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^■k 
 
 C A N A I) A : 
 
 ITS 
 
 RELIGIOUS PROSPECTS. 
 
 AN ADDKKSS DKIJ V Ki: KH 
 
 i 
 
 TH K 
 
 KX( i LiSJl WKSLKVA X i "< )X Fi:i;K\( 'K 
 
 I I 
 
 At MAWIIK.STKR .li Lr jr.tli, l»ri 
 
 nv THK 
 
 JJKV. WILLIAM MOIfLKV ITN'SMoN. M.A. 
 
 •^i? 
 
 TORONTO : 
 
 I'HINTKI) AT THE WESLEYAN BOOK ROOM. 
 
 1871. 
 
 -C|^ 
 

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 ■ ■ of („,n,,d,i rj„ Cinadd 
 
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ADDRESS OF REV. ff. M. PONSHON, M.A. 
 
 
 On Wednesday eveiiinji, July ilie '2i'>th, an open sessinu of 
 the Wesleyan Couleieuce Mas lield in the Free Trade Hall, in 
 IManchestcr, to hear the addresses (if the re])resentative.s of aflili- 
 ated Conferences. The hall Avas lilled to overHowinL^- with an 
 eager audience. After the re])resentatives of the Irish and 
 French Conferences had spoken — 
 
 The SKCHETAiiV said that he had now the gi-eat jdeasuve to 
 introduce to the Fre.;ident and to the Conference a heloved 
 brother, who appeared ainon<,'.st them as the reinesentative of the 
 <'anadiau Conference — the Itev. AVilliam^forley runslutn, ^l.A. 
 
 This ainxouncenieut was received with great ajiplause, tlie 
 wliole of the immense audience rising and cheering tlie rev. 
 
 gentleman. 
 
 The ruKsiDKNT, addressing Jh'.l'unshon, said: Every heart 
 in this assembly goes with that cheer. AVe have watched your 
 career in the great and glorious c(»untry to Avhicli your path has 
 been so mysteriously directed. AVe rejoice and give thanks to 
 <5od for the honour which He has putujjon you, and the Avork 
 he has enabled you to do. "We see you auKjngst ns again with 
 thankfulness to Him, and with feelings of unspeakable atiecti(ni 
 and joy towards yoiu'self. AVe have never lost sight of you ; 
 never forgotten you. You have been one of ourselves. Yxjur; 
 name has been called over as a member of this Conference 
 <ivery year since you left us. Y(nir name has been called over 
 to-day. 1 rejoice that it will a])i»ear on the records of this year 
 as present in our deliberations, and on your own account I greet 
 you in the name of the Lord, and on account of that noble 
 Church at the head of which it lias pleased Him to place you 
 during the last three vears. 
 
 The Address of the Canadian Conference was then read and 
 accepted ; and the Rev. AV. Arthur, M.A., iJr. Rigg, and G. S. 
 Eowe were appointed a sub-committee to prepare a re]>ly. 
 
 The Kev. AN^M. Mokley ruxsiKJX was, on risiaig, greeted 
 with much enthusiasm, the whole audience standing and cheer- 
 ing, while some waved liata and handkerchiefs in token of wel- 
 come. He said he luid, on behalf of tlie Canadian Conference, 
 to thank the honored fathers and brethren assemliled for the 
 
TllK ItKV. W. M. PIXSHON 
 
 kindness witli which they had reoeived and listeneil to the filial 
 :i(l(h"e.s3 -vvliicli, as the representative (»f that Conference, lie had 
 heen ])erniitted to hrinj,' to them. He wouhl fain on this occa- 
 sion represent that Conference wortliily, for his constituency 
 was so vast, so intellij^ent, and so worthy of all possihle honour, 
 tliat they deserved rei)resentation of the ahlest and of the 
 amplest kind. He was ])ainfully con.sci<ms that his task was 
 too he;Tvy for his ])owers, and hssides this c<»nsciousness, which 
 was of itself sutticiently emharrassinj,', lie was still further em- 
 Itarrassed by the circumstances which surrounded him, and by 
 the presence in which he was called ujion to speak. He sup- 
 posed the meeting to l»e, and indeed it was, a session of Confer- 
 ence, but he had only to look u]>ward and sideward to discover 
 tliat all the hearts before him did not throb beneath clerical 
 vestments. Now there was a gi'avity of utterance befitting halls, 
 of legislation, and there was a fieedoni of utterance adai)ted to 
 pojndar assemblies, which he was somewhat ])uzzled to kn(»w 
 how to combine. The Canadian Conference sent to England 
 last year a well-loved and elocpient representative, who dis- 
 charged his duty, as his constituents thought, well, and, as gra- 
 tituile existed in Canada, and the (Janadians were not afraid to 
 express it, their Conference recently held told him so by formal 
 resolution. C)ne, however, of those unseen kings, kings of the- 
 tripod, who sat in judgment up(»n the sayings and doings of that 
 vast assembly, while acknowledging the geniality and heart of 
 the re]>resentative's address, left on record his conviction that 
 tlie Canadian representation was not overladen with dignity. 
 Xow he (Mr. Punshon) was heartily glad to be in such good 
 company, for he was sure to fail in that ])articular regard. His 
 heart Avas very full both towards the Conference ])ro])er, and 
 toM'ards those other friends among the laity who wen; as yet 
 extra-Conferential. It beat altogether too warndy to Ije con- 
 sistent with the ])atrician indifference which he sup])osed the 
 dignity of a representative demanded. ^Moreover, if there was 
 a spot upon earth where dignity sat ill upon a man, it was when 
 it played of its airs at home. 
 
 He would therefore ask them to excuse him if he hiid his 
 dignity where the mace of the House of ("ommons was laid — 
 under the tal)le — and spoke t<» them simjdy as a friend t(» 
 friends. He would ask them, then, to listen for a brief while to 
 words from a friend's lips intended for the ears of friends, and 
 dealing with matters of common interest to all who loveil the 
 Lord -lesus Christ. T.est he Hlu»uld forget it hereafter, he might 
 just take the o})])ortunitv, as it had been the fashion — not be- 
 cause it had been the fashion, for it was sincerely uttered and 
 
 I 
 
ox CANADA. 
 
