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EMBRACING THEIR 
 
 ORIGIN, NATURE, OBLIGATION, AND BENEFITS. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 THE DUTIES OF PREACHERS AND LEADERS, AND 
 APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS: 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. L. ROSSER, A.M. 
 
 AtJTHOR OF "baptism," AND "EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION." 
 
 RICHMOND, VA.: 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 1855. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 
 L. ROSSER, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
 District of Virginia. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Preface. 12 
 
 Introduction 15 
 
 PART I. 
 
 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 Chap. I. — Origin op Class Meetings. 
 
 1. Origin of the Societies 38 
 
 2. Origin of the Classes 42 
 
 Chap. II. — Nature of Class Meetings. 
 
 1. Not new, substantially, with Mr. Wesley 47 
 
 2. Their Methodistic nature 61 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 Chap. I. — Founded substantially upon the Scriptures 60 
 
 Chap. II. — Founded circumstantially upon the authority op 
 
 the Church 67 
 
 Chap. III. — Founded upon their essential relation to the 
 
 itinerant ministry op the Methodist Church...... 112 
 
 3 
 
4 
 
 TABLE OP CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Chap. IV. — Deducible from their essential relation to the 
 
 WHOLE MeTHODISTIC ECONOMY 130 
 
 Chap. V. — Deducible from their design 132 
 
 Chap. VI. — Explicitly expressed in the Discipline..... 140 
 
 Chap. VIL — FoirNDED upon the social compact op the Method- 
 ist Church 143 
 
 PART III. 
 
 BENEFITS OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 Chap. I. — Benefits enumerated. 
 
 1. Religious sympathy 149 
 
 2. A holy courage is excited 149 
 
 3. Means of mutual love and help 151 
 
 4. Most powerful means of preserving the Church 
 
 against lukewarmness and formality 154 
 
 5. Principal means through which the ministry ob- 
 
 tain a knowledge of their people*s spiritual state. 156 
 
 6. Prepare the Church for the better understanding 
 
 of preaching 158 
 
 Chap. II. — Benefits continued. 
 
 1. Most powerful help to young Christians 159 
 
 2. Afford penitents a great help in seeking religion... 162 
 
 3. Prepare the Church for conducting revivals 165 
 
 Chap. III. — Benefits continued. 
 
 1. Have all the advantages of a verbal relation of 
 
 Christian experience 168 
 
 2. Furnish advantages to several classes of Chris- 
 
 tians 169 
 
 3. Best defence in our Church against the influence 
 
 of the world 172 
 
 4. Promote the prosperity of our Church 173 
 
 5. Secure the permanence of our Church 177 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 Chap. I. — Objections considee^ed. 
 
 Page. 
 
 1. The institution is opposed to Christian liberty". 181 
 
 2. "The institution is a Popish ordinance" 185 
 
 3. " Observance of class meeting not essential to true 
 
 Christian character and salvation" 186 
 
 4. " Other evangelical denominations have not this 
 
 institution," &e 195 
 
 5. "Attendance should be left optional" 200 
 
 6. " There is no Scripture for the institution" 201 
 
 7. " The leaders are incompetent for the work" 202 
 
 8. "There are many in the classes who area re- 
 
 proach to the Church" 203 
 
 9. " I cannot speak my experience before those who 
 
 have more knowledge and grace than I have"... 201 
 
 10. Some are " ashamed to speak their religious feel- 
 
 ings before others" 205 
 
 11. "I am not worthy to meet with the people of God 
 
 in such holy fellowship" 207 
 
 12. " I do not know why, but I do not like the class 
 
 meeting" » 207 
 
 Chap. II. — Excuses examined. 
 
 1. " I cannot speak as well as others" 208 
 
 2. "I have not time for its regular observance" 210 
 
 3. " I have company, or expect company, this hour" 21t) 
 
 4. "My business demands my attention this hour"... 212 
 
 5. " Distance renders it exceedingly inconvenient for 
 
 me to attend regularly" 212 
 
 6. " I must take some time to visit other churches". 213 
 
 7. " I can meet with my preacher when he visits the 
 
 class" 214 
 
 8. " If I attend faithfully to all the other means of 
 
 grace, I may, without much loss, occasionally 
 neglect my class" 216 
 
 9. " I met with my class last week, and shall not at- 
 
 tend this week" 218 
 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. II. — Continued. 
 
 Page. 
 
 10. " It is too cold or too warm, or it is cloudy or 
 
 rainy, and the streets, or the roads, are wet 
 and muddy" 218 
 
 11. " I am slightly indisposed" 219 
 
 12. " I can tell but the same old story, and hear but 
 
 the same old advice from the leader, and the 
 same old statements from the members" 220 
 
 PART V. 
 
 DUTIES OF PART V.— PREACHERS, LEADERS, AND APPEAL 
 TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 Chap. I. — Duties of preachers. 
 
 1. To visit the classes regularly 223 
 
 2. To see that the leaders visit absentees faithfully 
 
 and regularly 226 
 
 3. To examine the class-books weekly, or whenever 
 
 practicable 227 
 
 4. To interchange leaders occasionally 228 
 
 5. To preach frequently and faithfully on the obli- 
 
 gation of Christian communion 228 
 
 6. To administer discipline 229 
 
 Chap. 11. — How to promote prosperity in the Classes. 
 
 1. Zeal must be promoted 247 
 
 2. Offences must be removed 247 
 
 3. Regularity must be observed 247 
 
 4. The experimental doctrines of the gospel must be 
 
 preached and enforced 248 
 
 5. The practical doctrines of the gospel must be 
 
 taught and enforced 249 
 
 6. Union must be preserved 249 
 
 7. Activity, importunate prayer, and incessant watch- 
 
 fulness to be encouraged , 249 
 
 8. Patience, forbearance, meekness, and gentleness, 
 
 to be encouraged 249 
 
 9. All the Christian graces to be cultivated 250 
 
TABLE or CONTENTS. 7 
 
 Chap. II. — Continued, 
 
 Page. 
 
 10. All covetousness, and its invariable concomitants, 
 
 formality and lukewarmness, to be reproved... 250 
 
 11. The size of the classes to be regulated 251 
 
 Chap. III. — Nature and duties of the office of Class-Leaders. 
 
 1. The nature of the office of leaders 253 
 
 2. Duties of class-leaders 258 
 
 (1.) To inquire particularly into the inward 
 
 state of every member of his class 259 
 
 (2.) To inquire particularly into the outward 
 
 conduct of every member of his class... 262 
 (3.) To advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as 
 
 occasion may require 267 
 
 (4.) To visit the sick members of his class 268 
 
 (5.) To inform the minister of any that walk 
 
 disorderly, and will not be reproved 269 
 
 (6.) To meet the ministers and stewards once a 
 
 week, &c 270 
 
 Chap. IV. — Advice to the Class-Leaders. 
 
 1. Graces to be kept in lively, vigorous, and constant 
 
 exercise 272 
 
 2. Example to be consistent with duties of office 274 
 
 3. Highest qualifications required for the work to be 
 
 sought 276 
 
 4. Work requires more than ordinary grace 279 
 
 Chap. V. — Advice to Class-Leaders continued 282 
 
 1. As to mode of leading class 282 
 
 (1.) Mode of examination 282 
 
 (2.) Freedom and simplicity in relating experi- 
 ence 282 
 
 (3.) Self-examination : severe, thorough, impar- 
 tial 284 
 
 (4.) Prayer 285 
 
 (5.) Singing 287 
 
 2. Other advices 288 
 
 Chap. VI. — Appeal to private members. 
 
 1. To those who wilfully and repeatedly neglect 
 
 class 292 
 
8 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. VI. — Continued. 
 
 Page. 
 
 2. To those who occasionally meet in class 298 
 
 3. To the formal and backslidden in heart 298 
 
 4. To men of business.... 304 
 
 6. To young Christians 313 
 
 6. To old and faithful Christians 316 
 
 PAET VI. 
 
 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM OF CLASS 
 MEETINGS. 
 
 Chap. I. — The duty of the Church to support its ministry. 
 
 1. The scriptural argument 320 
 
 2. No certain and fixed amount determined in the 
 
 New Testament 325 
 
 3. The true Church, in all ages, has liberally sup- 
 
 ported its ministry 328 
 
 4. Amount, in all cases, should be sufficient to make 
 
 the ministry comfortable, &q 329 
 
 Chap. II. — Efficiency of the Classes to raise support. 
 
 1. Most convenient method 332 
 
 2. Secures regularity 332 
 
 3. Provides for the payment of annual subscription 
 
 in small amounts 333 
 
 4. Preserves a lively sense of responsibility to con- 
 
 tribute to support of ministry 338 
 
 5. Method should be strictly observed 339 
 
 6. All should give according to ability 340 
 
 7. Young converts should be early taught the duty 
 
 of giving 340 
 
 Chap. III. — Duties of saving and giving. 
 
 1. Duty of saving 342 
 
 2. Duty of giving 343 
 
 3. The rules of giving 344 
 
 4. Appeal to the rich, who give but little 347 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 
 Chap. IV.— Objections to giving considered. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. " I hare nothing to give." 350 
 
 2. "I have a wife and children to provide for" 353 
 
 3. "I must pay my just debts before I can give 
 
 any thing" 354 
 
 4. " The poor cannot afford to give any thing 357 
 
 Chap. V. — Conclusion. 
 
 Appeal in behalf of the Methodist ministry, and 
 the widows and orphans of deceased preachers. 360 
 
 9 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 With the clearest conviction that the institution 
 of the Classes in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 originated in the special providence of God, and is 
 founded substantially upon scriptural ground, and 
 enters essentially into the Christian character and 
 conduct of Methodists, the author has written the 
 following Treatise in its defence — depending not 
 upon his humble abilities for a satisfactory vindica- 
 tion, but upon the plain and immutable truths on 
 which it rests, and the incalculable benefits with 
 which its proper observance is connected. Regard- 
 ing Methodism as a peculiar and prominent form of 
 evangelical Christianity, and confident that it will 
 endure and flourish so long as it maintains and 
 observes its exalted views of the experimental and 
 practical doctrines of the word of God, he has been 
 greatly supported in the important work which he 
 has undertaken. And believing that Methodism 
 will flourish or decline in its spirituality and practi- 
 cal efficiency, in proportion as the Class Meeting is 
 
 observed or neglected, he has the more earnestly 
 
 11 
 
12 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and anxiously addressed himself to the preparation 
 of the following volume. That a better defence 
 may be made, he cheerfLiUy admits ; but till this 
 be done, his book may be of some use. In the 
 former case, let his book be laid aside : in the latter 
 case, he will have a sufficient reward. 
 
 It has been his aim to consider the subject in its 
 essential nature and important relations to the en- 
 tire Methodistic economy, spiritual and temporal ; 
 and yet he does not flatter himself that he has ex- 
 hausted the subject. A subject so fi:uitful doubtless 
 admits of other arguments, which an abler hand 
 may farnish; and it will not be sui^prising if issues 
 and objections shall be raised which have not been 
 herein anticipated. The sources of information 
 specially devoted to the subject are scanty and cur- 
 sory, and consequently the principal arguments 
 adduced in this work in support of the Class 
 Meeting are the results of a careful elaboration of 
 principles contained in the Bible, and lying at the 
 foundation of every form of sound church-govern- 
 ment. This is particularly the case in the discus- 
 sion of the obligation of the Class Meeting as a test 
 of membership in the Methodist Chm-ch, which 
 may be considered ,by some as high and untenable 
 ground, but which the author considers as the very 
 essence of the institution, and which he has en- 
 deavored to establish upon an immovable basis. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 13 
 
 If lie has been too elaborate, and the arguments 
 have been too much extended, in some parts of the 
 work, for the comprehension of ordinary readers, 
 the subject demanded it; and other and simpler 
 arguments are furnished, the force of which will 
 be obvious to the plainest understanding. These 
 considerations will justify the size of the book. 
 
 If the author has unfortunately committed any 
 material errors in this Treatise, he is consoled with 
 the assurance that his brethren, who are jealous 
 of the purity of Methodism, will quickly detect 
 them, and he pledges himself as quickly to correct 
 them. Confiding more in their vigilance and 
 judgment than in his own abilities, and especially 
 relying upon the superintendence of Him whose 
 work Methodism is, the author commits this volume 
 to the public — accompanying it, as he composed it, 
 with his prayers and the purest motives. 
 
 L. R. 
 
 Norfolk City, Va., Oct, 19, 1854. 
 
 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The love of change, in church and state, is a prominent 
 characteristic of the present age. Before the minds of philoso- 
 phers and statesmen there is ever floating the brilliant phan- 
 tom of the world's regeneration — some golden age, in which 
 they anticipate the perfection of political, intellectual, and 
 moral glory, and the consummation of human happiness. 
 Hence, neglect of the past, and contempt for the mighty 
 dead, are too often and obstinately cherished. Historical 
 facts are disregarded, as adapted alone to the age in which 
 they occurred, and as of no use, and furnishing no lesson, 
 no rules, no instructions, no warnings to the present. Vene- 
 rable age, and sound experience, fraught with a vast fund 
 of facts and ideas, are disdained ; and youth, inexperience, 
 and theorizing leaders crowd our halls of legislature, civil 
 and ecclesiastical, who want, they say, to correct the errors 
 of the past, and regenerate the church and state. They 
 insinuate that the people stand in need of something 
 which they have not at present — some important changes 
 and improvements ; but what they are they cannot exactly 
 define, nor are they fully agreed among themselves as to 
 what is required, nor have the people themselves generally 
 any intelligable idea of what they are : indeed, they have 
 not even expressed a sense of need of any material change 
 at all. And yet, only let what they propose have the sem- 
 blance of improvement, or a plausible approximation to it, 
 and there are not found wanting men who, with rapturous 
 enthusiasm, applaud and support them, and embrace that 
 
 15 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which is new, as the very thing they want. Many are popu- 
 lar with the masses^ because they have not fully revealed 
 their secret, and because their theories have not yet been 
 reduced to practice : this is the explanation of the unlimited 
 influence of certain prominent individuals of great intellec- 
 tual strength and force of will. Towering above the sur- 
 rounding and admiring multitude, they sway them as they 
 choose j because, having no principles of their own, and no 
 confidence in themselves, and impelled onward by the charm 
 of novelt}^, they arrange themselves under their leader^s ban- 
 ner, which they support with devotion, till the unsuccessful 
 and fatal experiment is made. It will not be surprising, 
 then, unless God interpose, if civil revolutions, social convul- 
 sions, and ecclesiastical changes, rapidly follow the unfolding 
 the dreams and theories of ambitious adventurers, and vene- 
 rable and majestic structures, the work of ages, and founded 
 upon sound and immutable principles, be assailed, if not 
 subverted, by this indiscriminate passion fbr change. 
 
 The masses, we have said, under the influence of mis- 
 guided and powerful leaders, are forever desirous of remo- 
 delling the present social order and organization of civil and 
 religious society, by substituting other rulers for those now 
 in power — by displacing established forms for new and un- 
 tried ones — by repealing or materially modifying ancient 
 and existing laws and usages for supposed improvements — 
 by abolishing old and useful regulations and institutions, and 
 thus severing the ligaments that, binding society together in 
 unity and strength, maintain the mutual dependence of its 
 individual members; in a word, by discarding the real for the 
 ideal, the useful for the fanciful, the true for the plausible, 
 and the practical for the speculative. Ignorant of the nature 
 and slow development of sound principles — unacquainted 
 with their true wants — failing to see that the real evil is 
 moral, and essentially in themselves, they seek relief in out- 
 ward, foi'mal, and constitutional innovations ; and so would 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 17 
 
 subject government, laws, and institutions to a rapid succes- 
 sion of useless, ineffectual, and, in many instances, disastrous 
 clianges. It is true, the old foundations of the social struc- 
 ture of Europe, civil and religious, in the last three centu- 
 ries and a half, have been subverted by the successful ap- 
 plication of the great moral and political truths which 
 Christianity furnished to the people, and new laws, institu- 
 tions, and forms of government have been adopted, and 
 civilization and religion greatly advanced and improved. 
 The speculations of the cloister that ended in the dreams 
 of rapture, the superstitious reverence paid to imaginary 
 relics of saint and seer, the imposing absurdities of clerical 
 policy, the corrupt and enervating services of priestly in- 
 genuity, the institutions and requisitions of spiritual despo- 
 tism, and many long-established and degrading forms of civil 
 tyranny, retired before the clear and animating light of 
 Christianity, and most important, extensive, and useful 
 changes followed. In the light of the Christian faith many 
 profound problems, in church and state, received an easy 
 solution: the duty, rights, and destiny of individuals and 
 society, were more clearly recognised than ever ; and where 
 this faith, this central principle in the government of the 
 world, is not known and applied, partially at least, no revo- 
 lutions, however extensive, can accomplish any permanent 
 good to society, though every throne upon earth fall, and 
 every government be dissolved. The heedless, impetuous, 
 and generous impulses of the masses, can accomplish no 
 good, unless explained and guided by the light of the gos- 
 pel ; for in a corrupt age the masses become the easy and 
 pliable instruments of ambitious men, who deceive them with 
 the charming sounds of liberty^ legitimacy^ reform^ universal 
 suffrage, improvement, which, in the sense they apply them, 
 experience soon proves to be but empty names, phantoms 
 which never satisfy, and illusions that leave the world dis- 
 appointed as in a thousand ages antecedent. Liberty, order, 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 government ! — what are these ? They are not character, 
 they are not destiny : they are but means to develop and 
 establish these : and we should beware, when we lay our 
 hand to the work of innovation, lest we confound true liberty, 
 good order, and good government, with the imperfections 
 and wants of our nature which they are intended to relieve. 
 It is not enough that we employ such attractive and plausible 
 terms in our speeches and writings ; we must also clearly 
 show that the measures we propose are adequate to the 
 desired ends. 
 
 Again : we talk of popular elements, the popular mind, 
 the instincts of the masses, which some think they anticipate 
 with prophetic exactness; but the masses are capable of 
 recognising rather than of discovering great and practical 
 truths. History does not furnish an example in which 
 the instincts of the masses originated a single great truth 
 that influenced the destinies of the human race : truths of 
 this nature have always originated in the minds of gifted 
 and thinking men, and when once proclaimed were recognised 
 and embraced by the masses to whom they were proposed. 
 Hence, every wise and honest man, in view of his own dig- 
 nity and his relation to the interests of the church and the 
 world, should be calmj and raise himself above the dreams 
 of the masses, and so avert the natural results of the delu- 
 sive and absurd schemes of instinct and ignorance. What 
 we want, to guide the multitude in its primitive tendencies, 
 is character, which, in its highest and best sense, so rarely 
 exists in this day. What is character ? It is firmness of 
 will, connected practically with sound and fixed principles. 
 The two must combine in the constitution of a pure and 
 noble spirit. Sound principles without firmness of will are 
 powerless ; and firmness of will without sound principles is 
 destructive. Besides, sound principles are immutable, and 
 though unpopular in one age, they will become popular in 
 another ; and hence they should never be compromitted, in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 19 
 
 a single instance, to the whims and prejudices of an age, 
 but be preserved and maintained firmly till they shall 3'ege- 
 nerate and reform succeeding times. 
 
 To apply these remarks : Shall the system of Methodism, 
 which has been brought to its present noble state — so ra- 
 tional, so stable, so consistent, so holy, so useful to commu- 
 nity, and such a blessing to mankind — a system which 
 originated in, and has been preserved by, the special opera- 
 tions and effusions of the Holy Spirit, and the special inter- 
 positions of divine providence — be tampered with, or sub- 
 jected to vague and doubtful experiments, as if it were a 
 system of mere human policy and wisdom ? In the emphatic 
 language of Mr. Wesley, it is a work of God and ap- 
 proved as it has been, and still is, of God, if we would en- 
 sure his continued blessing, we must pause long before we 
 admit any fundamental change whatever. The system is in 
 no embarrassment ; it retains its original vigor and purity, 
 and its inherent energies are unimpaired and unbroken : as 
 strict as ever is it in its requisitions, as impartial in its ap- 
 plication, and as ample in its privileges. It is not a revo- 
 lution of the system in any essential particular we need, 
 however we may admit certain circumstantial modifications ; 
 but a revolution in the practice both of the people and the 
 preachers the system is designed so admirably to govern. 
 
 It is much easier with some persons to pursuade them- 
 selves that the cause of declension, or the reason of slow 
 progress, at* any time, is a fault or defect in some part of the 
 system, than in their own and a general deficiency in zeal, 
 or piety, or consistency, or perseverance. They beguile 
 their consciences by supposing that the system does not work 
 well; and it gratifies their ambition to be esteemed as framers 
 or promoters of new schemes and important amendments. 
 
 Let our tests be relaxed, and a greater latitude in opijiion 
 be allowed, and resistless will be the tendency of Methodism 
 to dissolution. We want no new tests, nor any modifica- 
 
20 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tions of old ones^ nor any new theories ; we need a rich and 
 general eflPusion of divine grace — the power of God, and not 
 the wisdom of. man — the spirit of love, and not that of the 
 world — a renewed dedication to God, and conformity to the 
 doctrine and disipline of the Methodist Church ; and this 
 will be all the material reform we require to preserve our 
 purity, and insure the favor of God in all time. ^^The en- 
 tire economy of Methodism, both as to its spiritual and 
 temporal prosperity, may now be considered to have attained 
 such a degree of maturity and perfection, as -is not likely 
 soon to admit of any material improvement.'^* 
 
 Men who propose reform in fundamental matters should 
 have great judgment and principle, a large preponderance 
 of the deliberative faculties, reasoning closely, combining 
 accurately, advancing cautiously, developing slowly every 
 new conclusion, and balancing justly the interests of all 
 concerned ; men possessing a comprehensiye knowledge of 
 the philosophy of Methodism in its origin, principles, laws, 
 usages, designs, operations, and adaptations ; men who can 
 discriminate between the errors and defects of administration, 
 and the genius of the system — between errors in application 
 and the true principles of the government — men who, with 
 a clear and deep insight into human nature, and the circum- 
 stances and real wants of the times, understand the science 
 of adaptations, which is the true philosophy of government 
 in church and state. Such men not only fully understand 
 the objects for which Methodism was originally established, 
 but have a profound and jealous regard for all vital interests; 
 so that should they propose any new regulation for greater 
 simplicity in preaching, or greater utility in administering 
 the sacraments, or greater vigor in the whole administrative 
 department, or greater amplitude of means in developing 
 the inherent power of Methodism, it will stand forth so 
 
 * Dr. Warren's Digest, p. 18,-1827. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 21 
 
 clearly and prominently before the world, that all shall see 
 and embrace it at once as good and desirable, and an- 
 swerable to the wants of the times. This is spiritual wis- 
 dom in the highest degree, and God, the founder and pre- 
 server of Methodism, when required, if it ever should be, 
 will call forth the men, and qualify them for the work of 
 reform or improvement. It is men of this class who are 
 now at the helm of Methodism in England and America ; 
 and they propose no change or modification of the institu- 
 tion of the Class Meeting, but advocate it still in its original 
 simplicity, and lament whenever they see it invaded, dispa- 
 raged, or neglected ; and hence we may infer, that no reform 
 or modification is required on the subject by the times. 
 
 If reform were required in this essential particular, or in 
 any other vital element of our government, the worst mea- 
 sure that could be adopted would be the incorporation of a 
 popular political element, for this would be a political remedy 
 to cure a spiritual evil, and into the final result must enter 
 a proportionable degree of poltiical spirit. Such a device 
 would be a concentrated curse, that would infect the whole 
 constitution of Methodism with a mortal disease, which the 
 most splendid abilities could not subdue. Spiritual evils 
 can be corrected only by spiritual remedies. It is a practical 
 and heedless surrender of our purity and integrity, when- 
 ever, for decision and firmness in the maintainance of our 
 principles, and moderation in our temper, we substitute 
 principles and regulations political in their nature, and cal- 
 culated only for political objects. Indeed, no schemes of 
 worldly policy that may indirectly or incidentally advance 
 Christianity (and Methodism is Christianity) should ever 
 be allied to our church-government. The great primitive 
 design of Methodism is — ^^to spread scriptural Christianity 
 over the land,'^* and over the world ; and in its doctrines. 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. viii. p. 299, English ed. 
 
22 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in its spirit^ in its influence, in its relation to other cliurclies, 
 and to our country and all other lands, and in its entire 
 history, Methodism must directly pursue this great design, 
 upon the immutable basis of the Scriptures — God's own 
 pure word — from which alone must be derived the reason 
 for any change or modification of our government which 
 occasion, at any time, and any where, may clearly and 
 necessarily require. This is true scriptural liberty, confined 
 within its own proper limits — those of the Bible; and 
 Methodism then, with a divine freedom and energy, goes forth 
 upon its sublime mission, surviving every form of coeval 
 change and convulsion in church and state, because exempt 
 from every element of corruption and decay, and unfettered 
 by bonds of a political or worldly nature. 
 
 But if men are dissatisfied with the vital principles and 
 institutions of Methodism, they ought quietly to withdraw 
 from the connection, and not remain to agitate those who are 
 quiet, and endeavor to pull down or modify what it has cost 
 so much to build up and complete. No one, preacher or 
 private member, is bound to embrace the Methodistic form 
 of Christianity; but having embraced it, it is his solemn 
 duty to conform to it, jealously to guard it, and transmit it 
 unimpaired to posterity, and not perpetually agitate the 
 family with ideas and efibrts of pretended improvements, 
 which the people generally believe would be disastrous to 
 themselves and their children. Common honesty demands 
 that they neither inveigh against nor depreciate what they 
 are pledged sacredly to observe and defend, or, if they can- 
 not conscientiously conform any longer to the constitution 
 and government of the Methodist church, that they quietly 
 withdraw, and seek association elsewhere more congenial. 
 
 The principles of primitive Methodism we should ever 
 keep before our minds ; for, as time rolls on, and the chan- 
 nels through which they are transmitted are multiplied, 
 they may gradually and insensibly undergo modifications, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 23 
 
 and lose mucli of their former power and freshness. The 
 novelty of the circumstances that accompanied their first 
 development being past, and more than a century elapsed 
 since they assumed the form of Methodism, we should grasp 
 them with a firmer hand, and ever with a renovated ardor. 
 And now that we live in an age animated by constant ex- 
 citements, and in which life and strength are divided among 
 multiplying objects of great interest, such as many benevo- 
 lent associations and religious enterprises, each requiring a 
 proportion of time, and thought, and support, it is the more 
 necessary that we increase our vigilance over ourselves as 
 Christians, and observe more faithfully the institutions of 
 the church as Methodists. The great danger is, that with 
 so many particular objects of absorbing interest before us, 
 we will extend comparatively but a small share of attention 
 to our strictly religious duties, and the time and attention 
 that should be given most devoutly to the weekly services 
 and peculiar institutions of the church, will be diverted to 
 worldly matters and inferior duties. The great danger is, 
 that we will sacrifice the former to the latter, at least so far 
 as to confine our religious duties wholly to the Sabbath, and 
 devote the rest of the week wholly to the multiplying objects 
 of this stirring and impetuous age. 
 
 It requires great wisdom and resolution to pursue with 
 safety this path of danger. When interests so exciting 
 and diverse, yet not conflicting, demand our constant care, 
 what but divine wisdom can direct us where properly to 
 draw the dividing line, and what less than divine resolution 
 can enable us to give each their due proportion of attention? 
 What less than immortal energy and skill can hold these 
 interests in harmony and equilibrium ? Who, without a 
 holy fortitude and firmness, can so superintend and enjoy 
 the great blessings and institutions of national morality, as 
 at the same time to preserve and maintain the greater bless- 
 ings and institutions of piety, and guard them perfectly in 
 
24 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 their original simplicity and purity ? As the former hold 
 the relation of effects and causes to the latter, the latter 
 cannot be neglected without necessarily impairing the value 
 and efficiency of the former; and the process may be so 
 gradual and insensible, that shortly nearly the whole energy 
 of the church may be concentrated in the support of the 
 societies and enterprises of national morality, and the ser- 
 vices of the church degenerate into a splendid and imposing 
 formality. The only safe guard against this apprehended 
 result is the exercise of an undiminished zeal in discharg- 
 ing religious duties in every particulaTy and observing, 
 punctually, promptly, and regularly, the institutions of the 
 church in every department. 
 
 As riches, intelligence, and influence increase, tempta- 
 tions to pride, independence, and worldliness also increase 3 
 and hence there is the greater necessity that the church in- 
 crease proportion ably in spirituality, though the opposite 
 has generally been the result. In poverty, trial, and perse- 
 cution the church has always flourished the most, because 
 then it depended exclusively upon God for prosperity. The 
 circumstantial glory of the church can never be confounded 
 with its spiritual, without a rapid declension, and its ultimate 
 subversion, and Grod will reconstruct it in its original purity 
 and majesty through the instrumentality of new agents and 
 new circumstances — agents who become the leaders in re- 
 formations—and circumstances that form the events of the 
 the times. The circumstantial greatness of our church is, 
 indeed, an occasion of profound gratitude to God, and a 
 means of astonishing influence in advancing his kingdom 
 among men ; but it is also an occasion of appalling danger 
 to its inherent, substantial, and spiritual character, which is 
 its only true glory, and which can be preserved only by the 
 faithful discharge of all its spiritual duties, and the spiritual 
 observance of all its wise and peculiar regulations. Here I 
 take my stand, and with prophetic certainty can anticipate 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 25 
 
 its advancing glory with the lapse of revolving ages, and 
 catch its distant shout of holy triumph on the completion 
 of its work at the end of time. Divest it, however, of its 
 pure spiritual character, and it is destined to fall and mingle 
 with the promiscuous and venerable ruins of worldly wisdom 
 and ambition. Nor can I, without dismay, see any one of 
 its fundamental regulations, substantially evangelical in 
 their nature, gradually becoming obsolete by habitual ne- 
 glect — regulations originated in its incipiency, effective and 
 renovating in its progress, and that, under the blessing of 
 God, now constitute us what we are among the churches of 
 Christendom. 
 
 Let us preserve with devotion every thing in Methodism 
 truly and essentially Wesleyan, because, in the great iiw.er 
 factSj the heart of the gospel, Methodism has found her true 
 resting place. Let us never leave the old beaten paths, how- 
 ever others may abandon and endeavor to despoil them — 
 others who, under the pretence of remodelling, would dis- 
 organize; who, in the vain hope of recalling the church to 
 her duty, would lead her farther from her appropriate work 
 and field of labor. If we believe every thing essentially 
 and substantially Methodistic to be essentially and sub- 
 stantially evangelical, then there is no more necessity for 
 change or abandonment here than there is in the gospel, 
 and abandonment or change would be as unwise in the one 
 as in the other ; in a word, if we believe Methodism to be 
 substantially the gospel, then it should be held as immutable 
 as we hold the gospel, and as united essentially with the 
 enterprises, the duration, and the destiny of the gospel. 
 The Methodist church, then, as it is, is in no jeopardy. 
 Let it never be removed from the eternal foundation on 
 which it reposes, and on which it has reposed securely 
 go long. That it has flourished with accumulating strength 
 so long now, amid so much opposition from without, and 
 resisted and recovered from so many and heavy shocks within 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 her bosom^ and acquired so miicli spiritual power in so short 
 a time, are convincing evidences of the wisdom and strength 
 of her constitution. Let us ascribe our wonderful suc- 
 cesses, under the blessing of God, to a faithful and practical 
 adherence to the evangelical, and consequently unchangeable, 
 nature of our doctrines and institutions ; and let us attri- 
 bute any and every failure of the past to departure from 
 these, or neglect of these, and be assured, that failures will 
 follow, in number and consequence, as we depart from or 
 neglect primordial Methodism. The truth of the gospel is 
 the primordial substance of Methodism ; and may its con- 
 centrated influence be felt in every extremity of the system ! 
 The destitution of wisdom, or of ability, or of moral 
 principle, such as is characteristic of ambitious and corrupt 
 men, may impede the progress of Methodism, or embarrass 
 P its process in development, but this is no proof of defect in 
 
 the system; it is rather an incapacity to apply the system, 
 which we must be vigilant to detect and prompt to correct. 
 What is the principle of a system ? It is its truth, its 
 operative cause, its ground of action, its universal and un- 
 changeable power, its whole and indestructible vitality, pro- 
 ducing the same results substantially under all circumstances 
 and in all ages. This is the gospel — this is Methodism. 
 Appendages, circumstances, are not the principle : they 
 give full development to the principle in producing its legi- 
 timate results. Christian communion is a principle of 
 of Methodism, and the Class Meeting is but a form or 
 mode of developing it — an appendage that leads it out to 
 its legitimate results. > As good a mode or appendage has 
 never yet been devised by the wisdom of man, much less a 
 better; and let all modern theorists and opposers of the 
 present form, and those who are its friends, and yet are 
 doubtful of its suitableness to the present state of the 
 church, and even those who conform to it simply for con- 
 science' sake, beware, lest, in substituting what they may re- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 27 
 
 gard as a wiser and more suitable form^ they abandon or 
 sacrifice the substance, and thus divest Methodism of one 
 of the essential principles of the gospel ; lest^ at least^ they 
 embarrass and render doubtful the development of Christian 
 communion, which, under its present form, is easy, natural, 
 and sure; lest they substitute means and measures which 
 are complicated and counteractive for those which are 
 simple and productive of the legitimate result; lest, instead 
 of removing a supposed evil, they introduce and establish a 
 real one. As it is the fixed and unchangeable principle of 
 fire to burn all combustible materials with which it comes 
 in contact, unless the circumstances of contact be unfavor- 
 able, so we should associate the principle of Christian com- 
 munion with no modes or appendages that would diminish 
 its full intensity of spiritual blessing, or prevent its full 
 development of spiritual comfort and utility. Here we 
 should be cautious, firm, and confident, and not precipitate, 
 inconsistent, and doubtful, or what we seize as an improve- 
 ment, and which may indeed prove to be a temporary good, 
 will eventually turn out to be a real evil, and have its day 
 and die. How few men can think and plan for others with- 
 out danger to themselves and the future ! Whatever changes 
 in the modal or circumstantial system of Methodism may 
 really be needed for the improvement and elevation of 
 Methodism, we deny that any such necessity extends to the 
 Class Meeting : the best that the church can do is to reap 
 all its inestimable advantages by a speedy revival, and a 
 faithful, universal, and perpetual observance of it. Let the 
 church expend its time and energies in . this direction, and 
 have done with the dreams and novelties of supposed im- 
 provement in this efficient and established institution. Set 
 the mighty system of Class Meetings in universal operation, 
 and keep it in operation, and it is impossible to tell where 
 its influence will not be felt. It will then give almighty 
 life and power to Methodism in all its elements and enter- 
 
28 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 prises, and furnish the church with new and adequate re- 
 sources for new and more enlarged measures for the evange- 
 lization of the world. The deep pulsations of the great 
 heart of Methodism will be felt to its farthest limits, and 
 be prolonged till they reach the ends of the earth. As a 
 truth once developed and established can never be lost, 
 though it may be suspended or remain stationary for a time, 
 so the efficiency of Class Meetings, once tested and estab- 
 lished, remains the same, though suspended, and when re- 
 vived, will exert all its original and legitimate power. And 
 hence, we cannot conceive what changes or new states of 
 society, or what advancements in civilization, or what altera- 
 tions and improvements in civil governments, or what ex- 
 pansion and elevation of the human mind, or what new 
 forms of conventional life, or what achievements of the 
 blessed gospel itself, can require any material alterations or 
 amendment of the Class Meeting system, much less its 
 abandonment altogether. Indeed, we believe, as Methodism 
 is a form of Christianity that is prominently efficient in 
 advancing man in these respects, the annihilation of, or a 
 material alteration in, the present system of Class Meetings, 
 which is one of the principal internal sources of the efficiency 
 of Methodism, would retard the progress of the world in 
 these great matters. Methodistic truth, which is but 
 another name for the omnipotent gospel, if it be allowed 
 full play, is capable of co-operating powerfully with other 
 evangelical churches in bursting every bond, and bolt, and 
 bar, and chain, though made of iron, and of surmounting 
 every obstacle, however formidable, civil or ecclesiastical, 
 that have held mankind so long in bondage and in ignorance. 
 Let us never abandon one of its principal instruments, that 
 has answered this object so well and so long, till another 
 is proposed in its stead that is really preferable. As the 
 world is to be taken as it is, this seems intrinsically to an- 
 swer the utmost want and wish of the present age, and we 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 29 
 
 should zealously and courageously support it; and the world 
 too, in time, will become its fast friend and grateful 
 supporter. 
 
 The church is the world's reformer, because it is the 
 guardian and publisher of the only great moral truth or 
 principle that is to regenerate the realms and races of men ; 
 the only organization that contains the central fire that is 
 to transfuse life throughout the cold, dead mass of humanity ; 
 the only association of truth-governed men that holds aloft 
 the light of sufficient brightness to disperse the thick dark- 
 ness that has enveloped the world for sixty centuries; 
 the only herald that is to echo and re-echo the proclamation 
 of the angels, which shall be glad tidings of great joy to 
 all men the only agent that is to subdue the clamorous 
 uproar of a thousand ages, and which a thousand trials have 
 failed to do, and are still failing to do, and will ever fail to 
 do ; the only class of men gone forth to scatter the seeds of 
 life over the wide desert earth, till it bloom and blossom as 
 the rose'^ in all its amplitude; the only army marshalled, and 
 on the march, under heaven's own colors and command, and 
 ever advancing, though sometimes slowly, yet never retreat- 
 ing, and always surely, from conquering to conquer/^ till 
 
 the kingdoms of this world shall all become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ;'^ the only agent that, with the still- 
 ness of the lightning's speed, is to telegraph the knowledge 
 of the love and will of God along the interlacing, countless, 
 and endless wires of Providence, down to the end of the 
 prolonged series of future generations. 0, could we stand 
 upon an observatory high as heaven, which angels occupy, 
 and look back and forward in the world's history, what a 
 sublime consummation of the deep-laid and connected plans 
 of Grod, through the instrumentality of his church, would 
 be spread before our vision ! 
 
 The church is not bewildered, as once it was, in darkness, 
 calling out, as in other days, Watchman, what of the 
 
30 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 night If doubt exist at all, it is where^ and what, and how 
 stupendous, will be her next achievements in the emancipa- 
 tion and evangelization of the human race. In this age, 
 every form of church and civil government in the civilized 
 world is undergoing an ordeal of fierce flame, and what is 
 not substantially evangelical most surely must be subverted. 
 Men are striving to get down through the superincumbent 
 rubbish of ages to fundamental principles, and to build 
 upon immutable foundations. The whole past has been 
 summoned before the present, and by the present is being 
 subjected to a thorough investigation, and the Bible, the 
 book of God and of time, is made a standard of investiga- 
 tion and improvement. 
 
 A characteristic of the present age, obvious on every 
 hand to thinking men, is the rapid tendency of the churches 
 generally to formalism. Carried away by the feverish and 
 countless excitements of the times, the prevailing sects of 
 the day are reposing quietly and coldly upon their respective 
 systems, as safeguards established by experiment and age. 
 It may be truly said of every evangelical sect — our own 
 not excepted — that it is destitute of many of the character- 
 istics of the same people in primitive times. They are all the 
 same in name, and it may be in fundamental principles, now, 
 they were in the beginning; but which of them has preserved 
 its original simplicity, or former devotion, or early spirit of 
 self-denial, or primitive boldness in rebuking sin, or com- 
 passion and zeal in seeking to save sinners, or tenderness 
 and love toward each other, or heavenly-mindedness in con- 
 versation and conduct ? These were the bright and strong 
 rays of the glory so conspicuous in the early history of the 
 evangelical churches ; but now each seems to emulate the 
 other in pointing to its numbers, intelligence, wealth, 
 worldly resources, and worldly influence, as indications of 
 its prosperity. But a sufficient refutation of this mode of 
 determining the true prosperity of a church is, that the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 31 
 
 churcli of Rome, in tliese respects, overtops every other 
 churcli in Christendom, and it is undeniable that no church 
 in Christendom is as scrupulously and strictly formal and 
 corrupt as she is. And yet the evangelical churches are not 
 past recovering. The fathers in Israel, anxious to check and 
 remove the evil of formalism, are recalling the children to 
 the old landmarks, and to the former firm positions of their 
 founders ; retaining all of real excellence and improvement 
 unknown and inaccessible to the founders — that the simplicity, 
 humility, zeal, moral beauty, dignity, and efficiency of each 
 sect, may be heightened in proportion to the urgency and 
 exigency of the times, and the expanding importance of 
 revolving years. The principles of primitive Methodism 
 are fixed facts,'' and invariably productive of the same 
 results. One of these is the substantial efficiency of the 
 Class Meeting. Let the universal cry be heard for its 
 revival. 
 
 Another characteristic of the present age — and the same 
 is true of the ministry generally of our own church — is a 
 shrinking from responsibility to discharge official duties in 
 the administration of discipline, and in carrying out into 
 practical application those principles and doctrines of creed 
 and government on which our church was founded, and on 
 which it must ever depend for permanency and success. 
 This timidity is ascribable, in a great degree, to the want of 
 moral courage; that is, ministerial duties have been neg- 
 lected so long and to such an extent by our immediate pre- 
 decessors and ourselves, that few among us can be found 
 who are courageous enough to meet the existing difficulties 
 face to face and heart to heart, though we all perceive them, 
 and lament their growing power. It is not surprising, then, 
 that the doctrines of expediency should be so often substi- 
 tuted for the claims of fundamental principles, which, in 
 their legitimate application, might, it is true, subject the 
 church to a loss of numbers and worldly influence, and the 
 
32 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ministry to much temporary trouble and inconvenience. 
 Nor is it surprising that we should so often seek to conform 
 our administrations to the maxims and regulations of con- 
 ventional society, which fall infinitely short of the great 
 objects of church-government, rather than to the laws of 
 God, which are the only appropriate ground- work of church- 
 government. If Grod reign not supreme in civil govern- 
 ments and conventional society, he should in the church, 
 which is his own kingdom. If civil rulers enforce not 
 practically (and they never will till the world is regenerated) 
 the principles of the gospel, the ministry of the church 
 should do it, or the moral government of the world will be 
 gradually weakened, and soon be destroyed. We have not 
 only a standard of duty, clear as sunshine, in the gospel, 
 but a noble example of courage and faithfulness in the 
 fathers and founders of our system. It is one thing, in a 
 corrupt age, as in that of Luther, or of Wesley, to revive 
 the pure principles of the gospel, and originate a church- 
 government answerable to the wants of the times, and quite 
 another to maintain those principles, and sustain and im- 
 prove that government as may be required from age to age. 
 It may not require as great abilities in the latter as in the 
 former case, but the same courage and fealty are required 
 in the one as in the other : in the former, in resisting and 
 correcting existing evils, and in the latter, in opposing and 
 anticipating abuses and new forms of evil that spontaneously 
 spring forth from the moral depravity of every succeeding 
 age of the world. We do not assume that our fathers 
 were in advance of us in the knowledge of the means of 
 the world's regeneration; but we do maintain, that we are 
 far behind them in the simple piety and dauntless courage 
 which they possessed, and which are required to impel the 
 world with the greatest momentum possible onward to its 
 final elevation and perfection. Nor do we assume that 
 the world has retroG:raded from what it was made in their 
 
INTRODU^:!TION. 
 
 83 
 
 day. No; but we do maintain that it is not what it might 
 have been, and should now be, and that this is so because 
 we have failed, and still fail, to cultivate as sedulously, and 
 practise as faithfully, the moral attributes which they culti- 
 vated and practised. They were men of invincible moral 
 courage — we should be so : they were men of earnestness 
 and indomitable zeal — we should be so : they were men of 
 the most strenuous efforts and perseverance — we should be 
 so : they were men of the purest sincerity and simplest 
 piety — we should be so : they were men of inflexible firm- 
 ness and consistency — we should be so : they were men of 
 gravity and soberness, because with the ideas of the great 
 and good works before them, inwrought and abiding in their 
 very souls, they could not indulge in the least undue levit^ 
 of manner — we should be so : they were men of the purest 
 and severest self-denial, that they might concentrate their 
 whole energies upon the work of God and the salvation of 
 man — we should be so : they were men of one work, and 
 but one, and that an incessant one, a lifetime one, to arouse 
 and direct the world to God, and keep it in life and motion — 
 we should be so. Such as they were, we should be, and 
 more, because with what they have placed in our hands, we 
 can, under the blessing of the same God that blessed them, 
 do more for the world's redemption than they did. Let us 
 not think and act as if the future were a blank to us, and 
 so transfer the great events to others, but as crowded with un- 
 paralleled moral grandeur and importance, and as depending 
 upon us, in our ministerial sphere, for development. Let us 
 not suppose, that our work is not intimately and essentially 
 connected with the whole future; but, undaunted by any ap- 
 pearances that may be foreboding, develop the residue of 
 latent energy in the gospel committed to our hands, and 
 instil its simple and mighty truths into the hearts of the 
 people, inspired the most by the certain connection of our 
 labors with the remotest and brightest period of the world's 
 
34 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 history, and by the belief that across time's stormy ocean we 
 are guiding man to that new world for which he has been in 
 search in. vain so loDg. Let us not tremble at the blackened 
 political heavens above uS; and the waves of political chaos 
 and confusion that roll high and heavily around us, for there 
 will be no rest to the world till the Pilot of the Tiberian 
 sea says, Peace be still/' and he is in the ship with us. 
 There are breaks in the clouds, and bright spots on the 
 waters, and the landing may not be afar. We occupy the 
 ranks from which our fathers have retired, and the banner 
 of the great Captain of our salvation still waves over us, 
 and soon we must retire to give place to a new generation 
 of saints ; but the victory is not doubtful : we shall have 
 scarcely finished our campaign, and retired from the battle- 
 field, before new shouts of triumph shall go up from earth 
 to heaven, and the final battle and the final victory may be 
 close at hand. Methodism contains within it substantially all 
 the elements required for the full play of man's entire being 
 in his highest and last development in this life; and let her 
 never listen to any modification of her circumstantial nature 
 that does not clearly and intimately concern, either directly 
 or remotely, the highest spiritual interests of the whole 
 human race. 
 
 Our ecclesiastical government, in all its fundamental re- 
 gulations, is constituted sufficiently broad and deep for the 
 development of the whole experimental and practical power 
 of the gospel ; containing the same requisitions that are 
 made in the Bible, and invested with all that is required to 
 accomplish the great work of the Church of God. In these 
 respects, we repeat, Methodism needs no improvement. 
 Stand here — stand firmly. If there is spiritual declension 
 in the church anywhere and to any extent, stand by the 
 good old constitution — change not that in any essential par- 
 ticular, which is now in harmony with the gospel, and is all 
 we want as a guide and rule. Follow the guide — mind the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 85 
 
 rule. If one must go down, let it be the corrupt part of 
 of the church, not the constitution. If one must suffer, 
 let it be the delinquent and disobedient, not our wholesome 
 and immutable laws. If we decline, let it be in numbers, 
 not in graces, nor in our regard for the principles of truth. 
 If change must come for the worst, let it be in the worldly 
 portion of the church, and not in the spirituality, purity, 
 and wisdom of our constitution. Let us dwindle almost to 
 disappearance from the earth, if it must be, like the church 
 in the ark, or the seven tlioiisand among the mountains 
 of rebellious Israel, or the few names in Sardis, whose 
 garments were unspotted,^^ rather than change our consti- 
 tution, and fill the world with the glory of a worldly great- 
 ness, and load the atmosphere with moral death. Let but 
 a few, if no more, stand by the old ship, with its anchor 
 clinched in the eternal rocks, and the time of revival and 
 enlargement shall come, and the glory of the latter house 
 shall be greater than that of the former,'^ and it will be in- 
 finitely better then, to have the same old constitution to 
 greet and bless the church, as it has blessed us, than to sub- 
 ject a regenerated posterity to the painful necessity of re- 
 storing what we had taken away, of removing what we had 
 added, and of repairing what we had mutilated. An en- 
 tirely spiritual church would be satisfied with our present 
 form of church-government : then let us be such, and we 
 shall be satisfied with it. Let us be crucified to the world 
 in all its forms. Let us moderate our passion for fine 
 churches, splendid pulpit abilities and accomplishments, 
 innovations on the services of public worship, and modifi- 
 cations in the existing means of grace. Let us beware of 
 the charm of popular favor, and check our solicitude for 
 popular opinion. By simplicity, by purity, by humility, by 
 self-denial, by zeal, by faith and good works, by entire con- 
 formity to the gospel, let us rather seek to render popular 
 favor and popular opinion subservient to the glory of God. 
 
36 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The state has in it no principle that remotely subserves 
 spiritual ends that we do not already possess, and which it 
 has not borrowed from the church : and hence any modifi- 
 cation or addition, in church matters, upon civil principles, 
 cannot promote the spirituality of the church. All we need, 
 we repeat, is a spiritual revival in the ministry and mem- 
 bership : a conformity to our spiritual rules and regulations 
 already adopted and in force. If we cannot obtain this re- 
 vival and conformity, then we shall raise our voice for the 
 execution of our laws, by which existing evils may be cor- 
 rected, and our church purified and prepared for the forth- 
 coming events of the stupendous future, rather than for 
 the adoption of a system that, while it cannot correct exist- 
 ing evils, must add greatly to them, and so accelerate the 
 time of the downfall of our church. 
 
 Finally: there are two modes of refuting a false opinion. 
 First, to confront and compare it with truth ; and, secondly, 
 to consider it by itself, and see whether it is consistent 
 throughout. If fundamental principles are false, the most 
 logical minds must fall into many contradictions and ab- 
 surdities, and in examining their arguments, we are com- 
 pelled to acknowledge the justness of their conclusions, or 
 we must reject their premises altogether. But if funda- 
 mental principles are true, no refinement or force of sophistry 
 can refute the conclusions deduced from them : and such 
 are the great principles, as we shall now see, on which the 
 institution of the Classes in our church is firmly and im- 
 movably founded : principles universally recognised and 
 admitted as true by those acquainted with the Bible and 
 the spiritual nature of the Christian church. 
 
PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 Methodism, in its doctrinal and experimental nature, 
 is the revival of primitive and evangelical Christianity. 
 The institution of the class meeting, it is true, was inciden- 
 tal, and as such, it is peculiarly an institution of Methodism, 
 but in its substantial nature, it is evangelical and divine. 
 Circumstantially it is the offspring of divine Providence, 
 but substantially it contains inherently the spirit, essence, and 
 efficiency of the gospel. So long as it retains these, it can 
 no more be neglected or suspended by Methodists without 
 serious consequences to personal and practical piety, the 
 dignity and influence of the church, and the spiritual and 
 temporal welfare of mankind, than the gospel can be. As 
 it originated in the Wesleyan revival of pure and spiritual 
 Christianity, so it will wane with the decline, in any degree, 
 of the purity and simplicity of original Methodism. It 
 may be confidently affirmed, that wherever, and in pro- 
 portion as interest in the class meeting has waned, there 
 the experimental power of Methodism has waned, and the 
 converse is also true. The history of this institution of 
 our church, therefore, is not a matter of ordinary importance, 
 but of vital concern to Methodists, as it will elucidate the 
 nature and benefits of the institution, as well as enable us 
 to refute the many groundless objections of its opposers, and 
 
 4 37 
 
38 
 
 ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 strengthen the confidence of those who have given it but a 
 partial consideration and occasional observance. 
 
 I. The very essence of the social institution of the class 
 meeting seems to have been elemental in Methodism in its 
 earliest incipiency, though then it was not called by that 
 name^ nor even thought of as such. From the commence- 
 ment of Methodism it has existed in nature at least; indeed, 
 Methodism originated in the class-room. In November, 
 1729, four young gentlemen of Oxford — Mr. J ohn Wesley, 
 fellow of Lincoln College ; Mr. Charles Wesley, student of 
 ChrisVs Church ; Mr. Morgan, commoner of Christ Church, 
 and Mr. Kirkham, of Merton College — began to spend some 
 evenings in the week together, in reading, chiefly, the Greek 
 Testament. The next year, two or three of Mr. John 
 Wesley's pupils desired the liberty of meeting with them ; 
 and afterward one of Mr. Charles Wesley's pupils. It was 
 in 1732, that Mr. Ingham, of Queen's College, and Mr. 
 Broughton, of Exeter, were added to their number. To 
 these, in April, was joined Mr. Clayton, of Brazen nose, 
 with two or three of his pupils. About the same time, 
 Mr. James Hervey was permitted to meet with them, and 
 in 1735, Mr. Whitefield. They were all zealous members 
 of the Church of England; not only tenacious of all her 
 doctrines, so far as they knew them, but of all her discipline, 
 to the minutest circumstance. They were likewise zealous 
 observers of all the University statutes, and that for con- 
 science' sake. But they observed neither these, nor any 
 thing else further than they conceived it was bound upon 
 them by their one book, the Bible; it being their one desire 
 and design to he downright Bible Christians ; taking the 
 Bible, as interpreted by the primitive church and our oion, 
 for their WHOLE AND SOLE RULE. The one charge then 
 advanced against them was, that they were ^righteous over- 
 much,' that they were abundantly too scrupulous^ and too 
 strict, carrying things to great extremes ; that they toolc the 
 
ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 39 
 
 Scriptures in too strict and literal a sense ; so THAT IP 
 
 THEY WERE RIGHT, FEW INDEED WOULD BE SAVED.'^* 
 
 ^' Some young men at Oxford united themselves together, in 
 1729, for the purpose of strengthening each other's pious reso- 
 lutions, and observing the religious services with strictness. 
 They aimed particularly at the more rigid compliance with 
 the precepts of the New Testament than was usual in the 
 church, and devoted themselves to the works of love,'^ &c.f 
 This was in 1729. ^^In October, 1735, Mr. John and Charles 
 Wesley, and Mr. Ingham, left England with a design to go 
 and preach to the Indians in Georgia,^ ^ J and after their ar- 
 rival, when they reached Savannah, not finding, as yet, any 
 door open for pursuing their main design, they considered in 
 what manner they might be most useful to the little flock at 
 Savannah. And they agreed, ''1. To advise the more 
 serious among them to form themselves into a sort of little 
 society, and to meet once or twice a week, in order to reprove, 
 instruct, and exhort one another. 2. To select out of those 
 a smaller number for a more intimate union with each other, 
 which might be forwarded, partly by our conversing singly 
 with each other, and partly by inviting them all together to 
 our house; and this, accordingly, we determined to do every 
 Sunday in the afternoon. Here we have the Methodist 
 church, in its origin, instituting, and observing, weekly ^ the 
 very means of grace that subsequently assumed a more 
 formal nature, and became a prominent characteristic of her 
 organization. II The same measure Mr. Wesley adopted soon 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. v. p. 246. 
 
 f Encyclopedia Amer., vol. viii. p. 442. 
 
 \ Wesley's Works, vol. v. p. 247. 
 
 I Wesley's Works, vol. iii. pp. 33, 34. 
 
 II " Here we see," says Dr. Whitefield, " the first rudiments of the 
 future economy of classes and bands, which has had no small influence 
 in promoting tho success of the Methodists beyond any other denomi- 
 nation of Christians, not immediately favored by the civil power." Life 
 of Wesley, vol. ii. p. 15. 
 
40 
 
 ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 after at Frederica. June, Thursday^ 10, (1736.) We 
 began to execute at Frederica what we had before agreed to 
 do at Savannah. Our design was, on Sundays, in the 
 afternoon, and every evening, after piiblic service, to spend 
 some time with the most serious of the communicants in 
 singing^ reading, and conversation. This evening we had 
 only Mark Hird. But on Sunday, Mr. Hird and two more 
 desired to be admitted. After a psalm and a little conver- 
 sation, I read Mr. Law's ^ Christian Perfection,' and con- 
 cluded with another psalm.''* And so Mr. Wesley led 
 class, in fact, after public service, though the first time in 
 Frederica he had but one, and the next time but three, 
 present — a capital example for Methodist preachers through- 
 out the bounds of Methodism. Soon after he formed 
 another class : Wednesday, 16, (June), another little com- 
 pany of us met : Mr. Reed, Davidson, Walker, Delamotte, 
 and myself. We sung, read a little of Mr. Law, and then 
 conversed. Wednesdays and Fridays were the days we 
 fixed for constant meeting."'}' Twice a week — and yet 
 many of us think once a loeeh too often, and do not even 
 attend that often, and very many not at all. The method 
 above, Mr. Wesley generally observed in Savannah. Writing 
 by Mr. Ingham to his friends in England, he observes : ^^Some 
 time after the evening service, as many of my parishoners 
 as desire it, meet at my house, (as they do also on Wednes- 
 day evening,) and spend about an hour in prayer, singing, 
 and mutual exhortation. A smaller number (most of those 
 who design to communicate the next day) meet here on 
 Saturday evening; and a few of these come to me on the other 
 evenings, and pass half an hour in the same employment."^; 
 
 On his return to England, Mr. Wesley revived this form 
 of the class meeting, which, it seems, had been discontinued 
 
 Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p. 25. f Ibid. vol. iii. p. 26. 
 
 X Ibid. vol. iii. p. 34. 
 
ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 41 
 
 in Ills absence in America. ^'This evening (May 1, 1738,) 
 our little society began, which afterward met in Fetter Lane. 
 Our fundamental rules were as follows : 
 
 ^^In obedience tp the command of God by St. James, and 
 by the advice of Peter Bohler, it is agreed by us, 
 
 ^^1. That we will meet together once a week to ^confess 
 our faults one to another, and pray one for another, that we 
 may be healed/ 
 
 "2. That the persons so meeting be divided into several 
 hands or little companies^ none of them consisting of fewer 
 than five, or more than ten persons. 
 
 ^^3. That every one, in order, speak as freely, plainly, and 
 concisely as he can, the real state of his heart, with his 
 several temptations and deliverances, since the last time of 
 meeting. 
 
 ^^4. That all the bands have a conference at eight, every 
 Wednesday evening, begun and ended with singing and 
 prayer. 
 
 5. That any who desire to be admitted into this society 
 be asked, ' What are your reasons for desiring this ? Will 
 you be entirely open, using no kind of reserve ? Have you 
 any objections to any of our orders V (which may then be 
 read.) 
 
 ^^6. That, when any new member is proposed, every one 
 present speak clearly and freely whatever objection he has 
 to him. 
 
 '^7. That those against whom no reasonable objection ap- 
 pears, be, in order for their trial, formed into one or more 
 distinct bands, and some person agreed on to assist tliem. 
 
 ^^8. That after two months^ trial, if no objection then ap- 
 pear, they may be admitted into the society. 
 
 9. That every fourth Saturday be observed as a day of 
 general intercession. 
 
 10. That on the Sunday seven-night following be a 
 general love-feast^ from seven till ten in the evening. 
 
4% ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 ^^11. That no particular member be allowed to act in any 
 thing contrary to any order of the society : and that if any 
 persons, after being thrice admonished, do not conform 
 thereto, they be not any longer esteemed as members*'^* 
 
 Among these rules, especially the 1st and 3d, we recognise 
 the very substance of the class meeting. 
 
 Mr. Wesley formed societies wherever and wbenever he 
 could : WednesdaT/, 4 (A;pril, 1739.) At Baptist Mills, 
 (a sort of a suburb or village about half a mile from Bris- 
 tol,) I offered the grace of God to about fifteen hundred 
 persons, from these words : ^ I will heal their backsliding ; 
 I will love them freely.' In the evening, three women 
 agreed to meet together weekly, with the same intention as 
 those at London, viz. ^To confess their faults one to 
 another, and pray one for another, that they may be healed.' 
 At eight, four young men agreed to meet, in pursuance of 
 the same design. ''f 
 
 II. The origin of classes, in the proper sense of the term, 
 as it is now understood and applied by the Methodists, was 
 providential, and the following is the historical account of 
 it. Mr. Wesley briefly refers to it first in his Journal: 
 
 3Ionday, {Fehriiary 15, 1742.) Many (in Bristol^ met 
 together to consult on a proper method for discharging the 
 public debt; and it was at length agreed, 1. That every 
 member of the society, who was able, should contribute a 
 penny a week. 2. That the whole society should be 
 divided into little companies or classes — about twelve in 
 each class And, 3. That one person in each class should 
 receive the contribution of the rest, and bring it into the 
 stewards weekly.'' J Mr. Wesley having, at this time, no 
 idea that the institution of class-meeting would grow out of 
 this temporal plan, makes but a brief and general reference 
 to the occasion; but, subsequently, when Methodism ex- 
 
 - Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p. 66, 67. f I^^i^. vol. iii. p. 127. % Ibid. p. 242. 
 
ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 43 
 
 tended widely in England, and the labor of watching over 
 the societies was too great for him, providence suggested to 
 him a plan suitable to the itinerant nature of his minis- 
 try, and of this he gives a particular and detailed statement 
 in his Plain Account of the People called Methodists'^ — 
 a part of which we here transcribe : But as much as we 
 endeavored to watch over each other, we soon found some 
 who did not love the gospel. I do not know that any hypo- 
 crites crept in ; for, indeed, there was no temptation : but 
 several grew cold, and gave way to the sins that had long 
 easily beset them. We quickly perceived there were many 
 ill consequences of suffering these to remain among us. It 
 was dangerous to others ; inasmuch as all sin is of an infec- 
 tious nature. It brought such a scandal on their brethren 
 as exposed them to what was not properly the reproach of 
 Christ. It laid a stumbling-block in the way of others, 
 and caused the truth to be evil spoken of. We groaned 
 under these inconveniences long, before a remedy could be 
 found. The people were scattered so wide in all parts of 
 the town, from Wapping to Westminster, that I could not 
 easily see what the hehavior of each person in his own 
 neighborhood was: so that several disorderly walkers did 
 much hurt before I was apprized of it. At length, while 
 we were thinking of quite another thing, we struck upon a 
 method, for which we have cause to bless Giod ever since. 
 I was talking with several of the society in Bristol, con- 
 cerning the means of paying the debts there, when one* 
 stood up, and said, ' Let every member of the society give 
 a penny a week, till all are paid.' Another answered, ' But 
 many of them are poor, and cannot afford to do it.' ' Then,' 
 said he, ^ put eleven of the poorest with me ; and if they 
 give any thing, well : I will call on them weekly ; and if 
 they can give nothing, I will give for them as well as for 
 
 Captain Foy. Wesley's Works, vol. vii. p. 316. 
 
44 
 
 ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 myself. And each of you call on eleven of your neigh- 
 bors weekly ; receive what they give, and make up what is 
 wanting.' It was done. In a while, some of these informed 
 me, they found such and such a one did not live as he 
 ought. It struck me immediately, ^ This is the thingy 
 THE VERY THING, we have wanted so long.^ I called 
 together all the leaders of the classes, (so we used to term 
 them and their companies,) and desired, that each would 
 make a particular inquiry into the behavior of those he 
 saw weekly. They did so. Many disorderly walkers were 
 detected. Some turned from the evil of their ways. Some 
 were put away from us. Many saw it with fear, and re- 
 joiced unto God with reverence. As soon as possible, the 
 same method was used in London, and all other places.* 
 Evil men were detected and reproved. They were borne 
 with for a season. If they forsook their sins, we received 
 them gladly; if they obstinately persisted therein, it was 
 openly delared that they were not of us. The rest mourned 
 and prayed for them, and yet rejoiced that, as far as in us 
 lay, the scandal was rolled away from the society.^ ^'j' 
 
 Mr. Wesley adds : At first they (the leaders) visited 
 each person at his own house ; but this was soon found not 
 so expedient. And that on many accounts : (1.) It took 
 up more time than most of the leaders had to spare. (2.) 
 Many person^ lived with masters, mistresses, or relations, 
 who would not suffer them to be thus visited. (3.) At the 
 houses of those who were not so averse, they often had no 
 opportunity of speaking to them but in company ; and this 
 did not at all answer the end proposed, of exhorting, com- 
 forting, or reproving. (4.) It frequently happened, that 
 one alB&rmed what another denied. And this could not be 
 
 * " Whether in Europe or America — Wesley's Works, vol. vii. p. 
 316. 
 
 t Wesley's Works, vol. v. pp. 178, 179. 
 
ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 45 
 
 cleared up without seeing them together. (5.) Little mis- 
 understandings and quarrels of various "kinds frequently 
 arose among relations or neighbors; effectually to remove 
 which^ it was needful to see them all face to face. Upon 
 all these considerations^ it was agreed that those of each 
 class should meet all together. And by this means, a more 
 full inquiry was made into the behaviour of every person. 
 Those who could not be visited at home, or no otherwise 
 than in company, had the same advantage with others. 
 Advice or reproof was given as need required, quarrels 
 made up, misunderstandings removed : and, after an hour 
 or two spent in this labor of love, they concluded with 
 prayer and thanksgiving.^^^ 
 
 On this subject, Mr. Watson observes : ^^In the discipline 
 of Methodism, the division of the society into classes is an 
 important branch. Each class is placed under a person of 
 experience and piety, who meets the others once a week, 
 for prayer, and inquiry into the religious state of each, in 
 order to administer exhortation and counsel. The origin 
 of these classes was, however, purely accidental. The 
 chapel at Bristol was in debt ; and it was agreed that each 
 member of the society should contribute one penny a week 
 to reduce the burden. The Bristol Society was, therefore, 
 divided into classes ; and, for convenience, one person was 
 appointed to collect the weekly subscriptions from each class, 
 and to pay the amount to the stewards. The advantage of 
 this system, when turned to a higher purpose, at once 
 struck the methodical and practical mind of Mr. Wesley; 
 he, therefore, invited several earnest and sensible men'' to 
 meet him; and the society in London was divided into 
 classes like that in Bristol, and placed under the spiritual 
 care of these tried and experienced persons. At first they 
 visited each person, at his own residence, once a week ; but 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. v. pp. 179, 180. 
 
ORIGIN OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 the preferable mode of bringing each class together weekly 
 was at length adopted/^''' Respecting the division of the 
 Society in London into classes, Mr. Wesley observes : 
 
 March, Thursday, 25, (1742.) I appointed several 
 earnest and sensible men to meet me, to whom I showed 
 the great difficulty I had long found of knowing the people 
 who desired to be under my care. After much discourse, 
 they all agreed there could be no better way to come to a 
 sure, thorough knowledge of each person, than to divide 
 them into classes, like those at Bristol, under the inspection 
 of those in whom I could most confide. This was the origin 
 of our classes at London, for which I can never sufficiently 
 praise Grod; the unspeakable usefulness of the institution 
 having ever since been more and more manifest. 
 
 Let the reader carefully bear in mind this history of the 
 origin of class meetings, that he may more clearly under- 
 stand their nature, obligation, and benefits — especially that 
 he may see the full force of the arguments we shall adduce 
 in support of their obligation as a test of membership in our 
 church. Doubtless, their material relation to an itinerant 
 ministry has already been forcibly suggested to his mind, 
 and this relation will appear the more forcibly in the pro- 
 gress of this work. The brief history we have given is 
 sufficient for the purposes of this treatise. 
 
 Watson^s Life of Wesley, p. 96. f Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p. 246. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 1. There is nothing new in the principle on which the 
 class-meeting system is founded, though the Methodists 
 invest the system with more importance than other churches 
 have done. The system grows out of the nature of things. 
 It is a means adopted to regulate, perpetuate, and promote 
 the results of an evangelical reformation, by associating the 
 converts in the closest Christian fellowship and co-operation, 
 by separating the church as effectually as possible from the 
 world, and by bringing the church more immediately under 
 the pastoral oversight of the preachers. Mr. Wesley, from 
 the beginning, proceeded upon these considerations. 
 
 Mutual communion was prevalent among the English 
 parochial clergy, before the act of uniformity, and the fol- 
 lowing is an example : Christians must drive an open 
 and a free trade; they must teach one another the mysteries 
 of godliness. Tell your experience ; and tell your conflicts; 
 and tell your comforts. As iron sharpeneth iron, as rub- 
 bing of the hands maketh both warm, and as live coals 
 maketh the rest to burn, so let the fruit of society be 
 mutually sharpening, warming, and influencing. Christians 
 should also bewail their failings, infirmities, deadness, cold- 
 ness, narrowness, and unprofitableness, one to another; to 
 see whether others have been in the same state ; what 
 course they took ; and what remedy they procured. Many 
 souls may perish through too much modesty and reserve. 
 In the prophets' time, when proud scorners talked vainly, 
 
 47 
 
4& 
 
 NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 and did what they lisfc, then they that feared the Lord spake 
 often one to another. No doubt, they spake of Grod; of his 
 counsels, and of his works and ways ; of his providence and 
 goodness, and of the baseness of atheistical thoughts. 
 Would Christians thus meet, and exchange words and 
 notions, they might build up one another ; they might heat 
 and injBame one another; and they might strengthen and 
 encourage one another, as the brethren did St. Paul. And 
 have we not express command for this duty of conference ? 
 ^ Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbor. What hath 
 the Lord answered ? and, What hath he spoken ? ' (Jer. 
 xxiii. 35.) 
 
 Baxter, in his stirring and powerful work, ^^The Re- 
 formed Pastor,^' issued in 1655, maintains substantially the 
 same ground. ^^The first and chief point,^' says he, 
 
 which I have to propose to you, is this. Whether it be 
 not the unquestionable duty of the generality of ministers 
 throughout the country to set themselves presently to the 
 work of instructing, individually, all that are committed to 
 their care, who will be persuaded to submit thereto ? That 
 people must be taught the principles of religion and mat- 
 ters of greatest necessity to salvation, is past doubt among 
 us. That they must be taught it in the most edifying, 
 advantageous way, I hope we are agreed. That personal 
 conference, and examination, and instruction have many 
 excellent advantages for their good, is no less beyond dis- 
 pute. That personal instruction is recommended to us by 
 Scripture, and by the practice of the servants of Christ, 
 and approved by the godly of all ages, is, so far as I can 
 find, without contradiction. It is no less certain, that so 
 great a work as this is should take up a considerable part 
 of our time. And it is equally certain, that all duties 
 should be done in order, as far as possible, and, therefore, 
 
 * Media of Mr. Isaac Ambrose. 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 49 
 
 should have their appointed times.' The measure which 
 he adopted to do this varies^ it is true, circumstantially from 
 the class meeting, but substantially it is the same. We 
 spend Monday and Tuesday/^ says he, ^^from morning 
 almost to night; taking about fifteen or sixteen families in a 
 week, that we may go through the parish, in which there 
 are upwards of eight hundred families in a year;f and I 
 cannot say yet that one family hath yet refused to come to 
 me, and only a few persons excused themselves and shifted 
 it off. And I find more outward signs of success with most 
 that do come, than from all my public preaching to them. 
 If you ask me what course I take for order and expedition, 
 I may here mention, that, at the delivery of the catechisms, 
 I take a catalogue of all the persons of understanding in the 
 parish, and the clerk goeth a week before to every family, 
 to tell them what day to come, and at what hour — one 
 family at eight o'clock, the next at nine, and the next at 
 ten, &c. ; and I am forced by the number to deal with a 
 whole family at once ; but, ordinarily, I admit not any of 
 another family to be present. Brethren," he adds, do I 
 now invite you to this work without the authority of God, 
 without the consent of all antiquity, without the consent of 
 the reformed divines, or without the conviction of your own 
 consciences ? See what the Westminster Assembly speak 
 occasionally, in the Directory, about the visitation of the_ 
 sick : ^ It is the duty of the minister, not only to teach the 
 people committed to his charge in public, but privately ; 
 and particularly to admonish, exhort, reprove, and comfort 
 them upon all seasonable occasions, so far as his time, 
 strength, and personal safety will permit. He is to admo- 
 nish them in time of health to prepare for death. And, 
 
 * Reformed Pastor, pp. 77, 78. 
 
 f This each of the ministers associated with him also did, thus making 
 their large parish something like a large circuit, on which each of the 
 preachers and leaders visits the classes so many times a year, 
 
 5 
 
50 
 
 NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 for that purpose, they are often to confer with their minister 
 about the estate of their souls/ &c. 
 
 About the year 1677, Dr. Horneck, Dr. Woodward, and 
 Mr. Smithies, at Cornhill, by their sermons and lectures, 
 were made instrumental in the conversion of many young 
 men, whom they met in private religious meetings,, and 
 " these,'' says Dr. Woodward, soon found the benefit of 
 their conferences one with another, by which (as some of 
 them told me with joy) they better discovered their own 
 corruptions, the devil's temptations, and how to countermine 
 bis subtle devices, as to which each person communicated his 
 experiences to the rest.^'f 
 
 The Methodist classes are exactly conformable to the 
 customs of the early propagation of Christianity. After 
 men became Christians,'' says Paley, much of their time 
 was spent in prayer and devotion, in religious meetings, in 
 celebrating the Eucharist, in conferences, in exhortations, 
 in preaching, in an affectionate intercourse with one another, 
 and in correspondence with other societies." J 
 
 The more serious clergy in England " held weekly private 
 meetings for religious edification, and it is probable Mr. 
 Wesley had heard of these societies, and even attended 
 them in the metropolis. Wherever, indeed, a revival of 
 serious religion has taken place, and ministers have been in 
 earnest to promote it, we see similar means adopted, as by 
 Baxter at Kidderminster, during his eminently successful 
 ministry there, "§ The plain state of the case w'as this : Grod 
 had given Mr. Wesley large fruits of his ministry in various 
 places, from which he was called away from time to time 
 to other places, when his people were ^^as sheep having no 
 shepherd," exposed not only to the world, but to the perse- 
 
 * Reformed Pastor, pp. 79, 80. 
 
 t Account of the Religious Societies in London, chap. ii. 
 
 X Evidences of Christianity. 
 
 ^ Watson's Life of Wesley, p. 38. 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 51 
 
 cuting clergy of the Church of England. Hence, Mr. 
 Wesley was urged by the necessity of the case, either to 
 provide for them himself, or leave them without religious 
 care. The latter he could not do consistently with the 
 objects of his ministry; and he wisely chose the former. 
 But he carried his regulations no further than the necessity 
 of the case required. The hours of service were in no 
 instance to interfere with those of the Establishment, and ^ 
 at the parish church the members were exhorted to commu- 
 nicate. 
 
 It is true, however, that though the Methodist societies 
 thus originated in the national church, in their interior 
 organization they were independent of its ecclesiastical 
 authority, which was, in fact, an original, practical, and 
 partial separation from the Establishment; yet had the 
 Establishment sanctioned the itinerant labors of Wesley and 
 his successors, and the private religious meetings which he 
 instituted, the great body of Methodists in England might 
 have been retained in the communion of the national church 
 till this day. The constitution of the Methodists, therefore, 
 was a matter of moral necessity ; and their final separation 
 from the Church of England, after the death of Mr. Wes- 
 ley, was a right guaranteed to them both by Christian 
 liberty and the laws of their country. 
 
