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Ï,Iilliam Hoi/Üard Brooks, M.A., B.Ed

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Ï,Iilliam Hoi/Üard Brooks, M.A., B.Ed THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA METHODTSM IN THE CANADIAN I,IEST IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by ï,IILLIAM HOI/üARD BROOKS, M.A., B.ED. A TITESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FI]LFILT.MENT OF THE REqUIRM{ENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HTSTORY DEPARTMENÎ OF HISTORY WINNIPEG, MANITOBA M.LX, L972. ACKISOT¡ilLEDGEMENT I shouLd líke Ëo. express my sÍncere appreciatíon to al-l- those people who have he1-ped me in any \^ray in the preparatíon of this thesÍs: to Rev. C. Glenn Lucas of the United Church Archíves at VicËorÍa Col1-ege' University of Toronto; Ëo Dr. Gordon Harland formerl-y of the Department of Religíon at the UniversÍty of Manitoba; to the líbrarían and 1-íbrary staff at the UniversiËy of !üinnípeg, Ëo Mrs. Beverly Ruth who \¡las re- sponsíble foT typíng the rnanuscript; and especially Ëo Father Víncent Jensen, Professor L. C. Clark and Professor tr{. D. Sníth of the History DepartmenË at the University of Manitoba. ASSTRÀCT The British trfesleyans were the first Methodists in the norËh-west. Four came out in 1840 at the request of the Hudsonrs Bay Company. The BriÈísh Ï,Iesleyans trere conservative in character and no longer practised the enthusiastic evangelism whích had narked the earLy days of the move- menË. Frontier condíËÍons have often províded a sËimulus for evangelical activity and these precedents inspíred some of Ëhe tr{esleyans to aËtempt a heroic approach to the conversion of the Indíans in the Ï{est. These attempts to convert a primitj-Ve culture to an eighteenth century Pro- testantísm ín the presence of the a1L-pervadíng metropoliËan power of the Hudsonts Bay Company, whích had greatly modífíed the wílderness' coul-d not succeed. The Ganadian MethodisËs from Ganada lfest took over the Indian missíons from the Britísh trrfesleyans Ín 1854. This church was perhaps even less evangelical- and heroic than Ëhe l,lesleyans had been. Theír approach to the problem of Indian conversion brought 1Ítt1e ín the way of ner,¡ ideas but they produced at leasË one heroic figure Ín the Person of George McDougall. He found a courageous and selfless role among Ëhe Indíans of what is no¡,1 ALberta duríng the years when r¿ar and díseåse T¡lere stalking the western plains. The Canadian Methodists began work anong Ëhe white seËËlers of Red River in i-868 on the eve of the fírst Riel RebellÍon. The reactíon of their first pastor to Ëhe events of L869-70 suffíciently demonstrated his Anglo-Saxon and Ontario biases. In L872, the first ürestern conference met and instÍtuËíonal- Methodísm came t'o the praíries. Three other Methodist groups appeared in the Canadían west in the late l-870s and early l-880s. The Bib1e Chrístíans and Ëhe Epíscopal Methodists made a váliant attempt to transfer Ëheir instiËuÉíonal- strength t,o the new and rapídly developíng \¡rest. They saw a chal-l-enge whÍch mÍght enabl-e them Lo reneür Ëhe sources of Ëheír spÍrítua1- strength. They nis- took Ëhe Canadian wesË for a tradÍËíonal frontier, whereas ít uras Ín fact being rapidl-y transformed by the raÍlway and other advances of modern technology. The Prinitive Methodists came out maÍnly to found a farn- Íng colony in whích Lheir religion night flourish. The Primítives had liËËle hope of survival as a denominaËionr as they accepted anyone of similar nínd as a member of the colony without insist,íng on a denomína- Ëion l-abel. The Epíscopals and Bíble ChrisËians insist,ed on their de- nominaÊiona1 peculj.arities, buË found that even these did noË make them distinguÍshable agaínst the western baekground. AccordÍngly, all of these went into union wiËh the CanadÍan MeËhodísËs ín 1884. Ihe union merely meant that, a united Methodist church faced the same problems whÍch had confronted the separaËe churches before the union. All attenpts to Ínaugurate traditíonal- evangelical practíces, or enËhusiasms of the type whích had succeeded on Ëhe cl-assíc fronËÍer, were doomed Èo fail. On Ëhe other hand, nere instituËíonal stabílíËy and a relativeLy innocuous sociaL rol-e were ÍnsufficienÈ reasons for Ëhe Churchts exÍstence. The problem \^7as never solved but the peculiariËies of the !üestern environment, caused the MeËhodists to Ëake hesítant and faltering steps j.n the direction of social utilÍty by emphasi-zilng sabbaËarianisu, Ëemperance work, and other worl-dly concerns. This was real1-y parË of an increasing secularÍsm and identífícaËíon wíËh general- culËuraL tendencíes. No cl-ear and singl-e path was Ëaken by the Church, however, and the uncerËaÍntíes exhibited by its leaders c1-ear1-y fore- shadowed the eventual disappearance of the denomínaËíon in the Uníon of L925. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION I. METIIODISI{ IN THE !