world calls play was to be permitted. Dr. Coke had brought with him Wesley's sour precept, that those who play when they are young, will play when they are old; and he supported it by the authority of Locke and Rousseau, saying, "that though the latter was essentially mistaken in his religious system, yet his wisdom, in other respects, was indisputably acknowledged!" He judged well, however, in recommending agriculture and architecture as studies especially useful in a new country, and therefore to be preferred for the recreation of the students. The permission of bathing was restricted to a plunge into a cold bath bathing in the river was forbidden; a prohibition apparently so absurd, that some valid local reason for it must be presumed. The hours of study were from eight till twelve, and from three till six; breakfast at eight, dinner at one, supper at six, prayers at seven, and bed at nine. The punishments were, private reproof for a first offence, public reproof for a second, and, for the third, confinement in a room set apart for the purpose. The establishment was named Cokesbury* College, after its two founders. An able president was found, a good master, and, in the course of a few * In the year 1792 the college was set on fire, and burnt to the ground, the whole of its apparatus and library being destroyed. The state offered a reward of one thousand dollars for the discovery of the incendiary, but without effect. Dr. Coke was not deterred from a second attempt, and seventeen of his friends, in the Baltimore Society, immediately subscribed among themselves more than one thousand pounds toward the establishment of another college. A large building in the city of Baltimore, which had been intended for balls and assemblies was purchased, with all the premises belonging to it, for five thousand three hundred pounds. The Society subscribed seven hundred of this, and collected six hundred more from house to house; the seventeen original subscribers made themselves responsible for the rest. There was room for a church upon the ground, and a church accordingly was built. This col lege was even more successful than Cokesbury while it lasted: but it came to the same fate in 1797. Some boys made a bonfire in an adjoining house, and college, church, and several dwellings and warehouses were consumed. By the two fires the Methodists sustained a loss of ten thousand pounds. Dr. Coke then agreed with Asbury, who, after the first catastrophe, was convinced " that it was not the will of God for them to undertake such expensive buildings, nor to attempt such popu lar establishments." As these events did not occur till after the death of Mr. Wesley, they are noticed here, rather than in the text. years, the institution acquired so much repute, that young men, from the Southern States, came there to finish their education; and the founders were apprized, that the legislature was willing to grant them an act of incorporation, and enable them to confer degrees. The reputation of this college gratified the American Methodists, and disposed them to found others. The people in Kentucky requested to have one in their country, and offered to give three or four thousand acres of good land for its support. The reply to this application was, that Conference would undertake to complete one within ten years, if the people would provide five thousand acres of fertile ground, and settle it on trustees under its direction. In Georgia, a few leading persons engaged to give two thousand acres; and one congregation subscribed twelve thousand five hundred pounds weight of tobacco towards the building. Institutions of this kind are endowed at so small a cost in new countries, that, with a little foresight on the part of government, provision might easily be made for the wants, and palliatives prepared for the evils, of advanced society. Had the institution in Georgia been effected, it was to have been called Wesley College, in reference to Mr. Wesley's early labours in that country. At this time he was so popular in America, that some hundreds of children were baptized by his name. This was in great measure owing to the choice which he had made of Dr. Coke, whose liberal manners, and rank of life, obtained him access among the higher classes upon equal terms, and flattered those in a lower station with whom he made himself familiar. The good opinion, however, which his representative had obtained among all ranks, was lessened, and, for a time, well nigh destroyed, by the indiscretion with which he exerted himself in behalf of a good cause. Wesley had borne an early testimony against the system of negro slavery: on this point his conduct is curiously contrasted with Whitefield's, who exerted himself in obtaining a repeal of that part of the charter granted to the colony in Georgia, whereby slavery was prohibited. Dr. Coke, feeling like Mr. Wesley, took up the subject with his usual ardour, preached upon it with great vehemence, and prepared a petition to Congress for the emancipation of the negroes. With this petition he and Asbury went to General Washington at Mount Vernon, and solicited him to sign it. Washington received them courteously and hospitably: he declined signing the petition, that being inconsistent with the rank which he held; but he assured them that he agreed with them, and that, if the Assembly should take their petition into consideration, he would signify his sentiments by a letter. They proceeded so far themselves, that they required the members of the society to set their slaves free; and several persons were found who made this sacrifice from a sense of duty. One planter in Virginia emancipated twenty-two, who were, at that time, worth from thirty to forty pounds each. His name was Kennon, and it deserves to be honourably recorded. But such instances were rare; and Dr. Coke, who had much of the national