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A LETTER
TO TIIB
BISHOPS AND CLERGY
OF THB
1^ ' IN CANADA,
VROM
FEANCIS FULFORD, D.D.,
LORD BISHOP OF MONTREAL AND METROPOLITAN.
PRINTED BY JOHN LOVBLL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET.
1862.
"Eiprsedicare veritatem nihil est, si cor a hngak dissentiat ; et audire
Teritatem nihil est, si non auditionem fructus sequatur,"
Sti. Augustini JEnarratio in PtcUmmn Ixvi.
M
'!■>■:
■Vb-
A LETTER.
Sm Hodsb, Momtrkbal,
April 28th, 1862.
Right Rbv. and Ret. Brbthrbn :
Early in the month of March I saw in a number of !7%e Record, Eng-
lish newspaper, an account of a clerical meeting held at Islington on
the 13th January last, at which Archdeacon Hellmuth, in the course of a
long speech, which he delivered on that occasion, was reported to have
made the following statement : —
" Although he should be sorry to say anything which should mar in
the slightest degree the happy spirit which seemed to pervade that
meeting, yet he could not hel' observing that there was a very great
lack of evangelical men in those vast colonies, — not that there are not
godly, good, and hard-working men, but too few in number for those
vast regions which God in his providence has given to this country ; he
could not hide it, — he must speak out the truth, that evangelical men
are at a very great discount in those colonies generally, and that an
effort is being made to rear a hierarchical structure, which he feared
would not tend, as is supposed by some, to strengthen the cause of pure
Protestant and evangelical truth. The object of his mission to this
country was (he continued) to raise funds for the establishment of a
sound evangelical college, from which men are to be sent forth to pro-
claim the Gospel of Ohrist in all godly simplicity and fulness ; and be
trusted, as this is the very first effort of the kind to establish a thor-
oughly Protestant theological college in the colony, evangelical men
will effectually help this good cause."
mmmm
4
On the 10th March I wrote to the Archdeacon to nsk him, if the above
waa a correct report of what he hail said ; and on the ISth Ajiril I
received an answer from him, simply directing "my attention to a gen-
eral statement wliich he had addressed to Thr Rvconl, as an answer to a
letter previously received on the suhjcct by a Presbyter of the Diocese of
Montreal."
Without going into the dctaib of his controversy with this Presbyter,
I may mention that in the early part of hia letter I find what I suppose
I may consider as a reply to my enquiry. IIo says,
" I would at the very outset observe, that The Record did not pro-
fess to report my address verbatim, and I feel therefore less responsible
for the very word^, or even sentiments employed in the abbreviated
summary printed in The Record of the above date, jit the same time I
am prepared to admit that the substance of my speech is given with sujjicient
accuracy."* ,
And The Record having been thus furnished with a text, enforced the
S'jl'ject with an appropriate commentary. The Recoi'd of Jan. 22nd says :
" It is also to be regretted, tlmt jeveral of the Canadian dipceses are
deeply tainted wiih the leaven of Tractarianism ; and that the local Col-
leges, at which the Canadian clergy receive tlieir training, are almost
wholly under this baneful influence. Whilst, then, we would exhort
our readers to the exercise of Christian liberality towards Canadian
missionary operations, we must also repeat our friendly cautions as to
the channels through which funds are contributed. We need not say
that in this respect the Colonial and Continental Church Society is
unexceptionable. And among more special objects, we have every con-
fidence in the effort now making by Archdeacon Hellmuth, to raise
* The Archdeacon alterwards sayB: "I am unable now to recall tlic ipsiasima
verba used by luc at Islington, but I certuinly intended my remarks to apply to
Upper Canada, as may be conclusively gathered from the fact that I made refer-
ence only to Trinity College, Toronto, the teachings of which I certainly believe
(with my vouerable Bishop) to he dangerous in a very high degree." Whatever
may have been his intentions, his speech, which he admits is given with sufficient
accuracy, conveys no hint of any such limitation, it is the Canadian Clergy as a
body, the Canadian Colleges, the C.'inadiun Hierarchy, that are animadverted
upon, while the Trinity College (lucstion follows in detail as an apt illustration.