üEST: TIIE BEGINNING' 1840-l-854 1 II. THE MIDDLE PERIOD - FROM ]-854 90 III. TITE FAILURN OF T}IE INDIA}I MISSIONS 189 zLL IV. OTIIER I,üESTERN METIIODISTS V.EXPERIMEI\TISAI{DÆ{oMALIES:ASTÜDYINTRANSITIoN TO 19OO AND BEYOND 307 363 VI. CONCLUSION APPENDIX 376 BIBLIOGRAPIIY INTRODUCTION I,Ihatever may be said abouË the exacË nature of Engl-ish Methodism and its very comPlex relationship Ëo the whole context of Engl-ish life 1 and historyrt the facË remaÍns, thaË all- Methodists, EngJ-ish, Canadian and American, had some sort of evangel-ícal heritage and were, Ëherefore, aË l-east poLentially evangelical. Earl-y.Methodisrn is almost iropossible to defÍne in pl-ain terms. An aËtempË to do so would probabl-y suggesË Ëhat Methodísm \,üas composed of Ëhe foll-owing. These were a unique theological thrusÈ' an evangelical- appeal- of greaË spirituaL urgency dírecËed aË the lower elemenËs in soeíety and, after the break with the Church of England, a remarkable organízatÍon designed to PerpeËuaËe Ëhe first two characËeristícs' Methodisn owed ÍËs earl-y success to the fact Ëhat these Ëhree char- acËefist,ícs .¡^Iefe PerfecËl-y suíËed Ëo Ëhe Ëime ín which the movement appeared. The applicaËÍon of evangelÍcal- appeal-' contained wítn-ín the boundaries of "Armínianism", and applied rigorousl-y through such devices as Ëhe class meeËing and Ëhe l-oye feasË, a1l constituËed a formula or Ëechni.que r¿hich was Ëru1y effecËive in eighteenth cenËury England. I,Iesleyrs doctrinal Ëenets evol-ved during hÍs life. MeËhodist doctrine is nore readily described in efficacious raËher than theoretical terms. trfesleyrs Ëheology rÀras more Cathol-ic t-tran Protestant since it avoided the extreme Lutheban emphasis on faíth alone. It also l-acked the grim sËress 1. The whole matter is much more complex Ëhan had been hiËherto ínnagined. The terrible complexíty of the Methodist phenomenon has recently been brought to l-íght in dramaËic fashion by Ëhe pubi-ication of the first vol-ume in a piojected new official- history of Methodisn. See Gordon Rupp and Rupàrt Dayíes, (ed.), A ÏIÍsËory o{ the-1"-f9çþodist Church in Cràät Britain, Vol. I, Epworth PresJ, (London, L965) ' II on Godrs onnipotence which had provided Calvinists with such a "sheeË anchortt. The l-abel "Arminian" did not mean that the MeËhodisËs hrere A::nÍnians buË rather that they were not susceptible to the pítfalls of antinomÍanj"sm inherent in the declined Calvinístic predesËinarÍanism of Ëheir own day. In short, tr'Iesleyan doctríne had the general effect of f,reeing a branch of the Christian church from Reformation doctrínes whích had, for complex reasons, lost much of theír'effectiveness in Ëhe climate of the eÍghËeenth century. !üesleyrs theology hras not neür sínce it rrras basie Cathol-ic docËrine, but íË r,ttas very basic Índeed. Among other things it lacked the franework of an episcopal strucËure and Ëhe balance provided by historÍcai- precedenË. This enabled it to fit perfecËIy inËo the símp1-e, popular raËionali.sm of the age.2 The originaL intent,íon of the !ües1-eys was that Ëhe framernrork and bal-ance of the movement would be provided by Ëhe Çhurch of England. The break wÍth the English church Left a body of Christian enËhusiasts, unfetËered by precedents, and free to work in an age eager to receive them. EyangelÍcal appeal is a difficult topic Ëo discuss aË all. The psychology of revívalísm presents many problems and few answers. There rras a great sense of urgency and drana ín Ëhe eighteenth cenËury evangeli- cal revival , of which lvlethodism was the mainsËream. Scenes of great spiritual upheaval were often witnessed. The test of an aspiríng preacher 2. It is of course true thaË the semínal- thinkers of eighteenËh cenËury rationalism r¡rere in no sense eÍther simpl-e or popular. Ihe ordinary foJ-k, however, parËook of a símple raËional-ism whi.ch even províded a contexË for Ëheír emoËional outbursts. It was possíb1-e to subscribe to a sÍ-npListic rational-ísm ín physical and íntelIecËual mat,Ëers and still be a religious enËhusiasË. The MeËhodists perfectl-y exemplífied Ëhis tendency at a popular 1evel as Ëhey attempËed a precise raËíonal- control and direcÊion of Ëhe emoüional- power inherenË in their revival. III \úas simple and dírect. Did he save souls? The answer T¡Ias found by símple observaËion. If he caused people to come forward in agony' sa\¡/ then de- lívered ín bliss, and then coul-d poínt out that they l^7enÈ on to lead noticeably ímproved lives, he could be consídered a success. This símple direcÈ test suited the empiricism of the age. It was a bít more compli- cated ín pract,ice, of course. Backsliding \ras frequent, buË was also guarded agaínst, and many organíza1ui.or';al- rules were forced on the "saved". These rules were always free of philosophical or theologícal complexiËy' however, and had to do wíth observable conduct.
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