 expressed — to express the pleasure with whicn he saw Dr. 
 James in the rresidental chair of the Conference. He trusted 
 tlmt the year of his Presidency would he a year of very great 
 l)rosperity. In expecting,' this he was only judging hy his knyw- 
 ledge of the past, considering that the President was endowed 
 with so much of the traditional wisdom of James, and of the 
 traditional tenderness of John, heljjed forward by the counsel of 
 the good men at each siile of liim, and, not least, Ijy the "Wise- 
 man, whom the Ijrethren had wisely chosen to he seated hy his 
 side. He (Mr. Punshon) must now, in the first place, in- 
 troduce them to his constituency, with which many people 
 in England were only partly ac(piainted. Since the 20th 
 of July, when liritish (.'(dumbia l)ecame formally confede- 
 rated, the Dominion of Canada comprised six Provinces, viz., 
 Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New JJrunswick, Manitoba, 
 and the newly-created one — thus stretching their vast area 
 across the American continent from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, and comprising a larger extent of territory than the 
 United States of America by about 120,000 srpiare miles. 
 To the hapjiy dwellers on this tight little island this might 
 .seem of small account, but over the water, where there was a 
 tendency to value things by size, it was a noticeable fact. Of 
 the six Provinces of the ]>ominion, two. Nova Scotia and New 
 }}runswick,with the islands of Prince Edward and Newfoundland,, 
 jiot yet confederated, Avere comprised in the Conference of Kast- 
 ern British America, where there were no fewer than 160 faith- 
 ful labourers, with some 15,000 members in their fellowship. Of" 
 the otlier Provinces in the Dominion — Manitoba and Jiritish 
 Columbia, distant, newly confederated, and thiidy i)opulated \ 
 Quebec, where the vast majority of the people were lioman 
 (Catholics aiulErench Canadhms ; and Ontario, where the United 
 Em])ire Loyalists took root and grew, also where English, Sc( li,. 
 and Irish I'rotestant settlers generally established themselves - - 
 constituted the Canadian Conference which he was now called 
 upon to represent. 
 
 The diocese over which he was called upon to preside, for 
 his work was episcopal, if his name was not — was 1,500 miles- 
 long by some 200 to 300 miles wide, exclusive of the mission- 
 ary districts ; and it contained Anthin it a population of nearly 
 three millions, or something less than the present population of 
 London. Tliere was something cosmopolitan in the Dominion, 
 both as to its nationality, and as to the creeds of its people. 
 "11 took, he was triad to find, a warm interest in the 
 
 They 
 
 affairs of Irish ^Methodism, and were 
 
 to the warm-hearted and elocpient 
 
 prepared gladly to listen 
 representativi 
 
 res from the 
 
THE REV. W. M. rrXSHON 
 
 sister isle. "Well, the Cnnadiiin Confeveiice emhrnccd almost ns 
 many ])reacliers of Irish birth iis were contained in the entire 
 Irish (.'onference, and they did not nnnd»er a third of the whole ; 
 besides tliis they had a largennndier of earnest and enterjjrising 
 Irish laymen to whom C.'anada had fnrnished a home, and who 
 infused their characteristic ener^'y into Canadian institutions 
 iind gladdened the (,'anadian Church with the warmth and 
 fervour of their religious life. Tliey had also a large number ot* 
 Irish of another sort, of whom he lie coidd notninv si>eak jiarticu- 
 larly — except to say that they would gladly ship them back 
 again by a fleet of very early and ra])id steamers, that they 
 might cry " Ireland for the Irish" to their f)wn hearts' content, 
 and theirs. The Conference had just listened to and welcomed 
 a. French representative, and tlieir hearts were going out in 
 sympathy for the trampled land and suifering people of France. 
 Tliey had in Canada nearly a million souls who were French in 
 feeling, habitude, and language, held down by a superstition 
 whose tyranny enthralled tlie mind, and watched with a jealous 
 watchfulness which knew no interval of slumber. They had 
 also a large and constantly increasing (Jerman popidation, 
 thrifty, industrious, enteiTirising, b\it needing sorely to be in- 
 structed in religion — to have life infused into their eiVete 
 Liitheraliism, and restraint put Ujiou their tendencies to lager 
 beer. In addition, there were roaming the plains and threading 
 the forests various tribes of Indians, to the number of about 
 100,000, fast decaying out of life, and needing much the con- 
 solations of the true faith to illuminate their western hour. 
 
 Among such a motley population they might exi)ect that 
 there would be found almost every possible variety both of 
 speculative and practical error. They had to mourn over men's 
 indifferentism — that most dangerous and least impressiljle state, 
 in which men had reasoned themselves into cpiiescent unl)elief. 
 They had among them, as he believed, the most compact, well- 
 organized, earnest, sleepless Popery in the world. They had 
 numbers who, in wilful oblivion of former privileges, had lapsed 
 nto the worst of all paganisms — the paganism of forgotten 
 Christianity. In addition they had in the midst of them 
 heathenism proper, manifesting itself now in cruel and now in 
 
 • eccentric developments. There were those yet among them 
 who, in barbarous ceremonies, indicated their belief in the 
 power of the "medicine man" to save, who sacrificed to the 
 Avhite dog, and held frantic bacchanal of dance and feast around 
 the altar. There were those who had a strange weinl lielief 
 
 • concerning former existence in inferior shape, leading him to 
 the conviction that Mr. Darwin's theory of the descent of man 
 
ox CANADA. 
 
 Imd lint evoii the merit of ori^'iiiivlitv — l)ut vrm an miconscious 
 pluf^'iaiisiii from the Indiiiiis nf the raciHc const. 
 
 In ('auiiilii there were hkewise to he found those whom 
 pnj,'ani.sm liad so thoroughly embnited that they might be 
 brought into degrading comjtarison witli the very beasts of tlie 
 tiehl — Iiideous, misshapen creatures in the form of man — abor- 
 tions of inteHectual and moral being; (ind then, as if all this 
 indigenous ]»aganism were not enough, there was bchig rn])idly 
 imported tlie Confucianism and ancestor-worship of the China- 
 man. Stolid, liarmh'ss, taking no heed save of the things of 
 lust and life, with a giant i)assion for gathering gijld, with au 
 equal ]>asHion for gamlding it aAvny, witli no collective worship, 
 ■with all religious sentiment apparently as dead within them as 
 if both intellect and heart were endtalmed. They Avere coming 
 auKjugst the Canadians in thousanti^; these heathen whom Cod 
 •was sending to the (Jospel, because the Church was so slow of 
 heart and purse in sending the Cospel to the heathen. Con- 
 sidering the vastness of territory and the multiplicity of races 
 and cieeds in the Dominion, he thought it would amply ajjpeai 
 to those present that if there Avas missionary gi'ound anywhere 
 it was in Canada, and that if there was room anywhere for the 
 <iperations of an eanie.st Church, Avith the boundless love of 
 Christ in its creed, and with the life of that h)ve in the heart!* 
 of its members, it Avas in the sphere Avhich he rejiresented that 
 (lay. Methodism in Canada, one in feeling, doctrine, and aim 
 Avith their own in England, holding reverently by the same 
 traditions, thrilled by the same i)rimary insjuration of love to 
 Christ, and by the secondary ins])iration of manya pious pioneer 
 legend of its oAvn, had bravely girded itself up to this great 
 Avork of evangelism. 
 
