THE MACHRAY REVIEW

His Education and First Years as Bishop

We Canadians often accuse ourselves of not being properly patriotic, of not having heroes. lf such accusations are true, it must be due, in part, to the fact that we know so little about our history, the events and personalities that make us who we are. Robert Machray, the second bishop of Rupert's Land and the first Primate of the Church of England in Canada should be known by Canadians as a truly formative influence, both in Church and State, and as a man whose legacy continues nearly a century after his death.

Like many leaders in church and state in nineteenth century Canada, Robert Machray was a native of Scotland, born in Aberdeen in 1831. He received his early education in that city, and in due course attended its university, where he received high honours. Encouraged by his teachers, he continued his education at Cambridge University where he also excelled academically.

Although raised a Presbyterian, his mother had been an Episcopalian before her marriage, and the future Primate had determined early on to become a clergyman in the Church of England. This plan was put into effect while at Cambridge; he was confirmed in 1853 and two years later he was ordained deacon in Ely Cathedral and priest the next year. After spending four years as a curate, he returned to Sidney College, Cambridge as its Dean in I858.

Throughout his Cambridge years Machray had been closely associated with clergymen of an 'evangelical' bent, some of whom were supporters of one of the three great English missionary organisations, the Church Missionary Society (the others being the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and the Colonial and Continental Church Society). And so it was that in 1864, when Dr. Anderson, the first bishop of Rupert's Land, resigned and returned to England, Robert Machray was nominated to succeed him. Appointed to the See by Queen Victoria, he was consecrated at Lambeth Palace Chapel on June 24, 1865. He was only 34 years old, and at the time was the youngest bishop in the Church of England.

Machray stated that he would have in mind three main objectives as he took up his task:

1) to encourage a Native Church,
2) to induce each congregation to aim at self-support, and
3) to secure the ground for the Church of England. ^[1]

Writing the biography of his uncle, the bishop's namesake says, "an Evangelical, he was yet a strong Churchman who loved the Church, and, to quote from one of his letters, 'saw no way of doing things better than that which she has directed.' " ^[2] Doubtless he was equally attached to the ideals of the British Empire, and like most of his age thought it his duty to spread the culture and learning of his homeland throughout the great northwest.

Despite his determination and sense of calling, one can imagine the trepidation with which this city- born and bred academic undertook to be chief pastor in what one contemporary described as "the most uninviting Diocese on the face of the earth." ^[3] Leaving England behind, he travelled by sea, land and river until he reached St. Paul, Minnesota. From there he went by train to St. Cloud, and by horse and carriage to St. John's in what would one day be the Province of Manitoba. It had cost him 700 pounds to make the trip - exactly the amount of his first year's income as bishop! ^[4]

Robert Machray immediately made a profound impression on his flock. The man sent to meet him at St. Cloud, later a member of the Legislature of Manitoba recalled, "Although I was only a mere lad, I could see he was no ordinary man. He was tall and thin, with a jet-black beard and piercing black eyes. The reverence which he then inspired in me went on increasing as long as he lived." ^[5]

He had left the security of Cambridge to serve a diocese that was the largest in the world, larger in size that Europe. Fort Yukon, part of his diocese, was 2,500 miles from St. John's. The English population was scattered, and most of the Indians had yet to be converted to Christianity. Bishop Mach ray embarked on the first visitation of his diocese in January; he travelled by dog sled, everything necessary for his journey having been provided by the Hudson's Bay Company. In eight weeks he covered more than 1,000 miles. It is perhaps best to let him describe his journey:

We slept during seventeen nights by the camp fire in the open air. But the perfect comfort of this, when proper arrangements are made, although the thermometer may be lower than 40 degrees below zero, is surprising to a traveller who first experiences it. At other times we slept in an old deserted loghouse or an Indian tent. The solitariness of the interior must be felt to be realised. During the whole journey we scarcely saw a dozen Indians in all, excepting those we met with in the immediate neighbourhood of a fort or mission station. ^[6]

After describing the elusiveness of the native people, and the scattered nature of the population, he concluded, "the difficulty of missionary work is therefore very great."

