The Letters of Dr. Thomas Coke

By John A. Vickers

For forty years on either side of the death of John Wesley in 1791, Thomas Coke was a key figure in the development of Methodism on both sides of the Atlantic. His surviving correspondence is the most personal evidence he has left us of a man who “wore his heart on his sleeve.” Coke's letters also give us contemporary insight into some of the events which began the transformation of an evangelical movement into a worldwide communion of Churches.   
This critical edition gives a comparison to earlier editions, as well as references to names and locations for historical study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kingswood Books
• Release date: Jun 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781426771248

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Thomas Coke was born in Brecon in mid-Wales on 28 September 1747 into a middle-class family. His father was an apothecary who prospered both in his business and in public life. Thomas went up to Jesus College, Oxford, in 1764 as a gentleman commoner, graduated in 1767, and proceeded to MA in 1770. In 1775 he obtained a doctorate in civil law with the support of no less a person than Lord North, a leading figure in government circles. He was ordained into the Anglican ministry, as deacon in 1770 and as priest in 1772, and from 1771 to 1777 served as curate in South Petherton, Somerset. During that period he came under the influence of Methodism and in August 1776 met John Wesley for the first time at Kingston St. Mary near Taunton. To his surprise (and perhaps disappointment), Wesley sent him back to South Petherton, encouraging him to turn the parish into a Methodist stronghold by ‘visiting from house to house, omitting no part of his clerical duty’ and avoiding ‘every reasonable ground of offence.’ But Coke’s Methodist fervour made him increasingly unacceptable to the parishioners, and at Easter 1777 they drove him out of the parish with a triumphant ring of church bells. In Wesley’s words he chose to ‘bid adieu to his honourable name’ and cast in his lot with the Methodists.

With the advantages of his social, educational, and clerical background, Coke quickly found himself being used by the aging Wesley as a much-needed assistant. So much so that within five years we find Wesley writing appreciatively to John Fletcher’s widow: ‘It seems to have been the will of God for many years that I should have none to share my proper labour. My brother never did [which was seriously unfair on Charles Wesley!]. Thomas Walsh began to do it; so did John Jones. But one died and one fainted. Dr. Coke promises fair; at present I have none like-minded.’ He found Coke particularly helpful as a trouble-shooter, for example, in the disputes over chapel deeds in places like Birstall, near Leeds, where the trustees of a newly built preaching-house insisted on the right to appoint who should occupy its pulpit. Increasingly he served as Wesley’s representative, for example, in presiding in alternative years at the annual Irish Conference.

The year 1784 proved a busy one for Coke and a turning point in his involvement with Methodism both at home and overseas. It began with his part in drafting the Deed of Declaration, a legal document, enrolled in Chancery. This defined the role of the Methodist Conference as the heir to Wesley’s authority and so provided for continuity of the movement after his death. One hundred of the itinerant preachers were named as constituting this official Conference, becoming popularly known as the Legal Hundred. Wesley’s choice of these men was controversial and led to resentment among those who were not included. Coke was, almost certainly unjustly, suspected of being involved in the selection and, not for the last time, was the target of complaints that were probably undeserved.

What had surfaced here was the social and educational gulf between him and the rank and file of the Methodist itinerants. This, together with his closeness to Wesley at a time when the preachers were growing restless under the latter’s autocratic rule, led to resentment and suspicion. As a result, though he continued very actively involved close to the centre of the Methodist connexion after Wesley’s death, significantly Coke was not elected to preside over the British Conference until 1797 (and again in 1805, the year in which he entered the first of his two marriages).

That same climacteric year of 1784 saw Coke’s horizons widen dramatically, when John Wesley set him apart by the imposition of hands to visit the newly independent American states and establish a separate Methodist Church there. This was widely interpreted as evidence that the younger man was motivated by self-seeking ambition, though the evidence is fragmentary and ambiguous. Charles Wesley, in particular, fiercely resented Coke’s relationship with his brother, feeling threatened by a young upstart who, he believed, was encouraging John Wesley to separate from the Church of England.

Coke duly crossed the Atlantic on the first of no fewer than nine visits to America. As Wesley’s representative and the appointed superintendent of Methodism in America, he presided over the Christmas Conference in Baltimore and the ordination of Francis Asbury as fellow superintendent. The first constitution of what became The Methodist Episcopal Church was agreed upon, and a dozen of the circuit riders were ordained. The title ‘superintendent’ was soon replaced by ‘bishop,’ much to Wesley’s displeasure. A further eight transatlantic visits followed, during a period in which Coke shared with his fellow bishop in overseeing the rapid growth of the new denomination.

The relationship between the two men was always subject to strains. They were of similar ages, but the difference between their backgrounds and upbringings, coupled with Asbury’s long record of pioneering leadership in the American connexion, inevitably led to tensions between them. For his part Asbury zealously guarded his standing among the American preachers and stubbornly refused to share it with someone who was by comparison no more than an occasional visitor. For his part Coke increasingly felt frustrated by the restrictions imposed on him during his later visits and was in any case hampered by the rival demands made on him by his divided loyalties. Their relationship nevertheless remained fundamentally one of respect and admiration, and their surviving correspondence reflects this as clearly as it does the tensions that surfaced from time to time.

On both sides of the Atlantic, Coke’s Anglican roots and credentials caused him to vacillate in his churchmanship. This led to attempts, however belated and unsuccessful—and even ill-advised—to reunite Anglicans and Methodists. Correspondence with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, on the one hand, and with Bishops William White and Samuel Seabury, on the other, enables us to assess how misjudged these approaches may have been, given the prevailing circumstances in which they were made.

In British Methodist circles Coke has been remembered chiefly as the pioneer and instigator of the earliest overseas missions. This takes us back to the same turning point in his life, the year 1784. On the eve of that year, just months before Wesley despatched him to America, Coke had issued his first appeal for the launch of missionary work both at home and abroad. His Plan of the Society for the Establishment of Missions among the Heathens predates William Carey’s better-known appeal to the Baptists by eight years. It proved premature, partly at least because of his failure to enlist the approval of Wesley himself. But Coke was not the man to give up easily. In 1786 he made a second attempt with Wesley’s support and was authorized by the Conference to send missionaries to British North America and the Caribbean. Their ship was blown off course and severely damaged by fierce mid-Atlantic storms, and the two men appointed for Newfoundland found themselves allocated to the West Indies, where the pioneering work of the layman Nathaniel Gilbert had brought Methodism to Antigua in the 1760s.

