Francis Asbury
Francis Asbury (1745-1816)
You can hear an audio recording of this post on episode 11 of the Methodical Methodist Podcast!
The Flame Spirit, The Prophet of the Long Road, The Midnight Rider, The American Saint… Francis Asbury, was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, along with Thomas Coke. Although he was not actually born in America, Asbury was THE leading figure of American Methodism in the 18th century, and his contribution to the Methodist Movement is undeniable. Out of all the Methodist missionaries that John Wesley sent to America, Francis Asbury was the only one who stayed through the American Revolution as a Methodist preacher.
Over the span of his 45 year ministry in America, he traveled nearly 300,000 miles across the rustic American landscape on horseback. He preached over 16,000 sermons and ordained approximately 4,000 ministers. Asbury was so well traveled that he was more recognizable face to face than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, during his lifetime, over a thousand people named their children after him because he was so loved and so well known.
Francis Asbury was born on August 20, 1745 in Handsworth, England – near Hamstead Bridge – just outside of Birmingham to his parents Joseph and Eliza Rogers Asbury. He was the younger of two children; he had one older sister named Sarah. Francis, or Franky as his family called him, came from humble beginnings. His father, Joseph worked as a farmhand and a gardener for two wealthy families in Handsworth.
Then, while Francis was still young, the Asbury family moved to a cottage on Newton Road in the nearby town of Great Barr and that cottage is actually still standing today. It is believed that Joseph worked at the Malt House which was a brewery that was actually connected to their home.
Asbury’s childhood home at Great Barr
So, Francis grew up in a working-class family, and because of that, he had very limited resources when it came to education. But his parents were determined to try to give him the best education possible. His mother, Eliza taught young Frank to read the Bible by the time he was five years old. And he quickly fell in love with reading. He attended Sneal’s Green which was the only school in the area. He loved to learn, but he hated the headmaster of the school, Arthur Taylor who – according to Asbury “was a great churl, and used to beat me cruelly. He filled me with such horrible dread, that with me anything was more preferable to going to school.”
Well, it is probably no surprise that Asbury decided to leave school at the age of thirteen to become a servant to a family that Asbury described as “one of the wealthiest and most ungodly families we had in the parish.” He was only there for a few months before he left to work as an apprentice. This was a pretty common pattern for young men during this time. They would go to school, then they would become servants for a few years around 12 or 13, and then they would start an apprenticeship around the age of 14. That being said, there were a lot of children who had little to no schooling at all.
Asbury worked apprenticed a local metal worker. Scholars suggest he either worked for a man named John Griffin or Thomas Foxall or maybe even both. While doing this, Asbury learned how to understand the lives of working people which would help he connect with people while he served as a missionary in America.
The Asbury family were not considered to be the most religious family, but after Francis’ sister Sarah passed away in May 1749, at the age of six, that started to change. This death was incredibly hard – particularly for Asbury’s mother, Eliza who suffered serious depression years after her daughter’s death. And on top of this, during this same time, Francis almost lost his life.
One day, when little Frank was very young, he got into the upper room of his family’s cottage above where his father Joseph kept his gardening tools – long shears, pruning saws, hoes, rakes – and Frank fell through a small hole in the floor – luckily he landed on the boiler – which somewhat broke his fall. And this near death experience was something that his parents and Francis himself would talk about for years to come. The family came to believe that this was an example of God’s providence. After losing Sarah, the family had been given a second chance with Frank.
By 1742 – which is three years before Francis was born - the Wesley Brothers were preaching less than three miles from the Asbury’s cottage. John had first received support from the priest there, but by the next year, that changed. By 1743, John was greeted with mobs and threats of the crowds literally trying to to knock out his brains by throwing rocks at his head. Despite all of this, the Wesley’s gained several followers – one of which was Eliza Asbury.
Eliza became a massive Methodist supporter. She was known for seeking out anyone in the area she could to join the movement. And, of course, Little Franky followed his mother’s convictions, and as a young boy he learned the importance of prayer, family reading, and singing the psalms.
At the age of thirteen, Asbury had a conversion experience. He was invited to a prayer-meeting and was convinced that there was more to religion than he originally thought. He began to prayer morning and evening and began to read the sermons of many Anglican preachers – including the sermons of George Whitfield.
He began attending Methodist meetings with his mother and heard preachers like John Fletcher and Benjamin Ingham – (possible future topics for the podcast). And Asbury began to search for the assurance of salvation that these preachers spoke of. Asbury’s conversion experience is much like John Wesley’s in the sense that it didn’t all happen in one instance. Instead, over time they felt God’s grace and presence working in their lives. Salvation isn’t a one time event, instead, Wesley saw conversion as a vocation – something that is worked out on a daily basis.