And so it is understood by The Record; and so it is left for weeks to be understood
by the public, while so sad a state of things in this great Province is exciting tho
gympathy of those whom lie expects to contribute towards the jE20,000 that ia to
provide the remedy.
i
- <i
^
-J
.£20,000 for the cstahlislimcnt of a College baaeil on EvanKoliciil princi-
ples, aud for other iinportiiiit purpoijcs, in the diocese of Huron. The
proposal to found a college is well fitted to counteract the peculiar evil
to which wo have referred,— that of a Colonlul-born clergy, nurtured in
a course of collegiate instruction wiiich obscures the great trullis of the
Gospel. We sincerely hope that Dr. llelliuuth's timely visit to this
country will be tiie means of realiy.iug the Ilishop of Huron's plan."
It would no doubt be generally felt that it matters little to us what
are Dr. Hellmuth's private opinions ; but when such statements are
publicly made by an Archdeacon specially accredited in England by
one of the Canadian Bishops, they obtain a degree of importance that
could not otherwise attach to them ; and which will I hope justify tne,
Hit your Metropolitan, in addressing this letter on the subject to you, the
Bisliops and Clergy of the Canadian Church.
For some time past, as is well known, there iias been a controversy
agitating the Western Dioceses respecting the University of Trinity
College, Toronto.^ I am not sulficiently master of this subject in its
present state to enter into any detailed review of it; which, while it
might for sufTicient reasons be now inexpedient for me, is for my pres-
ent purpose not necessary. But \vhatever may be the difficulties that
now exist, I cannot but hope, that nothing will eventually prevent such
a solution of them, as may lead at last to the cordial co-operation of all
those Dioceses in the welfare of tlio University. When I met the Bishop
of Huron at Kingston, at the Consecration of the Bishop of Ontario, he
assured me ihaf in the eff'ort now making for his diocese in England, he
never for an instant had contemplated anything like a rival College or
University to Toronto, but merely a Theological Institution for his own-
Candidates, previous t6 their ordination ; upon the plan, as I under-
stood him, of the Colleges at Wells, Chichester, and elsewhere. I at
once told him that I thought everj' Bishop might most reasonably aim
at having such an institution connected with his Cathedral. Whatever
may be the excellence of the Universities here or in England, we may
well all desire, if we can accomplish it, to have our candidates for a
time under our own eyes ; and to test, by something better than an
ordinary examination, their real fitness for entering into the holy office
of the Ministry. But to multiply Universities and general Colleges-
must, in this country, be certainly most injurious, making it impossible
!
to maintain any high standard of education ; nor Is It to bo defended
upon the plea of making them exponents of particilar doctrines of the
Church. The Church of England avowedly admits, on certain subjects,
of some divergence of opinion ; which it may be difHcult exactly to
define, and vhich, when pualied to extremes on either side, becomes a
serious evil. But a University, of all places, and capecially if connected
with different dioceses, ought fairly to represent the Church ; and, by a
general admixture of men of different casts of thought and tempera-
ment, prevent those extreme exhibitions and sectional tendencies,
which always, as their natural result, at last produce a sensible depar-
ture from those principles which the Church of England has decided
that she ought to uphold. The great hindrance to such wholesome
united action, for ibe genera! purposes of a University, arises from a
spirit of partizansbip being allowed to gain a mastery over the spirit of
the Christian. In the course of my experience, now of many years, in
Tarious situations, and mixed up and acting with men of every shade of
opinion, I have learned to welcome at all times the co-optration of'the
sincere Christian, — to dread that of the partizan, whatever may be the
modification of his opinions ou those subjects, about which, as Church"
men, we are found at times to differ. An attempt at cxclusiveness
soon creates an opposition, and destroys brotherly love ; whereas those
who really are*influenced themselves by the Spirit of Christ, will be able
to find room in their hearts to love nany, whom party prejudice would
have taught thera to look upon as strangers. Qod grant that not only
in the matter of the University of Trinity College, but in all the united
action of the Canadian Church, we may be influenced by such a spirit ;
and prove " bow good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity."
