The Story of My Life; Being Reminiscences of Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada Part 10

_Nov. 20th._--I have been to the Rice Lake Mission: found them still growing in grace. The children are clean--many of them handsome. The school teacher is happy in his work.

_Dec. 12th._--My mind has been greatly afflicted this evening in settling a difference between two brethren.

_Dec. 25th._--Last night we had a service in this place (Presque Isle) to celebrate the incarnation of our blessed Saviour. Seven souls professed to experience the pardoning love of Christ. Many who came mourning went home rejoicing.

_January 1st, 1828._--I am now brought to the close of another year, and the commencement of a new era of existence. The first part of the year I spent princ.i.p.ally amongst the Indians, and have reason to believe the Lord blest my labours amongst those needy and loving people, but my own soul was oft in heaviness. The latter part of the year I have been on a Circuit, and have found my enjoyments and improvement increased. The Societies are growing in piety, my bodily wants have been all supplied, and I have experienced the fulfilment of the promise, If ye forsake father and mother, the Lord will take thee up. May I ever rest on it!

_Jan. 2nd._--[The following letter was written at this date to Dr.

Ryerson by his Mother. She says:--

My not writing to you, I understand from your letter to Father, has given you much uneasiness; but I can a.s.sure you I have felt much concerned about it myself, for fear that you should entertain the thought of its proceeding from unkindness or neglect: but let the feelings of affection of a Mother suffice and answer it all. Be convinced that her happiness depends upon your welfare, and that her daily prayers will ever be offered up to the throne of grace in yours and the rest of her children's behalf. O that the Lord may keep you humble and faithful, looking unto him for grace and strength to enable you to work in His blessed cause, to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation through a dear Redeemer to lost and peris.h.i.+ng souls! This is a great comfort to me, and more than I deserve. None other compensates for all my trials and afflictions here, as that G.o.d, of His goodness, should have inclined the hearts of many of my dear children to seek His face and to testify to the ways of G.o.d being the ways of pleasantness and peace. At so much goodness my soul doth bless and praise my G.o.d and Redeemer. My dear boy, you must not forget to pray for your poor unworthy Mother, that she may be daily renewed in the inner man, and so kept by the grace of G.o.d, as to be able to endure unto the end, and at last to be received among those that are made perfect, to praise Him that hath redeemed us for ever and ever. Your kind and anxious enquiries about home, I shall endeavour to answer. Your dear Father has returned, and is as well as usual, but still suffers much at times. Your heavenly Father has been pleased to lay His hand of affliction once more upon your sister, Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l, by taking away her youngest boy in November last. Edwy, I am happy to say, appears to persevere in serving G.o.d, which, with the blessing of G.o.d, may he continue to do. Your brother George has left for England. He desires that all your letters be sent to him in England, which contain anything interesting about the Indians, or of the work of religion. The state of religion in this part, I think, is rather on the rise, that is to say, they attend better to public wors.h.i.+p, and receive their preacher in a more friendly manner than before. Write as often as you can to let us know how you are, and how the work of religion is progressing.--H.]

_Jan. 3rd._--I have this day visited the Indians at Rice Lake: all prosperity here. I have been much refreshed this evening in meeting my beloved brother and fellow-labourer in the Gospel, Peter Jones.

These pleasing interviews bring to mind many refres.h.i.+ng seasons we have enjoyed together, when seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This year thus far, has been attended with peculiar trials; my health has not been good; I have had conflicts without, and fears within.

_Jan. 30th._--Visited a poor woman to-day in the last stage of consumption, she gives evidence that her peace is made with G.o.d. I find it a heavy cross to visit the sick. Help me, Lord, to search out the mourner, bind up broken hearts, and comfort the sorrowful.

_February 22nd_--[A Central Committee at York having, of behalf of the various non-Episcopal denominations, deputed Rev. George Ryerson to proceed to England to present pet.i.tions to the Imperial Parliament against the claims of the Church of England in this Province,[18] the Rev. William Ryerson was requested to write to his brother George on the subject. In his letter he gave the following explanation of the sources of information from which Archdeacon Strachan's Ecclesiastical Chart was compiled. He said:--

It may be proper to apprise you that the Church of England has been making an enquiry into the religious state of the Province, the result of which they have sent home to the Imperial Parliament. And in order to swell their numbers as much as possible, they have sent persons through almost every part of the Province, who, when they come into a house, enquire of the head of the family as to what Church he belongs. If he says, to the Methodist, or any other body of dissenters, they next enquire if their children belong to the same Church. If they say no, they set the children as members of the Church of England! If they say that neither themselves nor their children belong to any particular Church, they set them all down as members of the Church of England! So that should they make a parade of their numbers you can tell how they got them.

