I thank you for your kind and friendly letter, and for the particular account of the closing scenes of the life of your honoured and lamented brother. The wound inflicted by his death can never be altogether healed. The grief which it produces is natural and rational, and is not inconsistent with any of the precepts, or with the spirit of the Gospel. It is a duty, however, to keep it within bounds, and not to allow murmurs in our heart against Divine Providence. The language of our hearts should be that of the Patriarch, "The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Gratitude for the gift should be mingled with our deep sorrow for the loss of it. In my own case, a consideration of the unspeakable goodness of God in having bestowed upon me such an inestimable blessing has been continually present to my mind, and trust such feelings will abound in the bosom of Lady Robinson, her family, and yourself. He, whose removal from earthly scenes your hearts deplore, was all that you could have desired, in his public and private character, and in the homage of universal veneration and esteem. Where will you find one like him? Was there not great and peculiar goodness in God's bestowing him upon you? Was he not the joy and pride of your hearts continually? Did not his presence irradiate his home, and make it like an earthly Paradise? Every pang which you may suffer attests the value of the blessing which you have so long had. Your gratitude to God, the author of every good and perfect gift, ought to be in proportion to your grief. It is to be remembered, also, that he was not cut down prematurely in the midst of his days, but had passed the period which Moses, the man of God, in his sublime and pathetic prayer (Psalm xc.) considers as the ordinary boundary of human life, and retained all his powers and faculties to the last; and that during this long life he had not been absent from his family, at least not from Lady Robinson (if I am not mistaken) except during the transient separation when he was on the circuit. It is natural that your hearts should yearn for him, should long to see him again, and enjoy the pleasure of his company; yet death must sooner or later have separated you, and longer life might have been a scene of suffering. Would it not have been inexpressibly painful to you all to have seen his mental and bodily powers decay and fade away? Such a spectacle would have been distressing and mortifying. Now his memory is associated with no humiliating recollections; but you remember him as one always admired, respected and loved. Death has set his seal upon him,and although he is removed from you to return no more to earthly scenes, you know that it is only a removal, and that he is now in a state of exalted and perfect, though ever progressive, felicity. I trust you have the most consolatory evidence that this is now his present and unalterable state, and that you constantly think as David thought and said, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." In the meantime you have the consolation of knowing that while you remember him with the tenderest affection and interest, he has not forgotten you, but has a more distinct and perfect recollection of you than you have of him. That this is literally true is the conviction of my understanding, founded not only upon reason and analogy, but upon the irrefragable testimony of divine revelation. There surely is nothing in such a thought that is improbable. We have daily experience of the revival in our minds of past events long forgotten; they lived there, though dormant. Then how many well authenticated and well known instances, where persons recovered from drowning have stated that before they lost consciousness, all the scenes and incidents of their lives flashed instantaneously, as it were, upon their minds, and appeared to be present to their view. They had been treasured up there, though latent. Death does not extinguish the mental faculties, thought does not cease, but the conscious and thinking being passes from scenes present to scenes eternal. "Mortality is swallowed up of life." There would be good ground for this conviction, if revelation gave us no higher proof; but it is explicit. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." This necessarily implies a perfect recollection of our lives. We are to answer for all the deeds done in the body; for every idle word, for every secret and sinful thought and feeling. This requires a perfect recollection of every event, sentiment, and emotion of our lives. The soul, therefore, must carry into the unseen world a perfect recollection of its associates and friends; and as there will be no decay then of mental powers, this will be an abiding, ever-present recollection. Every holy feeling will also continue after death—conjugal, parental, filial, fraternal affections are holy; they are expressly enjoined upon us by divine authority. Love, indeed, pure, fervent affection, is the characteristic element of Heaven. It is impossible, therefore, that the holy affections should cease at death. I have, therefore, a conviction that our departed friends, whose death we mourn, remember us distinctly and with tender affection. I have dwelt upon this subject because it has afforded me in my great affliction much consolation, and if I had time, I might expatiate more fully upon it, and adduce further evidence in support of its truth.Yes! it is a truth, and therefore it is full of consolation. While we are thinking of our departed friends with grief, they, too, are thinking of us, with at least equal affection, and this they will continue to do until we meet. In the meantime we may comfort ourselves with the thought that, to use the language of a sober and judicious commentator on the sacred Scriptures, "The separation will be short, the re-union rapturous, and the subsequent felicity uninterrupted, unalloyed, and eternal."I have felt peculiar sympathy for Lady Robinson. I am sure her affliction must be extreme. I hope the Son of God is with her in the furnace, and that she has a consciousness of His presence. He can give both support and consolation, and both she must greatly need. He can gently, and imperceptibly, bind up and heal her wounded and bleeding heart.I wish that I could furnish reminiscences that would be interesting to you, for I should be glad to testify my respect for the memory of your brother, but I cannot tell you anything with which you are not familiar. I remember distinctly his appearance the first time I saw him. He had just returned to Canada, after his first visit to England. I was a student at law, and had gone from Bath to Toronto, to attend the Court of King's Bench atMichaelmas Term. He, and Lady Robinson, came from Kingston in the steamer "Frontenac." I think that Mr. Hagerman was on board also. From another passenger, I heard that on the voyage they were overtaken at night by a storm, which stove in the dead-lights, and poured a flood of water into the cabin. It was a time of alarm, probably of danger; your brother was perfectly composed. He came into court on his arrival, and upon that occasion I saw him. His appearance was striking. His features were classically and singularly beautiful; his countenance was luminous with intelligence and animation; his whole appearance that of a man of genius and a polished gentleman, equally dignified and graceful. Altogether his features, figure and manners filled my youthful imagination with admiration, which subsequent acquaintance, and opportunities to hear him at the Bar and in Parliament, only strengthened, and which was not diminished by the difference between us in our views and opinions on public affairs. I heard him frequently at the Bar, and upon some occasions, I had the honour to be junior counsel with him.He was a consummate advocate, as well as a profound and accurate lawyer. He had extraordinary powers for a speechimpromptu, and needed as little time for preparation for an address to a jury, or an argument to the Court, as any one I have ever known. But he was never induced by this readiness to neglect a patient and careful attention to his client's case.No one could be more faithful. He studied every case thoroughly, examined all the particular circumstances, made himself master of its details, and considered it carefully, in all its aspects and relations. I do not think he ever delivered a speech from memory. He was self-possessed in the trial, his mind was vigilant, his thoughts flowed rapidly, he had rapid association of ideas, great quickness of apprehension, as well as great sagacity, and a power of arranging anything in his mind, luminously and instantaneously; his fluency was unsurpassed.I was present upon those occasions in Parliament which aroused him to great exertions.He was at all times a correct, elegant, interesting speaker, but upon those occasions he spoke with great force and effect.The fire of his eye, the animation of his countenance and the elegance of his manner, combined with dignity, cannot be appreciated by any one who did not hear him. No report of his speeches, no description of his manner and appearance, can convey to others a just and adequate idea. To report himverbatimwas impossible. His ideas flowed so rapidly, and he had such fluency of language, that no reporter could have kept pace with his delivery. He was an admirable parliamentary leader. He never exposed himself by any incautious speech or act, and never failed to detect and expose one on the other side. He was sincere and earnest in his opinions, uncompromising, frank and fearless in the expression of them. He never attempted to make a display of himself, or indulged in useless declamation; but spoke earnestly and for the purpose of producing an immediate effect. I heard that when he was in England in 1823 (I think that was the year), the ministry had under consideration introducing him through one of their boroughs into Parliament. If it had been done, I have no doubt he would have become a distinguished member of the House of Commons, and I think it probable that he would have attained to the highest honours of the land. During two years I had the honour to be Speaker of the House of Assembly, while he was Speaker of the Legislative Council; our official stations rendered it necessary for us to confer together concerning the business before Parliament. He was always courteous, communicative and obliging. The difference between us on political questions while I was in Parliament precluded intimate or confidential relations, but he was always pleasant and candid,and more than once did I share in that elegant hospitality which was dispensed so cordially and so gracefully by him and Lady Robinson.I have had the honor to receive friendly letters from him occasionally since I have been here, and after my great affliction last spring he wrote to me two very kind letters for which I shall ever be grateful.I should be sincerely glad to evince my respect for his memory. I have not space left to add anything respecting his judicial character and career, but this is unimportant. Every one in Canada knows it.
