CLASS-MEETINGS
369
CLAUDE
154, 200). The nearest approach to the " class-meet- ' g'* in the Roman Church is perhaps to be foand in le " Society of St. Vincent de Paul/' which is com- ' »eed of laymen, whose objects are mutual edification ; periodioil meetings, and the promotion of active ' larity. See Vinceht db Paul, Society of. When Wesley comngienced his itinerant labors, the | diffioHt 9oeietie» "received Mr. Wesley with open rms" (Coke and Moore, Ly« afWesleif, 1792, p. 6, 7). ' t is not at all unlikely that Wesley's views as to the ' ■ue ** social'* life of Christianity received an impulse i xnn these organizations. But, according to his own cconnt, the " class-meeting" arose out of what was at rst a merely fiscal plan to pay a church debt in Bris- »l (1742). **It was agreed (1.) That every member f the society that was able should contribute a penny . week ; (2.) That the whole society should be divided ato little companies or classes, about twelve in each lass ; and (3.) That one person in each should receive hat contribution of the rest, and bring it in to the tewards weekly. Thus began that excellent institu- ion, merely upon a temporal account, from which we 'taped so many spiritual blessings that we soon fixed he same rule in all our societies" (Wesley, Worlca^ K. f. ed., vii, 850). Some time after, complaints being nade to Wesley of the conduct of some members of the societies, it struck his mind, " This is the very thing we need.^ The leaders are the persons who may act only receive the contributions, but also watch over the souls of their brethren" (Wesley, Worhs^ vii, 860). All Mr. Wesley's societies were soon divided into these classes, under rules which are still substantially ob- served (see above).
Much of the energy, unity, and stability of Method- ism is due to the class system. The most intelligent | and advanced Methodists hold it in high esteem. | "Methodism holds that the communion of saints is > part of a man's duty before he can claim to be a par- i taker of the body and blood of Christ, which is the I public sign of fellowship with the whole body ; and it \ says to a man that we hold that it is part of God's win that we should exhort one another, edify one an- other, confess our fiiults one to another, commune one with another on (rod's dealings with us and our walk with God. I am prepared to stand before members of the Lutheran Church, members of Presbyterian or Episcopal churches, and say, as I constantly do, You omit fh>ra your Church organization a vital part of New Testament Christianity. Your Church provides for the individual life ; it provides for the public life of the Church, but it altogether leaves out the social life of the Church ; and that is in the New Testament as I hold" (Arthur, Speech at Wedeyan Cor^ference, Sheffield, 1868). ''Nothing is so little understood I amongst Christians as the nature of the 'communion ; of saints,' and its vitalizing influence in the conserva- < tion of religious life, and the enlargement of the king- ' dom of Christ. The class-meeting amongst the Meth- odists is nothing but the realization of this idea ; it is the concert of souls actuated by religious feeling to carry out the great purpose of their ' high calling.* It luu been the true life of every thing in Methodism, in every part of the world, like those agencies of na- ture which lie out of sight, but, by their penetrating in- fluence, give vitality alike to the flower and the forest tree" (Lond, Quar. Review, Oct. 1864, p. 181). " Even if the class-meeting were less inseparably bound up with the entire disciplinary and financial economy of Methodism, still its advanta^res are so numerous that to sever it from the Methodistic system would be to u^flict a paralyzing stroke, if not a death-blow. It af- fords opportunity for instruction more individual and P^nonal than can be offered from the pulpit, for Chris- tiftQ fellowship more intimate than can be enjoyed in tbe congregation, for the needful outpourings of a n»ind burdened either with sorrow or with joy, for I ^"Itching the progress of young disciples, for prevent- 1 II.— A A
ing backsliding by timely admonition, and for special oversight of the sick and the poor." See Keys, CUui-' leaden* Mamtal (N. Y. 1851, 18nu>); MUey, Treatm on Clcus-meetings (Cincinnati, 1861, 18mo) ; Rosser, On CUua-meeimgt (Richmond, 1866) ; Fish, On CUm-meet- mgi (Lond. 1860, 18mo) ; Wesley, Workt (N. Y. edit.), V, 179, and often ; Porter, Compendium of Methodism, 47, 468; Stevens, Hiistory of Methodism, u, 480, 462; Wee- leyan Methodist i/ia^ztue, July, 1868, p. 619; August, 1866, p. 704; Smith, Ei^ory of Wesleyan Methodism, i, 660-672 (Lond. 1867, 8vo); Meth. Quar, Reo, 1862, 669, 662 ; life of Father Beeves, the Class-leader (N. Y. Carlton and Porter).
Clau'da (JSiXavdrj), a small island of the S.W. coast of Crete, which Paul passed on his tempestuous voyage to Rome (Acts xii, 16) ; called also Oaudos by MeU (u, 7) and Pliny (iJirt. Nat. iv, 42), Claudus (KXavSog) by Ptolemy ^ii, 7), and Claudia (KXavSia) in the Stadiasmus Maris Magni: it is still called Clou- d^nesa, or Gaudonesi, by the Greeks, which the Ital- ians have corrupted into Gozzo of Candia, to distin- guish it from another island of the same name (an- ciently likewise called Claudos) near Malta. It is said to have been the Calypso's isle of mythic fame (Callin. ap. Strabo, p. 299). According to Pococke, it is now inhabited only by some thirty families (East, ii, 847 ; Prokesch, Denkwurd. i, 698). This otherwise insig- nificant islet is of great geographical importance in reference to the removal of some of the difiSculties con- nected with Paul's shipwreck at Melita. The posi- tion of Clauda is nearly due W. of Cape Matala, on the S. coast of Crete [see Fair Havens], and nearly due S. of Phoenice (q. v.). (See Ptol. iii, 17, 1 ; Sta- diasm. p. 496, ed. Gail.) The ship was seized by the gale a little way after passing Cape Matala, when on her way firom Fair Havens to Phoenice (Acts xxvii, 12-17). The storm came down from the island (icar aifrijcy V) I4)t and there was danger lest the ship should be driven into the African Syrtis (v, 17). It is added that she was driven to Clauda, and ran under the lee of it (v, 16). We see at once that this is in harmony with, and confirmatory of, the arguments derivable tram all the other geographical circumstances of the case (as well as from the etymology of the word Eu- rodydon, or Euro-Aquilo), which lead us to the con- clusion that the gale came firom the N.E., or, rather, E.N.E. This island is about seven miles long and three broad. Its W. shore, which trends in a N.W. direction, and is prolonged by "some rocks adjacent," would " afford the advantage of comparatively smooth water for some twelve or fifteen miles" (Adm. Pen- rose's MS. in Conybeare and Howson's St, Paul, ii, 827) to a ship "caught," as Paul's was, with "a tem- pestuous wind" from the N.E. Accordingly, under the lee shore of Clauda were taken those skilful pre> cautions of "hoisting in the boat," '^ undergirding [or fhipping] the ship," and making her snug by " lower- ing the gear;" which kept the ship (q. v.) from foun- dering under the pressure of a fortnight *s "gale in Adria," and presented her for the rough remedy of a wreck on the island of Melita (Smith, Voy, and SMp- wreck of St, Paul, 2d ed. p. 92, 98, 106, 263).— Smith, 8. V. ; Kitto, s. V. See Shipwreck. '