The Presbyterian Church in Canada traces its descent to several distinct sources. The at tempt made in the 17th century to found Huguenot settlements failed disastrously and few traces remain of their existence. Among the Presbyterian Loyalists who came to Canada at the close of the Revolutionary War there was a goodly number of descendants of Hugue nots. In 1749 Protestant colonists were brought into Nova Scotia from England and the Con tinent, in order to counteract the disaffection of the Acadians. Again in 1755, after the expul sion of the Acadians, many Protestants from Great Britain and older colonies along the At lantic coast were induced, by the promise of liberty of conscience and of worship, to occupy the vacant lands. Then there was a large in flux of immigration from the north of Ireland and from Scotland. Some districts, such as the county of Pictou, were almost exclusively occupied by Scotch Presbyterians. These peo ple naturally clung to the various ecclesiastical bodies into which Scotch Presbyterianism was divided. And accordingly there were Presby teries constituted with relations to the Kirk of Scotland and the Secession Church in its two subdivisions of Burgher and Anti-Burgher, and also adherents of the Reformed Presbyterians or Covenanters. The great disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843 extended to the colonies and added to the existing divisions the Free Presbyterian Church. But in 1861 the process of reunion began with the union of the United Secession Church (inclusive of both Burgher and Anti-Burgher) and the Free Church of the Maritime provinces into one synod.
The history of the Presbyterian Church in the Western provinces followed similar lines but with new complications. Soon after the conquest, Presbyterian congregations were or ganized in the cities of Quebec and Montreal. Among the Loyalists were not a few Presby terians. But there was scanty provision for their religious needs. Applications for minis ters made to the churches in Scotland met with no response for many years. A similar appeal made to the • Associate Reformed Church° in the United States resulted in the incoming of a number of ministers from that country. Other ministers followed from Scotland and Ireland. In 1818 was organized °The Presbytery of the Canadas." In 1831 there was organized a synod in connection with the Church of Scotland. In 1840 the two synods were united into one. But in 1843 the great disruption in Scotland again rent it assunder and two synods resulted, one in connection with the Established Church of Scotland and the other in connection with the Free Church of Scotland. Besides these there were other independent Presbyteries, one at Niagara and the other at Stamford, composed of ministers from the United States, and a third originated by ministers from Scotland and from Nova Scotia, connected with the °United Pres byterian Church.° The first two were dis banded and absorbed into the larger bodies. The third, in 1861, united with the Free Church and the combined body received the name of the Canada Presbyterian Church. In 1875 the greater union was consummated by which all the Presbyterian bodies throughout Canada from east to west, were united in one great Canadian Presbyterian Church. This was an epoch making, and epoch-marking event in the history of Canadian Presbyterianism. It uni fied the life of the church, and became the start ing point of its missionary energy both in the Canadian and world-wide field.
Until the greater union was consummated little had been attempted by the Presbyter ians in the evangelization of the Northwest. In 1812 and 1816 a large body of Highlanders had settled in the Red River district, but the only ministers they had were those of the Church of England until 1852, when the Rev. John Black, a devoted missionary, organized them into a congregation. Little more was done until after the federation of Canada and the complete union of the Canadian Presby terians. In 1881 the General Assembly ap pointed the Rev. Dr. James Robertson to be superintendent of Presbyterian missions in the Northwest. This remarkable man laid the foundations of Presbyterian organization throughout those vast territories and covered the whole country with a network of Presby terian missions, so that now (1916) in place of one there are eight district superintendents. The Presbyterian Church in Canada is one of the dominating religious forces of the Do minion, and to-day with 1,899 ministers, 3,815 Sabbath schools, .333,457 communicants, eight theological colleges, church property valued at $23,447,000, it stands at the very forefront of the Protestant life of the Dominion. The Pres byterian Church in Canada was the first branch of the church in the world to put social service and evangelism together, having evangelical social settlements and redemption homes from Sydney and Montreal and Toronto to Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.
The Methodist Church in Canada traces its origin to two distinct sources, England and the United States. In 1770 Lieutenant-Governor Franklin sought English settlers for the prov ince of Nova Scotia in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Among them were the earliest Methodists of Canada, one of whom was the noted preacher and evangelist, John Black. In 1784 he went to the United States, and his ap peal to the Baltimore conference led to the coming of a number of Methodist ministers to the Maritime provinces. In Quebec the first Methodist preachers were connected with the British regiments. As early as 1778 Methodists from New York State came to the Eastern Townships and to Upper Canada. The Metho dists did a noble work in laying • the founda tion of religious life and worship in many dis tricts in Canada, especially in the province of Ontario, a great impetus being given by the labors of Barbara Heck. Until the War of 1812 Canadian Methodism was closely connected with that of the United States. Negotiations were then entered into with the British Wes leyans. Unhappy dissensions followed. While one party was anxious to maintain the Ameri can connection, the other insisted that, as loyal British subjects, they should look to the mother land. A compromise was arrived at by which the American connection was to be observed in Upper Canada, while the British missionaries were to be free to enter Lower Canada, and the Maritime provinces. This compromise was of short duration ; for when, in 1828, the American conference relinquished its jurisdiction over the Canadian conference and the latter was in dependently organized under the name of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, the British conference decided not to confine its work to Lower Canada. After much contro versy, in 1833 a union between these two branches of Methodism was consummated under the name of "The Wesleyan Methodist Church in North America' But, notwithstanding this union the Methodist Episcopal Church sur vived in a new form and increased very rapidly.