From this small beginning the missions spread to one Caribbean island after another, as well as in due course to West Africa, and presented Coke with the growing challenge of financing what he had initiated. He did so not only by undertaking extensive begging tours, but also by devoting a great part of his own resources (as well as those of his first wife) to this cause. In a period of financial constraints as well as other problems following Wesley’s death in 1791, the preachers in Conference showed themselves more ready to entrust responsibility to Coke than to shoulder it themselves. The last in a series of attempts to control the situation was the appointment of a Committee of Finance and Advice in 1804, and the extent to which this both helped and hindered Coke’s efforts is spelled out particularly clearly in his letters to them. Coke had for so long carried the responsibility for the well-being of the young missionaries he himself had recruited that he found it virtually impossible to relinquish it to a committee.

It was not until 1813, as Coke was preparing to leave for Asia, that a move was made by preachers and laymen in West Yorkshire to form a Leeds District Missionary Society, followed eventually by a connexional Missionary Society in 1818. In 1943 the Constitution of the British Methodist Missionary Society made the claim that ‘from the beginning of the Methodist Overseas Missions at the Conference of 1786, the initiation, direction and support of Overseas Missions have been undertaken by the Conference.’ In the light of the protracted development outlined above, this claim reads more like tendentious propaganda than historical fact.

To do full justice to Coke as a missionary advocate, we must also note that it was on his initiative that in 1805 the first Home Mission appointments were made, to operate in areas of England still largely untouched by Methodism. (These included South Petherton, the scene of his parish ministry as a young man.) Once again, the Conference, grappling with multiple problems (not least, the challenge from Alexander Kilham’s radical supporters), was unlikely to have responded to these opportunities nearer home without the spur of Coke’s enthusiasm.

Finally there was the mission to Asia. As early as 1784, when he entered into a correspondence with Charles Grant of the East India Company, Coke had cherished the dream of such a mission. His other commitments and the events of the intervening years delayed any such venture for nearly thirty years. But with the death of his second wife in 1812, Coke once again heard the call of the East and gave himself up to its fulfillment. Now in his late sixties, he determined to accompany the missionary party in person. The convoy sailed from Portsmouth on New Year’s Day 1814, and his long-cherished hopes seemed about to be realised. But the voyage was a protracted one, and on the morning of 3 May he was found dead on his cabin floor. He was ‘buried’ later that day not, as he had fervently wished, close to his wives in the Priory Church of his native Brecon, but beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean, a fitting conclusion to so restless and homeless a life.

*    *    *

Coke’s Journals, reprinted in 2005, are our main primary source for his visits to the United States and the Caribbean. But they tell us little or nothing about his involvement in the development of British Methodism or the earliest stages of the administration of its missions.

His surviving correspondence is the closest we can get to this man who was a key Methodist figure in the decades before and after the death of John Wesley. Although he wore his heart on his sleeve and often exposed himself to criticism from fellow Methodists and others, he left no evidence more telling than these letters, most of which are now collected and published for the first time.

The letters throw light on several aspects of Coke’s life and ministry, some of which do not surface in his recently reprinted Journals. The pressures to which he was subjected by rival demands on his loyalty from either side of the Atlantic are illustrated here as nowhere else. The tensions and conflict of loyalties are clearly in evidence. Again, the vacillating churchmanship of a man brought up in the Church of England but increasingly involved in a movement drifting further and further from its Anglican moorings is here exposed to full view.

That the demands made on him by his role as a missionary advocate arose largely from his own enthusiasm for and dedication to Christian mission is clear; but this neither diminishes the credit due to him for attempting the impossible nor hides the reluctance of his colleagues to give him their unqualified support. The series of letters he wrote to the Missionary Committee set up by the 1804 Conference to collaborate with him are particularly revealing; as, at a more personal level, are the glimpses of Coke’s peripatetic lifestyle, even after his marriage in 1805. Some light is also thrown on his literary activities and aspirations during his closing years. But above all, the letters enable us to see something of the man himself, his limitations and weaknesses, as well as the energy and enthusiasm with which he tirelessly served the cause of Methodism. The light thrown on his character and personality, and not least his motivation, may leave many unanswered questions, but does at least help us to understand his problematical relationships with other leading Methodist figures and their reservations about him. Whatever truth there may have been in the charges of self-seeking ambition, we are left in little doubt about his wholehearted devotion to the proclamation of the Methodist gospel and his growing frustration in the difficult years after 1791.

The present volume represents the termination of more than a half century of intermittent involvement on my part with Thomas Coke, and it may therefore be appropriate to look back and record how I came to be preoccupied with him. Having graduated in theology in 1952, I began to look around for a suitable topic for post-graduate research within the field of Methodist history. (I had neither the qualifications nor inclination to pursue any further either biblical or theological studies.)

At a crucial point in this process, the editor of the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society made a plea for someone to compile a general index to its first thirty volumes. This struck me as a good way to familiarise myself with the field, and my offer (the only one received!) was readily accepted. The task not only introduced me to the principles and practice of indexing but also made me aware that Methodist history was wider than the lives of the Wesley brothers—a fact of life still to be learned by some Methodist scholars.

As the indexing progressed, one name in particular began to crop up more frequently and in a wider variety of contexts than most others. I decided that I needed to find out more about ‘the little Doctor,’ only to discover a dearth of scholarly biographies. The research that led to my Thomas Coke: Apostle of Methodism (London: Epworth Press / Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1969) made me more aware of the developments in Methodism on both sides of the Atlantic before and after Wesley’s death in 1791. My biography was published in 1969. In the following years I found myself exploring various side trails, only to return to my first love with the publication of a long-overdue edition of Coke’s Journals in 2005. The present collection of his surviving correspondence therefore rounds off work begun in the late 1950s and continued intermittently ever since. My family will at least be entitled to breathe a sigh of relief at this belated journey’s end.

