Charles Andrew Coates was a Bible teacher among the Raven-Taylor exclusives (now PBCC), with many published writings still popular today across the board with all types of Brethren and other evangelicals.

Family

He was born on Dec. 7, 1862, in Manningham, Bradford, Yorkshire, England but spent a majority of his life in Teignmouth, Devon. His parents were:

James Coates (b. 1808 Kells, Kirkcudbright, Scot. - d. 1887 Bradford, Eng.), son of James Coates & Margaret Grierson Coates.
Elizabeth Rollinson Coates (b. 1820 Otley, Yorkshire, Eng.). Daughter of William Rollinson (d. 1844 Bradford, Eng.) & Frances Rollinson. Infant baptized Aug. 6, 1820 @ All Saints CoE in Otley.

He never married, and also no known siblings. In 1939, his occupation was listed as a retired draper, he was residing at "Miletus", and had a housekeeper boarding named Ivy M. Tucker (b. 1899).

Conversion

Converted at the age of 16 in 1878, he wrote later with a brother, "when I began to break bread, I believed that Jesus had died for me, and therefore I should never perish, but it was not until some time afterwards that I saw with great delight that everything connected with me as a ruined sinner had been dealt with in the death of Christ, and that the risen One was my righteousness and that I could be with God entirely on the ground of what Christ was."

After he was converted, he burned a number of books in a bonfire and "never regretted it. It is much better to burn such books than to take them to the bookstall to poison someone else". Around 1940 in a reading, he also said, "One of the first thoughts I had when converted was, 'Man's thoughts never rise above service and God's thoughts never go below sonship', and I put it into my first preaching".

Upon his conversion, he penned the following poem:

"Henceforth my lips and pen shall seek to spread His fame: My hands and feet shall swiftly move to glorify His Name. I seek no earthly place; My joy is all in Him; My thirsty soul shall drink no more from fountains stained with sin. And when He takes me home to gaze upon His face, More loud, more sweet my soul shall sing the riches of His grace."

For many years he broke bread in the Rebecca Street Hall in Bradford. It is presently unknown whether this assembly is still in its location, although there are a number of evangelical churches with PB heritage, including:

Death

Charles "fell asleep" at 9:20 a.m., Lord's Day, on Oct. 7, 1945 in Teignmouth. His effects (11,155 quid) were given to his civil servant, Walter Morris Brown, and inspector of taxes, Alfred John Gardiner.

Writings

A (probably) complete anthology of transcriptions of his writings may be found at McClean.

Three hymns he wrote are in the "Spiritual Songs" hymnbook:

Thy grace, O Lord that measured once the deep
Son of God, in Heaven we view Thee
No act of power could e'er atone

Sonship controversy

Coates was known to adhere to the Raven doctrine that denies the eternal Sonship of Christ, but it is evident that he privately rejected the doctrine later in life. See Hughes on Coates.

Sources

BrethrenArchive.com bio of Coates
- see Hughes doc
MB
STEM Publishing
Ancestry.com

Charles Andrew Coates

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