 In endeavouring to leaA'en the land with the pure truth of 
 the Cospel of Christ, ]\Iethodism in Canada had certain initial 
 advantages Avhich Avere greatly helpful to successful labour. He 
 Avould just mention four of them. There Avere tAvo kinds of 
 Avork to be done in Canada, "''be settler must be folloAved to 
 the remotest forest Avhich ec oed to tlie stroke of the axe or 
 through Avhich arose the smoke of the clearing ; and then the 
 requirements of the age demanded that the flock, hoAvever scat- 
 tered, should be housed and tended Avith all the shepherd's care. 
 In these circumstances it Avas no small advantage that the men 
 Avhom ( fod raised up for the ministry in Canada Avere men Avho 
 could do all kinds of Avork, Avho combined in themselves the 
 l)ioneer and the pastoral elements of character. They could 
 both fell the trees and build and furnish the house. 
 
 Another advantage Avas that the stream of emigration, 
 
 # 
 
^ TlIK REV. \Y. M. PUNRirOX 
 
 nltlK)ii;,'li it (li<l not coinp.ns in tlie Wi-stcni Stntcs of the Union 
 in raimls und n,tnractM, yet tl..we.l ste.ulilv, mul nn.nv a warni- 
 hoartod ( (.niislinmn and liardi.eadcd Dalesirian lVoui"tIie Xorth 
 found ready to liand, s.. soon as he knded u).on Canadian H<.il, 
 the same hearty lelh.wship, the same free, -rand rin-in- out of 
 J.ospel tidmp to ^vln•.•h lie liad heen nceustomed tu resj^ond at 
 umie. He did not know whether they wouhl call it an advan- 
 tage or no, but.m fraiddy speaking' Ids own nnndjie could not 
 Jielp callino it u <,Teat and Messed advantaj,'e that Methodism 
 III taiinda walked abroad in the sunshine, that she <'owered he- 
 iieath no ancient shn.low. She had there taken the position 
 Avhich she ou.,'ht always to take amon;.; the Churches— stan.lin.' 
 forth in her comeliness as the peer of all, and in her charitv 
 the triend ot all— to(. kind to he the enemv, too i.roud to he the 
 vass:d ot any, too alHuent in spirit and resources to he the i)oor 
 reUUiou ot any. Moreover it was alwavs an advantage to a 
 messenuer t(. he assured beforehand of the adai)tation to those 
 to whom he sj.oke of the inessaoe Mhieh he was called ui.on to 
 deliver. Xow he believed that lyiethodism was adai.ted, above 
 all other sjuritual agencies, to the wants of those whom himself 
 and all his brethren endeavoured to rescue and to save 'J'hev 
 w.ndd not do him the injustice of sui)posinn tor a moment that 
 Jie was insensible to the oo„d work which otiier Churclies M-ere 
 worthily ])erforminj,r. The tield was (piite ami)le enou<di for all 
 sorts of tillage. Their Presbyterian friends had manv earnest; 
 ministers, a com])act (.'hurch (.rder, well-ordered Church'schemes 
 imd Canada owed much to them for their iuculcatioirof hi-di 
 principles and for their battles for religious freedom; but their 
 spread was largely a matter of physical geogi-aphy. The K])is- 
 copaliaus had wealth and still lingering lu'estige, and manv ear- 
 liest workers for the Saviour; but IJitualism, even there, enfee- 
 bled their spirituality and divided their ranks, A\hilst the 
 exclusiveness of many of them hindered their progress, although 
 like the scolding of Tallyerand's wife, it ])leased them and did 
 nobody else any harm. Their friends of the r.a])tist and Con- 
 gregational Churches were doing good work in tlieir respective 
 .spheres, but their s])heres were partial, and as vet'they showed no 
 signs ot rapid development. So far as thev were faithful to 
 the truth and catholic spirit he desired to say fkxl-speed to all 
 those Churches. 
 
 Yet, after all his travelling, and experience, he must ex- 
 press tlie tirm conviction that Metliodism (and in that -eneric 
 term he included all sorts of :Methodi8ts) had witliin it anadai)- 
 tation to the wants of every kind of jieojile wherever found It 
 suited in the dense forest 'or in the crovrded city; where the 
 
ox CANADA. 
 
 niorclmnt counted his (lulluis, nr whew tlic Tn<liiiii ttiickiMl tlic 
 •■<lcer; in tlu' liiviii^' Imiii of iinliistrv, or in tlm rt'iiioti'st Mi'ttlc- 
 iiieut wluM-e but Intnly the piiiitlu'r )»ih\vKmI, inid wlii'ie the lul- 
 vt'iituro\iH Mctth'i' liiid only just ln'^^uu to fell tluf Irt'cs which 
 ceiitiirii's Imd rooted iu the soil. (), there was, utter nil, soiae- 
 tliiiif,' iniirvellously tuiic^keuin^' iu the iiroclniuiitinw of the 
 iue8sii;,'e of mercy, uvuiliilile to the uttermost — aviiihihle always 
 — uvailal»le now — which goes strai;,dit honu' to the hunuiu 
 heart. As llie enn'graiit carried into that lu-w country not 
 only his ]K!rsonal effects, hut also the old burden <»f sin, and care, 
 and sorrow, thev could not woniler that he should listcfu eauerlv 
 to the <^ratefur tidings of a juvsent salvation. As in that 
 emigrant's heart there still throhhed the juilse of home, they 
 could not wonder that he shnidd sing the new song the more 
 readily because it was set to the old music — the music to 
 wliieli his heart beat time in childhood, the nuisic which was 
 the Inst ])erha)»s u])on the li]»s of his mother as she laid lu-r 
 <lown for her dieundess rest. AVell, with these collateral ad- 
 vantages on the one hand, and on the other hand Mith the draw 
 backs incident to an almost ceaseless western emigration, and to 
 the fluctuation and spirit\ial feebleness which were incident to 
 ■a life of change, how had Methodism i»ros]iercd ( Had she 
 fulfilled her mission? had she in any wise, like the i'ilgvim 
 fathers, won the Avilderness for Clod '. Somebody had said a 
 little while ago, or at least meant it, that statistics were very 
 ■dry things, ami after all they were at best only an a])[)roximate 
 source of information. 
 
