The subject of this chapter, sometimes denominated the apostle of New England Methodism, was born in Prince George County, Virginia, in the year 1755. His forefathers came from England soon after the first settlement of Virginia, and his parents were respectable members of the Church of England, and they dedicated their children to God in baptism, while in a state of infancy, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of which they were members.

At a proper age, Jesse was sent to school under the instruction of a Godfearing teacher, who took pains to improve his pupils, morally as well as intellectually; hence the morning service of the Church was performed regularly on the Wednesday and Friday of every week. Besides, the scholars were taught the Catechism of the Church, which was attended with good results, especially in Jesse’s case, who, when he felt an inclination to do something wrong, would stop at the recollection of the lessons taught in his Catechism, and refrain from the commission of the act.

His father also seconded the efforts of the teacher in the enforcement of morality, and their united labors were not in vain, as young Lee was never known to indulge in those degrading vices which many of his associates delighted to indulge in. He never uttered a profane expression but once, for which he afterward felt heartily sorry.

But although young Lee was moral and circumspect in his outward walk like all other men, he had “an evil heart of unbelief;” a heart opposed to the requirements of God and the spirituality of the Gospel. When he was fourteen years of age, his father, who had hitherto trusted in external ordinances for salvation, was led to see the necessity of “being born from above” before he became fit for the “Kingdom of God:” he accordingly sought, and obtained the forgiveness of sins, and having, in the fullness of his heart, declared to his wife “what the Lord had done for his soul,” she too was led to embrace the Saviour, and become a spiritual “worshipper of the Father.” The conversion of his parents produced a powerful effect on the mind of Jesse; his conviction for sin became pungent, and fearing one morning, that he would drop into hell, he was constrained to cry aloud for mercy, and soon the Lord appeared for his relief, so that young Lee could exclaim with the Prophet, “O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.”

In the year 1774, when Jesse was about sixteen years of age, Mr. Robert Williams, a Wesleyan preacher, visited that part of Virginia where Jesse’s parents resided. They soon became attached to the first Methodist Society formed in that vicinity, and Jesse, stimulated by their example, united also with the Society. From this time forward, Mr. Lee’s house became a regular preaching place, and a home for the weary itinerant, and like Obededom of old, the Lord blessed him abundantly in basket and in store, because the “ark of the Lord rested there.” The year 1775 was distinguished by a great revival of religion in Virginia, and during this revival Jesse Lee, although but seventeen years of age, felt an impression that it was his duty to labor personally for the salvation of souls, and he had an ample field for the improvement of his talents and the exercise of his Christian graces.

About this period he left his father’s house, for the purpose of residing with a bereaved relative in North Carolina. Here he was appointed a class-leader by the preacher in charge of the circuit, and from this time forward, he frequently exhorted at class-meetings, prayer-meetings, etc., and would sometimes hold meetings for the purpose of giving the “word of exhortation,” and on the 17th of November, 1779, he preached his first sermon at a place called the “Old Barn,” his text being, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!” etc.

Mr. Lee served the Church for some time, in the capacity of a local preacher, while he pursued the task of cultivating the soil, as the means of gaining a livelihood, but while pursuing his peaceful avocations, and spending all his spare time in preaching the Gospel of the Prince of Peace, he was drafted to serve in the army, the United States being then engaged in the war of the Revolution. Mr. Lee, though a friend to his country, and a well-wisher to the cause of liberty, had imbibed the idea that it was wrong for him, as a Christian, to bear arms or to kill any of his fellow-creatures.

He determined however to join the army, and to trust in the Lord for deliverance from the necessity of taking life. On the 29th of July, 1780, he arrived at the encampment, and shortly after was called on parade. The sergeant soon went round with the muskets, and offered one to Mr. Lee, but he refused to take it; the lieutenant then brought him one, but he still refused to take it. The lieutenant threatened him with the guard-house, and went to see the colonel, and coming back set the gun down against him.

Mr. Lee told him he might as well take the gun away, or it would fall, the officer then placed him under guard. After a while the colonel came, and taking Mr. Lee aside, began to converse with him in relation to the propriety of bearing arms, but his reasons were not sufficiently cogent to make any change in Mr. Lee’s mind so that he left him in the care of the guard. After dark, Mr. Lee told the guard that they must have prayers before they went to rest, and finding a Baptist under guard, he asked him to pray. After prayer, Mr. Lee told the soldiers and others, that if they would attend in the morning, he would pray with them. The soldiers brought straw for him to lie on, and offered him their blankets and greatcoats for covering, so that he slept quite soundly. The next morning being Sabbath, some hundreds of people flocked together at the sound of Mr. Lee’s singing, and they joining with him, the surrounding plantation echoed with the songs of Zion. After singing they had a season of prayer, and many of the poor soldiers wept.