But granting that the object of the Bishop of Huron is a very fair one,
and that the official application, as authorized by him, to the Society /or
the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in London, is based on very
reasonable grounds, yet it is certainly presented under a very different
aspect by Archdeacon Hellmuth, in his speeches at public meetings in
England. He gives out that he wants to raise £20,000, " for the estab-
lishment of a sound, evangelical college ;" but, certain that sucb ". simple
statement as the one made to the Christian Knowledge Society, would
be utterly inadequate to excite uueh public sympathy aa he required, he
adopts quite a different tone ; and uses language which, had It been
uttered at the meeting of that Society, would, he knew, have led to the
immediate rejection of his appeal. He says : " He must speak out the
truth : that ovaagolical men are at a very great discount in those colo-
nies generally, and that an effort is being made to rear a hierarchical
structure, which ho feared would not tend, as is supposed by some, to
strengthen the cause of pure Protestant and evangelical truth. The
object of his mission to this country was to raise funds for the establish-
ment of a sound evangelical college." And The Record, urgently recom-
mending the appeal, follows up i;he argument by stating, that " It is to be
regretted that several Canadian dioceses are deeply tainted with the
leaven of Tractarianism ; and that the local colleges at which the
Ganadian clergy receive their training, are almost wholly under this
baneful influence."
Archdeacon Hellmuth has the reputation of being a very astute and
successful collector of funds, and he, no doubt, now remembereu what an
appeal to such feelings produced in the case of Father Ohiniquy, for
whom, a few years ago, he vouched, when such large sums were obtained
from the credulous English public, much to the astonishment of many
thoughtful people in Canada. Intending, on the present occasion, to
attempt the same line, it was n ' iral for him to make the most of the
Trinity College controversy. But that was not sufScient for his purpose.
He appeals therefore to his hearers on behalf of all Canada, and gives
them to understand that what he has now iu contemplation will renew
the whole spirit of the Church there. " This [he assures his hearers] is
the very first effort of the kind to establish a thoroughly Protestant
theological college in the colony." No wonder that The Record tells its
readers, the next week, " that the local colleges at which the Canadian
clergy receive their training, are almost wholly under the baneful
inflrence of Tractarianism :" a comment which is tacitly allowed to
pass, being useful as seconding the appeal. Now, perhaps, on the
present occasion, the Archdeacon might have considered the college at
Sabrevois, in this diocese, as hardly important enough to interfere with
the sweeping nature of his statements ; yet many an urgent appeal has
of late been grounded by himself and his friends, upon the claims of this
'f
T
Tery institution (wliicli is wholly under the nmnngcmcnt of the Colonial
Church ami School Soiuhj), as a mcana of Hupiilyini; no cvnngulical
luiuistry for the eullRlitcnnicnt of some 000,000 or 700,000 of our breth-
ren in Canada. Hut, at any rate, tliero ia the University of ltidhoi)'i
College, Lcnnoxvillo, to which the Archdeacon has been under no small
obligations, in past years, and respecting which the Bishop of Quebec
has sent mo the following letter : —
BAnDFiELD, 8th April, 1862.
My d£ar Lord,
It grieves me very much to hoar of the representations respecting
tlie Church in Oanada,attributcd to Archdeacon Hollmtith, in the account
of his endeavors to raise a feeling in England, whicli may bo turned to
account for the pecuniary brnefit of the undertaking of which he is the
advocate there ; representations wliich assuredly arc uusustaiaed by
fact, and which are most conspicuously at variance with past proceed-
ings of his own, as well as with the language which ho has again and
again held in conversations with myself. Dr. Ilellrautb, whom I
adopted as a theological student at Bishop's College, whom I ordained,
and afterwards appointed as its Hebrew professor, and for whom I
procured, by application to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the degree of
D.D., was engaged at one time in publicly soliciting aid in England for
that institution, which continues to this day, under the same aiMpices
and the same management as fiom the first ; and be has ^old me, at
different times, how ho has fought the battles of the College in this
country, affirming, and proving by reference to the prescribed course of
study, the soundness of its teaching, and the falsehood of imputations,
which some parties were seeking to cast -upon it, of Komanizing
tendencies. Moreover, (I mention this chiefly because I am to a certain
extent identified with the theological character of the Diocese), he has
often spoken, with much apparent warmth and emotion, of his convictions
respecting my own just appreciation of gospel truth, and assured me of
his regarding me as a spiritual father, as ho regarded Principal Nicholls
in the light of a brother whom be luved ; and since he' came to reside at
Quebec, he averred his preference for the Cathedral as a place of
w./rship, and engaged a pew in it accordingly, which jo still holds.