With very few exceptions, the letters that have survived were tracked down and transcribed half a century ago and only a handful have turned up more recently. In preparing the present volume, I have checked the accuracy of my transcripts wherever possible, and it has been my policy to keep as close as possible to Coke’s original orthography and such features as his use of the ampersand and of initial capitals. (But I have not retained his occasional use of ‘Ye’ for the definite article.)

That few of the letters written to Coke have survived is hardly surprising, given his busy and peripatetic life. Those that have been found are treated in one of three ways: (1) A few are directly related to his own correspondence and are printed here in situ, distinguished by being printed in smaller type. I have included in this category all surviving letters from John Wesley and Francis Asbury, by far the two most important of his correspondents. (2) Others are of sufficient importance to be printed in an appendix and referred to by appropriate footnotes in the main text. (3) The rest—a very small number—are omitted.

Editorial notes are intended to provide background information, with reference to further sources, including where appropriate my 1969 biography. I have tried in particular to identify Coke’s correspondents and the individuals referred to in the letters. In the case of his fellow preachers, while a date of birth is not always available, their year of death is given as an indication of the volume of the British Minutes of Conference in which an obituary may be found.

LETTERS

To: John Fletcher¹

[August 28 1775]

Revd Sir,

I take the liberty, tho’ unknown to you, but not unacquainted with your admirable publications, of writing you a Letter of sincerest thanks for the spiritual instruction as well as entertainment which they have afforded me; and the spirit of candour and Christian charity which breathed throughout your writings, as well as the charming character which my best of earthly friends (The Revd. Mr. Brown of Kingston near Taunton)² has given me of you, emboldens me to hope that, tho’ my situation in life be only that of a poor Curate of a Parish, you will excuse this liberty I have taken of addressing you in the fullness of my heart.

You are, indubitably, Sir, a sincere friend of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; I am also an humble admirer of the blessed Jesus; and it is on that foundation only I would wish and it is on that only I am sure I can recommend myself to you. Your excellent Checks to Antinomianism have riveted me in an abhorrence and detestation of the peculiar Tenets of Calvin: and the monstrous errors into which those great and good men Bishops Hopkins³ and Beveridge⁴ (whose memories I highly reverence) have run into, have frequently filled me with wonder. Your Essay on Truth⁵ has been more particularly blessed to me. Your Scripture Scales⁶ I am just going to read with great attention. Many thanks to you, Sir, for your treatise on the fallen state of man;⁷ it has been of service to me, and of much more I have reason to think to many of my congregation. O Sir, I have frequently prayed to my God that he will make you a great pillar of his Church; in return, I do humbly beg that you will pray for me: I am sure you will grant me that favour when I inform you that (as nearly as I can guess) a thousand or more immortal souls come to me on every Lord’s Day in the afternoon to receive their portion of the manna of the word, of the bread of everlasting life.⁸

I will so far transgress against the Publick and your dear flock, as to request an answer: I am almost afraid to ask for more. May the God who loves you—and whom you love—make you a great instrument of his Glory in this life, and grant you the height of your ambition in the next.

I am, Revnd. Sir, with great respect,

Your much obliged and very humble servant,

Thomas Coke.

South Petherton,

Near Crewkerne, Somerset.

Addressed: The Revd. Mr. Fletcher

Madeley, near Sheffnall, Shropshire

Original in the Methodist Missionary Society Archives, London.

In 1776 Coke was eager for his former school friend Walter Churchey to take holy orders. An undated letter quoted in Etheridge’s Life of Coke states: ‘I do it for the sake of Jesus Christ, because it appears to me that you will be an acquisition to the ministry; and an eternity of the most zealous service will not be sufficient to compensate for one drop of the blood He so freely spilt upon the cross. The harvest, my friend, is very great, and the faithful labourers very few.’¹ Coke’s encouragement came to nothing, and Churchey continued his career in law.

To: Walter Churchey²

South Petherton

August 3 1776

Dear Sir,

I have sent you inclosed [Mr.] Exon’s Letter to the Bishop of Bath and Wells; it is advisable, I think, that you send your papers, viz. your Title, Testimonial and the Letter as soon as possible to the Bishop: for there is no inquiry, which the Bishop may chuse to make, but may be made as well in twenty days as a month. It will be proper also to inform the Bishop in your Letter concerning the particulars of your Age. Take care to seal Mr. Exon’s Letter to the Bishop; which I have sent open for your perusal. Give me leave to repeat the invitation, which I gave you in my last. The Lord bless you, and grant success to our undertaking, as far as it may promote his Glory and the salvation of souls. Mr. Exon³ presents his Compts to you.

I am Dear Sir,

Your faithful Friend

And humble Servant for Jesus’ sake

Thomas Coke

I forgot (I believe) to mention in my last Letter that, if you chuse it, you may rent the Glebe-land about sixty pounds a year at Exton;⁴ you shall have the first offer, Mr. Exon says, and have it cheaper than any body else: As the Parish contains not a great many souls, and the Pastoral Duty cannot be so much as in a populous Parish, it [might be] convenient to you to take a little ground into your hands, [but] you are the best Judge.

Addressed: Mr. Churchey, Atty. at Law

Near the Hay, Breconshire, South Wales

Original in Methodist Missionary Society Archives, London.

To: Walter Churchey

South Petherton

August 19 1776

My dear Friend,

I must again trouble you with a few lines, to desire you, if possible, to send all your papers to Wells by the 2d. of September. But, if you cannot get the Bishop’s Certificate to your Testimonial in proper time, you would do well to send your Title and Letter immediately and inform his Lordship, that your Testimonial has been signed by three Clergymen of character, and that you have only to wait on the Bishop of St. David’s for his Certificate, and will then immediately convey it to his Lordship, and wait upon him at the proper time for examination. May God prevent or bless our design, as is most expedient to his infinite Wisdom and Goodness: however, as our motive is good, the will will certainly be accepted in Christ Jesus, whatever be the tendency of the deed.

I am

my dear Friend

yours sincerely

Thomas Coke

P.S. I must repeat it, I shall be glad to see you whenever you favour me with your company.