The established parishes had to be reformed in accordance with the principles of the Church of England. At St. John's, he found that to please the Scots who had come to the area with the Selkirk settlers, the services held by the Church of England missionaries were, for the most part, Presbyterian, despite the fact that most of the settlers had some time before gone back to the Presbyterian Church when a missionary of their own church had been provided. The Bishop set about establishing services according to the Book of Common Prayer; he also began the commemoration of major festival days and insisted on a celebration of the Holy Communion at least once a month. ^[7] Many years later, Machray's successor, Archbishop Matheson, would say this about our first Primate's attachment to the Book of Common Prayer: "I rarely ever met anyone who loved and valued our Book of Common Prayer as he did. To him it was the vital vehicle which carried the worship of the heart to a holy God in temperate, stately and beautiful language." ^[8]

Parishes were organized with vestries and wardens, and the new bishop introduced the "offertory" in an attempt to move the parishes to take on at least a portion of supporting their missionaries. ^[9] When Bishop Machray first met with his clergy on December 5, 1865, 6 were present. A meeting of clergy and laity was held the next year, and he expressed his desire to create a synod. A native church must be self-governing; although he was loyal to the empire he realized that in a territory that had a large proportion of Roman Catholics as well as Presbyterians and Wesleyans, any attempt at "establishment" would prove as futile and divisive as it had in eastern British North America. The diocese's second conference, held in 1867, voted to constitute itself a synod for the purpose of furthering the mission of the Church in the Northwest.

Writing to the secretary of the S.P.G. in 1865, Bishop Machray expressed his conviction that the organisation of the educational system in the diocese was of great importance to the establishment of true religion:

I believe that the whole success of my efforts here will depend, under God, upon the success of what I purpose - to establish a College for the training of those who wish a better education, in the fear of Cod, in useful learning and in conscientious attachment to our Church." ^[10]

Bishop Machray wanted to provide not only higher education for the population generally, but also a theological school for candidates for ordination and for Indian catechists. St. John's College, founded by Bishop Machray's predecessor, had fallen into near ruin. The new bishop immediately set about re-establishing it, calling an old college friend and fellow Scot, Rev. John McLean, to be its warden. Machray was for many years on the staff of the college, even after its incorporation as the University of Manitoba; he also lived in the college for many years, turning the bishop's house over to married clergy on the cathedral staff. Bishop Machray's keen interest in education led to his appointment as the first Chancellor of the University of Manitoba (founded in 1877), and to his repeated re-election as chairman of the Protestant Board of Education after the secularization of the School System in Manitoba.

Although he cooperated with the government in the establishment of the state-run system, he was never in sympathy with those who would proscribe the teaching of religion in the schools. Having brought to birth and nurtured the educational system in the territory, the Churches, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, deserved the privilege of continuing to teach the faith. Religious education in the schools was also good for society's progress and stability. "Pure secular education", he wrote, "leads to a growing want of appreciation of the importance of religion, to a growing want of familiarity with Scripture, to a deterioration of tone and character in the young; the attempt to teach morals apart from the Bible fails, and the efforts to supply religious instruction independently of the schools fail; a system of pure secular education fails to be a genuinely national system." ^[11] Robert Machray was a true genius at organization and administration, the very man needed in a diocese whose population had more than doubled in the 30 years between 1835 and 1865, bringing with its growth the need for the establishment of the institutions, spiritual and secular in a quickly maturing frontier.

The Red River Rebellion of 1869

Only 4 years after Bishop Machray had arrived, a course of events shook the Red River Settlement that exhibited further his wisdom and genius. The territory that comprised the Diocese of Rupert's Land had, since the 17th century, been owned outright under the Crown for the purposes of fur trading by the Hudson's Bay Company. Two years after the confederation of the eastern Canadian provinces the Hudson Bay Company sold its land holdings to Canada, and the uncertainty of the territory's future led to a civil revolt among the Metis (those of mixed Indian and French blood) known as the "Red River Rebellion". Its leader was Louis Riel.

Although a loyal son of the Empire, Bishop Machray was not uncritical of how the territory had been administered. The Imperial Government had in the past refused to send troops to the Red River Settlement unless the Hudson's Bay Company paid for them; and despite the growing population, there was neither an army nor police force to keep order. When the rebellion took place, and the local citizens loyal to the government organised a militia, Bishop Machray saw the futility of standing up to a larger and much better armed force of rebels. He strongly advised against it and was heeded; the local militia was disbanded. He also gave sage counsel to Mr. McDougall, the Lieutenant-Governor appointed to govern the newly-purchased territory, and prevented the shedding of much blood. When the story of the revolt was being told twenty years later, it was said,

Had hostilities been provoked, or the first shot in anger fired (between the English and the French settlers), the country in its isolated position would probably have been handed over to a scene of rapine, murder, and pillage fearful to contemplate, through the excitement of the Indian population, whose savage nature cannot be controlled when the opportunity for warfare presents itself. But, fortunately for Canada and the Hudson's Bay Company, the critical period ..... .To the Bishop of Rupert's Land, Judge Black, Mr. Donald A. Smith, Archdeacon McLean, and the Rev. Mr. Young [all members of the Church of England] is chiefly due the salvation of the Settlement through the winter by the prudence of their policy and the influence of their counsels." ^[12]

