PART V.-CHAPTER II.

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.

Sunday-Schools.

¶345. For the Moral and Religious Instruction of our Children, and for the promotion of Bible knowledge among all our people:

§ 1. Every Sunday-School of the Methodist Episcopal Church shall be under the supervision of a Sunday-School Board, and shall be auxiliary to the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

§ 2. The Sunday-School Board shall consist of the Preacher in Charge, who shall be ex-officio Chairman, the Sunday-School Committee appointed by the Quarterly Conference, the Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendents, the Secretaries, the Treasurer, the Librarians, and the Teachers of the School.

§ 3. The Superintendent shall be nominated annually by the Sunday-School Board, and confirmed by the Quarterly Conference at its next session after such nomination: and in case of a vacancy the Preacher in Charge shall superintend or secure the superintending of the School until such time as the Superintendent nominated by

the Sunday-School Board shall be confirmed by the Quarterly Conference.

§ 4. The other Officers of the School shall be elected by the Sunday-School Board.

§ 5. The Teachers of the School shall be nominated by the Superintendent, with the concurrence of the Pastor, and elected by the Board.

§ 6. In case of the withdrawal of Officers or Teachers from the School, they cease to be Members of the Board; and the place of any Officer or Teacher habitually neglecting his or her duty, or being guilty of improper conduct, may be declared vacant by a vote of two thirds of the Board present at any regular or special meeting.

¶ 346. It shall be the duty of the Presiding Elder to bring the subject of Sunday-Schools before the last Quarterly Conference of each year; and said Quarterly Conference shall appoint a Committee of Members of our Church of not less than three nor more than nine for each SundaySchool in the Charge, to be called the Committee on Sunday-Schools, who shall be Members of the Sunday-School Board, and whose duty it shall be to aid the Preacher in Charge and the Officers of the Sunday-Schools in procuring suitable Teachers, in promoting in all proper ways the attendance of Children and Adults on our Sunday-Schools and at our regular Public Worship, and in raising money to meet the

expenses of the Sunday-Schools of the Charge. Of the Committee the Preacher in Charge shall be Chairman.

¶ 347. It shall be the duty of the Preacher in Charge, aided by the Superintendent and the Committee on Sunday-Schools, to decide as to what Books and other publications shall be used in the Sunday-Schools.

¶ 348. It shall be the special duty of the Preachers in Charge of Circuits or Stations, with the aid of the other Preachers and the Committee on Sunday-Schools, to form Sunday-Schools in all our Congregations where ten persons can be collected for that purpose, which Schools shall be auxiliary to the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church; to engage the cooperation of as many of our members as they can; to visit the Schools as often as practicable; to preach on the subject of Sunday-schools and the Religious Instruction of Children in each Congregation at least once in six months; to form classes, wherever they can, for the instruction of the larger children, youth, and adults, in the word of God; and where they cannot superintend them personally, to see that suitable teachers are provided for that purpose.

349. It shall be the duty of our Preachers to enforce faithfully upon Parents and SundaySchool 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 in our Sunday-Schools and Families; and to preach to the Children, and catechise them publicly in the SundaySchools and at public meetings appointed for that purpose.

¶ 350. It shall be the duty of every Preacher, in his pastoral visits, to pay special attention to the Children; to speak to them personally and kindly on the subject of experimental and practical godliness, according to their capacity; to pray earnestly for them; and diligently instruct and exhort all Parents to dedicate their Children to the Lord in Baptism as early as convenient.

¶ 351. Each Preacher in Charge shall lay before the Quarterly Conference, to be entered on its Journal, the number, state, and average attendance of the Sunday-Schools in his Charge, and the extent to which he has preached to the Children and catechised them, and shall make the required report on Sunday-Schools to his Annual Conference.

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PART V.-CHAPTER III.

MISSIONS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.

The General Work.

¶ 352. For the better prosecution of Missionary work in the United States and in foreign countries, there shall be a Missionary Society, duly incorporated according to law, and having its office in the City of New York, said Society being subject to such rules and regulations as the General Conference may from time to time prescribe.

¶ 353. 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.

¶ 354. Any Annual Conference may, at its option, by a vote of two thirds of its Members, assume the responsibility of supporting such Missions, already established within its own limits, as have hitherto been reported under the head of "Missions in the Destitute Portions of the Regular Work," and such other Missions as