^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I u lifi U 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 lA -• 6" ► ^v*- Photographic Sciences Corporation ,v c>^ a. •ss <^ \ I^X''^^ ^ f^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 k "^^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. □ D D D D D D □ D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture rdstaur^e at/ou pellicul6e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur {i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents ^~p^ Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re iiure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de Is marge int^rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 film^es. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplimentaires; L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a At* possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique. qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiquAs ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endom magmas Pages restored and/oi Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul^es Pages discoloured, stained or foxei Pages d^coiordes. tachetdes ou piqudes The totr I I Pages damaged/ I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ I I Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ □Pages detached/ Pages d6tachdes rrX Showthrough/ I — I Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ Quality inigale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible The posi ofti filml Orig begl the I sion othc first sion oril D Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc.. have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata. une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 fllm^es d nouveau de fagon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. The shal TINI whi( Mar diff< entii begl righ reqi met This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au taux de r4du6tion indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X V 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed hero hat bean raproducad thanks to tha ganerosity of: Mttropolitin Toronto Library Canadian History Dapartment L'axampiaira fiimA fut raproduit grAca k ia gAnArosit* da: Matropolitan Toronto Library Canadian History Dapartmant Tha imagaa appearing hare are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Las images suivantas ont At* raproduites avac la plus grand soin, compta tenu de la condition at de la nettetA de rexemplaire film*, et en conformity avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exempiaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimAe sont fiimAs en commen9ant par la premier plat et en terminant soit par la darnlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par la second plat, salon la cas. Tous las autres exempiaires originaux sont filmte en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la darnlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain tha symbol — »- (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol Y (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le C8s: la symbole —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in tha upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux da reduction diffirants. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour 6tra reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film* A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, an pranant la nombre d'images nicassaira. Las diagrammes suivanta illustrent la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 CB. AN APPEAL IN BEHALF (bjs viEim massa^DPQ IN CANADA. i '^ m w ?1 i - Hi AN APPEAL vr f IN BEHALF OF THE MISSIONS jjt* CAJ^jin^. SECOND EDITION. \r» ■^^ The Profits of the Second Edition will be given in aid of the Canadian Church. BEDFORD: PRINTED DY J, WEBB, BOOKSELLER, Sec. 1834. I' 4« '^ ■ * -4 DEC 1- 1W0 'I I !/i ;4 > w .' v^ ** I i- 3 1^. » « c AN APPEAL, &c. At a iiumerous Meeting of the District Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, held at Bedford, on Monday, December 23, 1883, The Hon. and Rev. H. C. Cust in the Chair, a Member having communicated some information which it appeared desirable to make more generally known, was requested to publish the substance of his statemrr«t, which is briefly as follows : — The principal object of the present Meeting is to consider whether any measures can be adopted by this Committee to assist the Parent Society, in meeting the fearful deficiency in its funds, occasioned by the diminution and speedy ces- sation of the Parliamentary Grant, which has hitherto enabled the Board to support, in insufficient numbers, and upon a barely competent subsistence, a most exemplary body of Clergy in the Canadian Colonies, under the deno- mination of Missionaries. Heretofore a portion of the Colonial Clergy received salaries from the British Government, while others were maintained by our Incorporated Society ; but after a few years His Majesty*s Ministers adopted the more simple and It i economical plan of making an annual Grant of £ 16,500* to the Society, in aid of tlicir colonial missions. This grant, on the fuith of H'liich all the subsisting arrangements for Ministers, Catechists, and Schoolmasters, &c. have been formed, it has now been signified, will be reduced to £12,000 for the year 1832, £8,000 for 1833, and £4.000 for 1834, after which it is to cease altogether. In this unlooked for and cruel emergency, when the regular and steady support and countenance of the Govern- ment is withdrawn from the Colonial Church, no common liberality and exertion to uphold the Protestant Esta- blishment has become the paramount duty of individuals desirous to preserve the Christian religion itself in that country from sinking into utter disregard and neglect. This Meeting may naturally expect that some explanation should be afforded of the causes which render it impossible for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in England, or the resources of the Colonies, to afford a suitable main- tenance for the Clergy, Catechists, and Schoolmasters ; and at the same time that proof should be offered tliat