Anecdote of Asbury by J. Lamont

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 9, 1877

Anecdote of Asbury.

By J. Lamont

The following anecdote of Bishop Asbury, from “Heroes of Methodism,” by J. B. Finley, may serve as a warning to some who belong to the second generation of Adventists:—

“We stopped with a Methodist family. As we passed through the parlor, we saw the daughter and some other young ladies dressed very gaily. The daughter was playing on the piano, and as we moved through the room we doubtless elicited from those fashionable young ladies some remarks about the rusticity of our appearance; and the wonder was doubtless excited, Where on earth could those old country codgers have come from?”

“The bishop took his seat, and presently in came the father and mother of the young lady. They spoke to the bishop, and then followed the grandfather and grandmother.

“When the old lady gave the bishop her hand, he held it, and looking her in the face, while a tear dropped from his eye, he said, ‘I was looking to see if I could trace in the lineaments of your face the likeness of your sainted mother. She belonged to the first generation of Methodists. She lived a holy life, and died a most triumphant death. You,’ continued the bishop, ‘and your husband belong to the second generation of Methodists. Your son and his wife are the third; and that young girl, your granddaughter, represents the fourth. She has learned to dress and play on the piano, and is versed in all the arts of fashionable life; and I presume, at this rate of progress, the fifth generation of Methodists will be sent to dancing school.’ This was a solemn reproof, and it had a powerful effect on the grandparents.

“The first Methodists were a peculiar people in their personal appearance and

manners, and could be distinguished at a single glance. Their self-denial led them to the abandonment of all the lusts of the flesh. They were simple-hearted, single-eyed, humble and devoted followers of the Saviour. They loved God devotedly, and one another with pure hearts fervently; and though scoffed at by the world, hated and persecuted by the devil, they witnessed a goodly profession of godliness and faith.”

Are we, Seventh-day Adventists, progressing in the same direction? Who that is acquainted with the facts will dare say no? Have we not progressed as far in a decade of years as the first Methodists did in a generation? “What shall be the end of these things?” Shall we not “ask for the old paths, and walk therein?”

J. Lamont.