Letter

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 133 PLP 28/7/17
  • Former Reference
      GB 135 PLP 28/7/17
  • Dates of Creation
      14 May 1791
  • Physical Description
      1 item

Scope and Content

Copy letter from Philadelphia to Bishop Samuel Seabury of the Episcopalian Church, Connecticut, describing Coke's background in the Church of England, and how his opinions had moved away from advocating Methodist separation to one of reunion, as evidenced by the sermons he had preached in Great Britain.

He emphasizes the strength of the Methodists in the United States and how a union could be effected, namely by the acceptance of Methodist deacons and elders as ministers, and the consecration of Francis Asbury and Coke himself as Episcopalian bishops – not, Coke emphasizes, through personal ambition but to allay Methodist suspicions. He expresses his fears re Asbury's opinions on this matter.

[Publication record: Facsimile in the Bodleian Library.]