After prayer, a tavern-keeper came out and talked with Mr. Lee, and informed him, that while in bed he heard him praying, that he could not refrain from tears, and had come to see if he would be willing to preach to the people. Mr. Lee consented, provided the Colonel’s permission could be obtained. This was granted, but before preaching, the Colonel came and took Mr. Lee out to talk with him again, on the subject of bearing arMs. The latter informed the Colonel that he was a friend to his country, but that he could not kill a man and preserve a good conscience, and that he was willing to do anything while in the army, but fight. Whereupon the Colonel kindly gave him the charge of a baggage-wagon, so that he might be relieved from the necessity of fighting, and then released him from confinement, telling him that he might stand on a bench by the Colonel’s tent, and preach. While preaching, many of the officers and soldiers were very much affected, and at the close of the preaching, some of the gentlemen pre sent went about with their hats for the purpose of making a collection of money for the preacher, which Mr. Lee no sooner saw, than he peremptorily requested them to desist, thinking that if the people could afford to sit and hear him, he could afford to stand and preach to them. It was not customary in those days for local preachers to receive any remuneration for their services.

Mr. Lee moved with the army from place to place improving every opportunity of preaching to the soldiers. After being some months with the army, the Colonel appointed Mr. Lee sergeant of the pioneers, a birth with which he was well suited. After remaining a few weeks longer in the army, the Commanding General gave him an honorable discharge from further service, and he, with a glad heart, took his journey homeward, and soon had the satisfaction of meeting with his friends, from whom he had been separated for three months and a half.

In 1782, Mr. Lee, having attended the Virginia Conference, was appointed in connection with Mr. Drumgoole to form a new circuit. On their way to their appointed field of labor, they stopped at the house of a Quaker, and asked permission to tarry for the night. “If you choose to get down,” said the honest Friend, “I will not turn thee away.” This blunt reply rather confounded the young itinerant, as not knowing whether he would be welcome or not, but as it was night and no time for ceremony, they dismounted and tried to make themselves as much at home as possible, and they soon found that the Quaker, blunt as he was, was by no means lacking in true benevolence and charity. Before retiring to rest, the guests begged the privilege of attending family prayers. “If you have a mind to pray, I will leave the room,” and suited the action to the words, he retired, and left them to attend to their devotions in their own way. Mr. Lee labored as a traveling preacher during a part of this year, and at the next session of the Conference, was received on trial, and was appointed to Caswell circuit, North Carolina.

The following year (1784), Mr. Lee was appointed to Salisbury circuit, where his labors were greatly blessed to the good of the people. In the month of December, he received an official note, informing him of the arrival of Dr. Coke, and Messrs. Whatcoat and Vasey, and requesting his attendance at Baltimore on the 25th of the same month; but as he was five hundred miles from the seat of Conference, and had only twelve days’ notice, he considered it impossible with his poor state of health, and the unfavorable state of the roads at that season of the year, to attend, so that he remained on his circuit. Soon after the organization of the Church, and the election and consecration of Mr. Asbury to the Superintendency of the Church, Mr. Lee had the privilege of meeting the latter at one of his appointments. Just before the commencement of the service, Bishop Asbury appeared with his black robe, cossack, and band, and as it was a novel sight to see a Methodist arrayed in canonicals, Mr. Lee felt deeply grieved at what he considered an innovation upon the plainness and simplicity of Methodism, and he stoutly opposed the practice. He did not allow his zeal for plainness to destroy his affection for the bishop, but at the request of the latter, became for a time his traveling companion, and accompanied him as far south as Charleston, S. C.

In 1787, Mr. Lee was appointed to Baltimore City circuit, an appointment of great importance, and which he filled with great acceptability and success, preaching not only in the churches and schoolhouses, but on the commons, in the markets, and wherever he could find a congregation. In the spring of 1788, he visited his native place in Virginia, where a remarkable revival of religion had been in progress for some time.

Respecting this revival, Mr. Lee says in his journal: “I surely have cause to bless and praise God, that I came to Virginia this spring to see my old friends. But such a change in any people I never saw. — They told me instances of persons, who were quite careless in the morning, and perhaps laughing at religion, but going to meeting they were cut to the heart, and dropped down as if dead; and after lying awhile, some perhaps for hours, and others not so long, have leaped up and praised God from a sense of his forgiving love, and it has been quite common for Christians, when they have been much comforted, to praise God aloud; and while in an ecstasy of joy, have gone to the wicked and taken hold of them, and exhorted them with tears to seek the Lord.

