Francis Asbury (ăz'bərē, -bĕ-), (August 20, 1745 – March 31, 1816) was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now The United Methodist Church in the United States. As a young man in October 1771, English-born Francis Asbury traveled to America and, during his 45-year ministry in America, he devoted his life to ministry, traveling on horseback or by carriage thousands of miles to faithfully deliver sermons to those living on the frontier. Bishop Asbury's tireless leadership helped spread methodism in America. He also launched several schools during his lifetime, although his own formal education was limited. His journal too left a lasting legacy and is valuable to scholars for its account of frontier society, as well as giving insights into his personal life and ministry.
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Born at Hamstead Bridge, Staffordshire, England on August 20 or 21, 1745 to Elizabeth and Joseph Asbury.But before he was born, God had appeared to his mother in a dream and told her that she was going to have a boy. According to the dream her unborn boy was destined to become a great Christian leader and spread the word of the Lord to a specific group of people. The group of people was not specified but knowing the rest of his life that group of people turned out to be the colonists in America. From the moment of his birth, his mother prepared him for his destiny. She wanted him to become the Archbishop of Canterbury which is considered “the spiritual head of Great Britain” . When he was an infant, she would read him the Bible for an hour. The stories she told were not exactly the happiest stories. She tended to read the bloody parts of the Old Testament and the stories about Jesus on the cross in the New Testament. For another hour, while he was an infant, she would sing him hymns and pray over him.[1] Asbury became a local lay preacher for Methodist meetings at age 18. At age 22, John Wesley appointed him as a traveling preacher. His boyhood home still stands and is open as a museum in West Bromwich, England. In 1771 he volunteered to travel to America. When the American War of Independence broke out in 1776, he was the only Methodist minister to remain in America.
Once in America, he began drinking beer and light wine for his health, which gave some the idea that he was an undercover alcoholic. But within the first 17 days of being in the colonies, he had preached in Philadelphia and New York. And during the first year he was Mr. Wesley’s assistant and preached in 25 different settlements. Under his preaching, Methodists became the first sect to make drinking a matter of concern to the Lord. And in July 1772 the membership of the Methodist church doubled although there was a constant loss of Methodist ministers. “Francis Asbury had a great distrust of person popularity, and equally marked distaste of personal publicity” .[2] He had a strange suspicion against having his image preserved. He had been in America for 23 years, and a bishop for 10 years before he had let a portrait be made of him. His friend James McCannon persuaded him to have it done. Asbury had had a portrait painted of him for his mother in 1797. And his last portrait was made in 1813 by an unknown artist in Strasburgh Pennsylvania. Francis Asbury was a vain person, he did not like having his portrait done or to hear good things about himself. He was a gloomy and pessimistic person; he tended to have gloomy thoughts and opinions. He believes himself to be “a true prophet of evil tidings, as it suits my cast of mind”.[3] Although he was pessimistic, those who knew him considered him an extremely sensitive person. In his journal he recorded more failures and misgivings than success in his ministry. He loves simplicity and has “frequent spells of morbid depression” .[4] He tended to use cynical sarcasm in his preachings. One of the typical prayers he would say, even on his way to America, was “Lord, we are in thy hands and in thy work. Thou knowest what is best of us and for thy work; whether plenty or poverty. The hearts of all men are in thy hands. If it is best for us and for thy church that we should be cramped and straitened, let the people’s hands and hearts be closed: If it is better for us; for the church,—and more to thy glory that we should abound in the comforts of life; do thou dispose the hearts of those we serve to give accordingly: and may we learn to be content whether we abound, or suffer need” .[5] He rose at 5 every morning to read the bible. He was impatient with those who did not do the tasks assigned to them as soon as the task was assigned. As great a preacher as he was, barely any notice was given to him. He was considered a great preacher despite how unpopular he seemed. He was “one of the wisest and most farseeing men of his day” .[6] In 1813, he wrote his will and “the greatest membership gain in the history of the church” was achieved.[7] In 1814 his health starts to fail and he becomes ill, and because of the war the membership numbers of the church start to decline rapidly. In 1816 he starts to regain strength, he continues his preaching journey. He “preaches his last Sermon in Richmond, Virginia” on March 24, “and dies at the home of George Arnold near Fredericksburg” on March 31[8] In 1784 John Wesley named Asbury and Thomas Coke as co-superintendents of the work in America. This marks the beginning of the "Methodist Episcopal Church of the USA". For the next 32 years, Asbury led all the Methodists in America. However, his leadership did not go unchallenged. His idea for a ruling council was opposed by such notables as William McKendree, Jesse Lee, and James O'Kelly. Eventually a General Conference to which delegates could be sent was established on the advice of Asbury's fellow bishop Thomas Coke in 1792.
