AN ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1796
5. A rule was made for the trial of a local preacher before his peers, differing but little from the one now in existence, which, as the regulations
respecting them have been modified from time to time, I shall notice more particularly in another place. Before this rule was passed, local preachers had been tried before the society to which they belonged, the same as if they were but private members. Since this period, however, they have been amenable either to those of their own grade in the ministry or to the
quarterly meeting conference.
The following rule respecting the use and sale of spirituous liquors was made, and still continues, unhappily, the standing regulation on this subject:
—
“If any member of our society retail or give spirituous liquors, and any thing disorderly be transacted under his roof on this account, the preacher who has the oversight of the circuit shall proceed against him as in the case of other immoralities; and the person
accused shall be cleared, suspended; or excluded, according to his conduct, as on other charges of immorality.”
By turning to the form of Discipline published in 1789, which is said to be fifth edition, we find the following item in the General Rules: —
“Drunkenness, buying or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them.”
This was an alteration from the rule of Mr. Wesley, as that allowed the use of them in cases of “extreme necessity,” — whereas this prohibits all use of them, as a drink, and even forbids the “buying or selling” them under any circumstances. At what time or by whose influence the rule was so altered as to read as it now stands in the Discipline, I have not been able to
ascertain, but presume it must have been some time prior to the year 1796, as it seems the pernicious custom of retailing them had become so
offensive at this time as to require a special enactment of the General Conference to check the unhallowed practice; for when people begin to make laws with a view to regulate any particular practice, it is an evidence that the practice itself is, in some sense, sanctioned. It is to be hoped that the time is not far distant when the entire use of spirituous liquors shall be banished from the world, but more especially from the church of God: and that to traffic in them, by either manufacturing, buying or selling them, shall be considered as dishonorable, as it is now to become inebriated by their excessive use.
In consequence of the extension of the work, the frequent interruptions in the health of Bishop Asbury, and the long absence of Dr. Coke from the continent every year, it was considered expedient by many members to elect and consecrate some person as an assistant bishop. After consulting each other in reference to the manner in which the person should be elected, Dr. Coke put an end to the discussion by offering himself
unreservedly to the American Methodists. This offer was accepted by the conference, and Dr. Coke gave them the following certificate in writing: —
“I offer myself to my American brethren entirely to their service, all I am and have, with my talents and labors in every respect, without any mental reservation whatever, to labor among them and to assist Bishop Asbury; not to station the preachers at any time when he is present; but to exercise all the episcopal duties, when I hold a
conference in his absence, and by his consent, and to visit the West Indies and France, when there is an opening and I can be spared.
Signed, Thomas Coke.” Conference Room, Baltimore, Oct. 27, 1796.”
This instrument was given and accepted in good faith, and the obligation was sacredly fulfilled on the part of Dr. Coke, until he was honorably released from it by his American brethren. In pursuance of this
engagement, Dr. Coke continued on the American continent as the “friend and colleague” of Bishop Asbury, laboring with great acceptance and usefulness among the people in different parts of the country, until the 6th of February, when he took his departure from Charleston, South Carolina, for Europe. Having a very tempestuous passage, the ship suffered severely, an though they arrived in the Irish channel in twenty-five days, they were there becalmed nearly sixteen days, during which time the following curious incident occurred, which shows the superstition to which seamen, otherwise intelligent, are often subjected.
During the calm Dr. Coke used his time in reading a large folio volume.
“At length,” says his biographer, “being impelled more violently by a tide of superstition, than his vessel was by natural breezes, the captain
exclaimed in unequivocal terms, ‘We shall never have a wind until that book is finished.’ ‘Sir, I will put it aside,’ replied Dr. Coke. ‘ No,’ rejoined the captain, that will not do; it must be finished, or we shall have no wind.’
Dr. Coke continued reading, and ‘I doubt not,’ he observes, ‘that the captain was somewhat confirmed in his opinion; for just as I had finished the book, the wind sprung up, and in six and thirty hours brought us into the harbor.’”
Having finished the labors of this conference, Bishop Asbury expressing his gladness that the session was over, went to his accustomed work, and the preachers to their respective fields of labor, being “determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified.”