Addressed: Mr. Churchey, Atty. at Law

Near the Hay,

Breconshire

South Wales

Original at Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

To: Walter Churchey

Brecon, September 25 1777

Dear Brother,

I must throw myself upon the mercy of my Friend for pardon, on account of my long neglect of writing to you: no Apology perhaps can be sufficient; though my necessary avocations have been of late very numerous. And it gives me some degree of sorrow, that I am not able to pay you a visit before I leave Wales. I must endeavour to make you amends the next time I visit my native country. Thanks to you for The State of Man;¹ but Oh, my dear Brother, take care, that whilst the Light flashes, yea, and dwells in your understanding, it does not leave your heart! I am writing in all the sincerity and openness of friendship. When I visited you last, you did not seem to be so alive to God, and so dead to the world, as I expected to find you. Do not say, I judge uncharitably; for if I be mistaken, my error proceeds from the jealousy of love. I am a little afraid, that you would willingly compromise matters: but remember, Christ can have no concord with Belial. Let us, my Friend, keep our souls constantly turned towards God; and he will soon fill us with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Christian’s life is hidden with Christ in God; but from that Life flows a constant burning zeal for the good of others; it is his Meat and Drink to do his heavenly Father’s Will. I have sent you the proposals for the Arminian Magazine.² Will you be a Subscriber? Brother Moon³ can give you farther information concerning them. Brother Benson’s Sermons⁴ are not come out. It was made a rule at the last Conference, that none but the travelling Preachers should have a copy of the Minutes. Direct to me at the Foundery, London. My Christian love to Mrs. Church[e]y,

I am, dear Brother,

Your affectionate Fr. and Br. in Christ,

Thomas Coke

Addressed: To Mr. Churchey, at the Hay, Brecon

Original in the Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester. Printed in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1826, 387.

To: [George Gidley]¹

Stroud

November 24 1778

Dear Brother,

I have recd. yours & shall not raise a shilling in Bristol for South Petherton² till something be done for Exeter:³ my Promise, that we would try what we could do for Exeter, certainly implied, if not expressed, a sub-ordination to the Will of God: now, our Preachers in Bristol think, that if we beg there for another Circuit without the Assistant of that Circuit, it will give great offence, the People will be afraid to see us come into their Houses, and our usefulness to them be in some measure cut off: I have therefore written to Mr. Wesley to propose that Brother Wells⁴ have leave to come to Bristol to beg; I will then with the Preacher that happens to be in town, go with Br. Wells from house to house: this is all (as it appears to us) that we can do: & I believe it will answer the end as effectually as any other Method, that might be taken. Be pleased to inform Mr. Wells, that I shall be glad to be informed as soon as he receives permission from Mr. Wesley, what day he will be at Bristol, and I will give up two days to this business. Farewell. May the Lord bless yr. renewed Soul with all that He Himself is. My Love to Sister Gidley, & to all the Brethren at Exeter. I am

Your affectionate Brother,

Thomas Coke.

Original in the Lamplough Collection, Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

To: George Gidley⁵

[1778?]

Mr. Wesley is still of the opinion that the Minutes of the Conference ought to be complied with, in having the seats in the middle, with a rail running through the midst.⁶ Will you, therefore, be pleased to see that the alterations be made, if not done already? . . . You will be a proper person to be a trustee of the Exeter house. Will you ask our London friend who is lately come to live at Exeter, whether he will give me leave to nominate him? Have you asked Mr. Roberts whether he will be one? Between you and me, I rather object to Mr.——.⁷ Whatever thou puttest thine hand unto, do it with thy might . . . He promised to give me a book. If he will give me Rogers’s Sermons, No. 1, 635, and the Four Orations of Athanasius against the Arians, No. 1, 148, if they be not disposed of, I shall be obliged to him.

Addressed: To Mr. George Gidley, Exeter

Printed in J. W. Etheridge, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Coke, D.C.L. (London: J. Mason, 1860), 58–59.

To: Thomas Williams

Foundery, London

February 23 1779

Dear Sir,

As Mr. North is indebted to me 10£ being half a year’s Rent for the house in which he lives, & which he by agreement is obliged to pay quarterly, but for mutual convenience (as I live at so great a distance from him) I have agreed to receive half-yearly; and as I shall have occasion to make up a Sum of money next Month, and have accordingly written to him some time ago about the Interest, but have received no answer; I must beg of you either to speak or write to him, to let him know that I expect immediate payment, and you may give him a receipt and send up the Money to me by Draught at the Foundery, London. And if he want any further receipt, I will send it down to him on the receipt of the Money. My Mother is in tolerable Health. I have not seen her to-day, if she knew I was writing to you, she would gladly have joined me in Love to you and Cousin Williams,¹ & Cousin Jones: my Love & Respects unfeignedly wait upon them.

I beg of you also to write a Letter to Mr. Maybery to inform him that his Answer, which I have received, is not at all satisfactory; & that I insist on the payment of the Interest between the present time and the fifteenth of next March, & that he need not send me any answer unless he is resolved to pay the Interest within that time: he may either pay it into yr. hands or send it up to me: I think it is twenty pounds.

I am

Dear Sir

Your very affectionate

Friend & Servant,

Thomas Coke

P.S. Mr. North upon Recollection owed me something, more (I think) than ten pounds, as he rents some other [property?] however, you may give him a receipt on some other account for what he pays, but it must not be less than ten pounds; [and] I will send him afterwards any reasonable receipt he can desire.

Addressed: Mr. Thos. Williams, Atty at Law,

in Brecknock

Original at Drew University Library, Madison, New Jersey.

To: Thomas Williams

Foundery, London

March 10 1779

Dear Sir,

Will you be pleased to tell Mr. North, that his Bill for the Repairs of the Roof of the House and for the Pipe will be allowed to him on his paying you immediately the Remainder? Altho’, I confess, I did not expect that the Roof would want so much repairing so soon. If you can contrive to send me Mr. North’s Money next week I should be glad, as I want to make up a Sum by that time, & that will be some help towards it. I beg my kind Respects to Mrs. Williams, & am

Dr. Sr.

