Thomas Coke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Methodist Conference | |
| In office 1797–1798 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Benson |
| In office 1805–1806 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Moore |
| Succeeded by | Adam Clarke |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 September 1747 Brecon, South Wales |
| Died | 2 May 1814 (1814-05-03) (aged 66) |
| Occupation | Methodist bishop |
Thomas Coke (9 September 1747 – 2 May 1814) was the firstMethodistbishop.[1] Born inBrecon, Wales, he was ordained as apriest in 1772, but expelled from his Anglican pulpit ofSouth Petherton for being a Methodist. Coke metJohn Wesley in 1776. He laterco-founded Methodism in America and then established the Methodist missions overseas, which in the 19th century spread around the world.
Born inBrecon, South Wales, his father, Barthomolew, was a well-to-doapothecary. Coke, who was only 5-foot and 1 inch tall and prone to being overweight, read jurisprudence atJesus College,Oxford, which has a strong Welsh tradition, graduatingBachelor of Arts, thenMaster of Arts in 1770, andDoctor of Civil Law in 1775. On returning to Brecon he served asmayor in 1772.
In the same year as his mayoralty he was ordained in theChurch of England and served acuracy at South Petherton inSomerset. He had already allied himself with the Methodist movement, and this made for trouble when a newrector arrived in theparish. Coke had begun to hold cottage services andopen services of the sort promoted byJohn Wesley. He was dismissed from his post onEaster Sunday 1777, and his parishioners celebrated at therector's behest by ringing the church bells and opening ahogshead of cider. He returned to Petherton in 1807 and preached to a crowd of 2,000.
He met John Wesley in August 1776, becoming one of his closest assistants. Wesley called Coke "the flea" because he seemed always to be hopping around on his missions.
He was appointed Superintendent of the London District in 1780 and President of theMethodist Church in Ireland in 1782 – a function he was to serve many times in the coming decades.
In January 1784, Thomas Parker, "a barrister and able local preacher fromYork", joined Coke in issuing a "Plan of the Society for the Establishment of Missions among the Heathens" (Coke 2013:48; Vickers 2013:133-135)[2]
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Following theAmerican Revolution, most of theAnglican clergy who had been in America came back to England. Wesley asked theBishop of London to ordain some ministers for theNew World, but he declined. At this point Wesley still considered only a canonically consecrated bishop capable of conferringHoly Orders. However, in September 1784, inBristol, Wesley consecrated Coke as Superintendent, a title replaced in 1787 in America by that of Bishop (Greekepiskopos) in spite of Wesley's strong disapproval ("superintendent" is etymologically equivalent toepiskopos). Since Coke was already apriest (Greekpresbuteros) orpresbyter in the Church of England, some interpret this consecration as the equivalent of episcopal consecration. Wesley's action took place two months before the consecration inAberdeen ofSamuel Seabury as bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA. Coke set sail for New York; during the voyage he readAugustine'sConfessions,Virgil'sGeorgics, biographies ofFrancis Xavier (Jesuit missionary to India) andDavid Brainerd (Puritan missionary to North American aboriginals), and a treatise on episcopacy. A conference of Methodist preachers was held atBaltimore, starting on Christmas Day 1784, at which Coke andFrancis Asbury were elected superintendents, and the Church was constituted as an independent body under the name of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On 27 December Coke ordained deacons and presbyters and consecrated Asbury as Superintendent; Coke and Asbury are regarded as having been jointly the first superintendents of the Methodist Church in America (the American Methodist Conference formally endorsed the title of Bishop in 1787).
Coke returned to England in June 1785 and made eight further visits to America, his final visit being in 1803. While in America he spoke out againstslavery and wrote a letter on the subject toGeorge Washington. Washington met Coke twice and even invited him to preach beforeCongress. After spending some months travelling throughoutGreat Britain andIreland, Coke made his first mission to theWest Indies in 1786, making further visits in 1788–89, 1790, and 1792–93.
Following Wesley's death in 1791 Coke became Secretary to the British Conference, having been widely supposed to be Wesley's desired successor. He wasPresident of the Conference in 1797 and 1805, on both occasions trying to persuade the Conference to confer on him the official title of Bishop.
In the same year he went toParis and preached in French. He established a mission inGibraltar in 1803 and then spent five years travelling in the cause of Methodist missions, including visitingSierra Leone. He promoted others in setting up missions inCanada andScotland.
On 1 April 1805, at the age of 58, Coke married Penelope Goulding Smith, a wealthy woman who happily spent her personal fortune furthering the missions. She travelled with him until her death on 25 January 1811. That same year in December he married for a second time, to Anne Loxdale, and his wife died the following year, 5 December 1812.[5]
He hoped to open Methodist missions in theEast Indies and at his own expense he set sail forCeylon on 30 December 1813. He had in fact tried to persuade the Prime Minister,Lord Liverpool, to appoint him to an Indian bishopric in the Church of England (theappointment of Church of England bishops being then, as now, a prerogative exercised by the Prime Minister on behalf of the Sovereign). However, Coke died after four months at sea on the way toCeylon (Sri Lanka).[6] It is thought he died of a "fit of apoplexy," or possibly astroke. He died aboard ship, located 2 degrees, 29 minutes south latitude, and 59 degrees, 29 minutes east longitude, in theIndian Ocean, where he was also laid to rest.
Asbury described Coke as "a gentleman, a scholar, a bishop to us; and as a minister of Christ, in zeal, in labours, in services, the greatest man in the last century."
Coke's publications included:
He also contributed toHenry Moore'sLife of Wesley (1792).
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