 II. No institution of Methodism is more important than 
 that of the classes — not even the itinerancy ; for the evange- 
 lical fruits of the itinerancy cannot long be preserved without 
 the use or help of the classes. The system of class meet- 
 ings may not be required by those churches which are 
 provided with a settled ministry — residing among their 
 flocks — making themselves acquainted in various ways with 
 their communicants — becoming personally acquainted with 
 the religious character and conduct of every individual in 
 
 * Watson's Life of Wesley, p. 92, 
 
52 
 
 NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 their charges — having suitable time, place, and opportunity 
 for making necessary inquiries, and obtaining necessary 
 information, that they may give particular instruction, 
 reproof, exhortation, or advice, as occasion may require. 
 But to an itinerant ministry, such as ours is, all this is 
 impossible. The time of appointment to one field of labor 
 is so short — and so much of this time is necessarily em- 
 ployed in breaking up, in removing, and in settling when 
 -the pastor reaches his new field of labor — and so much 
 in riding and preaching — and so much in reading and 
 preparing for the pulpit — and so much in necessary absence 
 from a portion of his appointments to visit other parts 
 of his circuit — that he has but a small proportion left 
 to allow him to become acquainted with his flock. This 
 was the deficiency Mr. Wesley felt so sensibly, and to sup- 
 ply which the societies were divided into classes, and 
 leaders appointed, who henceforth became, in fact, auxiliary- 
 pastors, and should be men of irreproachable life, deep 
 piety, prudence, and experience, each residing among the 
 members of his class, that, becoming acquainted with their 
 deportment in society, their connexions and pursuits in life, 
 their peculiar dispositions, temptations, trials, and afflictions, 
 he may bestow the proper spiritual care upon them indi- 
 vidually. Thus, in the absence of the pastor, the leaders 
 are prepared to give the religious counsel occasion may 
 require. Thus, also, they are prepared to report to the 
 pastor who are sick, who are delinquent, who are disorderly, 
 who are walking uprightly, and who should be dealt with 
 according to the discipline. And so, through the aid of 
 faithful class-leaders, the pastor becomes acquainted with 
 his whole field of labor, and is assisted in providing for its 
 wants. Without the class-leaders, it is evident, those who 
 are gathered into the church would suffer greatly for want 
 of pastoral care. 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 53 
 
 From this consideration of the nature of the classes, we 
 make the following observations : — 
 
 1. The preacher in charge of a circuit or station is 
 invested with authority to appoint the leaders, because he 
 is responsible to God for the care of the souls committed 
 to his oversight. 
 
 2. It is the solemn duty of the preacher in charge to 
 remove improper and unfaithful leaders, and supply their 
 places with those who are faithful and properly qualified. 
 And in the selection of proper men he can advise, if need 
 be, with the senior brethren, local preachers, and stewards 
 of his charge. 
 
 3. The preachers and leaders should co-operate promptly, 
 actively, and harmoniously in the care of the classes : the 
 leader in his attentions to his class, and in reporting the 
 delinquent, the disorderly, and the sick to the preacher; 
 and the preacher in visiting the sick, and in administering 
 discipline in all cases of delinquency that will not amend, 
 and in all cases of those who walk disorderly. If the leaders 
 neglect their duty, the preacher will be ignorant of the 
 condition of his charge, and the church must suffer, and 
 the preacher be discouraged ; or if the preacher neglect his 
 duty, faithful leaders will become discouraged, and the 
 church must suffer. Prompt, energetic, and harmonious 
 co-operation between the preachers and leaders is indispen- 
 sable to the purity, success, and prosperity of the Methodist 
 church. 
 
 4. We shall here consider an objection : The class 
 should have power to elect its own leader.^' (1.) In almost 
 all cases, the class is so well satisfied with the leader pro- 
 vided by the preacher, as to prefer him to all others, which 
 is a proof, de facto, that the classes are as well satisfied as 
 if they had made their own selection. (2.) Those who are 
 best qualified to be leaders, would not be candidates for the 
 office. For such being most pious, and being best ac- 
 
 5^ 
 
64 
 
 NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 quainted with their own infirmities, and having the 
 humblest views of their gifts and graces, would be most 
 retiring, and thus the way would be open for the most 
 forward, aspiring, and unqualified — as Charles Wesley 
 expresses it : 
 
 " How ready lie is to go, 
 
 VS^hom God has never sent; 
 How cautious, diffident, and slow, 
 His ciiosen instrument." 
 
 (3.) In the competition for leaders, the class, in many 
 cases, would be divided, and warmth and bitterness be 
 excited. The leader so elected would look with prejudice 
 upon the minority as his opposers, and the minority would 
 cherish hostile feeling toward him. (4.) In the stations 
 the female classes meet separately, and cannot become 
 acquainted with the deportment and qualifications of the 
 candidates for the ojfice, and so would not be able to select 
 the proper leader. (5.) In many classes, -on the circuits 
 and stations, the majority are young and inexperienced, 
 with whom a good singer, with a good stock of camp- 
 meeting and revival songs, and a large share of zeal, would 
 be an eligible candidate; and prudent counsels, wise 
 advice, solid piety, and much experience, would not enter 
 into the essentials of qualification. (6.) There would be 
 no remedy to relieve the class when both the leader and 
 the majority of the class should become lukewarm. The 
 majority then at liberty would indulge in neglecting class, 
 and engage in vain and frivolous amusements, which the 
 leader might call innocent. The heart of the pious might 
 bleed in vain ; the pious part of the class, and of the 
 church, might mourn in vain ; and there would be no 
 remedy. The blind would select their own guide, and the 
 ruin of both would be inevitable. (7.) It would not effect 
 what it proposes. The object proposed is to give to each 
 class a leader of its own selection. But, in many cases, 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 55 
 
 the minority must meet with a leader whom they have 
 rejected. (8.) And, finally, such a method is in direct 
 conflict with the authority and responsibility of the pastor. 
 He is responsible for the spiritual oversight of the flock, 
 and hence has authority, and it is his duty, to provide the 
 best leaders he can obtain to aid him in his work. If the 
 classes, therefore, be invested with the right to choose their 
 leaders, the authority of the pastor is repudiated, and his 
 duty cannot be discharged. All these evils are avoided 
 by the arrangement that exists in our church. 
 
 The indispensable necessity of the class meeting as an 
 institution of the Methodist church is seen in another re- 
 spect. An important part of the pastoral work of our 
 itinerant ministry cannot be performed without it. It is 
 the duty of the leaders to ascertain the wants of the poorer 
 members, that relief may be extended to them, and to find 
 out who are sick, that the pastor may visit them. Thus, it 
 is the duty of the leader to see his members once in the 
 week, either in class, or, if absent, at home. Such is the 
 work of our preachers, especially on the circuits, that in- 
 formation on these particulars cannot be obtained, in all 
 cases, without the aid of faithful leaders ; and so, without 
 the classes, the wants of the church, in a great degree, 
 must be neglected by the pastor. In this case, how many 
 a pious saint, amid the sufierings and temptations of sick- 
 ness, would languish without consolation from the sympa- 
 thizing pastor. How many a poor Christian would sufibr, 
 in want of even the small temporal relief which the church 
 now supplies. And not until the needy or the sick had 
 themselves sent intelligence to the pastor, could he ascer- 
 tain what services were required. It was this, among 
 other reasons, as we have seen, that caused Mr. Wesley to 
 adopt this desirable and useful regulation; and as the 
 Methodist ministry remains unchanged in its nature, the 
 same necessity for the continuance and observance of the 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 regulation exists now, as then suggested and justified its 
 adoption. 
 
 The indispensable necessity of this institution of our 
 church is seen in another respect. It is the duty of the 
 leader to inform the preacher who of his class ^^walk dis- 
 orderly;^^ that is, are guilty of any impropriety or any im- 
 morality, that the proper steps in the administration of dis- 
 cipline may be taken by him who has the charge of the 
 church. It would be impossible for the preacher, without 
 the aid of the leaders, to obtain the knowledge of all such 
 cases. Engaged, as he must be, from time to time, and so 
 long, in another part of his work, and none being officially 
 authorized to inform him, many a case of delinquency and 
 immorality would transpire in his absence, and never reach 
 his knowledge tiU too late to administer the proper correction 
 or counsels to the offender, or prevent the scandal inflicted 
 upon the church. 
 
 In a word, the abolition of the classes, and the disbanding 
 of the leaders, would be disastrous to the Methodist church, 
 and it would be impossible to determine where the line of 
 ruin should be drawn, or what of value, except doctrine, 
 would remain. It would be disastrous to the spiritual con- 
 dition of our church. The pastor, as we have seen, could 
 do but a small proportion of the work of spiritual care : the 
 rest must be wholly neglected. It would be disastrous to 
 the spiritual fellowship of our church. The bonds of union 
 which now bind the leader to his class, and the members of 
 the class to each other, would be greatly weakened, if not 
 wholly severed; the incalculable advantages of mutual 
 counsel, reproof, and encouragement, would be lost ; and inti" 
 mate spiritual union and communion of saints would no 
 longer exist. It would be disastrous to the financial interests 
 of our church. The leaders and stewards, in this respect, 
 would have nothing to do, nothing to report, unless some 
 other measure to raise supplies should be adopted. It would 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 57 
 
 be disastrous to tlie world. The church being debilitated 
 and prostrated by the abolition of its present wise, harmo- 
 nious, and efficient system, spiritual and temporal, but little 
 would remain of a peculiar nature to deserve the regard/ 
 respect, and admiration of the world, but little remain to 
 exert a strong and salutary influence upon man. Nor is this 
 all. The bond between the classes and the quarterly con- 
 ference would be dissolved, and some other method of re- 
 commending proper candidates from the membership to 
 preach must be adopted. Nor is this all. One of the best 
 means of developing and cultivating ministerial gifts and 
 graces would be lost to our church. Thousands of useful 
 and eminent ministers in our church, no doubt, first felt 
 their call to preach in the class-room, and when they becam 
 leaders, by their pious and varied exercises as leaders, they 
 acquired that knowledge of spiritual things, and that habit 
 of aifording instruction, which enter into the inceptive pre- 
 paration or groundwork of preaching the gospel. The 
 e_xercises of public prayer, singing, administering instruc- 
 tion, reproof, warning, admonition, consolation, encourage- 
 ment, visiting absent and delinquent members, spiritual 
 attentions at the bedside of the sick, and the intimate 
 acquaintance the leader forms with the pastor, and the 
 knowledge he obtains of church matters in the leaders' 
 meeting, all contribute much to qualify him to preach, and 
 take charge of the church himself, when called and sent 
 forth to preach. In the class-room, the leader learns the 
 first lessons of the preacher, and when he becomes a preacher, 
 he continues the exercises and labors of the leader on his 
 circuit or station. Calamitious would be the day to the 
 Methodist church, should this normal school of our ministry 
 ever be abolished ! God forbid that such a wo shall ever 
 befall us ! Nor is this all. The foundation of experimental 
 religion and religious character is laid in the class-room : it 
 is the nursery for young converts, the babes in Christ.'^ 
 
58 NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 Here we mtght dwell at length and with delight. The 
 advice from the experienced leader, the recital of experienced 
 Christians, the severe examination to which he subjects him- 
 self, the habitual and regular observance of this means of 
 grace, the formation of religious habits and resolutions at 
 a time the most critical, the gracious strength he obtains 
 to contend with the trials and temptations of life, the help 
 he acquires to resist and repress the remains of the carnal 
 mind, and oppose and subdue old^ habits and besetting sins, 
 the divine assistance he receives to detect and relieve many 
 an infirmity and imperfection, the sensible growth in grace 
 he makes from time to time, the refreshing views he enjoys 
 of Christ and heaven and eternal rest, the love diffused in 
 his heart for the brethren, for perishing sinners, and the 
 cause of God, and the numberless motives, ever new and 
 stronger, he feels to advance and conquer — all combine, in 
 the class-room, to improve and establish the young Christian, 
 to attach him to the church, and perfect him in Christ 
 Jesus. Beside, in the class-room, he not only acquires a 
 higher regard for the other means of grace connected with 
 the church, but the best qualification to enjoy them. Mourn- 
 ful would be the day for young Christians in our church 
 should the class meeting ever be abolished ! Then, they 
 would scarcely ever rise above their first love,^^ yea, but few 
 would even retain that long ! This, indeed, is the lamenta- 
 ble result now, wherever the classes are habitually neglected, 
 and this is mainly the reason why multitudes of young 
 Christians in our church so soon fall away, and return to 
 the world. The nature of the class meeting will more 
 obviously appear in the consideration of the benefits of the 
 institution, which we shall defer till the proper place. We 
 shall close this part of the work with a single quotation 
 from Bishop Morris : 
 
 As to the peculiar institution of class meetings, whether 
 we view it in its spiritual, pastoral, disciplinary, business, 
 
NATURE OF CLASS MEETINGS. 59 
 
 or social aspect, it is of vast importance to us. Nothing, 
 indeed, could supply its place, or fill tlie vacuum which its 
 removal would occasion in the system of church polity of 
 which it is a distinguishing feature. Settled pastors over 
 single congregations may do without it, but itinerant, inter- 
 changing pastors, having charge of numerous flocks, to be 
 visited periodically, in order to perform their pastoral labor, 
 find it indispensable to divide their societies into smaller 
 companies, called classes, according to their respective places 
 of abode, and appoint leaders to look after them in their 
 absence. These weekly meetings are to the church what 
 schools are to colleges, and military training, by companies, 
 is to an army — indispensable to her prosperity/^* 
 
 * Bishop Morris. — Intro, to Treatise on Class Meetings, by Rev. John 
 Miley, A. M. pp. 14, 15. 
 
PART 11. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS FOUNDED SUBSTAN- 
 TIALLY UPON THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 We now enter upon debatable ground. The obligation 
 of class meetings, as a test of membersbip, in tbe proper 
 sense of the term, has been doubted by many private mem- 
 bers of our church, who have had, and still have, a few 
 supporters in our ministry. It is not questioned by these 
 that the discipline enjoins the observance of the class meet- 
 ing upon every member of our church, and that exclusion is 
 defined as the penalty in every instance of ^' wilful and re- 
 peated neglect but it is questioned by them, whether as 
 a test of membership it is scriptural, and whether the pro- 
 per authorities in the church have the right to institute and 
 impose it as a test of membership. We say, as such a test, 
 it is scriptural, and that the proper authorities in our church 
 have a right to impose it as such a test. Let us be clearly 
 understood. We do not assume, that class meetings are 
 specificallT/ enjoined in the Scriptures ; we admit that they 
 are not ; but we do assume, that they are suhstantialli/ con- 
 tained and enjoined in the Scriptures. Nor do we assume^ 
 that they should be made a test of membership in other 
 churches; that is, in those churches that are under the care 
 of a settled ministry ; but we do assume, in the nature of 
 things, they should be made a test of membership in our 
 church, which is itinerant. Nor do we assume that the 
 60 
 
OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 61 
 
 name and mode of this social institution are the best that 
 can be adopted, but we do affirm, we know no better that 
 can be adopted, and do assume, that the present mode of 
 of Christian conference and communion is strictly and 
 sacredly binding upon the church, so long as the authorities 
 in the church shall see proper to retain and enjoin it. These 
 positions we shall endeavor to sustain, and so place the obli- 
 gation of class meetings as a test of membership in our 
 church upon a solid basis. The first argument, which is 
 scriptural, we give in this chapter. We have said, that 
 class meetings are substantially scriptural, and the following 
 are our proofs. 
 
 1. '^Bear ye one another's burdens.'^* In the class 
 meeting, better than anywhere else. Christians become ac- 
 quainted with one another's infirmities and trials, and so 
 know best how to extend to one another religious help. But 
 for the exhortations and counsels given from time to time 
 in the class-room, it is easy to see how the gradual and in- 
 sidious progress of sin might induce spiritual declension 
 and insensibility. By the exercises of the class-room, many 
 a Christian has been roused from a state of formality and 
 indifference, many a feeble minded Christian com- 
 forted,'' and many a weak '^ Christian strengthened," 
 who otherwise might have fainted and perished by the 
 way. Man is a social, weak, and dependent being, and 
 when controlled by the tender love of Christ, he often ob- 
 tains the richest effiisions of his grace in the holy fellowship 
 and sympathies of his saints, by which he is greatly en- 
 couraged to hold up his head, and calmly wait for deliverance, 
 amid the perils that surround him and the trials that op- 
 press him. He feels that he is not alone, that Christ is 
 with his disciples, and is the strength of his disciples, and 
 that each a friendly aid affords in time of need. Thus, all 
 
 *- Gal. vi. 2. 
 6 
 
OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 bear a part of tlie burden of each, and the whole body is 
 held together and supported by the bonds of indulgent love. 
 
 2. Every private interview of Christ with his disciples 
 was substantially a class meetingj of whicb be was the most 
 gracious leader, and in which he instructed, admonished, re- 
 buked, reproved, and encouraged, as occasion required. His 
 almighty arm made their burdens light, and his stirring 
 voice roused them affectionately from lethargy and fear. 
 In private with his disciples he asked them, Whom say 
 ye that I am Never was there a more important question 
 proposed to their experience than this ; it was spiritual in 
 the profoundest sense : it was proposed to the twelve, the 
 apostolic class, by Christ, the great leader on this occasion. 
 Their answer shows the extent of their faith : Thou art 
 the Christ, the son of the living God.'' And Christ calls 
 them blessed.'' This was a class meeting in the purest 
 and highest sense. Again, afterward, when he met them 
 in class privately, he addressed Peter particularly, who 
 had denied him three times, repeating the question to him 
 three times: Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me T' 
 Lovest thou me? How often is this question proposed by 
 the faithful leader to his class respecting Christ ! and how 
 many a backslider is brought to reflection and repentance 
 under its force ! Many were the class meetings, precious 
 and powerful, Christ had with his disciples before and after 
 his death. He is with us still. 
 
 The Apostle Paul met with twelve disciples of John the 
 Baptist at Ephesus, and inquired of them, Have ye re- 
 ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" and he gave them 
 the proper instruction. This was substantially a class 
 meeting. He refers to the same thing in his intended visit 
 to the saints at Rome : I long to see you, that I may im- 
 part unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be 
 established ; that is, that I may be comforted together loitli 
 youj by the mutual faith both of you and me^ 
 
FOUNDED ON THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 68 
 
 8. Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to 
 another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book 
 of remembrance was written before him for them that feared 
 the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall 
 be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make 
 up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his 
 own son that serveth him.^^"^ This refers to the few pious 
 and faithful J ews, who, when the greater part of the Jewish 
 church had abandoned the commandments and ordinances 
 of God, resisted the surrounding corruptions, and assembled 
 to observe the pure religion of their fathers, and encourage 
 each other in working out their salvation. They conversed 
 with each other on religious subjects, and this they did 
 
 often.^^ The exact method adopted is not stated, nor is 
 it important to the argument that it should have been 
 stated ; but in substance and advantages, it is obvious, there 
 is a strong resemblence in this pious Jewish custom to 
 the institution of the classes in our church. The same 
 thing is expressed by David : Come and hear, all ye that 
 fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.^^f 
 Again : "Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with 
 my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the 
 congregation.^^! Besides meeting together for pulblic wor- 
 ship, here is a particular reference to a meeting at which 
 those only who- feared God were present, and who met solely 
 for the object of mutual intercourse and profit. 
 
 4. "Exhort one another daily, lest any of you should be 
 hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.'^§ As there is a 
 natural disposition in man to be self-deceived, without the 
 impartial oversight of others. Christians themselves, in a 
 thousand things, might soon become insensible through the 
 deceitfulness of weak human nature, and the influence of 
 the world. Daily exhortation, that is, frequent and season- 
 
 * Mai. iii. 16, 17. f Ps. Ixvi. 16. % Ps. cxi. 1. § Heb. iii. 13. 
 
64 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 able admonition and instruction are required to discover to 
 us our true nature, duty, and danger. And there is no 
 means in our cliurch, or in any other church, better calcu- 
 lated to accomplish these objects than the classes. The 
 apostle implies the most intimate fellowship, without which 
 they could not have exhorted each other. 
 
 6. ^' Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify 
 one another, even as also ye do. Warn them that are 
 unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak.'^* 
 This implies reciprocal encouragement and edification. It 
 is evident, this cannot be done properly, or to much extent, 
 in the general congregation ; and, in our church, without 
 the use of the classes, it would be almost impossible to 
 know who are the unruly, the feeble-minded, or the weak. 
 Beside, these exhortations refer to the duties of the indi^ 
 vidual members of the church to each other, and not to the 
 special oversight of the pastor. These Christian duties 
 are to be performed by themselves, in the absence of the 
 pastor, which implies that the primitive Christians often 
 met together to edify, warn, comfort, and strengthen one 
 another. To the same effect is the exhortation of St. Jude : 
 
 But ye beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy 
 faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the 
 love of Christ, &c. And of some have compassion, making 
 a difference. And others save with fear, pulling them out 
 of the fire.^'f That is, those who are discouraged by the 
 appearance of surrounding danger, or having sinned, are 
 deeply penitent, treat with forbearance, and not with 
 severity and harshness; and those who are self-confident, 
 proud, and insensible, rescue with fear — fear of the holiness, 
 justice, and truth of God. But this cannot be done in 
 any Christian community, without a knowledge of one an- 
 other, and without frequent intimate religious intercourse. 
 
 * 1 Thess. V. 11, 14. 
 
 t Jude 20, Ac. 
 
FOUNDED ON THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 65 
 
 6. " Where two or three are gathered -together in my 
 name, there am I in the midst of them/^* This is sub- 
 stantially the nature of the class meeting. No particular 
 reference is made to regular and public worship ; nor to any 
 accidental meeting of Christians ; but to some specific time 
 and place J mutually agreed upon by Christians, for specially 
 religious objects, and specially in the name of Christ : such 
 is the class meeting, and the class meeting, as such, has 
 been sealed by the presence of Christ ever since its incor- 
 poration in the foundation of our church. 
 
 7. ^' Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all 
 wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms 
 and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your 
 hearts to the Lord.'^f How near this comes to an exact 
 description of the Methodist class meeting, any one ac- 
 quainted with that means of teaching and admonishing^' 
 can easily see. 
 
 8. ^^And let us consider one another to provoke unto 
 love and to good works : not forsaking the assembling of 
 ourselves together, as the manner of some is ; but exhort- 
 ing one another : and so much the more as ye see the day 
 approaching.^^J That is, let us diligently and piously care 
 for one another, and consider each other^s trials, difiiculties, 
 temptations, and weaknesses, and so sympathize with one 
 another as to excite or encourage one another to good works 
 toward God and man ; not forsaking our private religious 
 meetings, which are supporting and instructing in these 
 times of suffering and persecution, and which some habi- 
 tually and wilfully neglect. This is another graphic descrip- 
 tion of the substantial character of the Methodist class 
 meeting. 
 
 Many other scriptures of the same import might be ad- 
 duced, but these are amply sufficient to establish our first 
 
 «■ Matt, xviii. 20. f Col. iii. 16. % Heb. x. 24, 25. 
 
66 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 argument. That these scriptures were designed for a casual 
 application, cannot for a moment be rationally admitted; 
 that they were designed for formal and regular use in the 
 apostolic and primitive churches, and so by the church in 
 all ageS; seems rational and plain, no matter what formal 
 mode of applying them be adopted, at any time, by any 
 particular church. The mode which the Methodist church 
 has adopted is the class meeting. The mode is a matter of 
 church discretion and authority : the substance is scriptural 
 and scripturally binding on all true believers. 
 
 The only objection of any force that can be urged against 
 this argument is, that the church has no authority to insti- 
 tute and impose any mode of performing religious duties, 
 not specifically enjoined in, or plainly inferable from, the 
 Bible. The argument does not require this kind of support 
 to establish it, for it cannot be proved, that any specific 
 mode of performing religious duties is enjoined in the 
 New Testament as invariable and of perpetual obligation. 
 This is the error of the Baptists on the subject of immer- 
 sion. All that is required to confirm the position we have 
 taken, is to show that any particular church is invested with 
 divine authority to institute and impose modes (of discharg- 
 ing religious duties) which, in its wisdom and discretion, it 
 judges to be required by its peculiar nature to accomplish 
 in the best manner possible the great objects of its mission, 
 and which are not inconsistent with the written word of 
 God; and such modes, when instituted and imposed, are 
 solemnly binding on its members till modified or repealed. 
 This shall be the work of the next chapter, and on this 
 mainly turns the obligation of class meetings as a test of 
 membership in the Methodist church. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS, AS A TEST OF MEM- 
 BERSHIP; FOUNDED CIRCUMSTANTIALLY UPON THE AU- 
 THORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 I 1. The General Conference, which is the only legislative 
 authority in our church,- has no right, inherent or derived, 
 to legislate for the church in the strict sense of the term. 
 Christ, the founder of the church, and the apostles, whom 
 he invested with authority to govern the church, had the 
 sole right to legislate in the strict sense, and the apostles 
 themselves could not go beyond what Christ had taught 
 and the Holy Spirit inspired. Yet the General Conference 
 has the right to adopt such prudential rules and regula- 
 tions as it shall judge required, from time to time, to enable 
 the ministry of our church to preach the gospel, administer 
 the sacraments, and enforce discipline; in a word, to govern 
 the church, and accomplish in the best manner possible all 
 the parts of their work. The fundamental principles of eccle- 
 siastical legislation, however, must always be in strictest 
 harmony with the letter and spirit of the Bible : in propor- 
 tion as divergence from this axiom is made, innovation and 
 and revolution must ensue, and the church be divested of 
 its purity, simplicity, and authority 
 
 2. If the laity have the right to make rules and regula- 
 tions for the government of the church — that is, for preaching 
 the gospel, administering the sacraments, and enforcing the 
 discipline — it must either be a natural or acquired right. If 
 it be a natural right, they had it when in a state of nature 
 and were enemies of God and his church, and then it belongs 
 to all men; and then every man in the United States has a 
 
 67 
 
68 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 right to be represented in the G-eneral Conference and every 
 other legislative assembly of the church of God ; which 
 is absurd. If it be an acquired right, it must have been 
 acquired by becoming Christians. If so, the Bible, the 
 great charter of Christ's spiritual kingdom, must clearly re- 
 veal and define it. Let it be shown, and we admit the 
 right. If the right be acquired by becoming Christians, 
 then all Christians have a common right to be represented in 
 the General Conference; which is also absurd. Nor is it 
 acquired by becoming 3Iethodists, since it is nowhere found 
 in the terms of becoming Methodists, nor in the book of 
 discipline of the Methodist church. The truth is, the 
 government of the Methodist church originated with the 
 ministry, and they not only have the right to make rules 
 and regulations for the government of the Methodist 
 church, but, from the Bible, they can never transfer this 
 to the laity. The laity voluntarily entered into the societies 
 organized by Mr. Wesley, to be governed by the rules and 
 regulations which he and his successors might make ; and 
 the laity still voluntarily enter into the Methodist church ; 
 the right to make new regulations, or to alter the old ones, 
 being reserved to the ministry in the very terms of the com- 
 pact. The preachers existed before the laity, and the 
 government was originally and necessarily in their hands, 
 which is the order of the Bible ; and hence the preachers 
 alone are invested with authority to govern, in strict harmony 
 always with the spirit and letter of the Bible, all who volun- 
 tarily place themselves under their pastoral care. 
 
 3. The rules and regulations by which the preachers are 
 to carry on their work ought to be made by the preachers 
 themselves, because they only are responsible for its execu- 
 tion. What is their work? They are commissioned by the 
 Holy Ghost, to preach the gospel, administer the sacra- 
 ments, and maintain moral discipline among those over whom 
 the Holy Ghost, in these respects, have made them over- 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 69 
 
 seers. If the laity of our church were allowed to partici- 
 pate in legislation, it is easy to see how they might inter- 
 fere with the responsibilities of the preachers, in modifying 
 their work, so as to destroy itinerancy, and settle the preachers 
 permanently among their congregations; in prescribing to 
 the preachers what doctrines they must teach, and so a way 
 would be open for heresy of every kind ; in insisting that 
 the ordinances should be administered after such a mode, or 
 with such a meaning, or to all indiscriminately who should 
 desire them, or should be dispensed with altogether; in a 
 word, in controlling the preachers in accordance with every 
 worldly policy, corrupt motive, and passion which might 
 predominate over themselves; to which it is obvious, the 
 preachers could never submit, consistently with their solemn 
 commission, since they are accountable to the great Head of 
 the church only, for the manner in which they fulfil their 
 commission. Thus immorality is prohibited by divine code, 
 and exclusion from the church is specified as the just 
 penalty ; but how the church is to proceed in the investiga- 
 tion is not expressly defined in the Bible, because a general 
 regulation might not only be inapplicable to all cases, but in 
 some cases, from the particular circumstances of the church, 
 be utterly impracticable. The mode of procedure, there- 
 fore, under such circumstances, must be provided by some 
 wise conventional rule; and so all prudential regulations of 
 the church must be adopted. 
 
 The ministry of Christ being invested with authority to 
 teach wholesome doctrine, and govern the church with salu- 
 tary discipline, the people are not authorized to tell the 
 ministry what they shall teach, for Christ said to his minis- 
 try, Teach them (the people) to observe all things whatever 
 I have commanded yoii.^^ The apostles had to gather a 
 church before they could teach and govern it, and conse- 
 quently they had to judge what they should teach, and how 
 they should govern, since as yet no church had been created 
 
70 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 to judge in these matters ; as in the case of missionaries, 
 who, plunging into the moral solitudes of heathenism, find 
 man ignorant of the true Grod and Jesus Christ, and the 
 principles of church-government. The people, therefore, 
 in the nature of things, cannot be the ultimate judges of 
 doctrine and church-government. If the people were in- 
 vested with authority in these matters, if they were pos- 
 sessed of the knowledge that would qualify them to instruct 
 the ministry in these matters, then in what were the use in 
 instituting the ministry at all ? The churches, when once 
 formed, might then safely be left to themselves. 
 
 Again : if the people are to select and instruct their own 
 teachers, then occasions may arise in which the truth as 
 it is in Jesus'' may be corrupted and abandoned. ^^For 
 the time will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
 trine ; but after their own lusts shall heap up to themselves 
 teachers, having itching ears ; and they shall turn away 
 their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables. 
 But the defence against this evil the apostle directly places 
 in the authority of the ministry : But watch thou in all 
 things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, 
 make full proof of thy ministry. Preach the word; be 
 instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort 
 with all long-suffering and doctrine. '^f Be not carried away 
 by the tide of corruption ; endure persecution for the truth's 
 sake ; be faithful in the preaching and application of sound 
 doctrine ; exercise the full authority of your ministry in the 
 exercise of a salutary discipline. 
 
 Nor are the people invested with authority to tell the 
 ministry how they are to be governed. In the description 
 of the qualifications of a bishop, the apostle says, he must 
 be one who ruleth well his own house, having his children 
 in subjection with all gravity; for if a man know not how 
 
 2 Tim. 3, 4. 
 
 t 2 Tim. iv. 2, 5. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 71 
 
 to rule his own house, how shall he taJ^e care of the church 
 - of Grod Again, and as decisively : Keniember them 
 which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you 
 the word of God.'^f And in the same chapter : Obey 
 them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves."'^ 
 The words employed to express the work of a pastor include 
 both the ideas of teaching or feeding and governing. ^^Out 
 of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule [^poimainol 
 my people Israel.''§ To him will I give power over the 
 nations ; and he shall rule \_poimaino'] them with a rod of 
 iron; as the vessels of a potter, shall they be broken to 
 pieces: even as I received of my Father.'^ || This settles 
 the meaning of the oft-questioned and long-contested pas- 
 sage in the First Epistle of Peter : The elders which are 
 among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness 
 of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory 
 that shall be revealed. Feed \_poimaino'] the flock of God 
 which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by 
 constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready 
 mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being 
 ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd 
 shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth 
 not away.'^^ In these passages, poimaino means both to 
 feed and rule the flock of Christ; that is, implies the per- 
 formance of all the duties, and the exercise of all the func- 
 tions, of the pastoral office. Again : Take heed, there- 
 fore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which 
 the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, [episcopous, bi- 
 shops,'] to feed [^poimanein] the church of God, which he 
 hath purchased with his own blood. ^^^"^ 
 
 It is essential to the great primitive object of Methodism, 
 that the character of its ministry be in the keeping of the 
 
 ^ 1 Tim. iii. 4, 5. f Heb. xiii. 7. % Heb. xiii. 17. § Matt. ii. 6. 
 !| Rev. ii. 26, 27. ^ 1 Peter y. 1-4. Acts xx. 28. 
 
72 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 ministers themselves ; for whatever endangers the purity of 
 the ministry, endangers the success and stability of Method- 
 ism; and therefore one of its resplendent glories iS; that 
 its ministry is unfettered. And while there are properly 
 balancing-checks to this liberty, providing for impeachment 
 and expulsion, it is a singular proof of the integrity and 
 purity of the Methodist ministry, that for now a hundred 
 and ten years they have not abused this liberty ; and it is 
 doubted whether a parallel instance of so large and influen- 
 tial a body of ministers can be produced, who have made 
 the sacrifices they have, who have endured the same suffer- 
 ings and hardships, and who have been exposed to the same 
 temptations and dangers, and yet who have maintained a 
 warmer allegiance to their primitive government, or a greater 
 degree of moral purity, or performed a larger amount of 
 useful labors, or more jealously guarded the rights and 
 interests of their people, or been more respected and be- 
 loved by their people. If time and success are tests of the 
 soundness of a principle, the Methodist ministry have them 
 in this case. 
 
 The conclusion of some, that the denial of the right of 
 the people to govern themselves is the same as to say that 
 they have no privileges at all, is absurd. The people have 
 most important and inalienable rights. They have the 
 amplest scope for the exercise of all the sacred rights of 
 conscience ; they are entitled to the use of all the means of 
 grace connected with the church ; they have a right to the 
 full enjoyment of all the privileges of rational, Christian 
 liberty ; they are entitled to the faithful oversight of the 
 ministry : in a word, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, 
 or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things 
 to come, all are yours ; and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is 
 God's.''* As the rules and regulations enacted by the 
 
 * 1 Cor. iii. 22, 2.3. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 73 
 
 ministry for the government of the church are to be con- 
 sistent with the written word; such rules and regulations 
 can no more deprive the people of any privilege to which 
 they are justly entitled, than the written word deprives 
 them of any such privilege. If, upon careful and prayerful 
 examination, they conscientiously believe their pastor preaches 
 doctrine contrary to the word of God, they may appeal, in 
 a connection of churches like ours, from their own pastor 
 to his fellow-pastors ; and if in any instance of mal-admi- 
 nistration of their pastor they see proper, they may seek re- 
 dress also from his fellow-pastors; and in case of any 
 enactment by the legislative authority of the church, which 
 they conscientiously believe to be inconsistent with the 
 written Word, it will be justifiable for them to use all pru- 
 dent means to obtain its abrogation; and failing to obtain it, 
 it will be justifiable for them to withdraw, and place them- 
 selves under the guidance of other pastors. 
 
 4. What is a legislature ? A legislature makeSj oriyi- 
 nates laws, not explains and administers them. Sove- 
 reignty is the law-making authority. The sovereignty of 
 the church is neither in the laity nor the ministry, but in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. This is maintained in the fifth 
 article of our religion, and in the last paragraph of our 
 general rules. As the lawyer explains law at the bar, and 
 the judge teaches and administers it on the bench, and yet 
 are not legislators, so the General Conference explains, 
 teaches, and administers the laws which Christ has pre- 
 scribed for the government of the church. The sovereignty 
 which originates and enjoins law also provides for its ad- 
 ministration, by the appointment of judges and the institu- 
 tions of courts; and in these courts the people have no part 
 in the administration of law. Again : laws are usually en- 
 acted and given to the public as general principles ; and it 
 is the prerogative of judges to determine their special ap- 
 plication. Thus, rules of court are adopted, and decisions 
 
 T 
 
74 
 
 OBLTGATTON OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 on points of law are made^ and these become the mode or 
 manner of applying the statutes in all inferior judicatories. 
 Now the nature of the church is moral : the nature of the 
 state is civil. The government of the state, which relates 
 only to this world, may be constituted by the ^' wisdom of 
 this world but the government of the church, which re- 
 lates to a future world, is to be constituted by God himself. 
 Christ originated the constitutional moral laws of his church, 
 and instituted the ministry to teach and administer them. 
 But the divine laws being revealed in an extensive volume, 
 and mostly in general principles^ a difference as to their 
 meaning and the manner of their application may often 
 occur. This circumstance gave rise to the various branches 
 or divisions of the evangelical church, those associating 
 together who agree best in these particulars. And thus 
 ordinarily an epitome of views in a condensed form is 
 adopted to secure and determine unanimity. But the main 
 question is, who is to determine and adopt this epitome f 
 The ministry or the laity ? or both conjointly ? But a creed 
 must be formed and preached before the people can hear 
 or believe it, or attach themselves to the ministry who teach 
 it ; and thus the people could not participate in its forma- 
 tion. This was the case with Moses and the prophets, with 
 Christ and his apostles, with Luther and the reformers, and 
 with Wesley. If, then, in the nature of things, the laity 
 cannot form the epitome, a fortiori^ they cannot mend it. 
 And when the church is organized, and questions of doc- 
 trine and discipline arise, and new regulations are required, 
 such as the form of admission into the church, of ordina- 
 tion, and the sacraments, the order of public worship, the 
 appointment of men to the work of the ministry, the con- 
 stitution of subordinate societies, such as the classes, and 
 new oflBcers to be appointed, such as the leaders and stew- 
 ards, — all these belong exclusively to the prerogative of the 
 ministry. Tn these matters, and all others of a similar 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 75 
 
 nature^ the ministers decide as teachers and administrators 
 of the divine law. Thus, respecting every article in our 
 Creed, and rule and regulation in our Discipline, book, 
 chapter, and verse in the Bible can be given for the pinnci- 
 pie on which they are founded, and the meaning we give to 
 them. 
 
 5. The argument more directly drawn from the Scrip- 
 tures. — We have said that all the powers which belong to 
 the ministry are spiritual, because the constitution of the 
 church is spiritual, and its ends are spiritual, relating 
 wholly to the next world; and, consequently, are distinct 
 from those of a civil nature and design, which relate wholly 
 to this life. The primitive fathers excluded from the church 
 all civil legislation and jurisdiction, and all coercive power. 
 The Bible does the same. The nature of the Christian 
 church requires it. And, in the nature of things, as Grod 
 has appointed officers to govern his church, they must 
 execute the powers of the church, for office implies power; 
 and to say that all private Christians may execute these 
 powers, is to say that there are no officers in the church. 
 And, as there are distinct offices in the church, so they have 
 their distinct powers, which exclude private Christians 
 from the ordinary execution of any ecclesiastical power, as 
 well as officers of a lower order from the execution of 
 powers which belong exclusively to the chief officers of the 
 church; just as private men in a civil government are 
 excluded from the prerogatives and jurisdiction which 
 belong to public and superior officers. Usurpation of power 
 in the church would result in confusion and destruction, as 
 it would in a civil society ; indeed, it would be far more 
 displeasing to God and dangerous to the authors of it, 
 because the honor and authority of Grod and the eternal 
 happiness of man are more directly assailed than in the 
 latter case. 
 
 It has been seen that the officers of the church are 
 
76 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 God's stewards^ intrusted with the care and government of 
 his church; and, consequently, private Christians have no 
 power to dispense the ordinances of the gospel to others, 
 since they are to expect them from the hands of God's 
 ministers. No man is justified in taking the honor of being 
 a minister of God, but the man who is called and commis- 
 sioned by God himself. Christ himself did not assume 
 any part of the office he came into the world to execute, till 
 he was solemnly anointed to it by the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost at his baptism. Nor did the apostles themselves, 
 whom Christ instructed while he lived with them on earth, 
 undertake authority to govern the church, till they were 
 divinely called, set apart, and vested with power to do so. 
 And St. Paul often insists upon his divine mission, and 
 demands attention and submission upon that account. 
 Beside, gifts and abilities, throughout the New Testament, 
 are distinguished from a commission to exercise authority 
 in the church, and described as antecedent qualifications to 
 it. Qualifications however great, or abilities however splen- 
 did, are not sufficient to empower any man with authority 
 to exercise the office of the ministry, who has not been 
 recognised as called of God to the holy office, and ordained 
 as such, where it is practicable, by those in authority in the 
 church. A certain and more terrible punishment than any 
 inflicted in this life awaits those who violate the sacred 
 offices of the Christian ministry. The infliction may not 
 be as sudden as under the Jewish economy, but as the 
 offices of the Christian church are of divine appointment, 
 and are more sacred and honorable than those of the J ewish 
 church, as the substance is preferable to the type or sha- 
 dow, the punishment of usurpers of the Christian ministry 
 is not the less certain, though it be not inflicted till the 
 final judgment, the proper season of punishment for offences 
 under the gospel. 
 
 We have said that the powers of the ministry consist of 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 77 
 
 preaching the word, administering the sacraments, and main- 
 taining the moral discipline of the church ; and that private 
 Christians cannot discharge these powers. Consequently, 
 the preachers, or officers of the church, only are invested 
 with authority to make rules and regulations for the govern- 
 ment of the church ; that is, to enable them to discharge, in 
 the best manner possible, the powers of their office. And, 
 let it be again observed, that the officers of the church have 
 no authority to change or modify divine laws, or in any way 
 pervert their plain and original meaning, for these are 
 immutable; and if any thing of this kind is attempted, the 
 divine precept is plain and express — We must obey God 
 rather than men.'^ Nor have they power to impose any 
 article of faith, or rule of duty, or prescribe any condition 
 of salvation or of church membership, which is neither 
 expressly contained in the Scriptures, or cannot be certainly 
 concluded as consistent with them. All they can prescribe 
 relates to the preservation of the being and the regulation 
 of the outward peace and order of the church. Whatever 
 is left undetermined in the Scriptures in these respects, 
 they have authority to determine. In many things, we 
 repeat, the rules of Scripture are general. Thus, we are 
 commanded to assemble together to worship God, but times 
 and places for this purpose are not expressed. We are 
 commanded to follow things that make for peace and edifi- 
 fication, and to do all things decently and in order ; but the 
 particular methods by which these objects are to be secured 
 are nowhere specified. Timothy is commanded to ^Hay 
 hands suddenly on no man'' — and this is a standing injunc- 
 tion upon all bishops — but the character of the previous 
 trials, the specific time of trial, and the methods of examin- 
 ing the abilities and behaviour of candidates for holy orders, 
 are nowhere set down and determined. These things, and 
 many others, being variable in their nature, with respect to 
 them no invariable rules can be prescribed ; for the same 
 
78 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 methods which at one time, or in one age or country, very 
 much promote the peace and edification of the church and 
 the salvation of man, may, at another time^ and in another 
 age or country, obstruct these ends. Things of this kind 
 may be determined by particular churches. Thus, the 
 times and places for the worship of God must be fixed, or 
 there can be no assembling at all for his worship. The 
 order and several services of worship must also be pre- 
 viously determined, or nothing but confusion will ensue. 
 The division of any particular church into conferences, dis- 
 tricts, stations, and circuits, and missions, may be made and 
 varied, for the more convenient assembling together, and 
 preserviDg order and moral discipline. For example, though 
 the Jewish religion was delivered to one nation, and its 
 principal parts confined to one place, and its circumstantial 
 character strictly specified and limited, yet many rites, 
 neither prescribed by Moses, nor mentioned in the Old 
 Testament, existed among the Jews at the time of Christ. 
 The whole temple-service of prayers and psalms, composed 
 long after Moses' time, was not enjoined by any particular 
 precept from God. The Jews added several rites to the 
 paschal solemnity ; they used a sort of baptism ; and they 
 had synagogues with appropriate officers and services, not 
 prescribed by the Lord. Some of these our Lord himself 
 observed. He frequented their temple-service, their syna- 
 gogues, and adopted their baptism and their custom of 
 blessing bread and wine after the paschal supper, as federal 
 rites or sacraments of the Christian church. And if such 
 latitude was given in the government of the Jewish church, 
 in which almost every thing was exactly specified, it cannot 
 be doubted that a greater liberty is left to the Christian 
 church, which is designed to embrace all nations, and 
 extend through all ages of time. 
 
 All we have said is sustained by the practice of the apos- 
 tles. Beside the standing rules of the Gospel, they pre- 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 79 
 
 scribed various rules and regulations as the various churches 
 under their care required. Thus, they enjoined that the 
 converts from heathenism abstain from blood. They intro- 
 duced the kiss of charity, whicb is several times mentioned ; 
 but subsequently occasioning scandal, it was wholly disused. 
 In several of bis epistles, St. Paul prescribes rules for the 
 decency of divine worship, the avoiding of scandal, and 
 other things not determined by Christ; and he speaks of' 
 customs established by himself and other apostles, and 
 observed by the churches : But if any man seem to be 
 contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches 
 of God.'^* There is, and ever will be, the same necessity 
 of prescribing rules and regulations for the peace and good 
 government of the church, and the order and decency 
 of divine worship, as there was in the apostolic age. 
 Things of this nature lie within the compass of the unin- 
 spired human understanding, assisted by the ordinary direc- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 That the ministry only are invested with authority to 
 make rules and regulations for the government of the 
 church, as necessity may require, may be further proved by 
 express examples from the New Testament. Though the 
 people had free access to the councils and assemblies of the 
 apostles and primitive clergy of the church, there is no 
 example of their giving definite voices there; ^^and when 
 their advice was asked, this was understood to be done, that 
 things might be carried on with unanimity, and not because 
 their concurrence was believed necessary to give authority 
 to any thing which was decreed.^^f ^' It is the very essence 
 of a law, that it be made by the supreme power,'^J; without 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 16. 
 
 f Potter on Church Government, pp. 288, 289, to whom I acknowledge 
 myself indebted mainly for the scriptural argument of this chapter, 
 tl Bl. Com. 46. 
 
80 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 the control of any superior authority, depending upon no 
 man, accountable to no man, and subjected to no superior 
 jurisdiction, as, in the constitution of the Christian church, 
 is the power of the clergy to make rules and regulations for 
 the well-government of the church, according to the spirit 
 and letter of the Bible. In the apostolic council held at 
 Jerusalem, to consider the question, whether the G-entile 
 converts should observe the law of Moses, though the people 
 were allowed to be present, yet the apostles and elders are 
 described as managing the whole affair, Paul and Barnabas 
 were sent to Jerusalem, not to the people, but to the apos- 
 tles and elders, about this question : " When therefore Paul 
 and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with 
 them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain 
 other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles 
 and elders about this question/^* Next^ it is said, the 
 apostles and elders came together to consider the question, 
 but no mention is made of the people, though it is stated 
 that they were merely present : " And the apostles and 
 elders came together to consider this matter/'f Then the 
 decree is said to be ordained by the apostles and elders, 
 without any mention of the people : And as they went 
 through the cities, they delivered them the decrees to keep, 
 that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at 
 Jerusalem/^ J And the argument is conclusive, if we leave 
 out the conjunctive particle [Jcai] in the epistle which con- 
 tains the decree, which should be done, as a moment's con- 
 sideration shall prove, and then the decree will run in the 
 names of the apostles and elders-brethren, i.e. Christian 
 elders or rulers, in opposition to Jewish and other rulers. 
 This is the usus loquendi in the Scriptures. Thus, Chris- 
 tians are often called men-brethren in opposition to Jews, 
 and Jews are called the same in opposition to heathens. 
 
 Acts XV. 2. 
 
 f Acts XV. 6. 
 
 X Acts xvi. 4. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 81 
 
 ^^And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the 
 disciples, and said, Men-brethren/^* [avbptq adzX^^oi.'] The 
 same expression is employed in other Scriptures.f St. 
 Paul speaks of a wife-sister, i.e. a Christian wife, [aduiprjy 
 ywatxa.'W The particle xai was not in the text in the tim ; 
 of IrenaBus,§ nor when the old Latin version was made ; it 
 is omitted in the Alexandrian, and other manuscripts of 
 good authority; and it is probable that it was inserted in 
 the text by some unskilful transcriber, to make the sense, 
 as he might think, more rhetorical and perfect. With this 
 conviction, the argument is undoubted, that the laity had 
 no authority in this council, though they were present. 
 They were present as witnesses, as the brethren are present 
 now sometimes in our legislative assemblies. Beside, that 
 the apostles and elders enacted this decree by their own 
 authority, without the people's consent, is evident from the 
 consideration, that the laity of the church at Jerusalem had 
 no authority over the laity of the church at Antioch and 
 other places, where this decree was to be observed ; espe- 
 cially as there is no evidence that the churches in these 
 places gave express consent to the things enjoined, or tha^ 
 they were represented in this council ; on the contrary, th** 
 decree is directed to the church in Syria, and others, nc 
 present in the council. From the evidence of Scripture, 
 and the history of the early ages of Christianity, the power 
 to legislate for the government of the church, in the man- 
 ner stated, is lodged with the ministry of the church, and 
 no others. 
 
 6. The power of executing laws also belongs to the 
 ministry, because the supreme authority to make them, in 
 the manner stated, belongs to the ministry, otherwise it 
 
 * Acts i. 16. 
 
 t Acts ii. 29, 37 : vii. 2 j xiii. 15, 26, 38 ; xv. 7, 13 ; xxii. 1 ; xxiii. 1 \ 
 xxviii. 17. 
 
 X 1 Cor. ix. 5. § Lib. iii. cap. 12. 
 
82 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 would be vain to make them. Some here object "that 
 the Christian church had no jurisdiction, because it has no 
 legislative power; or that it has no legislative power, 
 because it has no jurisdiction/' In civil matters, it is true, 
 the church has no authority, either to make or execute laws. 
 But in the government of the church the ministry have 
 authority in both these respects. Again, the legislative 
 authority may delegate power to execute the laws to those 
 who have no authority to make laws. In civil societies, 
 subordinate officers are intrusted with the execution of the 
 laws, which none but the supreme authority can enact. 
 And the church not only has power to govern its members 
 by the laws which Christ has enacted, which are immutable, 
 but also to enact and execute new rules and regulations, as 
 the times and circumstances may require. 
 
 This power of legislation and administration, we repeat, 
 is lodged with the ministry. It is generally admitted, that 
 the power to preach, to baptize, and to celebrate the Lord's 
 supper is vested exclusively in the ministry ; but that the 
 ministry have power to censure, and exclude members from 
 its communion, is not so generally admitted ; and that such 
 is the power of the ministry we shall now endeavor to prove. 
 As in civil societies, authority to legislate and administer 
 laws is necessary for the protection of men's lives and pro- 
 perty, without which authority men might almost as well 
 live independent of one another; so, in the church, authority 
 is necessary to attain the ends for which the church was 
 founded; namely, to maintain the purity of divine worship, 
 the general peace and order of its members, to secure men 
 from the pollutions of the world, and to train them up in 
 virtue and piety here for happiness hereafter. These ends 
 could not be accomplished unless the church had power to 
 exclude from its communion unworthy members who en- 
 deavor to oppose these ends by any methods whatever. 
 
 Again : the privileges of association with the church are 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 83 
 
 annexed to certain conditions. If these privileges were 
 absolute and unconditional, no man should be debarred from 
 them, how wicked soever he might be. But the Scriptures 
 require faith and obedience in order to admission into the 
 church, and they are required in order to continuance in 
 the church ; and no reason can be given, why men who fail 
 to discharge these conditions should not be excluded from 
 the communion of the church. Among the principles of 
 association with the church is the use of the sacraments ; 
 and Christ has committed the dispensation of the sacraments 
 to his ministers, who, as we have seen, are the governors of 
 the church ; and hence, though Christ and his apostles had 
 left no express directions, we might safely conclude that it 
 is the duty of the ministry to exclude from the sacraments 
 those whom they find unworthy of them. 
 
 But the ministry, or governors of the church, are invested 
 with authority to exclude offenders by the positive authority 
 of our Lord himself. This authority is contained in the 
 celebrated promise made by Christ, first to Peter : ^^I will 
 give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : what- 
 soever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; 
 and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in 
 heaven and afterward to all the apostles equally: ^^Who- 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted ; and whosoever sins 
 ye retain, they are retained.^^f That is, you are invested with 
 the solemn and responsible power to admit and exclude, form- 
 ally, persons in accordance with the doctrines of salvation 
 which I have prescribed and commanded you to teach; and 
 what ye shall do in harmony with the revealed laws of my 
 kingdom, shall be ratified in heaven : and this Peter did in the 
 declaration of the terms of salvation upon the opening of the 
 Christian church on the day of Pentecost, and all the apostles 
 did the same subsequently in the proclamation of the gospel. 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 18. 
 
 t John XX. 23. 
 
84 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 The meaning is, every thing done and taught by you on 
 earth, according to the order I prescribe, is at the same time 
 ratified in heaven. This mode of expression was familiar 
 to the Jews, and may be clearly elucidated by reference 
 to Lev. xiii. 3, 23 : The priest shall look on him, (the 
 leper,) and pronounce him unclean," and in verse 23, " the 
 priest shall pronounce him clean and so, in the former 
 ease, he pronounces the person unfit for civil society, and 
 in the latter, he pronounces the person fit to associate in 
 civil or religious society. In like manner the apostles were 
 invested with authority to pronounce who were fit or unfit 
 to associate with the church of Christ, always however, pro- 
 nouncing a judgment according to the doctrines divinely 
 prescribed and commanded to be taught and applied in the 
 government of the church. 
 
 That these terms mean bidding and forhidding, granting 
 and refusing J declaring what is lawful or unlawful, permitted 
 or not permitted, Dr. Lightfoot, after having given nume- 
 rous instances, thus concludes : To these may be added, 
 if need were, the frequent, (shall I say ?) or infinite use of 
 the phrases, hound and loosed, which we meet with thousand 
 of times over. But from these allegations the reader sees 
 abundantly enough both the frequency and the common use of 
 this phrase, and the sense of it also; viz. first, that it is used 
 in doctrine and in judgments, concerning things allowed or 
 not allowed in the law. Secondly, that to bind is the same 
 with to forbid or to declare forbidden. To think that Christ, 
 when he used the common phrase, was not understood by his 
 hearers in the common and vulgar sense, shall I call a mat- 
 ter of laughter or of madness ? To this, therefore, do these 
 words amount : When the time was come wherein the 
 Mosaic law, as to some part of it, was to be abolished 
 and left off, and as to another part of it, was to be con- 
 tinued and to last forever, he granted Peter here, and 
 to the rest of the apostles, chap, xviii. 18. a power to aho- 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 85 
 
 Usli or confirm what tliey thought good; being taught this, 
 and led by the Holy Spirit, as if he should say, whatsoever 
 ye shall hind in the law of Moses that is forbid^ it shall be 
 forbidden^ the divine authority confirming it ; and what- 
 soever ye shall Zoose, that is, permit, or shall teach, that is 
 permitted and lawful, shall be lawful and permitted. Hence 
 they bound, that is, forbade circumcision to the believers ; 
 eating of things offered to idols, of things strangled, and of 
 blood, for a time, to the Gentiles; and that which they 
 bound on earth was confirmed in heaven. They loosed, 
 that is, allowed purification to Paul, and to four other breth- 
 ren, for the shunning of scandal, (Acts xxi. 24 ;) and in a 
 word, by these words of Christ it was committed to them, the 
 Holy Spirit directing, that they should make decrees con- 
 cerning religion, as to the use or rejection of Mosaic rites 
 and judgments, and that either for a time or forever. Let 
 the words be applied by way of paraphrase to the matter that 
 was transacted at present with Peter : ^ I am about to build 
 a Gentile church,' saith Christ, ' and to thee, 0 Peter, do I 
 give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that thou mayest 
 first open the door of faith to them ; but if thou asketh by 
 what rule that church is to be governed, when the Mosaic 
 rule may seem so improper for it, thou shalt be so guided 
 by the Holy Spirit, that whatsoever of the law of Moses 
 thou shalt forbid them, shall be forbidden; whatsoever thou 
 grantest them, shall be granted; and that under a sanction 
 made in heaven.' Hence, in that instance, when he should 
 use his keys, that is, when he was now ready to open the 
 gate of the gospel to the Gentiles, (Acts x.,) he was taught 
 from heaven, that the consorting of the Jews with the Gen- 
 tiles, which before had been boiind, was now loosed ; and 
 the eating of any creature convenient for food, was now 
 loosed, which before had been bound ; and he in like man- 
 ner looses both these. Those words of our Saviour, (John 
 XX. 23,) ' Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted to them,' 
 
 8' 
 
86 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 for the most part are forced to the same sense with these 
 before us, when they carry quite another sense. Here the 
 business is of doctrine only, not of persons ; there of per- 
 sons J not of doctrine. Here of things lawful or iinlaicfid 
 in religion, to be determined by the apostles ] there of per- 
 sons obstinate or not ohstinate, to be punished by them or 
 720^ to be punished. As to doctrine^ the apostles were doubly 
 instructed : 1. So long sitting at the feet of their master, 
 they had imbibed the evangelical doctrine. 2. The Holy 
 Spirit directing them, they were to determine concerning 
 the legal doctrine and practice, being completely instructed 
 and enabled in both by the Holy Spirit descending upon 
 them. As to the persons, they were endowed with a peculiar 
 gift, so that the same spirit directed them if they would re- 
 tain and punish the sins of any ; a power was delivered into 
 their hands of delivering to Satan, of punishing with diseases j 
 plagues, yea, death itself, which Peter did to Ananias and 
 Sapphira ; Paul to Elymas, Hymeneus, and Philetus,'^&c.* 
 Again : The Father hath committed authority to the 
 Son to execute all judgment,^ and the Son promised the 
 twelve apostles that they should sit on twelve thrones, judg- 
 ing the twelve tribes of Israel. J The Son is the chief 
 Shepherd,! and the apostles are the shepherds under him, 
 intrusted with the care of the flock. || The Son was, in a 
 peculiar sense, the King of the Jews, and after his death 
 received power over all the world, and so after his death 
 commissioned the apostles to admit all nations into the 
 church : All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. 
 Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them,^^^ &c. 
 The Son is the foundation and the corner-stone on which 
 the church is built and the apostles are called a part of 
 
 * Quoted by Dr. A. Clarke, Commentary, Matt. xvi. 19. 
 t John V. 7. t Matt. xix. 28. 
 
 § John X. 11. Heb. xiii. 20. 1 Peter v. 4. || John xi. 15-17. 
 
 \ Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. 1 Cor. iii. 11. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 87 
 
 this foundation^ and the wall of the new Jerusalem is said 
 to have twelve foundations, and in them the names of the 
 twelve apostles ;* and the church itself is called the house- 
 hold of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
 prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. f 
 That in these and other passages of Scripture the apostles 
 were invested with great authority in the government of the 
 church, there can be no doubt. And it is of the highest 
 importance that we define the nature and extent of their 
 authority and office, which may be done by an examination 
 of their official administration and execution after the as- 
 cension of Christ, bearing in mind always that what they 
 taught and did was taught and done by the command of 
 Christ, and under the guidance of the infallible Spirit. 
 
 First, let us consider apostolic acts that related to the 
 members of the church without distinction. So complete 
 was the system of religious and moral duties prescribed by 
 Christ, that the apostles made no addition of new duties ; 
 but when any of Christ's laws required explanation, their 
 judgment was obeyed as expressing the will of Christ. 
 They were invested with authority to enjoin what they saw 
 was required for the external peace of any church which 
 they formed, or the external order and decency of divine 
 worship. In the book of Acts we find few examples of the 
 exercise of this authority, because this book is scarcely more 
 than a history of the propagation of the gospel, and the 
 conversion of the first churches to the faith, and little is 
 said about their subsequent government. There is one 
 prominent example, however, in which the apostles and 
 elders of Jerusalem decreed, that Gentile converts should 
 be released from obligation to observe the Mosaic law, some 
 few precepts, necessary for those times, excepted. But in 
 the Epistles of St. Paul we find many rules and directions 
 
 * Rev. xxi. 14. 
 
 t Eph. ii. 19, 20. 
 
88 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 for the government of the churches, never expressly en- 
 joined by Christ, and some of them expressly enjoined by 
 St. Paul's authority. The 7th, 8th, 11th, and 14th chap- 
 ters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians are of this 
 character. And to the married I command, yet not I, 
 but the Lord ; but to the rest speak I, not the Lord.''''' 
 And he promises to make other regulations at his coming : 
 
 And the rest will I set in order when I come.''f He 
 refers to other rules, appointed by him in other churches, 
 which are not said to have been made by Christ: 
 " And so ordain I in all the churches.'' J He exercised the 
 same authority over the Thessalonians : We have confi- 
 dence that ye both do, and will do the things which we 
 command you. When we were with you we commanded 
 you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 
 Them that are such we command, that with quietness they 
 work, and eat their own bread." § And these rules, enacted 
 by apostolic authority, were enforced by suitable punish- 
 ments, and recognised by the churches : And his inward 
 affection is more abundant towards you, whilst he remem- 
 bereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling 
 ye received him."|| This is said of Titus, whom he had 
 sent with authority to them; and he often reminds them of 
 his own authority, which the Lord had given for edification : 
 
 Wherefore I write these things being absent, lest being 
 present, I should use sharpness, [arioroiita] according to the 
 power (authority) which the Lord has given me to edifica- 
 tion, and not to destruction."^ ATzoroiita, (a cutting off) im- 
 plying his apostolic authority to inflict punishment, but 
 which he wished to use rather for edification. And by 
 virtue of the same authority, he threatens to come unto 
 them with a rod, to revenge all disohedience.^^ That he 
 
 * 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11. f 1 Cor. xi. 24. % 1 Cor. vii. 17. 
 
 § 2 Thess. iii. 4, 10, 12. |! 2 Cor. vii. 15. <[ 2 Cor. xiii. 10. 
 
 2 Cor. X. 6, 8 xiii. 10. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 89 
 
 vjould he found among tJiem such as they would not^ and 
 that he would not spare.'\ He commands the Thessaloni- 
 ans to withdraw themselves from every brother that walketh 
 disorderly, and not after the traditions which they received 
 of him/^ and ^^if any man obey not our word/' he con- 
 tinueS; ^' note that man, and have no company with him, 
 that he may be ashamed/' J By ^^traditions'' he means the 
 instructions which he had given in his First Epistle to this 
 church, and which had been construed by many as indicat- 
 ing the proximity of the kingdom of Grod, who consequently 
 gave up working, and wandered about in fanatical idleness, 
 while there was yet a number of quiet persons who resisted 
 the fanaticism; and these the apostle commends to withdraw 
 from the communion of those who walked disorderly. In 
 like manner he requires the Corinthians not to keep 
 company, if any man that is called a brother, be a forni- 
 cator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, 
 or an extortioner; with such a one, do not eat/'§ In his 
 absence he condemned the incestuous Corinthian : I verily, 
 as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already 
 as though I were present, that such an one be delivered to 
 Satan, and that he be put away from among you."|| In 
 like manner he delivered Hymeneus and Alexander unto 
 Satan, that they might learn not to blasphemc^f And he 
 writes to the church at Corinth to know whether the judg- 
 ment or sentence he gave in the case of the incestuous 
 person, has been executed, and whether they are obedient 
 in all other things : For to this end also did I write that 
 I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in 
 all things."** 
 
 The apostles exercised the power and authority of pardon- 
 ing and absolving from punishment, in conformity to the 
 
 * 2 Cor. xii. 20. f 2 Cor. xiii. 2. J 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14. 
 
 i 1 Cor. V. 11. II 1 Cor. v. 3-5, 7, 13. % 1 Tim. i. 20. 
 
 2 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
90 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 requisitions of the gospel. Upon the repentance of the 
 incestuous person above mentioned, St. Paul decided : 
 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment/" and he adds, 
 to whom ye forgave any thing, I forgave also : for if I 
 forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it for your sakes, for- 
 gave I it in the person of Christ that is, in conformity 
 to the gospel of Christ committed to me. That the apostles 
 were invested with authority to govern the church, may be 
 further proved from a discussion that arose at this time in 
 the Corinthian church. Certain persons denied St. Paul's 
 authority to govern the church, not that the authority which 
 he exercised belonged to the apostolic office, for this would 
 have placed upon him the defence of the power of the 
 apostles to govern the church ; but they denied that he was 
 an apostle, because he had been a persecutor, and was not 
 one of the twelve, and so they chose rather to be called the 
 followers of Apollos, an eloquent orator, or of Cephas, the 
 first apostle. And so St. Paul proceeds to prove himself 
 to be an apostle, both in a general and a particular sense : 
 Am I not an apostle ? If I be not an apostle to others, 
 yet doubtless I am to you, whom I have converted, and on 
 whom I have conferred the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that 
 ye are the seal of mine apostleship in the Lord.'^f Indeed, 
 he tells them that he was not a whit behind the chiefest 
 apostles f'l and concludes, Truly the signs of an apostle 
 were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and won- 
 ders, and mighty deeds. Thus the apostle, having proved 
 his right to the apostolic office, proved his right to govern 
 the church. 
 
 That the ministry are invested with judicial authority 
 over the church, in the manner stated, is expressly declared 
 in the following command of Christ : If thy brother shall 
 
 * 2 Cor. ii. 6, 10. 
 :|: 2 Cor. xi. 5. 
 
 t 1 Cor. ix. 1, 2. 
 g 2 Cor. xii. 12. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OP THE CHURCH. 
 
 91 
 
 trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between him 
 and thee alone ; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy 
 brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee 
 one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses 
 every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to 
 hear them, tell it unto the church ; but if he neglect to 
 hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man 
 and a publican.''* The order here is, private conference 
 with the offender; then admonition before witnesses; then 
 complaint to the church ; then the sentence of the church, 
 that separates the obstinate offender from the communion 
 of the faithful, which reduces him to the state of heathens. 
 But it is not to be inferred that the whole church considered 
 the case, and gave sentence. It is a common way of speak- 
 ing, to ascribe to any society what is done by the rulers of 
 it, or by some constitutional proceeding. In political bodies, 
 a judicial sentence by those in authority is the sentence of 
 the whole body, though the greater part never heard of it. 
 Thus complaints are to be made to the rulers of the church, 
 who are to investigate and dispose of them according to the 
 rules and regulations made and provided for them. The 
 direction is general ; and the rulers of the church, in ac- 
 cordance with the Bible, are to determine the character and 
 mode of proceeding. As my Father hath sent me, so 
 send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on 
 them, and saith unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 
 Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and 
 whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. ''f That is, 
 this authority is to be exercised upon the principles and 
 doctrines which Christ had already taught them. For 
 whatever was done and taught by the apostles in accordance 
 with what Christ had taught them, was in accordance with 
 his will in heaven, just as if still with them in the church 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 15-17. 
 
 t John XX. 21-23. 
 
92 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 on earth. And so with the rulers of the church, to the end 
 of the world. 
 
 This is confirmed by the sense and practice of the apostles. 
 In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, they were struck 
 dead by God, in attestation of the apostolic authority of 
 Peter to determine what was wrong in their conduct. Simon 
 the magician was excluded from the church by Peter : 
 
 thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart 
 is not right in the sight of God.'^* That is, thou hast no 
 part in the gospel — ru) XSyo) toutoj — which is the same as to be 
 excluded from the communion and privileges of the church 
 founded upon the gospel covenant. This was understood 
 by the primitive church to be the meaning of this phrase ; 
 and so it was decreed, in one of the apostolic canons, ^^That 
 if any bishop, priest, or deacon, gives money to be ordained, 
 both the person ordained, and he who ordained him, shall 
 be deposed from their office, and wholly rejected from com- 
 munion, as Simon the magician was by Peter.^^f The case 
 of the incestuous member of the Corinthian church, already 
 alluded to, is another striking example of apostolic executive 
 authority : For I verily, as absent in body, but present in 
 spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, con- 
 cerning him that hath done this deed : in the name of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my 
 spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver 
 such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that 
 the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. J 
 Here sentence is passed by the apostolic authority of Paul, 
 expressed in the phrase, my spirit — an authority con- 
 ferred on him by the Lord Jesus. This sentence is passed 
 by the church, not by the whole congregation, but according 
 to the ecclesiastical process, whatever it was, at this time in 
 use in this church, and in accordance with the constitution 
 
 * Acts viii. 20. f Apos. com. 12. i 1 Cor. v. 3-5. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 93 
 
 of evangelical principles framed by Christ himself, the su- 
 preme lawgiver. As baptism signifies renunciation of the 
 devil and all his works, and all persons covenant to do this 
 at their baptism, all who break this baptismal covenant dis- 
 obey Christ, and openly adhere to Satan, and so are to be 
 delivered again to Satan, and reduced to the state of heathens; 
 not in order to their eternal damnation, but for their ad- 
 monition, correction, recovery, and salvation, by bringing 
 them to repentance and faith, as is evident from the apos- 
 tle's reference to this case again in his Second Epistle to 
 the Corinthians : Sufficient to such an one is this punish- 
 ment, which was inflicted of many;'^"^ which indicates that 
 the apostle directs the church to comfort and forgive the 
 offender, by restoring him to the communion of the church. 
 That is, the censure which he had before decreed, in the 
 name and by the authority of Christ, he now remits by the 
 same authority : ^' To whom ye forgave any thing, I forgive 
 also : for if I forgive any thing, to whom I forgave it, for 
 your sakes forgave I it, in the person of Christ /'f which 
 is proof that the apostles possessed judicial power to censure 
 upon offence, and to remit censure upon repentance. And 
 though this was done in the presence of the church, or a 
 select number, yet the censure and the remission were de- 
 creed by apostolic authority : Therefore put away from 
 you that wicked person J ^^for this end also did I write, 
 that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient 
 in all things. In other passages he threatens to come to 
 the disobedient with the rod, and to the obedient he promises 
 to come with love and in the spirit of meekness. In other 
 places he threatens he would not spare, but would use 
 sharpness, and revenge all disobedience, and this by the 
 authority which the Lord had given him.|| And again he 
 
 * 2 Cor. ii. 6. 
 J 2 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
 t 2 Cor. ii. 10. % 1 Cor. v. 13. 
 
 II 2 Cor. X. 6, 8 ; xiii. 2, 10. 
 
94 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 says: ^'I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as 
 I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye 
 would not/'* which certainly means his exercising authority 
 in censuring offenders, in accordance with the gospel. 
 
 False doctrine is also a ground of expulsion, as much as 
 treason is in civil law, which is as just a ground of civil 
 punishment as the violation of constitutional or statutary 
 law, or any other civil crime, is. St. Paul tells Timothy 
 that he had delivered Hymeneus over to Satan, who had 
 blasphemed and made shipwreck of the Christian faith, and 
 of whom he says, that he had erred concerning the faith, 
 saying, that the resurrection is passed already.'^f He 
 directs the Romans to shun the company of those who sowed 
 dissensions among them; that is, expel such from the church : 
 ^^Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause 
 divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye 
 have learned ; and avoid them.'' J And to the Thessalonians 
 he writes : We command you, brethren, in the name of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from 
 every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the 
 traditions he received of us.''§ And again : If any man 
 obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have 
 no company with him, that he may be ashamed.'' j] Indeed, 
 St. John not only requires the church to shun the company 
 of heretics, but to deny them common civilities : If there 
 come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him 
 not into your house, neither bid him God-speed. For he 
 that biddeth him God-speed, is partaker of his evil deeds."^ 
 But not only had the apostles authority to make and execute 
 ecclesiastical rules and regulations, but the churches to 
 which they wrote had inherent power, by the proper authori- 
 
 * 2 Cor. xii. 20, 21. f 1 Tim. i. 19, 20 ; 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. 
 X Rom. xvi. 17. ^2 Thes. iii. 6. |1 2 Thess. iii. 14. 
 
 If 2 John 10, 11. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OP THE CHURCH. 95 
 
 tieS; to do the same^ according to particular and general 
 precepts given by the apostles. St. Paul writes to Timothy : 
 Against an elder receive not an accusation but before two 
 or three witnesses which precept implies, that accusations 
 might be received against private members of the churches 
 also, and witnesses heard and censures passed, if found 
 guilty. And he writes to Titus : A man that is a heretic, 
 after the first and second admonition, reject :''f which im- 
 ports that heretics, after the proper trial, are to be excluded 
 from the communion of Christians. St. John threatens to 
 expel Diotrephes for a very high abuse of his jurisdiction : 
 
 Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he 
 doeth,'' J which implies that, after proper trial, he would de- 
 pose him from his office. And so the angel or governor of 
 the church at Ephesus had authority to try and convict 
 false prophets ;§ and the governor of the church at Per- 
 gamos was severely reproved for retaining the Nicolaitans 
 in the communion of the church; and the ruler of the 
 church at Thyatira, for suffering the woman Jezebel. 1| 
 
 It seems utterly inconsistent with the nature of church 
 government that laymen should have this jurisdiction, or 
 determine rules and regulations in church trials. Primi- 
 tive ages afford no examples of the kind. 
 
 It has been objected, that mischievous and pernicious 
 consequences have followed from the undue use of clerical 
 
 * 1 Tim. V. 19. t Titus iii. 10. t 3 John 9, 10. 
 
 § Rev. ii. 2. || Rev. ii. 15, 16, 20. 
 
 ^ " That the power of inflicting censures on offenders in a Christian 
 church is a fundamental right, resulting from the constitution of the 
 church, as a society of Jesus Christ, and that the seat of this power is in 
 those oflScers of the church who have derived their power originally from 
 the founder of this society, and act by virtue of the laws of it'^ — is a 
 principle which Stillingfleet, in his Irenicum, endeavors to make good. 
 The power of discipline, he argues, should be administered by those who 
 have the care of the churches, and these are the several pastors of 
 them. — Pages 444, 458. 
 
