IMAGb EVALUATION TEST TARGEl (MT-3) •1.0 1.1 1.25 ■^ M |Z2 Nluu SUA ScMioes Corporalion 23 WIST MAIN STHIT WUSTM.N.Y. UStO (n»)l71-4S03 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/iCIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquaa "PP Technical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notas tachnlquaa at bibliographiquaa Tha Instituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filnting. Faaturas of thia copy which may ba biblingraphically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa In tha raproduction, or which may aignlficantly changa tha uaual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. 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Thia item la f llmod at the reduction ratio cheeked below/ Ce document eat filmA au taux da rAduction indlquA ji-daaaoua. 10X 14X 1IX 22X 2tX aox J 1 12X itx MX 2«X anc 32X 'i-t^^^ The eopy filmed hf has been r«pron, or the beck cover vvhen eppropriete. All other original copiae ere filmed beginning on the first pegs with e printed or illustrated impree- sion. snd snding on the bMt pege with e printed or illuetreted impreeeion. Lee exempleires origineux dont Is couvsrturs sn pepier est imprimAe sent filmAs sn commsnpant par la premier plat at an tsrminsnt soit psr Is dsrniArs psgs qui comports uns smprsints d'imprsssion ou d'iilustrstion. soit psr Is second plat, salon la cas. Toua Iss sutrss exsmplsirss origineux sent filmAs sn eommsn^snt psr Is prsmlArs psgs qui comperte une empreinte d'impression ou d'iilustrstion st sn tsrminsnt psr is demlAre pege qui comporte une teiis empreinte. The last recorded freme on eech microftdia shoN contain the symbol — »> (msening "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol ▼ (meening "END"), vvMchever eppliee. Maps, pletee. cherts, ste.. mey be filmed at different reduction retios. Thoss too large to be entirely included in one expoaura are filmed beginning in the upper left hend comer, left to rigm end top to bottom, aa many framee ae required. TIte following (flagrems illustrete the method: Vn dee symbolee suivants spparettra S'jr lu dsrniirs image de cheque microfiche, sslon Is cas: la symboia -» signifis "A SUIVRE", Is symbols ▼ signifis "FIN". Ltm certes. plenches, tsblssux. stc. psuvsnt Atrs fiimAs i dss taux de riduction diffirsnts. l.orsqus Is document est trop grsnd pour Atrs rsproduit sn un ssul clich*. il sst film* A partir de I'engie supArisur geuche, de gsuchs i droits, st ds lUMit en bes. sn prsnant Is nombrs d'imsgss nicssseire. t.es disgrsmmes suivsnts illuscrsnt Is mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 i"gi\"l ■KOK^s^"; mOE'tlS'T -r^fh'strw ■ fe>" A v^ /■■ ' ''/ •'';^f -*<-**.--... -fl-^ THE FIRST BISHOP OF TORONTO : A KEVIRW AN1> A STUDY BY IIKNIJY SCADDLXC, |>.l>., i'axtaij. T R N T \V, C CJIKWETT A Co. FvlXCi STF EKT KAST. I s r, 8 . I I THE FIRST BISHOP OF TORONTO A REVIEW AND A STUDY. BY HENRY SCABBING, D.D., Cantab. TORONTO: AV. C. CHEWETT A CO., KING STREET EAST. 1868. tl VltlXTEI) AT Tin: STEAM PRESS KSTAnLISHMENT OF W. C. CIIEWKTT & CO., RING STREET EAST, TORONTO. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA INSCRIBED WITH REAL HESPECT TO TITE RIGHT REV. ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE, D.D., BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK, WHO, IN Hia "CRITERION," HAS MARKED OUT AFRESH. SHARPLY AND FIRMLY, FOR THE EXISTING GENERATION, THE LINE WHICH, WITH THE WELL-INSTRUCTED AND DISCERNING, DIVIDES TRUTH FROM ERROR IN ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS ; WHO, IN THE ACCOMPANYING PORTRAITURE, WILL RECOGNIZE ONE THAT, AGAIN AND AGAIN, FOR THE PEOPLE COMMITTED TO HIS SPIRITUAL OVERSIGHT, VIRTUALLY PERFORMED THE SAME OFFICE, ILLUSTRATING HIS WORDS OF WISE COUNSEL BY THE CONSISTENT PRACTICE OF A LONG LIFE, AND (LIKE A DELANCEY, LAMENTED AND BELOVED «)N BOTH SIDES OF THE UPPER WATERS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE) PROVING HIMSELF TO BE ONE OF THE NOT MJNV 7ATIIEHS WHOM CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES ARE PERMITTED TO II.WE, AND WHOSE MEMORY THEY HAVE LEARNED TO HOLD IN ESPECIAL HONOUR. 2369740 ) PREFACE. Having been plij'sically unable at the time of tbe decease of the late venerated Bishop of Toronto to do honour to his ineuiory in my place, and in the usual way, I have ventured to throw such thoughts as have occurred to me in connexion with that event into the shape of a historical Eeview and Study, which I here present to the reader in independent pamphlet form, there being amongst us no Periodical suited to receive papers of this description. II. S. 10 Tkinity Square, Toronto, Jan. 28, 1868. Si w I TABLE OF PRINCIPAL MASTERS. PAOK Arrival at Kingston 18 Removal to Cornwall 15 Theological system adopted 17 School system pursued 21 Removal to York 20 Ecclesiastical lands in Canada, history of 2i( Educational question in Canada, history of 4ft Visit to England for University Charter 4S Visit to England for Consecration 52 Institution of Diocesan Society DJl Building and rebuilding the Cathedrtn Church 55 Visit to England on extinction of King's College 56 Founding of Trinity College 57 Institution of a Representative Synod 01 Charges and printed Remains 70 Results S3 ¥ 'I .« THE FIUST BISHOP OF TOEOIJTTO. A REVIEW AND A STUDY.* Modern liistorians have discovered the utility of the chance literature of particular periods. The freshness and life which constitute the charm of Macaulay and Froude, as distinguished from their predecessors, arise in a great degree from their not having disdained the pamphlets and popular literature, the autobiographies, diaries, private correspondence and floating discourse of the times in which their heroes and heroines lived. The graphic touches which reader so fascinating their word- portraitures of "William and Mary, for example, of Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart, and of Elizabetii, with the dramatis personse attendant upon each, have been derived from sources such as these. In the United States, the fugitive productions, political and literary, of the Colonial period, are eagerly sought after as materials for history ; and, in many cases, have been reprinted under the auspices of societies expressly foimed for the preser- vation of such papers. Almost every State and large town has a collection of local documents, possessing at once a sort of family interest, and occasionally considerable importance in relation to public affairs. The vast chaos of printed matter every year accumulating in London, from the sale and disper- sion of libraries in England, Scotland and Ireland, is annually ransacked for American pamphlets, which are set apart by dealers in books as having a spec .il value for the United States market. In Canada a similar minute interest in the past is felt. It •Chrutian Riearder, Vols. 1. & II. Svo. York ; Printed at the U. C. OazetU Office ; 1819, 1820. 10 1* !' has been long strongly manifest among the educated Lower Canadian French. It has extended itself to the descendants of other nationalities. In both divisions of the late Province of Canada, Historical Societies have been instituted. The Government of Canada has authorized from time to time the collection of historical documents in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, and the results in manuscript and other- wise are preserved for the use of persons interested in such matters, in the parliamentary libraries at Ottawa, Quebec and Toronto. In the Eastern division of Canada the local materials for the historian are more abundant than in the Western. Tracts, magazines and ne vspapers have all along there been preserved with some care and interest. In AVestern Canada, when wish- ing to verify a fact or a date, it is curious to discover how all but impossible it is to find files of the Papers of thirty or forty years since, or sets of the periodicals that from time to time have had a brief existence. It is thus by no moans easy to recover minute particulars in relation to events, discussions and persons, that at particular times made a considerable noise. The difliculty is, in some instances, perhaps a happy one. But for the future, the existence of libraries, public and private, where the productions of the local press are deposited and valued, will render impossible a deartli of historical data. We are so fortunate as to have at hand a collection of early Canadian works ; and among them, a copy of The Christian Recorder^ a magazine printed partly at Kingston and partly at York, in 1819 and 1820. The numbers issued at Kingston were printed at the Chronicle oftice, by S. Miles ; those appear- ing at York were printed at the Upper Canada Gazette ofiice, '' for the Editor and R. C. Home." After two years, the peri- odical ceased to exist. The volumes consist respectively of 482 and 448 pages. The size is large octavo ; the type is a bold ]>ica, the lines running across the whole page ; the paper is stout, and the ink remarkably good. At the end of each number, a portion of the matter is in double columns, and in smaller type. These volumes possess an interest, a? having been edited and in great part written by the late Bishop of Toronto, while .a 11 presbyter doing duty at York. They treat of matters con- nected principally with the Anglican Church in Great Britain and Ireland and Ca^^ada, and other dependencies of the Empire. Had the Christian Recorder chanced to have been a general magazine, like the old standard periodicals of the last century, the value of the work would have been greater as a source of minute information, in relation to the civil and domestic history of Canada during the brief term of its existence. As it is, the work is chiefly to be prized as furnishing an insight into the early opinions and views of one who became locally very eminent. It will be of some public interest, probably, to mention that heavy mourning lines surround all the pages of the number for September, 1819, out of respect to the memory of the Governor-in-Chief, the Duke of Richmond, then recently deceased. In the same number is a funeral oration on the occasion of the death of that personage. The number for March, 1820, is draped in like manner for George III., and contfuns also a funeral oration on the death of that monarch. In the iirst volume there is a memoir of the Indian chief, Jose])h Brant; and in the second volume, a discourse by Samuel Farmer Jarvis, on the Religion of the Indians of North America, delivered before the New York Historical Society. There are papers also on the History and State of Education in Upper and Lower Canada. We intend to make our notice of this early production of the Upper Canadian press the occasion of a rapid review of the public life and times of the first Bishop of Toronto, delineating his career and recording its results with as much brevity as shall be possible. The history of Dr. Strachan will hereafter form a portion of the history of Canada in general, and of the Anglican Church in Canada in particular. Meanwhile, a review of the kind we have proposed will not be unacceptable to tlie reader of to-day, who, while absorbed, along with his contemporaries, in things of immediate moment, is apt to remain ignorant of matters that stirred the iiearts of the gene- ration passing away, however necessary, in some instances, a knowledge of those matters may be to a right understanding of the existing situation of affairs. ^ I 12 The question of Public Eclucation in Upper Canad.a was the remote occasion of Mr. Strachan's emigration from Scotland. Among the wealthier families of Western Canada, the necessity began soon to be felt of securing for their growing sons the intellectual and moral training customary in old countries. In the polity designed for the recently organized Province of Upper Canada, a University was from the begin- ning included. It was, of course, long before the means and numbers of a young community justified the actual commence- ment of such an institution ; but its existence in the future was kept in view. About tlie year 1 798 or 1799, certain families in Kingston and the neighbourhood appear to have resolved on opening a correspondence with friends in Scotland, with a view of obtain- ing from them a tutor for their sons, alluding at the same time to the wider and higher sphere which in due time might be open to the per on sent out, so soon as the country should be ripe for a High School or University. The families referred to — Ilamiltons, Stuarts and Cart- wrights — when casting about for the education of their sons, appear to have looked towards Scotland rather than England, partly perhaps from national predilection, and partly from a reasonable impression that the economic and primitive Univer- sity system of Scotland was better adapted to a community constituted as that of Upper Canada then was, than the more costly and more complicated systems of Oxford and Cambridge, The first Governor of Upper Canada, in a letter to the Bishop of Quebec in 1795, had given it as his opinion, that " the clergy requisite for oflices in the University in the first instance, should be Englishmen, if possible ; " which was also the opinion, he adds, of Mr. Secretary Dundas. But at the same timeJie cautiously refere to "the habits and mannere of the American settlers;" and expresses his apprehensions in respect to the adaptodness to the community of Upper Canada of " clergymen educated in England, with English families and propensities, habituated in every situation to a greater degree of refinement and comfort than can be found in a new country, or possibly anywhere without the precincts of Great Britain." And in regard to the bishopric which he desired to see at once fll . 13 established at liis seat of Government, he had strongly recom- mended the consecration f^^ « oi*esbyter long familiar with the New England colonies, a Mr. Peters, as likely to bo more ac- ceptable and nseful in a new community, than one wholly unused to a population such as that of U])per Canada was ex- pected to bo. In the case of Nova Scotia, a clergyman, Dr. Inglis, trained in the colonial service, had already been appointed bishop. In looking to Scotland, then, rather than to England, for an instructor for their sons, the families at Kings- ton, in 1709, may have been moved also by some of the general convictions which were evidently strong in the mind of the first Governor of Upper Canada. The educational opening in Canada was duly made known to several young Scottish scholars just starting in life. The one, amongst them, that at length decided to accept, cuurage- ously verituring to try his future in the distant and wholly new field of action, was Mr. John Strachan, master at the time, of the Parochial school of Kettle in the county of Fife, and of the age of about nineteen years. On the last day of the year 1799, he reached Kingston, hav- ing sailed from Greenock at the close of the preceding August. The work of private tuition was immediately begun. The prospect of employment ia connection with a government scheme of education, was found to be more remote than had been imagined. Public Instruction was to be maintained by the proceeds of crown lands ; but these were as yet in a state of nature. Some years must elapse before revenues could accrue from that quarter. Notwithstanding a momentary disappointment, the resolution was formed to test the new conditions into which his emigra- tion had brought hiwi. It would naturally strike him that the experienced friends by whom he was surrounded, had not themselves decided, without good reasons, on identifying their fortunes witli those of tlie newly organized community of Upper Canada. He would not be long in discovering that they had sketched out a future for themselves and their child- ren. Tlie minute information gathered from them, would fur- nish plentiful materials for decision in regard to his own case. 14 It is little to be wondered at, that at the time now spoken of, Mr. Strachan, as a young man educated and trained in Scot- land, did not consider himself, in any very strict sense, a nism- ber of the Anglican communion. It appears that his parents were of different pevsuasions. Ilis father belonged to the Non- jnrants, that is, to the adherents of that succession of bishops who continued to refuse the oaths of allegiance to the House of Brunswick. Of these, Jacobites as they were termed politi- cally, the stronghold in the Lowlands was Aberdeen, where Mr. Strachan was born. His mother belonged to the Ilelief Kirk, a communion resemblinj; the modern Free Kirk and based on the rejection of lay-patronage. It is now merged in the United Presbyterian body. He was familiarized in his childhood with the Episcopal forms of worship, by frequently attending, in company with his father, the ministrations of Bishop Skinner of Aberdeen, the Primus of Scotland from 1789 to 1810 ; but on being deprived of his father, while still quite young, he was afterwards usually taken to the religious services preferred by his mother. But while thus grounded in the principles of the Christian faith, the historic question in relation to the Chris- tian church had not, in any practical way, been brought before him, up to the time of his emigration. At Kingston he is brought into intimate relations with the Rev. Dr. Stuart, who, although now the official representative of the Anglican Church in that place and bishop's commissary for Upper Canada, was himself the son of a Scottish presbyte- rian. Dr. Stuart had migrated to Canada from Virginia, and was one of the large group of persons who in the United States and Canada have deemed it a duty for reasons satisfactory to their intelligence, to leave the religious communion in which they were born, and unite themselvoi, some as clergy, some as laity, to the Anglican communion — a result promoted, inde- pendently of the historic argument, by the fact that the offshoots of the Anglican Chu»'ch in the dependencies of the Empire are necessarily divested of the secular trappings which are urged as grounds of separation in the mother-country. Doubtless the influence of the Ilev. Dr. Stuart with the newly- arrived young Scot, and probably his example also, had much I 1 15 weight ; and we speedily find a resolution formed on the part of Mr. Strachan to take orders in the Anglican Church. After fulfilling a three years' engagement as preceptor at Kingston, and going at the same time through a course of theological reading, he is accordingly ordained in the year 1803, a deacon, and in the following year, a presbyter, in the Anglican church, by Dr. Mountain, the then bishop of Quebec. His mission was Cornwall ; but he continued to unite with the clerical profession, the office likewise of an instructor of youth in general learning. We thus see him fairly started