book iii

., chap. v. The persistent misrepresentations of him on this point are astonishing. The Rev. Edwin Sidney (Life of Walker, of Truro, p. 260) says that “when he wanted ordained preachers for America, he, of a sudden, _in his old age_, found out, by reading Lord King’s Account of the Primitive Church, that bishops and presbyters are of the same order.” This inexcusable violation of historical truth is common in the writings of Churchmen against Methodism.

[789] A Letter to a Friend, Works, vol. vii., p. 301.

[790] Letter to Rev. Mr. Clark, Works, vol. vii., p. 284.

[791] “On the Church,” Works, vol. vii., p. 312.

[792] Burk’s History of Virginia, vol. ii., p. 180. Hawks (Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United States of America, vol. i., chap. ix.) doubts Burk’s estimate. Dr. Hawks’s volume needs important emendations, especially in respect to Methodism.

[793] Hawks’s “Contributions,” vol. i., chap. x.

[794] Journals of the Virginia Assembly, 1784.

[795] Bangs’s Hist. M. E. Church, vol. i., pp. 135-7.

[796] Works, vol. vii., p. 231.

[797] Coke’s Letter to Wesley, Smith’s History of Wesleyan Methodism, vol. i.,