96 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 jurisdiction. And yet we must not conclude that the 
 ministers of the church have not this jurisdiction. It 
 would destroy all government^ spiritual and civil, to reject 
 plain and undoubted laws, and wise and proper authority, 
 because remote and uncertain consequences and inconve- 
 niences attend them. There is no institution in the world, 
 divine or human, which weak, designing, and wicked men 
 may not abuse to evil purposes. If there was no govern- 
 ment, there would be no tyranny, no rebellion ; if no pro- 
 perty, there would be no rapine ; if there was no faith, there 
 would be no heresy ; nor any schism, if there was no union 
 between the members of the church; and therefore the 
 same reason which some have urged against excommunica- 
 tion, will oblige us to give up our civil government and pro- 
 perties, our Christian faith and communion, and conse- 
 quently both our church and state. The ends for which 
 the church was instituted could not be accomplished without 
 a proper form of government. These ends are principally 
 the following : — The honor of God and his church requires 
 that offenders be expelled from Christian communion. 
 Christ gave himself for the church, that he might present 
 it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, 
 or any such thing ; but that it might be holy and without 
 blemish. ^^-j* Consequently, if wicked men are kept in the 
 church, the design of the constitution of the church is per- 
 verted, our Lord, its founder and head, is dishonored, and 
 his holy religion degraded. The permission of such men 
 to worship God in the public congregation, to receive the 
 holy sacraments, which are the seals and pledges of his 
 favor, and to be regarded as a part of his chosen generation, 
 or royal priesthood, or holy nation, or peculiar people, is 
 not only an open affront to him, but gives a great occasion 
 of scandal to his enemies and his religion. And therefore 
 
 * Potter, on Church Government, p. 346. 
 
 t Eph. V. 26, 27. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 97 
 
 St. Paul tells the Jews, that the name of God was blas- 
 phemed through them among the Gentiles.''"^ And so the 
 prophet told David, in the case of Uriah, that he must be 
 punished, because he had given the enemies of the Lord 
 occasion to blaspheme. f The church is considered as sanc- 
 tioning the scandalous lives of her members, when she 
 neglects to clear herself, by reforming or excluding such 
 from her communion. The dignity and reputation of the 
 church are never so great as when discipline is exercised 
 with severity, impartiality, and vigor, as was the case in 
 apostolic and primitive ages, and in early Methodism. And 
 wherever primitive discipline has been suspended, and Chris- 
 tians have lived like the rest of men, though the church has 
 been protected by civil power, and flourished with outward 
 splendor, and Christianity, as a system, has been exalted in 
 public opinion, fewer converts than formerly have been added 
 to her communion, and a far greater proportion of her own 
 members have lost their first love and zeal for God. In the 
 next place, the design of church government or discipline is 
 to reform offenders. St. Paul affirms that his authority to 
 exercise discipline is the power which the Lord had given 
 him for edification, and not for destruction.'^ J The salutary 
 effect of the exercise of this authority, in the case of ex- 
 communicating the incestuous Corinthian, is seen in his re- 
 formation and restoration to communion. Scarcely any 
 thing contributed more to keep Christians from offending 
 than the severity of primitive discipline. A public' expul- 
 sion from the church, and from the communion and confi- 
 dence of those for whom we have the highest love and reve- 
 rence, is a strong appeal to fear and shame, two prevailing 
 passions of the heart; and thus St. Paul writes to the Thessa- 
 lonians : If any man obey not our word by this epistle, 
 note that man, and have no company with him, that he may 
 
 * Rom. ii. 24. f 2 Sam. xii. 14. ^ 2 Cor. x. 8 ; xiii. 10. 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 be ashamed/''^ In the terrible retribution upon Ananias 
 and Sapphira, great fear came upon the church, and upon 
 as many as heard it/'f St. Paul smote Elymas, the sorcerer, 
 with blindness, and so restrained him from turning away 
 Sergius Paulus, the deputy of Cyprus, from the faith. J And 
 thus Christians, Jews, and infidels had cause to fear the 
 exercise of apostolic power. It is true, this miraculous 
 method of punishing has for ages ceased from the church, 
 but a greater cause of fear, eternal punishment, still exists; 
 to which a just expulsion from the church virtually consigns 
 every finally impenitent offender, and whicli will confirm 
 the sentence of the church. Exclusion from the church 
 must cause the careless and inconsiderate to think seriously 
 upon their condition ; and ministers and other Christians 
 should admonish, instruct, and encourage all such to reform 
 and return to the church, as St. Paul advises the Thessa- 
 lonians to do in the case of a brother whom he requires 
 them to avoid at other times : Count him not as an enemy, 
 but admonisb him as a brother.'^ § Beside, the exercise of 
 ministerial discipline in excommunicating offenders is a 
 means of preserving the rest of the church from corruption. 
 This is the reason St. Paul gives for the expulsion of the 
 incestuous Corinthian : Know ye not, that a little leaven 
 leaveneth the whole lump ? Purge out therefore the old 
 leaven.'^ II The effect of retaining wicked men in the 
 church is still more clearly set forth in what Paul says to 
 Timothy : Shun profane and vain babblings, for they will 
 increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as 
 doth a canker, of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus, who 
 concerning the truth have erred, saying, that the resurrec- 
 tion is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.'^^ 
 The exercise of this authority is agreeable to the general 
 
 ^ 2 Thess. iii. 14. f Acts v. 11. % Acts xiii. 8, 11. 
 
 § 2 Thees. iii. 15. |) 1 Cor. v. 6^ 7. f 2 Tim. ii, 16-18. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 99 
 
 sense and practice of mankind. In civil societies, laws are 
 enacted and methods appointed for punishing notorious 
 offenders, either by confinement, death, or banishment. 
 And so, in voluntary associations, those members are ex- 
 cluded who give disturbance to the rest. Among the Jews, 
 notorious offenders were punished with death : The soul 
 that doth aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the 
 land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that 
 soul shall be cut off from among his people.^ '"^ After the 
 Babylonish captivity, by the direction of Ezra, the children 
 of the captivity were commanded to gather themselves 
 together unto J erusalem ; and whoever would not come in 
 three days, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself 
 separated from the congregation. f Expulsion from tho 
 church was very frequent in our Saviour's time, and he 
 seems to allude to it, when he tells the apostles that the 
 rest of the Jews shall separate them from their company. J 
 The rulers of the Jews agreed that if any man should 
 confess that Jesus is the Christ, he should be put out of the 
 synagogue ;§ that is, expelled from the Jewish church. 
 Thus, among the chief rulers many believed on him, but 
 * because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they 
 should be put out of the synagogue.'^!! In about sixty 
 passages in which this word occurs in the New Testament, 
 it means a place for divine service, and no other sense can 
 rationally be put upon it. And so, in the practice of other 
 nations, profane persons were excluded from all holy myste- 
 ries : Semper piae initiationes arceant profanos.\ In 
 Greece and at Rome, before solemn prayers and sacrifices, 
 it was proclaimed, Be gone, all that are profane. Some 
 sort of excommunication was observed by all nations. 
 
 » Numb. XV. SO. f Ezra x. 7, 8. % Luko vi. 22. 
 
 § John ix. 22. |1 John xii. 42. % Tertul Apol. cap. vii. 
 
 ** Procul, 0 procul este, profani, conclamat vatgp ; totoqtie absiste, 
 luce, — ^neid. vL 259. 
 
100 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 7. The authorities on this subject are abundant. It "is 
 left to the prudence of every particular churcb to agree 
 i:opn that form of government which it judgeth most condu- 
 eible within itself to attain the end of government, the 
 peace, order, tranquility, and settlement of the church.'^* 
 The Irenicum is an elaborate — the most elaborate — argument 
 of uninspired men, in proof of this great truth. This great 
 truth Stillingfleet states more fully in the following lan- 
 guage : In which sense I assert aAy particular form of 
 government agreed on by the governors of the church, 
 consonant to the general rules of Scrirptiire^ to be by divine 
 right; i.e. God by his own laws hath given men a power and 
 liberty to determine the particular form of church govern- 
 ment among them. And hence, it may appear, that though 
 one form of government be agreeable to the world, it doth 
 not follow that another is not; or because one is lawful, 
 another is unlawful : but one form may be more agreeable 
 to some parts, places, people, and times, than others are. 
 In which case that form of government is to be settled 
 which is most agreeable to the present state of a place, and 
 is most advantageously conducible to promoting the ends of 
 church government in that place or nation.'^ f This right 
 or power of those in authority in a particular church to 
 determine its form of government, is founded upon a divine 
 law or principle immutable in itself, and obligatory in all 
 ages of time ; viz., that such things as are necessary to the 
 being, upholding, and continuance of the church of God, 
 concurring with the written word, be observed, as preaching 
 the word, administering the sacraments, and church disci- 
 pline. And so, if we can prove, as we think we can, that 
 the institution of class meeting is essential to the being, 
 upholding, and continuance of the Methodist Church 
 as an itinerant church, it will follow that the observance 
 
 * Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p. 36. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 41. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 101 
 
 of it must be substantially a scriptural test of member- 
 ship. 
 
 That each evangelical church has a divine right to adopt 
 any form of government, conformably to the written word, 
 is the almost unanimous verdict of the most eminent divines 
 who lived during, and have lived since, the Reformation. 
 Not to detain the reader with a multitude of quotations in 
 proof of this, I begin with the testimony of Stillingfleet: 
 ^^I believe there will, upon the most impartial survey, 
 scarce be one church of the Keformation brought, which 
 doth embrace any form of government because it looked 
 vpon that form as only necessary hy an unalterable stand- 
 ing law ; but every one took up that form of government 
 which loas judged most suitable to the state and condition of 
 their several churches. But, that I may the better make 
 this appear, I shall make use of some arguments, whereby 
 to demonstrate that the most eminent divines that have 
 lived since the Reformation have been all of this mind, 
 that no one form is determined as necessary for the church 
 of God in all ages of the world.^^"^ And from the authori- 
 ties which he adduces, we select the following: '^Arch- 
 bishop Whitgift, frequently against Cartwright, asserts 
 * that the form of discipline is not particularly and by name 
 set down in Scripture / and again, ' No kind of government 
 is expressed in the Word, or can necessarily be concluded 
 from thence which he repeats over again : ' No form of 
 church government is by the Scriptures prescribed to or 
 commanded the church of God.' And so Dr. Cosins, his 
 chancellor : ' All churches have not the same form of disci- 
 pline, neither is it necessary that they should, seeing it 
 cannot be proved that any certain particular form of church- 
 government is commanded to us by the word of God.' To 
 the same purpose Dr. Low : ' No certain form of govern- 
 
 Irenicum, p. 408. 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 ment is prescribed in the word, only general rules laid down 
 for it/ Bishop Bridges : ^ God hath not expressed the form 
 of church-government, at least, not so as to bind us to it/ 
 Dr. Sutcliffe (de Presbyterio) largely disputes against those 
 who assert that Christ hath laid certain immutable laws for 
 government of the church. Crakan thorp, against Spalaten- 
 sis : ' It has been transmitted, therefore, by the apostles, 
 but though transmitted, it is changeable and to be changed, 
 according to the experience and judgment of the church.' 
 Chilling worth : ' The external forms, and orders, and 
 government may be diverse in diverse places.' Zanchy, in 
 his commentaries upon the fourth command : ^ No particular 
 form to be prescribed, but only general rules laid down in 
 Scripture that all be done to edification.' The judicious 
 Amyraldus : ' Since, therefore, Christ and the apostles 
 wisely settled this, it belongs to all particular churches to 
 be governed by their pastors, and to be ruled by some form 
 which the necessity of the case may require. But what 
 that form should be, whether some should excel others in 
 authority or not, hath neither been defined by the nature of 
 the thing, nor settled by Christ or the apostles. But, in 
 the first place, for the sake of peace, it seems to have been, 
 thus far, resolved on, that after whatever law the pastors of 
 evangelical churches have existed, that they should in the 
 same manner proceed, but that no one should endeavor to 
 destroy the constitution of the others. Therefore, in what- 
 ever manner certain forms of church-government seem more 
 suitable and accommodating to some to obtain that disci- 
 pline or object of church polity, nevertheless God, who is 
 the author and guardian of all society, (evangelical,) is not 
 willing that all congregations should be held by the same 
 law, but he willed to each a power to compose laws for 
 itself, which he sanctioned by his own authority. Though 
 there is no doubt but that of various methods of church- 
 government some are more conclusive than others to obtain 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 103 
 
 ttat wMch religion has established as the end, nevertheless 
 the most wise and indulgent Being willed that each church 
 should have the right of enacting those laws for itself which 
 have reference to discipline and the preservation of order, 
 ^so that the church do in its orders but observe the general 
 rules laid down in Scripture/ 
 
 " We are left then, and, indeed, unavoidably led to the 
 conclusion that, in respect of these points, the apostles and 
 their followers were, during the age of inspiration, supor- 
 naturally withheld from recording these circumstantial 
 details, which were not intended by divine Providen.ce to be 
 absolutely binding on all churches, in every age and country, 
 but were meant to be left to the discretion of each particu- 
 lar church/'-j" While the principles y in short, are clearly 
 recognised and strongly inculcated, which Christian commu- 
 nities and individual members of them are to keep in mind 
 and act upon, with a view to the great objects for which 
 these communities were established, the precise modes in 
 which these objects are in each case to be promoted are left 
 — one can hardly doubt, studiously left — undefined/ 'J 
 
 The church is one, then, not as consisting of one 
 society, but because the various societies or churches were 
 then modelled, and ought still to be so, on the same princi- 
 ples; and because they enjoy common privileges — one 
 Lord, one Spirit, one baptism. Accordingly, the Holy 
 Ghost, through his agents, the apostles, has not left any 
 detailed account of the formation of any Christian society ; 
 but he has very distinctly marked the great principles on 
 which all were to be founded, whatever distinctions may 
 exist among them/^§ Negatively, it (church) consisted 
 not in a uniformity of rites and customs ; for every particu- 
 lar church was at liberty to follow its own proper usages ; 
 
 * Iren. pp, 416, 417, 419, 422, 426-427. 
 
 t Whately's Kingd. of Christ, p. 88. t Ibid. p. 90^ 
 
 J EncT/clopcedia Metropolitana, Age of Apostol. Fathers, p. 774. 
 
104 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 one church was not obliged to observe the rites of another, 
 but every one followed its own peculiar customs/^* 
 
 It seems to belong to the very essence of a community 
 that it should have — 1st, Officers of some kind; 2dly, 
 Rules enforced by some kind of penalties 3 and, 3dly, some 
 power of admitting and excluding persons as memhers.^^'\ 
 Again : Right and duti/ are reciprocal 3 and consequently, 
 since a church has a right (derived, as has been shown, both 
 from the very nature of a community, and from Christ's 
 sanction) to make regulations, &c., not at variance with 
 Scripture principles, it follows that compliance with such 
 regulations must be a duty to the individual members of 
 that church/'J Again : Any one who sanctions a society, 
 gives, in so doing, his sanction to those essentials of a 
 society, its government — its officers — its regulations. Ac- 
 cordingly, even if our Lord had not expressly said any thing 
 about * binding and loosing,' still the very circumstance of 
 his sanctioning a Christian community would necessarily 
 have implied his sanction of the institution, ministers, and 
 government of a Christian church, so long as nothing is 
 introduced at variance with the positive enactments and the 
 fundamental principles laid down by himself and his apos- 
 tles/'§ Again : " The universal church — there being one, 
 in reference, not to any one government on earth, but only 
 to our Divine Head, even Christ, ruling Christians by his 
 Spirit — which spoke to them from time to time through the 
 apostles while these were living, and speaks still in the 
 words of the Christian Scriptures, it follows that each 
 Christian is bound (as far as church authority extends) to 
 submit to the ordinances and decisions, not repugnant to 
 Scripture, of the particular church of which he is a mem- 
 ber/'ll 
 
 " As all governments are necessitated to make use of laws, 
 
 * King's Prim. Church, p. 142. f Whately's Kingd. of Christ, p. 63. 
 :|: Ibid. p. 118. I Ibid. p. 123. jj Ibid. p. 148. 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 105 
 
 and other political means, to preserve their constitution, so 
 the church of Christ, which has a certain government an- 
 nexed to it, that it may preserve itself from ruin and con- 
 fusion, has certain laws and orders for the due regulation 
 of her members, and penalties annexed to the breaches 
 thereof/^* 
 
 Now is there any thing in the nature of the church to 
 guide us, as to what are ecclesiastical offences ? Undoubt- 
 edly there is. In every society there must be such a prin- 
 ciple ; and, by reference to it in each, are formed laws for 
 the government of each. Every society recognises peculiar 
 offences, arising out of, and depending solely on, the pecu- 
 liar nature of the society; so that in proportion as this latter 
 is understood, the former are defined. Again, what becomes 
 a crime, because violating the principle of one society, may 
 be none in another, if, namely, it does not interfere with 
 the object proposed in the formation and preservation of 
 that other society.^'-j" 
 
 8. Such was the power exercised by Mr. Wesley, who 
 originated and arranged the rules and regulations he saw 
 required to govern the societies committed by our Lord to 
 his care, and he continued to exercise this power till his 
 death ; and since his death, the same power has been exer- 
 cised by the Wesleyan preachers, under a constitution 
 adopted to meet the necessities of the case ; and the same 
 power now resides in the General Conferences of the Method- 
 ist Church in the United States. In the Minutes of 
 several conversations'' which Mr. Wesley had with his 
 preachers, he gives an account of the origin of this power 
 with him. 
 
 ^' Q. 27. What power is this which you exercise over both 
 ^ the preachers and the societies ? 
 
 A. 1 love to do all things openly. I will therefore tell 
 
 * Lord King's Prim. Church, p. 105. 
 
 f Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, vol. ii. p. 744. 
 
106 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 you all I know of the matter, taking it from the very be- 
 ginning. 
 
 (1.) In November, 1738, two or three persons who de- 
 sired ^to flee from the wrath to come,' and then a few 
 more came to me in London, and desired me to advise and 
 pray with them. I said, ^If you will meet me on Thursday 
 night, I will help you as well as I can.' More and more 
 then desired to meet with them, till they were increased to 
 many hundreds. The case was afterward the same at Bristol, 
 Kingswood, Newcastle, and many other parts of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland. It may be observed, the desire was 
 on their part, not mine. My desire was to live and die in 
 retirement. But I did not see that I could refuse them my 
 help, and be guiltless before God. Here commenced my 
 power; namely, a power to appoint when, and where, and 
 how they should meet; and to remove those whose lives 
 showed that they had not a desire ^ to flee from the wrath 
 to come.' And this power remained the same, whether 
 the people meeting together were twelve, or twelve hundred, 
 or twelve thousand. 
 
 (2.) In a few days some of them said, ^Sir, we will not 
 sit under you fcr nothing, we will subscribe quarterly.' I 
 said, ^I will have nothing; for I want nothing. My fellow- 
 ship supplies me with all I want.' One replied, ' Nay, but 
 you want a hundred and fifteen pounds to pay for the lease 
 of the Foundry; and likewise a large sum of money to put 
 it in repair.' On this consideration I suffered them to sub- 
 scribe. And when the society met, I asked, ' Who will 
 take the trouble of receiving this money, and paying it 
 where it is needful V One said, ^ I will do it, and keep the 
 account for you.' So here was the first steward. After- 
 ward I desired one or two more to help me as stewards, and, 
 in process of time, a greater number. Let it be remarked, 
 it was I myself, not the people, who chose these stewards, 
 and appointed to each the distinct work wherein he was to 
 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. 107 
 
 help me, as long as I desired. And herein I began to ex- 
 ercise another sort of power; namely, that of appointing 
 and removing stewards. 
 
 (3.) After a time, a young man, named Thomas Max- 
 field, came and desired to help me as a son in the gospel. 
 Soon after came a second, Thomas Richards ; and then a 
 third, Thomas Westell. These severally desired to serve 
 me as sons, and to labor when and where I should direct. 
 Observe : these likewise desired me, not I them. But I 
 durst not refuse their assistance. And here commenced my 
 power to appoint each of these when, and where, and how 
 to labor ; that is, while he chose to continue with me. For 
 each had a power to go away when he pleased ; as I had 
 also, to go away from them, or any of them, if I saw suffi- 
 cient cause. The case continued the same when the number 
 of preachers increased. I had just the same power still, to 
 appoint when, and where, and how each should help me ; 
 and to tell any, (if I saw cause,) ' I do not desire your help 
 any longer.^ On these terms, and no other,^ we joined at 
 first — on these we continue joined. But they do me no 
 favor in being directed by me. It is true, my ^ reward is 
 with the Lord but at present I have notJKng from it but 
 trouble and care ; and often a burden I scarce know how to 
 bear. 
 
 (4.) In 1744, I wrote to several clergymen, and to all 
 who then served me as sons in the gospel, desiring them to 
 meet me in London, and to give me their advice concerning 
 the best method of carrying on the work of God. And 
 when their number increased, so that it was not convenient 
 to invite them all, for several years I wrote to those with 
 whom I desired to confer, and they only met me at London, 
 or elsewhere ; till at length I gave a general permission, 
 which I afterward saw cause to retract. Observe : I myself 
 jsent for those of my own free choice. And I sent for them 
 to advise, not to govern me. Neither did I at any time 
 
108 
 
 ( 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 divest myself of any part of the power above described, 
 which the providence of God had cast upon me without 
 any design or choice of mine. 
 
 (5.) What is that power? It is the power of admitting 
 into, and excluding from, the societies under my care ] of 
 choosing and removing stewards ; of receiving or not re- 
 ceiving helpers ; of appointing them when, where, and how 
 to help me, and of desiring any of them to confer with me 
 when I see good. And as it was merely in obedience to the 
 providence of God, and for the good of the people, that I 
 at first accepted this power, which I never sought, so it is 
 on the same consideration, not for profit, honor, or pleasure, 
 that I use it at this day. 
 
 (6.) But ^several gentlemen are ofi*ended at your having 
 so much power.' I did not seek any part of it. But when 
 it was come unawares, not daring to ^ bury that talent,' I 
 used it to the best of my judgment. Yet I never was fond 
 of it. I always did, and do now, bear it as my burden ; — 
 the burden which God lays upon me, and therefore I dare 
 not lay it down. But if you can tell me any one, or any 
 five men, to whom I may transfer this burden, who will do 
 just what I do now, I will heartily thank both them and 
 you. 
 
 (7.) But some of our helpers say, ^ This is shackling free- 
 born Englishmen and demand a free conference ; that is, 
 a meeting of all the preachers, wherein all things shall be 
 determined by most votes. I answer, it is jpossible, after 
 my death, something of this kind may take place ;^ but not 
 while I live. To me the preachers have engaged themselves 
 to submit to serve me as sons in the gospel ; but they are 
 not thus engaged to any man or number of men beside. 
 To me the people in general will submit ; but they will not 
 
 * Precisely the thing now done by the delegated General Conferences 
 of the two great branches of the Methodist church in the United States. 
 
4 
 
 ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 109 
 
 tlius submit to any other. It is nonsense, then, to call my 
 using this power, ^ shackling free-born Englishmen/ None 
 needs to submit to it unless he will ; so that there is no 
 shackling in the case. Every preacher and every member 
 may leave me when he pleases. But while he chooses to 
 stay, it is on the same terms that he joined me at first. 
 
 'But this is making yourself a pope.^ This carries no 
 face of truth. The pope affirms that every Christian must 
 do all he bids, and believe all he says, under pain of dam- 
 nation. I never affirmed any thing that bears any the most 
 distant resemblance to this. All I affirm is, the preachers 
 who choose to labor with me, choose to serve me as sons in 
 the gospel. And the people who choose to be under my 
 care, choose to be so on the same terms they were at first. 
 Therefore, all talk of this kind is highly injurious to me, 
 who bear the burden merely for your sake. And it is 
 exceedingly mischievous to the people, tending to confound 
 their understanding, and fill their hearts with evil sur- 
 misings and unkind tempers toward me; to whom they 
 really owe more for taking all this load upon me, for exer- 
 cising this very power, for shackling myself in this manner, 
 than for all my preaching put together, because preaching 
 twice or thrice a day is no burden to me at all ; but the 
 care of all the preachers and all the people is a burden 
 indeed. '^"^ 
 
 9. While the General Conference, as we have said, can- 
 not assume legislative authority, in the strict sense of the 
 term, it has, in the nature of things, power to make such 
 prudential rules and regulations as shall be found necessary 
 to enforce the laws of Christ, already enacted by him, the 
 supreme Legislator. The rule on the subject of the classes 
 was not enacted by the G-eneral Conference ; it originated 
 with Mr. Wesley in the government of the societies which 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. v. pp. 219-222. 
 10 
 
110 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 he formed in the church of England; before there was a 
 single Methodist in the United States. The General Con- 
 ference found this rule existing, and they would have 
 destroyed the Methodist Church had they abolished it ; and, 
 therefore, every person who joins the Methodist Church 
 voluntarily assumes obligation to observe this regulation, and 
 he is morally bound to do so. For every evangelical church 
 has an essential heing of its own, and hence there must be 
 offices of authority, and some placed in authority, who shall 
 govern the church. The recognition of offices and officers 
 also evidently implies submission of the members to the 
 rules and regulations which those in authority may see 
 proper to adopt for their government. No society can exist 
 without rules of some kind, and the adequate means of 
 enforcing obedience to them. Consequently, the very con- 
 stitution of the church by Christ and his apostles, implies 
 that rules should be established, and the proper means pro- 
 vided, to -enforce them — always in accordance with the 
 written word of God. But how are we to know what kind 
 of government was intended by Christ and his apostles? 
 The nature of the church itself suggests what are moral 
 offences; and if the church be truly evangelical, offences 
 may be clearly determined by the letter and spirit of the 
 Eible. And as the church has the authority to make rules 
 and regulations for its own government not inconsistent 
 with the Bible, and as authority and duty are reciprocal, 
 it follows that compliance with such regulations must be a 
 solemn duty. 
 
 All authority is given for the work of government. 
 Authority is given to the ministry for the performance of 
 their work ; that is, a power to do their duty, and their 
 work is to do the people good ; and, therefore, their power 
 is but authority to do the people good. The ministry are 
 invested, as before stated, with authority to preach the 
 Word, administer the sacraments, and church discipline. 
 
m 
 
 ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. Ill 
 
 • that the J may do the people good ; and, therefore, if the 
 people resist this authority, they place it out of the power of 
 the ministry to do them good by preaching the Word, 
 administering the sacraments, and exercising church disci- 
 pline. And, upon the principles on which we have esta- 
 blished the authority of the ministry to make prudential 
 regulations for the government of the church, it is as much 
 the duty of Methodists to attend class meetings, as it is to 
 come to the church to hear a sermon or receive the sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 Some may object to this Methodistic mode of Christian 
 communion, and urge that they are not under obligation to 
 observe it, because it is not specified in the Scriptures. 
 From the preceding argument, we reply, modes are binding 
 on the church when they are ordained by the proper author- 
 ities in the church, provided they be not inconsistent with 
 the word of God and the plain dictates of reason; and 
 hence, until the institution of the classes be abrogated, it is 
 the duty of every Methodist to attend them. Private 
 members have no right to substitute any other mode of 
 Christian communion for this; nor have the preachers 
 themselves such a right, except in a legislative capacity. 
 
 4 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS FOUNDED UPON 
 THEIR ESSENTIAL RELATION TO THE ITINERANT MINIS- 
 TRY OF THE METHODIST CHURCH. 
 
 We shall, in the first place, consider the ' nature of an 
 itinerant ministry, and its advantages over a settled ministry^ 
 and, secondly, show the essential relation of our class- 
 meeting system to our itinerancy. 
 
 The great distinguishing and prominent peculiarity of the 
 Methodist ministry is its itinerant nature, a kind of minis- 
 try which conforms most strictly to the Bible, and so has 
 advantages for doing the greatest amount of good, both to 
 its own churches and the world at large. It is the most 
 efficient system of ministry in the world to secure the great 
 objects of preaching. Christ himself was the great Itine- 
 rant — He went about doing good.'' Before his death, he 
 commanded his disciples, ye go, preach and, after 
 his death, he commanded them to Go into all the world, 
 and preach his gospel to every creature.'' And all the 
 apostles were itinerant preachers. Such is the character of 
 the Methodist ministry, and such a ministry must be 
 founded upon many and strong reasons, some of which we 
 shall now mention : 
 
 1. It is adapted to the different constitutions of men, 
 intellectual and moral. Argumentative preaching is suita- 
 ble to logical minds ; plain, pointed, practical preaching is 
 suitable to others, who never stop to reason about the great 
 truths of the Bible : some are convinced by the logic of 
 Paul ; some are roused by the thunders of Peter ; some are 
 112 
 
OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. , 113 
 
 charmed by the eloquence of Apollos; some are subdued 
 by the tender, sympathetic strains of John; others by the 
 pathetic, flowing style of Barnabas; and as preachers are 
 but men, our Lord chooses his ministers of every consti- 
 tutional peculiarity, every taste, every sort of gifts, and 
 every grade of talent, adapted to every sort of mind in the 
 world. Thus, as every congregation is made up more or 
 less of all these varieties, an itinerant ministry, in the 
 course of a few years, supplies the wants of all ; believers 
 of every class are benefited, and sinners of every sort 
 gathered into the church. Rarely, if ever, does a minister 
 possess all these gifts in himself : no apostle possessed them 
 all in himself : none but Christ combined them all in him- 
 self. An itinerant ministry, therefore, is a provision for 
 the distribution of every order of gifts and talents which 
 the wants of the church and the world require. 
 
 2. It is best adapted to frequent and powerful revivals. 
 It is a fact of history, that the most frequent and extensive 
 revivals have occurred under the preaching of itinerant 
 ministers. Even among the settled ministry of other 
 churches, the greater proportion of revivals occur under the 
 labors of what are called evangelists,^^ who are indeed 
 itinerant preachers ; and in these churches, often when a 
 change of ministers takes place, they are blessed with 
 revival ; and the inference is clear, if changes were more 
 frequent among them, — that is, a nearer approximation were 
 made to the Methodistic plan, — revivals would be more fre- 
 quent among them ; but now, it seldom happens that more 
 than one revival of much power or extent occurs in the 
 same church, except when the pastor is assisted by foreign 
 aid, which is, in fact, an argument for the itinerancy. 
 Where a minister is settled for an indefinite number of 
 years, it is evident he can exert a controlling and beneficial 
 influence only over those of his congregation to whom his 
 . preaching is specially adapted, and the rest must be co'^ 
 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 paratively unprofited, atid, it may be, soon become indiffer- 
 ent, if not dissatisfied ; for it is impossible for any preacher 
 to please everybody; and, ordinarily, a suitable change 
 must be made, or discord, division, and declension will 
 inevitably follow. Some men are revivalists, who flash 
 conviction upon the understanding, and allure the affections; 
 but these ordinarily are not the men who, like the logical 
 Paul^ analyze error, defend the great doctrines and institu- 
 tions of the Bible, and expose the heresies and sophistries 
 of the enemies of Christianity ; the latter, the logical, are 
 required by the church to confirm and establish the labors 
 of the former, the revivalists; and the latter are required 
 to prepare the experimental groundwork of the church for 
 the ministrations of the former : neither class can be dis- 
 pensed with, and both should be wisely and constantly dis- 
 tributed, which cannot be done unless the itinerant plan be 
 adopted and impartially applied. 
 
 3. It is best adapted to the preservation of the purity and 
 piety of the church. The labor, hardship, sacrifices, and fre- 
 quent changes of an itinerant ministry are safeguards against 
 the temptations to ease, idleness, affluence, and worldly fame 
 to which a settled ministry are more directly exposed. The 
 sojourn of an itinerant minister in one field of labor is so 
 brief, that there is no inducement to him to form local 
 associations, to enter upon permanent local enterprises, to 
 originate or associate himself with parties, to foster pride, or 
 confine his labors to a particular community. The itine- 
 rancy represses in the preachers the impulsion of worldly 
 affections ; requires the subordination of local prejudices and 
 interests to the general good; subdues many jealousies and 
 heart-burnings before they can assume a permanent and 
 obstinate form ; and quenches the fires of contention before 
 they can disturb that reciprocal affection which should exist 
 between the preachers and the people. It is a dangerous 
 invasion of our itinerant plan, whenever a minister is con-. 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 115 
 
 fined wholly to the best stations and circuits^ or so localizes 
 himself in secular arrangements and pursuits as to render it 
 inconvenient, if not impossible, to assign him work where 
 he is most needed : every preacher in the Methodist itine- 
 rancy should suppress, with unyielding firmness and invin- 
 cible fortitude, the least disinclination to hardship and 
 sacrifice involved in the work which may be impartially and 
 wisely assigned him. If the purity and piety of the church 
 can be preserved, and its prosperity promoted, in the best 
 manner possible, by an itinerant ministry, surely the whole 
 church should have a share in the best talents of the minis- 
 try. As these are the only legitimate objects of the minis- 
 try, especially an itinerant ministry, he has a very imperfect 
 idea of his ministerial responsibility who considers himself 
 degraded, or his dignity and talents disparaged, or feels 
 aggrieved, by an appointment to a poor and humble field of 
 labor. Disguise as we may, however, it is hard sometimes 
 for flesh and blood to submit without complaining to such an 
 appointment; and it must be conceded, also, that, occasion- 
 ally, though not often, an appointment of this nature is 
 injudiciously made; but, even in this case, ^tribulation 
 worketh patience, and patience experience , and experience 
 hopeJ' And so no particular church should endeavor to 
 monopolize the best talents in the ministry to its use, or 
 feel neglected when men of inferior intellectual abilities are 
 assigned to its oversight. Indeed, it is an axiom of the 
 itinerancy, if the best ministers be kept all the time upon 
 the best stations and circuits, and men of the humblest 
 abilities upon the poorest circuits and stations, progress will 
 be comparatively slow throughout the whole bounds of the 
 church and ministry, and a general declension in spirituality 
 will inevitably follow, because such an arrangement is a 
 violation of some of the fundamental principles of an itine- 
 rant ministry. The poorer fields of labor will be hereby 
 •deprived of the best talents of the ministry, and the richer 
 
116 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 fields, overlooking the wants of the poorer classes, will sub- 
 stitute a splendid ministry and an imposing formality for 
 simplicity and spirituality ; and it is easy to see how such 
 a ministry may, in time, yield insensibly to the insidious 
 evil. And as to the ministers of humble abilities, nearly all 
 hope of elevation is cut off effectually from them, by pre- 
 cluding opportunities to unfold and cultivate to much extent 
 whatever of dormant talent or native power they may pos- 
 sess. No doubt there are many ministers in the background 
 now, who, under more favorable circumstances, might have 
 taken their position in the front ranks, and might this day 
 be conspicuous leaders of our hosts, and able defenders of 
 doctrinal and ecclesiastical Methodism, but who must now 
 be content to spend the remainder of their lives in humble 
 but honorable and useful toil, while many a popular minister 
 will spend his days in the larger stations, substantially to 
 but little purpose, who might, in strict harmony with the 
 itinerancy, have crowded his life with incalculable and varied 
 usefulness to the church. 
 
 4. It is best adapted to the preservation of a faithful 
 ministry. Not dependent upon the people for a " call,^' 
 knowing that his sojourn in any one place can be but for a 
 definite and brief period, and that his salary is defined by 
 the constitution of his church, the Methodist itinerant 
 preacher is defended against the temptation to preach to 
 please the people, and is enabled to speak the truth boldly 
 and fearlessly, and do all the work of his ministry faithfully, 
 without the fear of offending any, in or out of the church. 
 Indeed, he knows the more faithful he is in the discharge 
 of all his duties, and the more strictly he conforms to the 
 requirements of the itinerancy, the more he will be respected 
 by the delinquent and disobedient, the more he will be be- 
 loved by the faithful portion of the church, the more cor- 
 dially he will be welcomed by new fields of labor, the more 
 he will be admired by his brethren in the ministry, the 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 117 
 
 more rapidly he will promote both his own spirituality and 
 that of his charges^ and the more certainly he will obtain a 
 temporal support. But, where the selection of pastors, and 
 the time of pastoral oversight depend upon the will of the 
 people,* how difficult must it be for the pastor to be faithful 
 in all respects ! Intrepid truly must he be, who, every 
 moment exposed to the caprice of the people, and threatened 
 with dismission, yet fearlessly discharges all the business of 
 his solemn and responsible office. Rare, indeed, are sucli 
 examples in a settled ministry. And this may be some ex- 
 planation of the painful neglect of the administration of 
 discipline in many churches under the care of a settled 
 ministry. It is to be regretted, however, that even under our 
 own itinerant ministry, in many places, the administration of 
 discipline is lamentably neglected, and the ambition to please 
 the people predominates over the desire to do them good : 
 which is but another proof that the best system of church- 
 government is not sufficient of itself to preserve a faithful 
 ministry, and accomplish all the ends of preaching. Never- 
 theless, the advantages of our itinerant plan are obvious, 
 and the path to success is plain, open, and unembarrassed. 
 
 5. It is best adapted to the wants of feeble societies and 
 destitute portions of the work. Thus, many feeble societies 
 are associated with a few strong ones, and formed into a 
 
 * " It is well known, that the itinerant plan of preaching has always 
 been considered as a fundamental principle in the economy of Method- 
 ism. It has been owned and blessed of God in a most remarkable 
 manner. Originating with Christ and his apostles, it has been proved to 
 be the most efficacious means for propagating the gospel that, under 
 God, has ever blessed the world from the commencement of the Chris- 
 tian era to the present hour. To preserve this plan from violation, it is 
 obvious that the stationing of the preachers must ultimately rest with 
 the preachers themselves. For if the people have a right to dictate or 
 appoint, all will choose men of superior talents ; all will reject those of 
 weak ones ; contending parties will instantly be formed ; and the whole 
 connection will degenerate into factic^is." — Drew's Life of Coke, p. 44. 
 
118 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 circuit, and a preacher is appointed to the oversight of all ; 
 and he is required to give all the societies equal attention, 
 though he obtains his support mainly from the strong and 
 wealthy classes, while the feeble ones contribute scarcely 
 any thing, and often nothing at all. Soon the feeble socie- 
 ties are blessed with revivals, and become strong ; and now 
 the circuit may be divided, and new circuits be formed, and 
 so the general work be enlarged. And so, also, places wholly 
 destitute may be supplied with preaching, and new societies 
 soon organized, and new circuits, like magic, spring into 
 being. Thus Methodism supplies the interior intervals, 
 expands with the frontiers of civilization, and is capable, 
 we believe, of banding the world with the bonds of the 
 gospel. The usual stationary ministry waits for the call 
 of the people, while the Methodist ministry goes forth to 
 call the people.^' Why ? Because the great mass of man- 
 kind are too poor to call and support the ministry ; and it 
 is one of the chief glories of Methodism, that through her 
 ministry the poor have the gospel preached to themJ^ 
 The poor, when converted, in time become rich, and thus 
 send the gospel to other poor; and so Methodism is practi- 
 cally self-supporting, and contains in itself the elements of 
 reproduction and propagation corresponding to the wants of 
 the human race. Like the famous banian-tree of the East — 
 
 Such as at this day to Indians known, 
 In Malabar, or Deccan, spreads her arms, 
 Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 
 The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow 
 About the mother-tree, a pillar'd shade 
 High overarched." 
 
 The itinerancy is the cheapest, as well as the most efficient, 
 method of preaching the gospel among men. It is a divine 
 method, best adapted to supplying the whole church and the 
 world with pastoral care. We would not have the pastoral 
 relation permanent^ because fehen, as in other churches, many 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 119 
 
 fields of labor would often be left ^'destitute;'' on the con- 
 trary, now a Methodist church is never without a pastor, nor 
 a Methodist pastor without a charge ; and in case of death, 
 or suspension, or failure to accept the work allotted, the 
 vacancy is soon supplied. Go where he will in this world, 
 in which mankind have been jostling one another about 
 since creation, he will find those who will simultaneously 
 recognise the truth and authority of his faithful ministra- 
 tions. He will find the same sweet moon, the same glorious 
 sun, the same bright stars, the same ambient atmosphere, 
 the same refreshing waters, the same God and Governor, and 
 the same great work to do. When asked, where is his 
 country, like Anaxagoras, let him point his finger to the 
 heavens, and tell the people he has come to establish the 
 kingdom of God among them. Let him point to the king- 
 doms founded and victories achieved by their great, men and 
 tell them, he has come to found a greater kingdom among 
 them, and to lead them to greater victories over themselves, 
 the world, and death, and hell. 
 
 Secondly, the essential relation of the classes to the pastoral 
 care of the Methodist ministry, which is itinerant. Volun- 
 tary and habitual neglect of class meeting is a virtual, though 
 not a formal, withdrawal from the pastoral care of this 
 ministry. It is a quiet way to withdraw from the Method- 
 ist Church. Every class is an integral part of our church, 
 which is made up of classes ; and to neglect class altogether 
 is to withdraw, at least in part, from the pastoral care of the 
 Methodist ministry — as much so as if there were but one 
 class of Methodists in the world, and any one of its mem- 
 bers should never meet with that class. From a sense of 
 duty, and with a view to enjoy the privileges of this church, 
 whenever any one joins it, he solemnly and formally pledges 
 himself to meet, when it is practicable, with the class to 
 which he is attached ; and not to meet, is not only to violate 
 his obligation, but voluntarily to waive the privileges of the 
 
120 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 class meeting. It is more than this : it is to forfeit his 
 right to all other privileges of association with this church, 
 such as the sacrament, the love-feast, and pastoral oversight, 
 as we shall now endeavor to show. 
 
 We have said that the Methodist Church is made up of 
 classes, and to belong to one of the classes is to belong to 
 this church ; and if there were but one class of the kind in 
 the world, that class would be the Methodist Church, and 
 to join that class would be to join the Methodist Church, 
 and to leave that class would be to leave the Methodist 
 Church. A consideration of the origin of the classes will 
 prove this. The origin of the classes is thus related by Mr. 
 Wesley. When Mr. Wesley and his brother Charles, amid 
 the surrounding darkness,* began to preach true Christianity, 
 
 The state of religion in England, when Mr. Wesley commenced his 
 laborious and glorious ministry, was deplorable in the extreme. " The 
 great majority of the lower classes were ignorant of the art of reading, 
 and in many places were semi-barbarous in their manners. A lifeless 
 formality, a haughty dislike of the spiritualities of religion, or a sneer- 
 ing contempt of them, and a flood of licentiousness and impiety had 
 swept away almost every barrier that had been raised in the public mind 
 by the labors of former ages. Infidelity began its ravages upon the 
 principles of the higher and middle classes; the mass of the people re- 
 mained uneducated, and were Christians but in name and by virtue of 
 their baptism ; while many of the great doctrines of the Reformation 
 were banished both from the universities and the pulpits. Archbishop 
 Leighton complains that his * church was a fair carcass without a spirit 
 and Burnet observes, that in his time *the clergy had less authority, and 
 were more in contempt, than those of any church in Europe ; for they 
 were much the most remiss in their labors, and the less severe in their 
 lives.* Though in the English church there were men unsurpassed in 
 erudition, in eloquence, or in strength and subtlety of mind, yet they 
 reduced her liturgy, her articles, and her homilies to a dead form, which 
 was repeated without thought, or so explained as to take away their 
 meaning ; and a great proportion of the clergy, whatever learning they 
 might possess, were grossly ignorant of theology, and contented them- 
 selves with reading short, unmeaning sermons, purchased or pilfered, and 
 formed upon the lifeless theological system of the day. The prevalent 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 
 
 121 
 
 and many were awakened^ otlQj and another, and another 
 came to us/^ says he, asking what they should do, being- 
 distressed on every side ] as every one strove to weaken, and 
 none to strengthen their hands in God, we advised them, 
 ^ Strengthen you one another/ Talk together as often as 
 you can, and pray earnestly with and for one another, that 
 you may ^ endure unto the end, and be saved/ Against 
 this advice we presumed there could be no objection, as 
 being grounded on the plainest reason, and in so many 
 scriptures, both of the Old Testament and New, that it 
 would be tedious to recite them. They said, ^ But we want 
 you likewise to talk with us often, to direct and quicken us 
 in our way, to give us the advices which you well know we 
 need, and to pray with us as well as for us.' I asked, 
 Which of you desire this ? Let me know your names and 
 places of abode. They did so. But I soon found they 
 were too many for me to talk with severally so often as they 
 wanted it. So I told them, ^ If you will all of you come 
 together every Thursday, in the evening, I will gladly spend 
 
 divinity was Pelagian, or what very nearly approached it. Natural reli- 
 gion was the great subject of study, when theology was studied at all, 
 and was made the standard of re-\^aled truth. The doctrine of the opus 
 operatum of the papists, as to sacraments, was the faith of the divines 
 of the older school ; and a refined system of ethics, unconnected with 
 Christian motives, and disjoined from the vital principles of religion in 
 the heart, was the favorite theory of the modern. The body of the 
 clergy neither knew nor cared about systems of any kind. In a greater 
 number of instances they were negligent and immoral, often grossly so. 
 The populace in the large towns were ignorant and profligate ; and the 
 inhabitants of villages added to ignorance and profligacy brutish and 
 barbarous manners. A more striking instance of the rapid deterioration 
 of religious light and influence in a country scarcely occurs than in our 
 own, from the Restoration till the rise of Methodism. There were indeed 
 many happy exceptions ; but this was the general state of religion and 
 inorals in the country, when the W(*sleys, Whitefield, and a few hundred 
 spirits came forth, ready to sacrifice ease, reputation, and even life itself, 
 te produce a reformation." This dark picture of the times is drawn by 
 Mr. Richard Watson,, in his Life of Wesley, pp. 59, 62. 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 some time with you in prayer^ and give you the best advice 
 I can/ Thus arose^ without any previous design on either 
 side^ what was afterward called a society ; a very innocent 
 name, and very common in London, for any number of peo- 
 ple associating themselves together. The thing proposed in 
 their associating themselves together was very obvious to 
 every one. They wanted to ^ flee from the wrath to come/ 
 and to assist each other in so doing. They therefore united 
 themselves ^ in order to pray together, to receive the word 
 of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that 
 they might help each other to work out their salvation.' 
 Upon reflection, I could not but observe. This is the 
 very thing which was from the beginning of Christianity. 
 In the earliest times, those whom God had sent forth 
 ^preached the gospel to every creature.' And the oi 
 ahroataiy ' the body of hearers,' were mostly either Jews 
 or heathens. But as soon as any of these were so convinced 
 of the truth as to forsake sin and seek the gospel salvation, 
 they immediately joined them together, took an account of 
 their names, advised them to watch over each other, and 
 met these catechoumenoi, ^ catechumens,' (as they were then 
 called,) apart from the great congregation, that they might 
 instruct, rebuke, exhort, and pray with them and for them, 
 according to their several necessities."* 
 
 Here is the history of the origin of societies in the 
 Methodist Church, or rather the origin of the Methodist 
 Church itself ; and these societies are founded upon the 
 plainest reason, Scripture, and the practice of the apostles 
 and primitive teachers of the gospel. We have seen, that 
 persons awakened and converted under the preaching of 
 Mr. Wesley and his brother, voluntarily placed themselves 
 under their pastoral charge, and were associated in societies, 
 under certain specific rules and regulations, and with objects 
 
 -^^ Wesley*s Works, vol. v. pp. 177, 178. 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 
 
 123 
 
 wholly religious. But we have also seen^ in another part 
 of this treatise, that because of the itinerant nature of the 
 Wesleyan ministry, the societies could not receive the pas- 
 toral care they required, and that therefore the societies were 
 divided into smaller companies, called classes, which were 
 placed under the charge of leaders, selected and appointed 
 by Mr. Wesley to aid hjm in his pastoral work. Conse- 
 quently, the classes were but integral parts of the societies , 
 or churches founded and organized by Mr. Wesley and the 
 Wesleyan preachers; and to withdraw from these classes, 
 that is, to fail .to meet with them, was to withdraw from the 
 pastoral charge of the Methodist ministry and the care of the 
 leaders, and so to forfeit all right to all the privileges of the 
 Methodist Church. This is precisely the case with all pro- 
 bationers and members of the JMethodist Church in the 
 present day, and must continue to be so as long as the 
 present system of the class meetings is retained in the con- 
 stitution of the Methodist Church. And until the system 
 can be proved to be irrational and unscriptural, obligation 
 to attend class, as far as practicable, must remain in full 
 and original force upon all members of the Methodist 
 Church. This obligation is solemnly assumed by Method- 
 istSy and no one can wilfully and habitually violate it without 
 ceasing to be Methodists. It is a specific form of obliga- 
 tion, voluntarily assumed, and no one who has so assumed 
 it can violate it without losing the specific character of a 
 Methodist. 
 
 It is not pretended that no one can be a Christian without 
 meeting in class, for there are many exemplary Christians 
 in other churches who never met in class ; but it is assumed, 
 that no one can be a Methodist without attending to this 
 essential institution of our church. And it is very ques- 
 tionable, from the nature and objects of class meeting, 
 whether any member of our church, who is in the wilful 
 and repeated neglect of his class, can, in the proper sense, 
 
124 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 continue long a Christian. He may have the form of god- 
 liness in other respects^ and may be sound in his views of 
 our theological doctrines^ and be an advocate of our usages 
 in all other respects, but yet he manifests a destitution of 
 those religious desires and that spiritual character which 
 the class meeting was originally created to improve and ma- 
 ture. Upon a fair and impartial investigation,, this remark 
 will be found to be true without scarcely an exception. Nor 
 is it doubted that an exalted morality, a charming amia- 
 bility of disposition, an attractive loveliness of character, 
 a blandness of manners, a sterling integrity, and every 
 natural virtue, in social, public, and private life, and even a 
 semblance of piety, may be displayed without ever meeting 
 in class ; but that any member of the Methodist Church 
 can wilfully and habitually, that is, without good and suffi- 
 cient reasons, fail to observe this means of grace, and yet 
 know any thing of real and permanent spiritual life, or be 
 sensible of the presence or the progress of real godliness, is 
 very questionable. The best evidence is wanting — that 
 which in Methodism not only evinces a truly spiritual nature, 
 but is designed to regulate, advance, and perfect that nature. 
 Nor is it pretended that no one can be truly awakened and 
 deeply serious without attending to this means of grace, 
 for many are so, and obtain religion in other churches; but 
 it is assumed, that none such, who are probationers in our 
 church, and, as above, neglect the class meeting, can long 
 remain serious, or fail soon to relapse into worse than their 
 former insensibility. Nor is it pretended that any one who 
 has habitually enjoyed this means of grace for some length 
 of time, but who occasionally yields to temptation, and so 
 neglects to meet with his class, thereby loses all spiritual 
 life; but it is affirmed that all such, by an occasional 
 attendance only, will gradually lose ground, and by an entire 
 neglect will be deprived of spiritual enjoyment altogether. 
 The class meeting is the principal 3Iethodistic test of re- 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 125 
 
 ligious character. Experimental religion is the only ground 
 of right to association with the spiritual church of God.* 
 The destitution of holiness, of spiritual life, or of strenuous 
 efforts to obtain it, is a disciplinable offence. Discipline 
 looks beyond a mere form and profession of religion. The 
 church is bound, by her very nature and objects, to insist on 
 pure experimental religion as essential to right of associa- 
 tion with her and enjoyment of her privileges. From the 
 itinerant character of the Methodist ministry, the class 
 meeting is the only institution of the church by which the 
 pastor can clearly and satisfactorily determine the spirit- 
 uality of his flock ; and this is done, not only by his personal 
 examination of the classes as often as possible, but by the 
 representation of the leaders who have visited the classes in 
 his absence. Discontinue, abolish, or permit the class- 
 meeting system to sink into neglect, and the pastor has but 
 little means left by which to obtain knowledge of the spirit- 
 ual condition of his people. Hence arises the duty of each 
 member of our church to attend, as far as practicable, this 
 means of grace ) and it is the duty of the pastor and the 
 leaders to see that this be done. 
 
 A member of the church, we have said, may perform all 
 the moral duties of Christianity ; but this is not enough : 
 tjiis may be nothing more than morality, the fruit of initial 
 grace. And he may also observe the ordinary services of 
 formal Christianity, such as the sacrament, preaching, pub- 
 lic worship, private prayer, reading the Bible, the weekly 
 prayer-meeting, and other formal services ; but this is not 
 enough : this may be nothing more than formality, the work 
 of a formal profession. Something more is required to en- 
 title one to association with the invisible body of Christ, 
 the church, and qualify him for the kingdom of heaven ; and 
 
 * Serious or awakened persons may be received and continued on 
 probation. 
 
126 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 that is, a new, spiritual, and holy nature, a life hid with 
 Christ in God, a love, a joy, a peace in the Holy Grhost, a 
 hungering and thirsting after righteousness, a conformity in 
 heart to Christ, the transforming power of divine grace, an 
 experimental knowledge of spiritual things, deep and inti- 
 mate communion with God, a deadness to the world, a pure 
 and warm love for the brethren, an exercise of the affections 
 on things above, a pressing on to perfection, a cultivation 
 and practical exercise of all the Christian graces ; in a word, 
 all the fulness of God/^ Now we ajSirm, under the constitu- 
 tion of an itinerant ministry, such as ours is, it is impossible 
 for the pastor to understand ordinarily* the state of his flock 
 in these respects, without the use of the class meeting, and 
 the aid of the class-leaders; and hence the obligation and 
 wisdom of the class meeting as a test of membership. 
 
 And hence habitual and wilful neglect to meet in class 
 is, generally, a sufficient ground for expulsion from the 
 church. This was the judgment of Mr. Wesley. No state- 
 ment is capable of stronger proof than this. " I preached,'^ 
 says he, at Waywick about one, and then rode quietly to 
 Bristol. I examined the society the following week, leaving 
 out every careless person, and every one who wilfully and 
 obstinately refused to meet his brethren weekly. By this 
 means their number was reduced from nine hundred to about 
 seven hundred and thirty. ^'f On this subject he wrote to. 
 Rev. Joseph Benson, one of his favorite and most efficient 
 preachers, as follows : 
 
 ^- We say ordinarily ; for cases of gross immorality might come to the 
 knowledge of the pastor without the aid of the leader ; but many in- 
 stances of neglect of religious duties, declension in piety, entire back- 
 sliding, and utter unfruitfulness, might long remain in the church with- 
 out his knowledge, or come to his knowledge too late for him to render 
 them assistance, or guard the church against scandal and injury of their 
 union with her, or never come to his knowledge at all. 
 
 f Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p. 440. 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 127 
 
 "Near London, Feb, 22, 1776. 
 Dear Joseph : — We must threaten no longer, but per- 
 form. In November last, I told the London society, ^ Our 
 rule is, to meet a class once a week, not once in two or three. 
 I now give you warning : I will give tickets to none in Fe- 
 bruary, but those that have done this.' I have stood to my 
 word. Go you and do likewise, wherever you visit the 
 classes. Begin, if need be, at Newcastle, and go on at 
 Sunderland. Promises to meet are now out of date. Those 
 that have not met seven times in the quarter, exclude. 
 Eead their names in the society ; and inform them all, you 
 will the next quarter exclude all that have not met twelve 
 times : that is, unless they were hindered by distance, sick- 
 ness, or by some unavoidable business. And I pray, with- 
 out fear or favor, remove the leaders, whether of classes or 
 bands, who do not watch over the souls committed to their 
 care ^ as those that must give account.' 
 
 I am, dear Joseph, 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 John Wesley.''* 
 
 Again : How dare any man deny this (the class meet- 
 ing) to be (as to the substance of it) a means of grace, 
 ordained of God ?"f After these plain and unequivocal 
 statements, who can doubt whether Mr. Wesley regarded 
 the regular observance of the class meeting as a condition 
 of membership ? But this is not all. 
 
 The same is most clearly implied in the object of the in- 
 stitution of classes, as it is stated by Mr. Wesley, in " The 
 Nature, Design, and General Bules of the United Societies," 
 which he wrote himself. That it may the more easily he 
 discerned whether they are indeed worMng out their own 
 salvation^ each society is divided into smaller companies, 
 called classes, according to their respective places of abode. 
 
 Wesley's Works, vol. vii. p. 76. 
 
 t Ibid., vol. iii. p. 127. 
 
128 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 There are about twelve persons in a class, one of whom is 
 styled tJie leader Here the object is set forth. And the 
 duty of the leader proves the same thing. It is his busi- 
 ness/' Mr. Wesley continues, (1.) To see each person in 
 his class once a week, at least, in order to inquire how their 
 souls prosper; to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as oc- 
 casion may require. '^f And again, same page : " (2.) To 
 inform the minister of any that walk disorderly, and will 
 not be reproved. The same language is contained in our 
 Discipline. I If such be the design of the classes, and such 
 the duties of the leaders, can any one doubt that the ob- 
 servance of this means of grace is a condition of member- 
 ship, or that any who wholly disregard its design, by wilful 
 and repeated neglect, should be excluded from the church? 
 An institution without an object is an absurdity; an office 
 without duties is an absurdity; and to allow neglect or viola- 
 tion of a law with impunity is to divest the law of all 
 authority. The violation of a law is an offence committed 
 against its whole force, and consequently merits a forfeiture 
 of the interests protected by the law. Wilful and habitual 
 failure to meet class is a practical denial of the right of the 
 preacher to pastoral oversight, because it is a withdrawal 
 from the spiritual care of the leader, who is a regularly ap- 
 pointed helper of the pastor. The nature and design of 
 class meetings, the office and duties of the leaders, and, by 
 consequence, the pastoral authority of the preacher, are 
 thus all at a single stroke virtually regarded as nullities in 
 the constitution of our church ; and who can for a moment 
 question whether an offence of this kind does not justly 
 disfranchise the offender? More than this: it 'is an offence 
 committed against the whole church, since every member 
 of the church owes his influence to the church ; but this is 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. v. p. 190. 
 X Discipline, 1854, pp. 28, 29. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 191. 
 
ON THEIR RELATION TO THE ITINERANCY. 
 
 a withdrawal of his influence, in a great degree, from the 
 church. Nor is this all : it is an offence committed against 
 God himself, since every member of the church is under 
 allegiance to God ; but this is a violation of allegiance to 
 God, who alone is the head of the church. And, finally : it 
 is an offence committed against the individual himself, since, 
 being associated with the church, he has a right to all its 
 privileges ; but this is a wilful and repeated repudiation of 
 the invaluable privileges of the class meeting, a prominent 
 institution of the church. Though no outward immorality 
 whatever be committed, all these elements enter into the of- 
 fence under consideration ; and such an offence is a sufficient 
 ground of exclusion from the Methodist church, which has 
 adopted the class meeting as the rule or regulation, in har- 
 mony with its itinerant character, by which alone the 
 spirituality of its members can be fully determined. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS DEDUCIBLE FROM THEIR 
 ESSENTIAL RELATION TO THE WHOLE METHODISTIC 
 ECONOMY. 
 
 Let the classes be disbanded, and the Metbodist Church 
 is dissolved. Let this institution be abolished, and Itine- 
 rancy, the glory of constitutional Methodism, is powerless, 
 and must soon be exchanged for some other method of pre- 
 serving and superintending the church. With the abroga- 
 tion of the Itinerancy, the Episcopacy, as it exists in our 
 church, must also be abolished ; and then the people will 
 select their own pastors. Let this institution be abolished, 
 and the great connectional principles of Methodism are 
 destroyed, and our church must be divided into separate and 
 independent churches, and assume some new or old form of 
 Congregationalism. Let this institution be abolished, and 
 Annual Conferences, as they are now constituted, must 
 undergo such serious modifications as to lose almost entirely 
 their character as truly pastoral. The General Conference, 
 consequently, must also undergo corresponding alterations, 
 equally subversive of primitive Methodism. Let this insti- 
 tution be abolished, and to the extent that every other insti- 
 tution of Methodism is essentially connected with the classes 
 must Methodism undergo material changes.^ Thus a new 
 financial system must be devised and adopted to support the 
 preachers, as is now to some extent applied in pew-churches. 
 The ministry must devise some other method to ascertain 
 the spiritual condition of the churches under their care. 
 Some other method must be devised to receive probationers, 
 
 130 
 
OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 131 
 
 and prepare them for full membership ; to promote the 
 spirituality of those who are in the church, and prevent 
 improper persons from insinuating themselves into the 
 church. Some other mode of recommending suitable candi- 
 dates to the Quarterly Conference for license to preach must 
 be devised, for this is done now by the classes or the leaders ; 
 and that, too, because if a leader be a candidate for license 
 to preach, it is presumable that his class or the leaders are 
 best qualified to judge of his merits. And so the influence 
 and strength of the Quarterly Conference would be greatly 
 abridged, since it is now composed principally of leaders, 
 and the principal link between the Quarterly Conference and 
 the membership would be severed ; and on the circuits par- 
 ticularly, unless some new method were devised, it would 
 be impossible to represent and superintend properly all the 
 interests of the church. Next would follow the almost en- 
 tire disruption of the bond existing between the Quarterly 
 Conference and the Annual Conference, at least in two most 
 important particulars : namely, in cases of appeal, and recom- 
 mendation to join the travelling connection, unless some 
 other regulation to accomplish these ends were adopted. 
 And when these extensive innovations should have been 
 effected, but little would remain of our present constitution 
 worthy of consideration or preservation. The energy, effi- 
 ciency, and glory of primitive Methodism then will have 
 departed — the majestic edifice soon to sink into the dust, 
 and perish, from the earth. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS DEDUCIBLE FROM THEIR 
 DESIGN. 
 
 The obligation of the class meeting is most clearly deducible 
 from its design. The design of the institution is plainly set 
 forth in the " General Eules/' and to them we invite particu- 
 lar attention. They were adopted originally, we bave seen, 
 for the government of the " united society, first in Europe, 
 and then in America,'^ which "is no other than ^ a company 
 of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness, 
 united in order to pray together, to receive the word of ex- 
 hortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they 
 may help each other to loorJc out their salvation.^ These, 
 then, were the great objects of the formation of the Method- 
 ist Church from the beginning. And that it might be dis- 
 cerned whether each society was accomplishing these objects, 
 it was divided into classes, and a leader appointed to each, 
 with certain duties prescribed. For it is added; "(3.) That 
 it may the more easily be discerned, whether they are in- 
 deed working out their own salvation, each society is divided 
 into smaller companies, called classes, according to their re- 
 spective places of abode. There are about twelve persons 
 in a class, one of whom is styled the leader The very 
 design of the division of the churcb into classes, then, is 
 that they may pray together, receive the word of exhorta- 
 tion, watch over one another in love, and help each other to 
 work out their salvation, and ascertain whether each is in- 
 
 132 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, p. 28. 
 
OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 133 
 
 deed working out his salvation. But how can this design 
 be accomplished, or how can it be ascertained who are, and 
 who are not, working out their own salvation, if the class 
 meeting be neglected ? That is, how can they pray together, 
 receive the word of exhortation, watch over one another, and 
 help each other to work out their salvation, and ascertain 
 who are indeed doing this, unless they meet together in 
 class? If any fail, therefore, to meet in class with his 
 brethren, it is evident that he is not seeking the power of 
 godliness that he is neither receiving spiritual help him- 
 self, nor extending it to others; and that, as a Methodist, he 
 is not working out his own salvation. He, therefore, has 
 no longer any right to association with the Methodist 
 Church. Any longer association with the church would be 
 merely nominal — would be the same as if he did not belong 
 to the church at all. 
 
 The same conclusion is deducible from a consideration of 
 the duties of the leader. It is his duty to see each person 
 in his class once a week at least'^* — either at the class or at 
 his home. But how can this be done in the case of those 
 whp neglect to meet in class ? or why should the leader 
 continue to meet such at their homes, who nevertheless con- 
 tinue wilfully and repeatedly to neglect their class ? It is 
 as much the duty of the members to meet their leader, as 
 it is his duty to meet them in class. And their wilful and 
 repeated neglect to do so, renders it impossible for him to 
 meet them in class, and unnecessary for him to visit them 
 at their homes. That is, he cannot inquire how their 
 souls prosper,'^ nor advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as 
 occasion may require,^' nor " inform the minister of any 
 that walk disorderly, and will not be reproved f ' since they 
 hold themselves inaccessible to his care, and remove them- 
 selves beyond his knowledge. 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, p. 28. 
 12 
 
134 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 The same conclusion is deducible from tlie condition of 
 admission into the societies, which is stated in the following 
 terms : " (4.) There is only one condition previously re- 
 quired of those who desire admission into these societies — ^ a 
 desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from 
 their sins/ But wherever this is really fixed in the soul, it 
 will be shown by its fruits. It is therefore expected of all 
 who continue therein that they should continue to evidence 
 their desire of salvation, first, by doing no harm, by avoid- 
 ing evil of every kind,^' — and many things are specified as 
 prohibited; and secondly, by doing good,^^ — and many 
 are specified as enjoined; and thirdly, by attending upon 
 all the ordinances of God,^' — and several are mentioned as 
 required.* But how can it be known that this desire is 
 really fixed in the soul how can evidence'^ be obtained 
 that the members of our church, or probationers in it, con- 
 tinue to desire salvation,^' unless they meet in class ? How, 
 ordinarily, can it be known, for example, that any are guilty 
 of ^Haking the name of God in vain,'' or of '^profaning 
 the day of the Lord,'' or of drunkenness," or of " fight- 
 ing, quarreling, brawling," &c., or of uncTiaritahle or iin- 
 profitahle conversation," or of '^putting on of gold and costly 
 apparel,^' or of " taking such diversioiis as cannot be used 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus," or of laying up treasure 
 upon earth," unless there be some one, as the leader, whose 
 duty it is to look after the outward conduct of the people, 
 and some suitable means, as the class meeting, through 
 which, upon inquiry, he obtains the knowledge of these 
 things ? And so, ordinarily, how can it be known that any 
 are ^' doing good of every possible sort," or are using all 
 possible diligence and frugality or are running with 
 patience the race which is set before them — are denying 
 themselvesj and taking up tlieir cross daily ; submitting to 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, pp. 29-33. 
 
DEDUCIBLE FROM THEIR DESIGN. 
 
 135 
 
 bear the reproach of Christ/^ &c., unless these things are - 
 made subjects of faithful investigation by the class-leader, 
 in his intercourse with his members in the class-room, or in 
 his observation of their outward and daily walk ? Or how, 
 ordinarily, can it be known that any attend upon ^Hhe 
 ministry of the word/' or the Lord's supper/' or family 
 and private prayer/' or searching the Scriptures/' or 
 
 fasting and abstinence/' unless these things be made sub- 
 jects of special inquiry in the class-room, or in the visits of 
 the leader to the members of his class ? 
 
 The same conclusion is deducible from the concluding 
 paragraph of the General Eules : (7.) These are the 
 general rules of our societies : all of which we are taught 
 of God to observe, even in his written word, which is the ' 
 only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and prac- 
 tice. And all these we know his Spirit writes on truly 
 awakened hearts. If there be any among us who observe 
 them not, who habitually break any of them, let it be known 
 unto them who watch over that soul, as they who must give 
 an account. We will admonish him of the error of his 
 ways. We will bear with him for a season. But if then 
 he repent not, he hath no more place among us. We have 
 delivered our own souls."* It is in the class meeting, ordi- 
 narily, that it is discovered who observe not" these rules, 
 or ^^who habitually break any of them/' and such are to be 
 reported to the pastor, who is to admonish" and "bear 
 with them for a season," and " then, if they repent not," 
 they " have no more a place among us," — they are to be ex- 
 pelled from the church according to the Discipline. 
 
 The obligation of class meetings is deducible from their 
 design in another repect, viz., the accomplishment, through 
 them, of the great objects of the Methodist Church and 
 ministry. 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, pp. 33, 34. 
 
136 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 1. It is the duty of the Methodist ministry to ascertain, 
 as far as possible^ the spiritual state and conduct of those 
 under their care : consequently, they are invested with 
 authority to adopt the most suitable measures to accomplisli 
 this object. Therefore, those under their care are under 
 obligation to observe such measures. Again and again we 
 have shown that the class meeting is a regulation the most 
 suitable, yea, is indispensable, to accomplish the objects of 
 an itinerant ministry; and hence the Methodist ministry 
 have a right to require those under their care to observe 
 this regulation, and those under their care are under obliga- 
 tion to do it. "Without a knowledge of their people, the 
 ministry cannot discharge their duty to them ; and without 
 the class meeting the Methodist ministry cannot obtain this 
 knowledge; and, therefore, without the class meeting the 
 Methodist ministry cannot discharge their duty to their 
 people. Ministerial obligation, if nothing more, demands 
 the imposition and enforcement of the class meeting as a 
 regulation of church-government and a test of membership. 
 If a member wilfully and habitually neglects his class, he 
 voluntarily and actually places himself beyond the oversight 
 of his minister, and the minister is of necessity compelled 
 to regard him as worthy of being formally removed from 
 his pastoral care. If he fail to do this, he does not dis- 
 charge his duty, and he must then have those nominally 
 under his oversight to whom he cannot extend the proper 
 care : he has now no access to them ; they are really sheep 
 without a shepherd, and he is, in fact, a shepherd without 
 sheep. He, therefore, is under the most solemn obligation 
 to require of his charge the observance of the class meeting, 
 that he may discharge his duty to them as pastor ; and they 
 are under a similar obligation to observe it, that they may 
 discharge their duty to him as the flock of Christ. To be 
 under solemnly imposed and acknowledged responsibility, in 
 circumstances voluntarily allowed, in which it is impossible 
 
DEDUCIBLE FROM THEIR DESIGN. 
 
 to discharge it, is surely a very grave and serious matter to 
 any one ; but for a Methodist minister to be in charge of, 
 and responsible for, a church of Christ, of whom he knows 
 but little, and can know but little, so long as he permits 
 them to neglect, wilfully and repeatedly, the only means 
 through which he can acquire a proper knowledge of their 
 spiritual state and conduct, is a matter of incalculable con- 
 cern both to him and them. How can he render an accept- 
 able account to God ? How can he render a just and 
 acceptable account of a people of whom he was compara- 
 tively ignorant, and of whom he was content to be ignorant, 
 and whom he nevertheless recognised and encouraged as the 
 people of God? And how can such a people render an 
 acceptable account to God for having wilfully and habitually 
 withheld themselves, by neglect of class meetings, from the 
 knowledge of their pastors, whom they nevertheless ac- 
 knowledged as their pastors, and to whom they should have 
 looked for spiritual comfort and direction ? May the Lord 
 pardon our sins in these solemn matters, and may we do 
 better as pastors and people in future ! 
 
 2. Without the class meeting, the members of the 
 church cannot discharge certain religious duties to one 
 another. Christians are commanded to " bear one another^s 
 burdens;'^ the "strong to bear the infirmities of the weak;^' 
 to " heal the lame to " restore, in the spirit of meekness, 
 those overtaken in a fault to " strengthen the hands that 
 hang down, and confirm the feeble knees to " weep with 
 those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice 3'' to 
 " exhort, rebuke, and admonish and mark such as " walk 
 disorderly,'' and " cause divisions.'' But all this cannot be 
 <}one without a knowledge of one another ; and, as Metho- 
 dists, without the class meeting, we can have but an imper- 
 fact knowledge of one another in these respects; and hence, 
 szherever the class meeting is generally neglected by a 
 church, the members cannot properly discharge their duties 
 
138 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 to one another. Hence, for want of this mutual help, in 
 some places our churches advance so slowly, and in other 
 places decline. It is needless to affirm that other Christian 
 denominations have not the class meeting, and yet they 
 discharge these Christian duties. We still maintain that 
 unless the members of other Christian denominations 
 observe some method substantially like the class meeting, 
 or that accomplishes the object of the class meeting, they 
 cannot obtain the proper knowledge of one another, and so 
 cannot reciprocally discharge their duties. Let every 
 Methodist, therefore, for the sake of, and from his relation 
 to, his brethren, discharge his responsibility in these parti- 
 culars by a faithful observance of the class meeting. The 
 common spiritual good of his class demands it. God com- 
 mands it. The Bible enjoins it. The church requires it. 
 What ! brother, sister, nothing to do for others ? and doing 
 nothing for others?- and receiving no good from others? 
 Of what use are you, then, to the church ? Of what use is 
 the church to you ? It is a blank to you, and you to it. 
 These are solemn inquiries to one who is professionally a 
 member of ^^the body of Christ,'' which is the church. 
 By as much as these duties of mutual help are sacred and 
 important, and are enjoined in the Bible, and the class 
 meeting is the only means through which, as Methodists, 
 we can obtain the knowledge of one another required to 
 discharge them, is it the duty of Methodists to attend class 
 meetings ; and by so much is culpability incurred by any 
 who deliberately and repeatedly neglect to do it. ^ The 
 more prolonged the neglect, the more accumulated the 
 guilt; the more general the neglect, the more extensive the 
 evil results. Our churches, neglecting class meetings, may 
 be blessed with revivals, but they will gradually decline in 
 extent and power, because they will have become too weak 
 to tahe care of the converts, since their individual members 
 had not taken care of one another. The spiritual ligaments 
 
DEDUCIBLE FROM THEIR DESIGN. 
 
 139 
 
 of the members of the Methodist Church are the classes, 
 which Mr. Wesley called ^^The smews of the Methodist 
 Church.^^ Sever these, and our church crumbles to pieces. 
 May God strengthen and tighten these bonds, that we may 
 be indissolubly one, as Christ and the Father are one, and 
 that we may be a name, and a praise to God, and a blessing 
 to each other and to the world ! 
 
mimm 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS EXPLICITLY EXPRESSED 
 IN THE DISCIPLINE. 
 
 The obligation of class meetings, as a test of membership, 
 is clearly and explicitly expressed in our discipline. 
 
 Quest. 1. What shall we do with those members of our 
 church who wilfully and repeatedly neglect to meet their 
 class ? 
 
 Ans. 1. Let the elder, deacon, or one of the preachers 
 visit them, whenever it is practicable, and explain to them 
 the consequence if they continue to neglect, viz., exclusion. 
 
 If they do not amend, let him who has the charge of the 
 circuit or station bring their case before the society, or a 
 select number, before whom they shall have been cited to 
 appear : and if they be found guilty of wilful neglect by 
 the decision of a majority of the members before whom 
 their case is brought, let them be laid aside, and let the 
 preacher show that they are excluded for a breach of our 
 rules, and not for immoral conduct.^ ^''^ 
 
 Wilful and repeated neglect of class meeting is here as 
 clearly stated as sufficient cause for expulsion, as immorality 
 or crime is, in other parts of the Discipline ; only a dis- 
 tinction is made between it and immoral conduct from a 
 tender regard to the feelings and reputation of the offender. 
 No duty is more clearly set forth in the constitution of the 
 Methodist Church as a test of membership than is the 
 observance of class meeting. The most violent construction^ 
 
 140 
 
 Discipline, 1854, pp. 122, 123. 
 
OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 141 
 
 of the rule on the subject cannot set aside this plain mean- 
 ing. Every case of wilful and repeated neglect'' is 
 arraignable under positive law. And let no one, under a 
 mistaken notion of improving Methodism, seek to have this 
 test of membership done away, unless he prefers careless 
 and worldly-minded professors of religion to the living 
 stones of the temple of God.''* 
 
 The obligation, as a test of membership, of the class meet- 
 ing, is also most clearly expressed in the section of our 
 Discipline on the reception of members into the church." 
 It is asked, " How shall we prevent improper persons from 
 insinuating themselves into the church?" And it is 
 answered, ^^3. Let none he received into the church until 
 they are recommended hy a leader with whom they have met 
 at least six months on trial, and shall give satisfactory 
 assurances of their willingness to observe and Jceejp the rules 
 of the church/^'f What is here made conditional of recep- 
 tion into the church, must be conditional of continuance in 
 the church; and what is designed to prevent improper per- 
 sons from insinuating themselves into the church," must be 
 designed to exclude improper persons" from the church. 
 Neglect to meet in class at least six months, is made the 
 ground of rejection by the church; and neglect to meet in 
 class is as good ground to exclude any from the church. 
 The reason is the same in both cases : if it be waived in the 
 latter, it should be in the former. If none should be ex- 
 cluded from the church for neglect of class meeting, none 
 should be denied admission into the church for its neglect. 
 That which is made the test of Christian character and of 
 right to reception into the church, is made the test of Chris- 
 tian character and of right to continuance in the church. 
 Therefore, the class meeting is as much a test of member- 
 
 * Bishop Morris : Introduction to " Miley on Class Meetings," p. 21, 
 t Discipline, 1854, pp. 96, 97. 
 
142 
 
 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 ship as it is a test of probation. No one, according to our 
 church polity, has a right to the privileges of church mem- 
 bership who is not a Christian, or seeking to be a Christian ; 
 and the class meeting is the test whether he is such, or 
 seeking to be such. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OBLIGATION OP CLASS MEETINGS FOUNDED UPON THE 
 SOCIAL COMPACT OF THE METHODIST CHURCH. 
 