Others have gone to their wicked relations — parents to their children, children to their parents, the husband to the wile, and the wife to the husband, and wept over them and prayed for them till the power of God has laid hold of them, and they have been made subjects of converting grace. So mightily has the Lord blessed the labors of his people in this place.”

At the Conference of 1788, Mr. Lee was strongly solicited by Bishop Asbury and others, to receive ordination, but such was his humility and his view of the sacredness and awfulness of the holy office, that he reused to take the same upon him, at least for the time being. He, however, received an appointment to Flanders circuit, where he labored with untiring perseverance for the upbuilding of Messiah’s kingdom.

But we must now introduce Mr. Lee to a new field of labor, where he is destined to plant the banners of Methodism on the soil of the pilgrims, and to carry, what appeared to many in that day to be a new gospel, among the staid inhabitants of New England; a work which has gained for Jesse Lee the by no means inappropriate appellation of Apostle of New England Methodism. In 1789, Mr. Lee attended the Conference in New York city, and received an appointment to Stamford circuit, in the State of Connecticut. The circumstances which led to his appointment as a Methodist preacher among the New Englanders, appear to have been providential. As early as 1785, Mr. Lee, while traveling with Bishop Asbury to Charleston, S. C., had occasion to call on merchant by the way, whose clerk was a native of New England. Mr. Lee learned much from this young man in relation to the religious condition of his native land, and instantly entertained a desire to go and preach the doctrines of a free and full salvation to that people, and the desire thus begotten in his mind continued for the term of four years, until at length he was gratified by an appointment among them.

At the period now referred there were no less than two hundred Methodist traveling preachers, and forty-three thousand Methodist members in the United States; and yet strange to tell, there was not a single Methodist preacher, nor a single Methodist Society in all New England! It is true, that Rev. Mr. Black, a Wesleyan preacher, and Rev. Cornelius Cook, had preached in different parts of New England, but without having been stationed there by the authority of the Conference. The reason for this apparent neglect of the Methodists to cultivate this ground hitherto, may be found in the fact that New England was well supplied with preaching, and with preachers. Indeed, Congregationalism was both established and supported by law, although at the time of which we speak, it is an admitted fact, that the Churches of New England had in a great measure lost the life and power of godliness, and many of them had fallen into the meshes of cold-hearted Socinianism, with an evident leaning toward Rationalism reason may be found in the fact, that the religious sentiments of the people of New England were so perfectly antagonistic to the principles and doctrines of Methodism, that the advocates and promulgators of the latter were looked upon as the worst kind of heretics; and hence, notwithstanding the acknowledged lukewarmness and heterodoxy of many of the New England Churches, no friendly voice was ever heard saying to the followers of Wesley, “Come over and help us.”

It was under these circumstances that Jesse Lee was commissioned to unfurl the banners of Methodism within the strongholds of bigotry and dead formality; and on the 11th of June, he set foot upon the soil of Connecticut. His first sermon was preached in the town of Norwalk, where he found a few who were willing to inquire, “whether these things were so,” of which he had spoken. As the circumstances connected with this, his first sermon in New England, are interesting, we will quote his own words: “June 17th, at 4 o’clock, I arrived in Norwalk, and went to one Mr. Rogers, where one of our friends had asked the liberty for me to preach.

When I came, Mrs. R. told me her husband was from home, and was not willing for me to preach in his house. I told her we would hold meeting in the road, rather than give any uneasiness. We proposed speaking in an old house that stood just by, but she was not willing. I then spoke to an old lady about speaking in her orchard, but she would not consent, but said we would tread the grass down. So the other friend went and gave notice to some of the people, and they soon began to collect, and we went to the road where we had an apple tree to shade us. When the woman saw that I was determined to preach, she said I might preach in the old house, but I told her it would be better to remain where we were. So I began on the side of the road, with about twenty hearers. After singing and prayer, I preached on John 3:7, ‘Ye must be born again.’ I felt happy that we were favored with so comfortable a place. Most part of the congregation paid particular attention to what I said, and two or three women seemed to hang down their heads as if they understood something of the New Birth.

After preaching, I told the people that I intended to be with them again in two weeks, and if any of them would open their houses to receive me, I should be glad, and if they were not willing, we would meet at the same place; some of them came and desired that I should meet at the town-house the next time; so I gave consent. Who knows but I shall yet have a place in this town where I may lay my head? “Thursday, 18th, I rode about sixteen miles to Fairfield, and put up at Mr. Penfield’s tavern, near the court-house, and soon told who I was, and what was my errand; the woman of the house asked me a few questions, and in a little time wished to know if I had a liberal education. I told her I had just education enough to carry me through the country. I got a man to go with me to see the two principal men of the town, in order to get permission to preach in the court-house: the first said he had no objection, the other said he was very willing. However, he asked me if I had a liberal education.