The Report of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, for 1821, gives the number of communicants in the Church of England here as between 4,000 and 5,000. In the Chart, the Methodist communicants only have been returned, which is about 9,000. The number of those who call themselves Methodists, is, at least, four times that number, or 36,000.

This is the way in which almost all the other bodies estimate their numbers, the Baptists excepted.

_Cobourg, Feb. 27th._--Dr. Ryerson's youngest brother, Edwy, who remained at home, wrote from there on the 20th, in regard to his Father's health and religious life. He says:--

I think there is no doubt but that he will, in a short time be able, with the care and the mercy of Almighty G.o.d, to enjoy himself again at the family altar. He says that, by the grace of G.o.d, the remainder of his days shall be devoted to the service of G.o.d. He feels that he has acceptance with G.o.d; that G.o.d condescends to receive him--blessed be G.o.d! My dear Egerton, although we have had great difficulties and many trials to contend with, yet the Lord has stood by us, and by His goodness and mercy He has kept us from sinking under them, by pointing out ways and means for our escape, and He has brought our aged Father to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Oh, my dear brother, let us praise the name of G.o.d forever, who hath dealt so bountifully with us.

Mother is much better than when you were here. Father and Mother send their love to you. May the Lord give you good speed, and crown your labours with success in the saving of souls.

_April 3rd._--With a view to throw an incidental light upon the personal influence which prompted Dr. Ryerson to controvert certain statements made by Archdeacon Strachan,[19] I quote a letter which Dr. Ryerson's brother William wrote to him from York, on the 1st, as follows:--

I send you a pamphlet containing Dr. Strachan's defence before the Legislative Council. If I had time I would write a reply, at least to a part of it. I think you had better write a full answer to it. You will perceive that the Doctor's defence consists in telling what he told certain gentlemen in England and what they told him. The misstatements and contradictions with which he has been charged, he has not noticed.

Such as that "the Church is rapidly increasing, and spreading over the whole country, and that the tendency of the population is towards the Church of England, and that the instructions of dissenters are rendering people hostile to our inst.i.tutions, civil and religious." He says: "It is said I have offended the Methodists." Who told him so? I presume it must have been his own conscience. If you write a full answer would it not be better to do it in the form of letters, addressed to the doctor, and signed by your real name? Write in a candid, mild, and kindly style, and it will have a much more powerful effect upon the mind of the public. Do not cramp yourself, but write fully, seriously, and effectually.

Dr. Ryerson's reflections upon the peculiar difficulties of his itinerant life at this time are recorded in his diary, under date of April 13th, as follows:--

No situation of life is without its inconveniences; but, perhaps, the Methodist itinerant Preacher is more exposed to privations than most others. His home is everywhere, and amongst persons of every description; and if he needs retirement or books, where can he find a retreat to hide himself, or a secret place where he can, like Jacob, wrestle till the dawn of day? He is a target to be shot at by every one; his weaknesses and failings tried every way; and, after his youth, his health, his life, his all are spent, he too often dies an enfeebled and impoverished man. But, bless the Lord, all does not end here. We have "a building of G.o.d, eternal in the heavens;" and we have a home "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."

Dr. Ryerson resumes his diary on the 9th of May. He says:

My time has of late been much taken up with provincial affairs. I have felt a hardness towards those who I think are injuring the interests of the country, and with whom it has fallen to my lot to be much engaged in controversy. Necessity seems at present to be laid upon me, from which I cannot free myself.

_May 10th--Sunday._--To-day I delivered a discourse on Missions. I had intended much, this being a favourite topic with me, but I made out nothing, and I felt truly humbled.

_Aug. 1st._--For months past I have been greatly tried. My controversial labours have occupied too much of my time and attention. I thank G.o.d, the day of deliverance seems to be dawning.

The invisible hand of the infinitely wise Being is clearly at work, and I have no doubt the result will be to His glory.

Dr. Ryerson then continues the narrative of his life. He says:--

A change in my domestic and public life now commenced, which involved my marriage, and my appointment to the Hamilton and Ancaster Circuits.

In my diary I say:--

_Aug. 24th._--I soon expect to alter my situation in life. What an important step! How much depends upon it in respect to my comfort, my literary and religious improvement, and my usefulness in the Church? I have kept up a correspondence with a lady since and before I was an itinerant preacher; but postponed marriage since I became a minister, thinking that I should be more useful as a single man. My ministerial friends all advise me now to marry, as every obstacle seems moved out of the way and I have now travelled three years.

