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

within, six adults, and as many children, one of which is all motion; the dogs, too, must sometimes
be admitted. On Saturday, at Felix Ernest's, I found that among my other trials I had taken the itch;
and, considering the filthy houses and filthy beds I have met with, in coming from the Kentucky
Conference, it is perhaps strange that I have not caught it twenty times: I do not see that there is any
security against it, but by sleeping in a brimstone shirt -- poor bishop! But we must bear it for the
elect's sake. My soul is tranquil, the air is pure, and the house of God is near; and Jehovah is nearer."
As he hastened onward he passed two of the new "camp-grounds of the Methodists and
Presbyterians;" they "made," he says, "the country look like the holy Land." On reaching North
Carolina he writes: "Once more I have escaped from filth, fleas, rattlesnakes, hills, mountains, rocks,
and rivers: farewell, western world, for a while!" Asbury considered "cleanliness next to godliness;"
in his habits of dress, manners, and all things, he was neat almost to precision; no one could be more
at home than he in the opulent circles of Perry and Rembert Halls, the mansions of Russell, Bassett;
said Lippett; but his preachers were suffering bravely the hardships of the frontier, and, if his
presence was not absolutely necessary for their ecclesiastical affairs, still he willingly shared their
trials for the moral advantage of his example. Under its influences some of the noblest men of the
ministry plunged into these wildernesses to build up their Christian civilization. His example was
hardly less important than his administrative ability in these early days of his Church.
There were, in 1804, nearly eleven thousand nine hundred (11,877) Methodists, and nearly fifty
[39]
(46) preachers, reported in the Western Conference. It comprised four districts and twenty-five
circuits. These statistics do not include, however, all the growing societies of Western Pennsylvania
and Western Virginia, which have been comprised in this survey of Western Methodism, for, in
defining the West, I have regarded neither Conference nor state lines, but the natural geographical
boundaries of the country. The Monongahela and Greenbrier Districts, taking in the Redstone and
Greenbrier regions, had now nearly three thousand five hundred (3,438) Methodists and twenty-six
preachers on fourteen circuits. These, added to the statistics of the Western Conference, would give
the denomination, west of the Mountains, six districts, thirty-nine circuits, seventy-two preachers,
and more than fifteen thousand three hundred (15,315) members; an estimate which still leaves out
many Methodists beyond the Blue Ridge. It shows, however, remarkable prosperity for a newly and
sparsely settled country. The Church had now been planted in Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Mississippi, and Methodist itinerants were preaching the gospel from Pittsburgh to Natchez.
Western Methodism had gained in these last eight years two districts, sixteen circuits, thirty-six
preachers, and about eight thousand eight hundred members. It witnessed already the presage of its
later unparalleled triumphs.
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