November 23, 1803 — to Thomas Coke
CHARLESTOWN, S.C.
ASB_VOL3.PDF, PDF page 342
This is only a fragment of the letter which Asbury wrote to Coke at this time. We are indebted to Drew for this much of it.
CHARLESTOWN, S.C.
November 23, 1803
[TO THOMAS COKE]1
…I was a little surprised at the reception of a letter dated Petersburg, only about fifteen days after one dated Dublin, July 4, 1803. You have hastened your escape from the storm and tempest of war and of water. O may you find a safe retreat, and a field of great usefulness upon our continent. [FRANCIS ASBURY]
Drew adds: “This letter, which is dated Charleston, Nov. 23, 1803, and is addressed to Bishop Coke, Light-Street chapel, Baltimore, points out a track of nearly 5000 miles in length, which he was earnestly invited to pursue, in order that he might visit the seven annual Conferences on the continent prior to his return. This was a tour, which, according to Mr. Asbury’s letter, would take him about nine months to accomplish.” Samuel Drew, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Coke, LL.D., 1817, 315
Notes (1)
- Hardly anything is known about Coke’s last visit to America in the autumn of 1803. This extract, however, has been used by various of his biographers, occasionally with slight emendation and the rephrasing of Drew’s hints about the remainder of the letter. Drew’s extract and notes from the original must probably be regarded as our chief authority until the original turns up. On this, his last, visit to America, Coke carried the address from the British Conference, dated August 5, 1803, asking for his return to England if possible, but adding, “for your sakes, we anxiously desire his preservation among you, which we pray you may long enjoy.” (See letter of May 9, 1800.) In Coke’s letter of January 6, 1806, however, he confesses to the American Methodists that on this occasion in 1803: “I had at the British Conference which was held just previous to my sailing, various severe struggles in my mind, whether I should take my solemn final farewell of my European Brethren or not. I did repeatedly give them strong reason to doubt whether they should ever see me again, & was faithful in repeating to them the solemn engagements I was under to you. But I accepted of their address as an honest Man, though I greatly love & respect my European Brethren.” Coke then records how, when he arrived at Petersburg, in Virginia, he had made up his mind to stay in America, intending first to visit the North, and to return in time for the General Conference. A vivid impression that he should go to meet Asbury at the Georgia Conference, however, caused him to set off for Georgia. He reached Augusta, Georgia, just before Asbury in late December. The cold-shouldering which he experienced at the conference convinced him that he “ought not to labour in America, unless the General Conference would consent to comply in some degree with its engagements.” (See Duren, Asbury, 260-62. (Frank Baker.) ↩