 Theliest successes, such as the mouhling of ]niblic senti- 
 ment, the creation of a deep current of true religious feeling, 
 could iu»t be taliulated at all; but some idea of the relative 
 powjr and imi>ortaiice of Methodism iu Canada might iierliaps 
 ■Ite gathered from a comparison of her n(»w with lierself at, a 
 former i)eriod, or even with the English rate •>f increase witliin 
 a similar period of time. Some seventeen vears auo the niis- 
 .sions of Lower Canada were formally transferred to the care of 
 the Canadian Conference. That was the last epoch, so to speak, 
 iti the history of Canadian Methodism. Tn that peri(t(l the 
 niendtershi]) of the Canadian Conference had increased no less 
 than 77 per cent, as com])ared with '.^2 ])er cent, in the Uritish 
 Conference, and this of cour.se did not include th(»se who, like 
 the Irish spoken of by J)r, Scott, had gone to enrich other coun- 
 tries, or those who had got safe to heaven and were beyond the 
 power of mischief or harm. Xor did the figures include a large 
 number M'ho were rfinke<l iis "NVesleyans in public estimation ; 
 who would return themselves as ]\Iethodists to the cansns enu- 
 
8 
 
 THK ItKV. -\V. M. ITX.SIFOX 
 
 merators; who ,f tliey wove n.>t .Ar.tho.li.sts. were unchurched 
 an.l un<;ovenm.tcMl straugens, l.ut wh.. nevertheless did n..t meet 
 m cL.ss, and were therefore not aeeredited-cL.ss nieetin-rs hei.,.' 
 the test ot meniljership there as here. At the heginnin " of the 
 sanie period the nuniher of Canadian nnnisters^ was 2;!o hut 
 that nuniher lia.l heen more than .iouhled, .is thev liad'nou- 
 oOU in actual w..rk besides al.out ]()(> who had rested after the 
 1'"rden of a h.ng and laborious .lay. ( iauoing progress hy cl u eh 
 aecoiamodat.ou, they unght renieiul.er that i'.r a ndlli/.n lar^vr 
 po])ulat^on m London,Methodism was said to have oidv about m 
 placesot wors]ii]> whereas in Canada they had no fewer than UGO 
 vauied at two nnl ions and a half of .loHars, or about foOO.OOo' 
 ho thoroughly had Methodism leavened the poj.ulatiou that one: 
 teiah ..f the pe..]. le m the j.rovinees of Ontario and t,)uebec-or 
 if g.iebecbe excluded as including princii)ally i'rench Cana- 
 
 w^rt^'l %7'^ ''"/'• ''^ Catholics-one-sixth of the ,>ooulation 
 Mas under the teachmg and inHuence of the well-love.UMetho- 
 dism of then- lathers and on the hnvest computation not a week- 
 passed without the de<licatmnof a Methodist church to the hal- 
 lowed purposes of (!os])el testimony. 
 
 With regard to education, the common scho(.l system of 
 .mada was so impartial and comprehensive that n.. denomina- 
 tional schools were needed. It was largely the creathai of o„e 
 o tlieir own ministers the llev. Dr. Eyerson. to whom God has 
 giauted the rare priydege ..f raising his own monument, ...e 
 jicr,'„Mu>^ m his htet.me. Methodism, however, took its proper 
 share in tlie higher education of the I h.minion. The irniversity 
 o \ ictoria College had, besi.ies 103 students in the Preimratory 
 <.rammar School, 80 students in arts, 107 in its imiiated 
 schools of inedicme, and 20 in its faculty of law ; making alto- 
 getlier ..84 stn<lents under special Methodist oversi-ht^ and 
 'b'lvn ^^'^°''^"l''"te.^, ^\-^:''^ earning degrees, good degrees, in 
 hat wder university ot life where the comj.etition Wius of the 
 keenest and where the battle was not always to the stron-v. 
 Ihe institution had been financially cripjded during the past 
 tew years by the withdrawal of the (iovernment grant on wl id 
 It liad mainly depende.l, at least which had been their ]mncii)al 
 source ot revenue. Now, however, tliey were appealing to tho 
 ].e.,j,le for an endowment, and althougli the response was some- 
 what tardy, they lu.ped that the amount needed would be realized 
 ni a year or two s time. There was a considerable .lesire amono 
 tlu3 young men to establish, what he was s..rry they had noT 
 a heolo^.cal claur. or. at any rate, provision l^,r the i'^tematiJ 
 taenlogical instruction of students for the ministry One 
 leature presented by the Canadian young meuhadvey much 
 
ON CANADA. 
 
 9 
 
 impressed liini ; and, iMiless his reiueniln'iuice of tlie youiit; lueu 
 on this side of tlie Mater Imd deceived liiiii, it Wiis a mutter 
 Avl'.ich some of tliem mij^ht not uniirolitalilv ponder. The young 
 men called to tlie miiustry in Canada Mere most anxious to ha 
 truly furnished for tlieir work, and of late years tliere had heen 
 instances — and it was oidy in succession to wliat liad h!i])]»ened 
 in ])revious years — of young meu v.'lio, after the coni])letion of 
 their ]»ro]tatioii, h;'d re(|uested tlie C'oid'erence to allow tlieir 
 ordination to be deferred until they got a three years' cdurse at 
 c(dlege. Had there heen in KuLchind any examples of that sort 
 to point out i If his memory served him rij^ht, the young men 
 here were generally anxious to graduate in another sort of col- 
 lege at that particular time. The young men of Canada, liad, 
 however, heen taught dilferently. They had read and mastered 
 that mystical ])aral)le in Judges ■ where Caleh ])ronnsed his 
 daughter oidy to the man avIio si. A take the city of Kirjath- 
 sejier, which, heing interiireted, meant the City of the Uooks. 
 From this they had fairly induced the very sultstantial corollary 
 that with all their nnnds they must heconie aciiuainted with 
 truth hefore with all their hearts they hucanie idlied to heauty. 
 "While tlie young men of the cxtuntry were thus regarded, those 
 ■who were to he the wives and UKjthers of the i'uture wei-e by 
 no means forgotten. For them there was a ilourisliing Wesleyan 
 College with 2;i7 fair students enrolled. The course of instruc- 
 tion was extensive, solid, and, so far as he hadhadany ojiportun- 
 ity of judging, thorough. In the tdosing exercises Wiiicb. he was 
 piivilcged to attend, the night hefore he left for England, there 
 were essays resid dis]ilaying a ])enetration and lircadth of view 
 along with a cond»ination of a]it and ha})]>y wonls which would 
 have done no discredit to places of much higher pretensions. 
 Since 1S50 sixty-five of these students had graduated, fifty-three 
 of them in the dvgree of ^Mistress of English Literature, and 
 twelve, who had taken a classical course, in the degree of Mis- 
 tress of the liberal Arts. It perhaps sounded strangely in 
 English ears to talk of ladies who had obtained such dijdomas, 
 hut they knew that English education was ])rogTes.sing very 
 rapidly in that matter. Xow that ladies legislated in the En- 
 glisli scliocd boards, lectured on political economy, and jiractised 
 medicine, it was only one step further, he thought, to realize 
 Tennys(»n's idea of a college with "]n'udes for [iroctors, dow- 
 agers for deans, and sweet girl graduates with their goUlen hair." 
 He had ch)sely watched some of the fan* graduates in (piestion, 
 and he was bound to testify that he did not o])serve Ihem to be 
 less feminine or sensitive than others. Tlieir schohirship had 
 not robbed them of the nameless delicacy and healing tender- 
 