in the double 3areer, in both lines of which he was afterwards to be conspicuous. In accor- dance with a natural law, the strong aptitudes that were in him had sought a place for development, and now in some sort, an approximation to a such place was found. V'hile there is in such cases of course no special forecast of the forms in wliich the future is to be worked out, there is a powerful consciousness of sure rewards in some sha])e for vigilance and a strong will. Amonf; the earliest determiaations of the future bishop, we liappen to know, thore was one to be found ever with the foremost in whatevei profession he should adopt. This amount of clear purpose at all events on his part, we have learned from one to whom as an incentive to exertion in his youth, the avowal was made by the bishop himself. — Ileed- fully and successfully, tln'ough every phase of his eventful his- tory— " He heard the constant Voice its charge repeat Which out of his young heart's oracular seat First roused him." Men bearing the good lowland name of Strachan, had already been distinguished in ecclesiastical annals ; and they wore all very staunch non-jurants. From 1062 to 1671, Dr. David Strachan was bishop of Brechin. In 1G89, Dr. John Strachan was deprived of the incumbency of the Tron church in Edin- burgli, for not reading on the day appointed a proclamation fi'om the Estates of Scotland " certifying the lieges that none presume to own or acknowledge the late King James VII. for their King, nor ol)oy, accept or assist any commissions or or- sll 16 I, I ■ t ders that may be emitted by him ; and that none prcaume, upon their highest peril, by word, writing, or sermons, or any other manner of way, to impugn or disown the royal authority of "William and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland." — Stephens's IIiHtory of the Church of Scotland, ill. 4:08. And in IGOO, he is deprived of his theological professorijhip in the l^niversity of Edinburgh, for refusing the following test : " I, A. B., do in the sincerity of my heart acknowledge and declare that their majesties, William and Queen Mary are the only lawful and undoubted sovereigns, Kii>g and (iucen of Scotland, as well de jure as de facto, ^^ tfce. That the refusal of this test might , not be understood in any doubtful manner, the inquisitom who administered it had taken the precaution to allege of the tame Dr. John Strachan " that in a sermon before the diocesan synud he reconmiended a reconciliation with the Church of Home; that he was an Arminian, a Pelngiun, and innovated the worship of God in setting up the English service,'' &c. Again, in 1787, " the clergy of the bishopric of Brechin elected Dr. Abernethy Drummond, one of the clergy of Edinburgh, to be their bishop ; and at the same time they elected Mr, John Strachan, ju'iest, at Dundee, to be his coadjutor in that bishop- ric." — Stephen, iv. -111. This bishop Strachan, who survived until 1810, consented, with the rest of his brethren, to read the prayer for King George III., when the death of the Pretender was announced. " Well do I remember," says an old Jacobite of that time, " the day on which the name of George was men- tioned in the morning service for the first time. Such blowing of noses, such significant hums, such half-suppressed sighs, such smothered gi'oans and universal confusion, can hardly be con- ceived." — Stephen, iv. ■ili. But of all who, in the ecclesiastical annals, have won honour for the name of Strachan, it happened that there was no one destined to higher distinction than he whom we have just seen beginning a career in Canada, at the opening of the present century. It was during Dr. Strachan's ten years' residence in Cornwall, and his thirteen years' continuance in the same united occupations subsequently at York, that many of the young men of Canada, who became afterwards distinguished !« M vt in life, received under bis direction their early training. The phalanx of warm friends who in later days stood so staunchly by him, was recruited in great measure out of these grateful pupils. The theological view; o which, as a young student at King- ston, he had been led, may be described in general terms as those of the Bishop Ilobart school in the United States ; views reflecting, in the main, the principles of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Among English divines, Bishop Jeremy Taylor per- haps (provided the Liberty of Prophesying be not excluded) may be tajcen as an exponent of them. But in no portion of his teaching, tliroughout the whole of his career, is there any tid.ce of Leaderism, that bane of theology, which renders the voice of every modern school more or less hollow and unreal. In the great Oxford movement, he instantly discerned the gold from the dross, the truthful from the fantastic. Newman, whom he had personally known, was, on his defection, to him " as a stone cast into the sea " — to use an expression of his own in relation to that occuiTence. The general contents of the Christian liecorder are an index to the topics that had engaged the mind of its editor. In vol. I. we have discussions on Amusements of the Clergy ; British Islands, first introduction of Gospel into ; History and present state of Religion in Canada; "Catholic" wrongly used; on the Uses of Learning in Religion; a Series, entitled, "The Confessor," in which difficulties are proposed by correspon- dents and solved ; Family Worship ; Dr. Chalmers on Uuiver- sal Peace ; Bible and Prayer-Book Society ; History of Bene- volent Societies ; on Forms of Prayer, &c. In vol. II., Laud's Speech on the Scaffold ; Infant Baptism ; Analysis of Bishop Bull's Sermons; Writings of the Fathers; on Groaning in Churches ; Ilorsley on the Sabbath ; Southey's Life of Wesley '; Moral Philosophy and Christian Revelation ; Duties of Parish Priest ; Last hours of Melancthon ; Regeneration ; Religious Establishments ; Waterland's Sermons ; Barrow's Sermons ; Frequent Communion, &c. The passages which we are about to give at length are selected as being illustrative of the opinions held by the editor on the 2 n V ^h \ ■^',1 18 enbject of tlie Anglican Church in tlio year 1820. Quails db incepto the reader of to-day will be inclined to append to the well-kr>own Caveo sed non timeo — " Fearlesa but Prudent" — of his soul, a legend never borne with greater fitness by any pos- sessor of his name. " It is from not attending to the relation of the several dis- pensations of religion to each other, and to the sense of the phrases which have been brought from the synagogue into the Church, that we are now disturbed by useless if not pernicious controversies concerning original sin, regeneration, conversion, election, justification and the perseverance of the saints ; and until the disputants shall agree to trace the great progressive scheme of revelation from its commencement, it will be impos- sible to put an end to these controversies." — Vol. ii. 410. " The sectaries of former times and of the present day are astonished and indignant that our English Reformers did not see the Truth immediately as they see it now, and they lament they ultimately stopped short of the point which they have attained, and that they have retained any portion, however purified, of the ancient system. Now, we consider the gradual progress of the Reformation in England, as a fact of the utmost j)ossible importance to the Church of Christ at large. Nothing was done rashly; not a step was taken without suflicient grounds; and the progress of change so natural to the human mind in such circumstances, and so unlimited and momentous in its possible conserpiences, was hai)pily checked at that point which has rendered the Church of England the bulwark of the Reformation, as opposed to the superstitions of Rome on the one hand, and to the heresies of many reformed churches and sects on the other ; a point so happily fixed, both as to faith and discipline, as to render it ultimately perhaps a rallying ground to those who now on either side most vigorously assail it."— Vol. ii. 412. At page 82 of the same volume is a striking reference to the Scottish Episcopal Church, showing the deep impression which a study of its case and position had made. " It is a matter of surprise," he says, "to those who are acquainted with the purity and simplicity of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, and 10 ualis cih d to the mt"— of any pos- 'oral dis- !e of the into the 3rniciou8 1 version, its ; and jffressive e inipos- 10. ; day are s did not y lament ley have however 5 gradual e utmost Nothing sufficient e human mientous lat point rk ot the e on the ehcs and to faith rallying sly assail ice to the on which matter of with the land, and the many intrepid examples of patience, of perseverance and piety which she has exhibited, that more notice is not taken ot her in the religious publications of the day, and that while the obscurest of sects are held up to public attention, and very ordinary characters dragged from their privacy and decked with the trappings of a partial biography and held up to admi- ration, the primitive models of Christian simplicity, self-denial and devotion afforded by this branch of the Catholic Church, are passed over without notice or regard. * * * It is of great importance to the cause of Episcopacy to behold a society of well-informed Christians adhering to its principles, under circumatauces peculiarly disadvantageous, from a deep convic- tion of their truth. Such a spectacle puts to confusion the assertions of those who have said that this mode of Christian worship could not exist separate from pomp and power, and manifestly proves that, without external dignity, splendor < r even protection, it preserves bey end all others its primitive purity, and continues from age to age, without any var'-^^inn. to keep its adherents fixed in the truth as it was delivered to the saints. In such a state of things, the clergy can have no secular views in entering into its ministry; for their salaries are by no means adequate to their comfortable subsistence : it can therefore only be a desire to be useful, proceeding from the most disinterested motives, that could induce men of learning and talents to devote themselves in such a church to the service of the sanctuary. Let those who pretend that the sister church established in England, so interesting to its friends and so im- portant to the constitution, derives her chief support from her connexion with the state, her legal support, her dignity and splendour ; look to Scotland, where the same church, deprived of all those advantages, maintains in everything the same principles, and is held together by the force of opinion, and preserved, though in a state of humiliation, by a strong and imiform consent in the doctrine and discipline of the primitive Church. In the Episcopal Church of Scotland we behold that of England divested of everything foreign and adventitious, as a society entirely spiritual, and yet maintaining the same constitution, the same worship, faith and discipline, not by I ill i! ! i h ! t 20 tlio sanction of laws, statutes and acts of parliament, but by motives of conscience, and by sanctions which arc considered as divine." In the Farewell Address to the reader in Vol. II., are some very characteristic passages. Their tone, it will bo observed, combining charity and dogma, was calculated to impress if not to conciliate. " The Christfan Recorder has treated with kind- ness and respect all denominations of Christians ; but in doing this, the editor has neither compromised nor concealed his own opinions on any subject he was called upon to discuss ; and if he has occasionally indulged in encomiums of that Church to which he belongs and to which he is firmly attached by reason and affection, it arises from a deep conviction that she is the only Church that unites in herselfthe true requisites for propagating the Gospel and retaining it pure when once established. * * * Wherever any feeling prevails against the Church of England it proceeds from ignorance ; for were the most violent of her opponents to examine with impartiality her Articles of Faith, her order and discipline, and to read with candour her admir- able liturgy, — if he did not feel himself constrained to join her communion, he would be at least convinced that she i)oss- esses all the mar';s of a true Church, and that to be conscien- tiously united with her, is to be in the way of salvation. In most places of worship out of this Church the congregations are hearers only; the members of them, properly speaking, cannot be said to offer up any religious worship for themselves. The one mind and the one mouth with which Christians are directed by the Apostle to glorify God being in this case, generally speaking, the mind and mouth of the officiating minister, not, as it ought to be, the one mind and one mouth of the congregation assembled." At p. 355, Vol. I., there is a characteristic remark on the policy of "Wesley. Wesley had admonished some of his fol- lowers at Brentford that from the hour they took up a position antagonistic to the mother-church " they would see his face no more." " It ia to be remembered," the editor of the Christian Recorder remarks, " that though he resisted in this particular instance and though he said the practice was inexpedient, and I 21 li to * * * }OUth of even unlawful, ho w(\3 yet constrained to yield when the con- gregation proved obstinate. Ilia consummate skill in govern- ment told him how far he might go ; and when courage and decision M'oidd no longer avail he always secured a safe retreat." The system pursued in the School at Cornwall, and after- wards at York, exhibited features that would have gratified the advanced educationists of the present age. In that system the practical and the useful were by no means sacrificed to the ornamental and theoretical or the merely conventional. Things were regarded as well as words. In respect to the latter, we have taken the trouble to look lately into our copy of Ruddi- num's Kudiments of the Latin Tongue. It is a relic of youth- ful days, bearing the marks of our own devotion to its contents which -yet occupying a seat on the benches of the School at York; and wo aro glad to acknowledge what a good and sensible book of its kind it is: superior in a rational point of view to the Eton manual, unannotated and unimproved, which afterwards took its place. Through tho medium of this Kuddiman we received our first initiation into the Latin tongue, giving to vowels and diphthongs a fine North British breadth and erfect rewards, we shment, we n pupils of by him on m, the sud- den address, in the old well known familiar authoritative tone, humorously was — " Boys, take your places ! " And in good earnest to the last, many very mature men were regarded by him as boys. A middle-aged divine, rather out in his theology, would often be excused by the considerate observation, " He's a young man : he will get right in time." It was moreover amusing in public assemblies, to remark how venerable person- ages, lay as well as clerical, bold enough in any other presence, would cower under the rasp of a brief stricture from the chair. His own peculiar history combined with his personal character, secured for him this unquestioning kind of deference. Of course no successor, without similar claims, will ever be in the exercise of an authority as arbitrary as his at certain times seemed to be. His demise, like i\\GMorte (T Arthur, was the dissolution of the last link of a new with an old era — of the present with the past — with an ecclesiastical past, at all events, which had begun already to look quaint and antiquated, which in the future will look heroic, perhaps mythic. "The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." In connexion with what has been said of the encouragement given in his educational system to a knowledge of things as well as of words, we may add, that to the last he proved himself one who did not desire to restrict the regards of the studious man to narrow limits. To extreme old age he cxhil ited a keen interest in all matters of inodorn invention and science. To the setting in motion of enterprizes likely to give useful em- ployment to large numbers, as also to the re-establishment of Manufactories, when checked by sudden disaster, he was always to be relied on for liberal material aid. His familiar form, full of a vigorous activity, even when somewhat bowed with yeara, was often to be seen venturing among the bewilderments of the railway tracks, entering with zest into the movements of the impatient yet tractible machines. Also when buildings on a large scale where going on, or any other considerable engineer- ing operation, he was at some time or another there among the workmen. He had alv'a3S been in his day a general reader. lu ! m n V ^ifii ; iii il i|!!t \\ We remember once feeling ourselves carried back very far .by being referred to the philosophic essays of Ilelvetius, as contain- ing matter with which reading men might be supposed familiar. In interviews with ourselves, frequent and favourite topics were the matters discussed before the Canadian Institute, the meet- ings of which, of late years, from the great distance of the Rooms, he regretted his inability to attend. lie made it a point, however, even at a late period of liis life, to sliow him- self occasionally at public meetings relating to the general interests of the community, claiming to be heard " as an old residenter." From sojne remarks of his in the Christian J?ecorder, on a scheme for a University course, we find that he desired the young student in theology to be a lover of general knowledge. " In a large seminary," he says, " these [that is, purely tlieo- logical studios] may be relieved by turning to ^lie book of nature, and reading the perfections of the Divinity in the beauty and sublimity of His works. For these purposes the young divine may examine the heavenly bodies, their astonish- ing regularity and order ; and, admiring the perfection of astronomy, which, in as far as it regards the solar system, may now be said to be complete, as there is not a single motion that has not been accounted for and found necessary to preserve the wonderful harmony of the whole, he may draw the most com- fortable proofs of the wisdom, power and goodness of God. Here, likewise, the student of nature might make liiniself master of chemistry, of botany and anatomy ; all of which he would afterwards find useful in liis profession, not only in con- firming liis faith, but in the variety of ilhistration which they aflbrd him in preaching to the people." — Vol. i. p. 178. On the death of Dr. Stuart, at Kingston, in 1S12, his son, who had now also become a clergyman of the Church of England, and was stationed at