Note 447 — 1761.

Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 224. We have before us two unpublished letters, written by Alexander Coates to Wesley, and dated respectively “July 14, 1761,” and “September 29, 1761.” Both refer to the points which Wesley here mentions; but the letters, though deeply interesting, are too lengthy for insertion. Suffice it to say, that Sandy Coates believed that he would be sanctified just before he had to die; and that, meanwhile, it was his “duty and his privilege to persevere in grace.” He confesses, that Wesley’s “perfect folk” gave him but little satisfaction, and that he had received tempting offers, both at London and Leeds, to leave the Methodists; but he had no intention of doing so. Coates, as his letters show, was a good man, with great courage and independency of thought; but though he read several languages, he was without any mental discipline. No doubt, he was serviceable in saving souls; but he was utterly unfit for the professor’s chair; and to think of him solving the vexed questions which were now agitating the Methodists was simply ridiculous.