I thank you for your kind and friendly letter, and for the particular account of the closing scenes of the life of your honoured and lamented brother. The wound inflicted by his death can never be altogether healed. The grief which it produces is natural and rational, and is not inconsistent with any of the precepts, or with the spirit of the Gospel. It is a duty, however, to keep it within bounds, and not to allow murmurs in our heart against Divine Providence. The language of our hearts should be that of the Patriarch, "The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Gratitude for the gift should be mingled with our deep sorrow for the loss of it. In my own case, a consideration of the unspeakable goodness of God in having bestowed upon me such an inestimable blessing has been continually present to my mind, and trust such feelings will abound in the bosom of Lady Robinson, her family, and yourself. He, whose removal from earthly scenes your hearts deplore, was all that you could have desired, in his public and private character, and in the homage of universal veneration and esteem. Where will you find one like him? Was there not great and peculiar goodness in God's bestowing him upon you? Was he not the joy and pride of your hearts continually? Did not his presence irradiate his home, and make it like an earthly Paradise? Every pang which you may suffer attests the value of the blessing which you have so long had. Your gratitude to God, the author of every good and perfect gift, ought to be in proportion to your grief. It is to be remembered, also, that he was not cut down prematurely in the midst of his days, but had passed the period which Moses, the man of God, in his sublime and pathetic prayer (Psalm xc.) considers as the ordinary boundary of human life, and retained all his powers and faculties to the last; and that during this long life he had not been absent from his family, at least not from Lady Robinson (if I am not mistaken) except during the transient separation when he was on the circuit. It is natural that your hearts should yearn for him, should long to see him again, and enjoy the pleasure of his company; yet death must sooner or later have separated you, and longer life might have been a scene of suffering. Would it not have been inexpressibly painful to you all to have seen his mental and bodily powers decay and fade away? Such a spectacle would have been distressing and mortifying. Now his memory is associated with no humiliating recollections; but you remember him as one always admired, respected and loved. Death has set his seal upon him,and although he is removed from you to return no more to earthly scenes, you know that it is only a removal, and that he is now in a state of exalted and perfect, though ever progressive, felicity. I trust you have the most consolatory evidence that this is now his present and unalterable state, and that you constantly think as David thought and said, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." In the meantime you have the consolation of knowing that while you remember him with the tenderest affection and interest, he has not forgotten you, but has a more distinct and perfect recollection of you than you have of him. That this is literally true is the conviction of my understanding, founded not only upon reason and analogy, but upon the irrefragable testimony of divine revelation. There surely is nothing in such a thought that is improbable. We have daily experience of the revival in our minds of past events long forgotten; they lived there, though dormant. Then how many well authenticated and well known instances, where persons recovered from drowning have stated that before they lost consciousness, all the scenes and incidents of their lives flashed instantaneously, as it were, upon their minds, and appeared to be present to their view. They had been treasured up there, though latent. Death does not extinguish the mental faculties, thought does not cease, but the conscious and thinking being passes from scenes present to scenes eternal. "Mortality is swallowed up of life." There would be good ground for this conviction, if revelation gave us no higher proof; but it is explicit. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." This necessarily implies a perfect recollection of our lives. We are to answer for all the deeds done in the body; for every idle word, for every secret and sinful thought and feeling. This requires a perfect recollection of every event, sentiment, and emotion of our lives. The soul, therefore, must carry into the unseen world a perfect recollection of its associates and friends; and as there will be no decay then of mental powers, this will be an abiding, ever-present recollection. Every holy feeling will also continue after death—conjugal, parental, filial, fraternal affections are holy; they are expressly enjoined upon us by divine authority. Love, indeed, pure, fervent affection, is the characteristic element of Heaven. It is impossible, therefore, that the holy affections should cease at death. I have, therefore, a conviction that our departed friends, whose death we mourn, remember us distinctly and with tender affection. I have dwelt upon this subject because it has afforded me in my great affliction much consolation, and if I had time, I might expatiate more fully upon it, and adduce further evidence in support of its truth.
Yes! it is a truth, and therefore it is full of consolation. While we are thinking of our departed friends with grief, they, too, are thinking of us, with at least equal affection, and this they will continue to do until we meet. In the meantime we may comfort ourselves with the thought that, to use the language of a sober and judicious commentator on the sacred Scriptures, "The separation will be short, the re-union rapturous, and the subsequent felicity uninterrupted, unalloyed, and eternal."
I have felt peculiar sympathy for Lady Robinson. I am sure her affliction must be extreme. I hope the Son of God is with her in the furnace, and that she has a consciousness of His presence. He can give both support and consolation, and both she must greatly need. He can gently, and imperceptibly, bind up and heal her wounded and bleeding heart.
I wish that I could furnish reminiscences that would be interesting to you, for I should be glad to testify my respect for the memory of your brother, but I cannot tell you anything with which you are not familiar. I remember distinctly his appearance the first time I saw him. He had just returned to Canada, after his first visit to England. I was a student at law, and had gone from Bath to Toronto, to attend the Court of King's Bench atMichaelmas Term. He, and Lady Robinson, came from Kingston in the steamer "Frontenac." I think that Mr. Hagerman was on board also. From another passenger, I heard that on the voyage they were overtaken at night by a storm, which stove in the dead-lights, and poured a flood of water into the cabin. It was a time of alarm, probably of danger; your brother was perfectly composed. He came into court on his arrival, and upon that occasion I saw him. His appearance was striking. His features were classically and singularly beautiful; his countenance was luminous with intelligence and animation; his whole appearance that of a man of genius and a polished gentleman, equally dignified and graceful. Altogether his features, figure and manners filled my youthful imagination with admiration, which subsequent acquaintance, and opportunities to hear him at the Bar and in Parliament, only strengthened, and which was not diminished by the difference between us in our views and opinions on public affairs. I heard him frequently at the Bar, and upon some occasions, I had the honour to be junior counsel with him.
He was a consummate advocate, as well as a profound and accurate lawyer. He had extraordinary powers for a speechimpromptu, and needed as little time for preparation for an address to a jury, or an argument to the Court, as any one I have ever known. But he was never induced by this readiness to neglect a patient and careful attention to his client's case.