10 
 
 THK 1!KV. ^V. M. ri'.VSIION 
 
 ness Avl.id. were tlie charms of Momnnho,.,!. AVliilc their in- 
 
 that lie i,i.,ral discipline had heen earnestly and imiverfullv 
 nnuntanied, that the results in fact ha,l been al,ovo^ 11 p "^ 
 ■cxeept praise to Unn who had l.rounht so many out of dark e'; 
 into the marvellous lioht of the ( lospel. '"'rKncss 
 
 Well, then, the Sunday-schools of Canada— for he wanted 
 to get over the ground ra,.idly-as well as those throughout the 
 A^h,.le American Contmer.t, were a vast power for good and 
 AN ere managed Mith remarkahle comideteness. They had there 
 rc.| i/ed the true idea of Sunday-schools-tJ.e hringing of e'^ 
 n !rtl.. rl <r"''^'>'^'^'"t>;ni under pastoral care first, and theii 
 m de, the Chn.s, an instruction of the Sunday-school. There 
 •a 1 the choicest hnnilies in the Church were ahvays rej. resented 
 
 . '; I'l''-'"^^""'' ^:^' '•'' •^''^"•^'"••^ """^ theif aftenvanls as 
 
 achers m their t.irn, while fr.uu these as from a centre mission 
 
 ■scJuols were undertaken in .juarters where they were very 
 
 •sorely needed. There was no .art of Church woi in [^nadJ 
 
 as n.deed. throughout the whole Continent of America, t^^; 
 
 uZ\ fi 1 ' ^'V' '^' ^'"^'^ "'"^^"'^^ '^"<1 it« l»^'''«st life to 
 
 nlvi . r ^■^""•^,/"r ^^'!-''^^- ^VJ'il^' thus and otherwise endeav- 
 
 n ing to go ".-ith Its direct ministry of the truth into the midst 
 
 ot t le common educational agencies, Methodism in Canada was 
 
 mr fi ui "'"'"^^^'"o- towards the creation of a pure literature 
 .uicl a Jiealthy taste for it. 
 
 '-^^li^ ]5o.)k-room in Toronto was a very flourishing estah- 
 shment, and It was highly satisfactory to' read the report of 
 Its jears d..ings, which he had in his hands, and Mhich by the 
 May, was ].rinted and distributed to every member o*' the Con- 
 lereiice at the time when the book affairs were under consider- 
 ation. iheCUn,fin,i GmnUmi, the ably edited organ of the 
 (-outerence, found Its way weekly to 25,()()U rea.lers ; .nd al- 
 tJiough the original works issued from the liook-room were 
 select rather than numerous, yet he believed that number to be 
 al)out as many as had gone out this year from Citv-road, and it 
 w.s a lac: that the best works of Knglish literature were 
 ■eagerly ].urchased and eagerly read. The theological and 
 ethical Avorks of the best English writers were standards in 
 inany a Christmn library in Canada, to say nothing of the con- 
 tinued aipvciatiou of those religious biogvaphies which so well 
 A-ept the flame of divine love alive in the heart. In many a 
 remote (.anadmn home, where they would hardly think civiliza- 
 tion iia<! gone at all, were wortliy Christians mIiosc emotions 
 Jiad been powerfully stirred up over the persecutions of AVilliam 
 
ox CANADA. 
 
 IL 
 
 Shrewsbury, and who prjiycd ri<,fht Ijcartily that tht'i'o iiii,L;lit 
 'descend on them tlie mantle ot' Thomas Collins. The }j;reiit 
 work for wliich a magnifieent demonstration was t<t be held in 
 that hall the following night was not forg( iten amonnst those 
 from whom he (iame, 
 
 The Conference in Canada committed itself heartily to the 
 temperance reformation. The ministers, by their ]irece]>t and 
 *3xam])le, were continually endeavcairing to drive that acursed 
 foe of intemperance out of the land. There was (»ne ]/art of 
 <C'anadian legislation which did not seem to them to he, incf»n- 
 :sistent with civil liberty ; and it was this. It st(tod iijMdi the 
 Statute-book — although whether it was (tbsolet^^ in ])ractice or 
 no it was not for him to say — that if a man, to use plain Saxon 
 language, was nuide druidc, could be proved t(j have been made 
 <lrunk in* a ])ulilic-h(»use, and on his way homeward fell and 
 broke his leg and mortification ensued from the wound and he 
 died, then the widow could recover damages from the public- 
 liouse landlord avIio made him drunk. Now he did not mind if 
 they carried out that sitrt of permissive legislation if tliey liked. 
 
 ]£e could not say much just now alxmt tlie (piestion of 
 Union. Methodist Union, there couhl be no doubt, was a very 
 desira1)le tiling if it could be accomplished without any sacrifice 
 of principle, and with every sacrifice of luejudice and crotchet. 
 Let there l»ut be the maintenance of princi])les which had 
 always been held to be fundamental, and then he did not know 
 tliat any Church couhl be (|uite guiltless if it did not endeavour 
 to make everything else bend to the realization of that which, 
 because the Saviwur ])rayed for it, must surely ' e ai»ossible thing, 
 — viz., "that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, 
 and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world 
 may believe that thou hast sent me." If tlie jndse of IMetho- 
 dism at home still beat as it used to do, he was sure that the 
 jnissionary aspect of the work in Canada would be regarded 
 Mith special. interest. So vast were the needs and so ample 
 the o]»portunities in Canada itself that these chiimed, and justly 
 claimed, tlie first attention. The settler nnist be followed; 
 Ifethodism dare not be faithless to its original connuission in 
 that matter. Vlierever the settler went the Methodist preacher 
 went, bearing in his hand the open IJible, while from his li])s 
 was uttered the simple prochunation of tlie truth as it was in 
 Jesus. Such was tlie demand, the urgent demand, for aildi- 
 tional labom-ers, that although forty-two y(tung men Nvere ad- 
 mitted on trial as students for the ministry, and although five 
 ministers from other Churches had cast in their lot with them, 
 yet when the stations were gone over there were twenty needy 
 