The terms of cordial friendship which have subsisted between Dr.
Hellmuth and myself, make it peculiarly distressing to me to comply
'If
''M
9
wtth your dcolre for informailon of ilieno particulars, of which it h
deaignod to wake use, but inagis antica vcritat.
lioliove mo always,
My dear lUHhop,
Very Hincoroly yours,
O. J. QUEI5E0.
P. S. — Dr. Hcllmiith, who was for a Hliort timo at CobourR, in the
diocoso of Toronto, before ho entered at HiHhop's College, was ortlained
deacon by me in May, 184(3, and priest, in tSoptomber of the same year.
O. J. Q.
But passing from those topics to the complaint of the " great want of
evangelical men in these colonies," and tho diaoouragcmcnt they are
supposed to meet with here, I would ask whether tho Archdeacon is
himself the type of what is to be considered as an Evangelical man ? If
ho is, I believe, and certainly hope he is right in stating, that they are
not numerous ; I confess men of such a stamp have never had any
encouragement from me. ,
I have now before mo n copy of a letter addressed by the Montreal
Committee of the Cohn'ml Church and School Society to the Parent
Society* in London, and signed by every member of tho Committee, at
the timo when Dr. Hellmuth was about to be sent out as tho General
Superintendent of that Society for all British North America. In this
letter they press upon the Society the importance of arresting their de-
cision respecting that appointment; and state that the name of the
Lord Bishop- of Montreal is not affixed, for the reason that he was
obliged to leave town before the special meeting. But ho has authorized
us to state " that he fully coincides with the other members, in the opinion
they entertain of tho contemplated measure, and that ho should regret
the interruption of that harmony, which at present is est jlished between
himself and the Corresponding Committee of your Society." In con-
sequence of this representation. Dr. Hellmuth came out as Superintendent
of B. N. A., with the exception of the Diocese of Montreal. I have
acted now with that Society in perfect harmony for many years, and I
* Now tho Colonial and Continental Church Society.
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1]
I
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10
trust nothing will occur to interrupt it ; bu' if this point had not been
at once concr'ded, I must have withdrawn from all connection with it.
And it is but right, after making this statement, that I should give 70U
my reasons.
Not long after I came to Canada, when I was still but new to the
duties of my oflSce, and little acquainted with the people, Dr, Hellmuth
called on me, and stated that bis father in law. Gen. Evans, was anxious
that he should be settled near him in Montreal ; and as there was sup-
posed to be a want of more church-room iu this city, he, the General,
was Willing to build a church, at an expense of £3000, on some land of
his in Sherbrooke St., and the only condition he appended to tais offer
was, that his son-in-law, Dr. Hellmuth, should be the first incumbent. I
had no hesitation in replying, that s} liberal an offer deserved every
attention ; and if the General would give mc his proposition in writing,
I would, after consulting with one or two friends, return them an
answer in the course of a few days. Dr. Hellmuth, however, said, the
General would rather not have the matter talked about, and that it was
not necessary to put anything in writing, as the General was a great
invalid, and did not wish to be troubled about it ; but he would leave it
all to me ; I might decide everything, and have the church consecrated,
provided he, Dr. H., was the first incumbent. He also pressed me to
give him an immediate answer, as he was going out to Sherbrooke (of
which town he was then Rector,) the next day, and it would depend
upon my decision whether he should remove his family to Lennoxville,
and live there as Professor of the Oollege, or come in to Montreal. I
thought he was in an unnecessary hurry for my decision,, and wishing
still for something more definite in writing, I proposed to call iipon the
General the next morning, when I begged that i*omethiag might be
ready for me. I called accordingly ; and again was much pressed for
an immediate decision, but uould get nothing either from the General or
Dr. Hellmuth, except the same general statement that every thing would
be left to me to do as I liked ; and I was again desired not to mention ft
to any one at present. Dr. Hellmuth subsequently offered, if £3000
were not suificient, to advance £1600 more ; bat this he could only
lend, as, on account of his family, he should require it to be eventually
repaid, by tbo congregation or otherwise. I said I thought we might
11
contrive to build a plain, usdful Church for the £3000, having the site
also ; but if we had a debt of £1600, besides being a drag upon the con-
gregation, we could not have it consecrated. Upon which Dr. Hellmuth
said, " Oh I but the General is not going to give his £3000 ; he will ad-
vance it on security of the Church for a time, without interest ; and let
you have the land, which he values at £800 an acre, at half-price." " In-
deed," I exclaimed, " then I have been quite undei a misapprehension
all this time. The General has a great deal of land in that part of the
city, I believe ?" " Yes," said Dr. Hellmuth, "a great number of lots."
