included. 'If they are added, the total estimate will be 13 schools, 55 officers and teachers, 334 scholars, and 756 volumes in libraries.

The OREGON INSTITUTE is one of the most important features in our Missionary work in the country. We find the following account of it in a letter published in the New-York Observer; and we present it to our readers the more willingly, as it is from an entirely unprejudiced source:—

* After crossing the prairie we entered the forest, and before dark reached the Institute,' where we were most cordially welcomed by the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur, principals of the institution. The following statement of facts may not be uninteresting in this connexion. After undergoing various changes, this institution seems now to have entered upon a career of usefulness exactly suited to the rising wants of Oregon. The building now occupied by the school was originally erected for the benefit of the aborigines of the country, and ultimately designed for the white population, should the former become extinct. That time has arrived much sooner than was anticipated. The building measures seventy-four feet in length, twenty-four in width, having two wings twenty-four feet square. The main building is three stories high, and the wings two stories. All is built of wood, painted white. It is now only partially completed, but when done will be admirably suited to the purposes of an academy. At present, more than eighty pupils are connected with the institution, who are divided into two departments, a primary and advanced class. The former is under Mrs. Wilbur's charge, and the latter under that of the Rev. Mr. Wilbur. I learn that the studies are the same as those pursued in the schools and academies of the Eastern States. It is the design of the friends of the institution to complete the building, secure the labours of additional teachers as soon as possible, and raise the standard of scholarship as high as is desirable.

"The building occupies an admirable site in the town of Salem, and is central, as regards the population of the Territory. This place is the head-quarters of Methodist influence. Near by the Institute resides the Rev. Mr. Roberts, superintendent of the Oregon Methodist Episcopal mission. He succeeded the Rev. Mr. Gary. Mr. Roberts is regarded as an eloquent preacher, and a most energetic business man. He is just such a man as is needed to manage the affairs of a system of intineracy, like that of the Methodist ministry. He has a good report among those of other denominations. The most prominent settlements of Oregon are now supplied with the preaching of the Gospel by the Methodists. In years past, from causes which I need not mention, the reputation of the gentlemen connected with the Methodist mission in Oregon suffered, but the tide is now changing. There can be no doubt that the Methodists in Oregon have done a great and good work for the Territory. Their voices have been raised in favour of the Sabbath, temperance, and education, while they have not failed to proclaim the everlasting Gospel. Had it not been for the mission, the country must have been comparatively destitute of Gospel ministers.”

At the August meeting of the Board, the Rev. NEHEMIAH DOANE, of the Genesee Conference, was appointed to the Oregon Institute. He sailed from this port on the 16th of October, 1849 in the "Empire City," designing to take the Pacific Mail Steamer at Panama, for San Francisco, in November. He has, doubtless, before this time, entered upon his duties at the Institute.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. II.-4

ART. III.-REV. JESSE LEE.

The Life and Times of the Rev. Jesse Lee. By LEROY M. LEE, D. D., Richmond, Va. Published by JOHN EARLY. 1848. 8vo., pp. 517.

CHRISTIAN biography is among the most excellent forms of religious literature; and whoever contributes anything really valuable to its stock, deserves the thanks of the religious public. We accordingly tender our acknowledgments to the author of the work before us, for this really excellent contribution to the scanty records of early Methodism. The life of the Rev. Jesse Lee has been generally recognized as worthy of the attention of all who are curious as to early Methodist history, and several efforts have been made to give a narrative of his labours, and to delineate his character. His own "History of the Methodists" contains many important passages of his personal history; and a brief and rather meagre "Memoir," by Rev. Minton Thrift, was published a few years after his death. The "History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," by Dr. Bangs, contains a pretty full account of the life and labours of Mr. Lee, though necessarily rather concisely expressed. The story of his labours and triumphs in New-England, constituting one of the most interesting periods of his life, is detailed at length in the animated sketches of the "Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism in the Eastern States." Still it was felt that a satisfactory biography of a man whose career was at once so full of incidents, and so eventful in its ulterior consequences, was a desideratum.

He

Impressed with this sentiment, the author of the book named at the head of this paper undertook the labour of preparing the needed work. His relation to the subject of his story (being a son of a younger brother) gave him peculiar facilities for gaining the requisite information, while it increased his interest in his theme. also brought to his work some experience in book-making, and great facility in composition, acquired by a long course of newspaper editorship. The critical reader will readily detect faults in the book; but these are only incidental, while its excellences are its great features. The style wants precision and elegance; qualities not to be acquired, except by thorough discipline and much careful practice, and then only where there is a natural aptitude for the belles lettres. The argumentation and the grouping of the minor subjects are often faulty, indicating a want of exact and discriminating habits of thinking. Still the plan of the work is generally good; but the writer has not escaped a very common foible,

unnecessary fulness and prolixity. Had the book been subjected to a judicious but much-needed pruning, it might have been reduced to three-quarters its present size, without sacrificing anything valuable, and greatly to the advantage of its vigour and sprightliness. The spirit and temper of the work are highly commendable; there is a suavity and gentleness of manner everywhere manifested, that could hardly have been expected from one long exercised in the gladiatorial exercises of newspaper controversy. The book will serve to refresh and gladden the devout heart, no less than to please the intellectual and gratify the curious.