12 
 
 THE REV. W. jr. PUXSHOJf 
 
 api)lii'atioiis -whicli could not lie 
 
 su])pHe(l. Tliere was great 
 
 room 111 Canada for earnest, godly laLonrers. The Canadians 
 did not want tlie men Avliom the Englisli In-etliren rejected as 
 iiiconi].etent, i'or the l)a,se-level of intelligence there was a 
 liiglier level tlian Avas found here at home— no ([iicstion al)out 
 thiit ; It was about as much higher as tlie loftiness of culture 
 was lower. If, however, there were men to he found anywhere 
 whose love to Christ was true, who had a passionate yearniiu'- 
 to save souls, who had uuliending principle and flexible preju- 
 dices, Avlio were docile enough to submit to a su])erinteiideut 
 and yet prudent enough to be trusted without hini— ^ 
 men wlio cjuild in fact be enter] .rising, sound, loyal, patient, 
 ull-roniid Methodist ]n-eachers, then such men could find a 
 sijhere m Cana<la, with ample room for them to move about 
 Avithcnit jostling their next-door neighl)our; and they could 
 moreover find opportunities for gaining a good degree amon<- 
 their brethren, as well as an abundant entrance by-and-bye 
 into tlie kingdom of lieaven. Tlie missions among tlie German 
 po]>ulatiou and among the French ])opulation had suiiered from 
 the dithculty of iindiiig suitable labourers. Tliey were more 
 Jiopeful, however, j'ust now than they had been for some years 
 past. He would ju.st like to say that es]iecially amon-r the 
 lreiicli]>opulation it Avas impossible to chronicle or tabulate 
 exactly the successes that were attained bv any evan.'-elical 
 agency, because in the provinces of Lower Canada, as soon as 
 any Avere converted a nameless fretting persecution set in— 
 something on which others could not lay their hands, but some- 
 tJmig tliat Avas nevertheless tangil)le enough to the jioor felloAv 
 Avho had to feel it. This resulted ].retty generally in the exile 
 ot tlie so-called heretic from the land and from the liome of his 
 lathei's. 
 
 On the Indian Avork in Canada he need scarcely speak 
 at large, except to say that it needed to be very Avisely man- 
 aged. From the inherent ditliculties of the Avork itself it 
 needed a wisdom and sagacity that could only come, as he Avas 
 going to say, by sfmiething like direct inspiration from on hi-di 
 ihree re])resentative Cliristian Indians had at different tiines 
 told their story in England, Peter Jones died in the faith, and 
 iuid left a fragrant memory. Anotlier, as some of tliem mi^ht 
 remember, did not bear his visit to England so Avell The 
 third, tlie venerable John Sunday, yet lived and Avorked a little, 
 alt.iougli HI " age and feebleness extreme." He had lost none 
 ot Jus love to Ciirist, he had lost none of liis affentionate inter- 
 est ill the Methodism of England. Hearing that he (.Air. Pun- 
 shon) was coming to England, John entrusted him with a letter 
 
ON CANADA. 
 
 13 
 
 to the Conference, wliich perhaps the Ti^esideut would kindly 
 ullow him now to reiwl. 
 
 The riiKSiDKNT: Certainly. 
 
 The llev. Mr. ri'Nsiiox tlien read the letter, whieli extited 
 
 tu tlie lied 
 
 rrvcai interest. The speaker resumed: The missio 
 lliver had had to go throunh a year of trouble and peril. 
 Nearly one-third of the Indians had heen swept oil' by the 
 snudl-pox, and althouf^'h the missioiuny's family had not alto- 
 gether escaped, the missionary had been sustained by iudomi- 
 talile faith, and rejoiced in the fidelity of the native onuverts 
 and in their triumph in danger and death. There were many 
 difRcidties, as they might imagine, in tlie way of the CDUversioii 
 of the Indians. The Indian was once nKinarch of the ])Ljins, 
 and he could not be expected to cherish a very friendly tVeliug 
 towards those who had superseded him. He was fast i'adiug 
 .away, and lieing helped to his decay by the worst white man's 
 habits, he could not be expected to be very friendly towards 
 those by Mhom he had been corrupted and ruined, lle.sides, 
 there were among the Indians many dissensions — some of them 
 hereditary — which were mischievously fostei'ed Ijy tlie advocates 
 of a cunning policy of extermination. lietween the two opjxts- 
 ing parties the missionary coidd scarcely escape blame or in- 
 jury. The Indian preferred the life of Ximrod the hunter to 
 that of Xoah the vine-dresser, and lately the buffalo had seem- 
 ingly almost vanished from the ]irairies, and many of tliem con- 
 nected this threatened famine with the presence of tlie mission- 
 aries in their midst. Thus the missionaries had to l)e wise as 
 serpents, harndess as doves, which reminded him that a coloretl 
 in-eacher said, in commenting upon that passage, that tliey nuist 
 take care to mix the ingredients right — say in the proportion 
 of one pound of the dove to an ounce of the serpent. Tlie mis- 
 sions in British Columbia, which he had recently l)ecn jirivi- 
 leged to visit, were established some sixteen years ago. They 
 were started by the Canadian C<jnference, sustained i>y the 
 moral support and by the financial support — only by a little of 
 the latter, however — of the ('onference at home. The first 
 batch of missionaries was headed Ity the Kev. Dr. Evatis, ex-co- 
 delegate of the Canadian Conference, of whom such resjiectful 
 mention was made in last year's address, and who was A\-orthy 
 of all that they could say in his favour, for as a Western pre- 
 siding elder remarked of the late Dr. Newton, "He is a laippily 
 put up man." He (Mr. Punshon) had been privileged in con- 
 nection with the Indian work — the needs of which specially 
 • impressed him — to ordain a minister for that s]>ecial part of the 
 work, the first Methodist ordination, bul not the last, he hoped. 
 
14 
 
 THi: nvx. \y. m. punshox 
 
 1)V Iniiidrcls, in that part of the Pncific Coast wliicli was uniler 
 tho IJntish tla;,'. Tho man lie ordained Wus a noble specimen 
 ot what (!(m1 could make of a Yorkshireman when He had a 
 w»rk toi him to do, and for its sake was willinjr to sacrihcelove 
 ot hoiiu! and ease and kin(h-ed. That devoted lahoiirer Imd be- 
 come elo»|ueiit in a native tongue, and witliout any native ad- 
 advantage of ])ositi(.n he could gain an ijiHuence over those- 
 iar-o(r]»agans wliidi the most andiitious statesmen might envy. 
 He (Mr. runshon) had again and again gone witli him into the 
 Jiidiaii eiicamjmients and seen how tlieir stolid indifference 
 yielded to his appeals ; how from the dull red eye there shot as 
 he s])oke t(j them a momentary sparkle of light. He had seen 
 that missionary reprove an old chief— a very ])roud, solemn, and 
 dirty one— for neglect of worshi]) and for working on the Lord's 
 day, and so great was the influence of the re])rover that the re- 
 proved, t-hief though he was, and pagan to boot,whimi)ered like 
 a whii)].ed cliild, and s](ent alxmt ten minutes in making an 
 apology. It Mas no small advantage to have a man who liad so 
 many human conditions of success and who had so abundantly 
 received the signal blessing of the Lord. There were many 
 great diiticulties to lie overcome in respect to language. There 
 were 40,(l(»0 Indians, it was suj.posed, scattered tirroughout that 
 country, and they could not be got at. The missionary spoke a 
 language sjiokeu by ab(.ut ;3,r)0() of them, and then the Hudson's. 
 IJay Comi.any had. invented n sort of Lmguage which they 
 called (.'hiii(K)k, l»y which they were enabled to communicate 
 wjtli tlie natives for the purposes of trade, and this gave them 
 access to many more. It was necessary, however, to be very 
 cautious ill the n<^<i of CliiiKx.k, as it wiis a very imperfect and 
 unready veliicle for language of any sort. For'instance a lady 
 sent an Indian servant Ibr two loaves of bread, speaking in Chi- 
 nook. It was a long time before the servant returned, and 
 when he did he was seen toiling up the hill witha wheell)aiTow 
 on which were two sacks of flour! The faulty Chinook had 
 thus certainly conveyed truth, but it had conveyed it in the 
 raw. It was a cunent story Avith reference to a certain Episco- 
 pal dignitary that he once condescended to address the Indians 
 through an interpreter in Chinook. He l)egan his address iu a 
 way which would at once suggest itself to any man with a little 
 sentiment and poetically inclined. He said: " Children of the 
 forest," which was a slightly poetical and rather flattering mode 
 of address, but one could fancy the gi-imaces that came over the 
 <lusky countenances of the Indians to whom he spoke when the 
 interpreter translated ilie words, "Little men among big sticks " 
 being the only available Chinook for the expression. He men- 
 
