ABSTRACT
John Wesley bequeathed an interest in education that was never to be seen in a narrow sense only as religious education. While the Sunday School movement became a vital part of the Methodist development in education, general education of all people was also a major concern of the early Methodists. The first attempt at starting an educational institution was the opening of Cokesbury College in 1787 with 70 students in Abingdon, Maryland, under the guidance of the early Methodist leader, Francis Asbury. Institutions of higher education were also begun by the Methodist Episcopal Church in border states, and after the split in the denomination in 1844 creating the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the schools remained with the northern church. In order to more fully understand and appreciate the development of higher education for United Methodists, it is necessary to turn to specific consideration of higher education in the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