 The obligation of class meetings, as a test of membership, 
 is voluntarily assumed by all who join the Methodist Church. 
 Matters that may not be prescribed by positive law, but 
 which are conducive to the peace and order of a church, are 
 proper subjects of incorporation into the polity of the church; 
 and it is in the power of the lawful authority in the church 
 to determine such things. That may be lawfully com- 
 manded which is in itself lawful, or may be lawfully done. 
 Now, granting, which we have done, that the class meeting 
 is not specifically enjoined in the Bible, yet it may be law- 
 fully ordained by those in authority in our church as essen- 
 tial to the peace and order of our church, because it is sub- 
 stantially contained in the Bible. And it follows, that men 
 may yield to the restraint of their Christian liberty in this, 
 and all other matters substantially scriptural, that may be 
 enacted and enjoined by lawful authority in the church, as 
 essential to its peace and order. That is, though the class 
 meeting is imposed as a thing in itself lawful, and conducive 
 to the peace, order, and prosperity of the Methodist Church, 
 no one is to be held responsible to observe it until he so 
 far yield his Christian liberty as voluntarily to assume the 
 obligation to do so. Then observance of the class meeting 
 becomes a test of membership to him, because he obligates 
 himself to do what the lawful authority in the church en- 
 joins, and what it is lawful to enjoin; and it is lawful to be 
 done, because concurrent with the written word of God. If ^ 
 
 143 
 
144 
 
 OBLIGATION OP CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 the class meeting were intrinsically evil, or circumstantially 
 conflicting with the peace and order of the church, no 
 authority in the church could make the observance of it 
 lawful : but no one acquainted with the institution will as- 
 sert these of it. In other words, where one unites himself 
 with the Methodist Church, he voluntarily consents to observe 
 the class meeting as an institution ordained as essential to 
 its peace and order; therefore, when he refuses to observe 
 it, he opposes himself to its peace and order, and so should 
 not be allowed longer to continue in its membership: he 
 has violated his obligation, and exclusion is the just penalty. 
 The only objection that can be made to this argument is, 
 that the observance of class meeting is not essential to the 
 peace and order of our church, which no one will make who 
 understands the constitution of our church. It is not as- 
 sumed, but denied, that the lawful authority in the church 
 can impose any thing for its peace and order which is in op- 
 position to reason and evidence brought from the Scripture; 
 for no man has lawful power over his own conscience, much 
 less can others exercise such power.* God alone can exer- 
 cise this power. And therefore, where the lawful authority 
 in the church imposes any thing consistent with the written 
 word, and any one joins the church believing that which is 
 imposed is in accordance with the written word, he is bound 
 to comply with it. In other words, neither the governors in 
 the church nor private members are to judge of what is 
 lawful and binding, and what not, independently of the di- 
 vine standard ; but where both the governors and private 
 members agree that the things imposed are in accordance 
 with the divine standard, then the things imposed by the 
 
 * " The rights of conscience are, indeed, beyond the just reach of any 
 human power. They are given by God, and cannot be encroached upon 
 by human authority, without a criminal disobedience of the precepts 
 of natural as well as of revealed religion."— Story, on the Constitution of 
 the United States, vol. ii. p. 594. 
 
ON THE SOCIAL COMPACT OF THE CHURCH. 145 
 
 governors are binding on the private members^ as in tbe case 
 of class meetings. So long as Methodists believe class 
 meetings to be warranted in substance by the written word 
 of God, that is, required for the peace, order, and continu- 
 ance of the Methodist Church, they are bound, by their 
 voluntary association with the church, to observe them as 
 the church requires; and non-observance, therefore, is a just 
 ground of exclusion. 
 
 It is an axiom of reason, that all who are admitted into 
 a particular church must consent to he governed hy tlie lows 
 and regulations of that churchy according to its constitution, 
 as constituted at the time of their entrance into it, and in 
 accordance ivith the written woi^d of God.'^ In this case, 
 every one voluntarily parts with so much of his natural rights 
 as is required for the peace and well-being of the church. 
 This consent is expressed formally in baptism, because bap- 
 tism is the formal, sensible initiation into the church of 
 Christ; and he that is baptized by the Methodist ministry c<m- 
 sents to be governed by the laws and regulations of the 
 Methodist Church, and to keep its outward rules/' Nature 
 requires, that every one entering into a society should consent 
 to the rules of it. Our Saviour hath determined how this con- 
 sent should be expressed, viz., by receiving baptism from those 
 who have power to dispense it : which is the federal right 
 whereby our consent is expressed to own all the laws, and 
 submit to them, whereby this society (the church) is go- 
 verned. And so our discipline prescribes : Let none 
 be received into the church, until they have been recom- 
 mended by a leader with whom they have met at least six 
 months on trial, and have been baptized, and shall, on ex- 
 amination by the minister in charge, give satisfactory as- 
 surances both of the correctness of their faith, and of their 
 
 * Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p, 159 
 13 
 
 t Ibid., p. 160. 
 
146 OBLIGATION OF CLASS MEETINGS 
 
 willingness to observe and keep the rules of the chitrch.'^^ 
 This consent is confirmed by the six months' probation; and 
 the candidate received into full membership is regarded as 
 having voluntarily and deliberately assumed the obligation 
 to observe and keep all the rules of the church -/^ and one 
 of these is the rule on the subject of the classes, the observ- 
 ance of whicb was made the test of reception into the 
 church. It is to be observed, there is an antecedent obliga- 
 tion upon all men, binding them to this voluntary consent 
 to join the Christian church; and he who thus joins our 
 branch of the Christian church, the Methodist Church, for 
 instance, joins the Christian church, and voluntarily consents 
 to observe and keep the rules'' of that brancb of the 
 Christian church. In baptism, then, a Methodist solemnly 
 consents and pledges himself to observe and keep the 
 rule" on the subject of class meeting. Not that this duty 
 is expressed, but it is implied. The desire of admission 
 doth necessarily imply men's consenting to the laws of that 
 society, and walking according to the duties of it ; and so 
 they are consequentially and virtually y though not expressly 
 and formally , bound to all the duties required of them in 
 that relation. "f In the case of persons baptized in infancy, 
 there is no necessity of rebaptism, since they can now de- 
 clare their own voluntary consent to submit to the laws of 
 Christ, and to conform their lives to the profession of 
 Christianity which their infant baptism prospectively em- 
 braced, that is, required should be done as soon as they ar- 
 rived at responsible age. 
 
 But antecedently to the formal and voluntary consent to 
 enter the church, there is obligation upon every person to 
 embrace and profess the Christian religion, and discharge 
 all the duties which the gospel imposes ; and consequently 
 every Christian is bound to obey the rules and regulations 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, pp. 96, 9T. f StiUingfleet^s Irenicum, p. 166. 
 
ON THE SOCIAL COMPACT OF THE CHURCH. 147 
 
 of the particular evangelical church with which he associates 
 himself. This obligation exists antecedently to the consti- 
 tution of the government of any particular church, and the 
 government, when constituted, expresses and enforces this 
 obligation. Consent is supposed, and association necessary 
 to church-government, it is true; but the authority of the 
 government originates in a higher source than the consent 
 of the individual members of the church; and therefore 
 whenever a person voluntarily joins a particular evangelical 
 church, he is bound to observe and keep all the rules and 
 regulations of that particular church, provided its rules and 
 regulations be consistent with divine authority. If the laws 
 of the church be of this nature, its officers have the power 
 to exclude any offenders. It were impossible any society 
 should be upheld, if it were not laid down by the founder 
 of the society as the necessary duty of all members to undergo 
 the penalties which shall be inflicted by those who have the 
 care of governing that society, so they be not contrary to 
 the laws, nature, and constitution of it, else there would be 
 no provision made for preventing divisions and confusions, 
 which will happen upon any breach made upon the laws of 
 the society."* And as the enjoyment of the privileges of 
 a particular church depends upon conditions to be discharged 
 by every member of it, and, as already proved, those who 
 have the care of that church are to judge of these condi- 
 tions, which in all cases must require an evangelical charac- 
 ter and life, therefore, whoever fails to discharge them, for- 
 feits all the privileges of that particular church. Indeed, 
 these conditions requiring a separation from the world, and 
 evangelical holiness in heart and life, and being, so long as 
 they are discharged, pledges of right to the enjoyment 
 of all the privileges of the church, he who violates these 
 conditions voluntarily withdraws himself from the church, 
 
 * Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p. 462. 
 
148 OBLIGATION OV CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 and does in fact what should be justly and formally done in 
 his case by those in authority in the church. A person 
 falling into those offences which merit excommunication, is 
 supposed, in so doing, voluntarily to renounce his interest in 
 those privileges, the enjoyment of which doth depend upon 
 abstaining from those offences which he wilfully falls into, 
 especially if contumacy be found with them, as it is before 
 excommunication, for then nothing is done forcibly toward 
 him; for he first relinquished his right, before the church 
 governor declares him excluded the society. So that the 
 offender doth meritoriously excommunicate himself; the pas- 
 tor doth it formally by declaring that he hath made himself 
 no member by his offences and contumacy joined with 
 them.''* 
 
 All we have said in defence of the obligation of class 
 meetings is strongly supported by the benefits of the insti- 
 tion, to which, though an independent part of this Treatise, 
 we shall next give our attention. 
 
 * Stillingfleet, Discourse on Power of Excommunication, § 23. 
 
PAET III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 They are numerouvS and inestimable : 
 
 1. Religious sympathy. The sympathy of a friend is a 
 great privilege and a real felicity in time of trouble, and the 
 want of such a friend is an aggravation of our misery. 
 Whether oppressed by distressing fears or painful doubts, 
 or suffering from secret temptation or open persecution, or 
 contending with inward corruptions or outward afflictions, 
 or seeking a sense of pardoning love or the full salvation of 
 God, — the Christian, by a plain and simple statement of his 
 case, will excite in the minds of his brethren a sincere sym- 
 pathy and concern in his behalf ; and they will recite similar 
 scenes and trials through which they have passed; they 
 will expose the fallacy of his temptations ; they will elevate 
 his views of the mercy and goodness of God; they will 
 console and support him by explaining the promises of his 
 grace; they will fervently and repeatedly intercede for the 
 blessings he seeks ; they will recount numerous examples of 
 fortitude, patience, and submission suitable to his case; and 
 assure him that his is the ordinary experience of those whom 
 Jesus loves, and that his, if faithful, shall be another in- 
 stance of the blessed deliverance of the people of God. 
 
 2. A holy courage is excited. The glorious facts of reli- 
 gious experience related in class meeting are intensely 
 
 13* U9 
 
150 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 animating. Deliverence from the guilt, condemnation, and 
 power of sin, — exultation in the joys of remission of sin — 
 sensible advancement of fellow-Christians toward purifying 
 faith and perfect love — entire sanctification and the seal of 
 the abiding Comforter — the blissful prospects of death and 
 heaven, — are all of this nature. To these may be added the 
 simplicity, meekness, humility, faith, love, patience, resigna- 
 tion, and courage exemplified in the lives of the pious, 
 which add lustre to their testimony. The weak believer is 
 encouraged to besiege the throne of grace with a holy vio- 
 lence and importunity of faith, that he may be saved from 
 all obduracy and unbelief ; and overcome inward corruption 
 and outward temptations ; and bear patiently the manifold 
 infirmities and defects of himself and others ; and subdue 
 all emotions of pride, and self, and any tempers contrary to 
 the love of God and man ; and grasp the promises of entire 
 holiness ; and acquire the preparation for the open vision of 
 God. And so of other Christians. The inconstant are 
 stimulated to seek to be rooted and stablished in love ; sub- 
 jects of gloomy reasonings respecting their acceptance, or 
 those wlio are strongly tempted to doubt the reality of their 
 conversion, are encouraged to plead more earnestly for the 
 witness of the Spirit ; those who fear that their repentance 
 and faith were not sincere, are encouraged to redouble their 
 diligence when they hear old and experienced Christians 
 referring in a similar manner to their former experience ; 
 those who doubt whether they have any saving faith at all 
 will be elated by the recital of others on the same subject, 
 and be inspired with resolution to approach with humble 
 confidence their heavenly Father for light to scatter their 
 darkness, and enlarge their gracious comforts ; and even 
 those (and there are many) who have relapsed and lost their 
 first love,'^ are roused to renewed repentance and the per- 
 formance of their first works in a word, the whole 
 society is spiritually quickened and revived. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 151 
 
 3. It is a blessed means of mutual love and help. Love 
 is the tender passion that animates the whole church — the 
 strong bond that binds the whole family of God together. 
 "A new commandment/* says Jesus, ^^I give unto you, that 
 ye love one another.^' Love one another/^ says he again, 
 ^^as I have loved you.^' And says John, He that loveth 
 not his brother abideth in death. In proportion as we love 
 God, we love his people, and help them. And when we see 
 amiable tempers and Christian graces disclosed in the rela- 
 tion of Christian experience, not only mutual confidence is 
 excited, but a very strong attachment also is produced, that 
 extends a mutual help. When a happy correspondence be- 
 tween the outward walk and inward piety of believers is 
 discovered, which can be known only by the disclosure of 
 the interior life, we are not only prepared to comfort, en- 
 courage, and strengthen one another, but form an intimacy 
 of the holiest nature, a union of the strongest character, 
 and commingle and heighten the purer charms and real en- 
 dearments of religious society. Union is strength, and 
 Christian union is the best strength — a strength that the 
 power of earth and hell can neither crush nor resist. There 
 are some Christians whose faith is so strong, and whose love 
 is so pure anS fervid, that single-handed they would be 
 more than a match for any combination of enemies that 
 might be formed against them ; and it is these who are the 
 leaders and supporters of the weak in the church. We, 
 then, that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the 
 weak.'^* Bear with their errors, and correct them; bear 
 with their scruples, and endeavor to relieve them ; bear 
 with their failures, and admonish them to do better in 
 future; bear with their weakness, and strengthen them; 
 bear with their doubts, and remove them ; bear with their 
 inconstancy, and confirm them; bear with their coldness, 
 
 * Rom. XV. 1. 
 
152 
 
 BEXEriTS ENUMERATED. 
 
 and animate them ; bear with their fears, and encourage 
 them. 
 
 The influence of Christian affection, sympathy, and faith, 
 
 in a class-room, extends farther than to the encouraging the 
 weak and timid ; it also attracts every member into closer 
 fellowship. And so one class becomes endeared to another, 
 till the whole church lives in the unity of the Spirit. But 
 where the intimate spiritual fellowship of the class meeting 
 is unknown, it is not surprising that piety should decline, 
 divisions and jealousies occur, other means of grace be neg- 
 lected, and the church suffer loss both in influence and number. 
 "On Monday and Tuesdai/j^ says Mr. "Wesley, ^'I took an 
 account of the society, (at Cork,) and was grieved, though not 
 surprised, to find such a declension. I left two hundred 
 and ninety members : I find only two hundred and thirty- 
 three. And what will the end be, unless those that remain 
 learn to bear one another's burdens And yet in another 
 case, wher^ this means of grace was observed, 3Ir. "Wesley 
 found great reason to bless God : ^* In examining this society, 
 (at Port Isaac,) I found much reason to bless God on their 
 behalf. They diligently observe all the rules of the society, 
 with or without a preacher. They constantly attend the 
 church and sacrament, and meet together at the times ap- 
 pointed. The consequence is, that thirty out of thirty-five, 
 their whole number, continue to walk in the light of God's 
 countenance. Again : " I rode to Chester. Xever was 
 the society in such a state before. Their jars and conten- 
 tions were at an end ; and I found nothing but peace and 
 love among them. About twelve of them believed they were 
 saved from sin; and their lives did not contradict their pro- 
 fession. Most of the rest were strongly athirst for God, and 
 looking for him continually.' 'J 
 
 The influence of example, especially of religious example, 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 70. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 72. + Ibid. p. 134. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 15a 
 
 is undeniable. Take a case from Mr. Wesley's Journal: 
 ^^Here (Whitby) I found a lively society indeed : the chief 
 reason of their liveliness was this : — Those who were re- 
 newed in love, (about forty in number,) continuing fervent 
 in spirit and zealous for God, quickened the rest, and were 
 a blessing to all around them/^* Beyond all doubt, 
 nothing is more encouraging to one groaning after a deeper 
 work of grace, than to see a higher state exemplified in 
 others around him, and with whom he has occasional reli- 
 gious intercourse. Nor is any thing more comforting to 
 one weak and weary, than to feel that not only Christ, but 
 his people, help to bear his burden, care for him, watch 
 over him in love, advise and exhort him from time to time, 
 and pray with him, and for him, as he has need. It can 
 scarce be conceived,^^ says Mr. Wesley, ^^what advantages 
 have been reaped from this little prudential regulation, (the 
 class meeting.) Many now happily experienced that Chris- 
 tian fellowship of which they had not so much as an idea 
 before. They began to ^ bear one another's burdens,^ and 
 naturally to ^ care for each other.' As they had daily ar 
 more intimate acquaintance with, so they had a more en- 
 deared affection for, each other. And, speaking the truth 
 in love, they grew up into him in all things, who is the 
 Head, even Christ; from whom the whole body, fitly joined 
 together, and compacted by that which every joint supplied, 
 according to the effectual working in the measure of every 
 part, increased unto the edifying itself in love.' ^'f Each 
 class is built up in its most holy faith, delivered from temp- 
 tations out of which they saw no way of escape, rejoicing 
 in the Lord more abundantly, and effectually provoking 
 each other, throughout the family of classes in any particu- 
 lar station or circuit, to abound in every good word and 
 work. 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 380. 
 
 t Ibid. vol. V. p. 180. 
 
154 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 Society^ whether political, commercial^ civil, conventional, 
 or benevolent, is founded upon the social nature of man. 
 But nowhere is society so exalted as in the church of God. 
 God made man social, in the purest sense; incorporating, in 
 his original nature, all the elements required to constitute 
 the holiest society. The church is designed to effect a 
 universal harmony and fellowship, and every well-regulated 
 and holy society of Christians is a type of the general 
 result. In the church there is less of moral evil, and less 
 of its effects, than in other societies; the members are 
 united to one another by ties of love, permanent as the 
 soul ; each member united to Christ, and one with him, the 
 Head, as he is one with the Father; and hence, next to 
 communion with God, is the communion of saints. A pro- 
 found import of baptism, the external seal of the everlast- 
 ing covenant, is Christian fellowship ; and when all nations 
 are regenerated and baptized, whatever may be their eccle- 
 siastical differences, they will form one grand Christian 
 society. Mutual love in the class-room promotes this fellow- 
 ship. Mutual acquaintance with each other is thus 
 formed ; the leader is the friend and adviser of all ; and 
 among the members, by their praying with and for each 
 other so often, the ^ true fellowship of saints is promoted."* 
 Sublime the vision of millennial love and fellowship ! 
 
 4. It is a most powerful method of preserving the church 
 against lukewarmness and formality. There is nothing 
 attractive in the class meeting to the formalist. In public 
 worship, in hearing the word, in receiving the sacraments, 
 he may borrow a Christian name, and fill up his place with 
 worldly advantage and credit ; and in ordinary conversation, 
 on the general history, doctrines, and advantages of Chris- 
 tianity, he may express his admiration, and display his 
 talents ; but when he is required to disclose his own reli- 
 
 * Watson's Life of Wesley, p. 96. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 155 
 
 gious experience^ and relate candidly and humbly the pro- 
 gress of spiritual life in his own soul, he is either tortured 
 into negative and evasive answers, or dissimulates a piety 
 corresponding to his pretensions. He cannot endure the 
 heart-searching examination which discriminates between 
 what he is^ and what he hnoios and professes ; and so he is 
 seldom found at class meeting. Nor is that all : conscious 
 of his destitution of experimental knowledge, and compelled 
 to repress all high pretensions to piety, he is never found 
 heartily engaged in special religious meetings, as in times of 
 revival, and so he contents himself as a decent hearer of the 
 Word, as a devout observer of the sacrament, and as a sup- 
 porter of the general objects of Christianity, to which he 
 contributes his money and influence, and that, too, in order 
 to maintain a fair reputation as an avowed friend of the 
 church. A proper observance of the class meeting would 
 soon either cure or remove this evil from the church; for 
 formalists then would shortly become what they ought to 
 be, or retire from the church because they will not consent 
 to become what they are required to be. 
 
 And so of lukewarm professors. Formerly, loving God 
 and happy in his service, they were fond of their class. 
 But degenerating in spiritual life and comfort, cultivating 
 daily the love of riches and pleasure, and daily neglecting 
 repentance before God, very naturally at length it became 
 - exceedingly disagreeable to relate the state of their heart 
 to others. They are now subjects of a most painful con- 
 flict; the strivings of the Spirit and the remains of the 
 carnal mind are in commotion. Pride, self-esteem, and 
 love of the world are in constant contention with the obli- 
 gations of humility, love of God, and love of his service. 
 And so the lukewarm are fruitful in excuses for the neglect 
 of class : pressure and hurry of business, slight indisposi- 
 tion^ unfavorable weather, engagements with company, 
 unexpected occurrences, and such-like impediments, afford 
 
156 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 a temporary pacification of their conscience, and become the 
 jflimsy apologies for their absence. This sad state of things 
 should not continue long; for, despairing themselves of 
 receiving any good, and their brethren of doing them any 
 good, they should either quietly withdraw from the church, 
 or be prudently discontinued, lest the societies with which 
 they are associated degenerate into the ordinary state of 
 mere formal churches. The lukewarm professor, however, 
 is a case the most difficult to reach by a course of discipline, 
 and there is no process so suitable to reclaim him as the 
 social service of the classes. This means is a test of the 
 spirituality of our church; and that church which is in the 
 habitual neglect of it is in a worldly, lukewarm state, 
 apply the test where and when you will. And revival of 
 spirituality can only be secured by returning to the true and 
 original design of this prominent and indispensable institu- 
 tion of Methodism. 
 
 5. It is the principal means through which the ministry 
 of our church obtain information of the people^s spiritual 
 state and experience. This, at large, has already been con- 
 sidered; but the subject is so important that a few words 
 may be added. An intimate acquaintance with the spiritual 
 character of the classes enables the pastor to apply the 
 promises or the warnings, the admonitions or the counsels 
 of the gospel, as occasion may require; to ascertain how 
 believers were edified and comforted, strengthened and con- 
 firmed under his preaching; how the tempted were sup- 
 ported and relieved ; how the doubting were encouraged, 
 and their hopes revived ; how the backslidden were arrested 
 and reclaimed; how the lukewarm were aroused and re- 
 animated; and how sinners were awakened and renewed. 
 By hearing experience, he cultivates his abilities to preach, 
 and repairs to the pulpit with the warmest sympathies and 
 the liveliest vigor, and preaches with a potency he n§ver 
 could have acquired by the most extensive reading and 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 157 
 
 intense study; exposing the conscience, refuting objections, 
 adducing arguments, presenting motives, and describing 
 each case before him with astonishing exactitude and 
 astounding effect, as if he had received previously particular 
 information of every member of his congregation ; ever and 
 anon striking skilfully some common cord that vibrates 
 throughout the whole assembly, and impressing all with 
 profound silence and amazement as their hearts are laid 
 bare in the powerful light of the gospel. He is now a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed or afraid, for he 
 is fully the master of his subject in its sublime and exact 
 adaptation to his flock before him. Every truth he utters 
 is a sharp and barbed arrow, a nail in a sure place, a 
 piercing stroke of the sword of the Spirit, a crushing blow 
 of the hammer of omnipotence, a penetrating beam of 
 celestial light, clear and bright as noonday, a current of fire 
 that melts, expands, and purifies, a motive that absorbs the 
 entire being of the hearer in the boundless and ^ ndless 
 future. Sublime work ! Compared with this, what are 
 even judicious explanations and beautiful illustrations of the 
 Scriptures, that may indeed instruct and charm the refined, 
 and acquire for the orator the fame of an orthodox and 
 popular speaker ! Without this, melody of voice, graces of 
 elocution, beauty of rhetoric, cogency of logic, and the 
 most profound learning, are but the splendid appendages 
 <with which human invention vainly, and sometimes with 
 good intention, attempts to adorn and elevate the spirituality 
 of the gospel. 
 
 And, added to all this, class meetings contribute greatly 
 to a mutual endearment between the pastor and his flock. 
 Mutual acquaintance and familiarity will encourage the 
 people to disclose their spiritual doubts and troubles to 
 their pastor, which will not be done when he is a stranger 
 to them ; and how, then, can he do them much good, or he 
 care much for them, or they for him ? 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 6. They prepare the church for the hetter understanding 
 of the preaching. By the personal intercourse of the pastor 
 with the classeS; and through the information he obtains 
 from the leaders, he is better prepared to select appropriate 
 subjects for preaching. The leaders, likewise instructed by 
 the preaching, are enabled to instruct their classes, and so 
 prepare them the better to understand the preacher : the 
 leaders convey from the preacher instruction to their classes, 
 and then bring their classes, with their minds and hearts 
 prepared to receive instruction from the public ministration 
 of the Word. Otherwise, much of the public labor must 
 be lost. This is one reason, doubtless, why so often sermons 
 are heard without interest or profit ; they are inappropriate ; 
 the preacher knows not exactly what will be appropriate, 
 and he must select to fill up the time. There is a connec- 
 tion between the pulpit and the class-room; the one pre- 
 pares the better for the other ; and the duties of both should 
 be so performed that the church shall go from the pulpit 
 with a new interest to the class-room, and come from the 
 class-room with a new interest to the services of the pulpit 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BENEFITS CONTINUED. 
 
 1. Class meetings are a most powerful help to young 
 Christians, and that, too, at a time when they need help the 
 most. Stability, in a great measure, depends upon the in- 
 cipient stages of spiritual life ; then, as in the infancy of 
 the natural body, a weak or strong constitution is formed. 
 The church cannot devote too much care to the babes in 
 Christ,'' and our church has no better means in nursing 
 them than the class meeting — none, indeed, so good. The 
 young Christian soon finds his feeble resolutions unequal to 
 the force of habits formed before conversion, and the power 
 of temptation, ever recurring in old modes or new ones; 
 and unless he promptly and habitually seek support from 
 the religious communion of the class-room, seldom can he 
 endure the first revival of evil habit or resist the first as- 
 sault of temptation; and shortly he will relapse into his 
 former sins. Without the repeated counsel and admonition 
 of the church, such as the class-room . affords, he is easily 
 accessible to the appeals of pleasing and lucrative vices, and 
 wanders alone amid invisible dangers and insidious snares 
 that surround him on every hand, every moment liable to 
 fall alone, with none to hold him up when he is falling, and 
 none to lift him up when he falls. Unsupported, the vows 
 of the morning are violated before the evening, and remorse 
 for recent guilt is so discouraging, that ordinarily the only 
 relief he feels is in the resolution, I will repent and do 
 better to-morrow;'' and, to-morrow, weakness, disappoint- 
 ment and fear ensue, and matters are worse. Had he 
 
 m 
 
160 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 mingled with God's people, he might have fulfilled his vows, 
 or had he fallen, he might have recovered ; but by hiding 
 his failures, he had to contend with them alone, and by 
 concealing his good desires, he took the most eflPectual 
 method to extinguish them altogether. 
 
 A change of heart requires a change of company, corres- 
 ponding in character and example to the new nature, whose 
 affectionate care and consideration shall defend young Chris^ 
 tians especially against their besetting sins, strengthen them 
 to resist temptation, and inspire their good desires with 
 strength and vigor. It is the policy of the powers of dark- 
 ness first to divide, and then devour. Eve was deceived 
 and destroyed in the absence of Adam ; Peter denied J esus 
 in company of the wicked ; and young Christians ordinarily 
 take the first step in returning to the world in abandoning 
 the company and communion of saints. It is a most difficult 
 matter sometimes for the truly penitent sinner, with all the 
 aid of the church and of divine grace in a powerful revival, 
 to relinquish the world, subdue self, vanquish Satan, and 
 obtain pardon ; and nothing conceivable is easier than the 
 fall and recapture of the young convert when left alone in 
 the camp of his numerous and mighty enemies. Every 
 young Christian may clearly infer from the great help he 
 received from the church in conversion, how indispensable 
 is the help of the church to aid him in pursuing his new 
 and untried career. He is weak, and needs support ; he is 
 ignorant, and needs instruction ; he is inexperienced, and 
 needs counsel ; he is fearful, and needs encouragement ; he 
 be is inconsistent, and needs restraints ; he is but a babe in 
 Christ, and just as much needs the care of the church, to 
 rear him to spiritual manhood, as the infant does that of 
 his mother to raise and prepare him for this life. 
 
 Whenever the young Christian voluntarily neglects the 
 class meeting, he takes the first certain step either for a 
 speedy return to the world, or in the certain direction to a 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 161 
 
 life of lukewarmness and formality : in either case, incalcu- 
 lable danger accumulates with every neglect. No doubt the 
 vast amount of backsliding, and the vast extent of formality 
 and worldliness in many places in our church, are to be as- 
 cribed chiefly to the general neglect of this means of grace. 
 It is painful to witness these results from any source, but 
 that they should flow from mere neglect, which might be so 
 easily corrected, is just occasion of great surprise and deep * 
 regret. The first time the young Christian enters the class- 
 room, let him rest assured that he has entered, as a Method- 
 ist, upon the only path that can secure him against back- 
 sliding or formality, and conduct him into the bright and 
 fruitful fields of spiritual life. Here let him take his stand, 
 and here let the ministry, leaders, and members stand by 
 him. 
 
 How little do most Christians, especially young Christians, 
 know of the purity and extent of the divine law ; of the 
 suitableness, preciousness, unchangeableness, and proper 
 use of the divine promises ; of the force, beauty, harmony, 
 tendency, and issue of Christian obligation; of the ofiices 
 of Christ, as prophet, priest, and king; of the offices of 
 the Holy Spirit in convincing, humbling, comforting, assist- 
 ing, and directing; of the devices of Satan, his strength, 
 his ingenuity, his cruelty, his vigilance, his agents, and 
 modes of attack; of ourselves, our weakness, instability, 
 ignorance, presumption, and necessities; and of what God 
 has done for eminent saints, and what he is willing to do * 
 for us! And yet all these may be known by frequent in- 
 tercourse with deeply pious and experienced Christians, 
 who will teach and direct us in the ways of God more per- 
 fectly. Ignorant, for example, of the progress of spiritual 
 things, those who just begin to feel their want of mercy, 
 and contend with the in-being of sin, ordinarily suppose 
 that their case is singular, which exposes them to many • 
 doubts and fears and the most violent assaults of Satan 
 14* 
 
162 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 But communion with the experienced people of God soon 
 convinces them that their case is not uncommon; the devices 
 of Satan are detected, his snares avoided, courage is excited, 
 hope revived, faith strengthened, and timidity, doubt, and 
 darkness vanish away. 
 
 2. They afford penitents a great help in seeking religion. 
 This seems to have been originally the principal design of 
 the societies^^ instituted by Mr. Wesley, and it is so stated 
 in the language of our Discipline : There is only one con- 
 dition previously required of those who desire admission 
 into these societies, ' a desire to flee from the wrath to come, 
 and to be saved from their sins.' Often, in his Journal, 
 Mr. Wesley refers to the societies in such a manner as to 
 leave it clearly inferrible that the large majority in them 
 were merely seekers of religion. As, for instance : In the 
 hours between, I took the opportunity of speaking to the 
 members of the society. In three months here (Colchester) 
 are joined together a hundred and twenty persons. A few 
 of these know in whom they have believed, and many are 
 sensible of their wants. '^f In the class meeting, where reli- 
 gious experience is the only subject of consideration, and 
 the expression of it is so plain and simple, it is easy to see 
 how readily an earnest and sincere penitent may obtain in- 
 struction and encouragement ; as when those who are deeply 
 acquainted with spiritual things refer to the discouragements 
 they encountered, the struggles they endured, the self-denial 
 they had to exercise, the duties they had to perform, and 
 the long, dark night of trial they had to pass, before they 
 found forgiveness of sin. And then the impressive sacred- 
 ness of the occasion, the singular appropriateness of the 
 songs and prayers, the tender sympathies of Christians, and 
 the instructions of the pious leader, all contribute greatly to 
 aid in the solemn work of repentance and faith. In the 
 
 * Discipline, p. 23, edition 1846. 
 
 f Journal, vol. iv. p. 11, 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 163 
 
 suspension of temporal business, in the absence of the world, 
 and in the presence of Christ and his people, the whole soul 
 of the penitent may easily concentrate itself upon being 
 now saved from sin. Besides, persons awakened under some 
 powerful sermon, or during a revival, by immediately join- 
 ing the class, often retain their religious impressions, and so 
 cultivate and improve them, as soon to obtain pardon, and 
 commence a new and spiritual life, and so at last are saved ; 
 whereas, had they declined this privilege, they would have 
 relapsed into worse than their former insensibility, and so 
 at last probably been lost. Specially suitable as a means of 
 grace is the class meeting to those who are awakened under 
 the preaching of an itinerant ministry. When the stirring 
 appeals of the preacher are ended, and he is gone to another 
 part of his work ; when the exciting scenes of a revival are 
 over, and the church has returned to its ordinary and regu- 
 lar services; when the promiscuous multitude has retired 
 from the house of God, and distributed itself among conge- 
 nial pursuits ; then, in the class-room, where the ardor of 
 religion still glows, and the blessed results of the revival are 
 more immediately and specially seen, the awakened sinner 
 may still enjoy a lively communion with the people of God, 
 and derive important help from the faithful leader. The 
 leader now, in an important sense, takes the place of the 
 preacher, and supplies his absence. 
 
 We have said that originally the Wesleyan societies were 
 composed principally of awakened persons, and this is uni- # 
 versal still with the societies in England in the present day. 
 In the recent great revival in England, under the labors of 
 Mr. Caughey, thousands were converted who were already 
 members of the church. In our own church, especially in 
 the South and West, hundreds are converted, from time to 
 time, who had been received into the church as seekers of 
 religion, and ordinarily now many are received as such in 
 times of revival. And in times of revival, in the South 
 
164 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 and West; it is not unfrequently tlie case that persons who 
 for years had been associated with the church as seekers of 
 religion^ approach the altar^ and obtain the blessedness of 
 pardon. It were well if this custom universally prevailed ; 
 it were well if ordinarily after the sermon, that is, such a 
 sermon as is truly awakening, the preacher would give an 
 opportunity to awakened persons to join the society; for 
 this would be the restoration of primitive Methodism. It 
 is not assumed that systematic and protracted meetings 
 shourd be dispensed with, for no one can estimate the im- 
 mense good that has resulted from these meetings, and they 
 should be continued ; but we mean, where a religious meet- 
 ing cannot be conveniently protracted, or on all proper occa- 
 sions, the primitive custom should prevail. Nor do we think 
 it wise or proper that seekers of religion should be received 
 into full membership after six months' probation, unless in 
 that time they have obtained regeneration ; yet they may 
 be continued in association with the class till this great work 
 is effected. Mr. Wesley formed his societies in the church 
 of England, and he continued seekers of religion in them 
 for no specific time, but just so long as they maintained the 
 form, and sought the power of godliness. In like man- 
 ner, seekers of religion may be continued on probation so 
 long as they observe the General Rules of our United 
 Societies,"* or until they obtain the experimental know- 
 ledge of sins forgiven, when they may be received into full 
 membership. 
 
 It is not surprising that in process of time, wherever the 
 class meeting had fallen into disuse, the custom of receiving 
 awakened persons on trial was discontinued, because now 
 this principal means of promoting religious impressions was 
 abandoned. In many places in our church the reception of 
 an awakened person on trial seldom occurs. Long since, in 
 
 ^ Discipline, 1854, p. 29. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 165 
 
 some places, this custom has been wholly abandoned. And 
 in many places, nevertheless, where it is still observed, but 
 little advantage, if any, is derived, because the class meet- 
 ing is not perpetuated and observed in its original vigor and 
 spirit. What inducement is there for an awakened person 
 to associate himself with a church, on trial, in which this 
 means of grace no longer exists, or is considered as of little 
 moment, or is observed with but little interest ? 
 
 3. Class meetings prepare the church for conducting re- 
 vivals. In the first place, the leaders are here prepared to 
 act a most efficient part in revivals, and they compose a large 
 proportion of the strong, influential, and spiritual men of 
 our church. Having attained a high degree of experimental 
 religion, and acquired, by the exercises of the class-room, a 
 great facility to instruct, exhort, comfort, strengthen, and 
 warn others, they are prepared to labor efficiently in revivals. 
 They are acquainted with the people generally, and with 
 their classes particularly; and hence, if faithful, they exert 
 a greater influence over the people and their classes, and the 
 church, than private members ordinarily can do. They feel 
 a deeper interest in the welfare of their classes, and are more 
 anxious that they all should enjoy and engage actively in 
 the work of revival. These are the principal men to pray 
 for a revival, to labor in a revival, to seek out, encourage, 
 and bring penitents to the altar in time of revival ; and to 
 sing, and pray, and instruct them at the altar ; and then to 
 take care of them when converted. These are the men on 
 whom we depend principally for the efficiency of our re- 
 vivals. I do not know how we could dispense with them in 
 revivals. How much the class-leaders contribute to making 
 the Methodist Church a revival church no one can estimate. 
 No wonder other churches generally are so unskilled and 
 inefficient in revivals. They have no men like these leaders 
 to bring forward into battle ; no class of men like them to 
 engage in the work of revival. Each leader, accustomed 
 
166 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 long to guide, conducts his class into tlie battle-field, and 
 shouts them forward to the contest. There is the leader in 
 the hottest of the battle ; yes, there he is, and the faithful 
 class is certain to rally around him. It is impossible to 
 conceive of a better battle-array of the sacramental host in 
 time of a revival than the leaders with their classes arranged 
 around the standard of Christ. May Grod bless the leaders 
 a thousand fold with the power of faith and prayer, and 
 thus render our revivals in the same proportion more exten- 
 sive and powerful ! It is a matter of deep regret, however, 
 that in many places, the leaders have so long neglected their 
 classes, that they are weak as other men in times of revival; 
 and the classes have so long neglected their leaders, that 
 they rather need reviving themselves, than they are prepared 
 to engage in reviving others ; that their leaders feel com- 
 paratively little concern for them, and can exert but little 
 influence over them. This general neglect of the class 
 meeting is, doubtless, the reason why in many places revivals 
 are so rare, or, when they do occur, they are so brief and 
 feeble. May God rouse these dead-hearted and inactive 
 leaders and classes wherever they exist, that then revivals 
 may break out and expand like fire in dry stubble in every 
 part of the church, for then the leaders and the classes will 
 be prepared to labor in revivals, and to take care of souls 
 when converted ! Then it would not take, as now, in some 
 places it does, three or four days' or a week's hard labor to 
 begin a revival ; for the hardest part of the work now is 
 to get the church right, and ready for the work. They have 
 neglected their ordinary religious duties with respect to 
 themselves so long, that it is impossible to excite them to 
 feel much for others before they begin to feel for themselves. 
 But the church, in any place, being prepared for work, 
 revival would commence with the first earnest efforts, and 
 progress with astonishing ease, rapidity, and power. God 
 help us ! 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 167 
 
 In the second place, the classes are prepared in the class- 
 room to labor most efficiently in revivals. This is so obvi- 
 ous, that we need but mention it, and express our regret 
 that the churches, in many places, have neglected this means 
 of revival-energy, which is the reason why they so seldom 
 have a revival of much extent. On the whole, we conclude, 
 no other regulation of Methodism, except its itinerancy^ 
 prepares the church so well to labor in revivals as the class 
 meeting, and we believe that the spirit of revival will flou- 
 rish or decline in proportion as the class meeting is observed 
 or neglected. And if this be so, as it most certainly is, the 
 most solemn responsibility rests upon the church to revive 
 the institution where it has been neglected, and to perpe- 
 tuate it where it has been observed. If our church be not 
 replenished with the fruits of revivals, it must soon pass 
 away from the earth ; and what must be the indifference of 
 that Methodist who can survey the issue without concern ? or 
 what must be the punishment of him who promotes that 
 issue by his neglect ? 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BENEFITS CONTINUED. 
 
 1. The class meeting has all the advantages of a verbal 
 relation of religious experience. There is something in the 
 tone of voice and manner of the sincere Christian which 
 excites a degree of sympathy, tenderness, and conviction, 
 that no written statements can excite. The eloquence of 
 the tongue infinitely surpasses that of the pen or of type. 
 With delight and profit we read graphic and elegant biogra- 
 phical sketches of religious men, as well as excellent books 
 on religious experience; but with how much greater delight 
 would we have listened to the glowing statements as they 
 fell from the lips of the living authors and good men, ac- 
 companied with corresponding expressions of countenance 
 and tones of voice ! Could Christians now assemble with 
 Christ and his apostles, and see them, and hear them, as 
 they utter the very expressions now contained in the Bible, 
 no language can describe the difference in the impression 
 that would be made. Could we meet with Wesley and the 
 first Methodist preachers, and Jiear their instructions, and 
 descriptions of their trials, and difficulties, and temptations, 
 and faith, and love, and religious attainments, it is easy to 
 see how much more intense would be our feelings than it 
 is possible for them to become from a most careful reading 
 of their writings. A prayer, a sermon, advice, counsel, 
 admonition heard, are much more powerful than when read. 
 What description of holy praise can produce the feelings 
 excited by hearing it ? Impressions made in religious fel- 
 
 168 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 169 
 
 lowship are always more intense and lasting than can be 
 made through any other medium. 
 
 " The characteristic of our classes^ bandS; and love-feasts 
 is the free and simple communication of mutual experience ; 
 and here, in the judgment of some of the wisest, is found 
 their unanswerable plea. Let the inquirer see, scattered 
 over the writings of the best practical divines, admonitions 
 to the effect that reserve and silence, on the subject of 
 spiritual exercises, are most prejudicial; that the devices of 
 Satan are of tenfold difficulty when they are shrouded in 
 concealment ; and that it is eminently advantageous to hear 
 and tell of God^s dealings with the soul. The world may 
 direct against those who ^ speak often one to another' its 
 impotent scorn ; but they are abundantly compensated by 
 the sweetness of the social privilege, and the ^joys with 
 which a stranger intermeddleth not.' ''"^ 
 
 2. Furnish advantages to several classes of Christians 
 that require unremitted and the most diligent care. There 
 are the young and the weak, who are generally content with 
 low attainments in grace, and who, in our church, without 
 the constant care of the leader, would rarely, we have said, 
 get higher than their first love,'' and in most cases lose 
 that. It is no easy matter to increase any Christians in 
 knowledge and gifts, and it is the most difficult of all to in- 
 crease them in graces. Hence, their love should be kept 
 constantly burning, their faith constantly strengthening, their 
 regard for the honors and pleasures and profits of the world 
 constantly decreasing, their affection for the cause of Christ 
 and for the brethren constantly increasing, and their obliga- 
 tion to suffer joyfully for Christ's sake, to walk inoffensively 
 and harmlessly before men, to abstain from the appearance 
 of evil, and to imbue all their conduct with a sweet mixture 
 of all the graces of the Christian, be ever kept prominently 
 
 ^ Wes, Meth. Mag. 1841. Ser., Methodism not Heresy, p. 649, 
 15 
 
170 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 before fclieir minds; and the young will soon become experi- 
 enced, and the weak strong, in the life and service of Christ. 
 
 Then there are those who are laboring under some par- 
 ticular corruption; and there are very many of this sort in 
 the church. Pride predominates over other corruptions in 
 some, vanity in others, love of pleasure in others, love of 
 money in others, worldly ambition in others, sensual desires 
 in others, forwardness in others, irratibility in others, levity 
 in others, envy in others, jealousy in others, maliciousness 
 in others, covetousness in others, penuriousness in others, 
 prodigality in others, deceit in others, insincerity in others, 
 resentment in others, impatience in others, self-righteous- 
 ness in others : in a word, every Christian, in a regenerate 
 state, finds remaining in him, though subdued, some par- 
 ticular corruption still struggling, which was prominent in 
 the corruptions of his heart before conversion, and which 
 will remain there till he is sanctified.. Each of these cases 
 requires a particular assistance, in order to a complete con- 
 quest ; and when they submit to the weekly watch-care, 
 and directions of the leader, and are brought weekly into as- 
 sociation with persons eminent for godliness, they are enabled 
 to make the clearest discoveries of the odiousness of sin, 
 and to use the best means for their polishing and perfection. 
 
 Then there are declining Christians, who have lost their 
 first love, whose zeal and diligence have abated, and who 
 are in extreme danger of entire relapse to the world. Par- 
 tial backsliding tends to total apostasy, and, without special 
 attention and special grace, will speedily result in it. A 
 spark may be the commencement of a conflagration, and 
 disease, unless arrested in its incipiency, will terminate in 
 death. The descent of the crag from the mountain is first 
 slow, then rapid, then resistless. Extinguish the spark, 
 cure the disease in the beginning, stop the crag in the mo- 
 ment it is starting. The application is easy, and the appli- 
 cation is made best practically in the class meeting. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 171 
 
 Then there are adoaiicing Christians, who must be as- 
 sisted or they will decline. In the class they are assisted to 
 preserve what they have, to make further progress upon what 
 they obtain, and so to persevere to the end. They are pre- 
 pared thus for the service of Christ, and so in turn assist 
 their brethren to engage in his service. 
 
 To all these the class meeting is calculated to be a school 
 of instruction ; a book by the way ; a refreshment-room for 
 travellers. Here the disconsolate Christian is directed to 
 the God of all consolation; the thirsty soul is directed to ^the 
 fountain of living waters/ the suffering follower of the 
 Saviour meets with sympathy from fellow-sufferers, and the 
 rejoicing saint meets with those in whose breast exists the 
 counterpart of his own feelings, and the echo of his owu 
 joys. Here the weary traveller is refreshed, and starts with 
 new vigor on his journey to Canaan ; and the tired soldier 
 is rested and invigorated for the campaign of to-morrow. 
 Here the weakness of ^Little-faith' is strengthened, the 
 worldliness of ^Worldly-love' is chased away, the cove- 
 tousness of ^ Save-all ' is melted into benevolence, and the 
 duplicity of ^By-ends' is transformed into sterling strait- 
 forwardness. Here sluggishness is converted into activity, 
 misanthropy into philanthropy, tears into smiles, sorrows 
 into joys, sigbs into songs, clouds into sunshine, winter into 
 summer, and the ^ fear which hath torment' into ^perfect 
 love, which casteth out fear.' Class meetings are the little 
 tents of Israel, pitched in every direction around the mercy- 
 seat and the Shekinah, for the refreshment of the tribes 
 during their wilderness state. ' How goodly are thy tents, 
 0 Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel ! As the valleys 
 are they spread forth as gardens by the river-side, as the 
 trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as 
 cedar- trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out 
 of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters, and 
 his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall 
 
172 
 
 BENEFITS ENUxMERATED. 
 
 be exalted. Blessed is lie that blesseth thee, and cursed is 
 he that curse th thee !' 
 
 3. They are the best help in our church against the 
 influence of the world. " I met the classes at Limerick/' 
 says Mr. Wesley, ^^and found a considerable decrease. 
 And how can it be otherwise, when vice flows as a torrent, 
 unless the children of God are all life, zeal, activity.' 
 Life, zeal; and activity can be promoted nowhere better than 
 in the class-room ; and without habitual observance of the 
 class meeting, life, zeal, and activity will decline, and the 
 soul be borne away by the torrent of fashion, excitement, 
 and worldly enterprise. In the class-rocm, the danger is 
 exposed, the warning given, and security obtained. On 
 the three following days, I spoke severally to Jbhe members 
 of the society, (in Bristol.) As many of them increase in 
 worldly goods, the great danger I apprehend now is their 
 relapsing into the spirit of the world ; and then their reli- 
 gion is but a dream.^'J 
 
 Especially in an age like this is the class meeting in the 
 highest degree beneficial. The vast and varied amplitude 
 of society is stirring with activity, bustle, and enterprise ; 
 politics, commerce, education, and circumstantial religion 
 are all bending forward under the influence of emulation, 
 competition, and intense excitement. Steadiness, principle, 
 system, self-denial, retirement, meditation, are comparatively 
 unknown ; and the contagion has spread from the city to 
 the country, from the market to the farms of men, from one 
 end to the other of the civilized world. The facilities of 
 science have but contributed to heighten the excitement 
 and ferment. Men are living and laboring for time as they 
 should for eternity. In this state of things, the formation 
 of a symmetrical religious character seems impossible, at 
 
 * London Christ. Miscellany. 
 
 t Wesley's Works, Journal, vol. iv. p. 68. 
 
 X Ibid. p. 77. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 173 
 
 least is most difficult. Eeligious devotion is confined almost 
 entirely to the Sabbath day, and even then it is exercised 
 in a weak and languishing manner. Men are in such haste 
 to be wise and rich in this world's afikirs, that religious 
 knowledge is almost exclusively acquired from the pulpit. 
 But little is known of seclusion and the deep calm of 
 retirement; in which man most easily grasps the mighty 
 truths and interests of his being, and forms the great pur- 
 pose to check the morbid, versatile, superficial, and unquiet 
 spirit of the age. Just here the class meeting comes to his 
 help, and by it he is enabled to straighten up himself and 
 breathe freely, and lean the other way, and oppose the 
 tendencies of society and his own mind; and retire from the 
 perplexing scenes and strifes around him ; and subtract some 
 time from worldly business and care for communion with 
 God and eternal things; and examine his heart, his princi- 
 ples, his motives, his conduct, and his accounts with God; 
 and then go forth again into the world, desiring nothing in 
 comparison with advancement in the great spiritual work of 
 his soul, and increasing in every devout and holy afi'ection, 
 and being more abundant in every good word and work. 
 
 4. Wherever the class meeting is properly and regularly 
 observed the church is in a flourishing condition. 
 
 It is a matter of universal observation by our preachers, 
 and it is attested by all, that the principal supporters of our 
 church are those who are in the habitual observance of this 
 means of grace. It is true, ordinarily, they are compara- 
 tively few in number. But they are those who are found 
 regularly at the weekly prayer-meetings ; who are regular 
 in observing the Sabbath day ; who are found punctually at 
 the sacrament; who are present and generally speak in the 
 love-feasts; who are found near the altar, and labor in 
 revivals ; who principally and most generously support the 
 church, and maintain its benevolent and religious enter- 
 prises; who are most steadfast in the profession of the 
 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 BENEFITS ETnUMERATED. 
 
 faith; whose example is most infiuential and beneficial; 
 who lead the most consistent lives ; and who die the most 
 happy and triumphant deaths. And if this may be said of 
 a small proportion of any of our churches, what would be 
 the general result if all in Methodism observed this means 
 of grace ? The church then would constantly enjoy peace, 
 union, and prosperity; always advance; never be without 
 the spirit of revival, either in the membership or among 
 the unconverted ; and coldness, deadness, declension, be 
 unknown. Such societies or churches existed under Mr. 
 Wesley's care. In the afternoons,'' says he, ^^I spoke to 
 the members of the society, (in Dublin.) I left four hun- 
 dred and forty, and find above five hundred; more than 
 ever they were since my first landing in the kingdom. 
 And they are not increased in number only, but many of 
 them are rejoicing in the pure love of God; and many 
 more refuse to be comfipiffed till they can witness the same 
 confession.''* Again : Here, (Medros,) likewise, we had 
 an agreeable account of a still-increasing work of Grod. 
 This society has eighty-six members, and all rejoicing in 
 the love of Grod. Fifty-five or fifty-six of these believe he 
 has saved them from all sin ; and their life no way contra- 
 dicts their profession. "f The heart-searching, instructive, 
 and encouraging service of the class meeting certainly tends 
 to a growth in grace, and hereby believers groan constantly 
 after full redemption ; and wherever this service is neglected 
 backsliding in heart ensues, and instances of sanctification 
 are unknown. Even preaching, in this case, on the sub- 
 ject of sanctification, is seldom heard. Says Mr. Wesley : 
 Monday SO, and the two following days, I examined the 
 society at Bristol, and was surprised to find fifty members 
 fewer than I left in it last October. One reason is. Christian 
 perfection has been little insisted on ; and wherever this is 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 216. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 220. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 175 
 
 not done, be the preacher ever so eloquent, there is little 
 increase either in the number or the grace of the hearers/'* 
 But there was a better state of things in this society the 
 year following : " On Monday and Tuesday I examined 
 the society at Bristol, and found cause to rejoice over these; 
 although there is still a heaviness of spirit upon many, 
 indeed, on all who are not going on to perfection/'f Of 
 another society he says : Afterward I met the society 
 (Worcester) of about a hundred members, all of one heart 
 and one mind ; so lovingly and closely united together, that 
 I have scarce seen the like in the kingdom/'J Of another 
 society he says : We went to Whitehaven, where there is 
 a fairer prospect than has been for many years. The 
 society is united in love, not conformed to the world, but 
 laboring to experience the full image of God wherein they 
 were created.''§ Of another society he says: ^^I found 
 this (Arbroath) to be a genuine Methodist society : they are 
 all thoroughly united to each other. They love and keep 
 our rules ; they long and expect to be perfected in love : if 
 they continue so to do they will and must increase in num- 
 ber, as well as in grace. ''|| Of another society he says: 
 Indeed, the society here (^Stokesley) may be a pattern to 
 all in England. They despise all ornaments but good 
 works, together with a meek and a quiet spirit. I did not 
 see a ruffle, no, nor a fashionable cap, among them, though 
 many of them are in easy circumstances. Of another 
 society he says : I met such a select society as I have not 
 seen since I left London. They were about forty, of whom 
 I did not find one who had not a clear witness of being 
 saved from inbred sin. Several of them had lost it for a 
 season, but could never rest till they had recovered it. 
 And every one of them seemed now to walk in the full 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 220. f Ibid. p. 293. % Ibid. 322. 
 I Ibid. p. 590. I! Ibid. p. 591. \ Ibid. 596. 
 
176 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 light of G-od's counteuance/^* Of anotlier society he 
 says : " On Tuesday and the three following days, I exa- 
 mined the society, (Dublin.) I never found it in such a 
 state before; many of them rejoiced in Grod their Saviour, 
 and were as plain in their apparel, both men and women, as 
 those in Bristol and London. Many, I verily believe, love 
 God with all their hearts ; and the number of these increase 
 daily. The number of the whole society is seven hundred 
 and forty-seven. Above three hundred of these have been 
 added in a few months — a new and unexpected thing ! In 
 various places, indeed, we have frequently felt 
 
 ' The o'erwhelming power of saving grace/ 
 
 which acted almost irresistibly. 
 
 This was in 1785. In three years from this time, Mr. 
 Wesley writes, I returned to Bristol, and on the four fol- 
 lowing days was sufficiently employed in meeting the 
 classes. At each end of the town the society increases 
 
 ^ Wesley's "Works, vol. iv. p. 597. 
 
 ■j- Ibid. p. 611. On this extraordinary work, Mr. Wesley makes a 
 useful comment : " But such a shower of grace never continued long ; 
 and afterward men might resist the Holy Ghost as before. When the 
 general ferment subsides, every one that partook of it has his trial for 
 life ; and the higher the flood, the lower will be the ebb ; yea, the more 
 swiftly it rose, the more swiftly it falls : so that if we see this here, we 
 should not be discouraged. We should only use all diligence to en- 
 courage as many as possible to press forward, in spite of all the refluent 
 tide. Now, especially, we should warn one another not to grow faint or 
 weary in our mind ; if haply we may see such another prodigy as the 
 late one at Paulton, near Bath, where there was a very swift work of 
 God and yet, a year after, out of a hundred converted, there was not 
 one backslider. The number of children that are clearly converted to 
 God is particularly remarkable. Thirteen or fourteen little maidens in 
 one class are rejoicing in God their Saviour; and are as serious and 
 staid in their whole behaviour as if they were thirty or forty years old. 
 I have much hopes that half of them will be steadfast in the grace of 
 God which they enjoy." 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 177 
 
 greatly. It does not decrease in any part Glory be to 
 God V'^ 
 
 It seems Mr. Wesley regarded the observance of the 
 class meeting to be of prime importance, for he was sure to 
 express his gratification whenever he noticed a society 
 punctual and faithful in attendance upon this means of 
 grace : " In meeting the classes the two next days, I ob- 
 served one remarkable circumstance : without an absolute 
 necessity, none of this society (at Whitehaven) ever miss 
 their class. Among near two hundred and forty persons, I 
 met one single exception, and no more.^^f 
 
 5. Class meetings secure the permanence of our church. 
 This is evident from the relation which they sustain to our 
 ministry, which is itinerant. They answer an essential and 
 indispensable object in this respect. They preserve the 
 fruits of our itinerant labors. Without the class-meeting 
 system, Methodism, genuine Methodism, is doomed to a 
 lingering and certain death ; it cannot long survive the 
 abolition or universal neglect of the classes. We might 
 advance, but it would be like the progress of a victorious 
 army into an enemy's country without leaving behind it a 
 line of well- fortified forts to secure the ground already won, 
 and which must return and fight its battles over again, or 
 perish. Every new class formed is such a fort. And 
 tens of thousands of them are now the great rear-guard of 
 the mighty Methodist army in its onward march to share 
 with other evangelical churches in the conquest of the 
 world. We might preach like a Peter, or a Wesley, or a 
 Whitefield, who were probably the most successful itinerant 
 preachers the world ever saw ; and unless, like Peter and 
 Wesley, and unlike Whitefield, we organized the fruits of 
 our labors into classes, for Wesley certainly did it, and 
 Peter something like it, the fruits of our labors, like those 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 706. f Ibid. vol. iii. p. 512. 
 
178 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 of Whitefield's, would perish with us, unless we abolished 
 the itinerant system, and substituted that of a settled 
 ministry. Take the example of Whitefield as a most invin- 
 cible proof and instructive lesson. 
 
 " From long experience/' says Dr. Adam Clarke, I 
 know the propriety of Mr. Wesley's advice to the preachers : 
 ^ Establish class meetings and form societies wherever you 
 preach and have attentive hearers. Long experience shows 
 the necessity of this ; for wherever we have preached with- 
 out doing this, the word has been like seed sown by the 
 wayside."* It was by this means that we have been enabled 
 to establish permanent and holy churches over the world. 
 Mr. Wesley saw the necessity of this from *he beginning. 
 Mr. Whitefield, when he separated from Mr. Wesley, did 
 not follow it. What was the consequence ? The fruit of 
 Mr. Whitefield's labors died with himself Mr. Wesley's 
 fruit remains, grows, increases, and multiplies exceedingly. 
 Did Mr. Whitefield see his error ? He did ; but not till it 
 was too late. His people, long unused to it, would not 
 come under this discipline. Have I authority to say so ? 
 I have. Forty years ago I travelled in the Bradford, Wilt- 
 shire, circuit with Mr. John Pool. Himself told me the 
 following anecdote. Mr. Pool was well known to Mr. 
 Whitefield ; and, having met him one day, he accosted him 
 in the following manner : — 
 
 Whitefield. Well, John, art thou still a Wesleyan ? 
 
 Pool. Yes, sir ; and I thank God that I have the privi- 
 lege of being in connection with Mr. Wesley, and one of 
 his preachers. 
 
 Whitefield. John, thou art in thy right place. My 
 brother Wesley acted wisely. The souls that were awakened 
 under his ministry he joined in class, and thus preserved 
 the fruits of his labor. This I neglected; and my people 
 are a rope of sand. 
 
BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 179 
 
 And what now remains of this great man's Labor ? 
 Scarcely any thing. Multitudes were convinced under his 
 ministry, and are gone to God ; but there is no spiritual 
 succession. The tabernacle near Moorfields, the tabernacle 
 in Tottenham-court road, and one in Bristol, with what is 
 called the little school in Kingswood, are all even of his 
 places of worship that remain, and these are mere Independ- 
 ent chapels.'^* 
 
 We shall close this part of our work with a reference to 
 the high estimation in which the Wesleyan Methodists have 
 always held the class meetings. In the annual address of 
 their Conference to their societies in Great Britain, August, 
 1825, we have the following : We more especially enjoin 
 upon you, in the Lord, a diligent and conscientious atten- 
 dance at your class meetings. It is these blessed institu- 
 tions which so constantly respect the end of all preaching 
 and of all religious profession — the work of God in the 
 heart ; that the blind are led in the right way ; the peni- 
 tent encouraged to the exercise of that faith in Christ 
 whereby cometh salvation ; the tempted comforted ; and all 
 urged forward by the counsels of experience and the prayers 
 of those who are united in this interesting fellowship, to 
 the mark for the prize of our high calling. Take heed, 
 brethren, that ye forsake not this assembling of yourselves 
 together, as the manner of some is. And, dear brethren, 
 be watchful over your own hearts, even in the use of this 
 searching and experimental means of grace, lest you fall 
 into a careless and general manner of speaking of the state 
 of your experience. Be intent upon growing in grace ; 
 seek instruction from your leaders, by freely laying open 
 the feelings of your hearts ; and thus let all the members 
 
 * Clark's Miscellaneous Works, as quoted in the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Magazine, 1837, pp. 912-913, 
 
180 
 
 BENEFITS ENUMERATED. 
 
 seek the prayers and the sympathies of each other. It is 
 thus that the communion of saints will be strengthened 
 among you; and, by such simplicity of mind, you will 
 derive from this communion increasing power and conso- 
 lation.^'* 
 
 * Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1825, p. 690. 
 
PART IV. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 1. ^^The institution of the classes is opposed to Christian 
 liberty/' This is the most popular objection urged against 
 the institution, and we shall give it a most extended and 
 impartial consideration, because its refutation places the 
 institution upon a solid and immovable basis. 
 
 Spirituality lies at the foundation of Methodism in all its 
 parts. Its inherent energy is wholly evangelical, and its 
 experimental and practical efficiency originates in the simple, 
 spiritual, and immutable principles of divine grace. It is a 
 substantial revival of primitive apostolic power and spiritual 
 freedom, without the encumbrance of the pompous forms, 
 superstitious ceremonies, and worldly admixtures, that for 
 ages, subsequently to the times of Christ and his apostles, 
 smothered the celestial fire which they kindled, and sub- 
 jected the church to the bondage of a lifeless formality. 
 All its usages are simple, solemn, and impressive, requiring 
 no other conformity, and imposing no other restraints, but 
 those which the gospel enjoins or allows. Its many helps 
 to a holy life are so many checks to lukewarmness and 
 worldliness; and this is demonstrative of its evangelical 
 purity and excellence. The restraints which it imposes, are 
 not inconsistent with, but promotive of spiritual liberty in 
 
 16 181 
 
» 
 
 182 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 the highest and holiest sense, which all enjoy who yield to 
 those restraints. For, unquestionably, true spiritual liberty 
 does not release from the observance of proper rites, and 
 rules, and points of discipline ; nor from the denial of our- 
 selves of worldly pleasures and in little things ; nor from 
 proper restraints as to sleep, and food, and dress, amuse- 
 ments, conventional life, and popular feeling; nor from 
 bearing crosses ; nor from performing strictly religious 
 duties ; and all these restraints and duties are imposed by 
 the class meeting. And therefore the class meeting is not 
 opposed to that true liberty which is the life of the Christian, 
 but to that latitude which the inward corruption of the im- 
 perfect believer desires. 
 
 But to be more particular. That restraint, in a greater 
 or less degree, is felt in the relation of religious experience 
 in the class-room, is readily admitted. But is this restraint 
 excessive ? Not at all ; but just such as would be felt any- 
 where else in giving a similar relation. It is a restraint in- 
 volved in the nature of things, arising from the conflict 
 between the remaining corruption of the human heart and 
 a gracious sense of unworthiness and imperfection ; it is a 
 timidity or pride of disposition to conceal the heart from 
 others, because God has revealed so little of his love to us ; 
 it is an infirmity which should be resisted ; it is a restraint 
 of obligation which every Methodist should overcome, and 
 which every happy Christian can easily overcome, and it is 
 his duty to do it. 
 
 It has been said if we were less stringent in many things, 
 and would dispense with class meetings especially, many 
 excellent persons would join us instead of going to other 
 denominations, and we would become the most popular 
 church in the country. That is what we fear. The latitude 
 allowed in other churches is what we oppose, and against 
 which our General Eules'^ are intended to guard us, and 
 the class meeting to secure us. Let those who desire liberty 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 183 
 
 to be at ease in Zion, go elsewhere. Let them go where 
 religious profession is cheapest; where there are fewest 
 worldly pleasures to renounce^ the lightest crosses to bear, 
 the easiest labors to perform, the smallest sacrifices to make, 
 and the least hardship for Christ's sake to endure. They 
 would do us a great deal of harm, and themselves but little 
 good. AYithout any fixed religious principles, they would 
 soon involve the church in worldliness and lukewarmness ; 
 without any deep and permanent religious experience, they 
 would soon crowd the church with backsliders in heart and 
 life ; without any invariable standard of practical piety, they 
 would soon conform the church to popular tastes and preju- 
 dices ; without any abiding interest in the purity and sim- 
 plicity of the church, they would soon draw down upon us 
 the reproaches of the world, and fail us in the day of trial ; 
 and crowding our courts by thousands, instead of urging on 
 Methodism in its great work of revival in the world, they 
 would stop every wheel in the whole machinery, and the 
 Methodist Church, in a quarter of a century, as the J ewish, 
 Roman Catholic, and English churches, in other ages, be- 
 came corrupt, would also become corrupt ; and, like them, 
 need reformation and revival. Let Methodism, as it was, 
 as it is, in its religious restraints, whatever new modes and 
 usages may be adopted from time to time by the proper au- 
 thority, remain till time is no more. In God's name, let it 
 remain as inviolable and unchangeable as the eternal word. 
 We know not the semblance of a substitute for the class 
 meeting, and have never heard, and never expect to hear, in 
 our day, of any desirable modification of it, much less to 
 consent to its abrogation. In our judgment, at least, we 
 would rather that excellent and well-disposed persons should 
 join other churches, than we abolish or modify the class 
 system, and sacrifice its inestimable advantages. We would 
 rather, through its instrumentality, preserve what we have, 
 and advance, if need be, but slowly, than by its abolition 
 
184 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 obtain larger numbers, to whom then we could not extend 
 the proper spiritual care, and so necessarily, to a great ex- 
 tent, must neglect the spiritual interest of the whole church. 
 And as to persons of other persuasions, we would rather 
 that they continue such, and maintain the doctrines of pre- 
 destination and final perseverance; of apostolic succession 
 and baptismal regeneration; of immersion and close com- 
 munion, till time is no more, than we should expunge this 
 one institution from Methodism. We would rather that all 
 in our church who are now opposed to it should leave us, 
 than we should give it up. If it has not made us what we 
 are, it has contributed greatly to preserve us in our present 
 state ; and had we, as pastors, leaders, and members, ob- 
 served this means of grace as we should have done, we 
 would now be a thousand-fold better and mightier as a 
 church than we are ; and if we now observe it as we should, 
 we shall increase inconceivably more rapidly in holy num- 
 bers and spiritual influence, than we would if we should 
 abolish it, though we might obtain the largest accessions 
 supposed in the objection. 
 
 But the objection, in fact, is founded upon an unwise 
 policy in another respect. There are thousands of excellent 
 persons who, from time to time, join us in view of the great 
 advantages connected with the class meeting. Abolish the 
 institution, and what becomes of these ? And what will 
 become of those who, now in the church, derive such un- 
 speakable benefits from it? Abolish this distinguishing 
 feature of Methodism, and who can estimate the extent of 
 the lamentable results ? No, no ; we have no respect for 
 the objection. Beside, we wish none to become Methodists 
 but those who will submit to its wholesome and saving reli- 
 gious restraints, and support Methodism from its substantial 
 and evangelical excellence; and then, in the language of 
 Bishop Morris, abide its results through weal and woe.^' 
 In a word, the objection is founded in ignorance, or preju- 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 185 
 
 dice, or indisposition to submit to religious restraints ; and 
 hence it is not surprising that many well-disposed persons 
 in other churches, and even young converts sometimes, 
 should feel opposed to the class meeting. The class meeting 
 can be properly estimated only by those who are acquainted 
 with it, and if a knowledge of its great benefits cannot 
 remove the prejudice, and overcome the indisposition, why 
 our reasoning is at an end, and we must consent to let you 
 go where you prefer, and we shall resolve to continue as 
 we are. 
 
 2. The institution of the classes is a popish ordinance.'^ 
 This is an objection of gross and shameful ignorance. The 
 inquisitorial confession of Popery is made by a single per- 
 son to a priest, in the absence of others, and under the 
 conceit that the priest is invested with authority to forgive 
 the sins confessed.* But in the classes, confession of several 
 conjointly is made, not to a priest, but ordinarily to a layman, 
 and to each other, in order to obtain mutual helps to ^^work 
 out their salvation with fear and trembling'' before God. 
 No authority is assumed by the leader to forgive sin, no 
 
 * "Q. 76. What is confession ? 
 
 A. Confession is a particular discovery of all mortal sins to the priest, 
 with all their circumstances that increase or diminish the sin, as far as 
 can be called to mind, {Concil. Trid. Sess. 14, c. 5, and Catch, ib, n. 
 48 ;) -without which neither forgiveness nor salvation is to obtained. 
 (Trid. ih. can. 6, 7. Catch, n. 44.) 
 
 Q. 77. Of what kind is the absolution which the priest grants upon 
 confession ? 
 
 A. The absolution is not only declarative, but judicial; and the sen- 
 tence pronounced by the priest is as if pronounced by the Judge him- 
 self, {ConciL Trid. ih. c. 6, and can. 9;) he perfecting what God causes. 
 {Catch, par. 2, 5, n. 17.) 
 
 Q. "What is the benefit of absolution ? 
 
 A, Although a sinner is not so afifected with such grief for his sin as 
 may be sufficient to obtain pardon ; yet, when he has rightly confessed 
 to a priest, all his sins are pardoned, and an entrance is opened into 
 heaven. {Catcli: ih. n. Z^.) 
 
 16* 
 
186 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 conceit is entertained by the members of tbe class that he 
 can forgive sin. Again : in the popish confession it is re- 
 quired that the most secret heart-sins be specified and dis- 
 closed, and the foulest and blackest crimes be therein 
 secretly acknowledged to the priest, to be forgiven by him. 
 In the classes all is open ; general statements of Christian 
 experience only are made, such as religious progress and 
 comfort, or temptation to pride or unbelief; and if any 
 actual sins or immoralities were acknowledged, the offender 
 would be forthwith reported to the preacher, and formally 
 arraigned, tried, and publicly expelled from the church. 
 
 These meetings are not, as some have supposed, inquisito- 
 rial; but their business is confined to statements of religious 
 experience, and the administration of friendly and pious 
 counsel. A knowledge of the nature and advantages of 
 class meetings, which we have already given, will be suffi- 
 cient effectually to refute this horrid objection. A single 
 visit to the class-room would do it. Methodism, in doctrine, 
 experience, form, practice, and influence, from its origin till 
 the present time, is one of the most powerful, open-faced, 
 open-hearted organizations against Popery the world ever 
 knew. We repeat, this objection is founded in ignorance 
 of the true nature of the class meeting, and we add, in igno- 
 rance also of the nature of the popish confession. 
 
 3. The observance of the class meeting is not essential 
 to true Christian character and salvation, and therefore 
 should not be made a condition of membership. This is 
 the very strongest objection ever urged against the institu- 
 tion, but we think it may be easily refuted. 
 
 One of the most important questions that can engage the at- 
 tention of civil legislators is that of right to citizenship; and 
 so one of the most important questions that can engage the 
 attention of those in authority in the church is that of right 
 
 Watson's Life of Wesley, p. 96. 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 187 
 
 to church-membership. We have akeady, at much length, 
 shown that the ministry are invested with authority to make 
 prudential rules and regulations for the government of the 
 church over which they preside : in all cases, however, most 
 strictly in conformity to the general, plainly-revealed, and im- 
 mutable principles of the Bible ; and then such rules and regu- 
 lations, adopted for the government of any particular church, 
 are as obligatory upon its members as if they were specified 
 and enjoined in the Bible. This sound maxim of church-go- 
 vernment cannot be rejected without assuming that an invaria- 
 ble form of church-government is definitely prescribed in the 
 Bible, and that this form is suitable to all ages of the church : 
 the one untrue in fact, and the other impossible in the nature 
 of things. So necessary is this maxim, that the ablest 
 writers and the best authorities have supported it in the 
 most unequivocal language. Among the important facts 
 which we can collect and fully ascertain from the sacred 
 historians, scanty, and irregular, and imperfect as are their 
 records of particulars, one of the most important is that 
 very scantiness and incompleteness in the detail, that absence 
 of any full and systematic description of the formation and 
 regulation of Christian commentaries ; for we may plainly 
 infer, from this very circumstance, the design of the Holy 
 Spirit, that those details, concerning which no particular 
 directions, accompanied with strict injunctions, are to be 
 found in Scripture, were meant to be left to the regulation 
 of each church, in each age and country That all be 
 done for edification and the common benefit of the church, 
 doth noways restrain his church's freedom in disposing of it- 
 self as to the form of its government, so the aim of the 
 church be for the better edification of the body of the 
 church, and to promote the benefit of it.'' The same author : 
 In which sense I assert any particular form of government 
 
 AVhately's Apos. Sue. p. 80. 
 
188 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 agreed on by the governors of the church, consonant to 
 the general rules of Scripture, to be by divine right, i. e. 
 God by his own laws hath given men a power and liberty to 
 determine one particular form of church-government among 
 them. And hence it may appear, that though one form of 
 government may be agreeable to the word, it doth not follow 
 that another is not ; or, because one is lawful, another is 
 unlawful : but one form may be more agreeable to some 
 parts, places, people, and times than others are. In which 
 case that form of government is to be settled which is most 
 agreeable to the present state of a place, and is most advan- 
 tageously conducible to promoting the ends of church-govern- 
 ment in that place or nation. The ground and reason of 
 government in the church is unalterable hi/ divine right ; 
 yea, and that very reason which determines the particular 
 forms : but yet, those particular forms flowing from that 
 immutable reason may be very different in themselves, and 
 may alter according to the several circumstances of times, 
 and places, and persons, for the more commodious advancing 
 the main end of government.^'* Hence, I conclude that 
 it is lawful to continue, or even institute, rites and discipline 
 not mentioned in Scripture, provided they be not opposed 
 to the truths or principles of Scripture ; for, if it be other- 
 wise, all Christians, from the beginning, must have mistaken 
 their own religion, and acted as the enemies of Christ.^'f 
 ^' Those who found forms of government upon a divine right, 
 do not plead a law in express terms, but such things from 
 whence a divine right by law may be inferred.'^ J " While 
 the principles^ in short, are clearly recognised and strongly 
 inculcated, which Christian communities and individual 
 members of them are to keep in mind and act upon, with 
 a view to the great objects for which these communities were 
 
 * Stillingfleet's Irenicum, pp. 41, 42. f Palmer on the Church. 
 :j: Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p. 44. 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 189 
 
 established, the j)recise modes in wliich these objects are, in 
 each case to be promoted, are left — one can hardly donbt, 
 studiously left — undefined/'* /^It is a most valuable 
 part of that blessed liber f 7/ wherewith Christ hath made us 
 free, that, in his worship, different forms and usages may, 
 without offence, be allowed, provided the substance of the 
 faith be kept^entire, and that, in every church, what cannot 
 be clearly determined to belong to doctrine must be referred 
 to discipline, and therefore, by common consent and autho- 
 rity, may be altered, abridged, enlarged, amended, or other- 
 wise disposed of, as may seem most convenient for the edifi- 
 cation of the people, ^according to the various exigencies 
 and occasions/ ^'f ^^It is not necessary that traditions and 
 ceremonies be, in all places, one, or utterly alike ; for at 
 all times, they have been diverse, and may be changed ac- 
 cording to the diversities of countries, times, and men's man- 
 ners, so that nothing be ordained against God's word/^J 
 
 Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites 
 and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edifica- 
 tion ;''§ which is a just and proper modification of the Thirty- 
 fourth Article of the Church of England, and the Protest- 
 ant Episcopal Church. In perfect consistency with the 
 above principle of common right — that of private judgment 
 in all matters that respect religion, as universal and unalien- 
 able — every Christian church, or union, or association of 
 particular churches, is entitled to declare the terms of ad- 
 mission into its communion, and the qualifications of its 
 ministers and members, as well as the whole system of its 
 internal government which Christ hath appointed/^ || 
 
 Thus, the Methodist Church has authority by divine right 
 to institute such prudential regulations as shall be in con- 
 
 * Whately's Apos. Sue. pp. 90, 91. f Pref. Prot. Epis. Prayer-Book. 
 t XXXIV. Art. Prot. Epis. Church. ^ XXII. Art. Meth. Epis. Church. 
 II Presb. Confess. Faith. 
 
