THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
opposed the step, and the conference of 1780 took harsh measures. The members declared their unanimous disapproval of the step of 2. Dissen- the brethren in Virginia, and declared sions; Wes- that, until retracted, they would not ley's Device, consider them as Methodists in connection with Wesley and the conference. The question was temporarily settled by an agreement to refrain until Wesley should be heard from. At the close of 1783 Asbury received directions from Wesley to act as general superintendent, to receive no preachers from Europe not recommended by him, and neither to accept nor to retain any in America who would not submit to the minutes of the conference. Wesley perceived that unity upon the subject of administration of the sacraments had not been reached; that the truce would be but temporary, and that the societies would disintegrate unless relief should be speedily given. To meet the emergency he performed an act unparalleled in the history of organized Protestantism. In Feb., 1784, he proposed to Thomas Coke to receive ordination from him and go to America to ordain others and establish an adequate system of church government. In July Wesley adopted the measure. Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey offered to accompany Coke as missionaries, and at Bristol, Wesley, assisted by Coke and James Creighton, presbyters of the Church of England, ordained them as presbyters for America. Coke was ordained as a superintendent; Wesley accredited him by a document explaining the grounds for the step, the substance of which was that Lord King's account of the primitive church and the Irenicum (London, 1661) of Bishop Stillingfleet, which maintained that neither Christ nor his apostles prescribed any particular form of church government, had convinced him (Wesley) " that bishops and presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain "; that he had been " importuned from time to time to exercise his right by ordaining part of the traveling preachers, but had refused, not only for the sake of peace, but because he was determined to violate as little as possible the established order of the national church," to which he belonged. The case was different between England and North America, as in the latter no bishops have legal jurisdiction. The closing words of this letter were: " They [the Methodists in the United States] are now at full liberty simply to follow the Scriptures and the primitive Church. And we judge it best that they should stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has so strangely made them free."
Coke and his companions landed in New York on Nov. 3, 1784. On Sunday the 14th, by appointment, he met Freeborn Garrettson at the residence of Judge Bassett of Delaware, and in 3. The a neighboring chapel preached to a
New Or- multitude, administering the Lord's granization. Supper to more than 500. At this service sixteen preachers, including Asbury, learned the purpose of the commissioners in coming to this country. A special conference was opened Dec. 24 of the same year, and about sixty preachers agreed to organize themselves into
a Methodist Episcopal Church " in which the liturgy (as presented by the Rev. John Wesley) should be read, and the sacraments administered by a superintendent, elders and deacons, who shall be ordained by a presbytery, using the Episcopal form as prescribed in the Rev. Mr. Wesley's prayerbook." Asbury was ordained deacon by Coke, assisted by Vasey and Whatcoat; on the following Sunday was ordained an elder, and on Monday consecrated superintendent. Before receiving ordination Asbury was unanimously elected superintendent, having stated that he could not serve as he had hitherto done, merely by Mr. Wesley's appointment. Coke also was elected superintendent. Several days were spent in perfecting a code of rules, selecting preachers to receive orders, and in ordinations. The first Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church was adopted by this convention. The prayer-book which Wesley had prepared and printed for the use of the church in America was entitled, A Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America, with Other Occasional Services. The articles of religion of the Church of England were reduced from thirty-nine to twenty-four, and those retained were so altered as "to eradicate all traces of Romanism, High-church ritualism, and the distinctive points of Calvinism." The church now formed consisted of 18,000 members, 104 traveling preachers, as many local preachers, and twice as many licensed exhorters. There were sixty chapels and 800 recognized preaching-places. Coke went everywhere baptizing children and administering the Lord's Supper, as did Asbury wherever opportunity offered. In the mean time the general superintendents at their own initiative assumed the title of bishop, asking the conference to approve it, not to the exclusion of the name general superintendent under which they were ordained, but for brevity's sake, as its equivalent and alternative.
By the year 1789 it became necessary to hold eleven conferences. A plan was devised by Bishops Coke and Asbury, which involved the establishment of a council to be invested with extraordinary powers, and to consist of general superintendents (i.e., bishops) and presiding elders. The council
met that year, and a second was con-
4. The vened in 1790, which boldly claimed
General additional power. Its proceedings
Conference, created such dissatisfaction that the
plan was abandoned, and it was decided to provide for a general conference. The annual conferences unanimously authorized the bishops to call such an assembly to meet in Baltimore the first of Nov., 1792. The most important event was a conflict between Bishop Asbury and James O'Kelly (q.v.), a strenuous elder, who presided over a wide district. He proposed that preachers not satisfied with their appointments might appeal to the conference. The motion was lost by a large majority and O'Kelly and several other preachers seceded. The second general conference met in Baltimore in 1796, and the subject of slavery was discussed at length. An earnest debate, concerning the relations of Coke to the Methodist Epispocal Church, occupied two days. Jesse Lee — a powerful debater and preacher — and others, who opposed