Rev. Robert Corson.

"FATHEB COBSON;"
OK,
THE OLD STYLE CANADIAN ITINEEANT:
EMBRACING
THE LIFE AND GOSPEL LABOUBS
OF
THE REV. ROBERT CORSON,
Fifty-Six Teaks a Minister in Connection with the Central
Methodism of Upper Canada.

BY THE KEV. JOHN CARROLL, D.D.,
Author of " The Stripling Preacher," "Past and Present," " Case and
His Cotenvporaries" " The School of the Prophets,"
&c., &c., t&c.

" Not with excellency of speech or of wisdom," " but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power."— St. Paul.

TORONTO:
PUBLISHED BY THE BEV. SAMUEL EOSE, D.D.,
AT THE METHODIST BOOK ROOM.

1879.

Yaic Divinity Library

Xt ?-**>

DEDICATION

TO

ALL THE SURVIVORS
OF THE \
EARLY CANADIAN PIONEERS,
BOTH IN CHURCH AND STATE,
i\ AND TO THEIR DESCENDENTS,
*0

^ €1)10 Book
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

V) BY
2
-£ THE EDITOR.

0"»
rb

PEEEATOEY PLEA

A published life of the Rev. Robert Corson has not
been undertaken because he was considered a great man,
in any one respect. And if he had been considered as
merely an average good Methodist preacher, his biography
certainly would not have been written. There are hun
dreds of average preachers, as good and devoted as he,
whose lives it would not be worth while to publish.
" Father Corson's " life is essayed because, while he pre
served a spotless religious reputation for over three-score
years, there was something in his spirit, manner, and
doings, which caused him to be " the observed of all
observers " and led to his being loved above many, which
has begotten a desire to retain the genial old gentleman
still, in some form, among his friends.
But the unusual structure of the book will strike the
reader, and perhaps make it the occasion of confronting the
Editor with not very approving criticism on the part of
some. Some of these probable grounds of attack may be
anticipated. Each of the unusual features, therefore, I
shall make to stand out by itself for a moment.

PREFACE.

First, I have made the several stages of his public life to
coincide with the several epochs of Canadian Methodist
history. In justification of which unusual plan I have to
say : If this distribution of his life-work and progress will
answer as well as any other division of his career, who
has a right to object ? But I have done more : I have
given such incidental references to all passing occurrences
in Provincial Methodism, that, while lured on by the
story of a humble itinerant, " the general reader," who
could not be induced to encounter an elaborate history,
because something too formidable, will, unknown to himself,
be getting informed on all the essential outlines of that
history. Here some one of those who always know how a thing
should be done better than the person who has made it a
special and delighted study, will ask : " Why connect the
history of the Church with so obscure a person as Mr.
Corson t It would be very well if he had been a leading
influence like some of the learned doctors, but not with a
humble labourer like him. Nay, his very humility, which
led him to labour on in an overlooked career, was one of
those very things that made his efforts as valuable to the
Church as those of almost any of the doctors. Besides, it
must not be forgotten that Robert Corson did take a
noticeable part in the deliberations of Conference itself;
and, in his own peculiar way, his course was an influential
and useful one. Further, he could not help having been

PREFACE. Vll
brought into the Church before any of the great crises in its
history transpired ; and he had the rare merit of clinging to
the main cause of Methodism in this Province, through
weal and woe, until all the difficulties it had to confront
were tided over ; such as the first Missionary aggression ;
the organization of the Canada Annual Conference ; the
separation from the States ; the first state of independency ;
the union with the British Conference ; the disruption of
the union, and the separate action of the two sections of
Wesleyanism ; the happy reign of the restored union ;
and the final work of organizing a Methodist church for the
whole Dominion of Canada. And he took a profound
interest in every useful movement, as it transpired, if noth
ing further. Why, then, may we not notice these instruc
tive events as we drift along down the stream of this old
minister's long public life t Why 1
But some may say that I have dealt in materials below
the dignity of such lofty themes. Truly, some of the inci
dents would have been too homely and familiar, if dignified
history had been my main object, But, on the contrary,
my principal design was the portrayal of an individual,
and he one of the most unpretentious and pleasantly
accessible of men. And, as I had to describe a bush-born
preacher, destined to be a pioneer nearly all his public life,
who was borne up and along in his toils and privations by
the exuberance of his joyous, playful spirits, I have con
cluded, that a style of phraseology and illustration suited

'. Ill PREFACE.
(,o the rude scenes through which he was called to pass
would be the best adapted to recall those times ; and would
best befit the genial, unexacting, and almost rollicking good
man I was trying to present to my readers. In short, I
wished to make his " old companions in distress " live their
lives over again along with him ; aye, and cause this gener
ation also to live that peculiar life along with him and his
compeers. I wish to present a Robert Corson, or a " Father Corson,"
whom his friends, old and young, would know and recog
nize again. Such a one, I believed, would be welcomed back
with open arms, while any other would receive the pro
verbial " cold shoulder.'' In pursuance of the above inten
tions, I have gone farther and used the colloquialisms and
patois of former days ; presented old-time pet names, some
of them rugged enough (albeit Mrs. Robert Corson herself,
from her native delicacy of taste, disallowed their use
among her third generation of Corsons) ; described the
homely scenes of the rude heroic age of Canadian history,
civil and ecclesiastical, to do which I have preserved
snatches of doggrel poetry, one at least smacking a little of
profanity, because I thought a legitimate description.
required them.
I have no sympathy with those scarcely honest people
who would make out all their ancestors to be of gentle
blood and manners ; and who think it imprudent to hint
that a minister (I beg their pardon, " a clergyman "), ever

PREFACE. IX
did so sordid and vile a thing as to perform manual labour
— those persons T mean who have so much conceit and
affectation that they can never do nor say a natural or
sensible thing ; no, I care not for their criticisms. Of their
attacks, I am prepared to say to the whole army of
exquisites, " Gome one, come all," and as soon as you like !
' ' Believe us, noble Vere de Vere,
From yon blue heavens above us bent,
The grand old gardener and his wife
Smile at the claims of long descent :
Howe'er it be, it seems to me,
'Tis only noble to be good,
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood."
And I embrace this opportunity to take on myself, as
Editor, and off my contributors and publisher, all the
odium for all things homely, quaint, unusual and outre.
But if any person, in a friendly spirit, will point out any
thing slip-shod, or in really bad taste, I will promise to try
and amend my ways.
Another objection may arise, namely, that I have repro
duced myself, in adopting portions of my " Biographical
History " and sundry other works of mine, which related
to Mr. Corson, in this memoir of him. My plea, if this
charge should be made, is this : It has been only gathering
into this what was dispersed abroad in those, with the
additional merit, that I have corrected, condensed, or
amplified, as it was needed.
1*

X PREFACE.
There are some sanctimonious people who will, no
doubt, say my book is not religious enough ; that is, it is
not so grave and demure as it should have been made. To
such and to all I solemnly declare I have sought to sub
serve the interests of earnest religion in all I have done,
to quicken the ministry, and to promote the welfare of the
Church at large.
With these explanations I commend my peculiar featured
little offspring to the care and direction of that God who
created, with their respective idiosyncracies, both Robert
Corson, the subject of the book, and John Carroll, The Author.
Don Mount, April 22nd, 1879.

EDITOR'S OBLIGATIONS.
For the large amount of matter furnished by the accom
plished sons of the deceased, and for their suggestions and
criticisms, I am under unspeakable obligations. To those
who, whether requested or spontaneously, furnished con
tributions for this work, I wish publicly to tender my
thanks. And, especially, I must not forget to acknowledge
that the excellencies of the book, if it have any, both
literary and mechanical, along with publisher and printers,
are largely due to the Rev. Dr. Wood, often before my
co-labourer in similar efforts, by going over it carefully
while passing through the press. Even .the watchful care
of the Rev. Mr. Matthewson, as the copyist of a small
portion of it, has been of service to me. If there are others
to whom I ought to have acknowledged obligations, my
omissions must be ascribed to want of thought, and not to
design. J. C.

PEELIMINAEY SUEVEY.

Methodism, if we have judged aright, was a revival, a
renewal of true Christianity — in its doctrine of salvation
by grace through faith — its self-denying sin-hating spirit,
and its lovingly aggressive advance against the darkness,
misery, and ignorance of a sinful world. That movement,
begun in England early in the eighteenth century, had
established itself, and taken form and consistence in the old
American colonies, or at least, it arose coincidently with
the existence and independence of the United States ; and
before the century was finished its heralds had crossed the
waters which constitute the dividing line between the new
republic and Britain's still newer colonies, north of the
latitude forty-five ; and great were the successes of this
form of Christianity in the " two Canadas " during the first
twenty years of its provincial existence.
Then, alas, came the unnatural war between the parent
and the child; or the two sections of the Anglo-Saxon
family, the elder with its adherents, and the newer one.
Every religious interest suffered in the British colonies,
especially in Canada, and those of Methodism among the

XIV preliminary survey.
rest. But after the " deadly blast " of " war " was " blown"
over, the recuperative power of this vital form of Bible
religion began to assort itself in renovated societies, exten
sive revivals, and the upraising of instruments to carry
forward these Gospel conquests.
The Methodist revival may be said to have produced its
own preachers. " When God gave the word " of free grace,
" great was the company of them that published it." It
was so in England, as exemplified in the raising up of a
Maxfield, a Mitchell, a Nelson, an Oliver, a Storey, and
scores of others. So also it was in America, both be/ore
and after the Revolution ; God providing a Watters, a
Gatch, and a Garretson, native Americans> to carry on the
work, which the few British preachers could have never
overtaken. These men knew the Anglo-American mind
and manners, and were better adapted to be useful in the
States than any laborer, however devoted, with none but
old country ideas. And Canada was no exception in this
respect to Methodism in all other places where it had been
planted. In the last century, Sylvanus Keeler, if no others, had
gone forth into the field from the wilds of Canada ; and
early in this century a Bangs, a Perry, a Picket, a Prindle,
and others of Canadian growth, recruited the ranks of this
sacramental host. But, especially, Methodism showed its
productive energy and resources during the war of 1812-15
(when many of the American preachers were withdrawn,

PRELIMINARY survey XV
and there were no opportunities of receiving contingents
from* that side of the line), in manning the walls of the
Methodist Zion with good men and true, who sprang to the
rescue from out the fields and workshops of Canada itself ;
take the cases of Reynolds, Adams, Culp, Covenhoven,
Hopkins, Harmon, Swazey, and Youmans. After the war
the necessity for home-bred preachers was none the less than
immediately before. That strife had created a prejudice
against American citizens, at least in the minds of many,
and even the American church authorities saw the import
ance of supplying the Canada section of their work with
British subjects ; and the Great Head of the Church pro
vided for this demand by raising up men whose minds were
not only in harmony with the government of the country,
but men also, who knew the manners and customs of the
land, and were inured to the hardships of this then newly-
settled country. From 1815 to the Conference of 1822
Canada had produced (not to mention any that failed early)
two naturalized Americans, two Irishmen, one Englishman,
and two native Canadians, eight in all, three of whom,
Ferguson, Peale and Wilson, had known the hardships of
military service. William Brown and John Ryerson were
the native Canadians.
But at the next Conference (the one for 1823) Canada
produced no less than seven laborers to cultivate her own
moral wastes, all of whom were either born in Canada, or
thoroughly acclimated to it, two or three of whom were

xvi preliminary survey.
able and willing to perform its roughest kind of work. The
list of names was as follows : — William Ryerson, William
Griffis, Joseph Castle, Jacob Poole, David Wright, Solomon
Waldron and Robert Corson. The three last were specially
of the character just indicated ; but neither of them was so
pre-eminently adapted to the hardest work in the hardest
places as Robert Corson, whose life and labours myself
and co-biographers are now to portray and detail. Mr.
Corson and several, if not all, of the other candidates had.
performed circuit work under a Presiding Elder, for one or
more years before that Conference, but they came now
officially to view for the first time.
Mr. Corson's life, from his birth to the Conference of
1823, from the Conference of 1823 till that of 1858, when
he superannuated, and from the Conference, of 1858 till
1878, when he died, will constitute the plan of this book.
These general divisions each will admit of all sorts of par
ticulars necessary to illustrate our subject, in the form of
subordinate divisions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. What relates to Robert Corson prior to 1823.
1. Events before his Conversion :
Paternity and birth-place— Hard work and plain fare— Virtuous youth— Homely
pleasures — Mrs. Force's testimony — Causes of youthful popularity— Religious
leanings.
The War and his services therein— Volunteers and serves six months— A
cowardly comrade — His own brief statement — His song-singing capabilities —
Snatches of patriotic songs, C. Flumerfeldt's.
Dismissed, and salt-making— His residence at the salt-works leads to his acquaint
ance with Emma Freeland — The emigration of her family from New Brunswick
—Toilsome journey — Meets the Editor's family in Niagara— Grounds of attach
ment between Robert and Emma — Marriage and conversion.
Revival under Joseph Gatchell— " Bob will he a preacher"— Emma Corson's
usefulness — Their religious associations and privileges while at the " Thirty " —
Camp-meeting at the " Fifty" — Self-tuition.
Resume of these events by Or. J. W. Corson — Gov. Carlton and his daughter-
Antecedents of the Corsons and Freelands— -The country and its settlers — The
early itinerants— Corson's travels anticipated. From page 1 to 19.
1817-1822.
2. From, his Conversion until his going out on a Circuit :
Joined M. E. Church in 1817 — Warren, Byham, and Ferguson — Removed to
Oxford in 1818.
Licensed to preach iu 1820 — Preachers on the Long-Point Circuit— Operations
of exhorters and local preachers then — Local preacher two years — Jackson,
Williams, I. B. Smith, Culp, and Ferguson.
Serves as a junior preacher on Westminster Circuit under P. E. — Lor,g absences,
and severe privations to Mrs. C.
Quotations from " Itinerant's Memorial " — Salary — Recommended for probation.
From page 19 to 24.
JI. From the Conference of 1823 to that of 1858, when he
retired from the Active Ministry.
[Distribution of this part of his life.]
1823-24.
1. Mr. Corson's Ministry from 1823 to the formation ofthe Canada
Annual Conference in 1824 :
Westmoreland Conf.— Last U. S. Conf. for C. preachers— Did Corson go?—
MS. Journals of old Genesee Conf.— Candidates : Griffis, Waldron, J. Poole,
Castle, Wright, Wm. Ryerson, Corson.
To labor alone on the New London Circuit— What townships it comprehended—
Labors— Gains. From page 24 to 27.

CONTENTS.

1824-26.
2. Mr. Corson's Gospel Labours from 1824 to 1828 :
Hallowell Conference— Meeting at York, on tbe way down— Who present— Garb
ot some preachers— His appointment necessitates a move— Dumfries Circuit
—Its character and extent — Interesting details ^from his own pen— Henry
Chrysler's recollections— Dr. W. Corson's statements —Builds two chapels— The
Elliaes — Squire Kilborn's letter, describing Mr. Corson - Immersing a big
Dutchman— Editor's recollections of the Yonge Street C. M. and R. C;— In
crease — Full connexion and deacon's orders— His old parchment — The " Fifty
Conference full of suggestions. -From page 27 to 34.
1826-27.
Hiatus between Dumfries and Westminster Cts. filled with Hamilton (township)
Conference particulars — Conversion of an Indian tribe or band — C. goes to
Westminster— Quotations from " Itinerant's Memorial " — A bachelor colleague
—Small collection — Getting a wedding suit under difficulties, and losing the
bride— Ticklish baptism— Paid in lumber — Small allowances, but wins souls-
Running down a squirrel. From page 35 to 41,
1827-28.
Conf. at "Springer's Meeting-house" — Anxious one — Ryan retires — Corson or
dained elder— Goes with Griffis— Neither servile nor aspiring Quotations from
" Case and Co."— Increase— Corson's private memoranda — Incident at Wood-
house church. From page 41 to 43.
3. From the founding of the Canada Church to the Union with the
British Conference.
1828-29.
Memorable Conf. at " Switzer's Chapel," Earnestown— Last jurisdiction of an
American bp. — Routine — Conf. resolves itself into an independent Church — C.
acted as usual with the majority — Taken ill, and a weary ride home— Mammy
Gilbert pronounces the preacher " wery sick, or else was a creat crunt " —
Appointment and move to Whitby- Its extent— Includes the Scugog Indians-
Union revival— Aaron Hurd — Editor and E. Evans overtake Corson — Diuner
at S. Holden's — The Editor meets Mrs. Corson at the log parsonage door — Not
the mother ot the Gracchi, but of five sons called after as many ministers —
Presque Isle C. M.— Preaching and doings there— Lorenzo Dow — Corson and
Ferguson's preaching, respectively— Plenty of water without immersion —
Corson's vivacity. From page 43 to 56.
1829-30.
Conf. at " Bowman's Meeting-house "—Incidents of the Conf. — Read off again for
Whitby— His M3. "Sketch"— Circuit enlarged by adding partof Cobourg—
Vandus>en called out— Anecdotes of Van. — Meet them at Presque Isle once
more — All the labourers but the editor gone. From page 55 to 58.
1830-31.
Kingston Conf.— Adjourned to Belleville— Member of General Conference-
Appointed to Toronto (township) Ct  His own account of it— Names of the
four "log churches "—Increase— Salary— H. Shaler— Primitive Methodists-
Preachers help to harvest J. G.'s wheat crop. From page 58 to 60.

CONTENTS.

1831-32.
York Conf.— Revival time— Continued on T. Ct.— No less than three several col
leagues— McNabb, Rose, Kennedy— First marriage ceremony performed by
R. C — Names of parties and c.ipy of certificate— The Foster Family— Recollec-
t°w °n and Mrs* W" Fo8ter and other old friends— Question of height—
J- "¦ c- From page 60 to 65.
1832-33.
Hallowell Conference— Initiation of first Union— Corson favourable— Yonge St.
Ct. with D. Wright— Pronounces his Ct. " one of the best "—Enjoys showers of
blessings— Particulars— Long and Gatchell— Names of Local Preachers-
Resides at R. Hill— Neighbours. From page 65 to 68.
t. Mr. Ccrson during the seven years of the first Union .-
Unifying Conf.— E. Ryerson— Messrs. Marsden and Stinson— Unanimous vote-
Change of name— Re-appointed to Yonge Street— J. R., P. E.— Centre of dis
content—Organizing of a M. E. Conf. at Cummer's chapel— The churches of
that vicinity— Corson loyal, but liberal— His course with regard to office and
office-bearers— A humourist philosopher. From page 69 to 74.
1834-35.
Newmarket Circuit— Kingston Conf. in 1834— Revs. Messrs. Alder and Grindrod
— " Inexpediency of ordaining any more local preachers " — Mr. C. begins to
take a part in Conf. deliberations— His junior colleague, T. F. — Antecedents-
Use of published letters— Family residences traced, and recollection of neigh
bors, by Dr. W. C. Corson— Attempt to get a "local habitation" — The new
farm at German Mills — Heroism of the mother — Homely pleasures of a retired
family — Details of revivals and their promoters on the N. Circuit and its
vicinity. From page 75 to 82.
1835-36.
Whitby Circuit — Hamilton Conf. — Many agitated, but Corson calm— Chronicles
of the Whitby Circuit— Labours, revivals, gains, &c. From page 82 to 84.
1836-37.
Whitby, continued— Belleville Conf.— Los3 of a staudard-bearer —Loses Fawcett
and obtains J. C. Will — T. F's marriage and the circumstances— Whitby suffers
small part of the aggregate decrease— Rev. Dr. Cummings tells a good story
of Mr. Corson's preaching at Cazenovia, N.Y.* — Information as to Dr. J. \V.
C's whereabouts. From page 84 to 89.
1837-38.
President Harvard and the Toronto Conf. — B. Ryerson's return from England-
Resolutions on " Govt. Grants " — Mr. C. — A hoist back to Dumfries— Will, his
colleague, dies- Speculations as to the supply— Gives up the farm— Resume
and detail of residences, clearing up some obscurities, by Dr. J. W. C. — Pros
pective section — The children who accompanied the parents— Henry Chrysler's
recollections — A wedding that " hangs fire " — A ceremony witHout a hitch from
Squire Kilhorn — McKenzie's Rebellion— Its effect on the position of Wesleyan
Methodists in the country — President Harvard's manifesto, and what followed
thereon— To be kept in till the Conference. From page 89 to 96.
* But Dr. J. W. C. thinks it applies to another man than his father.

CONTENTS.

1838-39.
Conf. in Rear St. Church, Kingston — E. Ryerson made popular by M. S. Bid-
well's defence — Appointed Scy. — Discussion of the late action of the President
and Editor— A sharp debate, which is ended by an explosion of laughter, pro
duced by a singular apologetic speech for the Prest. — C. re-appointed to
Dumfries— Wm. Coleman set down as col., but placed elsewhere, and Chanes
Gilbert called out. From page 96 to 98.
1839-40.
Fourth subdivision of the 2nd period— Anxious Conf.— Guardian's course dis
pleasing— Dr. Alder sent to subjugate the Conf. but fails— C. always with the
Canadians— Long Point Ct., now called Simcoe — David Hardie, col. — Mr. C.'s
own notes — Correspondence commences with the Editor — This probably the
true date of the Woodhouse incident— Great connexional increase.
From page 98 to 100.
1840-41.
5. The seven years of the divided Wesleyan operations :
The Conference for 1810 (in Belleville) more anxious than the last — B. Conference
makes demands which were resisted, and a delegation appointed to go home —
W. and E. Ryerson— Corson with the Canadian interests— Returned to Simcoe
with C. G. — Col. Neal — Corson preaches his funeral sermon — British Conf. re
tires from the Union, and the delegates return and convoke a " Special Confer
ence " — Whitehead Prest.— Eleven withdrew — Separation between Corson and
a choice friend — Reconstructed stations of the London List, given— Simcoe
takes more territory and more work — A large nett gain on the Ct.
From page 100 to 104.
1841-42.
Conf. assembled again in Tor on to— Several notables missed— Case, E. Evans,
Stinson, Richey, Lang — Whitehead replaced by W. Ryerson —Corson to Napa-
nee — Gilbert Miller — The journey down described by his son, Dr. W. C. Corson
— Mrs. C. cheered by a turtle— Residences : Napanee and Newburgh— Mr. C.'s
Memoranda — A sleepy congregation awakened by silence. From pag» 104 to 108.
1842-43.
Conf. once more at Picton- A. Green, Prest. — C.'s Chairman drops his standard—
A tentative discontinuance of the chairmen's travels through their Districts
with which change Corson always sympathized— Re-appointed to Napanee—
Changes Miller for Haw— Trying year for the Corson family— Death of the
saintly wife and mother— Touching account from two sources— Vand us en, the
funeral, and the burial-place— The loss abridges Mr. C.'s usefulness.
From page 108 to 114.
1843-44.
Hopeful Conf.— Great increase— Sent to Bath and Isle of Tante - C. R. Allison-
Has to come down to $100 !— Injustice of the old arrangement— Case of hard
ship given. Pages 114 and 115.

CONTENTS.

1844-45.
First Brockville Conf.-The travelling of the chairmen restored— Conseeon Ct.—
His own account— Colleague— Salary. Pago 116.
1845-46.
, First St. Catharines Conf.— Decrease from unfortunate political writing— Lessons
to be learned— Corson appointed to Sheffield— Little progress— Lively speech-
Intervention of friends to get him married— Excessive labours of the preacher,
but further decrease— Determination to send a Delegation to England— J.
Ryerson and Green. From page 116 to 119.
1846-47.
Kingston Conf.— Stationing Com. send Mr. C. far to the West— He indignantly
remonstrates — Comforts himself with awife — Proved agood— His own account
of marriage, journey, and Ct.— Dr. J. W. Corson's advice— Some account of
the second Mrs. C— Parries a question— Dr. W. Corson's account of his step
mother—Information gained by the Editor by succeeding to the London Dist.
—Mr. C.'s description of his two several wives— Their privations and shifts on
the Adelaide Mission -Rev. Thos. Williams— Amusing episode at Wallaceburg.
From page 119 to 125.
6. From the reconstruction of the Union, in 1847, to the admission of
the Lower Canada and Hudson Bay Districts into the Canada
Conference, in 1854. 1847-48.
Most relating to this year anticipated — Delegation to England successful — Union
formally restored at Conf. of 1847— Mr. C. receives a British brother for col
league, and they amalgamate the two societies in the Warwick and Adelaide
Mission — W. Ryerson their visiting Chairman. From 125 to 127.
1848-49.
Bellville Conf. and Rev. Dr. Dixon — Norwich Circuit — The travels of Chairmen
terminated, and how it came about — Dr. Richey, the acting Prest., travels
through the Connexion— Corson's memoranda of the year— State of the Circuit
— History, character, and doings of his predecessor — How he was qualified to
cope with such difficulties— Small increase. From page 127 to 133.
1849-50.
Interesting Conf. at Hamilton, in '49— Corson returned to Norwich— Editor
attended his August Qr. Mg., and the observations he made on Mr. C.'s man
agement and general success— Numerous pastoral visits — Comforts of his home
— Visit to a discouraged brother— Services of the Quarterly Meeting.
From page 133 to 136.
1850-51.
Second Brockville Conf.— Dr. Bangs — Death of Healy and Metcalf—Went to his
home in the West, and then further west to Gosjield— Its geographical position
—Mr. C.'s own account— Feels the burden of local [difficulties— Amusing way
of referring to them. From page 136 to 139.

XXII CONTENTS.

1851-52.

Toronto Conf. and Crowland Circuit— Young Irish colleague, W. C— Under the
Editor's chairmanship— How I found him— Very observant— " Bishop's Ser
mon." From page 13£ to 140.
1852-53.
Kingston Conf. — Returns, but name different in the Minutes — Desire for change
— Promise a sprightly young colleague— How I obtained one, and who it
was— A long letter from that colleague, R. Clarke, full of interesting
particulars relative to Mr. Corson, embracing conversation, study, visits,
sermonizing, &c— Mr. C's habits of reading to the people— A letter of the
Editor's— A MS. letter of his own. From page 140 to H7.
1853-54.
Hamilton Conf. — Cainsville Ct. — His Chairman visits him in his new house —
The letter of an observing acquaintance relative to Father Corson, as seen for
several years— Rev. A. A. Smith— Things amusing. From page 148 to 163.
7. From 1854 to his Superannuation. 1854-55.
Belleville Conf.— Reported increase— Hudson Bay Missions and Lower C. Dist.—
Editor separated from his old friend. From page 163 to 154.
1855-56.
The London Conf. of 1855 memorable — Four additional missionaries for Hudson
Bay — Revivals through the Connexion — Editor's own station. From page 166 to 156.
1856-57.
Brockville Conf. and Prest. Wood, J. E. Scy. — Renewed intimacy with Corson
— Both delayed after the Session — Journey up together — C. spends a Sabbath
at Belleville — The pioneer and pedant pitted against each other, and success of
the former— Klineburg Ct. — C.'s notes — Letter from a local preacher — Upset
ting of a table — Becomes less observant of little matters — Way of demonstrat
ing his capability for the effective work — '* Pen-portrait" by Dr. J. W. C —
Size — Like Lyman Beecher — Writing on his knee — Leans forward — " Smiling
Minister " — Face and bead — Voice — Mirthf ulness -Use of his comical stories —
Prayer with a R. C. [infra)— Dress— Like Moody — English vernacular — Pater
nal title — Draper in the burning ship — Letter at 84 — Transitions — Parallel be
tween him and Jay. From page 156 to 170.
III. From Mr. Corson's Superannuation to his Death ; ok from
1S58 to 1878.
Montreal Conf. — Pleaded to continue in his work — Locates in Cobourg.

contents. xxiii
1. From his settlement in Cobourg till his removal to his house in Cains-
mile, a, period of fifteen years.
At the Hamilton Conf., in 1869, asked to resume— While pleading, the Editor
sketched him— The first of the " Conference Crayons"— Crayon first: True
Briton — Antecedents — Humour — Conference speeches — Odd juxtaposition —
Wishes— His summary— His keeping a " boarding-house" vindicated— His wide
acquaintance and means of usefulness (i-n/ro)-Dr. Chalmers and " Sandy Pat-
erson " — becomes polished himself in his old days — Preaches much in person
as well as by proxy— Rev. W. McC.'s corn story— Pleasant badinage in Mark
ham— Visit to tbe Editor at Peterboro'— Cold return journey— Rev. A. Hardie,
A.M., and the student boarders— Brevity of F. C.'s prayers (infra)— Father
Corson as a teacher of 1-Iomiletics ! — His readiness— Examples— A Cobourg
gentleman's testimony— Letter to the Editor— Long letter in tbe Ou irdian—
New York— Philadelphia— Planting potatoes— Newburg- Peterboro' C. M. and
old friends— Prince Albert— A. Hurd— Cobourg— Cainsville— Brantford— Dun-
das— Harrisburg— Guelph— Yonge Street — Visit to a sick son— Home, finishing
a journey of 2,000 miles— Keeps to the old method of private conveyances and
by-ways— Close of his work in Cobourg. From page 170 to 196.
2. From his return to Cainsville till the death of his second wife in
1877.
A home near his son William— 111, and treated by his son— Supplied as " The
young preacher on the Circuit"— Rev. W. Willoughby's testimony— His own
sketch of fifty-seven years Canadian Methodist History, embracing the work
m all its stages, phases, and characteristics— Strength ofthe several Methodist
bodies— Contrasts between Methodism in 1817 and 1876— Old and new-
fashioned preaching and preachers — Remembrances of some particular local
ities—Thrilling letter from a local preacher. From page 196 to 204.
3. From the death of the second Mrs. Corson in 1877, to his own
death in 1878.
Serious blow- Obituary of Amy Lockwood Corson by Rev. W. Willoughby —
History, character, and happy death — Father Corsou removes to his son's at
Brantford, and enjoys the kind attention and companionship of Mrs William
and her little ones— Peaceful death— Funeral — Tomb— End. From page 204 to 211.
£5T There is one thing of which I should apprise the reader, in justice, both
to myself and the printer, as also for the reader's own guidance : — It will he
observed by those who examine the execution of the book with attention, that
its analysis and the use of capitals and italics in the Index is different from that
in the body of the book. This arose from the printer not understanding my
design and, therefore, undertaking to amend copy in that particular, for perhaps
one-fourth of the book. The mistake was not discovered early enough to change
what had been done ; but after my intention was understood, copy was strictly
followed. This has occasioned a discrepancy between the earlier and later pages,
and somewhat marred the mechanical effect, but it has in no wise affected the
sense. Let it be remembered, however, that the Table of Coktkkts presents the
true plan of the book and distribution of Mr. Corson's life. — Editor.
Appendix, page 214.
Our Mother, by Dr. J. W. Corson, 214.
Hardships do. Do. 229.
The Parting Do. 229.
Dangers Do. 232.
Joys in trials Do. 235.
Prayer for Christian Union, Do. 241.

XXIV CONTENTS.

Sketches op Sermons bt R. C, 243.
1. Divinely Commissioned and Willing Messenger, 244.
2. Nativity of Christ. 246.
3. Reading and Seeking out of the Book of the Law, 247.
4. The Reward of the Righteous and Punishment of the Wicked, 248.
6. The Foundation Stone laid in Zion, 250.
6. The Turning Away of God's Anger, and the Results, 251.
7. The King's Highway of Holiness, 252.
8. God's Command to Comfort His People, 254.
9. The Enduring Character of God's Word, 256.
10. The Ends of the Earth to Look to God for Salvation, 266.
11. Is the Gospel Message Believed ? 258.
12. The Blast of the Great Trumpet, 259.
13. Importance of Seeking God While He ma}' be Found, 260.
14. God's Charge to Zion's Watchmen, 261.
15. Quietness and Assurance Attendant on Righteousness, 263.
16. Uur Stay while Walking in Darkness, 264.

FATHER COESON.

WHAT RELATES TO ROBERT CORSON PRIOR
TO 1823.

1793—1817.
I.— EVENTS BEFORE HIS CONVERSION

T will be seen by statements made by other members
of the family ; and especially by the elaborate
papers given in by our subject's gifted and scholarly son,
Dr. John Wesley Corson (which I am loath to break up
into fragments and distribute into the several places to
which they respectively belong naturally, and therefore
leave intact, to be perused continuously as they were
written) that Robert Corson, son of Daniel Corson and
Rebecca Lawrison, was born in the Township of Clinton,
Niagara District, then almost a trackless wilderness, his
birth occurring September 12th, 1793. He knew what
hard "vork and plain fare were, from infancy to manhood.
His position and circumstances, along with a naturally
docile and willing temperament, combined to give his youth
a virtuous direction, making him moral, industrious, tem-
2

I FATHER CORSON.
perate, and amiable. Yet let no one think that his was a
gloomy life of toil : he was contented with his lot, and
entered with zest into the rude and boisterous recreations,
characteristic of the youth of a new country, before they
become sobered and solemnized by the influence of vital
religion. His day's toil, of chopping or ox-driving, was often
succeeded by an exciting walk through the dark forest,
illuminated by the light of the hickory bark torch,* to
attend the " husking bee," or " frolic," as it was sometimes
called, which usually wound up with a supper and various
sorts of plays, ending, finally, with the-not-least-pleasurable
part of the programme to the boys, that of seeing the girls
home to their several places of abode.
But lest I should be thought to be " drawing on my
imagination for facts,'' I copy some written statements
from the lips of Mrs. Mercy Force, a surviving sister of our
venerable deceased friend, taken down by Dr. Wm. C.
Corson, and afterwards affirmed to me personally, during a
very pleasant interview with that old lady. Dr. William's
manuscript reads as follows : —
" His moral character was without reproach ; and, as a
boy, he was exceedingly kind and attentive to his mother.
He had no small vices so prevalent at that time, such as
the use of tobacco, <fcc. He was very lively, however — the
life indeed of any company ; could tell droll stories, and
sing a good song, and he was very fond of wrestling, in
which he excelled. The habit of industry, which was such
* They did not always enjoy the benefit of a light. I once heard
the extravagant account of an overgrown, barefooted boy's experi
ence in returning with some others, similarly situated, from a
"husking," who said, that all they had to guide their way was
"the fire they struck out of the stones in the road by the contact
of their toe nails 1 "

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 3
a prominent feature in his after life, early showed itself.
In fact, even as a boy, he was never idle. He was always
very tender-hearted, and at the time of any revival was
greatly ' stirred ' (to use the words of my aunt) showing a
deep concern for his soul, years before his conversion. It
was his gay and lively disposition, along with song-singing
and story-telling, which made him a favorite in the com
pany (the ' Flankers,' as they were called) in which he
served, and in which he volunteered before he was out of
his teens, in the war of 1812-15. His leanings were
always towards the Methodists. Though his mother was a
stiff Church of England woman, his father, I think, was an
irreligious man, but I forgot to ascertain this from my
aunt. " *
With regard to the war and his services therein, his
surviving sister, Mrs. Force, informed me that, as soon as
the news of the declaration of hostilities reached Canada,
Robert being then between nineteen and twenty, and his
brother Lawrence, or " Larry," as they usually called him,
being eighteen, they were, of course, subject to military
service ; an officer of their company came one night to the
door of their rural home and announced that they were to
be down at the " Big Road," as the main thoroughfare
from Niagara River to the head of the lake was usually
called, " by eight o'clock the next morning, with three days'
provisions." The boys sprang from their comfortable beds
with alacrity, impelled by the love of excitement and
adventure, as well as the fire of patriotism, and began to
make the needed preparations. They were eager for the
* It will be seen, by information used further on, that the
Corson family entertained the Methodist preachers duriug Robert's
boyhood. — Ed.

t FATHER CORSON.
fray, and for annihilating all the invaders in a very sum
mary manner ! It was otherwise with the dear, anxious
mother, with her daughters around her in tears, as well aa
herself, fearing that " poor Bob and Larry " might never
return from the field of conflict to the cottage on the
" mountain " more ; still, the preparations for their outfit
went on through the too swiftly passing hours of that
sleepless and agitated night — a spectacle this adapted to
make the angelic messengers of " peace on earth " weep
with disappointment.
I am not prepared to say whether what I am about .to
relate occurred the next day (or whether the volunteering
took place before) and this call was only consequent upon a
previous enrolment ; yet, before or after, all agree that the
following occurred : A certain proportion of each militia
company was required for active service in the field for a
certain number of months. An appeal for volunteers was
first made, I presume, that if that did not produce the
required number, a draft was next to be resorted to.
When the appeal was made for volunteers to Captain
Konle's company, to which the Corson boys belonged,
Robert was the first man who stepped forward out of the
ranks in answer to the call, and Lawrence was the next,
and they, with others volunteering, or drafted, were marched
off to the frontier, where they performed military service
six months before they had the gratification of returning to
their forest home onthe "mountain." During the time of
their service, first and last, they participated in more than
one battle, such as Queenston and' Niagara, or as they
called it, "Missauga Point." Robert's courage was not
likely to be greatly inflamed by his nearest comrade, of
whom Dr. William has preserved the following tradition ;

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 5
" The man who marched next to father was a great coward.
At a skirmish at Missauga Point, the man would look
down at himself and express aloud his wonder that he did
not fall ! "
Mr. Corson's own account, in his own " Short Sketch of
his Life," is as follows : " In 1812 war was declared ; I
volunteered with other young men to serve my king and
country for six months. When our time expired we re
turned to our several homes. But in 1813 we were again
called to take up arms in defence of our countiy now
invaded. When we arrived at Niagara the battle was
ended in favour of the Americans. However, a few shots
were fired."
It is surprising how enured men may become to danger,
as exemplified in the well-known thoughtlessness and gaity
of soldiers during hostilities, with the exception of the
few men of pious thoughtfulness, like the praying and
preaching Ferguson and Harmon, who served on that same
frontier during certain parts of that war, is proverbial.
Robert Corson and his comrades were no exception to the
general thoughtlessness referred to. He seems to have
returned home-at the expiration of his term of service un-
sontanimated by bad moral habits (he never having been
known to utter a profane expression), yet he not only joined
in the prevailing merriment, but was largely its promoter
and leader. Dr. Wm. Corson has already given us an
account of his popularity among the "Flankers" (flank
companies, composed of light active men, for quick move
ments on the skirts of an enemy), because of his " gay and
lively disposition," joined to his song-singing capabilities.
The songs which beguiled the long evenings and the
weary hours of the boys in the camp would not endure

O FATHER CORSON.
very severe criticism as to their poetical and literary merits,
but the lads were not very fastidious. Di*v W. Corson has
preserved a single verse of a song which served to stir the
patriotism of the rustic soldiery, which, perhaps, may pro
voke a " disdainful smile " from those who cannot endure a
homely thing. But to our specimen :
" The lion is the bing of beasts,
And still shall be the same :
We did maintain Old England's rights,
And drove them from the plain."
This was probably a reference to the pushing of the in
vading American army over the brow at Queenston Heights
when Robert and his comrades " came in on the run," after
a march of sixteen miles.*
But of patriotic songs, the most elevated to which the war-
period gave birth, was the one composed by Cornelius
Flummerfeldt, a militia-man out of Scarborough, who also,
like Robert Corson, (who, I dare say, often sang the song of
the other,) became a Methodist Preacher in the Canada con
nexion. It related to the capture of General Hull's army.
Tradition said, the inspiration came upon him while standing
sentinel at night ; and that he inscribed " the numbers as
the numbers came," with the point of his bayonet, on the
sentry-box. I have tried vainly to recover the whole of the
sonnet ; many of the old people remember to have heard it
* The following snatch of another song, although it illustrates the
spirit of the times, is hardly admissable into the text, and, therefore
I relegate it to the margin : —
" There is a General Hull,
The old numskull,
"Who thought to rule this nation ;
But General Brock,
Hit him a knock,
And sent him to d — nation."

i£VENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 7
sung, but none can recall the words. I have myself a single
snatch of it, which has lingered in my memory since I was a
child of six years. To give that verse may be the means of
recovering the rest, which would be of interest, because of
its author and his times. He had described the alarm
created by the news of General Hull's invasion, and then
followed these four lines :
" 'Twas then our brave commander,
Sir Isaac Brock by name,
Took shipping at Niagara,
And unto York he came."
The mustering of the forces, the march, and the capture,
followed upon that.
This young man so ready to obey the summons of his
country to the field of deadly conflict, gladly returned to
more peaceful avocations when his period of service was
ended. He was always possessed of shrewd discernment in
business matters, and was as industrious to carry out what
his mind had projected, characteristics which would have
made him rich, if he had not become a Methodist Preacher.
The war produced " non-intercourse " between the two
nations, and cut off the supply of salt from the Province,
which had been mostly from Onondaga, in the State of New
York. The distress was consequently very great ; even the
army was sometimes destitute of this very necessary condi
ment. I can myself remember this destitution. My father
and older brothers being in the army, and the family being
dependants on military rations. I recall distinctly, that
while the army lay at Burlington Heights, sometimes the
person who had the contract of furnishing the bread for
the troops was unable to procure salt ; and as bread could
not be dispensed with, whatever its defects at those times.

8 FATHER CORSON.
it was baked and served out without the necessary seasoning.
Fortunately, our family had usually some salt in the house,
a portion of which was sprinkled on the slices of bread
before eating. There was then no knowledge of the Goderich
Salt Mines, but a few " salt licks " had been discovered by
the deer and the cattle resorting to them in certain places in
the country, and temporary salt works were set up during
the war, on a very small scale. One of those old abandoned
wells I afterwards saw in the old survey of Toronto Town
ship, about two or three miles north of the present village
of Sydenham. A salt spring which was utilized in this way,
somewhere in the Township of Saltfleet, or Barton, was
rented and worked by Robert Corson, after his return from
the wars* about the time of his majority, by which he is said
to have made money, till the return of peace, when the in
dustry was no longer paying. The war price of the com
modity was ten dollars a bushel.
But young Corson's residence in that part of the country,
proved to be of greater advantage to him than all the profits
of his business. When my own family arrived in this
province from New Brunswick, in 1809, the year in which
I was born, they met a family in Niagara from the same
province to whom they became very much attached, by the
name of Freeland. Countrymanship and amability were
the grounds of this attachment. The oldest child in his
family was a daughter, then fifteen years of age, called
Emma, or as the New Brunswickers pronounced it "Emmer."
The family came up the St. John's River from the neigh
bourhood of Frederickton by boats, thence up the Madawasca
* Reference from the " Sketch " shows that, having been released
from following the British army to Burlington Heights, the re
mainder of the war was spent in manufacturing salt.

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 9
by the same means, as far as navigable; then, they had
to perform a portage of thirty-six miles to the St. Lawrence
on foot. The youngest boy was a mere baby, whom his
amiable sister carried all that distance on her back, and a
great mutual attachment was the result. They joined the
St. Lawrence a hundred and eighteen miles below Quebec,
where they met five other immigrant families, with whom
they united in the purchase of a boat, which they sailed or
rowed, or dragged according to circumstances, up the St.
Lawrence to Kingston, There they embarked on a sailing
vessel bound for Niagara, where they arrived in the autumn,*
as our family had done by another route ; namely, — from
the Bay of Fundy to New York in a sailing packet, — to
Albany in a sloop,— and from thence we rode in a lumber
waggon across the whole length of the " Empire State,"
ferrying the Niagara River from Lewiston into the dominion
of King George. Some of the very earliest things I remem
ber were the encomiums passed by our family on " Emmer
Freeland " — her dignity of character, her amiability, and her
beauty. My oldest brothers were particularly eloquent on
the last theme, they very emphatically pronouncing " Emmer
Freeland a nice pretty gal." This family had settled in
Binbrooke, not far from the Salt Springs, and young Corson
made their acquaintance. Emma was one year younger than
Robert, but taller proportionately than he, and she always
preserved the bearing of a senior. It is said opposites have
affinity for each other; the vivacity of Robert Corson seemed
to find its compliment in the quietness and dignity of
Emma Freeland ; and Emma's gravity found its specific in
" I owe the information given in the text to the venerable Daniel
Freeman, surviving brother of Mrs. Robert Corson, the next in
seniority to herself. — Ed.

10 FATHER CORSON.
Robert's exuberant spirits. Certain it is, they mutually
loved, and they married — married early, to be a reciprocal
blessing to each other for many long years : Robert was
twenty-two years of age, and Emma twenty-one. The
necessity -for my dwelling on the excellencies of this lady
and the benefits she conferred on her husband and family
are superseded by the portraiture of her by her son, Dr. John
Wesley Corson, a lady of whom the Rev. Dr. Rose says, " It
would be impossible to say too much." There can be no
doubt but Mr. Corson owed his usefulness largely to his
wife. This marriage took place in 1815, and their first residence
was at the " Thirty," near, or at, the original home of the
Corsons. Though both of them were virtuous and amiable,
neither of them were converted at the time of their marriage,
or for some little time after. Mrs. Corson was the first to
give her heart to God ; she began to seek His face about
three months before her husband, and found peace to her
soul at a Quarterly Meeting held at the " Fifty-mile Creek,"
a spot where, in days of yore, scores of precious souls were
born into the kingdom. Robert soon followed his wife into
the fold of Jesus.
A very considerable revival coincided with their conver
sion in that locality. Indeed Mrs. Force said the work
spread into all the townships around. The Rev. Joseph
Gatchel, then in a " located " relation, resided on a farm at
the " Thirty," and his zeal and uncommon powers of exhor
tation, along with those of his wife, (a sister of the Rev.
Nathan Bangs, afterwards D.D., who was quite equal to
her husband, of whom a brother, who had heard her, said
that her exhortations were "a stream of red-hot lightening,")
was the instrument. Prayer-meetings were extemporized

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 11
in private houses around the country. At one of these, held
in Robert Corson's own house, he, while engaged in earnest
prayer, found deliverance. Upon receiving which blessing,
he sprung upon the bench against which he had been kneel
ing, and began to exhort with life and energy. The uncon
verted lads about the door, much impressed by the occurrence,
with a prescience which proved prophetic, exclaimed to each
other " Bob will be a preacher ! " That was the way, in
fact, in which preachers were made in the days of which I
write. I should not forget to say that Emma Corson was
not less instrumental than Robert in promoting the conver
sion of souls at that time, especially among her own sex.
Mrs. Force narrates that it was not uncommon to see half-
a-dozen young girls, who had been more or less impressed,
or benefited by her means, at the close of a meeting,
clustered around her, and clinging to her for her prayers,
advice, and blessing, while all the parties were in tears,, and
her own " face was as that of an angel."
While Robert Corson and his wife were yet at the
"Thirty," not long before they removed to Oxford, they
were privileged to attend one of the old-fashioned, powerful
camp-meetings wliich characterized that day, held under the
superintendence of that commanding boernergis, the Rev.
Henry Ryan, then Presiding Elder on the " Upper District,"
mayhap, assisted by his bachelor confrere from the "Lower "
one, Elder Case, a son of consolation. This meeting was
held at the " Fifty," picturesquely situated on the " moun
tain " side, about half way between base and summit. Its
site mav yet be seen from a meandering road winding
through the groves of chesnut, butternut, and hickory trees,
which, happily, still adorn the steep declivity along there,
and comes out near the " Fifty Church." The k^st, if not

12 FATHER CORSON.
the only time, I drove along down that precipitous roadway,
the site was pointed out to me by my obliging driver, and
some of the logs, if my imagination did not do more for me
than my eyes, were still remaining. I could hope that the
suggestion to me of John Macdonald, Esq., should be acted
on, and this old landmark, along with many others besides,
be photographed for the delection of this and future
generations. But to return, an incident occurred at that meeting,
which impressed the susceptible heart, and lodged in the
retentive memory of Robert Corson. A local preacher,
from the American side of the Niagara River, by the name
of Marr, came to this meeting, and related the account of
his conversion, which was rather a remarkable one. He
had been born and brought up in New Jersey, but after he
was somewhat advanced towards manhood, he took offence
at his father for entertaining the Methodist preachers, and
left home and went to his uncle's, who lived a hundred
miles away. But when he arrived there he found that his
uncle also had received the ubiquitous Methodist preachers,
and that a young companion of his youth, Daniel Freeman,
was the preacher on the circuit. A certain ball was to
have taken place among the young people, and Marr was
pledged to attend it. Just before it came off he went to
hear his old friend Freeman, and was somewhat impressed.
After the sermon the young preacher conversed with him
about his soul's interests, and extorted a promise from him
to go with Mr. F. to his next appointment, in another
neighbourhood, and on the night of the assembly too. He
called upon the " managers " to excuse himself, and to say
that he was going away to a religious meeting. They,
very unexpectedly to him, desired him to call on the musi-

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 13
cian on the road to say that his services would not be
required, as they had agreed to give up the projected folly.
They, as well as he, had been impressed with the force of
divine truth. Religious meetings took the place of dancing
and hilarity, and a large ingathering of souls was the result.
The relation of these events at the " Fifty " camp-meeting,
made a very deep impression on the people assembled, who
had up to that point seemed inattentive. One good lays
the foundation for another.
This is, perhaps, the place to say that schools were scarce,
and poor at that ; the result of which was, that Robert
Corson had enjoyed only a few months' tuition, put it all
together. But he had learned, at least, to read, and was
always fond of a book, and eagerly perused all that fell in
his way, or that he could procure. His own account of the
matter is, " The country was new, and schools were few
and far between ; yet, we improved our time, as we had a
great desire to get knowledge." Thus, deficient as some
might suppose him to have been, he was in advance of many
around him ; and he was destined to pursue this course of
•self-tuition as long as he lived.
This will be, perhaps, the best place to introduce the first
paper of Dr. J. W. Corson, albeit, it anticipates a few
things which belong to later stages of his father's life.
;' Origin, — Sir Guy Carleton — His Daughter — Canada be
tween the Lakes — Rich Soil and Dense Forests- — People
— Hardships — Methodism, its Frontier Iteligion.
" Lord Clive was once a clerk ; Washington grew up a
land surveyor ; John Bunyan was a ' tinker.' On behalf
of his loving sons, we may use the plural and say that our
father began life as a farmer. And it will be soon be seen

14 FATHER CORSON.
how admirably his previous hardy vocation fitted him for
his wonderful labours as a frontier missionary. He was
honoured of God in being useful. What Felix Neff was to
the scattered and benighted peasants of the higher Alps,
the deceased was to multitudes of the early settlers in the
little log cabins often separated for miles, amid the dense
forests-of what was then known as ' Upper Canada.'
" Sailors and soldiers are rarely mean. As if further to
strengthen him for his work, and give a spice of chivalry to
his character, he was slightly military in his early tastes.
He came up iu a company of volunteers all breathless on
the run in the double quick march, of the reserves, in aid
of the British forces a.t the battle of Queenston. And in
that war of 1812 he served for months with the militia
that bravely defended the frontier.
" We mention these historical incidents with sincere love
for the two great nations of Anglo Saxon race. Each has
its necessary and independent mission in the civilization of
the world. And there is ample room for both. The faith
that the departed so earnestly preached, assures us that we
were ransomed by the death of a divine Redeemer. And
we may reverently borrow an illustration from his fervent
theology, by saying that even earthly freedom is commonly
bought with blood. It has been so from the days of
Marathon and Sempact down to Bunker Hill and Trafalgar.
Cavour began the emancipation of Italy by a Sardinian
victory in the Crimea. Gettysburg and Inkerman helped
to free millions. It is consoling to feel that these struggles
of our ancestors were overruled by a gracious Providence,
to aid in the spread of that universal libertly, which has
blessed every island and continent, where either of the two
flags waves. And the ties of religion and commerce have

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 15
so linked us together that we can afford to loon even at the
conflicts of the American Revolution, and those which suc
ceeded it as calmly as we do at the story of the wars of the
roses in England.
" Daniel Corson was born in Sussex County, New Jersey,
some twelve years before the commencement of the war of
the Revolution.
" A few years after the conclusion of the peace, our
paternal grandfather, whose name we have given, attracted
by liberal grants of land, came to a beautiful farm on the
Canadian side of the Niagara river. He came at about the
same time with the Howells of the ' Jersey settlement,' the
Aikmans, the Colemans, the Lawrasons, the Hamills, and
many other names, since distinguished in the history of
Canada. The Ryersons, as U. E. Loyalists, removed at an
earlier day. Here tho subject of this memoir, Robert
Corson, was born.
"The father and mother of John Wesley differed in
politics. Possibly these ' crossings ' have helped to improve
the race. Any divergence in our family mainly benefitted
a previous generation. Our mother was the daughter of a
subordinate officer on the British side in the American
Revolution, named Freeland. At the close of the war
which severed the colonies from the Mother country, he,
with many other U. E. Loyalists, sought refuge in New
Brunswick. He lived near Fredericton, about a mile from
the country-seat of that famous defender of Quebec, Sir
Guy Carleton. This brave officer was long remembered by
the early settlers as one of the ablest and best Governors of
Canada. The Emma Freeland, so dear to us, was named in
honour of a favourite daughter of the good Governor. We
may mention it as one of the ' Mother's Tales ' of our own

1 6 FATHER CORSON.
infancy, that when the child grew older, her fond protector
used to press back her curls and caress her tenderly. This
warm interest continued for years. When at last the
Governor sailed for England-,- her faithful friends, with rare
generosity, offered to adopt her and educate her liberally, as
a member of the family. Our mother used, with evident
emotion, to describe the struggle which it cost in her own
home to decline this tempting offer.
" We record this early attachment as an incident which
sheds a light on the future of this narrative. It seems a
lesson to every despairing teacher in a Sabbath-school. The
sower may cross the ocean ; the seed may be buried for long
years ; and yet at the last it may yield a precious harvest.
From the fruit of her teaching we have always fancied that
this refined ' English Lady ' was also a devout Christian.
If we are not mistaken, she was unconsciously developing
a noble womanly character in the confiding child, who was
in the future to wield a like influence, as a faithful pastor's
wife in the distant wilds of Canada.
"The Freelands at last became restless. They listened
to the usual rose-coloured stories told to intending emigrants.
Away in Upper Canada the soil was rich and black. Wheat
waved luxuriantly in golden harvests ; and on the warm
shores of Lake Erie there grew even grapes and peaches.
Sunsets were glorious. The stars shone out of a clear blue
sky like that of Italy. Compared to New Brunswick, too,
the climate was delightfully mild. They decided to remove
to what in the Eastern Provinces was then known as the
Western Country.
" Except John Wesley and Francis Asbury, few ministers
ever travelled so many thousands of miles, or were so long
* effective ' in the pulpit, as he who, in his declining years,

