CHAPTER XIII.

FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND SCOTCH CHURCHES IN MONTREAL-REV. D. C. DELISLe, THE FIRST PROTESTANT CLERGYMAN IN THE CITY SUCCEEDED BY REV. JAMES TUNSTALL, AND HE BY REV. S. JEHOSHAPHAT MOUNTAIN, D.D.-MEDIEVAL CLAIMS OF CHURCH OF ENGLAND RESISTED BY THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CHRIST CHURCH CONGREGATION WORSHIP IN ST. GABRIEL STREET CHURCH FROM 1803 To 1814—Opening Of The First Christ Church.

At this particular period, the members of the Church of Scotland were thrown into very intimate relations with those of the Church of England. Indeed, from the first,. there was a good understanding between the representatives of these two influential religious communities. The fact that a large proportion of the prominent British merchants in the city were Scotch, and had been brought up as Presbyterians, contributed not a little to the creation of a friendly feeling on the part of the English Church towards their Scotch neighbours. Many of those who went to make up the "Protestant Congregation of Montreal" had been Presbyterians in their youth, and became connected with the Episcopal Church out of necessity, as the first Protestant congregation planted in the city, and the only one for several years. Among the " Protestant inhabitants of Montreal" that subscribed the address to the Bishop of Nova Scotia, in 1789, were Adam Scott, Alexander Henry, James McGill, James Finlay, Thomas Forsyth, James Dunlop, John Lilly, James Laing, James Morrison, J. G. Turner, John Russel, William Hunter, John McArthur, Robert Simpson, Finlay Fisher, William

England and John Kay, all Scottish Presbyterians,—Mr. Scott, occupying at that time the position of a churchwarden. Several of them returned, decidedly, to the Church of their fathers, as soon as Mr. Young began his ministry in Montreal; while others of them appear to have been divided in their allegiance between the two communions—not breaking off their connection with the Church of England entirely, and yet giving countenance and aid to the movement to establish a Presbyterian cause in the city. The fur traders being Scotch, for the most part, and the early supporters of the Church of England, but being also generally Presbyterian in their views and sentiments, and worshipping half the day according to the forms of the one Church, and the other half after those of the other, constituted so many middle men, and were the means of bringing both the clergy and the membership of the two communions into close and friendly contact. At that early period, the foundation was laid of that good understanding which has almost always since subsisted between both the clergy and the laity of these churches in the city. Then, when the relations of the two Christian communities elsewhere had been strained, owing to the agitation of public ques tions at issue between them, more than once, in the history of the past, there never was a suspension of intercourse between them in Montreal. Courtesy has uniformly characterized the bearing of Episcopalians to Presbyterians here; and one element governing the situation probably has been the considerable number of Scotch families embraced, from one cause or another, in the Anglican communion, leavening it with a sentiment more cordial, especially towards Presbyterians, than it has exhibited in some other places. Then, the mental hospitality displayed by the Scots in connecting themselves with the Church of England, and even taking office in it, before any Presby

terian congregation was organized in the city, was beautifully reciprocated, we have seen, by the assistance many Episcopalians rendered in the building of the St. Gabriel Street Church, and by the occupation of pews in it afterwards, thus begetting respect for their communion in the hearts of those who had been accustomed to give no quarter to prelacy. The early free commingling of the adherents of the two churches produced a tolerant spirit, which has happily continued in good measure down to the present day.

The first Protestant Minister resident in Montreal was the Rev. David Charbrand Delisle. He was one of three clergymen, of Swiss extraction, who were employed by the Church of England to labour among the French Canadians. He must have commenced his work shortly after the conquest, as he began to keep a Register for the "Parish of Montreal" on October 5th, 1766, and he had probably been engaged in ministerial work some time before things were matured enough to warrant this step. The advent into Canada of French Protestants, at this juncture, as representatives of the Church of England, was in pursuance of the policy of the British authorities, who hoped, and expected, by means of clergymen speaking their own language, to convert the French Canadians to Protestantism, and thereby secure their loyalty to England. This hope of winning the habitants to the faith of the Church of England, was doomed to disappointment, and after a fifty years' trial it was entirely abandoned.