York, succeeded to his father's ministerial charge ; and Dr. Strachan removed from Cornwall to assume the post thus vacated. York was then a small wooden town, of 1,400 inhabitants, by some years the junior of Kingston. The latter place had sprung up round the Btockado of Cataraqui (a fort begun in 1G72, in the time of the 27 J very far .by IS, as contain- osed familiar, te topics were ite, the meet- itance of the [e made it a to show him- I tlie general d " as an old Recorder, on a e desired the ill knowledge. , purely theo- ) ^he book of vinity in the purposes the ^heir astonish- perfection of • system, may e motion that ) preserve the he most com- Incss of God. nake himself 1 of which he t only in con- ti which they X 178. hi 2, his son, e Cliurch of ;o his father's om Cornwall then a small rs the junior p round the e time of the French rule), and at an earlier period had borne the naine of the Governor-in-Chief, Fronton ac. York had been laid out in 1792, by Governor Simcoe, and had, like New York and Albany, been so called from a Duke of York, — in the present instance from the King's second son, actively engaged at the moment as commander of the British troops on the European continent, in the war against the French Convention. In his new post an occasion soon occurred that brought out several of the traits of character, which helped throughout his life to render Dr. Strachan a man of mark The measures of Napoleon, in 1S07, for the destruction of the commerce of England, had occasioned, on the part of the Britisli Privy Council, certain retaliatory orders, which affected the shipping of maritime nations, and especially that of the United States, who, consequently, in 1812, agreeably to the subtle calculation of the Emperor, declared war against Great Britain. Canada, although clear of culpability in the premises, was doomed to the devastation and carufjge which, in this peculiar mode of settling disputes, are inevitable. Moreover, it was expected on the part of the United States, that the struggle would issue in the loss to Great Britain of the residue of her dominions in Northern America. The invading force occupied the town of York, and set fire to its public buildings. At this critical moment in the annals of the infant capital, we find Dr. Strachan brought, alike by his office and his personal character, into the exact position of a leading ecclesiastic in one of the cities of Western Europe, at the time of the irruption of the barbarians in the fifth cen- tury, lie is put forward as a mouth-piece by the poorly defended inhabitants, to plead with the exasperated chief of the enemy in possession ; and to his vigorous remonstrances is due the escape of York proper from complete destruction. To the terrified families of the town and neighbourhood, whoso natural guardians were for the most part absent on military duty in various parts of the invaded Province, the undaunted bearing of their chief spiritual pastor was a stay and consolation. Amongst them, and in the hospitals by the i! r i ii ^ i \ n ti 1 i V" ■ i: ' f ! i i 1 i I 1^ 1 - -^ 1 !, 1 1 j i ; 1 28 bedside of the sick and wounded, he was ever to be met witli, addiniij words of hoiteful cheer to deeds of friendly kindliness, althougli exposed, in the duties which he undertook, to immi- nent p'jrsonal risk, from the irresponsibh; violcnco of stray sol- diers Ji.nd sailors belonginp; to the forces of the hostile intruders. In 1818 he was appointed by the Crown a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. Already, in Lower Canada, the Anglican bishop was, from his otlice, a member of the Upper House. As occupying, in the capital of the Upper Province, the most conspicuous ecclesiastical position, he was by a kind of analogy held eligible to a scat in the Legislative Council. The api>ointment of a person in holy orders, under the E[>ir-:copal rank, to such a position, would scarcely have happened, had there not been a scarcity of men in the country qualified to fill such a station. The discernment and deci,sion of mind evinced by Dr. Strachan in regard to secular as well as ecclesiastical mutters, stamped him as one that might be thus distinguished by the Crown, Li England, to this day we see men in holy orders sitting on the magistrate's bench. It is a relic of the policy of by -gone ages, wIkmi ecclesiastics were chosen to be keepers of the Great Seal, because they, beyond the gciHM'ality of their contemporaries, were fitted for the office. The jxtlicy of the present day, although it has not yet wholly discarded the usage of the past in this resjxH-t, is in its tendency opposed to, and will ultimately exclude such appointments, the reason arising from the paucity of (pialified men outside the ecclesiastical ranks, having hmg since been cancelled by facts. Up to the time of the reunion of the Canailas, Dr. Strachan took part in the legislation of the Upper Province. During a portion of this period (1818-18+1), he was also an ICxecutivo Councillor; and upon him, in this capacity, as a confidential adviser of the Crown's representative for the time being, the malcontents sought to fasten, justly or unjustly, the odium of unpopular measures. It was during this interval that the country was agitated by the Ecclesiastical question ; and in addition to that source of disquietude, and wrapped up to some extent in it, there was the Educational question also, which, as the community had now I ig 1 be met with, ly kindliness, »ok, to ininii- ' of stray sol- tile intruders, ember of the ly, in Lower a member of of the Upper ^ition, he was \c Lej^islntivc orders, under scarcely have n the country and decifsion 3cular as well hat mij^ht be o this day we i bench. It is lesiastics were they, beyond for the office. >t yet wholly its tendency ntnients, the 1 outside the l(>d by facts. Dr. Strachan l)urin;i|; a m Ivvccntive (•((ulideiitial lie being, the he odium of agitatod by I at source of here was the ity had now ■i 29 extended itself, and was becoming more and more mixed in character, excited much discussion. As years rolled on, both questions assumed shapes that took by sur^trise those persons who had failed to notice the great social revolutions which liad long been in progress in the British Islands ; or who, if they happened to be confronted by the symptoms of such latent changes, had learned to denounce them as wholly deplorable. But all those who had chanced to read aright the lessons of modern English history, discerning, 60 tar as practicable, the providential drift of events, could have had no doubt as to what the issue of the contest in both cases would be, sooner or later. In order that we may understand the Ecclesiastical and Educational questions as they came to be regarded in the Canadian Provinces, and as they were finally settled, it will bo nseful to take a review of the origin of both of them. After a retrospect of this kind, too, we shall be better able to do justice to the champions on the losing as well as the winning side in the contest. To judge fairly of the men of by-gone generations, wo ought to place ourselves in their posi- tion as nearly as p»j6sible, realizing their surroundings as fully sis we nuiy ; analyzing the mental atmosphere which they breathed, and the moral sunlight that fell on their spiritual vision, noticing the mediums through which it had previously passed, the refractions, diminutions and colorings which it had conse(piently undergone. We should then probably discover that our forefathers were logical, even when their calculations proved vain : the fault was in the data which formed the groundwork of their reasonings. It is not imj)robable that even the present generation will be found to have erred in some of its theoretical hopes. It is well to be reminded by conspicuous examples that we are fallible men, even when exercising the utmost shrewdness and circumspection. Let no man pronounce rashly on the powers of forecast of his prede- cessors, simply because his knowledge of the event enables him to see that they were mistaken. AVe shall glance first at the origin, progress and settlement of the Canadian Ecclesiastical question. I M'l x- ' \ ■'! Ifl 30 On taking possession of her new domain on the continent of North America, England found, in the parts that had been to some extent reclaimed from the wilderness, a branch of the Church of France established and endowed. Many of the first colonists of these regions having been emigrants from Normandy, Quebec was for a time held to be a trans-marine outpost of the see of Rouen. In the early Christian times, before the complications of the Koman ecclesiastical system had been introduced, these outly- ing districts of the Church of France would have been held to pass, on the settlement after the conquest, into the area of the English Church, and to come under the care of its spiritual overseers. Large ecclesiastical districts have thus frequently been transferred and retransferred from one jurisdiction tu another, in the fluctuations of kingdoms and empires, it being a principle in the early Christian organizution of governments, that civil and ecclesiastical boundaries should coincide. Hopes, visionary enough as they now seem to us, were entertained in some quarters that the French ecclesiastical establishment in Canada would gradually be transmuted into an English one. To understand the ground of such an expec- tation, it must be remembered that in the times of Louis XIV., XV., XVL, Gallicanism in France was not the eclipsed and slighted thing which it has since become ; that its principles were a part of the public policy, and associated with a sense of the national honour ; and that consequently, in Canada also, the same principles would have weight in the minds of the educated f»nd intelligent portion of the population. Anglican- ism and Gallicanism, on their political side, were known to be in the main identical. In both, " the king's pleasure,'' • '^ royal prerogative, was invested with a great sacredness. The royal will, promulgated from London, would gradually obtain an acquiescence as real as that given to the word of the great monarch at Paris. Mr. Maseres, Attorney-General at Quebec in 1766, believed that immediately after the conquest, the Galilean parishes might have been converted, as vacancies occurred, into Angli- can ones, by the induction into the living at the will of the 31 e continent at had been •ancU of the [any of the grants from -rans-marlne itions of the these ontly- been held to ; area of the its spiritual s frequently risdiction to ires, it being governments, icide. to us, were ecclesiastical psmuted into ch an expec- Louis XIV., eclipsed and Its principles th a sense of Canada also, ninds of the Anglican- known to be easure,'' ^■'^ idness. The ually obtain of the great 766, believed can parishes into Angli- will of the Enfflish King, of Anglican instead of Gallican presbyters. " I really believe," he says in his evidence before the House of Commons in 1774, "if it had been done at first, it might have created some immediate inconvenience ; but that would have worn out a long time ago. They are a submissive, quiet peo- ple. I believe in many places, if a Protestant minister had been put in upon the vacancy of a priest, a very little pains taken by a Protestant minister would have brought over many to the Protestant religion." — Cavendish: Delates on the Qucheo BUI,, p. 137. With like ease, we may suppose, on the principles of Gallicanlsm, the see of Quebec, when void, might have been filled up by the appointment of an Anglican blt^hop. But the very unsophisticated condition of Canadian society which furnished ground for opinions such as these, soon came to an end. The transfer of civil allegiance had taken place without difficulty; the transfer of spiritual allegiance was a different matter. At the capitulation of Montreal, In 1760, the free exercise of the " Catholic Apostolic Roman Religion" was guaranteed. In other words, the tenets and practices of the Gallican Church already established in the country were to continue as before, only subject to the supremacy of the English King. By the year 17T4, when the Act for the better government of the Province of Quebec was passed, the idea of superseding Gallican functionaries by Anglicans could no longer be enter- tained. The Parliament guaranteed afresh the Gallican rights. But it was necessary now to consider the spiritual necessities of colonists of British birth who had begun to take no their abode In Canada. According to this Act, viz., 14 Geo. III. c. So, the tithe enjoined under the Gallican system was to con- tinue to be paid by all the inhabitants ; but it was provided that only the tithes paid by the members of the Gallican com- munion should go to the support of the Galilean clergy. Out of the rest it would be lawful for " his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to provide for the maintenance and support of a protestant clergy, as from time to time should be necessary and convenient." To explain this reference to tithes, we must remember that M fill II 'f I ,ii I ii' I! t i 8S the fendal system of Europe had been transplanted to French Canada, and with it the institution of tithes for the mainte- nance of the public functionaries of religion. To continue such an arrangement seemed natural enough to English statesmen in the last century, for tithes were still a part of the English system of government. From the time of the Anglo-Saxon kings, a tenth of the produce of the ground had been set apart for the maintenance of public worship. According to the Anglo-Saxon theory, all the estate of the country was vested in the King. Under him the liand was divided amongst a few, who held their possessions subject to conditions. Those who tilled the soil under the great land-owners had simply to dis- charge that function. In communities thus constituted, it was easy to establish the usage of tithes. All that was required on the part of the class thereby to be provided for, was to convince the kings of a supposed bounden duty.. The feat was then achieved. As long as the feudal system continued, or a system tanta- mount to it, without challenge from any quarter, such a mode of supporting public religious woi'ship, shared in by all, would be likely to go on without dispute, and with no sense of injus- tice on the part of any. But let the system, for some reason, begin to be broken up, and, at the same time, along with the creation of a numerous class of land-owners in fee simple, let there arise, from some cause, individual thinking on religious subjects ; — let the plea of authority on such points begin to be questioned, — then we should expect to hear of a demur to tithes. We should expect to hear a demand for a change in their appropriation, if not for their abolition. We shoidd expect, under the supposed altered circumstances, to hear demands of a similar character made in relation to other provisions for public worship, if de- rived from land. We should expect this, because we can with- out difficulty conceive of cases where the forced continuance of the feudal use and tradition, would seem a violation of the sense of right which is innate in every man. It consequently strikes us as singular now, that it was so readily taken for granted that tithes would be a perpetual in- ^ to French he mainte- ntinne auch statesmen he English iiglo-Saxon ;n set apart iing to the as vested in iigst a few, Those who nply to dis- tnted, it was rcqnired on i to convince at was then rstem tanta- mch a mode )y all, wonld use of injus- jroken up, numerous from some et the plea — then we lould expect ation, if not le supposed ar character (rship, if de- ve can with- ntinuance of of the sense ,t it was so )erpetual in- i 33 stitution amonjr the inhahitants of Canada. It is one more evidence to be added to the many observable in the debates on American affairs, of an almost Bourbonic want of political fore- cast in Parliamentary majorities at the close of the last cen- tury. Tiiey did not comprehend the times in which they were, or the races at homo and abroad for whom they legislated. In the debates of 1774, no member of the House offered a definition of the term, "protestant clergy." IlinG jprima mali lobes. At that period the religious communities developed and developing from the Anglican Church had not acquired the status which they afterwards attained. But they existed ; unwotted of or ignored by the statesmen in power and their unquestioning followers ; taken into account, however, incon- siderable as they might seem to others, by the thoughtful and very intelligent men that constituted the minority in the English House of Commons. The officials of these new religious communities had not yet been classed in public documents with those of the Anglican Church ; but the minority, in all probability, foresaw that a recognition of them was inevitable in the future. To the influence of this minority is, we think, due the undefined term, " protestant clergy." It is clear, from the debates, that when there was a necessity of refemng expressly to the Anglican Church and its functionaries, the mode of speaking was dis- tinct enough on both sides of the House. Tlie Solicitor-General "VVedderburn could use in serious ear- nest such language as the following: — "When we tell the Roman Catholics of Canada that we will not oppress them, we at the same time tell the followers of the Church of England that whenever their faith shall prevail, it shall have a right to its establishment. As soon as the majority of a parish shall be Protestant inhabitants, then I think the ministers of the Crown are bound to make the minister of that parish a Pro- testant clergyman ; then, I think, it could not be felt by any man an act of injustice to say, that the whole revenue of that parish shall be paid to the l*rotestant clergyman." — Cavendish^ Delates, p. 219. Mr. Dunning's views were more in accordance with what 8 i|; tl' i *ll I! t 84 has proved tlio inevitable policy : — " My opinion of religious toleration," ho said, " goes to all who stand in need of it, in all parts of the globe. It is a natural right of mankind, that men should judge for themselves, and offer up to the Creator that worship whioh they conceive likely to be most luceptable to Ilim. It is neither competent, wise nor just, for society to restrain them further than is necessary." — Hid, p. 220. In like strain, but, as it would seem in the sequel, with eome- wliat less breadth, Ednmnd Burke, in the same debate, declared that the recognition of religious tolerance, as a principle of government, was wanted, not only in the colonies, but nearer hojne : — " The thirsty earth of our own country," he eloquently exclaimed, " is gasping and crying out for the healing shower from heaven. The noble lord [North] hps told you of the right of these people [the Canadian Gallicans] by treaty ; but I consider the right of conquest bo little, and the right of human nature so much, that the former has very little consi- deration with mo." He did not approve of the application of the term "established" to the Galilean Church in Canada, oven when all its rights, according to the treaty, were acknow- ledged. If that term were to be used at all, it sl-ould be in reference, he said, to " that approved religion which wo call the religion of the Church of England ; " that is, he indulged the hypothesis for a moment, that there was going to be an establishment, but he does not advocate it ; for all, ho conti- nued, " ought to contribute to the support of some religion or other " (p. 233). Ilia proposition was, that the custom of tithes should continue throughout Canada, but that the tithes of the non-Gallicans should be handed over in trust to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; a proposition at which the Attorney-General Thurlow expressed his indigna- tion, as being tantamount to- saying that " it is a fitter thing to place greater confidence in the wisdom and discretion of a religious corporation, than the King," i. c, the Executive (p. 223). Mr. Burke also threw out the suggestion, that several Christian communities might make use, at different times, of the same public place of worship : — " When the people become divided in their religion, why not follow the generous example .