conference, after having been recommended as a proper person by the quarterly conference of which he is a member.

3. While on trial in an annual conference, a travelling preacher may be discontinued by such conference, but if accused of crime, the presiding elder shall call a committee of three local preachers, who may suspend him, and the quarterly conference may expel him from the church, nevertheless, he shall have an appeal to the ensuing annual conference.

4. The duty of a travelling preacher is to preach, visit from house to house, meet the Societies, classes, and bands, visit the sick, and in all respects show himself to be a laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.

5. A travelling preacher is eligible to full connection in the annual conference, and to deacon's orders, after he shall have travelled two successive years on trial, and has qualified himself in the course of study prescribed by the bishops.

SECTION VII.

OF PREACHERS IN CHARGE, AND THEIR DUTY.

1. A preacher in charge is one who has the pastoral care of a circuit or station. He may be either an elder, deacon, or preacher, in connection with the conference; or he may be a local preacher or minister, employed by the presiding elder to fill some vacancy.

2. The duties of a preacher in charge are, to oversee the junior preachers on his circuit, should there be any; to renew the tickets for the admission of members into love-feast, quarterly; to meet the stewards and leaders as often as possible; to appoint all the leaders, and change them when he sees it necessary; to receive, try, and expel members, according to the form of discipline; to hold watch-nights and love-feasts; to hold quarterly meetings in the absence of the presiding

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elder; to take care that every Society be duly supplied with books; to take an exact account of the number of members in each Society, and report the same to the conference; to give an account of his circuit or station once a quarter, to his presiding elder; to meet the men and women apart, in the large Societies, wherever it is practicable; to overlook the accounts of the stewards; to appoint a person to receive the quarterly collection in the classes; to see that public collections be made quarterly, if need be; to encourage the support of missions and Sunday-schools, and the circulation of bibles, tracts, and Sunday-school books, form Societies, and make collections for those objects. It is his duty, also, to give certificates of membership to those about to remove; to enforce all the rules of the Society; to read those rules once a year in each congregation, and once a quarter in each Society; to recommend arbitrations in cases of dispute; to appoint committees for the trial of members, and to preside at such trials; to appoint prayermeetings whenever he can, on his charge; to license proper persons to exhort, provided he obtains the consent of the class, of which the person is a member, or of the leaders' meeting.

3. A preacher in charge, if a member of an annual conference, is responsible to such conference for all his official acts, and if a local preacher, to the quarterly conference of which he is a member.

SECTION VIII.

OF LOCAL ELDERS, DEACONS, AND PREACHERS.

1. A local elder is one, who, having filled the office of a local deacon for four successive years, has been ordained to the eldership by the election of an annual conference, and the laying on of the hands of the bishop and other elders. Before such election and ordination, it is necessary that he be recom

mended by the quarterly conference of which he is a member. Provided, always, that no slaveholder shall be eligible to the office of an elder, where the laws will allow him to emancipate his slaves.

2. A local deacon is one, who, having filled the office of a local preacher for four successive years, has been elected by an annual conference-after proper recommendation—and been ordained by the laying on of the hands of the bishop. No slaveholder is eligible to this office who can manumit his slaves.

3. A local preacher is one who has received license to preach from the quarterly conference. Said license must be renewed once a year, at least, in order to be valid.

4. All local elders, deacons, or preachers, must have their names recorded in a class-book, and must meet in class, and when they remove from one circuit or station to another, they must obtain certificates of their standing at the time of their removal, before they can be received as members or preachers in other places.

5. When a travelling preacher is located or discontinued, he becomes a member of the quarterly conference where he resides, or where he has had his last appointment.

6. It is the duty of local elders to preach, and administer the sacraments, especially in those places not visited by the travelling elders; of the local deacons, to assist in the administration of the Lord's Supper, and to baptize, &c., and of the local preachers, to preach wherever, and whenever practicable. It is expected of all local ministers that they preach at least once every Sabbath-day.

7. The difference between travelling and local preachers and ministers, consists chiefly in the fact that the former give themselves wholly to the work of the ministry, while the latter pursue some secular calling in connection with the sacred officethe former might properly be called regular ministers, and the latter secular ministers.

8. Local ministers and preachers are amenable to the quar

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terly conference for their private and official conduct, and if suspended or expelled they have an appeal to the annual conference, whose decision in their case is final.*

SECTION IX.

OF EXHORTERS, STEWARDS, CLASS-LEADERS, AND TRUSTEES.

1. Exhorters are licensed by the preachers in charge, after having been recommended by the class or leader's meeting. They are subject, like local preachers, to an annual examination of character in the quarterly conference, and to have their licenses renewed by the presiding elder, if approved by the quarterly conference. It is the duty of exhorters to hold meetings in the absence of a preacher, and to call sinners to repentance whenever opportunity offers. If accused of crime, an exhorter is to be tried by the Society, or select number, and if guilty may be expelled by the preacher in charge, he having an appeal to the quarterly conference.

2. Stewards are nominated by the preacher in charge, and appointed by the quarterly conference. On every circuit or station there must not be less than three nor more than seven stewards. It is their duty to take an exact account of all the money or other provision collected for the support of the preachers on the circuit or station; to seek out the poor and needy, and relieve them; to inform the preachers of any sick or disorderly persons; to tell the preachers what they think wrong in them; to attend the quarterly meetings, and give advice when required in planning the circuit; to give counsel in matters of arbitration; provide elements for the Lord's Supper;

* Ministers of the Methodist Church coming from Europe or America, may be received according to their credentials, by an annual conference, and ministers from other evangelical churches may be received without reordination by taking upon them our ordination vows.

to write circular letters to the Societies to be more liberal, if need be; to register baptisms and marriages; and be subject to the bishops and other ministers of the circuit or station. The stewards are amenable to the quarterly conference for their official conduct, but they can only be tried by the Society, or a select number, and if expelled have an appeal to the quarterly

conference.

3. Class-leaders are appointed by the preacher in charge, and are responsible to him for the proper discharge of their duties. It is their duty to meet their class once a week, in order to inquire into the spiritual state of each member of the same, and to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort them as occasion may require; to receive what they are willing to give toward the relief of the preachers, church and poor, and to pay the same over to the stewards; to meet the ministers and stewards once a week, when practicable, and inform them of any that are sick, or that walk disorderly and will not be reproved; to meet in quarterly conferences, and be the spiritual assistants of the minister and preachers on the circuits and stations. The usual number of members committed to the special charge of a class-leader is about twelve, although there are frequently found as many as twenty or thirty in one class. Class-leaders are responsible to the Society for their moral and Christian conduct.

4. Trustees. These are appointed for the purpose of holding in trust for the benefit of the Society in any given place, all reai and personal estate which may belong to such Society, such as churches, burying-grounds, parsonages, parsonage furniture, &c. According to the laws of most states and territories, they form a body corporate, and are the legal representatives of the Society whose property they hold in trust, and as such may sue and be sued. Except where the statutes of the states and territories otherwise provide, a new board of trustees is appointed by the preacher in charge, or presiding elder of the district, and afterwards, in case of vacancy, the preacher in charge shall nominate