190 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 formity to lier character, and required to accomplisli the 
 great objects of her ministry, which is itinerant; and she 
 has authority to require the observance of them, provided 
 they be scriptural, under the penalty of exclusion. All 
 evangelical churches, upon the same principle of divine 
 right, have certain rules and regulations as conditions of 
 membership, and what are binding upon one church are not 
 binding upon another, unless adopted by it. And so what 
 is enjoined by one church as essential to the true Christian 
 character and salvation of its members must be observed by 
 them as such ; provided it is substantially contained in the 
 Bible, which, we have proved, is the nature of the classes. 
 In a word, what is essential to the order, harmony, spirit- 
 uality, usefulness, and existence of the Methodist Church, is 
 essential to the true Christian character and salvation of its 
 individual members; and such is the relation of the classes 
 to the whole Methodistic economy. It holds a relation to 
 the Methodist Church, essential and indispensable to the ac- 
 complishment of its work as an itinerant church; and with- 
 out the proper observance of this institution by the mem- 
 bers; the ministry have no satisfactory knowledge of their 
 true Christian character, and can have none. This, we re- 
 peat, is the principal mode of determining spiritual character 
 in the Methodist Church ; and those who are in the wilful 
 and repeated neglect of class are generally considered as in 
 a backslidden state. And until it can be shown, that the 
 Methodist Church, in doctrine, discipline, and usage, is not 
 substantially founded upon the Bible, the observance of the 
 class meeting must be assumed as essential to the true 
 Christian character and salvation of Methodists. Govern- 
 ment implies obedience; and if the government of a church, 
 the Methodist Church, for example, be founded on the Bible, 
 then obedience of its members is essential to true Christian 
 character and salvation. It is not pretended that a member 
 of the Methodist Church could not be saved, should he leave 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 191 
 
 US; and join some other branch of the Christian church, for 
 there are facilities enough in other evangelical churches to 
 enable him to save his soul ; but it is confidently affirmed 
 that no one in the Methodist Church, or in any other evan- 
 gelical church, can be saved unless he comply, in the proper 
 manner, with the requisitions of his particular church. For 
 not to do this, is to fail to do his duty as a Christian ; and 
 if he fail to do this he cannot be saved, unless he heartily 
 repent before God, and obtain forgiveness for his neglect 
 before he dies. Any other conclusion would imply, that it 
 is not essential to salvation that any one join any branch of 
 the Christian church; that it is a matter of utter indifFer- 
 ance whether the believer join any church or not; that the 
 obligation of no believer extends to a formal association 
 with any Christian church at all ; that the Christian church 
 is not a divinely-authorized system of means of grace and 
 salvation ; that the Christian church afibrds no helps to the 
 formation of a true Christian character and the salvation 
 of man ; that the Christian church is invested with no 
 authority at all; that no system of church -government is 
 obligatory upon Christians ; and that a true Christian cha- 
 racter may be acquired, and salvation be secured, out of the 
 church as well as in it. To concentrate the refutation of 
 the objection in a few words : If a believer wilfully and 
 repeatedly neglect to observe the requisitions of the church 
 of which he is a member, and at some time fail to associate 
 himself with any other branch of the Christian church, he 
 cannot form a true Christian character; he cannot be saved, 
 unless he heartily repent, and obtain forgiveness, through 
 the great mercy of God, before the close of his probationary 
 state. Oh, if it be so difficult to be saved in the church, 
 with all its helps, how can he be saved who wilfully and re- 
 peatedly neglects all those helps, or any of those helps ? 
 especially that one which is of the greatest service, and is the 
 test of Christian character, as the class meeting is in the 
 
192 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 Methodist Churcli ? It is impossible, without repentance 
 and forgiveness. Let all in the Methodist Church, who wil- 
 fully and repeatedly neglect their class, and imagine that 
 they are nevertheless forming a true Christian character, and 
 are in the sure and certain way of saving their souls; wake 
 up from the vain delusion — and keep awake. 
 
 We say, vain delusion. Let us put the question to the 
 test of experience. What progress have these vain ob- 
 jectors made in sound Christian experience — any at all— 
 from the commencement of this wilful and repeated neglect ? 
 Examine the heart and life impartially. What preparation 
 for trial ? for death ? for judgment ? for heaven ? When 
 were they at a prayer-meeting? what enjoyment under the 
 preaching of the word ? what in private prayer ? what in family 
 prayer ? what in Christian conversation ? if they observe these 
 means of grace, and discharge these duties regularly, or at 
 all. What sacrifices do they make for Christ's sake? or what 
 self-denial do they exercise ? or crosses do they bear ? or 
 hardness do they endure ? or strictly religious duties do 
 they perform ? or influence, as Christians, do they exert in 
 the church, at home, and among men ? What comfort in 
 reading the Bible ? — do they read it at all ? or at the sacra- 
 ment, if they observe it indeed but occasionally ? or in 
 revivals, except an occasional and transient quickening ? or 
 in the reception of God's providential goodness, except a 
 common gratitude ? What spiritual power have they to 
 restrain the love of the world, except to appease the con- 
 science with deceptive compromises ? or to resist daily 
 temptations, except to conquer but in part ? or to discharge 
 present and pressing religious obligations, except to resolve 
 to do better by-and-by ? Alas ! what coldness ! what dead- 
 ness ! what doubts ! what fears ! When the thunder 
 rumbles from the pulpit through the church, too to them 
 that are at ease in Zion ! the very text sounds like a death- 
 knell to them ! — a death-knell from the God they loved, 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 193 
 
 and to whose church they belong ! Wo in life I wo in 
 death ! wo at the judgment ! wo in hell I And are these 
 souls forming a true Christian character, discharging the 
 one great obligation that comprehends the whole life, with 
 the action and the fire of the whole mind directed to the 
 great objects of eternity, severally independent of life's 
 endless fluctuations, and sustained by Him who is " the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever No ; but they are 
 souls so exhausted of their early religious life as to be 
 reduced now to the condition of sterility and. weeds, with 
 not a green leaf remaining. These are the tares and 
 the angels of judgment will pluck them out from the 
 "wheat/' These are the withered branches;'' and the 
 angels of justice will commit them to the burning. These 
 are the foolish virgins and their oil is gone out, and 
 their sleep is deep in the church, and the Bridegroom, the 
 blessed Lord Jesus, will shut them out of heaven. These 
 are the Laodicean lovers of God, who say they ^^are rich, 
 and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" and 
 SO' they generally are in a worldly sense — and that is all 
 they care about heartily and sincerely ; but they are 
 wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ;" 
 and "the Amen, the faithful and true Witness," will 
 "spew them out of his mouth." May repentance avert the 
 terrible and evil day ! 
 
 But farther : (1.) This objection is not made by an exem- 
 plary Christian, in the strict sense of the word ; for such a 
 Christian is faithful in attending to this means of grace ; 
 and hence the fact is wanting to support the objection. (2.) 
 Exemplary Christians — that is, those who are either ac- 
 quainted with the deep things of God, or are earnestly and 
 faithfully seeking them — are the first to condemn themselves 
 for the neglect of class meeting ; because in it they find so 
 many advantages and helps of a spiritual kind ; and they 
 -would consider it extremely inconsistent with their expe- 
 
194 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 rience and sense of duty, to neglect a single meeting with- 
 out just and sufficient excuse, such as sickness, distance, or 
 unavoidable business. (3.) The objection is, in fact, an 
 admission that a faithful and proper observance of this 
 institution insures an exemplary life and final salvation. 
 Why, then, as these are the great objects of the Christian, 
 should any 3Iethodist desire to excuse himself for neglecting 
 his class altogether ? It will be difficult, if not impossible, 
 to reconcile an ardent and increasing desire to be saved, 
 such as a truly exemplary Christian always feels, with any 
 rational and religious opposition to the class meeting. If 
 such prejudice does exist, a knowledge of the natui^ and 
 benefits of the class meeting will remove it, and the objec- 
 tion vanishes away. (4.) If you were an exemplary Chris- 
 tian, in heart and life, and all manner of conversation, as a 
 Methodist you would feel no disposition to urge this objec- 
 tion another moment. (5.) It is not pretended that there 
 are no exemplary Christians in other churches, who, if 
 faithful, will finally be saved; but it is affirmed that no 
 one in our church, who wilfully and habitually neglects his 
 class meeting, can ever be eminent for piety either in heart, 
 or life, or death. (6.) Nor is it pretended that the habitual 
 neglecter of class meetings cannot finally be saved; but it 
 is affirmed that the life of all such will be rough and doubt- 
 ful, and, even with a late repentance, death ordinarily be 
 unblest with the abundant consolations of divine gmce. (7.) 
 The Methodist who seldom or never meets with his class, 
 if he be any thing, cannot be more than a weak and soli- 
 tary Christian, whatever may be his influence for consistency 
 of character, amiability, liberality, talents, and usefulness 
 in advancing the temporal business of the church ; — weak, 
 because he knows so little of spiritual things himself, that 
 he can extend but little spiritual help to others ; ever com- 
 plaining of his want of faith, and hope, and love, and 
 zeal, he rather needs help from others, which he declines to 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 195 
 
 seek in the class meeting ; and solitary^ because failing to 
 associate with those little social companies^ the classes, who 
 unite their counsels, their sympathies, their courage, their 
 strength, and their prayers, to aid one another in pursuing 
 the journey of life through the dangerous wilderness, he 
 resolves to walk alone all the way. (8.) This objection is 
 a death-blow struck at a most important institution of the 
 Methodist Church. If the objection be valid and true, then 
 this institution may be wholly abolished; for why retain 
 what is no longer required ? But is it indeed no help ? 
 has it no advantages ? and may Methodists be as holy and 
 useful without as with this favorite and peculiar means of 
 grace ? Then it imposes a heavy and useless burden, and 
 should not continue another hour in force. But not one 
 word of this is true, as the history of the institution de- 
 monstrates. Suppose every other Methodist were to adopt 
 your opinion and practice on this subject, in how short a 
 time would the whole church be utterly shorn of its 
 strength ! 
 
 4. Other evangelical denominations have not the class 
 meeting in their systems of church-government, who never- 
 theless are evangelical, and why should the Methodist Church 
 be peculiar in this respect ? That is, why should one evan- 
 gelical church consider that essential in church-government 
 which other evangelical churches do not consider as such V 
 
 If this objection be admitted, then uniformity is the only 
 sound principle of church-government, and where then shall 
 we commence, and where shall we stop ? What evangelical 
 church shall be taken as the standard of all the rest ? or 
 what modifications shall be made in each to effect the uni- 
 formity ? The thing is impossible. It is not only impossi- 
 ble, but it is unnecessary. Uniformity in essential doctrine 
 and experience is all that is necessary, no matter how the 
 external forms and modes answerable to maintaining evan- 
 gelical doctrine and experience may vary in various churches. 
 
196 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 Again : entire uniformity in doctrine and experience is nofc 
 to be regarded as essential to the evangelical union of the 
 churches. It is not difficult to determine the bounds within 
 which uniformity may be determined^ and churches claiming 
 to be evangelical may be recognised, and beyond which, 
 sects claiming to be evangelical, should be excluded as here- 
 tical. Any church maintaining the fundamental doctrines 
 and experience of evangelical Christianity, with an external 
 'form of government in accordance with the decency and 
 order'' required in the Bible, is to be recognised as evangeli- 
 cal, though it may not embrace the entire doctrine and ex- 
 perience revealed in the Bible. In these there may be 
 degrees of difference in evangelical churches, though not 
 sufficient to prevent a general and helpful uniformity. Thus, 
 other churches maintain the doctrine of tlie indirect, but 
 not the direct witness of the Spirit : the Methodist Church 
 maintains both. Other churches maintain the doctrine of 
 the new birth, but not the possibility of entire sanctifica- 
 tion, or removal of the in-being of sin, till death : the 
 Methodist Church maintains both the doctrine of regenera- 
 tion, and the possibility of sanctification at any time before 
 death. Certain churches maintain the doctrine of a limited 
 atonement : the Methodist Church maintains the salvable 
 condition of all men. In these, as prominent examples, 
 there is a difference only in the extent of faith and experi- 
 ence ; and as Methodists we believe these churches go far 
 enough to be regarded as evangelical. Again : certain 
 churches maintain the doctrine of infallible final perseve- 
 rance : the Methodist Church maintains the doctrine of the 
 possibility of falling from grace ; but they do not consider 
 the former doctrine sufficient of itself to exclude those who 
 maintain it from the family of evangelical churches. Again : 
 a certain church maintains the doctrine of a regular, un- 
 broken episcopal succession from the apostles as essential 
 to the constitution of the Christian church and ministry : 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 197 
 
 the Methodist Church and other churches do not maintai!) 
 the doctrine; and yet^ though excluded themselves by thot 
 church, as destitute of this essential characteristic of the 
 church of Christ, they do not consider the maintainance of 
 this dogma as sufficient to exclude her from the family of 
 evangelical churches. Again : other evangelical churches 
 are under the pastoral care of a settled ministry: the 
 Methodist Church prefers that of an itinerant ministry; yet 
 this does not disturb the general harmony, or hinder a uni- 
 formity in the great work of evangelizing the world. Now 
 the argument is this : as the Methodists maintain a higher 
 Spiritual life, and the possibility of falling from grace, and 
 are under the pastoral care of an itinerant ministry, it is 
 natural that they should feel the necessity of instituting 
 such prudential regulations as correspond to their peculiar 
 views and peculiar nature. They have adopted prudential 
 regulations different from those adopted by other churches 
 to cover the advanced ground which they occupy, and guard 
 against the dangers to which they see themselves exposed. 
 Such, for example, is the prudential institution of the 
 classes ; and they regard this as prudential in the strictest 
 and highest sense, because it is designed to promote experi 
 mental religion to the highest degree possible in this life 
 and to guard in the best manner possible against declension 
 and backsliding in religion ; as must appear evident from a 
 reference to the discussion of the Nature, Obligation,^^ an i 
 Benefits'' of the institution contained in this treatise 
 The difference, then, in these respects, between the Metho: 
 ist Church and other churches, is one reason why they ha\ c 
 not incorporated the class meeting in their government. But 
 the principal reason, just now alluded to, is this : 
 
 Other -churches are not constituted externally as ours is. 
 Other churches are local, and the government must bo 
 organized accordingly : ours is itinerant, and the govern - 
 ment must be organized accordingly. The object of both is 
 
198 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 fundamentally the same — the salvation of men. We ac- 
 complish that object in our way; they in their way. They 
 do without the class meeting • we employ it. They think 
 they can do without it; we think we cannot do without it. 
 They think they can accomplish the great objects of a local 
 ministry without it; we think we cannot accomplish the 
 great objects of an itinerant ministry without it. The dif- 
 ference in the character of our ministry renders the class 
 meeting necessary to us. And yet it is very probable, if 
 not certain, that the adoption of the class meeting, or some- 
 thing substantially the same, would greatly aid them in their 
 work,* which greatly strengthens our argument for the 
 institution. That is, what they ought to have, we have; or 
 what they need not, we need : in the latter case, because 
 they have it not, is no reason why they should not have it ; 
 
 And yet other denominations greatly need some such social regula- 
 tion ; and a large portion of them, who understand and feel a deep interest 
 in the spirituality of their churches, generously and frankly admit the 
 fitness and wisdom of the Methodist institution of the classes. ''An in- 
 fluential member of the Congregational Church, who was strongly attached 
 to that people, and had been as strongly opposed to the Methodists until 
 an acquaintance with them removed his prejudices, said to me, 'I admire 
 your social meetings, especially your class meetings ; by that means you 
 become acquainted with each other's spiritual state, which not only pre- 
 pares you to sympathize with, and labor for each other, but also culti- 
 vates brotherly love, and affords an opportunity to encourage and " exhort 
 one another," as the Bible commands.^ And, said he, 'I tell my brethren 
 that we greatly need some such social means of grace, for we know no- 
 thing of the spiritual state of the members of the church, except that 
 we see them at church and the communion ; and how cah we labor to- 
 gether ; it is impossible.' ''f An intelligent Episcopal minister with 
 emphasis acknowledged to the author of this treatise, that "a similar 
 institution was needed in his own church, to improve the spirituality of 
 its members, and unite them more closely in spiritual union." Mr. Wesley 
 felt this in Church of England, and he supplied the need, and the 
 Methodist Church in England and America perpetuated it; and may it 
 never be abandoned ! 
 
 f Reasons for Becoming a Methodist, p. 121. 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 199 
 
 and in the former case, because they, as a local ministry, 
 ought to have it, is a stronger reason why we, as an itinerant 
 ministry, should use it. And so the argument is turned 
 point-blank against the objection. That is, the class meet- 
 ing, indispensable as it is to the work of an itinerant minis- 
 try, would be useful to a local ministry ; and therefore a 
 local ministry should adopt and practise it. But whether 
 the class meeting would be useful or not to a local ministry, 
 is immaterial. It is indispensable to a work of an itinerant 
 ministry, and this is another reason why the Methodists are 
 peculiar in adopting and practising it. 
 
 But further : why should the class meeting be selected as 
 objectionable because of its peculiarity ? Upon the abstract 
 ground of peculiarity the same objection might be made to 
 our Love-Feasts, General Superintendency, Itinerancy, Pre- 
 siding-Eldership, General and Annual Conferences, modes 
 of church-trial, and so on. But does this prove any of 
 these unwise or inconsistent with Scripture ? Not at all. 
 It does not follow, because the external forms of other 
 churches are right, admitting them to be right, that ours is 
 wrong; or because theirs answer well for them, that ours 
 will not answer as well for us, to effect the great objects of 
 the gospel. Why should other external church-governments 
 be made the standard by which to determine the nature of 
 ours, or what ours should be ? Why may not ours be made 
 the standard for them in these respects ? They have the 
 test of centuries by which to determine the wisdom and effi- 
 ciency of theirs, and we, let it be observed, have had but 
 little more than a single century to determine the wisdom 
 and efficiency of ours ; and, as it is admitted on all hands, 
 by the grace of God, we are in advance of all of them, and 
 our march is still onward. And here we turn the tables 
 again : experiment proves the superior wisdom and efficiency 
 of our church-government, and therefore it should rather 
 be made the standard for modifications in the government 
 
200 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 of other churches, than theirs should be made a standard 
 for us. 
 
 5. ^^The requisition to attend class should be so modified 
 as to leave attendance optional with the members of the 
 church.^' This is a concession, at least, that the institution is 
 in some sense profitable and expedient, which is a great 
 point gained. But this does not cover the whole ground : 
 we regard it as a church regulation solemnly obligatory, and 
 in the highest sense profitable. Optional to attend ! then 
 the very design of the institution were thwarted ; for this 
 would be making provision for its universal neglect; and 
 then the evils which it is intended to prevent would follow, 
 and the benefits which it is intended to insure would be 
 lost to the church. Remove the restraints of obligation to 
 attend class, and timidity, discouragement, coldness, dul- 
 ness, temptation, inconvenience of any kind, and a thousand 
 other opposing causes, would be sufficient, in most cases, to 
 incline the will to neglect attendance, and in a short time, 
 this inestimable regulation would sink into universal neglect. 
 Even now, with the restraints of obligation imposed and 
 acknowledged, how few of the vast family of Methodism 
 attend ! Remove these, and the results may be foreseen 
 and portrayed with prophetic certainty. Unbounded license 
 given, it would be taken, and the class meeting everywhere, 
 as it now is in some places, would be a matter of cold in- 
 diJBPerence and occasional observance. A few might cheer- 
 fully attend for a while, but these would soon go to their re- 
 ward, and the class meeting become obsolete, as the Bands'' 
 did, and like them,* be formally expunged from the discipline 
 as no longer of use, and then the path to other alterations, 
 if not entire revolution, would be open. We hesitate not 
 
 * The "Bands/' with every thing on the subject of them, was ex- 
 punged from the discipline at our last Gen. Conf., 1854. May God so 
 revive the church as to cause their restoration ! 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 201 
 
 to express again our conviction that the Methodist Church 
 will flourish or decline as the class meeting is observed or 
 disregarded ; and hence we cannot consent to any modification 
 of the institution that would encourage its neglect, and so 
 promote the downfall of that church which now, through 
 the blessing of God, it contributes so much to uphold and 
 advance. 
 
 6. Another objection is, There is no Scripture for these 
 classes.^' We have already considered at length the scrip- 
 tural authority for them, and shall here only add, in the 
 language of Mr. Wesley: "(1.) There is no Scripture 
 against them. You cannot show one text that forbids 
 them. (2.) There is much Scripture for them; even all those 
 texts which enjoin the substance of those various duties 
 whereof this is only an indifferent circumstance, to be de- 
 termined by reason and experience. (3.) You seem not to 
 have observed, that the Scripture, in most points, gives only 
 general rules ; and leaves the particular circumstance to be 
 adjusted by the common sense of mankind. The Scripture, 
 for instance, gives that general rule, ^ Let all things be done 
 decently and in order.' But common sense is to determine,^ 
 on particular occasions, what order and decency require. 
 So, in another instance, the Scripture lays it down as a 
 general, standing direction : ^ Whether ye eat or drink, or 
 whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' But it is com- 
 mon prudence which is to make the application of this, in 
 a thousand particular cases.'' If the Scriptures substan- 
 tially, reason, experience, common sense, and common pru- 
 dence do not support ' this institution of the Methodist 
 Church, then we must yield to the objection; but if they do, 
 (and that they do, none with a proper knowledge of the in- 
 stitution can honestly deny,) then the objection falls to the 
 ground. 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. v. pp. 180, 181, 
 
202 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 7. Others object, The thing is well enough in itself. 
 But the leaders are incompetent for the work : they have 
 neither gifts nor graces for such an employment.^' Admit- 
 ting this to be true, whenever it does occur, unqualified 
 leaders should be removed, and suitable ones be appointed. 
 The want of qualification in an officer to discharge the ap- 
 propriate business of his office, does not annul the authority 
 or disprove the importance of the office ; and hence, while 
 improper leaders should be removed, and suitable ones be 
 appointed, it is the duty of all to meet with their class till 
 this be done, or join some other class, if this be not or can- 
 not be done. And yet the advantages of meeting in class 
 are not confined wholly to the care of the leader, whether 
 qualified to instruct properly or not; but depend for the most 
 part upon faithful self-examination, reflection, meditation, 
 humble communion with Grod, and the relation of Christian 
 experience given by other members of the class, which is 
 often most encouraging to one in trial, or under temptation, 
 or hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Inde- 
 pendently of the leader, the advantages of the class are so 
 great, that any one exercising the proper spirit may derive 
 much spiritual profit from it, though the leader possess but 
 a small amount of gifts and graces, while it is admitted that 
 the profit would be greatest, if leaders best qualified were, 
 or could always be, appointed. But this cannot always be 
 done, and we should always be content with the best that 
 can be done, when, such leaders as they are, it is plain God 
 blesses their labor. Beside, faithful leaders will improve 
 by experience and observation, and in time may be what you 
 desire. But after all, the remedy is at hand : if your leader 
 be unqualified, tell your pastor, and, if it be practicable, he 
 will exchange him for a better, or remove you to the charge 
 of a better. And yet the inquiry is at least admissible, Do 
 you not rather object to meeting in class, than to the leader? 
 If not, and a better leader cannot be obtained, you ought 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 203 
 
 to be satisfied with your present leader, and so agree to share 
 with your class in its want of such a leader as you desire. 
 Meantime, probably you ought to be a leader, for so it would 
 seem, from the want of ability in others to teach you. 
 
 8. There are paany in these classes who are a reproach 
 to the church, and with them I cannot consent to meet.'' 
 The fact is admitted, and the existence of it regretted ; but 
 your conclusion by no means follows. 
 
 (1.) Among the twelve apostles there was a treacherous 
 Judas, and an unfaithful Peter. Ananias and Sapphira 
 were in the church in its purest state. In the church at 
 Corinth there were those who dishonored their holy profes- 
 sion. St. Paul wept while writing to the church at Philippi 
 (his favorite church) respecting many whose life was dis- 
 orderly, and "whose end was destruction.'' Christ exhorted 
 and admonished the church at Ephesus to return to their 
 " first love," and found but few in the church at Sardis 
 whose "garments were unspotted." In civil government 
 there are many who are disobedient, and in political, many 
 who are traitors. In the currency of the country, there is 
 much of counterfeit coin and paper. Among men there 
 are many who are guilty of extravagance and intempe- 
 rance. Yet shall these cause us to decline all the advan- 
 tages of Christian fellowship, and all the privileges of 
 civil and political government, and all the benefits of a 
 sound currency, and all the blessings of frugality and 
 temperance ? 
 
 (2.) The treachery of Judas, and the unfaithfulness 
 of Peter, did not discharge the rest of the apostles from 
 obligation to Christ; nor did the unfaithful in Corinth, 
 and Philippi, and Sardis, release the faithful in those 
 churches from responsibility to continue in them, and observe 
 the regulations imposed by the apostles. Personal obliga- 
 tion yet remained to them in all its original force. Every 
 Christian stands or falls to Grod alone. My duty to God 
 
204 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 and his church loses none of its force in consequence of the 
 improprieties and crimes of others. 
 
 (3.) If neglect to meet with such persons in class were 
 enough to vindicate my character and reputation^ is it 
 enough to vindicate the honor of God ? Should I not have 
 more regard for the honor of God than for my own reputa- 
 tion ? though this is not the proper statement of the ques- 
 tion ; for in vindicating the honor of God, I defend my own. 
 Yet the objection proceeds upon the supposition, that my 
 reputation only is involved in the case, while as a Christian 
 my reputation sinks or rises with the honor of God ; and if 
 required, I should consent to be of no reputation, in a worldly 
 sense, for Christ's sake. 
 
 (4.) But the evil complained of may be removed. Per- 
 sons of immoral lives, after the proper trial, should be ex- 
 pelled from the church. The honor and prosperity of the 
 church require this, and every well-regulated church will 
 see that this be done. 
 
 9. ^^I cannot speak my experience before those who have 
 more knowledge and grace than I have.'' You should not 
 confound natural timidity and reserve with a modest 
 courage, or suppose that this infirmity is inconsistent with 
 a proper dignity of deportment. The reluctance to speak 
 before those who have made superior attainments in the 
 knowledge of divine things, should be subdued by the hope 
 of obtaining instruction from them. But this is not a 
 question of ordinary propriety, but one of duty and privi- 
 lege — a duty binding upon all the class alike — a privilege 
 belonging to all alike ; and it is sinful to neglect the duty, 
 and unwise to abuse the privilege. Beside, your principal 
 object in joining the class should have been to learn , and 
 not to teach ; and you cannot be taught till your case is 
 known, and you should be content to be a learner till you 
 can become a teacher. Finally, may not pride, and not a 
 ♦sense of propriety, be at the foundation of this objection ? 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 205 
 
 Having but little knowledge of divine things, are you not 
 unwilling to confess it ? If it be pride, then it is a great 
 evil to be subdued, and duty now is plain and imperious. 
 If it be pride, cut the matter short, and resist, overcome it. 
 If it be pride, you can go no farther till it is resisted and 
 overcome. If it be pride, you will lose the little knowledge 
 you have, till it is resisted and subdued. If it be pride, 
 you will certainly be lost finally and eternally, unless you 
 resist and subdue it. And here is the test : Are you silent 
 on subjects with which you are familiar, and which are 
 congenial to you ? such as your favorite opinions, your 
 occupation, your plans, your property, your successes, your 
 amusements, your friends, your connections, and your 
 worldly prospects ? Or, in matters of great temporal 
 importance, do you permit a consciousness of ignorance or 
 inexperience to restrain you from seeking from others the 
 required information ? Would you rather rush headlong 
 into imminent danger, and proudly perish, than seek a way 
 of certain escape and safety? Should the child be too 
 proud to be guided by his parent? or the pupil to be 
 instructed by his teacher ? or the soldier to be directed by 
 his -general ? or the blind man to be lead by a friend ? or 
 the dying man to take the healing medicine ? or the starv- 
 ing man to receive the restoring food? May God gra- 
 ciously help you to make a proper and useful application of 
 these illustrations ! 
 
 10. Some are ashamed to speak of their religious feelings 
 before company. This may be true of many worthy young 
 members, but this also is an infirmity which it may be 
 difficult at first to overcome. But does a weakness of this 
 nature justify silence in any one, on any subject, when he 
 should speak, especially on the great subject of experi- 
 mental religion, in which every Christian is so deeply 
 interested, and on which, it is expected, every Christian has 
 something to say ? The sense of duty should triumph over 
 
 18 
 
206 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 the sense of weakness or timidity. Introduced into new 
 associations, and called upon to engage in new exercises, and 
 to relate an experience wholly new, it is not surprising that 
 some should feel a sense of timidity upon their first entrance 
 into the class-room. But this will soon subside; and, to 
 the most timid, the service of the class meeting will sopn 
 become a delightful exercise. Make the trial, and never 
 stop till this weakness is subdued. Indeed, this objection 
 is for the most part imaginary. A single sentence uttered 
 in the discharge of duty, and God ordinarily gives such a 
 blessing that timidity is at once forgotten, and great liberty 
 is enjoyed, which would be a pleasant way to refute this 
 objection ? 
 
 Why should you object to communicate your experience 
 in the presence of religious friends ? Men of real delicacy 
 and worth, under the impulse of virtuous motives, have not 
 hesitated to write and publish their varied experience to the 
 world. In all ages of the church, faithful and pious men, 
 by epistolary correspondence, have communicated the whole 
 of their religious states to each other; and the pages of 
 Tjhurch history are adorned with an infinite variety of 
 spiritual letters. Perhaps you are in constant correspond- 
 ence with religious friends on the various and important 
 subjects of your own religious experience. The Bible is 
 pre-eminently a book of this nature. The practice is con- 
 genial to moral friendship and social piety. Why, then, 
 should you object to avowing and disclosing your religious 
 feelings to religious friends, accompanied with all the 
 endearments of spiritual fellowship, which is more pleasing 
 and advantageous than is possible by letter ? Indeed, you 
 do not object to religious conversation occasionally with a 
 single friend : why, then, object to the weekly classes, 
 which afford a greater variety of cases, and furnish you with 
 the double privilege of saying but little and hearing much; of 
 telling your own experience and hearing that of many others? 
 
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 207 
 
 11. ^^I am not worthy to meet with the people of God in 
 such holy fellowship. A sense of unworthiness entitles 
 you to the privilege^ and this fear will lead you to pray the 
 more earnestly for divine help^ and incline you to receive 
 the more cheerfully and promptly the instructions and 
 counsels of the leader and the more experienced members 
 of the class. 
 
 12. Others honestly say, ^^I do not know why; but I do 
 not like class meetings/^ And you never will find a satis- 
 factory reason to justify your indisposition to them. Is it 
 rational — can you ever be contented — to leave a solemn 
 question of duty unsettled in this manner ? Do you know 
 why you are a Methodist ? If you do, then a moment's 
 consideration will convince you why you should meet with 
 your class, though at first you should not like to do it. 
 There is the same reason why you should discharge one 
 duty as another ; and mere dislike, especially when there is 
 no intelligible and satisfactory reason to justify it, can never 
 be a sufficient ground for neglecting any duty. In the 
 act of joining the Methodist Church, you solemnly pledged 
 yourself to observe all its requisitions and attend to all its 
 means of grace, having at the time prominently before your 
 mind the class meeting, which is a peculiar and distinguish- 
 ing institution of Methodism. Mere dislike does not annul 
 the obligation you then assumed. What then ? Your 
 dislike becomes the occasion to take up a cross, from which 
 you should never shrink, but bless God for it : for, in taking 
 it up, he will bless you under it. 
 
 There are several other objections, such as, ^'I do not 
 wish to be hypocritical " Many, who give a flaming 
 experience, are hypocritical Religious feelings are too 
 sacred to be revealed to others and such like — all of 
 which are too trivial to demand a moment's consideration ; 
 and we pass to the examination of excuses for the neglect 
 of class meetings. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 Objections are urged by those who oppose class meet- 
 ings ; excuses are made by those who acknowledge their 
 obligation to attend them, and are given in extenuation of 
 failure to do so. 
 
 1. ^^I cannot speak as well as others.'^ All cannot speak 
 with the same ease and freedom, and some are endowed 
 naturally with a better elocution than others. It is sim- 
 plicity and truth, and not a fine and eloquent speech, that 
 we expect in class meeting; and hence illiterate people, 
 ordinarily, in a plain and unstudied manner, and such is 
 always the language of the heart, succeed better in relating 
 what God has done for their souls than those who express 
 themselves in more intelligent and elegant phrases. In a 
 manner new and peculiar to themselves, they relate the vices 
 and miseries of their former lives; how they heard and 
 received the gospel ; how severly they suffered under con- 
 viction of sin ; how they overcame their besetting sins and 
 the devices of Satan ; how the promises were applied ; and 
 how the love of Grod was shed abroad in their hearts : and 
 all this is done with such an humble boldness and artless- 
 ness as cannot fail to interest and instruct intelligent 
 believers. In these innocent people, taught of God, and 
 incapable of hypocrisy, religion shines forth in its native 
 beauty and power, and skepticism is refuted, and faith con- 
 firmed. They prove the authenticity of the Scriptures, not 
 by the force of formal and learned arguments, but by the 
 effect of the threatenings under which they have groaned 
 208 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 209 
 
 and shuddered, and the excellency of the promises whose 
 sweetness they have enjoyed. They attempt no vindication 
 of the miracles, nor defenc : of the divinity of Christ ; but 
 they evince his equality and glorification with the Father 
 by the gift of the in-dwelling Comforter. They contend not 
 for the divine authority of the Christian faith; but they 
 demonstrate its omnipotence by its triumphs over them- 
 selves and the world, and its transforming eJBfects in their 
 own hearts. They pretend not to argue in support of the 
 immortality of the soul; but they deduce the great truth 
 from the blissful visions of the future state which divine 
 grace inspires, and from the ennobling hope of being 
 exalted to the image and presence of God, which is a daily 
 fact in their experience. There is an interior, spiritual 
 kingdom, ample, ever new, progressive, boundless, the work 
 of the Holy Ghost, a universe of facts, as real, substantial, 
 and as satisfactorily known to the consciousness t>f the true 
 believer as the external, sensible, actual universe of facts, 
 called the heavens and the earth, without us. These in- 
 ternal, spiritual facts of the Holy Ghost, the humble, 
 simple, and illiterate can understand as easily and as well 
 as- the most intelligent Christians can, for they are the same 
 in all true believers : as the sun is a great fact in the 
 natural world, as clearly known to the illiterate as to the 
 philosopher, so the love of God shed abroad in the heart is 
 a great fact, as clearly known to the unlearned as to the 
 wise believer. Thus, " The poor,'^ says Christ, have the 
 gospel preached unto them;'' and St. James says, ^^Has 
 not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and 
 heirs of the kingdom This is the great foundation and 
 defence of Methodism, and the source of the experimental 
 facts related in the classes. What has God done for you 
 and in you? Speak of that, describe that, in your own 
 language, just as you describe in your own language what 
 he has done in the natural world. 
 
210 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 2, ^^I have not time for its regular observance.'^ What! - 
 not one hour in seven days, and that hour sometimes on 
 the Sabbath day ? One hour in seven days spent in Chris- 
 tian fellowship is but a small proportion ; and that man is 
 worldly-minded who will not give that small amount to the 
 spiritual exercises of the class meeting, who is unwilling 
 to devote so small a proportion of his time to the examina- 
 tion of his soul and religious communion with his brethren. 
 The duties of religion require the use of time, and therefore 
 the claims of secular life should not be permitted to con- 
 sume all our time. Again : the obligation to discharge 
 strictly spiritual duties, and the obligation to attend to secu- 
 lar duties, are not in conflict : you are responsible for both ; 
 both will enter into the final account, and make out the 
 final sentence. What! will you give all your life to the 
 acquisition of a fortune, and scarcely one whole hour at 
 a time to the salvation of your soul ? Cannot a sense 
 of duty arrest your impetuosity ? Cannot a sense of vio- 
 lated obligation do it ? Must you wait for sickness to 
 do it ? Can death alone do it ? Not one hour in seven for 
 your soul, for God, for death, for judgment, for eternity, 
 to escape hell, and prepare for heaven ! Oh, this is mourn- 
 ful, it is dreadful I but it is not surprising that you are well 
 nigh, if not altogether, a backslider in heart as well as life. 
 What account will you give to God for these lost hours ? 
 how will you justify yourself before him for all this hurry 
 in the world ? When time with you is ended, and you are 
 lost, what then ? Not a soul in hell can lift his hands and 
 say, I had not time to save myself,^' for he had not time 
 for any thing else. 
 
 3. ^^I have company or expect company this hour.'' 
 You should not have made engagement for company at this 
 hour, because you had an antecedent engagement to meet 
 with the people of God at this very time, which is of a very 
 weighty character. Must God waive his rights to permit 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 211 
 
 you to wait on your friends ? Must Grod release you from 
 waiting on him, lest your friends should take it ill should 
 you fail to wait on them ? Will he permit you to waste your 
 time in conventional compliments and courtesies, when you 
 should be employed in holy fellowship with him and his 
 people ? However, the expected company, if it be worthy 
 of your respect, upon finding you absent from home, will 
 admire you more for your consistency of character, as a 
 Christian, than they would have done for any reception you 
 might have given them ; and so they will admire you the 
 more, should you excuse yourself from them when the hour 
 for class meeting has arrived, than they would have done 
 had you remained, and thus have neglected a solemn and 
 religious duty. Many professors of religion think more of 
 receiving and paying fashionable visits than they do of the 
 duties and privileges of religious intercourse, and feel more 
 sensibly condemned when they neglect to return the visits 
 of friends and acquaintance, than when they neglect, though 
 it be for many months or years, the obligations of religion ; 
 and they feel a higher degree of satisfaction in paying off 
 old visits, that had daily oppressed their conscience, than 
 they do in observing some long-neglected means of grace. 
 For them the parlor has more charms than the church, and 
 fashionable life more interest than duty to God; and so it 
 is easy to sacrifice the latter to the former, and to invent 
 specious excuses for indulging in the one and neglecting 
 the other. But this is an evidence of a worldly spirit, which 
 cannot be indulged in for a moment, or in a single instance, 
 without a sensible loss of religious comfort, and, finally, of 
 all vital godliness. True refinement, however, never de- 
 mands the neglect of a single religious duty, and is not in- 
 consistent with the highest religious attainments. If reli- 
 gion should shine anywhere it is in the parlor, and surely 
 the parlor is not the place where religion should be considered 
 as subordinate, or from which, by Christians especially, it 
 
212 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 should be excluded as a matter of politeness. How vain the 
 excuse, then, that mere common politeness requires legiti- 
 mately the abrogation or even the suspension of religious 
 obligation. That which demands this of the Christian is 
 not true politeness, but is a morbid conventional taste, a 
 fascinating corruption of good manners, hostile alike to so- 
 cial happiness and vital piety. In a word, religion hallows 
 and elevates social life, and whatever tends to degenerate 
 religion must impair social life; and wherever there is an 
 alternative between the maxims and customs of fashionable 
 society, and the plain and standing requirements of religion, 
 duty imperiously demands that we scrupulously preserve our 
 Christian integrity and consistency. 
 
 4. ^^My business demands my attention this hour." 
 That may be, and you are excusable whenever this is so. 
 But it must be unavoidable business, for nothing less than 
 this renders you excusable. See you to that. Keligion 
 does not require the neglect of your business, but a faithful 
 attention to it. Nor should your business cause you to ne- 
 glect your religion. Neither need be neglected, and you 
 should make such an arrangement of your time and plans 
 as to be able to give to each its due proportion of attention. • 
 Do this, and both business and religion will flourish in ad- 
 mirable harmony. If possible, never let there be any 
 conflict. 
 
 5. Distance renders it exceedingly inconvenient for me 
 to attend my class meeting regularly.^' That may be, too. 
 But is distance regarded as an insurmountable obstacle in 
 secular things, which are matters of inferior importance ? 
 Where there is a will there is a way, if a way is pos- 
 sible. Is it possible to meet with your class ? Then attend 
 when you can ; the advantage of attendance will more than 
 repay you for all the trouble endured in overcoming the in- 
 convenience. Is the present arrangement to meet in class 
 the best that can be made? Then you must put up with it, 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 213 
 
 or lose the advantages of class meeting altogether. But if 
 a more convenient arrangement can be made^ let it be done, 
 (and there is no reason why it should not be done^) and, if 
 you can secure this arrangement, you are responsible for the 
 neglect of class meeting till it is made. In the stations 
 this excuse is rarely tenable. In the circuits it is some- 
 times different, but even here ordinarily it is as convenient 
 to attend class as it is to attend preaching, and then the ex- 
 cuse for neglecting preaching would be as good as it is for 
 neglecting class meeting. In both circuits and stations, in 
 most cases, the inconvenience really exists rather in the 
 heart than in the distance from the church or the class- 
 room : it is rather a contest with self than with external 
 circumstances. Where this is so, no one can conscientiously 
 plead this excuse. 
 
 6. I must take some time to visit other churches beside 
 my own, and this often occurs when my class meets. This 
 is an excuse of the circuits, and is easily answered. Your 
 church first, especially your class meeting ; and then, when 
 convenient, you are at liberty to visit other churches. Every 
 thing in its order. You cannot cancel one duty by discharg- 
 ing another. Particular and standing duties cannot be set 
 aside by remote and general causes. It may be agreeable 
 and profitable occasionally to visit other churches, but this 
 should never be done when obligation calls you to class, and 
 when your own church is justly entitled to your influence. 
 The order of the church, in which is consulted the spiritual 
 profit of all its members, cannot be violated without pro- 
 ducing some confusion ; and the occasional avoidable neglect 
 of class meeting, tends greatly to divest it of its importance. 
 Ordinarily more spiritual profit is derived from the class 
 meeting than from the public exercises of preaching in our 
 own church, with which we are so familiar; and consequently 
 far more can be derived from this means of grace than is 
 possible from the public services of other churches, with 
 
214 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 which we are not so familiar. An idle curiosity, a worldly 
 spirit, may impel you to neglect class meeting in this case : 
 see you to that. A sense of duty may urge you to the class, 
 but indisposition to yield may be confounded with a sup- 
 posed propriety of attending divine service elsewhere this 
 timC; and so also the next time, till, under the specious pre- 
 tence of charitable communion with sister churches, the 
 class meeting is abandoned entirely. The question can be 
 settled in a moment : if you have no compunctions of con- 
 science on the subject, if you conscientiously believe that 
 you can glorify Grod better, and improve your spiritual con- 
 dition more, by neglecting your class in this manner, then 
 you are justified in doing it ; if not, then the path of duty 
 is plain : meet with your class punctually and regularly. 
 
 In the evening,^^ says Mr. "Wesley, I returned to Nor- 
 wich. Never was a poor society so neglected as this has 
 been for the past year. The morning preaching was at an 
 end ; the bands suffered all to fail in pieces ; and no care at 
 all tahen of the classes, so that lohether they met or not, it 
 was all one; going to church and sacrament were forgotten; 
 and the people rambled hither and thither as they listed. 
 On Friday evening I met the society, and told them plain, 
 I was resolved to have a regular society or none. I then 
 read the rules, and desired every one to consider whether he 
 was willing to walk by those rules or no. TJiose, in particu- 
 lar, of meeting their class every week, unless hindered hy 
 distance or sickness, (the only reasons for not meeting which 
 I could allow,^ and being constant at church and sacra- 
 ment."* 
 
 7. But I can meet with my preacher when he visits the 
 class, and it makes not much difference if I fail to meet 
 regularly with my leader.'^ This is also an excuse of the 
 circuits. But the preacher may not come regularly ] and 
 
 * Wesley'e Works vol. iv. p. 427. 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 215 
 
 wien he does come, he may not be disposed to meet the 
 class, or he may be so taken up with other matters that he 
 has not time to attend to this duty ; or he may neglect to 
 meet the class under the belief that the leader has attended 
 to his duty; and thus you neglect the leader, and the 
 preacher neglects you. Beside, upon your plan, a funda- 
 mental principle of the Methodist Church, the very princi- 
 ple upon which the classes are founded, is violated. It has 
 already been shown that the system of the classes is essen- 
 tial to the efficiency and success of an itinerant ministry, 
 and such is our ministry. Thus, the frequent and necessary 
 absence of the pastor to visit other portions of his circuit, 
 requires the aid of the leaders to oversee the flock at the 
 very time you fail to meet your class. That is, all the ad- 
 vantages of class meeting in the absence of the pastor you 
 voluntarily forego, and are content with the discharge of but 
 half your duty, probably not even that. You might ^ just 
 as well neglect to meet with your pastor in class, as with 
 your leader ; for the duty to attend is the same in both 
 cases, and unspeakable advantages are derived from both. 
 The disposition to neglect duty in one case indicates a dispo- 
 sition to neglect it in the other : it may be you do both. It 
 may be there are two preachers appointed to your circuit, 
 and you may meet in class with but one of these ; and then 
 at most you do not meet in class more than eight or ten 
 times in twelve months, and probably not half that number. 
 Indeed, loJien were you at class ? Do you meet in class with 
 the preacher at all ? do you meet with the leader at all ? I 
 fear not. 
 
 But this is not all. It is more profitable to meet with the 
 leader than with the preacher, because you have more time 
 for the exercises of the class meeting, such as self-examina- 
 tion, instruction, exhortation, prayer, and praise. And then 
 you will be the better prepared to meet in class with your 
 pastor when he visits your part of the circuit. The leader 
 
216 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 will be able to give a most favorable report of you to him. 
 The leader will be encouraged ] the pastor will be encouraged; 
 the other members of the class will be encouraged; the 
 church generally will be encouraged, and point to you as an 
 example ; you will be encouraged, and Grod will greatly bless 
 you in time of trouble, in life, and in death. Finally, it is 
 a much better evidence of sincerity, consistency, zeal, devo- 
 tion to the church, and deep piety, to meet in class regularly 
 with your leader, than occasionally with your pastor, because 
 then the ordinary motives to meet and mingle with the 
 general congregation when the preacher comes cannot be 
 the reasons that induce you to meet with the humble and 
 pious few who assemble with the leader solely for religious 
 objects. 
 
 8. But if I attend faithfully to all the other means of 
 grace connected with the church, I may, without much loss, 
 occasionally neglect my class. In the first place, do you 
 faithfully attend to all the other means of grace ? Do you 
 ever neglect, without sufficient cause, the preaching of the 
 word? Do you ever neglect the sacrament of the Lord's 
 supper, whether it is administered monthly, as in the stations, 
 or quarterly, as it is ordinarily done on the circuits ? Do you 
 ever neglect the weekly preaching, whether in the stations 
 or on the circuits ? Do you read the Bible regularly and 
 devotionally ? Do you observe the regular public prayer- 
 meetings ? Do you faithfully observe private prayer ? and 
 if the head of a family, do you ever omit, without a good 
 reason, the morning and evening social service, family 
 prayer ? Do you ever fast, either weekly, or preparatory to 
 the quarterly meeting, or in time of temptation, or at all ? 
 Do you ever meditate long, and deeply, and with delight 
 upon spiritual things ? for meditation is a means of grace. 
 Do you ever subject your heart to a severe and honest ex- 
 amination ? and self-examination is a means of grace. Do 
 you ever converse with pious friends upon holy things, the 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 217 
 
 hopes and the joys of the Christian ? and conversation is a 
 means of grace. Do you ever exercise self-denial in re- 
 pressing the glowing ardor of a worldly spirit ? and the 
 exercise of self-denial is a means of grace of singular ad- 
 vantage. If you are in the regular discharge of all these 
 duties, then you are the last man in the church of God to 
 make the excuse under consideration. To you the class 
 meeting should have heightened and peculiar charms, and, 
 of all men, you should be among those who hold the class 
 meeting in the highest estimation. There is a plain and 
 irreconcilable contradiction in the terms of the excuse. 
 Secondly, consistently with the nature of the Methodist 
 Church, you cannot be all that the excuse assumes, and 
 at the same time habitually neglect the class meeting. 
 Though you observe faithfully every others means of grace, 
 you cannot, without great loss, neglect the class meeting. 
 Supposing you have observed faithfully every other means of 
 grace, you are not what you might have been, had you faith- 
 fully observed this means of grace. No matter what else you 
 do as a Methodist, you can never become what you may be 
 by the additional and proper observance of the class meeting. 
 Take your experience. What progress have you made since 
 neglect commenced ? Any sensible progress at all ? Com- 
 pare your present state with what you were when just con- 
 verted to God, or when your earliest attention was faithfully 
 given to the class meeting. Did not every means of grace 
 then glow with spiritual life and comfort ? Are they not 
 now comparatively lifeless and comfortless to you ? Have 
 you not already suffered a great and sensible loss in experi- 
 mental religion ? Have you not fallen from your first 
 love To what a dark depth have you fallen ? Thirdly, 
 upon your principle, the class system might be abolished 
 altogether, and then farewell to Methodism. Fourthly, if 
 you are right, then the fathers and reflecting men of Method- 
 ism have been strangely mistaken in their estimate of the 
 
 19 
 
218 
 
 ORTECnOXS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 importance of the class-system. Finally, the only assign- 
 able ground of your excuse, is a growing indifference to 
 Tital godlines, or a gradual declension in spiritual experience. 
 May God rouse you as from the dead I 
 
 9. " I met with my class last week, and shall not attend 
 this week.^^ Then you wish to keep up a mere appearance 
 of religion. To you the class meetiog cannot have been 
 productive of much profit, and never will be till yon make its 
 observance a regular service. And why should it not be so 
 made? That which was right last week is right this week^ 
 and the same reason for attending last week continues this 
 week. It is a weeMy duty, and hence the discharge of duty 
 one week cannot release you from duty the next week. The 
 last week had, and the next week will have^ the same claims 
 as this, in this matter. Do you not need grace to help you 
 this week, as you did last week ? Is danger less, privilege 
 less, responsibility less, this week, than they were last week ? 
 No, but increased; and therefore the necessity to attend class 
 this week is more urgent than it was last week, and so must 
 continue to be to the end of life. You might just as well 
 say, I prayed yesterday morning, and therefore shall not 
 pray this morning; or heard the word preached last Sunday, 
 and therefore shall stay at home to-day ; or received the sa- 
 crament at the last communion, and therefore shall not re- 
 ceive it at the next time ; or read my Bible yesterday, and 
 therefore shall not read it to-day; and so of every other 
 means of grace. At this rate, it is easy to see that the 
 preservation of order in the church would be impossible, and 
 that the Christian profession would be a matter of but small 
 importance. Religious responsibility would be greatly les- 
 sened, and the amount of backsliding in heart and life be 
 incalculably great. Xever give this excuse another moment's 
 enter taiament. 
 
 10. It is too cold or too warm, or it is cloudy or rainy, 
 and the streets or the roads are wet and muddy. Bo these 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 219 
 
 difficulties stop you in matters of worldly pleasure or busi- 
 ness ? Not at all. And are not the the pleasures of reli- 
 gion, and the great business of the soul, confined to this 
 fleeting life, of inconceivably greater magnitude ? Would 
 these trivial difficulties arrest you if life, property, or repu- 
 tation were in jeopardy ? Not at all. Why then should 
 they be considered sufficient causes to justify the neglect of 
 the incomparably greater interests of eternity, which are in 
 imminent hazard every moment ? But I put the question, 
 
 ^ Do you meet with your class when the weather and the cir- 
 cumstances are most favorable ? Probably but seldom ; it 
 may be, never. What then ? With no excuse for neglect 
 in this case, you are ready to soothe the conscience with the 
 most flimsy pretences in the other case. Any thing will 
 answer for the purpose. I put the question again, Are you 
 willing to vindicate yourself before God upon these grounds ? 
 Do they even really palliate the offence of neglect before 
 your own conscience ? 
 
 11. I am slightly indisposed. Too much so to attend 
 to worldly business or pleasure, or the ordinary duties of 
 life ? Then the excuse is valid ; otherwise, it is insufficient. 
 But I put the question. Do you meet with your class when 
 you are in good health ? Probably not often ; it may be 
 never. It is evident you have not formed the habit of 
 regular attention to this means of grace. A profound 
 regard for this means of grace cannot be afi'ected by a slight 
 indisposition. Age and infirmity are often found in the 
 class-room celebrating the goodness of God, and rejoicing 
 in the solace of his grace. Christian fellowship soothes 
 and refreshes the body under the languor of disease, and it 
 would, doubtless, contribute much to the removal of the 
 indisposition of which you complain. Even a walk or a 
 ride in the open air to the class-room might do something 
 to relieve you. But it may be that your indisposition is of 
 
 ^ a constitutional or a chronic character, and so slight, gene- 
 
220 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 rally, that you do not notice it particularly till the class- 
 meeting day comes, and then it is suddenly aggravated into 
 a serious complaint, which passes away, however, with the 
 hour in which you should have met with your class. But 
 how long have you been afflicted with this sickness ? How 
 often does it occur? How long does it ordinarily last? 
 Does it leave you no time for class meeting ? Are you on 
 the sick list? Does your sickness cause you to lose a 
 moment of time, or cost you a cent for medicine or for 
 medical treatment? Do you report your indisposition to 
 the class-leader as the cause of your absence? Does it 
 detain you from church on Sunday, or from the company 
 of your friends, or prevent your meeting your ordinary 
 engagements with your fellow-men ? Oh, no ! Why, then, 
 magnify it into a matter of so much consequence, when a 
 plain and solemn duty demands but an hour's attention and 
 not the least exposure? Get well from this hour, and 
 never get sick again, unless you cannot help it. 
 
 12. I can tell but the same old story, and hear but the 
 same old advice from the leader, and the same old state- 
 ments from the members.'' Very well; better this than 
 nothing ; better this than stay at home. If you obtain no 
 instruction, the spirit of the class meeting is most salutary, 
 and religious habits are of great value. You hear many 
 sermons which afford you no instruction, and you often 
 partake of the Lord's supper without any sensible spiritual 
 profit, and engage in singing old familiar hymns and tunes 
 in praise of God without any particular delight; and yet, 
 for all this, you do not neglect or abandon them. But if, 
 in all these instances, you exercised the proper spirit, you 
 would never fail to receive some spiritual profit. So, 
 whenever you meet with your class, if you go with the 
 proper spirit, you will never fail to obtain some spiritual 
 blessing. Beside, the reason why you hear many sermons 
 without instruction, and often partake of the Lord's supper 
 
EXCUSES EXAMINED. 
 
 221 
 
 without spiritual profit^ and sing old familiar hymns without 
 delight, and often pray without receiving any sensible 
 answer, and read the Bible without edification, is because 
 your ordinary spirit and practice are worldly, and you are in 
 the daily neglect of private religious duties ; so that when 
 you engage in religious services in the church or elsewhere, 
 you are not in a frame of mind to enjoy them. So in 
 class meetings : you go thither unprepared to enjoy them, 
 and no wonder you find them ordinarily uninteresting. 
 Improve in religion at home, and in your intercourse with 
 the world, and every time you go to class you will have 
 something new to say, though you hear nothing new from 
 others ; you will find the class meeting invested with a new 
 and growing interest ; and no religious service will be so 
 improving and delightful to you, however insipid and 
 tedious it may be now. You will then discover that the 
 old sayings, and hymns, and prayers, and counsels, of which 
 you now complain, will appear in a new light; and that 
 those who you think have been standing still for years have 
 been advancing all the time, and are far ahead of you in 
 spiritual knowledge and experience. Indeed, you will be 
 pleased to adopt some of these same objectionable phrases 
 to describe your own religious state 3 and you will find a 
 real and profound delight, such as you never felt before, in 
 uttering, I feel more resolved than ever, by the grace of 
 God, to make my calling and election sure and you will 
 sing, with invigorating faith and undying pleasure : — 
 
 Help me to watch and pray, 
 
 And on thyself rely ; 
 Assured, if I my trust betray, 
 
 I shall forever die." 
 
 All this is just as you would have the class meeting to be, 
 and all this shall be so, if you walk with Jesus daily : for 
 
222 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND EXCUSES. 
 
 then you shall meet Jesus with his people in the class- 
 room, whose presence is the primary requisite to happiness 
 there. 
 
 We might fill a volume with excuses on this subject, but 
 these will suffice, and we hasten to another part of this 
 work. 
 
PART V. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 1. From the itinerant relation which the Methodist 
 preacher sustains to the church, it is his duty, as far as 
 practicable, to visit the classes composing his pastoral 
 charge. He should take time for this, for this is of chief 
 importance, and less material matters should never be per- 
 mitted to interfere with the discharge of this duty. He 
 should not be satisfied with the accounts given weekly by 
 the leaders, though this, in many places, is greatly ne- 
 glected or but little regarded. Beside, many of the 
 leaders frequently are themselves unfaithful, and ignorant 
 of the spiritual state of their classes, and so can give no 
 information. Classes sometimes die on the hands of impro- 
 per and unfaithful leaders, which might have been pre- 
 vented by a prudent and timely change of leaders. But 
 how can the evil be prevented, unless the preacher visit the 
 classes and inform himself? Moreover, the preacher, by 
 visiting the classes, and conversing with each member, can 
 obtain a better knowledge of the spiritual condition of the 
 class than he can from any account given by the leader. It 
 is, in a word, only when the preacher's time is demanded 
 
 223 
 
224 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS; LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 for the discharge of other duties that he is properly released 
 from obligation to visit and examine the classes. 
 
 Mr. Wesley, the founder of the system, is, in this 
 respect, an example for his successors in pastoral authority. 
 Says he, I rode to Bristol where, the following week, I 
 spoke to each member of the society, and rejoiced over 
 them, finding they had not been ' barren or unfruitful in the 
 knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.^ Again: ^^On 
 the following days I spoke with each member of the society 
 in Kingswood. I cannot understand how any minister can 
 hope ever to give up his account with joy, unless (as Igna- 
 tius advises) he ^ knows all his flock by name; not over- 
 looking the men-servants and maid-servants.' '^f Again : 
 
 My brother and I began visiting the society together, 
 which employed us from six in the morning every day till 
 near six in the evening. J 
 
 The neglect of this pastoral duty, and that of pastoral 
 visitation, will certainly result not only in the loss of the 
 spirituality, but decrease in the number, of those who 
 habitually attend class. The services of the Sabbath day, 
 however invigorating, are not enough to perpetuate, much 
 less promote, the life of the church. Religion is social, 
 and religion must be nourished in the class-room and the 
 homes of men; and there the pastor must diffuse the charm 
 and dispense the admonitions of the gospel he loves and 
 preaches. In the evening/' says Mr. Wesley, I reached 
 
 Colchester. I found the society had decreased since L 
 
 C went away; and yet they had full as good preachers. 
 
 But that is not sufficient : by repeated experiments we 
 learn that though a man preach like an angel, he will 
 neither collect, nor preserve a society which is collected, 
 without visiting them from house to house.'' § Indeed, 
 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 278. f ^^^^ P- 279. 
 
 § Journal, yol. iv. p. 14.— Ibid. p. 380. 
 
 *t Ibid. p. 279. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 225 
 
 faithful pastoral visiting is of more importance than 
 the most powerful preaching. The faithful pastor, though 
 of ordinary abilities, is more efficient than the most popular 
 and powerful preacher who confines his labors principally to 
 the pulpit. Ordinarily, in the former case, more members 
 will be added to the church, the church itself will be more 
 spiritual in heart and life, and Christians will die happier 
 than in the latter case. The influence of pastoral visitation 
 upon the homes and classes will be reciprocal between the 
 pastor and his flock. Religious sympathies will become 
 intense, and mutual confidence be established. The pastor 
 thus obtains a knowledge of the spiritual character and 
 wants of his flock, which it is impossible for him otherwise 
 to obtain. And without this knowledge, how little does his 
 preaching avail ! He may advance the general interests of 
 Christianity, but little special spiritual good is efi'ected. 
 Happy pastor, who preaches with this knowledge ! Happy 
 flock, who have such a pastor ! He visits the classes, and 
 examines the members one by one ; and this is his duty, 
 and this he should do whenever it is practicable ; and this 
 he may do more conveniently and regularly on the stations 
 than the circuits; and yet on neither station nor circuit 
 should mere inconvenience prevent the discharge of this 
 duty. It is laborious work, but it must be done. '^I 
 began visiting the classes,^^ says Mr. Wesley, " in London, 
 and that with more exactness than ever before. After 
 going through them, I found the society contained about 
 three-and-twenty hundred and fifty members, few of whom 
 we could discern to be triflers, and none, we hope, live in 
 wilful sin.^^* And this requires time, but it must be taken : 
 
 I spoke,'' says Mr. Wesley again, one by one to the ^ 
 society at Hutton Rugby. They were about eighty in 
 number : of whom near seventy were believers, and sixteen 
 
 ^- Journal, vol. iv. p. 52, 
 
226 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 (probably) renewed in love/^* And it requires labor too : 
 I began/' says Mr. Wesley, visiting the society (Kings- 
 wood) from house to house, taking them from west to east. 
 This will undoubtedly be a heavy cross, no way pleasing to 
 flesh and blood. But I already saw how unspeakably use- 
 ful it will be to many souls.'^f Again : I began at the 
 east end of the town (London) to visit the society from 
 house to house.- I know no branch of the pastoral office 
 which is of greater importance than this. But it is so 
 grievous to flesh and blood, that I can prevail on few, even 
 of our preachers, to undertake it.'' J Mr. Wesley is a 
 capital example of faithfulness in discharging this duty. 
 In a multitude of instances in his Journal, he speaks of his 
 visiting the "classes" and the "societies." In his eightieth 
 year he says, " On Monday^ Tuesday y and Wednesday ^ I 
 visited the classes; and on Tliiirsday^ and the following 
 days, I visited the rest of the country societies." § 
 
 It is as much the duty of Methodist ministers to see that 
 the class meeting be observed by the people under their 
 charge, as it is the duty of the people to observe them. Dul- 
 ness, indolence, bashfulness, backwardness, a man-pleasing 
 spirit, and the like, are no excuses for the neglect of our 
 duty. No difficulties or hinderances that can be surmounted 
 are excuses for neglect, and difficulties there will be so long 
 as man has a corrupt heart. We do not say, that it is as 
 much the duty of the minister to visit the the classes as it is 
 to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments; but 
 all duties should be so arranged that each may be discharged; 
 they should not be permitted to clash, and none are to be 
 neglected that can be performed. 
 
 2. It is the duty of the preacher to see that the leaders visit 
 absentees faithfully and regularly. This is the solemn duty 
 
 * Journal, vol. iv. p. 103. 
 
 X Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 407. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 384. 
 I Ibid. p. 567. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 227 
 
 ©f the leaders. By neglecting this, a full class will speedily 
 dwindle down and decline. Thus : a member may have 
 been detained from class by necessity or by spiritual sloth. 
 Next week his disposition to attend is sensibly lessened, and 
 so on from week to week ; and if he be not stirred up and 
 encouraged by the affectionate admonitions of his leader, 
 his negligence will increase, till, not being required to give 
 an account of his religious state to his bj:ethren, he will 
 soon cease to examine himself, and his negligence will 
 become confirmed, and eventually he loses all relish for, and 
 abandons altogether, the communion of saints. If leaders 
 will not visit absentees, they neglect a most important part 
 of their work, and so prove themselves unworthy of the 
 office they hold. Rather than souls should suffer from ne- 
 glect, let the pastor remove such leaders, and substitute others 
 of a better stamp. The pastor's work requires it. 
 
 3. Let the good old practice* of examining the class- 
 books weekly, or whenever practicable, be universally revived 
 and established, that the attendance of the members may be 
 ascertained, the sick may be visited, the wavering be estab- 
 lished, and the wandering reclaimed. For this take time ; 
 and then let the visitation be prompt and faithful. Thou- 
 sands will be reclaimed ; the melancholy work of backslid- 
 ing will be arrested ; and the churches increase and flourish 
 as if in a perpetual revival. Every soul saved should, if 
 possible, be made a permanent accession to the church, and 
 an abiding and active agent in the work of God. Who, 
 then, could estimate the rapidity of the progress, and the 
 general efficiency of the church ? In a few years the num- 
 ber and power of the church would be increased beyond all 
 calculation. The very prospect is inspiring and makes the 
 
 * " Sunday, 20. — I spoke" says Mr. Wesley, " to every leader concern- 
 ing every one under his care ; and put out every person whom they could 
 not recommend to me." — Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 427. This is genuine 
 Wesleyan Methodist discipline. 
 
228 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 heart leap for joy. Let the preachers be encouraged to go 
 back for several years in some cases, and in company with 
 their former leader visit them, and affectionately urge them 
 to return. 
 
 4. Let there be occasionally a prudent interchange of 
 leaders. This would enliven the classes, by a distribution 
 of talents, and a varied fund of Christian experience. This 
 will reheve and enliven the leaders, just as the itinerancy 
 relieves and enlivens the preachers. This will bind the 
 whole church together more closely in the bonds of Chris- 
 tian fellowship and unity. This will keep all the leaders at 
 their post, and make them more diligent and desirous to be 
 active and useful. Let the leaders that have visibly de- 
 clined in zeal and godliness, and have fallen into a dull and 
 monotonous way of leading their classes, and are not likely 
 to revive; or by negligence have lost most of their numbers, 
 and are not likely to recover them ; be persuaded to resign 
 their charge, or an assistant be appointed who will make up 
 the lack of service. 
 
 5. Let the preachers more frequently and faithfully preach 
 on the obligation of Christian communion, which is seldom 
 insisted on from the pulpit, though the discipline of the visi- 
 ble church is one of the chief means of building up the 
 spiritual church. Let the preacher point from the pulpit 
 to the class-room with a solemn significance, and aid in ral- 
 lying the classes around their leaders. Let him marshal his 
 forces like a skilful general, and rouse and lead them for- 
 ward as by a trumpet's call to battle, one blessed spirit in- 
 spiring every bosom, and order and courage prevailing in 
 every rank. The onset of such a church will be omni- 
 potent. ^^The preaching of Christ crucified is God's great 
 ordinance and the voice of the preacher can be turned 
 with greater effect nowhere than in urging the whole church 
 in harmony and fellowship onward to the end and issues of 
 Christian duty and service. The conquest of the world is the 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 229 
 
 certain and sublime acbievement, and the richest celestial 
 laurels shall be worn by the leaders and victors in the battle. 
 
 6. To administer discipline. As the ministers of Christ 
 we should set ourselves to the execution of discipline in 
 this most necessary part of our work. It is sad, indeed, that 
 we should have settled down so long in the neglect of so im- 
 portant a duty. We hear from every quarter, Our people 
 are not ready for it ; they will not bear it.^' Not that, but 
 we dread the trouble and hatred it will involve. If our 
 constitution is sound, the government must be supported; 
 if what we demand is right, it is practicable; and if it is not 
 practicable, why, the constitution should be altered. If at- 
 tendance upon class be a proper test of membership, it should 
 be enforced; if it be not, it should be annulled. If it be 
 right to require it, why is it not enforced? if it be not, 
 why do we require it ? or trouble the church about its ne- 
 glect ? or complain so much of its neglect ? 
 
 The use of discipline is remotely for the offender, and im- 
 mediately for the church; but principally for the church, 
 that others may be deterred from similar offences, and so 
 the doctrine, order, and character of the church be mani- 
 fested and kept pure. We all believe this, and nothing else 
 is talked about and written about as more necessary than 
 church-discipline, and nothing considered as more generally 
 and lamentably neglected than it is. It has been so in all 
 ages of the church. ^^It hath made me wonder sometimes,'' 
 said Baxter, in 1655, to look on the face of England, and 
 see how few congregations in the land have any considerable 
 execution of discipline, and to think withal what volumes 
 have been written for it; and how almost all the ministry of 
 the nation are engaged for it. How zealously they have con- 
 tended for it, and made many a just exclamation against 
 the opposers of it ; and yet, notwithstanding all this, they 
 will do little or nothing in the exercise of it. How many 
 -ministers are there in England that know not their own 
 
 20 
 
230 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 charge, and cannot tell who are the members of it : that 
 never cast out one obstinate sinner, nor brought one to pub- 
 lic confession and promise of reformation, nor even admo- 
 nished one publicly to call him to repentance !'^* 
 
 Discipline should be executed, for there is no church- 
 government without it.f It is good in itself, but what 
 avails it if it effect no good ? It matters not what the laws 
 are, if they are not executed. The proper execution of 
 wise laws is the best argument in their defence. 
 
 Discipline should be executed, since the neglect of it 
 tends to induce offenders to believe that they are Christians 
 when they are not, and to consider sin a tolerable thing, 
 because it is tolerated by the church. 
 
 Discipline should be executed, that the difference between 
 the church and the world may be manifest ; otherwise the 
 church will be corrupted and shorn of its majesty in the 
 eyes of the world. 
 
 Discipline should be executed, because it is an ordinance 
 of Christ; and it is as much the duty of ministers to 
 execute it, as it is to preach, administer the sacraments, or 
 perform any other function of their holy office. 
 
 Discipline should be executed, lest the church itself be 
 ultimately destroyed by the neglect of it. 
 
 * Reformed Pastor, pp. 237, 238. 
 
 f " A church without discipline is like an army without a commander, 
 which is a rabble during peace, and a prey to the enemy in time of war. 
 It is like a family without a head, in which duty is left both undefined 
 and unperformed; in which passion prevails, favoritism rules, envy 
 rages, and the good of the whole is sacrificed to the caprice of one. It 
 is like a garden without walls, which ' all who pass by do pluck which 
 the ' wild boar of the forest doth waste and which the ^ wild beast of 
 the field doth devour.' In such a church there may be occasional 
 flashes of power felt in the ordinances, granted by God in honor of 
 individual devotedness ; but, at the same time, there will always be a 
 lamentable lack of harmony and holiness among the body of its minis- 
 ters and members.'* — Wesley's Magazine, 1835, p. 594. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHEES. 
 
 231 
 
 On these points we take our stand; and inquire^ if these 
 be the great reasons for the faithful execution of discipline, 
 why, in all ages, has it been so much neglected by the 
 church ? Surely this is a most important inquiry, and we 
 must call to our aid all the light we have on the subject. 
 It is obvious there can be no valid reason against that 
 which is supported by so many and such strong reasons, 
 it is obvious, also, that the execution of discipline, sup- 
 ported and required as it is, is nevertheless a most difficult 
 part of the minister's work, and it will be found that the 
 difficulty lies in hinderances, and not in insurmountable 
 obstacles. The hinderances usually mentioned, and which 
 really exist, are the following : — 
 
 The vast trouble and labor a faithful execution of disci- 
 pline would involve ; the hate and malice it would excite 
 in excommunicated members; the grief it would produce 
 in their friends ; the injury it might cause to weak mem- 
 bers, inducing some to leave the church; the dissensions 
 and contentions it might create in the church and in the 
 neighborhood; the probability of doing no good to offenders 
 after expulsion ; the difficulty of bringing the guilty to 
 trial, and of conducting the trial impartially and properly ; 
 the probability that, in most cases, it would do more harm 
 to the church and the guilty than good; and the evils to.be 
 corrected are now so many, and have been of such long 
 standing, that if they are not wholly insurmountable, the 
 correction of them would involve the almost entire disor- 
 ganization and dissolution of the church — that scarcely less 
 than a revolution is required to restore the church to evan- 
 gelical purity and simplicity. This is truly a startling 
 array. It is enough to shake the soul of the boldest and 
 wisest man. It is a work nothing short of omnipotence 
 itself. But with omnipotence we must not quail. The 
 hinderances may he overcome. 
 
 1. All these hinderances have been from the first, and 
 
232 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADES, ETC. 
 
 still are, in some places, as valid against tlie faithful preach- 
 ing of the gospel. Do we assume, with the infidel, that 
 the great objects of Christianity are to be frustrated by the 
 difficulties to be overcome ? that the world in rebellion is 
 an overmatch for the Son of God ? that the sedition and 
 league of men and devils cannot be suppressed by the 
 Spirit of Grod? Christ never acknowledged it; his apos- 
 tles never believed it. He came not to send peace on earth, 
 and reminded his apostles that the world would hate them ; 
 and they faithfully dischai-ged their duty at the cost of their 
 lives J every one of them, save John, and he at the cost of 
 exile ; and with what success they discharged their duty, 
 nearly twenty centuries can attest. And what are the diffi- 
 culties before us, compared with those they surmounted? 
 and what is the cost required of us, compared with what 
 was exacted of them ? Did Luther quail before the por- 
 tentous array of papal corruptions, superstitions, and oppo- 
 sition ? No ; but emancipated Europe, gave the nations a 
 progressive freedom, and agitated Rome with convulsions 
 from which she has never recovered, and can never recover. 
 And what of Wesley? Eead his Journal. No worldly 
 hazard, nor human obstacle, nor possible suffering, was a 
 reason against his work. TTith invincible courage, un- 
 ruffled serenity, and iron firmness, he grappled, almost 
 single-handed, with difficulties but little inferior to those 
 encountered by Paul and Luther, and laid the foundations 
 of Methodism in sound doctrine, profound experience, a 
 simple worship, and a wholesome discipline. To the end of 
 his long life he administered a mild and fii'm discipline. 
 which he regarded as indispensable to the permanence and 
 prosperity of the L^nited Societies/^ and were he pre- 
 siding over us now, in one short year the whole land would 
 be covered with useless branches thrown out of the church, 
 unless they could be revived with original greenness, and 
 adorned with original fruitfulness. Every page of his new 
 
DUTIES OP PREACHERS. 
 
