travel, or for ordination, without first being examined in the Quarterly Conference on the subject of doctrines and discipline.*

SECTION II.

Ordained Local Preachers.

1. A licensed Local Preacher shall be eligible to the office of a Deacon, after he has preached four years from the time he received a regular license, and has obtained a testimonial from the Quarterly Conference, and after proper examination, signed by the President, and countersigned by the Secretary; and after his character has passed in examination before, and he has obtained the approbation of, the Annual Conference.

2. A Local Deacon shall be eligible to the office of an Elder, after he has preached four years from the time he was ordained a Deacon, and has obtained a recommendation from the Quarterly Conference of which he is a member, certifying his qualifications in doctrine, discipline, talents, and usefulness, signed by the President, and countersigned by the Secretary. He shall, if he cannot attend, send to the Annual

See part ii, ch. i, § 4.

Conference such recommendation, and a note certifying his belief in the doctrine and discipline of our Church. The whole being examined by the Annual Conference, and if approved he may be ordained.

3. Every Local Elder, Deacon, or Preacher shall be amenable to the Quarterly Conference where he resides, for his Christian character and the faithful performance of his ministerial office. He shall have his name recorded on the journal of said Conference, and also enrolled on a class paper, and shall meet in class; and in neglect of the above duties, the Quarterly Conference, if they judge it proper, may deprive him of his ministerial office. And when a preacher is located, or discontinued by an Annual Conference, he shall be amenable to the Quarterly Conference of the circuit or station where he had his last appointment, or at the place where he shall reside at the time of his location.

4. Whenever any Elder, Deacon, or Preacher shall remove from one circuit or station to another, he shall procure from the Presiding Elder of the district, or from the preacher having charge, a certificate of his official standing in the Church at the time of his removal, without which he shall

not be received as a Local Preacher in other places.

5. The Presiding Elders and the Preachers in charge are required so to arrange the appointments, wherever it is practicable, as to give the Local Preachers regular and systematic employment on the Sabbath.

SECTION III.

The Trial of Local Preachers.

Quest. 1. What shall be done when a Local Elder, Deacon, or Preacher is reported to be guilty of some crime expressly forbidden in the word of God, sufficient to exclude a person from the kingdom of grace and glory?

Answ. 1. The Preacher having charge shall call a committee, consisting of three or more Local Preachers, before whom it shall be the duty of the accused to appear, and by whom he shall he acquitted, or, if found guilty, suspended until the next Quarterly Conference. And the Preacher in charge shall cause exact minutes of the charges, testimony, and examination, together with the decision of the committee, to be laid before the Quarterly Conference,

where it shall be the duty of the accused to appear. If the accused refuse or neglect to appear before said committee, he may be tried in his absence.

And the President shall, at the commencement of the trial, appoint a Secretary, who shall take down regular minutes of the evidence of the trial; which minutes, when read and approved, shall be signed by the President, and also by the members of the Conference who are present, or a majority of them. And in case of condemnation, the Local Preacher, Deacon, or Elder shall be allowed to appeal to the next Annual Conference, provided that he signify to the said Quarterly Conference his determination to appeal; in which case the said President shall lay the minutes of the trial above mentioned before the said Annual Conference, at which the Local Preacher, Deacon, or Elder, so appealing, may appear: and the said Annual Conference by committee, as in the case of accused Traveling Preachers, or in full session, shall judge, and finally determine from the minates of the said trial, so laid before them.

2. When a Local Elder, or Deacon, shall be expelled, the Presiding Elder shall re quire of him the credentials of his ordina

tion, to be filed with the papers of the Annual Conference within the limits of which the expulsion has taken place. And should he, at any future time, produce to the An nual Conference a certificate of his restora tion, signed by the President, and countersigned by the Secretary of the Quarterly Conference, his credentials may be restored to him.

Quest. 2. What shall be done in cases of improper tempers, words, or actions?

Answ. The person so offending shall be reprehended by the Preacher having charge, Should a second transgression take place, one, two, or three faithful friends are to be taken as witnesses. If he be not then cured, he shall be tried at the next Quarterly Conference, and if found guilty and impenitent, he shall be expelled from the Church.

Quest. 3. What shall be done when a Local Elder, Deacon, or Preacher fails in business, or contracts debts which he is not able to pay?

Answ. Let the Preacher in charge ap point three judicious members of the Church to inspect the accounts, contracts, and circumstances of the supposed delin quent; and if, in their opinion, he has be