Francis Asbury
(1745-1816)
Under Construction. Please Check Back Later.The first mention of Asbury in the Arminian Magazine was in 1785, in a letter which recounts the influence of Lord King upon John Wesley's interpretation of the meaning of the terms 'presbyter' and 'elder', and his appointment of Dr Coke and Francis Asbury as 'Superintendents' 'over our Brethren in North America: as also Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey, to act as Elders among them, by baptizing and administring [sic] the Lord's Supper.' A letter from Asbury to John Wesley dated 20 March 1784 was printed in the Magazine in 1786.
References: [John Wesley], '[Letter] To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and Our Brethren in North-America [10 Sept. 1784]', Arminain Magazine 8 (1785), 602-604; Francis Asbury, 'Letter to the Rev. John Wesley [20 March 1784]', Arminian Magazine 9 (1786), 680-82. John Wigger, American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Article contributed by David R. Wilson
Portrait from the Methodist Magazine (1809), frontis