ox CANADA. 
 
 tioiied tlii.s just in order to let the ])re.sent audience see that it 
 was not easy work with the means at liand to overcome tlie 
 dithculties that were inevitable in missionary endeavours to 
 j,'aiu etl'ectual access to the Indian mind and heart. And yet 
 it was true, for he had seen it, that while they coidd not lecture 
 these men into thrift and industry, and while tlieir endeavours 
 to impress them with the superiority of civilized life would bo 
 met with a •'runt of indifference or witli the putV of smoke 
 which was so fair an excuse for silence, they were not insensi- 
 ble to tlie ])o\ver of the (Jospel <»f (Jliri.-'t, A missionary had 
 only to ]»laut the cross in the midst of them, and under the sha- 
 dow of that blessed cross all that was endn'uted and unworthy 
 woidd die, and all that was of good re]tort and hjvely would be- 
 ;,'in to sprin,n' up and rijjen. On the sole j;round of the civilising 
 iuHuenceof (Jhristian missions he woidd like to set any scejitics 
 down upon Xauaimo, a beautiful settlement on the eastern 
 shores of Vancouver Island, where, if they liked, the;, could 
 see the two systems growinj^' side by side. There were two 
 streets in that Indian villaj^fe not much more than 100 yards 
 from each other ; called resj)ectively the Heathen and the 
 Clnistian street. The first presented, close to the river, a long 
 TOW of low log huts, Avithoiit windows, without chimneys, witli 
 a conunon door, and earthen floors, with boards h»osely nailed 
 here and there, but nowhere forming a complete enclosure, and 
 within these eight or ten families herded together, without de- 
 cency, without C(jnvenience, unkem])t, miclad save with Idan- 
 kets, unwashed, and altogether presenting as degratling a down- 
 fall from the image of God as could be found on this side of 
 hell. In the Christian street, on the other hand, there was 
 cleaidiness and comfort; there was the institution of the family 
 apart — there was thrift, there was a measure of industry, and 
 there was the idea and the look of home. There the two sys- 
 tems Avere side to side, for all the world to look u])tjn. In the 
 lower street were fathers, brethren, and relatives of those in the 
 higher street, and, as the Gospel reached one heart after another, 
 a small emigration Avas constantly going on. Oh, if any of the 
 educatioumongers who lauded their own agencies so highly, ami 
 who sneered at the (Jospel of Christ, had only accomplished 
 half an improvement like that, how the great w(jrshippers of the 
 Pan of human sutticiency would have held high festival, and 
 there would have been garlands and incense, and they would 
 have heard the clang of cymbals and the shout of unlooked-for tri- 
 nmph over the length and breadth of the land ! But it wa-s 
 reserved for Christianity to achieve triumphs like these, showing 
 in the highest and most complete sense that godliness was pr<j- 
 
IC 
 
 TUK ItEV. AV. M. PUXSIIOX 
 
 iitiil.le lint.) all tliiii.i,'^, lurviii',' tlie i)romi.se ol" the life tluit now 
 IS as Avi'll as ot'tliat wliich is to come. 
 
 lie tliouj^rlit tliat eiK.iinh Lad now lieeii said to show the 
 nature and extent of the AV(.rlc that ]\Iethodisni was (h.iiio in 
 Canada, and that, if it was only faithful to its missinn, its future 
 Avould i]isei)arahly he hound n]> with the future of the' Dominion 
 itself. AVhat that future mij-ht he it was not for him to pre- 
 dict. Wisely maiianed, however, hlessed with the nu.ral sui)- 
 ]>ort of this great country, with an enerp:y i)re])are<l to .rras]> 
 .j,Teat op].ortunities, with a patriotism which would forhid all 
 ]an-ely seltisli aims amon«^ her sons, there was an empii'e in the 
 young Dominion's loins. Whether or not that jiromise of her 
 future wouhl ever he realized dei)ended largely ujion hcv own 
 action, l)ut he was hound to say that it hugely dejiended also 
 upon the treatment Avhieh she received friiin home. Ke was 
 not there to talk politics, and that was not the ])lace ior that, if 
 he were so disposed. He would only say, therefore, that if the 
 English tliought it worth while to "retaui Canada, as a cornel v 
 api)anage to the British croAvn, then her loyalty should neither 
 he su.sj)ected nor relmfled. She should not he told so often that 
 Britain had not the .slightest wishto retain her a moment longer 
 than .she was Mi.shful to stay, hecause telling her that onlv su<r- 
 gested thoughts of going Avhich would never otherwise have 
 entered her head, and jn-ovoked the still more in-itating thou.rht 
 that ( Jhl Kngland vranted to get rid of her. 'When a Fein'an ni- 
 vasion had heen put down hy Clod's hlessing upon the ]n-oiinit 
 vnhair of her own volunteers, .she ought not to he snlyected t(» 
 the mortification of hearing the national representatives of 
 Jiritain eager to ex])ress thanks to other i)arties, as if they had 
 done the deed— parties hy who.se connivance or con.sent the 
 cons].irators were alloAved to aim, drill, march, organize and 
 start u])on their miserahle enteiprize, and wlio never interjiosed 
 until the wIk.Ic thing ])roved n/iom> and a failure. Neither 
 ought Canada to he nmde to feel, when Kngland got into ditti- 
 culties, that England Avas anxious or Avilliiig to sacrifice her in- 
 terests, with very little exercise of self-denial, in order to ]n-o- 
 pitiate that ])olitical Ahah, Avho, although his possessions Avere 
 already unwieldly, often cast a very loving and longing look 
 towards the ac(|uisitioii of Xahoth's vineyard. Tins' lie ven- 
 tured to ,say, not as a Canadian, hut as an Engli.shman in Canada, 
 and Avithal cherishing a most sincere and heartv admiration of 
 many things and people in the United ,State.s, also Avitli an in- 
 tense love for that inner America Avhich did not often come to 
 the surface, l»ut Avhich he had heen privileged to .see. He did, 
 hoAvever, Avant truth, and comfort, and petic-e, and prosperity,' 
 and confidence all round 
 
