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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reprodult en un seul clichA, II est fllmA A partir de I'angle jupArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'Images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes sulvants lllustrent la mAthode. ly errata Bd to nt ne pelure, ipon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 \. 1.ETTERS •■ t :m »>■■ TROM THE tlEVERBND EGERTON RYERSON Mi m\ P TO ^HE HO]V. AND REVEREND DOCTOR STRACHAN, PUBLISHED ORIGINALLY. IN *rHE UPPER CANADA HERALD. "#-' '1m '^■■ KINGSTON, XT. C. PRINTED AT THE HERALD OFFICE. 18^8. -•■• —.*.;: 'l ^:.ml:M:l ■'. v.. ADVERTISEMENT. .',S,^« it y*'^\ '• r'ViJ . '*-i: ifi'M'f' i^'fflllE Author feels it a duty which he owes to himself and to the cause he advocates, to M. state, that most of the following letters were originally composed for the Newspapers, and not with any expectation of their being published in the form of a Pamphlet. The im- perious oblit^ations which the author wasundertowrite these letters, will be obvious to the reader as he proceeds in the perusal of them. The author ha? -principally studied plainness •'ind brevity — in no instance elegance : and in many instances, has preferred the commop forms of expression, to critical correctness. Of many important and most forcible argu- ments against Estaisiishinents, especially those derived from the Holy Scriptures, h^ has not availed himself. Nor has he referred to so many hiotorical authorities, as might have been adduced, had not his peculiar circumstances and duties rendered it impracticable — ] laving to travel nearly 200 miles, and preach from 20 to 30 sermons every month. With these, remarks the author oubmits the following letters to the impartial examination of the public; and in doing so, feels conscious of having discharged a most important duty to his native country, the Coloni;il Government, and to the religion, of Him, lohose Kingdom is of this VL'orld. Cobourg, 18v8. >^o— ERRATA. Let 'an- Jst.— Iri.stcad of' Sir,"' read Ilcv. Sir. Page 6, fourteenth line from top, for " instmctions," read. Letter 2d.— 6th line from bec;nininn;, for " in attempting this" read in this attempt. Page 9, 2nd line from trrj), for '' challenge" read chalioigcd— 2nd line from bottom, after the word " same" insert the word person;. JiJote L instead of " all (>mitted" read rt?'e omitted. Page 10, fifth lino from beginning, for " separated by the »everal arguments" read Kvpjjorted by the same arguments. 2nd column, tbird line from top, tor " inclined" read inducetl, Sth line, for " instructions" read iwitiiviions. Page 13, 18th line from bottom, for " then" read therefore. Page 14, 8th line from bottom, for '• outset" read onset. 2nd column, 11th line from top, af- ter " there" insert a femicolon. Page 15, 2()th line from bottom, for " neve" read vercr. 12th line, for "arany or navy" read the anny or ma v. 2iid column, ih\i line from bottom, for " empire" read empires. Page 16, 20th line from top, for '•' the history" read her history. 2]st Hue, for " in her" read in its. 2nd column, 24th line from top, for " v/rote" read vnntten. Page 22, 2nd column, 9th line from toji, for " to ecclesiastical" read to the ecclesiastical. Page 2iJ, 2nd column, oth line from bottom, for " indcntined" read idcntifiea. Letter?, J)tliiine from ueginning, for "ought noi" read ought not. Page 27, 16th line from bottom, for " cither denominatioiis" icad other denominations Pa«c 28, 2nd c Inran, 18th line from top, for " Province above" road Province alone. 20th line, for "Christian Knowledge" read the Gospel. 12th line from bottom, for " greater" read greatest. Page 31, 2nd cnhiran, 18th and 19tii lines from top, for " in the times of some of the Asiatic churches," &c. read in ilie times off.o.nR of the Prophets, and tcith some of the Asiatic Chitrches, &c. Page 32, for " Uev. William Unvin" read Kev. William t/nwira— last line first column, for " references" Tcudr (formers. Page 33, 2nd line from bottrim, for " et'rr sought" read once sought. 2d column, Sth line from top, for " celect" read select — 23d line, for " foreign natives" read foreign nations. Page 35, 10 lines. from to]), for " perpetrated" read |)frpf <««;?(/— 19th line, for read v'.ore so. itii that" read that ore— 2lh line, for "worse so" LETTERS, Sic. ^f Vom on]. ly the ned" len" af- acmy ei6, 24th read for vmce ttom, me of dies, ces" line lines, e so"" No. 1. Sir, At a time when parties ran high in the Republic of Greece, a law was enacted by Solon, the famous Athenian Legislator, to inflict capital punishment upon all neutral persons. If there is any justice 'n this law, as inexperienced as I am, and ai feeble as my penis, I should feel myself a proper object of its penalty, were I to remain indilfercnt or silent on the present occasion, not that I cherish any personal enmity against you — not that I indulge a rancorous spirit to- wards the Church of which yon area Mini- ster — not that I wish to exalt one party by puUing down another — not that I desire to produce any unchristian excitement in the Province. No sir, far otherwise, as a father, a friend and a christian INIinister, I entertain towards you and your labours the most cor- dial good-w'U — for your Church as a system of evangelical doctrines and precepts I have the most profound veneration — nay only aim is to produce general harmony and good will in our Province, though it oe necessary, after the example of our Divine Master, to detect and expose what I hum- bly conceive to be gross error in regard to both facts and doctrines, in order to etfect it. It is the pxihlic course you have pursued that I feel myself compelled to find fault with — it is the public statements you have made that I am required to call in question — it is the public principles you have avowed that I think, for the public good, ought to be ex- ploded — it is with your conduct as 2i public man I have to do in these letters. " And as the public conduct of public men, says the Edinburgh Review, is a subject of free in- vestigation in a free state," I shall, influ- enced by the dictates of duty and the re- quest of friends, whose judgment -I respect more than my own, attempt to examine a part of your public conduct — especially your luminous speech before the Hon. the Legis- lative Council on the 7th March; and how- ever plain my remarks may be, 1 hope they will never go beyond the limits of the fol- lowing direction of the Homily on Strife: " When our infamy, or the reproach that is done unto vs, is joined with the peril of many, then it is necessary in answering to be quick and ready. For we read that many holy men of good zeal have sharply both spoken and answered evil men; which sharp words came not of anger, rancour or malice or desire of revenjre, but nf fervent desire to bring them to the true knowledge of God, by an earnest and sharp rebuke.'* Before I enter upon your speech, I beg leave to make one or two observations respecting the unanimous resolutions of the Legisla- tive Council. To me, sir, it appears rather an anomaly in the administration of justice, whether it be in a legislative or a judicary court, to put a man on his defence before he is legally accused, and to acquit him upon an exparte statement of his own, and that while there is reason to believe the Grand Jury is forming an indictment against him. Had the House of A«seinbly/onna% sent up the abundant evidence (given before its Committee before and atthe time you de- livered your speech and obtained your ac- quittal) to the Legislative Council for its information, and to put you on your trial before the hon. body of which you are a member; could that hon. body have entered iiito an impartial examination of vour case, on which they had, without examination already decided unanimously? And this is not all. How happens it that the Legisla- tive Council are unanimously s.itisfied v ith your conduct, and yet everal Members of that hon. body, flatly -ontradict yoarstaie- metits in their evidence befure the Commit- tee of the House of Assembly? In your let- ter and Chart to the Under Secretary of B ^1 I'ii 1^ •t I ' ( f * '1 I '0 \ State, for tlie ColonltH, yrti say that the Methodist teachers »rc ienderinp; a large portion if the popuh'ttion hostile to British instructions civil Jind religious, and that they (the Methodist teachers) have corne alniost universally from the United States where they gather their know ledge S: form their sentiments; this ifecontiadicled hy the testimony of several Members of the hon. the Legislative Council. One of the hon. gentlemen says that during the late war with the United States (when the Metho- dists teafhors were under the conference in the U. S.) in the Niagara District (which was the seat of the unhappy contest) the Methodist te.achcrs encouraged their congre- gations to defend the Country, and yet it is said that you explained your conduct in re- lation to those statements to the unanimous satisfaction of that hon. House. So much for the NenUne Contradicente Resolutions of the Legislative Council. I now come to your speech. You say you have the approbation ofyour own conscience. This I feel no disposition to question, but it only proves that you are sincere, not that you aie right. " What is conscience?" (sa5's the late Bishop of LandalF in his letters to Thomas Paine, who said that in a fever which his friends thought would prove mor- tal, he knew by a conscientious irhl of his principles — and remembered with renewed galisfactinn.that he had written his former Age of Reason.) " What is conscience? Is it as has been thought an internal monitor implanted in us by the Supreme Being, and dictating to us on all occasions, what is light or wrong? Or is it merely our own judgment of the moral rectitude or turpitude of our actions? I take the word (with Mr. Locke) in the latter, as the only intelligible sense. Now who sees not that our judg- ment of virtue and vice, right and wrong, are not always formed from an enlightened and dispassionate use of our reason in the investigation of trut.i? Who sees not that on this account conscience may be confor- mable or repugnant to the laws of nature? may be certain or doubtful? and that it can be no Criterion of moral rectitude, even when it is certain, because the certainty of our opinion is not proof of its being a right apinioD? A man may he certainly persuaded of an error in reasoning, or of an untruth in matters of fact. An Inquisitor, who burnR Jews andherilics; a Robespiere, who mas- sacres innocent and harmless women; a robber, who thinks that all things ought to be in common, and that a state of property is an unjust infringement on natural liberty; these, and a thousand perpetrators of ditter- ent crimes, may all follow the dictates of conscience; and may, at the real or supposed approach of death (much more in " calumny and reproach") remember • with renewed .satisfaction' the worst of their transactions, and e.xperience without dismay *a conscicn tious trial of their principles : But this their conscientious composure can be no proof to others of the rectitude of their principles, and ought to be no pledge to themselves of their innocence in adhering to them.' You say that you have acted in a fair, honorable and consistent manner — that you 'Are proudly conscious you deserve the friend- ship and esteem of all honourable men and the approbation of the v)hole Province. How fiir you have acted in a fair and consistent manner will appear in the course of these letters — how far you deserve the friendship and esteem of all hon. men, will be decided at the proper tribunal — how far your con- duct in the matter under consideration merits the approbation of the whole Pro- vince, has already been manifest in the in- dignation expressed by almost every religi- ous denomination in the Canada?