The Division of his Vast Diocese

Though a respected educationalist and statesman, Bishop Machray's main concern was, of course, the spread of the Gospel in his vast diocese. With the territory's entrance into confederation as the province of Manitoba, an influx of immigration was expected; it was time, the Bishop believed, to divide his vast diocese. His pleas for help in endowing the planned new dioceses and providing missionaries for them fell on deaf ears in eastern Canada, despite the fact that they were now part of the same nation. It was in the Mother Country that approval for his scheme had to be sought, and it was also there that financial help was forthcoming. By 1874 there were four dioceses where there had been only one; in due course Bishop Machray would be named Metropolitan of the Province which bears the name of its original diocese, "Rupert's Land" (1875).

Bishop Machray thought it expedient to form an ecclesiastical province of the four western dioceses, rather than allow each to go its separate way, mainly for practical reasons. He used the examples not only of the Church of England in eastern Canada and its sister Church in the United States, but also the Roman Catholic Church in the West to show that co-operation between adjoining dioceses would benefit what was so dear to his heart - the missionary work of the Church. At the first Provincial Synod of Rupert's Land, he said,

"At present our circumstances are so exceptional, the interests of our Dioceses are so bound up with each other, politically as well as religiously, and, above all, it is so absolutely necessary that [the missionary societies have confidence in us] that any Provincial action will he suited to the circumstances and exigiencies of missionary work, that it is scarcely possible for us to do anything else than pursue the action we have taken." ^[13]

The Consolidation of the Canadian Church

Early in 1887, the "Association for Canadian Church Union" was founded in London, Ontario, to promote what came to be known as the "consolidation" of the Canadian Church. Rupertland's synod expressed its interest in the idea at its meeting in 1888. It was with his typical Scottish practicality that Bishop Machray approached the suggestion that the whole of the Church in Canada should be joined in a "General Synod". Again, he thought such a body might be useful for unity of action in missionary work. He was, however, "entirely opposed" ^[14] to the abolition of Provincial Synods. On the one hand, the vastness of the country meant that the continued association of dioceses in one section of the country would be beneficial ^[15], and the provincial synods could act as a counter against legislation not in the best interest of a particular province.

The idea of forming a General Synod in Canada was discussed at the Lambeth Conference of 1888. The response was so positive that Bishop Bond of Montreal was able to say upon his return to Canada, "the movement itself was inaugurated at Lambeth at a great meeting of Anglican Bishops and dignified clergy in July 1888". It should also be noted that it was one of the main tasks of this third Lambeth Conference to consider "Christian Reunion", and it adopted what has come to be known as the "Lambeth Quadrilateral" which has since been used "to define those standards of historic faith and order which Anglicans should maintain as fundamental" ^[16]

When a conference was held in Winnipeg in 1890 to discuss the possibility of forming a General Synod, Bishop Machray was chosen its chairman. Two resolutions were passed: "1) That this Conference is of opinion that it is expedient to unite and consolidate the various branches of the Church of England in British North America; 2) That in any scheme of union the Conference affirms the necessity of the retention of Provinces under a General Synod."

A memorandum was submitted to the conference with a draft of a constitution for a General Synod. Bishop Machray was on the drafting committee, and this "Winnipeg Scheme" was passed unanimously by the Conference. The proposal provided that General Synod would have two houses - a House of Bishops and a House of Delegates chosen proportionately from the clergy and laity by the Diocesan Synods. The President of the Synod would be known as "Primate", chosen by the diocesan bishops from among the Metropolitans (the bishops in charge of each province). "The Synod", wrote Robert Machray, "was to have power to deal with all matters affecting the general interest of the Church within its jurisdiction, but none of its Canons or resolutions of a coercive character or involving penalties or disabilities was to be opera-five until accepted by the Provincial Synods, or the Synods of Dioceses not included in a Province." ^[17] It was suggested that the Synod should deal with the following:

a) Matters of doctrine, worship, and discipline

b) All agencies employed in the carrying on of the Church's work.

c) The missionary and educational work of the Church.

d) The adjustment of relations between Dioceses in respect to Clergy Widows and Orphans' Funds and Superannuation Funds.

e) Regulations affecting the transfer of Clergy from one Diocese to another.

f) Education and training of candidates for Holy Orders.

g) Constitution and powers of an Appellate Tribunal.

h) The erection, division, or rearrangement of Provinces; but the erection, division, or rearrangement of Dioceses, and the appointment and consecration of Bishops within a Province, were to be dealt with by the Synod of that Province. ^[18]

Before the "Winnipeg Scheme" could be presented to the first General Synod, it had to be approved by the Diocesan and Provincial Synods. The Synod of Rupert's Land was told by Bishop Machray that the Scheme was "great step towards union", but not a step towards separation from the Mother Church of England. ^[19] His only fear was that the resolution to preserve the Provincial Synods might be overturned, since in the east, notably in the Diocese of Montreal, debate on this issue continued.