At the age of 16, Francis began seriously studying and praying and reading Scripture. He joined a Methodist class meeting which John Wesley required of all Methodists. These classes contained at least 12 members – but they were often much larger. And they were designed to foster Christian discipleship. He also joined another small group called a band. And these bands had about five to ten members in them, and they were designed for those who wanted to take their commitment to the next level.
In these bands, the group members shared their lives together, and they held nothing back. It was a very intimate group. And in these groups, Asbury’s spiritual life grew deeper and stronger.
By the age of 18, Francis was already preaching sermons and holding Methodist meetings in his family’s cottage. And while Francis was serving as an apprentice, he also became an official Methodist local preacher, and he found so much joy in this position.
He wrote about this experience in his journal saying, “Behold me now a local preacher! – the humble and willing servant of any and of every preacher that called on me by night or by day; being ready, with hasty steps, to go far and wide to do good, visiting Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Indeed, almost every place within my reach, for the sake of precious souls.”
As a local preacher, Asbury worked very long hours – his days would always start at 4:00 in the morning and often end around midnight. He would preach four or five nights in the week and often times hold three of four meetings on Sunday. This type of work ethic is something that Asbury continued his entire life.
He served as a local preacher for about three years until, in 1766 at the age of twenty, he accepted a position as a traveling preacher and was assigned to the Staffordshire Circuit. At this point he had been working as a metalworking apprentice for six years, but he gave that up in order to focus on his new preaching gig.
Just a year later, in 1767 – after his supervisor William Orp recommended that Asbury receive a regular appointment – Asbury joined Wesley’s traveling connection on a trial period – he served as a probationary minister. He became one of 104 itinerant (or traveling) preachers who were serving 26,000 members on 41 circuits throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Asbury was assigned to the Bedfordshire Circuit which was a day’s ride north from London. This was an especially challenging place to serve – there is a report of one Methodist Preacher in this circuit being hit in the head with a dead cat… So, I guess that gives you an idea of some of the things that Asbury might have been dealing with. But throughout the challenges he faced, Asbury stuck with it.
In August 1768, Asbury was admitted into full connection and earned his conference membership. As a member in full connection, Asbury moved around quite a bit. He was assigned to the Colchester Circuit, and just a few months later was transferred over to the Wiltshire Circuit. Then in August 1769, Francis moved yet again – he went back to the Bedfordshire Circuit.
Then at the August 1770 conference, Asbury was sent to the Wiltshire Circuit where he had already been briefly two years earlier. It sounds like appointment making back then was just absolutely insane. It doesn’t sound like there was much rhyme or reason to it… but who knows…. I don’t know, they could have had really good reasons for all of this.
But then on August 1771, in Bristol, Asbury attended his only English Annual Conference. And at this conference, they talked about the growing need for Methodist preachers in America. John Wesley had already appointed four preachers to America – Joseph Pilmore, Richard Boardman, Robert Williams, and John King. And he was asking for more volunteers to go over and help them. He chose two of the five volunteers: Richard Wright and Francis Asbury.
So, at the age of 26 years old, Francis made his way over to the colonies. When he went to tell his parents the news – his father Joseph (who was not known for showing much emotion at all) starting weeping and said, “I shall never see him again.” His mother took the news even harder. Even though – at the time – Asbury only expected to be gone for a few years - his father was right. They would never see their son again.
Asbury said his goodbyes and set sail for America on September 4, 1771. He had no money – not even a penny… which is insane to me… But fortunately, local Methodists gave him ten pounds and some clothing to get him through until he reached America.
After nearly 8 long weeks of sailing across the ocean, Asbury finally arrived in Philadelphia on October 27, 1771. When he arrived in America, Asbury had two main challenges that he focused on. The first was to deal with a lack of discipline in Philadelphia and New York. The second was to form a connection with the Methodist movements going on in the South – and these movements were under the leadership of part-time Irish and English ministers like the Irish born, Robert Strawbridge.
Asbury soon met Joseph Pilmore and Richard Boardman who were working and preaching in Philadelphia and New York City, and Asbury quickly found that these preachers had really confined themselves to their respective cities instead of following Wesley’s principle of itineracy. Itineracy is this idea of traveling around instead of staying put in one place. Boardman was staying in New York and Pilmore was staying in Philadelphia.
They were not traveling around and preaching like John Wesley had mandated his preachers to do. So, Asbury was very upset when he saw this, and he complained about this in his journal saying, “I find that the preachers have their friends in the cities, and care not to leave them.”
Unfortunately, Pilmore and Boardman were Asbury’s superiors and Pilmore had gained quite a bit of popularity with the folks in Philadelphia. So, Asbury was unable to confront them in the way he might have wanted.