I told him I had nothing to boast of; though I had education enough, to carry me through the country; then I went to the courthouse, and desired the schoolmaster to send word by his scholars that I was to preach at six o’clock; he said he would, but did not think that many would attend. I waited till after the time, and no one came; at last I went and opened the door and sat down. At length the schoolmaster and three or four women came; I began to sing, and in a little time thirty or forty collected; then I preached on Romans 4:23. I felt a good deal of satisfaction in speaking. My soul was happy in the Lord; and I could not but bless God that he gave me to feel for the souls of those that heard me. The people were very solemn toward the end of the sermon, and several of them afterward expressed, in my hearing, their great satisfaction in hearing the discourse. After Mrs. Penfield came back to the tavern, she pressed me much to call the next day, and preach at her sister’s, who, she said, was much engaged in religion, and would be much pleased with my manner of preaching. This appeared to me to be an opening of the Lord: so I told her I would. I stayed all night, and prayed with the family, who were very kind, and would not charge me anything, but asked me to call again.”

Mr. Lee had now fully opened his mission in New England, and he continued going from place to place, preaching the gospel of peace to the inhabitants of those lands. On the 4th of July we find him at Stratford, Conn., where he put up at a tavern, and then went to the man who kept the key of the townhouse, and obtained his consent to preach therein. The man told him he did not know much about the Methodists, they might be like the New-Lights. Mr. Lee in reply, said he did not know much about the New-Lights, but some people thought that the Methodists resembled them in their preaching. “Well,” said the man, “if you are like them, I would not wish to have anything to do with you.” Mr. Lee inquired what objections he had to the New-Lights. “Why,” replied the man, “they went on like madmen; there was one Davenport that would preach, and hollo, and beat the pulpit with both hands, and cry out ‘Come away, come away to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don’t you come to the Lord?’ till he would foam at the mouth, and sometimes continued it, till the congregation would be praying in companies about the house.” “For my part,” said Mr. Lee, “I wished that the like work was among the people again.” Mr. Lee accordingly preached in the town-house, and was hospitably entertained by the people.

During the summer and autumn of 1789, Mr. Lee visited a large number of places in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the snows and frosts of a New England winter did not deter him from discharging the duties of his mission. Under date of February 6th, 1790, Mr. Lee states: “I rode to Putney. After meeting, an old man came and spoke to me, and asked me why I did not go into the back settlements and preach to the people that were not favored with the Gospel as they were in Putney; I told him my call was to sinners, and that I found many of them wherever I went. I then asked him if all the people in the neighborhood were converted? He said they had the means; I asked him if any of them (the standing order I suppose is meant) preached in Putney? He said no; but they preached near enough for all to go and hear. I told him he put me in mind of the dog in the manger, who would not eat the hay himself, nor suffer the ox to eat it; they would not come to the place to preach, and were not willing that I should; at which many present could not refrain from laughing heartily. He said, ‘a busybody about other men’s matters,’ according to the original, was one that preached in another’s parish without his consent. I told him the words might be well applied to him in meddling himself with my preaching. He still insisted on the necessity of my going where there was no regular preaching, and where the people were suffering for want of it. I told him if he thought that some one ought to go to the new settled parts of the country, that he was the very man to go. He said he was too old; I replied, that a person was never too old to do good. We then parted, and he bid me adieu. When I came away, I asked what old gentleman that was; they told me that it was Mr. Birdseye — a wornout priest, that preaches once in a while, and was but little admired among the people. I wist not that he was a priest, and no wonder that the people laughed when I compared him to the dog in the manger.”

