hour's duration, Dr. Williams 
 recapitulated the arguments against the basis of union, 
 and made an earnest appeal in favour of delay, and when 
 he finished it was felt that the last word on that side had 
 been spoken. 
 
 At this juncture, however, a somewhat dramatic 
 incident occurred. As already stated, it had been agreed 
 that an address from Dr. Williams and one from Mr. 
 Sutherland should close the debate ; but as soon as the 
 former ceased speaking there were calls from various parts 
 of the Conference for Dr. Douglas. The Doctor was 
 known to be a pronounced opponent of union, and it was 
 understood that his room at the hotel was the regular 
 meeting-place of those who sympathised with his views 
 when discussing their plans for carrying on the debate. 
 As a minister honoured and beloved his influence was 
 great, and it was felt by some that to call upon him at 
 this critical stage in the discussion, in face of the agree- 
 ment that had been reached, was tantamount to a breach 
 of faith. But the unionists sat in silence, making no 
 sign, and, though evidently averse to speaking, Dr. 
 Douglas at length arose. In breathless attention the 
 
348 Methodism in Canada 
 
 audience waited, and at first could hardly believe their 
 ears. " Mr. President," said the Doctor, and his massive 
 voice and impressive manner carried his words to the 
 remotest corner of the building, " the solemnities of this 
 hour, the tremendous responsibilities of the undying future, 
 alike call upon the Church to ADVANCE!" Under 
 other circumstances the effect would have been electrical, 
 and the friends of union would have been elated beyond 
 measure ; but such a sense of a divine Presence overruling 
 and directing in the matter pervaded the assembly, that 
 no demonstrations of applause greeted the announcement, 
 though from more than one delegate came a subdued but 
 fervent " Thank God ! " After this it was with a sense of 
 relief that the audience settled back in their seats while 
 the mover of the main resolution recapitulated the argu- 
 ments in favour of union, answered the more prominent 
 objections, and made his final appeal for the ratification of 
 the basis. 
 
 Then came the voting. Those in favour of the basis 
 first arose and remained standing while the Secretary from 
 the platform called their names and they were checked 
 off on the Conference Roll, when each delegate in turn 
 resumed his seat. The opposing vote was taken in the 
 same way, and all in solemn silence, the only sound being 
 the voice of the Secretary calling the names. A few 
 moments sufficed to tabulate the result, after which it was 
 announced that the vote stood 123 to 38; or, in other 
 words, that the basis had been ratified by a three-fourths 
 majority, with several votes to spare. Even then no 
 applause was indulged in, for the unionists felt it would 
 be unbrotherly to triumph over opponents who had only 
 
The Unification of Canadian Methodism 349 
 
 followed their convictions of duty. But when the doxology 
 had been sung and the benediction pronounced, the tension 
 relaxed. The audience broke up into groups, tongues 
 were loosed, and congratulations, thanksgivings, and hearty 
 hand-shakes (some of the most cordial being between 
 those who but a little while before had been ranged on 
 opposite sides) became the order of the hour. No wonder 
 there was a profound sense of relief. The long and 
 exciting struggle was over. The era of division and 
 estrangement was ended, and the era of union had come. 
 Nothing now remained but for the United General 
 Conference to assemble and adopt a constitution and 
 formulate a discipline for the United Church. And this 
 would be done on the day after the morrow. 
 
 Wednesday morning, 5th September 1883, dawned 
 bright and fair, and the very skies seemed to smile 
 upon the assembled delegates as they wended their 
 way to the Methodist Episcopal Tabernacle, where the 
 first United Conference was to be held. The hymn 
 beginning, 
 
 O for a thousand tongues to sing 
 My great Kedeemer's praise, 
 
 was sung with subdued and tender feeling, a portion of 
 Scripture was read, and the Kev. Dr. John A. Williams led 
 the Conference in prayer. At once a divine influence 
 came down upon that good man, and out of the fulness of 
 his heart came forth a prayer that is treasured in the 
 memory of those who heard it to this day. If misgivings 
 yet lingered in any minds, they vanished in the hallowed 
 atmosphere of the mercy-seat, and few, if any, could resist 
 
350 Methodism in Canada 
 
 the conclusion that the union which had been ratified on 
 earth was also ratified in heaven. 
 
 The devotional service being ended, the delegates 
 proceeded to organise, and by a unanimous vote Dr. 
 John A. Williams was chosen President of the first 
 United General Conference. The remaining sessions, 
 extending over fifteen days, were occupied in formulating 
 a discipline for the united body. On the seventh day the 
 election of permanent officers took place, when the Eev. 
 S. D. Eice, D.D., and the Kev. A. Carman, D.D., were 
 chosen General Superintendents, the first for eight years, 
 the second for four. On Wednesday afternoon, 19th 
 September, this historic General Conference the most 
 important yet held in the history of the United Church 
 was brought to a close. Since that day Canadian 
 Methodism has been one from ocean to ocean, and one it 
 is destined, I think, to remain. Strife and division are 
 things of the past that have almost entirely faded out of 
 memory, and a new generation has come up to whom the 
 distinctive names of the former time are unmeaning words. 
 There is peace within our walls and prosperity within our 
 palaces. Upon all our assemblies may the Shekinah 
 evermore abide. 
 
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