No one could be more faithful. He studied every case thoroughly, examined all the particular circumstances, made himself master of its details, and considered it carefully, in all its aspects and relations. I do not think he ever delivered a speech from memory. He was self-possessed in the trial, his mind was vigilant, his thoughts flowed rapidly, he had rapid association of ideas, great quickness of apprehension, as well as great sagacity, and a power of arranging anything in his mind, luminously and instantaneously; his fluency was unsurpassed.
I was present upon those occasions in Parliament which aroused him to great exertions.
He was at all times a correct, elegant, interesting speaker, but upon those occasions he spoke with great force and effect.
The fire of his eye, the animation of his countenance and the elegance of his manner, combined with dignity, cannot be appreciated by any one who did not hear him. No report of his speeches, no description of his manner and appearance, can convey to others a just and adequate idea. To report himverbatimwas impossible. His ideas flowed so rapidly, and he had such fluency of language, that no reporter could have kept pace with his delivery. He was an admirable parliamentary leader. He never exposed himself by any incautious speech or act, and never failed to detect and expose one on the other side. He was sincere and earnest in his opinions, uncompromising, frank and fearless in the expression of them. He never attempted to make a display of himself, or indulged in useless declamation; but spoke earnestly and for the purpose of producing an immediate effect. I heard that when he was in England in 1823 (I think that was the year), the ministry had under consideration introducing him through one of their boroughs into Parliament. If it had been done, I have no doubt he would have become a distinguished member of the House of Commons, and I think it probable that he would have attained to the highest honours of the land. During two years I had the honour to be Speaker of the House of Assembly, while he was Speaker of the Legislative Council; our official stations rendered it necessary for us to confer together concerning the business before Parliament. He was always courteous, communicative and obliging. The difference between us on political questions while I was in Parliament precluded intimate or confidential relations, but he was always pleasant and candid,and more than once did I share in that elegant hospitality which was dispensed so cordially and so gracefully by him and Lady Robinson.
I have had the honor to receive friendly letters from him occasionally since I have been here, and after my great affliction last spring he wrote to me two very kind letters for which I shall ever be grateful.
I should be sincerely glad to evince my respect for his memory. I have not space left to add anything respecting his judicial character and career, but this is unimportant. Every one in Canada knows it.
Writing to me after the Conference at London, in June, 1873, Dr. Ryerson said:—The proceedings of the Conference were very harmonious, and the discussions very able and courteous upon the whole. I received many thanks for my labours in connection with the scheme for Methodist Confederation and for union with the New Connexion Methodists. I trust I have been able, through Divine goodness, to render some service to the good cause.
In a letter to Dr. Ryerson from Rev. Dr. Punshon, dated 2nd December, the latter expressed some fears as to one or two points in the future of the General Conference arrangement. He says:—
I am looking with some solicitude to the result of the Appeal to the Quarterly Meetings on the Union question. I hope it will be carried, though your modifications of the scheme do not quite meet my approval, as one who would like to see a statesman's view taken of things. I do not see the bond of cohesion twenty years hence, when those who are now personally known to, and therefore interested in, each other, have passed off the stage. Then the General Conference will meet as perfect strangers, having hardly a common interest but that of a common name; and as there are no General Superintendents, who know all the Conferences, there will not be, as in the States, any link to bind them together. I trust some remedy will be found for this, or the lack of such link will be disastrous.We are losing our prominent men. You will have seen that Mr. Heald has passed away—also Mr. Marshall, another Stockport "pillar." I am greatly concerned about my dear friend, Gervase Smith, the Secretary of the Conference. He has overtaxed himself, and is very ill. Absolute rest is enjoined for some time. It would be a sad day for me, if dear Gervase were to pass from my side. We have just heard of the loss of the "Ville du Havre," with 226 lives. Emile Cook, from Paris, was on board, and injured by the collision. How terrible! Now, my dear Dr. Ryerson, the good Lord be with you, and make you always as happy in His love as you desire to be, and spare you yet for many years, to counsel and to plan for His glory and the benefit of Canada.
I am looking with some solicitude to the result of the Appeal to the Quarterly Meetings on the Union question. I hope it will be carried, though your modifications of the scheme do not quite meet my approval, as one who would like to see a statesman's view taken of things. I do not see the bond of cohesion twenty years hence, when those who are now personally known to, and therefore interested in, each other, have passed off the stage. Then the General Conference will meet as perfect strangers, having hardly a common interest but that of a common name; and as there are no General Superintendents, who know all the Conferences, there will not be, as in the States, any link to bind them together. I trust some remedy will be found for this, or the lack of such link will be disastrous.
We are losing our prominent men. You will have seen that Mr. Heald has passed away—also Mr. Marshall, another Stockport "pillar." I am greatly concerned about my dear friend, Gervase Smith, the Secretary of the Conference. He has overtaxed himself, and is very ill. Absolute rest is enjoined for some time. It would be a sad day for me, if dear Gervase were to pass from my side. We have just heard of the loss of the "Ville du Havre," with 226 lives. Emile Cook, from Paris, was on board, and injured by the collision. How terrible! Now, my dear Dr. Ryerson, the good Lord be with you, and make you always as happy in His love as you desire to be, and spare you yet for many years, to counsel and to plan for His glory and the benefit of Canada.
Writing from his Long Point Cottage to me on the 12th of April, 1873, Dr. Ryerson said:—Some days I have felt quite young; but upon the whole, I doubt whether the means which have been so successful in the past in renewing my strength, can be of much use any longer to "stave off" old age. A medical gentleman here from Port Rowan said yesterday, I looked the perfection of health at my age; but my strength Ifeel already to be "labour and sorrow." So true are the words of inspiration to practical life.
The union question having been carried, and the General Conference established, that body met in Toronto in September, 1874. Speaking of it Dr. Ryerson said:—In 1874 I was elected the first President of the first General Conference of the Methodist Church of Canada; consisting of an equal number of ministers and laymen, and representing the several Annual Conferences of the Dominion of Canada.
On his return home from the General Conference held in Toronto in 1874, Hon. L. A. Wilmot, a former Judge, and late Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, wrote to Dr. Ryerson a note, in which he said:—How can we ever repay you and your dear family for the warm-hearted hospitality and the intellectual repast we so much enjoyed while with you? To me it is much more than a sunny memory, as you have so enriched me with treasures of thought, and words of wisdom. Really, I long to see you again, and I cannot express to you the pleasure it will afford us to welcome you all to our suburban home. We have room enough for you all, and sincerely do we pray that we may all be spared to meet again. [Mr. Wilmot has since then gone home to his reward.]
1875-1876.
Correspondence with Rev. J. Ryerson, Dr. Punshon, etc.
Dr. Ryerson went up to Simcoe to preach the anniversary sermons there, in December, 1874, and hoped to have gone to Brantford to see his brother John, but was prevented. He therefore wrote to him a New Year's letter, on the 3rd January, 1875: I have often prayed for you, thinking sometimes that I was even praying with you. We have spoken of you more than once during the recent holiday salutations and good wishes, and have wished you happy returns of this season of kindly greetings and renewed friendships.