EVENTS BEFORE CONVERSION. 17
became familiarly known as 'Father Corson.' His endurance
was amazing. Including some years of preliminary labour
as. a local, or lay preacher ; a regular pastoral service of
nearly forty years ; the primitive week-day appointments ;
and the abundant extra efforts long after his retirement —
reaching in actual work to the advanced age of eighty-five
— he probably averaged a sermon weekly for full sixty
years. " His itinerant parish was enormous. If the reader, not
familiar with that country, will glance at a map of North
America, he will notice a large triangular peninsula in the
present Province of Ontario, laying just east of the State
of Michigan, and like the latter, made fertile in summer and
mild in winter by those inland seas, the surrounding great
lakes. " This fruitful promontory between the lakes was formerly
known as the Garden of Canada. It was his field of labour.
With only a few exceptions, he ranged over and over again,
from Napanee, east of the Bay of Quinte, and opposite the
lower end of Lake Ontario, westward to the river St. Clair.
He helped to carry the gospel to a territory nearly four
hundred miles long, and averaging a little less than one
hundred miles in width. Accidental causes had here
attracted a comparatively choice population. Ancient
Lower Canada to the east of this was almost entirely
French and Catholic.
" But the region in question, or Upper Canada, was, in
its earliest settlement, more purely English-speaking and
Protestant than any part of the American Continent, except
New England, the two Eastern Provinces, and Virginia. It
was inhabited by people well versed in the Scriptures, and
qualified to tax severely the resources of their first mission-

18 FATHER CORSON.
aries. Emigrants from England, the United States, Pro
testants from the North of Ireland, with Loyalists from the
Eastern Provinces, and a sprinkling of retired oflicers from
the army and navy, were blended with the descendants of
those Covenanters from Scotland, who had once fought for
their faith with muskets in their hands and bibles in their
heads. It was no easy task to feed this motley crowd of
hungry Christians.
"Then the hardships of finding them out were fearful.
The country was thickly wooded. Upon a rich black mould,
almost everywhere grew tall, luxuriant groves of maple, elm,
and beech, with occasional clumps of hemlock, giants of oak,
and frequent ridges of lofty white pines. Rivers and creeks
were abundant. Deer roamed on the shores of lonely lakes.
The wolf and the bear were started from their retreats by
wild Indians hunting for their prey.
" As we get nearer to our Heavenly Rest we come to feel
more and more that we cannot love the Saviour without
loving all His children. We fully embrace the noble senti
ment uttered by Dean Stanley, that each branch of the
Church of Christ has some special mission. What the
Baptists did for Rhode Island, the Congregationlists for the
rest of New England, the Presbyterians for New Jersey,
and the Episcopalians for Virginia, the hardy Methodists
did for Upper Canada. They were the first messengers of
the Master. Many of their preacher's were gifted with a
certain rough eloquence which made them the Whitfield's of
the backwoods. They forded the streams, waded the
swamps, and often, by the guidance of blazed trees, they
penetrated the dense wilderness to the little smoky clearings
and the log-cabins, to cry, ' Behold the Lamb.'
" Into these toils the deceased entered with his whole

EVENTS AFTER CONVERSION. 19
soul. He incessantly studied and preached. In imitation
of the habits of Wesley and Clarke, he rose at four o'clock
in the morning for the most of his active lifetime. Fre
quently he journeyed many miles before breakfast.
" For the first thirty years he travelled extensively on
horseback among the frontier settlements in reality as a
Home Missionary. And his labours were naturally increased
by the customary change from Circuit to Circuit every two
years. We have known him occasionally to preach as many
as four times on a single Sabbath. During this early period,
either to Whites or Indians, he probably averaged nearly a
sermon for every day in the year." — j. w. c.
1817-1822.
II. — FROM HIS CONVERSION UNTIL HIS GOING
OUT ON A CIRCUIT.
All that we have to illustrate this period of his life are
a few brief sentences from his own pen, with a very few
side-lights from other sources. Mr. Corson's " Sketch " has
the following : " Early in the year 1817 we both joined the
Methodist Church." By which he means the " Methodist
Episcopal Church," whose authorities were in the United
States. Soon after Mr. and Mrs. Corson became Methodists
the Wesleyan Missionaries from England, after occupying
some places further east, took up ground in the Niagara
country, but the Corsons seem either to have known nothing
of them, or to have had their sympathies entirely engrossed
by the form of Methodism first introduced into the country.
The preachers labouring on the Niagara Circuit during the
period now under consideration were, for 1816-17, Elijah
Warren, a polished speaker, and a supply ; and those for

20 FATHER CORSON.
1817-18 were John Wesley Byham and the devoted George
Ferguson, between whom and Corson a mutual attachment
was formed, which continued uninterrupted until the former
"Took his last triumphant flight,
Prom Calvary to Zion's height/'
The fragmentary " Sketch " continues : " In 1818 we
removed to Oxford." This removal was in consequence of
his preferring a larger wild lot in the bush, to a smaller,
more cultivated one at the front. It was the gift of his
fathsr. His new residence, I believe, fell within the bounds
of the Long Point Circuit.
His memoranda continues, "1^1820 I received license as
a local preacher." The excellent William Case was the
Presiding Elder on the District for that and the three
following Conference years, by whom Mr. Corson's license
must have been signed. The preachers appointed for the
Long Point Circuit for that year were James Jackson and
William Henry Williams ; but Mr. Williams, I think, was
removed by the Presiding Elder to meet some connexional
emergency, and the — afterwards — noticeable John Ryerson
was called out, from within the bounds of the Circuit itself,
to supply for the balance of the year, who was destined to
be the life-long co-adjutor of Corson, and to pass away to
his rest about the same time, after their several toils of
fifty-eight years.
As the exhorter's office in those days always preceded
that of the local preacher, nearly the whole of the time
from Mr Corson's removal from the Niagara Circuit to the
Long Point, or to Oxford, our subject must have been
engaged in a public capacity, at least on the Lord's Day.
These Circuit officials were not then, as since and now,

EVENTS AFTER CONVERSION. 21
assigned work on a published "plan," but left to obey the
calls of the people and the Circuit preachers, and the im
pulses of their own hearts and minds, in entering such open
doors as presented themselves around them, both near and
far. In that voluntary and extemporized way, much useful
labour was performed in that day by the exhorters *<nd local
preachers of each Circuit, who were at once the pioneers
and co-adjutors of the travelling preachers. And there can
be no doubt but that important service was rendered by
this zealous man of God in the newly-inhabited region
around him. In the same township, but farther back in the
woods, another young married man, younger by five years
than Corson, began to preach as a local preacher, with
uncommon pathos and eloquence, who was destined to enter
the ministry at the same time as his neighbour Corson, and
,to occupy a wide and conspicuous sphere in provincial
Methodism, co-eval with the periods of Mr. Corson's labours.
This was no other than the remarkable William Ryerson,
who requires very little further observation here — save it bo
to say, that some obscure and unlikely places have produced
some of our most conspicuous ministers — either for useful
ness, like Corson, or talent, like William Ryerson. He
went on a Circuit a few months before Corson was called
to go.
In the capacity of local preacher Mr. Corson remained
two years ; that is to say, from 1820 to 1822. During
that period the preachers for the Long Point Circuit were
 for 1820-21, James Jackson and Wm. H. Williams ; and
for 1821-22, I. B. Smith, an able preacher, from whom the
locals may have taken valuable lessons, and Wm. H.
Williams, once more. David Gulp aud George Ferguson, a
fine example of zeal and diligence, were the preachers for

22 FATHER CORSON.
the Circuit the year that Mr. Corson was sent by the
Presiding Elder on to the adjacent Westminster Circuit
himself. His own account of his labours as a "hired local
preacher," (a phrase, by the way, which did not come into
use in Canadian Methodism till many years after), or Presi
ding Elder's supply, is as follows : " In 1822, I left my little
family, or wife and three little boys, and commenced my
journey to find my first Circuit. It was large — no chapels
- — and bad roads ; but a warm hearted and intelligent
people. I was three weeks and two days " (that is every
round) "from my family. I had to ride some twenty miles
in the night to get home." Observe, his family was still
upon his homestead in the township of Oxford, while he
was working a Circuit, which included the township of
Westminster, after which it was called, London, Dorchester,
Oxford, Norwich, Blenheim, and Burford.*
These long absences must have been a severe bereavement
to his little ones, and a great trial to his affectionate wife ;
but now commenced with her that course of self-denial and
staunch loyalty to her husband's vocation and duty referred
to by the writer of her obituary notice, expressed in the
following words: "During a period of upwards of twenty
years, in which she endured with her companion the trials
and privations peculiar to the Methodist Itinerancy, she
exhibited, in an eminent degree, many of the virtues which
go to form an exalted character as the wife of a Christian
minister. She possessed the true missionary spirit. With
her it was a conscientious resolution never to be instru-
* The reader will be interested by a most touching account of
Mr. C.'s first going away from his family, several pages farther on,
from the pen of Dr. John W. Corson.

EVENTS AFTER CONVERSION. 23
mental, in the least degree, in preventing him, at any
sacrifice, from fully discharging his arduous duties."
I find, by reference to my " Canadian Itinerant's
Memorial," some entries relative to these, Mr. Corson's first
itinerant labours, which I feel inclined to reproduce in this
place, although they may involve some repetitions ; yet, as
those statements embrace some things relative to an earlier
period of his life, which I did not recover in time to incor
porate them with the earlier sections of this book, I may be
pirdoned for transferring a couple of paragraphs from my
wider work to this more restricted one.
In the place referred to, while speaking of the Rev.
James Jackson, whose name was the only one which stood
in the list of stations anent the Westminster Circuit which
required two preachers for the year 1822-23, I was led to
say, " The Presiding Elder, Mr. Case, had furnished him "
(Jackson) " with a fervent, whole-souled, and untiring
colleague, in the person of a Canadian, born in 1793, in
whose father's house Whitehead, Ryan, and Homes, had
been entertained, when he was a little boy, and who had
been early impressed under the preaching of Cau. He
says of himself, " I first saw Elder Case at a camp-meeting
in 1807. He was young, and had a pleasing address; and
under his exhortation, for the first time, my hard heart was
softened." I heard him again from the words, " Why will
ye die*?" "In 1822," (the year of which we are writing)
" he was my Presiding Elder, and James Jackson was my
superintendent. Mr. Case was popular, and made friends
wherever he laboured. He would frequently weep over his
congregations, especially at the close of Ms discourses."
" We are quoting from simple, honest, genial Robert
Corson, who was the man sent to Jackson's aid on the

24 FATHER CORSON,
Westminster Circuit. He had a good home, and he had
made the Circuit preachers welcome to that home. His
gifts, graces, and zeal, as a local preacher, pointed him out
to the discerning eye of Case as a suitable person to supply
the vacancy, and to follow up the openings on the West
minster Circuit. True, he was married, but, for this year,
his family remained at their home ; and such a wife as his
was likely to render far more help than hindrance to a
gospel minister — prepossessing, pious, gifted, and courageous
to a degree."
A further item from his " Sketch " shows that he did not
greatly supplement the revenues from his farm by his min
isterial allowances, but he was consoled by the salvation of
souls. His words are, " My salary was small, only one
hundred and twenty dollars ; but we had a net increase of
fifty members." Such were the circumstances and results of
his first year's Circuit labours. By the Quarterly Confer
ence of the Circuit he had served, having met their ap
proval, he was recommended to the Annual Conference to
be received on trial, which event brings me to the next
division of this book, namely, to portray his life.
III. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1823 TO THAT OF
1858, WBEN HE RETIRED FROM THE ACTIVE
MINISTRY.
The only distribution this part of his life will admit of,
will be one to coincide with the history of the church of
which he was a most loyal minister, namely, 1. From
1823 to the formation of the Canada Annual Conference,
1824 ; 2. From the formation of the Canada Annual Con
ference to the organization of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Canada in 1858 ; 3. From the founding of the

HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. 25
Canadian Church to its union with the British Wesleyan
Conference in England in 1833 ; 4. The seven years of the
first union ; 5. The seven years of divided Wesleyan opera
tions ; 6. From the reconstruction of the tmion in 1847,
to the admission of the Lower Canada and Hudson Bay
Districts into the Canada Conference; and 7th, from the
last mentioned event to Mr. Corson's retirement from the
effective ranks, a period of four years. I
1823, 1824
I. MB. CORSON'S PUBLIC MINISTRY, FROM 1823 TO
THE FORMATION OF THE CANADA ANNUAL
CONFERENCE, IN 1824.
The session of the Genesee Annual Conference, at which
Mr. Corson was received on trial, commenced its sittings at
Westmoreland, Oneida County, N. Y., July 15th, 1823,
the pious and pathetic Bishop George, presiding. It proved
to be the last time that Canadian preachers went out of
their own country to attend an Annual Conference. It
was usual for the candidates to present themselves in per
son before the Conference to be examined by the presiding
Bishop, but I have no evidence for saying that our subject
was there. I suspect that he did not perform the incon
venient journey. He would have to look after his harvest
for the last time ; and the Discipline provided for the
examination of a candidate away from the Conference by
his Presiding Elder, who, in that case, was to report to the
Conference. It is very probable that several, if not all, of
the Canadian candidates went to the Conference. The
record in the MS. Journals of the Old Genesee Conference,
relative to the Canadiaa candidates, transcribed by my own
3

26 FATHER CORSON.
hand, several years ago, are very curious and interesting.
Here they are :
1st. " Wm. Griffis, twenty-three years old, clear of debt :
admitted." 2nd. "Solomon Waldron, aged twenty-six, unembar
rassed, single : admitted."
3rd. " Jacob Poole, aged twenty-five, unembarrassed :
admitted." 4th. "Joseph Castle, single, twenty-two, clear of debt :
admitted." 5th. " David Wright, aged thirty, wife and three chil
dren : admitted."
6th. " William Ryerson, aged twenty-five, wife and two
children, clear of debt : admitted."
7th. "Robert Corson, aged thirty, wife and four chil
dren, clear of debt : admitted."
Corson was appointed to labour alone, on the newly
organized London Circuit, which township had been in his
last year's Circuit, and in which, if I have been rightly
informed, he was the first who ever preached a gospel ser
mon, but previously to this. His family still resided near
their farm, but they left their nice framed house for a small
log one.
Here is my account of the Circuit and this year's labour,
as the result of correspondence with its incumbent, then yet
living. " The new organization was the London Circuit,
which was placed in the hands of the laborious Robert
Corson, whose acquaintance with the ground the preceding
year peculiarly qualified him for this pioneering enterprise.
He soon made his field of labour to include Oxford, Zorra,
Nissouri, London and Lobo, with an appointment in West
minster, carrying comfort to such families as the Websters,

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 27
Warners, Willises, and others, and returned in one year
255 members."
His labours must have embraced almost continual riding,
preaching, class-meetings, and visiting from house to house ;
yet he seems to have regarded this Circuit as an improve
ment on the one of the preceding year. He says, " I had
a good year. I was only two weeks " (that is, at one time)
"from my family. My salary was $160. Our increase of
members, one hundred and sixty.''
1824-1826.
II. MR. CORSON'S GOSPEL LABOURS, FROM 1824 TO
1828.
There is every reason to believe that he attended the
Session of Conference which took place in the village of
Hallowell, during the month of August, 1824, commencing
its Sessions on the 25th of that month, when the Canada
Annual Conference commenced its existence, Bishops George
and Hedding presiding. I am morally certain I saw Mr.
Corson on the way to that Conference at a meeting held by
Bishop Hedding in the town of York, although I did not
then know how to distinguish him from the others. I can
remember that there were several rather undersized preach
ers, (dwarfed all the more by contrast with such almost
gigantic persons as Elijah Hedding, Nathan Bangs, William
Slater, William Ryerson, not to mention David Calp aud
John Ryerson, who were sizable men,) file into a back seat
at the left hand of the pulpit, taking no part in the discus
sions about the projected separation from the States, which
took place after our service. George Ferguson, William
Griffis, and Robert Corson were among those of the lower

28 FATHER CORSON.
stature ; and several of the brethren of all sizes, from the
west, that night were clad in homespun, of whom, 1 have
little doubt, from evidence I have adduced hereafter, Corson
was one, thanks to his wife's industry and his own humility.
The colour of these garments was mostly of a dingy quaker
drab, produced by a dye made of the bark of the butternut
tree. It was by men often clad in habiliments like these
that the work of early Canadian Evangelization was carried
on. The reading off the Stations at the close of the Hallowell
Conference was a thrilling time, and Mr. Corson received an
appointment which entailed the necessity of the first move
upon him and his much loved family. Alas, they were to turn
their backs on their cherished home, with its pleasant
orchard, to return to it only once more and that for a very
short interval.
His appointment was to the Dumfries Circuit, where he
was destined to remain two years, if that could be called
remaining, where he was forced to move several times to
secure a shelter. This Circuit was a new creation, or as he
himself termed it, " one year old." It consisted of settle
ments beyond the pale of previous Circuits, an organization
which had been made up by the devoted Edmund Stoney, as
his first year's attempt in the itinerancy, (under the super-
intendency of the venerable Thomas Whitehead, the place of
whose superannuated retirement was adjacent to its southern
border,) the year before. Mr. Corson says, it included parts
of Flamboro' West and Ancaster, Dumfries, from which it
was named, Waterloo, Sheffield, and one appointment among
the Indians six miles above Brantford.
He said in a letter to me concerning this charge, " I was
pleased with my appointment, although mj Circuit was only

EIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 29
one year old. The members were poor but pious. There
were a.bout eighteen appointments, which I attended once in
two weeks," — that is, nine appointments a week, one for
each day and two over. " One of these was among the
Indians, on the Grand River, though I received nothing
from the Missionary Fund."
"The first year, I received, in all, $120 ; the next year,
§160. Only a part of this was money. We had four chil
dren. We were sometimes troubled to get a house, and
lived in four different ones while we were on the Circuits.
The last house we lived in was pretty good, but the other
three were log-houses, consisting of one room.
" Brantford was then embraced in that Circuit. Ic was a
small village at that time. We had a class of eight mem
bers, and preached in a small, private house. The man who
owned it was a good-natured Quaker ; his wife was a great
Methodist in sentiment. They made an arrangement that
he was to take care of her preachers' horses ; and she was to
take good care of his Quaker preachers, and give them their
dinner. He intimated to me, that his wife suspected him
of giving his preachers' horses better pasture than hers.
However, we soon removed into a new school-house. There
were two chapels built during the two years I laboured on
the Circuit. There were four exhorters ; and we succeeded
in getting one into the itinerant work. I allude to the late
Matthew Whiting, who proved a blessing to the Church."
So much from Mr. Corson's account of himself during the
two years from 1824 to 1826. Fortunately, I have other
sources of information concerning that period. The vener
able Henry Chrysler, now of Brantford, remembers Mr.
Corson's first appearance on the Circuit, "preaching in a
dark, gray, home-spun coat. His text was, Jeremiah viii.,

30 FATHER CORSON.
22, 'Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician
there 1 Why then is not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered i ' He was very happy. After crying for
joy a few times, the invitation was given, and some pro
fessing christians of the congregation came forward, and a
wonderful revival took place, many accepting Christ as their
Saviour. He was loved and esteemed by all. He resided
in William Waugh's old homestead." Dr. J. W. Corson will
give the particulars of the residences hereafter.
Dr. William Corson says of this field of labour, " No
churches were built as yet, and school-houses and barns were
utilized instead. The barn of Father Ellis, a man of great
intelligence from the Green Isle, a local preacher, and father
of several young men, is remembered as the scene of quart
erly meetings of great interest and power."
But Father Corson tells us that the destitution of chapels
was partly removed by the erection of two while he was on
the Circuit. On this subject I find that volume III.
page 15 of my " Biographical History " holds the following
language : " One of the ' two chapels' referred to, and the
first erected in this part of the country, was Cornell's Chapel,
in Waterloo, fibout a mile and a-half north-west of where
Preston now flourishes. It is still standing, though now
unused; and the adjoining graveyard contains, 'in many a
mouldering heap ' the remains of some of the first members.
Their names Mid ages may yet be decyphered on the old
decaying headboards. The author spent an impressive hour
one early moi-aing in that dew-clad, lonely spot, tracing out
all he could ham of their history. Several miles from there
lived two bic thers of the name of Ellis, William and David,
natives of ir (land, who were earnest promoters of the erec
tion of tb.Pt <" *iapel." [Years afterwards, they, their children,

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 31
and neighbours erected a more elegant and substantial place
of worsliip in their own immediate neighbourhood, now known
as Zion Church.] " William was a magistrate, and David
afterwards was a local preacher, and, we opine, one of Mr.
Corson's four exhorters. Mrs. William Ellis was converted
under Ousley in Ireland ; her husband, who fired the first
shot in the war of 1812, was not converted till some years
afterwards. His was a most extraoi'dinai'y conversion, alone
on the road one dark night, on his return home from Ham
ilton. His wife was a person of eminent piety, and lived to
the advanced age of 96, dying so lately as 1864. In an
early day she used to walk six miles to meeting, carrying
her child in her arms. The two Ellis' entertained all the
early itinerants who came into their part of the country ;
and their descendants remember the tales of the horrid roads
by which the messengers of the Gospel of peace reached
their dwellings."
I have received a letter from an estimable magistrate and
local preacher in our church, Jared Kilborn, Esq., now
residing at Plattsville, which relates to the period of which
I am writing, and serves to illustrate the character of Mr.
Corson and the times then passing over him : —
" Dear Dr. Carroll, — Having noticed in the Guardian
your request to forward to you any remembrances of the late
venerable Father Corson, I send the following : — I first
saw and heard Mr. Corson in the Township of Waterloo,
about a mile aud a half above Preston ; the ' preaching place '
was at a primitive log-house, the residence of the late Samuel
Cornell, to which place my parents used to repair weekly
for preaching and class-meeting, taking me with them —
this was about the year 1824 or 1825. Memory now paints
Mr. Corson as a light, nimble, tough little man, of about 125

32 FATHER CORSON.
or 130 lbs. avordupoise, with light hair and sharp, spark
ling eyes. His manner of preaching was quick, bordering on
the abrupt ; his subjects were generally solemn ; his appeals
sharp ; his applications appropriate ; and his proofs always
cogent and logical ; and, I ought to add, his method gen
erally orderly and systematic. About the time I speak of,
I witnessed what, to my young mind, appeared to be a hard
test of his muscular ability. At the preaching, a tall, mus
cular, large-boned Dutchman, lately converted, applied for
baptism by immersion at the hands of our little hero. A
procession was formed, headed by our preacher, arm in arm
with the neophyte, followed by a singing band of brothers
and sisters, who sang with power and pathos the old-expres
sive stanza, ' Then let our soDgs abound,
And every tear be dry,
We're marching through Emmanuel's ground,
To fairer worlds on high, &c. '
distance about half a mile. Arrived at the Grand River, the
usual preparations were made, and a strong handkerchief
was tied around the waist of the subject, which greatly
assisted the officiating clergyman in restoring the disciple to
air and an erect attitude. My young heart palpitated with
fear for the fate of the Dutchman, but all came of well, and
now both preacher and disciple are in glory."
I reserve the rest of Mr. Kilborn's letter to illustrate a
further stage of Mr. Corson's history.
In the summer of 1825 I attended a camp-meeting for
the first time. It was held on the land of a Mr. Cummer,
about nine miles north from the town of York, and about
two miles east of Yonge Street. It was a season of great
power — about 140 souls were converted to God. There T

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. So
heard several of our Canadian Methodist preachers whom I
had not heard before, and among the rest Robert Corson.
I cannot improve upon my account of my impressions of
him contained in my history of " Case and his Cotemporaries."
It is as follows : " His raw appearance at first damped all
expectation, but he had no sooner come forward to the front
of the stand, at the close of a sermon by another, to deliver
an exhortation, than all began to feel the infection of his
loving, ardent spirit ; his word was the means of scattering
a holy flame in the congregation. The same effect followed
the preaching of a sermon at a later stage of the meeting.
No better backwoods' preacher could be possibly conceived
of than was that simple-looking, tawny man, whose hair, in
neglected masses, covered his forehead. He literally carried
the unsophisticated people by storm. Uncouth, you might
have called him ; but he was shrewd, and knew the power
of religion, and taught it with power, for all that." I may
now add to this paragraph, that those who knew him only
late in life, could have no conception how the most moving
words literally tumbled out of the man as it were to the
right and left.
The net increase for the two years this warm-hearted
evangelist served the Dumfries Circuit was one hundred and
two precious souls. I now pass to another Circuit.
I should have perhaps said that Mr. Corson was received
into full connexion and received deacon's orders at the close
of his first year on the Dumfries Circuit, at the Conference
which sat at the "Fifty Mile Creek;" the orders were con
ferred by the imposition of Bishop Hedding's hands. I
should like to have a fac-simile impression of the little
parchment certificate of ordination., so very diminutive and
unpretentious compared with similar documents in this day.

34 FATHER CORSON.
In default of a lithograph, I may be pardoned for giving
a copy of the wording, which I herewith produce : —
" Jbofo all ||U:n" hg ihm $)K6tirfs, That I, Elijah Hedding,
one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
America, under the protection of Almighty God, and with
a single eye to His glory, by the imposition of my hands
and prayer, have this day set apart Robert Corson for the
office of a Deacon in the said Methodist Episcopal Church ;
a man whom I judge to be well qualified for that work ;
and I do hereby recommend him to all whom it may concern,
as a proper person to administer the ordinances of Baptism,
Marriage, and the Burial of the Dead, in the absence of an
Elder ; and to feed the flock of Christ, so long as his spirit
and practice are such as become the Gospel.
" In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, one thousand
eight hundred and twenty-five. " Elijah Hedding."
There were some things melancholy and admonitory at
that Conference, and some things very encouraging, both of
which, in their several ways, I have no doubt, had a
salutary influence on the susceptible and improving heart
of Robert Corson.
The remaining three years of this stage of our Church's
history in Canada, with which I am making the divisions
of my book coincide, were spent by Mr. Corson on three
several Circuits, namely : the Westminster, the Long-Point,
and the Whitby, on which last he also spent the first year
of the period next ensuing.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 35

1826, 27.

The hiatus between the Dumfries and the Westminster
Circuits was filled by the Conference of 1826, which com
menced its sittings, August 31st, in the township of Ham
ilton, Newcastle District. The place of assembling was in
what was called, after the Cobourg church was built, for
distinction sake, the "Back Chapel." It was a desirable
seat for a Conference session, being in the midst of a very
large membership, yet undivided, including the numerous
societies in the neighbourhood, and the classes at Amherst
and Cobourg, by whom the forty preachers of the Province,
less or more, could be comfortably entertained.
These annual assemblies were seasons of respite and
recreation to the daily toiling itinerants, who got no seaside
vacations in those days ; and they were opportunities of
learning those things, which those otherwise unprivileged
students most needed and desired to know : business, dis
cipline, administration, theology, and how to make and
deliver sermons. But our Brother Corson and his coadjutors
must have found this one particularly so. This will aprear
from a couple of paragraphs from my "Biographical History,"
which I may be pardoned for reproducing : —
" It was a memorable Conference, closing a year of great
numerical increase. The writer was then a member of tbe
Church, of two years' standing, and he calls to mind the
ardour which each fresh arrival of the fervent-minded
preachers from the west, on their way to the place of this
annual assembly, imparted to our religious services in York.
The Conference was presided over by the heavenly-minded
and eloquent Bishop George. The not less exemplary Case
acted as secretary. Ezra Healy's diary says, ' it was a

S& FATHER CORSON.
profitable Conference,' and because it was peaceful it was
short. As evidence of this, I find from the same record
that Healy and his friend Metcalf were conveyed away from
the place by the obliging John Black, so early as the 4th of
September; so that it had lasted only about five clays, in
cluding Sunday. But that was a glorious Sabbath. Bishop
George and Dr. Bangs preached. A message had been sent
to the pagan Indians to the north of Rice Lake, who obeyed
the summons, — men, women, and childien travelling all
night, as one of them informed me, to be there. It is to be
regretted that there is a hiatus in the published journal of
the Rev Peter Jones just here, commencing at the 26th of
August and extending over all the rest of the civil year. It
is true his manuscript refers to the published account of the
wonders of that day, to be found in the American Methodist
Magazine for 1826, page 434 ; but that copy of the magazine
is not attainable by the writer. Yet much of the proceed
ings of that memorable day are stereotyped in his mind from
the narration of a friend, a few days after, who chanced to
be present. The converted Indians from Belleville, who
had been at the Cramahe camp-meeting, which preceded
the Conference, were present by invitation, and aided in this
work. The Chief, Potash, and nearly all the Rice Lake
band were converted. He exclaimed in his broken English,
when he had obtained the peace of God, ' 0 ho ! me never
think meeting feel so good.'
"The following description of a scene at Conference, from
the pen of Mr. Torry, which his book erroneously ascribes
to the Conference of 1824, in Hallowell, when there was
not an Indian convert in the region of the Bay of Quinte,
can apply only to this Conference scene : ' At this Confer
ence, about seventy of our Chippewas were there by invita-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 37
tion, who came and pitched their tents within a short
distance of the place where the Conference held its sessions.
During the time they were there news came to them that
there was a band of Chippewas far back in the wilderness.
Two or three of our chiefs immediately started out to hunt
them up and invite them in. They arrived on Sabbath
morning, during the hours of preaching. A meeting had
been appointed in the grove, near the encampment of the
Indians, and Bishop George and Dr. Bangs pleached to the
assembled multitudes. At the close of the preaching it was
given out that after an hour's intermission there would be
a general prayer- meeting at the altar. The strangers were
placed in a half circle, the Christian Indians near them,
while in the front were a large number of ministers. After
singing, one of the Indians led in prayer, accompanied in an
undertone by all the rest. In a few moments tears began
to run down the cheeks of the old chief. His prayer was
going up to Heaven, ' Oh, Great Spirit, have mercy on
poor me ! Oh, Son of the Great Spirit, have mercy on me !
Jesus, come and cast the bad spirit out of my heart, and
make poor Indian glad and happy.' All the Indians were
so engaged that they were praying with a loud voice.
Soon all the pagans were weeping and crying aloud, ' Oh,
Jesus, save ; Gh, I shall go to the bad place, come and save
me ! ' The chief was still crying to God, but in less than
ten minutes after tears began to fall, he began to tremble
like an aspen leaf in the wind, in a moment more he fell
to the ground like a corpse. One after another of these
pagans fell to the ground. But the Lord passed over them
and breathed upon them ; they sprang to their feet giving
praises to God. When the chief arose, with a heavenly
smile on his countenance, he clapped his hand to his breast,

00 FATHER CORSON.
saying, ' Oh, happy here ! Oh, blessed Jesus, how I love
thee ! Oh, glory, glory ! ' One after another arose, until
twenty of the thirty were praising God."
But then the long distance of this Conference east, com
bined with a long move, gave Mr. Corson a large amount
of travel in the heat of summer. He was appointed to the
Westminster Circuit. Where he located his family, at this
writing, I cannot say.* In those days, as there were few
or no parsonages, and the Circuit stewards never thought
of providing a house, any available habitation, in almost any
part of the Circuit, was usually accepted with readiness.
However, both his MS. and his direct account addressed
to myself, and incorporated with my history, show that he
thought lightly of all his hardships.
The " Memorial " runs as follows : — " Robert Corson was
Whiting's nearest neighbour, being in charge of the West
minster Circuit. His colleague's name (John Huston) does
not appear in the Minutes, as he was still kept under the
Presiding Elder. Mr. Corson has furnished me with a few
notes of the year, in which his constitutional humour crops
out i little. 'In 1826, John Huston travelled with me on
ths Westminster. We had a small amount of trouble on
the Circuit ; but on the whole, the year was a good one.
Our first Quarterly Meeting was held at Westminster, in
our new unfinished chapel. A good congregation — Madden
our Presiding Elder. The collections on Saturday and
Sunday amounted to three York shillings. Our expenses
for the wine were three and sixpence, York. Another
trouble; my colleague was a bachelor, and wanted a wife :
a young lady agreed to marry him. He applied to me for
* Where he resided, will appear from statements to be made
hereafter by Dr. J. W. Corson.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 39
a wedding suit. We got some thirty bushels of wheat
subscribed in one neighbourhood to make up our salaries.
I had to get a team and draw the wheat to market.
Obtained 50 cents per bushel, and purchased Bro. H. a
wedding suit ; but another trouble, the lady changed her
mind, and married another man. I was requested to
baptize four persons by immersion : three were so large
that I could not get them out of the water, but they helped
themselves. We had an increase of 70 members ; and I
received $170 in all. This was the highest amount I had
ever received. We obtained a part of our salaries in
boards, and the friends shipped them to the States, and the
next year we got the money.' "
Mr. Corson's MS. "Sketch" is very cheerful. He says,
" We went on our way rejoicing, trusting in the Lord,
praying, preaching, and visiting from house to house ; and
we had a good year. Increase of members, 82." This
is twelve more than the number first given to me — the
second statement, probably, being the best considered.
Robert Corson was cheerful even to playfulness ; and
his sprightly sallies often took place in juxtaposition with
solemnities of a very opposite character. These apparent
contrarieties have been frankly noticed in the very appre
ciative sketch of him by his eldest son. The following
incident was an example of the kind referred to. It was
imparted to me by letter from the late Rev. Alexander
Campbell, soon after my first sketch of Mr. Corson in the
newspaper, afterwards published in "Past and Present,"
appeared. It was related to Mr. Campbell by one of the
parties to the scene, many years after the occurrence. It
took place not far from the shores of Lake Erie, and
probably belongs to the period of which I am writing.

40 FATHER CORSON.
I have no doubt of its authenticity ; for, after relating it
to one of our Ministers, he told me a person gave him a
similar story. Mr. Corson had attended a Camp-meeting
and laboured with his usual assiduity. Several young men
were at the meeting, from his own Circuit, for whose
spiritual welfare he had exerted himself with great earnest
ness ; and he had the exquisite satisfaction of seeing them
happily converted to God. They all returned from the
meeting in company with each other, in a very joyful and
devout state of mind. Religious conversation and hymns
of praise beguiled the otherwise weary distances. All at
once they espied a squirrel on the fence. Every person
who has lived in the country knows how exciting is the
chase of one of these sprightly animals — backwards and
forwards till captured. All Robert Corson's constitutional
vivacity seemed to come into play at the sight of the
nimble little creature. He instantly dismounted and tied
his horse, calling out the while, " Come, boys, let's have
some fun ! " Instantly they followed suit, and with clubs
and sticks pursued the animal, witnessing his leaps, and
doublings, and dodges, till at length, overmatched by
superior numbers, he fell a prey to their activity and
perseverance. How the blood tingled through their veins
and the sweat oozed from their pores, while the shouts of
laughter broke forth, every one who ever engaged in the
sport must know very well. The deed accomplished, with
a chuckle they remounted their horses and resumed their
journey, with their religious equanimity apparently none
disturbed. Some might regard the affair as incongruous,
or even shocking ; but our rustic evangelist seemed not
to perceive anything to be out of character in the escapade.
He would probably think, " Squirrels are the pest of the-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 41
farmer's crops ; it is a beneficial work to destroy them ;
and if in doing it one can have a little healthful excitement
all the better." Some would say, " This might have been
suppressed by the editor ; " but if it were, we should have
one incident the less for the understanding and illustrating
the character of our " Pioneer Preacher."
1827, 1828.
Mr. Corson remained but one year at Westminster, and at
the anxious and important Conference held in the rising
village of Hamilton, or otherwise at " Springer's Meeting
house," whicli commenced on the 30th of August, 1827, the
judicious Bishop Hedding presiding, he was appointed to a
new charge. This Conference was anxious, because of the
withdrawal of one of Canada's earliest and most efficient
pioneer preachers, the Rev. Henry Ryan ; and important,
because of the decision to ask the American General Con
ference for a peaceable discharge from its jurisdiction ; and
because of the appointment of Delegates to that body,
charged to seek the accomplishment of that object.
At this Conference Mr. Corson received elders, or full
ministerial orders, and was appointed to Long-Point as the
colleague of the Rev. Wm. Griffis, who being a man of more
education than Mr. Corson, was invested with the charge.
They were of the same ministerial standing ; but I never
knew our subject to clamour for one moment for prestige, or
priority. He was willing to work in a superior, or subor
dinate position. He was as free from ambition as he was
from servility : he was neither proud nor mean. For this
year he moved back once more to his farm.
My previously published account of that Circuit and its

42

FATHER CORSON.

ministers for that year was as follows : " Griffis and Corson
were brought together from the east and the west, and met
on the Long-Point Circuit. We have no particulars. They
must have laboured hard and met with great success, for
'hey reported nearly one hundred increase." [_" Case and
his Cotemporaries."]
Mr. Corson's private memorandum has this: "In 1827
I was appointed to Long-Point. We had plenty of good
revivals; but our salaries were small, only $150" — a-
piece, I would hope, else it were desperate — ; " and we both
had families. But our increase was good, as high as ninety-
four.'' In view of the rich country and large number of
members, 342, one can hardly restrain his indignation that
all these demonstrations and professions could lead to their
doing no more for their faithful ministers ! But I am com
pelled to say it was rather characteristic of old-style
Canadian Methodists, especially in rural places. Yes, sing,
and shout, and pray, and "get happy;" and understand
" quarterage " to mean — a quarter dollar t 0 tempora,
0 mores I
An incident is recorded of Mr. Corson, illustrative of his
doings, but whether it occurred at this time, or whether it
belonged to his second appointment to that part of the
country, I cannot say ; but as I have put myself in a little
bit of a passion at some people's littleness, I will tell it
now : it may put us in a good humour. I have it on the
authority of an intelligent local preacher, long resident in
that part of the country, and well posted in its tales and
traditions. Thus the. story runs : Every one who knows
anything of " Father Corson," knows that he was punctual
to the minute, but very short in his services. The latter
was necessary, as he often preached four times a day. He

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 43
• had an appointment at Woodhouse chapel at a particular
hour : he was on time, and began at the moment, and con
ducted a service for the few that were there— sung, prayed,
preached, sung, prayed, and pronounced the benediction;
and then mounted his horse and turned his head towards
his next appointment. But in going out on the road, he
found a much larger congregation coming than the one he
had addressed. He pitied them— turned back— tied his
horse once more — entered the pulpit, and went over the
same routine, with a new subject : preached, prayed, and
blessed, — and then, with increased alacrity, whipped up his
charger for the next battle. Such a minister ought to have
been paid, at least. 1828, 1829.
III.-FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE CANADA CHURCH
TILL ITS UNION WITH THE BRITISH CON
FERENCE.
The Conference which commenced this ecclesiastical year
was a most memorable one. It was appointed to commence
its sessions, October the 2nd, 18-28, at the well-known
"Switzer chapel," Earnestown, a place famous for the
antiquity and strength of its Methodism. This was the
last Conference at which an American Bishop presided,
who, for this time, was the Reverend Elijah Hedding,
afterwards D.D. ; for as soon as the routine business was
gone through, the Conference resolved itself into a state of
independency of the Parent Connexion in the States, and
proceeded to organize a Methodist Episcopal Church for
Canada. I need not here go into the grounds and details of
that measure, having given the law and the particulars of

44 FATHER CORSON.
the case in other publications, especially in my " Memorial ,l
and my " Needed Exposition."
Corson was there, and acted, as he generally did, with the
majority. This will be a fitting place to inform the reader
that, contrary to what might have been expected from his
plain, humble ways, he was in nowise suspicious or
obstructive ; for he was not only not narrow-minded, but of
enlarged and really progressive views : he gave his influence
in all the great movements for extension, union, and every
popularizing and liberal measure. He was far-seeing, —
could read the signs of the times, and always favoured
measures of preparation for each rising emergency.
His journey to and from this Conference was long and
painful. His MS. says, "I was sick during the Confer
ence." This I happened to know before reading it from
under his hand. The Earnestown Conference sent me to
Belleville Circuit, which included the townships of Tyan-
denaga, Thurlow, and Sidney, and all the accessible settle
ments north of that frontier, as far back as Madoc and
Marmora. There was no fixed home for the junior preacher,
and I was fain to spend the most of my time among the
farmers in the country. One of the oldest and best stop
ping-places was the house of " Father and Mother Gilbeit,"
Dutch Canadians (at least the old lady was such), the father
and mother-in-law of the Rev. John Reynolds, afterwards
Bishop of the re-constructed M. E. Church of Canada. They
lived on the main road between Belleville and the Trent,
about three miles west of the former place. They were
rich, and their house very commodious ; consequently, the
preachers going to and from Conference, year by year,
naturally turned up the lane to this comfortable hostlery.
Years before, a young preacher riding up that lane, for the

his gospel labours. 45
first time, saw a young damsel in neat, but simple attire,
and therefore beautiful, standing in the doorway, and said
to himself, " There is my future wife ! " And so it turned
out to be. As I have said, this was Mr. Reynolds.
The staple of conversation in that household was religion
and Methodism, and the manners and ways of the preachers
— from " Sammy Coate " and " Elder Sawyer " down to the
last itinerant that had called on his way back from the
latest Conference. The old lady, who wanted no waiting
on herself, and had no fancy for the exacting, was quite in
clined to criticise a strange preacher, who had called for a
night in company with, or rather in charge of, the strong,
kind-hearted Matthew Whiting, which sick preacher Brother
Whiting helped off his horse and into bed, waited on him
while there, and aided him in remounting his horse in the
morning. Mammy Gilbert rather disliked the invalid for
his helplessness. When I learned that his name was Corson,
I stood up in his defence, saying that he was a plain, hum
ble, whole-souled man, who would have given no trouble if
he had not been ill ; and succeeded in mollifying the old
lady's asperity, who dismissed the case by saying, " Veil, he
must have pin very sick, or else he was a creat crunt." Poor
itinerants, they often received but little sympathy ! Why,
to ride from Long-Point to Earnestown on horseback, was
enough to make a well man sick of itself ; and then, to
perform such a journey covered with pain and fever, and
scarcely able to sit his horse, was indeed a painful ordeal.
Happily the dear preachers had brotherly sympathy for
each other. Had Corson been the means of bringing
Whiting out of the obscurity of the " Grand River Swamp,"
and of introducing him into the ministry? He is now
receiving the first instalment of his reward. Go your ways,

46

FATHER CORSON.

ye wanderers, to your several fields of labour ! Both of
you are destined to be more than usually laborious, and
more than usually successful in winning souls— to leave an
untarnished reputation — to die in the faith — and to meet— ^
" Where all the ship's company meet,
Who sailed with their Saviour beneath,
"Where with joy each other they greet,
And triumph o'er sorrow and death. "
Mr. Corson's MS. says, " In 1828 I was appointed to
Whitby. We made some arrangements. We had five
sons. My wife was a pious, talented woman, and secured
friends on the several Circuits where we laboured." [Yes
" we " truly ; for not only did he labour, but she also.]
"But our journey of 150 miles, with bad roads, a new
Circuit, no chapels, nor parsonage house " [was a little hard
to bear] ; " but we trusted in the Lord, and it was done
according to our faith. We soon found friends that we
could trust. A log parsonage was built, and my eldest son
got a good place to work and learn a trade." Look at
that ! He who is not above the labours of a " trade" may-
end with a learned profession, and even excel in that.
This was the first instance of self-reliance and self-help by
a lad who graduated in medicine with honour, went to
Europe and walked the hospitals of London and Paris,
became an author, displayed more than usual skill in his
profession, and is now aiding me in preparing these
memorials of his honoured father. I made the acquaint
ance of the modest, godfearing boy one year later, as a
cloth-dresser's apprentice, in the village of Port Hope ;
but our next rencounter was in York where I found him as
a student of the famous Dr. Rolph, but that was not the

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 4.
end of our pleasant intercourse. Precious are the memorieo
of those days !
Mr. Corson resumes of Whitby, "I was alone — had
some twenty appointments — a large Indian congregation,
consisting of 200, that were members of the Church. We
had plenty of. work, and a blessed revival ; so that our
increase was one hundred the first year."*
It will still further serve to illustrate his character and
doings, at that date, if I transfer from my " Biographical
History " the account of the Whitby Circuit for that year : —
" The Scugog Lake Indians were placed in charge of
the Whitby preacher ; and the laborious Robert Corson
was brought down from Long-Point to supply it. It was a
heavy field of labour when he began, but he made it vastly
more so before the year was ended. We remember hearing
at the time, and we passed twice through his Circuit during
the year, that he preached from one to four times every
day ; and that there were not less than forty different places
where he preached. Pickering, Whitby, Darlington,
Clarke, Brock, Reach, and other townships were included
in his Circuit. The Scugog Lake Mission was in a very
interesting and prosperous state about this time. In the
early part of the year a devoted young woman, by the
name of Frink, whose labours ought not to be forgotten,
taught the school. At the end of her term an overgrown
son of a neighbouring farmer, not more , than fifteen years
of age, undertook the school. He was moral, amiable, and
very much interested in the Indians, but yet unconverted.
Still, Mr. Case's discerning eye thought Aaron Hurd might
* Mr. Corson's son, John Wesley, reminds me, that his father,
with his usual catholicity, co-operated in revival work with the
Baptists, and reaped advantage, while he also benefited them.

48 FATHER CORSON.
be trusted, and he was employed. In the solitude of his wild
Indian home, he was led to seek and find the God of his
pious father. Thus was an impulse given to a mind oi
great natural strength, which henceforth developed fast;
and had not our hopes been blasted by his early death,
there was every reason to expect great results from the
labours of the ' Wesleyan Student,' whose short life has been
so touchingly portrayed by Rev. Dr. Holdich. Mr. CorsoD
built a log parsonage while on this Circuit, in which hig
pious and strong-minded wife carried on the training of hei
boys in those principles which afterwards raised them all to
respectability and usefulness. We cannot tell the numer
ical progress of the year,* the Whitby returns having been
included in the Yonge Street Circuit at the preceding Con
ference, but Mr. Corson made the goodly return at the end
of this year of 205 whites and 75 Indians, of whom there
was no return the year before under this name."
It was while on this Circuit, in the summer of 1829,
before the Conference of that year, that I first saw Mrs.
Corson. " The Rev. Ephraim Evans and myself had
ridden on horseback from our respective Circuits (he from
Percy in the Cobourg Circuit, and myself from Belleville),
since the previous Sunday night, meeting on the Danford
Road, in the township of Hamilton. Stopping Monday night
at William Fitz Moore's, we pushed on, by new zig-zag
roads, to shorten the distance, aiming for the Yonge Street
camp-meeting, near Cummer's Mill- Pond. About ten
o'clock on Tuesday we espied before us a light waggon con
taining a lady, ascending a hill, and a gentleman walking, to
relieve his horse. When we overtook them the gentleman
proved to be the Rev. Robert Corson ; and Miss Frink, the
* One hundred in MS.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 49
missionary school teacher at the Scugog Lake, was the
lady. We had their pleasant company at Mr. Sinclair
Holden's, at what is now called Markham village, for
dinner ; and we met again before the sun went down,
within the " tented grove." This was the first time I had
ever been in Brother Corson's company, and then first heard
some of his vivacious stories. In that day the stories
mostly related ' to battle done with Arians and Immer.
sionists, both of whom were obtrusive of their opinions.
In his then Circuit, at a country appointment, on his road
to the township of Brock, he baptized a baby ; a Baptist
brother present expressed his surprise and disgust that any
thing so useless and absurd should be done. Let younger
men, in this day, think what they please of the plain men
of olden times, Corson knew our doctrines well, and the
proofs and arguments by which they were supported. He
was always good-natured, and could command his temper ;
in a very kind way he gave the Baptist brother the reasons
for Methodist belief and practice on that subject. The
challenger listened with candour and surprise, exclaiming,
" Why, I did not know so much could be said in favour of
the practice : I should like to have you come home with
me to dinner." Mr. Corson accepted the invitation, as he
could easily make his way among all sorts of people ; and
this was the beginning of very pleasant intercourse between
these two Christian men of different names. I do not
know that this friend gave up his Baptist views, but he
learned that there was something very cogent to be said on
the other side of the question.
But I am wandering from my purpose to speak of Mrs.
Corson. We left her husband to make his way slowly
home, as his intervening appointments permitted ; and,
4

50 FATHER CORSON.
after a Sabbath spent in York, and fulfilling an appoint
ment made for Bro. Evans in a school-house near where
Oshawa now flourishes, we pushed on eastward, and called
at the door of the new log-parsonage, somewhere in the
front of Darlington, I think. The preacher had not yet
returned, or was gone again, if he had ; but Mrs. Corsou
came to the door, and we had a few minutes conversation.
Our interview was long enough to impress me with her fine
stature and figure — her fair and florid complexion — and
the saintliness of her looks, spirit, and words. We whipped
up our horses, and, I am not sure that I ever saw her
again. I am glad I had that one interview — not with the
mother of the Gracchi, but — with the mother of the Corson
boys, John Wesley, Henry Ryan, William Case, Alvin
Torry, and Adam Clarice.
Dr. William Corson has furnished several interesting
particulars relating to this period of the family's history,
only one of which I give here. He says, " I was born in
a log-house, on the Darlington, or " Whitby Circuit," as it
is called in the Minutes. " Of course I have no recollection
of our stay at that place, but I have since learned that the
family passed through greater privations on that Circuit
than at any other period of their history." The father,
however, makes no mention of their straits.
I should perhaps say, before I dismiss this year, that
Brother Evans, myself, and Brother Corson were destined
to meet once more before the summer was out, indeed, not
many weeks after the Yonge-street Camp-meeting : this
was at the Presqu' Isle Camp-meeting, on the Cobourg
Circuit, to which Brother Corson was invited by Brother
Evans in the journey already described. From the time
of James Richardson's adhesion to Methodism in 1818,

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 51
Presqu' Isle had been a stroDghold of the denomination ; and
although the cause was a little enfeebled just then, it was
stiil, because of the friends in the vicinity, its central
position, and its direct communication by sailing packet
with Rochester, N. Y., made it an eligible place for a
Camp-meeting. There were several Methodists from the
States, and among tho rest, the presence of the world-
renowned eccentric Lorenzo Dow, gave a somewhat peculiar
character to the meeting. A large contingent of brethren
from Prince Edward County contributed to give life and
importance to the meeting, with their vehement senior
preacher, the fiery little George Ferguson, at their head.
Corson and he were old acquaintances, and it was a very
affectionate meeting between them. Corson preached on
the Prodigal Son, what I thought a moving, excellent
sermon ; but he seems not to have been up to Brother
Ferguson's expectations. Listening eagprly behind his
friend while the sermon was being delivered, he said to
those around him, when the discourse was well on, " Bobby
is not himself to-day, or he would have had a shout before
this time."
Those old demonstrative preachers usually thought there
was nothing achieved unless the congregation was put in
" a state of commotion. I thought Brother Corson was quite
demonstrative enough. In those early days, after the
example of the prophet Ezekiel, he often emphasized the
strong points of his sermons by " smiting with ihe hand,"
the battlement before him, and " stamping with the foot "
the floor of the stand.
But if the sermon was not sensational enough, the then
invariable exhortation, which came after, made up for it.
It was delivered by " Crazy Dow," as he used to be called.