■^' of religioii» iced of it, in iankind, that ) the Creator st acceptable for society to \ 220. el, witli eome- bate, declared I principl«j of 69, Lut nearer he eloquently ealing shower Id you of the jy treaty ; hut i the right of jry little consi- application of ch in Canada, I, were acknow- it should be in which wo call is, he indulged going to be an •r all, ho conti- ome religion or :u8tom of tithea le tithes of the the Society for ; a proposition led his indigna- is a fitter thing discretion of a the Executive ion, that several fferent tlines, of I people become nerous example 35 set by the treaty of "Westphalia, by which the duties ot two or three establishments were discharged in the same church on the same day, the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, and the Reformed Religion ? It is an example," ho thinks, " worthy of a Christian church ^ it is a happy union, which has fixed peace forever in those provinces." (p. 224). The Act of 1774 finally passed, with the proviso that " It shall be lawful for His Majesty, his heirs or successor^, to make such provision out of the rest of the said accustomed dues end rights [that is, after paying the Gallican clergy] for the encou- ragement of the protestaut religion, and for the maintenance and support of a protestant clergy within the said province, as he or they shall from time to time think necessary and expe- dient " (p. 216). Prior to the conquest of Canada, the whole of Nova Scotia, otherwise called Acadia, had been ceded, by the treaty of Utrecht, to the crown of Great Britain ; and in view of the obligations which, in consequence of this cession, had fallen upon the ecclesiastical authorities of England, a spiritual superintendent, with the title of Bishop of Nova Scotia, had been sent out to establish for the people of the recent acquisi- tion, with such speed and permanence as should be possible, the ministrations and institutions of the Anglican Church. In like manner, the possession of Canada, another immense section of the late French domain in North America, now called for attention on the part of the Anglican spiritual authorities. " I look upon the people of Canada," said Edmund Burke, in the debate on the Quebec Bill, already referred to, " as coming by the dispensation of God under the British Govern- ment." Tlie authorities of the Anglican Church in England could look at the matter in no inferior light. Accordingly, the area that had hitherto been occupied by the Gallican Church in Canada was regarded by them as having passed, according to ancient usage, by virtue of the civil conquest, ipso facto, into the area over which henceforth the Anglican Church must exercise jurisdiction ; and in the early state of the Christian body, before the prevalence of the Roman theories, the Angli- ; 1) i 1 ! '{ 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 -; i 1 \h II i i 'P^i! M ! !! 36 ean branch of the Universal Church would have been every- where sustained in its judgment and action. The persons most interested in this transfer of spiritual and ecclesiastic authority, are of course the laity and clergy of the Galilean Church in Canada. With them it took place without recognition ; perhaps without their consciousness. Had it happily been otherwise, as, at one time, there was some chance of its being, the semblance of schism which unfortunately exists, would have been wholly avoided. What we desire to be pointedly taken notice of, is this — that the course to be pur sued by the Anglican Churcb under the circumstances in which it found itself was plain — according to the principles of tlie ancient canons and use ; and it was this : that it must occupy the area which had fallen under its jurisdiction : that in resolv- ing on this step, it simply performed a duty, and could not be charged with the promotion of schism. The establishment of an Anglican see at Quebec in 1793 was connected also with the civil policy which two years previously had led to the division of Canada into two provinces with dis- tinct governments. The continued increase of the population of British origin suggested the setting apart of a large section of the country for their occupancy under a constitution after the English plan, while public faith was kept with the descendants of the original French inhabitants, still securing to them in the area occupied by them, their peculiar usages and laws. The same change in the character of the population rendered advisable the appointment of an Anglican bishop for the pro- motion of the interests of the Anglican Church. And although the bulk of the members of that communion would be found in the later western settlements, it was in accordance with ancient ecclesiastical custom to establish the see of the bishop, in the first instance, in the metropolis of the whole country, leaving to posterity the duty of erecting from time to time ad- ditional sees in the other large cities as they should spring up. The first bishop sent out to the new see by the Anglican Church in England was Dr. Jacob Mountain. An incident been every- spiritual and jlergy of the )lace without ;s8. Had it Bome chance inatcly exists, desire to be 3e to be pur nces in which iciples of the i must occupy that in resolv- l could not be Bc in 1793 was jars previously nces with dis- British origin he country for nglish plan, of the original area occupied ation rendered p for the pro- And although ould be found cordance with of the bishop, hole country, ne to time ad- Lild spring up. the Anglican An incident 37 occurred on his arrival at Quebec which is illustrative of the temperate Gallicanism of the day, to which allusion has been made. As the English functionary stepped ashore from the ship, he is saluted on both cheeks by the venerable Gallican bishop of the city. Accustomed as we moderns are to the affected superciliousness of Ultramontanism, we are somewhat startled by an occurrence that seems to remit us back to the early days of Christianity. Bishop Briand who thus so beauti- fully exemplified the simplicity of his character as a Gallican ecclesiastic, was at the time a very aged man. For fifty-three years he had ministerially served the Gallican Church in Canada. The duties of his charge were at this moment in the hands of a coadjutor and he died in the following year. It will throw light on the state of feeling in relation to England and its policy on the part of ecclesiastics in Canada thirty years after the conquest, if we mention further in regard to this Christian-tempered man, that it was from the conversations held with him, that the Gallican bishop Joseph Octave Plessis, of Quebec, subsequently so distinguished, derived his know- ledge of the causes that had brought about the fall of the French Government in Canada and of the character of the men who directed the affairs of the colony before it had been ceded to Eiii'land, These conversations, we are assured bv the Abbo Ferland, in his Biographical Notice of Bishop Plessis, had their intluence on tlie opinions which the latter formed in relation to the two ffoverinnents. "In considerinjx the svstem," the Al)b(? says, "of vexatious trickery organized against the Church and the people of the country, by some of the chiefs and sub- ordinate employ(?s who .vcre sent by the court of Louis XV., at that time under the sceptre of Madame Pompadour, he could not but admit that under the English government the [Gallican] clergy and rural population enjoyed more liberty than was accorded to them before the conquest." — Biog. JVotiec, p. 14, From the moment of the conquest Bishop Briand was willing to accept the situation of affairs, lie may have be3n one of the enlightened Galileans on whose sentiments Mr Maseres and othevi based the opinion that the gradual transformation of the Gallican establishment in Canada into an Anlie Worship, of the Kirk ant clerixy ; " inds reserved ;he 8upp«>rt or uit conj^rega- •stant clergy' xion with the >y the parlia- leclaring it to that province. iB setting apart irveyed town- liat township, ued. At first, ,3 decreed that 43 every thirteenth sheaf should go to the Crown for the main- tenance of rublic "Worship. Afterwards, a complaint being made to the intendant, it was decided tliat only every twenty sixth sheaf should be reserved ; but that tlie farmer must thresh it out. It was urged by some, that in the absence of a legal declaration to the contrary, this custom guaranteed at the con- quest was binding in Upper Canada. The public mind failing still to be tranquilized by the modi- fications thus far made in ecclesiastical matters, we find in 1827 a select committee of the English House of Commons appointed to consider the civil government of Canada. In their report they interpret the Act of 1791 more liberally than the law officers of the Crown had done in 1819. "Doubts have arisen," they say, " whether the Act [of 1791] requires the Government to confine [the profits arising from the lands set apart for Public Worship] to the use of the Church of England only, or to allow the Church of Scotland to participate in them. The law officers of the Crown have given an opinion in favor of the right of the Church of Scotland to such participation, in which j'our committee entirely concur. But the question has also been raised, whether the clergy of every denomination of Christians, except Roman Catholics, may not be included. * * vf They entertain no doubt, however, that the intention of those persons who brought forward the measure in Parlia- ment, was to endow with parsonage houses and glebe lands the clergy of the Church of England, at the discretion of the local Government ; but with respect to the distribution of the pro- coeds of the reserved lands generally, they are of opinion that they sought to reserve to the Government the right to apply the money, if they so saw fit, to any protestant clergy." In the same year an Imperial act was passed, authorizing the sale of a portion of the ecclesiastical lands in Canada, in order that with the proceeds the remainder might be improved. Nothing, however, was said in this document of any change in the assignment of those lands ; but, moved by the continued disputations on the question, the Crown, in 1832, invited the Parliament of Upper Canada to act upon the power which they possessed, to vary or repeal the provisions of the original statute. u V ■^ 'f '1' I : -M ]■ ki i 1 ■ ill m I 1 In 1833, there was accordingly a proposal in the Lower House, to re-invest the ecclesiastical lands in the Crown, for such re-distribution as might be decided on in England. I3nt the Hill did not pass. In 1835, a measure did pass the Lower House, but failed in the Upper, docriding to soil the whole of them within four years, and to devote the proceeds to Public Education. It is said that measures proposed by the popular branch of the parliauient of L^pper Canada, for the settlement of the question, were sixteen times rejected by the other House, whose members M'ero appointed irrespective of the popular will. In ISJrO, an Act w.as passed by both branches of the Upper Canadian Legislature, by which it was determined to sell the residue of the ecclesiastical lands, and to distribute the pro- ceeils in the proportion of half to the Anglican Church and Scottish Kirk ; and half to purposes of " Public Worship and religious instruction, among the remaining denominations, ac- cording to the discretion of the Governor in Council." The proceeds of the lands that had been sold under the statute of 1827, were to be divided between the two first named bodies solely. In 1853, this arrangement was again distm-bed; but a deci- sion was arrived at that was final. Tlie Imperial Parliament authorized the Local Legislature, to sell the whole, biit to se- cure to all ecclesiastical persons for their natural lives or incumbencies, the stipends which, at the passing of the Act, they were deriving from the reserve funds. In the long war waged on the subject of the ecclesiastical lands in Canada, Dr. Strachan was the most distinguished chieftain and combatant. Campaign after campaign was plan- ned and conducted by him ; but he found himself steadily opi)osed by a force that could neither be resisted nor eluded ; a force that slowly but with certainty drove him in from the open field to the lines ; from the lines to the works ; and from the works to the citadel's inmost retreats, while along every inch of the way, he covered his position and his men with consummate skill and unflinching energy and courage. He had accepted the declarations of the third and fourth Georges, in regard to 45 the Lower the Crown, in En<;land. lid pass the to poll the he pi'ocei'ds )0sed by the iula, for the ;cte(l by the espective of f the Upper 1 to sell the lite the pro- Chnrch and V^orship and linations, ac- incii;' The lie statute of lined bodies ; but a dcci- Parliainoiit 0, but to rtc- ral livos or of the Ac-t, 3ccle!iiiisti('al Istinicnished 'j^n was plan- self steadily nor eluded ; in from the ; and from g every inch consummate ad accepted in regard to i VJ#- the perpetual establishment of the Anglican church in (^anada, in the true spirit of chivalry. The word of a king in 1774 or 1818, was received as the word of a Tudor or a Bourbon wonld have been by the average Englishman or Frenchman in bj-- gone years. The royal will was, with him, in accordance with feudal tradition, endued with u sanctity that was inviolable. The public statute that professed to embody and put in force that will was as a Magna Cliarta from which in all future time there could be no swerving. Fifty years ago it was not extensively discerned in Canada that the Act of 1791 was in some of its provisions antagonistic to a principle which had been long struggling for a wider and wider recognition in government, namely, the supremacy of the will of a nation over all individual w-ill. This principle had indeed been saved in the casual but important clause pro- viding for future variation and repeal, should the new commu- nity through its representatives so decree when organized and mature. But tlie tone of the Act in respect to ecclesiastical arrangements, if we leave out of consideration this clause, was calculated to mislead ; to mislead at all events those minds that did not recognize or else regarded with no satisfaction, the course which constitutionalism had taken in Great Britain and its de- pendencies for a century past or more. That Act, as we have already seen, took its tone in a great degree from the policy of the French Crown in relation to Canada while yet a French colony. It was thus, to some «^xtent an exceptional measure in British policy. It created for a moment in a remote nook of the empire a state of things approximating to that against which a great deal of English history is a protest. Calculations based upon the irrevocableness of such a statute could not help coming out wrong. Furthermore it is to be considered that the interests over which the struggle in Canada took place were those of a sepa- rate class. Even within the pale of the communion for whose benefit exclusively or principally the lands for Public Worship were originally set apart, there are misgivings as to the expe- diency of isolating clergy by means of landed endowments. It is known that in old communities such endowments have' a —I' ' ■ ill 'f i It It m t SI; 46 tcndenoy to render clergy and laity indifferent to each other. With minds hiased to some extent by the working of this ten- dencty large numbers of lay people had emigrated. A proba- bility therefore existed beforehand that in an ecclesiastical question such as that which agitated Canada for bo many years, the bulk of the Anglican communion would be lukewarm ; as in fact they as ;i people proved themselves to be : while mem- bers of other ommunions acting under the direction of their of!i(riiil instructors, and all having much to gain, were steadily and unitedly on the alert. That the Anglican communion came out of the struggle with any relics at all of the possessions contended for, was wholly duo to the fact that its champion was a resolute member of the order most deeply interested in the question. Wo have next to glance briefly at the Canadian educational question. When the schetno of Public Instruction for Upper Canada came to receive its crowning institution, a University, it was discovered that here again was involved the same element that had occasioned the trouble in the matter of tlie lands for Public Woi*ship. So long ago as 1797 a movement, as we have already noticed, began for the securing of an endowment for Grammar Schools and a University ; and live hundred thousand acres of the }>iiblic domain were set apart for that purpose. Ten years later tlirco Grammar Schools are sustained out of the proceeds of these lands, one at Cornwall, one at Kingston, one at Niagara. Subsequently, from time to time, others are established else- where. And no complaint is heard as to exclusiveness in their niaiuigemcnt. Put in 1827 a royal charter is promulgated, instituting a Univci'sity for Upper Canada under the title of King's College. The terms of the charter showed that the advisers of the Crown in England had not at that time realized the principles which were destined to govern modern colonial policy in regard to religion and representative