History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

these have been the elements of his strength, and have rendered him one of the most capable officers
in the Church.
Thus did the West raise up, in these years, men who were not only adapted to its own peculiar
frontier work, but some of whom, by their genius and self-culture, were fitted to take the highest
positions in the denomination, and to become the chief attractions of its eastern pulpits. They were
now extending Methodism, with a sort of triumphal march, all over the "Redstone country," the
Northwestern Territory, the Holston Mountain Valleys, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It had already
become the predominant form of religion in these vast regions, and was molding into Christian
civilization their rapidly growing populations. Meanwhile its itinerants were extending their victories
southward in the Valley of the Mississippi. We have followed Gibson in his romantic and heroic
mission to Natchez as early as 1799, and seen the labors and sufferings of his first humble itinerant
reinforcements, and the arrival of Learner Blackman in 1804, as also the westward advance of the
South Carolina Conference itinerants, and the southward progress of those of Eastern Tennessee into
Alabama, all pushing southwesterly toward the standard planted on the distant Mississippi by
Gibson.
From the Western Conference of 1805 Asbury dispatched Elisha W. Bowman to survey the still
farther South, and introduce Methodism among the English settlements of Louisiana. He made his
way to New Orleans and Opelousas, and the next year the name of the latter appears, for the first
time, in the annual Minutes, with Bowman as its circuit preacher. It is placed under the control of
Blackman, who had hitherto been traveling the solitary circuit of the South Mississippi, that of
Natchez, but who now, became presiding elder of the "Mississippi District," which was first reported
in 1806. There remains a long letter from Bowman to Burke, giving an interesting account of his
exploration, in which he says his passage was "through a perilous wilderness to the city of New
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Orleans." "As for the settlements of this country," he continues, "there are none that are composed
of Americans. From Baton Rouge, the Spanish garrison, which stands on the east bank of the
Mississippi River, down two hundred miles, it is settled immediately on each bank of the river by
French and Spaniards. When I reached the city I was much disappointed in finding but few American
people there, and a majority of that few may truly be called the beasts of men. On Sunday, when I
came to the Capitol, I found the doors all locked, and the house inaccessible. I found a few drunken
sailors and Frenchmen about the walks of the house, and I preached to them in the open air. The next
Sunday, when I came with my landlord and a few others, we found the doors again locked, and I
again preached to ten or twelve persons in the open air. I went again to the officers, but got no
satisfaction. In the evening, as I passed along the street, I heard them pouring out heavy curses on
the Methodists, and saying, 'He is a Methodist; lock him out.' And they told me plainly I was not to
have the privilege of the house. One of the officers told me that the Methodists were a dangerous
people, and ought to be discouraged. The next Sunday I preached to a few straggling people in the
open street. The Lord's day is the day of general rant in this city. Public balls are held, merchandise
of every kind is carried on, public sales, wagons running, and drums beating; and thus is the Sabbath
spent. I sought in vain for a house to preach in. Several persons offered to rent me a house, but I have
not money to rent one. My expenses I found to be about two dollars a day for myself and horse, and
my money pretty well spent. I tried to sell my horse, but could not get forty dollars for him. Thus I
was in this difficult situation, without a friend to advise me. I was three hundred miles, from Brother
Blackman, and could get no advice from him; and what to do I did not know. I could have no access