next year he was appointed a class-leader. He preach- ed his first sermon November 17, 1779, and for a time supplied the preacher's place. In the summer of 1780 he was drafted into the militia to meet the approach of the British army in South Carohna. Excused from bearing arms on account of his religious scruples, he rendered various other services, especially by preach- ing. Soon obtaining a discharge, he was eamestly so- licited to enter the itinerant ministry, but shrank from the responsibility, " fearing lest he should injure the work of God." At the tenth Conference, held at Ellis Meeting-house, Sussex County, Virginia, April 17,1782, Lee was deeply impressed with " the union and brother- ly love" prevalent among the preachers, notwithstand- ing the warm difference that had of late existed among the Methodist preachers on the subject of the adminis- tration of the sacraments, and at a quarterly meeting in November he was prevailed upon to take charge, togeth- er with Mr. Dromgoolc, of a circuit near f3denton. North Carolina — the Amelia Circuit. At the Ellis Meeting- house Conference, IMay 0, 1783, he was received on trial. This year he preached with marked success. He writes, " I preached at Mr. Spain's with great liberty . . . the Spirit of the Lord came upon us, and we were bathed in tears." " I preached at Ilowel's Chapel from Ezek. xxxiii,
11 I saw so clearly that the Lord was willing to
bless the people, even while I was speaking, that I be- gan to feel distressed for them. . . . After stopping and weeping for some time, I began again, but had spoken but a little while before the cries of the people overcame me, and I wept with them so that I could not speak. I found that love had tears as well as grief." Under ap- pointment of the Conference, which beffan at Ellis Preach- ing-house, Virginia, April 30, 1784, and ended at Balti- more Ma^' 28 following (see minute for that year), he la- bored in different circuits with like success, and was no^v regardedas an important man in the connection. Decem- ber 12 he was invited to meet Coke.Whatcoat, and Vasey at the celebrated Christmas Conference of 1784 at Balti- more, where, with the aid of these persons, ordained and sent out for the purpose by Sir. Wesley, the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. Lee could not attend the Conference from his distant circuit on so short a no- tice and at that season of the year, but was immediately after requested by bishop Asbury to travel with him in a Southern tour. This was an important event for Lee. He preached with the-bishop at Georgetown and Charles- ton. At Cheraw he met with a merchant who gave him such information of New England as awakened in him an eager desire to transfer his field of labor to that region. At the Southern Conference, held in North Carolina April 20, 1785, Lee, in ardent controversy with Coke, who was still in the countrj-, sought the abroga- tion of certain stringent rules on slavery adopted in 1784, which required of each member of the society the gradual emancipation of his slaves. His views soon prevailed. He preached, 1786, in Kent Circuit, Maryland ; 1787, in Baltimore; 1788, in Flanders Circuit, embracing a por- tion of New Jersey and New York. Previously to the General Conference of 1796 there were no prescribed lim- its to the several conferences, but they were held at (he discretion of the bishop as to time and place, the same preacher being sometimes appointed from different Con- ferences in the same year. At the Conference held in New York, May 28, 1789, Lee was appointed to Stam- ford Circidt, in Connecticut, and now began his career in New England, which continued for eleven years. Ne^^" England, from the natural temperament of its inhabit- ants, and their previous theological education, was a hard field for the introduction of Methodism, into which — though spread into all the other Atlantic States, far into the West, to Canada and Nova Scotia — it had not hitherto ventured with a set purpose of permanent oc- cupancy. Tlie dearth of earnest religious interest which succeeded the revivals under Edwards, Whitefield, and Tennant, as well as the prevalent reactionary tendency to rationalism, furnished sufficient demand for the zeal-
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ous preaching of the Methodists. They felt themselves called also to a special mission in upholding their form of doctrine concerning entire sanctirtcation in this life; but tlieir views on the subject oi'free will were greatly misunderstood, the Methodist Arminianism being con- founded with Pelagianisra. " The argument," says John Edwards, "most constantly used against Arminianism in those days was its tendency to prepare the way for Popery" (as being a doctrine of salvation by good works). The dominant theology, therefore, gave the Methodist preachers but a cold reception. Lee preached at Nor- walk tirst in the street, but was subsequently allowed, both in this and other places, the use of the court- house, and sometimes of the meeting-house. Thomas Ware, who heard Lee about this time, wTites, " 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. . . . 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 Whitelield." At Stratfield he formed the first cldss, consisting of three women, September 26, 1787. At Reading, December 28, he formed another class of two. Thus, at the end of seven months' labor, he had secured Jiee members in society. But the spirit with which he labored appears in his journal as follows : " I love to break up new ground, aiul hunt the lost souls in New England, though it is hartl work ; but when Christ is with me, hard things are made easy, and rough ways made smooth." After preaching to a large congrega- tion on one occasion, he was, as usual, left to find shelter where he could, and, as he records, rode through storm, " my soul transplanted with joy, the snow falling, the wind blowing, prayer ascending, faith increasing, grace descending, heaven smiling, and love abounding."