government. It was still supposed that by virtue of a royal declaration a distinction in favour of the Anglican communion could be arbitrarily made and maintained without gainsa}'ing or demur in the midst of a composite British colonial community. .1^ i 47 each other. g of this ten- d. A proba- ecclesiastical many yeare, ukewarm ; as ; while mem- ction of their were steadily 1 struggle with ►r, was wholly ite member of m educational Jpper Canada iversity, it was e element that mds for Public e have already : for Grammar usand acres of je. Ten years )f the proceeds )ne at Niagara, itablished else- veness in their promulgated, er the title of owed that the X time realized lodern colonial e government. declaration a nion could be ,ying or demur imunitv. w According to the letter of the charter the new tJniversity was, in its government, strictly an institution appertaining to the Anglican Church in Upper Canada. There were to be seven professors in the Arts and Faculties who, the charter declares, " shall be members of the Established United Church of England and Ireland and shall severally sign and subscribe the Tliirty-nine Articles." The Anglican bishop for the time being of the diocese in which the University was situate, was to be the visitor ; the Governor or Lieutenant-Government for the time being, was to be Chancellor; the President was to be a clergyman in holy orders of the United Church of England and Ireland; and more particularly still, "the Archdeacon of York, in our said Province, for the time being shall, by virtue of such his office, be at all times the President of the said Col- lege." But at the same time it is directed that no religious test should be applied to any persons admitted as students or as graduates in the said College, excepting only to graduates in Divinity, who were to be subject to the conditions enjoined for degrees in that faculty at Oxford. The proposed institution was rendered capable of holding lands in the Province of Up- per Canada to the value of £15,000 sterling per annum above all charges and to enjoy the proceeds of subsequent purchases and benefactions, without restriction. All these arrangements were to continue for ever. The particular lands that were to yield the £15,000 per annum are not named. But as it was understood that one half of the school-property, reserved for a Provincial University, was to constitute the messuages, tene- ments and hereditaments spoken of in the chartei", the House of Assembly of Upper Canada very soon demurred. They had even been so cautious, prior to the announcement of particu- lars, as to express gratitude to the Crown for the institution of a University only on conditions, one of which was, "if the principles on which it has been founded shall, upon inquiry, prove to be friendly to the civil and religious liberty of the l)eople." After ten years of natural but wearisome dispute, the charter is modified, not, however, by the Crown, but by the local Par- liament, as if to leave on record instructive evidence of the mm Ml' |:; fi ii.i' ' \ I'll i !ii i ^i ! li 1 ilj^; f <» i fi- ! j *^l I 48 Biicccsslvc stops which circumstances rendered inevitable in the march of modern English colonial policy. Now it was decided that the visitors of the institution shoidd bo the Judges of the King's Bench ; that in future the Presi- dent need not bo the incumbent of any ecclesiastical office ; that the professors and other members of the governing Board should not necessarily be members of the Anglican Church. Our purpose does not require of us to pursue the history of the provincial University any farther. It is sufficient to have set forth the character and the fate of its original cliarter, as constructed under the eye of Dr. Strachan, during a visit to England in 1827. The adoption of the particular iblic policy thus far followed in the career now under revit ^ceives perhaps additional elucidation when we recal the era in which the early youth of Dr. Strachan was passed. The stirring events of the French Ilevolution, at the close of the last century, had upon different classes of minds in the British Islands very opposite effects. Men in advanced life were rendered more stubborn than ever in their resistance to change in English law and custom. Their zeal for feudal institutions, atid the traditional feudal ideas, became extravagant. A large proportion of the rising youth of tiie land were also indoctrinated by them with maxims fated afterwards to be painfully unlearned. On the other hand, persons in every stage and grade of life, disposed previously by temj)erament and other casual circumstances to ameliorations in aftairs, became unduly excited, and, failing the check inter- posed by calmer and wiser minds, were prepared to hurry the nation into a chaos of anarchy. Instances of this sanguine, imaginative class were Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth, who all lived to be sounder judges of the exigencies of the British people. Of the other class who were quickened in their hostility to the modifications which were needed, and which huve since been steadily adopted or kept in view, the King himself, George III., was a conspicuous type — a type repeated in the persons of his favorite political advisers. Of an intermediate and more salutary effect of the momen- tous crisis in France, Edmund Burke was an illustration. A m 49 Itiil/lo in tlio ition should •c the Presi- itical office; rning Board n Church, lie history of ;ient to have i\ cliarter, as iir a visit to I far foHowed 18 additional [irly youth of :' the French pon different losite effects. )rn than ever istom. Their feudal ideas, rising youth maxims fated other hand, >reviously by inieliorations check inter- to hurry the lis sanguine, Wordsworth, encies of the quickened in needed, and in view, the type— a type visers. the momen- istration. A M man of wide views and profound intelligence, lio had long f^ecn the social and political needs of the British empire, and had long striven to satisfy thein. The frenzy of the French people did not alter his opinions on these subjects : it simply made him more measured, more cautious and safe in the methods to be applied in the case of his fellow-countrymen. At this period of sifUng conflict were formed the convictions which guided Dr. Straehan throughout his public career. Endmved not largely with the gifts of imagination and fancy, ho was not tempted, with the poets and visionaries, to indulge in social experiment and innovation. His natural tcnjperament and the surrounding conditions of his early manhood, placed him by a kind of ntccssity among the strongly conservative, iris great self-reliance and unblenching courage made him bold in liis aims and confident as to their attainment. His unsur- passed firmness secured an unrelenting tenacity of will, and an unwavering perseverance in a line of action once adopt(Kl. Tiie view which ho himself took at a later period, of liis own general course of proceeding, is set forth in a Circular Address to the Clergy and Laity of Upper Canada, in 1837. " I have laboured earnestly," he says, " for nearly forty years, througli good report ajid bad report, in promoting the peace and happi- ness of this Province, and its attachment to the parent state. During more than thirty-four years of that period, 1 have been Kealously and, I trust, successfully employed in promoting the cause of true religion, and in the discharge of the sacred duties of a clergyman, and have uniformly acted towards all otiier denominations with a Christian spirit, which the respectable portion of them will readily acknowledge. I atn now approach- iuiz; the evening of my life, and assuredly I shall never incur tho reproach of having sacrificed any portion of the interests of the Church to which I have the happiness to belong, in the wild hope of conciiliating her enemies, or from the culpable desire of avoiding the unpopularity which, it seems to be feared, must attach to those who fairly maintain the religion of our Sovereign and of the British empire." He had just before been speaking of a hint thrown out by the Colonial Secretary of the day, in respect to tho relinquishment of certain Church 4 T ' I'll 50 laiuls, Tho following passage is very characteristic : " I observe that the letter of Lord Glenelg suggests the possibility, though it by no means expresses an expectation or desire, that I may be found willing to surrender, or to concur in surrendering, voluntarily, the endowments which the King has annexed to the rectories. Happily, the provident caution of Parliament has not left it in the power of any individual to be the instru- ment of so much injustice. It is not in my discretion to make any surrender of the kind. If it were, I believe it would not be necessary to assure any one who is pereonally acquainted with me, that I would as readily surrender my life." In this vigorous and very real " non possumus,''^ we have tlie key note of his life. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to deny that there was largeness in his views. Occasionally a policy was lu-oaclicd by iiim almost as elastic as that of Burke; and ideas are promulgated greatly surpassing in liberality those of Ids schotd within the four seas at home. Unluckily for him, it, happened that the >;rowth of constitutional liberty in the British Islands and abroad — a growih to this day as irrepressi- ble in depth and height and breadth as that of the roots and branches of a forest tree — demanded social readjustments to an extent unforeseen by him, and in directions not contemplated in his 6ch' inos. In the Christian lieconler, now before us, no protest is entered by the e'Jitor against the resolutions of the Canadian Council on the subject of education, presented to Lord Dorc'liester in 17Sl>. The fifth and sixth of the resolutions r'.in thus : " Fifth, That it is expedient to erect a colle- giate institution for cultivating the liberal arts and sciences usually taught in the European univei-sities, the theology of Christians excepted, on account of the mixture of the two connnunions [Clallican and Anglican], whose joint aid is desi- rable, as tar as they agree, and who ought to be left to find a separate provision for the candidates in the ministry of their respective cliurches. Sixth, That it is essential to the origin and success of such an institution, I at a society be incorpora- ted for the purpose, and that the charter wisely provide against the perversion of the institution to any sectarian peculiarities, 51 leaving free scope for cultivating the circle of the sciences." — Vol. i. p. 448. Again, in the same work, the sentiments expressed in 1819 are in harmony with these resolutions. " I hope," the editor says, "that it [the university] will be founded upon a very liberal scale, so that all denominations of Christians may be enabled, without any sacrifice of conscience or of feeling, to attend the prelections of the different professors." — Ihid, vol. i. p. 176. At page 368, a correspondent, in a tone of complaint, remarks: "I should not have known, Mr. Editor, by the Recorder, whether you belong to the Church of England or not, you have cultivated so carefully the candour of modern times Perhaps you consider this a praise, but I, who am old- fixshioned, think," &c. And again, in the speech delivered by Dr. Strachan, at the opening of King's College, in 1844, it is held that the original charter was singularly liberal : " It was considered," ho says, *' not only the most open charter for a university that had ever been granted, but the most liberal that could be framed on constitutional principles ; and His Majesty's Government de- clared that in passing it, they .had gone to the utmost liinit of conncmxon.''''— Proceedings at the Ceremony of Laying the Foun- dation stone, cfec, p. 30. As we have seen already, however, assent was given, in 1342, to a charter of a very different tone, under which the institution was now opening. This again is concurred in as an inevitable concession. It is at the same moment frankly, declared that "parents not of the Church of England have the right to expect that theii c; lldrcn who come for instruction at this institution shall not be tampered with. Such a right, accordingly," it is promised, " will be conscien- tiously respected ; and dispensations will be given from attend- ing chapel, to those pupils whoso parents and guardians require them (p. 51) ; and when students have finished their regular univei*sity course, and proceeded to their degree, such as design to stud} for the ministry of the Church of England will place themselves more especially under the professor of theology, while the youth of other denominations will depart to prepare for their respective professions" (p. 52). II 62 I'llii^ )' II i'<\ The process suggested is simple ; but it will be seen that the fundamental gravamen is not removed. The genius of modern complex British society everywhere is not recognized in one of its most ineradicable traits. Its component subdivisions, like individual men in a free commonwealth, will not receive even gifts at each others' hands, if they wear the guise of condescen- sions or favours. This fact, which is essential, is either ignored or not grasped. "We now approach that portion of the career of Dr. Strachan which commanded the admiration of opponents as well as friends, and from which in history the chief lustre of his name will be reflected. In 1825, he had been appoir.tcd Archdeacon of York. In 1S39, he became Bishop of Toronto ; not elected by the suf- frages of the clergy and laity, as is the custom now, but nomi- nated to the office by the Crown, and consecrated in England by the Archbishop of Canterbury. His administrative and executive talent now found a wide and appropriate field of action. Tlie Anglican Church in AV^estcrn Canada, then wholly embraced in his diocese, soon began to ftel the vigour of tlie hand at the helm. His first measure was the institution of a Church Society, coextensive with his diocese, which, in the absence of legitimate synodical machinery, nut then in exis- tence, might serve to give unity, in some degree, to the elForts of clergy and laity. According to iiis Pastoral on the subject, issued in 1842, each congregation was to regard itself as a dis- tinct missionary society, its pastor and churchwardens and more zealous members forming a local association, exerting all their influence to bring within the pale of tlie general Society every baptised person in their bounds. " The Society will in this way embnace within its bosom every grown-up son and daughter of the Church throughout the whole diocese, and give utterance to her voice on ail necessary occasions. Its members will henceforth feel that tliey belong not merely to a small, remote and perhaps insulated congregation, but that they are intimately connected with all the congregations of the diocese, and not of this diocese alone, but of all the dioceses which com- prise the Church of England throughout the world." All were 53 to contribute, through the Society, to the maintenance of mis- sionaries in new settl-r^ments and among tlie Indians ; to the circulation of the Scriptures, and Common Prayer Book, and approved theological works ; to the support of Sunday and parochial schools, the succour of the widows and orphans of the clergy, and to the assistance of students in divinity. Moreover, landed endowments were to be secured and held, through this association, for the support of their bishop and his cathedral ; for archdeacons and other clergy now employed or to be em- ployed ; for the building of churches and parsonage-houses of durable materials, and for the insurance of the same. " The diocese of Toronto," thus runs the Pastoral, " will very soon contain four hundred townships, each of which may average one hundred square miles — an extent equal to nearly twenty ordinary parishes in England. 13ut such a minute division it would be in vain to attempt ; nor will it for many ages be required by the population. Limiting, then, our contemi)lated division, for the present, to two parishes in each townsliip, the difficulty of endowing them does Jiot seem particularly ardu- ous. A townshi[» contains about sixty-six tliousand acres, or tin'ce hundred and thirty 1 or farms of two hundred .'icres each. Now, fur the endowment of two parishes, six lots, (m- twelve hundred acres, will be rcipiircil. allowing eafli three lots, or six hundred acres. Is it not pi'ob;il)l('," the siiiguino bisiiop asks, " thtit in almost every town.-iii[) r^ix or eight lots or farms, whieli is scarcely a fiftieth part of the whole, wil' ho granted by piuus individuals for a purpose so lilessed^ Jn many townships much more will doubtless be g en, and this will make up for deticiencies in others, where less liberality prevails, or perhaps wliere we have fewer people." Had it been possible to breathe into the mass of th( ^ aglican laity the earnest spirit of their ecclesiastical chief, the recent frustration of the will of kings and princes would have proved but a slight injury. Tlio Anglican laity, however, in a new community are not very impressilde ; they are not quick to be enthusiastic in respect to their own ecclesiastical interests. The battle for the reserve-lands had really not interested the mtdti- tude. So far as they were concerned, it was left to be fought T TSEB BBi Hi li ' I-;* r 64 out by tUeir champion in single-handed fashion, assisted by a few acting under his special direction. The mass dumbl}-- looked on, comprehending perhaps but vaguely the points at issue. In the parent state the Anglican laity are accustomed to have every requisite supplied to them without effort or thought on their part. They have only of late yeai-s heard tiuit the proceeds of rates and endovvnionts do ^'.zt absolve individuals from a religious concern in the fabric and multipli- cation of churches and schools. Adult njcn and women of the Anglican communion, emigrating from the British Islands, are consequently often taken by surprise when they are informed in their new home of the multiplicity of ecclesiastical cares that appertain to them. It is a novelty with the bulk of them Uy be called on to take part in the building and rei)air of churches ; in the encouragement of candidates for Holy Orders ; in the maintenance of clergy, superior and inferior, with their orphans and widows. Xeverthelcss the appeal of the bishop was responded to by many gifts. Wherever he presented himself in his tours throughout the diocese the eifect of his own personal intluence and example was felt, especially among the older colonists who would in some instances devote as a tribute to the dauntlesa energy of their spiritual chief offerings which the cause in the abstract might not have Sufficed to draw forth. Col. Burwell of Port Burwell founded a Living with church and parsonage cojn- plete, at that place ; and presented in addition more than a thou- sand acres as glebes to various clnu-ches. At the close of the iirst year of the Society's existence we find j)resonted to it in the Niagara district, for example, two thousand three hundred and twelve acres ; in the Midland district, two thousand two hun- dred and twenty -one acres ; in the London, Brock, Talbot and Ilnrou district, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven acres; in tiie Newcastle district, one thousand acres; in the IFonie district, two thousand six hundred and thirty-four acres. In addition lo these donatio is in land, which are selected as examples, considerable sums of money as annual subscriptions were giuvrunteed. The bishop himself gave one thousand acres towards an endowment for the see and cathedral. 