History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

A few concluding paragraphs are for details of a random but material character in line with the
objective of this History. The Minutes of 1815 contain the obituary of Dr. Coke. Among the
statements is this: "November 3, he landed in New York, and communicated to the preachers a new
plan of government for the Methodist societies on the continent of America, drawn up by Mr.
Wesley and himself, which was afterward published." The first paragraph of this obituary hints that
it was the work of the Book Agents, Hitt and Ware. In common with the preachers from 1784, down
to 1827, it expresses their received belief as to the origin of Methodist Episcopacy. How variant it
is from the facts in the case has been already shown and to be further exposed in its proper
connection. The statements are in accord with the traditions of those times, as the controverting facts
[3]
were locked up in the bosoms of two men, Asbury and Coke, and possibly John Dickins. Even
Nicholas Snethen was thoroughly imbued with it. How could it be otherwise? Writing in 1822, he
says, "But though we obtained the consent of Mr. Wesley to become an Episcopal Church, it does
not appear, on the face of the communications and transactions, that he anticipated all the events
which actually took place." Thus he dimly foresaw what McCaine, five years afterwards, by
circumstances purely accidental, proved, but whose revelations and coordination of the facts so
widely departed from the received traditional opinion, that even McCaine's fellow Reformers
hesitated to accept them, realizing how damaging they were to the candor and fairness of Dr. Coke,
if not directly of Asbury.
It was the custom of the early minutes to note "expulsion" before the names of any of the
preachers who were deprived of Conference membership for any cause, making no discrimination
as to the moral character of the offense for which expulsion was meted out. Two notable exceptions,
however, to this rule occur in the minutes of the period under consideration, and a little later.
Minutes of 1816, under, "Who have been expelled from our connection this year?" In the
Philadelphia Conference, "Joseph Sampson, for refusing to subscribe to the second article of the
doctrines of our Church." Again, in 1826," Jesse Chesney is deprived of his official standing in the
Methodist Episcopal Church." The pertinence of these differentiating cases will be exhibited when
the expulsion of Reformers in 1827-30 is under consideration. [4]
John Emory was born in 1789 in Queen Anne County, Md., of good Methodist stock, and in his
seventeenth year united with the Church, a consecrated youth. He was classically educated and
devoted himself to the profession of the law. All his worldly prospects he surrendered after a great
struggle, and entered the itinerancy in 1810. He rose rapidly, and in 1813 was appointed to the
Academy (Union) church, Philadelphia, the Eastern Shore of Maryland then being in the
Philadelphia Conference. It was a leading church of the denomination. In 1816 he was elected to the
General Conference, being but twenty-seven years of age. He was below the ordinary size and
weighed not over 125 pounds, of slight constitution, but was one of the most scholarly and highly
educated men of the ministry. He was preeminent as a debater, his legal skill furnishing him with
all the arts of argumentative fence. Such a man was laudably ambitious, and, loving his Church, his
aims were high. His mental structure was independent, so that it is not surprising that he early
imbibed Reform principles, and became a leader from 1816 of the liberal element in the ministry,
who after the decease of Asbury took new heart and hope for the circumscription of Episcopal
powers. His coadjutors in this endeavor were not a few, many of the leading delegates from all the
conferences to the General Conference of 1820 espousing his cause of an elective presiding
eldership. It will be seen that this measure, so strenuously resisted by Asbury, McKendree, Soule,