Yr. sincere Friend & Servt

Thomas Coke

Addressed: Mr. Thos. Williams, Atty. at Law,

in Brecknock

Original at Wesley’s Chapel, City Road, London.

To: George Gidley

New Chapel, City-Road

London

April 26 1779

Dear Brother

I have written to Mr. Wesley concerning the Bond, License &c. [&: inserted] When I receive an answer, design to write to you again. It is probable, that in the state of things at Exeter, Mr. Wesley may dispense with his Objection to be again security for any house (as he has already done in respect to the Edinburgh-house) & join me in the Bond. Every thing shall be done on my part to make things easy for you. I admire Mr. Holmes’s liberality of Sentiment & Candour & Kindness. The Lord be for ever with you. I am

Dr. Brother

Yrs. very affectionately

Thomas Coke

Addressed: Mr. Gidley, Offr. of Excise

in

Exeter

Original at Drew University Library, Madison, New Jersey.

To: George Gidley

South Petherton

June 17 1779

Dear Brother,

Mr. Jones has promised to lend us as soon as possible 40£. Will you be pleased some time hence to remind him of it? 30£ to be paid to Mr. Roberts & 10£ to me, as I shall want the Money, I have lent, for other purposes; then Mr. Wesley, I believe, will join me in a Bond to Mr. Jones for the whole. I intreat you for Christ’s sake to have a Prayer-meeting immediately. My Christian Love to Sister Gidley. I am in a hurry, & yr.

affectionate Brother in Christ

Thomas Coke

Addressed: Mr. Gidley

Exeter

Original at Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

To: Thomas Williams

Foundery, London

July 7, 1779

Dear Sir,

Will you be pleased to let Mr. North know, that he must pay the half year’s Rent due to me last [‘Michaelmas’ crossed out and ‘Midsummer’ inserted above] into Yr hands sometime in this Month, as I am going on a long Journey in the beginning of August, & shall want money? And when he has paid it, I’ll beg of you to send it up to me immediately. Be pleased to give my kind Respects to Mrs. Williams.

I am

Dear Sir

Yr affectionate Friend

& Servant in Christ

Thomas Coke

Addressed: To

Mr. Thomas Williams

Atty. At Law

In

Brecknock

Original at Wesley’s Chapel, City Road, London.

To: [Joseph Benson?]

Whitby

Octr. 1. 1779

Dear Sir,

I am much obliged to you for your kind Letter, & for the Promise you make me in it of transacting my little business for me concerning the Horse. But amidst my Gratitude to you, I have experienced some uneasiness from an apprehension that you are an Arian: that you do not believe Jesus Christ to be the One, Supreme, eternal, independent, Self-existent God: Or, in other words, you do not believe him to be, in his Divine Nature, without mental reservation or equivocation, in the most extensive & unlimited sense of the Word Equal with the Father. Dear Sir, (for I love & respect you on many accounts, &, after all, hope to meet you in Heaven) is this true?

I am zealous for the Honour of Jesus Christ: & it appears to me, that the indignity offered to him, however undesignedly by the above-mentioned opinion is infinite. For, whatever other Titles may be conferred upon him, if he be not the Supreme Jehovah common Sense tells us he is but a Worm comparatively. I hope to be favoured with an Answer from you at the New Chapel. And am

dear Sir,

Yr. Much obliged Friend

And Servant in Christ Jesus

Thomas Coke

Original at Victoria University, Toronto.

To: Thomas Williams

New Chapel, City Road

London,

Novr. 9, 1779

Dear Sir,

I have recd. the draught given you by Mr. North for eleven Pounds, twelve Shillings; & shall have no Objection to it, if it be honoured & paid. I shall not have time to-day to call on the Person to whom it is directed; but shall probably either call on him or send to him to-morrow. I shall take it as a favour, if you will fold up the side of the Letter, & convey it to my Mother. With Respects to Cousin Williams, I remain

Dr. Sr.

Yr. Affectionate Friend

& obedient Servant in Christ

Thomas Coke

Original at Wesley’s Chapel, City Road, London.

To: Joseph Benson

London

Novr. 10 1779

Dear Sir,

I have recd. (I cannot say, with Pleasure) your Letter: the fashionable way of talking & writing, which you take Notice of, arises from a too fashionable Opinion, and the Custom of wresting Scriptureterms from their Original Simplicity. I did not design to enter into a religious Controversy with you, ‘for I am determined never to dispute at all, if I have no hope of convincing my Opponent.’ I will not wear a Mask, and therefore I will frankly own to you, that it is my full Resolution to bring this important Point on the Carpet at the next Conference.²

And now, Dear Sir, (for however paradoxical it may appear, you are still very dear to me) I again thank you for your friendly Assistance in respect to my Horse. Mr. Atlay³ & I have come to a Conclusion, & if you will be pleased to draw upon me for eight Guineas payable to Mr. Atlay three days after Sight, the Money shall be punctually paid him.

One favour more I will yet beg of you: that you will be pleased to tell Mr. Snowden,⁴ that I present my Love to him, & beg the favour of him to accept of my horse (which I left behind me at Mr. Mather’s), as a small token of my Regard.

I must beg leave to inclose to you an [Copy: deleted] Extract of a Letter I lately recd. from Mr. Saml. Bradburn, who has been unjustly suspected by a few of our Preachers of Arianism, or (to give it a more gentle Name) Semi-Arianism. Heartily praying, that you may experience every Blessing in Christ Jesus, I am

Dear Sir

Your obliged Friend & Servant in Christ

Thomas Coke

P.S. Will you be pleased to present my Love to Mr. Mather,⁵ & my many Thanks for his obliging Care of the Horse.

A further P.S. reads: ‘I have been told that you have declared that Mr. Fletcher is of your Opinion in respect to the Doctrine of the Trinity; is it true, Sir?’

Addressed: Mr. Benson

at the Preaching-house

in Manchester

Original in the Lamplough Collection, Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

On the same sheet Coke has copied the main part of Bradburn’s letter to him from Cork, dated October 17, 1779. See next letter.

The following letter has survived in the form of a copy made by James Rogers, one of John Easton’s colleagues in the Leeds Circuit.