So, Asbury decided to put his nose to the grindstone and to lead by example. And amazingly – over time – Asbury actually convinced Pilmore and Boardman to itinerate. Boardman traveled throughout New England, while Pilmore headed south and preached throughout Virginia and eventually made his way as far south as Savannah, Georgia (a place where John Wesley had once served early on in his ministry).
But there was another thing that upset Asbury when it came to Pilmore and Boardman… Asbury was frustrated with their failure to follow the Methodist Discipline. Over time, Pilmore and Boardman had become less and less strict about how folks followed the Methodist rules. Specifically, they were not holding regular class or band meetings. They were failing to hold these small groups that were really at the core of the Methodist movement itself. And ultimately, after Wesley heard about this, he sent word to the Methodist preachers in America and took Asbury’s side. Then, perhaps in order to solidify his support of Asbury, Wesley chose Asbury to succeed Boardman as the supervisor of the preachers in America.
As the supervisor of the preachers in America, Asbury continued his travels, and he met local preachers and lay leaders like Robert Strawbridge, Robert Williams, and John King.
As he traveled, he worked to strengthen the organizational structure of Methodism, and he regulated the class meetings wherever he could. But during this process, he came to realize a problem with one of his preachers – the Irish born Robert Strawbridge who was serving in Maryland. Asbury learned that Strawbridge was administering the sacraments, but the only problem was that Strawbridge was not actually ordained.
Asbury certainly had sympathy for Strawbridge, and he saw why he had started administering the sacraments. After all, there was no one else around to administer the sacraments; And so, Strawbridge took matters into his own hands.
Asbury realized that Strawbridge had a great deal of influence over Methodism in Maryland… But he also knew that he couldn’t allow Strawbridge to go on like this indefinitely – so he decided to compromise enough to keep Strawbridge in Methodism and left the ultimate outcome for a later date.
Because of all the issues that Asbury was having in regulating the structure of the Methodist Movment, John Wesley decided to bring in reinforcements. In 1773, George Shadford and Thomas Rankin were sent by John Wesley to America in order to enforce the Methodist system of membership, closed class meetings, and society meetings. Rankin pretty much immediately removed Pilmore and Boardman from their appointments and worked to right the ship that had started to veer off course.
Then, while he was preaching in the Southern part of the country, on September 1773, Francis was struck with malaria. During this time, he experienced fevers, chills, and sweats. These symptoms lasted over the span of several months. These episodes would sometimes last up to four days at a time. Then go away just to come back again a few days later. It completely zapped his energy, so much so that he actually stopped writing in his journal for about two weeks in October.
While he was sick, he hardly took any medication, and he had very little access to doctors. And this might have actually been a good thing considering most doctors were in the practice of “blood letting.” In the end, he was probably safer without any care from a doctor back then.
During the worst part of his malaria attack, in October of 1773, Asbury stayed with Josiah and Sarah Dallam in their home in Maryland. And during this time, Sarah acted as his nurse. She waited on him day and night, and many attribute him surviving this disease because of her care. Even still, Asbury continued to struggle with symptoms for several months after this.
Six months later, in May 1774, Asbury attended the second American Methodist Conference in Philadelphia. By this time, membership had grown from 1,160 to 2,073. The full-time preachers were also up from ten to seventeen. And even though most of the past year Asbury had been fighting malaria, he had only grown more and more in popularity among the American Methodists. In fact, between the time when he first contracted malaria to the following year in July – Asbury managed to preach about three hundred times and ride nearly 2,000 miles. He literally preached three hundred times and rode 2,000 miles on horseback with malaria. So, that kind of tells you a little bit about what kind of man Asbury was.
However, during this time, it was also becoming apparent that Asbury and Rankin (his supervisor) were experiencing a distrust and a dislike for one another. Rankin, who was kind of Wesley’s inside man that had come to keep the American Methodist in line – believed that Methodism should always remain at the center of England. Asbury, on the other hand, was starting to see American Methodism as a separate entity. This makes sense considering Asbury is living in America and had spent far more time with American preachers.
Asbury knew a lot of the American Methodists, and he was gaining more and more popularity – especially with the young preachers – particularly the preachers in the South.
And when he heard about the revivals taking place in Virginia that were making around six hundred new disciples and creating six new preaching circuits – Asbury knew that he had to go. And so, in October 1775, Asbury headed down to the Brunswick Circuit which was the heart of the revival. Asbury was amazed at what he found. People were experiencing some incredible preaching and worship. And people were coming to know about God’s love and grace in their lives.