—- by the numerous petitions which have been sent to the Provincial and Imperial Parliaments from every part of the Province— by the \ almost unanimous vote of the House of As- ' sembh' — by a pastoral letter lately publish- ed, signed by eleven Presbyterian Clergy- men — and by the unprecedented excite- ment that now prevails throughout the Can- adas. In the 27th page ofyour speech, you indentify yourself with our d»i7 Government & insinuate that resolutions censuring your conduct prove the author of them to be rfzs- loyal to the Government. If to censure your conduct is to oppose the Oovernment — and if your conduct has " occasioned a degree of excitement, (to use the language of the pastoral letter of the Scots Clergy) in all quarter8,which will surprise no one compe- tent judge of the statements the (your)letter X contains — & roused into indigntint RxiTtion even these who were previously passive in the matter" — if this is the case, I hiiinbly beg you will duly appreciate the following; caution of the learned Archdeacon l*aley; ** Let civil Governors be admonis-hcd, that physical strength resides in the g(jverntd;thut this strerv^th wants only to bejctt and rovsied,^ to fay prostrate the most ancient and conjirm- cd dominion; THAT CIV ih autiioiuty, is FOUNDED IN OP iNioy i that general opinion therefore ought always to he treated toith dcf- erence, and managed with delicacy and cir- cumspection,'* Having made these preliminary obser- vations, I shall in my next, proceed to the examination of your statements. NO. 2. Rev. Sir, The object of your ppeech you state, is to satisfy your numerous friends and the world that you have acted in a fair, honorable and consistent manner. If you have not been successful in attempting this, it is not, of course, for want of disposition, oppoitunity, ability, or information, since you say you now have full information on the subject, and are known not to lack ability to tise this information to the best advantage. — Over the first 19 pages of your speech, con- taining nothing relative to the subject un- der examination, I shall pass, by merely ob- serving-that they contain an interesting de- tail of your various conversations and trans- actions while in England, related in a manner calculated to please and prepossess the reader in favor of the author. Nor would I notice your statements in relation to the Church of England, was not the face of the controversy somewhat changed from its original aspect. Had you confined your observations to the Churches of England f and Scotland, as in your speech you frankly . admit would have been better, I should have left the Kirk to carry on her own war- fare-which I believe she is very successfully doing-& not troubled fQ\x with these letters. But notwithstanding, you say that the men- tion of any other denomination was by no iDjans necessary to your argument, as you have spoken more reproachfully of other denominations, than of the Kirk itself, and virtually niu-hrirtianizcd the Method- isls, both in your ftpcfch, in your o!)si>rva- lions on the Clergy JJeservcs, ;\iid in your fcrinon on the death of (he late J]islu)p of Quebec, I feel myself called uputi to notice your fctatements generally, r.ndali'-^w thut they all proceed iromllie sarne source fuul hwe the Fam« object in view. Whether your eagerly seizing every op|H>rtniiily to* shoot your gall-embrued shaftb at the IVlethouists proteeils from violent prejudice and implacable lialred or frc tn true charily and christian forbearance, the public must determine. But so if is. To me, sir, your ^talemcnts relative to the Church of England, i\o not al'lord very sntis- factory proof of the consis/ency of your con- tlucl. In your observations on the Clergy Reserves, you state that the Uiembers of the Church of England are the most numeroua} ofany religious denomination in the Pro- vince — in your evidence before the Com- mittee of the House of Assembly, you say that yeu never knew the number of mem- bers belonging to the Church of England^ and that you could not tell how numerous they sxiQ. In your letter to the Under Secre- tary of Stale for the Colonics, you say the people are coming forward in all directions, oUering to assist in buiKling Churches, and soliciting with the greatest anxiety the cr- tablishment of a settled Minister ; and that the prospect of obtaining a respectable Cler- geyman unites whole neighbourhoods &c. in your sermon (printed in 1826,) you say — even when Churches are erected, the persons vho give regular attendance are so few as ;:; catly to discourage the minister. This vould naturally lead us to infer, that in places where very few persons attend, as you insinuate and as the pastoral letter of the Scots Clergy affirms — the Clergymen are not respectable. In your letter and Chart you say — the Church of England is rapidly increasing — in your sermon, you say sectaries of all denominations are increas- ing on every side. In your letter you stat© the tendency of the population is towards the Church of England — in your sermon you say — unless the Imperial government renders immediate assistance, the mass of the popu- lation will imbibe opinions, any thing but favorable to the political Sf religious institu- 1! m^ 4 r 8 'tions of England. Tn ycnr sermon it is said --ilie CliiircU o» Eni^luiul is 1 .iinded on a rock wliicli can never be trioved— in your olwtiviitions on the Clergy Reserves, we are iii|\>vmed, that to tuke awaij the Clergy licsvrrcfi, would anniiiilate the Church of EiiKhind. I iniftht very easily mulliply ex- amples of this kind ; but these are sullicient to show how comit^tcnt you have been, and how tnu'.h weij^hl your bt;=teuienls i-ught to have with the Imperial Government and the world. It will now be necesss^ry to en- (piire whether your conduct has been asjiur and hunorable as it has been consistent — whether your statements arc as true as they are karmonions. To prove that your Chart for 182G is cor- rect, yon present ns with a Chart for the year 1828. Would liii6,sir, be received as evidence in any cnurt of juslicel If in a content between the towns of York and Niagara lor the seat of Government, I had atfirciied that there were :^00 buildin^j^s in the former, in 18-26, and the correctness of my statement had been called in question, would it satisfy any court or the world, for xneto produce even the most indubitable evidence, that in 1S58, York contains 400 buildings] Would it not be in.inediately «aid, especially if it lipd long been rumour- ed about that 1 should be called to an ac- count for my olficial report, and if I was a person of great wealth, influence and pow- er, would it not be immediately said, that I had given orders and great encouragement to persons to erect and occupy buildings, in order that when the time of my anticipated trial came, I might deceive t.he court with plausible representations, and induce the judges of my conduct to wink at little inac- curacies and still retain me inofficel This, sir, is a supposition in point, and is exempli- fied in the ca.se before us. You state the number of Churches, congregations, &c. of the Church of England in 1826. As soon as your statements appeared in the Canadas, the correctness of them was doubted and denied from " all directions," and in every way. You no doubt anticipated the time when " in the only way becoming your sta- tion in theColonies, ;tonseyour own words before the Legislative Coinicil) you could vindicate your good name." Your influ- ence and power gave you a very fair oppor- tunity to make every possible preparation for this momentous day. Some of your clerical friends received or took the hint, and began to preach around in various places where they had never preached be- fore, and in some of which places they be- • gin to rest from their labours already — and on the day of trial, behold ! you jirescnt uf society." What you inean by the " peace and welfare ofSociety," mMstol cuitse be gathered from your various ohscrvalions in ditlL-rent parts of your several publication?. Your general design appears to be to infuse into the minds of the " inhabitants of these Provinces a tone and feeling entirely Kn'jXiHh'" — to give the Clergymen of the Church of England the«o/e direcllon ofeducation and to bring the whole population of these Provinces into the com- munion of the Church of England. With res- pect to co-oper-ition in the iirst of these ob- jects, there is not the least doubt but the Roman Catholic, the Presbyterian, and the Clergy of all other religious denominations, as will appear more fully hereafter — have done and will continue to do all in their power to attach the people to the British Government. And I may remark the tone and feeling« of the population in these Pro- vinces are already British, and to intimate the reverse, is a barefaced slander upon their tried loyalty. As it respects co-opera- tion in the two last objects you have rn view, it is very doubtful in my mind, whether the Clergy of the Roman Catholic, the Presbyterian, cr the Clergy of any other religious denomination in these Provinces, will ever co-operate with the Clergy of the Church of England to any great ex- tent. If spared, I shall in my next examine your statements respecting the Methodists. Permit me to subscribe myself. Rev. Sir, Your Humble Servt. E. RYERSON. Coburgh, May 6th, 1828. (1.) The Homilies are said in the 35th article of the Church of England, to con- tain " a wholesome and godly doctrine, and ought to be read in Churches." But this article, together with some others of the Church of England, all omitted in the creed of the Methodist Church. (2.) It is pleasing to observe, that from your observations throughout, you look up- C ' A 4-^ )■ % 10 i on iho rresl)ytcrianrierp;y— «ot an intruders into Jehovah's vineVivrd, but as legallinum- alituted Ministers of'tl.c \i^o^p(i\ ; i\ml i>s the oriliiMtiMtj of iho Methodist Clerpymen is separated by the Sfvcral arf,umcnts (and I may ad and not to the members of the established church. Might not the same remarks be ma(}e respecting the dissenters from the church of England in this country? Although they have been restricted, abused, and' provoked, at different times„and m dif- ferent ways, have they not shown themselves sincerely attached to the government, and its faithful supporters and defenders in every time of danger? Have they not been, both in war (5.) and in peace, as loytd as the [ members of the churrh of England? You cannot, you dare not deny it. The author of the" Portraiture of Method- ism, in vindicating the Wesleyan Method- ists against the charge ofdisloyaUy (for they were once impugned a9 we are now) says — " There has neve been one person belong- ing to the Wesleyan Methodists, executed for high treason, transported, or otherwise punished for sedition; or tried or imprisoned under any such charge. And whenever there has been a fair occasion for displaying it, their attachment to the government has been conspicuous. This was the case in Ireland, during the late rebellion ; in the West India islands, when threatened by the French: to which 1 may add, the untarnish- ed and distinguished reputation those Methodista have maintained, wh& have been in the army and navy. — Did ever a Mingle Methodist desert from army or navy? I believe not. Deserters are almost always churchmen." (6.) The same remarks are true of the Methodists (7.) in this Province — and to prove this I appeal to the public at large — to facts respecting the Methodists for more than 30 years past, to the evidence before the committee of the Provincial Par- liament, to the decision of the Parliament, and last of all to yourself, sir: When it would answer your purpose, and in order to give your sentimentf greater weight, you say (in the language of a dissenting clergy- man in a letter to Lord Liverpool) " as your Lordship kpows something of the religious principles, /oyo/fv, and good conduct of the Methodists, I shall notice them particularly. Their congregations in the Canadas are to the congregations of the Kirk at least thirty to one; and yet, my lord, even Mese, I am led to think, would deem it unjust, were a moiety of the Reserves, taken firom the- church, and. to exclusion of alt others, given to themselves." (8.) That you refer to the Methodists in this Province, is obvious; for the Wesleyan Missionaries,. I believe, are not so numerous as the Ministers of the Kirk, and the congregations of the Method- ists, of whom you here speak so honorably,, are thirty to one to those of the Kirk of Scot- land — and therefore can b& no< other than those Methodists, whom yoet in other places,, and even in the 28th page of the same pam- phlet, wonderful to tell !^--d'ec1are are under- mining the " institutions of the country both civil and religVousr This, I presume, may be considered ster- ling evidence, and raises the truth of my observations to a moral certainty. What> then, becomes of your boasted doctrine, that a religious establishment is necessary to the stability of the erovernment, to attach colo- nies to the parent state, to diffuse a truly loyal feeling? It falls to the ground; and, I hope, to rise no more for ever. So much on this part of our subject. The second object of civil government, is to provide for the peace and happiness of its subjects. And does a religious establish- ment promote these? On this part of the ar- gument, I will merely observe,, that if a re- ligious establishment jpr o m e te -thesey"' On tht» part ^ tbe-ac^umehtr'l^l^««^ ob- serv , that tf ^ wrfigiou s e st abliihrn sail pro- motes the peace and happiness of the sub- jects of a government, why were the eastern and western empire of christian Rome filled with persecution under the successors of Gonstantine? and why are the annals of church history crimsoned with the blood of martyrs, from that time till the days of Lu- ther? Why were commotions and persecu- tions convulsing Germany, at the time of the reformation, if an establishment did not produce them t How was civil war prodn- 16 CBd,which commenced in the reign of Charles IX. and continued near thirty years to deluge all France, and which swept off christians without number, but through the intoler- ance and cruelty, that were reared and ex- cited by a religious estdblishmentt Please to reflect, sir, upon bleeding France, in the reign of Louis XIV. 8f say, does a religious establishment promote the peace and hap- piness of an Empire ? Was it not an establ ish- tnent, which caused a civil war in the low countries, that terminated in the deliver- ance of Holland from the civil and ecclesi- astical tyranny of Spain? Passing oyer in- quisitorial Spain, turn to England, not at the time when the yoke of popery was first thrown off by Henry VHI, nor when the church of England was finally established, in the reign of Elizabeth, but at those later periods of the history, when the established church is said to have existed in her pre- sent and apostolic purity. If the establish- ed religion so extensively promotes the peace and happiness of the subjects of great Britain, why were more than five hundred ministers rejected and