The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-17

Church prefers the word bishop" and says
wesley ordained DIR. Coke a bishop
By whose authority was the word bishop sub
stituted for superintendent! Did not the secre-
taly without authority, erase the word superin-
tendent and put the word bishop into the min
utes and then offer to change it again when
called to account No wonder Wesley Numbered
in his letter to Asbury having learned that they
had addressed Washington as bishops OF the
Methodist Church" 81 study to be little, you
study to be great; l creep you strut along
How can you how dare you suffer yourself TO be
called a bishop} Men may call me fool,
scoundrel, and am content but they shall
never, by my consent, call me a bishop! For
my sake, for Gods sake, for Christs sake, put
full end to this!' Black is white if DR.. Marine is
right
Ic) Dr. Marine adds that Wesley ordained
Dr. Coke bishop ''of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in America Wesley says distinctly in
his letter that it was for the work of the minis
try in America The fact being that when Yves
ley appointed DIR. Coke superintendent there
was no Methodist Episcopal Church in existence
in America. or anywhere else on earth. 1t is
already plain Wesley neverintended there should
be. Besides the passage quoted, Wesley shows
the terrible evils that result from separating
from the body of Christ, against which St Paul
warns the early Christians; and he pleads in
burning words that his brethren may beware of
causing "by word or action any division
therein" There was then no Methodist Episco-
pal Church in England. Speaking of Gods
Coke superintendent, he says, the far greater
part of those who had once received the word
with joy, under his own preaching and White,
field'sl were entangled again and overcome-had
entirely turned back Just as it has always
been after Methodist revivals. He had "a
melancholy account of the state of religion in
most of the colonies" A few preachers were
sent over and societies formed, JUST as in Eng
land. The work revived again, and DR.. Coke
was set apart for superintendent of the Amer
can circuit of societies, as others werein England.
T. These are the facts from Wesley himself.
1t is pity for DR.. Marine to so far forget that
charity and courtesy that belongs first of all to
the Christian pulpit as to talk about 1.-The pre-
tentions, the effrontery and the ignorance of
churchmen. The whole tone of his sermon is
extensively boastful, and invites to turning of
his own methods upon himself. The closing
sentence of his answer to the questions kindly
put is climax of ignorance. He speaks of the
doctrine of succession as a fabulous theory
(which Rome has palmed upon the world" For
nearly five hundred years, before there was
Pope of Rome particle of Roman Cathol-
cism in the church, the historians and fathers
traced the SUGGESTIONS of the bishoprics to the
apostles If succession in the Church of Eng
land is myth, the ordination of Wesley him
self is void. He only a layman, and the
bishops" of the Methodist Church of America
are not even presbyters; they are aymen. For
layman could not certainly ordain bishop,
even if, after the maturest deliberatiOn, he con
cluded that he was as much bishop as any man
in England or Europe E. A. BRADLEY.