The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-12 00:00:00

DISSENT IN UPPER CANADA.

The following extrazt of a letter from a Wekan
Methodist minister dated Port Hope, Upper Canada,
Jun. 25, 1841, will be read with painful interest.
Have asseiiters not enough to do in resisting the en
eroaehments of the Estatlished Church wi bout fight-

ing with one another ?
The Weseyan Methodist Church of Upper Ca
nada is the oldest—is the Mother Church in this co-
lony. Methodism was introduced into Canada in 1780
by a Mr. Lyons and Mr. M'Cartey from the then
British Provinces, and now the United States. It was
not, however, until 1790 or 1792 that regular Mis-
sionaries visited Canada. About this time the New
York Conference sent two Missionaries into Canada, the
Rev. Messrs. Losee and Dunham. Under the Divine
blessing those devoted servants of Christ were success-
ful in raising up societies, and forming circuits, and
building chapels, so that Methodis:n soon became firmly
established in the country. In about ten years from
this period, Methodism had extended its ibfleence and
its triumphs t.,rough tae entire colony, embracing cir-
cuits and stations from Quebec to Niagara. Thus had
Methodism been introduced and societies orga-
nized full twenty-three years before an English Wes-
leyan Missionary visited this country, and about ten
years before any regular Church of Evgiand parsons
trod the soil of Canada. And it is any deliberate
opinion that it would have contributed very much to
the peace and prosperity of this distracted colony had
such persons in such a capacity never entered this
country. Never, in my bumble opinion, was there a
more ill chosen sphere of Mi,sionary operation, se-
lected by the Wes eyen Missionary Committee iii Lon-
don than Upper Catmint. And never was there a
more wicked and unnecessary prostitution of public
monies iraised for the purpose of sending the Gospel to
the heathen) than those expecded in supporting the
agents now employed in Upper Canada by the autho-
rities of ti e Er:glish Conterenee—agehts who are
nut rnetra, 'fig the wilds of this western wilder-
wits, and ca rying the Gospel to the heathen and the
destitute. No. they are, with one or two exceirions,
st steely p e.:elling in the large towns and villages to
ti one whom they have been the guilty instruments of
.Iding away trom our societies, thus dividing the flock
to Christ. Sul ely it is enough to make an enlightmed
Christian community blush when we reflect upon the
"zealous put forth, and the appeals which are made to
the bevenulence of British hearts, in order to raise
funds for the evangelization of our world, and then to
witness the sliainetul expenditure of those funds in
creating and extending the work of schism, and support-
ing those agents whose principal ooje.t is to perpetuate
those political and invidious distinctions which have
already ..linost torn up the very foundations of
civil society, &c. The Wesleyan Methodist Church
of Upper Canada is as truly Wesleyan in its cha-
racter, its doctrines, and discipline, in its rules,
regulations, and usages, as any body of Methodists ia
the world. This the authorities of the English Cotn-
ference have not attempted to disprove. It follows,
therefore, that the true reason of their separation is to
be traced up to some other source, no principle of re-
ligion or doctrine of Methodism being involved. The
true grounds of their separation is to be found in pounds,
shillings, and pence, and in doubtful disputations and
unsanctified intermeddling in party politics. The con-
duct of the London Wesleyan Missionary Coinnatee
in these respects exhibits the most glaring piece of in-
consistency ever witnessed in the work. For wide
they enforce upon all the Missionaries they send to
foreign countries the necessity of abstaining from ail
political disputations, &c., and also loudly and bitterly
complain of the political character of the official organ
of our conference, yet they are as deeply immersed in
the political disputations of the day as any class of poll.
ticians. And the Watchman newspaper, which they
conduct, control, or superintend, and which is virtually
the organ of the Wesleyan connection in England, is as
political in its character and tendency as any of the
English or Canadian joutmils."

_
Pursuant to a regulation of the Council of the
Zoological Society,
.the gardens were o ea to members
and the public on Filmy, at er one o'clock, they havi.,,r
been closed previously well as on C rlYt,ua. d,.),. A;
Hale notification was 51veu ver) few persons availed theai-
selves, however, of the privilege.