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Eliza Asbury

Her cottage and her son

A mother of Methodism

ELIZA ASBURY
Her cottage and her son
By David J.A. Hallam
Brewin Books. 98 pages. £8.95
ISBN 1 85858 235 0

The impact of a godly mother on a child cannot be over-estimated. It is worthwhile, therefore, to trace the childhood influences upon those who have been significantly used by God in the past.

Francis Asbury, called the 'Wesley of America', has been the subject of at least eight biographies. As John Wesley's first bishop in the New World, Asbury (1745-1816) rode more than 250,000 miles, preaching and establishing Methodist societies. By the time of his death, 44 years after he first left his home village in 1771, the Methodist membership had grown from 550 to at least a quarter of a million, with 700 ordained preachers.

This attractively produced book with numerous illustrations is an attempt to discover the personality and life of Asbury's mother. Only semi-literate, Eliza and her husband Joseph, a garden labourer, lived in a hamlet near West Bromwich, in the West Midlands. The death of Eliza's first child at the age of five was a heavy blow, resulting in a period of emotional collapse. But this tragedy led to her conversion with the subsequent transformation in her home life.

Persecution of the early Methodists was particularly severe in the Wednesbury area and the Asbury family suffered in consequence. Their home had become the venue for society meetings, and remained so for 50 years until Eliza's death in 1804. 'Thus a lamp was lighted in a dark place', recorded Francis.

David Hallam, Methodist lay preacher and ex-MEP, provides an interesting picture of life in an 18th-century village and gives an insight into the organisation of the first Methodist societies. The weakness of the book lies in the fact that despite meticulous research, little is actually known about Eliza Asbury; its strength is the spiritual content of the letters Francis wrote home from America. There is great interest here for readers familiar with the locality in which it is set.

Faith Cook, Derby