History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

length agreed to the Doctor's proposal, and concluded that if the Doctor tarried with us we could do
with two bishops, without ordaining a third, and the former vote for choosing another bishop was
dropped. The Doctor then gave us the following instrument of writing:
"I offer myself to my American brethren entirely at their service, all I am and have, with my
talents and labors in every respect; without any mental reservation whatever to labor among them,
and to assist Bishop Asbury; not to station the preachers at any time when he is present; but to
exercise all the episcopal duties, when I hold a conference in his absence, and by his consent, and
to visit the West Indies and France, when there is an opening, and I can be spared.
"Signed, Thomas Coke."
"Conference Room, Baltimore, October 27, 1796."
This paper is as much of a study as that of his abdication. The brethren must have taunted him on
his failure to stay after 1784, as Wesley intended, and on his restless absences from the country ever
afterward. Could they trust him if he promised to stay among them now? Was he tricky and
uncertain? Else why this sentence — "without any mental reservation whatever?" There can be no
doubt that seeing "the difficulty," Asbury quietly put in his velvet hand and managed it. He did not
mean that another Bishop coequal with himself should be thus elected. Is there moral certainty for
it? In a year it will be seen what he proposed as a substitute, and the reader can determine. The
trouble with good Dr. Coke was that he was kept so busy, "running with the hounds and holding with
the hare," — trying to sit on two stools, that he ever and anon fell between them.
Another important measure of the Conference was their authorization to the Bishops to issue a
new Discipline with Notes. As given in the "Advertisement to the Reader," page 4, of the Discipline
of 1796, it reads as follows: "The last General Conference desired the Bishops to draw up
Annotations on the Form of Discipline, and to publish them with the present edition; The Bishops
have accordingly complied, and have proved or illustrated everything by quotations from the Word
of God, agreeably, also, to the advice of the Conference; and they sincerely pray that their labors of
love may be made a blessing to many." Dr. Coke remained in America this time until the 6th of
February, 1797, when he embarked for England from Charleston, S. C., a period of about four
months from the General Conference. It was during this time that the Bishops prepared the Notes.
They are elaborate, and show the ecclesiastical hand of Asbury and the classical pen of Coke. They
traveled together from the General Conference during these four months, and had ample opportunity
to consult and make the Notes. Asbury says at Charleston, S. C., February 9, 1797, "To-morrow my
dear Dr. Coke sails for Europe." And on the 10th he writes: "This day Dr. Coke is waiting to sail for
Ireland. Strangers to the delicacies of Christian friendship know little or nothing of the pain of
parting." Drew's date of the 6th of February, already given, must be an error quite common to him.
Asbury and Coke had become again as David and Jonathan. Lee makes no mention of this Discipline
with Notes.
It may be well to run through the new Discipline and examine these Notes. The copy in hand bears
this title-page, which is of historical interest: "The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in America with Explanatory Notes, by Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury. The
tenth edition. Philadelphia: Printed by Henry Tuckniss, Sold by John Dickins, no. 41 Market street,