Tlie first Conference, held in 1773. presided over by Rankin as superintendent, consisted of ten members, all Fairopeans, with an aggregate in the societies of 1160. In May, 1784. eleven years later, notwithstanding all the adverse influences of the war, they numbered 14,988 members, several hundred local preachers and exhort- ers, 84 itinerant preachers, with more than sixty chap- els, and probably not less than 200,000 attendants upon their worship. By the system of itinerancy, which had been rigidly enforced during this period, Method- ism had been jjrevcnted from localizing itself, and had established organized societies in every state of the Union outside of New F'ngland, become the dominant, popular, religious power in ^laryland and Delaware, and at several points planted its staiulard beyond the Alle- ghanies. Though tints widely spread, nearly nine tenths of itsmembershii) were south of JIason and Dixon's line, and of these a large proportion were in the ^liddle States, where the Anglican, or the ICnglish Established Church, once so nourishing, had become nearly extinct.
Most of the IMethodists of 1784 were without the .sac- raments; for the I-jiglish clergy upon whom they had generally depended liad, with lew exceptions, either left the country or forsaken their parishes. Thousands had been received into the societies witlunit baptism; (heir children were growing up without that sacred rite : and preachers were ministering in their pulpits who had never even partaken of the Lord's Supper. The grow- ing necessity for some ]irovision for the administration of the sacraments had led to so serious thought and dis- cussion in successive Conferences that the regular ses- sion of 1779, deeming the exigency sufficient to warrant a departure from ecclesiastical ns.age, constituted four of their number a presl)ytery. who with solemn forms proceeded to ordain one anotlier. and afterwards others I of their brethren. At the end of a year the sacramental
METHODIST EPISC. CHURCH 1G9 METHODIST EPISC. CHURCH
party yielded to the minority for peace' sake ; the ad- ministration of the sacraments was suspended ; and it was agreed to seek tlie counsel of Wesley, and abide by his judgment. He advised them to '"continue on the old plan until further direction." Wesley found for his American societies no way of relief until subsequent to the conclusion of the war. Then, after long and ma- ture thought, and consultation with his frienils, among whom was Fletcher, the saintly vicar of JNIadeley, he resolved to use the power which he believed himself as a i)resbyter to possess, and ordain a ministry that should meet the demands of the thousands who sought aid from him as their spiritual founder. He proposed to the Kev. Thomas Coke, LL.D., to receive ordination at his hands as their superintendent, to which Coke, wliose sympathies were profoundly stirred in their be- half, consented, when study and reflection had con- vinced him of Wesley's power to ordain to the Episco- pal office. It was also arranged that two of the English preachers should be ordained to accompany him as el- ders. Accordingly', on the first day of September, 178-1, at Bristol, using the convenient and solemn forms of the Church of England, and, assisted by Dr. Coke and the Kev. Thomas Creighton, a presbyter of the English Church, Wesley ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thom- as Vasey to the office of deacon. On the next day he ordained them elders, and, assisted by Creighton and Whatcoat, he also ordained Coke superintendent, or bish- op, as this officer was afterwards called. He then sent them upon their mission, with instructions to organize the societies into a distinct Church, and to ordain As- bury joint superintendent with Coke. To facilitate their work, he furnished them with a " Sunday Service," or hturgy, a collection of psalms and hymns, and also " The Articles of Religion." Upon their arrival in America, a special conference or convention of the itinerant preach- ers was summoned, and on the 24th of December sixty of them assembled in the Lovely Lane Chapel, in the city of Baltimore. Dr. Coke took the chair, and pre- sented the following letter from Wesley, written eight days after the ordinations, and tersely stating the grounds of what he had done and advised :
'To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbunj, and our Brethren in North America:
" By a very uncommou train of providences, many of the provinces of North America are totally disjoined from their mother country, and erected into independent states. The English government has no authority over them, either civil or ecclesiastical, any more than over the states of Holland. A civil authority is exercised over thi'iii, |):irt]y by the CouLrrcss and partly by the provincial assrnil)lic-; ; luit no one either exercises or claims any ec- cle>i:i-tii il iiiithijrity at all. In this peculiar situation, some thoLi-iands of the inhabitants of these states desire my advice : and, in compliance with their desire, I have drawn up a little sketch.
"Lord King's Account of the Primitive Church con- vinced me, many years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, and consequently liave the same ri;;ht to ordain. For many years I have been importuned, from time to time, to exercise this right, by ordaining part of our travellins; preachers. But I have still refused, not only for peace' sake, but because I was determined as little as possible to violate the established order of the National Church, to which I belonged.