degraded ; some burnt, and many thousand banished by per- secution to Ameirica, in the reign of James I, the successor of Elizabeth? Why did different churches mutually harrass and butcher each other, in the reign of Charles I.? Why, m the reign of Charles II. were two thousand pious and learned clergymen turned out of their churches, more than eight thousand persons confined, reduced to want, and some to the grave, by the conven- ticle act; and the meek and peaceable Qua- kers persecuted and imprisoned in great numbers? Why are fearful alarms disturb- ing the minds cf the people of great Britain, every few years lest their liberties sheuld be wrested from them? Why are petitions pouring into the House of Commons from every part of the Kingdom, and that year after year, for the repeal of laws that would disgrace the Koran? Why is Ireland re- duced to a desolation, and her children, like the Israelites in Babylon, almost weeping tears of blood, under the accumulated cala- mities of their indescribable privations? ;Why! not that the present reigning family are illiberal — no, they have shown them- selves frieads of religi^ious freedom ; but, sir, a bench of bishops have always been in the House of Lords and they and their adherents have exerted their influence in the House of Commons. These dignitaries of the established church, with a few noble ex- ceptions, have always been enemies of re- ligious freedom. This unfolds the mystery; and he that runs, may read. Why is discord disturbing the tranquility of these Provinces.' Because the cloven foot of an ecclesiastical establishment be- gins to show itself here, and the iron claws of the beast are about grappling the civil and religious interests and liberties of the people; and, after looking to England, as you bid us, and seeing the wide — wasting sorrow inflicted by ecclesiastical usurpation, and anticipating a similar rod prepared to rule over these Provinces, we see more than half a million cf people exposed to the most imminent danger, and feel it our duty to give the alarm, before ourselves and our posterity are for ever bound in chains, which our forefathers have wrote and suffered and died to break. "Of all scourges, with which mankind is curs'd. Ecclesiastic tyranny is the worst." " To my mind," says a member of the British Parliament, "no two thingsaremore distinct or more dissimilar, than re/ig-ion and government; yet we have been taught to blend them together, to clothe the govern- ment with the sacred garb of religion, and to address religion with attributes, which are not hers, and to which she would lay no claim." I think, sir, we are now brought to the conclusion, that every judicious friend of the government ought to be " labouring to separate religion from the state," knowing that an ecclesiastical establishment weakens the stability of the government, on one hand, and occasions discontent and misery among its subjects, on the other — and, there- fore, we may say, with the Rev. Charles Wesley, " Whatever calPd by man, 'tis purely evil, Tis Bahel, Antichrist, and Pope, and devil." 17 y id In my next I shall talce up tlie second part of ihe argument, namely, to Nhow how far an ecclesiastical estabUshinent tends to advance the interests of religion. 1 am, Rev. Sir, Your very Humble Serv't. E. RYEHSON. Cobourg, 11th May, 1828. (1.) Works Vol. III. p. 445,6. (2.) The following are the iscntiments of the learned Archdeacon Pale)r respecting the duty of submission to the civil govern- ment: — f So long a3 the interest of the whole society requires it, that is, so long as the es- tablished guvernment cannot be reiiisted or changed without public inconveniency, it is the will of God Twhicb will universally de- termines our duty) that the established go- vernment be obeyed, and no longer." (And) it may be as much a duty, (continues the Dr.) at one time, to resist government, as it is, at another to obey it; to wit, whenever more advantage will, in our opinion, accrue to the community, from resistance, than mischief." Works Vol . III. p. 345, 346. (3.) This election, is now celebrated by the very clergy, whose predecessors in the fiecond office, did allin their power to pre- vent. (4.) Mr. Hume, who was no friend to re- ligion, much less to protestnnt dissenters, in speaking of the despotic authority and con- duct of Elizabeth, observes that " so abso- lute was the authority of the crown, that the precious spark of liberty had been kindled, and was preserved, by the puritans aiive, and it was to t'iis sect, whose principles appear so frivolous,, and habits so ridiculous, that the English owe the whole freedom of their con- stitution." Hist, of England Vol. 5, p. 189. Oct. Edit. 1763. (5.) According to the report of the socie- ty (for the year 1cj21) by which the clergy of the church of England in Canada had been principally supported, it appears that .'there were but^ye clergymen of the church 'Of England in this Province during the late ■war. Yet the people generally were loyal and bold in defence of the country; and the London Morning Chronicle, dated 14th March, 1828, says—" In the late war with the United States, we were chiefly indebted for the defence of Canada to the colonish themselves." Now th..t only a mere iota of the population of this Province were at that time members of the church of England, is obvious; for the same report states, that I even in 1821, the greatest number of tommuni' cants at any one was 367. What must have ' been their number in 1811? Hence it is evident, sir, that your army of {wo thousand clergymen is by no means necessary to " at- tach the colony to the parent state." (6.) P. 320, 321. (7.) Some of the Methodist teachers were in the hottest battles in the late war, which is more than can be said of the clergy of the church of England, while others, as the hnn. Wm. Dickson said, encouraged their con- gregHtions to repel the enemy. {8. J Observations on the clexgy reserves, p. 30. No. 6. Rev. Sir, I now come to consider a religious Establishment as an engine of religion, as a means of extending its influence and promo- ting its purity among mankind. Intending the utmost brevity, f shall decline availing myself of the advantage to my argument of noticing our natural aversion to miat comes to us clothed with com,pulsory power ; the physical unsuitabhness of ciAiU authority in spiritual matters; the unjustifiable power usurped by the civil Magistrate of the Brit- ish realm, in the doctrines and duties of reli- gion; the incoBsistencv, in many respects, between the constitution of the Church of England (owing to its connection with the State) and that of the apostolic Church. I shall desist from showing, what many wri- ters of your own church have acknowledged, that the church of England is a mere creature of the State^^nd that even its Constitution is not vested in the hands of the Bishops, but in the King& Parliament, that even the 39 arti- cles are inserted in Dr. Burn's*^ Ecclesiastical Law" " not as a matter of doctrine^ but as a matter of law" (preface p. 26, 27,) that the terms of conformity to the church are un- christian and cruel, that " they are suited to a set of men, (as the hnmortal Locke says,) who are taught to obey rather than under- stand" — that *' the requiring of subscription £ i' IS Af to the no arllcles (to use the words of the eminent Bishop Burnet) is a great imposition'* —in short, that the very pomp and splendour of the established church of England are fatal to the spirituality of Christ's simple and un- assuming religion. Passing over all these, and several other topics of argument, I shall confine myself to one, namely, the effects which the Ecclesiastical Establismcnt has al- ready produced upon its clergy, its members, and the nation, into whose government it has been incorporated. Facts, you know sir, are stubborn things; and if the arguments you adduce, viz. the Establishment of Great Brit- ain, and that to which the Bishop of Quebec has appealed, in his late Circular Letter, viz. the establishment of religion under Constan- tino, afford evidence of the enervating and corrupting tendenccy of Establishments, your proofs become witnesses against yowrs^/f; your idolized fabric falls to the ground, and my position becomes immoveably established. In making this short appeal, to the testi- mony of history, be assured, sir, that I am not influenced by any, the least unfriendly feeling towards the ministers or members of the church of England; nor would I wish to insinuate, that their motives and dispositions have been naturally worse than those of the rest of mankind. If their history present us with an example of degeneracy and corrup- tion, I attribute it to the circumstances in which they were placed; and, if the minis- ters and members of any other religious de- nomination had been placed in the same cir- cumstances as those of your established church, their history, no doubt, would have been stained with blood, and tarnished by corruption, & their example might have been held up as a beacon to future generations, to bid them beware of ecclesiastical establish- ments. I do not make even the Methodists an exception; and my sincere prayer is that that they may never have it in their power to lord it over the conscience of a fellow creature, with the rod of civil authority. We may, and we certainly do, like Hazacl in the Bible, shudder at the thoughts of such wick- edness noto ; but we know not what we should do, were the temptation thrown in our way. We, therefore, pray that we may not be led into temptation, especially such as has alrea- dy proved the destruction of thousands, nay, of millions of immortal beings. That there have been ministers and mem- bers of the churcli of England, at every pe- riod of her existence, whose knowledge tal- ents and lives have illumined the literary, moral, and religious world, I gladly admit; and these, like Daniel and his friends in Ba- bylon, are the very witnesses, who have borne testimony to the lethargy and vices which prevailed in their age and nation. It is a well known fact, that the union of church an* state in England, called many of the Bishops and Clergy from their spiritual du- ties, lessened their usefulness, and had a ten- dency corrupt their lives. " Is it not a shame above all shames, (says Mr. Tindal, an early reformer) and a monstrous thing, that no man should be found able to govern a worldly Kingdom, save Bishops and PreZafes,that are taken out of the world, and appointed to preach the Kingdom ofGodl To preach God's word is too much for half a. man, and to min- ister a temporal kingdom is too much for half a man also. Either other requireth a lohole man. One, therefore cannot well do both. — And ever since lording and loitering hath come up (said the apostolic Bishop Latimer) preaching hath come down, contrary to the Apostles, times. For they preached and lord- ed not; and now they lord and preach not. — Ever since the prelates have been made lords and nobles, the plough standeth; there is no work done; the people starve. The prelates are otherwise occupied (than in preaching;^ some in King's matters; some are ambassadors, some, of the privy council; some to furnish the court; some are lords in parliament; some are presidents and comp^ trollersof the mints. Well, well! Is this their duty? Is this their office? Is this their calling? Should we have the ministers of church comptrollers of the mints? Is this a meet office for a priest that hath the care of souls? Is this his charge? I would here ask one question. I would fain know who comp- trolleth the devil at home in his parish, while he comptroUeth the mint"? " Otir Bishops have so much wit, (said the pious Bishop Hooper) they can rule and serve, as they say in both states; in the church, and also in the civil policy; when one of them is more than any man is able to satisfy, let him do always his best diligence. They know that the;m- mitive church hnd no f^uch bishops as be now a days.'