History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

ecame perpetual, their liberties were lost forever." The fact and philosophy just hinted shall receive
fuller treatment in the course of this History; and, joining issue as it does with those who see in these
cardinal errors the acme of wisdom, the fundamentals of the issue shall be staked upon a vindication
of this conclusion.
In pursuance of this method, the Christmas Conference of 1784, with its outcome, shall receive
thorough exposure. The chief actors in it, John Wesley, Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury, each
God-fearing and conscientious in his sphere, shall be brought upon the stage of scrutiny, and another
attempt made to unravel one of the most perplexing mysteries of ecclesiastical history. Perhaps no
three men ever figured in Church activities who were so utterly free from love of personal ease and
worldly wealth, twin frailties of so many who are not thoroughly consecrated to Christ and his
kingdom; and perhaps no three men ever developed a stronger dominating passion for leadership in
the Church of God. The first stoutly adhered to his paternal views as he aged to senility, though
broad reading and the force of the exigent made him willing, at times, to change his mind and his
measures. The second cherished a life-long aspiration for hierarchal honors. Highly educated, and
abundantly wealthy for his day, he was by far the weakest of his compeers in natural endowments
and asserting personality; but what he lacked in virile strength he made up in insinuating diplomacy.
The third was a rugged character, a self-made man, who followed his convictions unerringly under
the severe limitations of preconceived opinions, combined with a generalship which developed a fine
strategy, and made him in this respect the pronounced superior of his associates. A tripartite
contention will be disclosed as a key to the mystery of otherwise unaccountable transactions of these
three in dealing with each other. Wesley, the father and founder of Methodism, and excusably
jealous of his position, holding to a settled purpose that, during his lifetime, he should be respected
as such by the Methodists, whether in Britain, in America, or the islands of the sea; Coke, the
untiring go-between, prevailing on Wesley to take advanced steps in paternalism for America, and
then exceeding his instructions, after his conference with Asbury, and finding himself at last foiled
in his personal ends; Asbury, every inch worthy of all he claimed as leader in America, outwitting
Coke and antagonizing Wesley unto final insubordination to his authority, because he was entirely
too massive to be thrown from his equipoise by either of them. Quick to discern the whole situation,
with its possibilities, after his interview with Coke, his opportunity had come to organize a Church
after his own model, and, as he sincerely believed, to the glory of God. It was not to be lost; so, with
unprecedented haste, the Christmas Conference was summoned to meet in Baltimore, and within a
short week paternalism was enthroned, and the power of the keys was in his own steady grasp.
Snethen says of this unseemly haste: "I never reflect upon the chapter of our history which related
to the formation of our Church without feeling it in my heart, for the sake of those concerned, to
wish that it were blotted out. It is a mortifying monument of the want of diplomatical ingenuity."
There was, however, a deep method in it which will be disclosed when it is treated in detail. Around
it, as the center of a fray, have gathered its apologists and their opponents. The gist of the
controversy was: Did, or did not, Mr. Wesley intend to organize a Church for the American
Methodists, and "recommend the Episcopal form of government"? It will be shown to a moral
certainty, as positive demonstration is impossible on either side, that he did neither. That the
American Societies were so impressed by Coke and Asbury need not be questioned. The means
employed to this end will be traversed when the ancient controversy is covered, and the reader left
to determine on which side of this darkly drawn line the truth is found.