On the eve of the first General Synod, Robert Machray had been Bishop of Rupert's Land for 25 years; there were now 58 clergy in his diocese alone, there were now 5 dioceses within the territory that had been his original diocese. St. John's College was doing well despite a heavy debt load caused by the erection of new buildings and an Indian Industrial School at St. Paul's was flourishing. He was universally recognized as the Patriarch of the Western Church, and his renown through-out the British Empire is evidenced by his being named by Queen Victoria in 1893 Prelate of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, an order which recognised those who had rendered social services to the Empire in the Colonies or in connection with Foreign Affairs. ^[20]

When General Synod met in September, it was Bishop Machray who preached the opening sermon, which, I believe, warrants quotation at length. (It should be kept in mind that although the western dioceses were firmly behind the establishment of the Synod, those in the east still had misgivings about the idea.)

There are, I believe, various questionings as to the business, position, and uses of a General Synod. Some, perhaps, are anxious for a Court that can give decisions on matters of doctrine, worship, and discipline. Others, on the contrary, are apprehensive of too much legislation with the General, Provincial, and Diocesan Synods. I think most of us in the West are neither wishful for such legislation nor apprehensive of too much of it. We certainly do not insist on the retention of our Provincial Synod with any view of encouraging it. Indeed, we expect this Synod to be a check on any action of the General Synod which may be unacceptable to our people, or for which they may not be prepared. We are looking forward to a General Synod simply for united practical work, through the systematising, unifying, and consolidating of the work of the Church in its various departments, for the provision of additional Services, so that there may be, if possible, a uniformity of use throughout the Dominion, and for giving expression to the mind of the Church on social, moral, and religious questions as may be needed. And we believe each of the Synods in its own place can materially second and advance this common work..." ^[21]

It is obvious that Bishop Machray sought union with the eastern dioceses in order to further the mission of the Church in the West and North, for after praising the heritage the Canadian Church has in its eastern pioneers, he continues,

In my own Diocese the Church has now a picture of what the other (Western) Dioceses will be. Only some fourteen years have passed since there was not a mile of railway in Manitoba, and now we have in the southern half of that Province practically five parallel lines of railway. The thin population that has come in is not scattered, as in old Canada, over a fringe of backwoods, but over the whole of the part of the Province that has received settlement. There are now 80 clergy in the Diocese of Rupert's Land, and most of these are in missions needing help... .The growing population calls for more centres with Services and the division of the mission Hence when a mission might he expected to he approaching the ability of self-support it has to he divided, and then a double call comes upon our mission funds. Thus, putting aside altogether advancing settlement with new fields of work, our older missions will through subdivision be for a long time imposing new duties on the Church... ^[22]

Bishop Machray knew that the Missionary Societies of Great Britain were opening up new fields of work in Africa and India, and that it was just a matter of time, now that Canada was an independent nation, before funds would be withdrawn, and the Canadian missions would be expected to be supported by the national Church.

Machray was chairman of the committee to bring forward resolutions indicating the mind of the Synod:

1) A Solemn Declaration that the Church of England in Canada desired to continue an integral part of the Anglican Communion, adhering to and upholding all the distinctive tenets and features of the Mother Church.

2) The General Synod, when formed, did not intend to, and should not, take away from or interfere with any existing rights, powers, or jurisdiction of any Diocesan Synod within its own territorial limits.

3) The Constitution of a General Synod involved no change in the existing system of Provincial Synods, but the retention or abolition of the Provincial Synods was left to be dealt with according to the requirements of the various Provinces as to the Provinces and the Dioceses within such Provinces seemed proper. ^[23]

The Constitution as drafted by the "Winnipeg Conference" was adopted virtually unchanged, and the "Solemn Declaration" mentioned in the first of the above resolutions thus became the cornerstone of the Constitution of our Canadian Church:

Solemn Declaration
1893 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

WE, the Bishops, together with the Delegates from the Clergy and Laity of the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada, now assembled in the first General Synod, hereby make the following Solemn Declaration:

WE declare this Church to he, and desire that it shall continue, in full communion with the Church of England throughout the world, as an integral portion of the One Body of Christ composed of Churches which, united under the One Divine Head and in the fellowship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, hold the One Faith revealed in Holy Writ, and defined in the Creeds as maintained by the undivided primitive Church in the undisputed Ecumenical Councils; receive the same Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as contain mg all things necessary to salvation; teach the same Word of God; partake of the same Divinely ordained Sacraments, through the ministry of the same Apostolic Orders; and worship One Cod and Father through the same Lord Jesus Christ, by the same Holy and Divine Spirit who is given to them that believe to guide them into all truth.

