Page images
PDF
EPUB

Quest. 3. By whom are the presiding elders to be stationed and changed?

Answ. By the bishops.

Quest. 4. How long may the bishops allow an elder to preside in the same district?

Answ. For any term not exceeding four years successively.

Quest. 5. Shall the presiding elder have power to employ a preacher who has been rejected at the previous annual conference? Answ. He shall not, unless the conference should give him liberty under certain conditions.

Quest. 6. How shall the presiding elders be supported ?

Answ. If there be a surplus of the public money in one or more circuits in his district, he shall receive such surplus; provided, he do not receive more than his annual allowance. In case of a deficiency in his allowance, after such surplus is paid him, or if there be no surplus, he shall share with the preachers of his district in proportion with what they have respectively received, so that he receives no more than the amount of his allowance upon the whole: he shall be accountable to the annual conference, for what he receives as his allowance.

SECTION VI.

Of the Election and Ordination of travelling Elders, and of their Duty.

Quest. 1. How is an elder constituted ? Answ. By the election of a majority of the yearly conference and by the laying on of the hands of a bishop, and some of the elders that are present.

Quest. 2. What is the duty of a travelling elder?

Answ. 1. To administer baptism and the Lord's Supper, and to perform the office of matrimony, and all parts of divine worship.

2. To do all the duties of a travelling preacher.

No elder that ceases to travel, without the consent of the yearly conference, certified under the hand of the president of the conference, except in case of sickness, debility, or other unavoidable circumstance, shall, on any account, exercise the peculiar functions of his office, or even be allowed to preach among us: nevertheless the final determination in all such cases is with the yearly conference.

SECTION VII.

Of the Election and Ordination of Travelling Deacons, and of their Duty.

Quest. 1. How is a travelling deacon constituted?

Answ. By the election of the majority of the yearly conference, and the laying on of the hands of a bishop.

Quest. 2. What is the duty of a travelling deacon?

Answ. 1. To baptize, and perform the office of matrimony, in the absence of the elder.

2. To assist the elder in administering the Lord's Supper.

3. To do all the duties of a travelling preacher.

Quest. 3. What shall be the time of probation of a travelling deacon for the office of an elder?

Answ. Every travelling deacon shall exercise that office for two years, before he be eligible to the office of elder; except in the case of missions, when the annual conferences shall have authority to elect for the elder's office sooner, if they judge it ex edient.

No deacon who ceases to travel without the consent of the annual conference, certified under the hand of the president of the conference, except in case of sickness, debility, or other unavoidable circumstances, shall, on any account, exercise the peculiar functions of his office, or even be allowed to preach among us: nevertheless, the final determination in all such cases is with the annual conference.

Caroline With anson

SECTION VIII.

Of the Method of receiving travelling Preachers, and of their Duty.

Quest. 1. How is a preacher to be received?

Answ. 1. By the annual conference. 2. In the interval of the conference, by a bishop, or the presiding elder of the district, until the sitting of the conference.

3. It shall be the duty of the bishops, or of a committee which they may ap-. point, at each annual conference, to point out a course of reading and study proper to be pursued by candidates for the ministry: and the presiding elder, whenever such are presented to him, shall direct them to those studies which have been thus recommended-And before any such candidate is received into full connexion, he shall give satisfactory evidence respecting his knowledge of those particular sub

jects, which have been recommended to his consideration.

4. When a preacher's name is not printed in the minutes, he must receive a written license from a bishop or presiding elder. Quest. 2. What is the duty of a preacher? Answ. 1. To preach.

2. To meet the societies, classes, and general bands.

3. To visit the sick.

९: :

4. To preach in the morning, where he can get hearers-We recommend morning preaching at five o'clock in the summer, and six in the winter, wherever it is practicable.

Quest. 3. What are the directions given to a preacher?

Answ. 1. Be diligent. Never be unemployed; never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time;-neither spend any more time at any place than is strictly necessary.

2. Be serious. Let your motto be Holiness to the Lord. Avoid all lightness, jesting, and foolish talking.

3. Converse sparingly, and conduct yourselves prudently with women. Tim. v. 2.

1

4. Take no step towards marriage without first consulting with your brethren.

« PreviousContinue »