£58 
M E T IT GDIS T. 
ferent between England and North America. Here there 
are bishops who have a legal jurifdiction; in America 
there are none, neither any parilh-minilters: fo that, for 
fome hundred miles together, there is none either to 
baptize or to adminilter the Lord’s fupper. Here, there¬ 
fore, my Scruples are at an end ; and I conceive myfelf at 
full liberty, as I violate no order, and invade no man’s 
right, by appointing and fending labourers into the har¬ 
vest. It has indeed been propofed to defire the English 
bishops to ordain part of our preachers for America ; but 
to this I object ; i. I defired the bishop of London to 
ordain only one, but could not prevail. 2. If they con- 
fented, we know the Slownefs of their proceedings; but 
the matter admits of no dela^y. 3. If they would ordain 
them now, they would likewife expe« 5 t to govern them ; 
and how grievoufly would that entangle us. 4. As our 
American brethren are now totally difentangled, both 
from the ftate and the English hierarchy, we dare not en¬ 
tangle them again either with the one or the other. They' 
are now at full liberty fimply to follow the fcripture and 
the primitive church; and we judge it bell, that they 
fliould Hand fall in that liberty wherewith God hath fo 
itrangely made them free.” 
Dr. Coke, on the confecration of Mr. Aftbury to the 
office of a biShop, made another apology. “ The church 
of England (fays he), of which the Society of MethodiSls 
in general have till lately profeffed .themfelves a part, did 
for many years groan in America under grievances of 
the heavieft kind. Subjected to a hierarchy which weighs 
every thing in the fcale of politics, its moll important 
interefts were repeatedly facrificed to the fuppofed advan¬ 
tages of England. The churches were in general filled 
ifcith the parafites and bottle-companions of the rich and 
great. The humble and moSt importunate entreaties of 
the opprefied flocks, yea, the representations of a general 
aflembly itfelf, were contemned and defpifed. Every thing 
Sacred mult bow clown at the feet of a party; the holinefs 
•and happinel's of mankind be facrificed to their views ; 
and the drunkard, the fornicator, and the extortioner, 
triumphed over bleeding Zion, becaufe they were faithful 
abettors of the ruling powers. The memorable revolu¬ 
tion has Struck oSF tliefe intolerable fetters, and broken 
the antichrijiian union which before fnhjifted between church 
ttndftate. And, had there been no other advantage ariiing 
from that glorious epoch, this itfelf, I believe, would 
have made ample compensation for ail the calamities of 
the war; one happy confequence of which was the ex¬ 
pulsion of moll of thofe hirelings, who ate the fat, and 
clothed themfelves with the wool, but Strengthened not 
the difeafed, See. The parochial churches in general 
being hereby vacant, our people were deprived of the 
Sacraments through the greatest part of thefe Slates, and 
continue lb Still. What method can we take in fo criti¬ 
cal a juncture? God has given us Sufficient refources in 
curielves; and, after mature deliberation, we believe that 
we are called to draw them forth. 
«,But what right have you to ordain ?” The fame right 
as moll of the churches in Christendom; our ordination, 
in its loweft view, being equal to any of the prelbyterian, 
as originating with three prelbyters of the church of 
England, “ But what right have you to exercife the 
episcopal office ?” To me the molt manifest and clear. 
God has been pleaSed to raife up, by Mr. Wefley, in 
America and Europe, a numerous Society, well known by 
the name of Methodifts. The whole'body have invariably 
efteemed this man as their chief paStor under ChriSt. He 
has constantly appointed all their religious officers from 
the higheSt to the lowelt, by himfelf or his delegate. And 
we are fully perfuaded there is no church-office which he 
judges expedient for the welfare of the people intrulted 
to his charge, but, as eSTential to his Station, he has power 
to ordain. “But, do not you break the fuccelfion ?” 