 233 
 
 Journal would contain his old familiar phrase, "1 com- 
 menced visiting the classes/^ &c. The church, in its vast 
 family of circuits and stations, would be thrown into a 
 temporary consternation. Eevivals would then flame out 
 in every direction. A shout would go up from the whole 
 land. Methodism, with strength renewed, in unrivalled 
 beauty, symmetry, majesty, and power, would go forth, and 
 diffuse the balm and the bloom of immortality abroad this 
 wilderness world with a thousand-fold more rapidity than 
 she is now doing.'^ And shall we decline the noble work, 
 or cowardly shrink from the difficulty before us ? The 
 God of Paul and Luther and Wesley is with us.''' And, 
 let it be carefully observed, that, as a branch of the minis- 
 try of Christ, we are responsible for the faithful spiritual 
 care and oversight of that prominent part in the world's 
 redemption in which, in the allotments of providence, we 
 have been placed, for the advancement of the great work 
 
 * " What would Methodism have been without its vigorous system of 
 discipline ? No one can read our early records, without perceiving the 
 value Mr. Wesley and the first preachers set upon this only means of 
 purifying and invigorating a Christian church. It is no proof that 
 discipline is now less required, or ought now to be relaxed, that it is so 
 clamorously resisted. There will always be those who object to be its 
 subjects, and others to be its administrators. Some, in their anxiety 
 about numerical strength, are, perhaps, in danger of undervaluing 
 religious purity. Some have a natural timidity, and will not endure the 
 trouble. Some have not prospective views of the tendencies of evil, 
 and do not, therefore, anticipate the results of its full development. 
 And, perhaps, some are tempted to act on the eventually costly princi- 
 ple of a miserable expediency, instead of walking by rule ; and trust to 
 the providence or grace of God to prevent, or overrule, or mitigate 
 those consequences which they cannot but expect will sooner or later 
 result. There are societies which have suffered the excisions of the 
 pruning-knife, and whose present healthy, thriving, vigorous, and 
 aggressive character, and hearty engagement in every department of 
 Methodism, may satisfy us that a temporary inconvenience may be the 
 seed of a lasting blessing." — Wesleyan Magazine, 1835. Art. Wes- 
 ' leyan Methodism and the Spirit of the Age," p. 619. 
 
 20* 
 
234 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 transmitted to us by our fathers — for the farther progress 
 of the sublime work of ages. 
 
 2. Wherever the ministry of Christ have been timid and 
 temporizing, Christianity has obtained but a partial success ; 
 and whenever and wherever a wholesome discipline has 
 been neglected, the purest churches have degenerated into 
 formality and corruption. This is the history of the church 
 in all ages. Not an exception can be found. If every 
 other duty of the ministry be faithfully performed, and the 
 execution of discipline be neglected, though then there would 
 be the least occasion for its execution, evil upon evil, and 
 abuse upon abuse, will accumulate, till a promiscuous mass 
 of corruption is formed, that will preponderate over the 
 little good that remains in the church. We do not assume 
 that corruption has yet become manifest, or even exists, in 
 our church ; but we do assume that, because the execution 
 of discipline has been neglected so long, and to so great an 
 extent, and in very many particulars, formality is spread- 
 ing alarmingly in every direction ; and yet we affirm as our 
 decided conviction, that the power of godliness in the 
 aggregate prevails over the amount of lifeless formality. 
 And the time has come when we can temporize and be 
 timid no longer in preaching and in the execution of disci- 
 pline, icithout endangering the essential purity and general 
 safety of the church. The institutions of our church were 
 ordained to do good ; and to permit them to be neglected 
 with impunity is not only to frustrate the good designed, 
 but to throw wide open the door for the admission of every 
 form of evil and corruption. If the execution of disci- 
 pline will effect good, God will bless it to do good, and we 
 are under the profoundest responsibility to execute it. 
 Discipline is the last means to protect the church, and it is 
 to be executed when every antecedent means has failed. 
 Those within and those without the church will be bene- 
 fited by it, if offenders are not ; and hence it is vain to 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 235 
 
 say we preclude all opportunity to do offenders any good 
 by expelling thdin from tlie churcli. 
 
 3. The hinderances in the way to the execution of 
 discipline are great, it is true, but nd% so great as we 
 are apt to imagine. A prudent and wise method of pro- 
 cedure will obviate many, if not all, of them. Often 
 where we have apprehended the most serious consequences, 
 the least harm has ensued. Instead of malice and hate, 
 the excommunicated have manifested submission and con- 
 trition. The friends of offenders, it is true, have been 
 grieved, and it could not be otherwise ; but their grief was 
 neither a crime nor an evil. Weak members may have 
 left the church, and such never had a strong attachment 
 for the church ; but others were admonished to be more 
 diligent and faithful, lest they also share the same fate. 
 Dissensions and contentions may have arisen, but they soon 
 subsided, and order and quiet were restored to the church 
 and the neighborhood. Good to offenders is not the chief 
 object of church discipline, though, in most cases, this is 
 the surest means of doing them good.* The dijficulty of 
 
 The tendency of discipline is to humble the offender, to turn his 
 mind directly upon his sin, and awaken the most serious reflections 
 respecting that melancholy day when the Judge shall pronounce against 
 him the stern and irrevocable sentence of condemnation and death. 
 
 "Nothing in the order of means is equally adapted to awaken com- 
 punction in the guilty with spiritual censures impartially administered. 
 The sentence of excommunication, in particular, harmonizing with the 
 dictates of conscience, and re-echoed by her voice, is truly terrible : it is 
 the voice of God speaking through its legitimate organ, which he who 
 despises or neglects, ranks with 'heathen men,^ joins the synagogue of 
 Satan, and takes his lot with an unbelieving world, doomed to perdition. 
 Excommunication is a sword which, strong in its apparent weakness, 
 and the sharper and more keenly-edged for being divested of all sen- 
 sible and exterior envelopments, lights immediately on the spirit, and 
 inflicts a wound which no balm can cure, no ointment can mollify, but 
 which must continue to ulcerate and burn, till healed by the blood of the 
 ^ atonement, applied by penitence and prayer." — Treatise on Terms of 
 Communion, by Robert Hall, p. 138. 
 
2S6 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 bringing the guilty to trial, and of conducting the trial 
 impartially and properly, is admitted ; but it is not insur- 
 mountable, as experience has attested, and will attest: 
 promptness, firmness, energy, and prudence are all that are 
 required, and the pastor that has not these is not qualified 
 to have the government of the church ; and then the argu- 
 ment will turn upon the incapability of the pastor to govern, 
 and not upon the evil of church discipline. But as ability 
 to govern the church is as necessary a qualification as ability 
 to preach, he that is unable to rule the church should not 
 be intrusted with the work of governing, any more than 
 with authority to preach — indeed, not as much ; for he may 
 be intrusted with authority to preach, and so accomplish 
 some good, and the authority to govern be given to another. 
 And so a negligent pastor, though able to govern, should 
 not be intrusted with an authority which he will not exer- 
 cise. And as to the probability that, in most cases, the 
 execution of discipline would do more harm to the church 
 and the guilty than good, the probability is all the other 
 way ; in most cases it will be beneficial to the guilty, if any 
 thing can be, since this is the last means to benefit him that 
 can be applied; and as lopping ofif the withered branches 
 makes a tree the more fruitful, or as removing those affected 
 with a contagious disease is a protection to those in good 
 health, so the execution of discipline tends to improve the 
 efficiency of the church and preserve its purity. But as to 
 the difl&culty and the danger of removing the many evils of 
 long standing in the church, that is the most serious thing 
 for our attention, and to it we shall give a most careful 
 consideration. 
 
 In the first place, as respects class meetings, the neglect 
 of them has become so general, and has been tolerated so 
 long, that the institution is talked of as obsolete j if not re- 
 garded by many as such. It would not therefore be wise 
 and safe to proceed to the execution of discipline ahruptli/. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 237 
 
 The pastor should forewarn duly his flock of his resolution 
 to revive and enforce the discipline on the subject of class 
 meetings, and then proceed, with the help of the leaders, to 
 the faithful discharge of the duties prescribed as preliminary 
 to the arrangement and trial of those who ^' continue to ne- 
 glect/^ and " and will not amend/' In a vast majority of 
 cases, with the proper treatment, amendment will ensue. 
 Secondly, the pastor and leaders must be prompt, firm, mild, 
 active, and impartial. It will avail but little, it will do 
 more harm than good, to threaten, and say what you are 
 going to do, and then do nothing, or to do what you do par- 
 tially. Thirdly, the pastor and leaders must act in concert. 
 Fourthly, the pastors themselves should all act in concert. 
 It would be a sad thing for a negligent pastor to pull down 
 one year what another had built up. And we will venture, 
 fifthly, to suggest that the faithful execution of discipline, 
 especially in the case of the neglect of class meetings, be 
 made by the General Conference as specifically, strictly, and 
 indispensably conditional of continuance in authority to 
 govern the church, as the faithful discharge of the duty of 
 preaching is now conditional of continuance in authority to 
 preach. Incapacity, likewise, should be regarded as good a 
 ground of deposition in the one case as in the other. 
 
 Let not those who lead the way in restoring the proper 
 discipline in our church be charged as innovators, but re- 
 garded as doing their duty, and as correcting what is indeed 
 a practical innovation. And should not every minister feel 
 encouraged in the possession of such a means for the efi^c- 
 tual management of his work, and his heart bound for joy 
 when he looks forward, and sees what, with the blessing of 
 God, it will accomplish ? 
 
 Who should be the first to lead in this most desirable re- 
 formation ? Evidently those who are the most pious, able, 
 and influential in the ministry, because their very piet}^, 
 ability, and influence have abated the sense of obligation in 
 
238 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 private members to attend class meetings, and encouraged 
 them to neglect that which is not considered, after all, as a 
 matter of so much offence. If the chief jrulers hold 
 obedience to the laws as a matter of little importance, it 
 will not be surprising if the private citizens consider their 
 violation as a matter of little disgrace. If superior men 
 allow the neglect of class meetings, inferior men will be 
 borne down by the impetuous tide. The practice of superior 
 men is apt to be made by the people the standard of their duty 
 to the ministry, as well as the standard of the minister's 
 work ; and if this work be made to comprehend no more 
 than preaching the word, administering the sacraments, and 
 visiting the sick, the people will soon come to expect no 
 more at their hands ; and then it will be next to impossible 
 for inferior men to execute discipline, which is as essential 
 a part of the minister's work as the above duties. 
 
 Administration of discipline requires great wisdom and 
 firmness. We have already considered attendance upon 
 class meeting as a condition of membership. Yet the ad- 
 ministration of discipline, in cases of wilful and repeated ne- 
 glect, is often a matter of very great delicacy. I met,'' 
 says Mr. "Wesley, the society (in Norwich) at five, and 
 explained the nature and use of meeting in a class. Upon 
 inquiry, I found, we have now about five hundred members. 
 But a hundred and fifty of these do not pretend to meet at 
 all. Of those, therefore, I made no account. They hang 
 on but a single thread."* And yet they were permitted 
 to continue in the society, though tbey were not included 
 in the account of the number of those in society. In 
 matters of this kind the preacher must exercise his best 
 judgment. 
 
 If the proper discipline, when required, be neglected, 
 spiritual life must soon almost altogether expire. Says Mr. 
 
 J ournal, vol. iv. p. 44. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 239 
 
 Wesley : " I reached Launcestowiij and found the small re- 
 mains of a dead, scattered society : and no wonder, as they 
 have had scarce any discipline, and only one sermon in a 
 fortnight. On Friday^ 5th, I found just such another society 
 at Camelford. But their deadness here was owing to bitter- 
 ness against each other. In the morning I heard the con- 
 tending parties face to face; and they resolved and promised, 
 on all sides, to let past things be forgotten. Oh, how few 
 have learned to forgive one another, as God, for Christ's 
 sake, hath forgiven us !''* In the one case, the remedy, dis- 
 cipline, was not applied ; in the other case, the simple remedy 
 is applied, and the society reconciled. When, however, it is 
 evident that any have lost all spiritual life ; that no con- 
 sideration is given to the means of grace ; that no regard is 
 entertained for the class meeting ; that no good is derived by 
 continuing longer in the class or in the church ; that they 
 do not hang on even by a single thread,'^ — it is a plain case 
 that the proper steps should be immediately and promptly 
 taken to remove all such from association with the church. 
 
 I retired,'' says Mr. Wesley, " to Lewisham, and tran- 
 scribed the list of the society. About a hundred and sixty 
 I left out, to whom I can do no good at present.^f Again: 
 
 I met the classes, (at York,) and found many therein who 
 were much alive to God, but many others who were utterly 
 dead ; which sufficiently accounts for the society's not in- 
 creasing."! These, as useless branches, should be lopped 
 off from the parent tree, unless they can be revived. 
 
 Sometimes Mr. Wesley employed several days consecu- 
 tively in visiting the classes, and even from most flourishing 
 societies often excluded large numbers. ^^I began," says 
 he, visiting the classes, (Dublin,) which employed me (from 
 Friday) to the Thursday following. We found it necessary 
 
 * Journal, vol. iv. p. 71. f Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 91. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 104. 
 
240 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS^ ETC. 
 
 to exclude one hundred and twelve members ; there re- 
 mained eleven hundred and thirty-six/^* This work must 
 have required much patience and labor, as well as great 
 prudence and firmness. Doubtless the classes were all 
 visited and examined, and the leaders also strictly examined 
 respecting every individual member of their classes, before 
 Mr. Wesley found just and sufficient reasons for excluding 
 so large a number from the society or church in Dublin. 
 Preachers in charge of circuits or stations should pursue 
 the same course wherever it is required, in the present day. 
 And they should continue to do this, from year to year, 
 with all prudence and firmness, till the unholy leaven is re- 
 moved from the church. The year following, Mr. Wesley 
 again visited Dublin, and he makes this entry in his Jour- 
 nal : On Monday J Tuesday, and Wednesday, I visited the 
 classes, now containing a little above a thousand members, 
 after I had excluded about a hundred. ^'f Again : " I came 
 to Nottingham. I had long doubted what it was that hin- 
 dered the work of Grod here. But upon inquiry, the case 
 was plain. So many of the society were either triflers or 
 disorderly walkers, that the blessing of Grod could not rest 
 upon them; so I made short work, cutting off all such at a 
 stroke, and leaving only that little handful who (as far as 
 could be judged) were really in earnest to save their souls.'^ J 
 And by this method he actually strengthened the church. 
 
 Faithful administration of the discipline, we have said, 
 is required in order to protect the purity and vindicate the 
 reputation of the church. It is so under civil and all other 
 kinds of good government. No man more than Mr. Wesley 
 felt the force of this requisition ; no man more wisely and 
 firmly than he administered government upon this principle. 
 
 God humbled us,^' says he, in the evening by the loss of 
 
 Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 670. f Ibid. p. 725. 
 
 X Ibid. vol. iii. p. 306. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 241 
 
 more than tliirty of our little company, whom I was obliged 
 to exclude, as no longer adorning the gospel of Christ. I 
 believed it best openly to declare both their names and the 
 reasons why they were excluded. We then all cried unto 
 God, that this might be for their edification, and not for 
 destruction.'^* Again : After diligent inquiry made, I 
 removed all those from the congregation of the faithful (in 
 London) whose behaviour or spirit was not agreeable to the 
 gospel of Christ : openly declaring the objections I had to 
 each, that others might fear, and cry to God for them/'f 
 And so he often cut off many at a time from a single society : 
 In the following week I diligently inquired who they were 
 that did not walk according to the gospel. In consequence 
 of which I was obliged to put away above fifty persons. 
 There remained above eight hundred in the society.'^J In 
 another case he mentions the expulsion of sixty-four, and 
 the causes for which they were expelled : The number of 
 those who were expelled the society was sixty-four : two for 
 cursing and swearing ; two for habitual Sabbath-breaking ; 
 seventeen for drunkenness; two for retailing spirituous 
 liquors ; three for quarelling and brawling ; one for beating 
 his wife ; three for habitual, wilful lying ; four for railing 
 and evil-speaking ; one for idleness and laziness ; and nine- 
 and-twenty for lightness and carelessness. This work of 
 expulsion he continued : ^^The next week, we endeavored 
 to purge the society (London) of all that did not walk ac- 
 cording to the gospel. By this means we reduced the num- 
 ber of members to less than nineteen hundred. But number 
 is an inconsiderable circumstance. May God increase them 
 in faith and love !'^|| Thus, of the society at Gateshead he 
 says : " The society, which the first year consisted of above 
 eight hundred members, is now reduced to four hundred. 
 
 Wesley's "Works, vol. iii. p. 236. 
 X Ibid. p. 280. § Ibid. p. 258. 
 
 21 
 
 t Ibid. p. 237. 
 II Ibid. p. 317* 
 
242 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS^ LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 But, according to the old proverb, the half is more than 
 the whole. "We shall not be ashamed of any of these, when 
 we speak of our enemies in the gate/^"^ 
 
 The great importance Mr. Wesley attached to discipline 
 may be seen from the following quotations : 
 
 ^'Q. 55. How can we account for the decrease of the 
 work of God in some circuits, both this year and the last ? 
 
 A. It may be owing either, (1.) To the want of zeal and 
 exactness in the assistant, occasioning want of discipline 
 throughout, &c. 
 
 Q. 56. What can be done in order to revive the work of 
 God where it is decayed ? 
 
 A. (2.) Let both assistants and preachers be conscien- 
 tiously exact in the whole Methodist discipline. '^f 
 
 To Rev. Christopher Hopper, one of his preachers, he 
 wrote : London, October 13, 1770 : — My dear brother : 
 You are quite right. If a man preach like an angel, he 
 will do little good without exact discipline.'^! 
 
 To Mr. (afterward Dr.) Adam Clarke, he wrote : New 
 London, January 3, 1787: — Dear Adam: You see, none 
 that trust in Him are confounded. When God is for us, 
 who can be against us ? Discipline is the great want in 
 Guernsey ; without which the work of God cannot prosper. 
 You did well to set upon it without delay, and to be as exact 
 as possible. It is a true saying, ' The soul and the body make 
 ihe man; and the spirit and the discipline make a Chris- 
 tian.' And in his Journal he writes, Friday 17, 
 (1750,) I preached at Ludgvan at noon, and at Newlyn in 
 the evening. Through all Cornwall, I find the societies have 
 suffered great loss from want of discipline. Wisely said the 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p. 392. 
 
 f Ibid. vol. V. p. 232, — Minutes of several conversations between Mr. 
 Wesley and others. 
 
 + Ibid. vol. vi. p. 789. ? Ibid, vol, vii. p, 20.3. 
 
DUTIES 0^ PREACHHRS. 
 
 243 
 
 ancients, ^ The soul and body make a man ; the Spirit and 
 discipline make a Christian/ '^"^ 
 
 A friend asked Mr. Wesley, near the close of his long 
 and useful life, What can be done for Methodism when 
 you are gone He replied, They must take heed to their 
 doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their disci- 
 pline. If they attend to their doctrine only, they will make 
 Antinomians of the people ; if they attend to their experi- 
 ence only, they will become enthusiasts ; if they attend to 
 their practice only, they will become Pharisees ; and if they 
 attend strictly to their doctrine, their experience, and their 
 practice, and neglect their discipline, they will act like a man 
 who plants a vineyard, and leaves it without a fence, to be 
 trodden down by the wild animals of the forest.^' 
 
 The question of exclusion for wilful and repeated neglect 
 of class is of the gravest nature, and demands at all times a 
 most careful consideration. It involves the rights and inte- 
 rests both of the church and the delinquent members. No 
 rights and interests of man can be as great as those of 
 church-membership, and no interests of the church can be 
 as great as those of purity and integrity; and her authority 
 to protect these must be vindicated. The rule for exclusion 
 for non-attendance of class is, therefore, so prescribed, as to 
 guard against improper and injudicious proceeding with 
 offenders, and at the same time protect the purity, integrity, 
 and authority of the church. 
 
 Let it be observed that the ternl employed is exclusion, 
 and not expulsion, though the result in both cases is the 
 same ; namely, a forfeiture of the rights and privileges of 
 church-membership. The rule to be observed in excluding 
 for offence is most proper and judicious; and when properly 
 and judiciously applied, no one has any just ground for com- 
 plaint. The offence is wilful and repeated neglect.'' The 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p. 497. 
 
244 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 steps to be observed are the following : First, it is tbe duty 
 of the leader to visit offenders of this nature, to advise, 
 reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require,'^ and 
 
 inform the minister of any that will not be reproved/'* 
 When neglect has been repeated, and the leader is satisfied 
 that it is wilful, it is his duty to inform the minister of any 
 and every such case. It is then, secondly, the duty of the 
 pastor to visit the offender, "whenever it is practicable,'^ and 
 
 explain to him the consequence of continued neglect, viz. 
 exclusion/' Thirdly, if he do " not amend," his case is to 
 be brought " before the society, or a select number, before 
 whom he shall have been cited to appear 3 and if found 
 guilty of wilful neglect, by the decision of the majority of 
 the members, he is to be laid aside." And, fourthly, the 
 preacher is to " show that he is excluded for a breach of 
 our rules, and not for immoral conduct." After the leader 
 has visited and used his best efforts to reclaim the offender, 
 but in vain, — after the pastor has done the same, but in 
 vain, — after both have exercised the proper forbearance, but 
 in vain, — what then is the conclusion to which the - pastor 
 must come ? Why, that the offender has in fact withdrawn 
 himself from the pastoral oversight of the Methodist minis- 
 try, and therefore that he should be formally excluded from 
 the Methodist Church, and so his case is brought before the 
 church, as above, that this may be done. He had before 
 in fact voluntarily withdrawn himself from the church, and 
 by the decision of the church, as above, the preacher is to 
 state that he is excluded, " laid aside," is no longer a mem- 
 ber of the Methodist Church, no longer under the pastoral 
 oversight of the Methodist ministry. It is immaterial to 
 say that he may nevertheless be a Christian. By his wilful 
 and repeated neglect to meet his class, he puts it out of the 
 power of his leader and his pastor to determine whether he 
 
 * Discipline, (1854)— General Rules — Class Leaders' duties, p. 29. 
 
DUTIES OF PREACHERS. 
 
 245 
 
 is a Christian or not ; and so, if lie be permitted to remain 
 longer in association with the churchy he is responsible to 
 none, and none can extend the proper spiritual care to him. 
 When the leader and the pastor have done all they can to 
 induce him to submit to their spiritual care, but in vain, are 
 they to be held responsible any longer for his oversight ? 
 Certainly not. And what else can be done in his case, but 
 to lay him aside ? to exclude him from the church ? Not 
 for immorality,'^ but because he has actually withdrawn 
 himself from the spiritual care of the Methodist Church ; 
 and surely he has no just ground of complaint against the 
 church for formally doing what he has actually, wilfully,'' 
 and " repeatedly" done himself. He voluntarily obligated 
 himself to attend class when he joined the church on proba- 
 tion, and the rule required that he should attend class at least 
 six months before he should be received into full member- 
 ship ; and the violation of this rule, which would have been 
 just ground to prevent his reception into full membership, 
 is still just ground for his exclusion. And so he must be 
 laid aside for the very reason for which he would not have 
 been received. In a word, wilful and repeated neglect of 
 class is a satisfactory evidence of a backslidden state, for 
 which the church has no other remedy but exclusion. 
 
 As the object of the laws of the church is to maintain 
 md preserve the church for the good of man and the service 
 of God, the penal sanctions of the laws must be answerable 
 to this object; and therefore the violation of them must in- 
 volve the loss of the privileges and benefits which the church 
 enjoys. Expulsion, then, is not only necessary to vindicate 
 the laws of the church, but is the greatest penalty the 
 church can inflict. 
 
 We will close this chapter with two quotations : The 
 one great cause of the great flourishing of religion in the 
 primitive times, was certainly the strictness used by them 
 in their admission of members into church societies, which 
 
246 DUIES OP PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 is fully described by Origen against CelsuSj who tells us 
 they did inquire into tbeir lives and carriages, to discern 
 their seriousness in the profession of Christianity during 
 their being catecliumens/'* ^' To make evident this good 
 of organized religion, you need but contrast the piety of a 
 church so lax that its judicial function is steadily neglected, 
 with that of one so inflexible as that it is steadily performed. 
 The melancholy difi'erence will show the meaning of the 
 church, at least, as a judicial body.^'f 
 
 * Stilling. Iren. p. 161. f Miller's Design of the Church, p. 100. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW TO PROMOTE PROSPERITY IN THE CLASSES. 
 
 We shall devote a brief chapter to a consideration of 
 other duties of the preachers, by the discharge of which 
 prosperity may be greatly promoted in the classes. 
 
 1. Zeal must be promoted. I examined the society at 
 Limerick, containing now a hundred and one persons, seven 
 less than they were two years ago. T little wonder at this, 
 considering the scandal of the cross is well-nigh ceased here, 
 through the wise and steady behavior of our brethren. But 
 they want zeal; they are not fervent in spirit; therefore, 
 they cannot increase.'^* 
 
 2. Offenders should be removed, or in a short time, the 
 church will decrease in number and in grace. On Monday 
 and Tuesday J ^ says Mr. Wesley, ^^I revised the classes, 
 (at Dublin.) The number of the members in the society 
 is shrunk from upward of five hundred to beneath four 
 hundred, in two years ; but I trust they will now increase, 
 as the offences are removed, and brotherly love restored.'^-j* 
 
 3. Regularity must be observed, or the means of grace 
 will be abandoned, and the church scattered. "In the 
 evening I returned to Norwich. Never was a poor society 
 so neglected, as this has been for the past year. The morn- 
 ing preaching was at an end; the bands suffered all to fall in 
 pieces-; and no care at all taken of the classes, so that 
 whether they met or not, it was all one ; going to church 
 and sacrament were forgotten ; and the people rambled 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 433. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 356. 
 247 
 
248 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS^ LEADERS, ETC, 
 
 hither and thither as they listed. On Friday evening I 
 met the society, and told them, plain, I was resolved to have 
 a regular society or none. I then read the rules, and desired 
 every one to consider whether he was willing to walk by 
 these rules or no. Those in particular, of meeting their 
 class every week, unless hindered by distance or sickness, 
 (the only reasons for not meeting which I could allow,) and 
 being constant at church and sacrament. I desired those 
 who were so minded to meet me the next night, and the 
 rest to stay away. The nest night we had far the greater 
 part; on whom I strongly enforced the same thing. Sun- 
 day^ 20th. — I spoke to every leader concerning every one 
 under his care ; and put out every person whom they could 
 not recommend to me. After this was done, out of two 
 hundred and four members, one hundred and twenty-four 
 remained. And these points shall be carried, if only fifty 
 remain in the society.''"^ 
 
 4. The experimental doctrines of the gospel must be 
 preached and enforced. ^^I examined the society at Edin- 
 burgh. In five years, I found, five members had been gained ! 
 Ninety-nine being increased to a hundred and four. What 
 then have our preachers been doing all this time ? 1. They 
 have preached four evenings in the week, and on Sunday 
 morning ; the other mornings they have fairly given up. 
 2. They have taken great care not to speak too plain, lest 
 they should give ofi"ence. 3. When Mr. Brackenbury 
 preached the old Methodist doctrine, one of them said, You 
 must not preach such doctrine here. The doctrine of per- 
 fection is not calculated for the meridian of Edinburgh.^' 
 Waiving then all other hinderances, is it any wonder that 
 the work of God has not prospered here V'-\ And so the 
 witness of the Spirit, direct and indirect, and other incon- 
 ceivably important experimental doctrines, as also many 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 427. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 510. 
 
HOW TO MAKE GLASSES PROSPER. 249 
 
 practical duties^ as simplicity in dress, self-denial, religious 
 conversation, meekness, patience, resignation, humility, 
 brotlierly-kindnesS; godliness, temperance, zeal, should be 
 taught and enforced from the pulpit and in the class-room. 
 
 5. The practical doctrines of the gospel must be taught 
 and enforced. I went on to Bolton. The society here 
 are true, original Methodists. They are not conformed to 
 the world, either in its maxims, its spirit, or its fashions; 
 but are simple followers of the Lamb : consequently they 
 increase both in grace and number.^^* 
 
 6. Union must be preserved. I preached at Paulton, 
 where the people are still alive, and the society is still as 
 one family; consequently it increases both in grace and 
 number.^'f 
 
 7. By encouraging activity, importunate prayer, and in- 
 cessant watchfulness. I made an exact inquiry into the 
 state of the society, (Cork.) I found the number was about 
 four hundred, many of whom were greatly in earnest. 
 Many children, chiefly girls, were indisputably justified; 
 some of them were likewise sanctified, and were patterns of 
 all holiness. But how shall we keep up the flame that is now 
 kindled, not only in Cork, but in many parts of the nation ? 
 Not by sitting still ; but by stirring up the gift of God that 
 is in them ; by uninterrupted watchfulness ; by warning 
 every one, and exhorting every one; by besieging the throne 
 with all the powers of prayer ; and, after all, some will, and 
 some 2vill not, improve the grace which they have received. 
 Therefore there must be a falling away. We are not to be 
 discouraged at this ; but to do all that in us lies to-day, 
 leaving the morrow to God.' 'J 
 
 8. By encouraging patience, forbearance, meekness, and 
 gentleness toward one another. Finding a remarkable 
 deadness, (in the society at Limerick,) I inquired what were 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. p. 540. t Ibid. p. 517. % Ibid. p. 6U. 
 
260 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 ,the reasons of it; and found: 1. There had been, for 
 several months, a deep misunderstanding between the 
 preachers and the chief of the society. Hence, on the one 
 hand, the preachers had little life or spirit to preach ; and, 
 on the other, the congregation dwindled away. 2. Many 
 left off meeting their bands, and many others seldom met 
 their classes. 3. Prayer-meetings were entirely given up. 
 What wonder if all the people were as dead as stones ! After 
 morning service I met the stewards and leaders, and inquired 
 into the rise of the late misunderstanding. I found the 
 matter itself was nothing ; but want of patience on both 
 sides had swelled the mole-hill into a mountain. Oh how 
 patient, how meek, how gentle toward all men ought a 
 preacher, especially a Methodist, to be 
 
 9. By encouraging the cultivation of all the Christian 
 graces. Not one, or many, to the comparative neglect of 
 the rest. If a single Christian temper, disposition, or grace 
 be neglected, the soul will fail to make any sfosible progress. 
 And hence it is sometimes a matter of surprise to the pas- 
 tor that his flock, in most things exemplary and consistent, 
 enjoy so little of the life and power of godliness, and in- 
 crease so slowly in number and grace. The explanation is 
 often found in some general neglect of some particvXar 
 grace. ^^This week,'^ says Mr. Wesley, I visited the 
 classes in Bristol. I wonder we do not increase in number, 
 although many are convinced, many justified, and a few 
 perfected in love. I can impute the want of increase to 
 nothing but the want of ^elf-denial. Without this, indeed, 
 whatever helps they have, no believers can go forward. ^^f 
 
 10. By reproving covetousness, and its invariable con- 
 comitants, formality and lukewarmness. No passion of 
 human nature, except bigotry, contracts the heart more than 
 covetousness, or more effectually represses the generous im- 
 
 * Wesley's Works, vol. iv. pp. 662, 663. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 737. 
 
HOW TO MAKE CLASSES PROSPER. 
 
 251 
 
 pulses of vital godliness. And for this we Imve proof from 
 Mr. Wesley: ^^I preached once more at Portarlington, and 
 afterward reproved this society likewise, for the miserable 
 covetousness of some^ and lukewarmness of others. It may 
 be they will be zealous, and repent, and do the first works.'^* 
 
 These are all truly evangelical duties which were so 
 faithfully discharged by Mr. Wesley, and not another word 
 of comment is required. 
 
 11. And here it is important to consider what should be 
 the size of the classes. No class, if possible, should he 
 larger than the leader is capable of overseeing. 
 
 God does not require natural or moral impossibilities. 
 The leader must be able to give attention to all his class. 
 Hence he must know every one in his class, not only per- 
 sonally, but the infirmities, inclination, and conversation of 
 each, the sins to which each is most inclined, the duties 
 which each is most apt to neglect, the temptations to which 
 each is most liable, and the trials to which each is most 
 exposed. Baxter says to the preacher, Doth not a careful 
 shepherd look after every individual sheep; and a good 
 teacher after every individual scholar ; and a good physician 
 after every particular patient ; aud a good commander after 
 every individual soldier ? Why, then, should not the shep- 
 herds, the teachers, the physicians, the guides of the 
 churches of Christ, take heed to every individual member 
 of their charge And should not the leader be able care- 
 fully and properly to look after every member of his class ? 
 The shepherd, in the parable, missed a single sheep, and he 
 left "the ninety-and-nine in the^ wilderness,^ ^ to seek after 
 it. Paul taught " from house to house and he " warned 
 every man^ and taught every man, that he might present 
 every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Such was the practice 
 of the primitive Christians. Says Ignatius, "Let assem- 
 
 Wesley's Works, vol. iii. p, 49.3. 
 
252 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 blies be often gathered ; inquire Rfter all hi/ name ; despise 
 not servant-men or maids/' 
 
 When to all this we add that it is the leader's duty to 
 visit the sick, look after the delinquent, report the disor- 
 derly, and attend strictly to the weekly collections, it is 
 evident the number of his class should be proportioned to 
 the time he has to spare for these duties ; for leaders ordi- 
 narily require most of their time to look after their own 
 private and secular affairs. The plan of enormous classes 
 is, therefore, a very unwise, if not a destructive, policy. It 
 ought not to be submitted to, except as a matter of extreme 
 necessity, and even then the design of the class meeting 
 cannot be fully accomplished, because the leader is over- 
 burdened. Far better were it, in such cases, to constitute 
 female leaders ; and many experienced sisters can be found 
 who can extend spiritual care to a small class, and transact 
 all the business of the office, as well as any of the brethren. 
 Diminish the size of the classes, and many leaders can be 
 found who will answer well, who now decline the charge of 
 the larger classes. 
 
 We hesitate not a moment to suggest the adoption — eveiy- 
 ivJiere it is possible to do it — of the disciplinary plan of 
 ahout twelve persons in a class.'' This was done in early 
 Methodism, when, of course, the number of persons proper 
 as leaders was much smaller comparatively than it is now. 
 Let the churches everywhere and immediately be regulated 
 strictly upon this principle, and continue to be so regulated 
 in future, and, in a short time, the most enlarged success will 
 follow. A most gratifying change in a few weeks will be 
 obvious. The whole church will wake up as from sleep, 
 and unbounded prosperity, in spiritual and temporal affairs, 
 will be enjoyed throughout the length and breadth of our 
 church. It is impossible for the church to flourish to mtich 
 extent, in either of these respects, upon the plan of enor- 
 mously large classes. 
 
HOW- TO MAKE CLASSES PROSPER. 253 
 
 We will dwell a moment longer on this most important 
 branch of the preacher's duties, because herein lies a most 
 wholesome remedy to most of the evils at present embarrass- 
 ing the progress and impeding the prosperity of the Method- 
 ist Church. The mammoth size of the classes will inevi- 
 tably break down the institution of classes in any place : the 
 leader cannot attend to the solemn and important duties of 
 his office in any such case, and the greater portion of the 
 class, consequently, must be without spiritual care, and so 
 fall away, and the rest ordinarily, with few exceptions, be dis- 
 couraged. For example : the class is composed of thirty or 
 forty members, ten of whom ordinarily attend class ; though 
 this, in some places, is a large concession ; how can the leader, 
 ordinarily dependent upon his daily labor for support, attend 
 to his daily labors, and visit in a single week twenty or 
 thirty absentees ? It is impossible. But say the class is 
 composed of twelve members, and eight or ten are ordi- 
 narily present ; it is now an easy matter for the leader to 
 spare time during the week to visit the few absentees. Be- 
 side, in the large classes, one disposed to neglect, will easily 
 imagine that he will not be missed in the crowd — enough will 
 attend without him ; but in the smaller classes no one can 
 fall upon this fallacious expedient. Moreover, in the large 
 classes, should an unusually large number at any time at- 
 tend, the leader has not time in the brief service to attend 
 to the spiritual state of each one present, and so the occa- 
 sion is not only tedious in itself, but comparatively profitless. 
 Further, in the large classes it is impossible for the leader 
 to attend to the financial afikirs of the church ; in the small 
 classes it is easily and pleasantly done. Once more : the re- 
 duction of the size of the classes, and a corresponding en- 
 largement of the number of the classes, will bring out from 
 the body of the church a larger number of useful and active 
 men who, as leaders, will share in the labors of governing 
 the church, and thus make the labor of the pastor and of 
 
 22 
 
254 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 each official member easy, delightful, and profitable. Sud- 
 denly the pastor finds himself surrounded by forty or fifty 
 counsellors and helpers, each supporting the other, and all 
 supporting the pastor, — no one having more on his hands 
 and heart than he can do ; each understanding his whole 
 duty — and the performance of his whole duty being easy ; 
 and the pastor at a glance surveying his whole charge as it 
 is. Forty or fifty men, or more, if required in a large charge, 
 engaged in the noble and holy work of regulating the church, 
 and leading souls to glory; oh, it is animating ! Twenty 
 men in the same charge, burdened, oppressed, and exhausted 
 with the cares, and labors, and responsibilities of church- 
 government, spiritual and financial ; oh, it is discouraging, 
 it is crushing, to the boldest pastor and the best official body in 
 the land ! Again : fifty classes as the nurseries of revival, re- 
 vivals would break out in every part of the ample bounds of 
 Methodism ! Once more : enlarge the number of the classes, 
 and as the class-rooms are the principal nurseries of the Me- 
 thodist ministry, a proportionable number of preachers would 
 come forth annually from these sacred schools and holy re- 
 tirements, to supply the utmost wants of the church; and then 
 — not as now we feel everywhere- — would there be felt any- 
 where the want of laborers in the vineyard.^' You may say, 
 there are difficulties to all this ; we answer, they are imaginary, 
 they are nothing. God help us ! In a neighboring charge, 
 the change we suggest has been recently made, and the 
 whole church seems to have been suddenly revived as from 
 the dead. God help us.l 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE NATURE AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE OF LEADERS. 
 
 1. The institution of tlie office of class-leaders may be 
 defended from the apostolic practice. We have already 
 shown that no definite and invariable form of church- 
 government is prescribed in the New Testament, and, con- 
 sequently, it is probable that the apostles did not observe a 
 fixed and invariable course of settling the external and 
 circumstantial government of the churches they planted, 
 but adopted a mode or form of government according to 
 circumstances of places and persons. We are not to con- 
 clude that the form of government which they observed in 
 some places was their general or universal practice, for this 
 would be a universal conclusion from particular premises. 
 The difierent state, condition, and number in the apostolic 
 churches, and in the churches founded after the apostolic 
 times, required not only difierent rites and customs, but a 
 multitude of new and corresponding offices and officers. 
 All the apostles had not equal success in all places, and, 
 consequently, a small church did not require the same 
 number of officers to govern it as the larger churches did. 
 Peter himself did not always preach with the same success 
 which attended his first sermon. Paul had but few converts 
 in Athens. In smaller churches, a smaller number of 
 officers might discharge the work of spiritual care than was 
 required in larger churches. The duty of officers lying 
 in reference to the people, where the people were but few, 
 one constant, settled officer, with deacons under him, might, 
 with as much ease, discharge the work, as, in a numerous 
 
 255 
 
256 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 church, the joint help of many officers was necessary to 
 carry on/^"^ The same author : They have either a very 
 low opinion of the work of a gospel bishop, or very little 
 consideration of the zeal, activity, and diligence which was 
 then used in preaching, reproving, exhorting, in season, out 
 of season, that think one single person was able to undergo 
 it all. Discipline was a great deal more strict then, preach- 
 ing more diligent, men more apprehensive of the weight of 
 their function, than for any to undertake such a care and 
 charge of souls that it was impossible for them ever to 
 know, observe, or watch over, so as to give an account for 
 them. Beside, while we suppose this one person employed 
 in the duties of his flock, what leisure or time could such 
 a one have to preach to the Gentiles and unbelieving Jews 
 in order to their conversion.^^f Stillingfleet here hits 
 exactly upon the organization of our itinerant ministry, and 
 the class-leaders as helpers. The apostles laid out their 
 work for subjecting the world to the obedience of faith ; 
 and, while they advanced in their itinerant labors among 
 Jews and Gentiles, they left the churches thus planted 
 under such officers as necessity required. They must have 
 done this, or confined their labors and lives to settled and 
 r particular churches. So with the Methodist ministry 
 
 exactly: in order that they may ^^go into'' as much of 
 'Hhe world'' as possible, "and preach the gospel to'' as 
 many as possible ; and that they may depart from place to 
 place, though for a short time, they must leave the class- 
 leaders to look after and watch over the fruits of their 
 labors : otherwise they must abridge their labors, abrogate 
 the itinerant plan, and settle where churches are established, 
 or where a new church may be planted : the alternative is 
 between the office of the class-leaders and the abandonment 
 of the itinerancy. The world is to be converted by the 
 
 * Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p. 349. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 356. 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 
 
 257 
 
 preaching of tlie gospel of the kingdom, and it is easy to 
 see with what rapidity, by the aid of the leaders, the 
 Methodist ministry have advanced in the work of preaching 
 — passing consecutively from revival to revival around their 
 circuits, and leaving the fruits of revival under the spiritual 
 care of the leaders. The principal work of Paul was to 
 preach the gospel and so of the other apostles ; and so 
 of the ministry of Christ in all ages, especially an itinerant * 
 ministry ; and where time over and above for this work is 
 insufficient for the full discharge of pastoral duties, the 
 necessity of helpers in the work is obvious. 
 
 From the nature and hurden of a settled ministry in 
 other churches, the necessity of helpers, like the class- 
 leaders, has been felt and acknowledged. ^' It is a lament- 
 able impediment to the reformation of the church and the 
 saving of souls, that, in most popular towns, there are but 
 one or two men to oversee many thousand souls, and so 
 there are not laborers in any degree equal to the work ; but 
 it becomes an impossible thing to them to do any consider- 
 able measure of that personal duty which should be done by 
 faithful pastors to all the flock.^'* 
 
 The sub-delegation of authority to the class-leaders is one 
 of the grand secrets of our good and efficient church- 
 government. Dr. Southey, on the delegation and sub- 
 delegation of authority adopted in the Madras system of 
 education, observes, That which gives in a school to the 
 master the hundred eyes of Argus and the hundred hands 
 of Briareus, might in a state give omniprescence to law and 
 omnipotence to order. This is indeed the fair ideal of a 
 commonwealth.^'-f Such is a fair illustration of the Method- 
 istic economy. Without the sub-delegation of authority 
 to the class-leaders as subordinate religious teachers, the 
 
 * Baxter's Reformed Pastor, p. 261, 
 + Prospects and Progress of Society, vol. i. p. 105. 
 22* 
 
258 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 duties of an itinerant ministry could not be adequately 
 discliarged. They are a medium of communication, in the 
 leaders' meeting, between the pastors and their people. In 
 the absence of a direct pastoral superintendence, they are 
 officers distributed in every part of the church, giving 
 " omnipresence to law, omnipotence to order,'' and univer- 
 sality to the life and power of Methodism. They are the 
 almost countless sentinels in the great camp of Methodism; 
 and may no one abandon or fall asleep at his post ! Some 
 of the others were desired to overlook the rest, that we (the 
 preachers) might know whether they walked worthy of the 
 gospel.'"^ They are like the disciples who arranged the 
 multitude in companies, and broke to them again the bread 
 which they received from Christ. It is their duty to make 
 that personal and appropriate application of the truth to the 
 peculiarities of the individual members of the classes which 
 the preacher cannot make. 
 
 2. Duties of class-leaders. We now enter probably upon 
 the most important part of this treatise. It is here the 
 author would concentrate his whole energies, and most ear- 
 nestly invoke the special assistance of Divine grace. As 
 Methodism depends to such a vast extent upon the classes 
 for its vigor, simplicity, purity, efficiency, and very being, 
 surely to the same extent the leaders are answerable for the 
 consequences — for the superintendence and guidance of the 
 classes are committed mainly to them. That the classes, in 
 a thousand places, are in a languishing condition, there is 
 no doubt; and that this sad state of things is attributable 
 principally to the delinquency of the leaders, there is like- 
 wise no doubt. But for the solid, substantial framework 
 and practical developement of the aggressive department of 
 Methodism, it would be a wonder that we have, notwith- 
 
 * Dr. Bunting's able " Sketch of the Character of the late Rev. Joseph 
 Benson."— Wesley an 3fethodist Mag.j N, S., vol. i. 1822, p. 77. 
 
\ 
 
 DUTIES OP LEADERS. * 259 
 
 standing the partial suspension of the class-meeting system, 
 advanced at all. We do not, however, ascribe the general 
 neglect of the class-meeting system wholly to the leaders. 
 As preachers we are willing to acknowledge our delinquency, 
 and take our share of condemnation for the existing state 
 of things. Oh, that as pastors, we may take heed unto 
 ourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost 
 hath made us overseers, to feed the church of God, which 
 he hath purchased with his own blood !'^* May God help 
 us ! But how shall the leaders perform their duties unless 
 they know what they are ? How few leaders know what 
 their duties are ! how few give themselves the trouble to 
 examine what their duties are ! and how much fewer still 
 perform their duties when known ! The duties of leaders 
 are more in number, and greater in importance, than is ordi- 
 narily supposed. These we shall now consider. May God 
 help us ! 
 
 (1.) It is the duty of the leader to inquire particularly 
 into the inward spiritual state of each member of his class : 
 to inquire how their souls prosper.^'f 
 
 (i.) To inquire what are their individual trials, and whether 
 they fall by, or conquer them ? 
 
 (ii.) To inquire of all whether they now believe ? Now 
 enjoy the life of God ? Whether they grow in grace, or 
 decline ? And if they decline, what is the cause ? and what 
 is the cure ? 
 
 (iii.) Whether they aim constantly at being wholly de- 
 voted to God ? or would compromise their duty, and keep 
 back a part, though a small part, a very small part ? 
 
 (iv.) Whether they see God^s hand in every thing that 
 befalls them? and how they bear whatever he lays upon 
 them, or permits to befall them ? 
 
 (v.) Whether they take up their cross daily ? cheerfully ? 
 
 Acts XX. 28. 
 
 t Discipline, 1854, p. 29. 
 
260 DUTIES OE PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 resist the bent of nature ? and oppose selfishness in all its 
 insidious forms, and detect it in all its disguises ? 
 
 (vi.) Whether they humble themselves in every thing ? are 
 willing to be persecuted for Christ^ s sake ? or to be blamed 
 and despised for doing good ? or account it the greatest 
 honor that Christ appoints them to walk with him in paths 
 that are peculiarly his own ? or are willing to drink of Ms 
 cup ? and to be baptised with Ms haptism ? 
 
 (vii.) Whether they can cordially love those that despite- 
 fully use them ? 
 
 (viii.) Whether in all they suffer, they seek the entire 
 destruction of inward idolatry, pride, self-will, and impa- 
 tience ? and whether in the spiritual forms of these, espe- 
 cially of self-will, they see through all their specious dis- 
 guises something of self, under the pretence of seeking 
 nothing but the glory of G-od ? 
 
 (ix.) To inquire concerning prayer, its frequency, its power, 
 and answers ; concerning faith, its increase, or decay ; con- 
 cerning distrust of themselves, and consciousness of their 
 own vileness and nothingness. 
 
 (x.) How they improve their talents ? whether they have 
 zeal for doing good, and in ail they do ? or have patience in 
 all suffering ? or gratitude for all they receive from God ? 
 and live above the world, and Christ is all in all to them ? 
 
 (xi.) Whether they have a clear, full, abiding conviction 
 that without inward and outward, complete and universal 
 holiness, no man shall see the Lord ? 
 
 And they may inquire particularly as follows : — 
 
 (xii.) Are you a new creature in Christ Jesus ? Have 
 old things passed away, and all things become new ? Are 
 your judgments new, of yourself, as the child of God? Of 
 happiness, that it is not in riches, honor, pleasure, or the 
 enjoyment of any creature; but in the enjoyment of God, 
 delight in his service, and foretastes of the rivers of plea- 
 sure which flow at his right hand forevermore Of holiness, 
 
 / 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 
 
 261 
 
 that it is not a mere outward, formal thing, and consists not 
 merely in doing no harm, or in doing good, or in using the 
 ordinances of Grod ; but that it is the life of God felt in the 
 soul, the image of God stamped upon the heart, an entire 
 renewal of the mind in every temper, thought, disposition, 
 and purpose, after the likeness of Christ ? 
 
 (xiii.) Are your designs new ? Not to accumulate trea- 
 sures upon earth, nor to gain the admiration and praise of 
 men, nor to indulge in the pleasures of sense, nor to enjoy 
 and conform to the fashions, and habits, and customs of this 
 world ; but to recover the image of God, to have the life of 
 God planted in the soul, to be renewed after his likeness 
 in righteousness and true holiness/' and spend the whole life 
 in the communion and service of God ? 
 
 (xiv.) Are your desires new ? No longer fixed on earthly 
 things; but the whole train of passions and inclinations — 
 love, joy, hope, fear, sorrow — set on things above ? Though 
 other desires sometimes rise in the heart, do they reign-? 
 Do you put them under your feet, through Christ which 
 strengtheneth you V 
 
 (xv.) Is your conversation new ? Is it always seasoned 
 with salt,'' that it may minister grace to the hearer V 
 Are you ever reminded that by thy words thou shalt be 
 condemned, and by thy words thou shall be justified 
 That for every vain and idle word thou must give account 
 in the day of judgment Is your conversation such as 
 becometh the gospel of Christ?'' — simple, sincere, honest, 
 truthful, humble, prudent, holy, spiritual ? 
 
 (xvi.) Are your actions new ? Is your life singly devoted 
 to the glory of God ? Is your substance consecrated to the 
 service of God ? Is your time employed in obeying all the 
 commandments of God ? Whether you eat or drink, or 
 whatever you do, does all spring from the love of God and 
 man, and lead to the glory of God and good of man ? Do 
 you find a measure at least of the fruits of the Spirit — love, 
 
262 DUTIES OP PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 peace, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance'' 
 — controlling your actions ? Have you increasing deliglit in 
 good actions ? And so in strictly religious duties ? Have 
 you deadness and wandering in public and private prayer ? 
 Have you frequently nothing more tlian a cold and formal 
 attention in the holy communion ? or in the preaching of 
 the word ? or in the praise of the house of ijrod ? or in read- 
 ing the word of God? or in fasting? or in the services of 
 the class-room ? 
 
 (xvii.) Have you joy in the Holy Ghost, though it may 
 not be a settled, lasting joy? Have you peace, though it 
 may not be that degree of it which excludes the possibility 
 of all doubt and slavish fear ? Have you a measure of faith 
 that you are " accepted in the Beloved,'^ though it may not 
 be the full assurance of faith ? Have you a measure of 
 love, though it may not be perfect love ? though you may 
 not have daily a sensible increase of it ? 
 
 (xviii.) Have you present freedom from sin, or is what 
 you enjoy merely a suspension of sin, and not a deliverance 
 from it ? 
 
 (xix.) Your ultimate design may be to glorify God, and 
 save your soul. But do a thousand little intermediate de- 
 signs continually and insidiously creep in upon you, such as 
 to please thyself, to do thy own will, to enjoy thyself in eat- 
 ing and drinking, and in the company of friends, and in 
 earthly happiness ? 
 
 (xx.) Your desires may be new and spiritual. But not 
 all : some old ones may remain — are they subdued ? Your 
 great desire may be to have Christ formed in the heart by 
 faith 'j[ but do not little desires daily steal into the heart, 
 and sometimes perplex you no little ? And so your hopes 
 and fears may chiefly refer to God; but then do not a thou- 
 sand little worldly hopes and fears enter in disguise ? and are 
 not your desires, passions, and inclinations often partly spirit- 
 ual and partly natural, partly heavenly and partly earthly ? 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 2# 
 
 (xxi) . Do you guard against and avoid levity, slackness 
 in good works, and despising little things ? Do you attend 
 conscientiously to the smallest particulars in religion ? and 
 do you scrupulously avoid the smallest sins ? 
 
 (xxii) . You may have a weak faith, but do not therefore 
 conclude that you have no saving faith at all — that you are 
 not justified. Mr. Wesley is very clear upon this point. 
 "By weak faith I understand, 1. That which is mixed 
 with fear, particularly of not enduring to the end. 2. That 
 which is mixed with doubt, whether we have not deceived 
 ourselves, and whether our sins be indeed forgiven. 3. That 
 which has not yet purified the heart fully, not from all its 
 idols. And thus weak I find the faith of almost all believers 
 to be, within a short time after they have first peace with 
 God. Yet that weak faith is faith, appears, 1. From St. 
 Paul: ^Him that is weak in faith, receive.' 2. From St. 
 J ohn, speaking of believers who were little children, as well 
 as of young men and fathers. 3. From our Lord^s own 
 words : ^ Why are ye fearful, 0 ye of little faith ? O 
 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? I have 
 prayed for thee, (Peter,) that thy faith fail thee not.' There- 
 fore he then had faith. Yet so we^ was that faith, that 
 not only doubt and fear, but gross sin in the same night pre- 
 vailed over him. Therefore, there are degrees in faith ; and 
 weak faith may be true faith.''* 
 
 (xxiii.) Do you still preserve your " confidence, which 
 hath great recompense of reward ?" Though joy sometimes 
 dies away, and love waxes cold, and your peace is assailed, 
 and doubt and fear oppress you, and temptation is strong 
 and uninterrupted, and you find the body of sin remaining 
 in you thrusting sore at you, yet cast not away your confi- 
 dence, — and yet a little while and Christ will " come unto 
 you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no 
 
 * Journal vol. iii. p. 186. 
 
264 DUTirs OF preachers, leaders, etc. 
 
 man taketh from you/^ You may be tempted even to agony, 
 and yet be a believer, as Christ was tempted, and yet was 
 the Son of Grod. You may find sin remaining in yon, and 
 yet be in a state of justification, though, in the proper sense, 
 not yet in a state of sanctification. Fear not; be faithful; 
 and yet a little while and you shall be endued with power 
 from on high, whereby you may purify yourselves, even 
 as he is pure/' and be holy, as he who hath called you 
 is holy/' 
 
 (2.) The leader is to inquire particularly, not in general 
 terms, into the outward life of every member of his class, 
 that is, how each person observes the miticard rules/^"^ 
 And what are these outward rules? They are the General 
 Eules^^f— " all of which we are taught of God to observe, 
 even in his written word, which is the only rule, and the 
 suf&cient rule, both of our faith and practice/'^ Conformity 
 to these rules, therefore, is required as a test of religious 
 character, since they are all contained substantially in the 
 Bible ; and "it is expected of all who continue in these socie- 
 ties, that they should evidence their desire of salvation^' by 
 conformity to them. But how can this evidence be obtained 
 by inquiries of a general nature? Indeed, it is a humi- 
 liating fact, many do not know what these rules are, probably 
 never read them, or heard them read in their lives; and how 
 can they answer conscientiously and intelligently any gene- 
 ral questions respecting them ? The leader cannot discharge 
 his duty fally, nor accomplish the design of class meetings 
 effectually, by questions in general terms. He is to be par- 
 ticular. There are three general divisions, each with speci- 
 fications. 
 
 Lei the leader take his Discipline, and turn to these speci- 
 fications of religious duty, and make them subjects of par- 
 ticular study himself, that he may make them subjects of 
 
 Discipline, 1854, p. 97. f Ibid. p. 27. + Ibid. p. 33. 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 
 
 265 
 
 particular and careful inquiry/' The first general division 
 is, Doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially 
 that which is generally practised: such as^' — and here fol- 
 low many prohibitions. As his eye passes over these, he 
 will find several which he knows he need not ordinarily 
 make subjects of investigation ; but there are many of them 
 which may be made subjects of particular inquiry. Such 
 as The profaning the day of the Lord, by doing ordinary 
 work thereon,^' &c. How few are entirely innocent of this ! 
 to mention but a single violation, ordinary cooking. Another : 
 ^^Uncharitable and unprofitable conversation. Another: 
 
 Doing to others as we would not they should do to us.'' 
 Another: Doing what we know is not for the glory of 
 God :" as, The putting on of gold and costly apparel — the 
 taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus — the singing those songs^ or reading those^ooks, 
 which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God/' An- 
 other : " Softness and needless self-indulgence.'' Another: 
 
 Laying up treasure upon earth." Another: ^^Borrow- 
 ing without a probability of paying; or taking up goods 
 without a probability of paying for them." Alas ! how 
 general in our church is the violation of some of these pro- 
 hibitions ! and yet how seldom are they made subjects of 
 inquiry, much less of reproof, by the leader or by the pas- 
 tor ! Let the leader, nevertheless, do his duty. Let him 
 make vSpecial inquiry on these particulars, or he will not do 
 his duty. 
 
 The second general division is, Doing good, as far as 
 possible, to all men:" and here follow many specifications. 
 As, doing good to the bodies of men, of the ability which 
 God giveth, by giving food to the hungry, clothing the 
 naked, and visiting or helping them that are sick or in pri- 
 son." This is a duty of almsgiving and charity. Who dis- 
 charges it in proportion to the ^^ability which God giveth ?" 
 Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick 
 23 
 
266 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 and in prison, are duties connected with acquittal at the 
 judgment ; and the leader may, with the highest propriety, 
 inquire into the discharge of them. The leader may ask 
 his class if they save any thing for the needy ? if they do 
 any thing for the poor ? if they visit the sick when it is 
 proper to do it ? and so on. Another : doing good to the 
 " souls of men, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all we 
 have any intercourse with; trampling underfoot that enthu- 
 siastic doctrine, that ' we are not to do good unless our hearts 
 are free to it.^ ^' In this rule there is a volume. Another : 
 
 By all possible dilligence and frugality, that the gospel 
 be not blamed.'' Another : By runniog with patience 
 the race which is set before them, denying themselves j and 
 taking up their cross daily ; submitting to bear the reproach 
 of Christ, to be as the filth and offscouring of the world ; 
 and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them 
 falsely for the Lord^s sahe^ Here are the duties of pa- 
 tience, self-denial, bearing the cross, and meekness, which 
 surely are fit subjects of special inquiry by the leader. 
 
 The third general division is, attending upon all the 
 ordinances of Grod : such as,'' and here follow many im- 
 portant specifications. As, The public worship of God." 
 The leader should frequently interrogate any of his class on 
 this subject who he does not know comply with this rule. 
 This refers to the weekly prayer-meetings, or any regular 
 public religious service. Another ; The ministry of the 
 word, either read or expounded." The leader should be 
 particular on this duty. Another : The supper of the 
 Lord." Another : Family and private prayer." Another : 
 
 Searching the Scriptures." Another: Fasting or absti- 
 nence." All these duties should be made subjects of fre- 
 quent, special, and careful inquiry. But how few leaders 
 know whether or not any of his class attend to all these 
 requisitions ! How, then, does he know whether the mem- 
 bers of his class observe the "outward rules ?" The design 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 
 
 267 
 
 of class meetings^ we repeat, requires that he make a de- 
 tailed, direct, and careful inquiry into all these matters. 
 Otherwise, he must be, to a very great extent, ignorant of 
 the religious state and practice of those committed to his 
 care, and must continue so till he observe the method we 
 have suggested, and which the Discipline requires he should 
 observe. Without making these special and detailed in- 
 quiries, a leader may meet his class for a long time without 
 knowing whether they are really Christians or not ; whether 
 or not they are growing in the knowledge and love of 
 God;'' whether or not they are either experimentally or 
 practically members of the family of God. The greatest 
 difficulty most leaders find in leading class is the want of 
 something new to say that will be appropriate and profitable. 
 But no wonder they encounter this difficulty: they are 
 ignorant of the experimental and practical religion of their 
 classes, and hence what can be appropriate and profitable ? 
 Observe the method above, and the difficulty vanishes. 
 
 (3.) It is the duty of the leader "to advise, reprove, 
 comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require.'^* 
 
 (i.) " To advise.'' This he can do properly and success- 
 fully only as he becomes acquainted with the spiritual con- 
 dition and outward practice of the members of his class, 
 and no otherwise. In the absence of the pastor, to whom 
 shall a Christian, in spiritual doubts and difficulties, go for 
 advice, but to his leader ? 
 
 (ii.) To "reprove." This is sometimes required, as in 
 improper tempers, or words, or actions; and it should be 
 administered with promptness and faithfulness, however 
 difficult or unpleasant it may be to do it ; and yet it is to be 
 given in the " spirit of Christ," in " meekness and love,'^ 
 that offenders may bear it and profit by it. And if they 
 will not bear it, the leader has discharged his duty, which 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, p. 29. 
 
268 DUTIES or preachers, leaders, etc. 
 
 he must continue to discharge till, in his judgment, the 
 case shall be reported to the preacher. 
 
 (iii.) To comfort.'' This is his most delightful work, 
 and the gospel is glad tidings to help him. The church is 
 often in tears, and sorrow and sighing are often heard in 
 the class-room. Oh, it is a noble work, to be engaged in 
 comforting the mourner in Zion; in soothing the afflictions 
 of Christians; in refreshing the desponding; in consoling 
 the bereaved; in encouraging those who are hungering and 
 thirsting after righteousness; and in exciting the ardent and 
 supporting hope of eternal rest in heaven ! 
 
 (iv.) To exhort.'' The occasions in which Christians 
 require exhortation are many : as in times of temptation, 
 persecution, negligence of duty, declension in zeal, doubts 
 and fears, irresolution or want of firmness, slow progress in 
 religious experience, want of diligence in attending to the 
 means of grace. Exhortation is a standing requirement of 
 the leader. Every time he meets his class, it is his duty 
 to exhort his members as occasion requires." And this 
 he can do properly and profitably only when he knows who 
 are tempted; who are persecuted; who are negligent of 
 duty; who are declining in zeal; who are oppressed with 
 doubts and fears; who are wavering or irresolute; who are 
 negligent of the means of grace and outward duties; who 
 are seeking the witness of the Spirit and a deeper work of 
 grace: and all he is to urge most earnestly to persevere 
 unto the end. 
 
 (4.) It is the leader's duty to visit the sick members of 
 his class. Often more intimately acquainted with them 
 than the pastor is or can be, or with whom the pastor is 
 not acquainted at all, the leader is prepared to extend the 
 most grateful and encouraging attentions to any that are 
 sick. His visits will endear him the more to them and to 
 other members of his class, and encourage the sick, when 
 well, to be more faithful in meeting him in class; while a 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 
 
 neglect of this duty will discourage them, and cause a loss 
 of confidence in the leader. At the sick-bed of the dying 
 saint, the leader stands at the portals of heaven, where his 
 brother is almost at his journey's end, and where, as an 
 inferior angel, the next step, he commits him to a convoy of 
 superior angels, waiting to bear him to the " inheritance of 
 the saints in light;" and he should be there to help him all 
 he can. It will be a great encouragement to the leader to 
 see the saint die well; he will never forget his last words 
 and his last looks. There he will reap much of the reward 
 for all his labors, which of itself will be more than enough. 
 And it is his duty to inform the preacher of any that are 
 sick in his class. And this he is to do as promptly as 
 possible, that the pastor may extend the timely consolations 
 of religion; otherwise it may often happen that a case of 
 sickness comes too late to the pastor's knowledge for him 
 to render any aid, or it may not come to his knowledge at 
 , all till the member is restored to health, and informs him 
 that he had been sick. 
 
 (5.) It is the leader's duty to inform the minister of 
 any that walk disorderly, and will not be reproved.''* The 
 duty here is twofold, and is of the utmost importance ; and 
 it should, in both cases, be discharged with the utmost 
 faithfulness and promptness, as all duties should be, but 
 especially this. First, the leader is to visit those who 
 neglect to meet their class, as also those who walk disor- 
 derly, and this he should do in all cases without delay. 
 The delay of a few weeks, and sometimes of a single week, 
 may be sufficient to render a case past recovery, while the 
 earliest attention possible may arrest declension in its very 
 commencement. The greater proportion of backsliding in 
 our church is to be ascribed, doubtless, to the want of 
 promptness in the leaders to visit delinquent members. A 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, p. 29. 
 23* 
 
270 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 few weeks' absence from class is enough, sometimes, so to 
 discourage a young Christian particularly, as to cause his 
 abandonment of class altogether, and thus is accelerated his 
 return to the world; both of which a timely visit from the 
 leader might have effectually prevented. Besides, young 
 members, after a revival, may be scattered in different parts 
 of a large city or circuit; and it is impossible for the pas- 
 tor to see all the delinquent members in a single week, and 
 attend to his other pressing duties : the leaders, residing in 
 the neighborhood, must make up this lack of service. 
 Besides, the pastor may be engaged in a remote part of his 
 circuit, or called away to the sessions of his Conference, or 
 he may be sick ; and without the faithful and timely visits of 
 the leader, delinquency, in most cases, may become in- 
 curable. But, in the second place, after the leader has 
 unsuccessfully discharged his duty, he is to report such as 
 will not amend to the pastor, and this he is to do, likewise, 
 with the utmost promptness, when it becomes the pastor's 
 duty immediately to give his attention to the case. The 
 same remarks apply to any that walk disorderly, and will 
 not be reproved.^' Profound responsibilities, truly, are 
 imposed upon the leaders, requiring great energy, vigilance, 
 and perseverance; and, as the Discipline prescribes, they 
 should ^^be not only men of sound judgment, but men 
 truly devoted to God.'' 
 
 (6.) It is the leader's duty to meet the ministers and the 
 stewards once a week, in towns and cities, and on the cir- 
 cuits as often as practicable, for the purposes already men- 
 tioned, and to pay the stewards what they have received 
 of their classes for the relief of the preachers, church, and 
 poor."* This is an important duty which many neglect; 
 some, because they have nothing favorable to report of their 
 classes; some, because they have neglected to meet their 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, p. 29. 
 
DUTIES OF LEADERS. 
 
 271 
 
 class during the week; some, because they have nothing 
 financial to report; some, because they are unwilling to 
 neglect their temporal business at the time; and some, 
 with no excuse at all. Every leader always, when practica- 
 ble, should be in his place at the leaders' meeting. The 
 Discipline expressly requires it. The duties of his office 
 demand it. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 As the duties of leaders are of such importance, and so 
 great magnitude, they should not only carefully study them, 
 but possess corresponding qualifications, that they may 
 rigidly and faithfully perform them. To the leaders, there- 
 fore, some advice will not be unacceptable, and, we hope, not 
 unprofitable. 
 
 1. Let your graces be kept in lively, vigorous, and con- 
 stant exercise. When you enjoy a holy, animated, and 
 heavenly frame, your classes will feel the influence of it, 
 and be encouraged to seek the same themselves. Your ad- 
 monitions, your exhortations, your instructions, your prayers, 
 your praises, will be sweet and heavenly to them, and your 
 company will be pleasant, because you have been with Jesus, 
 and he accompanies you to the class-room. You will gather 
 the richest instructions from the work of God in your own 
 heart, and it will be an easy matter then to diflfuse a divine 
 enchantment and interest over the labors and services of your 
 peculiar office. Then with what a tenderness can you raise 
 up the bowed down, comfort the mourner, refresh the 
 bruised and almost broken heart, encourage the doubt- 
 ing, exhort the wavering, and inspire the strong to seek all 
 the fulness of God ! That is, your patience will admonish 
 the impatient, your meekness will restrain the murmuring, 
 your resignation will encourage the complaining, your hu- 
 mility will chide the proud, your self-denial will reprove the 
 worldly, your faith will embolden the timid, your love will 
 inflame the languid, your zeal animate the inactive, your 
 272 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 273 
 
 peace cheer the troubled, your hope revive the doubting, 
 your joy refresh the sorrowing, your experience heighten 
 theirs, and all your abounding and overflowing graces spread 
 the charm, the balm, and the bloom of spiritual life around 
 the circle of the class, and increase the blessedness of the 
 happy little family. But if you are cold, they will be cold ; 
 if you famish, they will famish ; if you are dull in the dis- 
 charge of your duties, they will be so, too, in the discharge 
 of theirs ; if your love and zeal decline, so will theirs ; if 
 your peace and joy subside, so will theirs; if the life of God 
 languish in you, languor will insensibly creep over them ; 
 if your prayers, and songs, and counsels, are formal and 
 powerless, they will come and go unblest ; if your graces 
 droop into weakness and confusion, theirs will soon become 
 so likewise. A leader of a vigorous and progressing reli- 
 gious experience will soon revive a cold, and formal, and 
 famishing class ; and a leader of a lifeless and formal reli- 
 gion will soon enfeeble and starve a lively and thrifty class. 
 You cannot kindle the celestial fire in your hearts, without 
 rousing a^ame in their hearts; you cannot permit it to sink 
 in your own, without seeing it expiring in theirs ; you can- 
 not strengthen on large and liberal meals of the bread and 
 water of life, without beholding others around you induced 
 to partake cheerfully of the same gracious repast ; and you 
 cannot waste away to a sensible and painful leanness your- 
 self, without a corresponding leanness becoming visible in 
 those committed to your care : you cannot flourish or decline 
 alone. O ye guides of Christ's little children, follow Christ, 
 that they may follow you ! ye under-shepherds of Christ, 
 lead his little flocks into the greenest pastures, and sweetest 
 shade, and by the stillest waters, and to the richest fruits 
 and the loftiest eminences of Zion ! ye teachers of the 
 classes in the school of Christ, learn the more of him, that 
 ye may teach them the more ! ye leaders of his little bands, 
 put on the whole armor of light, and keep it bright, and 
 
274 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 fight valiantly, with them around you, till you and they are 
 more than conquerors ! ye helpers of the ministry of Christ, 
 ye share in our labors, and trials, and hardships, and ye shall 
 share in our rest, and joy, and glory at the last ! Prepare 
 for your work and your reward. The performance of the 
 work will insure the reward. 
 
 2. Let your example or outward life be consistent with 
 the duties of your office. You have great advantage over 
 most men to do your classes good, and so you are in greater 
 danger of doing them harm. You may undo by your ex- 
 ample what you teach by precept. Your outward lives 
 may contradict your professions in the class-room. Baxter 
 says to the preachers : " You may build up an hour or two 
 with your mouths, what all the week after you may pull 
 down with your hands; and one proud, lordly word, one 
 needless contention, one covetous action, may cut the throat 
 of many a sermon, and blast the fruit of all you have been 
 doing.'' And the same may be applied to the class-leader. 
 Take the General Kules'' — do you keep them all ? Do 
 you avoid evil of every kind ? Do you observe the Sabbath 
 day by doing no ordinary work therein ? Do you indulge 
 in no unprofitable and uncharitable conversation ? Do you 
 take only those diversions that can be used in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus ? or sing those songs and read those books 
 only which tend to the knowledge and love of God ? Are 
 you, with all your might, laying up treasure upon earth ? 
 Do yotb borrow without the probability of paying, or take 
 up goods without a probability of paying for them ? Are 
 you doing good of every kind ? Do you give to charitable 
 objects according to the ability which God giveth ? Are 
 you using all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel 
 be not blamed ? Do you deny yourself, and take up your 
 cross daily ? Do you attend upon all the ordinances of God ? 
 Do you ever willingly neglect the public worship of God or 
 the ministry of his word ? Do you faithfully observe the 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 275 
 
 supper of the Lord ? and family and private prayer ? and 
 the love-feast; and the weekly or regular prayer-meetings? 
 Do you search the Scriptures daily ? and regularly, or occa- 
 sionally, or not at all, observe fasting or abstinence? Or in 
 all, or in any of these important matters, are you like other 
 men ? Do your lives condemn sin, and persuade men to 
 duty, or condemn religion, and dissuade men from duty? 
 Does your example abate or strengthen the prejudices of 
 men ? Do you " overcome evil with good,^^ or are you " over- 
 come of evil Are you meek and lowly, or proud and 
 resentful? Are ?/ot^ self-denying, or worldly-minded ? Do 
 you speak roughly, angrily, or disrespectfully of any one or 
 to any one ? or do you " condescend to men of low estate,'^ 
 especially the poorer members of your class, who are apt to 
 confound neglect with contempt ? Are you kind and cour- 
 teous to all ? — to the younger as a father, to others as a 
 brother? Are you zealous of good works,^^ abounding 
 especially in deeds of charity and benevolence? such as 
 visiting the sick, relieving the poor, distributing good books, 
 and stretching, not tightening, your purse to the utmost,' ' 
 that you may do all, not the least, good you can ? Do you 
 rather pinch your conscience than pinch your flesh ? would 
 you rather have little on earth, and much in heaven, or 
 much on earth, and nothing in heaven ? or lock up your 
 hearts, than unlock heaven ? Are you known in your town 
 or neighborhood as close, covetous, penurious men, or as 
 wise and liberal stewards in your Master's service ? Do you 
 exhort your class to feed the poor, and clothe the naked, and 
 yet do but little or nothing yourselves ? Do you dissuade 
 others from engaging in fashionable amusements and plea- 
 sures, and yet indulge in them yourselves, and teach and 
 encourage your families to do the same ? Pardon me, my 
 brethren : do you warn your class against the fascinating 
 diversions of fashionable life, and yet are yourselves passion- 
 ately fond of them ? I have myself seen — I will not say 
 
276 DUTIES OF PREACHERS^ LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 where — the Holy Bible on the stand, and the ^^Life of 
 Washington'' in two volumes, that is, the hachgammon-hox 
 or chess-hoard J under the stand ! Do you inveigh against 
 popular customs, such as dancing-schools, and yet send your 
 children to them ? or such as fashionable parties, and yet 
 permit your children to attend them ? or such as popular 
 songs, and yet allow your children to learn and sing them ? 
 
 Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself 
 and those of thy household ? While you seek to overcome 
 sin in others, do you bow to it yourselves ? ^^For of whom 
 a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage/' 
 Do you reprove publicly in others what you do secretly, if not 
 publicly, yourselves ? Do you use many words in buying 
 and selling, and are you notorious for being keen in a trade 
 or in a bargain? Or are you indolent in business, and 
 famous for your indolence ? What say you to these things ? 
 But I forbear. If you plead guilty to these questions, in 
 the name of God, my dear brethren, ye class-leaders, repent 
 and sin no more. In the name of the church, whose inte- 
 rests and character you represent, be holy men. In the 
 name of your classes, do better from this hour. Why should 
 you be surprised that you feel so little interest in the spiritual 
 welfare of your classes ? why should you be surprised that 
 so few of your members ordinarily meet you in class ? why 
 should you be surprised, many of you, that your classes are 
 virtually disbanded, and your office but a nominal thing ? 
 Come, come ! it is high time to awake out of sleep ; may 
 your interest for your classes be revived with tenfold in- 
 tensity ! may your classes, now scattered, and cold, and dead, 
 and in confusion, be reassembled, revived, and regulated; 
 and may your office be a real and lasting benefit to the 
 churches with which you are connected, and to the neigh- 
 borhoods in which you reside ! The next advice will be of 
 service to you. 
 
