and they may be well assured that there are thousands of people, as non-Catholic as themselves, to whom words like these are needlessly offensive.

Of all the dissenting sects, that of the Methodists is perhaps the most powerful, from the simple fact that it owes its origin to a master of organization. John Wesley was in many ways a genuinely great man. He was curiously narrow-minded; he was grossly superstitious; he was overbearing and autocratic in an extraordinary degree. But he seems to have had an intuitive perception of the needs of his time, and of the proper way in which to encounter them. That time was not ripe for the restoration of Catholic order and of the Catholic faith, but it was quite prepared for the institution of a system which might render something approaching to religion acceptable to the masses of the people, for whom the moribund Establishment had done nothing, or next to nothing, during the whole of the eighteenth century. When Wesley came, with his lean ascetic face and sensational religionism, the common people heard him gladly. All might, however, have been lost, had it not been for the fact that his genius for organization made of the Methodist sect what was practically, so far as this world is concerned, a veritable Church. At the outset the sect was but an off-shoot from the Anglican Establishment, and was-in theory at all events-dependent upon the ministers of that Establishment for everything save those pious exercises of prayer, hymn-singing, and exhortation in which the true-born Methodist delights. Wesley then stepped in, and the system was settled under which the whole body of Methodists was divided into classes. Every member of the sect belonged to a "class" each class had its "class leader," who collected from those under his charge the weekly penny, which was duly handed over to the "superintendent" of the district, and by him transmitted to head-quarters, there to be disposed of according to the orders of the founder of the Society. As a recent writer has remarked "if Louis XIV. could say with truth L'État c'est moi, so with even greater accuracy could John Wesley say of the Society which bears his name that it was himself, and that none had the right to interfere with it." That view Wesley maintained, with the result of establishing a body which, at the present moment is, next to the Catholic Church, the most powerful in Christendom, especially in the United States. In England the various sects which call themselves after the name of Wesley form a community second in numbers only to the Established Church itself. In America, where for many years Methodism was practically the only religion of the people, the Methodist body is one of the strongest in existence. With its pseudo "bishops, "church officers," "superintendents," "class leaders" and

"pastors," the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States is a body which cannot be left out of account in considering the religious position of the New World.

In England the Methodist body has never attained the proportions of the same Society in the United States, and as is perhaps not altogether a matter for surprise-Methodism has never obtained a hold upon the educated classes. The very poor who want an emotional religion are sometimes attracted by the forms and the principles of the sect; but the cultured and refined are repelled by its wild enthusiasms and show no anxiety for edification out of the mouths of the inspired cobblers and tinkers who fill the ranks of the Methodist ministry. John Wesley kept himself fairly aloof from this class during his lifetime, but his brother Charles-the "sweet singer" of the sect— lived for many months with an illiterate and fanatical brazier in Little Britain, and his example has been followed by not a few of the later Methodists. The result may be seen in their literature. Methodism is represented in the periodical press by four weekly papers, and it is not saying anything uncharitable to describe these organs as amongst the feeblest, even of the religious newspapers. The oldest of these journals is the "Watchman "-a paper which made it first appearance on the 7th of January, 1835. It was started with the assurance that the profits arising from its sale should be devoted to the support of some public institution. How far this pledge has been redeemed it is of course impossible to say, but in any case the charitable institution in question must have done very well during the last five-and-forty years, since, judging by the advertisements, the "Watchman" is a very satisfactory property, commercially speaking. The principles of the paper may best be judged by a paragraph from the opening address, which will possibly serve better than any elaborate dissertation to explain in the phrase of the great dissenter, John Foster, "the aversion of men of taste to Evangelical religion."

The principles on which this publication will be conducted will be such, as without giving to it a formally theological or religious character, may yet at all times harmonize with the great principles laid down in Holy Scripture, and with the authorized principles and usages of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion. Accordingly, in directing his course, the editor will contemplate as his "cynosure" that moral providence of God by which He governs the nations. While on the one hand it is not to be forgotten that the present is one of those grand climacterics of the world on which important revolutions of opinion, and transitions to new stages of the social state, are found deeply to affect the character and stability of existing institutions. On the other hand, in the conducting of this newspaper, it will be remembered that there

are, after all, in connection with that "kingdom which cannot be moved," principles which, in the best and highest sense, are at the same time reforming and conservative and which, if need be, will prove to be resuscitating also; since, even on the supposition of events the most appalling in prospect to a patriotic mind, they would survive the wreck of civil order, and reorganize society on a permanent foundation. It is not intended to be maintained that the spirit of change, which so strongly marks the present age, is all darkness, and its opposite all light; nor will the desire for legitimate reform be confounded with a passion for lawless revolution. But taking his station on the tower of that heavenly truth, which is perfect and immutable, and thus raised above the tumult of these various conflicts which may at any time distract the public mind, it will be the object of the "Watchman" not only to keep a diligent look-out upon the movements of society, and to make regular and accurate reports of them, but also, on all fair occasions, to interpose among the combatants with "words of truth and soberness," such as may serve to soothe and moderate their spirit; and especially whenever, as appears to be partly the case at present, conflicting parties, weary with contention, languish for repose, it will be his concern to seize the golden opportunity, and to throw off their attention from mere party politics, to things of everlasting and universal obligation. .. But, in all cases, the principal aim of the journal will be to encourage that moral "preparation of the heart," which is so favourable to a right use of the understanding; and to place all public affairs in that same light in which alone the far less complicated and uncertain interests of private life can be fairly estimated the clear and solemn light of eternity.