Mr. Delisle filled the double office of Rector of the Parish of Montreal and Chaplain to the Garrison. For fifteen years, he and his people were beholden to the Recollet Fathers for accommodation. But in 1789 they petitioned Lord Dorchester for the use of the chapel belonging to the Jesuits' College, which stood near about where the Court House now stands, and was Government property,―

alleging in their plea the hardship of being so long necessitated to lie under obligation to their Roman Catholic neighbours for a place of meeting. The Governor General granted their request on the 14th September, 1789, and they set to work to fit up the chapel for public worship, which they did at considerable expense; and it was opened for divine service on the 20th of December, 1789. Four days previously they resolved to adopt the name of "Christ Church." Up to this time they were known as the "Protestant Congregation of Montreal." Mr. Delisle was an ardent Freemason, and was a prominent member of St. Peter's lodge from September, 1780, to August, 1782, at which date he asked leave to withdraw from it, on the ground that it was inconvenient for him to continue his attendance at meetings. Many of those afterwards prominent in the St. Gabriel Street Church were married by him; Peter McFarlane and Mary Goodman, in 1769— Robert Simpson and Mary Weight; Simon Fraser and Genevieve Lefevre, in 1770—John Porteus and Josette Cargueville, 1771—Thomas Porteous and Mary Gerard, in 1773—Donald Grant and Jane Baker; James McGill and Mrs. Charlotte Guillemin, in 1776—John Grant and Margaret Beattie, in 1777—John Gregory and Isabella Ferguson, 1778—Joseph Frobisher and Charlotte Jobert in 1779—Rev. John Bethune and Veronique Waden, on 30th September, 1782—Thomas Sullivan and Margaret Dackstader; Dr. Blake and Mary Sunderland,in 1783—Alex. Henry and Mrs. Marie Lavoie; Philip Ross and Jane Grant, in 1784—Alex. Henry (again) and Mrs. Julia Kitson,1785— Peter McFarlane (again) and Mary Ann McNamara, widow, in 1789—Benaiah Gibb and Katherine Campbell, in 1790—Samuel Gerard and Ann Grant, in 1792—Thomas Busby and Margaret La Casse; John Grant and Catherine Campbell, in 1793. Mr. Delisle also baptized two children for Robert Aird, the first, John, in 1782, and the second,

John, in 1784. Two of Rev. John Bethune's children, Mary and Christie, were also baptized by him. In 1791, Rev. James Tnnstall became assistant to Mr. Delisle, and on the death of the latter he succeeded to the Rectorate, with Rev. Philip Toosey as curate.

We have seen that Bishop Mountain had endeavoured to reproduce on Canadian soil all the distinctions and privileges claimed by the parochial clergy of the Church of England at home; and in consequence had sought to inhibit, in the Quebec district, any other Protestant denomination from obtaining Registers in which to insert Acts of Marriage, Baptism, or Burial. The avowed aim of the Pitt Ministry was to reproduce English institutions in Canada. Its constitution was to be the very image and transcript of that of Great Britain, as one of the Canadian Governors put it. With this view, Bishop Mountain was assigned a seat in both the Executive and Legislative Council of Lower Canada, in the year 1796, as a Lord Spiritual in the community, corresponding to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in England, who, in virtue of his office, has a right to a seat in Her Majesty's Privy Council. The Bishop of Quebec was, therefore, only carrying out the policy prescribed to him, when the British Government gave him his appointment, in the high claims which he asserted. In 1791, two years before there was a Bishop in Quebec, and while Montreal was included in the Diocese of Nova Scotia, there seems to have been an attempt made to claim superior privileges in this city also, although apparently with indifferent success. At a meeting of the Churchwardens and Vestry of Christ Church, on Sunday, October 23rd, 1791, "the Church clerk having represented that the funerals, marriage and baptism service are sometimes performed without his attendance or his being notified, the churchwardens resolve that the same is irregular, and to signify their sentiments thereof