55 In 1839, the year of his consecration, but a few ^eeks prior to that event, a trying disaster occurred. This was tlie destruc- tion by lire of the church which was about to become the cathedral of tlie diocese. It was a large structure of stone, built and arranged after the model of the English cathedral at Quebec, and the old Ciu'ist Church of Montreal, when situate in Notre Dame street. The wooden church that liad preceded it, moTe fortunate in its liistory than its less combustible successor, had been erected in jiart in 1803, enlarged and completed in 1818, and then quietly taken to pieces and removed in 1833, M'hen the stone edifice was finished. The sudden destruction of the new building after an existence of only six years, vvas I'ust one of those discouraffinu blows that served to draw out the energies of Dr. Strachan, and to disclose the wealth of resource that was in him to M'hich the Anglican communion in Canada was so often indebted. Within two days after the fire wo find it recorded that, at a public meeting at the City TIall, "the Venerable the Archdeacon, with a spirit bowed but not broken by this great calamity, presented a luminous report embracing a plan for the restoration of the sacred edifice to its former commodiousness and beauty.''' On his return the following November after his consecration at Lambeth, the siglit that greeted him as he entered the harbour of his episcopal city, was his cathedral restored, more complete than ever, fur appended to it now was a conspicuous tower and spire, at its apex a golden cross glittering against the sky. Ten years later this renovated and finished building ])ccame an irretrievable ruin in a terrible conflagration which consume d a large portion of Toronto. Again, with singular promptness was the loss repaired through the unity and decision gcnerateii in a large congregation by the bishop's force of character. And on this occasi(»n a great advance was made in dignity of architecture, increasing projior- tionably tlie magnitude of the undertaking. The preceding edifices had been oblong rectangular blocks pierced withronnd- headed windows, convenient and spacious, but without appro- priateness of expression. Xow, an edifice was put up in accord- w -n 56 ance with later and juster ideas, fine in outline, capable of being adapted to English cathedral customs ; an edifice destined, as it has happened in a manner wholly unforeseen, to be regarded in future ages with a religious reverence as the mausoleum of its founder, — the founder, it may be said, of two, if not three costly predecessors on the same site. Tiiough no other memo- rial should mark his resting-place before the altar of St. James's, Toronto, St. James's itself would suffice — Si monujnikntum bequikis, cikcl'mspioe. But here we are again anticipating. One other instance of recuperative power in the first bishop of Toronto remains to be referred to ; the crowning instance which will inspire posterity, as it inspired cotemporaries, with unfeigned respect. . In 1850 the great educational institution called into visible being tlirough the instrumentality of Dr. Strachan underwent the final cliange which the public policy of the modern empire of (ireut Britain rendered inevitable. King's College was convert- ed into the University of Toronto, and became an institution accommodated in the only practicable way to the educational wants of a community like that of Western Canada. The last semblance of connexion between the provincial university and the Anglican Church, as such, having been removed, the bishoj» conceived the bold idea of establishing a new university in relation to which tiieresliould be no (juostion in the future as to the supremacy of the Anglican Church with- in its walls. "An old man broken with the storms of state" was not to be said of him. lie had now indeed passed considerably beyond the normal three sore years and ten ; but his strength of will and vigour of mind and body were unabated. The Itlade was metal to the back. After a stirring appeal to the laity of his own dii>ccsc, res- [>ouded to by gifts and promises of money or lands to the amount of some thirty thousand pounds, he embarks for Kng- land, lays his case before the two great religious societies there, before the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, before many of the bisliops and clergy, and those members of the laity that 6r are wont to interest themselves in matters connected with "churcli-edneation." He at the same time makes application through the Colonial Secretary, Lord Grey, for a Royal Charter for the proposed institution. He left Toronto in April. He is home again on tlio second day of the following Novemher. The immediate }iold of the excursion was about sixteen thousand pounds sterling ; and " had I been able " the bishop himself declared in a sjjcech shortly after his return — " had I been able to remain six or eight months longer in England, to preach and hold n^eetings in tlie large towns, and make my object more generally known, I verily believe that I should have realized more than double the amount received." The circular to the English public, issued on this occasion, by a committee of friends, among whose names that of ' W. E. Gladstone ' is to ho seen, contains the following paragraph : — " Tiie aged bishop of the diocese, having to begin anew the work whicli has occupied a half a century of his life, has come to Eiighmd to obtain assistance from his brethren in the faith. Among other distinguished persons from whom he has already met with the most marked sympathy and encouragement, l^e has a melancholy satislaction in referring to the ilhistrious statesman whom Providence has so recently removed from the scene of his labours and his usefulness [Sir Kobert Peel], as well as to his Grace the Duke of Wellington, who has iiromised to become u liberal benefactor to the Fund he proposes to raise." On the 17th of March, TS51, the excavations for the founda- tion of the new institution began. On the oOth of April its corner-stone was laid. On the loth of January 1852, the building was sufficientlly completed to bo occu])ied. On that day the institution opened. It bore the name of Trinity Col- lege- A provost and two professors, members of the English Universities, had arrived to mould ami inaugurate a svstem of instruction. In 1853 a Royal Charter was issued incorporating the College and declaring that it "shall bo deemed and taken to be a University; and shall have and enjoy all such and the like jirivilegcs as are enji^ved by our universities of our llnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as far a? the same are 'ill I! m in\ '!> It is! If ^ ' ^■4 58 capable of being had or enjoyed bj virtue of these onr Letters Patent." Tlie Anglican communion in Western Canada was thus, through the persistent energy of its resolute bishop, put in possession of an institution for the training of its clergy, and for the higher education of such of its members as were or should be willing to place themselves under a discipline of the antique type. The institution was, as we liave seen, endowed by the joint offerings of individuals and corporations in the mt)ther country and in Canada; contributions to the same object ilowing in also from the sister Church in the United States, at the instance of a Canadian presbyter thither despatched, whoso advocacy of the new College in that country, a-i sul)se(piently in England also, elicited considerable sums of money for the augmentation of its funds. With an educational endowment so procured, there will of course never be any thought of interference on tlio part of statesmen. It is morally certain there would never have been an interference with a modest endowment even from the waste lands of the Crown, when such lands were abundant in Canada, had it been competent, which it may not have been, except on the ground of expediency, for the representatives of the Angli- can Church, at the time of the organization of Upper Canada, to have assumed for that Church simply the status which it at present occupies. It should be added that the subject of Schools, to be under the exclusive control of the iV^glitJan clergy in Canada, was also mooted from time to time in charges and synodal addresses; but as this was a project in which it was found impossible to inspire an interest to any influential degree among the Angli- can laity, its discussion was permitted to drop. Tlie establish- ment of such schools by authority of Parliament is of necessity out of the question, now that the political theories of which such schools were a consistent part are, as we have again and again seen, given up. Unless, therefore, the Anglican clergy can carry with them the bulk of the Anglican laity, inducing them to tax themselves liberally and systematically in addition to the rates paid by them already for the erection and main- 69 tenance of schools, it is sitnply a social irritation to keep up reclamations on the sulvjcct. The bulk of the Aii*;lican laity in Canada have somewhere learnt to be peaceable citizens, and knowing that the present system of Public Education is in its general plan the only one pi'acticablo under the circumstances, they show that in the main they are satisfied with it. In the matter of a distinctive Anglican training — in addition to the careful working of Sunday schools — much could be fairly done by rendering discourses in the pulpit and lecture-desk interest- ing and instructive to the young. Such discourses, well studied out and managed with tact, do not fail to interest and instruct men aiul women of all ages. And this is a part of the conuuis- sion " to disciple," which perhaps it may not be right to dele- gate to schools. There remained one great project more still to be accom- plished: this was the establishment of a systematic organiza- tion for the ecclesiastical body over which he presided. The diocesan society which had already been instituted, did not, as a nuitter of conscience, endjrace every member of the clergy and laity of the Anglican communion. It was a volun- tary society, which any one might or might not support. An authoritative institution for the whole Church was wanting, such as the early Christian societies in Asia and Europe pos- sessed. " When the lay members of the Church in any colonial diocese number more than two hundred thousand, and the clergy one hundred and fifty, scattered over a vast region, and thus much separated from one another, it must needs be that dillicnlties and oifonces will arise ; and how are they to be dealt with V This is the question asked by the Bishop of Toronto, in his charge of ISoI. "The bishop is in most cases power- less," he continues, " having indeed jurisdiction by his royal appointment and divine commission, but he has no tribunals to try cases, and to acquit or punish, as the case may be. lie therefore feels himself frequently weak, and unable to correct reckless insubordination and sullen opposition, even in matters spiritual. At one time he may be accused of feebleness and irresolution ; at another, when acting with some vigour, he may be denounced as tyranni'-.! and despotic. On such occasions, 1^ S&i h '% I 60 lie requires the support and refreshing counsel of his hrethreii, and their constitutional co-operation, in devising and maturing i;y and laity, members of the United Church of England and Ireland, in the Province of Canada, to meet in their several dioceses, which are now or may be hereafter constituted in this Province, and in such manner and by such proceedings as they shall adopt, frame constitutions and make regulations for enforcing discipline in the Church ; for the appointment, deposition, deprivation or removal of any person bearing office therein, of whatever order or degree, any rights of the Crown to the contrary notwithstanding ; and for the convenient and orderly management of tlie property, atialrs and interests of the Church In matters relating to and affecting only the said Church and tiie olKcers and members thereof, and not in any manner interfering with the rights, privileges or interests of otiier religi(»us coimnunities, or of any jierson or persons not being a member or members of the said United Church of iMiglaiul and Ireland : provided always, that such constitutions and regulations sljall apply only to the diocese or dioceses a(U)ptlng the same."— 19, 20 Vic. c. 121. P>efore the passing of this Act, however, the triennial visita- tions of the bishop had assumed the form of convocations or synods, including lay-representatves elected by the several con- gregations. In the first meeting of this kind, resolutions had been adopted rcttive to the residue of the lands for Public "Worship, relative to the legalizing of synodical meetings, and relative to the establishment of separate schools when possible. In the second, it was decided to adopt the style and title of Gl Synod, as a matter of inherent right ; and steps were taken to prepare the way for the division of the diocese of Toronto into two or three bishoprics, and for the setting-off of parishes in the respective dioceses : tlie synod was declared to be perpetual, and a standing-committee of twenty-four, half cleric and half laic, was appointed to act in concert with the Bishop while the Synod was not in session. To the Bishop of Toronto the honour thus belongs of being the first practically to solve the difficulty which in theory besets the admission of lay members into Anglican synods. His ex- ample has been widely followed in diiferent quarters of the empire ; and it is probable that the custom thus inaugurated in a colony will one day prevail within the dioceses of the mother-church. Of course, there, great prejudices have to bo surmounted. AVe happen ourselves to have been present in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster, when such an inno- vation was mooted : to r owing as we did, what a reasonable thing in practice the ci. van seemed, it was curious to hear the consecpiences which imagination conjured up as objections to its adoi)tion in England. The modern church-congresses of England have also grown out of the successful colonial experi- ment and aro pointing the same way, namely, to lay represen- tation in the councils of the Anglican Church. And who can doubt but that a Convocation reformed and made real, and diocesan synods reformed and made real, with tlie lay element judiciously but frankly admitted, would bring- back a fresh youth to the ancient Mother at home ? "What is the secret of the anarchy of late yeai's in the ancient historic Anglican church, in respect to doctrine and practice? Is it not the absence of constitutional government ? It is obvious to the casual visitor, there is no system observed in the work- ing of that body as a whole, binding its parts together. Each beneficed presbyter nuay do as he wills. He feels himself amenable to no central delegation representing the body of which he is a local functionary. In every denomination but that /which takes its name from an episcopate, there is a real episcopacy, an episcopacy without mystery. We mean that every Non-conformist body exercises over its members, official II 62 p4* \m If i> I 4L and non-official, a superintendence that may be felt. Whilst in the ancient Anglican communion, there is at present vir- tually no government. What, again, has led to the alienation of large masses of the people from the historic church, not- •withstanding its powerful prescriptive claims ? Has it not been the absence, now for a long series of years, of a representative assembly, sympathizing with the people, and having the power and will to deal from time to time, frankly and considerately, with grievances as they have arisen ? Without a parliament really legislating for the people generation ailer generation, rationally and justly, in what condition would bo the civil aftairs of the parent state ? AVith the Anglican communion in Canada and the other dependencies of England, it rests, to aid or hinder, as the years roll on, the renovation of the parent-communion at home : to aid, if by a steady and careful acquisition of intelligence on the part of clergy and laity, synods, general and particular, be rendered fair representative bodies : to hinder, if by the repression of intelligence and the inculcation of theories that are impracticable, they beconii; in their proceedings visibly one-sided. During the brief residue of his lifetime, the Bishop of Toronto saw two additional dioceses set off from his own ; one consisting of its western extremity, the other of its eastern ; each organized from its commencement with a synod similar to that which had been inaugurated by himself. Moi'eover, he lived to see these three, together with the dioceses of Quebec and Montreal, combined together into an Ecclesiastical Province, with a metropolitan at their head, nominated by the Crown, and all empowered to meet in a Provincial Synod, clergy and laity by representation, for the consideration of matters relating to the Provincial Church as a whole ; and on two occasions it was granted him to take an active part in the deliberations of this Provincial Council. And further, he lived to see carried into eft'ect, a wider combination still, which he had himself suggested and sketched some seven years before. In his Charge for 1860, after speak- ing of the " proper alterations and modifications" which were needed in the ancient constitution of the Convocation of the \ 63 Anglican Clmrch, in order " to meet the improved knowledge and civilization of the present times," and that it might be brought into working order, ho adds : " The assembling of such a Convocation, representing the United Church of England and Ireland, would offer a splendid spectacle ; and if occasional access in the way of deputation from our colonies and the Church of the tJuitcd States were encouraged, it would present the most august legislature that the Christian world has ever yet beheld ; and although much will require to bo -'one before this sublime convocation can be brought to bear, yet there are no insurmountable obstacles in the waj." A convocation, less comprehensive, indeed, than the one of which an outline is here drawn, but approximating to it, was actually to be seen in the Conference of Bishops of the Angli- can conmiuuion at Laml)eth, in 18fi7, when, out of sovcnt}'- eight prelates assembled, forty-four were from dioceses exterior to the British empire. There was a peculiar fitness in the fact that, of the scries of projects for the well-being of the Anglican Church, which had engaged the bisliop's mind throughout a long life, the remark- able Conference at Lambeth should have been the last. The interest which he took in the proceedings of this council was very great. It was deeply touching to witness the reluc- tance with which he brought himself to believe that the infir- mities incident to an age now extending beyond ninety-one years, forbade his being present at it. With the instinctive consciousness of one formed to be a legislator and judge, he was profoundly convinced that in such an assembly his ideas would have been of weiijht and value. It happened to oui-selves to be fully cognizant of his lively interest In this as in other things, persons and places, to within a very few days of his departure hence. AVith the curiosity of a youthful student, he entered into the details of tiie great Exhibition at Paris, and other varied particulars of a jirolonged visit to the mother country, Swit- zerland and Germany, with accounts of conversations had with distinguished persons to whom he had himself furnished letters ; all of whom, it may be added, were found to keep in •I I # Ti' . 