_Ancaster, Oct. 31st._--I have pa.s.sed through a variety of scenes since I last noted the dealings of the Lord with me. On the 10th of September, 1828, I entered into the married state with Miss Hannah Aikman, of Hamilton. Through the tender mercy of G.o.d, I have got a companion who, I believe, will be truly a help-meet to me, in spiritual as well as temporal things.[20]

The Hamilton and Ancaster Circuit reached from Stoney Creek, east of Hamilton, to within five miles of Brantford, including the towns.h.i.+p of Glandford; thence including the Jersey settlement, Dundas Street, and Nelson, to ten miles north of Dundas Street, embracing Trafalgar, the mountain beyond the town of Milton, Credit, and back to Stoney Creek.

The death of the Rev. Wm. Slater, my colleague and Superintendent, about the middle of the year, was a great loss and affliction to me, as I had to take his place. Brother Slater had been the colleague of my brother John for two years, and he was now mine for the second year. He was a true Englishman, a true friend, and a faithful and cheerful minister.

About the middle of this year (1828) were held the Ryan Conventions at Copetown, in West Flamboro', and Picton, Prince Edward District, of which I have given an account in "The Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp.

247-269.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] The first of these controversial engagements extended from the spring of 1826 until the spring of 1827; the second from the spring of 1828 until near midsummer of the same year.--H.

[17] The nature and purpose of this Chart are fully explained and discussed by Dr. Ryerson in his "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp.

165-220.

[18] See "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," p. 222.

[19] "Letters from the Reverend Egerton Ryerson to the Honourable and Reverend Dr. Strachan. Published originally in the _Upper Canada Herald_, Kingston, U.C., 1828. Pp. 42--In his "advertis.e.m.e.nt" or preface, Dr. Ryerson ill.u.s.trates the pressing nature of his engagements at the time when he was engaged in the controversy with Archdeacon Strachan. He also referred to the unusual difficulties with which he had to contend in writing these "Letters" to the Archdeacon. Of many important and most forcible arguments against establishments, especially those derived from the Holy Scriptures, the author has not availed himself, nor has he referred to so many historical authorities as might have been adduced, * * * as he has had to travel nearly two hundred miles, and preach from twenty to thirty sermons a month." See note on p.

80 and also Chapter viii.--H.

[20] This union was of comparatively short duration. Mrs. Ryerson died on the 31st of January, 1832, at the early age of 28. (See the latter part of Chapter ix.)

CHAPTER VII.

1828-1829.

Ryanite Schism--M. E. Church of Canada Organized.

There is a break in Dr. Ryerson's "Story" at this point; no record of any of the events of his life, from August, 1828, to September, 1829, was found among the MSS. left by him. The Editor, therefore, avails himself of the numerous letters preserved by the venerable author, from which he is enabled to continue a narrative, at least in part, of the princ.i.p.al events in his then active life.--H.

_Hamilton, 6th Nov._--Writing at this date, from Cobourg, to Dr.

Ryerson, on the expediency of pet.i.tioning the Legislature to give the Methodist Ministry the right to perform the marriage ceremony amongst their own people, Elder Case, says:--

Should not the pet.i.tion include all "dissenters," and the prayer be for authority to perform the marriage rite for members of our congregations?

I would rather not have any law in our favour, but that which gives the privilege to the Calvinists. If the Church of England is not the established religion of this province (and who believes it is?) "dissenters" at least, have an equal right with the Church. If numbers and priority are to determine the right, the "dissenters" have a superior right, for they were first here, and they are more numerous. We cannot but feel a pious indignation at the idea, that all should not enjoy the same privilege, in regard to marriage; and can this be the fact when one denomination, in any sense whatever, has a control over the marriage ceremony of another denomination?

The Ryanite Schism, which commenced in 1824, is fully described by Dr.

Ryerson in his "Epochs of Canadian Methodism," pp. 247-269. In a letter from his brother John, dated River Thames, January 28th, 1824, the strife caused by this schism is thus referred to. Mr. Ryerson also describes the state of the Societies in the London District during this crisis. He said:--

I am happy to hear that Mr. Ryan's plans are defeated, and that the measures you have adopted to frustrate his machinations against Elder Case, have proved successful. I hope you will continue to a.s.sist and support Elder Case, especially in this affair, and on many other accounts he is deserving of much esteem; his disinterested exertions in behalf of the Missionary interest in Canada, are deserving of the highest praise.