To: John Easton⁶

New Chapel, City Road

Novr. 17th 1779

My Dr. Brother,

As I have recd. a very satisfactory Letter from Mr. Bradburn, & as it affords me a very high & pure satisfaction to vindicate the character of an injured friend, more especially when he stands in so near a relation as that of a Brother in Xt & fellow-labourer in the Vineyard of my Lord, I take the Liberty of sending you a Coppy [sic], or at least a large extract of it—As follows—

Cork Oct. 17th 1779

Revd & Dr. Sir,

As I have every reason to believe that a Sincere Love of truth was the only motive that induced you to take the trouble of writing yr. friendly Epistle of the 1st Inst. I delay not a moment to send you, a plain categorical answer. I do this the more freely as there is no Error in the World, I more sincerely detest & abhor than that of which the Preachers, to whom you allude, are pleased to accuse me.

I am truly Surprized that any man should even suspect me to be an Arian. As I never preached many Sermons (immediately following each other) wherein I did not professedly, or relatively speak of the Divinity of Jesus Xt. The only Shadow of a reason that anyone can assign for entertaining such an unjust & uncharitable suspicion of me, is, that I was once very intimate with a Gentleman who was at that time intimate with another Gentleman who was an Arian. But surely this will prove too much—for I am intimate with several in this Kingdom, & in England too, who are Romans & Calvinists; but I hope I shall not be suspected to be either one, or the other, because I converse with them: yet I declare again, I know no other reason anyone can have for suspecting me to be an Arian than the above. At Leeds Conference 1775 I signed the Minutes of Conference. This I thought was in effect declaring to God & the World, that I believed & taught the Methodist doctrines & no other.

At London 1776 Mr. T.T.⁷ tax’d me with preaching too much on the Divinity of Xt & with being too warm agt. the Arians. I suppose the reason of this interrogation was, least, being a young Man, I shd. go out of my depth. I told Mr. W——I used none but Scripture arguments & all seemed Satisfied. I came from that Conference to Ireland, & have been here, ever since, during wch. time I have not varied an hairs breadth, from what I then believed. But to put the matter beyond all doubt, I now most Solemnly, & religiously, declare, I always did, & do now believe, that Jesus Xt, is the One, Supreme, Eternal, Independent, & Self-Existant JEHOVAH, that he is in the most extensive sense of the word, Equal with the Father. I do believe the same Jesus who tasted death for the Sin of the World—who was Born of the Virgin Mary & buried in Joseph’s Sepulchre was as touching his human Nature, as truly Man as I am, & as touching his Divine, as truly God from all Eternity as the Father. The distinguishing Tenet of Arius, was, he believed there was a time When the Son of God was not: Socinus believed He had no being till he was concieved [sic] in the Virgin Mary; I believe in the Grammatical Sense of the Athanasian Creed, that Jesus Xt. as touching his Godhead was without beginning—the Father of Eternity. In other Words, I believe a distinct personality & precise Co-equality in the glorious Trinity. What can I say more? I believe if Jesus Xt. be not God Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipresent, & Eternal, he is not only a Worm, but an arrant imposter. If Jesus Xt. be not truly & essentially God, not by office or investiture, but according to the proper meaning of the word, the Infinite & incomprehensible JEHOVAH, the Scriptures are nothing but lies, the Gospel is a mere fiction, & the whole Xtian dispensation is false. In fine, if Jesus Xt. be not the Eternal God, He is a greater deceiver & consequently a greater Sinner than Judas, Pilate or Mahomet; I might add, (with reverence to the adorable name of my precious redeemer) than the Devil himself, for I do not remember that any of these, professed to be God, but Jesus tho’t it no robbery to be equal with God in his Essential attributes, his Work & the Worship due to his Divine Majesty from Men & Angels. You will pardon Dr. Sir my prolixity on the Occasion. I wd. by no means have been so particular, If only you yourself had been concern’d, because I believe you wd. not have doubted my word, but as you were so obliging to favour me with a Letter on a point of such importance, I rely on your brotherly Love to shew this to any one concern’d who may come in your way, or let them have coppies [sic] of it to shew where they please &c. &c. Yrs, Saml Bradburn

I beg the favour of you to shew this Letter to your two Colleagues.⁸ I have not yet heard from Mr. Hampson, but wish he may be able to give as good an account of his opinions on this important point as Mr. Bradburn. Mr. Benson has favor’d me with a Letter but O how different from the foregoing—to give you a specimen of it—I extract the following:

‘You are apprehensive that I do not believe Jesus Xt. to be the One Supreme, Independent, Self-existent God! In answer here to I observe, this manner of speaking, become very fashionable of late is in my Judgement very improper & unscriptural, not to say subversive of the fundamental doctrines of Xtianity, wch. if it teaches any thing above another certainly teaches that There is One God, & one Mediator between God & Man, Xt. Jesus & I desire to know from you, dr. Sir, whether you mean by this language to exclude the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Xt. from having any proper Godhead at all, or (I shd. rather say) Existence, or whether you mean to confound the Persons of the Father and the Son, & to Signify that there is no Mediator.

After wch. he quotes 2 or 3 texts of Scripture & then proceeds:

‘You see, my dr. Sir, in all these, as in a thousand other passages of holy Scripture the only true God is expressly distinguished from Jesus Xt. whom he hath sent, & who is the Mediator between him & us.’

Afterwards indeed, he says that he believes Jesus Xt. in another point of view is God, One with the Father &c. as Arius or Socinus wd. have said as well as himself. I have some Love & respect for Mr. Benson, but I love the Lord Jesus incomparably better, & that Abomination of desolation, the Arian sentiment concerning our Lord, must not stand in the holy place, or we are an Undone People. Blessed be God we are not yet so degenerate, but we can safely stare Heresy in the face—the only Method by wch. it can hurt us at present is by undermining. I call upon you in the Name of God & as a Lover of Jesus, to set yourself agst Vice & Heresy in however pleasing Coulours [sic] they may be dress’d: in respect to the Methodist in general Blessed be God we have nothing more to do, than to drag those Monsters out of their lurking places & hold them up to the Public View of our People, & they & their Adherents will vanish into Nothing &c, &c.