52 FATHER CORSON.
It was his first address after arriving, consequently, when
he arose and bronrhi his hands beckoningly together, the
people came running from all parts of the ground, and
crowded from the backward seats to the front of the stand
in a huddled mass around the rostrum. His discourse was a
running comment on different parts of the parable on which
we had been addressed. Some things that he said were
most solemn and impressive, and some were irresistibly
ludicrous. He said the " citizen " of the " far country,"
whose "swine" the prodigal was "sent" to "feed," was
"the Devil." "The Devil," said he "has a great many
swine-feeders now-a-days. There is one character in
particular who may be denominated the Devil's swine-
feeder : he frequents balls, and routs, and assemblies, and
screeks on an insignificant piece of wood called a fiddle,
while the people jump up and down, and turn their backs
and faces, and cut up their didos." When he got as far as
the " elder brother," who " was angry and would not go
in," Dow exclaimed, "Oh," said he, "I guess he must have
been a Close Communion Baptist ! "
Speaking of exciting the congregation, Ferguson, when
he came to preach on Sunday, was enabled to exemplify
his own principles. Getting in what he called " one of his
gales," he tore his neckerchief from his perspiring person,
and flinging it back among the preachers, he walked the
stand, and poured the stirring truths of the Bible upon his
auditors in a way that was very moving.
The meeting wound up well with the accustomed register
of converts' names, love-feast, Lord's Supper, and baptisms.
But two scrupulous people, a husband and wife, very large
in person, wished to be immersed, and remained behind
after the meeting had broken up, to be baptized in the Bay.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 53
The Presiding Elder, the E.i,v. Wm. RyersoD, had a great
respect for Corson, and he detained him to assist in the pre
liminary service. By the way, I may as well here say, that
Ryerson once declared to me, that " Robert Corson, was as
good a theologian as J. R.,'' a man then much looked up to,
" and that it was only his rustic ways that prevented his
being as much esteemed." The baptism was distinguished
by an incident which shows how much some people's fancies
(not to say whims) have to do with their preferences for
modes and forms. The husband, a heavy man, was immersed
first ; but the administrator was large and strong, and he
could handle a subject easily, however ponderous. They
walked well out into the rippling waters of the Bay, when
the administrator, asking him his name, thrust the body of
" John Sprung," with a noticable souse, beneath the waves.
Mrs. S., though heavier than her husband, had not his
strength of nerves, and when she witnessed the ordeal
through which her better half had passed, felt her convic
tions of the indispensable necessity of plunging begin to
experience considerable modification : she knew she would
go down -easily enough, but she was not sure she would
come up so readily. She, therefore, thought it might be as
truly valid if she went into the water and kneeled down,
and was then aspersed with the element. Methodism is
wisely accommodating in a matter of such secondary impor
tance as the mere mode of baptism; the good Elder therefore
assented to the proposition. They walked out hand in hand
to the depth of about two or three feet of water, he carrying
in his hand a six quart tin kettle, which, after the usual
formulary was pronounced, he filled three several times,
and poured it as often on her head, and " she came up out
of the water " as thoroughly drenched as if she had been

54 FATHER CORSON.
the subject of a trine immersion. I knew her well in after
years, and respected her Christian character highly; but
I never learned that she had any misgivings about her
baptism, on the score ofthe deficiency of water.
Corson was full of exuberant spirits, — the very quin
tessence of good nature, characterized by the broadest
humour. His humour was often evinced by ironical praises
of himself, for his superior wisdom and ability. It was
not so much what he said, as the way in which he said it,
which provoked the merriment of his friends. As my
object is to make our genial friend live his days over again
among us, I will tell a little incident which amused us all
that afternoon, after the baptism referred to, and wonder
fully tickled even the dignified Elder. A group of us
travelling preachers were gathered at the front of the house
of James Lyons, Esq., M.P.P.,"then a distinguished Metho
dist, which fronted on the pebbly beach of the Bay. We
were preparing to disperse to our several fields of labour.
William Smith and myself were soon to mount our horses
for the Carrying-place, where we expected to hear Lorenzo
once mare, en route, Smith for Hallowell, and myself for
Belleville. Corson was soon to turn his head once more
westward for the Whitby Circuit, and was desirous of
company. " Why," said young Hamilton Biggar, who was
then putting in the first year of his itinerancy on the
(Javan Circuit, " I go your way." " I am glad of it," said
Corson, "for I like to have some one along that doesn't
know quite as much I do ! " This sally produced an agree
able tittilation all around. I would choose in those days
no more agreeable travelling companion, than to ride,
"cheAk by jowl," alongside of "Bobby Corson." A delec
table Mme I have no doubt they had, till the " Guide Board "

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 55
pointed them in different directions. I have only to hope
that the paths which Biggar and I have been severally
pursuing, till now we are " old and grey-headed," may
open out on the " heavenly plains," where we shall overtake
our "glorified friend," "incapable of woe."

1829, 1830
The Conference which wound up the ecclesiastical year
1828-29, sat in the summer of the last of these two years,
that is to say, commencing August 26th, 1829, at " Bow
man's Meeting-house," in the township of Ancaster. Case
was elected President, pro-tempore, and Richardson, Secretary.
Several were stricken from the roll of the Conference :
James Jackson, " expelled ; " Isaac Baker Smith, " with
drawn ; " George Farr and George Sovreign, " located ; "
and two brethren "left without stations for a year;" and
William Slater, gone to his last, long rest, " died." But
still, with the accession of a few good men and true, one of
whom was the late Thomas Bevitt, the walls were manned
again with " soldiers of Christ " who did not desert their
posts, one conspicuous specimen of this embattled host
being Robert Corson. This Conference decided on inau
gurating two measures whicli, despite what many might
have thought of his antecedents and character, had Mr.
Corson's life-long sympathy and support : these were a
seminary of learning and a religious newspaper.
His name was set down once more, and read off for the
Whitby Circuit. Let us see what our subject says of
this year himself in his MS. " sketch : " " The second
year I had a colleague; a man with a family was sent

56 FATHEIf CORSON.
to help me. Two appointments were added from the
Cobourg Circuit. My salary for the two years was $400."
No wonder that a family of seven persons living on $200
a year, were sometimes " in straits."
I happened to know something of the circumstances and
doings of the year myself, having begun the year on the
Cobourg, which, after the first Quarterly Meeting, gave ofl
to the Whitby Circuit not only the " two " principal
" appointments " to which Brother Corson no doubt made
reference, namely, Port Hope and Hope township, but two
inconsiderable week-day appointments besides, known as
" Dean's " and the " Danford Road." I embodied the
changes and circumstances referred to in my "Biographical
History," wliich I venture to reproduce : —
"Whitby began the year with its last year's minister;
but from the augmentation of its boundaries, another was
required, and Mr. Conrad Vandusen, a native of the Bay of
Quinte, of Scotch-Dutch extraction, a man of great physical
vigour, of some education, and great present zeal, being a
new convert, was called out to assist Mr. Corson. He
underwent herculean labours that year : the Circuit was
large and his family resided in Sophiasburgh. Fortunately
his ample resources enabled him to keep a good horse under
him. They had lively times in the Circuit during that year.
Some characteristic incidents might be told, but we pass
thern over."
The necessity of economising space and of preserving
something like the dignity of history in the larger work,
do not prohibit the use of lighter materials in the biography
of a single person, which is expressly intended to be of a
homely and familiar character. The two colleagues in this
Circuit were far from being unsuited to each other, if they

his gospsl labours. 57
were not, indeed, very much alike. They were both
thorough Canadians, both strong, active, enterprising, and
enduring men. They were both possessed of exuberant
spirits, and a large store of humour ; both had an eye for the
laughable side of the many and varied incidents constantly
coming under their notice ; and both loved a good story, and
knew how to tell one interestingly. . Several were told by
Vandusen, especially. When he went for the first time
to one of the most out-of-the-way places in the town
ship of Reach, where the people, especially the young ones,
were nothing remarkable for cultivation, he seemed eager
and restless before the service, but, when once engaged
therein, he gave them an arousing sermon, delivered with
great liberty and volubility, which the rustics thought a
wonderful performance. Speaking of the orator of the
night, afterwards, said a great, awkward young man," " I
know'd Vandusen was a good preacher, for I seed he
couldn't stand still." He often said very queer things, which
seemed to escape before he thought; they were the relics
of his old harum-scarum way of talking, that characterized
him before his conversion. Meeting the class, according to
the invariable custom, one Sunday after sermon, in what
was known as the " Baptist Meeting-house" in the township
of Whitby, he came to a young lady, whom he accosted in
the usual manner, "Well, sister, how is it with your soul? "
Resenting the imputation of Church membership, she testily
answered, " I'm not a sister ! " " What are you then 1 '»
said Van, " a brother ? " He had scarcely uttered the
question, till he saw that would not do, and he tried, vainly,
to modify and mend it ; but she in the mean time showed
more and more signs of annoyance, till at length she arose
and went out. The preacher felt badly, and it was a source

58 FATHER COBSO-N.
of self upbraiding whenever he thought of it during the next
circuit round of four weeks; but one of the first things Bro.
Moore, the leader, said to him upon his arrival the next
time, was, "Brother Vandusen, that 'brother' of yours
has become a sister ; the circumstance wrought on her mind
until she has become converted to God." If I remember
correctly she joined the class, and became a worthy member.
I will not pretend to account for the manner in which such
an odd incident was adapted to do good.
Both these brethren came a second time to a Camp-meet
ing at Presqu' Isle, that is during the summer of 1830, the
Rev. David Wright and myself being then the preachers on
the Cobourg Circuit. These and other brethren present
were very efficient, and the meeting, if any difference, was
better than the year before, and a revival in various parts
of the country was the result. We missed Ephraim Evans
of the previous year, but we had in his stead, his brother
James, from the Rice Lake Indian Mission, then very much
alive to God. Also, Mr. Corson brought with him his
neophite, young Aaron Hurd, already mentioned, from
Scugog, to whom he was greatly attached, who was on his
way to the Mohawk Mission in Tiandenaga. How solem
nizing to the survivors to think that every one of those
faithful labourers, both old and young, has gone to his
account — Wright, Corson, Vandusen, Evans, and Hurd.
1830, 1831.
The Conference of 1830 began its sessions in the old
town of Kingston, August 17th, but it adjourned from there
on the 24th to Belleville where the General Conference was
appointed to sit, in order to finish up its business. Corson
was at both the sessions of the Annual Conference and of

HIS GOSPEL labours. t-y
the General Conference also, of which latter he was a
member, by being one of " the travelling Elders, who had
travelled the four years last past." The aspects of the Con
nexion were very encouraging at that time, and the labourers
went to their several- Circuits full of ardour and hope ; but
none of them more so than Robert Corson. He was
appointed to the Toronto Circuit, including the township
of that name, Trafalgar, Chinguacousy, Esquesing, Erin,
Caledon, and Gore ot Toronto.
His own account of the Circuit and his circumstances and
successes is as follows: "In 1830, I was appointed to the
Toronto Circuit. We had three log-churches " (those were
'Lindsay's Meeting-house,' the 'Four Corners' Meeting-house,'
and ' Harrison's Chapel'), " I had a colleague. We found
fine Societies, consisting of English, Irish, and Canadians."
This was before any rivalry or division had taken place, and
things were very different from the variegated Methodism
of the present. He resumes, " We had some trials on this
Circuit : my wife's health failed. But we had good revivals.
I stopped two years" (the longest period then allowed),
" and the iucrease during the two years was two hundred
and four. My salary during that time was four hundred
dollars,'' i.e., $200 for each year.
My gleanings relative to the first of these two years,
namely, 1830-31, as set down in my "Memorial," may
come in here, as illustrative of my subject. I was led to say,
" The old Toronto Circuit has a new preacher in charge, in
the person of the laborious Corson. Rev. Henry Shalr-i-.
nfter an absence of only one year, is back there again as
second preacher. About this time, Primitive Methodist
ministers from England began to bid for the patronage of
those of Methodist proclivities in that Circuit. Some who

60 FATHER CORSON.
had belonged to them in the old country returned to their
first love, and some that were never before connected with
that body joined them. Yet Corson and Shaler had a net
gain " (the first year) " of sixty.''
Since the above was written some items of information
have reached me from various sources. Mr. Shaler, as well
as himself, was married and had a small family to support ;
and as neither of them received more than two hundred
dollars for the year, any means for earning an honest
penny, which did not interfere with their work, was not to
be rejected. In those days harvest time was a very busy
season, there being then no " mowers " or " reapers " to
facilitate the business. Mr. Joseph Gardiner, of the Centre
Road, Toronto, had a very heavy crop, and Messrs. Corson
and Shaler were skilful, active husbandmen ; a friend of
mine, who resided in the neigbourhood at the time, told l-ae
that the two Circuit preachers took their sickles, or cradles,
and went among Mr. Gardiner's harvesters, and earntsd
their dollar a day while the season lasted. It was a pity
they were necessitated to do it ; but seeing they were, it
was no more to their disgrace than tentmaking was to St.
Paul. One of these toiling men is still alive, but a letter,
requesting information about that year, has failed to draw
him out : I suspect his infirmities are too great to admit
of his writing. The Master graciously help " my old com
panion in distress " down the declivity of life into the valley
of the Jordan ; and may the companion of " Father
Honest " of Pilgrim's Progress, " one Good Conscience,"
" whom he had spoken to in his life-time," accompany aim
through its cold waters up on the "banks of et< rua]
deliverance " among the " shining ones ! " Amen.

?IS GOSPEL LABOURS. 61
1831, 1832.
Mr. Corson and his colleague had no long journey to
reach the seat of Conference at the beginning of this year,
for it sat for the first time, after the existence of a chapel
and a Methodist society eleven years, in the good town of
York. A happy Conference session it was, and crowned
with a glorious revival which brought some of the most
influential people of the town into the Church. Unlike
Corson, I had ridden on horseback more than two hundred
miles to be present at that Convocation, and to be received
into full connexion. Where are my fellow candidates 1
Two have gone to their reward in heaven ; one, highly
respected, to a highly important judicial office ; only Shaler
besides myself — and he, " in age and feebleness extreme" —
remains with his name on the ministerial roll.
The reader is prepared to learn that Mr. Corson's name
was continued in connexion with Toronto Circuit for
another year. No other name than his own appears for the
Circuit for that year. " Another to be employed," indi
cated that the Presiding Elder and the Stationing Com
mittee had another in view. The supply was a young man
of good family, good school education, and newly from
Cazenovia Academy in the State of New York, a native of
the town of Belleville, Alexander McNabb by name was he.
But he was of too slight a constitution, and had been too
tenderly brought up, being " the only son of his mother,
and she was a widow," to stand the wear and tear of so
large and rough a Circuit as Toronto, especially as planned
and worked by the pushing Corson. The young man had
to leave, and a place was made for him in the old
Hallowell Circuit, where he found a good home at Squire

62 FATHER CORSON.
Dougal's, and a wife before the year was out. Next, a
young man of very different physical stamina and propor
tions, brother Samuel Rose, was brought away from an
Indian mission and placed on the Circuit. Corson, after
hearing him, said, " You'll do." He was very well received
and helped on with the work, while he remained ; but
wishing to have the benefits of an advanced school before
his name was brought before the Conference for reception
on trial, even he also retired from the Circuit. The balance
of the year a young man from the Twenty Mile Creek, then
recently the scene of a great revival, Jacob Kennedy by
name, who though he declined entering the full ministry,
at the end of the year, has proved himself, " until this day,"
a steadfast member of central Methodism, and an able and
willing local preacher, residing still in the place of his
original home. I should have been glad to hear his testi
mony to his former colleague, between whom and himself
friendship was never interrupted. Mr. Corson's second
colleague on that Circuit, now Rev. Dr. Rose, bears the
highest testimony to the devotedness and diligence of his
colleague of that day, showing that he preached one-fourth
oftener than he expected his colleague to preach ; and pro
nounces his wife a woman of great heavenly mindedness
and sanctity of spirit and manners, of whom he says, " It
is impossible to say too much."
This last year of the undisturbed independency from
foreign jurisdiction and interference may be said to be the
grand climacteric year of the Upper Canada Methodist
Church's success. The stimulus given to every sort of
useful activity was wonderful — Sunday-schools, education,
aud temperance. But the crowning glory was its revivals,
which issued in an accession of no less than 3,714 members

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 63
to the Church. Of these Mr. Corson and his Circuit
furnished a generous proportion.
Some lighter matters belonging to our subject and his
Circuit during this year, may now be mentioned. After
twenty-five years battling for their rights, it was made legal
for the ministers of the Methodist Church to celebrate the
rite of matrimony, and the act went first into force during
the second year of Mr. Corson's second year's sojourn in
this Circuit. The first couple Mr. Corson married, I am
informed by Rev. Dr. Rose, to use the celebrant's expressive
imagery, he " yoked them up wrong," that is, through
nervousness and want of practice, he placed the bride on
the right hand instead of the groom ; this, however, is no
more than I did myself with the first couple I married,
from similar causes, about two years later. Through the
polite intervention of the Rev. John Hunt I am able to lay
before the reader and the friends and admirers of the late
" Father Corson " generally, a copy of the veritable certifi
cate given to the couple then and thus married. It is in
teresting and important for several reasons. I will first
give the certificate, which will speak for itself, and then
furnish an observation or two thereon made by Mr. Hunt.
" COPY.
" I do hereby certify that on the 28th day of December,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-one, George Cheaney, of the township of Toronto, in
the Home District, and Abigail Walker, spinster, of the
township of Chingacousy, in the same District, were married
by me, Kobert Corson, a minister of the Methodist Epi
copal Church in Canada, in the presence of Andrew
Neelands and John Rutledge, which said marriage was

64 FATHER C0ES0N.
celebrated by publication of banns. Dated this 28th day
of December, A.D. 1831.
" (Signed), Robert Corson.
«fi7"i. ) John Rutledge,
"Witnesses : j An(kew ^'^j,
Of the parties here mentioned, my reverend informant
says, " The bride is dead. Father Cheaney is living in
Orangeville, married a second time, enjoying a happy old
age. John Rutledge, one of the witnesses, I remember
often seeing at my Father's in Toronto township. The
other, Andrew Neelands, I believe is still living, near
Brampton." I knew three out of the four principal parties
in this business, and it effects me exceedingly to have them
brought before my mind once more. May God bless the
living ones ! And may they and myself be so unspeakably
happy as to overtake " the friends fondly cherished, who have
passed on before," including our precious friend, Corson, in
that bright and blissful world, where friends in Christ shall
meet to part no more ! And may the study of this life
contribute to that end. I shall have at least one more
curious marriage scene to describe farther on.
A little item of interest relating to the Toronto Circuit
had almost escaped me. While I was labouring on the
Toronto Circuit, in the summer of 1828, a highly respectable
local preacher, arrived in the settlements from England, by
the name of Foster. He purchased a farm, a very few
miles west of his friend, Mr. Gardiner's, and identified him
self heartily with the interests of the Circuit, to which his
labours were of great service ; and, being favourable to
liberal opinions, he clung closely to the Canadian Con
ference and its fortunes through all the mutations of colonial
Methodism. He had several fine boys, some of whom

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 65
became local preachers, and all of them decided and helpful
members of the Church. One of these, now residing at
Brampton, William Foster, Esq.; had the " Pen Portrait "
of Mr. Corson, by his son John Wesley, submitted to him,
which drew forth the following letter, which further illus
trates several particulars already touched upon, or yet to be
mentioned. It is given below, accompanied by a note, both
of which will speak for themselves : —
" Brampton, Jan. 27th, 1879.
" Dear Dr. Cokson, — I have examined very carefully the proof-
sheet you sent me of your father's life, and think it very good. I
have marked what I think can be improved. I fancy there is one
mistake ; that is, I think, Father Corson was over medium height.
His ministerial labours cannot be over-rated. Mrs. Foster remem
bers him very well, and can tell many hardships he had to en
counter in travelling through the wilderness, carrying his saddlebags
on his shoulder. The roads were nearly impassible ; he could not at
all times ride on horseback. This was cheerfully done" (his trudging
on foot). "Not a murmur escaped his lips. Mrs. F. remembers
your dear, now sainted mother, how self-sacrificing she was. Often
left alone with her little family for weeks together, yet she was
never heard to say that it was hard. She bore it like a good
Christian soldier, for she really was one.
"Mr. Neelands requested me to say that the proof-sheet is good,
and he cannot say too much of your now sainted father. He knew
him perfectly well, and often had piloted him to some of his
appointments in the night by torch light.
"Mrs. Lowes also remembers him very well, for he used to
preach in Father Wilkinson's house. He was a welcome messenger
I assure you. Mrs. Foster and Mrs. Lowes think that the proof-
sheet scarcely does him justice, as it would be impossible for pen
and ink to do so ; for my own part I cannot say too much in any
respect of him. I wish there were more like him, a3 his honourable
conduct was as a beacon light to all around, him."
Note. — Father seemed taller in middle life, than as he stooped
more and more in old age. J. W. C.

66 FATHER CORSON.
1832, 1833.
I am entering with my subject on the last year of a very
important stage of the Church's history, and also iu Mr.
Corson's own ministerial life. He, and I, and my readers
are now fain to take our journey to the never-to-be-forgotten
Hallowell Conference, which commenced August 8th, 1832.
Because of previous notification in the Guardian, that
overtures for a union with the British Conference would
probably be considered, there was a full attendance of
ministers and a vast confluence of members of the church,
Loth official and private.
I need not detain the general reader with the prelimin
aries, proceedings, and results of that memorable Conference,
farther than to say, that it issued in the proposal of Pre
liminary Articles of Union with the Parent Body, which
were substantially accepted by the British Conference, and
ratified, in 1833, by the Canada Conference, in the presence
of the British Representative. The minute particulars,
with the vouchers and authorities for the whole proceedings,
are given in my "Biographical History of Methodism in
Canada." My present business is with Mr. Corson's
relation to the measure, who was generally a middle man,
independent, but peace-loving and peace-promoting. But,
as far as I can remember, he was in favour of this measure
from the first. And while the famous Committee of Ten
were deliberating, a caucus was held with a view of
preparing the lesser and younger men for the measure, and
I confess that it weighed considerably with me, that such
men as Healy, Fer-uson, Griffis, and Corson among the
most matured of the second class of preachers, were in
favour of the measure.

his gospel labours. 67
At this Conference, Robert Corson was read off for the
Yonge Street Circuit. Two more vivacious, lively, lov
able men than he and his colleague, were never appointed
at once to the same Circuit. His superintendent, or " the
preacher in charge," as he was then termed, was the Rev. .
David Wright. Mr. Corson's temporal circumstances were
to be somewhat improved for a time. He says of this
appointment : " In 1832, I was appointed to Yonge Street,
one of the best Circuits in our Conference. We had plenty
of work, and a large number of warm-hearted friends. A
gracious revival of religion took place, resulting in a net
increase for the two years of three hundred. My salary
during the two years was $560" — tbat is, at the rate of
$280 a year, a sum which would be far from earning the
meed of being " one of the best Circuits in the Conference,"
at the present time. How the times have changed !
My history furnishes the following particulars relative to
the Yonge Street Circuit for this year, 1832-33 : — " Tonge
Street enjoyed 'showers of blessings' this year, 1832-33.
Under date of December 6th, 1832, Mr. Wright reports : —
' We have received since Conference 150 probationers,
besides several by letter.' ' Our Quarterly Meeting,
November 10th and 11th, was attended with the presence
of the Captain of our salvation. Some found peace, others
were quickened, and seven or eight joined society. Bros.
Long and Gatchel's visit was attended with much good.'
Later in the year, September 13t,h, 1833, the evangelist,
Long, writes concerning this Circuit : he speaks of revival
meetings held in 'Tyler's meeting-house,' ' Petch's Barn,
Whitchurch,' 'Mr. Obadiah R's Bam, Gwilliambury,'
'Tecumseh,' 'Newmarket,' and 'Holland River.' Some
of these meetings continued 'twenty-two days,' and 'rising

68 FATHER CORSON.
of 122 joined Society' in one place. Mr. Long's sphere of
labour, however, embraced part of the Albion Circuit and
Yonge Street. At the close of the year, Messrs. Wright
and Corson report the Yonge Street Circuit fifty miles
long, and twenty-five broad. It embraced York township,
Vaughan, Markham, King, part of Scarboro', East, West,
and North Gwilliambury, and thirty-two regular appoint
ments. Four local preachers, whose names we will hand
down, — Holden, Watson, Moore, and Appleford, — aided
them in their work. They had three Missionary Societies,
nine or ten Temperance Societies, and a number of Sunday-
schools. Two parsonages were erected. The net increase
in numbers was 376, making a membership of 951. No
wonder they exclaimed, ' Glory be God.' "
Manuscript memoranda furnished by Dr. William Case
Corson, give inside views of the family and its fortunes,
which, otherwise, we should not have. They seem to have
resided at Richmond Hill. Dr. William says, " Although
I was but two or three years of age, I have a distinct
remembrance of one or two occurrences, snch as the burial
of an Indian chief with Indian rites, the long procession in
single file passing our door. Amos Wright, who years
afterward became member of Parliament, was our near
neighbour, and his wife was converted under father's
ministry; and I remember the terrible struggle she passed
through before deliverance from the bondage of sin came to
her. Robert Campbell, a local preacher of great accepta
bility, also lived near us. I had the pleasure of meeting
this good brother only a few years ago at his son's, who
married a cousin of mine."

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS 69
1833, 1834.
IV. MR. CORSON DURING THE SEVEN YEARS OF
THE FIRST UNION.
October 2, 1833, arrived. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson
had returned from England with the ratified Articles of
Union, accompanied by the Rev. George Marsden, pros
pective President of the Conference, and the Rev. Joseph
Stinson, the intended Superintendent of Missions ; and
the Conference was called to order on the above mentioned
day, in Newgate Street (now Adelaide Street) Methodist
Church. The Rev. Wm. Case was appointed to the chair,
pro tempore; the report ot the Delegate to England was
made ; the Articles, as slightly modified (all in favour of the
Canadian brethren) by fcha British Conference, were con
sidered, one by one, each passing by a very large majority ;
and then, the whole were submitted together. One
minister, the Rev. James Richardson, who had been
opposed to some of the details, urged "a unanimous rising
vote," which was given ; at least so it was pronounced at
the time by the chair. The only exceptions to this were
(1) a little feint by the Rev. Thomas Whitehead, which
was considered as a joke (for he gave in his adhesion
heartily to the measure, when carried) ; and (2) the volun
tary absence of the Rev. Joseph Gatchell. He and the
loyal, law-abiding Corson chanced to occupy the same billet
during the Conference, and, as old friends, had much
conversation about the proceedings. Gatchell assured his
friend that though he did not like the Uniofi, he had no
intention of making dissension. This statement Mr. Corson
afterwards put in writing. The chair of the Conference
was delivered by Mr. Case to Mr. Marsden, and the usual

70 FATHER CORSON.
business transacted under his Presidency. These pro
ceedings changed the name of the Church fvom Methodist
Episcopal to Wesleyan Methodist.
The Yonge Street Circuit, to which Mr. Corson was
re-appointed for the ensuing year, 1833-34, was destined
to be somewhat agitated by the Union measure before the
year was out, and still more when it was past. The Rev.
Edmund Stoney took the place of Mr. Wright, in charge
of the Circuit, the " Superintendent " (for such the brother
" in charge " began now to be called, in the discipline and
otherwise) of the preceding having been promoted to the
Chairmanship of the London District. I might say, in
passing, of this latter term, " Chairman," which was used
interchangeably with Presiding Elder, that during the last
quarter of the year of which I am writing, it was dropped,
or substituted by " Chairman " in the published list of the
Rev. James Richardson, who was the P. E. of the York
District, which, of course, included - the Yonge Street
Circuit, of which Messrs. Stoney and Corson were the
incumbents, and then the example was followed by the
other incumbents of the office.
I have intimated that there were persons in the Yonge
Street Circuit, during this Mr. Corson's last year, dissatisfied
with the Union, in sufficient numbers to make one locality
in that field of labour a rallying point for the dissentients
throughout the Connexion, who sought to organize and
claim the title and property of the late Methodist Episcopal
Church of Canada. This movement, however, did not come
to a head till early in the opening part of the next Con
ference year. The account given of that convocation is
ad follows : —
" Five days after the Wesleyan Conference at Kingston

HIS gospel labours. 71
arose, — that is to say, on the 25th of June, 1834, — certain
brethren, dissatisfied with the proceedings of Conference in
the matter of the Union, or some of its details, met at
Cummer's Meeting-house, nine miles north of Toronto, who
afterwards claimed to be the legal Conference of the Meth
odist Episcopal Church in Canada, from, which they charged
the whole Canada Conference as having seceded. These
men, according to the Rev. T. Webster, their historian,
were the following regularly ordained elders : Joseph
Gatchell, David Culp, Daniel Pickett, and J. W. Byam,
deacon. There were also a number of local preachers in
attendance. — We will both agree to set aside ' local
preachers ' as not of the legal Conference; let us, therefore,
examine the claims of the rest. Mr. Byam had never been
a member of an Annual Conference. He had been a
probationer for membership, but was discontinued at the
end of two years. He had not travelled during the past
sixteen years. If he obtained orders afterwards as a local
deacon, it would not have given him any legislative right or
legal value^ Mr. Corson says the Conference of 1825
elected him to deacon's orders. Mr. Pickett's was scarcely
a better case ; he had travelled nine years at the beginning
of the century ; had located, and had subsequently got out
of the church — our information said he was expelled — and,
as we have seen, preached on his own responsibility for
many years, and endeavoured to raise a Society of his own
called ' Provincial Methodists,' and only returned about
three years before the Union, and took rank as a local
preacher. His orders it may be, were tacitly recognized, but
he had not been a member of any Annual Conference in
full twenty-five years, Mr. Culp was more recently of the
Conference, but he had located eight years before the Union.

72 FATHER CORSON.
Mr. Gatchell was the only one who could by possibility give
validity to that Conference — if a Conference, which is a
noun of multitude, could consist of one man. We have
seen that though disapproving of the Union, he entered no
protest, nor even voted against it, but withdrew from the
house when the final vote was taken. His name continued
in the Minutes of the Conference, and stood there at the
very moment he was co-operating in the present business1,
and he had received the same allowance from Conference
funds, for the past year, as any other superannuated
preacher on the list. But Mr Gatchell even did not preside
at this Conference, but Mr. John Bailey. These persons
had a natural right to new-create a ' Methodist Episcopal
Church in Canada,' if they preferred such an organization,
but they had no legal grounds for claiming that they were
the Church which bore that name before the Union."*
I have to say, in justification of introducing the above
painful remembrance here, that Cummer's Meeting-house
was a central spot in the Yonge Street Circuit, and had
rejoiced in a very strong Society. The Cummers, who gave
name to it, were a very respectable and influential family.
They were the original owners of the land upon which the
church stood, which, I think, had never been properly
settled to the Connexion, which settlement was refused afte'r
the Union. Both parties continued to use the building for
some years, when the Wesleyans drew off and opened a
smaller building, which they adjusted to church purposes,
and was long known as the " Parsonage Chapel." This, in
its turn, has given place, for some time, to the substantial
and elegant edifice at Newtonbrook. A Mr. Turner, a very
* Case and Cotemporaries.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 73
capable local preacher, from the States, who resided on
Yonge Street, bringing his American ideas with him, was
one of the most active and influential in opposing the
carrying out of the Union measures in that Circuit. I
think George Turner became a Presiding Elder in the new
organization. This will be one of the best opportunities for saying,
what I ought to mention, in justice to the memory of
Corson, that although unswervingly loyal to the measures
of the main central body, he was by no means bitter
towards the off-shoots, but cultivated considerable intimacy
with them, as he did in fact with all Protestant com
munities ; and if, at any time, a person wished to know the
condition and prospects of any of the minor Methodist
bodies, he need only inquire of Robert Corson, who would
usually be found posted in the facts and figures. He con
stantly yearned in heart towards those who had " gone out
from us ; " and always heartily seconded any measures,
which promised feasibility, for restoring the unity of pro
vincial Methodism. I might also say, in this connection,
that he was not only thoroughly posted in the past, but the
current history, or state, of Methodism, especially that of
our own branch of it, in this and the neighbouring Pro
vinces. He was very anxious to know, each succeeding
year, what our increase or decrease was ; and he usually
learned the figures by correspondence with the several
districts, or what the returns would be, before they were
officially announced.
He never presumed to think he was fit for any office
beyond that of a rural Circuit preacher ; but he took an
interest in preferring the best among his brethren to con-
nexional appointments. His choice was usually wise, and

74 FATHER CORSON.
never based on party predilections, or the offspring of party
strifes. In my humble opinion Mr. Corson was a truly
enlightened man, and usually in advance of current con-
nexional opinion. Some men's reputation for wisdom is
acquired by their habitual condemnation of what happens
never to have been tried. Corson was not one of those :
he was not scared by the prejudiced cry of "novelty," or
"heresy," but was willing to view a subject on all sides,
whether it were new or old. He did not get the name of
a wise man by pulling a long face, looking, and talking
mysteriously, shaking his head, and uttering hints and
inuendoes ; but if he had opinions, and he was usually
made up on all subjects, he uttered them without hesitancy.
He was not imprudent, but straightforward, in his utter
ances; and by his free and friendly discussions with the
people, he did more than almost any other man to quiet
those painful agitations which were born of authoritative
suppression and secrecy more than of any thing else. There
is nothing like the safety-valve of free ventilation, and
Corson knew this secret. Our subject would have been
considered wiser and weightier, by many, if he had been
less jovial; and just there was their mistake. Some of the
wisest things have been said in epigram, or as bon mi, is.-
Go to Punch and Grip if you want undiluted wisdom.
Corson might have been called the humoristic philosopher.
Before I have done with him, I hope to givo some of his
" lucky hits."

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 75
1834, 1835.
NEWMARKET CIRCUIT.
The Conference of 1834 sat in the town of Kingston,
and so early as the 11th of June, in which month it was to
have its sittings for the long space of forty years. This
was to accommodate it to its new relation to the British
Conference, which sat a month or so later in the summer,
and to which it had always to report. It chanced that no
less than two eminent officials from the British Conference,
besides Mr. Stinson, were there. The Rev. Robert Alder, one
of the Missionary Secretaries, who chanced to be there first,
took the chair of the Conference, ex-officio, till the arrival
of the appointed President of the Canada Conference, the
Rev. Edmund Grindrod.
At this Conference, in consequence of the representations
of Mr. Grindrod, who said the ordination of local preachers
in Upper Canada was likely to produce dissatisfaction
among 1;hat class of officials in other parts of their extended
work, it was decided by " Resolution " of Conference,
" That it was inexpedient to ordain any more local
preachers," — a measure which brought on a crisis, which
otherwise might have been staved off, for a time at least,
and greatly increased the agitation which had commenced,
and which our subject and the other preachers had to meet,
and which caused them much solicitude and suffering for
five or six years, if not more.
In several respects the deliberations of this Conference,
in which Mr. Corson now gradually began to take a part,
were rather anxious, if not sometimes acrimonious. As
far as our subject did take a part, from this time forward,
his interpositions were always useful. He was never other-

76 FATHER CORSON.
wise than fair and moderate, often talking as much on one
side as on the other — giving first the " rights " and then the
" lefts " a hit. But it was always done so good-naturedly
as not to offend either, while his ebullitions of broad
humour often " brought down the house," and broke up
many a lowering cloud, by putting the angry disputants
once more in good humour. Indeed, it was usually enough
to see him rise, make his very peculiar bow, and utter,
to secure attention, " Mr. President," and awake smiling
expectation. It would often make his friends laugh, simply
to look at him.
Mr. Corson was appointed to the Newmarket Circuit with
Thomas Fawcett for his junior colleague, who proved him
self a " true yoke-fellow." Indeed, he was a brother
peculiarly adapted to co-operate with Corson ; for, like
himself, Fawcett was lively, loving, demonstrative, and
unsparing of his pains, if labour was painful to him at all,
who seemed to sport with fatigue. He was a native of
Yorkshire, where he was converted and became a local
preacher. He arrived in Canada timely enough in the
summer of 1832, to be sent with John S. Atwood to the
Dumfries Circuit. The next year, 1833-34, he was ap
pointed to the Toronto Circuit, under the superintendency
of the cultivated Zenas Adams. In both of the Circuits he
must have heard much favourable to Robert Corson, be
coming thereby acquainted with him by report, with whom
he is now appointed to travel. Mr. Corson's manuscript
account of this year is very short. " In 1834, I was
appointed to Newmarket. I had a young man for my
colleague, who was madu a blessing to the Circuit. We
had some good revivals. Our increase for one year, fifty.
My salary for the one year, $2G0." Mr. Corson told the

TIIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 77
Rev. Michael Fawcett that his brother Thomas was the
only colleague he ever had who was willing to preach as
often and make as many visits as he did himself.
I shall be able to give some further details, farther on,
of their affairs, religiously considered, from Mr. Corson's
published letters. In the meantime, we must pause and
contemplate the state of his family, as drawn from the
recollections of one of their number, Dr. William Corson.
It seems that the family actually left Richmond Hill for
the Newmarket Circuit, where, however, if I have read my
materials aright, they remained for only a part of the year.
Dr. William Corsou says, " From Richmond Hill we
removed to Mitchel's Corners, (now named Aurora.)
Here we were surrounded by those good people, the
Society of Friends. Here the Hartman family lived,
the father having left the Quakers to join our Church.
The son Joseph rose to be a conspicuous Member of Parlia
ment ; while the daughter, Nancy, had the honour to
become the wife of one of our ministers (Rev. T. Cosford).
It was at Hartman's school-house that I first attended
school, and Moulton was our teacher. Mr. Moulton's
daughter became the wife Gi our distinguished Missionary
to Japan, the Rev. G. M. Meacham, who also was my most
intimate friend and class-mate at Victoria College, and with
whom I corresponded for years, so curious are the con
necting links of our history in this life. My brother John
was teaching in a school-house iu an opposite direction,
and Moulton and he would meet at our house for a sing ;
and I remember to have first heard them give Pope's Dying
Christian, ' Vital spark of heavenly flame.' While living
there, father met that severe accident by the running away
of his horse, by which one ear was so completely torn from

78 FATHER CORSON.
his head as to hang by a mere shred- of skin. The ear was
sewed on so skilfully by the surgeon, that not even a scar
remained to show the nature of the injury. This was the
only time in my life that I ever saw father confined to his
bed. His general health was so good that he never even
complained of headache ! "
In the early history of American Methodism, the allow
ances being so small, and no furniture awaiting their arrival
on their Circuits, it became very common for a minister,
when his family grew to such proportions that it was as
serious a matter to move them, as it was to feed them : it
was common, I say, to obviate both of these difficulties and
furnish employment for the growing up boys, aye, anfi girls
too, to select a piece of land, larger or smaller, according to
circumstances and means, to constitute a homestead, where
the family could be left to earn their living, while the
preacher used .his influence with the Presiding Elder and
Bishop, or Stationing Committee, as the case might be, to
station him on Circuits not too far from that sacred spot.
The same sometimes took place in Canada : Ryan, Whit-
head, Culp, Wm. Brown, and Ezra Healy, were all examples
of this arrangement, after a time.
Something of this kind was now contemplated by Mr.
and Mrs. Corson while they were on the Yonge Street
Circuit. Many preachers found it so hard to " make the
two ends meet," that the little property they had accumu
lated before entering the ministry was often dissipated in
supplementing the scantiness of Circuit appropriations.
The late never-to-be-forgotten Henry Wilkinson informed
me that the property his superior industry and business
skill had acquired, while in secular life, was all consume ;l
in the itinerancy. Fortunately, although Mr. Corson's

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 'iO
allowances were exceptionally sui all, his own and wife's
economy was such as to enable them to preserve the little
property they had in Oxford intact. This they now sold
and invested it in a purchase in a more central place, the
location of which will transpire in the reminiscenses of Dr.
William about to be given.
Here is the Doctor's account of the arrangement: — ¦
" From the Yonge Street Circuit the family was transferred
to a farm at the German Mills, two and a half miles east of
Thornhill, while father continued the regular work of the
ministry on the Newmarket and Whitby Circuits, respect
ively. A mother, with six boys (no girls in the family),
the oldest of which only had come to manhood, settling
down on a heavily timbered farm, of which only a few acres
had been cleared, was an undertaking of no common mag
nitude. But the mother was firm, resolute, and inspiring,
and she always controlled her children absolutely, though
without severity. . Under the leadership of the oldest son,
the trees were felled and burned in log heaps ; a good frame
house was built, the lime having been burned and the timber
sawn by what seemed superhuman exertions. A young
orchard was planted, the mother holding the trees while the
sons filled in and packed the earth about the roots. In tho
midst of this struggle the mother was calm but earnest,
being the high-priest of the family, and leading the family
devotions in that exalted strain of eloquence, and in cadences
which can never fade from the memory ' while life and being
last.' Thomas Fawcett, of precious memory, was father's
colleague at this time, and here he would come to stay with
us once a month or so ; his visits being regarded by mother
and the boys as little less than angelic. He was very
pious ; but he had such exuberance of spirits and such a

SO VATHER CORSON.
fund of humour, that we could only cry when the time
came for him to go. Fawcett rode a beautiful cream-
coloured horse, and it was his delight to place one of the
boys on this spirited animal's back for a race to the water
ing. Here our friend first met the lovely and excellent
young lady, Margaret Shaw, who was to become his wife.
Before leaving the Circuit they were quietly married ; and
my mother related to our delectation how at the ceremony,
when father put the usual question, ' Wilt thou have this
woman, &c. 1 ' that Fawcett answered in stentorian tones,
' I will,' thereby expressing his ardent affection for her who
was to become his wife. Some of the events of the Rebel
lion, which took place at this time, while my brother John
was absent in Toronto, will be detailed by him from infor
mation I have furnished him. One circumstance, which
just now recurs to me, was, that during the highest pitch of
excitement, one night the whole sky became covered by a
most brilliant scarlet colour, which, being reflected back to
the snow-covered earth, gave a very startling appearance to
this sublunary sphere. While the children beheld this
phenomenon in terrified affright, the mother, taking advan
tage of the occurrence, calmly pointed them, as they stood
in a circle around her, to ' the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sins of the world.' "
My contributor in the above has anticipated the flight of
time by two or three years, but he has written so enchant-
ingly that I had no heart to arrest the flow of his language ;
besides, the unity of his subject required that it should not
be broken into fragments. What a picture it presents of
maternal influence on the one hand, and of filial devotion of
I oys to a mother on the other !
I turn now to produce some news from the Newmarket

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 81
Circuit during the ecclesiastical year 1834-35, from tho
Guardian for the spring of 1835, from among the " Letters
to this Editor," I extract the following : —
"Newmarket Circuit. — Mr. Editor, — Since the commencement
of our labours this Conference year, we have had some serious diffi
culties to encounter. Efforts have been made to create divisions ; and
I am sorry to say that they have been successful in two or three
cases. However, in the midst of our trials the Lord hath helped
us. We had some refreshing seasons in the neighbourhood where my
family resides. The societies are united — they prefer union to division.
In different parts of the Circuit we have been blest' with an outpour
ing of the Holy Spirit, and a number have been brought from dark
ness into light, and from the power of Satan to God. We have been.
recently favoured with a visit from our worthy President, who
attended a Missionary Meeting at Newmarket. It was considered the
most interesting meeting of the kind ever held in these parts. A
number of members of our society and others residing in the neigh
bourhood of Newmarket are much waked up to the interests of the
Missionary cause.
"In conclusion I would say, that we have received upwards of a
hitndred into society since the last Conference. A few who had left
us have returned. Our net increase during the year is between sixty
and twenty, and we are expecting better times.
" I remain, yours, &c, "Robert Coi;sok.t'
" "Whitchurch, 17th March, 1835."
It is hard to say who are the most to be commended in
this virtuous and mutually attached household, the parents
or the children. About the time they were first on Yonge
Street, the father informed me that his son, then a mere
growing boy, earned the money to purchase the grammars
and lexicons necessary to begin a classical course, by " chop
ping a fallow" in the "heat of summer." After such
herculean efforts and grand results, there is no excuse for
ignorance and inferiority in this land of distinguished
5*

82 FATHER CORSON.
privileges. I hope the perusal of this Life may have a
stimulating effect on many parents and children.

1835, 1S36.
Whitby Circuit, {the second time.) The transition
between Mr. Corson's year on the Newmarket and his
transfer to Whitby, was occupied by a session of the Canada
Conference, which sat in the town of Hamilton, which began
June 10th, 1835, with the Rev. William Lord as President,
and Rev. Egerton Ryerson as Secretary. Although that
was the only Conference at which I was not present, from
1830 to 1874, I have elsewhere given a particular account
of its somewhat unpleasant proceedings, drawn from authen
tic sources. Although many of the members of Conference
were very much agitated about that time, Mr. Corson was
calm, and in a state of mind to go resolutely on with his
work. He speaks of the year in his brief chronicle as follows :
" In 1835 I was appointed, the second time, to Whitby,
with the colleague that I had at Newmarket. We had a
blessed revival. I stopped two years. Salary for two years,
$520," (that is, $260 for each several year,) " Increase for
the two years, one hundred and eighty-seven 1 "
The reader will still understand that he still has the
genial Thomas Fawcett for his colleague ; and that when he
would visit his family, he must needs ride all the way to
within two miles and a half of Thornhill. The eastern ex
tremity of his own Circuit must have extended to what we
now know as Newcastle, if not beyond.
The particulars of his successes from time to time reported
in the Guardian, served to somewhat enhearten the conuex-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 83
:on at a time when prevailing depression made it cordially
appreciated. It is your laborious, soul-saving ministers after
all, who are the mainstays of the Church. Splendour of
talent may be, no doubt, put to a very good use, but work
and endurance are indispensable. The following extracts of
three letters, from that Circuit, published in the Guardian,
at different times through the year, I make room for, because
they exhibit the men and their work, and also refer to a
number of their old friends : —
Extracts of a letter from Rev. T. Fawcett, dated Markham, Nov.
2nd, 1835.
" It will not be uninteresting to you or your readers to hear of the
prosperity of the work of God on the Whitby Circuit. We have
had an increase of about fifty members since the last Conference.
Many precious souls have been converted, and there appears to be
a general desire for, and pressing after, entire sanctification ; and
blessed be God, some have obtained the blessing. We commenced
a meeting in Markham on the 22nd ult. , which continued 12 days,
duriog which time many sinners were brought from darkness to
light, and 28 persons united in our Society. The services were com
menced on Thursday by brother Holden, a respectable and useful
local preacher. The Rev. James Wilson arrived on Friday, and
remained with us five days. He preached with his accustomed
plainness and fervour, and his labours were rendered a blessing to
the people. Towards the close of the meeting, our much esteemed
chairman, the Rev. J. Richardson, came up to the help of the Lord
against the mighty, and concluded the meeting on the 2nd inst.
"This was the most interesting protracted meeting I ever at
tended. The house was crowded at almost every service, and it was
evident that a more commodious place of worship was needed. A
¦subscription was therefore opened, and upwards of £200 have been
subscribed for the purpose of erecting a Wesleyan Methodist ChapeL
Some of* our friends have done themselves credit by the liberality
which they have manifested in this matter. To God be all the
glory ! "

84 FATHER CORSON.
Extract of a letter from the Revs. R. Coeson and T. Fawcett,
dated Darlington, December IZth, 1835.
" We are glad to inform you that we have a gracious revival of
religion on Whitby Circuit. We commenced a protracted meeting
in Darlington, on the 28th November, which has continued every
evening for sixteen days, and has been a refreshing season from the
presence of the Lord. Many precious souls have professed to ex
perience pardoning mercy, and are now walking in the light of the
Lord. Between seventy and eighty have united in our Society ;
and our old brethren are much revived, and are anxious to have
the meetings continued longer. Our Local Preachers are quite alive,
and their labours have been attended with much good during tho
meeting. On the whole we are much encouraged, and are expecting
better times. We have received upwards of 120 into Society since
Conference." Extracts of a letter from the Rev. T. Fawcett, dated Whitby,
January 12th, 1836.
"The cause of God is prospering on this Circuit. At the pro
tracted meeting held in Darlington, a notice of which appeared in
the Guardian during its progress, about 100 souls were hopefully
converted, and about 120 joined Society ; some of whom have since
found peace through believing.
" We commenced a protracted meeting in this town on the 2nd
instant, which has not yet closed. An interest has been excited
which surpasses the expectations of our brethren, and several
persons have sought the Lord aud found favour in his sight. Last
night between 20 and 30 presented themselves as subjects for prayer.
Some have been brought to God in other places on the Circuit, and
indeed religion appears to be reviving in the societies under our
care. We are praying that the Lord will cause the work to spread
till all shall know Him." 1836, 1837.
Whitby Circuit, continued. The Conference for 1836,
eat in Belleville, from the 8th to the 13th of June. It was.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. £5
still a sifting time with the Church and its ministry. Among
other things that were trying, a distinguished " standard-
bearer," if he did not "faint," became weary of turmoil,
and retired from the Conference, with a view to connecting
himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States, which he did for one year. This was the Rev. James
Richardson, for the last three years Mr. Corson's own Presid
ing Elder, or Chairman. Still, -our subject himself did not
waver in his attachment to the main central body.
He returns to Whitby, but he has lost him who had been
his co-labourer for the last two years, with whom he never-
had but one " little spat," as he called it, which was soon
over, and they afterwards loved each other better than ever ;
but he gets in his place, John C. Will, a young man of edu
cation and refinement, who was, nevertheless, much devoted
to God, and successful in his work ; a work he was destined
soon to finish, and to get speedily home to " the rest which
remains for the people of God."
His friend, Thomas Fawcett, was appointed as junior
preacher to the Yonge Street Circuit, within the bounds of
which the Corson family resided, whom he will, no doubt,
often visit for spiritual conversation with the saintly wife
and mother, and for an innocent romp with the boys ; once
in a while, a tender interview with his Dulcinea ; and, at
still longer intervals, a renewal of intercourse with his old
favourite " Super," Mr. Corson himself. For Mr. Fawcett
could not have been married to Miss Shaw till about the
time of the next Conference, in 1837, when he was admitted
into full connexion and ordained; albeit, his brother
Michael showed me a little cottage, not very far from the
German Mills, wliere Thomas first took his bride after their
union, which would seem to imply that he must have re-

86 FATHER CORSON.
ceived permission to marry a little in advance of the discip
linary time.* But to return to Mr. Corson : —
There was a large aggregate connexional decrease reported
at the close of this year, but small part of it was due to any
delinquency, or failure on the part of our faithful evan
gelist. It was quite marvellous, that in the midst of " troub
lous times," with an inexperienced, undemonstrative young
man for a colleague, and with the " sifting " which might
have been expected after the accession of the two hundred
members, brought in by the revival of the previous year,
they had so small a decrease as twenty-three. But favour
able changes were in store for him and the connexion.
When I had got thus far on with Mr. Corson's memorial,
a letter reached me from an unexpected source. The events
it records must have transpired somewhere between 1835
and the date to which I have come down. It presents Mr.
Corson as seen by strangers ; and it furnishes some facts
relative to one very dear to him, which are of great interest,
and which would have been overlooked but for this letter.
The letter is from one who was at that time a student from
Canada in the place indicated, and has been since the
President of several learned institutions. Its matter and
signature will speak for themselves :
" In the early years of the renowned Cazenovia Seminary,
before the existence of the ' Upper Canada Academy,'
many Canadian Methodist youths repaired to Cazenovia to
secure academic advantages in a Methodist school.
" It was quite common for the father of the student to
* Since writing the above, a conversation with the Rev. M.
Fawcett confirms my surmises, and clears up all : by permission of
his Chairman, the Kev. John Ryerson, T. Fawcett married Miss
Shaw in the April before his ordination in June.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS.

