conference, the bishop or bishops_may_by letter or otherwise appoint the president; but if no appointment be made, or if the presiding elder appointed do not attend, the conference shall in either of these cases elect the president by ballot, without a debate, from among the presiding elders.

5. To be present, as far as practicable, at all the quarterly meetings; and to call together at each quarterly meeting, a quarterly meeting conference, consisting of all the travelling and local preachers, exhorters, stewards, and leaders of the circuit, and none else, to hear complaints, and to receive and try appeals. The quarterly meeting conference shall appoint a secretary to take down the proceedings thereof, in a book kept by one of the stewards of the circuit for that purpose.

6. To oversee the spiritual and temporal business of the Church in his district, and to promote by all proper means, the cause of missions and Sunday schools, and the publication, at our own press, of Bibles, tracts, and Sunday school books.

7. To take care that every part of our discipline be enforced in his district.

8. To attend the bishops when present in his district; and to give them, when absent, all necessary information, by letter, of the state of his district.

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 condi tions.

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 allow ance. 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 Dea cons, 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.

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Answ. Every travelling deacon shall ercise 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 expedient.

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.

Provided always, that when a preacher shall have passed his examination, and been admitted into full connexion, and elected to deacon's office, but fails of his ordination through the absence of the bishop, his eligibility to the office of elder shall run from the time of his election to the office of a deacon.

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 appoint 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,