"The story of my life"

Amid the tolling of bells, said the Toronto _Globe_, and the lamentations of many thousands of people, the remains of the late Rev. Dr. Ryerson were conveyed to their final eart...

The high-church party encouraged Mr. Ryan in his disaffection; and when he withdrew, and set up a separate church organization, Dr. Strachan actually sent Mr. Ryan $200 to assis...

The last important connexional discussion in which Dr. Ryerson was engaged was on the Class-Meeting Question. For years he had objected, chiefly privately, amongst his brethren,...

The re-opening of the clergy reserve question by Bishop Strachan, with a view to obtain relief in the temporary distress mentioned in Chapter xlviii., proved to be a fatal step,...

On my return to Canada, after having negotiated the Union of 1833 with the English Conference, accompanied by Rev. George Marsden, as first President of the Canadian Conference,...

The foregoing sketch of my early life may be properly followed by extracts from my diary; pourtraying my mental and spiritual exercises and labours during a few months before an...

I have already referred to the character of the discussion which resulted in Dr. Ryerson's restoration to the Conference. In the heat of that discussion some things may have bee...

Dr. Ryerson left Canada for Europe in November, 1844, on his first educational tour through Europe. He visited and examined into the educational systems of Belgium, France, Ital...

The year 1840 is somewhat memorable in the Methodistic history of Upper Canada, for three things: 1st. The final retirement of Dr. Ryerson from the editorship of the _Christian...

On the 23rd of April, 1870, Rev. Drs. Punshon, Wood and Taylor, Chairman and Secretaries of the Central Board of Wesleyan Missions, addressed a letter to Sir George Cartier, Min...

At this Conference it was determined to establish the _Christian Guardian_ newspaper. The Conference elected me as Editor, with instructions to go to New York to procure the typ...

In the midst of the gloom which overspread the Province, in consequence of the long continued exercise of irresponsible and arbitrary power on the part of the local executive, D...

From various papers and letters left by Dr. Ryerson, I have compiled the following statement in regard to his memorable defence of the Hon. M. S. Bidwell, in 1838. I have used D...

My first appointment after my admission on trial was to the (what was then called the York and Yonge Street Circuit), which then embraced the Town of York (now the City of Toron...

afternoon. When I came to the stable I found grass in the manger; the Indian was there, and had just fed him. I said I was very glad, for he must be very hungry, but the Indian...

_London, January 1st, 1836._--I am again in the great metropolis of the Christian world. My wife and I left our native land, and affectionate pastoral charge, on the 20th of Nov...

The question at issue, when the House of Assembly was elected in 1836 for the parliamentary term ending in 1839, was adroitly narrowed by Sir F. B. Head to the simple one of loy...

After his return from England, Dr. Ryerson was engaged in the preparation of his Report on a "System of Public Instruction for Upper Canada," from which I have given extracts on...

The constant references in this volume to Dr. Ryerson's attitude of hostility to the exclusive claims and pretensions put forth on behalf of the Church of England in this provin...

Dr. Ryerson made another educational tour in Europe in 1850-51. While in London, early in 1851, Earl Grey sought Dr. Ryerson's counsel on the clergy reserve question, which had...

The alleged "reward" which Dr. Ryerson was positively asserted to have received from Lord Metcalfe for his memorable Defence of that nobleman, was long a favourite topic on whic...

Dr. Ryerson went up to Simcoe to preach the anniversary sermons there, in December, 1874, and hoped to have gone to Brantford to see his brother John, but was prevented. He ther...

On the 27th May, 1844, Dr. Ryerson issued the first part of his memorable Defence of Sir Charles Metcalfe, not only against the attacks of his late Councillors, but also against...

Early in 1849 an important crisis occurred in the history of our Public School system, the evil effects of which were only prevented by the prompt and emphatic protest on the pa...

In dealing with so large and influential a body as the Methodists, made up, as it was years ago, of two distinct elements, somewhat antagonistic to each other, it can easily be...

In the autumn of 1840, on returning from England, when the English Wesleyan Committee and Conference seceded from the Union with the Canadian Conference, I was appointed to Adel...

Although the great majority of the Conference of 1854, after much conflict of feeling--in which regret and sympathy were mingled--rejected the resolutions proposed by Dr. Ryerso...

The Board of Victoria College took no part in the University question until after the introduction of a Bill into the Legislature which affected the chartered rights and relatio...

Any controversialist, whose honest belief in his own doctrines makes him terribly in earnest, may count on a life embittered by the anger of those on whom he has forced the disa...

I am glad to say that I was not alone in this respect. Dr. Ryerson had the faculty, so rare in official life, of attaching his assistants and subordinates of every grade to hims...

After the conversation with Hon. W. H. Merritt, in January, 1844, and after subsequent communications with him on the subject, I most carefully and minutely examined the documen...

I undertook the mission to England to negotiate a Union between the British and Canadian Conferences with great reluctance. I determined in the course of the year, from various...

Of the events transpiring in Upper Canada during 1831 and 1832, in which Dr. Ryerson was an actor, he has left no record in his "Story." His letters and papers, however, show th...

Unfortunately, at various stages of the discussion, the controversy partook largely of a personal character. This prevented that clear, calm, and dispassionate consideration of...

I have several times been importuned to furnish a sketch of my life for books of biography of public men, published both in Canada and the United States; but I have uniformly de...

The discussion of the Clergy Reserve Question enters so largely into the Story of Dr. Ryerson's Life, that I give in this chapter a short, condensed sketch of its origin and his...

As already intimated in Chapter xi., the publication of Dr. Ryerson's "Impressions" of England, etc., in the _Guardian_ of 1833, excited quite a political and social sensation....