87

attend his son or daughter upon their long journey, to be
made by stage, or stage and canal. Ministers, local and
itinerant, from Canada were not unfrequently met with at
Cazenovia. I remember among these the venerable John
Bailey, who came to place his noble son, William F  ,
under the care of the Faculty. Also the Rev. James,
afterwards Bishop Richardson, who left in the seminary
Mary and Martha, his beautiful daughters, one of whom, in
after years, became the wife of one of our Professors, the
now distinguished W. H. Allen, LL.D., President of Gerard
College. In 1835 a large number of Canadian students
were at the Seminary. Among those I remember well
were Aaron H. Hurd, James Braden, D. C. Van Norman,
Jesselfurlbert, William Kingston, Wm. F. Bailey, W. H.
Martin, and many more. The pastor of the M. E. Church,
then of Cazenovia, was the renowned Rev. Joseph Castle,
now Dr. Castle, of Philadelphia, himself a Canadian.
" Late one Saturday afternoon Mr. Castle was seen in
company with a stranger, whose appearance was so differ
ent from the average American citizen, that he attracted
attention. He was in full Methodist itinerant costume.
Some one of the Canadian youth recognized him as the
Rev. Robert Corson. The Methodist Canadian boys were
soon convened in Council. The conclusion had been
readily reached that Mr. Corson would occupy the Metho
dist pulpit the next morning, and Canadian .ministerial
reputation was thereby to suffer greatly. The stranger had
no reputation for scholarship, eloquence, or anything else,
save zeal, and a good measure of success as a plain Metho
dist preacher. The Canadian students were very proud of
the reputation of many of the Methodist ministers of Can
ada. They seldom, if ever, met or heard the equals of

88 FATHER CORSOU.
•the Ryersons, Metcalf, Green, Ephraim Evans, and, among
the juniors, of William Patrick and Lewis Warner ; ' and
they often placed them in favourable contrast with the
most gifted of the New York clergy. The more ardent
and ultra urged that a committee should wait upon Mr.
Castle and remonstrate against the exposure of the Can
adian Methodist ministry to loss of prestige by the appear
ance of Mr. Corson in the Cazenovia pulpit, which always
commanded the very best talent of the Conference. Some
of the more thoughtful suggested that, possibly, Mr.
Castle might be as suitable a guardian of Canadian Meth
odist honour as themselves, and that at least he should be
allowed to attend to his own business.
" The conclave disbanded. Not able to bear the humili
ation that Mr. Corson's certain failure must occasion, some
of the Canadians remained in their rooms, but most were
at the church. As was anticipated, Mr. Corson was in the
pulpit, and conducted the service. His personal appearance,
reading, and prayer did not relieve the Canadian students
of their burden of anxiety. At the opening of the ser
mon he appeared embarrassed and stumbling. This, how
ever, soon disappeared : he presently had perfect mastery of
himself and over his hearers. A tide of emotion came over
him, and swept over his audience. They were carried
away by his vehement, burning zeal, and real eloquence.
The sermon was a success. The Canadian boys received
the congratulations of their New York companions, and
with great pride responded : ' Why, Mr. Corson is only one
of our very ordinary preachers — never appears on great
occasions. Oh, if you could only hear one of our really
great men I '
"The unpretentious preacher made a most favourable

his gospel labours. 89
impression. He left his son, John Wesley, in the institu
tion. Like his father, he soon exhibited abilities far above
what first appearances justified. That son, after com
pleting his academic course, studied medicine; then went
abroad; wrote 'Loiterings in Europe,' a most readable
book, and he is to-day among the most successful and
learned of the medical faculty." [Extract of a letter from
Rev. A. M. Cummings, D.D., Principal of River Side
Seminary, Wellsville, N. Y]
I have great pleasure in informing Dr. Cummings and
those friends of Dr. J. W. Corson, who might be interested
to know, that the doctor did " return " from Cazenovia to
Canada, as he studied medicine under Dr. Rolph, in York
(now Toronto) ; that he did practice several years in his
native province, later in life ; and that his residence at the
present is, not " New York City," but Orange, New Jersey.
All his encomiums, however, are more than warranted.
1837, 1S38.
The Conference was nigh at hand to our subject this
year ; it sat in Toronto. It opened under the presidency of
the urbane and pious William Martin Harvard. Several
things had been done, were doing, or about to be done, to
allay agitation in the Connexion, and to popularize the
Conference with the country. Egerton Ryerson, who had
been in England for some months, returned for the opening
of the assembly, and was appointed Secretary. He brought
in a series of '" Resolutions" on " Government Grants
and the Clergy Reserves," which, though they proved
distasteful to the controlling Conference in England, gave
the Canada Connexion, in the mean time, something like its

90 FATHER CORSON.
old prestige before the country. Also, to give the Guardian,
whose politics latterly had not been much admired, a sort of
impersonal character, the editor's name was left off the
heading of the paper. But any person who wishes to know
the animus, and details of that Conference, and their influ
ence on our history in the then near future, must peruse my
fuller account in the " Biographical History," or read the
pages of the " Life and Times of Dr. Green."
This Conference gave Mr. Corson a ' hoist,' and set him
down among his old friends in one of his first Circuits, the
Dumfries. The following are the words in which Mr.
Corson himself describes the transition : " In 1837 I was
appointed to the Dumfries Circuit, after being absent
twelve years. My colleague died, but we had another young
man sent to us." The young man first appointed was his col
league of the preceding year on the Whitby Circuit, John C.
Will. Good Robert Corson's juniors often coveted to be with
him still. Will was fond of his old " Super," and desired
to accompany him, but, as John Wesley rhymed of Joshua
Keighly, he " found that death had swifer wings than love."
Who the young man was who supplied Mr. Will's place
during the balance of the year, after his being laid aside, I
do not positively know, but surmise from circumstances it
must have been either Mr. Byers or Mr. Newbury.
A removal so far from his homestead necessarily required
the giving up of his farm, and the transfer of his family to
his new Circuit, which it was impracticable for him to try
to do justice to, if he gave his family any attention, while
they remained at the German Mills. Indeed, his way of
getting on for the last three years must have given him and
his family very little of each other's society. It was to be
somewhat better now. No wonder, therefore, that his son,

his gospel labours. 91
Dr. Wm. Corson, calls it a re-union. His words are, " From
the farm, the father and family were re-united in the Dum
fries Circuit."
Just at this point I have opportunely received from Dr.
John Wesley a letter in answer to some inquiries I made of
him as to the particular localities in which the family re
sided while on the London and Long-Point Circuits, which,
if I had received before, I might have differently presented
some things which have been already given. A s it is, how
ever, I decide to give the principal part of the letter now.
It will serve as a resume of what I have gone over, interest
ing to Mr. Corson's friends, illucidative to the reader, and
adapted to present the too-much over-looked or forgotten
hardships under which the travelling preachers and their
families prosecuted their work half a century ago. Dr. Corson

" I was five years of age when father left his home on the
farm in Oxford, about two and a half miles from where
Ingersoll now flourishes, in 1822, on the Westminster Circuit,
for the first time. Mother and he both wept bitterly at the
farm gate as he went away. Then mother came back, and
beckoning to me to kneel by her side, prayed, with many tears,
perhaps for a whole hour. That farm-house continued head
quarters for almost five years, with some exceptions. Once
he moved about half a mile away to a log house, near Daniel
Harris's house, close to the Harris Creek, a small branch of
the Thames. Our own house was a frame. We had a beautiful
orchard. Then father went to the Dumfries Circuit, we
resided part of the time in Jersey Settlement, close to the
Church, near Daniel Howel's, in an old school-house. Then
we moved to the Waughs' neighbourhood, about three
miles from Ancaster. Next, we went back to the Oxford

92 father corson.
farm house." (That must have been while he laboured on
the Long-Point Circuit.) " In the fall of 1828, the sad news
suddenly came, that we must remove 150 miles, through
deep mud, to Whitby Circuit."
This will suffice to clear up what was obscure in my
former details. From these statements we learn that Mr.
Corson occupied either his own, or a neighbouring house,
while he travelled the Westminster, London and Long-Point
Circuits, upon each of which he laboured a year, embracing
the first two and the fifth year of his itinerancy. I defer
the rest of the Doctor's letter, to form part of a section on
the " Hardship of the Itinerancy."
I now turn to see what lights I can get to illustrate cheir
circumstances during this their second sojourn in the Dum
fries Circuit. Three children, I incidentally learn, accom
panied their parents to that new-old field of labour, namely,
Henry Ryan, William Case, and Robert, who afterwards
died at Newburg ; John Wesley was mostly from home pur
suing his preparatory or professional studies. None of my
correspondents inform me where, within the vast boundaries
of his extensive Circuit, the family was located ; but I sur
mise, from the frequent mention of " Father Ellis " and his
" barn," it must have been in the township of Waterloo.
Mr. Corson's ardent friend, Mr. Henry Chrysler, says of
him, " After an absence of some years, he returned. He
was frequently at cur house, where he was always welcome.
He was excellent company." " Here, too, ' Father Long,'
the Blind Preacher, with his wife, came to assist in
several protracted services, which were held with great
success." This retired officer of the British army, who had
lost his sight ip. the English Expedition to Egypt, under
Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and who afterwards had his eyes

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 93
opened, religiously, and became one of the most pathetic and
persuasivo of preachers, did incalculable good in going
from Circuit to Circuit, about this time and for years
after, promoting revivals, in which his excellent lady was
no mean helper. Having no children it was little matter
where they were.
But our friends met with some things odd and comical as
well as those that were religiously impressive. Dr. William
resumes, "A curious wedding scene took place while on
this Circuit, at which father was officiating. When he came
to ask the usual question of the bride, ' Wilt thou have this
man to be thy wedded husband?' She plainly replied 'I
will not,' and immediately burst into tears. Father said,
under these circumstances he could not proceed with the
ceremony ; and then the weeping became general. * The
reason given by the bride for such unusual conduct was, thai
she feared she did not love her intended husband as she ought.
While the company was all confusion, a good sister made
the sensible suggestion that they should, at least, partake
of the wedding dinner then in waiting; and while this part
of the ceremony was taking place, the bride concluded that
she did love the man of her choice enough to marry him.
And afier dinner the marriage ceremony was completed ;
and a very happy wedded life theirs proved to be. A son
of this couple (Clement) is now a minister in the M. E.
Church of Canada."
A ceremony which went off without a hitch is recorded
of the same Circuit during this period of Mr. Corson's
sojourn, by the facile pen of Squire Kilborn : " When Mr.
Corson was stationed in the Dumfries Circuit, about 1337
or 1838, the writer's father's house in Wilmot was a preach
ing-place. Word was left at the house by a bachelor to

94 FATHER CORSON.
have the preacher call down on the morning after preaching,
a distance of some three miles, to solemnize the marriage
rite between him and his Cinderella. Accordingly, the
horse and saddle-bags were got ready; after due inquiry as
to the course the cow-path which led to the place pursued,
our functionary sets out, and, in proper time, finds the
* clearing,' and our bachelor and affianced in the 'job '
logging. When addressed and called to order by Mr.
Corson, they dropped their handspikes, chaining the oxen
to a stump, brushed off the incumbent dust and ashes,
stepped into the skeleton of a log-house, literally without
chinking, plaster, or chimney, and, led by our divine,
mutually pledged lifelong fidelity. And all this without
change of raiment, or a wedding cake. On Mr. Corson's
return, .my mother asked him how he had succeeded : 'I,'
said Father Corson, ' I buckled them together, prayed for
them, and left them in their glory.' "
There was a net gain of twenty on the Circuit the first
year, to be followed by a larger one the following year.
During the Conference year 1837-38, the so-called
Canadian Rebellion took place, although we cannot ascer
tain that it agitated the Dumfries country. The general
facts, however, may be adverted to ; for upon some pro
ceedings growing out of the disturbances of this time,
" hangs a tale '' touching his simplicity and one of his
lucky hits ; but considerable preliminary matter must come
first. On the 4-th of December, 1837, Mr. William Lyon
McKenzie marshalled his insurgent forces at Montgomery's1
tavern, on Yonge Street, which, by the 7th of the same
month, were dispersed by the few soldiers left in the
Province and the loyal militia. Their leader and some of

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 95
his adherents fled to the United States and soon established
themselves with their American sympathizers on Navy
Island, opposite Chippewa, and created a diversion sufficient
to keep the country in a turmoil several months, which
was of a character to interrupt all useful measures for the
material and moral welfare of the Province. The way in
which the Canada Connexion was affected by it is, perhaps,
as well set forth in my " Biographical History " as by any
new collocation of words I could otherwise employ. Here
is the quotation : —
" Perhaps this disturbance rather raised the Wesleyan
Conference and its adherents in public esteem than other
wise. For several years they had been charged with defec
tion from the ranks of the party claiming to be for reform
and progress in the Province. The minister who had been
their leader in all public questions, the Rev. Egerton
Ryerson, had predicted, when he began to falter in ad
herence to the extreme reformers, that their course of action
would lead to rebellion. The events of this year confirmed
his prophecy, and created a reaction among the truly loyal,
which, now the rebellion was crushed, all were anxious to
demonstrate themselves as being. This all the Wesleyans,
unless a very few scattered exceptions, truly were. There
fore, when the very excellent President issued, towards the
close of this Conference year, an injudiciously-published
letter addressed to all the Superintendents of Circuits, re
quiring them to institute an inquiry in all their Societies
for any who had compromised their character for loyalty
during the late events, it was justly resented by the mem
bership with indignation, and produced considerable agita
tion ; and would have been the cause of more serious loss
had not the Rev. Egerton Ryerson stepped forward with

96 FATHER CORSON.
another letter, neutralizing in some measure the effects o'
Mr. Harvard's, and preventing its being acted upon bj
more than one Superintendent, who was the Rev. John C
Davidson. I regard this as the point at which the antag
onism began between the leading Canadian members oi
Conference and the authorities representing British Meth
odism in the Province, which increased, by one means and
another, till it issued in the breaking up of the Union.
The state of alarm and excitement into which the country
was thrown by the rebellion, and the militia-duty which
many had to perform and the camp-life they had to lead,
was woefully demoralizing and adverse to pure religion.
It was well no greater loss than that of 125 members was
sustained by the Wesleyan Church."
Let the reader keep the facts of the President's pub
lished letter in mind, until I furnish an account of the
ensuing Conference, in which Robert Corson appeared in a
somewhat serio-comic scene. 1838, 1839.
The Conference assembled in old Rear Street Chapel ta
the town of Kingston, June 13th, 1838, the Rev. Wm. M.
Harvard in the Presidential chair. Egerton Ryerson, now
fully restored to popular favour, by his late heroic defence
of Marshall S. Bidweil, Esq., who had been illegally ex
patriated, was re-elected Secretary. The usual routine
business was gone through with, none of which had any
very significant relevancy to the subject of my memoir, till
the debate which preceded the election of the editor of the
Guardian came on. The Rev. Ephraim Evans, who had
been the editor the three preceding years, had exposed him-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 87
self to the criticism of some, because of two things : first,
his severe expressions of disapproval uttered against the
American government because of its permission of tho
practical sympathy which many of the citizens of the Re
public showed towards the mis-called Canadian " patriots ; "
and secondly, and especially, because he had not only pub
lished, but defended the President's manifesto. Thus,
incidentally, the President's own official conduct, in that
particular, came under consideration. Much was said on
both sides ; and some of the deliverances in opposition to
the two officials were very severe. Several brethren showe .1
that the official circular had produced a most disturbing
effect on the societies in their several Circuits.
Among the rest, Brother Corson arose and told of tho
trouble it gave in his own Circuit. " Some of the class-
leaders had given up their class-books," and he had experi
enced hard work to quiet the people. Continuing to speak
he said, " I considered it very unwise and wrong to institute
such a proceeding. I didn't blame Father Harvard so much
in the matter as I did Brother Evans : I thought Ephraim
might have known better I But I encouraged the people as
well as I could ; and I told them / thought we would have a
new Editor." While the doubtful sort of plea was being
put in for " Father Harvard," on the score of ignorance,
the good President's smiling face was mantled with blushes ;
but when Corson ended with the hit about " a new editor,"
the " house " was effectually " brought down," and the
angry cloud dispersed. There was little chance of re
animating the debate : the election took place, and we " got
a new editor." Egerton Ryerson was elected to that
position. Mr. Corson was re-appointed to Dumfries ; and, according

98 FATHER CORSON.
to the minutes, a powerful, energetic man, the Rev. William
Coleman, was set down as his helper. Two such men, hu
manly speaking, ought to have accomplished much. But I
surmise the Circuit had not the good fortune to retain Mr.
Coleman ; but some change was made, by which he was re
moved to a more responsible position, where his labours were
more required. According to the usually accurate Cornish,
a young New Bruns wicker, late of the Long-Point country,
was called out by the Chairman as Mr. Corson's helper, in
the person of Charles Gilbert. Their labours were attended
with good results. Mr. Corson says, " My salary for the
two years was $400. Increase for two years, fifty-one ; "
making for the first, twenty ; and for the last one, thirty-one.
Mr. Chrysler says, " His farewell sermon was preached in
Father Ellis's barn, assisted by Brother " (David) Wright,"
the then Chairman of the London District, in which this
Circuit was comprised. The farewell sermon was looked to
with expectation in olden times, and those were sometimes
deeply affecting seasons. 1839, 1840.
We have come to the last year of the fourth sub-division of
the second period into which I have divided the life of Mr.
Corson ; namely, the last one of the seven years of the first
union, unless, indeed, we reckon the next year also up to the
special Conference. The Conference which stood at the
beginning of this year, was an anxious one ; and though its
proceedings, on the part of the majority, were largely taken
with a view to stave off the disruption which loomed in the
distance, they were ultimately in vain, if they did not aggra
vate the difficulty. The Rev. Dr. Alder had come over with
the expectation of bringing the Conference and its organ, the

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 99
Guardian, more under the control of the British Conference,
but when he arrived in Canada he found that prevailing
popular opinion was against the views he represented. I
need not, however, go into particulars at this time, as I
have endeavoured to detail them with all possible candour
and minuteness in another work. It is enough to say, that
Mr. Corson and his fellow-labourers went about their work
not without reason for feeling solicitude about the Ark of
the Lord.
Our subject was appointed for the Conference year indi
cated above, to the charge of the old Long-Point Circuit which
had been travelled by him during the third year of his itine
rancy, now under a new name, that of the Simcoe Circuit.
He was to remain there two years, although the last one
of those two was to be principally under a new order of
things. He was to have as his assistant, a devoted man,
late of the British Army, and a bold " soldier of Jesus
Christ," Hardie by name, and one who had learned to
"endure hardness." Two more indefatigable workers never
could have been pitted against each other, or more properly,
associated, as there was none but a loving strife between
them, if any, — no two were more equally matched yoke
fellows. Truo, Corson was lively but truly serious ; and
Hardie was grave, but yet quaint and genial.
The " Super's " own brief account of the matter for the
two years is as follows: — "In 1839, I was appointed to
Simcoe Circuit. I had an old bachelor for a colleague. I
stopped the second year. The last year we had revivals.
My salary for the two two years, $400. The increase for
the two years, sixty-one." An increase is the exception with
some ministers, who seem to give themselves but little
trouble on that head ; on the contrary, Corson laboured for,

100 FATHER CORSON.
and expected, numerical augmentation, and was surprised, if
not distressed, when he did not witness it. Gain was the
rule with him ; loss was the rare exception.
About this time (continued for years afterwards) Mr.
Corson began to write to me, year by year, on the subject of
Connexional doings and prospects. I cannot say why it
was : we had never been colleagues, and did not often meet,
yet still he wrote me. It may have been because, like him
self,! was a sort of middle man, against extreme and arbitrary
measures, and desirous of peace and the restoration of those
who had gone out from the main body. His letters, there
fore, related to increase, or decrease in numbers and funds ;
and to the movements, prospects, and feelings of other
Methodist bodies, likely to be rivals to ours. These charac
teristics of his letters were so prevalent that my good wife
noticed it before I ever made any remarks thereon : she
used to say that " Father Corson's letters are always about
numbers, funds, and the Episcopals 1 " " Out of the abund
ance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and a man is known
by his communication. The themes upon which he dwelt
indicated that hfe " preferred " our Methodist " Zion to his
chief joy." It is probable that during one or other of these
two years at Simcoe, the occurrence at Woodhouse Church,
already narrated, took place, and not at the earlier period, as
first given.
The notable general increase for this Conference year, of
one thousand one hundred and sixty-four, was a little like
former days, and was proof that the Connexion stood well
with the general public. Whenever our measures bore the
aspect of liberality, our numbers went up ; but when
they were thought to be otherwise, we decreased numeri
cally.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 101
1840, 1841.
5. The Seven Years of the interrupted Wesleyan Operations.
If the Conference of 1839 was an anxious one, the one for
1840, held in Belleville, was still more so, began June 10th,
and continued its sittings until the 20 th of the same month.
The unusual length of the session was an indication that this
synod had to grapple with questions not of easy solution. I
shall not go into details which may be found elsewhere :
suffice it to say, that the British Conference, to secure
what it thought a needful control of the Canada Connexion,
made demands which involved two new conditions of
UNION, which if they had been concurred in, would have
amounted to a surrender of its autonomy. These, however,
were flatly refused by the majority of the Canadians ; and
it was decided to send a Delegation of two, who proved to
be the Brothers William and Egerton Ryerson, to argue the
matter with the British Conference. Mr. Corson, though
candid and mild, might always be relied on by the majority
of the original Conference to maintain its views and decisions ;
and with a determination to uphold it, and to advance its
interests, he and the most of the brethren went about their
work for another Conference year.
He was returned to Simcoe for one more year, with
Brother Charles Gilbert, once more, for his colleague.
Although it was a stirring year for the Connexion, there is
not much material at hand for illustrating his outward or
inward life, or that of his family during the time.
It was while be was on this Circuit that he formed a
closer intimacy with Colonel Neal, a veteran local minister
who had planted one of the first societies in the province, that
on the Niagara River. At the advanced age of 78 he rode

102 FATHER CORSON.
around the Simcoe* Circuit in company with its superin
tendents, who received the old gentleman's experience of the
Revolution, his conviction and conversion, his long experi
ence as a Methodist and a preacher, especially in this
country when it was new, and provincial Methodism was in
its infancy, from his own lips ; and had the rare honour of
preaching the old hero's funeral sermon. From such men
our evangelist embibed an attachment to Methodism which
amounted to a passion.
But when the Conference year was only about four
months transpired, the Delegates returned from England and
convoked a " Special Conference," which came together in
Toronto, on the 22nd of October, 1840, and continued its
sessions seven days. The Delegates reported the non placet
decision of the British Conference, whose representatives had
begun to organize in the interests of the home connexion,
even before the Canada preachers assembled : the Confer
ence affirmed the doings of the Delegates, and resolved to
appoint their own President, as they had a disciplinary right
to do, the British Conference having failed to make an ap
pointment. The venerable Thomas Whitehead was appointed
President, and the Rev. John C. Davidson was elected
Secretary. Eleven members of the Conference reported
their adhesion to the British Conference, and were returned
" Withdrawn," among whom was Mr. Corson's late colleague
and much-loved friend, Thomas Fawcett — it was well that
it was not to be a final estrangement. But as to the full de
tails of all the then heart-wringing transactions of that
memorable Conference, Behold are they not written in the
Chronicles of " Case and his Cotemporaries," which record
* Probably when it was called the Long-Point Circuit, fifteen years
before ; for he died in 1S39, aged 93.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 103
obviates the necessity of reciting them here. So sudden
and violent a disruption necessitated a good many changes
m Circuits and among the preachers. As an example I will
simply detail those of the London District, to which the
Simcoe Circuit belonged, italicising, when I come to it, those
that relate to that Circuit itself. The account is simply a
paragraph from my History :
" The London District, losing its former Chairman, E.
Evans, receives Wm. Ryerson. The Grand River Mission,
to which Mr. Ryerson had been appointed at the' Conference
in June, was placed under the care of the Brantford Super
intendent, Mr. Bevitt, who had D. B. Madden sent to his
assistance from the Academy, in the place of Mockridge, a
probationer, who gave in his adhesion to the British Mission
aries. Mr. Price, also, was brought from Walpole Mission
to asssist in their extensive field : properly, Mr. Price took
Mr. Mockridge's place. President Whitehead was a resident
within this Circuit. Simcoe took in the Walpole ground,
which was supplied by its tioo former preachers, Corson and
Gilbert. Oxford retained its Superintendent, Kerr, but lost
its second preacher, H. Byers, who must also be reckoned
amongst the dissentients. I. B. Howard, like Madden, left
his studies, aud went to the assistance of Mr. Kerr. London
Circuit had lost its Superintendent, Norris, but S. Rose went
there in his place, retaining Wm. Coleman as his colleague.
Hamilton, the first Circuit in that district, instead of Manly,
received McNab, and instead of H. Montgomery, G. R. Sander
son. There was also " one to be sent." Dumfries had lost
Stoney, but that old warrior, Ferguson, sniffing the smell of
battle, left his retirement, and again mounted his war-horse
in that Circuit. His colleague was L. 0. Rice. J. W.
McCollum was appointed, but did not go. Thames retained

10.4 FATHER CORSON.
Williston, and J. Williams was his helper. St. Thomas lost
Wm. Steer, but Montgomery, who did not leave till the year
was out, went there in his place. Malahide suffered a cruel
loss : Thomas Fawcett went away, and it received a chair
man's supply. That supply we have since cause to believe
was a good one — a located minister in the person of George
Sovereign, already mentioned in these volumes, who resided
in the Circuit. Guelph had ' one to be sent,' but pretty much
passed out of the hands of the Canadian Conference for a
time. Before the year was out Mr. Holtby was sent to take
care of the Canada Conference adherents. The same remark
might be made of Goderich. Muncey was supplied with Mr.
Waldron, not by ' P. Jones ;' Saugeen, by Wm. Herkermer,
Indian preacher. Gosfield and Howard retained its minis
ters, Flummerfelt and Miles. Warwick and Adelaide had
David Hardie."
It will be seen that the extension of their boundaries
must have given the Simcoe preachers, at least, one-third
more labour than they had had before, which I will venture
to believe was itself quite enough. Between one and two
thousand members declared their adhesion to the British
cause, yet the division of Canadian Wesleyanism with
which Mr. Corson stood connected had, after all, a net gain
of three hundred and forty-one. It was the beginning of
an upward tendency which showed itself for several years,
until it was checked by a most deplorable occurrence.

1841, 1842.
The transition between the year 1840-41, — the year of
controversy and disruption, — the year of unprecedented
energy and effort, and we might add, of revival — and the

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 105
year 1841-42, was marked by the re-assembling of the
Canada Conference in Toronto. The time and place ap
pointed by the regular session of that Conference in June,
1840— on the 18th of June, 1841. The assembly missed
some of those persons who had, either for many years
before, but especially for the last seven years, borne a
prominent part in its proceedings. Among the former, the
venerable Case was missed, and also E. Evans ; and among
the latter, a Stinson, a Richey, a Lang, and others. The
Rev. Thomas Whitehead, the late temporary President,
opened the proceedings with devotional exercises; and he
was then replaced by the election of the Rev. William
Ryerson to the Presidental chair.
The Stationing Committee of the above-mentioned Con
ference appointed Mr. Corson to an important Circuit, but
which necessitated a long move. It was the Napanee
Circuit, where he was destined to remain two years, and to
experience sad changes in his attached and happy family.
His colleague for the first year was a man almost or quite
as old as himself, but not of such long standing in the
itinerancy, although he had been many years a local
preacher before going out. This was the Rev. Gilbert
Miller, who, while he excelled Mr. Corson in some things,
lacked other qualities in which his superintendent excelled.
They were both Canadians, not very dissimilar in tastes,
and they got on very smoothly together.
But first we must get him well on to his Circuit, and
show where his family lived ; for in those days of very few
parsonages, preachers did not necessarily reside at the
reputed or nominal head of their Circuit. I avail myself
of the very interesting memoranda of Dr. William Corson :
"In 1841, father was transferred from Simcoe to Napanee.
6*

106 FATHER. CORSON.
As no railroads were then in existence, the moving of a
family so long a distance was no light undertaking. So
lately as that period, there were no furnished parsonages,
and every household necessity had to be packed and un
packed. Mother and the children took the steamer at
Hamilton for Kingston, while father and I" (a boy fourteen
or fifteen) " made the journey by the carriage, which
occupied us several days. We sang our way along the
road, and arrived at our destination in due time."
" Before getting into our own home, while stopping at
the house of a good brother, as mother was one clay washing
clothes by the river-side, she felt somewhat depressed ; pos
sibly thinking, too, that she had no home of her own, she
gave way to a temporary feeling of despondency. At that
moment she saw a turtle on the bank, and the thought
occurred to her, that here was a creature of God that, like
herself, had no home, but carried his habitation on his
back, so to speak ; and from that circumstance she gathered
hope and courage."
We know who has said, " Speak to the earth and it shall
teach thee." Earth is full of lessons to the observing,
reflecting heart. Every reader is familiar with the heart
and hope taken by Mungo Park, when, bereft of his horse,
robbed, and left totally destitute in the solitudes of Central
Africa, by casting his eye casually on a tiny delicate sprig
of moss. He thought if the Omniscient, Ever present
Creator and Provider took care for the maintenance and
development of this minute specimen of vegetable life, he
would not forgetone of his higher creation, though apparently
abandoned to perish. During the present rigorous winter I
often go out and find the little sparrows about my premises,
and feel sometimes inclined to indulge a feeling of extreme

CIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 107
anxiety about them, until the words of Jesus recur to my
recollection, " Nevertheless your Heavenly Father feedeth
them." Dr. William resumes, " The first year we lived near the
village of Napanee, but the year following we removed to
Newburg, where a large and most gracious revival took
place, in the course of which two of the children were
converted." But I must remand this witness for the pre
sent : he was about to narrate what was exceedingly
touching, but it belongs more properly to the year fol
lowing. The husband and father's account of his appointment to
Napanee, is in his usually brief and sententious style : " In
1841 I was appointed to Napanee, one of the oldest
Circuits in the Province. I had a married man for my
colleague. We had revivals in different places. Our
increase for the two years was sixty-two. My salary for the
two years was $640," — $320 a year. Some advance on his
early years in the ministry.
I am desirous to illustrate our Pioneer Preacher's dis
position and doings by characteristic examples, some of
which must be necessarily apparently trivial.
The following little incident indicates both good temper
and tact. The honoured father of the Rev. John N. Lake,
from whom I received the account, said that Mr. Corson
was preaching on a very warm day in the old Switzer chapel,
when the whole congregation, weary perhaps with the
labours of the preceding week, became very drowsy, and
finally the most of them fell fast asleep. The preacher
knew that no benefit would accrue from preaching to
sleepers ; yet he did not storm, or scold, but stopped alto
gether, till one after another, thinking the service over,

108

FATHER CORSON.

aroused himself, and thought of leaving, when the preacher
broke out with — "When the cradle stops rocking, the baby
wakes up ! " and went on and concluded his sermon to a
more wakeful congregation. Each reader may inquire after
the philosophy of the case for himself.
1842, 1843.
The Conference for 1842 recurred once more to Picton or
Hallowell, after an interval of twenty years. That assem
blage was pre-eminently Canadian : it was presided over by
one who had gone forth into the work of the ministry from
the same neighbourhood in which the Conference was held
(then and now). This was the Rev. Anson Green, now
D.D.,* who after the lapse of a score of years was among
his old friends and neighbours, preferred to the highest office
in the gift of his brethren. And he did not disappoint their
confidence ; he made a good presiding officer for a deliber
ative assembly.
There was not much of the Conference proceedings that
had any special relevancy to Mr. Corson's personal history,
excepting barely two things : — First, his " standard-bearer,"
the last year's Chairman of his District, the Rev. John C.
Davidson, joined those who were then the most efficient
rivals of the Canada Conference, the " British Wesleyan
Missionaries," as they were then distinguished — a change
which, after the lapse of some years longer, was to be
followed by the renunciation of Methodism altogether,
Such things, however, did not move Robert Corson, who
would have found it very hard to work in any thing but
* Alas, since departed.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 109
Methodist harness — and that, too, of the old Canadian, or
at least Anglo-Canadian, make.
To come to the second particular I had in mind, there
was a change made (which proved only tentative and tem
porary at first), that involved a very considerable departure
from the type of Methodism with which he first became
familiar. This was the suspension of the Chairman's
journeys around his District, in quarterly visits to the
several Circuits. All Mr. Corson's original ideas of Metho
dism were Episcopal — that is, Presbyterio-Episcopal. He
had a lively and pleasurable remembrance of the sermons
and oversight of the Epiiscopoi who came in from the States
in the days of yore. Nevertheless, though it is strange to
say, our subject was ono of the first who joined the move
ment to do away with the Travelling chairmanship. This
agitation had existed more or less, from soon after the
formation of the first Union, and now it was carried into
effect, to the great satisfaction of Mr. Corson. Nor do I
know, with all the changes on the subject, that he ever
changed his mind as to the propriety of localizing the
Chairmen. I think the reasons which influenced him were,
the persuasion that the Presiding Eiders were too expensive,
or did not do enough for their pay, which required large
drafts out of the slender resources of each Circuit to make
up. And, in my humble opinion, the Travelling Chairmen
were answerable for their own overthrow. There were too
many of them who thought a couple of sermons in each
Circuit once a quarter (and sometimes these were not given)
was quite sufficient to entitle them to their claims on the
several Circuits. Had all the Chairmen been like the late
Rev. Henry Wilkinson— contriving to give a sermon on
Friday night somewhere in the Circuit, on his way in to the

110 FATHER. CORSON.
place of the quarterly meeting ; and then on Sunday night
and Monday, on his way out, besides those of Saturday
p.m. and Sunday forenoon — there would have been no
demand for the change ; or there would have been no
potency in the demand when it was made. The loss of
supervisal was an injury to the work in many ways. Such
men as Corson needed no stirring up to labour it is true,
albeit there were few as industrious as he ; yet even he
needed the supervisal and presidency of a Chairman in his
official meetings, to counteract a loose and immethodical
tendency in business and in smaller matters, to which he
was prone. I do not write with any expectation of seeing
the office restored ; but think much might be done to com
pensate the want of the travelling overseers, if all the
present stationed Chairmen were to show as much concern
for their Districts, and as much activity and enterprise as
some incumbents of the office I wot of, but whom, I suppose,
it would not be proper to mention in this place.
At the Conference of 1842, Mr. Corson, as the reader
will anticipate, was re-appointed to Napanee, exchanging
one married colleague for another — giving up Mr. Miller,
and taking William Haw in his place. This was a preacher
of great volubility, not without eloquence ; and if he had
possessed his " Super's " humility, plodding industry, patient
endurance, and steadfast adherence to the principles of
Methodism and its itinerancy, he would have accomplished
great things. Even as it was, he was ever and anon very
successful in some great spasmodic movement for promoting
revivals. But this was a trying year foi the precious Corson family.
This is summarily referred to by himself. Speaking of Mr.
Miller, his first year's colleague, he says, " The first year

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. Ill
my colleague buried his wife ; the second year I buried
mine." The reference to this sad bereavement by his son William
is very touching, and all the particulars he details full of
interest. Speaking of Newburg, he says, " Here, too, that
saintly mother was called to her rewaid, under circum
stances peculiarly trying and afflictive — she having been
seized with an acute inflammation of the brain, causing loss
of consciousness, and, in the course of two or three weeks,
bringing to a termination her useful life." I suspend Dr.
William's account to give some particulars furnished in her
beautifully written obituary notice, published in the Christian
Guardian soon after her death : —
" Several weeks before her death, she intimated to one or
two friends, that she had an impression on her mind that
she had not long to live. About a week before she was
taken violently ill, she was forced abruptly to leave the
class-meeting, which she always attended, on account of
indisposition, and returned home and retired to bed. A
few minutes after, one of the family softly approached the
apartment, and, hearing a voice, stopped to listen. She was
rejoicing and pouring forth ejaculatory praises upon her bed.
After she was taken ill, she said to her husband, that she
regretted that her sickness bad prevented her from attending
the love-feast held in the village at that time, as she had
intended to discharge a neglected duty, in professing her
enjoyment of entire sanctification, and that she felt that an
unworthy timidity had prevented her from confessing Christ
so fully as she ought to have done.
" In consequence of the nature of her complaint, she
became permanently delirious, with scarcely a lucid interval,
for several days before her 'death. Deeply afflicting as it

112 FATHER CORSON.
was for her friends to see the mind prostrated before its
clay tenement was, and they to be thus deprived of the
opportunity of enjoying rational conversation with one
whose deathbed testimony would otherwise doubtless have
been full of holy joy and comfort. Yet it was an allevia
tion to think that she was thereby rendered unconscious of
much severe suffering. The bereaved relatives must ever
feel grateful for the unwearied kindness of numerous Chris
tian friends, whose most indefatigable attentions were so
freely bestowed during this mournful season of trying
affliction. " There was one incident connected with this death that
was deeply affecting. A few weeks before her illness,
several females living near her professed to find peace in
believing, partly through the instrumentality of her pious
conversation and prayers. Up to the time of her death the
closest intimacy subsisted between this little circle and
herself. They seemed, indeed, to regard her as a kind of
common spiritual mother. During her illness they watched
and wept over her with all the affection of children. Part
of this devoted band remained almost constantly by her
bed-side. Unitedly they offered up fervent prayers to
Heaven that she might be spared to them a little longer.
T^ut they sought to stay
' A spirit ripe for heaven :
And Mercy in her love refused,
Most merciful, as oft when seeming least.
The Angel of the Covenant
Was come ; and faithful to his promise stood
Prepared to walk with her through death's dark va!o ! ' "
About her funeral, her son William continues, " Our old

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. llo
friend, Conrad "Vandusen, happened to be in that vicinity,
and officiated on that sad funeral occasion, taking for hi**?
text the words of the Psalmist, (Ixxxviii. 18.) ' Lover and
friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance
into darkness ! ' While the coffin was being carried out of
the old Switzer Chapel, the anthem, ' I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord,' &c, was sung. In the graveyard, close behind
the pulpit, her body was buried. And, in the course of
four years after, her son Robert, called after his father,
" who died of typhus fever in 1847, prevalent in that year,
was laid beside his mother's grave." Many a tender-hearted
person will be grateful to Dr. William for so clearly indi
cating a spot to which, when opportunity offers, they will
feel a mournful pleasure in making a pilgrimage. Let no
one say that we have devoted too much time and space to
one whose history is not an avowed subject of this book, at
least whose name is not in the title-page. But Emma Free-
land cannot be separated from Robert Corson without
greatly marring his portrait. Doubtless she left the
impress of her dignified, yet devoutly affectionate spirit,
upon his character for good through the whole of his
remaining days ; but I have thought more than once that
the Robert Corson of Emma's day, was, in some respects, a
superior man to the Robert Corson the world knew after
his angelic mentor and guardian had flown away from the
rude storms of earth.
View the matter as you may, this death was a terrible
blow to the Corson family. William sorrowfully says,
" From the death of my mother, the family scattered,
never to be re-united again on earth. The youngest son,
Adam, was at this time only four years old, but was

114 "VTHER CORSON.
tenderly cared for by several families in succession, until
father's second marriage, three years after the death of
his first wife. Of course, with the loss of such an efficient
co-labourer as she was, the ministerial success of my father
suffered diminution." This is a just remark, and if there
is any falling off henceforth in the cheering reports from
" Father Corson," surprise must not be felt. The days of
his widowhood were dreary years ; after the enjoyment of
a comfortable home so long, it was hard to be knocked
about " from post to pillar," as single preachers were down
even to that time. 1843, 1844.
Though Mr. Corson went to the Conference at Hamilton,
this year, a sorrowing widower, the gathering was a hopeful
one. There was one aspect of the cause in which he doubt
less greatly rejoiced — the increase in the membership bor
dered on four thousand, that is to say, the noble gain of
3,833. There were many other particulars of great interest,
but I know not that any more of them were in a direct line
with our present inquiries.
Mr. Corson was not to move far, but was left where he
could keep the younger members of his scattered little
flock somewhat in sight : he was appointed to Bath and the
Isle of Tanti ; but, in several respects, it was a coming
down. He was appointed under the superintendency of a
minister a good many years his junior, the Rev. Cyrus R.
Allison ; and according to the absurd notions of pay-
according-to-circumstances, he claimed only as a single man,
which was $100, of which sum he received only ninety.
It was before the existence of the children's fund, and he
received notliing for the support of his little ones. No

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 115
wonder they took to industries to support themselves,
which, indeed, they so effectually plied, as to achieve both
fame and fortune in the issue.
It is strange that the Conference was so slow to awake
to the injustice of cutting a preacher, bereaved of his wife,
down to a single man's allowance, almost as soon as the
breath was out of her body, leaving him, at the moment
his expenses were necessarily increased, with half the
resources he had claimed before.
A year or two after that, two married ministers occupied
the same Circuit, in a District over which I happened to pre
side. One of them, the superintendent, lost his wife about
the middle of the year ; his colleague insisted that for the
balance of the time the quarterage must be divided, not
equally as before, but as two to one, that is, that he should
be paid two-thirds of the money in hand, and that his
superintendent should receive but one-third, although he
had rather the larger family of the two ; and I was applied
to to decide the matter. I endeavoured to persuade the
junior to let the division go on as before, but he refused,
and I was urged to define the law. Thus pressed, I could
not but say that its letter favoured his claims ; and this
man exacted them. Thus, in the name of the law, I was
the unwilling instrument in deciding against the claims of
justice. I do not know that the exacting brother gained
much in the end. He lost in popularity throughout the
Circuit ; and he gained little, if anything, in a pecuniary
point of view. Many refused to pay at all in the regular
way, but handed their contributions, in the form of dona
tions, to the brother whose allow-ances were cut down. Mr.
Corson says of this year, " Increase fifty in number? ;
salary, ninety dollars."

116 FATHER CORSON.
1844, 1845.
In 1844 the Conference sat for the first time in the
beautiful town of Brockville ; and though the smallness of
the place led some to predict that the members of Confer
ence could not be entertained, they were entertained, and
most comfortably provided for in every respect. At this
Conference the travelling of the Chairmen was restored.
I do not remember that Mr. Corson made any serious
opposition to the return to the old method, but I do not
think he ever changed his views of the inutility of the
office. For my own part, at that time I confess I acted
with those on his side : having made a change, I did not
then see sufficient cause to reverse what had been done.
But having once restored the travelling chairmanship, I am
now sorry that that administrative measure was ever sur
rendered. It was an evil submitted to in 1847, to secure
what its friends thought to be a greater good. When ^c
get that far I may tell how it was brought about.
Mr. Corson says, " In 1844 I was appointed to Consecon,
with a married man for my colleague." This was John
Sanderson 1st. " We found a number of nominal mem
bers. We had small increase. Salary, $120." I have no
means for illustrating the year any further.
1845, 1846.
The Conference for 1845 sat for the first time at St.
Catharines. The Connexion \,u.i in some little anxiety.
The Rev. Dr. Ryerson had seen fit to make a written, pub
lished defence of Sir Charles Metcalf against the accusations
of his ministry. That side was unpopular with all the

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 117
membership who retained their allegiance to the old Reform
party. The discontent gave those who were desirous of
organic changes of a radical kind in the Connexion occasion
to agitate and to get up a paper in the interests of lay
delegation ; and there was the mournful decrease reported
of 803, something which naturally saddened Mr. Corson's
heart along with a good many others.
The state of things at that time was of a character to
deepen the lesson which the Conference (at least its leading
influences) were slow to learn, namely, that an interference
with public, especially political, questions, is disturbing to
the peace of religious bodies, particularly if the clergy are
the governing authority. If Conferences will interfere
with public questions then, in all reason and decency, the
laity should have a representation in those bodies.
But the rank and file of the assembly went their way
from the Conference determined to try and remedy the
disaster, and regain their laurels. Among the rest was our
widowed brother, who was appointed to an interior field of
labour, by himself, the Sheffield Circuit. His own
account is, " In 1S45 I was appointed to Sheffield ; stopped
one year. But little revival. Salary, $120." For two
years past there had been an increase of twenty dollars on
his allowances,
I have no materials for illustrating our subject's doings
and circumstances further for this year.
Only, I may say, I saw him once through the year : met
him at a missionary meeting. He seemed cheerful, and his
speech " brought down the house," or rather one of his
stories, or his manner of telling it, did. With the care of
his younger children his condition was peculiar and cheer
less enough. Many of his friends urged him to marry

118 FATHER CORSON.
again, among whom was his oldest son. Sundry friends
also used their good offices to bring this about. Among
these shall I be ashamed to confess that I was not wholly
idle in that particular I A maiden lady of my acquaintance
declined to see him on such an errand, because some of us
had detailed some of his rollicking sayings and doings, and
familiarly, though fondly designated him as " Bobby
Corson." A person may unwittingly injure a friend by a
little too free use of his name. This person, however,
would scarcely have suited him. 1 should have succeeded
better with a comely, pious, gifted, well to-do widow, that
resembled his lost one more than any other person I ever
saw, who was far from listening to the matter with distaste,
and would have married him, I verily believe, only that
her two young daughters made an outcry at the idea of
wandering about the world in the family of an itinerant
minister ; but it has so turned out that they have had
scarcely less wandering than if their mother had become
the wife of Parson Corson. I have introduced the above
cases for the sake of a little gossip ; and I am bound to say,
that he and the persons referred to never met. The negoti
ations were at my own instance, and there is not more
than one living mortal, besides myself, who knows who are
referred to.
The preachers " laboured as in the very fire " to stay
connexional decline, and to prevent impending disaster.
Camp-meetings were held all over the country, and many
souls were won ; but in the mean time there was a spirit of
distrust in some of our most prominent societies. No
wonder, therefore, that there was a casting 'about for some
new state of ecclesiastical existence ; and many thought it
would be wise to seek some composition with the British

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 119
Conference, by which one at least of our many impediments
might be taken out of the way. This feeling reached its
culminating point when the Conference assembled in King
ston, in June, 1846 : when the numbers were made up, and
it was ascertained that the membership had decreased
within twelve months to the amount of one thousand three
hundred and eighty nine, which, joined to the eight hundred
and thirty-three of the year before, amounted to two thous
and two hundred and twenty-two in two years, it deepened
the impression that something ought to be done to remedy
the evils under which the connexion laboured. Several
concurring circumstances rendering the matter hopeful, a
deputation to the British Conference was decided on, con
sisting of the Revs. John Ryerson and Anson Green, who
left in due time and succeeded in their mission. But I
must not anticipate. I may barely say, however, that this
mission of peace met with Mr. Corson's cordial approval,
as did every measure at all times, to secure the harmony
and unity of Methodism, he never allowing any pique or
grudge to stand in the way of any such movement.
1846, 1847.
The Conference at which these decisions were come to,
sat in the town of Kingston. At that Conference Mr.
Corson was appointed so far west as Warwick, in the
London District. That was the only time at which I ever
knew of our good friend feeling injured by his appointment.
The stations had been kept pretty close from the members
of Conference by the Stationing Committee, and they were
read off as the last act in the drama ; and pretty dramatic
it proved. Mr. Haw remonstrated warmly at his removal

120 FATHER CORSON.
from Brockville to Waterloo — Kingston; but Brother
Corson seemed very much excited, and declaimed with
vehement invective against the cruelty of sending an old
widower like him, who had served the Connexion no less
than twenty-four years, so far away from his motherless
children, and to a new and poor field of labour besides.
But, hard as it was, I think it proved a good thing for
him and his youngest child in the end. It decided him to
ask a lady, who had been under consideration, to become
his wife, who accepted him, and they started for his new
Circuit in a very few days. But I will first allow him to
tell the story, and then I will bring some other lights to
bear on the subject : —
" In 1846, I was appointed to the Adelaide and Warwick
Mission. I had not kept house since the death of my wife,
not having any daughters. My oldest son was a physician
in practice ; two were learning trades ; two were at college ;
and my youngest son, seven years old, I had to hire board
for. After remaining single three years, I married an old
maid. We were married early in the morning, and started
for our new Circuit. Our journey 240 miles."
Dr. J. W. Corson, Father Corson's eldest son, a discern
ing, considerate man, and a physician, informed me near
the time of his father's second marriage, that he had advised
his honoured parent to marry, and not by any means to
marry an old woman, but some person sufficiently young
and active to be able to take care of him. The advice
seems to have been judicious, and the old gentleman seems
to have adopted it pretty much to the letter. Her maiden
name was Amy Lockwood. She was born near Belleville,
in 1814, so that she was aged 32 at the time of their
marriage, and he was fifty-three, just 21 years her senior.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 121
Ti is well known that the Methodist discipline contemplates
a supervisal of ministers' marriages, as well as all other
parts of their conduct. And among other things it is
considered undesirable for elderly men to burden the
Connexion with wives so young that they are likely to
draw long on the funds after the decease of the husband ;
albeit, at that time the law was not in force which restricts
the claims of widows to those " not more than fifteen years
younger than their husbands." Notwithstanding, at the
following District Meeting, when the Question came up,
"Who has married during the year; and Has the fourth
of the ' Rules of a preacher been obeyed, which says, Take
no steps towards marriage without first consulting your
brethren?'" A quizzical sort of brother demanded to
know the age of Brother Corson's new wife. That was a
point of which the good old man felt disposed to " fight shy
a little," and with a mixture of simplicity and shrewdness,
he answered, "There is the same difference between the
ages of me and my wife, that there was between Elder
Case's first wife and himself." He presumed, dear man,
that Elder Case's example might be followed without
occasioning any challenge ! Indeed, they might as well
have spared their pother, for though he had started in the
voyage of life in another century from the one in which
his new wife was born, yet he was destined to survive her
by some months, she getting into port before him.
But to return from this episode, I have the means cf
knowing that his children regarded his marriage as
judicious and fortunate. Listen to the testimony of Dr.
William Corson : —
" The virtues of the second wife are fairly stated in her
obituary by the Rev. Wm. Willoughby. She was very
7

122 FATHER CORSON.
prudent, very self-denying, willing to make any reasonable
sacrifice for the sake of the children. She was a fond
foster mother to the youngest of the boys ; and erred, if at
all, on the side of too much indulgence. Although she had
not the superior mental endowments of the first wife, yet
in justice to her it should be said she had many Christian
virtues, which went far to compensate for the want of the
high mental abilities which had shone with such lustre
in the first. As a neighbour she was greatly beloved.
I had this testimony from two of her nearest lady acquain
tances, namely, that they, ' loved her more than their own
mother. She was kind to the poor and the sick, and in a
meek and unpretentious way fulfilled the will of her
Master, whose mission on the earth was to go about doing
good.'" In the early summer of 1848 I was put in charge of
the London District, in which the Warwick and Adelaide
Mission was comprehended, and was often within its bounds
during the space of three years. The year of my arrival
was the one succeeding the removal of Mr. and Mrs.
Corson, and I naturally heard something of both one and
the other. The uniform testimony concerning the wife
was, that she was quiet, unmeddlesome, and very indus
trious. Is it anything to her disgrace to tell that as she
had been thrown early on her own resources, she had
learned a skilled employment, by which she comfortably
provided for herself for some years before marriage. So
also now, after marriage, when domestic engagements were
disposed of (and she was a tidy housekeeper) she thought
it not beneath her dignity to ply her old occupation, when
*>irged by the unprivileged people of that remote settlement,
by TyJiich? to suiae extent, she helped to eke out the slcnd^i'

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 12C
allowances received by her husband? I hope I have not
many readers who think that labour is undignified, or that
there is anything degrading in any one to help himself,
when required by circumstances to do it, whatever his or
her calling in life, especially with the example of St. Paul
before them. I saw the second Mrs. Corson within two
or three years after their marriage, as I also did many
times after that again, when I was their privileged guest ;
and I always felt to rejoice, that little Adam and his father
had fallen into the hands of a lady sizeable, strong, healthy,
and industrious, who was so very able and willing to take
care of them. Besides, she had lesser graces and recom
mendations : exemplarily plain in her attire, yet comely,
indeed with a very pleasing countenance, and a lively,
kindly eye, and modest, agreeable conversation.
Here is an entry I find in Mr. Corson's memoranda,
laconic as usual, relative to "those women which had
laboured together with him in the Gospel " : — " A few
remarks in reference to my wives. My first was quite
above mediocrity, as a woman of talent and piety. My
Fecond wife has been a blessing to me and my children,
and sets a good example worthy of imitation with regard
to piety. She reads the scriptures and prays in the family
in my absences. She is exemplary with regard to industry
and plainness of dress."
But I must allow this untiring labourer to tell the rest
of his tale relating to the Adelaide Mission.— "We arrived,
but no house to go into." [A fine affair for a newly
married couple ! But did they despond, or complain 1
Hear what he says.] " However, we thanked tbe Lord
and took courage. I had a colleague, a family man. We
Lj,d hard work to ."it houses to live in, as the Circuit wns

124 FATHER COZISON.
new. I remained two years on the Circuit, and received
$550. No increase."
The colleague, " a family man," he refers to was the Rev.
Thomas Williams, then newly married himself, from whose
facile and graphic pen I should have been glad to hear how
they got on ; and to have been informed of some of the
unique sayings and doings of the ever lively Robert Corson.
There is something abhorrent in a dull old man's getting
married the second time, especially to a woman younger
than himself; but I will venture to aver that the second
Mrs. Corson found her husband as young in heart as herself,
and that to the last.
Our subject was active in fulfilling District as well as
Circuit responsibilities, albeit he did not believe in obtru
ding his services where they were taken at a discount — and
I cannot say but he was right. The Rev. Richard Phelps
tells a good story of Uncle Robert, which relates to one or
other of the two years his name stood in connection with
Adelaide, — the first I believe, while Mr. Corson was yet
new in that part of the country. Mr. Phelps at that time
was labouring on the Gosfield and Amherstburg Circuit. A
large deputation had been appointed by connexional author
ity to hold the missionary meetings in the south-western
part of our great Canadian Peninsula. There were two
seniors on the Deputation, Messrs. Corson and Phelps, the
rest were mere boys. The Deputation met for its first
meeting at Wallaceburg, and, as usual, Father Corson was
on time. Every-body knows that usually the later a
speaker is brought on, the greater compliment it is con
sidered to his ability to interest the audience, and to supply
any defect in what has preceded ; or he is as a reserve force,
to repair any mistakes and disasters that may have been per-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 125
petrated in the early part of the missionary battle. Or other
wise, to have to go first, and to break the ice is the work
of rougher men ; while the last brought forward is supposed
to occupy the post of honor. So it was understood by the
brethren assembled at that time. Whoever arranged the
meeting, the old hero of a hundred battles was required tb
make the opening speech, and a rattling one it was. He,
however, excused himself from going very much into details,
" boy as he was of only Twenty five years ministerial
experience, while there were so many venerable men to
come after him, from whose able deliverances he would not
detain the audience ! " And, ever and anon, he would turn
to the rear of the plp.tform, make one of his irresistible
bows, and with indescribably ludicrous expressions of coun-
tenane, speak of his " aged bretheren." This performance
so completely brought down the house, that it was no easy
matter for those who launched their boats after him, to
paddle out of his wake. But the old gentleman's resent
ment did not end there ; for, to use the language of Brother
Phelps, " The next morning, he ' put off, on a bee line ' for
his own Circuit, aud we saw him no more." Perhaps some
will be inclined to say, " Served them right !"
1847, 1848.
6. FROM THE RE-CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION IN
1847, TO THE ADMISSION OF THE LOWER CANADA
AND HUDSON BAY DISTRICTS INTO THE CANADA
CONFERENCE IN 1854.
I have very little to say under the head Of this Confer
ence year, as the most of what relates to Mr. Corson and
his Circuit has been anticipated, except it is to tell that an

126 FATHER CORSON.
important event was accomplished, which had been pending
for a year, namely, the restoration of the union between the
British and Canadian Conferences ; an event in which he
greatly rejoiced, because of its bearing on the general inter
ests of Provincial Methodism, with which he had been iden
tified for thirty years ; but also because it restored some inti
mate friendships which had been somewhat weakened for
seven years. When such men as the Rev. Messrs. Case,
Douse, Evans, and Thomas Fawcett, along with the whole of
the Canada Western District meeting, came filing into the
Conference, it greatly gladdened his heart ; and when all
the brethren, old and new, from both sides, joined in the
season of weeping prayer and self-consecration which
followed on the ratification of the Articles of the restored
union, none wept more profusely or prayed more earnestly
than Robert Corson. I need not give further particulars, as
I have furnished the data and ample details elsewhere. If
any one is anxious to be informed of the principles and
particulars of that important transaction, they may be
easily found.
Mr. Corson returned to Warwick and Adelaide for a second
year, with the important task of uniting into one homogen
eous whole the several societies of the two sorts of Wesleyans
that had existed together on the ground — To meet the pre
dilections of the British as well as Canadian side of the
house, a brother who had been employed in a quasi relation
to the travelling ministry among the former for the preced
ing four years was appointed as his colleague. This was Rev.
Thomas Y. Constable, a willing and efficient labourer.
Though not yet ordained, he was married, or as Mr. Corson
had it, " a family man," and his family had to be supported
out of the slender resources of that then not very productive