During the spring of 1790, Mr. Lee visited different parts of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire; and in the following summer directed his course to the city of Boston, praying that in this place he might have some fruit also. The following account of his introducing the Gospel as preached by him and his co-laborers, taken from “Steven’s Memorials,” will, no doubt be interesting to the reader. “In the center of Boston Common still stands a gigantic elm — the crowning ornament of its beautiful scenery. On a the summer afternoon in July, 1790, a man of middle age, of a serene but shrewd countenance, and dressed in a style of simplicity which might have been taken for the guise of a Quaker, took his stand upon a table beneath the branches of that venerable tree. Four persons approached, and gazed upon him with surprise, while he sung a hymn. It was sung by his solitary voice; at its conclusion he knelt down upon the table, and stretching forth his hands, prayed with a fervor and unction, so unwonted in the cool and minute petitions of the Puritan pulpits, that it attracted the groups of promenaders who had come to spend an evening hour in the shady walks, and by the time he rose from his knees, they were streaming in processions from the different points of the Common toward him. While be opened his small Bible and preached to them without ‘notes,’ but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, the multitude grew into a dense mass, three thousand strong, eagerly catching every utterance of the singular stranger, and some of them receiving his message into ‘honest and good hearts.’ One who heard him at, or about this time, says: ‘When he stood up in the open air and began to sing, I knew not what it meant. I drew near, however, to listen, and thought the prayer was the best I had ever heard. He then read his text, and began, in a sententious manner, to address his remarks to the understanding and consciences of the people; and I thought all who were present must be constrained to say, ‘It is good for us to be here.’ All the while the people were gathering, he continued this mode of address, and presented us with such a variety of beautiful image, that I thought he must have been at infinite pains to crowd so many pretty things into his memory.

But when he entered upon the subject matter of his text, it was with such an easy, natural flow of expression, and in such a tone of voice, that I could not refrain from weeping; and many others were affected in the same way. When he was done, and we had an opportunity of expressing our views to each other, it was agreed that such a man had not visited New England since the days of Whitefield. I heard him again, and thought I could follow him to the ends of the earth.’” It is proper to remark, that before preaching on the Common, he had endeavored to find some house where he might deliver his message, but he could get none to encourage him in his endeavors to do so; none would put themselves to the trouble of finding a place for him, and knowing that the Common was the only spot where he could find a pulpit, he repaired there, as above graphically described. On the following day he left Boston, and passing through Salem where he preached, he went to Newbury-port, and called on Mr. Murray, the Presbyterian minister of the place. When Mr. Murray found that be belonged to Mr. Wesley’s party — in distinction from the Whitefieldian Methodists — he very politely offered to treat Mr. Lee as a gentleman, and as a Christian, but not as a preacher, assigning as a reason that he had recently been informed by letter that a preacher of the Wesleyan party, had lately been up the Connecticut River, and had held meetings in four different places in one day. Mr. Lee candidly acknowledged that he was the guilty man; and as he could not secure Mr. Murray’s pulpit, he was thankful at having the privilege of preaching in the court-house.

After making a short tour to New Hampshire and other places, he returned to Boston, where he not only preached on the Common, but in a private house, and also in a Baptist Church, and on the next Sabbath preached again on the Common, to a congregation of five thousand people. He thus pursued his way from place to place, preaching day and night wherever he found an opening, so that during this Conference year he traveled several thousand miles, visited six States, and the greater part of the large towns, and villages of New England. In reference to these labors he says: “In most places I have met with a much kinder reception than I could have expected, among persons holding principles so different from mine: but yet I have been much opposed and have been under the disagreeable necessity of spending much of my time in talking on controverted points, sometimes in public and ofttimes in private.

When I was opposed, if I discovered an inclination to wave the discourse, they would immediately conclude that my principles were so bad, that I was afraid to let them be known; and if I were silent, it would all go for truth. For these reasons I have been led to debate the matter with the principal part of those who have spoken to me with a calm spirit.”

Mr. Lee attended the Conference of 1790, in New York, and was appointed to Boston, as his field of labor for the ensuing year. He also consented to receive ordination, and was privately ordained deacon, by Bishop Asbury, and on the day following, was publicly ordained elder.

After the adjournment of Conference, he proceeded immediately to his appointed field of labor, and arrived on Saturday the 13th of November.

Not being able to secure a place wherein to preach the next day, he went to hear a Universalist but was not much edified. During the next week he had great and heavy trials. He took much pains to get a house to preach in, but all in vain. A few friends also tried, but with no better success. As the weather was cold and wet, the Common was out of the question; but Sabbath after Sabbath, and week after week passed away, and Mr. Lee found no place wherein to invite a congregation. On the 30th of November, a gentleman went with him to the High Sheriff for the purpose of obtaining the use of the court- house. The latter informed him, that the clerk of the Court had the disposing of the house and that he must apply to him. So they went to the clerk, but he very abruptly refused, and after hearing him talk awhile, Mr. Lee left him, more discouraged than ever. On the following Thursday, a friend went to, and told him that he had used every possible means to get a particular school-house for him to preach in, but had at last received a positive denial. Being thus shut out of the metropolis of New England, he on the 13th of December, left the city and went to Lynn, about twelve miles distant, where be was hospitably received, and where he spent about a week in preaching, visiting, etc., and where he felt greatly encouraged. He then returned to Boston, where everything appeared as dark and forbidding as before. He was obliged to get a new boarding place, and when he had settled his bill for former board, he had but two shillings and a penny (34 cents) left, and this he would not have had, if a person a few days previously, had not purchased a pamphlet that be kept for his own use, and in this manner enabled him to discharge his bill. As it was, Mr. Lee felt thankful that he had the means to discharge his pecuniary obligations, and said, “If I can always have two shillings by me, beside paying all I owe, I think I shall be satisfied.”

