This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3" 3433 07079271 2 ■ t3a fa/ . <7crvCcnx c&<i£iv cf&rct i dtljitnitf J\ filmic. f^ octcCcaa. ctj£4Jjiy> <ttrcL ig0U£C& UOW 4 I '•* t ' i I i fe i m 1 * OTatljiirtttf Jr. f&oyic. *v*/ni-\Tave) h^OO. §.. Nt«-ro- NN«.«h "Indies . X ( EXTRACTS OP THE JOURNALS OF THE I/ATE - REV. THOMAS COKE^li L. D.- COMPRISING SEVERAL VISITS TO NORTH-AMERICA .. ;ANIJ THE "., ; . V; j/ HIS TOUR. TRRC-Ugfi .A PAJlT 0F IRELAND, AND HIS NEARLY "FINISHED VOYAGE TO BOMBAY IN THE EAST-INDIES: TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A Life of the Doctor, In Labours more abundant.— St. Paui» DUBLIN: PRINTED BY R. TAPPER, 140, CAPEL-STREET; For the METHODIST BOOK-ROOM, 13, Whitefriar-Street. May 1913 P™ 3s. 9&. H THE NEW Y:©ffiSK;| PUBLIC JO&EA&Y 158770 ASTO«f LSW0X »ND TacfeN-pouH»*rioNs. io9y. TO THE READER. THE late Rev. Dr. Coke's Journals were heretofore published in small detached pieces, except in one instance, where Extracts of several of his Journals to North-America and the West-India Islands were collected and published in a small volume, (which was dedi cated to the Rev. John Wesley,) and well received in Great Britain and Ireland. Since the time of that publication, many interesting Extracts from the Doctor's Journals of a later date were presented to the Public, in the Ar- minian or Methodist Magazine for the year 1798, which Extracts were never published separately. The present volume comprises the Col lection dedicated to the Rev. John Wesley, the Extracts from the Methodist Magazine already referred to, and the Doctor's last Journal (as far as it has come to hand) of his nearly finished voyage to the island of Bombay in the East: to which is prefixed, a Life of the Doctor, by Mr. Joseph Sutcliffe, Minister of the Gospel. Dublin, Dec. 23, 1815- MEMOIRS OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS COKE, LL.D.* A HE first care of heaven is over the church; it extends to all its members, and numbers the hairs of their head. This assertion is exemplified in the whole scheme of providence. God would not wash away the polluted inhabitants of the ancient world till he had first provided an ark for the faithful fa mily. He refused to indulge Elijah, in his request to die, till he had caused him to throw his mantle on Elisha. And our blessed Lord did not forsake the earth till he had provided a ministry, and thereby ensured the consummation of his work. God's special care is equally distinguishable not only in calling proper instruments from the trea sures of his providence, but in qualifying them for his work. Moses had every endowment as a patri arch, a law-giver, and a prophet. David had a double class of talents to vanquish the enemies of his country, and to re-establish religion. St. Paul, called to convert the Gentiles, though feeble in body, had every endowment of wisdom, of lan guages, and power, proper to bring over the learned and polished heathen into the church. It was the B same •The Editor has great pleasure in announcing, that Mr. Drew, of St. Austell, is employed, agreeably to the Doctor's request, in writing his life at large ; and from the former productions of his pen, it is augured that the expectations of the public will aot be disappointed. 2 same with the reformers. Luther had courage, Melanchton had wisdom, Calvin had diligence, and lErasmus had wit. The same gracious cares of heaven are equally discoverable in the rise and progress of Methodism. When the spirit of religion was almost lost in this country, as is confessed by Watts, Butler, and Seeker; and when God raised up the venerable Wesley, aided by a few other clergymen, he gave him a missionary spirit, a cool judgment, a paternal influence, and crowned the whole with the growing lustre of a hoary age. As the work enlarged, Providence acting on its own and primitive plan, raised up the young converts to supply the lack. When certain dignitaries of the church, mortified to see the rising glory of the work, loaded him in a succession of pamphlets with a mass of reproach, he found leisure to reply with that meekness of wisdom, and confidence of truth, which always added new laurels' to his icause. But in 1771, when a body of ministers, and ethers, called Calvinistic Methodists, assembled in Bristol to renew the continental controversies on the doctrines of grace, and with a determination either to force Mr. Wesley to retract what he deemed his .purest tenets, or expose him, as- many of them had already done, to the