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 127
country and whatever the Missionary Fund could afford to
give them. I believe the Canadian and the Englishman
got on very happily together ; and I should have been glad if
my appeal to Father Corson's former colleagues had drawn
something from this survivor. They had the Rev. Wm.
Ryerson for their visiting chairman.
I have nothing further to detain the reader concerning this
first year after the union. 1848, 1849.
The Conference which sat in Belleville June, 1848, under
the able Presidency of the distinguished Doctor Dixon, and
was in all respects very important, appointed Mr. Corson
to the centre of his old stamping ground of long years be
fore, but under a new name, namely, to the Norwich Circuit,
and arranged for him to labour alone.
He was now to be without the visits of a travelling chair
man, which office was finally discontinued at the late Con.
ference. Both the leading Canadian ministers and the Dele
gates from England at the Conference of 1847, wished to
preserve the institution of a travelling chairman intact ; for
both saw that its continuance was most important for the
energetic and uniform administration of our Connexional
system. But there was a large party in the Canada Conference
who wanted the travelling part of the office discontinued.
Another thing also is to be remembered, in order to a right
understanding of the question. The Chairmen had, since
1828, been appointed by the Bishop, or President, by and
with the advice of an Advisory Committee, elected by ballot,
to counsel that officer. The party above referred wished to
to have the Chairmen elective, especially if the union was

128 FATHER CORSON.
to go into effect, else the British Conference, through the
President whom it was to send out year by year, should
have too much control in Canada Conference matters, par
ticularly if the Chairmen thus appointed, should travel
at large through their several districts. The most of
those brethren, therefore, took a determined stand against
the union, unless these two points were conceded, the ap
pointment of the Chairmen by the President, and their
itinerating through their several districts. The debates and
pleadings were long, and passed over from one sederunt into
another, until the hour of adjournment came one evening,
with the understanding that this question should be the first
thing in the order of the day on the following morning.
I was then stationed in the city of Toronto, as the Cana
dian Superintendent ; and I was exceedingly desirous for
the union to go into effect. Yet I knew two things very
well : first, that the English representative would never
concede or surrender the appointment of the Chairmen
by the President ; secondly, I was equally well per
suaded that the travelling of the Chairmen (their coming
and sharing the revenue of their several Circuits) was
the principal ground of objection in the minds of the
opposers. I gave the intervening hours between the evening
and morning sessions very much to thought on this
subject, not without some prayer also. I therefore decided
on a certain course of action : I went early, and contrived
to intercept Dr. Alder, accompanied by his associate, Rev.
Enoch Wood, on his way to the Conference, and suggested
the following expedient : " Go into the Conference said I,"
" And still continue the demand long enough to make them
think that you regard both points as vital. When things
are at something of a dead-lock, rise and offer a com-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 129
promise : say you will concede the travelling, if they will
concede the manner of their appointment." Of course I gave
him my reason for the probable success of this course of
policy, and he agreed to resort to it, if nothing else would
do. The Conference opened. A very considerable space of
time was consumed in debate and haggling, till negotiations
seemed at a stand-still, when the doctor arose and said that
he had a compromise to offer — he would concede the point
of localizing the chairmen, if the obstructionists would
allow the manner of appointment to remain as it was. The
leaders of the opposition caught at the proposal at once, and
this article was carried in a few minutes ; and the principal
difficulty being out of the way, all the other proposals, as modi
fied by the British Conference, were put and carried with
great celerity, and the Union was consummated, by a ma
jority of eighty-eight against eight. Further, there was sense
enough left among all to concede that the travelling of the
chairmen should be continued for one year, with a view to
bring all the measures before the new quarterly meetings,
and all the elements from both sides into a compact and
homogeneous whole. This, to a great extent, was effected,
and the whole period having transpired, the chairmen, in
stead of travelling, were stationed on Circuits. Brother
Corson was rejoiced ; but I, his friend, was sorry. And
with all my respect for his memory, and my high apprecia
tion of his zeal and diligence, I must say, if I am to be an
honest biographer, that because of these very qualities — of
impulse and push, he required a supervision at intervals to
prevent his official matters from becoming somewhat con
fused, or at least a little higledy pigeldy. The presence of
a Chairman would have greatly advanced his own interests
7*

130 FATHER CORSON.
and respectability. I shall have something to say on this
subject a little farther on.
The loss of the Chairmen's visits were, in some measure,
compensated for this year by its being arranged that the
Rev. Dr. Richey, the Acting President, should travel
through the Connexion. I know not, however, that he ever
visited Brother Corson's Circuit.
Mr. Corson's entrance on the Norwich Circuit was not
going to rest on a bed of roses, by any means. Certain
difficulties are referred to in the following sentences from
his "sketch": — "In 1848, I was appointed to Norwich.
No colleague. My predecessor had left the church, and
said hard things against us. He was a man of talent and
Influence. We had some trials. About ten left us ; but
we tried to pray, preach, and visit, and in a few months we
could report an addition of fifty members. I stopped two
years. Net increase, 43. " Salary " (for the two years)
" $550," — that is to say, $275 for each year.
Considering the times, the place, and the circumstances,
Mr. Corson must have acted wisely and faithfully to succeed
so well. There was a large radical element in that part of
the country, always fearful of clerical tyranny and eccle
siastical centralization : to such, a return to an organic con
nection with the old conservative British Conference was
viewed with apprehension. Then, the minister who had
preceded the present incumbent, had not only sowed the
seeds of discontent (perhaps undesignedly), but he remained
to water the seed he had sown. His history will show that
now he had taken a position of rivalry, he must have been
a formidable opponent. He was, as Mr. Corson has told
us, " a man of talent " — he possessed good powers of mind,
and was very gifted as a speaker, and had, furthermore,

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 131
acquired considerable learning. He was of German extrac
tion, spoke that language, and, if I mistake not, had received
a Menonite training, which would naturally predispose bis
mind to influences adverse to his being a thick and thin
connexional Methodist. He had gone out to travel (at. first
under a Chairman) about the time the first Union was
negotiated and consummated ; and for a few years thereafter,
had loyally co-operated, and did good service in the Wesleyan
cause ; but after a time, what with personal considerations,
and his sensitiveness to the charge of " receiving Govern
ment money," consequent upon a financial connection with
a controlling body which had, he became uneasy and dis
satisfied — did not come forward for his examinations and
reception into full connexion, but still stood in the relation
of a probationer ; and finally, after performing at least five
or six years' circuit work with great efficiency, discontinued
altogether, and went back to his farm. He dropped, how
ever, into the local ranks, and preached with great ability
as a layman. When the connection with the British Con
ference was severed, he felt more at home with the body he
was in, the " Grants " during that time being suspended,
and he began to extend the sphere of his evangelistic
labours, and was made the instrument of some excellent
revivals. About the year 1844 the Chairman sent him on
a newly-opened Circuit, where his success was great. In
1845 he was received again on trial, and the following year
he was ordained (1846). He had been two years at Norwich
— one immediately before, and the other the year im
mediately after the reconstruction of the Union with the
British Conference. His old feelings of discontent revived ;
and while he remained with us, it is not to be supposed
that a pastor in such a state of mind could do rauch to

132 FATHER CORSON.
advance and consolidate Conference Methodism. At the
Conference of 1848 he sent in his resignation, and started a
Congregational interest in the place where he had been
labouring. He was superior to Mr. Corson in point of
ability, and a grave, exemplary man withal, and was
naturally, therefore, looked up to somewhat by the people.
In view of all these facts, it is marvellous that his successor
did not feel himself more embarrassed than he did ; and that
he (the decident) did not achieve more on his own chosen
course than he did.
Yet, upon second thoughts, our hero was really just the
agent to advance the interests of central Methodism under
the worst circumstances. He was a man so good-natured
and amiable, that it was a very difficult matter to commence
a quarrel with him. Again, he was thoroughly informed
in the history and principles of essential Methodism, and
knew how to propound them so as to obviate objections.
Furthermore, if it came to controversy, he was really skil
ful and adroit in that. Few could catch him napping ; and
very often he overturned his opponent's argument by an
unexpected sally of wit and humour, which turned the
laugh on the aggressor. I heard some instance of this,
relating to that very place and time, which would have
effectually confirmed and illustrated my present statement,
but that they have eluded my recollection in their small
particulars. Lastly, he was so tireless in labour, and so
thoughtful of every family in his Circuit, none of whom he
failed to see, that it was hard for any adverse movement to
make headway against him and the cause he was labouring
to build up.
The most untiring labours of from 180 to 200 agents,
resorting to all sorts of extra means and expedients, resulted

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 133
in only the moderate gain for the connexion, this year, of
426 members. 1849, 1850.
1 do not know that tbe very interesting session of the
Conference, which sat in Hamilton" in the early summer of
1850, had much relevancy to the subject of our memoir,
excepting that Mr. Corson was returned by it to Norwich
for another year, during which matters were smoother for
him than the first year.
In the course of the summer of 1850 I made a visit to a
beloved brother of my own, who resided at Norwichville ;
and planned my visit, at Mr. Corson's request, so as to
make it coincide with the celebration of his August Quar
terly Meeting. Remaining several days, I had a good long
visit with my old friend ; and had an opportunity of obtain
ing some inside views of his family and his Circuit, besides
observing somewhat the character of his administration.
On inquiry among those I met about their minister, there
was a very general admission of his laboriousness and
fidelity ; but then, his very extra diligence, or the manner
of exercising it, was made the subject of, I will not say
sneering, but not very reverent criticism on the part of a
few. Thus, they admitted that he was a thorough visitor,
but then they made themselves merry at the notion of his
sallying forth early in the morning, in his slippers, and
his visiting ten or a dozen families before breakfast. But
if he did, there was " method in his madness ; " it was not
done without a reason : he knew that he should find more
of the family than after they were dispersed abroad for
labour and for business ; besides, he thought that a little
pastoral admonition and prayer would give no ill direction

134 FATHER CORSON.
to the operations of the c'ay. He thought also, that to do
it the first thing was to ensure its certain accomplishment.
There are some who sa much fear thtit their dignity will be
compromised by directness and promptitude, that they
seldom accomplish anything.
Then, there is little sympathy due to the damagers of the
hard-earned fome of the working minister, who are in the
habit of saying of God's servants if they are somewhat
elderly, or devoid of style, " Oh. yes . he's a good man — a
very good man ; but then he is so plain," or " odd," or
"old-fashioned," or something else, that he is "not quite
the thing for this place, you know." No, probably "not
the thing for prophesying smooth things, and leaving
people undisturbed in their lukewarmness and backslidings.
But, to return, on visiting Brother Corson's home and
family I could not help thinking, on seeing the second
Mrs. Corson for the first time, how fortunate he had been
in obtaining a person so capable of keeping his house,
causing the casual little dwelling in which they had taken
up their abode (for there was no parsonage) to look so
inviting ; and to tidy up his own person which he was too
prone to be forgetful of. And then, little chubby-faced
Adam looked so neat and so happy — happy in his childish
plays around the house ; and apparently still more happy
in the performance of the nameless little office (a child
may perform) for his new mamma. The husband and
father was much from home; but these two, both of them
of a quiet temperament, seemed to be the counter-part of
each other, and so very conducive to that noiseless happi
ness of which they were evidently the subjects.
I got an inkling of Mr. Corson's thoughtful endeavours
to remedy evils, and to do direct and positive good by all

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 135
available means. He and I had a friendly interview with
the ministerial brother who had gone from us, certainly not
of a character to leave him with a disposition to " lightly
speak evil of us," or the cause we stood connected with.
There was a worthy couple who lived several miles from
Norwichville, both of whom had been connected with
central Methodism, first in the States, and then in Canada,
a great many years, one of whom (the husband) had
become depressed in mind, and withdrew his name from
the Church-roll, although he was still friendly, and I think
a supporter of the cause. He had taken the agitations
and divisions of Methodism very much to heart ; and he
regarded the inevitable changes in minor matters as
evidence of the hopeless deterioration of the Methodists.
His wife was steadfast, and Brother Corson wished to
encourage her ; and hoped also that my conversation with
the husband might lure him back into his old position. It
was therefore projected that he and I should go and spend
an afternoon and take tea -with them. We did so. I found
the good brother with a desponding look, but .very friendly.
Very kind consideration was given to all his querulous
remarks and averments ; and I thought all his objections
were thoroughly met. But he was in a state of mind quite
abnormal, which is. often aggravated by an attempt to meet
its cavils and complaints, rather than quieted thereby. Wo
had, however, the satisfaction of trying to do good. I am
not informed what was the individual's final course, but I
have often thought that Mr. Corson's efforts to " lift up
the hands that hung down," was a fine exemplification of
the true pastoral spirit,
I think I gave them a sermon on the Saturday of the
Quarterly Meeting, as in the olden time ; at least I am sure

136 FATHER CORSON.
I met with his officials on that day, and I was struck with
two things, the very great respectability of some of them,
and the consideration they showed their pastor. There was
a Brother VanNorman, a Brother Tilson, I think, and a
Brother McDowell, a good local preacher ; and yet another,
either a Scotch gentleman or one who had resided in
Scotland, a local preacher of great ability, who was one of
the most acute in dealing with the peculiarities of Cali
vinism of any person I had ever met. I regret to have
not thoroughly learned his name.
The services on Sunday were the usual ones, and I was
to have conducted them ; but I was not there early enough
to suit the pastor's notions of punctuality, and he had
opened the love-feast himself. There was a promjrtness,
even to hurry, about his manner of conducting a service,
which, I am obliged to confess, had rather a flurrying than
a tranquilizing effect upon my own mind. I am compelled
to think that he needed the softly staying, authoritative
hand of his Emma all his days to abate the hurry of his
manner, which sometimes defeated his own objects. I
think there was not so much of that while his early mentor
was with him.
The meeting was considered a good one. I preached
both forenoon and afternoon, and I hope the services left a
lasting impression. None of the rest of the materials at
my disposal have any further reference to Norwich and the
Conference year, 1849-50, I therefore pass on to the year —

1850, 1851.
This year dates its commencement from the second
Brockville Conference, held in the month of June, 1850.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 137
Two things were likely to impress the mind of Robert
Corson : one was the visit of the Rev. Dr. Bangs, of New
York, to the Conference ; for, though an A.merican by
natural birth, the Doctor was a Canadian by spiritual
birth and his introduction into the ministry ; and the scene
of his early religious and ministerial life was the Niagara
Country, where Corson, when a boy, could not have failed
to hear him. This meeting would impress the latter joy
fully. The other circumstance was of a more, pensive
character, namely, the sudden death of two highly esteemed
ministerial brethren, both of whom had commenced their
ministry a little before he had, and would be the greater
subjects of interest to him, both of whom died suddenly
and alone, and abroad in the fields ; one under the shimmer
ing light of the stars of night, the other under the broad
blaze of the full-day sun. The news of one death was
reported to the Conference from his District Meeting ; that
of the other was telegraphed to the Conference, as havin<*
taken place since their assembling. These two men were
first, the genial, powerful, stalwart Healy ; the other, the
pure and pious, but gentlemanly Metcalf. The news pro
duced a Bokim in the Conference, especially among the old
Canadian preachers, but it affected none more touchinely
than Robert Corson.
He went from this scene of solemnity to his far western
home ; but from thence he went still further west to the
Gosfield Circuit, to which he was appointed by the Con
ference. This region comprised a tract far to the west,
t>etween Lake Erie and the River Thames. The Circuit's
ooundaries had been circumscribed, and it was restricted to
ine preacher. Mr. Corson was alone, to whom it gave a
targe extent of travelling.

138 FATHER CORSON.
His own brief account of the matter is as follows : — " In
1850, I was appointed to the Gosfield Circuit. We found
some good members, and a parsonage house " (if it was the
one I saw the year before, it was a small, plain affair), " but
a hard Circuit to travel. The increase was small. Salary
$280. I was alone, and but one year on the Circuit."
The apostle says, " Who is weak, and I am not weak ?
Who is offended and I burn not 1" An earnest minister,
bent on building up the Church of God, must necessarily
feel the influence of the commotions in civil society, all the
neighborhood broils, and all the party strifes that agitate
the general community coming within the sphere of his
labours, for all these affect the Church in the way of dis
turbing and impeding. And in doing so, they greatly
afflict the heart of him who " prefers Jerusalem to his chief
joy," and who for Zion's sake is " hurt" and " black " with
"astonishment" and "sorrow of heart." So it ever was
wTith our pioneer preacher. During this year the question
of " free schools " and taxation, or no taxation, to support
common school education, was before the people within the
bounds of Mr. Corson's Circuit ; being a question appealing
to the selfishness of those who had, and of those who had
not, children to be educated, it avoke a considerable amount
of embittered feeling, which had anything but a good
religious effect on the minds and hearts of those whom the
Shepherd wished to see live in peace and to be built up
in holiness. But the manner in which their anxious
pastor described the conflict at the breakfast table, at my
boarding place, during a subsequent Conference at King
ston, when his toils and responsibilities for that year were
passed, was so irresistibly ludicrous, without his intending
it to be so, that it not only " set the table in a roar," but

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 139
actually sent several from the table altogether for a time,
to conceal their irrepressible laughter. But he was des
tined to be removed from the annoyances of the Gosfield
Circuit. 1851, 1852.
The reader must now follow him to the Toronto Confer
ence of 1851, which had nothing special with regard to him
save that he was appointed to the Chippewa, otherwise
called the Crowland Circuit. He states the matter thus :
— " In 1851, I was appointed to Crowland. I had a young
Irishman for my Colleague," that was true of both
years, but not the same person both years. "An old
Circuit — a few added to the Church. Salary $720," that
is, for the two years, which would be $360 a year, the
largest sum, I think, realized by him for one year up to
that time.
The Rev. Wm. Greighlon, a young preacher only a year
or so from Ireland, was his colleague. He might have been
a young man after Father Corson's own heart, so far as
patient plodding labour was concerned, but no two could
have been more unlike each other in temperament. Corson
was lively, and playful to a degree ; Creighton was sober
almost to sadness. But I believe they agreed very well in
all respects.
During the two years that Mr. Corson was at Chippewa,
or Crowland, he was under my own chairmanship, as the
Circuit was reckoned to the Hamilton District, and I was
its Chairman, stationed at Hamilton itself. This relation
brought mo into closer and more frequent intercourse with
him than I had ever had the pleasure of enjoying before;
and I could not forbear remarking what an exceedingly

140 father corson.
respectful, pleasant old gentleman he was ; and how very
shrewd and well-informed he also seemed to be on all
Methodist matters. He was a quick observer of any little
matter that was unusual. During the District Meeting,
held in St. Catharines, at the close of the first year of this
relation between us, I was called upon by the minister of
that Circuit, who arranged the religious exercises, to con
duct one of the preaching services ; and, as I always think
it best in preaching to speak appropriately, if possible, I
delivered a sermon in relation to ministerial obligations and
duties. At the close of the service Brother Corson came
forward in his own smiling manner, saying, it was " a long
time since he had heard a Bishop's sermon " till mine,
referring to the fact that the American Bishops always
delivered something of the kind at our Annual Conferences
in the days of yore. 1852, 1853.
The Conference for 1852 sat in Kingston. At that Con
ference he was returned to the same Circuit for another
year, under a new name. It was Chippewa in the minutes
the year before ; this year it was changed to CroWjland.
This was a sensible change, Crowland being central, and
the place where the parsonage was located. As a member
of the Stationing Committee and Chairman of that District,
I had the making of the appointments for Crowland as well
as others on the District ; and upon the supply of that
Circuit hangs a tale.
However we may account for it, and how much soever
we may deplore it, yet it cannot be denied that when
preachers come into the neighbourhood of three score, nc
matter how strong, active, faithful, and, even vivacious they

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 141
may be, they begin to be at a discount wita many ; and
Mr. Corson, now at the age of fifty-nine, was no exception
to the rule. The rising village, now town, of Welland,
was in his Circuit ; several influential members from that
vicinity spoke to me at the District Meeting about a change
of superintendent, on the ground that he was " old-
fashioned," not observant of the lesser graces, and not
adapted to command the respect of intelligent outsiders. I
pleaded for the old gentleman — the injury to his feelings
and the implied reflection on his character and doings, if he
were sent away. As they had no objections to him on the
score of fidelity, I persuaded them to accept of him another
year, on condition that I would send along with him a
popular young man who would make up for the " Super's "
defects on the score of attractiveness. The next thing was
to find such a young man ; and then to embue him with
such a state of mind as would take him there good
naturedly. Pity such methods ever have to be resorted
to ! There was a young preacher of great preaching power,
who had, however, all his days, been used to city life.
Further, the only two appointments he had had before had
been cities, namely, Kingston and Hamilton, in which latter
place he had been my own colleague. ' That young preacher
was Richard Clarke, who would have been very different
from most young men under such circumstances, if he had
not felt a shrinking from the country, and a clinging to the
city ; or if he had not felt a preference to the Station in
stead of the Circuit. However, when I talked the matter
over with Brother Clarke, to his praise be it spoken, he
consented to go ; and to Father Corson's own praise it is to
be set down, that he gave the young man with city habits
a home in his own family. Although Brother Clarke had

142 FATHER CORSON,
something to learn from his superintendent in the matter of
systematic visiting, they were in most respects well adapted
to each other. Clarke could help the old gentleman in
what he was most defective in, penmanship and accounts ;
and then, so far as geniality, even to playfulness, they were
very much alike. They both had the hearts of boys, and
a life-long friendship was the result.
Having thus introduced him, I have great pleasure in
laying before the reader a portraiture of Mr. Corson by
this then young man, after the lapse of twenty-five years.
Brother Clarke's letter shall be given in extenso, as furnish
ing all needful presentation of our subject during the time
he was on the Crowland Circuit : —
" Dear Brother, — At the Conference of 1852 I was
appointed to what was then called the Crowland Mission,
at that time in the Hamilton District, of which you were
the Chairman, my Superintendent being the venerable
Father Corson. I had therefore the opportunity of
becoming acquainted with his character, gifts, habits, and
labours. As it was my privilege to be a member of his
family that year, I knew something of his life at home.
He treated me with great respect and kindness, and was
always ready to give "me such advice and assistance as I
required. In his family he was kind, genial, and happy.
He was not remarkably gifted, and yet he possessed some
Rifts of rare excellence, one of which was originality.
When you saw him, you saw Father Corson, and when you
heard him preach, you were hearing no one else, living or
dead. Some men possessing this gift are not very great;
but without it a man is small. He was an early riser, and
careful in the improvement of time. His reading was
extensive, particularly in History and Methodist litera-

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 143
tureo These habits, together with a retentive memory,
enabled him to collect a large amount of useful knowledge.
In his way he was a diligent student, a faithful preacher,
and a laborious pastor. In his time the Circuits were
large, the work hard, and the salaries small. The fields in
wliich he toiled were not those which modern Methodist
Preachers speak of as the most desirable and the most
worthy of their valuable services. What we now call " a
good Circuit," includes a wealthy and liberal people, little
work, a long summer vacation, and a large salary. Such
were not the Circuits of the early Methodist Itinerants in
this and other lands. In those days of weakness, the
Methodist Church was strong. Its preachers were heroes,
and not a few of them were giants in the pulpit. Father
Corson was a hero, if not a giant. Before he was a
preacher, he was a hero in the service of his country.
Many a time he delighted me, as he described the thrilling
scenes of war connected with Stony Creek, Queenston
Heights, Chippewa, and Lundy's Lane. Many a British
soldier has been transformed into a valiant Methodist
preacher. In travelling his large Circuits, doing his hard
work, " enduring hardness as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ," and receiving next to no pay, he was never sour,
discontented, or given to complaining ; but always cheerful,
hopeful, and happy. He had the rare honour — now but
little coveted — of preaching the Gospel to the poor. He
was successful. In estimating the value of a minister, he
always asked, " Is he successful?" I have often heard the
older people, in different parts of the country, speak of him
and his labours with great respect, affection, and gratitude.
He was careful in the preparation of his sermons, though
they were never called great pulpit efforts. He always

144

FATHER C0HS0N.

wrote a brief outline of his discourse, and read all he could
on the subject. Many a time he allowed me the privilege
of reading his new manuscript, and often did he read one
to me, much to the pleasure of master and scholar. His
sermons were always short, seldom going beyond the
fashionable length of twenty or thirty minutes in delivery.
He could preach, and ' pray without ceasing.' I have
known him to preach frequently four times on the Sabbath,
and several times through the week, without weariness.
He never tired holding prayer-meetings, class-meetings, and
all kinds of religious services. He had a sound constitu
tion, and always enjoyed good health. He was a loyal
Methodist, sound in doctrine and strongly attached to the
discipline of the Church. He thought it safer to bring the
people up to the Discipline, than to bring the Discipline
down to the people, though the latter is the easier method.
He paid great attention to the duty of pastoral visitation.
His visits were always short. Without spending much
time in salutation and conversation on ordinary subjects,
he would read a portion of Scripture, pray, perhaps sing a
verse, and give a word of exhortation, and not unfrequently
read a paragraph from some new book he was studying at
tho time. All this was done in a few minutes, and he left
abruptly for the next house. Very frequently he remained
from home over night, and was always as happy among the
people as in his own house. He innocently thought his
colleagues were hardly fit for the work if they did not keep
up with him in reading, travelling, preaching, and visiting.
He was very much afraid they would be destroyed by pride
if they brushed the hair back from the forehead, did not
tie the cravat in his fashion, and had not their garments
cut according to his primitive simplicity. I believe he was

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 145
always regarded as a man of genuine piety, wholly devoted
to God's service. He was very successful in the govern
ment of his family. After spending many years of happy
toil in the Itinerancy, he retired with great reluctance.
Like a true Methodist preacher, he did not know when he
was worn out, and would not believe those who assured
him of the unwelcome fact. His choice would have been
to ' cease at once to work and live.' In his retirement he
spent his time and strength serving God and the Church,
with great fidelity. To Father Corson, and the faithful
men of his times, most of whom have finished their course,
and are gone to their reward, this prosperous country, and
the great Methodist Church owe more than they have yet
acknowledged, or will ever repay.
" Affectionately yours,
"Richard Clarke."
Brother Clarke, in the above testimonial to his old
superintendent, which is as honourable to his own head
and heart as to him to whom it is a just and fitting meed,
mentions Father Corson's habit of often reading to the
families he visited out of some profitable book. This was
but the continuation of the practice of all the early
preachers, who, in that way, made their visits agreeable
and instructive, and brought the connexional works into
notice, and promoted their sale to the great improvement
of the people and to the advantage of connexional funds.
He himself was a successful salesman of religious publica
tions. He pursued the same plan with our connexional
organ, the Christian Guardian, and with the same results.
During the Conference year 1847-48, the action of the
joint meeting of the College Board and the Special
Committee of the Conference on the then pending question
8

146 FATHER CORSON.
of the Clergy Reserves and the Colleges, occasioned, through
the influence of certain secular papers, considerable dis
turbance of the connexional mind ; besides which, there
were several other disturbing grounds of complaint put for
ward just then. On which account, as a person having had
long acquaintance with our ecclesiastical proceedings, with
out ever having come prominently forward in any of the
movements to which exception had been taken, I thought
it well myself to address a long letter to the Guardian
relative to the many allegations against the Conference
nnd ministers in general, which the then Editor, Rev.
G. R. Sanderson, now D.D., thought to be so adapted, from
its kindness and candour, to have a good effect on the minds
of the Methodists, that he gave it the post of honour,
and placed it in his editorial columns in the place of the
accustomed "leader." Mr. Corson (and he knew the
Methodist mind as well as any one else) had the same
opinion, and, as a consequence, I heard of his reading that
letter to our dear friends in various places in his Circuit.
And, while I am in for matters of this kind, I may as
well mention a curious proceeding by him, quite charac
teristic of the man. A gentleman of Scotch birth, classically
educated, who had been some years a Wesleyan local
preacher, came to this from another Province, while wo
were labouring separately from the British Conference,
out of professed sympathy with our principles and position,
— came as a visitor to us, and though a man of family, was
taken on trial for our ministry, received ordination in
advance of the time when he might have claimed it, and
during the three years he laboured, was appointed to two
of the very best city stations. Yet, though he had shown
a great desire for the Union to be restored, when it

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 147
was restored be soon found grounds of discontent with
its details, or results. The issue was, at his own request
he was first left without a Circuit, and then finally his
name was discontinued from the Minutes. But the matter
did not rest there. He thought proper (it may have been
very sincerely, according to the very peculiar structure
of his conscience) to commence a series of attacks, first
on the administration of the Connexion, and, lastly, on the
organization of Methodism itself, while yet claiming to be
an Arminian. The letters had an annoying effect, yet
no one saw proper to answer them. Father Corson,
however, wrote a short rejoinder to -all the accuser had said,
in which he crippled each of the enemy's guns, yet he could
not be persuaded to publish it ; but in default of that, he
carried the MS. with him, and whenever Mr. R's. allegations
came up he pulled out his letter and read his answer to
them ; and it afforded a great deal of amusement, if it did
no other good, for it was full of all sorts of " good hits."
Only one do I remember. In parrying the assailant's thrusts
at the Conference, in one place he replied : " In one case, I
confess, the Conference has erred ; it made a great mistake
when it took you on so short an acquaintance, and ordained
you before the proper time : the Scripture says, ' Lay hands
suddenly on no man.' "
The next two years (from 1853 to 1854) Mr. Corson was
continued in the Hamilton District, and as I remained in
that city till the Conference of 1854, our relation to each
other continued, much to our mutual satisfaction, a year
longer after his leaving Crowland.

148 FATHER CORSON.

1853, 1854.

The Conference which sat in Hamilton, June, 1853,
appointed Mr. Corson to the Cainsville Circuit, the head
of which was near Brantford. This Circuit included a good
many neighbourhoods comprehended in the old Dumfries
Circuit, on which he had laboured four years, first and last,
in the earlier part of his ministry; and it gave him an
opportunity to renew his acquaintance with many old and
endeared friends. He speaks himself thus of the appoint
ment : "In 1853, T was appointed to Cainsville. I had
to build a house " (there being no Circuit parsonage, -and it
being difficult to find one to hire) " to live in. I remained
two years on the Circuit. We had refreshing seasons among
a warm-hearted people. Salary, $800 " — $400 a year, the
most he had ever received.
In going by private conveyance to London, in the autumn
of 1853, attended by my little daughter, we took the resid
ence of Mr. and Mrs. Corson in the way, with whom we
lodged for the night, and were most hospitably received.
His house was yet not quite furnished ; yet, though I lodged
in the loft, I slept most blissfully in the enticing bed pre
pared for me by my hostess. It was not, however, the last
time I shared their hospitality.
Just before this, a young Scotch preacher formed the
acquaintance of Mr. Corson. He has been impelled by
fond remembrance to send me the subjoined letter, which
will furnish me the best materials for illustrating that
period of his life after he became elderly. The letter, as to
authorship and everything else, may be allowed to speak for
itself : —

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 149
Rev. John Carroll, D.D., Toronto.
" Rev. and Dear Bro., — I was pleased to observe in the
Guardian a notice of your intention to publish at early date
a ' Memorial Volume ' of the late Rev. Robert Corson,
and that you are now collecting materials for that purpose.
"'Father Corson,' as he was peculiarly called, was a
worthy and useful Canadian itinerant minister in connection
with our Church, who commenced his labours at an early
period in the history of Methodism in this Province, and
deserves more than an ordinary obituary notice. He had
not the early educational advantages with which ministers
in modern days are favoured, neither was he endowed with
more than ordinary gifts. He could not be regarded as
either eloquent or profound, and might perhaps be justly
considered, intellectually, below mediocrity. Yet, being
devoted to God and his work, and full of zeal for the cause
of Christ, his self-denying labours were owned and blessed
of God, and he was instrumental in bringing many to a
saving knowledge of the truth, who subsequently became
worthy and useful members of our Church in Canada, many
of whom went before him to the better land, and will
welcome him as their spiritual father when they that be
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and
they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever.
"I first met with Father Corson in the winter of 1852.
He was at that time stationed on the Crowland Mission
{now Welland Circuit), on the old Hamilton District, of
which you were Chairman. He came to attend the missionary
services on the Glanford and Senica Circuit, which was that
year under the faithful and judicious superintendency of

150 FATHER CORSON.
your old and intimate friend, the late Rev. S. Huntington,
and I was the junior preacher. In those days missionary
deputations, as you are aware, were much larger than
is deemed necessary now. The following brethren were ap
pointed by the Financial District Meeting as a deputation
for the Glanford Circuit :— Revs. R. Corson, I. B. Howard,
George (now Dr.) Young, J. Bredin, and Thomas Stobbs.
Quite an array of talent. The senior member of the depu
tation, Father Corson, gave us some amusing incidents in
connection with his early labours as a Methodist missionary
in Canada, and his humorous addresses were listened to ap
parently with greater interest and attention than the
more eloquent speeches of some of the other members of the
deputation. " In the fall of 1855, Father Corson, that year labouring
on the Erin Mission, Guelph District, attended the Financial
District Meeting, held that fall in the old Blenheim Church,
county of Oxford. The old itinerant here met with a
number of his former friends, and members of the church
who had moved to Blenheim from the old Dumfries Circuit,
where he had laboured years before. They all appeared de
lighted to meet with their old friend and pastor once more, and
he was equally pleased to have another opportunity of seeing
sc many of his old parishioners. The children whom he had
baptized had grown up to manhood and womanhood, and
were glad to have a visit from the minister whose name was
a household word in all that region of country. At the Dis
trict meeting it was arranged to have service in the evening,
and Father Corson was appointed to preach. There was, as
you might expect, a large congregation, and the Blenheiiu
Church was crowded. After going through with the Lion
liminary exercises, in his own peculiar style, the preacher

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 151
announced his text which was in John's Gospel, xxi. and 17,
' Feed my sheep.' In connection with his introductory
remarks he stated that he was ' an old dispensation
preacher,' whom it might be beneficial for them to hear
occasionally, as a contrast to the more refined and polished
preachers of the present day in Canada. He compared the
past with the present, and referred to the superior educational
advantages enjoyed by those who entered the Methodist
ministry at the present day, when contrasted with the time
when he entered the work. He then made a few appro
priate observations in connection with the time when the
memorable words of the text were addressed by Christ to
Peter, ' Feed my sheep.' The following were his divisions:
— 1. The Shepherd ; 2. The Sheep ; 3. The Food. On dwell
ing on the last division he gave some advice suitable to the
junior ministers and preachers who were present both with
regard to preaching and pastoral visitation. The majority
of us were young in the ministry, and the practical observa
tions of this old experienced minister were both timely and
beneficial. The sermon was unique and caused several to
smile, but though quaint, made a good impression.
" The following winter I was appointed to attend the mis
sionary meetings at Erin, Father Corson's Circuit, and was
very kindly received and entertained by the Superintendent
and his devoted wife. In connection with the reading of the
Annual Missionary Report at the missionary meeting, a
duty which generally fells to the lot ofthe Superintendent of
the Circuit, the old Methodist itinerant related a few inci
dents in connection with his own fields of labour in this
country. Take the following as a specimen : Once, on leav-
in"* home to attend an appointment in the old Newmarket
Circuit, he was thrown from his horse and had to return

152 FATHER CORSON.
home, and meeting his wife at the door of the parsonage
told her what had happened, but assured her that he was
not seriously hurt. She immediately exclaimed, ' My dear,
do you know that your ear is off,' and putting his hand to
the side of his head, he found that the ear was nearly gone.
Turning the side of his head to the congregation at the mis
sionary meeting, where he related the incident, he said, ' It
is all right now, you can see I had the ear stitched on
again.' " In his farewell sermon on a Circuit, within the boundary
of the old Toronto District, where he had laboured accepta
bly for two years, he called on an exhorter who was present,
to close with prayer, and the brother gave thanks to the
Giver of all Good, that, among many other inestimable
blessings, he had heard Father Corson preach his farewell
sermon, and made mention of the latter in particular as
affording abundant cause for gratitude. In relating the
above, Father Corson stated that there were a few evil-
disposed persons present who put a wrong construction on
the exhorter's words.
" When stationed on the Brighton Circuit some years
ago, I frequently had an opportunity of both seeing and
hearing the late Robert Corson at missionary and other
meetings, and was always pleased to hear him relate from
the platform incidents in connection with his early labours
as an old Methodist itinerant, — many things which came
under his own personal observation and related in his own
quaint way. He laboured long and successfully in connec
tion with our Church in Western Ontario, and took part in
many interesting revivals of religion. In social conversation
I received a good deal of information from him in reference
to early Methodism in Canada, which I could not obtain

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 153
even from the records of the historian. Many interesting
facts, both with regard to ministers and Circuits, I learned
from this well-informed aged minister.
"Although not a profound scholar or thinker, he was well-
read and quite familiar with many valuable works. He
read biography to good account, and was well-posted in all
important matters connected with the history of Methodism
generally, and with the Church in this country in particular.
It may be truly said of this departed father in Israel that
he has not lived in vain.
" Yours very truly, " Andrew A. Smith.
''Cataraqui, December 17th, 1878."

1854, 1855.
7. From 1S54 to his Superannuation.
The Conference of June, 1854, wliich sat in the town o.
Be/leville, was of a most harmonious character ; and distin
guished by two circumstances which would greatly gladden
the old gentleman's heart, constituted as his was, surcharged
with absorbing care for our Provincial Methodist Zion.
The first was a reported increase in the membership of two
thousand seven hundred and thirty-five ; and the other was
the presence of a large and respectable deputation from the
Canada East District Meeting, asking for affiliation with
the Canada Conference, which went into effect immediately
after the session of the ensuing British Wesleyan Conference,
whose concurrence was required to give it final authorization.
Father Corson always rejoiced in everything which contri
buted to increase and consolidate the interests of that
S*

154 FATHER CORSON.
form of Christianity to the . interests of which he had
devoted his life. This feeling was further heightened
by the Hudson Bay Missions about this time being placed
under the control and care of the Western Canada connec
tion. This Conference received Peter German, one of the
subjects of Mr. Corson's pastoral care in former days, into
the ministry. The Stationing Committee re-appointed
our old evangelist to Cainsville, with regard to which, Mr.
Corson's own account has been anticipated. In default of
other materials for illustrating matters affecting Mr. Corson,
I will here introduce some statements, incidentally made by
his son, Dr. William, which relate to the place and time
now under consideration. That affectionate, yet discriminat
ing son, remarks : " From the time of my mother's death,
in 1S43, until the period of his settlement in Cainsville, a few
years ago, I saw comparatively little of my father, making
only occasional visits to h,m,.as for instance at Norwich and
Crowland, not having heard him preach for the last
twenty-five years ; but I learned from others that he rather
improved with his advancing years, showing more animation
and freshness, and more method and variety."
I was myself severed from him at the Conference of 1854,
above referred to, having been one of the Western Canada
preachers sent to Eastern Canada, upon its prospective
transfer ; and when that transfer was definitely consummated
by the final action of the British Conference, I succeeded
to the Chairmanship of the Montreal District, and was there
fore separated by a very long intervening space from my
old friend during this year, so that I am not able to say
much about him, from personal knowledge, during the year
1854-55,

HIS GOSPEL LAEOUES. 155

1855, 1856.
The Conference of London, in June 1855, brought us to
gether once more ; and it proved a memorable Conference to
those of the old Canadian stock. The Revs. John Ryerson,
Thomas Hurlburt, Robert Brooking, and Henry Steinhauer
and Allan Salt (native ministers), went out from that Con
ference, or at least the Canada Church, about that time, to
take possession of the Hudson Bay Missions in behalf of the
Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. Also, at this Con
ference, by the request of the body, the venerable and
Reverend William Case, fifty years, with slight interrup
tions, a leading mind and agent in the councils and enter
prizes of Canadian Methodism, preached his famous Jubilee
Sermon, preparatory, as it proved, to his " putting off the
harness," and entering into his final rest and reward in
heaven ; which he did, not only before the Conference
year was out, but before that civil year was ended.
At this Conference our subject was transferred to the
Guelph District, and stationed at Erin. How the transfer
came to be made I do not now remember, and I think we
have very little excepting Mr. Corson's own sententious
notes to illustrate the year besides Mr. Smith's letter
already given. His words are, " In 1855 I was appointed
to Erin. A hard Circuit for an old man — long rides. A
few conversions. I stopped one year. Salary, $400."
There was much to cheer the heart of so ardent a friend of
the cause as this old itinerant. Every report made in the
early part of the year, from any and every interest of tbe
Church, was of an encouraging kind. Glowing statements
nppeared in the Gaai dian irom the camp-meetings held east,

156 FATHER CORSON.
west, north and south, for single Circuits, or for several, or
for districts ; from the many, the Whites ; and the fewer, but
not less interesting, the Indians.
One of the greatest revivals for this year was in my own
station, Belleville, which resulted in a net increase of 265
members. This I should not have mentioned, as relating to
myself, only that " thereby hangs a tale " relating to our
our good old friend, Corson, himself. It will open the
account of the next year. 1856, 1857.
The Conference at the opening of the above-mentioned
year sat in Brockville, under the able Presidency of the Rev.
Enoch Wood, now D.D., and with the Rev. James Elliott,
Secretary, At that Conference I revived my intimacy with
Father Corson. After the rise of the Conference, both he
and I were delayed a day or so behind the others — myself
to preach a funeral sermon for an old and highly-esteemed
friend, of the Farmers ville Circuit, Mrs. Ira Lewis ; and he,
I suspect, to see some friends, perhaps children, in the Bay
Quinte country. I joined him on the Bay steamer at King
ston, or Bath, I forget which. It was Saturday, and he
could not get back to his work by Sunday ; and I, though
I could get back to mine, did not feel in very good trim for
going before my people in the pulpit, being very weary, and
having been out of my study, of course, all the week. Aside,
therefore, from the love of his company, and a wish to show
him hospitality, I desired him to come home with me to
the parsonage, and to help me with my work on Sunday.
He consented, and became our guest. He was greatly de
lighted with what he heard and saw of the fruits of pur most

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 157
gracious ingathering. I asked him to take one of the ser
vices, and he consented ; and I would have pledged him to
conduct both, but for two things : first, I did not know but
my people would exhibit a distaste to the homely ways and
sayings of so plain a man. The other was, there was another
strange preacher on the. ground, a brother very fond of
preaching ; and while I secured " Father Corson " for the
morning I pledged Brother R  k for the evening, and
set my heart at rest from the necessity of preparing for the
pulpit, and from the delivery of any sermon for one whole
Sunday, a very rare thing for me in those days.
Sunday moi-ning came ; a great and earnest congregation
assembled; at the pioper hour my old friend mounted the
pulpit, and turned his venerable, good-natuied old face from
side to side over the congregation, and seemed to regard
them with paternal benignity; and the unsophisticated
people seemed to be led by their pious instincts to respect
and love him at once. He took for his text, Acts xi. 23,
" And when he had come, and had seen the grace of God,
he was glad ; and he exhorted them all, that with purpose
of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." It was a
timely, well-conceived, and well-delivered sermon, attended
by the unction of the Holy One. The " Grace of God" —
the mannzr in which grace manifests itsdf to the eyes of
observers — what there is in the manifestations of saving
grace to "gladden" the hearts of good men — and the
appropriate counsels: to the recent recipients of grace, were
points well handled, and well exemplified in his own exposi
tions and advices. The sermon, though genial and kindly,
was delivered with many tears, and it extorted tears pro
fusely from his hearers' eyes. Indeed, smiles and tears
chased each other through the service, like sunshine and

158 FATHER CORSON.
shade; and, as he was not more than half-an-hour in deliver
ing it, when he had closed the people, instead of " loathing,"
were " longing " for more — " sorry that he was done ; " and
wished to know if that dear old man would preach again in
the evening.
Alas, I had to tell them that I had arranged with Mr.
R  k to preach. Although I believe he was a good
man, he was very dissimilar from Mr. Corson. Many would
have thought, prima facie, that all the dissimilarities were
superiorities in Mr. R  k. Corson was without learning,
and as artless as a child ; but R  k was not only classic
ally educated thoroughly, but pretentious to a degree, in
short, as pedantic as pedantry could be. He used, not Mr.
Corson's almost John-Bunyan-English, but the longest, the
most thoroughly Latinized words he could find, even to
technical terms, if he had to English them afterwards, as he
often did. As a consequence, while Corson was brief to a
fault, he was very long-winded, preaching an hour and
a-half, which, from its wearisomeness, seemed more like
three hours. The looks of the people were very much
changed from what they had been in the morning. I was
afraid to face them ; and well I might have been, for, to use
a homely, common saying, they were " ready to eat me up
without a grain of salt." The popularity of Father Corson
was unbounded ; but the learned, lengthy preacher was
dreaded exceedingly. The old gentleman's visit was talked
of for several days.
At the Brockville Conference our old friend had been
appointed to the Klineburg Circuit, which, though it was
in the Toronto District, was not a long move across the
country from Erin. It takes its name from a pleasant
country village at its head, in the township of Vaughan, I

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 159
believe, situated on the Humber, which is here pretty in its
meanderings, and agreeable from the Old Country associa
tions with its name. His own account of his advent to,
and residence at, Klineburg (albeit he seems to have lived a
part of the time at Teston) I give in the next short
paragraph :—
" In 1856 I was appointed to Klineburg Circuit. No
colleague. A good people. Some revivals. We built a
small house to live in." [The want of a parsonage and his
having a little money, induced him to build.] "Remained
two years. Salary, a th-.usard doliaru for the two years —
the largest salary I ever received during my whole itinerant
life." As I have no materials for illustrating the year
1857-58, I will bring the account of the active period of
Mr. Corson's life to a close.
Just as I had closed the account of the year with the
above short paragraph, I received a letter from a person
signing himself John Norris Harvey, claiming to be a local
preachsr, living at Applegrove,, within the original Kline
burg Circuit; the letter embracing a number of reminis
cences of Father Corson ; the substance of the whole being,
that his place of residence was, at least for a part of the
time, in a neighbourhood now known as Teston ; that he was
on terms of kindly, almost playful, familiarity with his
people, who received these familiarities with the delight
that children, accept the caresses of their parents ; that he
took an interest in the budding efforts of his young local
preachers, aiding the beginners with MS. plans of sermons
for their guidance ; and that the people cherish tender
memories of his ministrations — this brother furnishing me
with a memoranda of texts from which he had heard his
aged pastor preach with profit and delight. He also men
tions an awkward mishap which occurred to Brother Corson

160 FATHER CORSON.
in the Newmarket Circuit, some years before, from the
confusion of which I am sure no minister could extricate
himself with less perturbation. This occurred from his
kneeling hurriedly against a table loaded with dishes, which
stood so slightly on its feet that it yielded to his pressure
and overturned with all that was upon it ; a mishap which
I came very near having experienced myself more than
once, but one, which, if it had occur) ed, I am certain I
could not have out-faced like the guileless Corson.* The
* The mention of "tottlish" tables, chairs, &c, maybe monitory
to housekeepers and those answerable for the care of places of meeting,
as well as to preachers. I could mention the battlement on the
platform of a lecture room in a pretentious College, against which,
when I came to kneel at the request of a "Professor," to lead in the
accustomed daily devotions, I had nearly pitched headloDg, along
with the provoking piece of shif tlessness set up there to lure unwary
strangers to their overthrow ! I should like to know if that slipshod
arrangement still obtains ?
I feel inclined to add to the length of this note by referring to
information obtained on a subject mentioned in the text, from
another source. W hen in the Simcoe Circuit, having his eye on the
possible usefulness of a youth not many months converted, he called
him to take a seat by him on a log, and said, ' ' Michael, do you think
you could preach ? " " JSTo, I am sure I could not. " " Come, let us see
if you could not. Here is the text ' How shall we escape if we neg
lect so great salvation?' What could you do with that?" "I
could do nothing." "But you could; let us try. The first thing
is 'Salvation,' what is that?" " It is Deliverance.'' " Very good,
deliverance from guilt, and siu, and punishment. But it is ' Great.,'
why? Because provided by a Great God, and from a great evil,
But who are the ' Neglecters ' of it ? The Scribes and Pharisees. All
unbelievers. All the careless, the lukewarm, backsliders, die. But
what will they not ' escape ' from ? Accusations of guilty conscience
here, and the punishment of sin and unbelief hereafter." These were
the sort of lessons in Homiletics by which the Rev. M. Fawcett was
trained to he a preacher. No unprofitable theological student was
he.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 161
extraordinary incident to be given presently is affirmed by
this writer, as it occurred in that region.
As Mr. Corson became older he was less observant of
little matters of current interest, and also forgetful of many
things, from day to day, which it is very important a minister
in charge of a Circuit should recollect, and his brethren,
both clerical and lay, began to think that although he had
great strength and vitality, and that, though he might serve
the interests of the cause of Christ in a local sphere, he
ought to be released from the cares and teib of a
Circuit — in short, that he ought to be " superannuated."
He thought otherwise himself; his; heart was young, his
mind was active, and he believed he was physically as
capable as most of the men who were yet young in years.
This caused for a time a little uneasiness, until the die was
cast. An amusing instance, in which the two opinions and
tendencies came in conflict, and which exhibited the original
character of our unique brother, tenacious of life and
labour, is thus detailed by thos3 who witnessed the scene.
At an official meeting where they were urging him to
superannuate, on the grounds that he was no longer physi
cally equal to the toils of the Itinerancy, he maintained that
he was as competent as ever, so far as strength and activity
werir concerned, and much more so than many younger mon.
Wnile this bransh of the question was being considered,
pro and con, he somewhat lost his patience, and his old
Samson-like energy coming upon him afresh, he stepped
out into the aisle, sprang into the air, as in the days of his
boyhood, and rapped his feet three times together before he
returned to the floor. " There ! " said he with a look of
Bcorn and defiance, " Are there any of you here that can

162 FATHER CORSON.
do that 1 " What the weaklings said or did, deponent did
not say.
Having come to the close of Mr. Corson's "effective"
services in the Church, I think this the most appropriate
place to present the analysis of hi.-* chaba^tep, most
discriminatingly drawn up by his admiring son, Dr. John
Wesley Corson : "PEN PORTRAIT."
" Even as a matter of scientific enquiry, each trait of the
body and mind of him who bore such a long and fesvrful
strain becomes a matter of interest. We will try affec
tionately to sketch him by a familiar ' word painting.'
He was so sternly honest, that with Cromwell he would
have shouted to a cringing artist, ' Show me just as I am
sir! Let me see that wvtrt on mi; face.' And so we
will respect the memory and not flatter the picture. Yet
to be true it must be radiant with sunlight, with scarcely
a trace of shadow.
" Both Wesley and Asbury were moderate in size.
Travellers long ago remarked, that the veterans who sur
vived the campaign to Russia to loiter about the Hotel or
the Invalids in Paris, were nearly all compact little men.
He whose likeness we are trying faithfully to give, was
perhaps a trifle below medium in height. His shoulders
were broad, surmounting a powerfully knit frame, inclining
to fulness. He had a sailor's swing of the arms, and, even
in advanced age, a quick boyish step. Friends who used to
see that veteran minister flitting about Brooklyn Heights,
will understand the comparison, when we mention tbat his
movements, and general appearance, stiongly resembled
those of the late Dr. Lyman Beecher. To use a homely

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 163
phrase, both seemed tough. Perhaps his early habit of
reading on horseback had given to our father a scholar's
'stoop of the neck.' Doubtless this was confirmed by his
singular custom of hurriedly writing ' sketches of sermons '
on his knee — just as a General might send off despatches
in the heat of a battle. As be briskly walked the streets,
this bend seemed rather increased. He leaned forward as
it were in intense abstraction. Indeed, at times he was
very ' absent,' and his eyes were then fixed upon the side
walk as if, like Hugh Miller, he was profoundly studying
the paving stones.
" When he awoke from this reverie, it was perhaps to
greet heartily some old friend, and then his face, ruddy
even in old age, would light up with a winning smile.
Indeed, we may change the compliment from a fascinating
Western Statesman, and say that the deceased was a model
of a ' smiling ' minister. Only with the latter the effort
was perfectly sincere. He scorned pretence of every kind.
It was the joy of a glad heart, flashing on the cheeks of a
childlike Christian.
" His forehead was very broad above the eyes, as if the
high massive brow of Sir Walter Scott had been pressed
down a full inch, till it swelled around the ears — just to
take out the romance. Below, it was fringed with thick
eyebrows, and above, there floated carelessly about locks of
hair, long of an iron grey. The eyes were blue, and had ever
a merry twinkle. Probably to save the minutes he so valued
in shaving, he wore plain side-whiskers. As if to set off
the ready laugh that rolled in waves over his broad features,
there was a deep dimple in the chin ; but to temper this
again, he had a massive, firm lower jaw, like that of
General Grant, for beneath the sunny outside, there always

164 FATHER CORSON.
lurked an ii-on will. The lips were liberal, as if made to
speak easily.
" When young Henry Brougham, afterwards himself a
Lord, thundered at the Bar of the Houpe of Lords, in
defence of Queen Caroline, the end of his long noso was
said to twist and twirl like a finger of scorn ; but in the
present case the nasal projection was strictly modest and
peaceful. " Youthful Americans, years ago, will remember a queer
phrase of the students of the Latin Quarter in Paxis, who
used to jeer at their then countrymen, the half Germans of
Metz and Strasburg, as ' Square heads.' The worthy
subject of this notice had the full round visage of a German
Professor who thoroughly enjoys life, and not only studies,
but feeds well.
" Outside of the sacred desk and in the family circle, as
we have before hinted, irresistible mirthfulness bubbled up
as a part of his very life. One might as well have attempted
to choke an Artesian well, or the Geysers of Iceland. Yet
these outbursts were often changed in an instant, as by a
current of strong religious feeling. His prayers abounded
in praises, and he loved to sing snatches of happy hymns as
he rode through the dark woods.
" This irrepressible cheerfulness was doubtless the charm
that lendered him so welcome in hundreds of rxral hemes —
for he made countless pastoral visits. It was his special
pleasure to seek out ' neglected ' piople. As a pious lady
once said, he was always ' hunting for souls.' Sometimes
his zeal led him to attack the enemy ' without orders.' He
would suddenly leave his Circuit with a temporary supply,
and plunge into the nearest wilderness in search of poor
immigrants who were hungering for the Bread of Life. He

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 165
flew from house to house, and from farm to iarm, like the
famous Wandering Jew of the Poet Beranger. He was
ever in a hurry, and in his haste, at times, his joys and
devotions were curiously mingled. While a broad smile
was yet on every face, he would say quickly, " Let us
pray ! ' and then he would drop suddenly on his knees, and
utter a brief prayer so full of mighty faith, and yet so
simple and touching that all would rise in tears.HJ
" Frequently, on a week day, he would tell comical
stories, like those of Abraham Lincoln, to the very door of
a log school-house, but the moment he entered all was
changed. The converted wit that had kept the garrison
on Burlinoton Heis-hts in a roar for months, was now an
Ambassador of Christ. Once in the pulpit, not a jest
escaped his lips. Trifles in youth often fix the tastes of a
life-time. Had he not marched in a clean ' British
uniform ' to service long years before, on many a Sabbath
morn 1 Did he not then j oin in the responses of that gift
of the martyrs of the Reformation, the English Liturgy?
For even Christians who prefer extemporaneous prayers,
* In illustration and confirmation of what Dr. John says in the
above sentence, I was informed, many years ago, on the Bath
Circuit, where, the reader will remember, Mr. Corson once laboured,
that he was visiting one day on the Isle of Tanti, and "going into
every house in order," as the Discipline directs; pursuing which
course, he came to the dwelling of a Koman Catholic, with whom
he had some friendly conversation on general subjects : when, all
at once, he said to him, "You are a Roman Catholic?" "Yes.'"
" Well, I'm a Methodist : Now, what if we pray together for
once I" And, before the man had time to object, or indeed reply,
he said, " Let us pray ! " And, falling on his knees, poured out a
subduing prayer, though short, which left the Romanist with no
disposition to cavil, and, indeed, profitably impressed.— Ed.