But everything would soon change… the Revolutionary War was about to sweep across the American landscape. Asbury had pretty much maintained an apolitical stance – he did not take a side one way or another. But tensions began to rise among Methodists when John Wesley wrote a pamphlet entitled A Calm Address to Our American Colonies – but this did not calm the American Methodists – instead it had the opposite effect. Both of the Wesley Brothers criticized the Americans. They were completely against the American Revolution – and their allegiance remained with England and the King. So, as you can imagine this created some tension among the American Methodists.
As the War began… most of the British Methodist preachers returned to England… but Asbury refused even when he was given other opportunities and even when John Wesley himself tried to call him home. Asbury wrote that he could not “leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ, as we have in America. It would be an eternal dishonor to the Methodist, that we should all leave three thousand souls, who desire to commit themselves to our care; neither is it the part of a good shepherd to leave his flock in time of danger: therefore, I am determined, by the grace of God, not to leave them, let the consequences be what it may.”
Luckily, by the time Asbury wrote this, Wesley had changed his mind on the matter. Although he was still completely against the American Revolution, he conceded to Asbury’s wish and let him remain in America… which honestly… Asbury was going to do either way whether Wesley gave him permission or not.
In the winter of 1778, Asbury took up residence in Delaware, in the home of Judge Thomas White. Delaware was a prominent place during the war that had some of the heaviest fighting. Unfortunately, because Asbury was British – it was too dangerous for him to travel openly. But somehow, during the year 1778 (his least active year) Asbury still managed to preach at least ninety-five times, attend numerous prayer meetings, and meet with several full-time ministers.
But things became even more dangerous for Asbury when his host, Judge White, was arrested on some trumped up charges – this was probably because White had remained fairly neutral during the war… Because of this, Asbury was forced to move around and stay with other Methodist members. Eventually, White was released after challenging his arrest on legal grounds, and Asbury was able to move back in with the White family.
As the American Revolution came to an end, dissent began to rise within the Methodist ranks. Southern Methodists Preachers began following Robert Strawbridge’s lead in administering the sacraments even though they were not officially ordained. Even though Asbury did not condone this behavior – and even spoke out against this – he was still able to keep the Southern Methodists from breaking off on their own.
During a special Conference, Asbury tried to make a compromise with the Southern preachers. Asbury proposed a one-year suspension of the southern preachers when it came to administering the sacraments… Ultimately… and very surprisingly… the Southern Methodists actually agreed.
And so, Asbury continued to travel throughout the South. And as he did, he came to earn the respect of the hearts and minds of the Southern Methodists… And they ultimately came to see him as a leader. Asbury was really able to create this connection between Methodists in the North and Methodists in the South to create one united body.
During this time, American Methodists began writing John Wesley in support of Asbury. They were impressed with his leadership, and they lobbied to Wesley for him to make Asbury the General Assistant in America. This position was the highest rank of any preacher in America – a position that was formerly held by Thomas Rankin who had fled to back to England during the Revolutionary War.
John Wesley wrote a letter back to some of the American Methodist leaders voicing his support of Asbury, saying, “Brother Asbury is raised up to preserve order among you, and to do just what I should do myself if it pleased God to bring me to America.”
And it was actually really surprising for me to hear that even though everyone seemed to love Francis Asbury, he actually wasn’t a very good preacher at all. He just wasn’t very eloquent or captivating in the pulpit. People had a hard time following his train of thought in his sermons – but he just had a great personality and a really good sense of humor. And he was great a building relationships. But perhaps his most important attribute was his leadership and how he was able to organize the Methodist movement in America. Perhaps one thing that made him so successful was that he never married. This allowed him to travel constantly and remain focused on the mission at hand.
During the 1780’s, Methodism began to spread, and membership climbed from 8,500 in 1780 to 57,600 in 1790… And the preaching circuits expanded from 21 to 98. This growth led to separation from England to an independent American Methodist Church in 1784… and Francis Asbury was at the head of the ship.
Wesley had seen the expansion take place in England, and he knew the expansion in America was even greater. Methodists did not have access to the sacraments from Anglican priests, especially in America.
So, in 1784, at the age of 81, Wesley made the decision to ordain Methodist preachers. Initially, he did this in order to maintain control over American Methodism and to try to keep the American movement within the Anglican tradition. Wesley ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as deacons and then elders (which is the equivalent of an ordained priest). And then, he ordained Thomas Coke (who was already an ordained priest in the Church of England) as a superintendent. And he made plans for Coke to ordain Asbury as a superintendent as well, once he arrived in America.
In November 1784, Asbury and Coke met with a few other preachers at Barratt’s Chapel (just south of Dover, Delaware) and they decided to call a general conference in Baltimore. The Christmas Conference of 1784 took place on Christmas Eve at Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland.
