thought the sermon had gone rather well until an ancient parishioner assured him, “It was quite good ... what there was of it.” While many of his sermons were indeed long, they were carefully crafted and devoid of meaningless rhetoric.
An examination of Cody’s sermon notes indicates the care and thoroughness with which he prepared them, but conveys little of the effect the sermons had on Cody’s listeners. It was his personality, vigorous, enthusiastic, and sympathetic, that came through to the hearers and made his words so compelling and comforting. Canon W.A. Filer, who began his ministry when Cody was in his middle years, recalled, “A Cody sermon lasted about an hour, but it seemed like fifteen minutes.”
The work at St. Paul’s was central in Cody’s life, but he also maintained contacts with Wycliffe, Ridley, and the new girl’s school, Havergal. As well, he did a good deal of public speaking and preaching at other churches. He was on the boards of Ridley and Havergal, and at Wycliffe he continued to establish himself as Sheraton’s right-hand man.
At Wycliffe the peace which had previously characterized the faculty was disturbed by what might be called “the Plumptre affair.” In some ways it was petty, but it throws a good deal of light on the relations between Cody and his Wycliffe colleagues. H.P. Plumptre was appointed to the staff in 1902 to teach courses in Pastoral Theology and to act as dean. He was modest and well-meaning and anxious to get on well with Sheraton and his other colleagues. Unfortunately, he had liberal tendencies in theology and churchmanship. This made it almost impossible for him to establish a good relationship with Sheraton. There might also have been personality differences. Plumptre complained to Cody that Sheraton treated him with coldness.9 He trusted Cody and appealed to him for help in his relations with Sheraton, writing in June 23, 1902: “If you get a convenient opportunity before September next of letting Dr. Sheraton know the desire of my heart is simply for a true and happy friendship you would do me and the world here a service ... I know that a word from you would go a long way.”
But Sheraton became increasingly exasperated with Plumptre’s ideas. By October 25, 1903, he was so upset that he suggested to Cody that he might resign the principalship. “Things cannot go on as they are,” he protested, “and if my friends fail to act for me, I do not see how I can remain. I have gone far beyond the limits of self-respect and of patience.” Sheraton apparently felt he was not being adequately supported in his opposition to Plumptre. Indeed, there is some evidence of sympathy in the Wycliffe camp for Plumptre. George Wrong supported him, and C.C. Owen, a prominent evangelical and a Wycliffe graduate, told Cody he liked Plumptre and regretted that “things are so unsatisfactory at Wycliffe.”10
The Plumptre affair might have precipitated a serious breach in the Wycliffe constituency. Fortunately for Sheraton and Wycliffe, the rift failed to develop. Things reached a climax in November 1903. Plumptre had decided he could not continue at Wycliffe, and when Bishop Carmichael offered him a post in the Diocese of Montreal, he accepted.
Cody’s role in the Plumptre affair may be deduced from the testimony of his colleagues. While he always treated Plumptre with sympathy and kindness, he must have disliked his ideas much as Sheraton had done. He remained loyal to Sheraton and did not support Plumptre in opposition to the principal. Wrong, who was more liberal than Cody, blamed Cody for not supporting Plumptre and thus for helping to bring about his resignation. Wrong told Cody that he would express his opinion of Sheraton’s conduct in the Plumptre affair when Plumptre’s resignation came before the Wycliffe Council. He added, “On the few occasions lately when I have found it necessary to speak of the situation there I have said that I lay a good deal of the blame on your shoulders.”11
But Plumptre appears not to have born a grudge against Cody. He remained his friend. Later in 1907, when he was considering whether to accept the rectorship of St. Paul’s Church, Woodstock, he consulted Cody in the matter.