166 FATHER CORSON.
can admire a book so full of gems from the Bible for the
masses, — gathered when the sacred volume was very costly.
" He was now a ' Soldier of the Cross,' and he was
reverently neat in his clerical wardrobe. The black coat
for Sunday must be of the finest broadcloth, ' piously '
single-breasted, — something between an ancient ' conti
nental ' and a modern ' dress,' — and gracefully curved in
front like the wings of a dove, and his cravat gave the
contrast of dazzling whiteness.
" As he entered the pulpit and sat down, his face wore a
peculiarly sweet and solemn expression. Sometimes it
brightened suddenly, as if from a happy thought within.
An English historian, describing the wild dash of the
French Zuaves, as they came to the rescue of his country
men at Inkermann, said : ' They came with the light of the
battle on their faces.' So the countenance of the departed
shone at times with the radiance of the Holy War.
" One of the grandest accomjilishments of a backwoods
preacher, in those primitive days, was a thundering voice.
With happy memories of the playful sallies of him whom
we are trying to portray, we may venture to remark, that
like a church bell, it summoned all the neighbours. It
echoed through the trees, till it made sinneis tremble as the
horns of the Israelites shook the walls of Jericho, and then
it silenced even the scoffers on the outskirts of a camp-
meeting. " Seriously, it was a gift too useful to be neglected by the
fortunate owner. The worthy subject of this sketch, in the
prime of his manhood, spoke not only in stentorian tones,
but his words flowed rapidly, like a mighty torrent. Those
who have listened to the famous evangelist, Mr. Moody,
hurriedly addressing a vast multitude, will understand his

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 167
impassioned manner. The body swayed to and fro, r-d the
broad chest heaved mightily. His sermons were brief,
clear, and forcible. His ' divisions ' were natural.
" The great German linguist, Grimm, has predicted that
English, from its simple brevity and convenience in trade,
is destined in the future to be the leading language of the
world. It certainly has singular power in the pulpit. The
deceased always preferred its short, telling words. He
would call a spade a spade. It was not an ' agricultural
implement.' We may illustrate his plain taste by quoting
a discussion in a prayer-meeting in which the speaker, him
self a proficient in several tongues, asserted that in no other
form could that delightful assurance in the Twenty-third
Psalm be so well and briefly expressed as in the four Saxon
words ' I shall not want.' The closing thoughts of the
subject of this narrative were always given with much
solemnity and force. He threw his whole strength into the
' Application.' " As he grew grey, and began to be called more fre
quently ' Father Corson,' he gradually lost the fervent
declamation which tradition assigns to St. Peter, and
melted gently into the tender style of St. John. His
cadences grew more soft, and his sentences more deliberate
and finished. This last improvement an intimate friend
playfully attributed to the ' piles of books that he read.'
In fact to a very late period he plodded through a great
many volumes in a year.
" The truth that he so loved, compels us to say that in a
high artistic sense he could hardly be called a prodigy in
eloquence. Yet there were grand occasions when the
magnetism of his utter sincerity told wonderfully upon an
audience. In early days his efiufts were singularly blessed

168 FATHER CORSON.
in extensive revivals ; and he was mercifully spared to
commune with many aged Christians, whom, as Andrew led
Peter, he first brought to Jesus.
" Doubtless the chief element of his success as a revivalist
was his overmastering earnestness. We remember a few
years since reading a touching tribute from the few sur
vivors, to the powerful appeal of the Rev. Mr. Draper, of
Australia, as he pleaded with his fellow passengers on the
deck till the waves chocked his voice and he perished with
the wreck of the steamer London in the Bay of Biscay.
And he whose portrait we are trying to paint, commonly
preached as if it might be his last sermon on earth.
" He was so pure and upright as a man, and so prayerful
and exemplary as a Christian, that his very cheerful tem
perament did not saem in the least to lessen his influence
as a minister. Those frank, easy ways of his disarmed all
criticism. His ' merry heart ' soon came to be regarded as
a part of his nature, as much as the width of his forehead
or the colour of his hair. His witty sayings, too, were
often in exchange for unmeasured Christian hospitalities.
The ' young converts ' in the log cabins in the thick woods
of forty and fifty years before, were now, to use a favourite
expression of his, ' Prospering for both worlds.' Spacious
farm houses, great barns and orchards, and golden harvests
had come to cover the hillsides. And they had a still
richer inheritance in the fair land beyond Jordan. They
lavished tokens of regard upon their early friend, sometimes
hurrying to the very gate to meet him. Paul, with the chain
of a Roman prisoner upon his arm, awaiting sentence from
Nero, was so moved with gratitude that he could write the
' most joyous of his Epistles,' thanking the ever faithful
Philippians for those generous gifts which followed him

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 169
everywhere even to his death. And the key note of fhat
martyr song of triumph was, ' For me to live is Christ, but
to die is gain.' Thus this aged ' Evangelist,' welcome in
hundreds of Canadian homes, in his own peculiar way, only
obeyed the exhortation of the heroic apostle, ' Again I say
rejoice.' " We who now mourn his loss may gratefully recognize
in this buoyancy of spirit, one of the most potent influences
in prolonging his useful life ; but here we may doubtless
recognize another agency equally powerful. It was his
unceasing toil. He abhorred idleness even in extreme old
age. His active brain was never palsied for want of use.
Writing to one of his sons at eighty-four, he said, ' I have
preached seventy sermons during the past year.' He was
ever seeking Christian work, and he enjoyed it to the last.
He especially delighted to preach, as he termed it, to his
' old friends.' Recently he wrote, ' last Sabbath I spoke to
the people with whom I laboured just fifty years ago.'
" As we have remarked before, his transitions from
smiling to weeping were sometimes sudden. Even in
middle life he was occasionally interrupted by deep emotion
in the pulpit, which, with a mighty effort, he would restrain
for a time, until at last both speaker and hearers were
ready to weep together. As years passed on he ' melted
down ' more frequently.
" More than a quarter of a century since, one of his sons
rose with the crowd in Exeter Hall, London, at the fiist
great meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, to do homage to
a little old man bent with years, with broad shoulders,
shaggy eyebrows, and a full round face — almost the image
of his own father. He too had been a pastor fifty years.
He seemed overjoyed at the sight of those gathered tribes
9

170 FATHER CORSON.
of the Israel of God. His lips moved, but there came no
sound; then he burst into tears and sat down. It was
William Jay. So he whose memory we now revere, lived
often to weep with joy with multitudes of his spiritual
children — lived to sing praises at the wonderful gospel
triumphs of the Church he so loved, all over his native
land — till he could say with Simeon, ' Now, Lord, lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace,' 'For mine eyes have
seen Thy salvation.' "
III. FROM MR. CORSON'S SUPERANNUATION TO HIS
DEATH : OR FROM 1858 TO 1878.
The Conference at which our subject received a superan
nuated relation sat, for the first time after the incorporation
of the Canada East District with the Canada Conference, in
the city of Montreal, that great commercial emporium ; and
the laying of this active-minded man on the shelf just at the
moment he had a chance of seeing how our borders were en
larging, and new doors of usefulness were opening to us, must
have been the more trying to his ardent heart. He pleaded
to be allowed to continue, as he felt himself quite equal to
Circuit work physically, saying that " he could still preach
three times on Sunday ; meet three classes ; and be so fresh
on Monday, that, if required, he could jump up and strike his
feet together three times before he came down." The Con
ference was almost too dignified an assembly for him to make
the scene of an actual exemplification of his agility as he did
before the select officials in the Klineburg Circuit. The
only reference to this crisis in his history in his " sketch "
is as follows: "In 1858 I superannuated. Located in
Cobourg. Built a small framed house, and kept boarders

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. ..71
for those who were attending college; and educated my
youngest son, Adam Clarke."
1. From his settlement in Cobourg, to his removal to his
house in Cainsville, a period of fifteen years.
At the Conference of 1859, which sat in Hamilton, the
enterprising old gentleman made application for restoration
to the effective ranks, but his brethren thought that all he
was capable of now doing could be best achieved in a retired
sphere and in connection with " a local habitation." This
fact will explain some allusions in the following sketch.
It was while Father Corson was standing up in the Confer
ence, stating and defending his own case, that I took the
idea of writing the " Conference Crayons." He was
accordingly the first one portrayed, and placed at the head
of the list. The book is now out of print and inaccessible
to most ; and, as many have expressed a desire to see that
sketch, who have otherwise no opportunity of seeing it ; and
as it will conduce to the -objects of this volume, I have de
rided to reproduce it, and in this connection : —
"CRAYON FIRST."
" Having resolved to try and hit off, in an easy manner, a
few of the more prominent members of the Canadian Wes
leyan Conference, I begin with one of the oldest, one who
was superannuated last year, but who still thinks himself
effective, as he has applied for restoration to the active work.
We have heard somewhere, that British soldiers never know
when they are beaten. In this respect as in all others, Father
Corson is a true Briton. He thinks he is as capable of
circuit work as he ever was ; and physically, I think he is
nearly so. But, alas for the dear old man! he, like s<">;"0

172 FATHER CORSON.
others of us are, is behind the times,— though like most others
in a similar predicament, he does not know it. He never was
distinguished for very great intellectual power, although a
shrewd man ; and his early education was defective, a defect
which he never greatly remedied by private study, although
he has been one of the most voluminous readers in the Con
ference. Even yet, he reads more books through in a year
than almost any man we wot of. Furthermore, he has an
excellent memory for the historical parts of what he reads.
He is a sort of standing table of reference for facts and
dates relating to American Methodism. Notwithstanding
the drawbacks above mentioned, he has done good service
for the Lord in the woods and wilds of Canada, during the
last thirty-five years. We remember our first sight of him
at a camp-meeting thirty years ago, when his word was like
electric fire among the people. And if he is not highly edu
cated himself, he has raised up a family of educated soi,--,
who are an honour to him, while they bear traces of the in
tellectual superiority of a good and dignified mother. Our
hero never filled a City appointment, but he ' has traversed
and re-traversed nearly all the rural parts of the Province,
from Kingston to Sarnia, and from Lakes Ontario and Erie
to Huron and Simcoe. For preaching often, and visiting he
has no equal. He has been known to preach forty times in
the month, and to visit a dozen families before breakfast.
He has never filled any office in the connexion higher tlu...
that of Superintendent of a Circuit, and has never received
any particular mark of his brethren's appreciation, although
he lives in the affections of every brother's heart. We
know not that he ever published anything beyond a letter
in a newspaper, but we once knew him to have written
what we wish he had published.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 173
" No person evei' bore toil and lack of honour better. He
has sometimes made humorous allusions to his great abilities
and high position. Humour is his forte. His is of the most
broad and grotesque, yet genial and pious character. How
he has " brought down the house," (for be it known he is a
celebrated Conference debater) all acquainted with the de
liberations of the Conference very well know. In this respect
he has answered a valuable purpose in our ecclesiastical
discussions, often dissipating the acrimonious feelings en
gendered by a stormy debate, by one of his irresistibly lu
dicrous speeches. Though ludicrous they are not trifling ;
he is often most laughable when most in earnest. Father
C. holds very decided opinions on all questions, and is not
afraid to express them either. He often does the latter by
very sound arguments, which would be really weighty and
convincing, if it were not for the odd and humorous way in
which they are put. To see him rise in Conference is the
signal for a titter of delight to run through the assembly,
while significant nods, and winks, and smiles, amount to
saying, ' now for some innocent amusement.' The make of
his tawny, good-natured face, is comical ; and his nod, when
he addresses ' Mr. President,' is formed on the most approved
school-boy model of other days, whenithe urchin was expected
to bring down his head to every passing stranger, in the use
of the strictly enjoined 'bow' with a jerk that was dangerous
to the vertebrae of the neck. But if 'our hero's arguments
are not telling in the ordinary sense, he often makes very
lucky hits, which do good without hurting much. We have
two of these in our remembrance, which were decidedly rich,
but hesitate a little for the present in publishing them.*
* I have at length given them in the pages of this memoir.

174 FATHER CORSON.
" Still it must not be forgotten, that though Father Corson
often provokes a laugh, he frequently beguiles the people of.
their tears, as he is by no means parsimonious of his own.
Nor are they crocodile tears either ; he has a warm, lender,
and pious heart. ,
" The old-fashioned itinerant, by an odd juxtaposition, has
settled himself at Cobourg, where our rising Ministry are re
ceiving the polish of a liberal education. They may very
profitably take some leaves out of this book.
" May God in his mercy give him ' a serene old age,' and
the happy death of a 'good soldier of Jesus Christ,' such as
he is ! Amen."
Of the time our venerable friend spent in Cobourg, he says
in his usual summary way, " I remained fifteen years in
Cobourg. During that time I preached fifteen hundred
sermons and read five hundred books. I was planned both in
town and country. I was blessed with friends both in and
out of the college ;" and he might have added in and out of
the Church.
There are many retired ministers who would, perhaps, be
ashamed to have it said, that they, as Father Corson did and
avowed it, " kept a boarding house" (calling, as he always
did, a spade a spade), albeit I have no sympathy with such
squeamishness. They seem not to have adopted the maxim
of John Wesley, the Founder of our Methodism, namely,
" Be ashamed of nothing but sin." Let it be remem
bered, moreover, that Mr. Corson was of an active, indus
trious temperament, and he had been an industrious man all
his days ; and it was impossible for him to be idle- -to have
enforced idleness upon him would have been to kill him be
fore his time. Besides, let it be recollected that he was na
turally a shrewd man of business, a man who would have

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 175
made a fortune if he had not been a Methodist preacher, pre
senting " his life, his blood," for the honour of God and
the good of the Church. He had no absolute need of doing
anything to make money, for he would have had a small
competency at any rate ; he had a higher motive than
money. But if he had been impelled by no more elevated
object, there would have been nothing derogatory to a retired
minister's dignity in doing it. William Anson, a fascinating
preacher, and the first appointed to Yonge-street Circuit, in
cluding York, had to do the same thing in his old days, to
support himself and family. If Mr. Corson netted any gains,
which is very doubtful, he made a good use of them : his
habitual generosity, and the position of respectability and
usefulnes in which he placed his sons, is sufficient to answer
all cavils on that subject.
But he had a higher motive, and he realized it. His first
motive in going to Cobourg was to have facilities for giving
his youngest son a liberal education. To bring it more within
the compass of his means, he invested his little disposable re
sources in a house of his own, in preference to paying, rent.
Then, he had many friends through the country, who had
sons to send to college, who desired to have those youths
under the care of the old minister in preference to anyone
else.* He kept a good table, furnished good beds, his terms
* Father Corson's extensive acquaintance with the heads of Metho
dist households in the country was a, great source of influence for
good among their descendants. Rev. John B. Clarkson, the old
gentleman's last pastor, who had known him at Cobourg while
passing through college, remarked, in preaching the crowned-war
rior's funeral sermon, that Father Corson would say to this, that, and
the other student, whom be met at the Institution, "I married your
father and mother." "I took your father and mother into the
Church," with sundry other pleasant remembrances of their parents
and friends respectively.

1 76 FATHER CORSON.
were very reasonable, and he was not exacting about the pay
weekly, if, in some instances, he were paid at all. There was
another class who had a natural affinity for the genial old
preacher ; these were the " Conference students " — young
preachers who had preached one or more years and were
allowed to attend college ; these found the complement for
their youth and inexperience in this old hero of a hundred
battles. These naturally went to his hospice ; they counselled
him about the treatment of the tex.t they were endeavouring
to master, and he gave them suggestions, often writing them
an outline for them to fill up. And let no one smile at
the idea of his outline, as some pretentious ones may be in
clined to do. Corson was a natural sermonizer, much better
than some who were rated higher. Furthermore, there were
indigent young men, who could not have sustained them
selves at college at all, if he had not given them easy
terms and long credit : he knew the hardships of the
struggling poor, and showed practical sympathy. I have
heard no complaints from him or his family, but I am morally
certain, that, in some cases at least, among these persons
there was neither pay nor much after gratitude. It was a
a kind of business and a sphere of usefulness into which he
was providentially led ; and, although it was an unusual
line of operation, he had penetration enough to see that it
embraced a pleasant employment, one in which his paternal
heart could find congenial occupation, and he had simplicity
and moral courage enough to pursue it, without going around
to ask, " What will the world think 1 " It was the substi
tution of a more comprehensive sphere for fulfilling his min
istry to that of the direct, personal ministry of the word as
a Circuit preacher.
He might have defended his occupation by the same lino

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 177
of argument that Dr. Chalmers did in answer to the remon
strance of an humble but pious co-labourer. Everyone knows
what extensive schemes of parochial usefulness the Doctor
was employed in when he received an election to a Profes
sorship in the newly-constituted Free Church Theological
College, which he saw fit to accept. When his devoted lay
assistant, or city missionary, Sandy Patterson, heard of it,
he, not having any very high opinion of the necessity for
systematic training, compared with direct and apparent
results, went to his minister and expostulated with him for
giving up such direct and certain opportunity of serving the
interests of souls, for one which to him appeared only
indirect, if not uncertain. The Doctor heard him patiently,
for he had a great regard for this truly original and very
useful man, and answered him by a question: "Sandy,
which do you think is the most useful man, the man that
salts the pig, or the man that makes the salt that salts all
the pigs? " The quick-witted helper was not slow to see the
point, or to acknowledge the .force of the argument, and
responded at once, " Oh ; if it comes to that, the sooner you
are in the salt pans the bether." This will apply to Father
Corson's work; for if he did not " salt" the animals, he did
that without which the salt of theological lore would have
been of little avail, he fed them: something which goes
before the salting. (See Talmage's doctrine of beef-steak.)
His residence in what might be called a Collegiate town,
and his constantly presiding at the head of a table full of gen
teel young men whose manners he had to mould, contributed
to rub off any rusticity of deportment he may have acquired
in his rural circuits, and to polish his own manners ; for he
was an improving man to the last. Insomuch so that some
of his early acquaintances remarked to his children, " How

178 FATHER CORSON.
exceedingly urbane and polite your father has become." It
was not, however, that false refinement which makes its
possessor stiff and formal ; something Father Corson could
never be.
Besides, he did not preach prospectively or by proxy alone,
through those whom he aided in acquiring qualifications for
that sublime and important work, but he still laboured in
word and doctrine, as he has told us — " in town," and in a
wide area of country all round. In preaching fifteen hundred
sermons in fifteen years, he preached what was equivalent
to one hundred sermons a year for each year he was there.
Pretty good for a superannuate. And this work was done
under circumstances of great fatigue and hardship. Since
I sat down to write this part of his life, a mutual friend,
the Rev. Charles Silvester, who knew the facts, informed
me that one of the old gentleman's Sabbath day's excursions
embraced a horseback ride of nine miles to his forenoon
appointment, ten to his afternoon service, and several miles
(the exact number I do not remember) to his appointment
at night. My informant did not know but that he may
have gone to the first place on Saturday evening, and may
have returned to his home not till Monday, and, of course,
I do not know. But even admitting that, a horseback
journey of eighteen or twenty miles and three sermons (and
if there were classes, I will venture to say he did not turn
his back on them) was a great exploit for an old man of
approaching eighty years, with as long a journey to go to,
and return from, his first and last appointments, besides the
actual travel on Sunday.
I have been furnished with several characteristic and
amusing stories, illustrative of his life and labours during
his sojourn within the shadow of our great Connexional

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS, 179
University, some of which I will give. The first one oi
these was furnished by a senior minister who laboured in
that vicinity at the time. It illustrates Father Corson's
zeal, laboriousness, and punctuality, as also his disregard of
what the world calls " appearances," when he was called to
overcome obstacles which conflicted with what he thought
the punctual performance of his duty ; while it shows how
rauch use he made of suggestions produced by passing occur
rences on his mind.
I have the authority of the Rev. Wm. McCullough for
the following, and I give it in his own words, to secure
accuracy, and because of the neat and agreeable manner in
which it is narrated :—
"On a certain occasion 'Father Corson' preached in a
village east of Cobourg, in the forenoon of Sabbath, at
half-past ten o'clock. He had also an appointment in a
certain neighbourhood some miles distant, at half-past two
o'clock p.m. After the morning service he went to the
house of the R. S., Mr. A. H., to get some dinner for him
self and ' Old Sal,' his mare. He had a ' good time ' in
preaching as he usually had, and was in fine spirits. But
when he went to his friend's house his spirits fell several
degrees, for the dinner was not ready, nor likely soon to be,
and he feared being late for his other service. But he was
not often at a loss to know what to do. He went to the
cooking stove to ascertain the state of culinary affairs, and
to his joy found a pot of sweet corn boiled to perfection.
He at once filled his pockets with corn, mounted " Old Sal,"
ata_his corn with as much satisfaction as if he had been at
the ' Feast of Tabernacles,' and went on his way singing
with a glad and thankful heart, and preparing his after
noon sermon. He went into the church, entered the pul-

180 FATHER CORSON.
pit, took down the Bible, and selected for his text, 'And
the disciples plucked the ears of corn.' I could give you
many quaint anecdotes of ' Father Corson,' but the above
is suflicient, for you are likely to< receive thousands from his
numerous friends, ' lay and clerical.' "
There is another from the same source, and it relates to
the period of his residence at Cobourg, and is so character
istic of the dear old man and the pleasant manner of his
intercburse with his " troops of friends," that I give it now,
and without abridgement or change.
" When the writer of this short notice lived in the
village of M  , his next-door neighbour was a worthy
son of ' Father Corson,' and, like the rest of his noble sons,
was shrewd and intelligent. He was the proprietor and
editor of a respectable newspaper, — The Economist — and
his wife the sister of an Hon. Senator of the Dominion of
Canada. He was not yet a member of the Church, but a
regular hearer of the Word, and Father Corson visited this
son more frequently than some others, because of his
parental anxiety for the salvation of the only son out of
the fold of Christ. During one of those paternal visits he
put his horse in my stable for the night, and he felt free f o
do this, for we had been acquainted for years, and he knew
that even his horse was welcome. The next morning I had
occasion to ,make an early start for Toronto, and about 5 a.m.
I went out to the stable to feed my horse, and to my surprise
found Father Corson there, who had fed my horse and his
own also. I asked him why he was up so early, and said,
'Does your conscience trouble you about anything, so
that you cannot sleep?' He replied, 'Do you call this
early? Why, I have spent some time in secret prayer for
my poor son, and I have read the two Books of Chronicles

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 181
through and through besides.' ' Why, Father Corson !
Would you not have received more good from one chapter
in the book of John than from the reading of the Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel ? ' He replied, ' My duty is to read
the whole of the sacred Scriptures, besides it was a good
thing for Israel that King Ahasuerus had read to him,
when he could not sleep, the chronicles of the kingdom.'
' But what did you do with the hard names in the first ten
or eleven chapters ? ' Why, I just looked at them, and bid
them good morning, and then passed on to the next. But
brother,' he said, ' you must not be too critical.' ' Good
morning Father Corson, I must leave you and go to
Toronto.' ' Good morning brother,' he said, ' I must leave
you and go to Cobourg, and when you come my way you
will find an empty stall for your horse, and a welcome for
yourself.' ' Father Corson, I do not want an empty stall
for my horse, I want something in it for him to eat.' ' Ab,
brother, you will disclose the country you hail from. I will
pray for you, brother.' ' Father Corson, your prayers are
by far too short, the Lord has hardly time to hear them
until you are through.' ' Short or long, my brother, the
good Lord always answers them.' ' Well, Father Corson,
I must be off, good morning, but do pray for me.' ' I will,
indeed, for you need some one to pray for you, I am sure,'
and he laughed heartily. Father Corson was pure-minded,
and perfectly transparent. He was an Israelite, indeed, in
whom there was no guile. He was a man of strong faith,
and his life was spotless and consistent."
Myself and others have spoken of Father Corson's readi
ness to lend a hand to help his ministerial brethren in their
work, in the vicinity of Cobourg. These preaching excur
sions were extended to more than a day's travel from his

182 FATHER CORSON.
home. From 1861 to 1864 I was stationed in the town of
Peterboro', of which I have very pleasant remembrances.
The Society was very large, and the communicants therefore
numerous, and a quarterly Sacramental occasion was a
somewhat onerous affair. T was consequently always glad
of the company and assistance of a brother minister, — an
advantage, however, I seldom enjoyed. I often thought,
remembering the visit at Belleville, what a luxury it would
be to have Father Corson with us, for at least once.
Arrangements were at length matured that he should come ;
but unhappily for him, it chanced to be the November
Quarterly Meeting,-ancl not very early in the month either,
but far on towards the close. It happened also that the
weather was more than usually severe for the season ; but
Father Corson came, not by the comfortable, though,
roundabout, expensive way and means of the cars, namely,
via Port Hope, Millbrook, &c, but across the -country in
his old rickety buggy and ancient white horse, whose pace,
at the best, did not exceed four miles an hour. This
without expense to any one. He must therefore have had
to leave home pretty early on Friday, yet he was in
Peterboro' timely on Saturday. Despite the raw weather,
the services were well attended, and the meeting a good
one. I have not been able to recall his subjects, but his
efforts were happy and well received. Here he met his old
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Morrow, whom he had
known when he laboured on the Whitby Circuit the first
time. This worthy couple informed my wife that they
could remember when they thought it was the greatest
treat to " go and spend a day with Brother and Sister
Corson," despite the distance between Hope and Darling
ton, Monday, after our Quarterly Meeting, proved cold

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 183
and stormy, in fact, a very dreary day, and we wished to
retain our lively and agreeable guest ; but no, he " had
engagements, and must be home." If the worst came to
the worst, he " could stop in Cavan," and off he went.
And our hearts ached to see the poor old gentleman, with
nothing but a thin cloak around him, clamber into his
buggy, poorly provided with wraps, and whip off his
unwilling old horse on his toilsome journey.
The Rev. Alexander Hardie, A.M., Moral Governor of
the Stanstead Wesleyan College, was an inmate in Father
Corson's family during the whole of his collegiate course,
and had enjoyed the maternal care of Mrs. Corson the
while. I had often heard him and his brother Robert, now
a legal practitioner in the United States, tell stories by the
hour, during their vacation visits at their father's house, of
their student life at " Father Corson's." Stories, by the way,
which showed that with the characteristic mischievousness
of youth, the young men sometimes played practical jokes
on the dear, simple-minded, unsuspecting old gentleman,
more, I could believe, out of fond familiarity with him
than anything else, knowing how forgiving and. boy like he
was himself. I say, because of this. I wrote Mr. Hardie
for some reminiscences of that period. Unhappily my
letter overtook him from home, whence he had been ban
ished for months by the stern necessity of canvassing for
subscriptions to discharge a most burdensome debt on the
institution with which he stands connected, and, therefore,
having neither leisure nor conveniences for recalling and
writing out the memories of those privileged and happy
days as he could have desired, still, what I will give of
his letter will be most pertinent to the object I have in

184 FATHER CORSON.
Mr. Hardie says, " I am sorry I cannot take the time to
give an outline of dear Father Corson's character as it was
seen by us. He was a man of great physical and mental
vigour, and possessed a strong emotional nature. He acted
upon the apostolic injunction, ' Not slothful in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.' * * * * His
prayers were exceedingly brief, but comprehensive. He
often used these words, ' O Lord, help us to get good, to be
good, and to do good.' " *
" As a rapid reader he had few superiors. His know
ledge of books was somewhat extensive. He was well up
on the old Calvinistic contentions. He never wearied in
explaining to us the five points of difference between
us and our Presbyterian brethren. His knowledge of
Methodist theology was both extensive and accurate for
one of his opportunities.
" He wasted no time. Diligence was, I think, the most
prominent feature in his character. He was a remarkable
man. In his case, ' the fly in the pot of ointment ' was his
apparent avidity for small gains.
"Of couise you have heard about his sermon on 'Feed
my lambs,' the characteristic feature of which was the con
trast between the hog and the sheep, the amusing point
being : The swine when he goes to rest at night, just rolls
over and goes to sleep ; but the sheep goes down upon his
knees before he goes to rest !
* The brevity and comprehensiveness of his prayers were often
exemplified when called upon to open or close the Conference
with prayer ; while often, in doing the latter, he has raised a smila
upon the countenances of his brethren, by falling suddenly on his
knees, and hurriedly uttering the prayer, "0 Lord, forgive our
sins ! Bless the President ! Bless the Conference ! Bless the Queen 1
Bless and save us all, for Jesus Christ's sake ! Amen." — Ed.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 185
" He took a great interest in young preachers. His heart
really yearned towards us. He would do almost anything
for us. For our benefit he spared no pains in writing out
outlines of sermons. These were liberally bestowed upon
young preachers. * * * * * *
" Of Father Corson I must say that he feared neither
storms, nor hard journeys, nor hard fare, nor hard service
for the cause of Christ. He was grandly loyal to the
Church. He was willing to stand at any post on the walls
of our Methodist Zion. He was shrewd, and yet possessed
a vast amount of courage. I saw him only in bis old age.
I am sure that in his prime he was a princely man, and
belonged to the flying artillery of the Church. He was by
nature a frontier man."
There are some preachers, I am sure, who will smile at
the idea of Father Corson being a teacher of Homiletics to
students who had enjoyed liberal advantages, and I was
quite inclined to do the same, till I opened and perused two
of the old preacher's MS. sermon books, or rather outlines
of sermons which have fallen into my hands with other
relics of him, upon the perusal of which I was struck with
the happy selection of texts and their just analysis by him,
Some, if not all of these, I will furnish in an appendix, if the
publisher can afford me space. They are in the old-fashioned
Methodical style, and demonstrate that the "Illiterate
Methodist Preachers," as they were once derisively called,
knew " whereof they affirmed."
Father Corson was a very ready man. It was impossible
to take him at a disadvantage for an impromptu speech on
the platform of a popular meeting for any imaginable
subject, among ourselves or other denominations. Some
of these latter were of the number of our " small friends ; "

186

FATHER CORSON.

but among them Father Corson never feared to lift up his
head, and he always gave them, very good naturedly, " tit "
for any " tats " they had dealt out to the Methodists,
whether overt or covert ones. The students at the college
knew his readiness, *and the usually amusing chaiacter of
his spontaneous sallies; and it was a veiy common thing
for them to call for " Father Corson " after an audience had
been satisfied to repletion with the elaborate orations of
men of high reputation, and he never failed to bring down
the house. And, unlike most old men, he never wearied
by prolixity — five, or ten minutes, at the longest, was all
he ever occupied, and sometimes not more than two or
three. He gave them as much in that time as they ever
got in their lives from anybody else, I will be bound for it.
Shall I give only one specimen that occurs to me ? When
called upon late at a Missionary Meeting, he said, "Mr.
Chairman, in one of my Circuits, I went one day to a
house, and found one of the children with his head tied up.
I said to his mother, What is the matter with Billy ? ' Oh,'
says she, ' he has got the information in his eyes 1 ' Now,
Mr. Chairman, we have had a good deal of information
to-night, and you will not need much more from me, <fcc."
But the information he gave, although in tit-bits, was
always interesting and valuable.
I do not think there was a person in Cobourg but what
esteemed and loved Father Corson. A highly cultivated
gentleman, who lived in his immediate vicinity in that town,
though declining to write anything at large about him, on
the ground of not being enough acquainted with him, albeit
he is a most accomplished writer, says, " I knew him as a
good, simple-hearted, eccentric man, whom I held in
respect for his abundant labouis in the service of Christ."

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 187
Duringhislongresider.ee of fifteen years at Cobourg, Father
Corson ever and anon dropped a letter to the Guardian,
informing us of his whereabouts, his doings (how many ser
mons he had preached, how many books he had read, &c),
his views of our Connexional prospects, and his great inter
est therein. These, if we had time to make the search for
them, would be found of great interest and value, too, in
illustrating our theme. In default of this, I venture to pre
sent a, letter from the old pilgrim directed to myself, and in
teresting to me as the last I ever received from him. It is dated
Cobourg, March 22, 1873, and bears the usual impress of
his letters. It will speak for itself in all respects : —
" Dear Brother, — In writing to you I may not be. able to
help your book, but I can give information that will cheer
your heart. We have been nearly fifteen years in Cobourg.
It was here our youngest son finished his education, and sub
sequently got his profession.
"Asi keep a short journal, I will give you a few
items, embracing my ministerial labours since I have been
in Cobourg : — Preached 480 sermons, read 500 books, wrote
300 sketches, and 600 letters, and made 2,000 religious
visits. "The improvements on the Ccbourg District are as
follows : — Built thirty-two churches and parsonages. We
have succeeded in sweeping off the debt on the college, and
in getting $90,000 subscribed as an endowment. All this
has been done within the last fifteen years. And lastly, but
not least, we are blessed with a gracious revival of religion
in Cobourg. Thank God, it is getting into the college ! Our
Conference students work well.
" Yours as ever,
" Robert Corson."

188 FATHER CORSON,
One of his last letters to the Guardian, given below, will
furnish all the information required relative to the period
we are now illustrating. — It was written so lately as No
vember 20, 1864. It is now laid before the reader. In
addressing the Editor of the Guardian, he says : —
" Dear Bro., — Some six months since I decided to go to
New York and Philadelphia. In so doing 1 could see my
sons in New York, and attend the General Conference in
Philadelphia. If you think proper you can give publicity
to the following narrative ; you are at liberty to make any
alteration you may deem necessary.
" It was in May last I left Cobourg for New York. While
waiting for the boat, an aged man wished to give me some
information in reference to the expenses in crossing the
lake ; in doing so, he took the name of God in vain ; when
I reproved him he made an apology and offered up a short
prayer for me.
" At 5 p.m. we were in the United States. We took the
cars and arrived at Albany next morning. We then took
the boat, as we could have more reading, observation, and
conversation.^ I soon got into conversation with a lady
from Kentucky. She was a member of the Baptist Church,
but a strong believer in slavery. She said they owned a num
ber of slaves, and they were good, as they were Methodists ;
the arguments she brought to prove her doctrine were, first,
we read of hewers of wood and drawers of water ; secondly,
the little white children would always drive little negroes.
I asked her if she had read Uncle Tom's Cabin ; she said it
was a miserable affair.
" I had a conversation with a Baptist Elder from Vermont ;
he was a man of extensive information, a strong abolitionist,
and had been favoured with a good revival in his church.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 189
We arrived at New York. Soon found myself in East
Broadway. Met Dr. William with a smiling face, glad to
see his father. I had but little opportunity of talking to him,
he had so many calls to visit the sick; next morning I took
the cars for Philadelphia. In passing through New Jersey
I had some serious reflections : my parents had their
birth and education there ; came to this country more than
seventy years ago, when Canada was a wilderness ; in
Canada they ended their days; only five of their children
out of twelve survive.
"In passing through Pennsylvania I got into conversation
with an aged Quaker ; he said the war was an extraordin
ary war, and the Quakers did fight in this war, as they were
abolitionists. I soon found myself in a comfortable hotel
among a lot of Methodist preachers, who were members of
the General Conference. In a few minutes I was in the
midst of a large body of ministers assembled at their Gene
ral Conference ; they were fine in their appearance, plain in
their dress, and quite above mediocrity in talent; I was
glad to hear the old veterans contend for the ancient land
marks. As a body of ministers, I found them loyal to their
country, and friends of the oppressed. I arrived at Phila
delphia on Wednesday, the same evening I heard Bishop
J. T. Peck, D.D., preach a powerful sermon. On Thurs
day I attended the General Conference in the forenoon,
in the afternoon I was invited to attend a class-meeting ; it
was a refreshing time. I learned that the Methodists were
much the largest body in Philadelphia, it is said that they
number forty congregations. On Friday I left for New
York ; arrived safe in the evening. I found my youngest
son, Adam Clark, who had arrived safe from Canada. I also
met Dr. Kennedy and Rev. John Keagy, from Canada. On

190 FATHER CORSON.
Saturday Dr. William requested Adam- to take his horse
and carriage and give his father a drive through the
great city. On Sabbath morning Adam accompanied me to
the following places of worship : First, to Brooklyn to hear
the celebrated Ward Beecher. He is a great man ; calls
a great congregation, and 1 trust is doing a great amount of
good. At 3 p.m. I attended a Methodist congregation in
Allen-street, the Rev. Mr. Roach, the minister. Bro. Roach
requested me to preach, but I refused, as I had a desire to
hear a New York preacher ; he preached a plain, practical
sermon I called on Dr. and Mrs. Palmer; they were
not long from England. Mrs. Palmer brought a cloak for
merly worn by Mrs. Fletcher, presented to Mrs. Palmer as
a token of respect. We rejoiced and wept together, prayed
and parted. I had a desire to go to John-street Church,
where the first Methodist Society was formed in America.
I was a little late ; the pastor had commenced giving cut
the first hymn ; a gentleman ascended the pulpit and spoke
to the preacher in a low tone of voice ; the preacher came to
me and asked me if I were a minister. I said I was an old
Wesleyan from Canada^ he then asked me to preach for him ;
I consented and had a pretty good time ; at the close a num
ber shook me by the hand. On Monday morning Dr. Adam
accompanied me to the cars ; I gave him a dollar and a little
good advice, and we parted.* On Wednesday I was in
Cobourg, and found all well.
" I stopped at home a few days ; worked in my gar
den; planted five bushels of potatoes, and then made my
way to Conference. Here I met my old brethren who
laboured with me when roads were bad, rides long, and
* In making the change, Adam was found in debt a dollar ; and
the father in his simplicity gave it him.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 191
little pay. We met Brother Whiting ; we succeeded i j
getting him into the work some thirty-eight years ago. He
has been faithful and successful in winning souls to Christ.
Bro. W. retired from the work of an itinerant. There is a
great contrast between this Conference and the one we at
tended forty years ago. Our itinerants then numbered
thirty-six, now more than five hundred. We have a
number of young men who bid fair to be useful and success
ful ministers. ' At this Conference I met W. Musgrove,
who boarded with me two years ; he has been bereft of his
parents ; His father was an old minister, and died at his
post. William has the charge of the surviving family ; he
is also Superintendent of a Circuit, and stands high as a
preacher and pastor.
" I remained at home a short time. We made an effort to
get to Newburgh, as Mrs. C. had a desire to see her agccl
parents. We stopped at Frankford with Mr. Jenkins, where
we enjoyed the society of our grand-daughter. The next day
arrived at Napanee ; here we stopped for a night with an
old friend and Brother, Dr. Grange. We took- him into the
Church some twenty years ago, then an orphan boy ; now
he is an acceptable local preacher, and has a good practice
as a physician.
" On Saturday we arrived at Newburgh ; I was quite
ill ; a little better on Sabbath ; tried to preach to my old
friends. We returned to Cobourg — remained a few days —
took the cars, and found myself at the Peterboro' camp-
meeting ; here I found old friends ; the ground was well
prepared ; the order good ; a notice as we entered the ground
' no smoking or talking in time of service.' I found a home
at Brother W's. At this camp-meeting we found a chapel,
parsonage, splendid tents, and lamps hung by the side of

192 FATHER CORSON.
the trees which lighted the encampment. At this meeting
I had a conversation with J. R. Armstrong, Esq., formerly
a merchant in Toronto. At his house the preachers had a
home. I asked him his age ; he said seventy-seven, and a
member of the Methodist Church more than sixty-five years.
I was glad to see him in the prayer-meetings encouraging
poor sinners to seek salvation through Christ. At this
meeting I heard seven sermons ; I also heard poor sinners
cry for mercy ; they did not cry in vain. After remaining
a part of four days I returned to Cobourg, and commenced
a journey to Prince Albert. We arrived at our son's on
Saturday ; preached on Sabbath morning ; heard W.
Washington in the evening ; he is a young man of promise.
Thirty-six years are gone since I came to this place as a
Missionary. The amount of inhabitants was then small,
some four families of whites, and a hundred Indians; the
Indians are removed, and the population in the same
locality is two thousand, embracing four villages ; there are
four churches, the Wesleyans the largest.
" When I ¦ commenced my labours in the township of
Reach, thirty-six years ago, I found a home at Bro. A.
Hurd's, and his house is a home for the ministers at the
present; he is now in his seventy-fifth year; has held the
offices of leader and steward more than thirty-sht years.
We returned home by the way of Markham ; stopped a
night with our daughter-in-law, Nancy Corson ; her husband
has gone to the land of gold.
" We found ourselves again in Cobourg ; I remained in
Cobourg a few days, attended some appointments, and
again commenced my journey for Cainsville, a village near
Brantford. I stopped at Bro. Koagey's near Dundas, here
I have had a home for years, and here is a family of orphans,

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 193
they have been bereft of both parents ; they have plenty of
the world, and the six surviving children are pious ; their
eldest brother is a graduate of Victoria College, and is in
the work of the ministery, and a sister is married to a
Wesleyan minister. It was Saturday in the afternoon when
I stopped ; they pressed me to stop over Sabbath. I made
a special effort and arrived at Brother Isaac Homing's late
in the evening. Sister Horning is the daughter of Father
Howell who was virtually the founder of Methodism in
Jersey Settlement some sixty years since. It is said that
more than sixty of his children and grand children are
members of the Wesleyan Church. On Sunday morning I
heard Bro. Kennedy Creighton preach a stirring sermon in
Jersey ville in their new brick church. I had to preach in
the evening. Some forty years ago I was appointed to
preach to the people in this locality ; here my family
resided, and in this place we found many warm frinds.
" On Monday I passed through Cainsville. Attended a
little business matter with Bro. Pearson. Passed through
Harrisburg, Called on Joseph Larison, who is a first
cousin and an old Methodist, I also called on J. Larison
who was very ill ; he was trying to trust in Christ for
salvation. I tarried over night with C. Nixon — his wife is
my niece ; they are both members of the Methodist Church.
" Tuesday, passed through Preston ; dined with my old,
tried friend, Adam Snider. On Tuesday evening stopped
in Guelph with Brother Kelly ; here I felt at home. We
had the privilege of attending Brother Carroll's first love-
feast. This love- feast was profitable, and called to mind the
first time I saw Brother Carroll, nearly forty years ago at a
camp-meeting on Yonge-street. He was then called ' the
praying-boy.' At nineteen he took the field as an itinerant,
10

194 FATHER CORSON.
and I am glad to learn that he is labouring faithfully and
successfully in Guelph.
"Wednesday, I passed through Circuits where I had
laboured in former years ; I arrived at Brampton in the
evening. Stopped over night with my eldest son, John
Wesley; here I formed a small society some thirty-three
years ago. Some have joined the Church above ; others are
on their way to heaven. Dr. John had a number of calls
during my short stay. I learn he is an acceptable local
preacher; my prayer is that he may do well. On Thursday
I dined with Brother Morrow, and tarried for the night
with my old friend Thomas Lackey, near the city.
" On Friday I passed through Toronto, purchased a few
books ; preached in Canton Circuit ; found myself in Co
bourg on Monday, August 24th. Four of my old friends are
to board with me while attending college ; a few more
arrived, and our family enlarged.
" On the 21st of September I received a telegram from my
son, William Corson, of New York, the words are as follow :
' Adam ill, recovery improbable, come immediately ! ' We
felt the shock — wept and prayed, took the boat for Ro
chester, the following morning arrived at New York. Adam
had succeeded in getting a situation in a military hospital ;
was succeding well, but was caught in a shower of rain,
took cold and was taken with typhoid fever. The hos
pital was located some nine miles from the city. His
brother attended him night and day ; two of the best
physicians in New York were called ; but his brother, Dr.
William, was discouraged and exhausted. However, Adam
was better both in mind and body. Brother Hubler, the
pastor of Forsyth-street had just left, Adam spoke of his
visit in high terms. I stopped a night and part of a day ;

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 195
my son gave me leave to return home. They seemed glad to
see their father in time of trouble.
" On Saturday I arrived safe in Cobourg, and attended a
camp-meeting in Percy. It commenced the 1st of October.
It was rather wet, but the friends had erected noble tents,
and the meeting was attended with a great amount of
good. " I will now give you a short account of my labours for
the last six months past : —
"Travelled 2,000 miles by railroad, and 2,000 with
my own conveyance ; preached fifty-one sermons ; read
sixteen books ; wrote thirty letters and four sketches. I
am in the seventy-eighth year of my age.
" I remain yours as ever,
"Robert Corson."
One thing must strike every person who reads the above
letter and all other journals of his travels, namely, how
much he kept to the old method of conveyance to the last.
Instead of availing himself of stage and steamboat, and
railways, he drove his own old horse and rode in his own
carriage, taking short-cuts across the country, making
" stages " from one friend's house to another, stopping for
breakfast, dinner, tea, or lodging, as the case required, and
to " bate " his horse, as in the early days, reading, singing,
and praying at every place, and very likely preaching at
night. Thus it was that the first itinerants of the country
were constantly exercising their ministry and doing good.
And, as far as possible, why should not tlieir successors con
tinue to do the same ?
I do not know that I can command any more material to
illustrate his manner of life at Cobourg, or that any more is

196 FATHER CORSON.
required. One day was the pattern of another. They were
all formed on the model of Wesley's hymn :
" Our days are spent in doing good,
Our nights in praise and prayer."
I have not been directly informed of the reason, but I sus
pect increasing age and infirmity were the causes, for his
leaving Cobourg. His son Adam had got his profession and
was practising in the United States. He felt no doubt that
neither he nor his wife were any longer equal to that un
wearied service of others which had employed them for the
previous fifteen years.
2. From his return to Cainsville till the death of his
second wife, in 1877.
The reader will remember that Mr. Corson acquired a
little property while labouring on the Cainsville Circuit, built
a house and located in that village, which he seems to have
considered as pre-eminently his home, especially since his
son, Dr. William C. Corson, who regarded his father most
affectionately, had gone to reside in the adjacent town, now
city, of Brantford. He alludes to the transition in the few
following words: — "In 1872, we removed to Cainsville.
We found old friends, as this was one of our former Cir
cuits. But my health failed, and I made my will and pre
pared to die. My son William attended me, and succeeded
in arresting my disease."
It was a merciful providence that just at that time he should
have had so near him one able to render medical skill with
filial assiduity and tenderness. But the above was not his
only attack, for he was forced to make another entry in his
" sketch" similar to the one given above. He resumes, "In

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 197
1875 I was again brought low with inflammation ofthe lungs ;
but I am now quite better, and enabled to visit and preach
a little." That entry was made after 1875, when he must
have been eighty-two or eighty-three years of age. Yet he
felt it his duty still to " visit and preach," and seems to
have been disappointed that he could not do it as afore
time. Since writing the above, I find Father Corson did per
form considerable labour after going to Cainsville, and for a
little time as a regular supply. Dr. William, in a letter re
ceived the other day, gives me the following particulars : —
" Father was uncommonly active and laborious in preaching
up to the time of his last sickness- — the last year of his
life. About three years before his death, the junior preacher
of the Cainsville Circuit was obliged by failure in health to
leave his work, and father immediately took up his appoint
ments, preaching with much of the animation of his earlier
years in the ministry. In his humorous way, he gave it out
that he was ' the young preacher on the circuit,' though at
the time he had passed four jscore years ! The Rev. Mr.
Willoughby, his last pastor, mentioned, only- a day or two
ago, his fidelity in attendance on prayer and class-
meetings, &c."
His periods of enforced inactivity left his still active mind
leisure to work ; and he employed that leisure in transferring
to paper, for the good of others, memories and reflections of
a most interesting character. They are in his usual senten
tious style, and as follows : —
" I will now give a sketch of our Methodist Church in
Canada for the fifty-seven years," he must mean of its sepa
rate existence, since dismemberment from the parent
Church in the States. "Our Methodism was planted in

198 FATHER CORSON.
Canada by preacners from the United States, and we were
distinguished as Episcopals. When I united with the
Methodists there were only twelve chapels, some fifteen itine
rants, and a little more than three thousand members in the
Province. " In 1824 we had our first Canadian Annual Conference.
It was afterwards decided that we should ask the General
Conference of the United States to let us off as an Indepen
dent Connexion. In 1828 we became independent. We
engaged " (only by implication) " to retain our name and
usages as Episcopal Methodists. We elected five different
ministers to become Bishop,* viz., Hedding, Bangs, Cookman,
Stratton, and Fisk, but they all refused. We then made an
offer to join the British Conference, as this was a British
Province and our English Methodists the oldest. This union
was ratified in 1833. We had then some sixty preachers in
the Conference, and only one voted against the union.
"In getting our union with the British Conference, we
adopted their usage with regard to local preachers. No more
local preachers were to be ordained. This made dissatisfac
tion among some of our local brethren and their friends.
We were also charged with changing our politics and be
coming Tories. In 1835 a superannuated preacher and
three local elders met and set apart a local elder by imposi
tion of hands, to preside over their body as a General Super
intendent or Bishop. Thus it was said the old church was
resuscitated. There was trouble : both churches claimed the
chapels. Lawsuit succeeded lawsuit, and some of our
preachers were curtailed in their allowances.
"In 1840 there was a misunderstanding between the
* I suppose not more than three of these came to the actual ballot,
Bangs, Fisk and Stratton.