 3. Seek the highest qualifications necessary for your work. 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS, 
 
 277 
 
 0 what qualifications are necessary for the work of the 
 preacher ! and well may he cry out, Who is sufiicient for 
 these things But you are the helpers next to the preach- 
 ers, and well may you use the same exclamation. Peter 
 says of Christians generally, What manner of persons 
 ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?^' and 
 this may be said with greater emphasis of you as guides of 
 Christians. You should spare no pains to be fully qualified 
 for your work, which is far more important than the work 
 of ordinary Christians. Yours is not the work of children, 
 but of men of God ; and you should be strong men. You 
 must be men of great industry — " not slothful in business, 
 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.'^ You must be men of 
 unwearied patience — be not weary in well doing, for in due 
 season ye shall reap, if ye faint not.^' You must be men of 
 inflexible firmness — ^' steadfast, immovable, always abound- 
 ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
 your labor is not in vain in the Lord.^^ Ye must be men 
 of unyielding perseverance — no man, having put his hand 
 to the plow, looketh back.'' Ye should be men of burn- 
 ing zeal — zealous of good works,'' because it is good to 
 be zealously afi*ected in a good work," and it was said of 
 Christ, the zeal of the Lord's house hath eaten me up," 
 and nothing great is accomplished without great zeal. You 
 should be men of the most scrupulous punctuality and exact 
 system — ^' let every thing be done in decency and in order," 
 and at the time." You should be men of great faith — 
 strong in faith, giving glory to God." You should be 
 men of perfect love, and if you are not, you should seek it 
 — " perfect love that caste th out fear." You should be men 
 of the deepest humility — meek and lowly in heart," as 
 Christ was, that you may be ensamples to (your little) 
 flocks." You should be men of extensive knowledge of the 
 Bible, that you may bring out of this treasury, " things 
 new and old." You should be men of constant prayer — 
 
 24 
 
278 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 "praying without ceasing/' You should be men deeply 
 acquainted with spiritual things — even the hidden myste- 
 ries of godliness/' And what shall I say more ? And how 
 otherwise can you be useful, unless you be all this, or ap- 
 proximate to this ? Let us see. 
 
 If you are indolent, how can you expect others to be in- 
 dustrious ? If you are not patient, how can you expect 
 others to be patient ? If you are unstable, how can you ex- 
 pect others to be firm ? If you are not persevering, how 
 can you expect others to persevere ? If you are dull, and 
 cold, and indifferent, how can you expect others to be zeal- 
 ous and diligent ? If you are remiss and irregular, how can 
 you expect others to be punctual and exact ? If your faith 
 is weak, how can you expect others to have strong faith ? 
 If your love is feeble, how can you expect others to have 
 perfect love ? If you are proud, how can you expect others 
 to be humble ? If you know but little of the Bible, how 
 can you instruct others in its truths ? If you pray but sel- 
 dom, how can you expect or encourage others to pray con- 
 stantly ? If you do not know much of spiritual things — if 
 you are babes in Christ when you ought to be fathers — how 
 can you expect those under your care to be men and women 
 in Christ Jesus ? 
 
 To be more particular : how can you tell what is the mea- 
 sure of faith, unless you know what is the measure of your 
 own faith ? If you have not victory over the in-being of 
 sin and the world, how can you earnestly exhort others to 
 seek it ? If you know not what degree of love to God and 
 his children you have in your own heart, how can you know 
 what amount others have, or how to encourage others to strive 
 for it ? If your communion with God is not intimate and 
 uninterrupted, what little interest must you feel for others in 
 this particular ! and how can you instruct others with much 
 effect as to the manner of obtaining, retaining, and improving 
 it ? If you have not the assurance of present acceptance, 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 279 
 
 and the concurring witness of the divine Spirit and your own, 
 how dark must be the great subject whenever you attempt 
 to explain it to others ! If you have but little power to re- 
 sist temptation, how can you encourage others to do it ? If 
 you know but little of Satan^s devices, and so often fall into 
 them, how can you expose them to others, and warn others 
 against them ? If you have not the power to control your 
 tempers, how can you direct others how to do it ? If you 
 are making but slow progress in religious enjoyment, how 
 can you feel constrained to urge others to advance, or teach 
 them how to advance in it ? If you have travelled but a 
 few steps beyond the gates of grace, how can you lead others 
 to the gates of glory ? How can you be teachers, when as 
 yet ye need that one teach you ? How can you lead others 
 to perfection, when as yet ye have learned little more than 
 the first principles ? 
 
 Therefore, "go on unto perfection'^ yourselves. "Desire 
 spiritual gifts.'' " Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous 
 of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of 
 the church.'' 
 
 4. Your work requires more grace than the work of ordi- 
 nary Christians. Your temptations are greater, for Satan 
 follows you more closely than he does most men, and his de- 
 vices will be more subtle, his solicitations more urgent, and his 
 attacks more violent in your cases, than in those of your 
 classes, that he may smite you down, and scatter your little 
 bands. Hence, you will sometimes feel the strongest in- 
 clination to indolence and neglect of your duties, and if you 
 yield, this is a great conquest of the enemy ) and when 
 once he can tempt you to scandal of any kind, he will boast 
 of having made the stewards of God's house unfaithful. 
 And the eyes of the world are more steadily and keenly set 
 upon you than upon ordinary Christians. You are always in 
 the open light, and you cannot sin without being observed. 
 More is expected of you than of most men. Your very 
 
280 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 office keeps the world vigilant and curious. The ^^appear- 
 ance of evil'' in you will be confounded with real evil; 
 your smallest faults be aggravated into sins, and proclaimed 
 as sins ; and should you commit any sin, quick will the world 
 be to reproach you and the church to the utmost, and long 
 will it be reluctant to pardon you — perhaps never. Indeed, 
 sin in you is more heinous than it is in ordinary Christians, 
 because you sin against more knowledge, because you violate 
 your engagement to oppose sin, and because you sin upon 
 higher ground than ordinary Christians occupy. And you are 
 liable to greater trials and hardships than ordinary Christians, 
 and certainly you have a more important and responsible 
 work to perform than they. These things prove that you 
 require more grace than they. Remember, the salvation of 
 souls, and the honor of the church of Christ, are now, in a 
 very high degree, confided to your care; and your own salva- 
 tion and your own honor depend, to a great extent, upon 
 your success or failure. Obtain the grace of God to help 
 you, or you cannot discharge the duties of your office use- 
 fully to the church, nor acceptably to God. If the work be 
 above your gifts, resign it at once; better do this than come 
 off finally with deeper confusion and more painful regrets 
 than you would have known as private Christians. Many 
 private Christians, who over-estimated their abilities, have 
 assumed the ministerial office, and shortly became a burden 
 to the church, because they were unequal to the responsibili- 
 ties involved, but who, while they were in private life, were 
 useful to the church and to society. And so you may have 
 gifts and graces for a quiet and retired life, but not sufficient 
 for the responsible office which you fill. And it may be ob- 
 served just here, that there are many in our local ministry 
 who were very zealous and efficient class-leaders, but who, 
 aspiring to a higher work, for which they were unqualified, 
 are comparatively lost to the church ; and in becoming 
 preachers, vacated offices which it has been difficult, and, in 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 281 
 
 many cases, impossible to supply. This is one reason why, 
 in many places, there is so great want of good class-leaders. 
 The good class-leaders and exhorters have become poor and 
 feeble preachers, local and itinerant; and at this very time 
 they would make far better class-leaders than they are 
 preachers ; and it were wise to correct the existing evil, or, 
 at least as far as possible, prevent it in future. But let not 
 the humble and faithful class-leader be discouraged by this 
 observation. Gro on; you have the promise of the assistance 
 and blessing of God. He will put his Spirit upon you, and 
 Satan shall fall before you like lightning from heaven. Do 
 these things, and ye shall know the rest, and do the best. 
 
 24* 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ADVICE TO LEADERS CONTINUED. 
 
 1. The mode of leading class. 
 
 (1.) In examining the class. What we have already said 
 at length on the duties of leaders will suggest to you what 
 method you should pursue in examining your classes. The 
 duty of the leader in this respect is two-fold. He is to in- 
 quire into the religious experience and external life of 
 every member of his class. He is to see the members of 
 his class once a week, to inquire how their souls prosper : 
 let each leader carefully inquire how evevT/ soul of his class 
 prospers ; not only how each person observes the outward 
 rules, but how he grows in the knowledge and love of 
 God.^'* This is not to be done in general terms. The re- 
 ligious state of no one can be ascertained definitely in this 
 way; and the leader, ignorant of the particular state of the 
 individual members of his class, cannot furnish the requisite 
 aid or instruction to any, nor can the members of the class 
 be a mutual help in intercourse of this nature ; and the class 
 meeting itself thereby must become uninteresting, monoto- 
 nous, tedious, and unprofitable, and so shortly be abandoned. 
 It is to be done in particular terms. This is indispensably 
 important. 
 
 (2.) Let each member of the class relate his experience 
 with freedom and simplicity. The design of the classes is 
 to ascertain the spiritual state of each member, in order that 
 
 * Discipline, 1854, pp. 97, 98. 
 
 282 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 283 
 
 religious sympathy may be excited, mutual regard promoted, 
 mutual encouragement obtained, and the proper instructions 
 furnished ; and where the utmost freedom and simplicity 
 are observed, the utility of the class meeting surpasses the 
 power of language to describe it. But where the people are 
 unwilling to unfold the true state of their mind, and they 
 reply either negligently, evasively, or not at all, the very 
 design of the regulation is subverted, and the service is both 
 tedious and unprofitable j this method will break down the 
 system in any society. We should always give a plain and 
 honest account of our religious states, especially when the 
 mind is dull and heavy, or our evidence is doubtful, or our 
 comforts are withdrawn, and we are not making that ad- 
 vancement which we should, — since there is some serious 
 cause for all this, which may be found to exist in the indul- 
 gence of wicked and improper tempers, or in vain and wan- 
 dering thoughts, or in worldly dispositions and conversation, 
 or in neglect of some religious duty, public or private ; it 
 may be of the class meeting itself, or in unbelieving anxie- 
 ties or reasonings ; all of which we may be tempted to con- 
 ceal, and so take the most effectual method to grieve the 
 Holy Spirit, and fall into the devices of Satan. An ingenu- 
 ous account of our temptations is the surest way to sub- 
 due them. But if we yield to the suggestions that our 
 distresses are the most deplorable, that our sins are so heinous 
 that they ought not to be disclosed, or are so trivial that 
 they need not be confessed, or that we need not discover the 
 whole of our depravity, or that we should give an unfair 
 and partial account of our true state, lest we be considered 
 very imperfect Christians, or that we should refrain from 
 speaking freely of the goodness and grace of God, and refer 
 in but an obscure manner to whatever in us is disagreeable 
 and unfavorable, or beguile ourselves with the secret forma- 
 tion of resolutions to do better, — our testimony in all these 
 cases amounts to nothing more than a hurtful illusion, or 
 
284 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 partial hypocrisy, and an evasion of our duty to Grod, his 
 church, and ourselves. And worst of all, probably, is the 
 chilling, sullen silence which some observe. Thus, we hold 
 but a partial connection with the blessed community of God's 
 people, and consequently can enjoy but a small amount of 
 profit from whatever else may be of a nominal and formal 
 association. Meantime, we do not pretend that private and 
 family concerns are to be divulged, or when tried or tempted 
 in delicate circumstances that we are to enter into particulars; 
 common prudence and discretion will dictate what should 
 be referred to in general terms, what in particular terms, 
 what should not be referred to at all, and what should be 
 communicated without evasion and without reserve. You 
 may relate the precious seasons you have had in public and 
 private devotion; you may speak in a meek and humble 
 spirit of your temptations, and trials, and faults, and fail- 
 ures ; you may refer to your numerous conflicts, and the 
 manner in which you obtained deliverance ; you may refer 
 to the peculiar working of divine grace in your own soul ; 
 you may especially confess whether you are declining, or 
 gratefully declare whether you are advancing, in the divine 
 life. 
 
 (3.) Self-examination, severe, thorough, impartial. The 
 class meeting will be productive of but little real, lasting 
 benefit without this. Without this you cannot relate the 
 true state of your case, and, consequently, cannot obtain 
 the appropriate instruction, encouragement, and counsel; 
 and many a prayer, and song, and promise, and admonition, 
 and help, in some form, that might have been discovered 
 most easily as peculiarly adapted to your case, must pass 
 without meaning and without use to you. Self-examination 
 will suggest the very things that should be made the sub- 
 jects of communication, and so furnish to the leader a 
 knowledge of your case, that he may administer the proper 
 relief or help. Self-examination will inform you what you 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. ' 285 
 
 have been, what you are, and what you should be ; and 
 there will be great cause for gratitude ; and there may be 
 great cause for penitence and increased faith, and redoub- 
 ling of diligence; and there may be great reason for en- 
 couragement to pursue to the end the good and the holy 
 way. There will be no danger then of self-deception. In 
 the clear light of the Holy Spirit, you will have a perfect 
 knowledge of your heart; and then the path of duty, 
 privilege, and safety will be plain as noon-day; and. the 
 very sight of remaining corruption will be accompanied 
 with a persuasive knowledge of the cleansing blood of 
 Jesus, and the freeness and fulness of the mercy of God; 
 the remembrance of relapses and failures will be attended 
 with stronger resolutions to do better in future; and the 
 sense of a general, or any particular weakness, will remind 
 you of the necessity and sufficiency of divine grace. An 
 hour of faithful self-examination in the class-room will 
 prepare you, from week to week, for the returning season 
 of class meeting, and for the intervening periods. 
 
 (4.) Prayer. Prayer, that self-examination may be 
 honest, faithful, complete. Self-examination, without 
 prayer, will be a cold, -intellectual exercise, irksome, disa- 
 greeable, partial; for then it must be unaided by grace, 
 and much of the in-being of sin lie concealed in its own 
 deceitfulness. Prayer seeks the penetrating light of the 
 Spirit, which reveals the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 
 
 Who can understand his errors ? cleanse thou me from 
 secret faults,' ' is the very language suitable to the service 
 of the class-room; and he "who understands the secrets of 
 the heart,'' will, in the progress of devout self-examination, 
 not only reveal clearly all that is sinful, but mercifully 
 exercise his mighty cleansing power in a most sensible 
 manner. There is a liberty, a simplicity, and a power in 
 prayer in the class-room known only to those who have 
 prayed there, especially to those who are in the habitual 
 
286 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 use of this service. We know there we are with the pious 
 and prayerful; that we have met for the same object; that 
 we are a mutual help; that we are the subjects of a mutual 
 confidence, sympathy, affection, and forbearance; and that 
 the very essence of the meeting is social. With what ease 
 and delight can we pray when we know others are praying 
 for us I Each joins in the prayer, God be merciful unto 
 us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon usf^ and 
 Christ, who promised to be where two or three are met in 
 his name," assures each of his interest in the promise, and 
 so one helps another to claim the blessing. Prayer in the 
 class-room is special, and is concentrated upon some present 
 object, and this explains, in some degree, its power. Often, 
 though the believer entered the class-room in a dull, heavy, 
 and doubtful state, after a few moments of secret and hum- 
 ble communion with God, his heart is inflamed with a 
 renewed zeal, and he is impatient to bear witness to the 
 goodness of God. Many a time, so animating is the sense 
 of God's presence in answer to prayer in the class-room, 
 that we can pray most earnestly for our enemies and those 
 who persecute us. Many a time, after a heart-searching 
 self-examination, so earnest and importunate is the spirit of 
 prayer, that the Spirit itself "helps our infirmities with 
 groanings that cannot be uttered," and the heart breaks 
 forth in humble confessions, and grateful expressions, and 
 sobs, and songs of praise. Many a time, drawn out sweetly 
 in prayer, in the profound devotion of the class-room, the 
 soul acquires such a calmness and composure, as raises it 
 above the fear of man and the agitation ; which the timid, 
 imperfect Christian often experiences, subsides, and lan- 
 guage is uttered as in the divine presence. Many, many a 
 time, in immediate answer to prayer, in the class-room, so 
 intensely burns the heart with love to God and man, that 
 the whole class is quickened by the subduing and stirring, 
 testimony given, and the very class-room seems to be a 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 287 
 
 mansion of glory, or a tabernacle erected upon Mount 
 Tabor's shining heights. By prayer we obtain new bless- 
 ings, and so are enabled to avoid the repetition of the same 
 things from week to week, and to drop those common-place 
 terms, and the style and manner too often borrowed from 
 others, and which indicate a slothful and lukewarm spirit. 
 Thus from week to week your experience will be new, 
 original, and always interesting, because it is impossible 
 God should forget you for a whole week, or for a single 
 moment; and in time you will become pillars and leaders in 
 the church of God on earth, and, finally, exalted saints in his 
 church in heaven. Prayer prepares the man of business for 
 great undertakings, by giving an earnestness and seriousness 
 to the character, by repressing the spirit of levity and 
 frivolity which trifles with solemn and important concerns ; 
 by supporting and restraining in the hour of temptation; by 
 making simple faith mightier than wisdom ; by exciting a 
 subdued and well-regulated enthusiasm ; by inspiring a calm 
 confidence in divine providence for eventual success; by 
 invoking the co-operation of the favor and influence of the 
 Most High ; by associating and harmonizing all the religious 
 and secular duties of life: and so from the class-room he 
 goes forth to conceive great plans and do great deeds. 
 Prayer prepares all for the labors and allotments of divine 
 Providence, and the discharge of every duty, spiritual and 
 secular. 
 
 (5.) Singing. The meeting usually commences with 
 singing. Few devotional exercises more powerfully raise 
 the soul to God than singing. When the language of 
 praise is poetical, fluent, intelligible, and the sentiments 
 expressed are pious and scriptural, and the people serious 
 and earnest, and the music solemn and appropriate, and the 
 greater part of the class join their voices, there is probably 
 no better means of exciting awful and tender impressions 
 of God, and of increasing our love to him and his people. 
 
288 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 Methodist hymns and music are peculiarly adapted to the 
 exercises of the classes. For all states and conditions of 
 the mind, and all situations in life,~the sinner's sense of his 
 own corruption; the soul panting after redemption through 
 the blood of Christ; the power, wisdom, and goodness of 
 God in creation; the love of Christ in redemption; the 
 efficacy of the Spirit in cleansing from all unrighteousness ; 
 the misery of the wicked; the happiness of the just; 
 reverence; praise; gratitude; exhortation; advice; in- 
 struction ; warning ; consolation ; patience ; resignation ; 
 doubts; fears; relapses; — in short, for enforcing piety to 
 God, and love to our fellow-creatures, appropriate hymns may 
 be found in our collection; and so, occasionally, in the 
 progress of the class meeting, some verses suitable to the 
 experience just related are sung, and sometimes only a single 
 verse is sung, by which often devotion is strengthened, con- 
 fidence renewed, and the heart rekindled with holy zeal. 
 2. Other advices. 
 
 Begin the meeting at the proper time. If but two or 
 three are present, begin. This will soon teach the members 
 to be punctual. Likewise conclude in proper time. Send 
 the people away better than when they came, with their 
 hearts warm with gracious feelings, that they may anticipate 
 the time of meeting again. If the meeting be protracted 
 too long, many inconveniences will follow : mothers will be 
 improperly kept from their children; confusion will arise 
 in domestic arrangements; the meeting will become dull 
 and irksome; much of the spiritual good which had been 
 received will be lost; formality will ensue; and many 
 pressing duties may be neglected. Be short and animated 
 in speaking, singing, and j)raying. A few pointed and 
 appropriate expressions will be more useful than a long 
 harangue or a stormy declamation, because most easily 
 remembered. 
 
 Study your heart and experience, as well as obtain a 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 289 
 
 knowledge of the varieties of Christian experience. Your 
 own feelings and temptations will often be those of others ; 
 and where yours are not the same with others, you may 
 encourage them from the variety of experience with which 
 your knowledge furnishes you. 
 
 Occasionally take your class-paper with you into your 
 closet, and pray for your members individually. This will 
 greatly endear them all to you; for we cannot pray sin- 
 cerely for any one without loving him, and feeling a deep 
 interest in his spiritual welfare; and God will bless you, 
 and make you a blessing to them. Take the following case 
 of Richard Bealey, a class-leader in England, as given in 
 the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine :^ Deeply conscious of 
 the insufficiency of human wisdom and ability to succeed in 
 the office he had undertaken, without the influei^ce of the 
 Spirit of God, Mr. B. earnestly sought help from the great 
 Head of the Church by ardent and constant prayers. On 
 the evening on which he used to meet his class, it was his 
 custom previously to spend an hour in retirement, that he 
 might have opportunity for self-examination and interces- 
 sion for the members. Often have individuals of his 
 family, when walking in the garden, unperceived by him, 
 observed him on his knees in his chamber in fervent prayer, 
 with his eyes and one hand lifted up to heaven, while the other 
 held the list of those for whom he prayed. From papers found 
 since his disease, written in short hand by himself, it ap- 
 pears to have been his practice to record, on his return from 
 class meeting, the spiritual state of the different members 
 of his class, that, by having it before him during the week, 
 he might be the better prepared for speaking pointedly and 
 judiciously to each member at the succeeding meeting. 
 Occasionally, also, he drew out in writing the substance of 
 exhortations on general subjects of religious duty, intended 
 
 Third Series, vol. i. p. 150. 
 
 25 
 
290 DUTIES OP PREACHERS; LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 to be addressed to the class collectively. Sometimes he 
 spent a great part of the night, and sometimes the whole of 
 it, in devotional exercises, and particularly in prayer ; when 
 his family, the members of his class, and the church of 
 God were presented in the arms of faith and love to Him 
 who is able to guide, protect, and save. He conscientiously 
 attended to the rules of Methodism, which enjoined him, as 
 a leader, ^ to see each person in his class once a weeh at 
 least ; and to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion 
 might require ; and to meet the ministers and stewards of 
 the society once a weeh f and sooner than miss the weeMy 
 meeting of his class, or his regular attendance at the 
 leaders' meeting, he would quit the company of his nearest 
 friends, suspend (if possible) his secular business, or post- 
 pone a jojirney. The consequence of his fidelity and zeal 
 was, as might be expected, the prosperity of his class, the 
 cordial attachment of his members, and a general and 
 blessed influence upon the whole society in the village 
 where he resided, and where his death is still mourned, and 
 will long be mourned, as an irreparable loss.'' 
 
 Take another example — that of Father Reeves, thirty- 
 four years a class-leader in the Wesleyan Methodist Society, 
 Lambeth.'' " He was never (or only once) behind time at 
 class, or public worship. Never absent, but through sickness 
 or distance. He never let a Sunday pass without inviting 
 one or more sinners to the Saviour. He never went to class 
 without earnest preparation, a careful selection of hymns. 
 Scripture references, and, apparently, topics for prayer. He 
 never permitted absence without knowing the cause, or im- 
 mediate visitation to ascertain it. He never omitted to 
 collect moneys in his classes, whenever they met ; and he 
 never neglected paying the amount collected to the stewards 
 every week. He never forgot the poor of his classes ; but 
 brought his list of the necessitous every poor's night. To 
 him the loss of members was a source of humiliation — 
 
ADVICE TO LEADERS. 
 
 291 
 
 matter of self-abasement in his classes. The prosperity of 
 Zion was his chief joy. He lived in the spirit of his cove- 
 nant engagements with God, being ready for any service, 
 and rejoicing in all; but never neglecting any work he had 
 undertaken. His Bible was his teacher; prayer his element, 
 his duty, his delight. Consecrating his time, his soul, his 
 energies, unremittingly, unreservedly, to God and his cause, 
 no wonder he was blessed. Would it not be well if all 
 leaders were like him in these particulars ? If all were like 
 him in these things, should we not have a holier, happier, 
 and more useful church 
 
 Father Reeves, (Meth. Tract Society,) p. 159. 
 
CHAPTEH VI. 
 
 APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 1. To those who are in the wilful and repeated neglect 
 of class. Once you were happy — alas, how cold, and dead, 
 and worldly, and miserable now ! And you may have often 
 inquired, most seriously, Why is this so ? It is a matter of 
 experience, no doubt, with you, that when you were most 
 punctual and regular in observing this means of grace, you 
 enjoyed most of the grace of God. And the answer to your 
 inquiry is, you have neglected to meet your class, which, 
 as you believe, and we have shown, is connected with so 
 many and so great advantages. With the first omission of 
 this duty commenced your spiritual depression, which in- 
 creased with repeated neglects, till you are now the subject 
 of the most painful doubts, and fears, and self-rebuke. You 
 may yet pray in private, but with no life. You may yet 
 read the Bible, but with no comfort. You may yet habitu- 
 ally observe public worship and the Lord's Supper, but with 
 no real or permanent consolation in either case. You may 
 occasionally join in the prayer-meeting and the love-feast, 
 but with no sensible enjoyment. You may converse some- 
 times on religious subjects, but with no real spiritual delight. 
 In temptation, in trial, in conflict with the world, in afflic- 
 tion, under the chastisements of divine Providence, your 
 faith is weak, or fails altogether ; and probably, not a beam 
 of real hope struggles through the appalling gloom that en- 
 velopes death and the judgment. Your's is a sad state, truly. 
 But what is the matter ? what is the true cause of all this ? 
 
 292 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 293 
 
 In a word, we answer, you neglect to meet your class. This 
 explains all. You lost your first love'^ by neglecting this 
 duty, and then followed the long train of other delinquen- 
 cies, with their accompanying sorrowful effects, which you 
 now experience. But relief is at hand. From this hour 
 resolve to obtain it. Go back to the class. Go back the 
 next time your class meets. If your class never meet now, 
 go to some other class that does meet. Go, or be content to 
 live and die as you are. But go, and never neglect class 
 again till death, unless sickness, distance, or some insur- 
 mountable difficulty prevent you. 
 
 In a letter, Mr. Wesley thus writes to one in your state : 
 My dear sister : — The more I consider your case, the 
 more I am convinced that you are in the school of God, and 
 that the Lord loveth whom he chtsteneth. From the time 
 you omitted meeting your class, you grieved the Holy Spirit 
 of God, and he gave a commission to Satan to buffet you : 
 nor will that commission ever be revoked till you begin to 
 meet again. In the name of God, set out again, and do the 
 first works ! I exhort you for my sake, (who tenderly love 
 you,) for God's sake, for the sake of your own soul, begin 
 again without delay. The day after you receive this, go and 
 meet a class. Sick or well, go ! If you cannot speak a 
 word, go ! and God will go with you. You sink under the 
 sin of omission ! My friend, my sister, go ! Go, whether 
 you can or not. Break through. Take up your cross. I 
 say again, do the first works, and God will restore your first 
 love ! and you will be a comfort, not a grief, to 
 
 Yours, most affectionately, 
 
 November 4, 1790. John Wesley.^'* 
 
 * Wesley^s Works, vol. vii. p. 120. This letter was written by Mr. 
 Wesley a little more than three months before his death, and shows 
 the importance which this venerable founder of this institution attached 
 to it. He was now eighty-eight years of age. 
 
V 
 
 294 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 There is one class of those who are in the habitual and 
 wilful neglect of class, to whom especially we appeal — we 
 mean the ricli. In appealing to you, we would not have you 
 forget that you are rich, but we would have you to be alone, 
 and turn over and read carefully the following pages, in the 
 fear of God. 
 
 You may have been converted when a youth, in the midst 
 of a gracious revival in your own native town or village, or 
 in the neighborhood, and for some time were always found 
 at the class meeting, and derived from it great advantages, 
 and zealously observed other means of grace, and enjoyed 
 much religious life and power. In the quiet period of youth 
 you encountered comparatively but little serious temptation, 
 and you gave your whole time and strength cheerfully to 
 the services of your religious profession. Soon the future 
 loomed up brightly, and you selected some worldly business 
 or profession, and to it at first you gave its due proportion 
 of attention, and as yet you were safe and happy. But 
 presently, having commenced the career of life at the right 
 point, and in the right manner, facilities of successful enter- 
 prise surrounded you, hope shone still more brightly on the 
 future, and by your own unaided energy, or the promised 
 assistance of friends, you resolved to make a fortune from 
 your business, or acquire fame in some department of worldly 
 ambition, and you concentrated your energies upon the ac- 
 complishment of your plans. Day and night you toiled on, 
 with increasing success, and with success excitement in- 
 creased, and you must redouble your energies. More exten- 
 sive plans are formed as your means and knowledge are 
 enlarged, and more time and care are now demanded to 
 accomplish these. Your thoughts, your reading, your con- 
 versation, your energies, are now wholly absorbed in worldly 
 matters : you scarcely allow yourself time to eat or sleep. 
 Your wealth is this hour increasing — it may be great ; your 
 influence among men is increasing — it may be extensive ; 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 295 
 
 your learning is increasing — it may be varied and profound ; 
 and you have now neither time nor disposition for any thing 
 else but how your wealthy or influence, or knowledge may 
 be expanded to the utmost limits. And you may have 
 married, and a lovely family is growing up around you, and 
 home may be happy, and the family must be permanently 
 and sufficiently provided for, that while you live, and after 
 you are dead, want and dependence, to them, may be un- 
 known. The children are to be educated, and they are to 
 be settled in life in honorable and useful pursuits. The 
 present to you now is of intense, stirring, incessant interest 
 and incalculable import. True, you have occasionally many 
 anxieties and painful doubts respecting the future, but they 
 may be momentary ; you have no time to indulge in anxiety, 
 or yield to the intrusion of fear. And sometimes you feel 
 wearied with life and its cares, but this, too, is only for a 
 moment ; up, up, and on : to halt now is to lose all that has 
 been gained. And sometimes, in calm moments, the solemn 
 inquiry is abruptly excited. Why am I pursuing the world 
 with this phrensy ? but this is but a transient interruption : 
 death and judgment are too dreadfiil and agitating to admit 
 of a prolonged consideration. And sometimes the remem- 
 brance of innocent boyhood, and youth, and early manhood, 
 is revived with singular vividness ; but this is banished in a 
 moment, for it is painful to think what you were and what 
 you are. And yet sometimes, when you dwell upon what 
 you are, you are so penetrated with your reflections, that you 
 shudder at the sight of yourself. And what are you now ? 
 I will tell you what you are. You are a nominal Christian. 
 You are a worldly-minded man. You are a formal Method- 
 ist — you may not even be that. Your name is enrolled still 
 on the church-register, where it was when you were a boy, 
 and a life of much perplexity and fatigue has passed since 
 then. You are an experienced man of the world — cautious, 
 shrewd, sagacious, honorable, influential ; but you are almost 
 
296 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 unknown as a Christian in the church, in the world, and at 
 home. You may be in the vigor of manhood, or on the 
 solitary borders of old age, and you are a guide to others, 
 with none to guide you, and the excitement of other days 
 is nearly gone — ah ! you are alone in the world. Already 
 you feel like a banished man. Death is before you, and 
 judgment beyond that, and eternal destruction beyond the 
 judgment ! 0 my Grod, is this the youthful convert ? Thou 
 art the man I And what was the first serious step that led 
 you down this long and mournful path ? We confidently 
 believe it was the first time, many years ago, you neglected 
 to meet with your class, and which you repeated till neglect 
 became habitual, and insensibility increased, and worldliness 
 became confirmed, and backsliding in heart became complete; 
 and the past, the present, and the future are one prolonged 
 series of mournful considerations, unrelieved by scarcely a 
 ray of hope or comfort. In Grod's name, for your own souFs 
 sake, rise up as from the resurrection, and as you will at 
 the resurrection, never to sleep again ; and go this hour, if 
 possible, or when possible, and meet with your brethren, 
 the people of God, in class again, and do the first works,^' 
 and recover the joy and the life of thy first love," which 
 you knew when you were a youthful convert. Hope may 
 yet rise in the sunset. Gro to your class. A sense of human 
 frailty is daily oppressive, and daily increasing, and but for 
 the ease in which you repose, and the affluence in which 
 you revel, it would immediately ripen into an intolerable 
 agony : go to your class. You might be happy, and a thou- 
 sand times more useful, and you know how to be both the 
 one and the other ; and yet a strange stupor debilitates you, 
 and a death-like langour is settling upon you : rouse up — go 
 to your class. You cannot live much longer, and you never 
 were so unprepared for death as you now are : go to your 
 class. You have a great work to do, and a short time to do 
 it in, and what is to be done must be done quickly : go to 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 29T 
 
 your class. Difficulties have had a charm to you, and many 
 times have you surmounted them, and wealth and fame have 
 been the achievements ; shrink not, pause not, nor hesitate 
 a moment now : go to your class. And many times, too, 
 you may have failed in the accomplishment of favorite plans, 
 and your strong will may have staggered on the eve of final 
 failure, but you resisted the tremendous shock, and con- 
 quered : come, go to your class. You know the world, and 
 you have but little confidence in most men, and there are 
 very few, if any, who are the standard of what you desire 
 to be ; and the longer you live, the farther you recede from 
 what you hope to be : go to your class. You have seen 
 much sorrow, which time only has soothed, and sustained 
 many losses, which time only has repaired, and endured 
 many disappointments, which time only has relieved, and 
 lost many friends, which time can never restore : go to your 
 class. The sunshine of youth is spent, and but few of your 
 generation remain on earth ; you have often visited the 
 grave, and you soon must follow : go to your class. A long 
 catalogue of neglects and sins covers the pages of God^s 
 book of remembrance, and your name to-night may be 
 transferred to the black volume of death : go to your class. 
 Hell itself is at your feet, and opens, and the next moment 
 it may close over you forever : go to your class. Go : 'God 
 calls — Christ calls — the Spirit calls — the church calls — 
 nature calls — providence calls — time calls — heaven calls — 
 hell calls — the saved call — the damned call — memory calls 
 — conscience calls — fear calls — death calls — the judgment 
 calls. Go ! Oh, to bo miserable the rest of your life, when 
 you were once so happy ! to be miserable any longer, when 
 from this hour you may be happy ! to die and be lost at last, 
 and forever, when you may yet be saved forever ! to die and 
 perish as a formalist, a wretched backslider in heart, when 
 you may be reclaimed, renewed, and exult in the life and 
 power of godliness ! Better had you died the day you were 
 
298 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 converted in your youth ; better had you died a poor, un- 
 known, but religious man ; better had you not been born 
 the second time ; better had you not been born at all ! And 
 what else shall I add ? I have only to add, Go to your 
 class — go to your class. It will humble your pride — it will 
 show you your heart — it will subdue your will — it will soothe 
 your conscience — it will calm your spirit — it will restore 
 your peace — it will revive your love — it will renew your 
 faith — it will rekindle your hope — it will reanimate your 
 zeal, and make you blessed, and a blessing to others, and 
 an honor to Christ and his church, and you shall escape the 
 backslider's and the rich man's hell, and enter the good 
 man's heaven. 
 
 2. To those who occasionally meet with their class. You 
 may be, as we have said before, in constant attendance on pub- 
 lic worship, and regularly observe private and family prayer, 
 and the weekly prayer-meeting; you may observe habitually 
 the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and occasionally fast ; 
 you may sincerely love and respect religious people, and 
 often converse with them seriously on religious subjects; 
 you may scrupulously and rigidly watch over all your tem- 
 pers, and words, and actions ; you may feel a sincere interest 
 in the affairs of the Redeemer's kingdom, and defend his 
 cause, and his people, and even rejoice in the success of his 
 cause ; you may give your money and influence to support 
 his church and ministry, and the noble enterprises of his 
 church ; you may cherish the tender charities and sympa- 
 thies of a benevolent and generous nature, and assist in re- 
 lieving the wants and necessities of the poor; you may read 
 the Bible daily, with meditation and prayer, and often feel 
 a force in its great and precious truths ; you may occasion- 
 ally and in the proper spirit meet with your class; and 
 in all these indulge the hope that you make some advances 
 toward holiness, though all this may be giving you credit 
 for more than you deserve ; but, as a Methodist, in the na- 
 
/ 
 
 ADVICE TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 299 
 
 ture of things, without a faithful, Jiahitual, constant observ- 
 ance of this means of grace, you cannot enjoy a solid and 
 abiding hope of eternal life ; no satisfactory, scriptural evi- 
 dence of acceptance with God ; no deep and lasting commu- 
 nion with God; no sensibly progressing religious life; no 
 enduring sunshine in the path to the grave and the judg- 
 ment : — but darkness of mind, fear of death, apprehension 
 of the judgment, and dread of hell, will embarrass and perplex 
 you all the way ; and probably at last you will die amid 
 the most painful doubts, and bitter regrets, and dismal fore- 
 bodings. This is enough to shake your inmost soul; and 
 may it be so ! 
 
 We have admitted that you have neglected but one duty, 
 and that but occasionally. And we have have assumed that 
 that occasional neglect may prove finally ruinous. And will 
 you run the hazard of being lost for that ? To you, as a 
 Methodist, certain escape lies but in one direction. You 
 may be lost for work almost done, as well as for work not 
 done at all. Well done, good and faithful servant, enter 
 into the joy of thy Lord,'^ is the seal of Christ, and the call 
 to heaven. Prepare fully, or be lost eternally. That one 
 duty neglected, how it troubles you ! And why does it 
 trouble you ? Because it portends a lasting trouble in the 
 future world. That one duty neglected, and how it chills 
 and debilitates the soul in the performance of every other 
 duty ! That one duty neglected, and how it hangs like a 
 millstone about your neck, and bows you to the earth, and 
 prostrates you in the dust ! That one duty neglected, and 
 ere long every other duty may be neglected ! But that one 
 duty performed, and your trouble vanishes, your soul is in- 
 vigorated, your head is raised from the dust, you rise and 
 run for life, the weight is off, you are free ; and the whole 
 duty done, you are saved ! Away, then, to your class, when 
 you can go, every time it meets. What now is occasionally 
 
300 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 done, make habitual, and never neglect again till you ex- 
 change worlds. 
 
 3. To the formalist and backslidden in heart. Yours is a 
 sad case. Your peace is invaded by convictions, harassed 
 by conscience, and disturbed by visitings from the realms 
 of death, and the judgment to come, from which you in vain 
 seek exemption in the cold and cheerless monotony of formal 
 observances. Your disinclination to spiritual things is daily 
 becoming more positive; carelessness is changing into aliena- 
 tion, aversion, hostility to the inner life of godliness; the re- 
 monstrances of conscience are soothed and frustrated by the 
 easy confidence that all will end well at last ; the powerful ad- 
 monitions of the pulpit, which almost freeze the animation 
 of the ungodly, are interpreted as wholly inapplicable to you ; 
 the seeds of life are falling into young and tender hearts 
 around you, but the seeds of death have already covered 
 your past life with noxious growth, which are now extending 
 their roots forward to overspread thickly all the space be- 
 yond, entwining themselves with a strange tenacity around 
 every power of your being, and exhausting daily the little 
 vitality that remains ; the very habits that you are forming 
 are growing into a decided character, which in the end is to 
 become an inexorable tyrant; and the very destiny which you 
 hope to escape you are rendering infallibly certain. You 
 are inert and buried under a burden of ceremonies, and tor- 
 pid and reposing under an accumulation of responsibilities, 
 almost incapable of being quickened into any spiritual ger- 
 mination ; and yet presuming you shall force out some re- 
 served expedient, before long neglect shall be fatal; that 
 from the inveterate habits of a lifeless formality, by a mighty 
 violence, you shall yet emancipate yourself, and then as sys- 
 tematically and piously prepare to die as you should have 
 prepared to live. This lying spirit, formality, this fatal be- 
 trayer, will as certainly desert you in the final and decisive 
 hour, when it shall have drawn you to the precipice, as the 
 
ADVICE TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 801 
 
 most notorious life of profligacy and profanity. In the 
 sight, and in contempt of the certain consequences, you go 
 to the precipice. With the oracles, lights, ceremonies, and 
 privileges of the church, you go. And you cannot go much 
 farther before you reach the end. 
 
 You often complain of languor and deadness in the church, 
 of the want of revival, and the want of spirituality and zeal 
 in the ministry. But the explanation is easy. What are 
 your amusements, and pleasures, and daily life ? Do you 
 pursue such only as are for " the glory of God,^' and that 
 tend to the knowledge and love of God For instance, 
 are you not passionately fond of such amusements as hack- 
 gammon^ chess, and even an innocent game at cards ? 
 And you may find examples even in those professing to be 
 ministers of Christ — we hope not in our church ! — and it is a 
 shame and a reproach to any church which they serve, and 
 a scandal to the gospel of Christ which they pretend to 
 preach. And you say, there is no harm in this or that 
 amusement.^' To cut the matter short, do they tend to 
 the knowledge and love of God ? Do they increase your 
 knowledge and love of spiritual things ? What is the spirit 
 of these amusements ? that is the question. Is it easy and 
 agreeable to go from the chess-board to the sacramental 
 table ? or from the sacramental table to the chess-board ? or 
 from the backgammon-box to the closet of prayer ? or to 
 the altar in a revival, and engage in its holy pleasures and 
 labors ? or to devout and pleasant perusal of the Bible ? or 
 can you converse with your competitor, at the close of the 
 game, about his soul's salvation, and the great and awful 
 interests of eternity ? or could you meet death in the game 
 with composure? or the announcement of judgment? or the 
 call to heaven? No, no! How then can you enjoy the class 
 meeting, or any other means of grace ? Probably you ne- 
 glect them all, except those of a public character. You need 
 not wonder that you are so languid and dead. You need 
 
 26 
 
302 DUTIES OP PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 not wonder that you have no revival ; you are in the way 
 of sinners yourself. You need not wonder that you are so 
 destitute of spirituality; you have pursued the very methods 
 that have destroyed your knowledge and love of God.^' 
 And the end is eternal death : There is a way which 
 seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways 
 of death.'' 
 
 0 ye dead-hearted, formal, and backslidden professors ! af 
 the very time you should be weeping and repenting in the 
 class-room, you may be earnestly engaged in worldly amuse- 
 ments, or intensely absorbed in worldly business, or seduously 
 employed in making or receiving fashonable visits. And 
 you think you are approaching the end of the path of sal- 
 vation, when you have lost the beginning ; that you are in 
 motion toward heaven, when you have receded immeasura- 
 bly the other way; that you are allured onward by the 
 charms of the gospel, when you are following the incanta- 
 tions of the semblance of piety; that you are doing much 
 for Christ, and are an honor to his church, when you are 
 doing every thing for yourselves, your own honor, your own 
 interest, and you see not the subtility of the deception; that 
 you are not wronging Christ, when you are invading his 
 dearest rights ; that you are giving every thing to Christ, 
 when he bestows nothing upon you ; that you are rich in 
 good works, when you are poor and beggarly in heart; that 
 you are righteous in life-, when you have no righteousness at 
 all ; that you depend solely upon the free grace of Grod, 
 when you have lost all you ever had, and have none remain- 
 ing; that you are obeying the will of God as faithfully as 
 you can, when you are obeying your own as well as you can; 
 that the image of Christ is on your hearts, when it is only 
 the dead image of fancy and presumption ; that you enjoy 
 the precious fruits of the merit of his death, when you have 
 applied to yourselves the merits of your own cold and for- 
 mal services; that you honestly confess your sins in the use* 
 
ADVICE TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 303 
 
 of the means of grace, when you conceal, palliate, and de- 
 fend them ; that you depend fully upon the promises of the 
 gospel, when you are exposed wholly to the threatenings of 
 the law ; that you have accepted the blessings- of the ever- 
 lasting covenant, when you have rejected the mercies of the 
 Father, the merits of the Son, and the aids of the Spirit ; 
 that nothing is wanting to complete your salvation but dying 
 grace, when nothing is remaining to finish your destruction 
 but the dying breath ; that you are the hopeful heirs to ^^an 
 inheritance incorruptible, and that fadeth not away," when 
 you are the promising candidates for the tribulation, and 
 anguish, and perdition of ungodly men." Ye formal pro- 
 fessors I ye backslidden in heart ! ye have done more to chill 
 and kill the spirituality of Christ's church than all the op- 
 position of men and devils. Ye have done more to consume 
 the spiritual edifice of God than all the fires of persecution 
 that were ever kindled up in the world. Ye have done 
 more to diminish and exhaust the energies of the church 
 than all the heresies of past ages. Ye have done more to 
 corrupt the simplicity of divine worship, and degrade the 
 means of grace, than all the apostasies from the faith. Ye 
 have done more, by your heartless and fruitless observance 
 of the means of grace, to lead true believers from their use, 
 than all the backslidings from the days of Christ and his 
 apostles. Your very presence is the contagion of the 
 second death, infecting the pure atmosphere of the church 
 with a mortal disease, that spreads with inconceivable ra- 
 pidity in every direction around you, from which none can 
 escape, but those who, sensible of their danger, and resolved 
 to heed the apostle's warning, ^^turn away" from you. 
 May Almighty God heal and revive you, that you may be 
 saved, and that multitudes of weak believers may no more 
 be deceived by the semblance till they reject and contemn 
 the real ! May the Spirit come from the four winds and 
 breathe upon the dead, ^^dry bones" of Israel, that they 
 
804 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 may live, and rise up a mighty army in all tlie land ! 0 ye 
 formalists ! ye backslidden in heart ! if ye have only strength 
 enough remaining to totter to the class-rooms, go thither, 
 for there thd' warm, recuscitating breath of the Spirit will be 
 breathed on you, and there only : for till then all your spiritual 
 animation will be but the flashes of a spasmodic and transi- 
 tory quickening ; the feeble quiverings of expiring life ; the 
 death-throes of the soul in its struggles to breathe and live. 
 True, no one in the church of God dreads the searching ex- 
 amination of the class-room more than you do ; not one is 
 more unprepared for it than you are. But no matter; make 
 the best of the worst case ; take it as it is to the sympathies 
 and helps of your brethren. Confess all, and it will be a 
 warning to others. Know the power of the form. And 
 henceforth may you be found always among the humblest 
 and happiest in the class-room, that you may be among the 
 most pious and zealous elsewhere. My dear brethren, begin 
 from this hour. 
 
 4. To men of business who are members of the church. 
 You urge the pressing demands of your business as an ex- 
 cuse for occasional or entire neglect of your solemn obli- 
 gation to meet with your class. If there is one class of 
 Christians belonging to the Methodist Church who deserve 
 the sympathies and forbearance of the ministry and mem- 
 bership, you belong to that class, and we will give your 
 case a fair and patient consideration. 
 
 It is true, in order to carry on an extensive business suc- 
 cessfully, powers of thought, a well-disciplined mind, capa- 
 bilities of endurance, and a vigorous and well-regulated con- 
 stitution, are required; that it is a life-time torment,'' for 
 which there is hardly any relief ; as he who changes his 
 business seldom succeeds ; and that it is the " death por- 
 tion'' to many. It is true, that it requires the exercise of 
 honesty, industry, frugality, justice, generosity, charity, 
 forethought, and self-sacrifice, in all its progress. It is true. 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 305 
 
 that it^romotes the happiness of man by contributing to 
 the support of good laws, to the duration of life, to the 
 mitigation of pain, to the facilities of commerce, locomotion, 
 and enterprise, to the comforts and convenience of life, and, 
 when properly managed, to the means of advancing the 
 kingdom of Grod among men. It is true, that an energetic 
 devotion to business, in its time and place, is not incompati- ^ 
 ble with a high degree of moral and religious culture. It 
 is true, that business men should learn how to get, save, 
 spend, give, take, lend, borrow, and bequeath money in the 
 right and best manner. It is true, great success in business 
 cannot be accomplished without intense thought and om- 
 nipotent resolution — thought in devising the means, and 
 ' resolution in applying the means; onicard is the word; 
 and there is no limit to advancement : the old philosopher's 
 motto, ^^Higlier, forever highevj^ is your own, and there is 
 no limit to the ascent — resolution, burning like fire within 
 you, ever removing difficulties, searching out and making 
 means, encouraging you in despondency, upholding you in 
 weakness, and supporting you amid the rude jostlings of 
 the world. Yours is a life of action, as well as study and 
 resolution. In the counting-house you have learned order, 
 system, management, the practical value of book-keeping, 
 and how to increase your interest and success in business. 
 You have cultivated your senses — disciplined your mind — 
 regulated your health — observed keenly — sought and seized 
 hold of every valuable fact — conceived, resolved, and exe- 
 cuted with the rapidity of lightning, and with the precision 
 of demonstration — merged the charm of the end in the 
 intensiti/ with which you applied the means ; and your tri- 
 umph has been proportionate to the difficulties you have 
 overcome. You have formed and confirmed the habits of 
 business — namely, industry, arrangement, calculation, pru- 
 dence, punctuality, and perseverance — it may be, all in equal { 
 degree, and kept in constant exercise, and constituting your 
 
 26*- 
 
 i 
 
306 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 superior ability for the enterprises of business. You appor- 
 tion your time to duties, and keep an exact register of all 
 your transactions ; you have work for every man, a place 
 for every paper, and a time for every settlement ; and, if 
 you should die to-night, every thing is probably so arranged 
 that all your affairs would be understood in the morning. 
 You calculate, without slate and pencil, and without the 
 slightest pause, where most men pause long, and sometimes 
 cannot make the proper estimate at all without pen and 
 paper. You are prudent in disposing your words and 
 actions in their due place, time, and manner; in concealing 
 your intentions ; in withholding confidence from entire 
 strangers ; in doing nothing in certain disagreeable cases ; 
 in stopping for light in doubtful cases ; in escaping difficul- 
 ties ; in repairing failures ; in forming new plans and new 
 partnerships; in the outlay of means; in borrowing; in 
 lending; in giving; in advising; in almost every thing 
 connected with your business. You are punctual in meet- 
 ing your engagements, whether for the payment of money 
 or the performance of work ; in removing trouble and un- 
 easiness from the minds of creditors, by timely notice, when 
 you are unable to meet your previous engagements, which 
 sometimes happens; in observing times appointed for the 
 transaction of business; in assisting your friends in times 
 of urgent need : in a word, in the discharge of every obli- 
 gation and fulfilment of every promise. You are persever- 
 ing in the accumulation of means; in the formation and 
 execution of your plans; in contending with misfortunes 
 and failures ; in overcoming discouragements ; in surmount- 
 ing difficulties whicb daunt weaker spirits ; in prosecuting 
 new schemes, however arduous and unpromising at first ; in 
 maintaining your integrity amid temptations the most fa- 
 vorable; in subduing opposition the most formidable; in 
 applying right principles with changing times and circum" 
 stances ; in ascending to affluence, eminence, and independ- 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS 
 
 807 
 
 ence; and in accomplishing the utmost extent of your 
 hopes. 
 
 In getting money, you keep your word, perform your 
 promises, and execute your contracts, — deeming what is 
 justly implied or expected on either side as a part of the 
 contract; disclosing to the buyer the faults of what he 
 wants to buy ; betraying no confidence reposed in you by 
 others ; taking no advantage of the ignorance or unskilful- 
 ness of others, or of the technicalities of the law, to impose 
 upon them; making sacrifices, if required, to pay your 
 debts promptly; not undervaluing the reputation of your 
 rivals in business ; nor raising the market-price on another 
 buyer; nor selling below the market-price to gain your 
 rival's customers; not unmindful of favors; frowning down 
 all tricks, all cunning, all winding and crooked courses, all 
 corruption, all abuses of trusts and credit ; and ready to 
 say, if bankruptcy should come, All is lost but honor/' 
 
 You buy and sell, and sell to buy and sell the more ; efi'ect- 
 ing your exchanges as directly, and simply, and cheaply as 
 possible; abandoning, it may be, the old basis of small 
 sales and large profits for large sales and small profits ; sup- 
 plying the public demand on as favorable terms as any one 
 can offer ; assuring the public that you can and will do this ; 
 having learned the science of trade by study, and acquired 
 the art by practice ; understanding the beautiful system of 
 book-keeping by double entry ; conducting business corre- 
 spondence in a plain, clear, concise style ; frequently able 
 to tell what has been from what is, and from what is what 
 must be in trade ; comprehending its remote as well as im- 
 mediate connections ; exercising a sound judgment of the 
 value of goods, knowing where they are manufactured, what 
 are the manufacturer's prices, what the best markets to buy 
 and sell in, and what the rate of duties ; understanding so 
 well the condition and prospects of your business in all its 
 relations, and so adapting your liabilities to your capital as 
 
308 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 to be guarded against fluctuations in prices and the panics 
 of the times ; scrupulously keeping your expenses within a 
 reasonable limit, and maintaining constantly an exact har- 
 mony between the outgoes and incomes ; calculating upon 
 the absolute demand and surplus of goods in market, so as 
 to make the wisest and surest investments — tracing, through 
 the resources of the producers, the manufacturer's orders, 
 and the domestic and importing revenues, the amount of 
 goods coming forward; anticipating and providing against 
 excessive competition ; having probably a reserved capital, 
 such as stocks, merchandise, notes, bills of exchange, &c., 
 that is easily convertible into money as the exigencies of 
 trade may require 3 displaying admirable order in the ar- 
 rangement of goods, every department alphabetically ar- 
 ranged, the shelves and rows of goods all numbered, and 
 each clerk apportioned an appropriate work; employing the 
 most honorable methods of making money — not asserting 
 that you have sold the same kind of goods to another at 
 much higher prices than you are now asking — nor that 
 your goods cost you more than you are asking — nor passing- 
 off stale goods as new styles just brought out — nor affirming 
 that another is underselling you, and must soon break down 
 — nor telling romances about the cost, the colors, the quality 
 of the goods when displaying them to a customer — nor dis- 
 paraging the goods of others in such language as the fol- 
 lowing : not the same goods at all, theirs are steam colors, 
 quite an imitation article, and not so wide as this using 
 the wisest and most honorable methods to obtain customers, 
 by extensively advertising, to let every family in the coun- 
 try know what you are selling, and on what conditions ; not 
 confining your advertising to the journals of your own 
 creed or party, nor announcing your merchandise in dog- 
 gerel or second-hand jokes, but soberly, with directness and 
 decision, and in the fewest words — by politeness, not think- 
 ing yourself too busy when there is no prospect of gain, but 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 309 
 
 answering inquiries with a manifest good-will and to tlie 
 best of your ability ; making a stranger your friend, tliongb. 
 you were unable to sell him the article he wished, directing 
 him where it might be purchased, and who subsequently 
 becomes to you a constant customer ; neither harsh nor 
 rigorous to your customers, but courteous, affable, and for- 
 bearing ; not counterfeiting politeness by foppery, prudery, 
 pomp, or affectation, but natural, sincere, civil, and so 
 adapted as to engage and please all. And your objects may 
 be good : not to enrich yourself at the expense of the moral, 
 social, and pecuniary welfare of the community, as in the 
 sale of alcoholic beverages, implements of gaming, &c., but 
 to serve God and bless mankind ; to erect barriers to the 
 spread of vice ; to encourage agricultural and mechanical 
 improvement; to advance the cause of education, refine- 
 ment, and correct taste; to diffuse abroad the principles 
 and benefits of philanthropy, patriotism, social order, and 
 religion ; to instruct, ennoble, dignify, and improve the 
 community in which you live ; to patronize useful inven- 
 tions and discoveries so far as your position and means will 
 permit; to foster the publication and circulation of useful 
 literature ; to encourage the useful and benevolent societies 
 of the times — such as temperance, agricultural, and mecha- 
 nics' associations ; to support the church in all its interests 
 and enterprises ; to live worthily and usefully, and transmit 
 an honored name to your children. 
 
 Are you a farmer ? — you are a man of enterprise, energy, 
 and success, performing every operation at the very best 
 season for product and economy, and making purchases, when 
 necessary, at the most advantageous rate ; keeping all your 
 buildings and fences as they should be ; making the neces- 
 sary improvements, and expending the necessary means for 
 them ; keeping your implements in proper order, and in 
 their proper places ; ploughing, harrowing, seeding, culti- 
 vating, harvesting, in the right manner, and at the right 
 
810 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 time ; properly disposing your different fields, for economy 
 in fencing, for convenience of access, and for a full command 
 of pasture, and protection of the crops at all times ; wisely 
 cutting drains for improving fields that are wet, and irrigat- 
 ing those that are dry, and furnishing convenience for 
 watering the cattle ; making roads at the proper places, and 
 in the proper manner ; furnishing every field on the farm 
 with self-shutting and self- fastening gates ; in the choice of 
 implements, procuring the very best kind ; in the choice of 
 live-stock, purchasing the very best sort, though they cost 
 a little more than others ; observing a wise rotation of crops ; 
 and thus, with reason, intelligence, industry, order, energy, 
 and economy, guiding in all your operations ; with clean, 
 rich fields, verdant pastures, and waving meadows, and fine 
 cattle, and golden harvests, success and plenty crown your 
 labors, and waste, extravagance, debts, and duns find no place 
 within your happy threshold. 
 
 What we have said is the best that can be said for men 
 of business, especially merchants ; and after all this you may 
 fail in business. Bankruptcy with merchants is almost as 
 universal as death. Vicissitudes in trade are as variable as 
 the winds. You may be indulging the hope of future re- 
 tirement from the harassing pursuits of active business into 
 the country, to spend the calm evening of life on a farm, in 
 the full enjoyment of rural pleasures, and refreshing exer- 
 cises, and delightful recreations, and privileged hours of 
 reflection and independence. And you may be disappointed; 
 you may die a bankrupt. It has been the observation of 
 practical men, that from three to Jive in one hundred mer- 
 chants in all our largest cities do not fail, and die destitute of 
 property; and that over ninety per cent, of all estates settled 
 are insolvent. Your ardent desire of sudden acquisition, 
 your golden visions of easily-acquired afiluence, your flatter- 
 ing and enchanting prospects of ultimate and complete suc- 
 cess, may all soon vanish as your vessel is drawn within the 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 311 
 
 maelstrom, or stranded upon the rock, in the troubled sea 
 of mercantile speculation. Death shots have already fallen 
 thick and fast" around you, and the wreck of many a goodly 
 bark even now floats against the sides of your own. Wealthy 
 houses have fallen single and alone/' and splendid families 
 have been reduced to beggary. You hope to escape. How ? 
 By pursuing a steady, prudent course ; by closing your eyes 
 to attractive appearances ; by applying plain and well-esta- 
 blished maxims of common caution and improved experience; 
 by not trading beyond your capital and facile means; by ex- 
 pending no more than you can reasonably hope the profits 
 will be ; by avoiding all imprudent expenditures ; by not em- 
 barking in any imprudent and doubtful speculations ; by 
 avoiding an extravagant mode of life; and by sound morals 
 and sound habits. But all this is not enough. 
 
 You are charitable, and you feel that charity is a religious 
 duty. That money is a valuable means, and you study the 
 best process of accumulation, with the view to the best use 
 of it. That every man has a right, in conformity to the 
 dictates of reason, and the precepts of the Bible, to get 
 all he can,'' but that no man has any right, according to 
 any sound principle, to keep all he gets." And thus you 
 regulate an important department of moral duty. But this 
 is not enough. Something more is required. 
 
 You are a member of the church, and you are grave and 
 devout in public worship on the Sabbath day, and you re- 
 ceive the communion in an orderly manner, and this you do 
 punctually ; and you may occasionally, some of you punc- 
 tually, some of you never, be found at the weekly meetings; 
 and you may observe private devotion and many other im- 
 portant duties. But all this is not enough. Something 
 more is yet required. 
 
 We have but few words more to add. All we have said, 
 we presume, is true. But it is also true that business and 
 religion should have such a due proportion of attention, as 
 
312 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS^ ETC. 
 
 that the mind shall not be so absorbed in the one as to ex- 
 clude the other. That busijiess is a test of virtue, to the 
 moral man, and of piety to the religious man, because it is 
 a fiery furnace to principle; and hence the Christian is in 
 constant need of Divine support. That he who is in the 
 pursuit of wealth may so suffer his mind to dwell upon his 
 future greatness, and so indulge in visions of magnificence 
 and power, as to allow the love of money to become the 
 ruling passion of his heart, and be lulled into a fatal se- 
 curity, from which he will be awakened only by the approach 
 of death itself, to find himself bankrupt in happiness as well 
 as true fortune forever. One grand obligation, the very 
 emphasis and intensity of which should absorb your whole 
 being, should adjust your secular to your religious duties. 
 The relation between time and eternity, which is frightful 
 and incalculable, and which no rules of proportion can de- 
 termine, should never be disturbed by any thing that is finite 
 and perishable. Forget not that in age, should you reach 
 it, worldly cares will partially subside, and your attention be 
 called up to review your past life and present infirmities. 
 Shall each year in lively, worldly concern glide insensibly 
 away, to be yours no more, in which no spiritual truth is 
 learned, no religious discipline applied, nor habits formed, 
 nor preparation made for the stupendous and supremely 
 important certainties of a future state ? Oh check the pre- 
 vailing spirit and habits of the world ! Adopt a wise and 
 constant discipline. When should you begin ? This mo- 
 ment. Where should you begin ? At the point you have 
 neglected most. And what is that ? Intimate, habitual, 
 Christian communion, in the holy retirement of the class- 
 room ; which no business should ever cause you to neglect, 
 unless it he unavoidahle ; and you should so arrange your 
 business as to be always ready to discharge faithfully and 
 profitably this religious duty. Men of business ! merchants, 
 farmers, and professional men I we sympathize and bear with 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 313 
 
 you; but do you deserve the sympathy and forbearance to 
 the whole extent they are exercised ? Can you not do 
 better, much better, as Methodists, than you have done for 
 many years ? Why should you indulge, or be indulged by 
 the church, in this prolonged neglect? Remember your 
 solemn obligations to God, his church, and to yourselves. 
 Say not, if you attend class meeting, you cannot make as 
 much, and so must give less. Be it so — rather let it be soy^ 
 than you should lose your souls in making and giving. But 
 neither shall be so. Do your icliole duty^ and from this 
 hour you shall make more, give more, and save your souls. 
 
 6. To young Christians, Your religious life has just 
 commenced. You are connected with the Methodist 
 Church, either as a probationer or in full membership, and 
 you joined the church with the obligation to attend the 
 class meeting fully in view. The first thing announced, 
 after your reception on probation, was your assignment to 
 such a class, and the care of such a leader, and then your 
 obligation to meet in class commenced. From that day till 
 the present time this obligation has remained in its original 
 force. And now what say you, young Christians ? Have 
 you been absent from class in a single instance, without 
 sufficient excuse ? Have some of you been to your classes 
 at all since you joined the church, and pledged yourselves 
 to attend them ? Have you imbibed the spirit of the multi- 
 tude who neglect class; and do you excuse yourselves upon 
 the ground that many old Christians set you this example ? 
 Well, then, you have made short work of your religion and 
 religious obligations. You have come quickly to the end of 
 the matter. How soon have the young fig-trees withered 
 away, and the babes in Christ'' perished I Yours now is 
 a bare profession, in which you are balancing the solemnity 
 and force of your religious obligations with the allurements 
 and pleasures of this life; and does the preponderance seem 
 trembling toward the latter ? Then we appeal most earnestly 
 
 27 
 
314 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS; ETC. 
 
 to you. Alert and blooming, will you choose to spend this 
 transitory life in ease and gayety ? Will you expend your 
 energies in evanescent pleasures and precarious hopes ? By 
 this process you will consolidate your mind into a fixed anti- 
 pathy to experimental religion, and to every means of grace. 
 The valued peculiarities of youth — its hopes and charms — 
 its vigor and elasticity — its daring, and the animated forces 
 of the plentitude of life, will acquire a force of impulsion 
 which nothing can resist when youth and manhood are gone 
 forever — when the finest portion of life is wasted, and the 
 pleasures of the past are transformed into the deepening 
 shades of death, and you can make but a feeble and inef- 
 fectual efibrt from your impoverished resources to avert the 
 impending, long-apprehended, and terrible sequel of accu- 
 mulated evils — a sequel invested with a mystery of horror, 
 and a boundlessness of calamity — a fathomless abyss, from 
 which neither wealth, nor fame, nor pleasure, nor hope, is 
 ever to emerge again — advancing with the certainty of a 
 present existence. How can you, as a Christian, look un- 
 disturbed and undismayed upon the painful uncertainties of 
 the future ? What ! with concerns so momentous unsettled, 
 and a hazard so formidable impending, will you spend life 
 presuming you will retrieve all when life is shaking you off 
 at last — a situation to the last degree unfavorable to prepa- 
 ration ? This is phrensy, the worst insanity, because it is 
 deliberate, reckless, criminal, and cannot prove otherwise 
 than immeasurably disastrous. You may cast yourself head- 
 long now upon this presumption, but go into the chamber of a 
 guilty conscience — go and stand by the graves of Christians 
 -—go, in imagination, up to the judgment 3 and if here and 
 there you cannot with unruffled sincerity repose upon the issue, 
 then there is folly in your indifi'erence, and madness in your 
 ^lay. Oh, there is a freedom, an elation of spirit, in form- 
 ing and preserving the grand purpose of eternal fidelity to 
 Qod and his church, which, as an eternal and celestial fire, 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 315 
 
 kindles up emotions that abide in the heart with a prolonged, 
 and a deep, and a vital glow — the more intense and animat- 
 ing the deeper the gloom and the sadness— unlike those of 
 a volatile spirit, thrown off amid the glitter of worldly mirth 
 and dissipation, and suddei^y vanishing away amid solitude 
 - and solemn reflection — emotions breathed from heaven, that 
 pass into pure passions, permanent principles, and holy sen- 
 timents^ — the most precious gifts and exact features of Grod 
 himself, and settling into an hahitual sense of holiness and 
 happiness. Nowhere in the world is this purpose more easily, 
 and firmly, and sacredly formed than in the class-room ; and 
 on no one is the duty to form and keep it more imperiously 
 laid than on the young Christian. The benefits of the 
 class meeting to the young Christian we have already con- 
 sidered, and to them we again refer you, and here embody 
 them in our appeal to your sense of duty and privilege. 
 
 When pursued by the wrath of God, you fled for refuge 
 to his mercy in Christ, and the church met you at the altar, 
 and assisted you in your flight, and helped you to the cross, 
 and so you escaped. Then you joined the church, and 
 why ? That you might save your soul. And now will you 
 prove ungrateful to the Father who forgave you, to the Son 
 who died for you, to the Spirit who regenerated you, and to 
 the church who aided you ? Will you frustrate your own 
 object in joining the church ? Why did you pray for 
 mercy at all ? why did you join the church at all ? why 
 did you not continue in sins ? Were you sincere in aban- 
 doning your sins, in professing religion, and in joining the 
 church ? We will suppose you were. Then what means 
 this neglect of the class meeting, and other means of grace — 
 but especially the class meeting ? Have you lost your love 
 for Christ and his people? is that the cause of your neglect? 
 Say you so ? Then we reply, that very neglect produced 
 this loss of love. Or do you say your abjections to class 
 meetings have caused you to neglect them ? Say you that ? 
 
316 
 
 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADES, ETC. 
 
 Then we reply, that very neglect originated, fostered, and 
 strengthened these objections. Or do you say you have no 
 excuse to give — ^you have done wrong — and you are heartily 
 sorry for it ? That is candid, and there is hope in your 
 case. Especially so, as in a young Christian the habit of 
 neglect is not yet confirmed. Beware of delay ! Old for- 
 malists know and groan under its evils. Beware of the 
 general neglect, it may be, around you ! You are as respon- 
 sible for the observance of the class meeting as if every 
 Methodist in the world besides yourself observed it, or with 
 yourself neglected it. There stands the rule in the Discipline, 
 and uncancelled is your obligation to keep it. Beware, 
 young Christians, we repeat, of the general neglect, if it 
 exist around you ! If you expect but few will be at the 
 meeting, go — that none but yourself will be there, go — and 
 if the leader himself, too, give up in despair, then go to 
 your pastor, and request to be assigned to a class that does 
 meet. And if the classes are all disbanded, which is an ex- 
 treme supposition, then go to your pastor, and tell him your 
 whole case, and let there be one at least who fulfils his obli- 
 gation and respects his church. Young Christians, on you 
 depends the character of Methodism the next generation. 
 May you find a happy way through crowded class-rooms to 
 the heavenly mansions, after you shall have transmitted to 
 posterity the salutary example of a holy generation ! 
 
 6. To old and faithful Christians. Ye are the substan- 
 tial members of the church of God. Ye have never yet 
 been elevated where ye need not deeper and richer truths, 
 or where ye are unable to understand something more. 
 • The gospel is a progressive principle, whose limit is neither 
 on earth nor in heaven, designed to develope in you the saints 
 and heirs of God. Heed not the world\s uproar and clamor 
 — fear not its trials and its power — respect not its excite- 
 ment, show, and semblance. The gates of heaven are open 
 not far before you. Live singularly holy lives. Make a 
 
APPEAL TO PRIVATE MEMBERS. 
 
 317 
 
 faithful use of every thing around you in getting safely 
 home. The prospect before you is soul-cheering and strength- 
 ening. The work already done^ the obstacles and difficul- 
 ties passed, the progress made, have brought jou not far 
 from the end of your journey. You cannot meet with us 
 much longer ; you cannot be detained from the fellowship 
 of heaven much longer, to which you have so often looked 
 from the class-room with the purest and deepest emotions 
 of delight and hope. Often now your whole soul is ani- 
 mated with a sense of the importance and practicability of 
 making your election sure. Oh that your zeal, and ardor, and 
 efforts, and example, may arouse a sleeping church around 
 you ! How often have you carried home from the class- 
 room a knowledge and a courage that gave you boldness 
 and energy in the hour of trial, and by which you have 
 controlled and managed your spiritual fortunes. Ye have 
 been governed by a full and settled decision to follow the 
 truth. Ye have attended the class meeting because it was 
 right to do so. May the same spirit control the church to 
 the latest generation ! 
 
 From you who yet remain with us we may learn useful 
 lessons. You tell us, time was when Methodists had preach- 
 ing on week-days, and they regarded this as a great privi- 
 lege, and the church was crowded, as it now is on the Sab- 
 bath. You tell us, time was when, after preaching, the 
 pastor or the leader met the crowded class, and the power 
 of God was displayed more in the class meeting than under 
 the sermon. You tell us, time was when the plainest and 
 most zealous preachers — ^and you mention now, with vene- 
 ration, the names of many such long since gone to their 
 reward — were most acceptable, and most successful. You 
 tell us, time was when simplicity, self-denial, deadness to 
 the world, zeal, punctuality, and deep religious experience, 
 were the prevailing characteristics of the Methodist Church, 
 and that Methodists were proverbial for these. You tell us, 
 27* 
 
318 DUTIES OF PREACHERS, LEADERS, ETC. 
 
 time was when the ordinary conversation of Methodists was 
 about the great things Grod was doing, and how they might 
 help and encourage each other in the good way, and save 
 perishing sinners around them, and their conversation was 
 mingled with shouts, and prayers, and praise. You tell us, 
 time was when the class meeting, the prayer-meeting, the 
 love-feast, and the sacrament, were considered great and 
 precious privileges, and that business was suspended rather 
 than these should be neglected, and that business was 
 none the worse for giving a day, or part of a day, from the 
 crops or the trades. You tell us, time was when revivals 
 were overwhelming and extensive ; and it is soul-stirring to 
 hear you recount the awful scenes of other days at camp- 
 meetings, protracted meetings, under ordinary preaching, in 
 the usual neighborhood prayer-meetings, and even at family 
 prayer. You tell us, time was when ordinarily Methodists 
 died shouting ; and it is intensely exciting to hear your re- 
 citals of death-bed scenes, the glory of which, like the 
 light of extinguished stars, still lingers in the heavens. 
 You tell us all this, and much more. But now, as a gene- 
 ral fact, how changed ! Would to Grod that we could blot 
 out much of what we have written ! Would to God that 
 the following ages maybe brighter than the preceding I — that 
 the former glory of Methodism may be the starting point 
 of a more brilliant future ! Would to God that, before 
 you leave us, you may hear the sounds of revival universal 
 in the land 1 That you may see your almost deserted class- 
 rooms reoccupied and crowded again as in other days ! — the 
 days of primitive simplicity and power return ! and the 
 glory of God with tenfold brightness shine upon the church, 
 and light you to your graves in its advancing splendors. 
 And now what wait you for but this, and your dying 
 triumph ? 
 
PART VL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO SUPPORT ITS MINISTRY. 
 
 "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof/' He 
 ^'feedeth the fowls of the air/' and ^^clothes the lilies of the 
 field/' and not " a sparrow falleth to the ground without his 
 notice." So long as a sparrow flutters in the air, his people 
 have a pledge that he will provide for them. God will never 
 raise up his ministry without providing for their temporal 
 wants. A more remarkable instance of this cannot be found 
 recorded upon the pages of history than that of the Wes- 
 ley an Methodist ministry. The organization of the classes, 
 which subsequently became a fundamental department of 
 Methodism for spiritual objects, was suggested and adopted 
 for temporal ends ; no interpretation of divine Providence is 
 plainer than that God designed that the classes should ac- 
 complish both these purposes in the constitution of the Me- 
 thodist Church. We have already considered their spiritual 
 nature and advantages ; it remains for us to consider their 
 temporal nature and advantages; and in doing so, we but 
 return to their original design. It is proper that we should 
 do this ; indeed, this treatise were incomplete without it. 
 We shall first show that it is the duty of the church to fur- 
 
 319 
 
320 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 nish its ministry with a temporal support, and then consider 
 the efficiency of the classes to raise this support. 
 
 1. The duty of the church to furnish its ministry with a 
 temporal support may be clearly proved from the Scriptures. 
 
 Christ himself and his apostles were supported by pious 
 contributions : ^' Then saith one of his disciples^ Judas Isca- 
 riot, "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, 
 and given to the poor ? This he said, not because he cared 
 for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, 
 and bare icliat icas jput therein.'''^ At the last paschal sup- 
 per, when our Lord said to Judas, ^* That thou doest, do 
 quickly,^ ^ some of the apostles ^' thought, because Judas 
 had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him. Buy those things 
 which we have need of against the feast ; or that he should 
 give something to the poor.''f Our Lord's stock of money 
 indeed must have been small, and Judas, as his steward, de- 
 sired to make a sale of 3Iary's ointment as an investment 
 for the poor; and so we may conclude that contributions 
 from well-disposed persons were received for our Lord's use. 
 The same is expressed by St. Luke: ''There went about 
 with Jesus certain women, which had been healed of evil 
 spirits and infirmities : Mary called Magdalene, out of whom 
 went seven devils ; and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's 
 steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered 
 unto him of their substance J which implies that our 
 blessed Lord and his company were supported by the pious 
 contributions of his followers. To the apostles he gave this 
 instruction: ''Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in 
 your purses; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, 
 neither shoes, nor yet staves : for the workman is worthy of 
 his meat."§ And he gave the same instruction to the 
 seventy : Carry neither pui-se uor scrip ; and into whatso- 
 
 * John xii. 6, 
 
 t John xiii. 27, 2S, 
 § Mart. X. 9, 10. 
 
 i Luke viii. 2, 8. 
 