* Now that the example of the pre- \ comp-f Is this their p.rs of this a are of cask shop» iishop Bj/say (n the than Vioays \e pri- nov) pre- la lates and the union of church and state had a tendency, and actually did spread the conta- gion of religious corruption through the whole body of the c/«rgT/, will appear very ev- ident from the following observations of the well known Bishop Burnett: "I have la- mcntedy during my whole life, that I saw so little true zeal among our clergy. I saw much among the clergy of the church of Rome, though it is both ill directed and ill conduct- ed. I saw much zeal likewise throughout \\i& foreign churches. The Dissenters have a great deal of zeal among them ; but the main body of our clergy has always appeared dead and lifeless to me; and instead of anima- ting one another, they lay one another to sleep. unless a better spirit possesses the clergy, arguments, and what is more, laws and au- thority will not preserve the church." (1) I may here observe that there has in general been no reformation, except for the worse, in the clergy of the church ef England, troin the days of the evangelical Burnet to the present time. To prove this, a host of evi- dence might be produced; but I will content myself with saying, in your own v^'ords (ser. p. 14) such the church of England has remain- ed for many centuries." This remark of yours is as applicable to the laity, as to the clergy and constitution of the church of England ; and therefore, one single witness from his ability, impartiality, and high standing will sufiice to establish the second part of my argument, namely, to shew the unhappy effects of cr.tablisments upon the members of the establishment and the nation at large. " I would not" (says the eminent- learned and pious Bishop Newton) " I would not presage ill to my country; but, when we consider the many henious and presumptuous sins of this nation, the licenliousness and vio- lation of all order and discipline, the factions and divisions, the venality and coruption, the avarice and profusion of all ranks and degrees among us, the total want of public spirit, and ardent passion for private ends and interests, the luxury, gaming, and disso- luteness of high life, and the laziness and d unkenness and debauchary ot low life, and above all, that barefaced ridicule of all virtue and decency, and that scandalous neglect, and I wish I could not say contempt, of pub- lic worship and religion; when we consider these things, these signs of the limes, the stoutest and most saiiguii>e of uts all muLt tremble at the natural and pr )l)able conse- quences." (2) Sui h, sir, is the eli'ect of the boasted esldblishm?nt of Englraid, to which you bid us look. Sliould it be saiil that it is the abuse ol the establislnneuL t'lvt has occa- sioned this general protiigaty among clergy and laity, and that it is for the want of a more extensive iniluence of the establish- ment, that a general reformatiou is not efiect- ed, 1 answer, that your own observations, in your sermon, refute you; ih.it the best Eng- lish historians estimate four fifilis, or the bo- dy of the nation, to be memhera of theciteft- lisment; that the above authorities assure us that the dissenters who are not under the influence of the establishment, are generally holy and zealous in religion; and lastly, that the most famous and successful ministers, missionaries and missions, with a few emi^ nent exceptions, for centuries past, have been dissenters, and principally supported by dis- senting interest. Is it not a matter of gratitude and praise, that he who raised a few philosophers in Greece, to witness and lament the universal prevalence of ignorance and vice amongst the heathen nations, who preserved an Enoch and iNoah, to expose and condemn the gene- ral wickedness and infidelity of tlie Antide- luvians, — who taught and strengthened prophets to lift their voices against, and re- cord the idolatrous apostacy of the .Tewisli nation, — who commissiond and emboldened apostles and evargelists to describe and pro- claim the judgements of heaven against the immorality and idolatry tolerated and de- fended by the establishments if the age; that In, the holy God/'has kept a few. perhaps a few score of witnesses amorgst the 18,000 clergymen of England, who have not bowed tlie knee to Baal ; but have borne testimony to the truth, that England's establishment has, both in a civil and religious point of view, been a source of weakness to the go- vernment, and of discord and corruption a- mongst its clerical and lay subjects. There- fore, sir, every friend of religion or govern- ment ought to be labouring," as you say the Methodists are, " to separate religion from the state." Reader, is not this thy opinion? show thy faith by thy works — I have ona ^. no >Ymfe fact to appeal to, under this head of my argument, niishu>cnts, his lordship's argument doubly confutes itself; and what patriot or christian will not arouse and oppose, with all his energy, the introduction of such a heterogeneous anion in this Province? A- mongst the numerous historiaiis, who all concur in the same thing, 1 will, for the sake cf brevity, only introduce the indispu- table teitiiriony of the discerning and judici- ous bishop Newton, &the impartial &. learned Dr. ?• ioshiein. The fjvmer aays " though the esfallishment of chrisiunity by Constantine, added much to the Icmvornl prosperity, yet it contributed little to the spiritual graces and virUies of christians. It enlarged their revenues, vMd encreased their endovrnicrdr,; but it pr jvod ihQ fatal means of corrupting the (iGctrins and relaxing the discipline of the church. It was attended with this pecu- liar diiiadvantagp, that many clave to them with flatteries; many became christians for the sake of the loaves and fishes, and pre- tended to be of the rolifiion, only because it was the religion of the Emperor. Eusebius, who was a coiemporary writer, reckons that one of the reigning vices of the times was ' the dissimulation and hypocrisy of men frau- dulently entering into the chinch, and bor- rovvhig the name of chrirti^ns, without the reality. — The spirit of persecution presently revived; and no sooner were christians de- livered from the fury of heathen adversaries, than they began to quarrel among them- ■^ selves, and to persecute one another. Tlie Connibstantiali^-ts, even in the time of Con- stantine, led the way, by excommunicating and banieliivf^the Ariam. The latt^^r, under the ftivour of Constantins and Valens more thun reiorted the injury, and were guilty of many horrille ovitrar;c3 cruelties tovvards tho former. Such, more cr less, hath been the condition of the church ever since', and, generally speaking, those have fallen a sacri- hce to others, some of the best and xoiscst men, to some of theworst and most ignorant." (3.) Dr. Mosheim, speaking of the same period, says, "The number of immoral And unworthy Christians began so to increase, that the ex- amples of real piety and virtue became ex- tremely rare. When the terrors of persecu- tion were totally dispelled; when the church, secured from the efforts of its enemies, en- joyed the sweets of prosperity and peace; wlien the most of the Bishops exhibited to tl'eir ilocks ihe contagious examples of arro- gance, luxury, effeminacy, animosity dind strife, vv'uh other vices too numeraus to mention; when the inferior rulers and doctors of the church fell into slothful and opprobrious neg- ligence of the duties of their respective sta- tions, and employed in vain wrangling and disputes, that zeal and attontion that were due to the culture of piety, and to the in- struction of their people, and when to com- plete the enormity of this horrid detail, mid- titudcs were drawn into the profession of Christianity, not by the power of conviction and argument, but by the prospect of gain and the^crtr of punishment; then it was in- deed, no wonder, that the church was con- taminated with shoals of profligate Christians, and that the viituousfew, were in a manner, oppressed and overwhelmed with tlie superior numbers of the wicked and licentious. It is true, that the same rigorous penitence, which had taken place before Constantine the Great, coniinued now in full force againsnst flagrant cransgresors; but, when the reign of corruption becomes universal, the vigour of the laws yields to its sway, and a wec^ execu- tion defeats the purposes of the most salutary discipline. Such was now unhappily the case; the age was sinking daily from one perltd of corruption to another) the great and t\iQ powerful s/n7ic(Z with mjowniYj/ ; and the obscure and the indigent felt alone the severi- ty of thelaws." (4.") Such is the chief corner stone in his Lord- ship's Ecclesift'-tical building, and who does not see. that it is built upon the sand, which the current of truth speedily v/ashes away, and sweeps into deserved ruin. Would not every friend of his country and of religion, ■ X, 21 of of :u- ry in- ch have been justified, nay would it not have been liis rfiiiy, to raise his voice, however feeble, it might have been, against those an- tichristian invasions on the apostolic purity and simplicity of Christ's holy religion, in the days of Constantine and his succcssers? Equally bound is every patriotic christian, to oppose similar encroachments and corrup- tions, at the present time, and in this Pro- vince. May God give every christian and well wislicr to his country wisdom, and firmness and zeal to do so! Having briefly shown the evil tendency of Ecclesiastical establisliments, in regard both to the civil and religious interests of the government and its subjects, I shall, in my next, endeavour to show that the church of England is not exclusively established by law in Canada; and, afterwards, that, accor- ding to your own principle, she ought not to be established in this country. I shall then be prepared to make some observations on your contemplated University, and show its tendency, according to the principles of the present Charter. I have the honor to be. Rev. Sir, Your Humble Servt. E. RYERSON. Cobourg, 14th May, 1828. (1) Own Times, Vol. IV. p. 440. (2.) Dissertation on Prophecies, Vol. 2. p. 202. (3) ib. p. 165,166. (4.) Ecclesiastical Hist. Vol. 1, p. 294, 295. No. C. Rev. Sir, I now address myself to the task of proving that the Church of England is not the esta- blished church of Canada. — It is hardly pos- sible for any individual not to notice the utter inconsistency of such a measure, as exclusively establishiug your church at the time when what you call our " Constituti- onal act" became a hnv, with the discerning policy of the great Pitt, to whom we are' indebted for that act, Reeing that both states- men and divines agree, that no particular form of religion should be established in any country uukss it includei at least a -•-?■'■ •=a!^*'» * • ■ ^»«- --n majority of the population. No candid ju- dicious person can therefore suppose for a moment, thui so great a statesman and poli- tician as the illustrious son of the great Earl of Chatham would think of estiib- lishing one form of religion in Canada, to the exclusion of all others, which, even according to your own statements, was scarcely in existence. This supposition, strong and almost conclusive in itself, i3 founded upon facts and arguments. I there- fore proceed to introduce those, by which my opinion is supported. And here, sir, it is proper for me to observe, by way of ex- planation,that there are two senses in which the terms church establishment are used. Im one, it signifies merely the legal recogni- tion and protection of a church in the free exercise and enjoyment of its religions faith and worship, and the means necessary to that end. In the other and more usual sense, it signifies an incorporation of a church with the state, and the establish- ment of it as the state religion of the King- dom or Province, in which it is so establish- ed. In the latter signification, the Roman Catholic church, for example, is the esta- blished religion of Rome; in the former, it is an established religion in Lower Canada and this Province: for, in the Statutes 14th Geo. 3rd, constituting the Province of Que- bec, and the 31st Geo. 3rd, constituting the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, hi» Majesty's subjects professing the religion of the church of Rome in these Provinces, ar© secured in the exercise and enjoyment of their religion, and their clergy, in their ac- customed dues and rights, with respect to the professors of that religion. So, also, the Protestant Episcopal church is the established state religion of England and Ireland; and, ia these Provinces, it is, like the Roman Catholic church an esta- blished religion, in respect to those who profess it, being recognized and secured ia the possession and enjoyment of certain rights, specified in the same Statute, 31st Geo. 3rd. - To use your own word, " The Roman Catholic religion is fully esfabl\«ihftd, in as far as respects persons "f that pannasion, not in Lower Canada only; but also in Upuer Canada:— aud sa complete is this F 5 .