I immediately saw through the whole ma.ioBuvre. For the benefit of
General Evans' land, and to enable his son-in-law to settle in Montreal,
we were to build a church for him, which was to be burdened with an
exceedingly heavy debt. And this proposal was made to me verbally ;
I could never, though I rep'^ated^y asked for it, get the least memorandum
of so important a matter, in writing ; and I was not to be allowed to
consult a single friend respecting it ; while I was urgently pressed to
give an immediate decision. If I had unguardedly accepted the offer
as first made, I r. Hellmuth would immediately have made his family
arrangements and entered into engagements depending upon it ; and
then would have considered me bound in honor afterwards to carry it
through ; however contrary it might have turned out to what I had been
led to expect. I immediately put an end to the discussion, merely say-'
ing that I presumed I was not at liberty to mention the matter to any
one ; which Dr. Hellmuth said that they desired me not to do. And I
did not speak of it to a single individual ; but to my surprise, very
shortly, I found that there was great indignation felt in certain quarters
because, as it was asserted, General tilvans had offered £3000 to build a
church on his land, and I had refused to accept the offer. And this was
construed into a discouragement of "an Evangelical man ;" whereas I
had been prepared to eater heartily into the plan, until I found that the
whole business was an attempt to take me in. This certainly opened
my eyes to Dr. Hellmuth's real character ; and however his astuteness
and plausible manner may havu continued to deceive others, he has
altogether failed, as I believe he is fully conscious, ever to blind me
again ; and the more I have observed his course, the less reason have I
had to alter my present opinions. Not that I think I am at all singular
IS
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in such opinions, very far from it ; tliongli otliers may be unwilling to
avow them. But I feel thai his influence, clever and plausible as he is
is likely to be so injurious, and not least so, to that very Evangelical
caubc, in its best sense, of which he assumes to be the champion ; and I
consider his attack upon the Canadian Church and Canadian institu-
tions, so unwarranted, except for the most miserable personal and party
purposes, that I cannot hesitate, whatever may be the consequences, to
speak out plainly what I believe to be necessary for the cause of Evan-
gelical purity and truth, and the good of the Cl^urch.
As one very recent proof that I am not wrong in refusing to place
any reliance upon his testimony, I may mention that I have now before
me the Report, in an English newspaper, of a meeting held, on behalf of
the Colonial Church and School Society, last November ; at which
Archdeacon Hellmuth, with a view, I suppose, of exciting some special
interest amongst those present in the cause of the Society, tells them,
after speaking of Canada as a great field for the operations of the
Society, that " he knew they had an interest in the Revd. Mr. — '■ ,'
(this gentleman had formerly resided at the place where the meeting was
held,) " who was stationed at ■ in Upper Canada ; and he was glad
that he could speak to them about that gentleman. He was a very
successful laborer, and an able minister, much and deservedly beloved by
-bid people. He had his Bible Classes and Prayer Meetings, and God
had blessed his work."
Now it will scarcely be credited, and yet it is a fact, that Archdeacon
Hellmuth knew, that before be left Canada last autumn, this very
person whom he thus eulogizes, and who is a missionary of his Society,
had signed a document confessing that he had spoken absolute untruth ;
and that consequently he. Dr. H., as Superintendent of the Society^
had, after enquiry, decided that he must leave his mission, on the ground
that he had fallen frarz grace. How are these matters to be reconciled ?
