May 12, 1811 — to Thomas Coke
SUSSEX, NEW JERSEY
ASB_VOL3.PDF, PDF page 562
The report of Mrs. Coke’s death has been confirmed, and Asbury writes another letter of sympathy, though somewhat queer. SUSSEX, NEW JERSEY
May 12, 1811
[TO THOMAS COKE]
My ever dear Friend:1
I have your seal in sable, she’s gone! gone to rest to glory. Her toil of labour and of love is over. There is but one earthly cure for the death of a wife. Some I have feared would have died themselves without it. It maybe, it is the duty of thousand millions to be conjugal. Our Heavenly Father cares for you, know it, far, far be it. My Dear, say it, write it now in the anguish of thy spirit, perhaps I loved her more than God.2 I feel my full heart, my tears like death swollen stream. I offer one relief, I offer if I cannot relieve. Everlasting love support thee.
Oh the happy toil, the labour and the labyrinth of a conference every month for 7 together. Near 50 married preachers out of 85 or 90, the conferences are greatly on a par as to numbers. It seems I have been kind in letters of late to my dear Brother never to be forgotten. Oh may you meet a thousand soliloquies to your afflicted soul. So pray
FRANCIS
Lamplough Collection, British Conference. Transcribed by Frank Baker
Notes (2)
- A note from Henry Boehm appears between this and the preceding letter. Asbury adds the remainder of this letter above and below the address, on the parts which, when the letter is folded, are tucked inside. Since Boehm’s postscript has been added, he seems to have received a letter from Coke. (Frank Baker.) ↩
- Asbury’s suggestion that Coke’s wife may have died because he loved her more than he did God, when put thus bluntly, seems very harsh. This is not an isolated example, however, and springs from a very different approach to the fact of death. (Frank Baker.) ↩