The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-31
METHODISTs HONOR MEMORY OF FIRST
 AMERICAN BISHOP

Methodists of the United States and Canada will today honor the memory of Francis 'Asbury, the first bishop of that denomination consecrated in North America, on the occasion of the ceEtenary of his death. ASbury was the pioneer of the hundreds of Meth odist bishops who have since acted as the spiritual leaders and guides of the millions of adherents of the Wes- 1eyan faith in this continent In no small measure he contributed to the foundation of the great religious or ganization which now makes it's in fluence felt in every city, town and rural community between the Allan tic and the Pacific, the Gulf of Mex ico and Hudson bay. The first Bish- ops name is perpetuated by the city of Asbury Park, the New Jersey sea sider esort which has long been a popular gath hering place for the Meth odists of America.
 Bishop Asbury was in his seventy first year wAen he died at Spottsy1 vania, Va, on March 31, 1S16. His body was buried in the Eutaw street Methodist Church in Baltimore. He was a native of Handsworths Stafford shire, Englandr where he was born in 1745. At the age of sixteen he en- tered the local ministry, and when he was twenty-two he embarked on the career of an itinerant Wesleyan preacher.
 
 name for himself as an eloquent and forcefuI preacher of the Gospel, and attracted the attention of John Wes- ley, when the latter sent him to Amer ica in 1771. He was accompanied by Richard Wright The following year superintendent of the American con- nection, an office which he held. with an interval of two years, until the close of the Revolution. When Asbury began his missi onary work on this side of the Atlantic the Wesleyan churches were scattered or ganizations in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and other colonies. At the first conference under Asbury' s superintendence, held in Philadelphia, ten preachers, representing 1'l6O members, were present. Until the close of the Revolution Asbury and his followers considered themselves 1 as members of the Church of Eng land.
 The final separation came in 1784, when Asbury called conference at which sixty itinerant preachers gath cred, and they formed themselves in to an independent organization, which they called the Methodist Episcopal church. Asbury was imme ediately eonsecrated the first bishop of the new sect, $Dr.avCoke performing the ceremony.
 | After that fort thirty-two years Bishop Asbury made annual trips through the United States, wandering from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and from Maine to the Gulf of Mex fco During this period, it is said, he ordained nearly 5000 ministers and preached some, 17,0o0 sermons. At his death a. century ago he had served fifty-fiye years in the minis try and nearly t11irty-two years in the episcopacy, and. it is estimated by one Of his biographers, had travelled about PTS, 900 miles. Like most of the Methodist itinerants of the period, he travelled principally on horse back. Occasionally he patronized the stage coaches. but he usually ar rived in town astride a nag, and covered with the dust or mud that represented the accumulation of days of weary travel The scores of Meth odist bishops in the United States, and Canada of today can scarcely req Ifze the hardships and privations un- | conplainingIy and cheerfully endured l by the pioneer bishop who reached the end of his toi1some journey one hundred years ago today.