The missionary spirit dominated Dr. Coke. "He was himself a missionary society." In all his journeys he paid his own expenses. At the age of nearly seventy he proposed to the Wesleyan Conference to go personally to the East Indies and establish a mission. The Conference objected on account of expense. He offered to bear the entire expense himself, to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, and the Conference finally consented. He selected six men to accompany him, and sailed for the Indies. A few days before they expected to land Dr. Coke was found dead one morning in his stateroom. The mission was established, though Dr. Coke was with the glorified. He was buried in the Indian Ocean, where, in after years, Dr. Judson, the great Baptist missionary, rested from his labors. It has been said, "No man in Methodism, except Wesley, did more for the extension of the work through the world than Dr. Coke." Mr. Asbury says, "He was a minister of Christ, in zeal, in labor, and in services, the greatest man of the last century." Bishop Asbury continued his labors with marvelous success until March, 1816, when, in great weakness, he preached his last sermon, Sunday, March 24. Hoping to attend the General Conference, which met in Baltimore, May 1, he succeeded in reaching Spottsylvania, and there, on the afternoon of the following Sunday, he fell asleep in Jesus. Dr. Coke died three years before Mr. Asbury. These were great, good, and honored men. Methodism spread from its first introduction. Robert Strawbridge, accompanied by Robert Williams and John King, was the first to enter Maryland. Captain Webb was the first to introduce Methodism into Pennsylvania. Freeborn Garrettson, assisted by William Black, was the first to enter New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Boardman, Jesse Lee, and Freeborn Garrettson were the first to enter New England, including Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Francis Clark, a local preacher, was the first to enter Kentucky, in 1782. The first Conference preachers were James Haw and Benjamin Ogden. We do not know who first entered Indiana. Lorenzo Dow was the first to carry Methodism into Alabama, in 1803 or 1804. Jesse Lee was the first to enter Florida, then Spanish, in 1807; he crossed the St. Mary's River in a small boat, knelt down in the woods, and implored God to claim the territory for himself. In 1823 J. N. Gallen was appointed to St. Augustine. E. W. Bowman was the first to enter Louisiana, in 1805, where the people were said to know "nothing of God or religion." Joseph Pilmore was first to enter South Carolina, in 1773; in 1785, Asbury, not to speak of Wesley, in 1736. In 1769 Robert Williams, a local preacher, was first to enter Virginia and preach his first sermon at Norfolk. Joseph Tillard was the first Methodist preacher to enter Illinois; he formed the first class. Nathan Bangs preached the first Methodist sermon in Detroit, Mich., and William Mitchell organized the first class.