Notwithstanding all these discouragements, Mr. Lee lingered around Boston until he had an opportunity of delivering his message in a private house, and his word took effect on the hearts of some, who were brought to feel the force of divine truth. From the relation of the above facts, the reader may judge of the impediments and obstacles that were placed in the way of the introduction of Methodism into New England, and especially into the city of Boston, which has since become so famous for its Methodist Churches and congregations and where in the year 1852, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church is destined to hold its quadrennial session. What a change has thus been wrought by the mighty power of God! The remainder of this Conference year Mr. Lee spent in Boston, Lynn, Marblehead, and various other places.

At the Conference of 1791, Mr. Lee was appointed presiding elder of the New England district, and that the reader may judge of the success of his former labors in this rather unpromising field, it is proper to observe that his district embraced six circuits, with eleven circuit preachers, all raised principally through the labors of this indomitable pioneer. During this year he traveled many hundreds of miles, preached three hundred and twentyone sermons, gave twenty-four public exhortations, and read twenty-one authors, comprising over five thousand pages, besides his daily Bible reading!

At the Conference of 1792, he was appointed presiding elder over a small district, comprising only four circuits, another elder having been appointed to a portion of his former extensive charge; and such had been the growth of Methodism in New England since the time of Mr. Lee’s first visit, that in 1793, an annual Conference was held in Lynn on the first of August. At this latter Conference, the subject of this chapter was appointed to the Province of Maine, a place at that period very far removed from the influences of Methodism, there being no circuit formed nearer to it than two hundred miles distant. It was also nearly destitute of the ministry of other churches, the country being new and very sparsely populated, and the most of the inhabitants being comparatively poor. This appointment would no doubt have been somewhat trying to the faith and patience of some expresiding elders, but Jesse Lee had a willing heart to go to any place where souls stood in need of salvation. So bidding adieu to his warm-hearted Methodist brethren in Lynn, he commenced his lonely journey for that distant field. The people generally received him gladly, and he was instrumental during the year, in doing much good in different portions of the province. At the next Conference, he was appointed to New Hampshire district, where he also labored efficiently and successfully, and on the 21st of June, 1794, had the satisfaction of preaching a dedication sermon in a new church, in Readfield, being the first Methodist Church in the Province of Maine.

A few weeks later, Mr. Lee had the still greater satisfaction of laying the corner-stone of the first Methodist Church in the city of Boston. A small Society had been formed here in 1790, and for five years Mr. Lee had been endeavoring to promote its interests and to erect, if possible, a place of worship; at length, on the 8th of August, the few brethren ventured to begin the important enterprise, and the corner-stone was laid by Mr. Lee with all due solemnities. Mr. Lee at this time remained several weeks in the city, and although the Methodists were now in possession of a “hired house,” wherein to worship, yet as it would accommodate comparatively but few hearers, resorted again to the Common. Having thus “set things in order” in Boston, he again set out to superintend the interests of his extensive district. In Provincetown, be stopped and preached twice for the encouragement of the Society. In this place, the little band of Methodists had resolved to build a church, to prevent which, a town meeting had been called, which voted that the Methodists should not be allowed to have a house of worship in that town! Notwithstanding the decree of the town, the Society resolved to proceed in the erection of the building.

Accordingly, the materials were collected, but a company of daring spirits, led on by the chief men in the town, went one night and removed the materials to another place, constructed the effigy of a Methodist, and tarred and feathered it. Mr. Lee went to see the ruins, and felt confident that God would yet “cause the wrath of man to praise him” in that town.

For several years Mr. Lee filled the important office of presiding elder in the Eastern States, and in 1797 was appointed by Bishop Asbury to preside over the deliberations of the New England Conference, at its session in Wilbraham, Mass., the latter being unable to attend on account of indisposition. The bishop also required him, after Conference, to proceed on a tour to Georgia, Kentucky, and other southern States, for the purpose of assisting him in his episcopal duties, which directions Mr. Lee cheerfully obeyed; and at the General Conference of 1797, was requested by that body to fill Bishop Asbury’s appointments until the next spring. After completing this tour, he returned again to the north, attended several Conferences with Bishop Asbury, and then proceeded southward again, and thus he continued for several years to be the traveling companion and assistant of the venerable bishop.

