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Francis Asbury
To write
the history of the Mamaroneck United
Methodist Church, one can only begin with the story of the Methodist itinerant preacher whose sermons in December of 1771
inspired the beginning of eight churches in southern
Westchester County.
Francis Asbury, often
referred to as the "Prophet of the Long Road,"
is said to have ridden nearly
350,000 miles on horseback in the American colonies, preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and
the social
holiness practice
of Methodism. Asbury literally preached on the frontier as it moved westward, starting hundreds
of Methodist societies and converting thousands of people to the Christian life.
The story of American Methodism began at the Bristol conference
led by John Wesley, who
only wished to bring renewal to the Church of England
in
the last half of the 18th
century. At this conference, the minutes of
the meeting for Tuesday, August 17 show that John Wesley asks: "Our Brethren
in America call aloud for help.
Who are to go over and help them?" The answer recorded says that five were
willing; the two appointed were Francis Asbury and Richard Wright. Thus in a few terse words, we
know that John Wesley approved
Asbury's willingness
and sent
him on a mission
that was to change a nation and the course of the Methodist movement.
It was on September 4th,
1771, that Francis Asbury set sail from
Pill in the Bristol Channel
and turned his back
forever on one country, that he might, without reservation, give himself to the Colonies. Asbury
had no money, but friends gave
him
some
clothing and ten pounds in
cash.
It seems that he even broke
off a romance to a Miss Nancy Brooks
as
he departed from England.
What sort of person was he? His parents, Elizabeth and
Joseph
Asbury, opened their
small
home at West Bromwich
to traveling preachers, and the parents' religious experience was deepened by the death of a
small daughter, their only other child. We are told that
Francis
Asbury was so apt a pupil that he
was
able to read the entire Bible by age seven.
Asbury
had to leave
school
at a young age and was apprenticed at
thirteen and a half to the Old Forge, which was owned by a Methodist
named
Foxall. Asbury
at once became an
intimate
friend of Henry Foxall, the son, who
later
became a local Methodist preacher and a
rich
iron merchant in
America. was converted to Methodism after entering the blacksmith apprenticeship. He attended a
Methodist meeting at where a large Methodist Society
developed in
spite of
bitter
persecution. He was greatly
impressed by the singing and the spontaneity of the service and soon became an and leader within
this society. At the age of eighteen he became a
local
preacher.
In 1766 he left the Forge and took the place of an ailing itinerant preacher
in and Gloucestershire for nine months. The
following year, he entered the Methodist conference of itinerant preachers on a trial basis and
became a traveling preacher in
Bedforshire and Wiltshire. In 1768, he was admitted
to the ministry and
appointed first to Colchester,
then Bedfordshire, and in 1770 he traveled the Wiltshire
circuit. There is written evidence that he was held in high esteem by
the people he served.
Following the example of John
Wesley, Asbury began writing his famous journal on shipboard as he came to
the colonies. “Whither am I going?" he wrote, "To the New World. What to do? To gain honor? No,
if I know my own heart.
To get money? No: I am going to
live to God, and to bring others so to do." It was a rugged fifty-three days' voyage across the
Atlantic and Asbury preached almost daily to the ship's crew. He landed at Philadelphia on
October 27,1771, and on the following day he preached his first sermon in America at St. George's Church,
which is still an Methodist congregation today.
The first preachers to come to America, Joseph Pilmoor and Richard Boardman arrived in
1769, but were intimidated by the great hinterland of the American Continent. They preferred
to settle in such main centers as New York and Philadelphia. Asbury was the visionary who
realized this would be the death knell of the young Methodist movement. Asbury had been in the
country only three weeks, but perceiving this predicament, he wrote: "My brethren seem unwilling
to leave the cities, but I think I will show them the way." He desired a "Circulation of
preachers, to prevent partiality and popularity. I am dissatisfied," he declared. “I judge we
are to be shut up in the cities this winter....I am in trouble and more trouble is at
hand, for I am determined to take a stand....". Consequently, this stubbornness led to his
becoming the first of that great army of circuit-riders who evangelized America from the east
coast to the west.
"Where are you from, Stranger?" was asked of Asbury. He said, "from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or almost any place you please."
Asbury
began his own "circulation, "moving
north of New York City to the wilds of Westchester (which today is the Westchester section of
the Bronx) on the 23rd of
November to preach at village taverns and homes to which he was invited. He created quite
a stir at the John Street congregation in New York City, which is the oldest consistently active
congregation in the United States. He confronted Pilmoor and Boardman about their
shortsightedness in not moving Methodism beyond the city. This confrontation created wounds that
would last a lifetime. However, Asbury not only talked the talk, but lived it, as he
mounted a horse and began his traveling and preaching, which would last until his death
in 1816.
It wasn’t until December 17th
that Asbury’s journal entry reads:
"The next day I preached at Mamaroneck, to a company of people who at first took but
little notice of the worship of God; but I trust some of them felt
of truth in their hearts."
Asbury
continued to labor in America
under the superintendency of Thomas Rankin, who had been sent by John Wesley and
appointed to the conference of preachers in July of 1773 to sustain and develop the work. In
these early years in which Asbury and Rankin labored in America they were conscious of the
unsettled state of the people and rumblings of the war that was soon to break out. John Wesley
himself realized that the war with the Colonists was bound to come. All his energies were
expended in an attempt to prevent war. He wrote to the preachers in America and urged them to
control their tempers, to be moderate in their preaching, and to strive to be the friends of
all.