During this Special Christmas Conference, 65 of the 85 active itinerant preachers voted unanimously to create an independent church that was free of its connection to the Church of England. They also elected Coke and Asbury to serve as the superintendents of the new body. The role of superintendent would later be changed to the term Bishop, and we will talk about that here in a bit.
But during this Conference, on the first day Thomas Coke ordained Asbury as a deacon, the next day as an elder, and the day after that, as a superintendent. And his fellow superintendent, Thomas Coke, preached at Francis Asbury’s ordination.
The Ordination of Bishop Asbury
Here is an excerpt from that sermon:
“Humility. This is the preserving power and guard of every other grace. As once was said: other graces, without humility, are like a fine powder in the wind without a cover. Let us be ever so zealous, work ever so hard, yet if we want humility, we will be only like Penelope with the web in the ancient fable, undoing at one time what we do at another [the reference is to an endless task]. There is something interwoven with human nature, which immediately recoils at the very appearance of pride. But this man (Francis Asbury) is clothed with Humility. When no other Grace shines forth, still we discern this beautiful veil.”
This marked the founding of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. It marked the formation of a new church in America. And this separation caused quite a bit of tension – especially with Charles Wesley – who we talked about in episode 9. Apparently, when Charles heard about Coke’s ordination of Asbury, he sarcastically wrote,
“A Roman emperor, ‘tis said,
His favourite horse a consul made:
But Coke brings greater things to pass –
He made a bishop of an ass.”
But, still… a new church was born. And with it, came excitement and drive. Together, Coke and Asbury formed a Methodist College which was named “Cokesbury College.” Unfortunately the college burned down – not once.. but twice. And after the second time, it was not rebuilt.
Another one of the missions that Coke and Asbury tried to take on was to try to eradicate slavery in America. They drafted a petition calling for “the immediate or Gradual Extirpation of Slavery.” Coke and Asbury even met with George Washington at Mount Vernon. Washington supported the petition, but he refused to sign it… this is not too surprising considering Washington himself owned slaves.
However, it is interesting because Asbury was not very big on politics. He was very weary and skeptical of politicians. But the only politician Asbury actually admired was George Washington. After their first meeting, Asbury sent George and Martha each their own copy of a Methodist Prayer Book and a volume of John Wesley’s sermons.
Despite Coke and Asbury’s efforts to eradicate slavery, they were unsuccessful. Not surprisingly, the petition – which was meant to be presented to the Virginia Assembly – completely failed. Ultimately, Coke and Asbury were unable to eradicate slavery in America – and unfortunately, Asbury had to make compromises with the Southern Methodists in order to keep them from splitting off – at least within his lifetime.
While American Methodism was growing, John Wesley was still in conversation with Coke and Asbury. In fact, Wesley gave instructions to Coke to ordain Richard Whatcoat – a Methodist minister – as a joint superintendent with Asbury.
But, during the South Carolina conference, the American Methodists made the decision to change the superintendent’s title to bishop instead. When Wesley heard about this change, he wrote a scathing letter to Asbury where he addressed him as… “My Dear Franky.”
He goes on to say, “How can you, how dare you suffer yourself to be called Bishop? I shudder, I start at the very thought! Men may call me a knave or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content; but they shall never by my consent call me Bishop! For my sake, for God’s sake, for Christ’s sake put a full end to this!”
Asbury received this letter, and it hurt him very deeply. And Asbury was put in a difficult situation. Coke was pressuring American Methodists to follow Wesley’s orders, but the preachers were resistant. In the end, the American Conference decided not to ordain Richard Whatcoat as a joint superintendent. Ultimately, this event helped to solidify and strengthen Asbury’s authority as a leader of the Methodist Church. It also widened the rift between Wesley and Asbury.
Meanwhile, during all of this controversy surrounding Wesley’s proposed ordination of Whatcoat, American Methodists were holding huge revivals. Between 1786 to 1788 membership increased from 18,791 white and 1,890 black members to 30,809 white to 6,545 black members. It was a 64 percent increase in white members and a 246 percent increase in black members; and an 81 percent increase overall. Asbury was in thick of these revivals… preaching at many of them. On one occasion, one member heard Asbury preach what he called “the greatest sermon that I have ever heard.” Again, this is surprising considering that Asbury was not known for his preaching.
By 1790, Francis Asbury had been overseeing and leading a growing and expansive church. Traveling throughout the American landscape, Asbury had reached a breaking point. His health was steadily declining, he complained of swelling in his feet, violent headaches, and inflammation in the throat. After a friend advised him not to travel to Kentucky due to his illness and the growing violence. Between Indians and Kentuckians, Asbury decided to take shelter in Tennessee at the home of Elizabeth Russell – who was a Methodist woman who nursed Asbury back to good health.