04 memory very distinctly and affectionately the impression made on tliemselvos by his own strong character, years ago. The appointment of a coadjutor had been long resisted, as an expedient naturally repugnant to his temperament and mould of mind. It was only just before the last year of his life tliat such assistance was accepted ; and at the moment of his decease, the colleague elected by his Synod had not yet retur.ied from the Conference at Lambeth. So that after all, the great bishop died as he had preferred to do, with his hand solely on the hcua. In this last brief interval of his episcopate, +lie nyoasures adopted and pastorals issued were stamped with the vigour and decision of his best days. Of the former, one was for the establishment of an Infirmary ; of the latter, one was for the observance of a Public Day of Thanksgiving. It has been somewhere said, *■' Stantevi mori Ducevi oj>ortef, E2)isco2)(tm co7ielo?ianti'my Both conditions were satisfied in the i^'uniise of the first Bishop of Toronto. As a leader of his division, he was found at its head, with his iirmour on ; and to the last, his voice was to be heard, not seldom, in the pul[)it of one or other of tho churches of his ciithedral city, or addressing large companies of the newly confirmed. It has often been afKrmed that every worthy human life is a drama — a poc.i; and that "every man truly lives so hmg as he acts his nature, and some way malces good the faculties of himself We have been reviewing a career of the kind here described ; a life unusually complete, with strongly marked beginning, middle and close, earnestly occupied throughout with the most important hunuxn affairs. We have seen an early unfolding of special powers and aptitudes, and a grand ambitiou awakened by the consciousness of their possession ; aspirations, as they proved themselves to be in the event, based on the nature of things. "VVe have seen a discipline undergone ; a discipline of long delays, of disappointment upon disappoint- ment ; each issuing in a clearer demonstration of the virtue of the man ; of the genuineness of his faith, his hope, his self- control, his fortitude. Finally, we have seen tho experience gained in the school of adversity practically applied in the period of prosperity, and every successive elevation- in position, 1 as rvrath of heaven would be averted, and the joyful tidings of pardon and eternal hope proclaimed to every sincere penitent ? In fine, the trans- lation of punishment, so far from being contradictory, is entirely agreeable to reason, and the guilty person may escai)e by the sufferings of another substituted in his room. To apply this reasoning more particularly, we have to remark that the condi- tion of our blessed Lord was such as rendered the sufferings which he sustained for us fully answerable to all tlie punish- ments that would have been inflicted on sinners. By his feulTerings, every end was accomplished that could have been promoted by the ]>ersonal sufferings of the offenders. He was a blessed person, of infinite dignity and excellence, and might not only bo jus^tly accepted on our behalf, but by this oblation satisfaction for the guilt was fully obtained, and the forgiveness of sins and the hopes of a blessed immortality extended ; and all this perfectly consistent with the divine perfections, and with the order and dignity of God's moral government." — Christiaii Recorder^ vol. i. pp. 175-0. In the same tone and strain we find him discoursing in ISGO: " Without entering further into the distinction between natu- ral and revealed religion, which I believe will gradually disap- pear as we advance in knowledge, I will merely observe that the moat mysterious parts of the gospel will be found essen- tially connected vith the nature and government of God. Hence it is no mark of wisdom to desjjise the resources of human reason, and still less to slight the light of the revelation which can alone conduct our reason to just and profitable con- clusions, lloason is the compass by which we steer our course, and revelation the polar sr^ir by wliich we correct its variations. The Scriptures, generally speaking, do not reason, but exhort 69 and remonstrate. Nor do they attempt to fetter the judgment by the subtleties of argument, but to raise the feelings by appealing to plain matters of fact. Now this is what might have been expected from teachers acting under a commission, and armed by undeniable facts to enforce their admonitions. But though there is no regular treatise in the holy Scriptures on any one branch of religious doctrine, yet all the materials of a regular system are to be found there. The word of God contains the doctrines of religion in the same way as the system of nature contains the elements of physical science. In both cases the doctrines are deduced from the facts, which arc not presented to us in any regular order, and must bo classified before wc can arrive at first principles. TIence those who Avould teach natural religion with profit, must arrang. ihe facts which it offers into a system ; and they who would explain the wavs of God must arrancre the materials which are so aiiiidy furnished in the Bible, but which are presented a[)pa- rently without [tlan or order. I would therefore consider all objections to systems of divinity to be as unreasonable as it would be to object to the philosophy of Newton, for having elucidated tiie laws uf nature and arranged the phenomena of the heavens. The ways of God are very complicated, as we all foci, and the manifestations of His will so infinitely diversified as at times to app(>ar opposed to each other. Hence it is oidy by an eidarged view of His ])rovidence, that wc can see the beautif^s and esfiinate the value of that revelation whicli He has given us. It is a gre/it mistal.e to suppose that revelation has been givcMi to save us the trouble of thinking. Its object is to teach us to think aright; to prevent the waste and misap- jilication of our faculties, but not to supersede their exercise. And though I am persuailed that no degree of study would ever have enabled man to arrive at accurate conceptions of God and His government without the aid of revelation, 1 am no less certain that revelation itself will not endue men with religious knowledge without study, meditation and reflection." —ifinnje, ISr.O, pp. 20-22. The scene in the cathedral-church, on the delivery of a triennial Cliarge in former days, while yet the whole of Western Canada TO formed tlie diocese of Toronto, will never be forgotten by per- sons present at it. It was as nearly as possible a reproduction of what we can conceive to have been the spectacle at a basilica of the old imperial days on a corresponding occasion. There was the episcopal chair, placed for the time being in the midst of the chancel, with its venerable and venerated occupant, tho centre of all regards ; before him a throng of presbyters, many of them literally as well as officially seniors, scarred and fur- rov.'cd by toil and time, with a younger brother here and there, and deacons, interspersed, all solemnly habited, and gathered up in a mass to the chancel steps, and all standing, waiting for the words of one felt to be, in no mere formal sense, a father- in-God ; of one to whom, it was on all hands believed, there could bo no successor like or equal ; listening to his grave and well-weighed counsels, on a witle range of subjects, with an unfeigned attention, sheet after sheet of closely written maim- script falliijg confusedly on the floor beside the chair for long hours together: outside the assembled band of clerical auditors was the adstans 2>opulus, the general laity, crowded up from the body of tho building, or else looking down with interested gaze from the galleries on the right and left. From his Cliarges to the clergy could be gathered a code of Anglican divinity, and a manual of canonical life. But while his statements of dogma and rules for clerical ])ractice are definite and precise, he makes them with consideration, as knowing that the persons addressed were accustomed to great liberty of thought and action. So far as related to himself, the theological convictions formed at the student period of ids life, having been happily arrived at under a wise direction, received only more and more confirmation as years rolled on. lie was in this maimer enabled, as he himself testified towards tiie close of his career, to speak at all times with boldness on the special topics connected with his ollice, and " with an inward satisfaction and firmness of puri>osc whi(;h, under the Divine blessing, has never changed." " I have always been aware," he tells his clergy in ISOO, " that the best endeavour I could make to promote unity in the Church, was to seek after inward unity and peace in my own breast ; because it is only 71 by cherishing such graoes tliat I can give consistency to my religious character, and cause ita influence to pervade and penetrate the diocese, and shed abroad in it the power of faith and charity." A profound remark, reminding ns of Lord Bacon's words : " No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth, a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene ; and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests in the vale below ; so also tliat this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of Truth." There was a peculiar freshness and naturalness about his l)ublished Journals of Visitation. In tliem, without losing anything of dignity, he enlivens details which miglit be deemed merely technical and professional, by notices of matters con- nected with the i)hysical aspect and jirogress of the country. His Journal of the year 181:2 was published in London, by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and has l)assed tlu'ougli several editions. The same features character- ized his narratives of tlie acts of the year delivered in Synod. Li the accoutit of his voyage to England in 1850, given in a Pastoral, tlie toiu^liing story of " Poor Thomas " will be remem- bered : a sailor on board the ship, who had been deprived of both his legs by frost-bite. After describing with minuteness the case, " His tine spirit endeared him," the bishop says, " to all the passengers, and, wlien made accpiainted with liis simple plans, a subscription of fifty pounds was raised for his benefit ; and two gentlemen belonging to Liverpool, with true Christian charity, engaged to see it appropriated in su'.'h a manner as to ensure the completion of his wishes, and if necessary to supply what might be wanting. The matter being thus satisfactorily arranged, Thomas was made quite ha]t[)y." This combination of a genial concern in homely, liuinan matters, and a readiness and a[)titude for high and complicated occupations, made him equally at his ease, wluitiier conversing witii Chinquaconse in an Indian hut at Garden lliver, crooning to himself some old Scottish air in the back seat of an uncouth sta^je-coach on tho !i Ijll m I i 72 Penetangniahino road, or excliangiiig courtesies with Albert Edward, Prince of "Wales, and the gentlemen of his suite, in the salons of Government House at Toronto. And herein he exemplified in himself what his well-known views were, in regard to the kind of men fitted to be " spiritual pastors and masters" among the people of Western Canada. "It should make no difference whether it is a log or a sofa that you sit on," Ave once heard him say, referring to emergencies that con- stantly occur where things are in the rough. " I know how to content myself with earthen vessels, as my fiither did," said an old bishop of Chichester, in 1245, when Henry III. was with- holding the revenues of his see: "let eveiything be sold, even to my horse, if there be need." This was the spirit of the first Bishop of Toronto. It was this singleness of view in regard to duty under all circumstances, that made him intrepid in the midst of peril. The times of contagious sickness, in 1S32 and 1847, found him unflinching in his ministrations. In the keep- ing of ajipointments, too, the same fearlessness was sure to bo seen. We ourselves well remember an instance of this, Avhcn, night and rough weatiier rendering a long pull in an open boat on tlie river at the Sault Ste. Marie by no means a trifling matter, the stand taken in respect to a distant engagement rt as in almost the identical terms used by the Roman general of old: "It is not necessary for me to live, but it is nccesffary for me to go." In the printed remains to which reference has been made, it is curious to observe, also, with what a well sustained interest the vigour and earnestness of the writer or speaker always eiuvbled h'un to invest the history of the lands set apart for Public Worship atid Public Education in Canada. There is Wonderfully little self-repetition in the multiplied statements of his case in speeches, reports, pastorals and petitions. Of a spirit which ever led him to "rank himself with princes," he addressed, besides these, several characteristic letters from time to tiiue to prominent personages at home and on this conti- nent, on public occasions. In 1815, there was one to Jefterson ; in 1810, one to the Earl of Selkirk; in 1832, one to Dr. Chalmers; in 1851, to Lord John Russell. In these, as also \ 73 in his controversial correspondence with statesmen and others on great questions of the day, lie wiekled ar^ pen which coukl prove itself sufficiently trenchant whenever there was a neccs sity. On the perusal of these production^, the reader familiar with Plutarch will be reminded not unfrerjuently of the policy of the elder Cato, who, wo are told, " in engagements would strike boldly, Avithout flinching j stand firm to his ground; flx a bold countenance upon his enemies, and with a harsh, tlirc{\- tening voice accost them; justly thiidving himself, and telling others, that such a rugged kind of behaviour sometimes terrifies the enemy more than the sword itself." Doubtless on other occasions also, the same old Roman character will again and again have been recalled ; " for with reason," the world-famous biographer declares, '- everybody admired Cato, Avhcn tlicy saw others sink under labours, and grow cfi'eminate by pleasures, and yet beheld him unconquered by either; and that not only when he was young and desirous of honor, but also when old and grey-headed, after a consulship and ti'ium[»h ; like some ftimous victor in the games, persevering in his exercise and maintaining his character to the very last." — CloiKjh's Plu- tarch, vol. ii. pp. .317, 321. As a specimen in this connexion, we give an extract from a communication to the London Tli/u's,ui 1841, wliicli appended to it an editorial commendatory of its contents. Mr, llawos and Mr. Joseph Hume had attempted, in their i)laces in the House of Commons, to neutrali/e his influence by some ground- less allegations. '' I am not aware," tho bishop observes, '• what degree of iniluencc may be exercised i)y ^Ir. ilawes over public opinion in England ; and I cannot, therefore, estimate the force of the blow which ho allowed himself to aim at the character of an absent man. This cannot be said of Mr. 1 lume ; for, from my knowledge of his public career, I derive the con- solation that no man's good name is likely to suffer much from any attack which he may be pleased to make upon it. They both, however, professed to speak only in reference to a des- patch which His Excellency the Governor-General [Poulett Thomson] had written to the Secretary of State for the Colo- nies, on the 2nd of May, IS-tO, which, with the inclosures it 74 I M. t '111 refoiTcd to, had been published among the Parliamentary docu- ments. No man on w hose good opinion I should bo inclined to set much value, would be likely, I think, to have formed his judgment upon the comments of Mr. Ilawes and Mr. Ilnme, without referriug to tho correspondence itself; and I am con- tent to abide by tho judgment which may have been formed upon a deliberate ''•-onsideration of the correspondence by men of candid minds, having no desire to destroy my reputation for political purposes, and having no otlier sinister object in view," Upon the reply of the bishop, the Thn^s of the day, manifestly at the moment in opposition, was pleased to remark, " We have dwelt on the gross aspersions and bitter malevolence directed against this respectable gyman, because such injuries are systematic; because they are characteristic of the unj)rincipled and shameful warfare carried on by the mend)ers of the execu- tive government, and by the faction upon whose i)atr()iiage they hang for support, against the most sacred institution of the monarchy, the whole frame of the Church of England and its most blameless functionaries." As being among the most remarkable of his public efforts, his extemporaneous Confirmation-addresses ought also to bo mentioned. Genuinely paternal in tone, and really valuable as i)ractical guides in the conduct of life, they were vividly remembered by those who heard them. Ilis