The Blacksmith's Advice
Francis Asbury
Fourteen-year-old Francis walked around the huge forge that was puffing and spouting fire.
"Big one isn't she, my boy?" the tall blacksmith said pridefully. "There's not another like it in the valley. But now to your duties."
In no time at all, Francis Asbury developed a strong liking for the broad-shouldered, hulking Mr. Foxall. It was a good thing, for he had six more years of apprenticeship ahead.
"You a Christian lad, my boy?" the blacksmith asked him one day as they were shoveling coal together.
Francis laughed merrily. "I suppose so. At school they called me the Parson. I go to church every Sunday, and I can't remember ever telling a lie or cursing."
"That isn't what I mean, Francis. A Christian is one who has a personal relationship with Christ the Saviour. Now take what happened to me for instance," the blacksmith said. Then he put his shovel aside and told young Francis the story of his conversion. When he finished, the boy was staring solemnly into the coal bin.
"Strange, I've never heard my minister talk like that," he said.
Page 51
"Maybe he doesn't preach the gospel," the blacksmith suggested. "Now take the West Bromwich church. Some of the greatest ministers in England preach there. Why don't you visit there?"
Francis did. He also went to the church in Wednesbury, where not many years before, a mob threatened Charles Wesley.
"The services are so different," he told his mother. "The preachers have no prayer books, yet they pray wonderfully. The people sing hymns and during the sermon often shout "Amen." If they did that in our church, our pastor's wig would fall off." Francis chuckled at the thought.
Francis kept attending the evangelical services. He began earnestly to seek the forgiveness of his sins.
Then he heard one minister, a Mr. Mather, say, "A real believer is as happy as if he was in heaven."
Francis' hopes fell. "Will I ever be that happy?" he moaned to himself.
He continued in a distressed condition until a weekday prayer meeting at Wednesbury. The minister declared, "The only qualification you need to come to Christ is to know that you're sinful and helpless."
"I have those qualifications," Francis assured himself.
"The rest is up to you," the minister continued. "You have only to believe and come."
Francis fled to his father's barn and fell on his knees. There he found refuge in Christ.
Right away he gave expression to his faith. First he became a class leader, then a local preacher.
In 1771, John Wesley's preachers met in Bristol for their annual conference. In the conference Wesley pleaded,
Page 52
"Our brethren in America call for help. Who will go?"
"I will," shouted Francis Asbury, as he sprang to his feet. He was only twenty-six at the time.
In the colonies, the muscles he had tempered in the blacksmith's shop served him well. For thirty-three years he averaged riding six thousand miles each year. He preached seventeen thousand sermons and was made a Methodist bishop charged with the administration of all the Methodist churches in America. During his ministry, Methodists led all other American denominations in evangelistic zeal. When Asbury came to America, Methodists ranked numerically in last place. Barely a few years after his death, Methodists were declared the leading denomination in the New World.
Webmaster's note: Two Methodist schools were named after Francis Asbury. Asbury College was founded in 1890 and Asbury Theological Seminary was founded in 1923, both in Kentucky.