And we are determined by the help of God to hold and maintain the Doctrine, Sacraments, and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded in his Holy Word, and as the Church of England hath received and set forth the same in the "Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches; and the Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons;" and in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion; and to transmit the same unimpaired to our posterity.

This declaration reflects the spirit of the "Lambeth Quadrilateral" passed at the Lambeth Conference of 1888 in its emphasis on the supremacy of the Scriptures, the importance of the Creeds, the dominical sacraments and Apostolic ministry. Machray's hand can be seen in its adherence to Prayer Book doctrine, sacraments and discipline, as being the "best possible" expression of our Lord's teaching concerning these important matters. It should be remembered that while the General Synod was given jurisdiction over "Matters of doctrine, worship, and discipline", neither Bishop Machray nor any other of the founding members of the Synod foresaw the Synod departing from the fundamental tenets of Anglicanism as found in Holy Scripture and presented in the Book of Common Prayer. Rather, the Synod's role was universally seen as that of a guardian of the truths passed down to them. The Synod's mandate was to maintain a sacred trust, the "upholding [of the] distinctive tenets and features of the Mother Church" as the first declaration of the "Winnipeg Conference" stated.

Archbishop Machray's Legacy

Writing in his history of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Carrington says of the Solemn Declaration Archbishop Machray had been instrumental in providing for the Canadian Church, "[It is the] basis or foundation-stone of the whole structure. It cannot constitutionally be changed; it represents the form of faith and witness to which this General Synod and this Canadian Church (which it represents) are irrevocably dedicated." ^[24] In echoing the principles outlined in the Lambeth Quadrilateral, the Canadian Church had shown itself to be self-consciously part of the Church Catholic. In entrenching the "Doctrine, Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Church of England hath received and set forth the same" in Scripture and in the Book of Common Prayer, the Church in Canada had defined itself as part of the Anglican Communion, reflecting Archbishop Machray's opinion that the Anglican way of doing things is best - the most scriptural, the most in keeping with the mind of Christ and of the Apostolic Church.

In Robert Machray, we have an example of a Churchman full of missionary zeal - he was equally at home in a canoe as in the hallowed halls of the university. One of the architects of the Canadian Church, he was a convert to Anglicanism, and perhaps for that reason more appreciative than many of the principles which are the foundation of our faith, so eloquently and succinctly set forth in the Solemn Declaration. Gospel principles, Catholic principles, Prayer Book principles - all reflections of the one Truth on different levels of expression. It was Machray's conviction that these principles were true that gave him his missionary zeal and his broad appeal within the Church and in society generally, as a leader among men. May his example inspire us in our day as we strive to preserve and uphold the principles for which he stood.

---

The Rev'd John Matheson is Rector of St. Andrew's, New Brunswick.

---

1. Machray, Robert; Life of Archbishop Robert Machray; Toronto, the Macmillan Company of Canada, 1909
2. Ibid, page 122
3. Ibid, page l2l
4. Vernon, C. W.; The Old Church in the New Dominion; S.P.C.K., London, 1909; page 143.
5. Machray, page 102
6. Machray, page 129
7. Ibid, page 123
8. Matheson, Archbishop S.P.; "Address given by Archbishop Matheson on April 10th, 1932, in St. John's Cathedral, Winnipeg, on the occasion of the dedication of the memorial window presented as a tribute to Archbishop Machray." ; page 11.
9. Ibid, page 124
10. Machray, page 125
11. Machray, page 379
12. Machray, page 212, quoted from Reminiscences of the North-West Rebellions, by Major Boulton, Toronto, 1886.
13. Machray, page 253
14. Machray, page 336
15. Machray, page 336
16. Carrington, Philip, The Anglican Church in Canada, Collins, Toronto, 1963; page 188
17. Machray, page 367
18. Machray, page 368
19. Machray, page 369
20. Machray, page 381
21. Machray, page 384-385
22. Machray, page 386
23. Machray, page 389
24. Carrington, page 203

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