HIS GOGPEL LABOURS. 199
English Conference and ours. The English thought it would
be better to dissolve the union ; and dissolved it was. We
were in hopes that the Episcopals would unite again with
us ; but they were partial to their Church government, and
we had become partial to ours.
"In 1846 we sent a delegation to England. The Eng
lish Conference gave us a better union than the first. It
was felt and seen there were too many bodies of Methodists
to prosper. In 1847 our union went into operation. We
put Presiding Elders on Circuits and Stations ; and, in
1858, we made the office of chairman elective. Since our
re-union with the English Conference, we have had a great
measure of prosperity. Our net increase for the last twenty-
seven years is more than 50,000 Church members, and our
country is studded with churches.
" Since our union has worked so well, there has been an
effort to unite all the Methodist bodies in one. However,
the union between us and the English Conference has
been dissolved, but with the best of feelings on both sides.
Our Conference became so large we could not manage it ;
and we anticipated a union with the New Connexion. Our
hopes have been realized. Some 7,000 Church members and
more than 100 itinerants have united with us and we with
them. The union, thus far, has been a success. Our total
number of members in three Conferences : namely, London,
Toronto, and Montreal, is 85,779.
" The other Methodist bodies number as follows : —
Episcopal Methodists  23,012
Primitive Methodists, (say)  7,000
Bible Christians, (say)  4,000
The German Methodists, (say)  6,000
Coloured Methodists, (say)  1,000
Making the smaller bodies, in all  41,012

200 FATHER CORSON.
" We have formed a union with our Wesleyan brethren
in the Eastern Provinces. We adopted the American
system in the matter of Annual Conferences, with a General
Conference once in four YEARS.
" / will now make a few brief remarks on our Methodism
in 1817, and our Methodism in 1875.
" Our old Methodism was a great success. The preachers
were plain, self-denying men; their salaries small, their
labours hard (some twelve appointments a week), the
preacher always meeting the class after preaching.
" There was not as much anxiety manifested about salary
then, as now. I remember Isaac B. Smith, a great
preacher, — we have no greater now. He only received
$50 for the year — had a large family,* and had to ride
fifty miles to get to see that family. Then we had but
little time to study. I have read on horseback, to my
comfort. " Their manner in preaching was to name the text, a
short introduction, mention their divisions, and pieach
forty-five or fifty minutes, speaking louder and louder to
the close, the congregation often weeping in every part of
the house, especially in times of revival.
"Yet we had more Church trials" (courts of inquiry, he
means) "in those days. A preacher who united with us
knew our Rules, as they were read in public, and remarks
made thereon. We had no special services as we have at
the present," — there being no time to hold them.
" The preaching at the present time is more like reading
an essay — divisions are not named — but little weeping— a
* Strange that Bons who witnessed such hardships should have
adopted their father's calling ; hut they did, four, if not six of them,
becoming preachers, and a daughter a preacher's wife.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 201
long prayer. At times the preacher speaks loud, and then
so low that a part of the congregation cannot hear him.
But we have at the present time some powerful preachers,
holy men, who are successful — ministers that labour night
and day to win souls.
" The special services are a great blessing to the Church.
Young preachers are heard, and old preachers are revived.
Our lay brethren take a fresh start for the Kingdom.
" Then, our Sabbath Schools and Bible Classes are an
acquisition to our Church.
"Tbe cause of Temperance has been advanced by our
ministry. Our President " (the Rev. Dr. J. A. Williams,
then President of the London Annual Conference) " is a
great Temperance preacher.
" / will now make a few remarks in reference to my
labours : —
" The first eight years : My first Circuit, Westminster.
No chapels. Our salaries, only $250 for tw-o preachers
with families. Now we have eleven Circuits, and six
Stations within the bounds of the old Circuit.
" My next Circuit was Dumfries. This was a two weeks'
Circuit for one preacher. Now we have nine Circuits
within the limits of the old Circuit.
The next Circuit I shall name is Long-Point. Two
preachers with families. Salary for both, $300. Now there
are sixteen Circuits within the bounds of the old Long-Point
Circuit. "The next I shall name is Whitby. No chapel. One
preacher. Now ten Circuits. The above-named Circuits
are in connection with our Canadian Church.
" Other bodies of Methodists have Circuits organized in
the same localities. My average amount of salary during
10*

202 FATHER CORSON.
the thirty-six years of my itinerant life was" $252 pei
annum. This embraced children's allowance, table expenses,
horse-keep, and fuel," as well as quarterage.
There are many, perhaps, who will think that the above
details are dry and prosaic ; but I think there are many
who rightly judge them to be of great interest and signifi
cance. They embody memories and lessons for the collective
ministry of the Church, and the whole Church itself, of
great value ; but they are adapted to set forth the man we
have sought to portray as most laborious and self-denying
through the whole of his active life, and active-minded
and thoughtful when no longer capable of much bodily
activity. And they are interesting for the artlessness of
the style, and as being the last work of his preserved to us.
I am glad I have the means of presenting, at least, one
sc^ne adapted to present the position and feelings of the
old patriarch in the midst of the people among whom he
had chosen to end his days.
There is a gifted, devoted local preacher, as tireless in
every good word and work, as Mr. Corson was, residing at
Brantford, who has been in the habit of going to Cainsville,
from time to time, to preach. He had the thoughtful kind
ness to address a letter to me relative to a certain inter
view between himself and Father Corson in the place of
the latter's residence : — "Brantford, Dec. 30th, 1878.
"My Dear Dr. Carroll, —I perceive from the Guar
dian that you are writing a memoir of the late Father
Corson ; and you request any one tD write you what they
may know about him. Pljase just allow me to say : the
last five or six times in my appointments at Cainsville he
sat at my left hand. The last time, the 17th of March,

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 203
1878. My subject on that morning was Hezekiah's sick
ness and recovery ; my text 38th chap. Isaiah, verses 18, 19.
In winding up my subject I observed a number of aged
persons in the congregation. In addressing them I said,
God requires of us, my aged friends, that we consider the
past ; hence to Israel, he said, ' Thou shalt remember all
the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years
in the wilderness,' &c. Permit me to ask how have you
filled up your days ? What have you done worthy of life ?
What have you tried to do ? Is the world better for your
having lived in it ? The Bible says, ' The hoary head is a
crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness ;'
if not, as Jay says, ' Instead of a crown it will be a fools'
cap.' ' The wicked will rise to shame and everlasting con
tempt.' And then pointing to Father Corson I said, ' Look
at my venerable friend, his hoary head is a crown of glory,
it is found in the way of righteousness.' And then address
ing him I said, Your salvation is nearer than when you first '
believed ; and God says, ' I remember thee, the kindness of
thy youth, the love of thine espousals when thou wentest
after me in the wilderness. Israel was then holiness to the
Lord, and the first fruits of his increase.' And then,
stepping to him and laying my hand on his head I said,
- Permit me to bless you my friend, I gaze upon you with
deep interest, you will soon see the King in his beauty, and
rest in the quiet of the skies ; and then, following the
example of Billy Dawson with Mr. Lessey, I repeated the
following stanza : —
Through all the changing scenes of life,
Thy servant, Lord, attend ;
And oh, his life of mercy crown
"With a triumphant end ! '

204 FATHER CORSON
And the congregation said, ' Amen ! ' He, referring to this
service afterwards, said, ' It was a second ordination.' Well,
his end you know was quietness and assurance forever.
Well Dr., time is shaking us by the hand, and we shall
have to put off this our tabernacle. What a mercy to have
the hope of the Gospel that when absent from the body, we
may be present with the Lord — we must needs die — ' We
are to the margin come and we expect to die.' May our
end be glorious through our Lord, Jesus Christ ! Amen.
" I am, affectionately yours,
" Wm. Bellamy."
3. From the death cf the second Mrs. Corson in 1877, to his
own death in 1878.
The loss of his second partner was a serious blow to
Father Corson. A more than usually strong and pains
taking woman, a score of years younger than himself, and
without any children of her own to occupy her time and
attention, and without any children of any ones, after
his son Adam grew up and went forth to do for himself.
She devoted her undivided care to make the old age of her
husband comfortable. But, young and strong as she was
compared with him, she failed and fell before her much-
loved husband, going before, from the evils to come, and
escaping the loneliness of widowhood.
I have no other means of illustrating this crisis in his
history than that of furnishing the well-written obituaiy
of Mrs. Corson, composed by the Rev. Wm. Willoughby,
the pastor of both husband and wife at the time.
"AMY CORSON."
" Mrs. Corson, the beloved wife of Rev. Robert Corson
(or, as he is usually called, ' Father Corson '), was born near

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 205
Belleville, 1814, and died at Cainsville, December 19th,
1877. Under the faithful ministry of the word, by the
late Rev. Cyrus R. Allison, she was enabled to ' believe
with a heart unto righteousness,' or justification, in 1840,
and having obtained help of the Lord, she was enabled to
walk henceforth in the fear of God and the light of his
countenance. She was united in marriage to Rev. R.
Corson in 1846, and on the morning of their marriage
started for their new Circuit, about two hundred miles
distant, in the west, leaving the home of her youth, and
all the cherished associations of early life, to enter upon
the arduous and self-denying duties of an itinerant Metho
dist preacher's wife, with all its responsibilities and cares.
What rendered the situation still more peculiar, she was
Mr. Corson's second wife, and had immediate charge of his
dear little Adam, then four years old ; and the next eldest,
who was absent at school most of his time, was equally cared
for and loved by their adopted mother, on his periodical
visits,, in times of vacation and holidays. This was
William, who is now Dr. Corson of Brantford. Thus did
she with a mother's care, devotion^ and love, labour to train
up in the ' nurture and admonition of the Lord ' those over
whom the providence of God had placed her, whose own
mother was a saint in heaven. In the absence of her
husband in his long rounds of Circuit work, she never
neglected the family altar, nor any of the duties of a godly
household. Thus did she live and labour to train her
youthful charge for heaven, and cherish in their young
hearts those principles of piety and godliness which had
been previously sown there, by her who was now at home
with God. Nor was she disappointed, as she had ample
satisfaction of witnessing the developing o£ upright prin-

206 FATHER C0KS0N.
ciple, grow to healthy and vigorous Christian manhood in
those who were the subjects of her early charge. The elder
of these is Dr. William Corson of Brantford, who holds a
highly respectable position there in the medical profession,
nor is he ashamed to be the son of an old-fashioned Metho
dist preacher, nor to be a loyal and devoted member of the
Methodist Church, and an office-bearer in connection with
the Wellington St. Methodist Church in Brantford. The
younger, who was the late Dr. A. Clarke Corson, of New
York, who won his way to high position and affluence by
earnest and successful study, and by exalted uprightness
of moral character, ' died in the Lord ' some two or three
years ago, and is now, in Abraham's bosom.' Mrs. Corson
was in this place (Cainsville) a universal favourite : she
was loved by all, young and old, both in the Church and
outside of it. Seldom have we known an instance of any
who have won the hearts of all as she did. And she
had the comfort of having many of those friends with her
in her protracted and severe suffering, especially her own
sister, Mrs. Phillips, who with true sisterly love, lingered
around her bed like a guardian angel, doing everything that
love could suggest for the comfort of the dear sufferer till
released by the messenger that called her home. The
constant attention of Dr. and Mrs. Corson, his estimable
wife, their sympathy and solicitude for their suffering rela
tive, was just what it ought to be in sanctified humanity ;
like the Master's it was lovely, touching, and beautiful.
Our dear sister bore her protracted and severe sufferings
with unfaltering patience ; she had learned the doctrine of
St. James, ' Let patience have her perfect work that ye
may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing ; ' and with
unwavering faith she had given her case into the hands of

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 207
her precious Redeemer. In the midst of intense suffering
she could say, ' My Father's will be done.' ' He is too
wise to err, and too good to be unkind.' The only wish
she had to live was for the sake of her aged and venerable
husband, that she might be permitted to smooth his path,
and solace his heart in his downward passage to the tomb.
But it pleased the good Master to take her first, while he
still lingers on the shore, waiting with confident and joyous
hope for the King to say, ' Come up higher,' ' Enter into
my joy, and sit down on my throne.' As the pilgrimage of
life drew near its close, she looked forward with intense
interest and delight to her heavenly home, and sometimes
she feared she was too anxious to see the struggle ended.
But she could fully adopt the Christian poet's theme, —
" ' Close by thy side still may I keep,
Howe'er life's varying current flow ;
With steadfast eye mark every step,
And follow thee where'er thou go.'
" A short time before her decease she anxiously desired
to receive the Lord's Supper, which she did with her aged
Husband and sister, and a few select friends, when a hal
lowed influence rested on all present, while her soul seemed
to be filled with peace and love divine. She felt indeed
that nothing could separate her from the love of her
Saviour. She felt that perfect love could cast out all fear,
and banish every doubt and cloud from her mind forever.
Thus the love of life and dread of death were entirey
removed, and joyously could she say, —
" ' 'Tis love that drives my chariot-wheels
And death must yield to love.'
" At length the hour of release came, and calm, clear,

208 FATHER CORSON.
and beautiful was the triumph of her faith : death was
conquered and ' mortality swallowed up of life.' A few
moments before she passed away she whispered to her
weeping sister, ' I'm near home now.' Farewell. Faro
thee well, sweet spirit, thou art safe at home, ' to be forever
with the Lord.' "' O ! that is a world of changeless bliss,
Inviting our flight from the woes of this ;
Where saints shall possess a glorious share,
Then, 0 my God, I long to be there. '
" W. Willoughby."
After his second wife was decently under the ground he
left his now solitary home, and accompanied his excellent
and reverentially affectionate son, Dr. W. C. Corson, to his
comfortable residence in the city of Brantford, where Mrs.
Dr. Corson received him and waited on him during the
almost a year which intervened between the time he laid
his Amy in the dust until he himself " returned to the
dust as it was." His happiness, even to playfulness, was
greatly promoted by the presence and playful attentions
and companionship of his two beautiful and affectionate
grandchildren, girl and boy, of that family. He and they
seemed to find the complements of themselves in each
other. Indeed it was hard to say which was the more
childishly sportive, they or he. He entered into all_ their
playful liberties with him (dressing him up in fantastic
forms) with all the innocent glee of a child. The attentions
he received from surrounding friends, both old and new,
were at once honourable to them and very grateful to his
own feelings and those of his children, dotingly fond as they
were of their dear honoured parent.

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 209
He had never missed a Conference a single year since
1824 to 1877, that is for fifth-three long laborious years ;
and he looked forward with fond anticipation to the session
of the London Annual Conference to be holden in the town
of St. Thomas in the month of June, 1878, to commence
on the first Wednesday, and prepared for it as usual, by pro
viding himself with another suit of black clothes, that he
might be in beseeming clerical attire. But his son and
physician, with all his other friends, dissuaded him from it,
perceiving that his weakness and infirmities disqualified
him for the undertaking. To . this conclusion he was at
last forced to come himself, and he reluctantly gave up
the fondly cherished project, and had to content him
self with a fraternal message to his brethren. To a person
so active in mind and body as he always had been, and so
devotedly absorbed in Connexional interests and doings,
this was, no doubt, a great sacrifice and a great trial : to
be " laid by for God," as the Rev. Joseph Alien phrases it,
being so much harder than being " employed for him," to
any Christian person, especially to one constituted as he
was. But he found the grace, when needed, which made
him in all things " more than conqueror through him that
loved him, and gave himself for him." He was buried in
the unworn suit. I am glad that I can furnish an accurate
and appreciative account of his last hours from one who
was at once his son, his physician, and his host, all in one.
Dr. William Case Corson writes on that subject as
follows : —
" Towards the end of life our good father exemplified the
patience and cheerfulness in affliction which a faith that
leans hourly upon Christ only can bestow. When per
ceiving that his earthly course was nearly run, he con-

210 FATHER CORSON.
templateJ the close of life with a serenity and composure
worthy of a Christian hero who had fought and won many
victories in the service of his Master. For days, and some
times for weeks together, when his mind wandered and
ideas became confused, his thoughts travelled back into his
life work, and in imagination he was engaged in ministerial
duties. No matter how much his mind wandered he
always led, however, in our family devotions with willing
ness and fervour. At other times he sank into a drowsy
stupor from which he would emerge like one raised from
death to life to give expression to some unusually quaint
and happy thoughts like the fitful gleam of an expiring
flame. It was in one of these states of lethargy one bright
day in October, 1878, that he sank into that last sleep
which knows no waking, while his redeemed spirit soared
to that world of unclouded splendour about which he had
thought and talked so much while on earth. His brethren
in the ministry, most of whom had known and revered
him for long years, assembled at his funeral, and with
loving hands bore his reinains to their final resting place in
the old cemetery in Brantford, where they lie peacefully
only a few rods from the grave of one who had been many
years previously his colleague, the Rev. Thomas Fawcett.
' They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death
they were not divided.'
" On the following Sabbath evening the Rev. J. B. Clark-
eon, who had visited and prayed with him in his last
illness, preached a memorial discourse in which his life and
labours were touchingly reviewed.
" A memorial granite shaft has been placed over his grave
by his grateful children, the simple inscription upon which
concludes with the memorable words of St. Paul, ' in

HIS GOSPEL LABOURS. 211
labours more abundant.' " The precise date of his death
was October 8th, 1878.
N.B. — Anything else which may arrive in relation to the dear
deparbed, or anything now available, the product of his own mind,
for which the covers of the book may afford space, will have to be
lelegated to an Addenda or Appendix.

FINI3.

APPENDIX.

" OUR MOTHER."
It is said that the last word most frequently whispered by
dying soldiers in hospital, or on the battle field, is " Mother."
And there is a reason. More than any earthly being, she
stamps upon them the noblest qualities to prepare them for
being honoured in both worlds. If they are either brave, or
gentle, or good, they probably owe it to her whose memory
is so dear. And the children of a Christian mother like
ours, after mourning her loss for long years, may easily
invest her likeness with beauties which strangers could
never see. Yet we will try to be both loving and truthful.
The " Pen Portrait," which we have elsewhere given of
our father, would hardly be complete without a correspond
ing sketch of the faithful partner who, for the first twenty
years of his ministry, shared in all his sufferings and
joys :—
In the backwoods of Canada, in those days, an efficient
" minister's wife " was a real treasure. Her trials and
labours were very great. In a quiet way, she tried to keep
one end of an immense Circuit alive, while her husband
travelled over the rest. There is a story told of a New York
merchant, who lived so far from the city, that he concluded

214 APPENDIX,
to move to a point nearer, that, as he said, he might " get
acquainted with his wife and children." Our father had a
like experience. On his earliest Circuit, as we sadly re
member, he managed, by travelling half the last night, to
see his family at first for two, and finally for four, days in
four weeks.
A woman who could worthily occupy a Methodist par
sonage was in special demand. She needed to be a sympa
thizing companion, a tidy housekeeper, a gentle peace
maker, a prudent counsellor, and a general female evangelist.
Her mission had a wide range. Not -only did she mend the
clothes of her children, but she meekly tried to repair the
losses in the congregation. She must have what Mrs. Stowe
calls " Faculty." If, as in the case of our mother, she hap
pened to sing and pray with wonderful acceptance, she
became, so to speak, a perpetual revivalist. Many precious
souls were converted in the fervent prayer and class-meet
ings of that day. Indeed the early settlers were famishing
for the Bread of Life. They travelled, perhaps for miles,
through the woods to worship God. And they were not
hard to please. Sometimes a woman's prayer kindled the
spark that spread into an extensive conflagration. Great
numbers were in this way added to the Church.
The excellent women who thus aided their toiling hus
bands in this field, might well be classed with those whom
St. Paul affectionately remembers as " Fellow Labourers."
With the sick and their own sex, their influence was very
great. And in the exemplary performance of all these
duties, her grateful child, perhaps, may be pardoned, for
believing that he has never seen the superior of his sainted
mother. Methodist usage, even in those days, gave large scope to

APPENDIX. 215
the energies of woman. It was a revival religion. In the
attempt to convert the world, she could not be spared.
Others might not so need her aid. But the Methodists
could not fail to remember that Susannah Wesley and
Barbara Heck stood high among the founders of their
denomination. It is not proposed here to discuss that delicate question
about which Christians naturally differ, the proper sphere of
woman in the work of the Church. We are only writing
history. Yet we cannot but feel that the religious world
" moves." It was true that Mrs. Judson was then known to
have braved death to feed her husband in prison iu Burmah,
but Miss Rankin had not yet been besieged by insurgent
soldiers as the heroic pioneer missionary to Mexico. At
that time the most timid Methodist was not offended if a
gifted sister " led tbe class," addressed a revival meeting,
or thrilled a multitude at a camp-meeting love-feast.
Success in oratory often depends on what is familiarly
termed " personal magnetism." In this, as a rule, women
are richly endowed. We need not wonder that the famous
speech of the Empress Maria Theresa, with her child in her
arms, took by storm the nobles of Hungary.
Although our mother had a rare command of choice
words, and her cadences were very musical, it was mainly
the air of " goodness " that melted the throngs around her.
Both are now with the " Saints in Light." We may record
the popular verdict that she quite equalled our father in
eloquence. It is but just to mention that she bore her honours with
singular meekness. Her custom was not to speak in any
large assembly except by invitation. With true delicacy,
she gave no sign-that she knew her power. We may illus-

216 APPENDIX.
trate her modest bearing by the case of an eaily friend. He
was a class-leader, a plain farmer, whose prayers were so
child-like and faulty in grammar, as often to excite the
smiles of the neighbours who listened. One day we found
him greatly excited over a letter. It had crossed the Atlan
tic and come four thousand miles from an English soldier
on the Rock of Gibraltar. In the joy of his conversion, he
had written to his former employer, to thank him for the
daily family prayer, in that distant Canadian home. It had
awakened his first religious impressions, that had never
ceased, till he had found the Saviour. With tears rolling
down his cheeks our friend exclaimed, "Why I never dreamed
that I prayed anything extra !" Nor had he. It was the
blessed Comforter that Christ so lovingly promised His dis
ciples that had given his lips the charm to melt a human
heart. The Stationing Committee at the Conference not only en
quired of the Presiding Elder about the gifts of the preacher
they were to send, but they sought to know the graces
of his " Better Half." Did she gossip more than she
prayed ? " Was she a hindrance or a help 1 " The female
members of the expectant flock went even a step farther.
They whispered, perhaps, " Does she wear bright ribbons in
her bonnet 1 " " Has she ruffles or furbelows to her dress ? "
Let not the reader smile. They were nobly sincere. The
self-denying Methodists of those times had inherited the
simple tastes of their religious ancestors, the Moravians.
They bore the " Cross " even in their plain attire. Rail-'
road?, intercourse with cities,.and general worldly prosperity,*
have since vastly changed the habits of even earnest Chris-i
tians. But the strict viow3 of her neighbours then required
that the wife of an " Itinerant " should in her apparel ap-

APPENDIX. 217
pear as a sort of compromise between a saint and a " Quake
ress." There is a tradition that gaudy parasols were once
forbidden. We may illustrate by referring to a custom, long
since abandoned. With a slight change in the poetry, we
may describe the sensation of the ancient door-keeper to a
love-feast, who shook his head at young ladies with too many
adornments, with the thought —
" Too gay — ye cannot enter there.
We sometimes meet, with persons who fail to impress us
at first, but who on further acquaintance gradually unfold
qualities which make them very attractive. Our mother
thus grew upon you. She lived before the age of the photo
graph. There remains of her no good likeness. It falls to
the lot of one of her children to give an outline of her appear
ance, from faint " word-painting." As a slender girl,
she had been called a beauty. When she developed into
womanhood she was moderately tall, elegant in figure, and
graceful in all her movements. Her face had a sincere child
like expression. Though not so exquisitely moulded as some,
it was wonderfully pure. In fact it was a perfect mirror
of her thoughts. Many of our readers will remember a
master-piece, by Guido, in the Barberini Palace at Rome,
representing the beautiful Beatrice Cenci, gently turning her
head to look back, on the morning of her execution. It re
minded her child at least, of our mother's parting glance, as
she left for a moment his sick room. Yet she ever showed
more smiles than tears. She seemed born to cheer others.
Just as the sunlight flashes all the more brightly on a green
forest below, when it is seen from a mountain-top in spring
time, if it is now and then, shaded by fleecy clouds ; so the
11*

218 APPENDIX.
flitting shadows seemed only by contrast to heighten the
prevailing gladness of her Christian life.
Those who have visited Hamburg and the German shore
or the Baltic, will recollect that if a fog veils the sun, it also
protects the delicate waxen features of woman. She had
brought from foggy New Brunswick, a clear red and white
complexion. This was afterwards slightly clouded by a fever
in middle life.
Her abundant brown hair helped to conceal a high poeti
cal forehead. Her eyes were soft hazel ; her nose was Gre
cian, and her teeth were white and faultless, and seemed to
shine like pearls as she smiled. Her lips and chin were deli
cately fashioned, and her . cheeks were faintly rosy even to
her death. But these attractions were nothing compared to
her wondrous gift for sympathetic conversation. She charmed
everybody. With ready, womanly tact she drew you out.
She knew just when to listen and when to speak. Gray-
haired men and timid men alike sought her counsel.
With the natural associations among the early immigrants
on these outposts of civilization, it seemed always a mystery
how she could be so refined and lady-like, with an ease that
gave no offence, — for she was generally beloved. Doubtless
most men and women who rise to distinction, adopt in child
hood some ideal model of excellence. It is thus that the
good live in generations to come. Even white children stolen
by the Indians on western plains, are said to retain for years
traces of their gentle training. Could it be that our mother
carried to the wilds ©f Canada a passion to imitate the graces
-of her early friend, Emma Carleton ?
This feminine gentleness was strangely mingled with the
loftiest courage.
With his exemplary devotion, to his work, and his un-

APPENDIX. 21i/
tiring industry, our father had fits of extreme prudence.
There was one thing he mortally dreaded, and that was
debt. His honourable caution in finances was the secret
of much of his success in life. If the expenses of reach
ing a new distant Circuit were likely to exceed his slender
means he would despond for days. But he was blessed with
a wife equal to any emergency. They were happily mated.
Each had some rare quality in excess. If he was wisely
cautious, she was ever hopeful. She never quailed a moment
at any danger. There could scarcely be a nobler gift "from
the Father of mercies to the wife of a frontier missionary
than this lofty heroism. If our space allowed we could give
many incidents to illustrate her bravery. Once in her girl
hood in the war of 1812, a drunken Indian raised the
musket to fire at her. As coolly as if she were his chief she
said, " put down that gun ! " and then quickly quieted him
with food. An insurgent captain in the Mackenzie Rebel
lion who wished to force her tender boy early one morning
against his will, into the ranks, was compelled gradually to
give way to her womanly strategy. " Leave him Captain,"
said she, " or I must march with your company to
take care of him." "Really you don't take women, do
you?" " Oh no," said he laughing. But what could one loyal
woman do with a company of armed men ? She looked at
the hungry crowd and said in her graceful way, " Gentle
men, I fear you have not had your breakfast. Heip
yourselves to all you can find in the house." They cleaned
out the cellar, and generously left he..- boy behind. She was
in fact the resolute enterprising member of the " Fiim "
that quietly ruled the parsonage. At the tender age of
fifteen her eldest son utterly broke do-vn in tears at his
father's refusal to sanction what he sincerely deeded an

£20 apwhdix.
extravagant plan to study medicine. He was very pro
perly reminded there were six sons to be educated. His
mother softly followed her sobbing boy to his room, laid
her hand tenderly on his head, and said lovingly, " Never
mind my child, you can do anything that you think you
can. Then remember that I will always be your friend."
These electric words turned the scale; they made him a
future physician. He looks in the glass as he writes this.
Grey locks cluster around his face, and tears of gratitude
roll down his cheeks. More than forty years have passed
since he heard that sentence. Yet even now he seems to
to hear the silvery ring of that magic word, " Anything I"
She nobly kept her promise. Possibly it may cheer some
desponding woman who knows not her power, to finish the
story. Partly to gratify her extreme fondness for poetry,
he had just been reading with his mother an English
translation of Homer's Iliad. He was slightly heroic.
When his tears were dried, he went back to his father with
a little speech. It amounted to about this : "Father, I will
not ask you for a dollar. You need a.'l your salary to
educate my younger brothers, let me help you alL You
know that the Greeks took Troy in just ten years. I will
work like a slave night and day, (to be a doctor) for ten
years to come." His father shook his head in doubt, but
at, last said : " Well, you may try ! " That last word stung
him, " Try." Indeed, I wi'l, murmured the choking boy.
Perhaps he was too sensitive.
He then recollected that his father was an enthusiast
over "ha-d work.'' While the latter was absent on a
distant mission, the former, under safe maternal advice,
conU'i/ed a pleasant surprise. He took a contract requiring
severe manual labour for weeks. His hands were delicate

APPENDIX. 221
and soft. He had never been accustomed to rough " out
door " work. His task was really quite beyond his strength,
for he was pale, thin, and " small for his age," at fifteen.
Yet he managed to toil steadily, week after week, from
dawn till dark. He felt that loving eyes were watching
every step. As he groped his way homeward at night, all
weary and worn, with his hands bleeding and blistered, he
would often meet his mother far out in the fields, coming to
take his arm. And as he lay half dreaming near the
blazing fire, he would hear her whispering softly, " Chil
dren, be still. Let him sleep. That is the boy that works I "
There came a staunch friend to her rescue. He was a
neighbour, — " Father Gardner," of Toronto township, living
like a patriarch among a tribe of honoured sons and
daughters. When our father returned, this friend said to
him, tenderly, " You must never discourage that boy
again 1 " From that time all were agreed. The son went
on toiling, but with the blessing of his father.
Just here we may mention another precious friendship
during that dark period, it was that of J. R. Armstrong,
Esq., of Toronto, a model " Christian merchant " of that
day. The phrase, " ten years," seemed afterwards like prophecy.
In just ten years from that month, a grown-up young man of
twenty-five grasped a roll of parchment, which said he was
a physician, and it was all the more precious to him from
the secret thought that it was earned by his own hands and
brains. No, he was mistaken, it came mainly through the
inspiration of one " ministering spirit." In the wards of
the hospital, in the weariness of the dissecting room, or as
he sat listeniug in the crowd to the lectures in the college
theatre, he was cheered by her gentle influence. During

222 APPENDIX,
all that chapter of early struggles, her wise foresight, her
excellent judgment, her lofty resolution, and her strong
sympathy never failed him. He was thankful that she
lived to see the battle won.
If we were asked to name the quality in which our
mother excelled above all others, our prompt reply would
be, " In the pious education of her infant children," that,
as our commercial friends would say, 'twas her " specialty."
Her gentleness and tact in developing the cluster of little
ones, that like flowers blossomed at her feet, were really
wonderful, in proof we may add a few details.
Not from any foolish personal vanity, but simply as a
convenient way of illustrating her virtues by actual facts,
we continue our narrative, and what she did to one, she
tried to do to all her children. But an early misfortune
happened to give to the writer rare opportunities to study
her domestic character. He was a frail, sickly child, born
just after the loss of an infant elder brother. Family
tradition says he cried more than all his six younger
brothers put together. He wailed all day as steadily as
the Scottish Piper at Waterloo. She who was bereaved
redoubled her attention to quiet the little " crying machine,"
that kept the house in uproar. It was all in vain, — as ii
to fix more deeply her affections, he remained a delicate lad
for years. When he could fairly speak, she laid her hand
gently on his head, and taught him the prayer, " Now I lay
me down to sleep," and soon after came, " Our Father who
art in heaven,"
After he had learned to *read, he would spend hours at
her feet, looking up into her face, and conning over his
story books, for she was both his playmate and mother.
She wisely nourished his taste for history. Sometimes she

APPENDIX. 223
seemed to go back to the merry days of her own childhood.
She made witty remarks about the tales that he read. The
" Man Friday," in Robinson Crusoe, came " just in the
nick of time." Munchausen's dog, with two feet up and
two feet down, " never got tired." She was only planning
for his good. These playful indulgences won his young
heart, to prepare him for better things.
" Was it not curious that the great load should roll off
the back, of Christian, in Pilgrim's Progress, just as he first
saw the Cross?" The child grew fond of tender themes.
One day he brought her, as he sighed deeply, that beautiful
description, by Mrs. Hemans, of the faithful little son of
the dead Admiral at the battle of the Nile, who awaited
orders from his father, till he too perished :
" The boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but he had fled ;
The flames that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.

There came a burst of thunder sound,
The boy, Oh where was he ?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea.
With mast and helm and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part,
The noblest thing that perished there
Was that young faithful heart."
He asked her whether the boy should not have left the
burning ship. Her exact words in reply are forgotten ; but
the sense was, " Poor boy, he did not know then that his
father was dead. It may be, my child," she added, " that

224 APPENDIX.
you would have been just as brave and as true as Casa-
bianca." Thus she ever encouraged the noblest sentiments.
At his urgent request she would sQmetimes relate the
story of her travels. We merely give the substance from
memory. New Brunswick was damp and chilly,* but it had
many good things, the pastures were green, the streams
were clear, the potatoes and fish were delicious, and the
people had rosy faces, and "were very kind. Beyond the
upper branches of the St. John's River the journey was
fearfully hard. When their company of emigrants came to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence they saw a broad sheet of water
like the ocean. They could not see across. The place
where Wolfe and his army climbed up at Quebec, was as a
great high wall, reaching towards the sky. Above Montreal
the St. Lawrence was a mighty river, like the Mississippi
or the Amazon, only it was very unruly. It twisted and
turned just as it pleased. Often it was clear as a mirror,
and then again it flashed and rolled like a sea of buttermilk.
There were miles of white rapids dashing, foaming, and
surging, just as if the Niagara Falls tapered all the way
down to Queenstown. The Thousand Islands were scat
tered here and there as far as the eye could reach, as in a
broad crystal river that ran through a paradise of green
islets, all covered with trees and flowers. Those French
boatmen toiled all day, and then danced around the fire and
sang sweet songs at night. She had caught even their
Norman accent of a few familiar French words. " What
* We suspect Dr. Corson is in error about the interior of New
Brunswick being " damp and chilly ; " this may be true of the sea
board, but not of the neighbourhood of Frederickton, where Emma
Freeland was brought up, and where the skies are as sunny as is
our own Italian-like sky. — Ed.

APPENDIX. 225
did they sing about?" asked her eager child. "Oh! I
cannot remember all," she would say with a patient smile.
" Some, I suppose, were like the boat-song of Moore : "
" Row, brothers row, the stream rolls fatt,
The rapids are near and the daylight's past."
The child soon learned that she most enjoyed his reading
at her feet, as she was sewing all day, of " pretty stories "
from the Bible, and he loved to please her. He would
turn over the leaves, perhaps, till he came to the history of
Joseph, or the night assault of Gideon, the triumph of
Deborah, the duel between David and Goliath, the deliver
ance of David, or the shipwreck of St. Paul at Malta.
We have told the story of her shaping the worldly
fortunes of her eldest son ; her sway over his spiritual
destiny was even greater. At the age of nineteen he found
himself far from home amid entire strangers, pursuing his
preparatory classical studies at Cazenovia Seminary, in
central New York. He had previously read some scep
tical books that had filled his mind secretly with terrible
doubts. He was indeed sorely tempted ; but there always
came a reply to these evil whisperings as if from the voice
of the Comforter : " Remember the sweet religious life of
your mother ! " It was a lesson of surpassing beauty. In
all the years of close observation, from his earliest child
hood, he had never known an act or word of hers inconsis
tent with the purest Christian faith. It was a sermon that
he could not forget.
At last, in the midst of a " student's revival," a com
mittee of three young acquaintances rooming near him,
rapped at his door to enquire tenderly "Why he was
11*

223 APPENDIX.
not a Christian 1 " He had never before told the secret of
his wrestling with infidel speculations. He now confessed
all. When they were gone, he went to his trunk, and
found a beautiful pocket Bible inscribed, " A Mother's
Gift." He burst into tears. He fancied that he could hear
her silvery voice in prayer for his conversion. Soon after,
at a student's prayer-meeting, to his great joy he found
peace in his Saviour.
Her influence over the youth in leading them to Christ
was always very great. When in tbe lovely month of
June, of " forty-three," she was gently sinking in death,
at Newburg, on the banks of the Napanee River, it is said
that no less than six young ladies, who had been led by her
to the fold, were seen kneeling in prayer at her dying bed.
Her voice was what, musicians call a " contralto." Un
consciously, to her, as it seemed, its lower notes rolled out
and quivered with rare sweetness in her prayers. Her
choicest petitions were uttered in the absence of her
husband, in her unfailing night and morning devotions, for
many years in the midst of her group of children, and
these last were never forrotten. Her pleadings were
singularly rich in figures from the Psalms. One of her
frequent requests was, " Take me to the Rock that is
higher than I." And the beautiful ninety-first Psalm in
particular, seemed like a mirror in her " life of trust."
One of her sons, remembering this, wrote not long since, a
little poetical commentary on this Psalm, published in the
" Sailor's Magazine," and dedicated to " Christian seamen1"
It is set to a soft Italian melody with an unmusical English
name. The fourth stanza refers specially to her " voice,"
and the dreams of her child for years after her death.

(227 )

TRUST.

A HYMN. — BY J. W. O.
" In Him will I trust.'— Psa. 91 : 2. 11.
Air, "Dennis."
Lord, teach me as thy child,
Unfailing trust to gain ;
The faith to bear each tempest wild,
Let me till death maintain.
Come in the darkest night,
When seas as mountains roll ;
Shine in the storm — my beacon-light-
With joy to fill my soul.
My bark will surely fail
To reach that happy shore,
Unless thy hand shall trim my sail,
And guide me safely o'er.
A voice, that childhood's prayer,
At twilight taught me well,
In dreamy slumber, calls me there —
Like sound of signal-bell.
When earth-worn, I would sleep
To waken with the blest,
Oh Saviour, let thine angels keep,
And take me to thy rest.

HARDSHIPS

THE PARTING.
The first cry of Saul of Tarsus, as he rose from tho
blinding vision on the plain of Damascus, a loving disciple,
was, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" He sighed
for action. Providence, in strange mercy, thus prompts
human hands and lips to convey the Gospel. Every true
Christian, in the joy of his conversion, has felt this mis
sionary thrill. He has longed to do something for the
Master. It was perfectly natural that Andrew should hasten
to tell the great discovery of his life to his brother Peter,
and that he should walk all the way by his side to Jesus.
George Muller gives a touching tale of a poor sempstress in
his flock, who was suddenly left a fortune. She never
changed even her calico dress, but began to give like a
princess. When reproached by careful friends for her lavish
benevolence, she replied, " Did not my Saviour shed the
last drop of blood in his veins for me ? " We can fancy that
Pilgrim, when he found that the City of Destruction and
the Slough of Despond were behind him, that the great load
had actually rolled off, and he was surely marching towards
the Beautiful Gate — was quite overwhelmed with gratitude.
The young convert sighs to be serving his Lord. He longs
to he " doing good." Like the Roman freedman, once a
Blave, he is now the " heir " of a great estate. He is " look-

230 jiardsiiips.
ing unto Jesus." V-iere are longings for the Land of Gold,
beyond this vale of tears. And he cares little for earth.
Motives like these, doubtless, led our father to take a step
at that dark hour, which seemed utterly at variance with
the dictates of worldly prudence.
Sickly, "petted" children are often more precocious and
observant than others. When the writer was a little turned
four years of age, he noticed that good " Elder Case," then
in the prime of his young manhood, with his gentlemanly,
'* winning ways," his mild, dark eyes, and his handsome
face, was a frequent visitor at our home. Something was
going on. Both father and mother sang and prayed more
than usual. There were whisperings and midnight consulta
tions. Were those sobs that he heard ? There is a story
told of a young poet, who was also a tailor ; when he was
reproached for his careless stitches, his defence was, that he
"had a soul above buttons.'- Our father, before so fiugal
and industrious, began to neglect our beautiful farm. His .
heart was elsewhere. Unconsciously, as he bent forwards,
he would walk, as he dreamed, by the wayside past his own
home. There lay before him, as if to tempt him from his lofty
purpose, two hundred broad acres, that were his own, in the
fertile township of Oxford. They were close to the Harris
settlement, and a little more than two miles from Ingersoll.
The land rose gently to a ridge in the centre, like the back
of a buffalo ; a barn stood on the shoulders, while the head
was represented by a comfortable frame house, surrounded
by a large orchard of choice fruit trees. The road, in front,
was fringed by a little brook, crossed by a bridge. But
what were the lowing of herds or the ripening of harvests
now to that enchanted young farmer ? Nothing. He had

HARDSHIPS. 231
once armed for the fray, as an earthly soldier. The great
Captain had now sent an officer of his staff to summon him
to a nobler conflict. That was the mission of Elder Case.
The principle of " Probation" in the Methodist economy
is a " triumph of genius " in perhaps the greatest " organ
izer" ofthe modern Church — John Wesley. Both members
and ministers must be thoroughly " tried " before they are
finally accepted. As we afterwards learned, our father was
preparing to be sent out " on trial " by the Presiding Elder.
He was invited to leave his beautiful farm, his devoted wife,
and his tender little ones, and to plunge into the forest —
for four weeks at a time— to preach the Gospel to the
perishing souls in the wilderness around him. He obeyed.
One day a young man, just turned thirty, led his horse up
to that gate. He tenderly folded his arms around the neck
of his wife ; and the tears fell from both like rain. Then
he hastily rode away, as if he dared not look back. Homer's
dream of Hector parting with Andromache at the Scsean
gate, was not more tender.
When the horseman had disappeared, his wife led her boy
back to the house, asked him to kneel down by her side,
with his face towards that gate, and prayed — as he fancied
he had never heard mortal plead before. That kneel
ing seemed to last a whole hour. He lived afterwards to
stand in the courtyard of the great Orphan House at Halle,
on the very spot where that pious German, Herman Francke,
was carried to make his dying prayer for the two thousand
orphans he had gathered there. And was not the parting
petition of that wife for her missionary husband possibly
just as beautiful.

232 HARDSHIPS,
DANGERS
In sections of that country the wolves yet howled, ana
pursued the traveller at night. Swamps were crossed by
the " corduroy bridge," made of small sticks of timber a
little longer than railroad ties, and often unsafe. The roads
were frequently mere waggon-tracks, winding among thick
woods. In great floods the close ricketty bridges some
times floated away, so that the horse must wade ; or if the
stream was large, he must swim. A friend writes, that his
relatives used to conduct our father " through the woods by
the marks on the ' blazed trees,' with torches," to a night
appointment. When the horse happened to mire in a morass, and turned
back, there was a singular Methodist invention, by which
the rider could tie his beast to a tree, and then, like the
stream in Tennyson's " Song of the Brook," he could still
" go on." For the unconverted, awaiting him in the neat
log schoolhouse, must, in some desperate way, be reached.
The English in India are said sometimes to frighten the
savages among the hills by a little cannon, carried on the
back of a pack animal, called a mountain howitzer. So the
Methodist " itinerant " of that day, if his horse mired,
walked on with a supply o; Gospel ammunition on his arm,
concealed in a leathern bag holding about a bushel. This
he tenderly took from the back of the jaded beast. It had
pouches at each end like the receptacle of the Australian
kangaroo. It became famous in the early struggles for
religious liberty in Canada as the " saddlebag." The term
was sometimes used in the plural ; but in memory of its
distinguished services, both to religion and freedom, wo
prefer the more delicate singular.

HARDSHIPS. 233
Seriously, we may here indulge in a little historical
episode, throwing light on one of the darkest conflicts in the
early career of Methodism in " Upper Canada." In 1827,
the whole province was convulsed by a cool attempt of one
set of politicians to disfranchise the other side, in the
famous " Alien Bill." It created quite as much commotion
as did the blow at the Dissenters, proposed by Lord Sidmouth
in England. An eloquent and utterly fearless young Meth
odist minister seemed to be raised up for the occasion. It
was Egerton Ryerson.* He will doubtless be better known
to future generations of his countrymen by his peaceful
labours as the founder of the comprehensive and excellent
system of schools for Canada. But in the struggle of which
we speak, he wrote a series of public letters which roused
the whole country. His eloquent missives and the petitions
against the obnoxious " Alien Bill " were both carried
largely in Methodist saddlebags. The home Government in
England nobly came to the rescue, and vetoed the measure.
And in the elections of 1828 the Methodists and their
friends of other churches triumphed, and elected what their
opponents called the " Saddlebag Parliament."
We gladly seize this occasion to record our sacred obliga
tions to an accomplished and faithful teacher who seemed
to wield a wonderful influence for good over all his pupils.
George Hughes, Esq., was then the Principal of a flourish
ing " select school " in the town of Port Hope. Just
previous to the usual day for writing " compositions," a
loved companion of ours, the son of a greatly respected
* I think Dr. Corson is slightly in error. E. Ryerson first drew
Ilis pen to vindicate the character of the Methodists from tha
attack on them, made by the Hev. Dr. Strahan, in his funeral ser
mon for Bishop Mountain, published July, 1826.— Ed.

234 HARDSHIPS.
member of Parliament, playfully proposed that we "fire
up '' on opposite sides of this exciting question. The writer,
then a lad of thirteen, accepted the friendly challenge, as
the " son of a saddlebag."
Our two essays convulsed the whole school. ' The be
loved Principal was a sincere " High Church Episcopalian,"
and a strong " Conservative." But he was also as gener
ous as a prince. The most valued literary compliment that
the writer has ever received, was amid the cheers of his
fellow pupils as he felt the fatherly touch of his teacher's
hand, with the tender words, " Well done my little saddle
bag." But let us return to our story of dangers. Our father's
saddlebag once nearly cost him his life. It did not explode.
No, it was an accident of another kind. Just at this
period considerable " war losses " had been paid throughout
the province in packages of silver. The wise and generous
policy of the British Government towards the Indians had
rendered them, as a rule, quite peaceable and inoffensive.
But there were a few rough exceptions. Our father was
creeping along homeward at a slow pace at midnight, just
beyond Ingersoll, when he observed an Indian at a distance
first staggering as if he were drunk, and then walking
rapidly as if to overtake him. He saw in a moment that
the drunken gait was a sham, and quickly spurred his
noble beast. As soon as the savage saw that his game was
escaping, he brandished a huge knife, and shouted in a rage,
" give me money ! you got dollars in dat ledder bag ! "
When our father had gained a few rods on his pursuer
he turned and said, " No money here ! only Methodist
books ! " But the unbelieving Indian chased him for a full
half mile, and finished with his loudest " war-whoop." Our

HARDSHIPS. 235
father rode home as if a whole tribe of Indians were at his
heels, at a pace like that of Tam O'Shanter escaping from
the witches. And the spirited mare lost not even a hair of
her tail. Had the Indian captured the saddlebag he would
have been woefully disappointed. One end was spiritual,
and the other temporal. The first contained, perhaps,
Wesley's sermons, the Preacher's Manual, Fletcher's Checks,
and a Bible and hymn-book. The other end was very
" worldly," and swelled out probably with a change of
linen, and, we may as well confess it, with provisions for
the minister's family. We remember being once puzzled in
surveying the Catacombs at Rome as to how the millions of
Christians who hid themselves there were fed. It was
doubtless a mystery to many in the privations of early
Methodism how the ministers and their wives and little
ones lived. We here venture to give a single hint. Their
hungry children always eagerly watched the opening of the
saddlebag.

JOYS IN TRIAL&
We shall devote this closing sketch of our father's
" hardships " partly by presenting two traits in his char
acter, which helped* to cheer him in these toils to the very
last. They were the rainbows that followed his storms.
The first we shall notice immediately. But the second we
shall reserve for the end of this paper.
There have been passing allusions elsewhere to his un
failing cheerfulness. But it entered so largely into his
daily life that it deserved a more careful analysis. It rang
out in joyous laughter ; it twinkled in his blue eyes, and
it sparkled in his inexhaustible fund of merry anecdotes.
It is said that the martyred Lincoln was wonderfuUy

236 HARDSHIPS.
solaced during the long agonies of the civil war by* tho
practice of telling mirthful, stories. Of these our good
father had a full assortment for every possible occasion.
He could, in a comical way, " illustrate '' any earthly sub
ject. Sometimes his wit took the form of quick repartee.
At others it was more narrative.
Even in the solemnities of Conference he was utterly
fearless in his playful sallies. In the history of the largest
Methodist body in Canada to which he always adhered,
there were frequent separations and alliances, and often
grave, honest differences of opinion. Debates were natur
ally at times quite exciting. In the midst of a storm he
would pour oil on the troubled waters by a speech full of
drollery. For at heart he was always a peacemaker. He
dreaded violent extremes of any kind. As Shakespeare
says of madness, there was always " method " in his fun.
His object was to soothe. And he generally managed to
leave all parties in a roar. It seemed that even his wit be
came consecrated. He loved best to tell stories illustrative
of his dearly cherished Methodism. We select a few
specimens from his large collection.
A young farmer on the Dumfries Circuit, once wittily
complimented his Methodist " earnestness." On his return
f i om a missionary tour to the destitute back townships,
our ever watchful mother discovered that he wriggled and
twisted something like a biy with the St. Vitus' cianee.
lie had the peculiar motion of the elbows common to a
c, rtain affection of the skin known in Scotland as the
" Fiddle, Fiddle." Our good mother was always ener
getic. She had treated him with sulphur, as a humorous
patient once said, " outside, inside, and every side." Our
father had a familiar way of joining any farmer in his

HARDSHIPS. 237
work. It was in hot July. He began to " cradle " in the
harvest field. All at once his friend stood still, and
snuffed the air audibly with his nostrils two or three times.
Then he said with mock gravity, " Mr. Corson, you have
been chasing the devil very hard ; you have got a little of
his SMELL."
He had had another story about Earnestnes. A wealthy
retired " High Church " minister, a good Episcopalian,
was so genial and kindly that any of his high-born associ
ates dared to ask him the most familiar questions. He lived
in a splendid mansion in the midst of a garden in a certain
city, opposite a very noisy Methodist Church. At the hour
of prayer, winter or summer, you might hear a chorus of
amens and hallelujahs. At last a jovial friend asked him
how he stood the Methodist thunder over the way. " Oh,"
said he, laughing, " they keep up such a singing and pray
ing that my hens have stopped laying eggs."
Our Father was fond of noticing children. To a bright
little boy he would sometimes relate a tale of his eldest son
— how the latter once escaped a lecture, or some kind ci
punishment, by being able to " quote scripture."
The boy, a thoughtless urchin of fifteen, had inherited
his father's early fondness for wrestling. One moonlight
Saturday evening he wrestled with his young friends until
ten o'clock. As he was on his way to bed his father
arrested him with " stop my son ! Are you not ashamed,
as a minister's child, to be wrestling so late at night?"
Quick as thought the lad replied, "Why, father, Jacob and
the angel wrestled all night till daylight in the morning,
and what good people they were." " You may go to bed,
my boy," said our father, laughing in forgiveness.
Many of his playful reminiscences were of his ministerial

238

HARDSHIPS.

brethren. An eloquent colleague had brought not only his
wit but just a faint trace of gentlemanly "brogue" from
the ever green Island. One Sabbath as he rode through the
woods in the maple sugar season, he was grieved to see the
smoke of many camp-fires. His sermon at the next log
school-house was about the heroic prophet Daniel. He dared
to pray three times a day. " So he did," said the speaker.
" He faced the lions themselves." At last, raising his voice
to a shrill pitch, he shouted, "And Daniel never boiled
sugar on Sunday !" The hit fell like a bomb-shell in the
crowd. One stricken sinner jumped to his feet and said
trembling, " I suppose you mean me." " Oh, no," said the
faithful preacher, " I mean you all." But he added sharply,
" If the coat fits anybody he can wear it."
A witty clerical friend of our father was dozing late at
night near him in the " Preacher's tent " at camp-meeting.
There was a very worldly brother, a tall layman, whose chief
religious accomplishment was a powerful, clear, stentorian
voice. He was quite conscious of this. Like the thirsty
land of Egypt, he needed to be annually revived with a
camp-meeting inundation sweeping over him like the river
Nile. Then he would make the very trees tremble with
his far-reaching voice. On the night in question he became
hoarse and speechless, and with mistaken taste disturbed the
dozing ministers. " What shall I do for my hoarse
ness," he said. " My brother," said my father's com
panion, waking up in mercy for the emergency, " You have
got what is called a ' Methodist cold.' There is only one
cure. Take a small piece of salt pork, and tie a string
around it, then swallow it and pull it up as you would a
little fish several times." There was a general explosion,
and the patient in haste retreated.

HARDSHIPS. 239
We have not deemed it proper to occupy too much of
the space so generously offered by our valued friend, the
editor. It would be easy to add largely to our few ex
amples of " hardships." We may close with a single
additional illustration.
In the autumn of 1827, as we were again happy in the
abundance of our home on the Oxford farm, our father was
suddenly ordered to move one hundred and fifty miles east
ward,* in the cold and muddy month of November. He
was assigned to the Whitby Circuit and the adjoining
Scugog Indian mission. It was awful. The " personal
effects " and furniture were to be sold for a song, or given
away. A wife and five children, and the little comforts it
could carry, were to be packed into a single lumber waggon,
covered with a white cloth. It was a regular gipsy looking
affair. But a staunch Methodist, the- venerable Daniel
Harris, the father of a noble family of sons, was to be the
safe driver. Our father, like the mounted guard to a
diligence in Italy, rode ahead with his trusty horse, and the
inevitable " saddlebag." Young as the writer then was he
enjoyed the excitement. Methodists along the road, like
the early Christians, fed and warmly greeted the family.
There was a large lunch basket with cold chicken and other
tempting things which was often replenished. We bought
a salmon in crossing the River Credit. In Toronto, then
" York," we were hospitably entertained at a Methodist
home. The day that we left York and crossed the River
Don was made more dreary from the fact that a young
printer named French, was to be hanged for what many
thought was justifiable homicide. The town was very
gloomy. When we arrived at Whitby Circuit, it was found that it

240 HARDSHIPS
was reduced by Church dissensions to six appointments and
a little mission. The wheat crop had been extensively
stricken with the "rust." It was almost a famine year.
Flour was very dear. Our father's means had been ex
hausted by an unexpected long journey. We were thrust
into a deserted log-house, through the crevices of which we
could see the stars. It was just in the outskirts of the
present town of Whitby. Our bread failed. We, were
reduced to small potatoes. At midnight the writer heard
his mother weeping and saying, " Husband, what shall we
feed the children to-morrow ? " Next morning the boy
went to his mother and, without telling her what he had
overheard, said tenderly, " How sweet those little potatoes
are." Our trials were soon over. Members of other
Churches and the few straggling Methodists soon rallied
round the new comers. One of the first to bring supplies
to the famished wife and children was a young man, since
honoured in political life as James Willson, Esq.
The second solace in his trials that we would mention
now came to cheer our anxious father. It was what our
Episcopalian friends call the " communion of saints." He
was always extremely liberal towards " All who love the
Saviour." He was very fond of " union services." Tbe
little Methodist classes in the sparse, new settlements were
often peacefully gathered from all the leading sects. They
met on the broad " platform " of John Wesley, and included
all who desired " to flee from the wrath to come."
Our father's genial temperament led him all his life to
court fraternal relations with the difierent branches of
Methodists, and with all evangelical Churches. Yet he
was strongly attached to his own spiritual home.
Just at this time he accepted an invitation from Baptist

esxrMR : fok vvtmsitm^ismott. SSIfi
friends, tojoin* them in "special-fevi^al-'sei'Vi^eFin the frame
church below Whitby. Many cbiiVersioWS followed. Meth
odism soon rallied ter a prosperous cpri4fti°^" His social
relations were delightful.1" Few spots have ever had so
warm a place, in his Vmenttories inJ after yeare as Whitby
Circuit. v'Vt'i; •**.¦¦¦.,---. 5f.'V:-«t>"*, a n Z
The Union sentiments to which we have alluded grew
stronger as he neared the heavenly land. In extreme old
age he promptly .apcepted the hospitalities tendered him by
Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, and other friends;
and frequently^appeared in their festive gatbeiShgs to make
pleasant speeches, as " Father Corson." ;
Doubtless children are often indebted to pious parents for
their religious thoughts. Knowing that it would please
him, one of his. ¦sons; sent him, a fewinonthjs before his
death, the following hymn and its history.—
PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNTOW;
A H¥MX.*"BY J. W. C. '" '-'¦*
" That they all may be one."--- John 17. 21.
Air, "Arlington." '
That precious gift, Tby parting prayer,
That we may all be one,
Blest Saviour, help us now to share,
,,._¦: And breathe, "Thy will be done." „
One home above to faith appears— •**'
'¦' One path by millions trod ; ''.' "*
One Cross lights, up. this "yale'bf , tears, t
To all the saints of God.
• Let mo briefly tell the story of this hymn. I happen— as then a very young
member— to be one of the few survivors of the first general meeting of the Evan
gelical Alliance, in London, in 1846. It came in the hour of sore spiritual need.
12

242 PRATER FOR CHKISTIAU UNION".
With those that gazed from Tabor's height,
Let love unite our throng ;
May "Jesus only," fill our sight,
And echo in our song.
Our pains, and toils, and conflicts here —
E'en Jordan rolling past,
Will be as dreams, when pressing near
The Throne, we meet at last.
Fade earthly shrines, and altars fair,
And names, and temples old,
If, Lord, Thou wilt but claim us there,
And count us in Thy fold.
Reign in our hearts, Thou Lamb Divine !
And make us one in Thee,
Bring us, with all the host of Thine,
Thy glorious face to see.
I waB depressed in my religious feelings, from close confinement for many months
previous, in my studies as a young physician, among the narrow lanes, crowded
hospitals, and gay Sabbaths of the "Students' Quarter" in Paris. And Ihe con
trast of that hallowed vacation of fourteen days among the venerable Christiana
in London, seemed almost heavenly.
The leading spirits in that gathering ure nearly all now with the " Saints in
Light." Tholuck, Adolphe Mouod, Eardley, Bickersteth, Norman McLeod, Can-
dlish. Bunting, Burns, Angeli James, Lyman Beecher, Baird, Peck, Emory, and a
host of others, have all gone home.
The sainted Bickersteth, with his pale, sweet face Jit up with emotion, stopped
to weep as he attempted to give out the opening hymn. And we all choked with
tears at the first stanza, as, to-tho tune of Luther's Old Hundred, we commenced to
sing, in English and other tongues, *' Before Jehovah's Awful Throne."
But the suspense was only, for a moment. Soon there swelled, fi-om more than
a thousand voices, a mighty chorus, like the sound of a battle hymn sung by the
Swedes and Germans before ' an engagement in the Thirty Tears' War. I then
sighed for more Union hymn9. You have the fruit before you. — J. W. C.