At the General Conference of 1800, it became necessary to elect an additional bishop, especially as Dr. Coke would be absent from Europe but a short time, at any given period, and as Bishop Asbury had become quite infirm by age and severe trial. When the election was made, there were but two candidates in the field, Messrs. Whatcoat and Lee (see life of Bishop Whatcoat), and although all other circumstances being equal, Mr. Lee would no doubt have been the choice of a large majority of the preachers, yet in obedience to the formerly expressed wishes of Mr. Wesley, and in deference to the age and experience of Mr. Whatcoat, the latter by a few votes in the majority was duly elected Bishop of the Church. From intimations given by Bishop Asbury to Mr. Lee, the latter inferred that the preachers would generally vote for him, in case an additional bishop was made; and as there appeared to be considerable spirit among Mr. Whatcoat’s friends in relation to the matter, and a few words dropped prejudicial to the claims and qualifications of Mr. Lee, the latter felt deeply disappointed at the result and no doubt was wounded somewhat in his feelings. What added to this honest grief, was a report which had been circulated by some person unknown, to prevent his election, to the effect that Bishop Asbury had said that brother Lee had imposed on him and on the connection for a length of time, and that the bishop “would have got rid of him long ago, if he could.” When this report reached Mr. Lee’s ears, he went directly to Bishop Asbury, who, according to the expectation of Mr. Lee, at once contradicted the false statement, and expressed an earnest desire that Mr. Lee should continue to act as his assistant, and as soon as possible, the worthy bishop made the same statement in open Conference.

Thus it is, that the best of men are made the subjects of calumny and reproach, and thus Mr. Lee lost an election to the highest office in the Church, to which he was justly entitled, and which no doubt would have been awarded him, had it not been for the above false report. We are not, however, to infer that Mr. Lee “desired the office of a bishop” merely for the sake of the honor which such an office would confer upon him. From the known humility of the man, and his perfect antipathy to everything like worldly display, such a conclusion would at once be unreasonable and absurd. If he was ambitious in this respect, it was such an ambition as aimed solely at the good of the Church, and the salvation of mankind; and if disappointed in his expectations, it was a disappointment arising from a mistaken view of the feelings of the preachers towards him. Mr. Lee had many warm friends among the preachers; he knew not that he had any enemies; nor had he just reason to conclude that those who voted for the successful candidate were such, nor that in preferring another candidate, they lacked confidence in his piety, integrity, or ability.

Although disappointed, however, for the moment, he did not allow his personal feeling to dampen his ardor in the cause of his Divine Master.

Indeed we may infer that his chagrin was but momentary, as in his journal he states, “We never had as good a General Conference before; we had the greatest speaking, and the greatest union of affections that we had ever had on a like occasion.” A few days after the adjournment of the General Conference, Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat appointed Mr. Lee to act as an assistant to the bishops at the yearly Conferences, and informing him that he was at liberty to make his own appointments, South or East, as might suit his convenience. He, however, preferred taking a single circuit, and after having made a tour through the New England States, he went to New York city, where he labored and preached until the next spring, when he returned to Virginia, and was appointed presiding elder of the South District, and for several years in succession, he filled several important places in the southern section of the work.

In 1808, he once more visited the northern Conferences, and while in Newport, Rhode Island, he, for the first time in his life, heard the bell in a Methodist Church ring to call the people to meeting; he took no exceptions to the bell, but he warmly protests against the square pews in the church, by which a portion of the congregation were obliged to sit with their backs toward the preacher. He also objected to the sale of the pews, and the promiscuous sitting of men and women together, but notwithstanding these prejudices, he preached and found that God could bless his word, even in a pewed church! He then went to Boston, where the Methodists had erected a large church in addition to the old one. He preached in both, but felt the most freedom in the “old meeting-house,” and although the new one was large and elegant, he did not like it because it was pewed. After having visited his old friends in New England, in different places, and having rejoiced, wept, and prayed with them, and preached to them, he again turned his course toward the South.

In 1809, Mr. Lee published a History of the Methodists in America, and thus had the honor of being the first Methodist historian on this side of the Atlantic. Being in the vicinity of Washington, D. C., superintending the publication of this work, he was elected Chaplain of the House of Representatives, a post which he filled with credit to himself and the Church of which he was a minister, and with great acceptability to the members of Congress, as may be inferred from the fact of his re-election to the same office at the next session of that honorable body, and also at the sessions of 1811,1812, and 1813. In 1814 he was chosen Chaplain of the Senate, which post he also filled with distinguished honor. But, although thus repeatedly called to officiate to the nation’s representatives, Mr. Lee never forgot that he was a Methodist preacher, and hence in the interims of the sessions of Congress, he filled such places as were assigned him by the authorities of the Church, his last appointment being at Annapolis, the capital of Maryland.

