We remained in Charleston for several days, and both bishops preached almost daily. I also preached there several times. Never was I more delighted than with my visit to Charleston and the Charleston Methodists. There was a zeal and warmth among them I much admired. They not only lived in a warm climate, but had warm hearts. I wrote thus in my journal: “The Lord has a kind and loving people in this city. The prospects of Zion are very promising in this place.” Wonders has God done for the Methodists in Charleston since I made this record. But alas, what a change has come over the city! How has the fine gold become dim! It was a sad day for them when secession was born, and they fired upon Fort Sumter and the old time-honored flag. We were several days in reaching the seat of the South Carolina Conference, and crossed several rivers on the way. On Wednesday the 15th Bishop M’Kendree preached a very ingenious sermon on 1 Peter i, 13, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,” etc. He was perfectly original in his mode of illustration. He said the loins were the weakest part of the body, and therefore the necessity of strengthening them. We were to gird the weak places. He applied to diligent attention, watchfulness, etc. It was a striking discourse, impressive both in matter and manner. On Saturday we reached Augusta in Georgia. This day we dined in the woods. It was nothing new; and the bishops were just as grateful over their dry morsel, and would ask a blessing as fervently over it as over some of the sumptuous dinners of the wealthy. Bishop Asbury preached in Augusta in the morning, M’Kendree in the afternoon, and I in the evening. Mr. Asbury makes this mournful record: “Sunday, 18, my flesh sinks under labor. We are riding in a poor thirty-dollar chaise, in partnership; two bishops of us, but it must be confessed it tallies well with the weight of our purse: what bishops! Well, but we have great views, and we have great times, and the Western, Southern, and Virginia Conferences will have one thousand souls truly converted to God; and is this not an equivalent for a light purse? And are we not well paid for starving and for toil? Yes. Glory to God!” This record is characteristic of the sainted Asbury. The bishops rode in a carriage, and I on horseback, a kind of body-guard. On Saturday the 24th we reached Liberty Chapel, near Milledgeville, the seat of the conference. It was held in the house where the bishops were entertained, commencing on Monday, December 26, 1808. The day before being Christmas, Bishop Asbury preached a sermon from John iii, 17, on the design of God in sending his Son into the world.