History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

1 Tyerman's "Life," Vol. III. p. 458.
2 Ibid. p.436.
ENDNOTES
3 Letter to Thomas Coke and Henry Moore, occasioned by their proposal of publishing "The Life
of John Wesley, A. M.," in opposition to that advertised by Rev. John Whitehead, M.D. Also an
"Appeal to the People called Methodists on the Same Subject, by an Old Member of the Society,"
etc. London, pamphlet, 56 pp.
A copy of this rare document is in the Baltimore Methodist Historical Rooms. Among other things
contained in it is a letter from John Wesley, not found, so far I know, in any of the histories of
Methodism extant. It is addressed to an anonymous friend on the probability of division after his
death despite the Deed of Declaration. In the course of it Wesley says: "I have long foreseen that a
division must necessarily ensue from causes so various, unavoidable, and certain, that I have long
since given over all thought and hopes of settling it on a permanent foundation." He recognizes the
struggle of the preachers for power and preeminence as one cause, but says he could not settle upon
an individual successor who could exercise his own absolute control, and adds — "which I have
hitherto exercised, and I am determined I will maintain so long as I live — never will I bear a rival
near my throne." Another cause, he says, will be the inadequacy of funds to carry on the work" —
money is as much the sinews of religion as of military power." But he adds, "This no way concerns
me; I have attained the object of my views by establishing a name that will not soon perish from the
face of the earth; I have founded a Sect which will boast my name long after my discipline and
doctrines are forgotten."
This letter is subscribed, "I am, etc., J. W., City Road, Thursday morning."
As the Deed of Declaration was signed in 1784, allusions in this letter would assign it a date only
a few years before his death. In its naive confession that he felt his earthly reward of a life of labor
and sacrifice to be in the perpetuation of his name in connection with Methodism, may be found the
private reason he did not avail of the offer of Bishop Seabury, who, while in England and Scotland
in 1784 seeking ordination for the American Protestant Episcopal Church, sought to obtain an
interview with Wesley as to the American Methodists, but did not succeed owing to Wesley's
engagements on the wing. But he knew of Seabury's presence in England and the mission on which
he came; so that he was not anxious for an interview with him. Having failed to induce the Bishop
of London to ordain one of his preachers, who, Kewley* declares, was to come in that case to
America in the capacity of chaplain in Lord Cornwallis' army, he abandoned farther quest in that
direction, for the specific reason stated by himself, that if the Episcopal Bishops ordained, they
would also "expect to govern," the American Methodist preachers. Thus he would have been robbed
of his name as head of the Americans also. It makes the foregoing letter quadrate with these and
other facts of his life.