Editing John Wesley (section)

==Ordination of ministers==
[[File:Wesley at asbury.jpg|right |thumb |Life-size statue at [[Asbury Theological Seminary]] in [[Wilmore, Kentucky]], United States]]

As the societies multiplied, they adopted the elements of an [[ecclesiology|ecclesiastical system]]. The divide between Wesley and the Church of England widened. The question of division from the Church of England was urged by some of his preachers and societies, but most strenuously opposed by his brother Charles. Wesley refused to leave the Church of England, believing that Anglicanism was "with all her blemishes, [...] nearer the Scriptural plans than any other in Europe".{{sfn |Thorsen |2005 |p=97}} In 1745 Wesley wrote that he would make any concession which his conscience permitted, to live in peace with the clergy. He could not give up the doctrine of an inward and present salvation by faith itself; he would not stop preaching, nor dissolve the societies, nor end preaching by lay members. In the same year, in correspondence with a friend, he wrote that he believed it wrong to administer [[sacrament]]s without having been ordained by a bishop.{{sfn |Tucker |2008 |pp=84–85}}

When, in 1746, Wesley read [[Peter King, 1st Baron King|Lord King]]'s account of the primitive church, he became convinced that [[apostolic succession]] could be transmitted through not only bishops, but also [[presbyter]]s (priests). He wrote that he was "a scriptural ''[[bishop#Terminology|episkopos]]'' as much as many men in England." Although he believed in apostolic succession, he also once called the idea of uninterrupted succession a "fable".{{sfn |Holden |1870 |pp=57–59}}

[[Edward Stillingfleet]]'s ''Irenicon'' led him to decide that ordination (and [[holy orders]]) could be valid when performed by a presbyter rather than a bishop. Nevertheless, some believe that Wesley was secretly consecrated a bishop in 1763 by [[Erasmus of Arcadia]],{{sfn |Wesleyan Methodist Magazine |1836 |ps=. "Mr. Wesley thus became a Bishop, and consecrated Dr. Coke, who united himself with ... who gave it under his own hand that Erasmus was Bishop of Arcadia, [...]"}} and that Wesley could not openly announce his episcopal consecration without incurring the penalty of the [[Praemunire|''Præmunire'' Act]].{{sfn |Cooke |1896 |p=145|ps=. "Dr. Peters was present at the interview, and went with and introduced Dr. Seabury to Mr. Wesley, who was so far satisfied that he would have been willingly consecrated by him in Mr. Wesley would have signed his letter of orders as bishop, which Mr. Wesley could not do without incurring the penalty of the ''Præmunire'' Act."}}

In 1784, he believed he could no longer wait for the [[Bishop of London]] to ordain someone for the American Methodists, who were without the sacraments after the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]].{{sfn |UMC of Indiana |2019}} The Church of England had been disestablished in the United States, where it had been the state church in most of the southern colonies. The Church of England had not yet appointed a United States bishop to what would become the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Protestant Episcopal Church]]<!--Contemporary name. Do not change.--> in America. Wesley ordained [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Thomas Coke]] as [[Superintendent (ecclesiastical)|superintendent]]{{sfn |Wesley |1915 |p=264 |ps=. "I have accordingly appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Francis Asbury to be joint superintendents over our brethren in North America [...]"}} of Methodists in the United States by the [[laying on of hands]], although Coke was already a priest in the Church of England. He also ordained [[Richard Whatcoat]] and [[Thomas Vasey]] as presbyters; Whatcoat and Vasey sailed to America with Coke. Wesley intended that Coke and [[Francis Asbury]] (whom Coke ordained as superintendent by direction of Wesley) should ordain others in the newly founded [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] in the United States. In 1787, Coke and Asbury persuaded the American Methodists to refer to them as bishops rather than superintendents,{{sfn |Lee |1810 |p=128 |ps=. "This was the first time that our superintendents ever gave themselves the title of Bishops in the minutes. They changed the title themselves without the consent of the conference; and at the next conference, they asked the preachers if the word Bishop might stand in the minutes; seeing that it was a scripture name, and the meaning of the word Bishop, was the same with that of Superintendent. Some of the preachers opposed the alteration [...] but a majority of the preachers agreed to let the word Bishop remain."}} overruling Wesley's objections to the change.{{sfn |Wesley |1915 |ps=. "How can you, how dare you, suffer yourself to be called Bishop? I shudder, I start at the very thought! Men may call me a knave or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content; but they shall never, by my consent, call me Bishop! For my sake, for God's sake, for Christ's sake, put a full end to this!"}}

His brother, Charles, was alarmed by the ordinations and Wesley's evolving view of the matter. He begged Wesley to stop before he had "quite broken down the bridge" and not embitter his [Charles'] last moments on earth, nor "leave an indelible blot on our memory."{{sfn |Wesley |2000b |p=434}} Wesley replied that he had not separated from the church, nor did he intend to, but he must and would save as many souls as he could while alive, "without being careful about what may possibly be when I die."{{sfn |Wesley |1931 |loc=letter 1785b}} Although Wesley rejoiced that the Methodists in America were free, he advised his English followers to remain in the established church.{{sfn |Watson |1990 |p=26}}