Literary skepticism was also a challenge to orthodox Christianity. Matthew Arnold, who regarded the Old Testament as poetry, published Literature and Dogma in 1873 and God and the Bible in 1873. J.S. Mill presented a picture of himself as a rational unbeliever (Autobiography [1875]), and Leslie Stephen published Freethinking and Plainspeaking in 1873.
Meanwhile, Conservative theologians defended the orthodox interpretation of Christianity. Brooke Foss Westcott published the Revelation of the Risen Lord in 1883 and Alfred Edersheim, a converted rabbi, the Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah in 1885.
In Canada the theologians and philosophers attempted an accommodation between the scientists and biblical critics on the one hand and traditional Christians on the other. Principal G.M. Grant of Queen’s University pleaded for a fair consideration of the scientists and biblical critics.11 Idealist philosophers such as John Watson of Queen’s attempted to preserve the ethics of Christianity while questioning its supernatural basis. Clarke Murray, the McGill philosopher, shared his ethical idealism.
Cody was brought in touch with ethical idealism by the professor for whom he had the highest admiration, George Paxton Young. Young was a former Presbyterian minister whose philosophic development had by 1864 made it impossible for him to give to the Westminster Confession “the sort of assent expected by the Presbyterian Church.” In 1871 he had been appointed to the chair of logic, metaphysics and ethics in University College. Young, a bearded and venerable presence, was a popular lecturer. His message reassured a generation perplexed by the challenge of science to Christianity, helping them to see that it was possible to lead a moral and satisfying life without necessarily accepting the supernatural aspects of Christianity. The Ethics of Freedom, a volume based on Young’s lectures, is an illuminating indication of his ideas on the moral standard.12 He declared that man’s chief good was “the realization of the moral ideal.” Man’s knowledge of the moral ideal, he argued, would always be imperfect, but the ideal could be known “insofar as the moral nature has unfolded itself and there exhibited the capabilities that are in it.” It was the function of conscience to reveal to man the moral law. Thus, Young attributed to the moral law an authority which Christians had accorded the Scriptures and the church.
Cody was one of Young’s brightest pupils. Not only did he sit at the feet of the Master in his lectures, he also went to tea at his home. It was Cody who drew up a testimonial the students presented to Young on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Cody was one of the guard of honour who stood beside Young’s coffin at his funeral in 1889. Years afterwards in an interview with the Toronto News, he recalled that Young had “left his mark on every man who ever sat under him. Not so much for the particular philosophy that he taught as for his power of inspiring thought and his love of truth before all things.”13
In 1950 Cody told John Irving, who was making a study of early Canadian philosophers, that Young “was held in real reverence by all the students. We had a feeling that here was a man at the very antithesis to the materialist, that here was a man who behaved in the dominance of the intellectual and the spiritual. We always had the impression that he was the typical seeker after truth.”14
One cannot avoid speculation as to the nature of Young’s influence on Cody. He was obviously impressed by Young at the time, but Young can scarcely have effected a lasting influence on Cody’s thinking. There was an obvious conflict between Young’s ethical idealism and the evangelical beliefs which constituted Cody’s position in early manhood. What he retained was an admiration for Young as a fervent seeker of truth.
While Cody was hearing the message of ethical idealism he was also being brought in touch with more orthodox Christian influences. Like some more recent university students, he attended a wide variety of churches, hearing sermons by the local clergy as well as by visiting preachers from Britain and the United States. He concentrated on Anglican churches, particularly the evangelical ones (St. Paul’s, the Church of the Redeemer, St. Philip’s, St. Peter’s), but he also attended other churches (Central Presbyterian, St. Andrew’s, Zion Congregational, Elm Street Methodist).
What proved to be the dominant influence in Cody’s career was the close connection he established in this period with the Wycliffe community and its principal, James Paterson Sheraton. Wycliffe, an Anglican theological college, had been established by a group of Anglican evangelicals in 1877, despite the opposition of Neil Bethune, the Bishop of Toronto. It had since become the centre of the evangelical community in the university and in the Diocese of Toronto. Sheraton gave it strong leadership until his death in 1906.
Cody’s connection with Wycliffe was likely through his University College friend Thomas Des Barres, whose father, the Rev. T.C. Des Barres, was rector of St. Paul’s Church and a strong evangelical. Tom was thus on the fringes of the evangelical community. He was familiar with their doings, but at the same time was critical, having begun the process of emancipation from his background.
Tom, effervescent, rather cocksure, but shrewd and enthusiastic, was Cody’s best friend at the university. He was the one who usually wired Cody his examination results when Cody was home on vacation. He wrote Cody long, gossipy letters and kept him posted on the doings of the Anglican Church and the evangelical community.
Cody’s initial contact with J.P. Sheraton, the Wycliffe principal, occurred at the end of his second year at UC. He received a note from Sheraton dated May 24, asking Cody to come and see him the next day after breakfast. Sheraton had heard from Des Barres that Cody had achieved a high standing and was leaving town the next day.
Cody’s subsequent interview with Sheraton must have been satisfactory, since it was followed by the development of their relationship in the fall of 1887. By October 14, Sheraton had developed such confidence in Cody that he made repeated efforts, apparently unsuccessful, to persuade Cody to act as his son’s tutor. He also asked for Cody’s help with a Bible class he had started for university students: “What about the Bible Class on Sunday afternoons? Will you help me, if I go on with it? I am reluctant to give it up, and yet I do not wish to begin unless the students cordially desire it.” Cody and Des Barres promised to lend a hand and Sheraton was grateful.15 Before long Sheraton relied on Cody as a faithful supporter. Their relationship was destined to continue.
Chapter 3
Relatives and Friends, 1885–1889
While Cody was going from strength to strength at the university, letters from relatives and friends kept him in touch with home. Family letters give glimpses of his appearance and demeanour in the late 1880s – “a great tall fellow” with a nose that “can be seen”; his brow in childhood, “a sunny frank one”; “still as modest and unassuming as ever,” chopping firewood for his father when he was home in the holidays in 1886. In short he was a most engaging young man.1
An event occurred in 1885 that altered Cody’s relationship with his father. Elijah, now 41, married again. His second wife, Estelle Barker, was 30. Apparently, Cody did not get on with his stepmother. She was only thirteen years older than he, and he may have resented her as a young usurper. However, all parties to tried to make their relationship amicable. There are cordial letters from Estelle to Harry, Elijah was pleased that Harry called Estelle ‘Mother’ and wrote: “Our darling mother is doing everything possible to make home cheerful, and me comfortable she is so pleased at your calling her mother, in all your letters darling refer to her lovingly and kindly as she truly loves you.”2
Elijah strove for friendly relations between his son and his wife. In 1887, when Harry was coming home for Christmas, he sent him five dollars with the words, “Do not forget to bring