History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

13 Atkinson's "Methodism in America," p. 236.
14 Stevens' "History of M. E. Church," Vol. I. pp. 115, 116.
15 The annexed description of Asbury in his old age is by the author of a poem styled, "The
Conference, or Sketches of Wesleyan Methodism." It was published anonymously by John Clarke,
at Bridgeton, West New Jersey, 1824. It is l2mo, 92 pp., pasteboard binding. His identity has been
discovered by the writer, and from prose sketches at the close of the poem, he was a Wesleyan
minister who labored with William Black, being stationed for a time at Halifax, Newfoundland,
Canada, and afterward in New York City as a visitor. He was Rev. Joshua Marsden. The author was
a man of education, and the poetry is of a respectable order. He had often met with Asbury. This
volume, and no other is known to exist, was presented to the wife of Rev. Thomas McCormick at
the General Conference of the M. E. Church in Baltimore, 1824, by Rev. Charles Pittman who, with
Rev. Joseph Rushing, was a guest at the home of the McCormicks during the Conference. It was
presented to the writer by Rev. Thomas McCormick, February 24, 1882, when he was in the
ninety-first year of his age, and is so inscribed on a flyleaf. The volume contains an interesting letter
from William Black to Marsden, in which he furnishes some important facts in connection with the
funeral of Asbury, which he attended in 1816, in Baltimore, Md. These facts will be used in the
proper connection. In the author's "Account of the Rev. F. Asbury," a clear analysis of his character
is given by this admirer, and also this description of his person. "In his appearance he was a picture
of plainness and simplicity, bordering upon the costume of the Friends; the reader may figure to
himself an old man, spare and tall, but remarkably clean, with a plain frock coat, drab, or mixed,
waistcoat and small-clothes of the same kind, a neat stock, a broad-brimmed hat with an uncommon
low crown, while his white locks, venerable with age, added a simplicity to his appearance it is not
easy to describe; his countenance had a cast of severity, but this was owing probably to his habitual
gravity and seriousness; his look was remarkably penetrating; in a word, I never recollect to have
seen a man of a more venerable and dignified appearance."
16 Arminian Magazine, Vol. I. p. 185.
17 Asbury's "Journal," Vol. I. p.12.
18 Lednum's "History," p.86. A copy in Congressional Library, and also in the writer's collection.
He is about the only authority for these early times.
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