strong sympathy with the young has already been adverted to: liis interest in their fears, their hopes, their trials, their plans, was hearty and never- failing. What we once happened casually to witness, in the case of a young friend about to try his fortunes in a distant part of the globe, we shall not readily forget, namely, a parting benediction, given in the primitive way, and unaffectedly received on bended knee, the suddenness and spontaneity of the act on both sides rendering the scene a memorable and touching one. There were not a few vouni; men who were indebted to him, virtually, for their first introduction in life. From his remains which may be found in print, from his Charges and Synodal Addresses, his Letters to public Charac- ters, his Speeches and Keports, as also from the records of his acts and works, an exact moral portrait of the iirst Bishop of \ 75 Toronto may, as we can see, be obtained, and will be convoyed to posterity. As to the literal presentments of his person, of liia physique and its expression, that exist on canvas or otlicrwise, the noblest and the best is that taken in London just after his consecration. In that portrait the artist has, with the tact of a Sir Thomas Lawrence, caught and fixed the image of the bishop at a happy moment, idealizing grandly the whole figure Mith great skill. The portraits at Trinity College, in the Vc.»trv-rooni of St. James', and in the Board-room of the Church Society, are all too realistic to bo pleasing. A water-colour likeness of him m Archdeacon Strachan, taken many years ago by Iloppner Meyer, was good, the negligent air of the suri)lice being especially indicative of character. A later engraving by the same artist, from a photograph, was not so successful. An oil- painting by Gush, in the posses;^ion of Dr. Fuller, is somewhat like, but is not satisfactory. The bust, which is to be seen in some places, preserves the features, but it is altogether destitute of the nobleness which an artist would have thrown into a pro- duction of that kind. As to the numerous photographs, they arc generally good ; but, as was to bo expected, they reflect too much of that side of the outward asj)ect which gives the impression of one — Tmj)i(je)', iracvndun, incxorahilis^ acer. Beneath them all might be inscribed — • " In his royrlty of nature Rcif^ns that which would be feared ; 'tis much ho dared ; And to that dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that dotii guide his valour To act in safety." One photograph, full length, of cabinet size, liy Carswell, gives very accurately the figure, somewhat short and firmly built, but restini; litrhtlv on the ground: the fine countenance, of anti(pie mould, full <>f serious thought and active intelligence; the well-balanced head, aiid the hair, whicli extreme age bad only partially blanched. Many years ago, his head and coun- tenance bore a considerable resemblance to those of Milton, as pourtrayed in Faiihorne's well-known picture commonly given 70 i i in tlie old edition!?. At sv later period, the current portrait of I3isliop Jewel conveys some idea of his face. It U interesting to notice how at early formative periods in linnian societies in all parts of the world, there haw hern a development of men peculiarly adapted to their day and fjeneration. From some points of view, indeed, it might seem as if the existence of the men created also the occasion of their becoming eminent ; hut on examining further, it will generally be found that a variety of antecedent circumstances liad been, perhaps for a long while, prejjaring a crisis, when the opportune appearance of a man competent to conceive a happy mode of cond)ining them, and capable of discerning the happy moment for doing so, was the means of bringing the crisis to a head ; and thus a particular name became so intimately associated with a particular movement, that after-generations would be inclined to attribute the whole glory of the transaction to the posses^'r of that name. Posterity, gratefully and with justice, calls the men thus rendered eminent, heroes and benefactors. At maTiy another period there have lived, it is not improbable, men of equal capacity and force; but the peculiar surroundings that in the one case made greatness of character conspicuous, have been wanting in the other. Tn addition to clear heads, high aims and strong wills, the fortunate few to whom reference has been made, had spheres of action peculiar to themselves. In the early civil history of the United States, there is "Washington. How happily adapted the man to the emergency, atul the eiriergency to the man! And in the ecclesiastical affairs of that country, at least so far as that communion is concerned which would at the outset be the most disorganized by a se])a- ration from the mother country, how admirably suited to the occasion \yas Bishop White! Here in our own Canada, when we turn our regards to its early French day, what figure more appropriate could present itself to the eye, in the group of its first occupants, than that of Champlain ? What character couhl have been better adapted to further and protect the civil interests of the country as it then was ? While in regard to Gallicanism, the principal form of religious belief and worship \ < i in tlio country ns it tlion was, and the education involved therein, who could have lieen betttr fitted to mould and guide aft'fiirs than a Laval^ or, later, a Plcssis? Then, advancinj^ westward, to the regions first settled and organized under IJritish influences, who is there that appears to have been better fitted in mind and spirit to be the founder and legislator of a new State, the originator of its Institutions and customs, than John Graves Sinicoc, first Governor of Upper Canada ? And that the analogy between the two old Canadian provinces might be complete, ecclesiastically as well as civilly, a name presents itself in relation to matters con- nected with Public AVorship and Public Instruction, as contem- plated in the theory of government then in vogue, that will bo mentioned in future times with great cmphiisis and respect — the name of the great bishop whose career we have been reviewing. Prought prominently into view by the times in which he lived, and by the circumstances of the country in which his lot was cast, he was a(la[)ted in a i>articular manner to those times and circumstances. Jlad he been of an organization less rigid, or had he happened to have taken more of the artificial shape which the conventional culture of old communities is apt to give : or had he chanced to adopt a principle of puldic action dill'erent from that which he did adopt, neither his defivats nor his successes would have been so imj)ressive as they arc. Pos- terity would not have been forced to notice so pointedly as it is now, the lesson taught by both — that portion of i)osterity, of course wo mean, which is immediately concerned with ecclesi- astical and educational questions in Canada. Inasmuch as there really were so many things to be said in favour of the claim of the Anglican Church to " establishment" in Canada (the Educational claim included), according to the theory governing the framers of the Imperial Act of 1701, it is well that there appeared on the scene one who was ready and able to do battle to the death in behalf of that claim. Had the Anglican interests in respect to Public AVorship and Public Education been represented by a man of faint heart or weak powers at the critical moments, and those interests gone to the h n Mi ;li4 78 wall, as under any circumstances they would have done, the visionary of after-times, looking back over the past of Canada, would have maintained a never-ending lament. As matters stand now, posterity (limited as before) accepts the verdict given after a protracted discussion, with all the more compo- sure, because an advocate very able and very much in earnest was heard on that which proved to be the losing side : and the fact is grasped, that the prevalence or non-prevalence of systems of Public Worship and Public Education must henceforward depend, not upon lands, but upon intrinsic desert. In other words, the Anglican communion has been taught that its real strength lies in its own historic character and descent ; and that any peculiar method of training which it may adopt for the benefit of its youth, must flourish or not, in proportion solely to the degree of countenance given to it by itself. Tlie ancient theory was, that the people of a country and the church of a country are identical. It is a theory tliat sim- plifies government, when generally acknowledged, and removes all difficulty in regard to endowments for Public Worship and Public Instruction. But, except " In Utopia, subterranean fields, Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where," we are no lonjxer to expect that such a theorv will ever ajjain be realized in fact. The Refunnation, the Cominonwcaltli, the Eevolution of 1688, were all admonitions that the details of the policy of Great Britain must be more and more modified, if the wants of modern men were to be met and satisfied. The Aboli- tion of Tests, the Koman Catholic Emancipation, the Tithe Commutation, the Reform measure of 18.")2, tlic mitigations in Criminal law, the Reform moas^ure of 18C7 — all point the same way; to be followed, there ia reason to believe, from time To time, by many an additional indication to the same eifect. All this may seem very undesirable to many persons ; all this may serve only a.> an incentive to zeal for the pre-Reforination condition of things in Great Britain and Ireland; zeal for tlie restoration of the constitution in its pristine integrity. But is it not worth while to consider whether the history of the huaan ii 79 race justifies a reasonable man in believing that anj coTidltion of things, at any given time, is the one wlii<*ii must necessarily be the best adapted to men at all subsequent period* .' It maj turn out, by-and-bye, that the only principle of government practicable, even in the mother country, in relation to Public Worship and Public Instruction, i* tiiat enunciated by Crom- well himself years ago : " Love all, tf-rider all," cried he to his Parliament in 1653 ; " cherish and countenance all in all tilings that are good ; and if the j-'i »rest Christian, the most mistaken Christian shall desire to live peaceably and quietly under you — if any shall desire but to lead a life of godliness and honesty, let him be protected. "^ — Wiltion^s Cromwell and the Protecto- rate, p. 204. Statesmen are being compelled, by the stubborn- ness of eveuta, to allow that '* they be two things," as Bacon Bpoaks, "unity and uniformity." They have discovered that the enforcement of the latter docs not secure the former ; while the former may be presumed to exist when the latter is given np. Some even go so far as to hold that " the sort of variation resulting from independence and freedom, so far from breaking the bond, is the best preservation of it." A number of neigh- bouring families, to use Arcnbishop AV^hately's illustration of this proposition, living in perfect unity, will be thrown into discord as soon as you compel them to form one family, and to observe in things intr'.isically indifferent, the same rules. One, for instance, likes early hours, and another late ; one likes the M'indows open, and another shut ; and thus, by being brought too close together, they are drawn into ill-will, by one being perpetually forced to give way to another. From the (hivs of Elizabeth down to the opening of the Royal Commission recently aj)pointe(l by the present Queen, there have been occasions prevented when the theory of the identity of the people of England and of the Anglicaa Church could have had a wide realization. At the Hampton Court Conference, the liect(»ring spirit of James '• T. and VI.," was of course fatal to any such ihcory, although in his blind misread- ing of the British jieoplc, he supposed such a spirit nitt incom- patible with it. " Well, doctor, have ycm anything more to say ? " asked James of one of the dissentients on that occasion, 80 I after listening to the objections urged. "Xo more, if it please your Miijesty," was the reply. "Then," said the King, "if this is all your party hath to say, I will make them conform, or harrie them out of the land : or else do worse ! " — Southey-s Booh of the C/nirch, p. 429. There have been, all along, too many Jameses. In a recent visit to the mother country, we found men of this type existinaj still, in the lay ranks as well as in the clerical ; persons, we mean, who seemed to us to mis- read the real temper of the bulk of their fellow-countrymen ; and we were led by a study of their doings and writings to the conviction that the day is near at hand when the theory of identity between the historic Chuich and the population in the midst of Aviiich it is placed, will, even in law, be relinquished there, as it is already in Canada. The lesson taught to the Anjijlican Church in Canada bv the local events which Ave have been reviewing, is not yet learnt in the mother country; but its inculcation is agitating society there at the present moment. Tlie issue will be, there can be little doubt, in harmony with tlie issue of other movements in the direction of civil and religious liberty in the Ihntisli Islands, resultinij!: iinallv in the very condition of thinc-s which we sec about us here. Is it not well that it should b'> f-eon, at home and hero, that endowments, l^owevei* convenient wiien possessed, are not of ^\^ Gssbiicc df the Anglican Church ? Is it not well that in some manner the fact should be made plain, that in societies, ecclesiastical as Avell as civil, individuals cannot be absolved from the duties of succour and maintenance which they owe to the body of which they are a part?— duties which become obscure when the work of succour and maintcmince is for a series of ages carried on by the inaninuito agency of the produce of land. In the history of man, there can be little doubt but that endowments, for one thing, have led succes- sively to indifference to truth, to a conseipient corruption of truth, and then to a perpetuation of that corruption. " Ah ! Constantinc ! to how much ill gave birth, Not thy conversion, but that plenteous ilowcr Which the first wealthy Father gained from thee ! " Dante, Inf., xix. •sam Tt-._^ mt of in ed Dwe 81 We are not vouching for the dower in queatiou ; we merely adopt the poet's words to give a hint of what we mean. Now, may not the stri])ping away of such adventitious helps in one quarter, and the prceariousness which has come over sucli helps, we may perhaps say, in all quarters, be a premonitory symptom of the coming day whicli we are hopefu]ly taught to exj)ect, when Truth, ])urc and simple, will very widely prevail, by virtue of its own divine, intrinsic nature? The defeats of the gn at bishop, then, have their moral. At the same time, tho.'^e de'eacs in no way detract fro'm his repu- tation. In considering them, we have again and again been reminded of what IMonjaigne says in a well-known i)assage, which we arc tempted to give at length, so happily and cha- racteristically docs ho therein put one or two parallel cases : "The estimation and value of a man," he says, "consist in the heart and in the will: there his true honour lives. Yalour is Etability, not of logs and arms, but of the courage and the soul. It does not lie in the got dness of our horse, or of our arms, but in ourselves. lie that falls, firm in his courage, — Si sucolderit, . men M'ere all cut to pieces. Is there any Iin|tliy rlndi('(if»'d to conquerers which is not much more due to tht)se wlio wiii'Li till/a nvuri'ome'i The part that true conquer- hig lias to j)lay lies in the utti'tntiitor, li"t in the coming off; tllM IlilDmir of valour consists in fighting, ////f |// pubdiiiiig." — M(mtai\iui\e(l. Iladlft, [}, ]\9i. ^^ Ecpially Instriictive with the dofeafp, are the successes of ttie first Bishop of Toronto. Their monil, especially for the Com- munion which he ruled, and for individuals composing it, is this : llecognize facts ; aim at the practical. Wo need not describe again the determined way in which he endeavoured to make good the disasters entailed by the irresistible march of events. The time loft him was short. lie girded himself with desperate energy to his work ; and takin|); an entirely new basis of operations, he realized after all his ideal, on a scale indeed below what his first conception had pictured, but still on a scale (it sufticiently good dimensions ; actually creating for himself, by this second development of force, a spiritual realm over which, amidst the acclaims of all, ho reigned as the visible head, and informing genius, to the moment of his decease ; and tlien, leaving it to his successors, furnished with means and appliances of his own institution, for self-regulation, self- support, and self-perpetuation, in all future time. Moralists who take a morbid view of human life are ready to exclaim, — AYhat shadows we are and what shadows wo pursue ! Which may be true of numbers, bur. need not be true of any, provided only they have been put in possession of sound minds and sound bodies, and have been disciplined in both with the discipline provided for them. 83 Such a man as the great Bishop wliose career we have been studying, is no shadow. Neither are the things wliieh such men pursue, sliadows. The results of tlie h'fe of the first Bishop of Toronto are tangible realities. They may be sensibly participated in by all of the Canadian people that choose, or in the future shall choose, to avail themselves of them. And he liimself is a reality. His example, his written and spoken words, his works and deeds, will together constitute a standard and type to which, in the fluctuations of the future, there will be a recurrence. His name will be one of the things which the generations following will not willingly let die. His spirit will be still palpably marching on. lie built the principal church-edifice ai»pcrfaining to his own coniniiiniou four Mines in succession; twice uh a cathedral church fur his dh/ccHo ( and on each successive occasion with IlK'R'Ufloil ((I'dndour and curfUI/io,-!*, "Tv'^s of Learning" wit- ness for him : lie iuDodcd two Univorsh in succession, both invested with the character borne by si/cli institutions as origin- ally instituted, by Royal Cluirtcr, — procured in l)oth instances by his own pc'rsonal travail ; the later of the two l)y an indi- viduid and solitary eftbrt, to which it is not easy to find a parallel, lie saw theiu both in operation, investigating, con- serving, and propagating truth, on somewhat diiferent lines indeed, but probably with co-ordinate utility, as things are. The veiy Park, with its widely-renowned Avenue, the Champs Elyb