est) and supported
him on that question. However, Her Majesty's Government
subsequently set aside the proceedings of Sir George Arthur, upon
the very same grounds on which I had opposed them; but that made no
difference in the feelings towards me of Dr. Alder and his
colleagues.

Early in June, 1839, Dr. Alder addressed a letter to the _Guardian_,
explaining and defending his views on church establishments. On the 12th
of that month, Dr. Ryerson replied to him at length, and, at the close,
put a series of questions to Dr. Alder. From the 2nd and 6th I make the
following extracts:--

2. Are you satisfied that you are providentially called of God to
attempt to make Methodism an agency in promoting a national
establishment of religion in a new country, in the teeth of an
overwhelming majority of the inhabitants?

6. Are you warranted from any writings or authority of Mr. Wesley
to insist that, "under _no_ circumstances," the principle of an
establishment shall be abandoned?... Mr. Wesley and his coadjutors
have left it on record, in the minutes of their Conference, as
their deliberate judgment, that "there is no instance of, or ground
at all for, a national church in the New Testament;" that they
"apprehended it to be a merely political institution." How can any
true Wesleyan convert that into a matter of faith and religious
principle for which Mr. Wesley declared there "was no instance or
ground at all in the New Testament?" ... I know that the local
Executive is most intent to secure the aid of the Missionary
Committee to support the recent re-investment act of spoliation; I
believe that your letter ... emboldened and encouraged them in the
re-investment scheme, and His Excellency stated some months since
that he had written for you to come to this country; they think
that they can bargain with you upon more advantageous terms than
they can with the Methodist Conference in this Province, but I
entreat you to pause before you proceed to insist that that which
Mr. Wesley declares ... to be "a merely political institution,"
forms any part of Wesleyan Methodism.[100]

Dr. Ryerson's account of what transpired at the ensuing Conference is in
substance as follows:--

Dr. Alder attended the Conference at Hamilton, June, 1839, and
introduced resolutions expressive of his