the Church, which we are called upon to uphold, is efficient, and acceptable to the Colonists. With respect to the former of these points, the brief statement of the Parent Society, that, after reducing the present inadequate stipends of their Missionaries to one half of their present amount, they will still be compelled * Society's Reports. to sell their funded capital, in order to meet the demands upon their liberality ; and that they are wholly precluded from any attempt to comply with the numerous and urgent petitions on their table to increase the number of their missions, must be amply sufficient to satisfy us of the imperative duty which calls on us to strengthen their handw in the great cause which they have undertaken. As the opinion is, I believe prevalent, that a provision has been made for the maintenance of the Colonial Clergy, by what are denominated the Clergy Reserves, it will be ne- cessary to enter into ,some detail of facts, to shew that the colonial resources are at present unavailable to the support of a Religious Establishment commensurate with the wants of the population. *At the capitulation of the province of Quebec in 1774, the obligation of paying tithes was left by General Amhurst to be decided by the King's pleasure. And the decision of the British government was that the Roman Catholic Clergy should be allowed to receive tithes from their own people, but that Protestants should be exempted. At the same time it was declared that the Protestant Episcopal Church of England should be the Established Church throughout His Britannic Majesty's dominions,and directions were given that, in laying out new townships in Lower Canada, glebes of not less than 300, nor more than 500 acres, should be set apart for the maintenance of its Clergy. •Speech ofilrctHleacon Strachan, 1828. 8 I i ,il: t II ■'!.-■> ft So late M the year 1793, there were but iix Episcopalian clergymen in the whole province of Lower Canada, two of whom were settled at Quebec, and two at Montreal ; and butcc Mercury, 1830. f Archdeacon Strachairs Speech. :|; 31 Geo. III. cap. 31. ^ Letter of the Hon. and Rev. C, .1. Stewart, 1821, p. 6, protpeetive ; and that no present income could be derived from it for the support of a body of Clergy, who, under the auspices of the Bishop, had in a few years increased in number from nine (two of whom were inefficient from the infirmities of age) to upwards of eighty, while the number of Churches amounted to aboutyS/>i/ in the two provinces.^ The Clergy, therefore, were maintained in the Canadian Colonies partly by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and in part by the Parliamentary Grant. But the Bishop, on his triennial visitations, (which regularly took place throughout a Diocese nearly a thousand niilciii in length, even during the war,) finding the number of Clergy very unequal to the wants of the population, and being assailed with almost iimumerable and urgent petitions from the new settlers to send them missionaries, beg^n in the year 1819 to give eflTect to the Corporation for managing the Clergy Reserves, in the hope of rendering them available to the establishment of additional Ministers among a people so earnestly desirous of it, that no lens than twelve Churches were built in the expectation -f that their pe- titions might produce the desired effect. It was found, however, that the powers of the Cor- poration were not sufficient for the purposes intended, and an application was accordingly made to Government to procure an Act of Parliament which should enable them to sell a portion of the Reserves, and to appropriate • Qnrhcc Mercury, lfi20. t Quebec iMcrcury, 1830. ^3 \: f" 10 the fund« to the establishment of missions, the buildings of churches and parsonage houses, and other ecclesiastical purposes. 1 It should be observed, that the words of the Act ap- propriate the lands in question to ** the maintenance and support of a Protestant Clergy ;*'* and the exertions of the Corporation having awakened attention to the ultimate value of the Church property, the Presbyterian Clergy preferred a claim to share in the benefit as being, equally with the Episcopalians, " a Protestant Clei^,*' and forming the established Church in one part of the King's Dominions. 1, ' Although it appeared evident that the Kirk of Scotland had not been contemplated in the 31 George III. c. 31. nor in the charter, inasmuch as they formed no part of the Corporation, His Majesty's Government conceived that their claim was in equity entitled to consideration ; and these circumstances led to a prolonged correspondence and dis- cussion, and eventually to the oral communications of Archdeacon Strachan, who came to England for the pur- pose, with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the year 1827. J 1 1 H The Clergy Reserves, being thus a subject of litigation, were precluded in a great measure from improvement, and it appears from a speech cf Mr. Wilmot Horton, in the * Letters to the Earl ol Liverpool, on the State of the Colonies, cttcr 1. p. 37. ' Letter 11 House of Coinmous,* in 1827, that the nhole of them produced scarcely £ 400 a year. The contest, in the mean time, was carried on with considerable earnestness om both sides ; and the various sects of Dissenters in the Colonies, finding that the claims of the Scotch Presbyterians were likely to be successful, became competitors with them for a share in the spoils, and sent home a variety of delegates to enforce their pretensions, who made the most exaggerated, and in many cases, unfounded statements respecting the number and importance of the sectaries, the paucity of Episcopalians, and the general disaffection of the Colonists from the Established (^hurch. > The effect of this violent attack, in the first instance suffi- ciently alarming, because no one was at hand to contradict it, was, in the end, extremely serviceable to the cause of the Church. The Government, embarrassed by the endless variety of conflicting claims and contradictory statements, was more disposed to leave the Endowment of the Church as they found it; and the Clergy, as soon as they became aware of the statements made against