When the Revolutionary war broke
out in 1775, John Wesley deemed it essential to support the cause of the Crown. Wesley wrote a
number of dissertations in support of the King and one such pamphlet presented a vindication of
the legal right of England to claim the Colonies, and it argued that while America
remained under the sovereignty of England, the Colonists must submit to taxation.
It can be imagined that his
stance made Methodism very unpopular in the New World. Under these circumstances Rankin returned
home. It was only Francis Asbury who remained to provide a bridge between the Methodism of the
New World and the Old. He gave every evidence that his lot was cast with the Americans and that
their cause was his own.
Asbury inherited
the prestige and influence of Wesley in this New World. But, for a time, even he had to
tread warily. In 1778, he was confined within the house of a friendly sympathizer, Judge Thomas
White in Dover, Delaware. For about twenty months Asbury traveled little. Once he was able to
travel again he moved about freely, going far further than most people would go.
The Denomination is Born
The Revolution stimulated the
desire of the American Methodists to perform baptism and communion. Previously, the Methodist
Societies were faith support groups, while the sacraments were received in the Church of
England or other churches. This tension continued for years after the Revolution. Finally, in
1784, John Wesley finally agreed to allow the Methodists in America to become a separate
denomination, and he sent Thomas Coke as General Superintendent. The Americans interpreted the
commission of Wesley to Coke to mean that he would be Bishop.
Thomas Coke came in time for the Christmas
Conference of 1784 at the Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland, a landmark in the
history of American Methodism. It was here with the democratic consent of the preachers in
America that Asbury was ordained by Coke. Two days later, with
the help of Philip Otterbein, a German minister representing the United Brethren (a denomination
that merged with the Methodists in 1968 to create the United Methodist Church,) Coke consecrated
Asbury as General Superintendent and Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America.
Methodism in Mamaroneck
Although we claim our beginning date to be December 17th,
1771, Asbury’s writings at the time claim little about conversion or acceptance of his message in
Mamaroneck. However, he returns on January 10th, 1772, a Friday, and writes in his
journal:
"I went to Mamaroneck had
a large congregation, and felt the divine presence. Many of the people also felt the power of
truth, and sunk under the word---it was laid home to the hearts of the people; but some
contradicted and blasphemed. I believe God has a work to do among the people in this place.
Lord, keep me faithful, watchful, humble, holy, and diligent to the end. Let me sooner choose to
die than sin against thee, in thought, word, or deed.”
His third time to preach in Mamaroneck
occurred on Wednesday, January 15th, 1772. He writes:
"I preached at two in the afternoon at
Mamaroneck with some power, and in the evening returned, preached at Rye, to a large company,
and felt my Master near."
Griffen Homestead
 There is no doubt that something happened in
Mamaroneck that original December day. Legend has it that Asbury preached on a blustery, cold,
and rainy December 17th, in front of a tavern where the sewage treatment plant is
today. Although there is no written notice of converts, we discover in our church archives that
a John Griffen, a Quaker, approached Asbury when he had finished and invited him home for food
and shelter. That evening, Mr. Griffen gathered a group of friends to hear this dynamic and
passionate preacher of Methodist doctrine who carried not only the Gospel, but news of the rest
of the world as well. It has been said that the Methodist preachers brought a
purpose for living to the doorstep of many a home, not only because of the message of
salvation, but because of the news and hope brought from the distant world of England and
the cities of the colonies.
The American Revolution brought crisis to the Methodist societies. But the
preachers who remained and became leaders of the revolution were fiercely devoted to Methodist
principles. Through the war, the class meetings or societies continued. They were early
versions of faith support groups, encouraging each other in discipleship and faithfulness. One
confessed one's sins before the group. Prayer and devotion to scriptures were the core of the
classes. A penny was donated every time the class met, for the work among the poor and
disenfranchised. Methodists have had a social consciousness from the very beginning.
According to historical documents in our archives, the work of the Methodist
Society in Mamaroneck continued under the leadership of Mr. Griffen and others who became class
leaders. Little is known of this post-revolutionary period until 1784, when John Dickens and
John Haggerty, preachers assigned to New York, journey to Westchester to administer the
sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and to bury the dead.
In
1787,we find a note in the History of Rye by Charles Baird, that all the
Methodist Societies north of New York City were organized into the New Rochelle circuit with
thirty-three classes and 525 members. They all continued to grow, so a division
was necessary in 1803, and the southeastern part of Westchester County became the
reformatted New Rochelle circuit, having a membership of 473. The preachers assigned this
new circuit were W. Thatcher and A. Hunt. They were succeeded by J. Coleman and
J. Sawyer in
1805. And by Joseph Crawford and H. Bedstone in 1806.
One should remember that these preachers rode on horseback and probably reached
each Methodist society at least once a quarter for preaching, Baptism, Holy Communion, and
burial of the dead. In 1808, a dispute arose among the Methodists and Quakers. Rev. Billy
Hibbard, the assigned Methodist preacher wrote a pamphlet entitled, "Some Errors of the
Quakers laid open by a plain man and a lover of Honesty." As you could imagine, some of
the Quakers were a bit offended and a division between the societies was never healed.
A Mamaroneck class attendance record from 1810 records that a group of
thirty-three men and women, including both white and "coloured" (term used on this historic
document) met weekly leadership of Benjamin Griffen for prayer, testimony and advice. Converts
were required to be on probation for a period before being admitted to membership.
Also, some were expelled, probably for lack of attendance or perhaps for immoral behavior.
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