ardour in his character, proceeded in such an intolerant † spi "As for the lawfulness of keeping slaves," he says, "Ihave no doubt, since I hear of some that were bought with Abraham's money, and some that were born in his house. And I cannot help thinking that some of those servants mentioned by the Apostles in their epistles, were, or had been slaves. It is plain that the Gibeonites were doomed to perpetual slavery; and, though liberty is a sweet thing to such as are born free, yet, to those who never knew the sweets of it, slavery perhaps may not be so irksome. However this be, it is plain to a demonstration, that hot countries cannot be cultivated without negroes." So miserably could Whitefield reason! He flattered, however, his better feelings, by supposing that the slaves who should be brought into Georgia would be placed in the way of conversion. These extracts from his journal will exemplify that spirit: "At night I lodged at the house of Captain Dillard a most hospitable man, and as kind to his negroes as if they were white servants. It was quite pleasing to see them so decently and comfortably clothed. And yet I could not beat into the head of that poor man the evil of keeping them in slavery, although he had read Mr. Wesley's Thoughts on Slavery (I think he said) three times over. But his good wife is strongly on our side."-"I preached the late Colonel Bedford's funeral sermon. But I said nothing good of him, for he was a violent friend of slavery ; and his interest being great among the Methodists in these parts, he would have been a dreadful thorn in our sides, if the Lord had not in mercy taken him away." !! rit of philanthropy, that he soon provoked a violent opposition, and incurred no small degree of personal danger. One of his sermons upon this topic incensed some of his hearers so much, that they withdrew, for the purpose of way-laying him; and a lady negro-owner promised them fifty pounds, if they would givethat little Doctor" an hundred lashes. But the better part of his congregation protected him, and that same sermon produced the emancipation of twenty-four slaves. In one county the slave owners presented a bill against him, which was found by the grand jury, and no less than ninety persons set out in pursuit of him; but he was got beyond their reach. A more ferocious enemy followed him, with an intention of shooting him: this the man himself confessed, when, some time afterwards, he be came a member of the Methodist Society. On his second visit to America, Coke was convinced that he had acted indiscreetly, and he consented to let the question of emancipation rest, rather than stir up an opposition which so greatly impeded the progress of Methodism. If a course of itinerancy in England led the errant preacher into picturesque scenes and wild situations, much more might this be expected in America.Coke was delighted with the romantic way of life in which he found himself engaged; preaching in the midst of ancient forests, "with scores, and sometimes hundreds of horses tied to the trees. "Sometimes," he says, "a most noble vista, of half a mile or a mile in length, would open between the lofty pines; sometimes the tender fawns and hinds would suddenly appear, and, on seeing or hearing us, would glance through the woods, or vanish away." The spring scenery of these woods filled him with delight.— "The oaks," says he, "have spread out their leaves, and the dogwood, whose bark is medicinal, and whose innumerable white flowers form one of the finest ornaments of the forests, is in full blossom. The deep green of the pines, the bright transparent green of the oaks, and the fine white of the dogwood flowers, with other trees and shrubs, form such a complica tion of beauties as is indescribable to those who have only lived in countries that are almost entirely cultivated."—" It is one of my most delicate entertainments, to embrace every opportunity of ingulphing myself, (if I may so express it,) in the woods: I seem then to be detached from every thing but the quiet vegetable creation and my God." A person always went before him to make his publications; by which strange phrase is implied a notice to all the country round, in what place, and at what times, the itinerant was to be expected. Their mark for finding the way in these wide wildernesses was the split bush.When a new circuit in the woods was formed, at every turning of the road or path, the preacher split two or three bushes beside the right way, as a direction * for those who came after him. They had no cause to repent of their labour in travelling; for numerous hearers were collected, insomuch that Dr. Coke was astonished at the pains which the people took to hear the Gospel. Idleness and curiosity brought many, and many came for the pleasure of being in a crowd; but numbers were undoubtedly drawn together by that desire of religious instruction which is the noblest characteristic of man, and for which, by the greatest of all political errors, the American government has neglected to provide."I am daily filled with surprise," he says, "in meeting with such large congregations as I am favoured with in the midst of vast wildernesses, and wonder from whence they come!" It appears that the spirit of riotous devotion, which afterwards produced the fanatical extravagancies of the camp-meetings. be gan to manifest itself in the early days of American Methodism, and that it was encouraged by the superiors when it might have been repressed. "At Annapolis," says Dr. Coke," after my last prayer, the congregation began to pray and praise aloud in a most astonishing manner. At first I found some reluctance to enter into the business; but soon the tears began to flow, and I think I have seldom found *"In one of the circuits the wicked discovered the secret, and split bushes in wrong places, on purpose to deceive the preachers.” |