PORTFOLIO. side and the women on the other; and the men's side appears like rows of human heads packed immovably together at certain and regular distances. Sense and piety seem to be the elements of their character, mixed with a sufficient amount of firmness." Dr. Dixon's views were hostile to the High Church movement, and we cannot see, with his biographer, that he would have altered them if he could have seen its later development. Surely all his opposition did not arise from the illfeeling which High Church authorities manifested toward Methodists. We are much more inclined to think it arose mainly from his abomination of their peculiar Popish doctrines, and these have rather intensified of late years. The jottings of the Rev. Joshua Mason 119 are for the most part racy notes of conversations. They were taken down after Dr. Dixon retired from the ministry, and set forth not only his views on religious questions, but also on politics; in his old age, and when blindness kept him from his accustomed reading, he brooded over the evils of his country, and being unable to exert his powers in directing affairs, he took a sombre and despondent view of matters. He feared for Methodism, and for the religion of England, and was greatly alarmed by political and other changes. Many of his strong expressions are not unlike those of Carlyle in his old age. We have met with few biographies in which the interest is so well sustained and the individuality of the man so strikingly developed. PORTFOLIO. James the Brother of the Lord. ACTS xii. 17. AN accurate investigation with respect to this James, who remained behind in Jerusalem, leads us to conclude that he was a different person from James the Less, the Apostle. St. Paul, for instance, mentions in conjunction with St. Peter at Jerusalem, another apostolic man whom he calls James, the brother of the Lord. (Gal. i. 19.) As then the same Apostle in a similar context mentions a James together with Peter and John, (Gal. ii. 9,) and as from chronological reasons it is quite clear that this cannot be James, the son of Zebedee, we have every reason for assuming that the latter must be no other than the one previously spoken of and designated as the brother of the Lord. Compare Matt. xiii. 55; Acts i. 13. "James the Less, the Apostle, retires, together with the rest of the Apostles, from the authentic records of the Apostolic age into that dark obscurity which overwhelms the latest labours of the Apostles... Accordingly, when Peter directs his charge to James and the brethren, a hint is hereby given us that... James, the Lord's brother, would understand this withdrawal of the Apostles from Jerusalem, and would be ready to take the superintendence of the community."-Baumgarten. The Death of Herod. "ON the first of August (we follow a probable calculation, and borrow some circumstances from the Jewish historian) there was a great commemoration in Cæsarea. Some say it was in honour of the Emperor's safe return from the Island of Britain. However this might be, the city was crowded, and Herod was there. On the second day of the festival he came into the theatre. . . . The stone seats, rising in a great semicircle, tier above tier, were covered with an excited multitude. It was early in the day, and the sun's rays fell upon the King, clothed in magnificent robes, of which silver was the costly and brilliant material, so that the eyes of the beholders were dazzled with the brightness which surrounded him. Voices from the crowd, here and there, exclaimed that it was the apparition of something Divine; and when he spoke and made an oration to the people, they gave a shout, saying, 'It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.' But in the midst of this idolatrous ostentation, the angel of God suddenly smote him. He was carried out of the theatre a dying man, and on the 6th of August he was dead."Conybeare and Howson's "St. Paul." The Two Sauls. "THERE appears also to be a connection, both by way of resemblance and also of contrast, between Saul, the first king of Israel, and Saul, the last of the Apostles; both were of the tribe of Benjamin, both were once persecutors; the one the persecutor of David, the other of the Son of David. Saul, the persecuting king, is among the prophets; and Saul, the persecuting Pharisee, is among the Apostles. Who would have 6 expected either of these events? But Saul the king resisted the grace of God, and gave himself up to the evil spirit: Saul the Pharisee was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.' Both the one and the other afford remarkable examples of the freedom and power of Divine grace. But extraordinary as these examples are, they show also that Divine grace, free and powerful as it is, is not irresistible. Saul the king might have been like Paul the Apostle, if he had cherished the Spirit within him; and Paul the Apostle would have been like Saul the king, if he had grieved and resisted the grace of God."-Wordsworth. BLESSING, HONOUR, THANKS, AND PRAISE. Tune-" GEORGIA." Words from the WESLEYAN HYMN BOOK. G. F. HANDEL. Blessing, hon-our, thanks, and praise, Pay...... we, gracious God, to Thee: THE WESLEYAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL MAGAZINE. PRACTICAL PAPERS. SOCIETY CLASSES IN CONNECTION WITH BY THE REV. JOHN DWYER. EGISLATION and management in Sunday-school matters are very important, but they may be overdone, or they may be rested in to the comparative exclusion of the main object for which Sunday-schools have been established. Our rules may be elaborate and complete, and our application of them most exact, and yet the great end of our operations be missed. The entire machinery is arranged professedly with the view of attaining a definite object, and that object a spiritual one. Officers, teachers, committees, regulations, the Scriptures themselves, or whatever else that machinery may include, tend (if they fulfil their purpose) to one point-the salvation of the soul. The communication of Scriptural knowledge or the promotion of moral rectitude are only steps in this direction. Yet this is the very matter in which Sabbathschools are admitted by their most zealous advocates to have frequently failed. There have been many instances of clear conversion, and not unfrequently cases of happy death, amongst our scholars; and we may reasonably hope that many a person who in after life decided for God, received the first seed of good in the Sabbath-school; but, after all our toil and prayer, we have seldom seen that general and decided reception of religion by our young people which would lead us to conclude that our schools are fully answering their highest purpose, and are nurseries for the Church of God. Yet if this is not realised, our extensive Sabbath-school operations are in danger of doing us real injury. This startling view of the subject ought to be fairly faced. To carry them out, many persons are withdrawn from other spheres of action which in times past were owned of God. Our prayer-leaders and exhorters, and even our Local Preachers, are rendered less numerous by this cause; and our evangelistic work, after the fashion of our fathers, is circumscribed. If, therefore, the concentration of our VOL. IX. NEW SERIES.