labors, and usefulness of each by name, and to renew their licenses annually when in the judgment of the Conference their gifts, grace, and usefulness, and their faithfulness and proficiency in study, warrant such renewal. In the case of Local Preachers who are candidates for the traveling ministry, examinations may be suspended while they are pursuing regular courses of study in our theological seminaries or in universities or colleges approved by the University Senate.

§ 3. To recommend to the Annual Conference Local Preachers who are suitable candidates for Deacons' or Elders' Orders (¶¶ 173, § 1; 176, § 1), for Recognition of Orders (T 162, §§1, 2), or for Reception on Trial (¶ 154, § 1); such candidates having been previously examined in the presence of the Quarterly Conference on the subject of Doctrine and Discipline.

§ 4. To try, suspend, deprive of Ministerial Office and Credentials, expel, or acquit any Local Preacher of the Circuit or Station against whom Charges shall have been preferred. TT 261-268.

NOTE.-For the Licensing, Amenability, and Appeal of Local Preachers in Missions in the United States and Territories, see 269, §1; 431, § 3.

215, § 1. Every Local Preacher, ordained or unordained, not having a Pastoral Charge, shall be a member of, and amenable to, the Quarterly Conference where he resides. And when he shall change his residence he shall procure from the Pastor of the Charge from which he removes, or from the District Superintendent, a Certificate of his Official Standing and of Dismissal, and shall present it to the pastor of the Charge to which he removes. If he neglect to do this he shall not be recognized nor use his

office as a Local Preacher in the Charge to which he has removed; and he shall continue to be amenable to the Quarterly Conference of the Charge from which he has removed, which, if the neglect be long continued, after due notice may try him for persistent disobedience to the order of the Church, and upon conviction thereof deprive him of Ministerial Office and Credentials.

§ 2. If a Local Preacher be appointed to a Pastoral Charge, he shall procure from the Pastor of the Charge from which he removes, or from the District Superintendent, a Certificate of his Official Standing and of Dismissal, and at its next session shall present it to the Quarterly Conference of the Pastoral Charge to which he has been appointed, and his Church and his Quarterly Conference membership shall be in that Charge.

§ 3. An unordained Local Preacher, while serving as a regularly appointed Pastor of a Charge, shall be authorized to administer the rite of Baptism, and when the laws of the State permit, to solemnize matrimony.

§ 4. Whenever a Preacher is located or discontinued by an Annual Conference, he shall thereupon hold his Quarterly Conference membership where he resides at the time of location or discontinuance.

216. The District Superintendents and the Pas

tors are required to arrange the appointments, wherever it is practicable, so as to give the Local Preachers regular and systematic employment on the Sabbath.

217. Every Local Preacher shall be enrolled in a Class, and meet with it. He shall make to the District or Quarterly Conference a report of his labors,

2.

as follows: 1. Number of Sermons preached. Number of Prayer Meetings attended. 3. Number of Class Meetings attended. 4. Number of Sunday Schools attended. 5. Number of Funerals conducted. 6. Miscellaneous Items. He shall also report (1) the Number of Marriages solemnized, with the names of the persons married; and (2) the Number of Baptisms administered, with the names and ages of the persons baptized, that due entry may be made by the Pastor in the Church Records.

¶ 218. Whenever a Local Preacher fills the place of a Pastor, with the approbation of the District Superintendent, he shall be paid for his time a sum proportioned to the allowance of the Pastor, which sum shall be paid by the Charge at the next Quarterly Meeting, if the Pastor whose place he filled was either sick or necessarily absent; and in other cases, out of the allowance of the Pastor.

219. If a Local Preacher be distressed in his temporal circumstances on account of his service in a Pastoral Charge, he may apply to the Quarterly Conference, which may give him such relief as is judged proper, after the claims for ministerial support shall have been paid.

CHAPTER II

EXHORTERS

¶ 220. An Exhorter shall be constituted by the recommendation of the Class of which he is a member, or of the Leaders and Stewards' Meetings of the Charge, and a License signed by the Pastor.

¶ 221. The duties of an Exhorter are, to hold

Meetings for Prayer and Exhortation wherever opportunity is afforded, subject to the direction of the Pastor; to attend all the sessions of the District and Quarterly Conferences, and to present a written report to the same. He shall be subject to an annual examination of character in the Quarterly Conference, and a renewal of License, to be signed by the President thereof.

CHAPTER III

DEACONESSES

I. A Deaconess

¶ 222, § 1. A Deaconess is a woman who has been led by the Spirit and by the providence of God to forego all other pursuits in life that she may devote herself wholly to the Christlike service of doing good; and who, having received this divine call, has been trained and tested during a probation of at least two years; and, after such preparation, has been approved by the Church and solemnly set apart to this vocation in the Church.

§ 2. No vow of perpetual service is required of a Deaconess. She renders a free-will service, and, so long as she is in good standing as a Deaconess, is entitled to a suitable support. Her relation as Deaconess being voluntary, she may withdraw from it at any time, but she shall give reasonable notice of her intention.

§ 3. The single aim and controlling purpose of the Deaconess is to minister, as Jesus did, to the wants

of a suffering, sorowing, and sin-laden world. Her work is to visit the sick, to pray with the dying, to comfort the sorrowing, to seek the wandering, to save the sinning, to relieve the poor, to care for the orphan, and to take up other Christlike service.

§ 4. The work of the Deaconess is a part of the work which the Church does in the Master's name, and Deaconess Homes and other authorized Deaconess Institutions are the agencies of the Church for the promotion of that part of its work which is done by the Deaconess.

II. Episcopal Supervision

¶ 223. The Board of Bishops shall have general oversight of the deaconess work of the Church. The General Deaconess Board shall annually report to the Board of Bishops such information as they may require.

III. General Deaconess Board

¶ 224, § 1. There shall be a General Deaconess Board composed of twenty-one members, three of whom shall be General Superintendents elected by the Board of Bishops. One member shall be nominated by the Board of Bishops from each General Conference District and three at large, and elected quadrennially by the General Conference. The persons so elected shall remain in office until their successors are elected. The Board of Bishops shall have authority to fill vacancies which may occur during the quadrennium.

§ 2. The Annual Meeting of the General Deaconess Board shall be held at such time and place as shall