His previous training for twenty years in the school of controversy in relation to civil and religious rights; his personal intercourse with leading statesmen in England on Cana...

The following extracts from my diary contain a detailed account of my mental and spiritual exercises and labours at this time, as well as many interesting particulars respecting...

The Rebellion of 1837-38 was suppressed by the inherent and spontaneous loyalty of all classes of the Canadian people. Yet, after it was over, the seeds of strife engendered by...

At the Conference of 1827 I was appointed to the Cobourg Circuit, extending from Bowmanville village to the Trent, including Port Hope, Cobourg, Haldimand, Colborne, Brighton, a...

In 1867 Dr. Ryerson made his last educational tour to Europe. On his return he prepared two elaborate reports--one on Systems of Education in Europe, and the other on the Educat...

Amongst the last public acts performed by Lord Sydenham was the giving of the Royal assent to a Bill for the erection of the Upper Canada Academy into a College with University...

The bill for revesting the clergy reserves in the Crown barely escaped defeat (as just mentioned) in the House of Assembly, on 11th May, 1839. On the 14th Sir George Arthur sent...

After Dr. Ryerson's return from England, he devoted some time to the final revision of his principal work, in two volumes: _The United Empire Loyalists of America_, and to two a...

was formed into a province with a representative government. Its population was then 7,000 souls; it is now about 700,000. During the first and most eventful half of that sixty...

While I was in England, in 1867, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me late in July, to say:--Some of our leading public men were anxious that I should do something to assist in placing gover...

Although I hope to be able to prepare a record of the private and personal history of the founding of our System of Public Education, and of the vicissitudes through which it pa...

Dr. Ryerson naturally took a deep interest in political affairs at this time, and Sir Charles Metcalfe kept him fully informed of events transpiring at the seat of Government. I...

At the Conference of 1826, I was appointed Missionary to the Indians at the Credit, but was required to continue the second year as preacher, two Sundays out of four, in the Tow...

There is a break in Dr. Ryerson's "Story" at this point; no record of any of the events of his life, from August, 1828, to September, 1829, was found among the MSS. left by him....

During the years of 1861-1866, Dr. Ryerson was chiefly engaged in his official duties, and part of the time with the University question. There is, therefore, little to record d...

Extraordinary efforts were put forth (as shown in Chapter xxxiii., page 263) by the leaders of the Church of England party in Upper Canada to prevent the Royal assent being give...

The Venerable John Strachan, D.D., LL.D., Archdeacon of York, and subsequently (1839-1867) first Bishop of Toronto, was the chief clerical opponent which Dr. Ryerson encountered...

The year 1839 was somewhat noted for the prolonged and animated discussions which took place in and out of the Legislature on the clergy reserve question. There were some new fe...

As mentioned in Chapter xxiv., page 188, an effort was made in 1843 to induce Hon. M. S. Bidwell to return to Canada. Copies of the correspondence on the subject were enclosed t...

While in Europe in 1854 and 1856, Dr. Ryerson, under the authority of the Government, commenced the collection of objects of art for the Educational Museum in the Education Depa...

I desire, on this the 65th anniversary of my birth, to assure you of my hearty forgiveness of the personal wrongs which, I think, you have done me in past years, and of my forge...

As Dr. Ryerson had anticipated, the combined effects of the publication of his "impressions," in 1833; his letters exposing the designs of Messrs. Hume, Roebuck, and Mackenzie i...

One of the many episodes in my European travels which I have been requested by many to narrate led to my presentation to Pope Pius IX., and is as follows:--

Lord Glenelg, as agreed, when Dr. Ryerson was in England, (page 165,) directed Lieutenant-Governor Sir F. B. Head to bring the pecuniary claims of the Upper Canada Academy befor...

Early in 1838 the trials for treason took place. Messrs. Lount and Matthews were found guilty and sentenced to death. Other parties were also tried: among them was Dr. Thomas D....

Amongst the Committees of the House of Assembly at this time was a useful one called the "Committee on Grievances." To this Committee was referred all complaints made to the Hou...

In this part of the "Story" of his life, Dr. Ryerson has only left the following sentence:--At the Conference held after my return to Canada, in June, I declined re-election as...

Dr. Ryerson has left nothing in his "Story" to illustrate this period of his personal history, nor the strife and division which followed the consummation of the union of the Br...

Scarcely had Dr. Ryerson been settled at Kingston in the enjoyment of the freedom and pleasure of his new life as a pastor, than the exigencies of the Upper Canada Academy calle...

This day week I went to the House of Commons to hear the debates on the motions relative to the Canadas, of which Messrs. Roebuck and Hume had given notice. As Mr. Roebuck was a...

The story of Dr. Ryerson's life would scarcely be complete without giving some information in regard to the chief opponents whom he encountered in the earlier part of his career...

I wish that I could answer your inquiries about Lord Metcalfe's health in a satisfactory manner. The torturing malady with which he is afflicted is no better; and although there...

Dr. Ryerson was absent in England from 20th November, 1835, to 12th June, 1837. On the 15th of January, 1836, Sir John Colborne, by order in Council, endowed fifty-seven Rectori...

During and before the period of the Metcalfe Controversy events were transpiring in Methodist circles in which Dr. Ryerson took an active part, and in which he was deeply intere...

Twelve months ago, I began to collect the necessary material for the completion of "The Story of My Life," which my venerated and beloved friend, Dr. Ryerson, had only left in p...

[95] In their address they designated themselves as the Bishop, Archdeacons, and Clergy of the Established Church _of Upper Canada_; but Sir George Arthur, in his reply, address...