*' ; t - i. i 22 egtablishment of the Romish church, that it cannot be touched dircotly oi indirectly by the Coloni il Legislatures." In the 31st Geo. 3rd,c. 31, provision is made for the •upport of a Protestiint clergy; but this provision isliable, under certain restrictions and limitations, pointed out in section, 42, to be altered by the Provincial Legislatures. From this il appears that the state of the two churches is very different. The Pro- vincial Legislatures have nothing to do, either directly or indirectly, with the Ro- mish church; but the same Legislatures nay, vary, or repeal, or uiodify the 31st Geo. 3rdr c. 31, as far as respects the church of England." (Obs. on the Reserves, p. 32,33) In this sense, I admit that your church is established in this Province, in reg-ard to those who profess it, but not as a Provin- cial church, nor in respect to other denomi- nations of christians. In the same sense, although not with all the same rights and endowments, the church of Scotland, and the Lutheran and Calvin- ist churches, in this Province,are established, leing recognized and secured in certain lights, in and by the marriage act; as are, also, the Methodists, Congregationlists, In- dependents, Baptists, 8fc. in and by the act for the relief of religious societies. The advantages legally secured to these respec- tive churches differ; but the religion of each of them is recognized and established by law. Even in England, in the case of Kemp vs. JVickes, tried in the Arches Court of Canterbury, Dec. II th, 1809, it was decided by Sir John NicoU, the learned Judge of that Court, that dissenting Ministers, of all denominations of dissenters, regularly or- dained according to the forms of their res- pective churches, are recognized, allowed, and established by the act of Toleration, although dissenters there have, until this year, been subject to civil disabilities and disqualifications by the Corporation and Test acts. ^ In this sense, but without any such disa- bilities, and with more liberal provisions, endowments and privileges, the church of England is admitted to be an established religion in this Province; but I cannot agree witb you« a&dl deny that it is establisbed by any law as the state religion of the Pro- vince, or in regard to any other religious denominations in the Province ihan its own professors. The ancient statute, 1st Eliz. c. 1st, to which you refer, repealed the Statute of Philip and Mary, which had adopted the Roman Catliolic religion, and subjected England to Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Pope. It restored the Protestant religion, and the authority of the Queen, instead of the Pope, as the supreme head of the church, and excluded all foreign Ecclesiastical power or jurisdiction over England, Ire- land, or any of her Majesty's dominions. — Th:it was the substance of the Statu'e. It had no eflfect, in theory or practice, lo es- tablish the church of England in the sub- sequent, chartered colonies and Provinces of Great Britain, as the religion of those colonies and Provinces. Such a construc- tion of the Statute, I believe, was never ad- mitted or claimed in the British colonies, which afterwards became »hc United States of America, during more than a century and a half of their continuance under the Brit- ish government. In none of those colonies, if I rjghtly understand their Ecclesiastical history, was the church of England ever considered to be i/te established Provincial religion, or to have any further or other establishment or rights, than what was con- tained in the Royal Charter, or derived from the Legislative acts of the colony. Whatever legal establishment, therefore, the church of England has in this Province must be found in the 31st Geo. 3rd, granting our Constitution, or in our Provincial Statutes. The " Constitutional act" esta- blishes a Provincial Legislature, with au- thority " to make laws for the pe^ce, wel- fare and good government of the Province, such laws not being repugnant to this act." That is the only limitation in the grant of Legislative power. After such a Constitu- tion, established, not by a charter from the Crown, but by a solemn act of the Imperial Parliament, the King cannot, in the most extensive exercise of his prerogative. Legis- late alone for the Province^ as a conquered country, especially in a matter of such vital importance, as the establishment of a Pro- vincial religion. The derivation of such an establishment 88 from tho erection of Upper anil Lower Canada into an Episcop,«l Diocese, by the name of the Diocese of Quebec, the annex- ation of this Diocese to the JNletrnpolitan Province of Canterbury, as an inftgral por- tion of it, and the subjection (if tlie bishop of Quebec to the Archbushop of t'anterbury, in the same manner a» the bishops within that Province are subject to him, and there- by brinfjing us within the realm of Eng- land, and consequently under tlic Knj;lish Ecclesiastical laws, is too far-fetched and roundabout a fiction to bear the test of ex- amination, evenif his Majesty had constitu- tional power, — which he has not without the concurrence of the Imperial Pfirliament, to create such an estubii^hment. The mmiinal annexation of these Provinces, by Royal authority, to the archi-Episcop il Province of Canterbury can no more bring us within the operation cf the laws of England res- pecting the church establishment, and un- der the jurisdiction of the Engl"8h Ecclesi- astical Courts, tlian a Royal proclamation or an order in Council annexing this Pro- vince to the county of Middlesex in Eng- land, could legally subject us to the juris- diction of the Courts of Westminster Hall. Your resorting to such a fictitious derivation of your assumed cstablisment shews that it Las no solid foundation. The lord bishop of Quebec and you are equally unsuccessful in your attempt to stretch the King's Coronation oath to the extent of binding him to establish and maintain inviolate the church of England in this Provincc,upon the s^me untenable 4* fictitiousjground thatCanada, being constitu- ted an appendage of the Provmce of Can- terbury, is thereby brought within ihGrealm of England, to which the Coronation oath applies. " Whether the terra realm (says his Lordship) comprehends the whole Em- pire, or not, the wording of the clause sure- ly applies to all which is a regular appen- dage of the Province of Canterbury." His late Majesty, George the Third, had scruples of conscience on the subject of as- senting to an act for the emancipation of the Catholics of Ireland, under an impres- sion, which Mr. Pitt could not remove, that it would effect the established church there, in a manner inconsistant with hia Corona- tion oath, Ireland being within the protec- tioi\ nf that oath, as prescribed by the act of Union. But his Majesty had no such con- scientious objections ;>gainst allowing the Catholics of Canada all the rights and pri- vileges oMiis otherCanadian subjects, which he accoriliugly didin the Quebec act, pas- sod in the Mth year of his reicn, and if the Constitutional act, passed in his thirty-first year. lie did not reg.^rd Canada as stand- ing on the same ground with Ireland, in relation to the establifhed religion, guarded by his Coronation oath; that is, he did not consider the church of England to be the est'iblishcd religion of Canada. His Majes- ty being a disinterested and impartial judge, his opinion is at least as high an authority, on this point, as the rnterested opinion of the Bisliop of Quebec or yourself. His lordship, in his letter, endeavours to prove that there is a st:ite religion establish- ed in this Province, from the alleged neces- sity of such an establishment. He says " that in christian countries the state ought to be christian, and, being christian, must have a form of religion of its own; that with whatever indulgence for those who decline compliance with this form, or what- ever extension, in some cases, of support to their institutions, it is some one form which the government must recognise and identify with?f,sc//.» In this position, that the government of a christian state must have some one form of religion established by law, and identified" with itself, his lordship assumes the very point in dispute, instead of proving it. His assumption — for such it is at best — is not only unsupported by evidence, but suscep- tible of disproof, and is, indeed, actually disproved by notorious fact. The experi- ment has been fairly tried, in the face of the christian world, for tho full term of half a century last past. The United States of A- merica are a christian nation; (I.) but they have no national or state establishment of religion. All denominations of christians there are equally protected by the law, no one being indentified with the government, or having any legal preeminence. Their government, unconnected with any religi- ous establishment, has been in operation Bkote than fifty years^ and that with increase 84 1: ■ ^ m ing success. Both religion and the Govern- ment prosper. Neither of thtin iullers for want of an established connexicn of church and state. His lordship may learn from hiii brother bishop of New-York, who has Visited the British Islands, that the Protes- tant Episcopal Church in the State of New- york, for d\ the purposes of religion, is as prosperous and flourishing as it is in Eng- land, and much more so than it is in Ire- land) under a national establishment. The American Presbyteries, or Synods, or gene- ral assembly can inform him, that the Pres- byterian religion is as pure and prosperous in the LFnited States, as it is in Scotland, under the legal establishment of the Kirk. This national experiment, tried su xessfuUy in a christian nation for a sufficient period of time to test its practical elFects upon both religion and government, is a standnig refu- tation of the bishop's gratuitous as; rtion, that a christian nation must have some one form of religion established and identified with its government. His major proposition thus failing, the consequence intended to be drawn from it, and applied to this Province, falls to the ground. The question respecting the clergy re- serves is distinct from that relative to the es- tablishment of your church as the state re- ligion of Canada; but since you have con- nected them together, in your speech, I will devote a few moments to examine your ex- clusive claim to the reserves. • It entirely depends upon the consjruction on the Statute, 3Ist Geo. 3, c. 31, taken in connexion with the 14th Geo. 3, and ex- plained by contemporaneous circumstances, and the debates in Parliament upon the pas- sing of the act. The 14th Geo. 3rd, secured his Majesty's Canadian subjects professing the Roman Catholic religion, in the free exercise of their religion, and their clergy, in the en- joyment of their accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such persons as profess that religion, with an explanatory proviso, that his Majesty might make provision, out of the rest of the accustomed dues and rights, for the encouragement of the Protestant reli- gion, and for the maintenance and support of a Protestant clergij within the said Province.'* The provision thus to be made was not for the encouragement of the «hur«h of Kng* land, or of the church of Scotland, or of any particular Protestant church, but in general terms, " of thv PmtistatU religion;" not for the maintenance of the clergy of the church t»f England, or of any Protestant church in particular, but" a Protestant cUrgif^ gene- rally. The object of the contemplated j)ro- vision ami the words used to express it ex- tend to the religion and the the < terms, meaning a person " in holy ,/ders," in any form of orders recogi^ized by tlir laws of England. In the case of Kemp, vs. Wickes, above referred to, decided by the proper tri- bunal, the Arches Court of Canterbury, it was held and settled, that dissenting clergy- men, ordained according to the forms of their respective denominations, arc lawful mini- sters, as really and truly such, as are the ministers of the church of England, Episco- pally ordained. They are comprehended in Blackstone's legal definition of the clergy ; and are fairly, strictly, and legally within the general terms " a Protestant clergy " used in the 3l8t Geo. 3rd. That act itself expresslyy recognizes the existence in this Province, of other Protes- tant Clergymen than those of the olnu'ch of England; m the 21st section, which disqual- ifies for a seat in the House of Assembly any person, " who shall be a minister of the church of England, or a Minister, Priesty Ecclesiastic or Teacher^ either according to the rites of the church of Rome, or under any other form or profession of religious worship; " and m the 42nd section, which requires to be submitted to his Majesty, and laid before the Imperial Parliament, among other Pro- vincial acts, any act relating in any manner to the granting, imposing or recovering any dues or stipends or emoluments whatever, to be paid to or for the use of " any Minister, Priest, Ecclesiastic, or Teacher, according to any religions form or mode of worship.'* These are descriptive names by which the clergy of different denominations are desig- nated among themselves. Thus the same act, which provided and appropriated the clergy reserves, has, in ex- press terms, admitted and considered, that niere are in this Province, besides Catholic clergymen, other AUnisters, Priests, Eccle- siatticsy or Teachersy than Ministers of the church of Eoglandj and hasrecogoized them all ofevery form of religious faith or wori»hip. Here is an explicit recognition of other I'ro- testant clergymen, than those of the tliurch of England. The appropriation of the pro- ceeds oftho clergy reserves fur the support and maintenance of" a Protestant clergy" excludes, indeed, the Catholic rlorgy, ».v tho restrictive term" Protestant;" but anio Pro- testant clergymen,ihere is no exclusion or pre- fercnce. In general terms, the appropriatinjj clause puts them all, without exception or distinction, upon the same footing. They arf* all equally " Protestant,^* ami tqnnlly Ministers or clergymen, recognized us «n/7t by the general law oj England, and by this par- ticidar act. In subsequent sections of the act, his Majes- ty is empowered to authorize the Governor to erect, in every township, one or more Parsonage or Rectory, or Parsonages, or Rectories, according to the chun h of Eng- land, and to endow the same with such a part of the lands reserved for that township, as he shall judge expedient, and to present to such Parsonage or Rectory an incumbent or Minister of the church of'^England, duly ordained according to the rites ofthatchur<*h. The endowment thus authorized to be carv- ed out of the reserved lands, at the discre- tion of the Governor, are appropriated to the incumbents or Ministers of the chtirch of England. To this extent, but no further, are clergymen of the church of England dis- tinguished from the clergjrmen of other Pro- testant churches, in regard to the lands re- served for and appropriated to " a Protestant clergy." The variance between the sections reserv- ing the clergy lands, and appropriating their income, and the subsequent distinct sections authorising a/>art of those lands to be taken for the endowment of Parsonages or Recto- ries, is very striking and significant. In the former, there is no limitation to or mention of the