n into the same covenant and Church.... In a
word, it is both to infants and adults a sign and pledge of that inward
grace, which has respect to and flows from a covenant relation to each
of the three persons, in whose one name they are baptized--acceptance
with Christ as the Head of His mystical body, the Church, and of
communion of the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER LVI.

1855-1858.

Personal Episode in the Class-Meeting Discussion.

I have already referred to the character of the discussion which
resulted in Dr. Ryerson's restoration to the Conference. In the heat of
that discussion some things may have been said by Dr. Ryerson's friends
which were not warranted by the terms of his letter of the 26th of May;
or what was said may have been construed (designedly or otherwise) into
an admission of assurance on Dr. Ryerson's part that he would cease to
agitate the question, or that he would hold his opinions in abeyance.

The discussion on the Class-meeting question was the chief event in the
proceedings of the Wesleyan Conference of 1855. Yet not the slightest
reference to the subject, or to Dr. Ryerson's return to the Conference
was made in the report of the proceedings which were published in the
_Guardian_ of the 13th and 20th of June in that year. It was not until
some time after the adjournment of the Conference, and the departure of
Dr. Ryerson for Europe, that the subject was mentioned in that paper,
and what did appear was apparently an afterthought.[143]

After Dr. Ryerson had gone, an editorial appeared in the _Guardian_ of
the 27th of June from which the following is an extract:--

We did not notice in our summary account of the proceedings of the
Conference the return of Dr. Ryerson to his former position with
that body, but as erroneous statements have appeared in the paper
respecting it we think proper to give the facts of the case.

A short time previous to the sitting of the Conference Dr. Ryerson
addressed a letter to the President, in which he stated that his
views remained unaltered respecting the points of difference
between himself and the Conference; he expressed a desire to resume
his ministerial duties in the Church. The communication was
accompanied with a verbal assurance that his own peculiar views on
the questions at issue would be held in abeyance in deference to
the determination of the Conference to maintain inviolate those