PRELIMINARY PLEA.

IF

TABOR; OR, THE CLASS-MEETING.

Ir any of you, dear friends, had been privileged to witness the scenes which once hallowed the summit of Tabor-if you had seen the Saviour baptized as the King of Glory-if you had "feared as you entered into the cloud”—if you had been a favored listener to that heavenly converse-if you had been thrilled, as Peter was, by the upliftings of wondrous hope and unfoldings of gracious purpose, as "they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem "—who of you could have withheld the deep-felt expression of gladness, "Lord, it is good to be here!"--who of you could have restrained the desire to build, upon tha sacred spot, the "tabernacles" of remembrance and of rest?

Dear friends, there is yet an institution in whose observance the humblest Christian talks with his Master, and with his Master's followers-that institution is the "assembling of ourselves together" for the purposes of church communion-there is yet a place upon earth

where some relics of that excellent glory linger, where the experiences of that mount of blessing are not all forgotten-that place is a pious and properly conducted Class-Meeting. Many a time has the writer of this brief address felt its salutary influence, to gladden the soul in seasons of intensest trial, to encourage the failing spirit in heavenward progress, to brace and nerve the mind for difficult duty; and, with a grateful recollection of these, its Tabor-pleasures, he commends its advantages to you. "I believed, therefore have I spoken."

We do not claim for the Class-Meeting an essentially divine origin, although it would be difficult to doubt that an overruling Providence presided at its birth, and has kept it in operation until now. The mind, which devoutly remembers that with God there is nothing trivial, will readily acknowledge that when John Wesley, ministering merely to present necessities, and with no foresight of the future, called together at their own request "eight or ten persons in London"there were in heaven an eye that marked and a love that blessed the deed.

"A thing is great or little only to a mortal's thinking,

It is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in a trifle.”

Mark the tenor of the language which tells of the rise of the "United Societies," which, founded upon scriptural principles, have now expanded into a flourishing church:

"In the latter end of the year 1739, eight or ten persons came to me in London, who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. They desired (as did two or three more the next day) that I would spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the wrath to come, which they saw continually hanging over their heads. That we might have more time for this great work, I appointed a day when they might all come together; which from henceforward they did every week, viz., on Thursday, in the evening. To these, and as many more as desired to join with them (for their number increased daily), I gave those advices from time to time which I judged most needful for them; and we also concluded our meetings with prayer suited to their several necessities."

How forcibly does this remind us of the days of Malachi, when "they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heardand a Book of remembrance"-the Lord's class book

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was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name!" How vividly does it recall that union in prayer which gives it such a princely power! "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." How does it bring before us the exhortations scattered through the whole compass of apostolic writing!

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ;"—and especially how accordant is it with the confession of our faults one to another (not auricular confession to a priest that we abhor), which St. James enjoins. (Jas. v. 16.) If we have not direct Scripture command, we have Scripture permission, approval, and usage; and, while we are content that a Class-Meeting should be considered as prudential rather than authoritative, we hold to the persuasion that it has been a means of grace, which, perhaps beyond all others of a supplemental character, has been signally honored by the blessing of God.

You, as hearers of our ministry, are doubtless aware that membership in one of these Class-Meetings is indispensable to constitute union with Methodism, and that those only, who statedly attend these seasons of Christian fellowship, are "accredited and rightful communicants of our Church." Writing as Methodists, we condemn not other sections of the church universal. It may not be their vocation. They certainly do not prize it as their privilege. For ourselves, however, for the benefit of our own family, we are free to confess an ardent attachment in this matter to the "good ways" of our fathers. The Class-Meeting is storied of old. It is associated with our traditional and sacred records of the master spirits of early Methodism-those largehearted men "of whom the world was not worthy." It was to them as the blest Elim of palms and fountains to the desert wayfarer; and such is the sanctity