Spencer, James

DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: G. S. French, “SPENCER, JAMES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/spencer_james_9E.html
DCB profile:
- Methodist minister and journalist; b. 7 Feb. 1812 in Stamford Township, Upper Canada; m. in 1843 Sarah Lafferty of West Flamborough Township, and they had nine children; d. 9 Oct. 1863 at Paris, Canada West.
- James Spencer was raised in a Methodist household and was converted under the ministry of Ephraim Evans in 1830. Spencer concluded that he should enter the Methodist itinerancy, but, because of a deep sense of personal unworthiness, he resisted his conviction. Following studies in 1836 at the newly opened Upper Canada Academy where “his exemplary conduct and great laboriousness” earned him the sobriquet of “Bishop,” he became a ministerial candidate in 1838. This decision intensified his inner distress.
- Spencer returned to regular circuit duties. Between 1843 and 1851 he was stationed on the Dundas, Toronto, Nelson, and Guelph circuits, and he wrote letters to the Methodist newspaper in Toronto, the Christian Guardian, attacking the pretensions of the Church of England and the doctrine of apostolic succession. This polemic secured him a measure of notoriety among his brethren, which led to his being nominated as editor of the Guardian. Unsuccessful in 1849 and 1850, he was finally elected in 1851 to succeed the Reverend George R. Sanderson. Spencer was re-elected annually until 1860, when he was succeeded by the Reverend Wellington Jeffers.
- Spencer’s relatively long term as Guardian editor indicated that his ministerial colleagues were impressed by his skill, and, more important, that he embodied much of the mood of the Methodist conference in the 1850s. He assumed a combative and rather self-righteous posture which came naturally to a man who was personally insecure but convinced of the rectitude of his version of the Methodist cause.
- As his published sermons and editorials indicate, Spencer’s religion was austere and rigid, yet deeply emotional. He was persuaded that Methodism as a system of belief and the Methodist Church as an institution were the very embodiment of evangelical Christianity. He was committed to the preservation of a society in which Christian doctrine would continue to be the ultimate foundation, but he was equally certain that this relationship could be maintained without the perpetuation of formal ties between the churches and the state. Rather it should be fostered by the preaching of conversion, by disciplined religious life, and by vigorous opposition to such social evils as intemperance and political corruption. As a man and a minister he was distinguished by “fearless integrity,” “independence of spirit,” and an “almost unmerciful” attitude “towards human iniquity.” He was “ungenial and unsocial” in public, and genial in private. His sermons were “entirely free from display” for he sought to avoid “a wicked trifling with the sacred and solemn questions at issue between man and his Maker.” In short he was a stern and impassioned but not a “shouting” Methodist.
Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7947
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/162816903/james-spencer