[23] The title of this pamphlet (in possession of the Editor) is: Claims of Churchmen and Dissenters of Upper Canada brought to the test in a Controversy between several Members of the Church of England and a Methodist Preacher. Kingston, 1828. pp. 232. (See note on page 80, and also Chapter viii.)
Rev. Dr. Green, in his _Life and Times_, thus speaks of the effect of the publication of these letters upon Rev. Franklin Metcalf and himself:--The sermon was ably reviewed in the columns of the _Colonial Advocate_, in a communication over the signature of "A Methodist Preacher." Mr. Metcalf and I took the paper into a field, where we sat down on the grass to read. As we read, we admired; and as we admired, we rejoiced; then thanked God, and speculated as to its author, little suspecting that it was a young man who had been received on trial at the late Conference (1825). We read again, and then devoutly thanked God for having put it into the heart of some one to defend the Church publicly against such mischievous statements, and give the world the benefit of the facts of the case. The "Reviewer" proved to be Mr. Egerton Ryerson, then on the Yonge Street Circuit. This was the commencement of the war for religious liberty, pp. 83, 84. (See also page 143 of Dr. Ryerson's "Epochs of Canadian Methodism.")--H.
For specimens of Dr. Ryerson's controversial style in this his first encounter, see the extracts which he has given from the pamphlet itself on pages 146--149, etc., of "Epochs of Canadian Methodism."--H.
Establishment of the "Christian Guardian"--Church claims resisted.
Dr. Ryerson takes up the Story of his Life at the period of the Conference of 1829. He says that;--
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 types and apparatus necessary for its establishment.[24] In this I was greatly assisted by the late Rev. Dr. Bangs, and the Rev. Mr. Collard, of the New York Methodist Book Concern.
The hardships and difficulties of establishing and conducting the _Christian Guardian_ for the first year, without a clerk, in the midst of our poverty, can hardly be realized and need not be detailed. The first number was issued on the 22nd November, 1829. The list of subscribers at the commencement was less than 500. Three years afterwards (in 1832), when the first Editor was appointed as the representative of the Canadian Conference to England, the subscription list was reported as nearly 3,000.