Like Wesley, Asbury preached in myriad places: courthouses, public houses, tobacco houses, fields, public squares, wherever a crowd assembled to hear him. For the remainder of his life he rode an average of 6,000 miles each year, preaching virtually every day and conducting meetings and conferences. Under his direction, the church grew from 1,200 to 214,000 members and 700 ordained preachers. Among the men he ordained was Richard Allen in Philadelphia, the first black minister in the United States.
In an exciting time in American history, Asbury was reported to be an extraordinary preacher. Biographer Ezra Squier Tipple wrote: "If to speak with authority as the accredited messenger of God; to have credentials which bear the seal of heaven ... if when he lifted the trumpet to his lips the Almighty blew the blast; if to be conscious of an ever-present sense of God, God the Summoner, God the Anointing One, God the Judge, and to project it into speech which would make his hearers tremble, melt them with terror, and cause them to fall as dead men; if to be and do all this would entitle a man to be called a great preacher, then Asbury was a great preacher." Bishop Asbury died in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Baltimore, near the graves of Bishops John Emory and Beverly Waugh.
On September 4, 1771, at the age of 26, Francis Asbury began his journey to Philadelphia from the port of Pill near Bristol. “It cost him much to leave home and kindred, as is witnessed by his affectionate letters and sacrificial remittances home: but the call of God was not to be denied” .[9] Before he left, he wrote a letter to his family. “I wonder sometimes how anyone will sit to hear me, but the Lord covers my weakness with his power….I trust you will be easy and more quiet. As for me, I know what I am called to. It is to give up all, and to have my hands and heart in the work, yea, the nearest and dearest friends….Let others condemn me as being without natural affection, disobedient to parents, or say what they please….I love my parents and friends, but I love my God better and his service….And tho’ I have given up all, I do not repent, for I have found all” .[10] On this voyage he began a journal. “In his journal he pours out the feelings and impulses of the moment, but often without giving a clue to either the offender or the offense” .[11] He became seasick for the first week but had recovered. He was “poor in material things, but rich in the spiritual atmosphere created and maintained by his mother” .[12] He also spent a lot of time studying and reading the bible and books written by Wesley. On September 22, he preached to the ship’s company. Again, on September 29, he preached. On October 6, he preached to the ship’s company on deck. And finally, on October 27, he landed at his destination in Philadelphia. Asbury kept a journal assiduously; on December 8, 1812, he crossed the Broad River into York County, South Carolina and came to the home of David Leech, Esq. He states in his journal that Leech offered him a Bible and a bottle of brandy; he wrote, "I took one." His journal also contains some references to opinions of ministers who disagreed with the Methodist leadership, such as Rev. Charles Hopkins of Powhatan County, Virginia who had rejected the Methodist ideals several years before.
Asbury is honored together with George Whitefield with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on November 15.
"Midnight Rider for the Morning Star," an historical novel (ISBN 978-0-915143-10-8) by Mark Alan Leslie, available at bookstores or through http://www.francisasburysociety.com/midnightrider.htm
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