SKETCHES OF SEEMONS.

Two moderate sized MS. boots of skeletons of Mr.
Corson's sermons, and a few on detached papers, have come
into my hands. One of the books, labelled " III.," was filled
up while the writer's hand was yet firm, and may have
been written in middle life. The sermons in the second
book, marked " IV.," were written after his hand had be
come tremulous with age.
These plans are interesting on several accounts ; 1st, as
showing the style of sermonizing in vogue in the Canadian
Methodist ministry at the time our pioneer's method was
acquired ; 2nd, as indicating his own comprehension of
mind and habits of thought, both in the noon and evening
of life j 3rd, as comprising, in a miscellaneous way, much
like the manner in which truth is taught in the Holy
Scriptures, the range of his own theological systejn ; and
4th, they indicate how much, or how little, reputedly ex
tempore preachers committed to writing in those days.
But I further hold that these germs of thought are really
valuable, as well as curious. They are instructive, or at
least helpful to thought. They do not exhanst their several
subjects-matter, 'tis true, but they rather suggest ideas.
Suggestive writing is better for a beginner than exhaustive
writing. Instead of superseding thought and invention, it
is helpful both to one and the other. These outlines may
be pondered with profit by lay preachers, who have not
much time for original research, and also by young min-

24:4 SKETCHES OP SERMONS.
isters, who yet hardly begin to know how to direct their
researches. Their very defects may lead to an inquiry
after thoughts more profound and exhaustive, and forms of
expression and illustration superior to those here employed.
I intended, at first, to classify them, either in the order
in which their texts occur in the Bible, or according to the
sequence and relation of their several subjects to each
other ; but upon second thought have decided to leave
them in all their tangled negligence, with the aroma of the
fields upon them, like the fragrant brush-wood through
which he rode to his early appointments, by the bridle
paths, along which they had been thought out and filled up,
on the horse's back, after having been outlined, pencil in
hand, upon his knee, as was his wont.
I pray that these once " hot-shot," after being heated to
white-heat in the furness of prayerful meditation, once
more may be fired off with such skill and precision as to
shatter the enemy's ramparts and to explode his magazines !
Even so, Amen !

THE DIVINELY COMMISSIONED AND WILLING
MESSENGER.
Isaiah vi. 8. — " And I heard the voice of the Lord, say
ing, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? Then said
I, Here am I ; send me."
We have sublime truths embraced in our text — God
— Christ— and angels. Man also is alluded to as being
unclean. But a remedy is provided and applied.
First, we may consider these truths, and Secondly, the
improvement of them.

SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 245
I. In Isaiah's Vision we have Important Truths.
1. They refer to the Saviour of ihe world. — His divinity
presented in the words of the text. He is the " Lord,"
which signifies Jehovah. He is the " Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, and the Prince cf Peace."
2. Our fallen slate is also alluded io.— Isaiah acknowledges
that he is " a man of unclean lips, and dwells among a
people of unclean lips."
3. A remedy is provided. — An angel flies to the altar and
applies a coal to Isaiah's lips and tongue, and his
" iniquity is purged," and his sin is takea away. God
provides a remedy through the sacrifice made by Christ;
but the Holy Ghost, who is the Comforter, applies the
blessing of pardon and peace.
4. A call from God to men. — "Who will go fcr us?"
Only one responds, " Here am I ; send me !"
IL We must Improve this Subject. It teaches us. .sundry
lessons.
1. Humility. — Angels veil their faces before Han great
I am, who is seated on the throne.
2. The work cf angels. — To fly at the command of their
Lord. We ought to imitate angels, who humble
themselves, and fly as " ministering spirits."
3. God has a work fcr us lo do.— We ought to be willing
to fly at the command of God : " Here am I ; send me."
4. None can fcrgivi ski? but God only. — Yet mat vt.ay be
a messenger of salvation.

246 sketches op sermons.
II.
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST.
Isaiah ix. 6. — " For unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given ; and the government shall be upon his
shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun
sellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the
Prince of Peace."
In this chapter we have a description of a battle-field.
The King of kings is described, and his lofty titles are
alluded to in our text.
First, we may consider Christ as human and divine ;
Secondly, we may consider him as the " Wonderful, Coun
sellor, and the Prince of Peace."
I. Christ's Divinity and Humanity.
1. His advent was anticipated. — Predicted by prophets.
The wise men of the East enquired after him.
2. He is born of a virgin, and is a man — the " child
born," — the " son given."
3. His supreme divinity is sufficiently plain : as he is the
" mighty Cod " and " everlasting Father." He is " the
great God and (even) our Saviour ; " and " the true God and
eternal life."
II. Consider Him as the "Wonderful Counsellor and
the Prince op Peace.
1. We need a Counsellor, one in all respects competent.
Chriso is that Counsellor, and his counsels will stand.
2. He is the Prince of Peace. — Man has fallen and become
wicked, but Christ ha3 proclaimed peace — by anwls — ¦
and "he will speak peace to his people," as he did
to his disciples when he met them alone ailer his
resurrection. He has also bequeathed peace to all his
followers.

sketches of sermons. 247
III.
READING AND SEEKING OUT OF THE BOOK
OF THE LAW.
Isaiah xxxiv. 16. — " Seek ye out of the Book of the Law,
and read."
No people are more happy and blessed than those who
live in a land of Bibles. Yet how many have the sacred
book in their houses and neglect to read it.
We may pursue this subject in the following order : —
First, ask why the Bible may be called " The Book of
the Law ; " and Secondly, How we are to " seek out of this
book and read."
I. Why the Bible may be called the Book op the Law
of the Lord.
1. It was written by men inspired of God, as they were
" moved by the Holy Ghost " to write the Scriptures.
2. The Scriptures lead us to the Lord, as the refuge to
the prodigal. He is pointed out as the way of return
to his heavenly Father.
3. They treat of the Lord. — From the Bible we learn
that he is a Holy Being. His mercy is also exhibited,
and salvation is proclaimed through this medium.
4, The Scriptures are sanctioned by the Lord. — "They
went and preached everywhere, the Lord working with
them, confirming the word with signs following.''
And Paul has declared that " The Gospel is the power
of God unto salvation."
II. How we should seek out of the Book of the Law
and read.
1. We should do it sincerely and humbly.

248 sketches of sermons.
2. With attention and perseverance.
3. We ought to read and seek in order to obtain good (o
our souls.

IV.
THE REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS, AND
PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.
Isaiah iii. 10, 11. — " Say ye to the righteous that it
shall be well with him : for they shall eat of the fruit of
their doings.
Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him : for tho
reward of his hands shall be given him.''
There are diversities of gifts in the Church, all of which
we ought to appreciate. Eut in the Church we have luke
warm professors, hypocrites, and backsliders. Out of the
Church the great majority are sinners of the deepest dye.
In fact two characters embrace the whole human family :
these are denominated " righteous" End " wicked."
We shall describe these two rfmrGc'ers ; and consider
what God has said concerning them in the text.
I. We are to Descries the two Characters.
1. The Righteous are —
(1) Sincere.
(2) Humble at tbe feet of Ch'.ist,
(3) They have faith in the atonement.
(4) They bring forth grcd fruit.
2. The wicked are —
(1) " Like the troubled sea," that can have " no rest."
(2) They have "wicked and deceitful hearts."
(3) Their whole course is unbelieving.

sketches op sermons. 249
Finally. They disobey God, break his commanaments,
and live to themselves.
II. Consider what God has said concerning them.
1. He says, " It shall be well with the Righteous."
(1) In this life — they have peace in their hearts — love
one another — and God loves them.
(2) They have their peace made with God — they
glorify him here with their bodies and spirits —
and consequently, heaven is their eternal home.
And, therefore, it will be well with them in the
other world. And when called to stand before the
bar of God, it will be well with them : they will
hear it said, " Come ye blessed of my Father, in.
herit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world."
2. It is otherwise with the wicked. — There is a " woe "
pronounced against them.
(1) In this world they are unhappy.
" In pain they travel all their days, to reach
eternal woe."
(2) They must die ; and, as they are unpardoned, they
will be lost.
We may learn from these words —
1. That God looks at the heart ; and that a bad heart
brings forth evil fruit, and will end in death.
2. God has manifested himself to his believing people
in mercy and in blessings.
3. We ought to examine ourselves and see who is our
Master, and what is our hope.
4. The righteous have a blessed promise: "It shall be
well with him ; he shall eat of the fruit of his doings "
— participate in gospel blessings.
12*

250 sketches op sermons.
V.
THE FOUNDATION STONE LAID IN ZION.
Isaiah xxviii. 16. — " Behold, I lay in Zion for a founda
tion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation : he that believeth shall not make haste.
Many titles have been given to Christ. He is called a
vine, a sun, a door, a rock, a stone, a shepherd, a king, and
our Redeemer. In the words of our text he is spoken of
under the emblem of " a stone, a sure foundation."
We may consider Christ — the Church — the Believer.
I. Christ. He is the one presented under the idea of " a
tried stone."
1. " Tried by his Father,'' and then acknowledged as his
" Beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased."
2. " Tried," by thousands of his humble followers. And
many here present have tried him ; and it has been unto
them according to their faith.
3. He is a sure foundation. — The rock on which all must
build who would have a just anticipation of the eternal
salvation.
4. " A precious corner stone." — As the corner unites the
two walls of a building, so all nations, tongues, and
peoples may be united to him.
II. Consider the Church of Christ.
1. They are redeemed by the blood of Christ.
2. Christ is their foundation, the rock on which they build.
3. They are united in him, as stones in a building, and
find him " precious " to their souls.
III. What is said of the Believer.
1. They " shall not be confounded." — God has been their
portion, and they have stood firm in the trying hour.

sketches of sermons. 251
2. It is said they shall "not be ashamed." — Their faith
is well grounded, and they do not feel disposed to
disown him or his followers. Christ has been rejected
of men, and crucified as a malefactor, but we " glory
in his cross."
3. They shall not make haste ; shall abide his time ; await
the unfolding of his purposes ; but trusting in God,
we resign ourselves to him.

VI.

THE TURNING AWAY OF GOD'S ANGER AND
THE RESULTS.
Isaiah xii. 1. — " In that day thou shalt say, O Lord,
I will praise thee : though thou wast angry with me, thine
an-jer is turned away, and thou comfordedst me."
This is the language of every converted man and woman;
and many of us have occasion to adopt it, and praise the
Lord, the God of all our mercies.
We may consider: — 1. The nature of his "anger;"
2. How it is turned away ; and 3. How we are to praise
God.
I. The Nature of God's Anger.
1. God is holy ; and his anger is constrained by his holi
ness. He is too pure to behold sin with allowance.
2. His anger has been manifested at different times, and
in diverse ways. — The destruction of the old world,
of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Canaanites, and the judg
ments on the Jewish nation at different successive
periods attest this.
3. God is angry w th the wicked every day ; and " the

252 sketches of sermons.
Great Day of his wrath will come;" and then "Who
shall be able to stand."
4. Every unbeliever is condemned, and " the wrath of God
abideth upon him."
II. Consider how his Anger is Turned Away.
1. This is through Christ the atoning lamb, " Whose blood
speaketh better things than the blood of Abel."
2. Repentance is absolutely necessary.
3. We must come to Christ and believe on him, " with a
heart unto righteousness."
III. HOW ARE WE TO PRAISE GOD ?
1. Praise must be from the heart, and the lips should
express what the heart feels.
2. We must praise God by a consistent life, and by " letting
our light shine before men," <fcc.
3. Gratitude should constrain God's praise. — We are in
debted to him for unnumbered blessings.
4. If we praise God in this world, we are likely to praise
him in a better world than this.

VII.
THE KING'S HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS.
Isaiah xxxv. 8, 9, 10. — '* And an highway shall be there,
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the
unclean shall not pass over it ; but it shall be for those : the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No
lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up
thereon, it shall not be found there ; but the redeemed shall
walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their

sketches of sermons. 253
heads ; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away.
God's ways are not as our ways. His ways are safe, and
we are required to walk in them, that we " may find rest
unto our souls.''
We may consider — 1. The way ; 2. The characters who
walk in that way; and 3. The promises made to these
travellers. I. The way is —
1. An highway. — All may have free access to it — rich and
poor, &c. It was designed by him who is infinite in
all respects.
2. It is an holy way. — God, who marked it out, is holy,
and he requires us to be holy in heart and life.
3. A plain way. — Inasmuch as " a fool need not err
therein." Thank God, the most untutored may find
out this way.
4. It is a safe way. — " No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall walk therein." The Great Enemy
may make an effort to impede our progress in the
divine life, but he can never succeed. The feeblest
soul " shall overcome through the blood of the Lamb."
II. The Characters who walk in this way.
1. They are " ransomed " — " not with silver or gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ."
2. They are holy. — Saved from sin and wickedness. "The
unclean shall not go up thereon." They walk in the
ways of the Lord.
3. They are " wayfaring men," travellers, with " no con
tinuing city," not considering this their permanent
home, but are here for the purpose of doing good.

254 sketches op sermons.
III. Consider the Promises made to these Travellers.
1. Promise of protection. — While they " walk there," —
they are saved from " ravenous beasts."
2. Salvation, finally, from sorrow and distress. — " All
tears shall be wiped away from their eyes." And
they shall " obtain joy and gladness '' in heaven, their
eternal home.

vin.
GOD'S COMMAND TO COMFORT HIS PEOPLE.
Isaiah xl. 31. — " Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God."
God's people have often been called to pass through sore
trials, but they have always been sustained.
In the discussion of this subject we may consider : —
1. God's people; 2. Their afliictions; and 3. The comfort
they may obtain.
1. God's people, first of all, are reconciled to him — born of
his spirit — and bear his image.
2. They are his people, because they are sustained, protected,
and guided by tlie God that made them.
3. His also, because they reverence him with a godly fear,
and glorify him with their bodies and spirits, which are
his.
II. To Consider their Afflictions.
1. The world, the flesh, and devil are a combination they
have to overcome.
2. Providential Affliction. — Abraham had his faith tried,
and Joseph, Job, Jeremiah, Paul and Silas, John, and a
host of martyrs who have died in the faith. How
parents, like old Jacob, have had their domestic trials.

SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 255
3. We sometimes err in judgment, and errors in judgment
sometimes lead to errors in practice, which often lead to
sorrow and humiliation.
III. Consider the Encouragement and Comfort we may
Obtain.
1. God puts himself before us as a Father, and gives us the
endearing appellation of children. " And as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear
him."
2. God's people may be the instruments of comforting one
another, and they should be and are a source of
comfort.
3. His ministers, especially, have a comforting message.
They present various comforting considerations.

IX.
THE ENDURING CHARACTER OF GOD'S WORD.
Isaiah xl. 8. — " The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
but the word of our God endureth forever.''
We have beautiful images in God's word : the withering
of the grass and the fading of the flower are significant
figures of human life.
There are two things to be considered : 1. The word of
God ; and 2. Its adaptation to human life.
I. God's Word. Is —
1. A Revelation of his will io us, and we may consider it
as permanent.
2. His word, because —
(1) It emanates from him, and
(2) Leads to him. The Bible points to God as the
only source whence all our blessings flow.

256 sketches of sermons.
3. It is proved to be his word by ihe way he acknowledges
or endorses it, as preached by his servants.
II. It is adapted to our state and condition.
1. We are frail, and liable to " wither " like " the grass,"
or "the flower" of that grass. God's wc^d is a con
solation under these circumstances. We have its
blessed promise, that he "will never leave us, nor
forsake us."
2. We are probationers, and have but a short time to
remain in this world ; but " his word abideth forever."
The promises of that word " are yea, and amen, to
them that believe."
3. In the Day of Judgment we will be tried by that word.
" And though heaven and earth shall pass away, that
word shall not pass away."
Infidels have banded themselves together in order to
bring God's word into disrepute, but they are gone — have
" perished " like the " grass," or " withered " like the
" flower," but the word of our God continues to stand.

X.
THE ENDS OF THE EARTH INVITED TO LOOK
TO GOD FOR SALVATION.
Isaiah xl. 22 — " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else."
Salvation is something we need, and if we obtain it not,
there is no alternative but that we must perish. But this
great need may be supplied on reasonable terms. Consider
three things :— 1, The salvation alluded to in the text ; 2.

SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 257
The invitation to come and accept it; 3. The encourage
ment held forth in the text.
I. The Salvation Referred to. It embraces —
1. A deliverance from the guilt of sin.
2. From the Love of sin. — How many who have loved to
" roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongues, have
had their delight in it taken away ; and have been
brought nigh to God. Salvation,
3. Signifies deliverance from the remains of sin. — We
have an all-powerful Saviour who is " able to save to
the uttermost," and " whose blood cleanseth from all
sin." This will prepare the way for —
4. Salvation from the consequences of sin, which comprises
our happiness in heaven. We come
XI. To God's Invitation. It is —
1. As extensive as creation. — It is offered in every land,
and to every nation.
2. It embraces all classes, as well as all lands. Not only
the rich, but also the poor and abject.
S. The invitation embraces the greatest of blessings we can
possibly enjoy — greatest possible in this life, but it does
not end there : its benefits follow us into the ever
lasting life which is to come.
III. The Encouragement the text affords. Conside:-
several particulars :
1. We are invited by God himself.
2. The greatest of sinners possible have found mercy.
3. God is no respecter of persons. — One has just as strong
a warrant, and welcome as another;

258 SKETCHES OF SERMONS.
XI.
IS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE BELIEVED. »
Isaiah 1. 1.—" Who hath believed our report ?"
We have credited and heeded many less important re
ports ; but how few have believed the most important and
wonderful one of all.
Two things are to occupy our attention : 1. The report;
and 2. The interrogation about the belief of it.
I. The Report Referred to.
1. The report is of great importance, as it relates to man's
present and eternal salvation. It describes man as a
ruined sinner, exposed to the wrath of a sin-avenging
God.
2. In this report a Saviour is proclaimed. — The only
deliverer for guilty man. He " bore our sins and
carried our sorrows," <fcc.
3. Of the report we have the testimony of many witnesses
that Christ has power on earth to forgive sins.
II. The Interrogation. " Who hath believed our report ? "
We remark :
1. A vast number of Jews believed the report in Apostolic
times : three thousand on the day of Pentecost, and
even Saul of Tarsus.
2. Gentiles also were led to believe the report given of him
in that day, and turned " from dumb idols to serve the
living and true God."
3. A great number in modem times have believed this
report. — They have the Old and New Testaments ; they
have heard them explaimed to them-; their hearts have
been softened and their eyes opened ; and they have
become eminent witnesses for Christ and his cause.

SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 259
XII.
THE BLAST OF THE GREAT TRUMPET.
Isaiah xxvii. 13. — "And it shall come to pass in that
day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and
the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the
Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
It may be inferred from, this portion of Scripture, that
greater displays of the power of religion will take place,
and that many, who are enveloped in darkness, will embrace
the truth. We notice two thoughts :— 1. The great trum
pet; and 2. Consider those who are to be blessed by the
preaching of the Gospel.
I. TnE Great Trumpet.
1. The trumpet is of God's appointing. — Under the
Mosaic dispensation the trumpets were to be of one
piece, and were to be made of silver. This is designed
to show that the Gospel is one in every country and
in all time.
2. This trumpet is the "great" one. — This may indicate
the great blessings proclaimed by the Gospel.
3. The trumpet was to be blown. — We infer from this
that ministers would be raised up, who would proclaim
a free and full salvation to a fallen world. God is able
to call and qualify men for the important work.
Though some, like Moses, may excuse themselves, yet
others will say, " Here am I ; send me."
II. Consider those who will be Blessed by the Preach
ing of the Gospel.
1. They are those who are ready to perish. — Those exposed

260 SKETCHES OP SERMONS.
to hell on account of sin, being "in jeopardy every
hour." Yes, not the safe, but those exposed to danger.
2. They are those who " come " burdened and heavy laden,
weeping for their sins and transgressions, and casting
their burden upon the Lord, they obtain salvation.
3. They are from Assyria and the land of Egypt. — They
may be under strong delusion and hostile to the Chris
tian religion, yet, being convinced of the error of their
ways, they come to Christ and obtain salvation.
We infer from this subject : —
1. That the Gospel is designed to awaken the careless
sinner who is exposed to the wrath of God.
2. That this Gospel will yet be preached in Mohammedan
countries. 3. That the great trumpet is sounding, and many are
coming who are ready to perish.

XIII.
IMPORTANCE OF SEEKING GOD WHILE HE
MAY BE FOUND.
Isaiah lv. 6, 7. — " Seek ye the Lord while he may be
found; call ye upon him while be is near."
We have many warnings, and we are admonished to
attend to the things that make for our peace ; yet, alas !
how many neglect to lay these requirements to heart.
Let us attend — 1st. To the duty enjoined; and 2nd. To
the reasons assigned.
I. The duty enjoined.
1. This does not devolve ,on all.
(1) Infants neither neej, nor are they capable of seek
ing. Unconditional grace provides for them.

SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 261
(2) Those in heaven are not again required to seek
him, for they did seek him while on earth. Their
prayers are turned to praises.
(3) It is too late for the damned in hell to seek him :
their day of grace is passed and gone. But
2. There are those who need to seek, may seek, and must
seek, and that with all their heart, if they would be
saved.
II. The Reasons Assigned for the Requirement.
1. We may neglect until it is too late to seek, and " mercy
is clean gone forever," and we find our place in per
dition.
2. We ought lo seek in our youthful days — The mind and
heart are then the most susceptible. God says,
" They that seek me early shall find me."
3. If we seik God timely we are sure to find him to the joy
and comfort of our souls. — This comprehends a free
pardon, and we find him a stronghold, and our " refuge
and exceeding great reward.'

XIV.
GOD'S CHARGE TO ZION'S WATCHMEN.
Isaiah Ixii. 6. — " I have set watchmen upon thy walls,
0 Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day nor
night : ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not
silence." How many are complaining at the present ; but why
should living nien complain ? We are a favoured people.
We are blessed with watchmen whom God himself has set
upon the walls of our Zion ; and they are not to hold their
peace day nor night.

262 sketches of sermons.
There are here two thing3 to be considered : — 1st. The
watchmen and their duty ; and 2nd. The lay members of
the church.
I. The Watchmen and their Duty.
1. The watchmen have their appointment from "Him who
weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance,
and takes up the isles as a very little thing."
2. Watchmen should look out for opportunities to do good,
and to proclaim their message. Theirs is a work of great
importance.
3. Watchmen are to be instant in season and out of season :
they are to work for God both by day and night as
well. They are to be faithful men in preaching and
praying for the salvation of souls. But
II. Co-operative duties Devolve on the Lay Members
of the Church.
1. A church consists of those who have the word of God
preached among them, and the ordinances of God ad
ministered to them.
2. It is said, wlien Zion travaileth, she shall bring forth
children. — Yes, it is the duty of every member of the
church to pray, and labour, and wrestle for the salvation
of those perishing around them.
3. The church " makes mention of the Lord," for its mem
bers can " call Jesus, Lord, by the Holy Ghost given
unto them." They can truly exclaim with Thomas,
" My Lord, and my God 1 "
4. The church may be considered as " God's elect, that call
upon him day and night." They are those whom he
has promised to hear.

sketches of sermons. 263
XV.
QUIETNESS AND ASSURANCE ATTENDANT ON
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Isaiah xxvii. 17.— "And the work of righteousness shall
be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness «d
assurance forever."
Much has been said about the righteousness of Christ :
we cannot exalt Christ too high ; yet, like antinomians, we
may neglect to secure the salvation promised for us, while
indulging a fallacious trust in the so-called righteousness of
Christ. We may consider the " work of righteousness '' and the
" effect of righteousness."
I. The Work op Righteousness.
1. God is righteous, and he has provided a means for having
us accounted righteous through the blood and righteous
ness of Christ.
2. Although corrupt by nature, a way is provided for our
hearts to be purified by grace.
3. The result of these will be, we shall, as we are required,
" live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
evil world."
II. The Effect of Righteousness.
1. The effect of righteousness is peace of conscience— peace
with God, as we are reconciled to God.
2. " Quietness." — A tranquil state of mind, which may
become "a joy unspeakable and lull of glory."
3. " Assurance forever." — An abiding evidence of pardon
— an earnest of heaven on the brink of death — and the
attainment of a state of happiness which nothing can
disturb or overthrow. We have " an house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens."

264 sketches of sermons.
XVI.
OUR STAY WHILE WALKING IN DARKNESS.
Isaiah v. 10. — "Who is among you that feareth the
Lord, that obeyeth^the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light 1 Let him trust in the name
of the Lord, and stay upon his God."
This passage has engaged the attention of good and
learned, and there has been a diversity of opinions as to
what can be its real meaning. Some have thought it to be
the state of a believer in obscurity and perplexity about
temporal matters ; others have construed it as applicable
to the case of penitent sinners.
We will consider it as applicable to the latter. To peni
tent inquirers.
I. They " Fear the Lord," if no more. And ^this fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Further,
II. They Obey the Voice of his Servants. — Ministers
are his peculiar servants ; and penitent sinners may
obey their call to a certain extent.
Or it may apply to those who are in providential darkness,
like Job, when he said, " 0 that I knew where I might
find him ! "
III. The Course Pointed Out ; or the remedy prescribed.
" Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay
upon his God." To trust in the name of the Lord
is most important : it is synonimous with believing in
Chrisvt, the Saviour of a lost world. There is every
warrant for trusting in Him who has an almighty arm.
Let the penitent " stay upon his God," as he delights
not in the death of the sinner, but would rather they
turn and live.

sketches of sermons. 265
We learn from this subject, that we may be " cast down,
without being forsaken." We may be afflicted in body ;
and the soul and body being so connected, one affects the
other ; yet we are to trust in the Lord and " stay upon our
God," and we shall find effectual succour.

XVII.
THE DUTY OF CRYING ALOUD.
Isaiah v. 1. — " Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice'
like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and
the house of Jacob their sins."
God's ministers ought to be earnest in warning sinners
even as the Saviour was in an agony when he purchased
salvation for those sinners.
We may consider: — 1. The duty inculcated; 2. The
reasons assigned for its performance.
I. The Duty here Presented.
1. Whatever we do, it ought to be done with energy. — And
above all, those who have been called by God to preach
his Gospel, ought to be in earnest. Jesus was in earnest
when he agonized in prayer until the sweat was as
blood ; iri earnest when he bowed his head, cried it is
finished, and gave up the ghost.
2. We ought to deal candidly, and enforce the truths of
the Gospel with zeal, not shunning to declare the whole
counsel of God.
3. The Jews were in a backsliding state. — Considering
themselves righteous, they despised others. They drew
ni"h with their lips and honoured God with their
bodies while their hearts were far from him.
13

"bb SKETCHES OP SERMONS.
4. There are too many who imitate the Jews at the present
time, who have a form of godliness but deny the power
thereof, who must be aroused at every hazard.
II. Consider the Reasons for these Warnings.
] . Man is a probationer. — His probation may soon end ;
and as death leaves him, judgment will find him. And
we ought to discharge our duty with fidelity, and deal
plainly with him.
2. Reasonable men will respect us the more, if we preach
plain, practical truths in a way that may prove effectual.
And though some may become offended, in their sober
after reflections they will give the minister credit for
his home and faithful preaching.
3. The earnest minister is the most successful in bringing
souls to Christ. — Though unpopular, it produces the
most fruit. Such imitates the Master, who denounced
the " hypocrites " as being in danger of the " damnation
of hell."
Learn :
1. God works by means, and saves men by men.
2. We ought to preach with a view to pleasing God, and
not man.

XVIII.
THE RELATION BETWEEN GOD AND HIS
PEOPLE.
Jeremiah vii. 23. — " Obey my voice, and I will be your
God, and ye shall be my people : and walk in all the ways
that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you."
Wickedness is described by the prophet, and the process
of family idolatry ; the children gathering the wood, the

SKETCHES OP SERMOS3. 267
father kindling the fire, the mother kneading the dough, to
make cakes to the queen of heaven, &c.
It is pleasing to see families engaged in the worship of
God ; but too often, as here described, they are idolatrous.
Happily Jehovah has said, " Obey my voice, and I will be
your God," &c.
The text includes a commandment and a promise.
I. The Requirement in the Text.
1. The commandment is divine in ils origin. Children
are commanded to obey their paren ts. This is their im
perative duty in all things lawful ; but our parents may
err, and then we are justified in disobeying them.
God, however, is too wise to err, and too good to be
unkind.
2. Our obedience ought to be cheerfully rendered, and not
merely because the law rigorously requires it. It is
" the willing and obedient " that shall eat the good
of the land.
3. Our obedience ought to be perpetual. — How many pro
mise fair, but fail. They begin in the spirit and end
in the flesh. They become " weary in well-doing."
Others hold out to the end, " ending in harness as good
soldiers of Jesus Christ." Such go on " from strength
to strength."
4. True obedience is founded in knowledge. — Jesus said,
" My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. A
stranger will they not follow, for they know not the
voice of strangers." " I know my sheep and am
known of mine."
5. This commandment is received by faith, winh the per
suasion that it is from God ; and they walk in his wuys
all the days of their lives.

238 SKETCHES OF SERMONS.
II. The Promise here Made. " I wiii be their God."
This includes :
1. Defence. — His power will be exerted for their succour
from evil and harm of all kinds.
2. To sustain and strengthen them under all the weakness
and infirmities which occasion the need of divine sup
port. He empowers them with all strength in the
inner man to do his will. It enables them to " run
and not weary, to walk, and not faint."
3. He will make them " his people." — They are a peculiar
people, and enjoy peculiar blessings and privileges of
which the world knows nothing.
4. It shall go well with them in life and death, and be well
with them in all eternity.
Let us all most earnestly seek, and strive, and pray that
this may be our relation and our lot — at once and forever.

XIX.
THE CONTINUANCE OF SPIRITUAL DISEASE
INEXCUSABLE.
Jeremiah viii. 22. — " Is there no balm in Gilead ; Li
there no physician there t Why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered ? "
Man is a fallen creature, yet a remedy is provided for
him. There is a physician and a medicine for his moral
diseases, why then is his health not recovered 1
We may consider — 1. The disease ;, 2. The remedy ; and
3. The inquiry.
I. Consider the Disease.
1. It is a hereditary disease. — It has descended from

sketches op sermons, 269
father to son, from the first contaminated pair to this
time — and to this congregation.
2. It is a universal disease. — It aflects the whole humar.
race, the whole, man, the soul with all its powers, and
the body with all its members. " The feet are swift
to shed blood " — " with their tongues they have used
deceit ; '' and " from the crown of the head to the soles
of the feet there is no soundness in us ; but we are
full of wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores, which
have not been bound up, neither mollified with oint
ment." The understanding is dark, the will perverse,
and the affections alienated from God and goodness.
3. This disease is contageous. — Wicked parents contam
inate their children , and they, in turn, lead other
men astray. " Evil communications corrupt good
manners ; " and " one sinner destroy eth much good."
II. We may Consider the Remedy.
1. There is ihe atonement made by Christ. — The remedy
is spoken of under the figure of " balm." The
original " Balm of Gilead " was a drug obtained from
a little shrub that grew in Mount Gilead. An incision
was made in the bark from whence the gum exuded
that was used as a medicine. This may apply tc
the healing nature of Christ's blood drawn from his
wounded body on Mount Calvery, wliich opened a
fountain for sin and all un cleanness.
2. The qualities of this balm are all medicinal.— Search
ing, drawing, and healing. Said Christ, " If I be
lifted up, I will draw all men unto me." "The blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth from all sin."
3. Christ is the Good and Great Physician. — He is
omnipresent and omnipotent, his skill and advice are

270 sketches of sermons.
infallible. He knows how to apply the balm and to
give it efficacy, Myriads have been healed and saved
by him. He never lost a case that was honestly put
into his hands.
III. We may Con'sidss the Inquiry. " Why then is not
the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"
1. We cannot charge our perdition on God — the Father —
Sox — or Holy" Spirit, All are concerned in some im
portant part of the provisions for our salvation. And
Deity ha3 sworn by Himself that He has no pleasure
ia the death of them that die, but that he would rather
that all should como to a knowledge of the truth and
be saved.
2. Nor can we charge our destruction on the faithful —
neither the ministers who have warned us, nor the
good people wha have set us a godly example and
prayed for ns,
3. If lost, we will have to say Amen to the denunciation qf
cur doom.

XX.
THE HOPE AND SAVIOUR OF ISRAEL.
Jeremiah xiv. 8. — " O the hope of Israel and the Saviour
ih»reof in time of trouble."
"Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
Ail, more or 'ess, complain of trouble ; but there it! a
rexedy. We have a sovereign bairn for every wound, a
cordial for i.:ur fears.'"
1. Who may be understood by Israel » 2. And what by
the hope of Israel 1

sketches of sermons. 271
I. Who are we to Understand ey Israel >
1. Thi name was given to Jacob at the time he wrestled
with the angel and prevailed.
2. There were certain marks by which ancient Israel was
distinguished. — There was circumcision ; it imposed
cprtain duties and sacrifices. These were confined to
the descendents of Jacob, who constituted the Jewish
Church. But tbe true Israelites under the present
dispensation, are those circumcised in heart, and who
cn.n call God their father, and Jesus Christ, Lord, by
the Holy Ghost given unto them
3. As Jacob was a praying man, and wrestled with God
in earnest supplication, so also the true " elect of God
cry unto him day and night."
4. God's ancient Israel were an afflicted people ; and the
true Israel are distinguished in all ages, more or less,
by affliction. " Many are the afflictions of the
righteous."
II. We may Consider the Hope of Israel.
1. As to hope itself. — It is the desire for and expectation
of some future good, with the possibility of obtaining
it. We cannot hope for yesterday, but we may hope
for to-morrow.
2, But hope must have a basis, and Christ is the founda
tion of our hopes. " On this rock I will build my
church, and the gates cf hell shall not prevail against
*:.. •'
3. When no human arm coidd deliver, Christ delivered his
own.  Hence martyrs have rejoiced at the stake.

272 sketches of sermons
XXI.
HUMAN COMPLAINTS AND THEIR CURE.
Lamentations iii. 39. — " Why should a living man com
plain %"
Man is a compound — has many things to contend with
in this life ; but much is done to provide happiness for us
even here. And we may secure a good hope for the life to
come : " Why," therefore, " should a living man complain 1 "
Our complaints and the dissuasions against complaining,
I. The Particulars of Human Complaints.
1. We have great cause to complain of ourselves — that we
have so little faith — and our love is cold — and that
our usefulness amounts to so little.
2. We sometimes complain of the inconsistent conduct of
others.
3. But we should not complain (as we are too often in.
clined to do), of the dealings of God with us. He can
never mistake ; nor can he do anything that is unjust;
or unkind.
II. The Dissuasions against Complaining. -
1. It is impious to complain of God, who has done all
that could be done consistent with human liberty and
responsibility to secure our salvation.
2. We are living men. — We are not in perdition ; and
" While the lamp holds out to burn, the vilest sinner
may return." We enjoy the society cf our friends,
and heaven may be made our eternal home, if we will.

sketches of sermons. 273
XXII.
THE PROSPERITY OF CHRIST'S REIGN.
Jeremiah xxiii. 5. — " A king shall reign and prosper."
Christ Jesus was spoken of ages before he made his ap
pearance in our world ; and was presented under various
titles. In our text he is called " a king," and it is said he
shall prosper."
Two things are to be noticed : (1) Christ presented as a
king ; and (2) The character of his reign.
I. His office as a King.
1. We may mention some of the instances in which he was
so presented in prophecy.
2. He himself claimed the title.
3. And by John the Revelator he is called the " King of
kings and Lord of lords." He reigns in the church
and in the material universe. " By me kings reign,
and princes decree justice."
II. The Character of his reign.
1. He is essentially just ; and therefore his reign is
equitable. He is the " Judge of all the earth," who
must " do right."
2. Wliere there is rectitude there must be prosperity. We
have read of the rise and fall of empires ; the kingdom
of Christ is rising, but its fall will never come. After
the lapse of eighteen centuries it shows vigour and
progress still.
3. Prophecy declares it is to fill the earth, by extending
" from sea to sea," and being established " upon the
tops of the mountains and exalted above the hills."
13*

274 sketches of sermons.
XXIII.
BENEFITS OF SUBMITTING EARLY TO THE
YOKE OF CHRIST.
Lamentations iii. 27. — " It is good for a man to bear the
yoke in his youth."
God has given man in every stage of life precious pomises,
but the realization of the benefits promised, depends on the
fulfilment of the conditions — -expressed or implied. If we
would realize the benefits of true religion, we must bear
the yoke from our youth upward. Two things will have to
be ascertained : 1. What bearing the yoke signifies; and 2.
What the " good " which follows comprehends.
I. To BEAR THE YOKE OF CHRIST IS, ETC.
1. A yoke implies government, and to this we are to
lovingly submit. "Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me."
2. We bear the yoke when wa take up our cross and confess
Christ before the world, — It requires a public proiession.
II. Consider what is Promised.
1. To bear the yoke in youth will save us from many
evils ; such as drunkenness, licenciousness, Sabbath-
breaking, and prof ane swearing.
2. We will do more good by presenting the first fruits to
the Lord, thereby improving oar gifts as we c^iild not
otherwise do.
3. There is a social good. — We shall both derive and pro
mote by bearing the yoke in our youth.
4. There is a personal good. — We secure the approbation
of g-sod men and of the great good God. God will be
our father — Christ oar Saviour — and the Holy Ghost
our comforter and sanctifier.

SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 275
XXIV,
THE DUTY OF FEEDING CHRIST'S SHEEP.
John xxi. 16, 17.— "Feed my sheep," twice repeated.
Christ asked Peter directly if he loved him ; and received
a direct, explicit answer ; finding he loved his Master, he
authorized him to feed his sheep. None but the loving are
r-jDH.lj.fi6d; and all who profess this love should endeavour
to foed the sheep in some form.
We are to consider : 1. The sheep ; 2. The shepherd ;
and 3. The food.
I. The sheep.
1. Sheep are innocent. — They kneel when they lie down.
2. Thsy.are fond of society and keep together.
3. They are profitable — helpful to each other, and valu
able to their owner. A blessing to the world.
II. The Shepherd.
1. None but converted men, who " care for the sheep," are
fit for this office.
2. The best gifts, as well as the largest amount of grace, is
desirable ; and the talents bestowed should be culti
vated and improved.
3. Fidelity to their trust is required ; they must " know
nothing among men, but Christ and him crucified."
III. The food to ee given shem.
They are to have —
1. Doctrinal teaching.
2. Practical enforcement, and the encouragement of the
promises.

276 sketches of sermons,
XXV.
CAUTION AGAINST QUENCHING THE SPIRIT.
1 Thessalonians v. 19. — " Quench not the spirit ! "
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are full
of cautions and admonitions, but none more significant
and important than the one in the text, " Quench not the
spirit." To feel the force of this caution, let us, 1. Consider the
spirit ; 2. Show how it may be quenched ; and 3. The con
sequences. I. Consider the Spirit.
1. The spirit is a person, but is put before us as tho
element fire. It has tho qualities of fire ; it gives
light and heat.
2. It is purifying ; and the spirit is the source and
agent of moral purity to us.
3. Fire renovating ; and to be born of the spirit is to
have our hearts renewed in righteousness and true
holiness.
II. How the Spirit may be Quenched.
1. Fire may be extinguished by separating its parts. — This
may apply to dissensions in the Church.
2. Smothering (with earth, or ashes), will put out fire.
Worldly mindedness : being burdened with the " thick
clay " of the earth, has extinguished the fire of Ihe
Holy Spirit in many a heart.
3. It will even go out if you neglect to supply the proper
fuel. — Many a person and many a family have extin
guished the fire upon the altar of their hearts by
restraining prayer and neglecting the means of grace.

sketches op sermons. 277
4. But the most direct way to put out fire is to throw on
wntei — its opposite. The Spirit is " truth," and " holi
ness," and goodness ; and whatever we indulge in
contrary to these — all falsehood, all sin, all injustice
and unkindness we indulge in is directly and effect
ually adapted to quench the Spirit in our hearts.
III. The Consequences and Effects of Quenching the
Spirit.
1. By quenching we bring ourselves into condemnation.
2. By the same we jeopardise our salvation.
3. Yea, we put ourselves beyond God's mercy, and say
a men to our own eternal damnation.
4. But if led by the Spirit, we obtain all necessary help
against temptation, to bear trials, to watch and pray,
and to overcome at last.
5. It is our privilege to cherish the Holy Spirit, and thus
receive His consolations through life.
In conclusion, let us learn that in this matter we may
either to insure our everlasting happiness, or fix our destiny
beyond happiness and hope

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either published, or on sale
AT THE METHODIST BOOK ROOM, TORONTO.

REASONS FOE METHODIST BELIEF AND PRACTICE
RELATIVE TO WATER BAPTISM.
Expressed in Plain "Words and Arranged in a Summary Manner.
By John Carroll.
••RENDER A IlEASON."— Prov. xxvi. 26.

4.6 pp. ISmo. Price 15 Cents.
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" President Wesleyan Conference."
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thereof, I deem them sound and conclusive ; but of this every reader
must form his own judgment. I freely commend the work to the
candid consideration of every enquirer after Scriptural truth.
"James Richakdson,
"Toronto, Nov 3, 1870. Bishop M. E. Church in Canada."
"Toronto, Nov. 3rd, 1870.
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plexed I wish it a wide circulation. "William McClure,
F " Theological Tutor, M. N. Connexion."
" There is a great deal of thought, fact, and argument crowded into
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HISTOEY OF
METHODISM IN CANADA;
OR,
" CASE AND HIS COTEMPOKAEIES."

BY TKH E3V. JOHN CiKROLL, D.D.

A complete set of tbe five volumes of Case and His Cotem-
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incorporation of the Lower Canada District and the Hudson Bay
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death of the Rev. William Case in 1855. The five volumes embrace a
very minute and tbe only complete History of Methodism m the
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portray ail the itinerant labourers and very many of the lay co-
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pleasing. Case and his Co-temporaries are the common property
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and he will not lack a host of readers." — Cobourg World.
2

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graves of those who have fallen on the field, and to twine a garland
lor the silvery locks of those who are left behind." — Recorder.

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"My long cherished desire and purpose are achieved at last. The
unparalleled production of a history of sixty-five years' course of
operations, aud a, portraiture of the actors in its accomplishment
combined, is before the reader. It is as if the ' Nonconformist's
Memorial,' and 'Baxter's Life and Times,' or 'The History of the
Puritans,' should have been woven into one. I pretend not to say
whether this is an excellence, or defect, but there it is. My original
and fondest wish was to preserve a memorial of each of the itinerants
who had laboured in Canada from 1790 to 1855 ; next, I adopted the
idea of presenting the public life, pre-eminently, of the most influen
tial among them, and one who exercised his ministry fifty years ; but
in the accomplishment of these two objects, I accomplished a third,
and more important one than either, the history of the Church as
as well as its ministry. If such things are of any importance, then I
say that I have furnished the great Methodist Church (so far as
it relates to ' the two Canadas ' especially) an account of i.s rise and
progress and a memorial of all its ministers, something which no
Church in existence possesses but herself, at least that I know of. A
complete Alphabetical Index enables the reader to trace out any single
one of these ministers in whom he may feel interested."
o

THE

STEIPLING PEEACHEE

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND GHAEACTEE

THE THEOLOGICAL REMAINS

EEV. ALEXANDEE STUEGEON BYENE,

[Written and Compiled at the Request ofthe Conference!)

Toronto, 1852, pp. 255, 12mo.
PRICE, - - - SIXTY CENTS.

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A NEEDED EXPOSITION;
OE,
THE CLAIMS AND ALLEGATIONS OP THE CANADA
EPISCOPALS CALMLY CONSIDERED.
By One of the Alleged "Secedees."
(JOHN CARROLL.)

" And the "bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me to be king over
you, then come and put your trust under my shadow ; and if not, let fire como
out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon."— Parable of Jotham.
" And there passed by a wild beast tbat was in Lebanon, and trodo down the
thistle." — Parable of Jehoash.

*A NEEDED EXPOSITION.

" This is the title of a pamphlet by the Rev. John Carroll,
D.D., in which he examines the claims of the M. E. Church
of Canada to be the original Methodist Church of Canada,
and the allegation of the Episcopal Methodists that the
Wesleyan Methodist Church of Canada seceded from the
Episcopal Methodist body. Dr. Carroll has done good
service by giving in a brief space the main historic facts
bearing on the case, especially for the benefit of youthful
readers, who might not be cognizant of the history of the
case. Dr. Carroll's personal knowledge of the transactions
relating to the union of Canadian Methodism with the
Wesleyan Church in England, and the formation of the
M. E. Church of Canada by Mr. Reynolds, -Mr. Gatchell,
Mr. Bailey and other seceders from the Wesleyan Methodist
Church of Canada, and his intimate acquaintance with the
whole history of Canadian Methodism, peculiarly qualify
him for this work. He states the facts with great fairness,
giving statements from Webster's History of Methodism,
most favourable to the Episcopal claim. We cannot see
how any impartial reader can carefully read Bro. Carroll's

pamphlet, and not be convinced that the Episcopal claim
has no historic foundation. The case is not argued at
any length ; but the chief facts bearing upon the question
are given correctly. It must be remembered, that the
question is not now whether the Episcopal Methodists were
justified in forming a new denomination or not — nor whether
certain objections against the terms of union urged by the
seceders were well taken or not — but whether the Wesleyan
Methodist Church, after the union, was really and legally
the same Church which had previously existed as " the
Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada;" and whether the
present M. E. Church of Canada was not organized and
formed some time after the union of the Canada Conference
with British Wesleyan Methodism. We can only give a
very brief summary of the main historic facts, by which
Dr. Carroll proves that the Wesleyan Church was legally
and substantially the same Methodist Church that had
previously existed under another name ; and that the present
M. E. Church had no existence as an organization till some
time after the union. It is clearly shown — that the changes
adopted in 1833 were made to promote union, and to
prevent friction and rivalry between English and Canadian
Methodism ; that this union was fully discussed for over
a year before it was consummated ; that the steps to bring
about the union were taken in a legal and disciplinary
manner ; ihat there was no opposition in the Chinch to the
proposed union except some slight objections to some minor
changes ; that the measure was agreed to unanimously, by a
legally constituted General Conference, on motion of Rev.
J. Richardson, late bishop in the M. E. Church ; that for
some time alter the union the present M. E. Church had no
existence, us its founders, — Reynolds, Gatchell and others —
continued in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist
Church ibr the greater part of that year ; that the time
and place when the present M. E. Church was organized is
well known : that the four men that formed themselves into
a Gencrai Conference were not " travelling preachers," and
had no right to scats in a General Conference; that a
Committee of the General Conference of the United States
6

at Cincinnati, in 183G, after examining the facts, declined
to recommend the recognition of the Canadian M. E. Church
as the representative of the origiDal M. E. Church of
Canada; that in 1837 all the surviving ministers of the
American Methodist Church, who md been present at the
organization of that Church, also Bishop Heckling, Dr. Fisk
and other eminent ministers in the United States, declared
their explicit conviction that the change of name and sub
stitution of an annual president for a bishop, and other
changes, did not destroy the identity of the Canadian
Methodist Church ; that the highest Canadian court of law
gave a similar decision in the Church property trials ; and
that the original seceders were itt first only dissatisfied
about some limitation of the privileges of local preachers,
the formation of an independent Church being an after
thought. No art can destroy the force of these facts." * * *
— Christian Guardian.
" Dr. John Carroll issues from the Methodist Book Room,
Toronto, a pamphlet entitled, " A Needed Exposition,"
in which he most calmly considers the claims and allegations
of the M. E. Church in Canada. This little document sets
the facts of a division existing in the Methodist ranks in
Canada, in a clear, unmistakable' light. The false position
of the Canadian Episcopal Methodists, and the false position
in which they place the Wesleyan Methodists, are presented
and corrected by the unanswerable argument of historical
facts, documents and testimonies. The compact little book
of seventy-two pages, obtainable for twenty-five cents, is
a valuable historical chapter for instruction and preserva
tion."  W. D. Malcom,, in Vermont Christian Messenger.
DE. CAEEOLL'S " NEEDED EXPOSITION."
The Nashville Christian Advocate has an appreciative
notice of the Rev. John Carroll's pamphlet on the history
of the separation and organization of the Canadian Episcopal
Methodist Church. The Nashville Advocate admits tho
force of the historical facts, but demurs somewhat to the
counsel which Dr. Carroll give3 to the Canadian Methodist
7

Church, and to his complaint about the American. General
Conference receiving delegates from the Caiiadian M. E.
Church. Alter referring to the fact established that the
Canadian M. E. Church originated in the disaffection of
four or five local preachers, who would not submit to
the action of tbe Canadian Conference of 1833, by which
the British economy was substituted for the American, our
Nashville brother says : — " The author claims that the
present Canada Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist
Church is the only true representative of primitive Canada
Methodism— as we have always considered it in this
country. We smile at the pains taken by Dr. Carroll to
prove by Ezekiel Cooper and other fathers of American
Methodism that wo do not consider- Episcopacy (strongly
attached to it as we are) essential to the Church or to Metho
dism. A delegated General Conference cannot "do away
with " it, or unfrock any member of the Episcopal College
v.'ithout charges alleged and proved ; but the Church in
convention can modify its government in any way it seems
proper. Whether or not it was proper for the Canada
brethren, in 1833, to renounce our economy, and affiliate
with the mother Connexion in Great Britain, is no concern
of ours. We wish that the British Methodists had adopted
Mr. Wesley's Episcopal plan, as we have done ; but they
must judge what is best for themselves. We allow none
outside of our Connexion to dictate to us, and we are
not disposed to dictate to others."

N.B.-— "Past and Present" and "The Besieger's
Prayer" are just now out of print. — Ed.

THB

SCHOOL OF THE PEOPHETS;
OR,
FATHER McROREY'S CLASS AND SQUIRE
EIRSTMAN'S KITCHEN FIRE.

A FICTION FOUNDED ON FACT!

By JOHN CARROLL.

4 BOOK FOR THE METHODISTS.

" In this book our indefatigable and always racy and in
structive brother, the Rev. John Carroll, appears in a new
role. The story is a clear picture of life in early Canadian
Methodist circles, with which the writer is so familiar. His
quick perception, graphic delineation, and keen sense of the
humorous, are admirable qualifications for the task he has
undertaken. Additional interest will be given to the book.
by the recognition of the characters who figure under
assumed names. In many cases thes9 will be apparent,
in most they will become so by a reference to Cornish's
' Hand-Book ' and ' Case and his Cotemporaries.' Under a
thin veil of fiction much valuable information is given, ard
there are wholesome lessons ior both head and heart in thesn
pages. We bespeak for the book a wide circulation. It
gives a grapliic account of and accurate presentation of the
lights and shadows of itinerant life in the old heroic days of
pioneer Methodism in this land — days, the vivid conception
of which is fast fading from the minds of men — of which,
9

indeed, the younger generation have scarcely any conception
at all. Of the incidents recorded here, the author can say
in the. words of the Latin poet, ' All which I saw, and part
of which I was.' There is just spice enough of the tender
sentiment in the story to give it additional interest." —
Canada Methodist Magazine.
" This ' fiction founded on facts ' purports to be a his
torical narrative covering the early history of Methodism
in Canada. Some names well known to American Metho
dism are introduced, while many other characters have
fictitious names, and may only be recognized through their
personalities. ' The School of the Prophets ' held its
first sessions around Squire Firstman's Kitchen fire, where
used to gather from their distant circuits, to meet the elder,
the itinerants, young and old, to discuss theological ques
tions, and questions of Church polity, and to renew their
courage and strength through the generous hospitality of
this well known Methodist hotel. Rev. John Carroll tells
the story, ' much of which he was himself.' As a literary
production, it is open to criticism. As a picturesque
account of the journey ings, difficulties, and besetments of
the heroes who carried the Gospel through a wild and
sparcely settled land, its reading will revive pleasant memo
ries in the minds of the aged who still linger on the shores
of time, and may prove an incentive to the younger genera
tion of preachers, who, not having like hardships to
encounter, may still find otner and more malignant foes
to fight and conquer." — Christian Advocate and Journal.
" There is not a dry line in the book." — Hamilton paper.

**

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if i