I feel to bless God that during the last several weeks I have experienced, in a deeper and brighter degree than I ever experienced before, "the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge." The pages of God's book seem to shine with a brighter lustre and a more luminous, comprehensive and penetrating power than I ever beheld in them. Without care, without fear, without a shadow of doubt, I can now, through God's wonderful grace, and by His Holy Spirit, rest my all upon Christ—lay my all upon His altar, and say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
On Sunday afternoon we had the renewal of the Covenant Service, in the Metropolitan, and the Communion. It was a good time. I think there were more than five hundred at the Communion—the largest number I ever witnessed in America, even at a camp-meeting. It took Rev. Dr. Potts and I more than an hour to distribute the elements.
I am anxious to go up to my cottage for change and retirement, so as to be quite alone for a few weeks with my books and papers.
I am at work, as hard as I can, upon my history. On New Year's Day I worked at it for fifteen hours—writing upwards of twenty pages of foolscap, besides researches, comparing authorities, etc. I am anxious to complete the two volumes of the New England Loyalists, before I go to England in May.
In reply to Dr. Ryerson's letter of 3rd January, his brother John wrote:—
My health is still precarious.... My attention to religious duties (reading the Scriptures, private and meditative self-examination, etc.,) I unremittingly persevere in, but my religious enjoyment is low and my faith weak.... This winter I have read the Life of Dr. Bradshaw, an eminent clergyman of the Church of England, some time Rector of Colchester, then of Birmingham, and then of a Rectory in the suburbs of London, where he died in 1865, at the age of eighty-nine. His ministry extended over more than sixty years. He was one of the most devoted, and singularly pious ministers whose memoirs I ever read. O! into what dwarfishness the morality, and the spiritual and elevated attainments of most Christians sink in the presence of such men! Dr. Bradshaw's life was written by Miss Marsh, the authoress of the Life of Captain Vicars, and other excellent books. I have also read the Life of Miss M. Graham, a most eminently pious and devoted lady, also a member of the Church of England. She died at the early age of twenty-eight. Another memoir—of Mrs. Winslow, from the reading of which I ought to have derived much profit, one of the holiest women of whom I ever read, was a devoted member of the English Church. She was the daughter of a wealthy West India planter, and born in the West Indies. Her father died when she was quite young. She was married to a Captain in the British army, in one of the regiments stationed in the Island of Jamaica, but singular to say, not long after her marriage, was wonderfully converted, and towards the close of his life, was the means of saving her affectionate and devoted husband, who was a nephew of the once Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts. He was very wealthy, besides his West India estate—owning a large estate in England. The wonderful piety of this devoted saint, during the long years of her widowhood, ought to humble pigmy Christians, like me, in the dust. Oh, can I ever be saved, if such men and women are only saved?I am now reading the life and labours of Rev. Dr. Shrewsbury, a Wesleyan missionary to the West Indies and South Africa—then late in life back to England, where he died in 1866, aged seventy-three years. He was a man of ability, much industry and zeal, and of more than the medium piety of Methodist preachers generally.
My health is still precarious.... My attention to religious duties (reading the Scriptures, private and meditative self-examination, etc.,) I unremittingly persevere in, but my religious enjoyment is low and my faith weak.... This winter I have read the Life of Dr. Bradshaw, an eminent clergyman of the Church of England, some time Rector of Colchester, then of Birmingham, and then of a Rectory in the suburbs of London, where he died in 1865, at the age of eighty-nine. His ministry extended over more than sixty years. He was one of the most devoted, and singularly pious ministers whose memoirs I ever read. O! into what dwarfishness the morality, and the spiritual and elevated attainments of most Christians sink in the presence of such men! Dr. Bradshaw's life was written by Miss Marsh, the authoress of the Life of Captain Vicars, and other excellent books. I have also read the Life of Miss M. Graham, a most eminently pious and devoted lady, also a member of the Church of England. She died at the early age of twenty-eight. Another memoir—of Mrs. Winslow, from the reading of which I ought to have derived much profit, one of the holiest women of whom I ever read, was a devoted member of the English Church. She was the daughter of a wealthy West India planter, and born in the West Indies. Her father died when she was quite young. She was married to a Captain in the British army, in one of the regiments stationed in the Island of Jamaica, but singular to say, not long after her marriage, was wonderfully converted, and towards the close of his life, was the means of saving her affectionate and devoted husband, who was a nephew of the once Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts. He was very wealthy, besides his West India estate—owning a large estate in England. The wonderful piety of this devoted saint, during the long years of her widowhood, ought to humble pigmy Christians, like me, in the dust. Oh, can I ever be saved, if such men and women are only saved?
I am now reading the life and labours of Rev. Dr. Shrewsbury, a Wesleyan missionary to the West Indies and South Africa—then late in life back to England, where he died in 1866, aged seventy-three years. He was a man of ability, much industry and zeal, and of more than the medium piety of Methodist preachers generally.
In reply to this letter, Dr. Ryerson wrote to his brother on the 21st of February and said:—
You speak of the want of joy in your religious experience. I do not pray for joy, I simply pray for the indwelling of Christ, for the stamp of His image upon my soul, and for the harmony of every desire, and thought, and feeling, with His holy will, and divine glory; and there comes a "peace that passeth all understanding," a rest of the soul from fear, and anxiety—a sinking into God,—and now and then greater or less ecstacies of joy. I think we mistake when we make what is usually termed joy, the end of prayer, or of desire. I believe that even heaviness, and especially when superinduced by bodily disease, is not only consistent with a high state of grace, but even instrumental in its increase—especially of faith; the faith which realizes things invisible, as visible, and things to come, as things present.I should like to read the biographies of which you speak, especially that of Rev. Dr. Marsh, but my time is insufficient to read what I have to read for my historical purposes. After all, biographies are very much what the biographers choose to make of their heroes. The writings of the Holy Apostles are the simple and true standard of Christian experience, practiceand privilege, and help us also from sinking into despondency by the illustrations they give of human imperfections and infirmities, and directing us so plainly to the source of all strength and supply, as well as to the "God of all consolation." We will talk more of these things when I see you.
You speak of the want of joy in your religious experience. I do not pray for joy, I simply pray for the indwelling of Christ, for the stamp of His image upon my soul, and for the harmony of every desire, and thought, and feeling, with His holy will, and divine glory; and there comes a "peace that passeth all understanding," a rest of the soul from fear, and anxiety—a sinking into God,—and now and then greater or less ecstacies of joy. I think we mistake when we make what is usually termed joy, the end of prayer, or of desire. I believe that even heaviness, and especially when superinduced by bodily disease, is not only consistent with a high state of grace, but even instrumental in its increase—especially of faith; the faith which realizes things invisible, as visible, and things to come, as things present.
I should like to read the biographies of which you speak, especially that of Rev. Dr. Marsh, but my time is insufficient to read what I have to read for my historical purposes. After all, biographies are very much what the biographers choose to make of their heroes. The writings of the Holy Apostles are the simple and true standard of Christian experience, practiceand privilege, and help us also from sinking into despondency by the illustrations they give of human imperfections and infirmities, and directing us so plainly to the source of all strength and supply, as well as to the "God of all consolation." We will talk more of these things when I see you.