Is such testimony to be received In England as reliable evidence for
anything ? The Record, I presume upon some such testimony as the
Archdeacon could furnish, asserts " that several of the Canadian Dioceses
are deeply tainted with the leaven of Tractarianism." And a few days
ago I was given an extract from a letter lately received from a person
in England mentioning a visit of the Archdeacon, and saying, " he has
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been very successful in the work he came about. I trust they will suc-
ceed in getting a truly evangelical College, the one at Toronto being
wholly given up to Puseyisra, from whence, — as the Bishop of Calcutta
used to say, — they topple into Popery."
Now without wishing to shirk the question in any way, it is not
always very easy to meet such vague sweepiug accusations of Tracta-
rianism. It reminds me of the well known lines about " The Extremes
of Vice,"—
" Ask whore's the North? at York, 'tis on the Tweed ;
. Ill Scotland, at the Orcades; and there,
At GrooDland, Zembia, or the Lord knows where."
What is denounced as Tractarianism or Puseyism in one place would
not be recognised as such in another ; but in the present day it happens
to be a convenient cry to raise, whenever it is wished to damage a
clergyman, or effect some party or personal object. As I understand it,
however, it implies, what is considered, an over-strained attention to
ritual observances and symbolic teaching, and unsafe approximation to
Romish doctrines and practices. If this be so, I unhesitatingly deny the
truth of the statement, "that several Canadian Dioceses are deeply
tainted with the leaven of Tractarianism," nor can I believe that even
the College of Toronto, in particular, is so full of it as to be about to top.
pie over to Popery. Knowing as I do what has passed for Tractarianism
in England, I really believe it would be far more agreeable with truth to
say, that any single Diocese in that country would exhibit more evidence
of such tendencies than the whole of Canada put together. " Evan-
gelical men," as such, may not be as abundant as the Archdeacon
wishes ; yet he will allow they are to be found in many most important
places. The Cathedral at Toronto and all the churches at Kingston have
long been so filled ; that at London, three in Montreal, one in Quebec
one in Hamilton : all principal cities in the Province. But whether the
clergy generally come up to the mark as " Evangelical men" or not, I say
it is a positive misrepresentation of the fact, and can only be made either
through ignorance, or for some party purpose, and to create a special
sympathy in certain quarters, to assert that there is any general preva-
lence of what is termed Tractarianism. Orangeism, rather than a
tendency towards Rome, I should suspect to be more in favor in the
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W«8t ; and any overstrained attention to ritnal obserrances is certainly
no charge that can be brought with justice against the Canadian Clergy i
Single examples of any excess in thic^ matter will be hard to find ; allow-
ing even to the utmost for the effects of the teachings of Trinity College,
upon which the Archdeacon dwelt so largely in his speech at Islington.*
But condemning, as he does, so sweepingly, the unevangelical tenden-
cies of the clergy, he rery naturally proceeds to include in his censure,
those who have been placed over them ; '* an effort is being made (he says)
to rear a hierarchical structure, which he feared, wouU not tend, as is
supposed by some, to strengthen the cause of pure Protestant and evangeli-
cal truth." Things no doubt would hare been very different had he
himself been a member of that hierarchy ; and I remember that just after
I had been notified that I was about to be appointed to this bishopric, but
before the appointment was made public, I saw a paragraph in a news-
paper, stating that the Hev. I. Hellmuth was to be the bishop. He was
quite a stranger to me, even by name, at the time, but I naturally
inquired in London what this announcement meant ; and I was informed
that his name had never been mentioned to the authorities who then had
the arrangement of this matter, and that, consequently, no such appoint-
ment had been contemplated. Two or three years ago, during a tempo-
rary illness of the Bishop of Quebec, another paragraph appeared, stating
that he was going to have a coadjutor, and that Dr. Hellmuth had been
selected for the appointment. The Bishop of Quebec, however, had
* Without entering at all into the merits of thte question, I think it must be
admitted that the following remark by the Bishop of Ontario, in bis address to bis
Synod, is a very fUr one:—
"Another consideration which held me back fW>m giving too ready credence to
the charges laid against the Frorost, was the fiust that all the Divinity students who
applied for Holy Orders were examined and approved by the Bev. H. Grasett, u
gentleman of views I believe identical with those bold by the opponents of Trinity
College. I never could for a moment endure the supposition (which was the only
alternative) that the examining Chaplain was dissatisfied with Iiis candidates for
Holy Orders, and yet presented them, at the most solemn occasion of their lives, as
' apt and meet for their learning and godly conversation to exercise the office of
Priest duly to the honour of God and the edification of His Church.' The suppo-
sition is so odious that my apology for alluding to it is the fact that the Hev. Mr.
