IRENIC MOVEMENTS 151 



Another great union movement is that 

 which brought together all the Methodist 

 churches in Canada. In 1873 there were 

 six Methodist churches in Canada; the 

 Wesleyan Methodist Church in the Eastern 

 Provinces, the Wesleyan Methodist Church 

 in Ontario and Quebec, — two churches 

 historically and organically separate, — the 

 Methodist New Connection Church in 

 Canada, the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in Canada, the Primitive Methodist Church 

 in Canada, and the Bible Christian Church. 

 The note for the bringing together of these 

 bodies was struck by Rev. Dr. E. H. 

 Dewart, in 1870. In the fall of 1870 an 

 informal meeting of representatives of dif- 

 ferent Methodist bodies was held at the 

 house of the editor of the " Christian Guar- 

 dian," Dr. Dewart, in Toronto. From the 

 beginning this powerful journal threw the 

 whole weight of its influence on this side. 

 In 1873 a plan for union was adopted by 

 the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of 

 Upper and Lower Canada, by the New 

 Connection Methodist Conference, and by 

 the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of 

 the Eastern Provinces. The first united 

 General Conference was held in Toronto, 



