Faithful Intellect: Samuel S. Nelles and Victoria University

390 Pages·2005·21.469 MB·English

by  Neil Semple

FAITHFUL INTELLECT
MCGILL-QUEEN S STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION
Volumes in this series have been supported by the Jackman Foundation of
Toronto.
SERIES TWO In memory of George Rawlyk
Donald Harman Akenson, Editor
i Marguerite Bourgeoys and Montreal, 10 Gentle Eminence
1640—1665 A Life of George Bernard Cardinal
Patricia Simpson Flahiff
P. Wallace Platt
2, Aspects of the Canadian Evangelical
Experience 11 Culture, Religion, and Demographic
G.A. Rawlyk, editor Behaviour
Catholics and Lutherans in Alsace,
3 Infinity, Faith, and Time
1750-1870
Christian Humanism and
Kevin McQuillan
Renaissance Literature
John Spencer Hill 12, Between Damnation and Starvation
Priests and Merchants in
4 The Contribution of Presbyterianism
Newfoundland Politics, 1745-1855
to the Maritime provinces of Canada
John P. Greene
Charles H.H. Scobie and
G.A. Rawlyk, editors 13 Martin Luther, German Saviour
German Evangelical Theological
5 Labour, Love, and Prayer
Factions and the Interpretation of
Female Piety in Ulster Religious
Luther, 1917-1933
Literature, 1850-1914
James M. Stayer
Andrea Ebel Brozyna
14 Modernity and the Dilemma of
6 The Waning of the Green
North American Anglican Identities,
Catholics, the Irish, and
1880-1950
Identity in Toronto, 1887-192.2
William H. Katerberg
Mark G. McGowan
15 The Methodist Church on the
7 Religion and Nationality
Prairies, 1896-1914
in Western Ukraine
George Emery
The Greek Catholic Church and the
Ruthenian National Movement in 16 Christian Attitudes Towards the State
Galicia, 1867-1900 of Israel
John-Paul Himka Paul Charles Merkley
8 Good Citizens 17 A Social History of the Cloister
British Missionaries and Imperial Daily Life in the Teaching
States, 1870-1918 Monasteries of the Old Regime
James G. Greenlee and Elizabeth Rapley
Charles M. Johnson, editors
18 Households of Faith
Family, Gender, and Community in
9 The Theology of the Oral Torah
Canada, 1760-1969
Revealing the Justice of God
Nancy Christie, editor
Jacob Neusner
19 Blood Ground z 5 Anglicans and the Atlantic World
Colonialism, Missions, and the High Churchmen, Evangelicals, and
Contest for Christianity in the the Quebec Connection
Cape Colony and Britain, Richard W. Vaudry
1799-1853
2.6 Evangelicals and the Continental
Elizabeth Elbourne
Divide: The Conservative Protestant
zo A History of Canadian Catholics Subculture in Canada and the United
Gallicanism, Romanism, and States
Canadianism Sam Reimer
Terence J. Fay
2.j Christians in a Secular World
zi The View from Rome The Canadian Experience
Archbishop Stagni's 1915 Reports Kurt Bowen
on the Ontario Bilingual Schools
z8 Anatomy of a Seance
Question
A History of Spirit Communication in
John Zucchi, translator and editor
Central Canada
zz The Founding Moment Stan McMullin
Church, Society, and the
Z9 With Skilful Hand
Construction of Trinity College
The Story of King David
William Westfall
David T. Barnard
Z3 The Holocaust, Israel, and
30 Faithful Intellect
Canadian Protestant Churches
Samuel S. Nelles and
Haim Genizi
Victoria University
Z4 Governing Charities Neil Semple
Church and State in Toronto's
Catholic Archdiocese,
1850-1950
Paula Maurutto
SERIES ONE
G.A. Rawlyk, Editor
1 Small Differences 4 The Devotes
Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, Women and Church in
1815-1922 Seventeenth-Century France
An International Perspective Elizabeth Rapley
Donald Harman Akenson
5 The Evangelical Century
2 Two Worlds College and Creed in English
The Protestant Culture of Nineteenth- Canada from the Great Revival
Century Ontario to the Great Depression
William Westfall Michael Gauvreau
3 An Evangelical Mind 6 The German Peasants' War and
Nathanael Burwash and the Anabaptist Community of Goods
Methodist Tradition in Canada, James M. Stayer
1839-1918
7 A World Mission
Marguerite Van Die
Canadian Protestantism and the
Quest for a New International
Order, 1918-1939
Robert Wright