Elizabeth Henry Russell
Over the span of three weeks during this time, while he was still recovering from sickness, Asbury continued to preach in Western Virginia and Eastern Tennessee around Russell’s home.
Then, on May 3rd, he had a prophetic dream which he told to his friend Richard Whatcoat who wrote about it in his journal saying, “Last Night Bishop Asbury Dreamed that a Company was come to conduckt him… through the wilderness and that Two Sedate (or calm) men Came up to him where he was: which was Exactly so.” Miraculously, the next morning, ten men from Kentucky arrived, including the preachers Peter Massie and Hope Hull – which Asbury had identified as the two sedate men that he had just dreamed about.”
Asbury took that as a sign and made his way into Kentucky with sixteen other men carrying thirteen guns.
While they traveled, Asbury carved his name and the date “May 1, 1790” onto a powder horn. During this difficult journey, Asbury did not sleep much and clearly took the threat of Indian attacks very seriously. But, in Kentucky, Asbury came to find crowds of people who were hungry for a religious experience. In his journal Asbury wrote, “It is true, such exertions of mind and body are trying; but I am supported under it: if souls are saved, it is enough.”
Meanwhile, James O’Kelly and Thomas Coke began to conspire behind Asbury’s back. Asbury had formed a Methodist Council to oversee the expansive church and make decisions on behalf of the overall church. O’Kelly disagreed with this model and Thomas Coke sided with O’Kelly. Little did O’Kelly know, that Coke had ulterior motives. He only sided with O’Kelly in an effort to weaken Asbury’s episcopal status.
So, from this point on, the story gets very complicated… I’m going to do my best to be both accurate and brief at the same. So, bear with me here. I am not a scholar or a historian, but this is the way I came to understand what happened.
Thomas Coke had been writing letters to Bishop William White of the Protestant Episcopal Church (the former Church of England in America) proposing reconciliation between the Episcopal Church and Methodist Church in America. As a matter of fact, Coke had been writing these letters while Asbury and Coke had been traveling together, and he had kept them a secret from Asbury.
But – on April 28, 1791 – Coke’s plans came crashing to the ground, when – while Coke and Asbury were traveling through Virginia – they learned of John Wesley’s death. When he heard about Wesley’s death, Coke immediately left for England and hoped to win the election of the “President of the European Methodists.” Ultimately, he was not chosen. Although, he did later serve briefly in 1797 and again in 1805.
Still, Coke managed to meet with Bishop William White in America to go over his plans to unite the Methodist Church back alongside the Church of England. Ultimately, Coke’s plan failed miserably. In the following years, Coke would travel back and forth between America and England.
After this Coke and Asbury’s relationship was quite strained, although they were able to move past their differences later on. But during this time, things were pretty rough between the two Bishops. Coke was arguing that Asbury had figuratively stabbed Wesley in the back and literally hastened his death – and because of that Asbury “was worthy of eternal damnation.”
It was evident, however, to most people who actually knew the situation in America – that Asbury was too loved by the people for Coke to successfully double-cross him. And – perhaps more than that – the American Methodists would not be willing to give up their ordinations, or live under the thumb of oppressive Church of England Bishops. America had just recently gained their independence from England – and the Methodists had just recently gained their independence from the Church of England. Coke eventually came to this realization and wrote to Asbury trying to backtrack some of his earlier statements. Almost as a way to kind of apologize.
At first, Asbury merely wrote back, “if you come here (to America) again, you would see trouble.” Which, I personally think that that is such a great response…
And you know, that relationship did get better – and Coke did return to America several times in the following years. But really, Asbury was functioning as the only bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church at this point.
On November 1, 1792, Asbury and almost half of the church’s 266 itinerant preachers showed up for the first quadrennial General Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Leading up to this, Asbury was still experiencing some criticism and push back from a few of his preachers - specifically from James O’Kelly – who was the one that had been plotting with Coke behind Asbury’s back.
During the Conference, O’Kelly spoke out against Asbury’s episcopal powers as a bishop, and he continued to argue that his power should be lessened and limited. Specifically, he made a motion that preachers should be able to appeal to the Conference if he objects to his appointment. He argued further that district conferences should be the ones to elect the presiding elders instead of allowing the Bishops to appoint them.
Early on in the Conference, Asbury withdrew himself from the meetings, complaining of a cold. This probably had to do more with the fact that he was uncomfortable in this type of setting. This is kind of a trend that he kept up in almost every Conference he attended. He was often silent or said very little. Even though he was the leader of this church and these were his preachers, Asbury was too reserved to feel comfortable in the room. However, he did write a letter of explaining his point of view.