Havergal was established in 1894 by much the same group of Anglicans that had established Ridley in 1889. Its first principal, Miss Ellen Mary Knox, was a redoubtable English evangelical, a sister of Bishop E.A. Knox. The success of the school during its first thirty years was largely the result of her drive and personality. The objectives of the school’s founders were indicated in an advertisement published in the Evangelical Churchman: “The promoters of the School are convinced of the importance of uniting distinct Evangelical spiritual influences with a thorough, intellectual culture ... Their aim will be to give such an education as will help to make the pupils not only accomplished gentlewomen, but also intelligent and useful members of society.”12
Havergal was located in one of Toronto’s most affluent areas. Having purchased the old Mervyn School building at 350 Jarvis Street, the school immediately began to expand its facilities by the purchase of additional land and the construction of new buildings in 1896–98 and 1902. In spite of all this expansion, however, the school needed yet another building and this was constructed in 1906—1907.
Though not a member of the original board, Cody was soon closely associated with the school. St. Paul’s and Havergal were within walking distance of each other, and Havergal students attended St. Paul’s on Sunday mornings. In effect, Cody became Havergal’s parish priest. He was conscientious in his attentions to the school. He prepared the girls for confirmation and was frequently at the school for social occasions, prize-givings, and other special events. His membership on the board of directors brought him regularly in touch with his friends S.H. Blake (president), J. Herbert Mason (vice-president), George Wrong (secretary), Stapleton Caldecott, and N.W. Hoyles, among others.
Cody soon became the friend and confidant of Miss Knox. She was frequently at his home for lunch or dinner and often came to him with problems about the financing of the school. In 1905 Cody, Wrong, and R. Millichamp (treasurer) were instrumental in carrying the school through a financial crisis, probably a result of the school’s need for a new building. Miss Knox was most grateful and wrote to Cody on January 3, thanking him “for the way you have helped to save me and the school.” She added cryptically, “It was done at so much risk to yourself – I was too tired to realize anything on Wednesday night except gratitude to those who put it through – Now I can see a way even though it may have difficulties. It literally was a fight for existence at any rate to me if not to the school. I don’t think I can forget what you and Mr. Wrong and Mr. Millichamp have done.” Precisely the nature of this crisis or the measure that saved Havergal is not revealed, but there seems no doubt of Cody’s role in saving Havergal.13
Cody’s membership on the Ridley board kept him in touch with the school and with the principal. Most of his fellow board members were men he was associated with in other capacities, at St. Paul’s, Wycliffe, or Havergal – Herbert Mason, N.W. Hoyles, Millichamp, and Sheraton. The evangelical community was a small one, a sort of family compact.
The year 1904 was an amazing one for Cody. Although still a young man (36) and not yet the titular rector of St. Paul’s, he was elected to the bishopric of Nova Scotia and rejected it. Three Winnipeg men urged him to let them nominate him for the archbishopric of Rupert’s Land, but he declined that as well, saying he would not oppose his good friend S.P. Matheson, who had been consecrated assistant bishop in 1903. The third offer to stand, probably the most attractive to Cody, came from the Diocese of Huron, where Bishop M.S. Baldwin had died. Cody was invited by Verschoyle Cronyn, the son of the first Bishop of Huron, and by other evangelicals to let his name stand. Huron was Cody’s home diocese and the most evangelical of all the Canadian dioceses. To be sure there was some jealousy of Wycliffe men on the part of Huron college graduates, but this might be overcome. T.A. Wright, the rector of St. Jude’s Church, Brantford, wrote to Cody on October 28: “We know that the feeling against Wycliffe men is quite strong. But have the Huron men a man among themselves that we can unite upon? I fear not from what I have so far gathered. The feeling against Wycliffe would largely give way if you were being considered.” But Cody had already written to Cronyn declining to accept. Blake, Cody’s mentor at St. Paul’s, had been very concerned with rumours that Cody might accept, and was thus much relieved. He wrote reassuringly, “There must be something better in store, and in due time the Allwise will make it plain.”14
Cody was fortified in his decision by a strong resolution from the St. Paul’s advisory committee,