In 1774, Mr. Robert Williams was preaching and forming societies in and about Norfolk and Petersburg. In one of his itinerant excursions he passed into Prince George county, and came to the residence of a plain, but substantial farmer, named Lee. In this family the wandering evangelist found some who could sympathize with his own religious sentiments, and commune with his spirit of the deep things of the Spirit of God. A short time before this, his host, and several members of the family, had been brought to a saving experience of the grace of God, under the labours of Rev. Devereaux Jarratt, rector of Bath parish, in Dinwiddie county. At this time Mr. Lee and his wife, and two sons, became members of the Methodist Society. Soon after, Brunswick circuit was formed, and their house became one of the regular preaching-places. This was the beginning of Methodism, as an organized body, in Virginia; and prominent among its early and steadfast friends were the family of Nathaniel Lee-of whom was one whose name is a household word among American Methodists, and whose reputation is cherished as a rich legacy by the Church.

Jesse Lee was born on the 12th of March, 1758. He received the rudiments of a plain English education, and was somewhat carefully instructed in the catechism of the Established Church. He was fourteen years old when his father was made a subject of saving grace; by which event his own mind was strongly affected in regard to religious duty and experience. He was soon after decidedly awakened to a sense of sin. His convictions were deep and pungent; his prayers for pardon earnest and importunate; and he was presently enabled to rejoice in the Rock of his salvation. Very soon after, together with both his parents and a younger brother, he joined the infant Methodist Society of the neighbourhood. Thus planted in the garden of the Lord, he rapidly advanced in religious knowledge and experience, and soon became strong in the Lord. The spirit of revival was abroad in the community, and his own soul drank deeply of its sacred influences. Thus was begun a course of

religious life and of evangelical labours, by means of which his name has become precious to the hearts and memories of multitudes of his children in the Gospel.

At the age of eighteen, Mr. Lee left his paternal home, and went to reside with a widowed relative in North Carolina. A change of residence, which has often proved disastrous to youthful piety, had in this case the opposite effect. A Methodist Society had been formed near his new place of abode, to which he immediately attached himself, and of which he was soon made the leader. The duty that was assumed as a cross, proved a means of great spiritual profit. His class-room soon became too limited a field for his enlarged charity and burning zeal for souls; he held prayer-meetings in his own and adjoining neighbourhoods, and endeavoured to persuade his fellow-creatures to be reconciled to God. In this an unseen Hand was leading him in a way that he knew not, and preparing him for a still wider field of usefulness and duty. He also studied theology, not as a science, but as a system of divine truth, involving his own eternal interests and those of all men,—and, as such, he delighted to explore its mysteries and to declare its saving power. In this spirit of mind he read the word of God, till he became mighty in the Scripture; and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he imbibed the spirit of Baxter, Doddridge, and Wesley, from their writings, till his piety glowed with a clear and steady flame. Such was Jesse Lee's theological education and preparation for the work of the Christian ministry.

When he was about twenty-two years of age, his mind began to be drawn out towards another and wider field of action. The office and work of the ministry began to assume a deep and overwhelming interest in his mind. A "still small voice" seemed to invite him to it, and a secret impulse in his heart inclined him to yield to the invitation. But when he thought of the magnitude of the work, and of its awful responsibilities, his heart misgave him; and if at any time he reasoned with flesh and blood, every motive from that source strongly dissuaded from such a course.

The subject of a personal designation to the ministerial office is often a most perplexing, as it is always a most weighty, question. Very few have refused to confess that Christ chooses his own ministers; but there is more diversity of opinion as to the mode of calling them into his service. Some have been found claiming to be so called, whose only credentials were their own assumptions. Others, with a fonder, and scarcely less pernicious enthusiasm, make the call to the ministry a merely ecclesiastical affair, as if Christ had devolved his most sacred prerogatives upon the Church, and could

not himself communicate with the individual conscience. And yet others make it a matter of merely human prudence, to be judged of and determined as ordinary matters of religious duty. All these notions are fundamentally defective, and yet each contains a portion of the truth. The call to the ministry, no doubt, proceeds directly from the Head of the Church, and is by himself communicated to the conscious perceptions of the chosen vessel of his grace. But the Church is God's own institution, and through this he delights to confer his richest gifts upon men. If the individual may be the subject of divine impressions impelling to the sacred duties of the ministry, it surely is not too much to believe that when one is go called, the Church will also be led to perceive and recognize the divine designation, and to receive joyfully the accredited messenger of the grace of God. Nor should the determination of a calm and enlightened judgment be disregarded in this matter, especially when it is exercised in perfect subjection to the word and Spirit of God.

Nevertheless, the call to the ministry is primarily and chiefly the work of the Holy Ghost, effected directly upon the heart and understanding of its subject. He causes the work of the ministry to rise up, in inviting prospect, before the soul in the hour of solemn devotion, and urges to enter the field already white to the harvest. He perplexes the spirit with partially understood intimations of prospective duty, even while the heart is suffused with an abundance of heavenly peace. He impels to the designated duty-from the midst of the fulness of self-distrust; and gives a sacred delight in obedience, though labours and reproaches be the only earthly recompense.

Impelled by such exercises, and guided by the light thus shed upon his mind, Jesse Lee, after having filled the office of a local preacher for about three years, gave himself wholly to the work of the ministry. In 1782, before he had been received into Conference, he accompanied Edward Dromgoole, who was sent to form a new circuit in the vicinity of Edenton, in North Carolina. He entered upon his new employment with a sincere devotion to the cause, but with great trepidations and many misgivings as to his ability and fitness for so great a work.. In this field he continued till the succeeding session of the Virginia Conference.

The Methodist itinerant ministry of that period presented many striking peculiarities. Seldom has the Church seen the example of a devotion so ardent and disinterested. The whole country was a mission-field, and the Conferences were missionary societies: but they had no treasuries. The preachers literally obeyed the direction given to the seventy evangelists, and