Copy’d over by Jas. Rogers

Leeds, Feb. 7th 1780

Original at David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

To: John Wesley

Bristol, December 15 1779

Honoured and dear Sir,

I was totally ignorant of your Brother’s spirit till very lately.⁹ He appeared to me to be a proud man; but I am now satisfied that he is a man of genuine humility. I thought him an enemy to Methodism; but I now find him its real friend, as far as Methodism is a friend to the Church of England; and on your plan the Church of England never had so great a friend. I looked upon the Concerts,¹⁰ which he allows his sons to have in his own house, to be highly dishonourable to God; and himself to be criminal, by reason of his situation in the Church of Christ: but on mature consideration of all the circumstances appertaining to them, I cannot now blame him.

I laboured during part of these last two years with some, who saw your Brother in the same light as I did; and no doubt, their prejudices served to heighten mine. Whilst I thus viewed everything, respecting him, with a jaundiced eye, it is no wonder that I interpreted all he said, that would bear a double meaning, in the very worst sense. This, I apprehend, was the case in respect to those things, which you mention in your last Letter to him.

He and I were once conversing about the false fire, which sometimes breaks out in our Band-meetings; particularly the behaviour of Wildman and Platt; when he observed, ‘I abominate those Bandmeetings.’ Whether he meant the Band-meetings at the Foundery only, or the institution itself, I cannot say; (though I believe, he meant the former;) however at that time, I put the worst construction upon his words, and repeated them afterwards to others. He himself will be able, (and you cannot doubt his word) to give you full satisfaction respecting this matter.¹¹

As to the other point, Mr. C. Wesley’s words are misrepresented: Mr. C. told me, that his wife, when in company one day with your Brother, expressed some disinclination to meet in Class; and he said to her, ‘I would not have you meet in Class, if you don’t like it’: in consequence of which she never met afterward. What was the full meaning of his heart, when he spoke these words, he alone can satisfy you. As to myself, I have such sincere and unfeigned attachment to the Methodist Discipline, that, highly as I love and respect your Brother, I would rather withdraw myself from that friendship, with which he has lately honoured me, than to sacrifice or abandon that Discipline.

I am endeavouring to bring matters, respecting the Bath Chapel, to a conclusion.¹² I find it very difficult to get money: yet, I hope, through the Divine blessing, it will be raised, and settled upon the plan prescribed in the Minutes. Brother B. shall be appointed steward, if you do not object to him. He is a man of peace, loves you, loves the Church of England, and is beloved by all the people.

Pardon, dear Sir, the freedom I have taken, in writing thus freely to you, and believe me to be your most faithful, and dutiful Son in the Gospel,

Thomas Coke

Printed in the Arminian Magazine, 1790, 50–51.

To: Joseph Benson

Near London

June 1 1780

Dear Sir,

I did not agree to exchange a few Letters with you on the subject of our Controversy before Conference; you proposed it, but I gave no assent to it: I’m persuaded that it is not in my Power to restore you, God alone can do it. I find, Mr. Whiston¹ had the start of Dr. Watts² in respect of some of your favourite Opinions. I did not speak to you in the manner you suppose in many promiscuous Companies, only in one at Warrington consisting of Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Harmer, & two more; & one in Manchester, consisting of the Family, in which I then was, & one Person besides: and it was not after our Conversation at the Preaching-house, but some time before it. It is you, not I, who have kindled the Fire, by spreading as you thought the Preachers could bear it, your pernicious Error. I am not at all surprised at the Rudeness of your Letter; I’m only surprised that you have shown such affection for me for so long a time; nor, do you astonish me, by informing me that you think it an unhappiness that ever I was admitted amongst the Methodists. But, one thing much astonishes me, that you should show such a want of humility & (in some degree) of Justice in yr. last Letter, (not by yr. Incivility to me, for that is but a little thing, but) by speaking in the Plural Number so often, ‘how many of us you can convince of Heresy,’ ‘let us enjoy a little of that peace which subsisted among us before we, &c.’, ‘as to let you lord it over our Faith & dictate to us what we shall believe & what not:’ implying thereby, that the generality of the Preachers believe as you do, which is surely a gross mistake; yea, I trust you will find it a difficult matter to produce yr. half a score; & again, that you are so great a man in the Connection, that you can answer for & speak in the Name of all the Preachers.

I am yr. Friend & Servant in Christ Jesus

Thomas Coke

Addressed: Mr. Benson

at the Preaching-house

in Manchester

Original in the Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

To: ‘our Brethren at Delph’

London

October 10 1780

Dear Brethren,

Our two Brethren, who have come from Delph, have laid the state of your case before us: but as our Debt in London is exceedingly large, our Poor much distress’d and the Conference has authorized our Friends in Birmingham to beg here for the house they are building, or design to build,³ these (whom we have reason to expect every day), & have excluded you from begging any where, except in the Manchester Circuit—for these reasons (however I may pity your case) I am bound to object to the raising of any money amongst our Friends in London. I hope you will forgive my conduct in this instance, otherwise I must bear the Lord’s burden, & most heartily wish you all the Blessings of the new Covenant.

I am

Dear Friends your affectionate Brother

Thomas Coke

Addressed: To our Brethren at Delph in Yorkshire⁴

Copy in Everett’s Manuscript Book, Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

To: William Strahan

London

Jan. 29. 1781

Sir,

I have sent you by Mr. Wesley’s Orders the Dutch-Translation. Mr. Wesley presents his Respects to You & Thanks for your Favour, & begs to have fifteen hundred Copies of it printed in duodecimo, the smallest Pica, if you find that the Translation is tolerable. The Translator promised to correct the Proofs, & therefore, if you think it necessary or useful, we will beg the favour of you to send a Proof-Copy to the New Chapel, & we will return it with the Translator’s Corrections: but that Mr. Wesley leaves entirely to Your Judgment. I am

Sir,

with Respect

Your humble Servant

Thomas Coke

Addressed: To

Willm. Strahan Esqr.

Original in the Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

We are here at a significant point in the development of Methodist publishing. In the earliest days distribution of Wesley’s publications was incidental to his itinerant ministry and that of his travelling preachers. The book stock was found in their saddlebags. Now an extension of this early arrangement was envisaged, and as with other aspects of the development of Methodism in the 1780s, Coke was a key figure as Wesley’s agent.