ON CANADA. 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 And now, in conclusion, lie bogged, on liolmlf of the Cana- 
 dian Conference, to ofler on the ])resent yecasion the very 
 liearty and iilial sidiitations of that Conference to tlie peat 
 l.odv now iissendik'd. They joyed in the trinnii>hs of tlieiv 
 British hretliren ; they .synii)athised with their sorrows and 
 trials: and their fervent 'prayer was that tiie (u-d of their 
 fathers mi-h' f;ive to them the increape of the hundred-lold, 
 and in Ihe'w.irld to come everlasting life. To these i-rayers 
 and jrreetin};-, ofi'eied in ihe reiirescntative character, he might 
 be ])ermitted 'to add his own. Ife did not come among them as 
 one that v/as (luile a stranger. His heart was very full whc-n 
 he spoke t(» them. Home of them might innigine, althongh none 
 of them could thoroughly realize, the tnmidtuous rush of feel- 
 ing which yuiged in Ins soul to-night, sternly repressed by the 
 ncH-ds of his ]!osition. This was the third :Manchester Confer- 
 ence that he had lieen privileged to attend; :Manchester Coid'er- 
 ences were eras in his ministerial history. Twenty-two years 
 ago he stood in the giillery of t)hlham street Chapel a ciindidate 
 for ordination, raw, ine.xperienced, girding on an armor which 
 hehadverv .slightly ])roved. Twelve years ago he rose Irom 
 the platform of Ohlham-street Chapel to acknowledge his elec- 
 tion to the legal hundred— an honour never before conferred on 
 one so young. He stood then before them after a year oi deep 
 sorrow, and after a vear of extensive travel and labour to testify 
 to the goodness of God and to offer his gratitude to them who 
 had i)laced sucli a trust in his hands. Twelve years more ha(l 
 passed awav, and now, after a year of more extensive travel and 
 of dee]>er sorrow, he stood liefore them as representative to the ^ 
 Church at home from the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 
 Canada, and President of the Canadian Conference. Was it 
 not natural that he should feel ? He had been asking himselt, 
 as he sat in that va^t and beautiful hall, what harvest he had 
 gmthered from these bygone, years ; and though memory was 
 keen in her accusations of unfaithfulness, he knew that he had 
 garnered somewhat for which he was now very grateful. He 
 had tinner faith than ever in the goodness of Almighty God, 
 l)ecanse of the way in which he had led him in the wilderness. 
 He had a firmer faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 because he had seen its adaptation in every variety of circum- 
 stance and upon every variety of character and colour. He had 
 a firmer faith in the resurrection of eternal life, because in the 
 tnysterioiifi y>rovidence of God he had been linked to each hemi- 
 sphere by the dead. Might he add to all this that he had a 
 firmer faith in the unexhausted mission of Methodism, because 
 he had, through all his wanderings, seen its adaptation to the 
 
18 
 
 TIJK 1U;V. \V. M. [>(N:SIIi,)N i>N {.'ANADA. 
 
 vviinU.^I ill! p,M)|)l,., ,,11(1 kiu'w tlii.t file l.l(.ssin.r „f Um Lord 
 alMKl,. with Its tostimony still. U't not tlie ratlicis or lavthivi, 
 ..!• dear Metlio.list jHsoplo in Ennliin.l ho .lislioiirtcnnl. l.v\ tli.-iii 
 not he disheiirteiu'd hy uny kiii.l of apparent check to their pro- 
 ^'ress. ihe glory h.ul n<.t .leparted fn.m Israel. Let them ..■„ 
 forth as Mr. Cook told them— and a gh.ri..us illustralion it was 
 --witli the red cross upon their arms, with the red cross upon the 
 Ironthit, with the si)iritual amhiilanoe wliich thev were heariii- 
 t(J the rescue of tlu; wounded and wtnuy, and then thev need 
 not and could not fail, the other day, us he was es.savin- for 
 tiie hrst time a voya,<;e on the Pa-jific Ocean, he coidd not" hut 
 be cheered and encouraged l)y a sign which (lod in his .^ood pro- 
 vidence gave him. As their vessel was steaming out of San 
 traiicisco, and through the (Jolden Cute, (}od stretched a .do- 
 nous ranihow from headland to headland, across tiie mile-wide 
 channel, and under that arch of the covenant the vova-'-er'^ 
 passed out over the untried and dangerous sea. Oh wa.s there 
 not sucli a sign for all of them ! They had entered upon ano- 
 ther year — perhai)s one of encouragement or trium})h perluiDs 
 one of trial. They talked about the decrease in their numbers 
 and that was perhaps a partial cloud, hut did tliey not know- 
 that It retpiired a cloud to show the rainbow ^ Could they see 
 the l)rilhant arch in such relief if it were not for the cloud on 
 which It rested ? Let not dear lirethren be dislieartened Let 
 them to their knees and to their ranks. Such was once an in- 
 spiriting watchword, and they might well re])eat it. Let them 
 pray and put forth the effort, and the promised fulness of bles- 
 sing was theirs. Faith in that promise was an important duty 
 . VVithout It vain would be their seemly observances and i)ro- 
 priety of outward conduct, vain their solemn litany and loud hos- 
 dtuuxs : Let them have faith, and their lives would be li<ditiiin" 
 tor if there lives were not lightning, it did not matter that their 
 won s were thunder. Let them have ffiith, and by its lovin<r 
 gentleness it would make them still more abundantly 
 active and useful, and great. Let them have faith, and men 
 should be converted, and the world should fall enfeebled at tiieir 
 teet, and the proud waters should retire abashed before the 
 Lord's Israel, and tlie fire, forgetful of its fury, should be but 
 \ bright slave to light them on their pathway home. Oh if 
 there could but rise the prayer, as the sound of many waters 
 trom all the sacramental host, "Lord increase our faith" he 
 could ask for them no higher gift than that, and as it went up 
 t<j heaven the Father would condescend to give the blessiu'-^ 
 answer would sav. as He stooped towards thein "Great 
 
 say, as 
 is thy faith ; be it unto thee 
 people say, " Amen." 
 
 even as thou wilt," and let ail the