[Autumn, 1790] — to the Virginia Preachers
ASB_VOL3.PDF, PDF page 113
The first meeting of the Council was held in Baltimore on December 3, 1789. The second meeting was in Baltimore on December 1, 1790. This letter was written before the second meeting. It was probably written in the early autumn. At the Virginia Conference in Petersburg in June, 1790, the preachers under O’Kelly’s influence had unanimously voted against the form of government set up by the Council. Asbury said, “Ye have all spoken out of one mouth. Henceforth you are all out of the union.” He gathered up his papers and left. O’Kelly said that they had all been expelled from the union. However, regardless of this the preachers went to their appointments.
[Autumn, 1790]1
[TO THE VIRGINIA PREACHERS]
I advise you all to meet in conference among yourselves, and if you will submit to the new plan of government, send your delegates2 to the council. The council shall concern only with the temporalities of the church. You have my last will and testament.
[FRANCIS ASBURY]
William Guirey, The History of the Episcopacy in Four Parts, 366. Rare Book Collection, Library of Congress
Notes (2)
- No place, date, or signature. ↩
- The Virginia preachers met in conference in Mecklenburg, and O’Kelly proposed that they write an affectionate letter but send no delegate. The preachers were pleased by his suggestion. (See MacClenny, The Life of Rev, James O’Kelly, ch. vi, for a discussion of these facts.) ↩