To: [James?] Dodsley¹

New Chapel, City Road

February 24 1781

Sir,

Mr. Wesley is desirous of employing two or three booksellers in different Parts of the Town to sell his Publications, allowing the 25 pr cent Profit, the usual allowance to Booksellers. He purposes to advertise them thoroughly. The first publications he shall advertise will be the History of the Earl of Morland,² 6s., bound in Calf & Lettered, abridged by him from the Original with Leave of the Author: & two political Tracts on the American War.³ If this Proposal be agreeable to you are there any Bookseller or Booksellers you wd recommend to be joined with you, as you could of course take the Lead?

I am,

Sir,

Your humble Servant.,

Thomas Coke.

Addressed: Mr. Dodsley

Booksellers, Pall Mall

Printed in the Wesley Historical Society Proceedings, vol. 2 (1900), 46. Original in the Lamplough Collection, Methodist Archives Centre, John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

To: Thomas Williams

New Chapel, City Road, [London]

July 21, 1781

Dear Sir

As I had Occasion some time ago to raise two hundred Pounds by Mortgage on my house, & it is now called in, & must be paid at Michaelmas, I shall therefore take it as a great favour if you can borrow for me on a Bond, but, if not, on a Mortgage, one hundred & fifty pounds before Michaelmas next, & to pay it into the hands of Mr. Bold [at Michaelmas: inserted] who has the Title deeds in his possession for Miss Phillips the Mortgagee. I shall be able to pay the other fifty pounds. I hope your health is recovered. My mother joins me in kindest Respects to you & Cousin Williams. I am

Dear Sir

Your much obliged

& very affectionate Friend & Servant

Thomas Coke

Addressed: To Mr. Thomas Williams

Atty at Law

In Brecon, S. Wales

Original at Wesley’s Chapel, City Road, London.

To: [?]

Leeds

Aug. 8. 1781

Dear Sir

Mr. Wesley desires me to inform You that it is his Opinion that You had better, all circumstances considered, give up the publick Preaching in Your House for a Season.

I am

Sir

Your affectionate (tho’ unknown)

Brother

Thomas Coke

[Address missing]

Original in the Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

To: [one of the London itinerants?]

Leeds

Aug. 11. 1781

My very dear Brother,

Mr. Wesley desires me to inform you, that he insists upon it that all the Money recd. from the Burial-Ground be appropriated to the House-Steward’s Expenses & Affairs: & therefore he desires you to take particular Care that every Shilling of the Money be reserved for the above purpose. He also desires you to do every thing in your Power to secure the Front of the Gallery before Sunday sennight (tomorrow sennight) as Mr. Wesley will preach in the New Chapel that Morning. Be so kind as to send Mr. Boardman’s⁴ Letter to him immediately.

I am

Your very affectionate Brother,

Thomas Coke

Original at the Methodist Missionary Society Archives, London.

To: Thomas Williams

London

Septr. 17, 1781

Dear Sir,

As the time of my engagement to pay Mr. Bold two hundred Pounds, which he advanced on Miss Phillips’s Account as a Mortgage on my House, is nearly expired, Miss Phillips wanting the Money at Michaelmas, & as I have not yet been favoured with an answer to my last Letter to you, in which I intreated the favour of you to procure me £150, if possible on Bond, but otherwise on Mortgage against that time; I shall be much obliged to you, if you will favour me with a Line by the Return of Post; &, if you can raise the Money for me, you will confer a favour on

Your much obliged

& affectionate Friend & Servant

Thomas Coke

I beg my respects to Cousin Williams; & my Mother’s.

If you can raise the Money on a Bond, & will be pleased to send it to me filled up, I will return it immediately, properly signed.

Addressed: To

Mr. Thomas Williams

Atty. At Law

In Brecknock

Original at Wesley’s Chapel, City Road, London.

To: John Wesley⁵

Newport [Isle of Wight]

October 23 1781

Hon[oure]d. & dear Sir

Last Wednesday at 1 in the Afternoon I preached out of doors at West Cowes: during the time of Preaching, a Man whose Name is John Grose alias Groves came up to me, & offered me Two-pence, or rather pretended to offer it, for he did it with a Sneer. Mr. Shaw⁶ who was apprehensive from something the Man had said before, that he wd. pull me off the Chair on which I stood, lifted up his Arm between me & Grose; on which Grose who is a very strong Man took hold of him, & shuffled him, & squeezed him in a very rough Manner indeed: Mr. Shaw in endeavouring to get loose from him tore Grose’s Shirt, as Grose himself says: however, after Preaching was over (for Grose only made a noise during the Remainder of the Sermon) he (Grose) pursued Mr. Shaw, & came behind him unexpectedly, & beat him on the Back of his Head, on his Face, his Breast, Ribs, &c. in a most unmerciful manner, whilst one Will[ia]m Foote kept off the People, & encouraged Grose as much as possible. Mr. Shaw made no return either by word or action; but many expected that Grose wd. murder him, &, after Mr. Shaw was brought into the Inn, we were some time in doubt whether he was not mortally wounded, especially by the Blows he rec[eive]d on the Back of his Head. These two Men John Grose or Groves, & Willm. Foote belong to the Excise-Cutter stationed on this Coast; & we think (with submission) it wd. be highly expedient for you to make a representation of this matter to the Board of Excise, that we may have quietness & peace in the Island. I am,

Dear Sir

Your dutiful Son

Thomas Coke

P.S.

Mr. Shaw is, blessed be God, almost recovered. He has still a Pain in his Breast, & sometimes a little Pain on the Back of his Head.

The Board, if you represent this Affair to it & the Commissioners think proper to interfere, will probably write to the Collector of Excise for this District, & desire him to make Inquiry: Now, the Collector is our Friend, &, if called upon, will give them their true Character, for he himself told me he wd. And the Interference of the Board wd. probably have considerable Influence in stopping Persecution in all the Sea-Port Towns in the Island. We have had a Warrant to apprehend him (Jn. Grose) but he has been on Board his Cutter ever since but the Collector promised me just now, that he wd. send Orders to the Captain to