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FRANCIS
ASBURY (1745–1816) The first Methodist bishop ordained in America;
b. at Hamstead Bridge, parish of Handsworth (a northern suburb of Birmingham),
Staffordshire, England, Aug. 20, 1745; d. at Spottsylvania, Va., Mar. 31, 1816.
He became a local preacher at the age of sixteen, and an itinerant minister in
1767; at his own request he was sent by Wesley as
a missionary to America in 1771, landing at Philadelphia with his companion,
Richard Wright, Oct. 27; in 1772 he was appointed Wesley’s “general
assistant in America,” with supervisory power over all the Methodist
preachers and societies in the country, but the next year was superseded by
Thomas Rankin. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary War Rankin returned to
England, but Asbury chose to remain. Like most of the Methodist preachers, he
was a nonjuror (that is, he had conscientious scruples concerning oaths, and
refused to take the oath of allegiance required by the authorities), and he
suffered some annoyance from the officials during the war. After the close of
the war the Methodists were organized into an independent Church, Thomas Coke
and Asbury being chosen joint superintendents at the Christmas Conference at
Baltimore, 1784, and Asbury ordained by Coke Dec. 27. The remainder of his life
he devoted to the Church with tireless energy and unflagging zeal.
Father of American Methodism Asbury was fearless in the discharge of duty, possessed a keen wit and uncommon shrewdness, was far-sighted and a good organizer. He never married; and his salary was sixty-four dollars a year. His early education was defective; but in later life he acquired some knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. In 1785 he laid the foundation of the first Methodist college, and he formed a plan of dividing the country into districts with an academy in each. His journal from the date of sailing for America to 1780 was published before his death, and the remaining years were transcribed and published 1821 and have been often reprinted. After 1791, he visited Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and other states or territories with great frequency. In his unparalleled career he preached about 16,500 sermons, or at least one a day, and traveled about 270,000 miles, or 6,000 a year, presiding in no lees than 224 annual conferences, and ordaining more than 4,000 preachers. When he came to America the Methodists numbered 10 preachers and 600 members; when he died, after forty-five years of work, they had 695 preachers and 214,235 members. |
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