Rev. John Ryerson, in his letter of February 24th, said:—
I never pray for joy in religion; to pray or seek for such a thing would be to begin at the wrong end; but truly pious persons might have joy as the fruit of a real experience, as growing out of a life "hid with Christ in God," joy in believing, joy in the Holy Ghost—but what I do offer my poor prayers for, is to know my sins forgiven, my acceptance with God; that I have a lot among the sanctified, that I have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. If I had an abiding evidence of such an experience, it would produce more or less joy. Surely the Bible is the best book; it is "The Book;" but still he may find many blessed illustrations of its truths, of its morality, its spirituality, in the experience and lives, not only of saints of ancient days, but many of modern times. Rev. Dr. Marsh was one of these. He was a man of great learning, and extensive reading, but he loved the Bible infinitely, and above all books, read it (I was going to say) almost continually, and died with the New Testament in his hand. I try to read God's blessed Word. I am reading the Bible through by course—five or ten chapters every day in the Old Testament, and two or so in the New, besides on my knees, I read all the Psalms through every month. But what does this amount to? Nothing, so long as I am not saved from pride, irritability, selfishness, etc., within; the workings of which, more or less, I daily feel. This greatly troubles and distresses me; besides the remembrance of my sins of unfaithfulness, wanderings, backslidings, is grievous to me, and sometimes a burthen too heavy to be borne. The temptations, trials, sorrows, of true saints sometimes shed a little light upon my dulness, and give some strength to my weak and wavering faith.
I never pray for joy in religion; to pray or seek for such a thing would be to begin at the wrong end; but truly pious persons might have joy as the fruit of a real experience, as growing out of a life "hid with Christ in God," joy in believing, joy in the Holy Ghost—but what I do offer my poor prayers for, is to know my sins forgiven, my acceptance with God; that I have a lot among the sanctified, that I have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. If I had an abiding evidence of such an experience, it would produce more or less joy. Surely the Bible is the best book; it is "The Book;" but still he may find many blessed illustrations of its truths, of its morality, its spirituality, in the experience and lives, not only of saints of ancient days, but many of modern times. Rev. Dr. Marsh was one of these. He was a man of great learning, and extensive reading, but he loved the Bible infinitely, and above all books, read it (I was going to say) almost continually, and died with the New Testament in his hand. I try to read God's blessed Word. I am reading the Bible through by course—five or ten chapters every day in the Old Testament, and two or so in the New, besides on my knees, I read all the Psalms through every month. But what does this amount to? Nothing, so long as I am not saved from pride, irritability, selfishness, etc., within; the workings of which, more or less, I daily feel. This greatly troubles and distresses me; besides the remembrance of my sins of unfaithfulness, wanderings, backslidings, is grievous to me, and sometimes a burthen too heavy to be borne. The temptations, trials, sorrows, of true saints sometimes shed a little light upon my dulness, and give some strength to my weak and wavering faith.
On the 28th of February, Dr. Ryerson replied:—
I thank you for your kind and interesting letter. I did not suppose you had made joy an object or subject of prayer; but from the tone of your letter, it appeared to me that the absence of joy, or "heaviness of spirit," had led you to judge of your state too unfavourably. I quite agree with the views you express on the subject. I have not seen Rev. Dr. Marsh's life: but I can conceive him quite worthy of what is written, and of the opinion you express respecting him. During my attendance at the Wesleyan Conference in Birmingham, in 1836, my host invited Rev. Dr. (then Mr.) Marsh, Rev. John Angell James, and several other clergymen and persons of note, to meet me. I was very much struck with Mr. Marsh's appearance, and the more so from a circumstance mentioned to me by the hostess. A short time before that, a publisher there wished to get a portrait of the Apostle St. John, to have it engraved as an illustration in some book or publication he was issuing; and Mr. Marsh was solicited to sit for the artist, as his countenance was supposed to reflect more strongly the purity and loveliness of the Apostle than any ideal that could be found. In consequence of this circumstance, I was told that Mr. Marsh was often called St. John the Apostle, from his Apostolic character and truly lovely manner and countenance. His praise was then in every mouth, as I was told, among the Dissenters as well as members of the Church of England. (See page 163.)
I thank you for your kind and interesting letter. I did not suppose you had made joy an object or subject of prayer; but from the tone of your letter, it appeared to me that the absence of joy, or "heaviness of spirit," had led you to judge of your state too unfavourably. I quite agree with the views you express on the subject. I have not seen Rev. Dr. Marsh's life: but I can conceive him quite worthy of what is written, and of the opinion you express respecting him. During my attendance at the Wesleyan Conference in Birmingham, in 1836, my host invited Rev. Dr. (then Mr.) Marsh, Rev. John Angell James, and several other clergymen and persons of note, to meet me. I was very much struck with Mr. Marsh's appearance, and the more so from a circumstance mentioned to me by the hostess. A short time before that, a publisher there wished to get a portrait of the Apostle St. John, to have it engraved as an illustration in some book or publication he was issuing; and Mr. Marsh was solicited to sit for the artist, as his countenance was supposed to reflect more strongly the purity and loveliness of the Apostle than any ideal that could be found. In consequence of this circumstance, I was told that Mr. Marsh was often called St. John the Apostle, from his Apostolic character and truly lovely manner and countenance. His praise was then in every mouth, as I was told, among the Dissenters as well as members of the Church of England. (See page 163.)
After Dr. Ryerson became President of the General Conference in 1874, he was gratified at the many kind things said tohim by his brethren and other friends. None were more kind and loving than those contained in a letter from his friend, Rev. Dr. Punshon, who speaks of his own elevation to the Presidency of the British Conference. Dr. Punshon, in his letter to Dr. Ryerson of the 19th of February, said:—
First of all, let me congratulate you most heartily upon your well-merited elevation to the Presidency of the General Conference. They did themselves honour, and you will do them honour in their choice. My elevation here was unexpected, but very grateful, although the responsibility and work which it entails make me long for July, when, if God wills, I shall doff my regalia. I hope most earnestly to have the pleasure of seeing the Canadian representatives at the next Conference in Sheffield. I have already spoken for a very sweet home for you. It will be a great gratification to see you once again, and to enjoy sweet converse, with you as of old. Mr. Gervase Smith and I are to be with relatives just across the road. So please do not delay your coming for another year, as no one knows to what place the Conference will be carried. It seems almost improper to talk about it when we remember the heavy loss into which, as into an inheritance, we have all come by the death of dear Wiseman. You would, I am sure, be very grieved to hear of it. It fell on all here like a thunder-clap. But the Lord is good, and knows what is best for us all. There is a sorrowfully-occasioned vacancy at the Mission House, which the friends say I must fill, but I cannot tell how it will go, and of course, all is premature as yet. The Lord will direct us as He has always done.By the way, I have been set seriously thinking by Mr. Wiseman's removal, whether I had sufficiently secured, by the document I gave to Rev. Dr. Rice, that the principal of the Testimonial Fund, given to me on leaving Canada, should, at my death, pass to the Canadian Conference for the benefit of the worn-out ministers and widows. I found on enquiry that it was not so secured as to be beyond doubt. I have been in consultation with my solicitor as to the best method of effecting this. I have therefore given directions for a deed of trust to be prepared, which will state that I hold this money in trust for the "Superannuated Minister's Fund of the Methodist Church of Canada." I advise you of this as the honoured President of the General Conference. I was, on the whole, satisfied with the proceedings of the General Conference. I felt a little pang at the hasty change of name. It was inevitable to do it, at the same time, but it showed rather a leaping desire of freedom, and a wish to get as far as possible from the old mother at once, which might have, perhaps, been spared. This was not, I dare say, present to all who desired the change. I admit all the force of your able reasoning for the present—but twenty years hence the General Conference will meet as strangers, with no community of interest, and I dread the result, without a visible bond of cohesion.
