A Methodist Saint the Life of Bishop Asbury - Softcover

1927. In writing the life of Francis Asbury it is necessary to write also, to a very great extent, the history of early American Methodism, for he was virtually its sole proprietor for nearly half a century. He is chiefly responsible for whatever the Methodist church is today in the United States; without his genius for organization and administration it is doubtful if it would have survived the perils and persecutions of the Revolution, or the schemes of Dr. Thomas Coke to deliver it over to the Episcopalians and the Church of England. Almost all of the important Methodist activities, including the publishing and educational movements and the far-reaching campaigns against liquor and slavery, now happily successful, were projected by Asbury. He influenced the beliefs and directed the worldly and spiritual lives of thousands in his own time, and of millions who came after him; and today there is scarcely a phase of our national life that is not touched, and in many instances controlled, by the holy octopus which he nurtured during the most critical period of its career.