them, invited inquiry, and furnished documents which have triumphantly repelled the attempt to discredit them, and have been the means of awakening attention to their exemplary usefulness and general acceptableness among the settlers. The result has been that, without coming to any im- mediate decision respecting the claims of other denomi- nations to a share in the proceeds of the Clergy Reserves, His * Parliamentary Reports, 1827. ri : ' v' m'i \ * •'; n 12 Majesty's Ministers in 1827, procured an Act of Parliament, which enables the Corporation to sell the lands to a limited extent, and to apply the funds arising from the side, according- to the provisions of the Act 31 Geo. III. c. 31. It must be unnecessary to ol)serve, that to force a rapid sale of uncultivated lands at the present low price of property in the colonies, would be an act of the most un- justifiable improvidence. The Corporation, however, anxious to meet the wishes of the Colonists, and the views of Government, have, from time to time, effected a few sales in Upper Canada, and have accounted for the amount thu? raised. In the Lower Province no purchasers have as yet been found. That the supply thus derived is too scanty to have any material effect upon the condition of the Church, is suffi- ciently proved by the statements of the Society already noticed — the lamentable fact, that the exemplary and la- borious ministers of our church must be deprived of half the pittance upon which they have hitherto subsisted, and that no addition to their number can possibly be made to meet the rapid growth of the population, and the wide extension of new settlements. Of the character of that body of Clergy it would be difficult to speak too highly. Animated by the still sur- vivin*^ spirit of that Prelate who first formed and fostered the Canadian Church, they shrink from no labours, they repine at no privations, they are deterred by no difficulties, and alarmed by no dangers, in the discharge of iheir 11 \ 13 arduous and incessant duties. The inclemency of an Arctic winter, the wildness of primeval forests, the fury of storms and floods, cannot deter them from preaching the Word of Life at the appointed time and place. Nor, since the days of the Apostles, has the Church of Christ been adorned by a Ministry more disinterested, more pure in doctrine, more zealous in duty, more patient under every discouragement. The necessity for such a Ministry can scarcely be estimated in a country like England, where, however, justly we lament the divisions in the Christian body, and prefer the doctrine and discipline of the Established Church to those of other denominations, it must be admit- ted that there is among Dissenting Ministers much sound knowledge of the Gospel, and practical usefulness in teaching. But in a new and wild country, the case ii^ widely different. A scattered population, gasping for the Bread of Life, and longing above all things for the instruc- tion of authorized Missionaries, are driven, where these are denied to them, to appease the appetite for instruction with the incoherent antinomian, and seditious ranting of desperate adventurers, who are commonly the most fanati- cal enthusiasts, or downright impostors ; and the monstrous impieties and disgusting immoralities of camp-meetings, and other similar perversions of religion, are so notorious as to spare the necessity for a painful enumeration. Hence arises the striking difference observed by all travellers between the character of the back-woodsmen of the United States, and that of the Canadian settlers. The T(y. '^r< '/r?J / 14 former deprived of all regular religious instruction form perhaps the mast shocking specimen of human depravity in the history of the world. The latter, where they are settled in the townships with a resident Clergyman, or even with the occasional instruction of a visiting Missionary,* present a delightful picture of primitive society, living in the interchange of mutual good offices, exercising charity to the poor, and hospitality to strangers, and studying to bring up their families in the practice of Christian piety. i 'V- -. H i i' P'' ] a? •. The Colonists are themselves fully sensible of the value and importance of the services rendered them by the Governmsnt and by the Society ; and deep indeed will be their dismay and sorrow, when they find that blessing thus unseasonably withdrawn from them. The tables of the Corporation, of the Bishop, of the District Committees in the Colonies, loaded with their petitions for additional Missionaries afford a less convincing proof of their ear- nestness, and of their attachment to our Communion, than the long and painful journies which many of them fre- quently undertake, through trackless forests, and in inclement seasons, to hear tliat preaching, and to receive those sacraments from which they derive strength and comfort in this life, and the hope of everlasting happiness hereafter. ' * Nor are the utmost efforts and self-denying sacrifices of individuals on the spot, wanting to contribute their part in • The Hon. andRer. C. J. Stewart^ now Bishop of Quebec, was the first Visiting^ Missionary. 15 the work of establishing the Church. Money they have not to bestow. But materials for building, and labour in erecting churches, and parsonages, and schools, and in clearing a glebe for their Minister, they rejoice to aflford, and welcome the task with thankfulness. Under these circumstances, when they are once made known, it is impossible to doubt that the liberality and Christian piety of individuals will seek to compensate, in some degree, the funds of the Society for the deprivation of the Government Grant ; and thus it may be that the failure of that supply shall eventually become a blessing to the Colonial Church, by rousing the attention of their brethren at home to the situation of a people sprung from the same blood, worshipping in the same tongue, nursed in the same faith, and zealously attached to the same pure doc- trine and primitive discipline, which has rendered the Church of England so long the Pillar and Ground of the Truth. J.Webb, Printer, Bedford. h\ i n s .■ ■< III 'h ■ I ?r"v , I i V M1