First of all, let me congratulate you most heartily upon your well-merited elevation to the Presidency of the General Conference. They did themselves honour, and you will do them honour in their choice. My elevation here was unexpected, but very grateful, although the responsibility and work which it entails make me long for July, when, if God wills, I shall doff my regalia. I hope most earnestly to have the pleasure of seeing the Canadian representatives at the next Conference in Sheffield. I have already spoken for a very sweet home for you. It will be a great gratification to see you once again, and to enjoy sweet converse, with you as of old. Mr. Gervase Smith and I are to be with relatives just across the road. So please do not delay your coming for another year, as no one knows to what place the Conference will be carried. It seems almost improper to talk about it when we remember the heavy loss into which, as into an inheritance, we have all come by the death of dear Wiseman. You would, I am sure, be very grieved to hear of it. It fell on all here like a thunder-clap. But the Lord is good, and knows what is best for us all. There is a sorrowfully-occasioned vacancy at the Mission House, which the friends say I must fill, but I cannot tell how it will go, and of course, all is premature as yet. The Lord will direct us as He has always done.
By the way, I have been set seriously thinking by Mr. Wiseman's removal, whether I had sufficiently secured, by the document I gave to Rev. Dr. Rice, that the principal of the Testimonial Fund, given to me on leaving Canada, should, at my death, pass to the Canadian Conference for the benefit of the worn-out ministers and widows. I found on enquiry that it was not so secured as to be beyond doubt. I have been in consultation with my solicitor as to the best method of effecting this. I have therefore given directions for a deed of trust to be prepared, which will state that I hold this money in trust for the "Superannuated Minister's Fund of the Methodist Church of Canada." I advise you of this as the honoured President of the General Conference. I was, on the whole, satisfied with the proceedings of the General Conference. I felt a little pang at the hasty change of name. It was inevitable to do it, at the same time, but it showed rather a leaping desire of freedom, and a wish to get as far as possible from the old mother at once, which might have, perhaps, been spared. This was not, I dare say, present to all who desired the change. I admit all the force of your able reasoning for the present—but twenty years hence the General Conference will meet as strangers, with no community of interest, and I dread the result, without a visible bond of cohesion.
Writing to me from Port Rowan in September, 1875, Dr. Ryerson said:—My friends here think that I am stronger, walk better, and appear more active than when I was last in this village. This is a common remark to me, and for which I cannot feel sufficiently thankful to my Heavenly Father. He is my portion; my all is His; and I feel that He is all and in all to me—my joy as well as my strength.
Writing from his Long Point cottage to me on the 13th April, 1876, Dr. Ryerson said:—Next Sunday will be EasterSunday—the 51st anniversary of my ministerial life, and what a life! Much to lament over; much to humble; with many exposures and hardships; full of various labours; abounding in heavenly blessings.
Dr. Ryerson was appointed as a representative of the Conferences of British America to the General Conference of the United States in 1876. Being unable to go, he addressed a letter to Bishop Simpson, from which I take these extracts:—
I regret that I have been unable to fulfil my last public mission in behalf of our Canadian Church to the Conference of British Methodism to go to Baltimore to look upon your General Conference, and bid a last earthly farewell to brethren whom I esteem and love so much—with whom I was first brought into church membership, by whose Bishop Hedding I was ordained both deacon and elder, and with whom I feel myself as much one this day as I did half a century ago.
My first representative mission was in 1828, to visit and urge upon the late Rev. Dr. Wilbur Fisk, of Wilbraham, Conn., the request of our Conference to become our first bishop; and had he consented, or Dr. Bangs afterwards, I believe it would have been a great blessing to Methodism in Canada; but an overruling Providence ordered it otherwise, and the extension of the work of God, through our ministry and Church, down to the present time, is one of the greatest marvels to ourselves and to others.
For thirty-one years and upwards, by the annual permission of my Conference, I have administered the governmental system of public instruction in this country; but the Government and Legislature have at length acceded to my request to retire, and have done so without reducing my official allowance; and now, in the seventy-fourth year of my age, and fifty-second of my ministry, I am enabled, in the enjoyment of good health, to go in and out, as aforetime, among my brethren, with a brightening hope and increasing desire of soon being permitted to "depart and be with Christ, which is far better," and where I feel sure of joyously meeting thousands of fellow-ministers and labourers whom I have known in the flesh on both sides of the Atlantic.
In May, 1876, Dr. Ryerson went to England to consult works on the history of America in the British Museum Library. Writing to me from near Leeds, just after his arrival, he says:—I was most cordially received by Rev. Gervase Smith, and Dr. Punshon. The latter insisted upon my being his guest first, as he had the strongest claim upon me. I was his guest foreight days—and they were very agreeable days to me. When I came here I was enthusiastically received by the Methodist New Connexion Conference—a most cultured, gentlemanly, and respectable body of men—their whole body being not numerous, but select.
I have thus far enjoyed my visit to this country most thoroughly—free from care, and surrounded by most kind friends and agreeable associations.
Writing to me from London, on the 17th July, he says:—I experienced a great pleasure in my visit to Ireland, in becoming personally acquainted with many of the Irish preachers, and in witnessing their conferential proceedings. They are a faithful, hard-working body of men; they have hard work to do, and their success the last year has been in advance of that of preceding years.
I have seen Mr. Longman in regard to publishing my history. He was very cordial and complimentary. I explained to him in brief the origin and scope of what I had written, and of what I intended to write, and gave him the table of contents of the first fifteen chapters—to the end of the reign of Elizabeth, and the 13th chapter on the "Protestantism of Queen Elizabeth," as published in theCanadian Methodist Magazine.
I was at the Houses of Lords and Commons a part of one afternoon and evening. Sir Stafford Northcote, hearing that I was there, came to me under the Speaker's gallery, and conversed with me nearly half an hour. Other members also spoke to me. Earl Grey recognized me in the street, and stopped and conversed with me.
I go to the Wesleyan Conference at Nottingham next Monday, and may probably remain there ten days. I attended four services yesterday—at 8 a.m. (communion), at the parish Church of St. James, near Piccadilly, where I was lodging; at the Temple at 11 a.m., a grand service, delightful music, and an excellent sermon from Rev. C. J. Vaughan, Master of the Temple; at 3 p.m. at Westminster Abbey—prayers read by the Dean of Lichfield, and sermon by the Dean of Richmond on the words, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,"—a plain, practical sermon, but the music, etc., inferior to that of the Temple. In the evening I went to one of the most fashionable and advanced Ritualistic Churches; poor singing, poorer preaching. Everything pretentious, and certainly not attractive to me. In all three churches, the hymns and tunes were old Methodist hymns and tunes, and well sung.
