History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

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could fail, if it depended upon conscientiousness, prudence, courage, labor, and persistence." No
other good pen-portrait of his physique remains except Henry Boehm's. The portraits of him, taken
from an oil painting for which he sat in Baltimore in June, 1794, present him as a war-worn veteran
of strongly drawn facial lines, eyelids slightly a-droop, with a firm though benevolent expression
presiding over the countenance. He wore the regulation high collar on a buttoned-up coat, gray or
black, cut away in the frock after the Quaker style and common to Methodist preachers, with
breeches and leggings and sometimes shoe-buckles. He was exceedingly neat in his attire, with an
easy dignity of manner, which commanded respect if not affection. In the prime of his life he was
erect, robust, about five feet nine inches in stature, well rounded out, but never inclined to flesh,
weighing but 150 pounds; of a fresh countenance, which early seamed into fast-coming wrinkles,
brownish hair brushed down over an ample forehead and flowing back around his coat-collar, and
steel-blue eyes so full of a penetrating magnetism that few could withstand them as they glinted from
under the slightly falling eyelids. His nose was straight, nostrils expanded, mouth large, and chin
firm, and the whole contour that of a ruggedly handsome man, as he sat uncovered or walked under
his broad-brimmed and low-crowned hat. [15]
It is a singular comment on the misjudgment of men, though nothing specially to Wesley's credit,
when Wright's selection at the same time is recalled, that when Asbury offered and was accepted to
go to America, some of the preachers objected to him, and not a few of his acquaintances were struck
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with wonder when they heard that Wesley had appointed him. When he came to Bristol he had
not a penny in his pocket; but he was soon supplied with a wardrobe and ten pounds, probably
furnished by Wesley. They set sail from a port near Bristol, September 4, 1771. It is on record that
some months before the Conference Asbury had thoughts of going to America. Stevens furnishes
a key-note — a single sentence — to which every event of his life responds, "He saw in the New
World a befitting sphere for his apostolic aspirations." It comprehended two things: first, the largest
field for eminent usefulness; and, second, an opportunity to be something personally, both of them
worthy ambitions, On the 12th of September, on shipboard, he thus soliloquized: "Whither am I
going? To the New World. What to do? To gain honor? No, if I know my heart. To get money? No;
I am going to live to God, and to bring others so to do, . . . the people God owns in England are the
Methodists. The doctrines they preach and the discipline they enforce, are, I believe, the purest of
any people now in the world. The Lord has greatly blessed these doctrines and this discipline in the
three kingdoms; they must therefore be pleasing to him. If God does not acknowledge me in
America, I will soon return to England. I know my views are upright now; may they never be
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otherwise." Not a sentiment here uttered needs be discounted in all his after career. It was the
spiritual side of him that spoke; it was the human side of him that aspired.
On the 27th of October he landed in Philadelphia, and the same evening heard Pilmoor preach to
a large congregation in the St. George's church, and which is still revered as the "old Cathedral" by
Methodists of the city. Bangs computes that there were now about 600 in the society, with ten
preachers, including Wesley's four missionaries. Boardman was Wesley's assistant or superintendent.
Asbury opened his commission, preaching often, and soon made his way to New York, where he met
Boardman, "in peace but weak in body." He made preaching excursions into the surrounding country,
and soon took in the situation. In the winter Boardman confined himself mostly to New York City,
partly perhaps, as seen, from ill health, and Pilmoor did the same in Philadelphia. It was not to
Asbury's liking, and though but a "helper" to Boardman, he talks like a master. "I have not yet the