-June, 1874. G energies upon the Sabbath-school department should unfortunately fail to accomplish extensive spiritual good, the result will be a net loss to the religious life of the Church and the country; and this surely would be a terrible disaster. To avert it should be the aim of every lover of souls and of Sunday-schools. How, then, can such a catastrophe be averted? How can our Sunday-schools be made more spiritually effective? How can a greatly-increased number of conversions be secured, resulting in the raising up in each place of a band of truly Christian young people, who in their turn will become soul-winners? How can the faithfulness of converts of tender years be promoted, so that the proportion of backsliders will be greatly reduced? Possibly the number of instances of awakening, and even of conversion, is larger than we suppose, and our drawback is chiefly in our failure to cherish and mature the grace received. Much, doubtless, in this direction, may be done by the minister in occasional addresses, in sermons, and in pastoral intercourse; much more by the Superintendent of the school in the exercise of a firm but fatherly control, and by frequently and faithfully addressing to those under his care such wise and loving counsels as will keep experimental religion before their minds; and more still by each teacher in seeking to apply to the conscience the truth studied and in watering it with many prayers. No efforts such as these can be in vain; yet they need to be supplemented, and to be supplemented by a means which is peculiar to Methodism. Having this auxiliary at command, should not Methodist Sunday-schools be the most successful of any in securing and cherishing spiritual results? The heading of this paper has already intimated that the SOCIETY CLASS is the auxiliary referred to. We are often biassed by our early experiences. The value of this means to myself must be my apology for obtruding anything of personal reminiscence. When about thirteen years of age, I was a scholar in a Methodist Sundayschool, a youth disposed to folly and sin, but possessing an inquiring mind. Two or three sermons which I heard from the Rev. James Caughey caused me some serious thought. These impressions were, however, fast passing away, when a fellowscholar asked me to go with him to a Class-meeting. I was glad to accept the invitation, and soon my convictions were deepened, and before long I found "peace in believing." To the Leader of that Class I owe an unspeakable debt of gratitude. The members of it were the seriously-disposed scholars, and perhaps a few of the junior teachers connected with the school; and there SOCIETY CLASSES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SABBATH-SCHOOL. 123 was a similar one for females, which was still more successful. Feeling as I do that it was the means of incalculable good to myself, and knowing that many others derived lasting benefit from it likewise, is it any wonder that I should advocate the more general establishment of Society Classes in connection with our schools? By them good impressions, which would otherwise be probably ephemeral, are seized hold of and cherished, and a system of spiritual culture is carried on which is quite as important as intellectual training can possibly be. And now after some years in the work of the ministry-years of thorough and uninterrupted identification with Sunday-school work and of close observation-my convictions are confirmed, that where some such means are not employed we must lose much of the fruit for which we so ardently hope and diligently labour. I shall not dwell upon cases of failure; but such there have been in too great number, and they are admonitory,-cases where, through the lack of suitable persons to undertake the work or other causes, the stream of youthful mind and heart was suffered to flow from the Sabbathschool out into the ungodly world, mingling with its troubled waters, and partaking of its characteristic impurity. But I shall mention two instances of cheering success which have come directly under my own notice. One is furnished by my last Circuit (Portadown). There, in connection with our principal school, in addition to individuals scattered through other classes, we had two large Society Classes containing upwards of fifty members, a great proportion of whom were truly converted to God. The average attendance at these Classes was the best of any in the Circuit, and even their contributions to the support of the Work of God (though this is a minor matter) were not insignificant. The second is supplied by my present Circuit (Agnes-street, Belfast); and in this case it seems likely that we shall secure similar or even larger results. I had the disadvantage on coming to it to find no such Classes in existence; but before long some gracious indications of the Spirit's power gave intimation that they would be needed. After some time, two were formed, and now the number enrolled (chiefly as members on trial) exceeds sixty. A great proportion of these have found peace with God, and most of the remainder are truly penitent. For this we give praise to God, at the same time believing that it indicates the direction which our efforts ought to take, if we would secure distinct and lasting results. To me it seems strange that Methodists should have any objection to urge against this course, or that there should be any |