8 Serving the Present Age 18 Pilgrims in Lotus Land
Revivalism, Progressivism, and the Conservative Protestantism in British
Methodist Tradition in Canada Columbia, 1917-1981
Phyllis D. Airhart Robert K. Burkinshaw
9 A Sensitive Independence 19 Through Sunshine and Shadow
Canadian Methodist Women The Woman's Christian Temperance
Missionaries in Canada and Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform
the Orient, 1881-192,5 in Ontario, 1874-1930
Rosemary R. Gagan Sharon Cook
10 God's Peoples 2,0 Church, College, and Clergy
Covenant and Land in South Africa, A History of Theological Education
Israel, and Ulster at Knox College, Toronto, 1844-1994
Donald Hafman Akenson Brian J. Fraser
11 Creed and Culture 21 The Lord's Dominion
The Place of English-Speaking The History of Canadian Methodism
Catholics in Canadian Society, Neil Semple
1750-1930
2.2 A Full-Orbed Christianity
Terrence Murphy and Gerald Stortz,
The Protestant Churches and Social
editors
Welfare in Canada, 1900-1940
12. Piety and Nationalism Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau
Lay Voluntary Associations and the
23 Evangelism and Apostasy
Creation of an Irish-Catholic
The Evolution and Impact of
Community in Toronto, 1850-1895
Evangelicals in Modern Mexico
Brian P. Clarke
Kurt Bowen
13 Amazing Grace
24 The Chignecto Covenanters
Studies in Evangelicalism in
A Regional History of Reformed
Australia, Britain, Canada, and the
Presbyterianism in New Brunswick
United States
and Nova Scotia, 1827-1905
George Rawlyk and Mark A. Noll,
Eldon Hay
editors
25 Methodists and Women's Education
14 Children of Peace
in Ontario, 1836-1925
W. John Mclntyre
Johanne M. Selles
15 A Solitary Pillar
26 Puritanism and Historical
Montreal's Anglican Church and the
Controversy
Quiet Revolution
William Lamont
Joan Marshall
16 Padres in No Man's Land
Canadian Chaplains and
the Great War
Duff Crerar
17 Christian Ethics and Political
Economy in North America
A Critical Analysis of U.S. and
Canadian Approaches
P. Travis Kroeker
Faithful Intellect
Samuel S. Nelles
and Victoria University
NEIL SEMPLE
McGill-Queen's University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca
© McGill-Queen's University Press 2.005
ISBN 0-7735-2759-1
Legal deposit first quarter 2005
Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100%
ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled),
processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant
from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and
Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publica-
tions Programme, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen's University Press acknowledges the
support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our
publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial
support of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for
our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Semple, Neil, 1949-
Faithful intellect: Samuel S. Nelles and Victoria University
/ Neil Semple.
(McGill-Queen's studies in the history of religion; 30)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7735-2759-!
i. Nelles, S.S. (Samuel Sobieski), 1823-1887. 2. Victo-
ria University (Cobourg, Ont.) - History. 3. Education,
Higher - Ontario - History - i9th century. 4. Victoria
University (Cobourg, Ont.) - Presidents - Biography. 5.
College presidents - Ontario - Cobourg - Biography. 6.
Methodists - Ontario - Biography. 7. Cobourg (Ont.) -
Biography. I. Title. II. Series.
LE3.T6.17144 2004 378.7i3'57'o92 02004-903563-0
This book was typeset by True to Type in 10/12 Sabon
To Mrs Laura A. (Clark) Semple (1914- )
A Pillar of Wisdom and Strength
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Contents
Introduction xi
Acknowledgments xix
1 Early Life 3
2 Student Days 27
3 The Young Scholar-Preacher 5 8
4 The New Principal 8 5
5 Addressing the People 114
6 The Academic 144
7 The Quest for a Quiet, Settled Faith 175
8 Family and University Life 204
9 The University Question 237
Epilogue 271
Notes 281
Index 365