The earlier numbers of the "Watchman" were moderately Conservative in tone, but disfigured by the verbosity and "cant" which mark the passage quoted above. They are, moreover, anything but pleasant reading, from the fact that, at the time when the paper was first started, the Methodist body was in the throes of one of those periodical convulsions which wait like a Nemesis on all sects. Column after column was occupied with the disputes of "Dr. Warren and his party; with complaints against "an individual most falsely styling himself a follower of John Wesley, and who (sic) has for years been well known in the Circuit as a promoter of strife and contention both in Church and State, and whose vulgar abuse and outrageous violence towards the Ministers of Christ are such as must make it apparent, even to his own partisans, that he is wholly destitute of that piety to which he has made such high but delusive pretensions." On the other hand, the early numbers of the "Watchman" contain a host of advertisements expressive of the "high sense" which the Methodists of that day entertained for the Rev. Jabez Bunting, for whose "intellectual and moral character, and for the value and disinterestedness of his labours in the cause of Wesleyan Methodism," it would, it appears, be difficult to say

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too much. Of the amenities of Protestant controversy, the earlier numbers of the "Watchman" afford some interesting specimens. Of late years it has changed its character to a somewhat remarkable extent. In politics it still professes Liberal-Conservatism, but the former quality is much more conspicuous than the latter; while its religious tendencies are distinctly less sectarian than they were when it first started on its career. is interesting to note how from time to time even a journal so distinctly Protestant as this, is compelled to admit the power and influence of the Catholic Church. To its credit, it has never joined in the anti-religious warfare which some of the sects have waged during the last half century, and the representatives of the Wesleyan body will usually be found in the same division lobby with Catholics when religious education is under discussion. Latterly this subject has been taken up with considerable energy, and those who care to turn over the files of the "Watchman" will find abundant reason for hopefulness with regard to the future of Wesleyanism. Sectarian though they may be, the followers of John Wesley are very obviously impressed with the fact that Sectarianism pure and simple unquestionably leads to contempt for and defiance of all religion, and that the only hope for religion lies within the fold of the Church. A recent number of this paper contains a letter from Dr. J. H. Rigg, the Principal of the Wesleyan Training College for Elementary Schoolmasters, and a member of the London School Board. This letter is remarkable for the indirect testimony which it affords, first, to the rapidly increasing power and influence of the Church in the United States; and, secondly, to the uneasiness with which Protestants, who are honestly religious view the flood of infidelity which is gradually over-spreading those countries where the principle of authority is condemned, and where "the right of private judgment is most freely exercised. The official organ of the American Methodist body-the" New York Christian Advocate -has, it seems, devoted a long article to the religious condition of the city of St. Louis, and Dr. Rigg, from his personal experience, endorses the statements of his American contemporary. appears that in that city, which numbers 350,000 inhabitants, "Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion;" that the "Unsectarian common Schools of America have become absolutely godless;" that the people of St. Louis have to "submit to a godless system of education controlled and enforced by bar-room politicians, infidels, and atheists," and that "there is not a distinctively Protestant religious school in St. Louis, excepting one little institution belonging to the Episcopalians." Two or three sentences from Dr. Rigg's letter may be added in this place in order to illustrate the charity of Protestant dissenters, and the amenities of controversy as understood by the Wesleyan body.

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We have (says the writer) 45,000 in the churches of all denominations, and 120,000 in the saloons on the Sabbath day. Roman Catholicism (he adds) is an angel of mercy as compared with those saloons. With few exceptions the leading churches are huddled together in a small compass in the wealthiest portion of the city. The down-town population is left to the Catholics, the police, and the devil.

One fact only remains to be noticed in connection with the "Watchman," and that is the great number of quack medicine advertisements which adorn its columns. Religious newspapers generally profit by advertisements of this kind, but the "Watchman" is unusually fortunate in securing them.

Another organ of the Wesleyan body is the "Methodist Recorder," a penny sheet, which was started in 1861, with the avowed intention of " presenting, from week to week, a complete body of Wesleyan intelligence." The paper presents few features of special interest. Its terminology is of course that of the sect it represents, and its politics may be concisely described as Gladstonian. Like the "Watchman," it contains a good many advertisements of quack medicines, and it is further distinguished by its custom of printing at length the sermons preached on the occasion of the funerals of conspicuous members of the sect. The "Methodist "a third journal of the same type-dates from 1874, and is chiefly remarkable for its very aggressive Protestantism. The point aimed at is not very high, and a study of the columns of the paper is not likely to impress the reader with a very exalted opinion of the intellectual capacity of the modern Methodist. Much the same verdict will probably be given by the majority of readers with reference to the remaining Methodist publication on our list-the "Primitive Methodist." As its name imports, this is the organ of that sect of the Methodist body which is most addicted to the practice of those extravagances which have brought it into disrepute with sober-minded and reasonable people. It is hardly necessary to say that it is intensely Protestant in tone, or that in politics it is as ardently Radical. If the Church is mentioned, it is always in terms which imply that the enlightened Primitive Methodists consider her as on a level with the heathen; while if the Conservative party or the House of Lords comes into question it is always with expressions which appear to be borrowed from the vocabulary of those Sunday papers which are the discredit of English journalism.

The most remarkable of the religious newspapers is, however, the "War Cry "-the organ of that "Salvation Army" whose erratic doings not unfreqently bring them into more or less violent collision with the police, and with the populace of our large towns. The social position of these persons maybe estimated from two