Grasett, being examining Chaplain, inspired me with confidence that extreme
views in a Bomish direction were not apparent in the Divinity students, and this
helped to make me snspicioue of the truth of the charges against the Divinity
Professor."
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never heard that any snch plan had been in contemplation. Anxious,
therefore, as some parties may have been, to obtain f>uch a correction for
the existing evils of the present Canadian " hierarchical structure," it
has hitherto been without success. For myself, as one of that body, I
can only hope, as I do most sincerely, that I shall not, either by my
neglect of duty, or maladministration of my office, do injury to " the
cause of pure Protestant and evangelical truth." I may not, perhaps,
set to work exactly after the spirit of the Archdeacon ; and God knows
how truly conscious I am, that " in many things I offend daily ;" and
how much we all need, whether so-called " evangelical men," or others
who may not be allowed to be so classed — how much we all need to be
ever seeking a larger measure of God's grace, to enable us to give
ourselves more heartily and effectually to the great work whereunto we
have been called. When we consider the trust committed to us, and
look round and " see the fields everywhere white already to harvest,"
we may do well to listen now and then to some such stirring appeals as
the following: "Tet thou art alive, and they alive ; yet thou hast a
tongue, and they have ears : the final sentence hath not cut off their
hopes. Preach, therefore ; and preach with all thy might. Exhort them
privately and personally, with all the seriousness thou canst : quickly,
cr it will be too late ; prudently, or Satan will overreach thee ; fervently,
or thy words are like to be disregarded. Remember, when thou lookest
them in the face — when thou beholdest the assemblies, that they must
be converted, or condemned ; sanctified on earth, or tormented in hell ;
And that this is the day : it must be now, or never." *
But I feel sure that we shall best promote our work, instead of in.
creasing divisions and widening separations, " by striving together for
the faith of the Gospel :" and certainly many divisions often are origin-
ated for very insufficient reasons. " It is not impossible that this desire
of unity may have produced some unwilling error of love ; but certainly
I am most free from the wilful love of error. In questions of an inferior
nature, Christ regards a charitable intention much more than a right
opinion."!
In my own Diocese, in our general work, in the meetings of our Synod
* B. Baxter, Disooftree, Ecol. iz. 10.
t Arohbp. Bramhall.
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and elsewhere, I am thankful to say, we know no division of party ; we
have some that will be owned as amongst the leading " Evangelical men"
in Canada ; and large as is the field of labor before us, I have been too
glad to welcome amongst us any good and faithful servants of Ghriet,
without distinction of party ; only impres. .ng upon them, whatever side
they might be. inclined to take, that I could not encourage any attempt
to carry on the work of this Diocese through perpetual strife and con-
troversy. " I have often thought that the chief occasions of men's dif-
fering so much in their opinions were, either their not understanding
each other ; or else, that instead of ingenuously searching after truth,
they have made it their business to find out arguments for the proof of
what they have once asserted."*
This is very true : when men get heated by a controversy, it is very
difficult to arrive at any amicable solution of a quarrel ; their consis-
tency becomes pledged to go on with their party, and to give support to
foregone conclusions.
may God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour,
the Prince of Peace, give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great
dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. May He take away all
hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly
union and concord ; that as there is but one Body, and one Spirit, and
one Hope of our Calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God
and Father of us all, so we may henceforth be all of one heart and one
soul, united in one holy bond of Truth and Peace, of Faith and Charity,
and may with one mind and one mouth glorify Him, through Jesus
Christ our Lord.f
I remain.
Ever your &ithful Brother in Christ,
F. MONTREAL.
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* Bp. Butler, Correspondence with Dr. Samuel Clarke, letter 2.
t Prayer for Unity, in the Book of Common Prayer.
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