Charles Wesley and Samuel Seabury's Plan for Ordaining Methodists in America
Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury rejected a plan to reunite with the remnants of the Church of England in America in 1784, but Coke changed his mind in 1791. Even then, Episcopal bishop William White responded positively to Coke's initiative, but presiding bishop Samuel Seabury turned a deaf ear. I was surprised to learn, then, that Seabury and Methodist co-founder Charles Wesley actually met in London in 1784 and created a plan by which Seabury would ordain Methodist preachers when he returned to America. About the same time, Charles' brother John Wesley made his fateful decision to consecrate Thomas Coke as kind of bishop and to send him to America with the authority to ordain. From The Living Church , Methodists and Anglicans: Zeal and patience (July 12, 2017) : *** As [John] Wesley sent off his letter, and Thomas Coke with it to come to America with the purpose of ordaining his preachers, another Anglican priest was also travelling about Britain. Samuel Seabury,...