church of England; in the latter, the en- dowments, expressed to be 9. part only of the whole Reserves, are expressly limited and appropriated to your church. This differ- ence in the phraseology furnishes a good rule of interpretation. Had it been intended that the whole benefit of the clergy reserves should be confined tc the clergy of your church, the reservatioa and appropriation Q r1 I' h i: 26 would have been expressed to be for the sup- port of the clergy of the church of England, or a Protestant Episcopal clergy, or in some other wortls luuiting it to the ckrgy of your church, and not in the general terms, " a Pro- testant clergy," comprehending clergymen of all Protestant Churches, and equally entitling them to the benetit of it. In this sense the act was understood by leading members of the Parliament thiit pas- ted it. In the debate npon the Bill, iVlr. Fox «aid expressly, '* by the Protestant (Jlergy be supposed to be understood not only the Clergy of the C'urch of England, hatall dv.scriptions of Protestants." And again, " The greatest part of these Protestant Clergy were not of the Church of England] they were chiefly what are called Protestant Dissenters in this country." Tliis is the sense in which the act is now understood by the House of Lords; for Lord King, in March last, obi^ervod, ne- mine contrdtcente, " That in l79i? or 1793, when the distribution of land in Upper Ca- nada had been settled, one seventh of the waste lands in that colony had been set ap-irt for the maintenance of the Protestant clergy; not for the Episcopacy alone, but for the pro- testant clergy. It had all been tr.ken, in- deed, by t}ie Episcopal clergv; but it was re- aisted and he hoped would be successfully lesisted, as otherwise it would elfcctually jiarrow the intention of the grant. He hoped it would not be exclusively appropriated to Hie church of England; it was given for Pro- testant clergytnen of all denominations, which included Presbyterians and others/' According, therefore, to the letter and spirit of the Act, the history of its enactment, the declared sense in which it was understood ty the Parliament enacting it, and by the present House of Lords — which 1 presume is entitled to as much respect and ought to have as much weight, as the opinion of your- self, the bJshop of Quebec, and oi the young lawyer ,whom you give a place in your s[)eech — your church has not an exclusive right to to the benrlit of the clergy reserves; and, even if it had, it would not be thereby the state religion of thi^ Proviuce. - I have the honour to be, Rev. Sir, Your HumMe Servant, E. RYERiSON. Cobourg, 18th June, 1828. (1.) The Americans enjoy all the bles- sings of religion without the scourge of Ec- cleaiastical tyranny. '* In the /eligious fieec^ i which America enjoys (says Mr. Duncan, an English gentlemen; I see a most unquestioned superiority ' (over the British nation.) ; Travels Vol. II. p. 328.) *'ln fact,: says iheEdinburgh Review, for July IS.^4, p. 429,,i it is hardly p' ssible for any nation to show a gre.ster superiority over an other, than the Americans, in this parti- cular, of religious liberty) have done over this country > Great Britain.) They have fairly and completely and probably forever, extinguished that spirit of religious perse- cution which ha? been the employment and curse of mankind fur four or five centuries — not only that persecution, which by dis- qualifying from civil offices, and cutting a nian oft from the lawful objects of ambition, endeavours to strangle religious freedom in silence, and to enjoy all the advantages, without the blood and noise and fire of per- secution — In this particular the Americans are at the head of all the nations of the world, and ^t the same time they are, es- pecially in the Enstevnand Midland States, so far from being indiiferent on subjects of religion, that they mayberoost justly char- acterized as a very religious people." No. 7. Rev. Sir, Having shown that an Ecclesiasti- cal establishment weakens a Government and disunites Us subject;^, is the means of cor- rupting the clergy, laity and nation in which it is tolerated — and that the church of Eng- land is not the established church of these Provinces, 1 now proceed to prove, that ac- cording to your own principles, the church of England, ought not to be established in Cana- da with peculiar legal privileges and endow- ments. The foundation of your el lims in behalf of the church of England, as an Ecclesiastical Establishment, is bujlt ui.on the number of her members and the tendency of the popula- tion to her communion. The present Bishop of Quebec in his late circular, advances the same reasons. — The late Bishop of Quebec and his clergy, in their Report for 1823, (as given in the appendix (No. I.) to your obsei* 27 vations on the clergy reserves) produce the same argument as the principal ground of their claiu;s to exclusive patronage and sup- port. {1 ) And it is ihe sentiments of ahnost all advocates of a religious Establishment, that it must include at least a majority of the population — all of whose sentiaients may be surrmied up iti the following word^ of that great Phisopher and Divine, Dr. Paley: " A doubt sometimes presents itself, whether the religion which the chief Magistriite ouglit to establish be that which he liimself profes- ses, or that which he ob-^erves to prevail amongst the majority of the people. In my opinion the advantage lies on the side of the people; and this opinioii, if it be assented t>), makes it the duty of the Alagistrate, in tlie choice of the reli_^ion whit.h h« establishes, to consult the faith of the nation rfilher than his oivn." (Works Vol. 111. p. 462.) Accor- ding to these principles — intoriKistent with which it is diabolical to establish a rtlipion — how can the ( hurch of England be the established churcli of these Provinces? — From the unanimous testimony of nearly 50 uncontradicted witnesses before the commit- tee of the House of Assembly, it appears that 2 or 3, or 4 denominatio)is of christians in Canada, are s5J'era% more numerous than the church of Englaiid. By a report of the "Society for the propagating of tlie Gospel in Forclirn Parts," for the year 1821.' we are informed (bat the greatest number of chw.rh of England communicants at any one tiue du ring that year, ivas 367. Alloving that the comuiunicaiits of your church hive doub'ed since 1821 — which is a greater increase than we grant to either denominations — they now amount to 734. We learn fr«iin an authenti- cated, though very imperfect report given into the select committee, that of the B.l>- tist church in this Province, thf^re are 1435 commuiiicants — of the Presbyteri-ns not lu communion with the Kwk uf Scotland, there are848-of the JV/enonism nsd Hunkers, lld5 — ot the Methodists 900&— )f the K;rk of Scotland, there is no reiurn; but from Mr. Morris' evidence, who doubtless has hud im opp"irtui!ity of knowing, and whose woU known cai.dour would not suffer him to de- viate from what he conceived to be trutli, it 8<=ein8 h«-r communicants are quite numerous. The Quakers likewise have given no re- turns; but when it is considered that thftre are large settlement* of these peaceable and upright people on Yongeslreet— in Whitby —in the Newcastle, Midland, Niagara, and in didereni parts of the Loi.don District, be- sides other places with which 1 am not ac- quainted, it is certain th;.t they must frm a very considerable and important povtion of the population. The Koman Catholics are probably equal in number to any other deno- mination in the Province. Several other sects less numerous 1 have not mentioned.— When compared with the communicants of all these denominations collectively or sepa- rately, what propurlion do the 734 commu- nicants of the church of England bear to them? W^h >t principles of justice — what princi()les of soui;d policy — wliat principles of the advoc;;tes of Establishments — nuy, what pretensions df your own c.o) justify the constituting of the church of England the established church of Canada ] No, Sir from this consideration alone it would be unjust, impolitic and antichristian, to establish ih© chMrch of Etigland with peculiar privileges and enduwments. In the 3lst page of yoar obsprvatior.s on the Reserves, you object to the Establishment "f the Kiik of Scotland, ard Say, "■ To put of/icr/ant/'ords (besides the ciejgyofthe chiirch of Kwgl'Ahd) over the j)eop e, to exalt another body overiheir heads, will in.»t-she may be g jrgeously adorned, like whited sepulchre, but inward- ly she will be a sink of corruption-^her tow- ers may be reared to the clouds, but " like an inverted pyramid it wiU l^ecome the more 33 unstable the higher it is raised." The spirit- ual light of your church and the purity of her members will be lost in the mi^ts of secular policy and worldly agg andisement, and she will be seen, like ancient Babylon, majestic in rain — lifeies.j and dead. Her rca/ prosperity requires that she should not be establisht J. Facts prove it so. In your evidence before the comioittee, you say — " In the stats of New-York where naforek^n aid is given /or the support of the clergy, there appears to be the Sc-me tendency to- wards the chMrch,'' tliat is, the same tenden- cy as you had formerly stated, vvks towards the church of England in this Province. — Your venerable friend Dr. Mountain, in his sermon on Ordination (p. 27.) observes that " among our neighbours in the United States the [Episeopol] church is most decided- ly in a flour sh ng and ncreas ng condit on." Now, sir, if the tendency of the population in the N. Y. state, is towards the Episcopal church, and if in the United States, she is " most decidedly in a flourishing and in- creasing condition," without any "foreign a ''*-«^"se observa- tions, and induced Milton, thai great friend to religious liberty (as Judge Blackstone calls him) *' to exhort even Cromwell (to borrow the words of the Edinburgh Review) to save free conscience from the paio of the Presbyterian wolf." To the Hon. and Rev. Doctor Slrachan, 8,'e. No. 8. THE UNIVERSITY. Rev. Sir, That education " forms the youthful mind and makes the man" — opens vast re- sources of pleasure to ourselves and to others — elevates the thoughts — enlarges the capa- cities — ennobles the powers — refines the feelings, and tends to purify the affections of the human mind; — That it is the safeguard of civil and religious liberty — ihat it exten- sively promotes the diversified interests of political, civil and religious society — that it is the brightest ornament of our nature, and is one connecting link betwixt man and celestial intelligences, is a glorious truth, founded on reason, upon the testimony of the wise and good in every age of the world, and happily illustrated by universal experi- ence. And that education is much needed among the various orders of society in Cana- da, is a truth — though lamentable — equally plain. It therefore becomes a subject of the most serious and interesting enquiry, what system of education is best adapted to the state of our Canadian population, and which will most amply supply our literary toantaf This subject from its nature and impor- tance is better suited to the scope of a vol- ume, than that of a single letter. It there- fore cannot be expected that I should ex- amine it at large in so small a compass; nor is my intention to pursue it any further at present, than briefly to point out the impro- priety of your measures and the radical de- fectiveness of your system in relation to it — 5 80 ^1 I ^ ,0 ■ill I* n leaving the nppositcs of its objectionable parts to bt' s-;lected iistiie prominent i'catuies of a juJicious system of educ.ition in i^'ana- da, and honing that some abler hand will suggest llic necessary and proper improve- ments. Here, I en nnot deny myself the pleasure ofcon^riituinting the inhabitants of Canada upon the alicvtionate and parental feeliiiy; which is fondly clierished by tiie Imperial Goverranent, in regard to our literary and religious, as well as our civil interests, ac- cording to the information it possesses. If any unpopular and otfensive measures have been adopted by the British Government to- wards the people of this colony; or if any peculiar immiuiities and privileges have been granted to a small portion, to the ex- clusion of the great majority of the Canadi- an population, we are persuaded that the cause does not exist in any unfriendly dis- position or even indiflerence on the part of the mother country, but tne whole blame is to be attached to those agents who have been libellers under the character of Embas- sadors. No, EngLtnd, like the ancient Pa- triarch, feels an anxious desire to bestow equal blessings on every class of her children — though she may, deceived by false swear- ing, sometimes bless Jacob, when she in- tends a blessing for Esau, or a legal and just portion for each. Misinformation, sir, I am confident is the sole cause of the pre- sent Charter of Kings College at Vork; and this gives rise to the first weighty and insur- mountable objection to its continuance. That your contemplated University has a sectarian tendency is undeniable. All its officers and professors are required to be of the church of England — it is entirely under the direction and control of that church-^— and you yourself, said, in your appeal to the friends of literature and religion in England, that it would be " essentially a Missionary College, for the educ: in the place of a ■»»%' ♦v%»* ---••• >•««•«. ••^>-^ir#^l^*l^«^'* 87 good one? How than can your University be productive of good to this countrv, and what can justify the continuance of the pre- sent Charter? Again — it has been proved that the church of England is no more Me established church of this country than any other church or de- nomination, and that even according to your own principles it ought not to be. Why then should the only endowed seminary of learning in the Province, be placed under the sole direction of that church? Why should the church of England have the con- trol of a University, with an endowment of £1000 oer annumy for 16 years, and 225,944 acres of land in this Province, to the exclu- sion of all other denominations, who, our Provincial Parliament says, " are equally conscientious and deserving and equally I loyal," 4* who are perhaps more than twenty times as numerous as the members of the ' church of England? What measure could be more impolitic — more disgusting to the generality of the population? What circum- stance could excite more jealousy, and tend more to alienate the affections of the coun- try from the British Government, if the measure is persisted in? Can the great portion of the Canadian inhabitants feel themselves kindly or justly delt with, when they cast , their eyes across the water, and see the light of science equally accessible to all — the means of education and literary distinction equally extended to diligence and merit of every creed, and then turn their eyes upon the land of their nativity and say — ^'^ tho' we are British born subjects — tho' we have never known or thought of any other civil creed than to be true to oiir Sovereign and country — tho' our loyalty to our king and our diligence and faithfulness in obeying the laws of the country are unimpeachable — tho' we are as useful citizens as any other class of the population; — yet the sun of liter- ature — that highest of earthly blessings — is hid from us and our children ! He shines upon a/eio others, but our religions profes- sion prevents him from emtting one ray to our benighted minds — our duty to our God excludes us from the favour of our king — and unless we sacrifice the sacred principles of our holy religion, we must let our chil- ■ dren grow up in the midnight shades of ig- I norance, or send them to a neighbouring j Republic, in order to obtain blessings which | are witheld from us and our posterity in our | native land, which our forefathers have bled and died to secure to Great Britain!" Are not the subjects of a Government its support and dependance? And are not subjects e- qually faithful and loyal, equally deserving? And IS it not a breach of faith in the govern- ment (if I may speak so) to grant to a small portion of its subjects, privileges and endow- ments, which give them a decided advan- tage, both in a civil and religious point of view, over the great body of their fellow subjects? If the subject owes a duty to the government, the govorument, as a minister of God for good, owes a duty to the subject likewise — and we believe the British govern- ment feels a peculiar pleasure in discharging this duty, and therefore we are assured "that his Majesty (to use the words of E. W. Arm- strong and 51 others in their petition to the House of Assembly) was imposed upon by misrepresentations, and that if he had been truly informed of the condition of the Pro- vince, and the religious views and feelings of his people here, he would never have fiven his ro]^al sanction to such a charter." herefore sir, as it was obtained by means of misrepresentation & incorrect statements, and as it is unjust and injurious to the inter- ests of the country to give a minor church, which only numbers about 734 communi- cants, while several other churches number as many thousand, an exclusive control of \ education, the present charter of our York i University ought to be cancelled. To continue the present Charter would de- feat the designs ot his Majesty in granting it. The reasons assigned in the Royal Char- ter for the granting of it, are the promotion of the " welfare of me Province, and the ap' plication of many of his Majesty's subjects. This was the impression under whicn his Majesty sanctioned the Charter, and that was the object he had in view in granting it. Now what is the " application of the many of his Majesty's subjects" in this Province, on this point? From the " application" of more than 7000 petitions to the Imperial Parliament — and the " application" of our House of Assembly, which has been seen, in the foregoing letter, according to your own H 38 4 t I '-. principles, to be the voice of this Province, U appears that the present Charter is direct- ly opposed to the application of the many of his Majesty's subjects." If therefore his Majesty gave his royal sanction to your Charter under this impression — as is unde- niable — ho must have been misinformed, and as his Majesty can do no wrong, the minister who gave him this mal-advice and false information, ought to be punished, and the act of his Majesty recinded. It was the design of his Majesty to give his royal sanction to the Charter of a Uni- versity, that would '* conduce to the welfare of the ProOirice." But from the voice of the above mentioned petitioners — the address of our Provincial Parliament — and the unani- mous opinion of eleven learned clergymen of the church of Scotland, it is obvious, that ** a University upon such a partial and ex- clusive system (to borrow the language of E. W. Armstrong and 61 others) will be from year to year and perpetual source of re- ligious, if not political animosity; as it will give to one church a permanent separate in- terest, adverse to the other more numerous churches; and all these churches, irritated hya two fold monopoly and domination, vrill upon the known principles of human nature, be induced to make con^mon cause in their own defence, in opposition to the do- minant church. The conflict will be a last- ing one, and its effects cannot fail of being prejudicial to true religion, and to the peace and prosperity of the Province, so long as the irritating cause shall continue, that is, during the continuance of the envied mono- poly." Hence, his Majesty*s grant, which was intended to " conduce to the welfare of the Province," being nothing but an apple of discord, a source of unjust monopoly on one hand, and of barbarous exclusion on the othei, ought to be extended or withdrawn altogether. But these observations are only introduc- tory to the principal argument — ^which will in some respects include the preceding — against the establishment of your University — ^namely, t<8 unsuitablemssto the state ofihe Canadian population. As an example and argument for your University, according to the principles of the present Charter, you refer to the Univer- sities of Oxford and Cambridge and to the Parochial schools of Scotland, and say, that to these, in connection with the establish- ment England and Scotland owe their vast superiority over other nations. But from a very short examination of those famous insti- tutions^ it will plainly appear that your state- ments are partly incorrect — that one of yoiu: arguments is totally inapplicable to Canada — and that the other is most completely a- gainst yourself. The University of Oxford, which has ex- isted (as Cowper says) " time out of mind," and that of Cambridge, also venerable for its antiquity, have indeed thrown a literary splendour around Great Britain, which very justly gives her the preeminence over most of the European nations, and have produced many of the brightest lights that ever graced any age or nation; but when it is recollected that these patronised seats of the muses, an- nually engross legal endowments so great and sums of money so vast, that they almost exceed the belief of the most credulous — that dissenting schools, without any legal endow- ment or support whatever, have produced many of the most eminent divines, orators, poets and scholars of whom England can boast — ^that the most illustrious Preachers of the present day— the most eminent Chemist, and the most distinguished Oriental linguist and philosopher, are dissenters, and have been educated at dissenting seminaries, we shall be far from giving to Oxford and Cam- bridge the sole meed of praise, or of suppo- sing that they have even equalled, in useful- ness, the dissenting schools in proportion to their resources and power. You have taken those institutions as the prototype of your intended University, at York, and (intending to handle this subject in likd manner with the former as far as pos- sible, historically) a brief sketch, in some particulars, of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, will therefore, serve to set forth in the strongest light the utter unsuit- ableness of Kings College to the present state of Canada. " The University of Ox- ford and Cambridge (says a good writer) have always been regarded as the deposi- tories of Ecclesiastical influence, and the great bulwarks of t^e establishment. Every 39 fnivcr- to the jr, that lablish- ir vast ; from a LIS insti- ir state- of yoiir Canada etely a- has cx- fmind," le for its literary lich very ver most produced er graced (Collected auses, an- 80 great ey almost ous — that Ell endow- produced orators, ;land can sachers of Chemist, il linguist and have laries, we and Cam- of suppo- in useful- ortion to pnsas the fersity, at Ms subject [far as pos- i in some Cambridge Ye to set Jer unsuit- |e present Ity ofOx- [d writer) le deposi- 1 and the kt. Every interference with them on the part of the laity, has been viewed with the riiost jealous eyes; and while no one but themselves (the clergy) and their trusty and quasi-clerical allies, have been sufl'cred by the priesthood to touch the government of tlieir allairs, no other establishments have occn deemed tole- rable as places of liberal education: and thus it has become almost part of the true English Creed, that the church should super- intend education, and that education means three or four years residence, at one or the other of the two cities of Oxford or Cam- bridge." It scarcely need be observed, that you have advocated the same principle in the strongest terms, and how ardently you are panting to establish the same crce<' in respect to Kings College, while you antici- pate the day when your clergy will " ac- quire the solo direction of educaiion in Can- ada.** Considering the statements you have made, the doctrines you have advocated, and the feelings you have manifested towards those who do not follow you, would it not be generally thought nearly paramount to establishing the Inquisition in Canada, to tolerate your ill founded University, altoge- ther under the control of the church of Eng- land clergy, with you at its head. I But Oxford and Cambridge Universities ' are not only under the exclusive direction of the clergy, they are also expressly design- ed for the members of the church of England and for no other. The Edinburgh Review- ers, whose knowledge or authority, I pre- sume you will hardly venture to call in question, speak decidedly on this point. — " Founded by priest craft, (say they) closely linked with its professors in the earliest times, and always in the hands of the ruling pow- ers of the church, the Universities (of Ox- ford and Cambridge) have in every age been most exclusively appropriated to the educa- tion and uses of the establishment and its mem- bers. The most rigorous compliance with Its doctrines, has always been exacted; the strictest exclusion of all Dissenters from it has uniformly been practised. As long as Popery was the religion of the state, the Universities were rigidly Catholic ; and in- deed their endotomerds, m by far the greater part, proceeded fitom the bounty and piety of Romanists, and were given for the propaga- tion of the Romish faith [ind the inculcution of the Romish discipline. When the stati' threw olllts allegiance to the Pope, and be- came Protestant, the Universities followed, :i\\d piously directed all the donations and bequests of their Catholic founders to the destruction of the Catholic religion — embra- cing the reformed faith, with the intolerance of their old profession, and transferring ti» dissenters the hatred which they had form- erly borne to the doctrine and discipline of Protestants. But this hatred was very cor- dial, if not very consistent ; and no participa- tion in their endowments could ever be hoped for by any one wlio was not prepared to avow an implicit belief in the dogmas of the church, and testify it by an outward ob- servance of her ritual every day, as well as* by occasional declarations and signatures of a more solemn kind. Hence where a man was even rich enough to pay the expenses of an University education, (which are £150 per annum at the very least calculation) anil careless enough of his children to send them unprotected among other young men as en- tirely left to themselves, still he could have no access to Oxford or to Cambridge, unless he happened to be a member of the estahlisli- ed church, or cared so little about religion as to embrace any form of faith and worship for a secular purpose — the universities making no dfference between persons of their own religion, and persons of no religion at all, but only excluding conscientous be- lievers, whose faith varied, by a slight shade, from their own" (for Aug. 1825, p. .356,357.) Not only are those great Halls of literature confined to the members of the church of England, but we learn from the same high authority, that " Oxford and Cambridge teach no more than from two to four thou- sand young men, out of at least two hundred times that number, of an age fit for instruc- tion" — that " no man could think of an. University education for his son, who had not a fortune sufficient to give him an im- mediate income, — that letters and science were confined to the Universities; the Uni- versities were open only to the most wealthy; therefor^ all the middle classes must let their sons grow up, with such learning as they . I:! /i thv ""•^•""••w -•-■"'•-- "-*v ••■• %-•..