In August, 1816, Mr. Lee attended a camp-meeting on the eastern shore of Maryland, where he preached twice, the text for the latter sermon being Peter iii. 18, “But grow in grace.” He preached a most fervid and glowing discourse, which proved to be his last one, as in the evening of the same day he was seized with a severe chill, which gave place to fever. On the following day he was removed to Hillsboro, where he was received into the house of a Mr. Sellers, where he lingered until the 12th of the following month. On the day before his death, his soul was so overwhelmed with the love of God, that he was constrained to cry out, “Glory! glory! glory! hallelujah! Jesus reigns!” Almost his last words were, “Give my respects to Bishop McKendree, and tell him that I die in love with all the preachers; that I love him, and that he lives in my heart,” and on the 12th day of September, 1816, Jesse Lee’s triumphant spirit “Passed through the crystal ports of light, And seized eternal youth.” He died in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and thirty-sixth of his itinerant ministry, beloved and regretted by a large circle of friends in all parts of the American continent.

A few observations on the character of Mr. Lee, will close this chapter.

From the incidents already related in the life and labors of Mr. Lee, none can doubt his piety, or the deep and fervent desire which he possessed to glorify God, and benefit his fellow-men. On no other principle can we account for his multifarious labors, and self-denying efforts to do good. As we have seen, be obtained a clear evidence of his acceptance with God, and the love of God and of man was the ruling passion of his after-life.

As a preacher, Mr. Lee was far above mediocrity; for fervency and zeal in his pulpit efforts, he probably had no superior in those days of primitive simplicity and fervor; and in addition to his zeal, he possessed the happy art of clothing his thoughts in rich and appropriate language. But what gave him the greatest success as a preacher was the manifest sincerity of the man, combined with a soul full of pathos and tenderness which frequently displayed itself through flowing tears, which by the sympathy of our nature would as frequently produce an impression on the hearts, and draw tears from the eyes of others. In this respect if in no other, he was one of nature’s orators, a preacher whose chief characteristic was the power of eloquence which pleased not so much the ear, as it affected and subdued the heart.

To profound learning, Mr. Lee never laid any claim; as he frequently said, he had just education enough to carry him through the world. We are not, however, to understand that he was an ignorant man in the common acceptation of the term. A person who was familiar with the doctrines and precepts of the word of God, as was the subject of our sketch, cannot be an ignorant man. One who has traveled as much, preached as frequently and observed men and actions as long as did Jesse Lee, cannot in the nature of things be a mere ignoramus; true, he might not have had that knowledge of the classics which would no doubt have made him still more extensively useful and brilliant as a minister of the Gospel, but he did possess that knowledge, without which all other acquirements are vain — a knowledge of sin forgiven, and of the way and plan of salvation. But in addition to this, he had a respectable amount of knowledge as it relates to the more common branches of science. Of this fact his published works afford abundant evidence; and the fact also that he was chosen for six successive sessions of Congress to the important and dignified station of Chaplain, proves that he was not a mere novice, or destitute of the necessary qualifications for a minister of Jesus Christ.

It is proper to look at him also, in another aspect — as the pioneer of New England Methodism — and it is in this relation, that he sustained to the revival of religion in the Eastern States, under the instrumentality of Methodist doctrines and Methodist preachers, that Jesse Lee appears in all his moral grandeur and true greatness. In these northern regions, far from friends and home, he single-handed wages war with the religious formality and bigotry of the New England Churches, and it is greatly owing to his indefatigable labors and indomitable perseverance, that the Eastern States are indebted, not only for what of Methodism they now possess, but in a great measure for that spiritual Christianity which now dwells so largely in the bosom of other evangelical Churches in New England; and we cannot repress the utterance of our thoughts when we say it is our candid belief, that had Jesse Lee visited those States a half-century sooner than he did there would at the time of his actual labors among that people, have been less formality, less Unitarianism, less latent infidelity; and had his labors been bestowed a half-century later, instead of what we now find of genuine piety, and orthodoxy of sentiment, a dark cloud of skepticism, and Unitarian rationalism, with a much larger quantum of Universalism, would have brooded over the rocky shores of New England. Jesse Lee, like the apocalyptic angel, flying from town to town, and from State to State, preaching the doctrines of repentance and faith, was in an important sense the apostle of New England. But here our reflections must end.