There was a time, when Scotland was the glory of all the churches; but that time is passed. Speculative knowledge is the all in all among the generality of the professors; while the infidels who compose a very considerable part of the nation, beholding nothing in religion but a bare profession—nothing of that image of God, which is the only desirable thing in the universe—fly naturally to Deism for a refuge from hypocrisy. And who can be surprised? For what sensible man in the world can believe, that God would give his only-begotten Son to die upon a cross, in order to make us orthodox?

-Thomas Coke, Journal

Thomas Coke (1747 – 1814 AD) was the first Methodist Bishop and is known as the Father of Methodist Missions. He met John Wesley in August 1776 and became one of his closest assistants. Wesley called Coke “the flea” because he seemed always to be hopping around on his missions. Besides being a bishop, he served many appointments for the Methodist Church.