■ 40 il -'i could pick up at a grammar school — that the number of proficients in classical and mathe- matical attainments is extremely small com- pared with that of the whole students." (lb. p- 347, 249,351.) Such, sir, are the exam- ples of your famous liberal University, inten- ded to benefit all classes of the Canadian in- habitants ! Can any thing more preposter- ous be conceived than the introduction of such a system? Would it not be an intolera- ble burden, a curse that should be depreca- ted by every friend to literature and religion T Even in England, where the great body of the people are members of the establishment, respecting those famous English Universi- ties, Lord Bacon (whom you hold up as an illustrious example and scholar, in your ad- dress to students, published in 1827) long ago observed — " In the customs and institu- t'lons of schools. Universities, Colleges, and the like conventions, destined for the seats of learned men and the promotion of know- ledge, all things are found opposite to the advancement of the sciences: For the read- ings and exercises are here so managed, that it can not easily come into one's mind ^to think of things out of the common road. For the studies of men in such places are confined, and pinned down to the writings of certain authors; from which if a man hap- pens to differ, he is presently reprehended as a disturber and iniwvater." So bound up in bigotry where the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and so opposed to evangeli- cal piety, that Locke, that great light of his day and benefactor of the literary and chris- tian world, was expelled firom their priest- s;overned halls; and the memorable John Wesley, (who, the Rev. Mr Adam, a cler- gyman ofthe church of England, in his Religious World displayed, Vol. III. p. 128, 9, says, " shone as a star of the first magni- tude—was an extraordinary and highly dis- tinguished character — was a singularly great and worthy man,") together v/ith several others, equally eminent for their holy de- 1 portment, shared the same fate, for " singing I nymns, reading and expounding the scrip- j tiires in private houses." (see Col. III. 16. i II. Tim. IV. 2 Acta XX. 20.) What assur- I ance have we that the same example will not ! be followed, in Kings College at York, if \ suffered to remain under the sole control of a body of clergy, who have already prayed his Majesty's government to starve all dis- senting ministers out of the Province? You say, indeed, that " young men of every christian denomination are freely admitted to all the advantages of education, and al- though such as are ofthe established church, are placgd under the more immediate care ofthe institution in regard to religion, it is presumed that others will be consigned to their respective teachers." That_ " young men of every christian denomina*tion will be freely admitted to all the advantages of education," I have no doubt, but upon what condition? Upon condition, doubtless, of, their conforming to the rites and ceremo- nies of the church of England . For can it be supposed, for a moment, that a College council, allmembersof the church of Eng- land, with you at its head, will lAake laws that will meet the conscientious scruples of other denominations, whom you have sought, by every means in your power to extermi- nate, and whose members, you pray in the service for consecrating a church, the Lord ^ God would lessen? Cliimerical in the ex- treme is such a supposition! You " presume" that a liberal arrangement can be made to meet the wishes of all; but from the very cautions manner in which you express your- self, in addition to numerous other consider- ations, I think we are warranted to " pre- sume" to the reverse. You wish to allay suspicion and all apprehension of danger until you can secure the success of your measures and bind all that differ from you in perpetual chains — like the famous Cardinal Wolsey, who said," if he could only get one foot into the English Court, he would soon introduce his whole body.'* But why should the country be exposed to unneces- sary danger? You say — ^* In Edinburgh, Episcopalian youth go to the University for science and literature, but for religious in- struction, they attend Dr. Walker, an emi- nent divine belonging to the Episcopal church." Why may not Episcopalian, as well as the youth of other denominations be instructed after a similar arrangement in Canada? I imagine the " Episcopalian youth in Edinburgh," receive as much the- ological and religious instruction, as they do JQ th« Universities of Oxford and Cambridge^ ^^■^-■"-""'^f u ; saysthe Edinbur-hU PP^«copaIzans: For ^he lay youth" af6S;rr?';T^''^h of f tends, or thinks of att Is ""^'^^f?^' ^^^r tm-e on Divinity? tK^^^^^ ^^^'^" t ^e church, no doubt Zt \ t^*^"^^ for t^^eological matters .sLotl-i^^-^'"""'' "» But what voun^"" ■chools of Scotland. iJcannn/, "^ ^^^"^^^''^^ «^to the intelligent rp.li^^ ""mterest- ^ few hints rela ve fo ff '• ^"' "'^ *« f?ive «f these justly ce?ebmed' f/^"? ''^"^' ""^^"^e P> the principles 0^:^^^^^^^^ J- «f EngUt itiXlmb'^'''?^ «-l f ^ts the Bi.Lp to sS'i' \^^^.' ^^ re- «mke provision for a scTonl ;, ^'"'^^"^^ ^o This re'^?mmendation waT " fi!r^ P'^^^-^^^^' t"teofhisson,Ch.^vlegj .fil^*'^'^^ hy a sta- 41 fch^iriiSte ';;fi' *^'^^^^-^« tha lovy £5 10 n and .h ^^'^^^/alary not be- ^vith the quniirlvVet Jf 1^^ ^ ^'' ^^^i^'h, and other emoluS 1'"' • '\^°"^^ P^v considered adequite '' '' "' *^''^^ times though these lai4ipl '"PP°J^ ^ teacher, al- yet the augmen : Lmb"'"^" ^""" increased, parative iSce wTth^L^^r.^^^^'Pt ^ompa-' money.--^houl7the h'rt. "i'^".'* ^'-^^"^ of to the interests of th7n • l^^ ["attentive >«ofwhatis.ty?edt^^^"'^ ''^°«^«' •-'•T who consist nf Si • ^.^^''^J««teoof sunnlv it in their Voweri,""r'!?-"'^^^^^-^^^^^^ Presbytery wDmA ^ ^^^. direction of the i^toeL't'er' n":: r;^^""^'^' ^^^e schoil Ministers ixnd 4v.?/ -^. ^'"^^^^'^ent. The ""the SchoofMa e^:;:;;f in the electing 01 .^..r.' %* ff ^i^A • examined by t e F?- 'h / ''^ '' *'^ ^« Anally tained or refcc ea .. H,^^'''^'' ''^"'^ to be sus- ^nine. Thi« st^ Lf ' "'"^^ '?^^ .'^-"^^^ to deter- William and ]^ ;^" {^^f^^ " 1^93, under of Scotland en.: ?ed in ffi ir'^.? ^^'-'^^'^^^^^^'t should be est:>biisV I ;,, ^^"^^' tho.t a school ?^^^^;}ti.noftheX 7;S;^rPfri.h,fl,rtho t^^^^ Instructor, Vol iv ^^!; o f ^^^' ^^^"^■ parochial ^st^^'lt'^'^V fhe Scotch striving to introduce nr^' '1''''^' >^«^^ ^^'^ sir, the parochial Scf ^'"^^d^- Observe establishes brani^oVIh: ^S^''^^'^^^^ ^^'^' nient-yoursidirerHv: J" ^'^^^^"^^ ^^^'^ia- on of our Pa liamj f T^'^ ^'^ '^'^ '^Pini- the Scotch popuiaTion «. ^^ ^'^^'^ ^^^y of Established lSka°?, T"" f ^^"hers of the plesoftheParoehial c^?^''" ^^'^ P"nci- hle to the sentiment ',' ^'^'"^ ^onforma- the whole conZmi'v th • ^^^^^^ "^ar fn Canada, in respect /n Ph ^"^te otherwise i«m and your U fiver 't^f^T^' of England- rochial^system, thrschooU.o P'" ^" '^^ P^- en by the tm/^;^ vo'fe of fL '/ir "^'T' ^'^°«- ^^W^or.; but, in your system "ti^'^r^'"" -^"^ acquire the sole direSon^'f 1^ "^^^5:^ is to Vervmoderatesab,r?es re\nowpT.l''r ers, ,nthe parachial system W ^f'" ^"'^^- they are compnj-p^velv ovnVv^ ' '" ^^"^S' alreadvJnYor^tCTeaA^rof?^^ SchooI-virtunlV under vn, ''^' ^'^"tral *i ■•TS^ 42 }■■■ I # ir J • f « \- ftverscein^, on the Laucasterlim plan, per- Jiaps not above 50 boys. But though it is left to the Presbytery to sustain or reject the teacliers presented to them by the Visitors or committee of supply, and though nearly the >vliole of the Scotch population are Presby- terians, and though the Kirk is and has been for centuries, by law, the established Church, of Scotland ; yet the parochial Schools are not, as you say, " placed under the immediate miperiniendance of the clergy," if the Edin- burgh Reviewers, who, I dare say know as much about their own church and schools as an Episcopal clergymzin does — may be credit- ed; for say they — " The Presbyterian religion was established before the Act passed for put- ting the blessed system of parish schools in activity. Nor do the Presbyterian clergy in- ierfi'vCy except most remotely, toith the schools .even noio." (E. .11. for Aug. 1825, p. 454.) — Such sir, is the system of education to which Scotland owes her high reputation for intel- lectual improvement, and such is the system ' of education we would advocate in Canada — a system established by Acts of our Provin- cial Legislature — a system on an economical plan — a system conformable to the wishes of the great mass of the population — a system proinoted by thewwferfeflbrtsof the laity and clergy (of every denomination, no matter, the principle is the same)-a system, in imme- diately superintending the schools of which the different bodies of clergy will " not in- terfere, except most remotely" — a system which will afford a school to every neiglibour- . hood or parish, and bring the blessings of edu- cation to every family throughout the Pro- vince — a system which is like to immortalize the United States (1) — a system the princi- ples of which you recognize In refering to the Edinburgh University — a system, which, if adopted, will at no distant tlay, make Cana- da an ornament to the British Empire, and fill every habitation with joy and gladness. But, sir, in order to introduce thi« blessed , system, the present Charter of your Universi- ty must be cancelled, which has deception, misrepresentation and calumnvfor its founda- tion — apparent extravagance for its introduc- tion — an aspiring and ambitious clergy for its solepovcrnnrsand conductors, to the entire exclusion of oil others of every description — which is opposed to the decisions of our Pro- vincial Parliament, and to the general v/ish- esof the people— which is unsuitable to tlieir condition, at variance Avith their common in- terests, ard dangerous to their political, civil, and religious liberties. Rev. Sir, I have now done. The foregoing investigations have been as painful to me, as thxy can possibly be unpleasant to you. — " But though I love Caiser, I love Rome more.'* Justice to myself, to the church of Avhich 1 am a member, and to the Country that gave me bLth,has imposed upon me the arduous and 'disagreeable task, whif.h I have thus endeavoured, to the best of my feeble ability and unfavourable circumstanc- es, faithfully to discharge. In doing this, I can confidently say, that I have not been, to my knowledge, influenced by any personal feeling, with any private animosity. The cause I consider a public one, and, as you very justly observe, *' never ought to inter- fere with the charities of social life." While as an Ecclesiastical Establishment, I oppose your church, as a Church, or " con- gregation of believers," (to use the words of your l9th article) I pray God to give it pros- perity. While as a public man, pursuing your present measures, I feel myself in duty bound decidedly to difler from you; as a pri- vate individual, I entreat the smiles of Hea- ven upon yourself and family. With some of the clergymen and many exemplary and highly respectable members of your cHurch, I have the pleasure of a personal acquintancc, and am happy to call them my friends; and it is my sincere prayer to Almighty God, that all our errors and improprieties may be corrected and forgiven, and that it may be your and my portion, and that of 'all with whom we may be respectively blended in church fellowship, to be enabled to say at oui approaching departure — " I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, and henceforth there is a crown of life laid up for me, which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me in that day." I have the honour to be. Rev. Sir, Your Humble Servant, EGERTON RYERSON Cobourg, 14th June, 1828, (1) "Too mnch praise (says the Edinbur«h Rc' view, for July, 1824, p, 482,) cannot be given to the Americans for their creat attention to the subject cf education. They quite put into the back ground, ev- ery thing which has been done in the Old World fir j the improvement of the lower orders, and confer di" rcrvedly upon themselves, the charvicter of a wisf; , reilecti'ig, and virtuous people." ( ^ bit- to theii* lommon in- itical, civil, e foregoing ul to me, as t to you. — love Rome e church of he Country ipon me the :, which I best of my ircumstr»nc- ioing this., I not been, to • ny personal 3sity. The and, as you !;ht to inter- iife." sl'abhshment, ch, or " con- the words of give it pros- J lti, pursuing yself in duty yon ; as a pri" niles of Hea- With some :emplary and your cliurch, acquintancc, r friends; and Imighty God, ieties may be lat it may be It of 'all with T blended in )led to say at [ have fought ;he faith, and f life laid up jhteous Judge t)le Servant, RYERSON B Edinburah Rc' : be given to the to the subject cf back ground, cv- lic Old World fir •s, and confer (K" aracter of a wis*"; d