Asty was born in Norwich about 1672, the son of Robert Asty of Norwich and grandson to the ejected minister of Stratford, whose Christian name was John.Thomas Harmer, Ancient and Present State of Congregational Churches of Norfolk and Suffolk, p. 45 In his funeral sermon by John Guyse (1730) he was said to have made "thankful acknowledgments" for godly parents' and a religious education.' He spent several years during the earlier part of his ministry in the family of the Fleetwoods of Stoke Newington, then outside London. In 1713 he was ordained as pastor to a congregation in Ropemaker's Alley, Moorfields, London, where he remained for the rest of his life.