Dr. Ryerson did go to the British Conference as President and Representative of the General Conference of Canada. The LondonMethodist Recorder, speaking of his presence there,said:—Rev. Dr. Punshon, the President, gave a brief and discriminating introduction to Dr. Ryerson. The Doctor's personal appearance is very prepossessing; he is grey-haired; of a fine, healthy complexion; has a gentle eye; and a full, emotional voice. He dresses in the style of the "fine old English gentleman," with a refreshing display of "linen clean and white." One scarcely knows which most to admire—the simplicity of the man, his well-furnished intellect, or his practical good sense; which most to wonder at, the real progress which has been made in this one lifetime, or the boundless possibilities of the future to which that progress leads. It is something to have rocked the cradle of an empire-Church. The audience was several times deeply moved by the Doctor's allusions to the memories of the past, but most of all when, in the conclusion of his address, he said "farewell," with a tearful expression of his own rejoicing "in the hope of eternal life."
Rev. D. Savage, who was also Representative of the General Conference, in a private note, said:—It is a grand Conference, distinguished by remarkable manifestations of Divine power. The reports which will come to you through the press cannot do justice to the influence that is abroad. Dr. Ryerson's address was eloquent and impressive. The fact that Dr. Ryerson was representative to the British Conference in 1833, and that after the lapse of forty-three years, he has returned in the same capacity, is in itself a most extraordinary event. The words in which Dr. Punshon introduced Dr. Ryerson were eloquent and kindly.
The following letters were addressed to me by Dr. Ryerson while in London, at the dates mentioned:—
September 19th.—My lodgings are just opposite the British Museum, the library of which I find of great use to me. I am absorbed in revising and completing my work. Whether it will be a success or not, is one of the uncertainties of the future.
I am glad to be here, instead of being in Toronto, during the ensuing session of our Legislature, as I do not wish to be where any party can call upon me, or use my name in respect to any measure that the Government may think proper to bring forward on the subject of education.
November 14th.—The Earl of Dufferin enclosed flattering letters of introduction to the Earl of Carnarvon and the Dean of Westminster, both of whom have received me with great cordiality. The Earl of Carnarvon shook hands with me two or three times, and said how glad he was to see and shake hands with an old Canadian, whose services to his country were spoken of as Lord Dufferin has spoken of mine. His Lordship told mehe would give instructions, whenever I desired, to have every possible facility and aid given me in the Record Office in referring to any documents or papers there, relating to the history or affairs of the British Colonies.
I submitted to the Dean of Westminster the last (14th), recapitulating summary chapter on the "Relations of Early English Puritanism to Protestant Unity and Religious Liberty," for his judgment. I last evening received a kind note from him (returning the manuscript), in which he says: "I have gone through the summary of the reign of Elizabeth, and find it full of just views, rendered the more attractive by the impartiality of judgment, and by the exact knowledge of the subject which pervades the chapter." The Dean kindly suggests the use of some neutral word, such as "Roman Catholics" for "Papists," and not to use the words "Ritualists," "Ritualism," as all these words are terms of reproach, and the use of them may lay me open to the charge of partizanship. I shall adopt his suggestions.
December 7th.—With your letter I received day before yesterday a long letter from my brother John—a real news letter with some sparklings of wit. He mentions that during each of two preceding Sabbaths he had attended a quarterly meeting on neighbouring circuits, and on each day he had conducted a love-feast, preached at half-past ten in the morning, administered the Lord's Supper (one to-day to 150 alone) and preached again at half-past six in the evening, riding several miles in the afternoon between each appointment, which, I think, as he says, "is pretty well for an old man in his seventy-seventh year."
I am wonderfully well—having no pain of back, or limb, or head. I am careful of my living and exercise; but during the last three years I have worked fifteen hours each day. I have every possible facility of books, retirement, and an amanuensis; and am doing what I would have to do under less favourable circumstances on my return to Canada. It is singular that your History and other books are almost the only ones which have been furnished to the British Museum, and are found on its catalogue. I have read every word of your essay on a Central University and think it admirable, exhibiting much research, acute observation, and profound thought.
December 14th.—My present purpose is to finish and publish my purely Canadian History of the United Empire Loyalists as soon as possible, and leave the other to my executors—yourself and others—to do as you please. I am assured that my two volumes on the Puritans in Old and New England will raise a storm on both sides of the Atlantic. I wish to havenothing more to do with controversy, and I do not wish to die in a storm. I am now popular with all parties. I am sure I am right and just on the character and relation of the Puritans and their opponents; but I am strongly inclined to believe what I have written in regard to them (for I am done with them) will perhaps take better if left as a legacy, than if now put forth by myself. My reputation, and the pleasure to my country, will chiefly depend upon my United Empire Canadian History, and to that my all of strength and time is now directed until I finish it.
December 26th.—I heard Dean Stanley preach in Westminster Abbey, on Christmas Day. His sermon was able and eloquent, but disappointed me by the absence of all mention of the guilt and depravity of man, and the "good tidings," including an atonement for the pardon of guilt, and the power of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and sanctify. He is a very amiable man, and looks at the good side of everything. He enumerated ten blessings brought to man by the Incarnation of Christ, as distinguished from all the advantages of science and philosophy; but I felt, if I had not received through Christ the two blessings he omitted to mention, I should never have received the blessings, to which I owe my all, of renewal, pardon, strength and comfort and hope, in the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The award to the Ontario Educational Collection at the Centennial Exhibition, at Philadelphia, was made during Dr. Ryerson's absence in England. Being a government exhibit, no medal could be awarded for it. A diploma was, however, granted by the Centennial Commission, which was declared to be—
For a quite complete and admirably arranged Exhibition, illustrating the Ontario system of Education and its excellent results; also for the efficiency of an administration which has gained for the Ontario Department a most honourable distinction among Government Educational agencies.
For a quite complete and admirably arranged Exhibition, illustrating the Ontario system of Education and its excellent results; also for the efficiency of an administration which has gained for the Ontario Department a most honourable distinction among Government Educational agencies.
Such was the gratifying tribute which a number of eminent American educationists paid to the Ontario system of Education, and through it to its distinguished founder, in estimating the results of his labours as illustrated at the Centennial Exhibition.
Having communicated this to Dr. Ryerson, in England, he replied:—I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude with you to our Heavenly Father, for His abounding care and goodness in connection with the Education Department, in prospering us in our past work, and in sustaining us during all these years against attacks and adversaries on all sides. It is a singular and gratifying fact, that the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphiashould afford us, at this juncture (the year of my retiring from office), the best of all possible opportunities, to exhibit the fruits (at least in miniature) of our past policy and labours. To you, with myself, equally belongs the credit, as I am sure the pleasure and gratitude, of these signal displays of the Divine goodness to us.
During his stay in England Dr. Ryerson received a note from Rev. Dr. Jobson, dated January 25th, 1877, in which he said:—
It will afford me lasting pleasure to think that I have said or done anything towards augmenting your enjoyment on what you have been pleased to term your 'last visit to England.' I remember with pleasure your former visits, and our associations together with Princes in our Israel who have passed to "the better country—even a heavenly." And, for more than a quarter of a century, I have traced your course as an acknowledged leader and counsellor for Methodism in Canada. The result of this has been to produce within me deep reverential esteem and affection towards you, which have been only slightly expressed by such attention and acts that you are pleased to acknowledge. My best wishes will accompany you on your return to Canada; and I am sure that I express the feeling of all my ministerial friends when I say that your appearance among us at our late Conference in Nottingham heightened its interests with us and that your utterances in it render it joyously memorable to us.