DUTY TO SUPPORT THE MINISTRY. 821 
 
 ever house ye enter, in the same remain, eating and drink- 
 ing such things as they give you; for the laborer is worthy 
 of his hire/^* And a competent support was given them : 
 
 When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked 
 ye any thing ? They said Nothing/^f 
 
 And so the apostles, and other gospel ministers, were sup- 
 ported after our Lord's ascension. The first Christians sold 
 their estates, and gave the price of them to the apostles, to 
 be disposed of by them for the necessities of the church. J To 
 the Philippians, a church which he had planted, and from 
 which he had received large contributions, St. Paul thus 
 writes: ^^Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the begin- 
 ning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no 
 church communicated with me, as concerning giving and re- 
 ceiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent 
 once and again to my necessity. Not because I desire a 
 gift ; but I desire fruit, which may abound to your account. 
 But I have all and abound : I am full, having received of 
 Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor 
 of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. 
 But my God shall supply all your need, according to his 
 riches in glory by Christ Jesus. These liberal contribu- 
 tions the apostle calls an acceptable oblation to God, and as- 
 sures the Philippians that God will abundantly recompense 
 them. While he reminds the Thessalonians, that he had 
 maintained himself by his own labor, " neither eating 
 any man's bread for nought, but working with labor and 
 travel night and day, that he might not be chargeable to 
 any/' II at the same time, in the next words, he asserts his 
 right to a maintenance from them : ^'not because we have not 
 power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow 
 us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded 
 
 * Luke X. 5. f Luke xxii. 35. J Acts iv. 37. 
 
 § Phil. iv. 15-19. II 2 Thess. iii. 8. 
 
822 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OP CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat; for we 
 hear that there are some, which walk among you disorderly, 
 working not at all; but are busy-bodies/^'^ From the Corin- 
 thians he refused to receive a maintenance, and this he did to 
 silence certain false teachers, who, in order to insinuate them- 
 selves into their good opinion, preached without receiving 
 any thing from them ; and yet he asserts ^nd proves his right 
 to a competent support : Or I only, and Barnabas, have 
 we not power to forbear working ? Who goeth a warfare at 
 his own charges ? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not 
 of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not 
 of the milk of the flock. Say I these things as a man, or 
 saith not the law the same also ? For it is written in the 
 law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox 
 that treadeth out the corn. Doth Grod take care of oxen, 
 or saith he it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes, no 
 doubt, this is written — that he that plougheth, should 
 plough in hope; and he that thresheth in hope, should be 
 partaker of his hope. If we have sown into you spiritual 
 things, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things ? 
 If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we 
 rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power; but 
 sufier all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. 
 Do ye not know, that they who minister about holy things, 
 live of the things of the temple ; and they who wait at the 
 altar, are partakers with the altar ? Even so hath the Lord 
 ordained, that they who preach the gospel, should live of 
 the gospel. But I have used none of these things.''*]" This 
 is a comprehensive argument, proving that the ministers of 
 the gospel have a right to support, from the law of nature 
 and reason, as in the case of soldiers and husbandmen ; from 
 the law and practice of the Jews ; and from the express in- 
 jititution of Christ himself ; and therefore, while Paul and 
 
 * 2 Thess. iii. 9-11. 
 
 t 1 Cor. ix. 6-15. 
 
DUTY TO SUPPORT THE MINISTRY. 
 
 323 
 
 Barnabas refused to accept maintenance in this case, they 
 had a right to it. St. Paul commands the Gralatians to be 
 liberal to the ministers of God's word among them: "Let 
 him that is taught in the word communicate to him that 
 teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not 
 mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he 
 reap.'^* Indeed, in another place, he enjoins Timothy to 
 take care that the elders, who faithfully discharge their la- 
 bor, should have double honor ; that is, a liberal support : 
 " Let the elders that rule well, be accounted worthy of double 
 honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. 
 For the Scripture saith. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of 
 the ox that treadeth out the corn : and the laborer is worthy 
 of his reward.'^f 
 
 No duty, we have seen, is more plainly enjoined in the 
 Bible than that of the church to support its ministry. But 
 all duties are not alike easy to perform : as for example, it 
 is often easier to pray to God for benefits, spiritual and 
 temporal, and to praise and thank him for them when they 
 are bestowed, than it is to part with a small proportion of 
 temporal things for the support of the gospel — than it is to 
 deny one's self, take up the cross, and follow Christ in doing 
 good. With many it is much easier to go to church, and 
 listen to the ministry of the word, and receive the sacra- 
 ment, and engage in the public worship of God, than it is 
 to contribute any thing to the maintainance of the ministry 
 of the word. But though difficult to perform, the duty is 
 not the less imperative; and the selfishness that shrinks 
 from its performance, so as to neglect it altogether, is actual 
 sin in the sight of God. It is deliberate robbery of God. 
 " Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye 
 say, Wherein have we robbed thee ? In tithes and ofibrings. 
 Ye are cursed with a curse : for ye have robbed me, even 
 
 * Gal vi. 6t, 7. 
 
 t 1 Tim. V. 17, 18. 
 
324 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OP CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store- 
 house, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me 
 now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open 
 you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, 
 that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I 
 will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not 
 destroy the fruits of your ground ; neither shall your vine 
 cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of 
 hosts.'^* By withholding support from the priests, they had 
 not food enough to sustain life, and God's worship was ne- 
 glected, and the curse of the Divine displeasure rested upon 
 the whole nation. But great temporal blessing is promised 
 to the discharge of this duty. Grive as ye should, and, so 
 far from diminishing your stock, Iioill open the ivindows of 
 heaven — give you rains and fruitful seasons in such abun- 
 dance, that your barns and granaries shall not be large enough 
 to contain your harvests and your vintage ; the rust, and the 
 fly, and the devourer shall not come upon your crops ; every 
 blossom shall ripen into fruit, and every bunch of grapes 
 shall come to maturity. 
 
 What is dedicated to the service of the church is dedi- 
 cated to God, and is so accepted by him. Thus Solomon 
 enjoins: Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with 
 the first-fruits of all thy increase. '^f Ananias was punished 
 for reserving to himself part of the price of his land, and 
 so Peter told him he had not lied unto man, but unto God, 
 pretending to give a larger oblation to God than he did. 
 St. Paul writes to the Philippians : But I have all, and 
 abound : I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the 
 things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, 
 a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.^'J Therefore, 
 the withholding what is due to the church and the ministry 
 is an injury done to God himself. 
 
 * Mai. iii. 9-11 
 
 f Prov. iii. 9. 
 
 X Phil. iv. 18. 
 
DUTY TO SUPPORT THE MINISTRY. 
 
 325 
 
 2. We next inquire whether God has fixed any certain 
 and definite amount or proportion for the maintenance of 
 his ministers, or left the church at liberty to give what they 
 shall think fit. It will be of use to consider the proportion 
 which God allotted to the support of Jewish priests : " The 
 priests had the first-fruits of cattle, corn, wine, oil, and other 
 fruits of the earth, which the Jews dedicated every year to 
 God ; and the price which was paid for the redemption of 
 their first-born children : they had the voluntary oblations 
 which the people vowed to God, and those which they offered 
 without any precedent vow, and the remainder of things 
 offered in sacrifice. The Levites had the tenths of all 
 things, and the high priest had the tenth of their tenths ; 
 and both of these tenths were to be the best of their several 
 kinds. And beside this, they had forty-eight cities, with 
 the adjoining territories of land, to hold as their free and 
 perpetual inheritance. So that the Levites, who were one 
 of the least of the twelve tribes, as appears from the com- 
 putation in the times of Moses and of David, may reason- 
 ably be supposed to have had almost four-twelfth parts of the 
 product of the country; so that their estate was at least 
 four times as good as that of any other tribe. And if the 
 Levites were commonly between thirty and forty thousand, 
 which is the utmost we can suppose them to have been, 
 from the before-mentioned accounts, then the proportion # 
 allotted to the high priest was equal to what three or four 
 hundred Levites lived upon.^^* Indeed, the custom of pay- 
 ing tithes was practised long before the time of Moses. 
 Abraham gave tithes to Melchisedek, King of Salem, not as 
 a tribute to him as King of Salem, for he was not one of his 
 subjects, but as priest of the most high God.f And so 
 Jacob vowed to the Lord, that if he would provide for him 
 
 Potter on Church Government, pp. 370, 371. 
 t Gen. xiv. 18, 20; Heb. vii. 9, 10. 
 
 28 
 
326 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 in his journey to Padan Aram, and restore Mm in safety to 
 his family and country, Of all which thou shalt give me, 
 I will give thee the tenth."* It cannot be maintained that 
 these were merely voluntary offerings, because there is no 
 positive injunction of the kind in the history of Genesis. 
 Genesis contains the history of between two and three thou- 
 sand years, and relates things very briefly, and hence we 
 might just as well conclude that God did not at this time 
 require men to worship him, or sacrifice to him, or perform 
 any moral duties toward one another, because there is no 
 express precept on these subjects. But we find the practice 
 of these things stated, and the practice accepted by God ; 
 and so the practice of dedicating tenths to God, and accepted 
 by him : and we may conclude, therefore, that it was done 
 by divine precept. 
 
 Besides, the general agreement of mankind is an argu- 
 ment that the proportion of tenths is of divine institution, 
 because nations the most remote from one another, who had 
 no intercourse with one another, and therefore had no cer- 
 tain and fixed rule of acting, agreed in dedicating an exact 
 tenth, which we can ascribe to no other origin than the tra- 
 dition of Adam, or Noah, or some other patriarch, who lived 
 before the dispersion of Babel. ^^In Arabia we find a 
 law, whereby every merchant was obliged to offer the tenth 
 of his frankincense, which was the chief product and com- 
 modity of this country, to the god Sabis. The Carthagi- 
 nians sent the tithe of their spoils taken in the Sicilian war 
 to Hercules of Tyre. The Ethiopians paid tithes to their 
 god Assabinus. The Grecian army, which was conducted 
 by Xenophon in their memorable retreat after the death of 
 Cyrus, reserved a tenth of their money to be dedicated to 
 Apollo at Delphi, and Diana at Ephesus. When the Greeks 
 had driven the Persians out of their country, they conse- 
 
 ^ Gen. xxviii. 21, 22, 
 
DUTY TO SUPPORT THE MINISTRY. 327 
 
 crated a golden tripod, made of the tenths of their spoils, to 
 Delphian Apollo. The inhabitants of the Isle Siphnus 
 presented every year the tenths of the gold and silver digged 
 out of their mines to the same god. The Athenians 
 and their confederates dedicated a buckler of gold, out of 
 the tenths of the spoils taken at Tanagra, to J upiter. And 
 the Athenians dedicated a chariot and horses of gold, made 
 out of one tenth, to Pallas. When Cyrus had conquered 
 Lydia, Croesus advised him to prevent his soldiers from 
 plundering the goods of the Lydians, because they were of 
 necessity to be tithed to Jupiter. The Crotonians vowed to 
 give a tenth of their spoils, which they should take in their 
 war with the Locrians, to Delphian Apollo. Sylla, the 
 Koman general, dedicated the tenth of all his estate to 
 Hercules ; and the same was done by M. Crassus : and we 
 are told by Plutarch, that this was a constant custom at 
 Rome. Hercules himself is said to have dedicated to the 
 gods the tenth of the spoils which he took from Geryon. 
 When Camillus sacked Veii, a city of Hetruria, the soldiers 
 seized the spoils for their own use, without reserving the 
 accustomed tenth for the gods : after this the augurs dis- 
 covered, by their observations on the sacrifices, that the gods 
 were exceedingly offended ; whereupon the senate of Rome 
 required all the soldiers to account, upon oath, for the spoils 
 which they had taken, and to pay a tenth of them, or the 
 full value, all which, with a golden cup of eight talents, was 
 conveyed to Apollo's temple at Delphi by three men of the 
 first quality at Rome. And, lastly, we are informed by 
 Festus that the ancients offered to their gods the tithes of 
 all things, without any exceptions.'^* As the general no- 
 tions of good and evil are to be traced to Noah and his 
 family, and beyond them to the antediluvian ancestors of 
 the human race, so the general agreement among mankind 
 
 ^ Potter on Church Government, pp. 375, 376. 
 
328 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 in the proportion of tenths is to be traced to the same 
 origin ; and in the latter case more probably than in the 
 former, because the general notions of good and evil may, 
 in some degree, be discoverable by the light of nature, 
 without tradition ; but the general agreement in the exact 
 proportion of tenths, being in the nature of things indifferent 
 and undetermined, cannot be traced to any rational and 
 satisfactory cause but positive tradition. 
 
 And yet, while the New Testament asserts the right of 
 the ministers of the gospel to maintenance, it is wholly 
 silent as to the proportion of tenths, and that for several 
 reasons. First, the apostles could not consistently claim 
 the proportion of tenths for themselves, while others sold 
 their estates for the service of the church and the poor. 
 Secondly, in that age the zeal of the church very much 
 exceeded the proportion of tenths. Thirdly, under the gos- 
 pel, it is evident the support of the ministry is to be pro- 
 portioned to necessity. Fourthly, while the church and 
 the apostles had all things in common, there was no neces- 
 sity for any special and fixed proportion to the apostles. And 
 yet there is the same reason now as always existed, why a 
 tenth should be appropriated to the general uses of the 
 church ; not that a tenth of every man's estate should be 
 consecrated to the support of the ministry, but to the gene- 
 ral interests of the church ; and of this tenth the ministry 
 should have a proportion sufficient for a plentiful support. 
 A safe rule, therefore, for every Christian would be, to give 
 one-tenth of his income to benevolent and pious objects. 
 We shall refer to this rule again a few pages farther on. 
 
 3. The true church of God, in all ages, has liberally met 
 the temporal wants of its ministry. Though the apostles 
 obtained not a tithe from the Jewish church, yet from the 
 voluntary contributions of their converts they obtained a 
 sufficient support, and lacked nothing/' The same may 
 be said of Luther and his coadjutors — and of the two thou- 
 
DUTY TO SUPPORT THE MINISTRY. 329 
 
 sand excellent ministers thrust out of the Church of Eng- 
 land by the act of Non-conformity — and of Chalmers^ and 
 Gordon, and those associated with them in the organization 
 of the New Church of Scotland ; and so of the Wesleys, 
 when they were shut out of the churches of England, not 
 by act of parliament, but by clergymen who possessed the 
 church's benefices — and of those men who were converted 
 through their instrumentality, and soon became their helpers 
 in the ministry ; and so it is now, and so it ever will be. 
 For Christianity is self-supporting : its principles, wherever 
 embraced, and its blessings, wherever experienced, furnish 
 both the guiding and impulsive power required to meet all 
 its expenses. Every Christian, by the spontaneous ten- 
 dency of his new nature, will find something, however small, 
 to give. As a body, the Methodists, in England and 
 America, are a generous people. And yet, as there was a 
 covetous Judas in Christ's little family, and Ananias and 
 Sapphira, and a Demas, were among the primitive Chris- 
 tians, it is not surprising that there should be among us 
 selfish persons, who either give grudgingly, or not at all. 
 Some persons calculate what they do for religion, but not 
 what they may gain by it — as increased industry, temperance, 
 frugality, bodily health, temporal prosperity, the fruits of 
 the ministry of the word, of the sacraments, answer to 
 prayer, the blessings of Christian fellowship, illumination 
 of the understanding, convictions of the evil of sin, im- 
 pressions of divine things on the heart, and attractions to 
 endless glory ; which worlds could not purchase, and which 
 are freely and abundantly given to all the real disciples of 
 Christ. But we are anticipating another part of this work. 
 
 4. The amount, in all cases, for the support of the minis- 
 try, should be such as to make them comfortable, and their 
 work delightful. As the wants of ministers should be rea- 
 sonable and scriptural, such as are confined within the , 
 limits of frugality and economy, and are not created by 
 
 28^'- 
 
330 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 extravagance, nor arise from avarice, or any species of in- 
 temperance whatever, certainly every faithful minister of 
 the gospel should be kept by the church above contempt in 
 his temporal circumstances, free from the cares of poverty, 
 above want, and also have something to spare for the poor 
 and the sick. We say, every faithful laborer should be so 
 supported as to be encouraged to pursue his noble work with 
 holy ardor and delight. But not so the ministerial drone. 
 Set apart to the work of the sanctuary — called to watch 
 over souls — and required to work in his Lord's vineyard — 
 the minister of the gospel, in health and strength, if he will 
 not do his work faithfully, as one who must give a strict 
 account, has no claim to support from the church ; for 
 the sacred rule is, " he that will not work shall not eat.'' 
 He is not a blessing, but a curse to his people. Let him 
 retire. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EFFICIENCY OF THE CLASS-MEETING SYSTEM TO RAISE 
 THIS SUPPORT. 
 
 One of the most perplexing, intricate, and difficult ques- 
 tions that have engaged the minds of legislators in church 
 and state is, What is the best method or system to raise a 
 revenue for the support of government ? The best abilities 
 and soundest experience have been employed upon it. In 
 the Methodist Church a system of class-collections has been 
 adopted by the united wisdom of the General Conference ; 
 and though modifications of this system have been substi- 
 tuted in many places, none can work so well as this, because 
 none is so consistent as this with the genius and structure 
 of Methodism. The very basis, we repeat, of the division 
 of the Methodist Church into classes for spiritual purposes, 
 originated in a regulation for temporal objects. The same 
 regulation, therefore, is designed to accomplish both the 
 spiritual and temporal prosperity of our church. This is 
 the utmost simplicity. Both should move harmoniously 
 together. The neglect of the classes spiritually will be 
 followed proportionably by embarrassment in the tempo- 
 ral concerns of the church, and other measures must be 
 devised to make up deficiencies in the amount required to 
 support the ministry. It is a general observation, if the 
 classes were better attended, we would find little difficulty 
 in meeting current expenses ; or, if we should have a good 
 revival in the church, the members would come up to their 
 duty in this respect. This is undoubtedly true. And the 
 argument in favor of the class-collections is greatly strength- 
 
 331 
 
332 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 ened by the fact; that in times of greatest spiritual prosper- 
 ity in the church the classes are better attended, and yield, 
 a larger supply for temporal demands. For it is easy to see 
 that the sense of duty, the sentiment of gratitude, interest 
 in the temporal welfare of the church, and the disposition 
 to support its ministers — in a word, all the principles and 
 feelings of religion that prompt to the devotion of temporal 
 means for the support of the church — will be in the liveliest 
 practical exercise in times of greatest spiritual prosperity. 
 Now we have shown that the principal means of preserving 
 and improving the spirituality of the church, is the social 
 institution of the classes ; and then the argument is com- 
 plete, that the best method to raise the revenue required for 
 the temporal support of the church, is the proper regulation 
 of the class-collections. We shall now mention some of the 
 advantages of this mode of ministerial support. 
 
 1. It is a most convenient method, probably the most 
 convenient, that can be adopted. When met in class from 
 week to week, each member, at the close of the service, can 
 deposit his contribution in the hands of the leader, and the 
 work is done. This is the arrangement usually observed on 
 the stations', and the same rule is made for the circuits. It 
 is of primary importance, however, in carrying out this finan- 
 cial arrangement, that each member, if possible, be present 
 at every meeting of his class, and be ready for the weekly 
 collection. Some members prefer to pay quarterly, and this 
 is done to some extent in the stations, and almost universally 
 on the circuits. It were far better, however, if the church 
 universally, or as far as practicable, observed the weekly 
 payments. 
 
 2. The utmost regularity and convenience in meeting all 
 the pecuniary wants of the church and ministry may by 
 this method be secured. Much embarrassment to the 
 stewards and preachers would hereby be avoided; the labors 
 of the stewards would then be pleasant, and the work of the 
 
EFFICIENCY IN SUPPORTING THE MINISTRY. 333 
 
 preacher rendered the more agreeable by the proper adjust- 
 ment of all his financial concerns. But if few attend class, 
 and but a small proportion of this few pay weekly, or even 
 quarterly, then what trouble to the leader in running about 
 town, in riding over the country, in hunting up the mem- 
 bers on public occasions, in applying to them, after preach- 
 ing, in order to gather up funds to report at the leaders' 
 meeting, or at the approaching quarterly conference ! No 
 wonder, often at leaders' meetings, and at quarterly confe- 
 rences, when financial reports are called for, we hear, ^^no 
 report/^ No wonder, in many places, financial matters are 
 in a languishing and wretched condition from the beginning 
 to the end of the year, and from year to year. No wonder, 
 a few leading persons in the church are compelled, in many 
 places, to bear the principal part of the burden of the cur- 
 rent expenses. No wonder that these few leading persons, 
 in many places, are unable to meet the current expenses, 
 and large deficiencies are sometimes reported. No wonder, 
 that many of the most valuable men wish sometimes to re- 
 sign their office as leaders or stewards ; and they would do 
 so, but for their ardent love and fealty to the church. No 
 wonder the preacher is often seriously embarrassed by the 
 long delays in meeting his just and equitable claims. No 
 wonder, toward the end of the year, there is often such hard 
 straining and wrenching to close up accounts. And yet it 
 is a wonder that all these troubles and difficulties, and many 
 more, should exist, when they might all be prevented by 
 the universal observance of the easy and convenient regula- 
 tion of the weekly class-collections. We want no improve- 
 ment in our financial ,plan. Let the church everywhere 
 observe it as it is. Then prosperity and contentment will 
 prevail in all our bounds. 
 
 3. It provides for the payment of the annual subscription 
 of each member in small amounts. This is an advantage 
 of no small moment. A small sum, at regular intervals. 
 
334 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 can be more readily and conveniently spared, than a large 
 amount at the close of a stated term. It would be a very 
 easy matter for any one of small means, to deduct three, or 
 six, or twelve cents a week, and pay it to the leader weekly 
 during the year. But it is a very difficult matter for such 
 a one, who had deferred the payment till the close of the 
 year, then to aggregate the whole subscription, and hand it 
 to the leader; he might not be able to make up the whole 
 claim at this time, and so the deficit must go unpaid alto- 
 gether, as he had not laid by enough during the year for the 
 final payment. If he had observed the weekly rule, he 
 would have exercised a little self-denial, if required to meet 
 the weekly payment ; but, having neglected this rule, at the 
 close of the year, he is shorn of his strength : no amount 
 of self-denial can enable him to recover his lost ground ; he 
 has but little or nothing to give ; and this is the history of 
 tens of thousands in our church. Beside, failure or misfor- 
 tune in some form, or disappointment in obtaining the pay- 
 ment of debts due during the year, may render it imprac- 
 ticable to meet the whole subscription at the close of the 
 year ; but these embarrassments might not have prevented 
 the payment of the whole claim in the weekly proportions. 
 Most men expend all they make, and as they make it, 
 whether it be little or much ; and the more they make, the 
 more wants they create, so that they never have any thing to 
 spare to supply the wants of others ; and at the close of the 
 year they have nothing to spare for the support of the 
 church. Probably they are much in debt at the close of 
 the year ; and now what they owe to the church must be 
 diverted to the payment of this debt. But had they met 
 the weekly claim, many imaginary wants would necessarily 
 have been anticipated, and at the close of the year, not only 
 the debt due to the church would have been paid, but debts 
 to others avoided. 
 
 The wisdom of the weekly contributions is supported by 
 
EFFICIENCY IN SUPPORTING THE MINISTRY. 335 
 
 the Scriptures.* St. Paul prescribed this rule for the church 
 at Corinth and the churches of Gralatia. Upon the first 
 day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as 
 God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when 
 I come.^'f First, the contribution was weekly. Secondly, 
 this duty was enjoined upon every member. Thirdly, the 
 contribution by each was to be proportioned to his ability. 
 And fourthly, all this was to avoid the trouble and confu- 
 sion, if not the impossibility, of collecting the aggregate 
 gatherings upon the apostle^s arrival. This is a wise 
 and beautiful system of inspiration. Every member of the 
 church, even the poorest, who is not on the poor-list, can 
 do something, if it be but a very little. 
 
 The wisdom of this financial regulation will be evident 
 from a further consideration. Suppose each member of a 
 circuit, or station, numbering three hundred, contribute 
 three cents a week : the annual contribution of each is $1.56, 
 and the sum total, annually, $468.00; if each member con- 
 tribute weekly six cents, the annual contribution of each is 
 $3.12, and the sum total, annually, $936.00 : an amount 
 sufficient to meet the annual expenses of some of our largest 
 circuits. If we suppose the circuit to embrace six hundred 
 members, then, at three cents a member weekly, the annual 
 contribution of each is $1.56, and the sum total, annually, 
 is $936.00 ; and at six cents a member weekly, the annual 
 contribution of each is $3.12, and the sum total, annually, 
 is one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two dollars : and 
 
 * This plan of voluntary weekly contributions for the support of tho 
 ministry appears to have continued from the apostles' days till the reign 
 of Constantino, who substituted the exaction of tithes by civil enactment, 
 which became a grevious curse, in holding out the allurements of affluence, 
 ease, and honor to a corrupt and worldly ministry. This plan of tho 
 weekly contributions was revive(f by Mr. Wesley, and is kept up in the 
 Wesleyan connection to this day. 
 
 t 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 
 
336 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OP CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 wtat a large surplus have we here from such a circuit ! If 
 we suppose the circuit to embrace one thousand members, 
 at three cents a member weekly, the annual contribution of 
 each is $1.56, and the sum total, annually, is one thousand 
 Jive hundred and sixty dollars ; and at six cents a member 
 weekly, the annual contribution of each is $3.12, and the 
 sum total, annually, is three thousand one hundred and twenty 
 dollars : and what an immense surplus have we here from 
 such a circuit! In these calculations it is supposed that 
 every member pay promptly and punctually his weekly con- 
 tribution. But then there are a few, though very few, who 
 are unable to contribute any thing ] and there are many who 
 are able to contribute these small amounts, and yet fail to do 
 it ; and there are many who are able to contribute much more 
 than these small amounts, and yet who contribute nothing ; 
 and there are some embraced in the assessment at the com- 
 mencement of the year, who die or remove during the year ; 
 and there are also others embraced likewise in the assessment, 
 who backslide during the year; and others still, who, though 
 included in the general estimate, cannot be found. All these 
 make a considerable difference in the general result. And 
 hence, ordinarily, if not universally, many have to pay some- 
 thing more than their ^ro rata share, and a few much more 
 than their pro rata share of the current expenses. But 
 then, if the rule were generally applied on the larger cir- 
 cuits and stations, the large surplus above would more than 
 meet these delinquencies and deficiencies. That is, put 
 down the aggregate, as above, at one thousand eight hundred 
 and seventy-two dollars, or at three thousand one hundred 
 and twenty dollars ; and upon the supposition, that in the 
 former case the sum total of expenses is twelve hundred 
 dollars, which is a fair estimate for these times, and we 
 have six hundred and seventy-two dollars to spare for the 
 delinquencies and deficiencies; and in the latter case, putting 
 down the sum total of expenses at fifteen hundred dollars. 
 
EFFICIENCY IN SUPPORTING THE MINISTRY. 337 
 
 we have sixteen hundred and twenty dollars to spare for de- 
 linquencies and deficiencies. Thus, in the first case, let but 
 two-thirds of the whole number of members pay each six 
 cents per week, and in the second case, let but half of the 
 whole number of members pay each six cents per week, and 
 the total amount of current expenses in each case can be 
 easily and liberally met. 
 
 Some old and experienced financier may smile at this, 
 and say, This all looks well enough on paper, but how is it 
 to be practically carried out V True, other modes of rais- 
 ing supplies have so long been applied — modes that unfor- 
 tunately have been adopted under the urgency and necessity 
 of circumstances, and the people consequently contracted 
 habits which it will be hard now to break — that it will be 
 difficult at first to bring about the general application of the 
 weekly class-collections. But industry, firmness, perseve- 
 rance, patience, and concert of action in the official members 
 of the church — qualifications that every official member should 
 possess, and without which no financial system, however ex- 
 cellent, will long work well — will, in a short time, effect it. 
 It may not be efiected fully the first year or two, but then 
 the result at first will be so encouraging, the difference in 
 financial matters will be so manifest, that both the people 
 and official members will redouble their diligence to accom- 
 plish complete success. The burden of bearing the current 
 expenses will then be equalized. The financial machinery 
 will then move like a beautiful piece of exact clock-work, 
 and wind up the financial affairs of the circuit or station 
 with as much accuracy annually as the sun itself completes 
 the year. Those who are able to give more than their 
 weekly proportion, will contribute it to conference and mis- 
 sionary objects, and other noble and benevolent interests of 
 the church, such as the Bible, Sunday-School, and Tract 
 Societies, the building of churches and parsonages, furnish- 
 ing parsonages, and payiAg off church and parsonage debts. 
 
 29 
 
338 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 And pJl the advantages which we have mentioned on a pre- 
 ceding page would follow, because then all the resources with 
 which the Methodist Church is invested would be applied. 
 
 In the smaller stations and circuits, however, the weekly 
 contribution must be larger, because the number of mem- 
 bers is smaller. Increase the per cent, per week, and the 
 work is done. Say one hundi-ed members at ten cents each 
 per week; the annual subscription of each member is §5.20, 
 and the sum total is five Jiundred and ticeniy dollars. At 
 two hundred members, the sum total is one tJwusand and 
 forty dollars — an amount sufficient to meet all the current 
 expenses. Even when the station numbers less than a 
 hundred, the wisest regulation to raise supplies is the one 
 for which we plead. Difficult as it must be, ordinarily, for 
 a small station to support itself, the best plan to do it is that 
 of the weekly contributions. And it is worthy of observa- 
 tion, difficult as it is for the smaller stations and circuits to 
 support themselves, they nevertheless square up their ac- 
 counts at the end of the year, and, besides, contribute very 
 creditably to the common interests of the church. And 
 yet we are by no means in favor, in all cases, of cutting up 
 the work into these small fields of labor, because, among 
 other substantial reasons, we have not always the proper men 
 to spare for them, and generally it will be found that de- 
 clension dates with the commencement of the experiment. 
 This remark is applicable principally to the smaller villages : 
 in growing villages, and larger towns and cities, it is dif- 
 ferent; for in these the multiplication of churches is the 
 natui*al tendency of aggressive Methodism, the practical 
 effect of one of the elements of an itinerant church. 
 
 4. It preserves a lively sense in every member of his re- 
 sponsibility to contribute what he can to support the church. 
 Every week he is reminded of this duty, and so every week 
 he will feel urged to make provisions to discharge it. Under 
 this regulation it is impossible for any one long to neglect 
 
EFFICIENCY IN SUPPORTING THE MINISTRY. 339 
 
 the payment of his weekly contribution, without a painful 
 sense of delinquency. Here no one can be lost in the 
 crowd. It is a very easy matter for any one who habitually 
 neglects his class meeting, to neglect also his duty to con- 
 tribute to the support of the church. He who derives but 
 little spiritual advantage from association with the church 
 will feel but a feeble concern in its temporal affairs, and the 
 year will pass away with him as it does with the world. 
 He has received comparatively nothing — ^he gives compara- 
 tively nothing. But he who is in the daily enjoyment of 
 religion, and obtains spiritual blessings in the habitual ob- 
 servance of the class meeting, will feel a corresponding 
 interest in the temporal prosperity of his church, and the 
 temporal comfort of his pastor. When men are happiest in 
 religion, they are always most liberal and cheerful in giving, 
 and hence it is that " the Lord loveth a cheerful giver.'' 
 Let, then, the class meeting be universally observed by our 
 church, and the treasury of the Lord will be overflowing 
 from year to year. Every week a twofold responsibility 
 recurs, and thus one duty enforces the other. If I neglect 
 my class, I neglect both duties : I suffer loss myself, and 
 neglect the temporal wants of the church and ministry at 
 the same time. 
 
 5. Method should be most strictly observed, as it can be 
 ordinarily done, especially on the stations. First, the time 
 to be observed when the contribution ought to be laid aside 
 in store — the first day in the week 3" and secondly, the 
 amount — as God hath prospered us.'' One may give occa- 
 sionally, liberally, and cheerfully, and yet very irregularly. 
 Any deviation from this scriptural rule must be attended 
 with more or less of inconvenience. This rule is admirably 
 adapted to the poorer classes, who ordinarily receive the 
 fruit of their labors at the close of the week; and even 
 those who receive their income monthly, or annually, may 
 easily divide the sum into the weekly proportions. The rule 
 
840 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 is therefore applicable to both circuits and stations, and to 
 all who know with sufficient certainty what is their weekly, 
 monthly, or annual income. 
 
 6. All should give something ; that is, according to their 
 ability respectively. Upon the first day of the week, let 
 every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered 
 him.'^* The apostle makes no exception in the case of the 
 poor; for he knew it was required, "None shall appear before 
 me empty;^^f and again, They shall not appear before the 
 Lord empty. Every man shall give as he is able; accord- 
 ing to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given 
 thee. J And David is a good example : " Neither will I 
 offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which 
 doth cost me nothing.^^§ 
 
 7. Young converts should be early taught the duty of 
 giving. It is not what others do that is to guide them, 
 but because it is a plain and positive duty to give " as God 
 hath prospered them.^' They should commence the dis- 
 charge of this duty with the week of their conversion, that 
 their profession may become permanent; that they may be- 
 come cheerful givers, such as the Lord loveth, and that they 
 may not contract the evil habit of indifference to the tempo- 
 ral wants of the church and ministry. A right zeal in this 
 respect will lead to a regular and rapid growth in grace. 
 " For Zion's sake th^y will not hold their peace, and for 
 Jerusalem's sake they will not rest, till the righteousness 
 thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as 
 a lamp that burneth.^^|| The many precious promises made 
 to the cheerful, liberal giver, are all fulfilled in due time in 
 them. The blessing of God is conferred on what is left, 
 and " no good thing is withheld from them.'' 
 
 1 Cor. xvi. 2. t ^^x. xxiii. 15. i Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 
 
 § 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. || Isa. Ixii. 1. 
 
EFFICIENCY IN SUPPORTING THE MINISTRY. 341 
 
 "He everywhere hath way, 
 
 And all things serve his might ; 
 His every act pure blessing is, 
 His path unsullied light/' 
 
 God will remember his friends in " the time of trouble/' 
 and, as in the case of Job, deliver them ; and, if need be, give 
 them twice as much as they had before. The blessing of 
 Grod extends to their posterity : The generation of the up- 
 right shall be blessed.^'* 
 
 * Ps. cxii. 2. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DUTIES OF SAVING AND GIVING. 
 
 We shall devote a chapter to tlie duties of saving and 
 giving money. 
 
 1. The duty of saving money. Every Christian is under 
 obligation to provide for himself, and, if he be the head of a 
 family, to provide for his family. But the obligation to 
 provide for himself and family does not extend to useless 
 expenditure, or extravagance and excess in any form. Com- 
 fort and enjoyment may be purchased with money, but no 
 man is justified in spending money in supporting useless in- 
 dulgences, in purchasing pleasures and amusements in order 
 to pass the time, in prodigality, and in exchange for the 
 fashions and blandishments of the world. Every Christian, 
 in his objects to save money, is not only to guard the honesty, 
 frugality, industry, morality, temperance, and benevolence 
 of his family, and so avoid leading his children and servants 
 into temptation, but he is to practise them himself, and in- 
 sist upon their practice by all under his charge, that he and 
 they may be enabled to save as much as possible for pious 
 objects. 
 
 Nor is any one justified in concluding that he has saved 
 all he ought to save, when he has been at no cost of self- 
 denial. Self-denial is a Christian duty, and every Christian 
 should practise it, that he may give the more : and the same 
 duty and object he should enforce on all under his control. 
 This will add immensely, not only to his means of giving, 
 but both to spiritual and physical enjoyments in this life, 
 and the glory of the life to come. The vain, superficial, 
 342 
 
DUTIES OP SAVING AND GIVING. 
 
 US 
 
 evanescent emotions of pleasure, splendor, and wealth, should 
 be anticipated and suppressed, that we may save to con- 
 tribute to the alleviation of the misery and misfortune of 
 our fellow- creatures, and the adequate support of the gospel 
 of Christ. 
 
 2. Duty of giving. No man has a right to commence 
 saving till all his just debts are paid. By debts, we do not 
 mean merely those due on note, or bond, or mortgage, or 
 book-account; but those also arising from parental obliga- 
 tions, relations to society at large, and to God. Charity is 
 a solemn debt, from which no man can be excused except 
 by absolute physical inability to discharge it. As in the 
 world all men should bear their share in the burdens of 
 society — that is, should contribute their proportion to the 
 alleviation of human want, and the maintenance and promo- 
 tion of human happiness and prosperity ; so in the church 
 every individual member is under the most solemn and im- 
 perious obligation to contribute his due proportion in sup- 
 porting the great interests of the church, and enlarging his 
 Maker's kingdom among men. No Christian has any right 
 to save one cent till he shall have done this ; much less has 
 he the right to add his annual profits to his original capital 
 for future benevolent objects; and far less has he the right 
 to expend his annual profits to attach an artifical dignity to 
 his station, and surround his family and friends with the 
 pomp and luxuries of affluence and ease. No man has the 
 right to set up the demands of extravagance and selfishness 
 in competition with the requirements of religion and phi- 
 lanthropy. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.^' No 
 man can be a Christian who does not devote a just propor- 
 tion of his superfluous wealth annually to the cause of 
 religion and philanthropy, and no one ought to assume the 
 name of Christian who does not do it. 
 
 The rules and principles that apply to the getting of 
 money should not be applied to the giving of money, for 
 
344 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 their every profit will be saved, and nothing be given. With 
 unremitted industry, let every Christian make all the money 
 he can, and then beware lest he make an improper use of 
 it. It is inconsistent to assume that a Christian should 
 restrict the acquisition of money property to the bare limit 
 of his wants, and then demand of him an amount of cha- 
 rity when he has nothing to give. It is extravagant to de- 
 claim disparagingly against secular business and enterprises, 
 and then present a charity bill which cannot be met without 
 the large profits of a successful year. We would do otherwise : 
 we would say to men of business in the church, Devote 
 yourselves energetically to the substantial improvement of 
 your fortunes — inspect keenly and closely the world^s expe- 
 rience for facts and principles, that will help you to be 
 more successful in your undertakings — define precisely and 
 carefully the bounds within which you may advance safely, 
 and beyond which there is danger — be ready with rules 
 that shall be applicable to specific and individual cases as 
 they arise — be patient, devout, composed, and watchful in 
 your journey along the thorny and devious path of business 
 — arouse all your energy to the most exalted achievements 
 both in business and in religion — ^learn the happy arts of 
 getting the most money with the . least risk and anxiety, 
 and of using it so as to accomplish the greatest amount of 
 good both to the souls and bodies of men — remembering 
 all the time that you have no right to save any thing beyond 
 your necessary wants, till you have paid all your first debts 
 to man and God. 
 
 3. But what is the rule of contributions to effect the 
 greatest amount of good ? It is not that a man must give 
 more than is in proportion to his income. It is not that 
 he must give all to public institutions, and nothing to cha- 
 ritable purposes. It is not that he shall give all to one 
 charitable object, to the entire neglect of all the rest. It 
 is not that he shall give to all indiscriminately. It is to 
 
DUTIES OF SAVING AND GIVING. 
 
 345 
 
 give, if we have it, something to every worthy object, and 
 most to the most worthy object; and if we have but little 
 to spare, it should all be given to the most worthy objects, 
 especially those which depend immediately upon us for 
 support. This is the general rule. 
 
 But there are particular rules. First : we should give 
 not only that for which we have no necessary use, but also 
 the amount arising from self-denial. Every Christian, if 
 he is able without self-denial to do it, should give something, 
 and he should use self-denial that he may give the more ; 
 and if he is able to give nothing without self-denial, he 
 should exercise it that he may give something. The poorest 
 IS able to give something. The universal aplication of this 
 rule would not only liberally support all the great interests 
 of the church, but enable the church to enlarge incalculably 
 her enterprises to save the world. Secondly : set a real 
 value upon money. What a thing costs is not always the 
 true measure of its worth; as, for example, a pleasure may 
 be purchased that is destructive either to soul or body, or 
 to both, or hurtful in its influence upon others, or connected 
 witb evil consequences, either immediate or remote. The 
 proper use of money is the greatest amount of real happiness 
 it is made to purchase, and this is its true value. And by 
 as much as a man is able to give for this great object, is he 
 responsible for the use of money. Not one centos less of 
 this amount is Ms own. The widow'' could spare the 
 " mite,^' and it was her duty to give it. I doubt whether 
 there is one in the Methodist Church who is poorer than was 
 this widow. And as to the rich in the church, who of a 
 thousand has set the proper value upon his money? Thirdly : 
 giving should be founded upon religious principles. Gene- 
 rosity may be confounded with piety, and selfishness with 
 charity. Thus, charity dinners, charity fairs, charity '^be- 
 nefits," proceed upon false principles and feelings, in which 
 no compassionate emotions are mingled, and for the pro- 
 
346 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 ceeds of wliich no truly grateful feelings are felt by those 
 wlio receive them. They are but the paroxysms of a sickly 
 morality in the world, and a morbid piety in the church. 
 They are occasions of levity, frivolity, pageantry, and vanity 
 among the young people ; of quarrels often among the 
 sisters of charity/' of lasting differences among the be- 
 nevolent managers,' ' by which parties are formed and 
 divisions created in the church; of patronizing worldly 
 fashion, for the most fashionable articles must be prepared 
 for sale ; in a word, of producing more moral evil to the 
 church than the good that is accomplished by the most suc- 
 cessful sales, and the wisest appropriation of the proceeds. 
 They are corruptions of charity, for that is not true charity 
 which may be feasted away at a dinner, or dissipated at a 
 fair, or expended in self-indulgence, or accompanied neces- 
 sarily with abuse. A theatrical " benefit'' for some " be- 
 nevolent association," is nothing more than a measure of 
 dissembled charity to captivate the religious sympathies 
 common to our nature, disguise the vice of the theatre, pal- 
 liate its odium, and so allure a more extensive patronage. 
 The charity benefits" of Jenny Lind were doubtless but 
 the deep-laid schemes of the selfish and wily Barnum. 
 Every measure of the kind is but a consecration of amuse- 
 ment to the desecration of duty and the destruction of spi- 
 rituality. Give the value of what you would contribute for 
 the fair to the object proposed, and so avoid the evils of the 
 occasion; or give to the object proposed what you would 
 pay for the articles at the fair, and so reach the object by 
 the proper path. It is probable many exercise self-denial, 
 or practise retrenchment to some extent, to support a fair : 
 let this be done without the medium of a fair. In a word, 
 let giving, in every case, be founded upon strictly religious 
 feelings and principles, and the aggregate result will far 
 transcend the nett profits of the most successful fair. If 
 we have, in the remotest manner,, heretofore patronized 
 
DUTIES OP SAVING AND GIVING. 
 
 347 
 
 'methods of this kind to raise money for the objects of the 
 church, in future let us oppose them without connivance 
 and without compromise. 
 
 4. Appeal to the rich who give but little. Ye nominal 
 Methodists who are rich in this world^s goods, what do ye 
 know of self-denial and almsgiving ? What does your 
 religion cost you ? What do you give for the relief of the 
 poor, and for the glory of God, rather than for your own 
 reputation ? When you were poor, you gave, and you be- 
 came rich in spiritual things ; but, since you became rich in 
 the world, you have become poor in spiritual things : and 
 now you know the whole meaning of the sayings of Solo- 
 mon : "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and 
 there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth 
 to poverty : There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath 
 nothing ; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great 
 riches. Ye have sat before the holy communion, and 
 heard again and again the minister read, " Charge them 
 that are rich in this world, that they be ready to distribute, 
 willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a 
 good foundation against the time to come, that they may 
 lay hold on eternal life,^^ — and the charge has extorted from 
 you a few pence. " God is not unrighteous to forget your 
 work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward his 
 name, in that ye ministered to his saints, and do minister;'' 
 and God has but little to remember in your behalf. 
 
 Whoso hath this world^s goods, and seeth his brother 
 have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from 
 him, how dwelleth the love of God in him — there St. 
 John spoke to thee. "He that hath pity upon the poor, 
 lendeth unto the Lord ; and that which he hath given will 
 he pay him again'' — and the Lord owes you but a few cents. 
 " Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will 
 deliver him in time of trouble," — but if you are ever deli- 
 vered out of trouble, it will never be upon thia ground* 
 
348 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 And you gave your pittance — with the thunder of St. James 
 ringing in your ears — Go to now, ye rich men, weep and 
 howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches 
 are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your 
 gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be 
 a witness against you'' — and what a witness ! — and shall 
 eat your flesh as it were fire'^ — and what a suffering ! "Ye 
 have heaped treasures together for the la^t days^^ — and they 
 shall come. You gave your pittance — and you arose — and 
 knelt at the holy altar, and received into your hands and 
 lips the emblems of that sacrifice that obtained so much for 
 you, and for whose poor you had just sacrificed so little ! 
 How can you look the poor in the face when you meet them 
 daily ? How can you look Christ in the face when you meet 
 him at the judgment, whose fires then will consume both 
 your riches and your soul ? 
 
 Is this your case ? Can you be made to believe it ? Let 
 us see. We will leave the house of God, and follow you 
 home, and make the investigation there, and now what have 
 we ? Are your tables loaded with every delicacy and sweet 
 the seasons and the markets, at home and abroad, can con- 
 tribute, or money can purchase, or skill can heighten, and 
 do you give but a few fragments, if them, to feed the poor 
 at youic gate ? Are your wardrobes supplied with every 
 variety of costly dress and rich apparel ever-shifting fashion 
 may suggest to the insatiable taste of your families, and yet 
 furnish scarcely a rag of clothing to the needy in the hovel 
 over the way ? Have you built for yourself a splendid 
 mansion, and adorned it with elegant paintings, and gorgeous 
 carpeting, and beautiful statuary, and furniture of the latest 
 style, while the poor man near you has scarcely a chair to 
 sit on, or a bed to lie on ? Are your gardens and lawns 
 beautified with shrub, and flower, and fruit, interlaced with 
 gravel walks, and winding hedges, and balmy with breeze 
 and fragrance, while the widow and orphan on the hill-side 
 
DUTIES OF SAVING AND GIVING. 
 
 849 
 
 have scarcely corn enougli to make poverty tolerable, or a 
 tree to shade them from the heat of summer ? Are your 
 parlors illuminated with a blazing resplendence for the re- 
 ception of the rich, and vocal with the song and the laugh 
 of the fashionable, and animated with the courtesies of the 
 gay, and noisy with the refinement of carousal and revelry, 
 while the hut in the vale is dark at eventide, and the cry 
 of distress is unheard in the daytime, and prayer for relief 
 and thanksgiving for help are never enrolled in God's holy 
 book of remembrance in association with your benefactions ? 
 We will follow you a step farther, and accompany you to 
 the grave. The expenses of the funeral, and expenditure 
 for monumental marble and sepulchral embellishments, it 
 may be, will be equal to a small fortune, amounting to more 
 in celebrating your life and death than you had expended 
 in your whole lifetime in deeds of piety and charity. Re- 
 lax your clinched hand upon gold and silver, or death will 
 do it. You are not as rich in gold and silver now as you 
 might have been had you invested large amounts in church-- 
 stocks. Had you wisely and properly proportioned your 
 charities to the claims of the church and piety, this very 
 hour, we repeat, you would have become a richer man tem- 
 porally than you are — and spiritually you would be rich 
 indeed. Then you have, for once, calculated badly in tem- 
 poral matters — not that riches should have entered into 
 your motives of charity — but such is the temporal result. 
 So you are the poorer for the want of charity. And as to 
 spiritual things — your spiritual fortunes — ye rich, nominal, 
 penurious Methodists — ye are poor indeed — ye are. naked — 
 ye are in want of all things. Strike the balance quickly 
 with God, or perish. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS TO GIVING CONSIDERED. 
 
 1. It is vain to say you have nothing to give to support 
 the gospel — nothing to spare from your necessary expendi- 
 tures. You can spare a small sum weekly. You will be 
 astonished at the aggregate amount of daily expenditures 
 of small sums, compounded with interest, and summed up 
 at the termination of any given period, as exhibited in the 
 following abstract from the Annuity Tables in familiar use 
 in Jhe offices of Life Insurance Companies : — 
 
 TABLE SHOWING THE AGGREGATE VALUE, WITH COMPOUND 
 INTEREST. 
 
 Daily Expenses. 
 
 In 10 
 
 In 20 
 
 In 30 
 
 In 40 
 
 In 50 
 
 years. 
 
 years. 
 
 years. 
 
 years. 
 
 years. 
 
 21 
 
 cents a day 
 
 or $10 a year, 
 
 $130 
 
 $360 
 
 $790 
 
 $1,540 
 
 $2,900 
 
 
 20 
 
 260 
 
 720 
 
 1,580 
 2,370 
 
 3,080 
 
 5,800 
 
 8i 
 
 i( 
 
 a 
 
 30 " 
 
 390 
 
 1,080 
 
 4,620 
 
 8,700 
 
 11 
 
 i( 
 
 (( 
 
 40 " 
 
 520 
 
 1,440 
 
 3,160 
 
 5,160 
 7,700 
 
 11,600 
 
 131 
 
 a 
 
 (( 
 
 50 " 
 
 650 
 
 1,860 
 
 3,950 
 7,900 
 
 14,500 
 
 27^ 
 
 u 
 
 (( 
 
 100 " 
 
 1,300 
 
 3,600 
 7,200 
 
 15,400 
 
 29,000 
 
 55 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 200 " 
 
 2,600 
 
 15,800 
 
 30,800 
 
 58,000 
 
 82^ 
 
 a 
 
 (( 
 
 300 
 
 3,900 
 
 10,800 
 
 23,800 
 
 46,200 
 
 87,000 
 
 $1.10 
 
 ti 
 
 (( 
 
 400 " 
 
 5,200 
 
 14,400 
 
 31,600 
 
 51,600 
 
 116,000 
 
 1.37 
 
 (( 
 
 u 
 
 500 
 
 6,500 
 
 18,000 
 
 39,500 
 
 77,000 
 
 145,000 
 
 Thus a laboring man, mechanic, or farmer, by saving only 
 2| cents per day from the time he comes of age till he is 
 seventy years of age, the aggregate, with interest, amounts 
 to $2,900; and a daily saving of 21 J cents amounts to the 
 important sum of $27,000. Six cents, so saved daily, would 
 provijie a fund of nearly $7,000, sufficient to purchase a fine 
 fyr% The man who lays by about a dollar per day, on the 
 above principle, will find himself possessed of $116,000, 
 
 350 
 
OBJECTIONS TO GIVING CONSIDERED. 
 
 851 
 
 and thus be a rich man in a worldly sense. There are few, 
 very few, who cannot save daily, by abstaining from the use 
 of tobacco, the moderate use of ardent spirits, useless indul- 
 gence, unnecessary personal and household expenses, and 
 extravagance of every kind, at least six cents, and perhaps 
 twice or thrice that amount ; and thus in time not only be- 
 come rich, but all the time be able to contribute something 
 to support the church. Every poor man thus can do much 
 for the church, and none is justified in neglecting this duty. 
 But what shall be said of those merchants in our cities with 
 whom four thousand dollars a year is not an uncommon ex- 
 penditure ? with whom, fifty years ago, five hundred dollars 
 would have been regarded as a sufficient expenditure. The 
 difierence between these two amounts for fifty years, with 
 compound interest, accumulates to the enormous sum of 
 over one million of dollars, and extend the time eleven years, 
 and this sum becomes doubled. And yet how little, compa- 
 ratively, do the rich give to support the church ! and how 
 generally prevalent is an unrestricted indulgence in showy 
 habits of dress and living, which is the principal cause of 
 the failure of nine-tenths of the men who embark in busi- 
 ness! Instead of combining industry with economy and 
 moderation, and so restricting expenditures to necessary 
 wants, that they may be able to support the church gene- 
 rously with their pecuniary means, they are tempted to an 
 extravagance of living by the facilities for obtaining credit 
 which the present age aff'ords, and so imprudent expendi- 
 tures compel them to resort to accommodation-bills, and other 
 accommodating means of supplying their necessities — and 
 hardly any thing is left to give to the church. With them, 
 the ability to borrow, or get credit, and not capital, is all 
 that is necessary, and thus they are all the time struggling 
 to pay their debts, instead of supporting the church, and 
 striving to enter into the kingdom of heaven. They must 
 live in a manner worthy of their wealth and position, and 
 
852 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 their nniusements must be of tlie same expensive order, in- 
 stead of walking worthy of their high vocation as Christians, 
 and exercising the self-denial rec|uired by the gospel ; and 
 shortly, their dignity and their business collapse together, 
 involving themselves in ruin, and spreading havoc and 
 destruction around the homes of innocent and unsuspect- 
 ing creditors. They indulge a restless anxiety to do an 
 immense business, which a bloated credit-system inordi- 
 nately sharpens,^^ instead of laying up the greatest amount 
 of treasure in heaven, and exerting the most extensive reli- 
 gious influence among men ; and presently a crisis comes, 
 and frightful bankruptcy ensues. Captivated by the mere- 
 tricious dignity of a splendid fortune, they divert their at- 
 tention fi-om their regular business, and meddle with land 
 speculations, bonus operations, with their consequent usuri- 
 ous interest, and otlier delusive enterprises, of which they 
 have but little knowledge, instead of devoting their surplus 
 money to the great interests of the church, and their pre- 
 cious time to the incalculable interests of their souls; and so 
 both fortune and soul are in danger of perishing together. 
 Desirous of getting foricard too fast — of getting rich icith- 
 out labor — of enjoying the luxuries of life hefore the}/ have 
 earned them — they presently encounter the accumulated 
 evils of temporal want and spiritual poverty. Inordinate 
 passion for wealth often defeats itself, by blinding the judg- 
 ment, by exciting visionary schemes and ruinous specula- 
 tions in the imagination, and by impelling the adventurer 
 upon bold and reckless experiments ; and even men of the 
 coolest judgment and most deliberate habits, under the force 
 of this passion are rendered incapable of reasoning wisely. 
 An almost irresistible charm seems to allure them into that 
 dashing circle where business is most weighty and import- 
 ant, and expenditures are of the most dazzling and magnifi- 
 cent kind — where progress is downward — and ruin as certain 
 as death — and on the outer edge of which the more cautious 
 
OBJECTIONS TO GIVING CONSIDERED. 
 
 353 
 
 and prudent will gather up the splendid fragments of the 
 wreck their own prices. 
 
 2. The great objection to giving is^ *^ I have a wife and 
 children to provide for/' and the following text is used as an 
 argument for giving little : He that provideth not for his 
 own, and especially for those of his own house, hath denied 
 the faith, and is worse than an infidel.^' This is made the 
 pretence or cavil for providing a large estate for posterity, 
 but it is a sad preversion of the text. The apostle refers 
 to those who, being able to maintain their families, cast their 
 poor kindred upon the church to be provided for out of the 
 common stock. The apostle commands ^Hhem that have 
 widows'' — that is, whether a mother or a daughter — ^*to 
 relieve them, and let not the church be charged, that it may 
 relieve them that are widows indeed." You should indeed 
 provide for and educate your children, but it must be in 
 such a manner as will make them most serviceable to God; 
 and such provision and education can never be hindered by 
 works of charity. You should indeed make suitable and 
 sufficient provision for your families, but this does not re- 
 lease you from as strong obligation to make suitable provi- 
 sion for the church of Christ. There must be some due pro- 
 portion between the claims of your family and the claims of 
 the church ; and what this proportion is, you, as a conscien- 
 tious, truly charitable, self-denying man, must determine. 
 You may save too much for your family, or you may give 
 too much to the church, though there is not much danger 
 of this. In saving too much, you will leave undone those 
 noble works of charity that would have been of greater use 
 to you, your family, and to the world, than all your tempo- 
 ral gain can be ; indeed, you may furnish your family with 
 the means of incalculable evil to themselves and others in 
 time and eternity while you are living or when you are dead. 
 What do you call a competent provision for yourself and 
 family? That you may be clothed in purple and fine 
 
 30* 
 
354 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 lineii; and fare sumptuously every day That was the 
 standard of another before you. What, are you Christians, 
 and profess to have taken the gospel as your standard? 
 Very well, it imposes the duties of self-denial and mortifi- 
 cation, and demands the consecration of yourselves and all 
 you have to the Master's use.'' And the world expects 
 you to do this, and reproaches you for not doing it. This 
 is the will of God, that with well-doing we should put to 
 silence the ignorance of foolish men.'' You are constantly 
 complaining probably of the want of more laborers in the 
 vineyard of Christ, while you are not willing to bear your 
 just proportion of supporting those who are now there, and 
 many of whom are tempted to retire from it because their 
 support is insufficient or so scanty. Now, when you have 
 nothing to spare above a competent provision for your family, 
 it will be time enough to lament the want of more laborers 
 in the work of the ministry ; or when you shall have done 
 all you can to support those in the field, it will be time 
 enough to do it ; and least of all, can you complain in the 
 one case, if your plans, and efforts, and successes transcend 
 a competent provision for your families. 
 
 3. I must pay my debts before I can give any thing or 
 much to the support of the ministry." Stay, brother. 
 What do you mean ? Do you mean, that you have wisely 
 and prudently contracted debts to enlarge your business, 
 that you may make the more ? or carry on a safe business ? 
 Is yours a safe business, and do you not certainly calculate 
 on a fair profit at least ? Therefore, your debts have become 
 the very ground of your ability to give. How then can 
 they be made an argument against giving ? Restrained by 
 the force of your own argument, do you deny yourself and 
 family any necessari/ comforts, nay, even needless pleasures 
 and amusements ? Indeed, with assured prospect of ulti- 
 mate success upon the basis of your debts, have you not al- 
 ready made certain investments of a permanent nature over 
 
OBJECTIONS TO GIVING CONSIDERED. 355 
 
 and above what will be required to pay all your debts when 
 they fall due ? Are you then honest with your conscience, 
 and with God in urging this excuse ? A portion at least of 
 this permanent and independent investment you were able 
 to spare, and should have devoted to the support of the 
 ministry; and what was not sufficient to impose the re- 
 straints of self-denial upon yourself and family, much less 
 to prevent an expenditure in needless pleasures and diver- • 
 sions, cannot be a valid reason why you should give nothing 
 at all, or very little ^ to the support of the gospel. 
 
 But this not all. Admitting that from misfortune, or 
 failure, or any other cause, you have become involved in debt 
 above your ability to pay — that does not cancel your obliga- 
 tion to contribute something for the support of the church. 
 Among your debts you are to include the debt you owe 
 the Lord, for this is a standing debt; and in paying off your 
 other debts, you are to pay the Lord a proportion, at least, of 
 his claim upon you. No matter what is the amount of your in- 
 debtedness to others, God^s claim still stands as good as theirs. 
 Of course in this case your contribution to charitable purposes 
 must be less than it would be if you were free from debt. 
 It maybe objected, 'Hhis is robbing your creditors to support 
 the church/^ But otherwise it would be robbing the Lord to 
 pay your creditors, just as it would be robbing one creditor 
 to pay the rest. Again, it may be objected, a man must 
 he just before he can be generous. Granted; but the claim 
 of God is not one of generosity, but of justice, and so is 
 supported by the objection. Again, it may be argued, 
 
 every one is to lay by in store'' — for charitable objects — 
 ^^as the Lord hsis jprospered him.'' That is true, and there- 
 fore you may have but a small proportion to spare from 
 other claims, to meet God's claims upon him. Again, it 
 may be argued, in the case of insolvency God will waive 
 his claims in behalf of other creditors. That is more to the 
 point, but this is the very question at issue. Prove this, 
 
« 
 
 356 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 and we yield. You may still argue, My misfortunes have 
 come upon me by God's permission or dispensation, and 
 therefore Grod himself has cancelled his claim upon me. 
 That he permitted your misfortune is very probable, and yet 
 you are responsible for the consequences of it if you might 
 have prevented it, and consequently your obligation to God 
 is uncancelled, as your obligation to any other creditor is. 
 That he caused your misfortune remains to be proved. You 
 may still urge, Owe no man any thing.'' But you have 
 already broken this precept — you are insolvent. The ques- 
 tion is, whether you shall now include the Lord among your 
 creditors or not, and in paying off all the claims against you, 
 you shall not pay the Lord a proportion of his. But it may 
 be further argued, I am commanded by the Lord to be 
 honest, and how can I be strictly so to my fellow-men if I 
 appropriate to charitable objects any thing necessarily re- 
 quired to pay my just debts? Is not this putting it out of 
 my power to be strictly honest Not at all ; for by being 
 strictly honest to the Lord, he will enable you to pay off all 
 your just debts to others. The little he requires of you 
 under your present circumstances, compared with what you 
 should give were you wholly unembarrassed, cannot sensibly 
 effect the respective payments required in meeting the claims 
 of your creditors. The claim of the Lord is as just and 
 standing a claim as that of your family to support, of your 
 children to education, and your country to your annual 
 tax. You should now, it is true, be more frugal, economi- 
 cal, and self-denying, that you may as soon as possible 
 meet all the demands of your indebtedness. That is now 
 your plain and urgent duty, and this is all that can be 
 justly required of you. Are you pressing all your energies 
 in this direction ? Are you confining your personal and 
 family expenses within as small a compass as your exigency 
 requires ? Have you diminished these within the bounds 
 of prudence, that you may be enabled to liquidate these 
 
OBJECTIONS TO GIVING CONSIDERED. 3 57 
 
 claims ? If not, why should you wish to abstract the whole 
 claim of the Lord to do it ? The Lord is willing to share 
 with you and your family in the urgent demands of others 
 upon you; but he is not willing, we maintain, to surrender 
 his whole claim, and be excluded from all regard in this 
 matter. 
 
 But, we inquire, how much did you give to charitable ob- 
 jects, and the support of the ministry, while you were un- 
 embarrassed by debts ? "Would withholding that now help 
 you much? Are your annual, personal, and family expenses 
 less now than they were when you were unembarrassed ? Is 
 not this objection to giving a recent thing with you, suggested 
 by a loss in religion, an increase in embarrassment, and an in- 
 disposition to subject yourself to the painful exercise of the 
 practical virtuQS just now mentioned? Has it ever occured 
 to you, unless unavoidable misfortune plunged you into debt, 
 that it is surprising you should now be so scrupulously ho- 
 nest to get out of debt, and yet were not honest enough to 
 keep out of debt? Presuming that you have given some- 
 thing to pious objects since you became so deeply involved, 
 has it sensibly lessened your ability to extricate yourself? 
 Or presuming that you have given nothing to pious objects 
 of late, has it sensibly increased your ability to liquidate 
 the claims of your creditors ? Are you so poor now, that 
 you cannot spare two mites ? Are you poorer than the wi- 
 dow who gave them? We will examine the objection no 
 farther, but suggest what we think is your plain duty. It 
 is this : after meeting your necessary expenses, and devoting 
 what you conscientiously can to pious objects, you should 
 give every cent remaining of your income to liquidating 
 your just debts. 
 
 4. It may be objected, The poor cannot afford to give 
 any thing.'^ The real poor cannot, and nothing of the 
 kind is expected of them. But those who can spare some- 
 thing, however small, and yet withhold it, cannot feel much 
 
358 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 interest either in Christ's cause or in his service — their at- 
 tainments will be superficial, their comforts evanescent, and 
 their progress slow. But whatever the poor or the rich 
 give, from a right principle, to the cause of Christ, God 
 will surely return, in some form, a hundred-fold. The poor 
 and pious widow of Zarephath obtained, for the cake she 
 prepared for Elijah, the barrel of meal that wasted not, 
 and the cruse of oil that failed not; and she gained by 
 giving, though it seemed she and her son would perish by 
 giving. Though God may not employ a miracle again to 
 relieve the pious poor, yet he is the God of providence, 
 and superintends the wants of his people as certainly and 
 as well as he did the widow in her poverty. Not only so, 
 God positively commands, that every man shall give as 
 he is able, according to the blessing of the. Lord thy God 
 which he hath given thee and let every man lay by 
 him in store as God hath prospered him.^'f The poorest 
 of the poor who can give any thing are all included. Christ 
 did not disapprove the liberality of the poor woman who 
 cast her two mites into the treasury, though this was all 
 she had. How easily can he return a hundred-fold, if not 
 in kind, at least in quantity ! and he will do it. If, while 
 on earth, he could find a fish to contribute to the payment 
 of his tax and Peter's, and magnify a few loaves and fishes 
 to feed famishing thousands, his resources will not fail now 
 he is in heaven. Nor is this all. The poor can give some- 
 thing. As their income is small, but little is required. 
 Indeed, many, with a small income, do expend more than a 
 tenth, probably, in useless self-indulgence, as in the use of 
 tobacco, snufi", and other articles equally unprofitable ; and 
 this may be the reason why they not only give little or 
 nothing to the church, but why they are kept poor so long. 
 They who at most can spare but little, are not as economical 
 
 * Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 
 
 t 1 Cor. xvL 2. 
 
EFFICIENCY IN SUPPORTING THE MINISTRY. 859 
 
 as the rich, who can spare so much, and yet often give so 
 little. They are i^ot as diligent in business as they should 
 be ; nor do they redeem every moment of their time as they 
 should ; nor do they make their income go as far as pos- 
 sible. How much time is wasted by them in useless visits 
 and unprofitable conversation ! What amounts do they 
 spend annually, either for themselves or their children, or 
 both, in gratifying a vain curiosity in popular amusements ! 
 What vain and idle habits do they indulge, and in how 
 many ways, by bits and drops, do their small and hard 
 earnings disappear almost as soon as they come into hand, 
 and little or nothing is left for Christ and his cause ! Let 
 the poor be diligent, economical, self-denying, redeeming 
 the time, and obtain the love of God shed abroad in their 
 hearts, and every week of health and prosperity will wit- 
 ness, at its close, a cheerful and a generous contribution to 
 the support of the church. No real comfort is lessened by 
 giving, but rather increased, and the comfort of giving is 
 superadded. They but return to God what they can spare : 
 For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we 
 given thee.'^* 
 
 ♦ 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE METHODIST MINISTRY, AND 
 THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF DECEASED PREACHERS. 
 
 We shall close this treatise with an appeal to Methodists 
 in behalf of their ministry, and the widows and orphans of 
 deceased preachers. 
 
 Your preachers are under the most solemn obligation to 
 preach the gospel — a work from which they cannot retire 
 at pleasure, and which, as itinerants, they cannot neglect, 
 to provide the things of this life for themselves and their 
 families ; and, therefore, necessity is laid upon you to sup- 
 port them, and religious obligation and common honesty 
 bind you to do it. They should not be forced to neglect 
 men's souls, but give themselves wholly to these things,^' 
 and surely you should not neglect their bodies. Their 
 whole business is for another world — to spend all life in 
 studying and preaching Christ — in searching into his myste- 
 ries of spiritual life, and meditating upon the nature, works, 
 and ways of the blessed God — to engage in acts of prayer 
 and praise, and talk of God and glory — to learn the more 
 of God, and become the better, that they may teach you 
 the more, and make you the better — ^to find the way nearer 
 to heaven themselves, that they may lead you the nearer to 
 that happy country. 
 
 By their call to the ministry they are related to Christ , 
 and, therefore, in maintaining them, you maintain the cause 
 of Christ. And, by their call to the ministry, thei/ are re- 
 lated to you as the flock of Christ, and, therefore, in main- 
 360 
 
APPEAL IN BEHALF OP THE MINISTRY, ETC. 861 
 
 taioing them, you maintain your own cause. In tlie former 
 case, there cannot be so noble a demand for the use of 
 money ; in the latter case, there cannot be a more important 
 demand for the use of money : in the one case, you cannot 
 neglect the ministry without neglecting the cause of Christ ; 
 in the other case, you cannot neglect them without neglecting 
 your own cause. The penurious may suppose that they can 
 enjoy the advantages of the Christian ministry, though they 
 give but little. We reject the premises, and hence deny 
 the conclusion. The general advantages of national and 
 domestic morality the penurious man may enjoy, but nothing 
 further. He that is able to give much, but gives little, or 
 he that is able to give little, but gives nothing, cannot enjoy 
 one single real and permanent spiritual blessing under the 
 gospel ministry — not one. The fact that he is penurious is 
 demonstration that the gospel has as yet done nothing for 
 him. As he cannot spare his money for the cause of Christ, 
 he cannot be a Christian, whatever may be his pretensions 
 or his cavils ; for Christ calls upon no man for that which 
 he cannot spare ] and he can feel but little or no interest in 
 his own cause for which he gives but little or nothing. 
 
 That man may lasty but never lives, 
 Who much receives, hut nothing gives ; 
 Whom none can love, whom none can thank — 
 Creation*s blot, creation's blank/* 
 
 An itinerant ministry cannot be supported by secular 
 employments, for they have left these — their homes, and 
 friends, and trades, and business, and profession, and all — for 
 the exclusive work of the ministry; they have abandoned 
 these their secular hopes for your sakes. Kather than leave 
 your souls in want, they have surrendered the means, the 
 only means, all the means, they had to supply the wants of 
 their bodies. They conducted you to the cross of Christ, 
 and are now conducting you toward heaven, and can you 
 overlook their temporal wants on the way ? They are be- 
 
 31 
 
862 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 stowing upon you their utmost cost and labor, to alleviate 
 all your spiritual sufferings, supply all your spiritual ne- 
 cessities, and prepare you to see God face to face, and 
 live forever with him in glory; and do they not deserve 
 the best of your temporal care and help? They are not 
 willing that a single one of you, as the sheep of Christ, 
 should suifer or want; and are you willing that they 
 should know or suffer temporal want? They weep over 
 your spiritual need, and teach, and preach, and pray, and 
 fast, and labor, that you may be supplied with spiritual food 
 and clothing on earth, and a mansion in heaven ; and can 
 you spare nothing to furnish them with food to eat, and 
 clothes to wear, and a house to live in a single year or two ? 
 They grieve when you grieve, and rejoice when you rejoice; 
 and have you no sympathy for their sorrow, and no means 
 to spare to make them happy ? They do all they can to 
 save your families ; and are you doing as little as you can 
 to comfort their families ? they wish to see poured out upon 
 you of spiritual blessings good measure, pressed down, 
 shaken together, and running over ;'^ and can you be con- 
 tent while they receive a measure barely sufficient to supply 
 the common necessities of life ? Is your heaven to be pur- 
 chased at so dear a rate to Christ, and obtained at so great 
 a cost to his ministers, and yet cost yon so little ? Christ 
 walketh among his ministers — remember his presence — he 
 will support them — support them he will, if he must do it 
 without your assistance — support them he will, if he must 
 call the ravens again to his aid. Indeed, many living Me- 
 thodist ministers can say, God has interposed almost as 
 mysteriously oft-times in relieving their temporal wants, as 
 the ravens surprised Elijah on the mountain. 
 
 You complain when the minister neglects any of his im- 
 portant duties, and often when he neglects them in the 
 smallest particular ; and, indeed, any neglect of duty on 
 their part is of the gravest importance, for it is a neglect 
 
APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE MINISTRY, ETC. 363 
 
 of tlie interests of souls committed to their care by Christ, 
 and for whom Christ died. But have they no just ground 
 of complaint against you for the neglect of your duty to- 
 ward them ? It may be, it is most probable, in many cases, 
 their neglect was caused by yours. Embarrassed in tem- 
 poral matters, they are often embarrassed in the discharge 
 of their official duties. Keep the faithful minister clear of 
 the world, and you will know all his power. But, if he 
 must bear along you and also the debts you should have 
 justly enabled him to pay, you need not be surprised if 
 sometimes he is tempted to neglect you to look after his 
 temporal affairs. In fact, they are your debts, and God is your 
 security for their payment \ and if you fail, and the minis- 
 ter nevertheless do his duty faithfully, and call upon Grod, 
 he will most certainly pay them all off to the last farthing. 
 
 If we go into debt, it is for your sakes ; and if we go 
 into debt beyond our appropriation, that is not y^r fault, 
 unless the appropriation is insufficient to meet necessary 
 current expenses, and then who is to bear the burden of 
 the deficiency ? Brethren, let me speak to your hearts and 
 consciences. Sometimes, for your sakes, out of the appro- 
 priation which you make for our support, we purchase a 
 horse, and the means- of conveying us to our work — and 
 this is for your sakes. Should we receive the whole appro- 
 priation, we have nothing to spare for this expense on a cir- 
 cuit or district ; and, if we fail to receive the whole appro- 
 priation, we are seriously embarrassed, unless we have some 
 independent resource to which to apply, and to which you 
 have no claim. It is a hard case to preach the gospel, and 
 be compelled to bear the expense of it, too, when ^^the la- 
 borer is worthy of his hire.'' But very few have this inde- 
 pendent resource, and what can they do in case of defi- 
 ciency ? And when, in addition, the allowance is too small 
 to meet necessary expenses, though it should all be paid, 
 what must be the condition of those who must endure the 
 
364 TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF CLASS MEETINGS. 
 
 deficiency — to wliat quarter are they to look for relief? 
 And when an insufficient allowance is not all paid, it is ob- 
 vious the embarrassment of the preacher and his family 
 must be greatly aggravated. It may be replied, that the 
 horse, &c. may be sold subsequently, and thus the expen- 
 diture be restored. Not so ; for the horse may be old now, 
 and worn down in your service, and the carriage and har- 
 ness worn out, or greatly impaired in value, and can be sold, 
 and sold they must be, at a price greatly reduced from the 
 original cost — and the preacher alone must bear and feel 
 this loss. The little money that was saved, by self-denial 
 and economy, to school our childxen, and enlarge our library, 
 is thus consumed for another purpose — the children must 
 do as well as they can with a little schooling, and we must 
 be content with the books we have, or not complain if we 
 are compelled to sell a few of the little we have to pay our 
 pressing debts; for, as ministers, we must be honorable 
 men. And all this is for your sakes. 
 
 But this is not all. At the close of a long life of labor, 
 and toil, and suffering, and hardships of various kinds, one 
 of these self-denying poor men, in the bosom of his weep- 
 ing wife and children, and among strangers, dies — and you 
 scarcely ever after hear of Ms family. They have suddenly 
 vanished in the great forest of human society. What has 
 become of the widow and orphans of your good old pastor? 
 Where are they ? They may he dead, too. Do you ever 
 inquire if they are living, and how they are getting along ? 
 and what do you give to help them along ? Ah ! if you 
 gave little or nothing to support them while the husband 
 and father lived and labored for you, you will give little or 
 nothing to help them now he is dead, and can do no more 
 work for you. Stop, man ; _you are indebted to the dead — 
 pay that thou owest to \Ab loidow and children — pay princi- 
 pal and interest. But the widow and children, too, in 
 some cases, are gone to rest in the quiet and retired grave, 
 
APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE MINISTRY, ETC. 365 
 
 and their spirits are again with the husband and father 
 in that happy land above. Oh, happy family ! none hap- 
 pier in heaven 1 They need now your aid no more. They 
 have forgiven you. And they are willing to share all 
 heaven with you, and come back and endure all again 
 for you; who would not part with a little earthly com- 
 fort for them ? 0 ye dead ! ye glorified ! who leaned your 
 weary heads upon the bosom of divine Providence, and 
 heard Jesus say, Mourners dry your tears — a rest remain- 
 eth'' — ye are rich now, and ye shall never want again. Ye 
 repose now in the pleasant shade of the tree of life, for- 
 ever removed from the heat and cold of a suffering life. 
 Christ visits you in your mansion, and your frequent and 
 painful separations in the work of the gospel are at an end. 
 You have found a permanent home at last — and such a 
 home ! — and you rest from your labors. Your work is 
 done, and Christ pays you for it, as he promised he would 
 — and such a reward ! — glorijied together with him J' It 
 is enough. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 STSKSOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON A CO. 
 PHILADKLPHIA. 
 
 31*