He wrote, “Are you sure that, if you please yourselves, the people will be fully satisfied? They often say, ‘Let us have such a preacher,’ and sometimes, ‘we will not have such a preacher – we will soon pay him to stay at home.’ Perhaps I must say, ‘his appeal forced him upon you.’”
In other words, Asbury argued that itineracy was necessary for the health and growth of the church. He was afraid that if the preachers were able to have control over their appointments (where they were sent to preach) that they might become complacent. And, ultimately, the General Conference sided with Asbury.
Even still… Schism was knocking on the door. After the General Conference met, then Asbury made his way to the Virginia Conference – where much of the divisiveness was brewing due to O’Kelly. This was an exhausting time for Asbury, who was again, battling poor health. He slept only sixteen hours over the course of four nights. He had a severe chill, a terrible cough, a fever, and a sick stomach which he battled over the next two months.
Remarkably, Asbury was able to ordain four elders and six deacons during the conference. He knew that he could not maintain this old model of doing things. The preachers had rejected his original idea of having a Council of Elders which essentially included an executive committee to make decisions on behalf of the church. So, if the preachers were not agreeable to this idea, he knew he had to do something else.
He was too sick to make it across the Appalachian Mountains in the spring for their conference, so he decided to write the presiding elders in the western districts to run their own conferences. He wrote the 26 year old John Kobler who was the presiding elder of the Holston District in Tennessee (that may sound familiar to some of y’all listening). And he explained his sickness and authorized him to take the Presidency of the Conference.
This paved a new way of doing things for Asbury. In 1793 Asbury conducted fourteen district conferences. In 1794 he conducted eight district conferences. By 1795 and 1796, he was down to only seven district conferences.
He was traveling less, but that does not mean that he slowed down. Now, Asbury had more time to perform pastoral duties. This also gave him the opportunity to reconnect with a group that had been neglected previously. African American Methodists. Asbury had essentially spent his entire time traveling across America, making appointments – sending pastors to preaching stations, and putting out fires caused by his preachers. He had always been against slavery, but now he was able to find more opportunities to worship with African Americans. And he was also able to slow down and again try to confront the injustices of slavery.
Asbury started ordaining black preachers even before he had approval from the General Conference. In Philadelphia, Asbury came across Richard Allen who was a former slave who had become a Methodist at the age of sixteen. He was impressed with Allen’s abilities, and ordained him as a preacher.
Richard Allen
Allen had a dream to form a new church specifically for African American Methodists, and Asbury actually supported this vision. He reconfigured the leadership of Philadelphia Methodism in Allen’s favor. And he placed pastors who were known to be friendly to African Americans around Richard Allen to help support him.
Allen ended up purchasing a new building for a place of worship, and Asbury came and preached the dedication sermon for the new church, which was called Bethel. In 1816, Richard Allen would go on to establish the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. So, Asbury was certainly supportive of Allen and in ministry.
Then, a few years after the First Quadrennial General Conference… Asbury – along with 120 preachers in Baltimore – gathered together for the second quadrennial General Conference in 1796. Thomas Coke actually came to this one, even though he only arrived from London just a few days before the Conference began.
During this conference, they formed boundaries of six permanent annual conferences – New England, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Virginia, South Carolina, and the Western Conference. This was a reduction from the 20 conferences that had originally been set up. And this made it so much easier for the bishops to attend the conferences. This had been a tremendous strain, especially on Asbury, and I think people could see that Asbury’s health was starting to fail. They knew that if Asbury die, Coke would only let them down.
Interestingly enough, Coke promised his services to America, but the American preachers were skeptical. In fact, one preacher by the name of Jesse Lee opposed Coke – and the only reason Coke was not overthrown was because Francis Asbury intervened. He said, “Friends at first are friends at last, and I hope to never be divided.” I actually think this really tells you a lot about Asbury’s character. He was willing to stick up for a man who had plotted against him.
In the end, Coke became what was called a reserve bishop. In other words, he only assumed full episcopal power when Asbury was absent. So, ironically, Coke was trying to lessen Asbury’s power, but the reverse actually happened.
As the century drew to a close, Asbury continued to fight sickness and death began to cast a shadow over him. But even in times of severe sickness – dealing with fevers and coughs and pains – Asbury continued to travel over 2,000 miles on horseback through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. By the end of that journey, he was swelling from his face, bowels, and feet. In fact, his feet were so sore that he could not stand up for two weeks. I mean this guy just didn’t know when to stop. He just pushed through the pain and continued traveling throughout America.