It will afford me lasting pleasure to think that I have said or done anything towards augmenting your enjoyment on what you have been pleased to term your 'last visit to England.' I remember with pleasure your former visits, and our associations together with Princes in our Israel who have passed to "the better country—even a heavenly." And, for more than a quarter of a century, I have traced your course as an acknowledged leader and counsellor for Methodism in Canada. The result of this has been to produce within me deep reverential esteem and affection towards you, which have been only slightly expressed by such attention and acts that you are pleased to acknowledge. My best wishes will accompany you on your return to Canada; and I am sure that I express the feeling of all my ministerial friends when I say that your appearance among us at our late Conference in Nottingham heightened its interests with us and that your utterances in it render it joyously memorable to us.
left side of educational exhibit
right side of educational exhibit
1877-1882.
Closing Years of Dr. Ryerson's Life-Labours.
After Dr. Ryerson's return from England, he devoted some time to the final revision of his principal work, in two volumes:The United Empire Loyalists of America, and to two additional volumes on the Puritans of Old and New England. These works cost him a good deal of arduous labour, but their preparation was in many respects a source of pleasure to him, and of agreeable occupation. After their completion, he lived in quiet retirement at his residence, No. 171 Victoria-street, Toronto. His pen was soon again employed in writing a series of essays on Canadian Methodism for theCanadian Methodist Magazine, which were afterwards re-published in book form. Immediately after his return from England, his brother John addressed him the following letter on the 23rd March, 1877:—
I heartily congratulate you on your safe arrival in your native land, and also that in health and strength you are spared to see your seventy-fourth birthday. As age advances time seems to fly more and more rapidly; and however it may be with others, certainly we are to the "margin come," and how important it is that we live in readiness, and in continual preparation for our departure.
I heartily congratulate you on your safe arrival in your native land, and also that in health and strength you are spared to see your seventy-fourth birthday. As age advances time seems to fly more and more rapidly; and however it may be with others, certainly we are to the "margin come," and how important it is that we live in readiness, and in continual preparation for our departure.
Dr. Ryerson's Private Residence and Study (in the rear building), 171 Victoria St., Toronto.
On the 7th May, 1877, Dr. Ryerson received a letter from his brother John urging him to commence a proposed series of essays on Canadian Methodism. He says:—
I am glad that you think of writing a review of Church matters, and that there are so many leading ministers who think you ought to do so. The more I think and pray about the matter, the more I am satisfied that is a path of duty opened up to you, the pursuit of which will be a great blessing to the Church and the country in coming time. The matters referred to and somewhat explained and exhibited, with other things which doubtless will occur to you, might be:—1. Missionary Society; 2. Ryanism; 3. Canadian Conference formed; 4. Clergy reserve land matter; 5.Christian Guardiancommenced; 6. Church Land and Marriage Bill; 7. Victoria College; 8. Book-Room; 9. Centenary celebration and fund; 10. Union with the British Conference; 11. Hudson Bay mission; 12. Disruption with British Conference; 13. Re-union; 14. Superannuated ministers; Contingents; Chapel Relief, and Childrens' Funds; 15. Remarkable camp-meetings—Beaver Dams, some one hundred and fifty professed conversion; seventy or eighty joined the Church. Ancaster Circuit: Peter Jones converted. YongestreetCircuit: Mrs. Taylor converted under a sermon preached by Wm. Hay. Bay Circuit: Peter Jacobs, and many other Indians saved. Hamilton, back of Cobourg, held in time of Conference—Bishop George presiding; when and where the Rice and Mud Lake bands were all converted; a nation born in a day! 16. The first protracted meeting; held at the twenty-mile camp, by Storey and E. Evans, and Ryerson, P. E.—no previous arrangement, between two hundred and three hundred professed religion, the wonderful work spreading through most of the Niagara district.
I am glad that you think of writing a review of Church matters, and that there are so many leading ministers who think you ought to do so. The more I think and pray about the matter, the more I am satisfied that is a path of duty opened up to you, the pursuit of which will be a great blessing to the Church and the country in coming time. The matters referred to and somewhat explained and exhibited, with other things which doubtless will occur to you, might be:—1. Missionary Society; 2. Ryanism; 3. Canadian Conference formed; 4. Clergy reserve land matter; 5.Christian Guardiancommenced; 6. Church Land and Marriage Bill; 7. Victoria College; 8. Book-Room; 9. Centenary celebration and fund; 10. Union with the British Conference; 11. Hudson Bay mission; 12. Disruption with British Conference; 13. Re-union; 14. Superannuated ministers; Contingents; Chapel Relief, and Childrens' Funds; 15. Remarkable camp-meetings—Beaver Dams, some one hundred and fifty professed conversion; seventy or eighty joined the Church. Ancaster Circuit: Peter Jones converted. YongestreetCircuit: Mrs. Taylor converted under a sermon preached by Wm. Hay. Bay Circuit: Peter Jacobs, and many other Indians saved. Hamilton, back of Cobourg, held in time of Conference—Bishop George presiding; when and where the Rice and Mud Lake bands were all converted; a nation born in a day! 16. The first protracted meeting; held at the twenty-mile camp, by Storey and E. Evans, and Ryerson, P. E.—no previous arrangement, between two hundred and three hundred professed religion, the wonderful work spreading through most of the Niagara district.
In a letter to me dated Guelph, 9th June, 1877, Dr. Ryerson said:—I came here yesterday forenoon, and was most respectfully and cordially received by the Conference. In the course of the day, Rev. J. A. Williams, seconded by Rev. E. B. Ryckman, moved that I be requested to prepare a history of the principal epochs of our Church, etc. The resolution, with many kind and complimentary remarks, was unanimously passed by a standing vote. I assented, and am now committed to the work, and will lose no time in commencing—dividing my time between it and my history, which I hope to complete in a few months. I hope before the next General Conference to complete what this Conference has requested, and what, from what I hear, will be repeated by other Conferences. As I am endeavouring to do some justice to the founders of our country and its institutions, I hope to do the same for the Fathers of our Church and its institutions. I spoke last night at the reception of young men, and my remarks were very favourably received.
In a letter to me from Whitby, dated 27th June, Dr. Ryerson said:—To-day I had the great pleasure of laying the foundation stone of an important addition to the Methodist Ladies' College at Whitby. Mr. Holden kindly intimated that the trustees had decided to name the new structure "Ryerson Hall." My remarks were few, and related chiefly to the importance of female education. I referred to the great attention which was now given to the education of women, on both sides of the Atlantic. There were different theories, I said, as to how it should be done, but all were agreed that women should be educated. Even the English Universities were helping in the work. I did not believe, I said, in Colleges for both ladies and gentlemen. They should be separate. It was of vital necessity that the mothers of our land should be educated. Woman made the home, and home made the man. If the daughters were educated, the sons would not remain ignorant. Both patriotism and piety should make people encourage these institutions, which would be the pride of future generations.
On the 30th July Dr. Ryerson received an affecting letter from his brother John, enclosing to him the manuscript of his"Reminiscences of Methodism," during his long and active life. In regard to them, he said:—