cannot superintend them personally, to see that suitable teachers are provided for that purpose.

2. It shall also be the duty of Preachers to enforce faithfully upon parents and Sunday-school teachers the great importance of instructing children in the doctrines and duties of our holy religion, to see that our Catechisms be used as extensively as possible both in our Sunday-schools and families, to preach to the children, and publicly catechise them in the Sunday-schools and at special meetings appointed for that purpose.

3. It shall be the duty of every preacher in his pastoral visits to pay special attention to the children, speaking to them personally and kindly on the subject of experimental and practical godliness, according to their capacity, pray earnestly for them, and diligently instruct and exhort all parents to dedicate their children to the Lord in baptism as early as convenient.

4. Each Preacher in charge shall lay before the Quarterly Conference,* to be entered on its Journal, the number and state of the Sunday-schools and Bible classes in his charge, and the extent to which he has preached to the children and

*See part ii, chapter ii, section 12.---ED.

catechised them, and make the required report on Sunday-schools to his Annual Conference.

5. It is recommended that each Annual Conference, where the general state of the work will allow, request the appointment of a special agent, to travel throughout its bounds, for the purpose of promoting the interests of Sunday-schools; and his expenses shall be paid out of collections which he shall be directed to make, or otherwise, as shall be ordered by the conference.

SECTION II.

The Support of Missions.

1. The support of missions is committed to the Churches, congregations, and societies as such.

2. It shall be the duty of each Annual Conference, where missions have been or are to be established, to appoint a standing committee, (which shall keep a record of its doings, and report the same to its conference,) whose duty it shall be, in conjunction with the President of the Conference, to make an estimate of the amount necessary for the support of each mission and mission school, in addition to the regular allowance

of the Discipline to Preachers and their families from year to year: for which amount the President of the Conference for the time being shall draw on the treasurer of the society in quarterly installments.

3. It shall be the duty of each Annual Conference to form within its bounds a Conference Missionary Society, which shall appoint its own officers, fix the terms of membership, and otherwise regulate its own administration. But it shall pay all its funds into the treasury of the Parent Society.

4. It shall be the duty of each Presiding Elder to bring the subject of our missions before the Quarterly Conference of each circuit and station within its district at the last Quarterly Conference in each year; and said conference shall proceed to appoint a committee, of not less than three or more than nine, (of which the Preacher in charge shall be chairman,) to be called the Committee on Missions, whose duty it shall be to aid the Preacher in charge in carrying into effect the disciplinary measures for the support of our missions.

5. It shall be the duty of the Preacher in charge, aided by the Committee on Missions, to provide for the diffusion of mis

sionary intelligence in the Church and congregation.

6. It shall be the duty of the Preacher in charge, aided by the Committee on Missions, to institute a monthly missionary prayer-meeting, or lecture, in each society, or Church and congregation, wherever practicable, for the purpose of imploring the Divine blessing on missions; for the diffusion of missionary intelligence, and to afford an opportunity for voluntary offerings to the missionary cause.

7. It shall be the duty of the preacher in charge, aided by the Committee on Missions, to appoint missionary collectors, and furnish them with suitable books and instructions, that they may call on each member of the society, or Church and congregation, and on other persons, at their discretion, for his or her annual, semi-annual, quarterly, monthly, or weekly contributions for the support of missions. Said collectors shall make monthly returns (unless otherwise instructed by the committee) to the Preacher in charge, or to the Missionary Treasurer of the Church, if there be such treasurer appointed by the Committee on Missions. Such returns shall be fairly entered in a book, which the com

mittee shall provide, together with collections and contributions received from other Sources. Such entries shall set forth the name of each collector, the real or assumed names of the contributors to each collector, with the amount contributed by each.

8. Each Preacher in charge shall report at Conference, to the Executive Committee, ur Board of Managers of the Conference Missionary Society, a plain transcript of the record of the returns provided for in section seven, comprehending the name of each collector in his charge, and the name, real or assumed, of each contributor to each collector of fifty cents or upward during the year; and the aggregate sum of all contributions under fifty cents each, that they may be by said Executive Committee, or Board of Managers, properly arranged by districts, and by charges, for publication in the Annual Report of the Conference Missionary Society; together with the contributions and collections received from other sources, unless the Conference shall by vote declare such transcript returns, and such publication, not to be advisable.

9. It shall be the duty of the Preacher in charge, with the aid of the Committee