The uninterrupted S'ucceSfion of bishops is a point that 
has long been given up by the molt able protellant de¬ 
fenders of epiScopacy. Bi.fljop Headley jumlelf, in his 
celebrated controverfy with Dr. Calamy, allows it to be. 
unnecefi'ary. His words are: ‘To the 13th question I 
anfwer, that I think not an uninterrupted line of fuccelfion. 
of regularly-ordained bishops neceffary.’ He alfo or an t: S 
the authenticity of the anecdote given us by St. Jerome, 
which informs us, that the church of Alexandria had im 
regular fuccelfion from the time of St. Mark the Evam.-e- 
lilt, the SirSl biShop of that church, to the time of Diony- 
fius, a fpace of 200 years; but the college of prelbyters, 
on the death of a biShop, elected another in his Head. We 
are alfo informed, from the EpiStle of St. Clement to the 
Corinthians, written loon after the death of St. Paul, a wri¬ 
ter whofe works are next in precedence to the canon of 
fcripture, and probably written by immediate inspiration, 
that the church of Corinth w'as then governed only by a 
college of prelbyters. _ And from the EpiStle of Polycarp 
to the Church of Philippi, written in 116, we alfo find 
that the Christian Philippians were then governed only by 
a college of prelbyters. So that the primitive Christians 
were fo far from elteeming the regular fuccelfion as effen- 
tial to the constitution of a Christian church, that, in fome* 
instances, epifcopacy itfelf was wholly omitted.” 
Such was the defence urged by Mr. Wefley for this ex* 
traordinary affumption of epifcopal powers; a conduft, 
however, of which he afterwards repented, as tending to 
make a final feparation betwixt his followers and the 
church of England. Yet it does not appear that this had 
any bad effeCt on the minds of his American brethren ; 
for Dr. Coke, on his arrival on the western continent, 
found the Societies numerous and flourishing. His firll 
efforts were directed againSt the Slave-trade ; and not only 
the abolition of that traffic, but the releale of all thole 
who were aftually flaves at the time, feem to have been 
his favourite objects. By interfering in this matter, how¬ 
ever, perhaps with too much zeal, he involved himfelf in 
danger. Some riots took place; and a lady offered the 
mob fifty guineas if they would give the do&or a hun¬ 
dred 1 allies. This piece of difeipline would have been 
inflicted, had it not been for the interpofition of a Sturdy 
colonel; and the doCtor had not only the fatisfad-ion of 
efcaping the intended punifnment, but of Seeing his doc¬ 
trine fo far attended to, that fome Slaves were emancipated. 
Mr. Hampfon, in his Memoirs of Mr. Wefley, oblerves, 
that “ the colonists, in the infancy of Methodifm, con¬ 
ducted themfelves with more propriety than the English. 
There was little or no persecution, nor any thing hke a 
riot, except in one or two inftances which have been 
mentioned as the confequence of the animadversions op 
flayery; and even thele were productive of no mifehief. 
Not a creature was materially injured ; no bones were 
broken, nor any lives loft; which was not the cafe in 
this country. Here, many thoufands of innocent people 
were Subjected to the grolfeft indignities, and Several were 
eventually facrificed to the fury of their perfecutors. 
_ “ While we commend the Americans for their beha¬ 
viour in opposition to the brutality of English mobs, it 
may be proper to inquire into the Sources of this distinc¬ 
tion. Something of this may have arifen from Similarity 
of Sentiment. The Americans, from the firft beginnings 
of colonization, had been accustomed to the doctrines of 
the old puritans and nonconformists, which in many re- 
lpeCts have a near affinity to the Methodiltic tenets. The 
origin of Methodifm in America was Seldom, if ever, at¬ 
tended, either under the difeourfes of Mr. Wliitefield's or 
Mr. Welley’s preachers, with thofe ridiculous effeCts with 
which it was accompanied in thele kingdoms. Moil of 
the preachers, who went over to the continent, having 
laboured for Some years in Europe previous to their hav¬ 
ing eroded the water, had exhaulted their wildfire ; fo 
that their dilcourfes were more feripturai and rational 
than thofe of the primitive Methodists. Another reafon 
may be found in the education of the Americans. As 
a people, they are better cultivated than the body of the 
English ; they are chiefly composed of merchants and a 
respectable yeomanry; and there is but a Small propor¬ 
tion 