most illiberal reproach, God raised him up a Herculean advocate in the late Mr. Fletcher- In this gentleman were united the clearest light of the reformation, with the purest habits of continental piety. The avenues of sacred knowledge were accessible to him by a liberal acquaintance with languages. The French and German were to him vernacular. And a clear understanding, a lively fancy, a felicity of genius, and a Christian urbanity, gave a finish to his po lished manners. This great casuist, in the time of danger, and by the efforts of seven years, covered Methodism with the shield of faith, and defended iier vitals with the breast-plate of righteousness. — jie did more; he stayed her wavering members seduced seduced by beguiling books, whose theology is very unlike the writings of primitive Christianity ; and while he corrected error in his opponents, he held them fast by the hand of brotherly love. Again: as Methodism enlarged its progress, and increased it» cares of discipline ; and as hoary age, thongh attended with few infirmities, stole on Mr. Wesley, providence, ever faithful to its designs, afforded him the requisite aid in the person of Dr. Coke ; a gentleman lively in zeal, ingenuous in de sign, persevering in efforts ; but more calculated to follow a father, than take the lead in so great a work. He was born at Brecon, in South Wales, Sep tember the 9th, and baptized at St. Mary's, Octo ber the 5th, 1747. His father's name was Bartho lomew Coke, an apothecary of Brecon, and of high esteem, who repeatedly served the- office of chief magistrate for that borough. His mother's name was Amr, daughter of Thomas Phillips, Esq. of Frostre, after whom the grandson was named. And as he was an only child, and the fond hope of his parents, they were the more liberal in the plan of his education. At a proper age, he was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Griffiths, master of the college school in Brecon, for whom the pupil ever expressed a grateful esteem. In his seventeenth year, at the Lent term, he was entered as a gentleman com moner at Jesus College, Oxford. To this splendid seat of letters, young Coke went in the simplicity of his heart, and little aware of the temptations to which he would become exposed. The principles of Christianity had never been opened to him in that distinct and collective view so as to command the assent of the mind ; and the doctrines most ex posed to attack, he had never been instructed tQ defend. The consequences were, as might have been foreseen, that he became a prey to the profli gate free-thinkers of the age. B2 To. : To doubt the divine authority of revealed relf- gion, and combat the moral code, have ever been the bias of reason so far as influenced by latent depravity, and the haughtiness of science : and tha garb of hypocrisy or of superstition, in which reli gion has been too often clad, it must be confessed, has somewhat justified the sneers of infidelity. — The schools at all times have been peculiarly prone to doubt,' and even to make a merit of deviating from the creed of the vulgar. Since the revival of letters, the Cartesian philosophy has revived the doubting system : and father Malebranche by mis take, and the French Academy by profession, em ploying the whole influence of polished literature, have widely diffused it over Europe. This child of error, born to flatter the vanity of man, was so tuperior and imposing in his airs, and so distin guished in his connexions, that his moral character was less perceived. Almost every man of birth and fashion, was proud to claim either a near op remote affinity with his family. However, since he has attained a full maturity of growth and sta ture in the French revolution, we now know who he is, and have traced his pedigree back to the origin •of -evil. The- philosopher losing sight of God, is a meteor blazing to his own destruction. , For a student, like Des Cartes, to commence his researches by doubting of every thing, except hi* .own existence, is to abandon the religion and know ledge of the holy patriarchs, and embark alone with the frail guide of reason, beclouded with sin ful passions ! In tracing nature back to her source, j»nd seeking to discover more and more the being and perfections of God from his works, I should think it soon enough to doubt when my difficulties became insuperable. How the superior sense of gentlemen inclined to doubt, demonstrates that the world is eternal, and that " All things shall contw »ue as they were," 2 Pet.