It is like Indiana Jones says, “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.” Even though he was only around 50 years old … Asbury had put on the miles.
But still, Asbury was very sick during this time. He didn’t preach for eight weeks… which I’m sure must have been difficult for a preacher like him. During this time, he began to think about who might follow him as a leader of this new and thriving church.
First, he thought of Thomas Coke. But he ultimately came to the decision that he needed to resign, and the church needed to elect a new bishop. When preachers came for the Philadelphia Conference in October 1797, they took one look at Francis Asbury and decided that Jesse Lee should become his full-time traveling companion. So, the two men traveled to Baltimore to conduct the region’s Annual Conference. Jesse Lee ended up presiding over that Conference, because Asbury was so sick.
Then, they made their way to the Virginia Conference, and when he arrived, the preachers were stunned at how bad he looked. Asbury knew he could not continue to do all this work himself, so he sent Jesse Lee to preside at the South Carolina Conference in Charleston.
Finally, by April 1798, Asbury was well enough to travel by carriage – which he did for the next several years. But… his health continued to decline more and more. He even wrote, “I cannot serve the Connection, without sacrificing, my health, my Life, or my Conscience.”
In August 1799, Asbury wrote this, “I have only to say I am writing my resignation… to the General Conference… I firmly believe I have delayed my resignation too long, it is time they were put upon ways, means, and persons for the better organization of so great a Body of people… I wish the preachers and people to take warning I am about to come down from Joyless height and stand upon the floor with my Brethren.”
In 1800, Asbury continued to make appointments and was pretty much still the sole leader of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He also continued to preach. Even though he was never considered to be a very good preacher, his sermons seemed even more disjointed during this time.
Still, Asbury was able to lead his preachers and continue to press them to devote themselves to the ministry of the world. This was something Asbury did throughout his entire life – and this might have been due to the fact that he never married.
Asbury arrived in Baltimore in May 1800 for yet another General Conference. This would be the conference where he had the intention of resigning from his position as Bishop. But the General Conference was unwilling to accept his resignation. Asbury, who was now 52, would continue in his role as Bishop. The General Conference just could not imagine the church without Asbury as their leader.
But the fact remained, Asbury needed help. So on Monday morning, May 12, 1800, Richard Whatcoat, was elected as the third bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the second ballot. Ironically, this is the same man whom Wesley had asked to be promoted to joint-superintendent with Asbury. But now, he was elected as a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Together, Asbury and Whatcoat traveled around and performed the duties of a Bishop. Coke traveled back and forth from England, doing some work here and there. But by 1806, Richard Whatcoat’s health had declined so much that he actually ended up passing away at the age of 69.
Now, Asbury found himself in the same predicament he was 6 years earlier. Again, Asbury is left leading this entire church, pretty much by himself.
So, the General Conference of 1808 elected William McKendree to replace Richard Whatcoat. In addition, the General Conference essentially made the decision to pretty much relieve Thomas Coke of his duties as Bishop, although Coke and Asbury remained on friendly terms, for the most part.
By 1811, Asbury is now 66 years old and he is just as tough and determined as can be. Asbury was about 5 feet 9 inches tall and around 151 pounds. He had a very rugged and commanding appearance. He had blue eyes, and people said that those eyes could look straight through a person. Now, in his older age, he had deep wrinkles in his face, and he wore plain black clothes and a low crowned broad brimmed hat.
So, just picture this weathered old man who is still somehow just super strong and commanding. He is still attending conference and performing duties. At this point McKendree is also conducting Conferences, but only Asbury is fixing appointments. He is the only one appointing preachers to the different churches. And, as the years progressed, Asbury’s health declined even more – perhaps because he still pushed himself to travel and preach – never stopping in one place too long.
Then, on March 24, 1816, Asbury preached his last sermon in Richmond, Virginia. He was so sick and weak that he had to actually be carried into the church, and he sat on a table while he preached. Then, just a few days later at the home of George Arnold in Spotsylvania County – Asbury breathed his last breath.
By the time of his death, Francis Asbury was already a legend. Everyone knew who he was. He was more recognizable than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. He had traveled the country on horseback, probably more than any other Methodist preacher during his time.
And by the time of Francis Asbury’s death, the Methodist Episcopal Church in America had grown to 200,00 members, and by the time of the Civil War, that number had grown to 1.5 million people. His contribution to the Methodist Church bears repeating. Over the span of his 45 year ministry in America, he traveled nearly 300,000 miles on horseback as he visited nearly every state each year. He preached over 16,000 sermons and ordained approximately 4,000 ministers.
Francis Asbury truly was the Flame Spirit, The Prophet of the Long Road, The Midnight Rider, and The American Saint.
