thing. And strongly advise our people to discountenance all treats given by candidates before or at elections, and not to be partakers, in any respect, of such iniquitous practices.

CHAPTER II

MINISTERS AND ANNUAL CONFERENCES

I. Reception on Trial

156. A Preacher is to be received on Trial by an Annual or Mission Conference.

157, § 1. He must (1) present a recommendation duly signed by the President and Secretary of the District Conference, or, where no District Conference exists, of the Quarterly Conference, of which he is a member; (2) give to the Annual or Mission Conference satisfactory evidence of his knowledge of the studies prescribed for candidates for Reception on Trial; and (3) have previously deposited with the Committee on Conference Relations ( 81, § 2) written answers to the following questions, namely:

1. Are you in debt so as to embarrass you in the work of the Ministry? Answer; No.

2. Will you wholly abstain from the use of tobacco? Answer; Yes.

NOTE.-Like answers shall also be required of Ministers coming to us from other Churches.

§ 2. Observe! Taking on Trial is entirely different from admitting a Preacher into Full Membership. One on Trial may be either admitted or rejected without doing him any wrong; otherwise it would be no trial at all.

¶ 158. While he is on Trial the Annual Conference alone has jurisdiction over the question of his authority to preach; and his continuance on Trial shall be equivalent to the renewal of his License to preach. If he shall be discontinued, he shall be a member of the Quarterly Conference of the Charge where he resides at the time; and, if he is not a Deacon or Elder, his License shall expire within one year unless it be renewed.

¶ 159. When an unordained Preacher is received on trial in an Annual Conference, and, without an ordained colleague, is regularly appointed to a Pastoral Charge by the Bishop presiding in said Conference; or when a Local Preacher, not on trial, is employed by the District Superintendent to supply a Pastoral Charge, in either case and as long as the above conditions exist, the Pastor or the pastoral supply so appointed shall be authorized to administer the Sacrament of Baptism; and also to solemnize Matrimony, if the laws of the State in which he lives permit.

¶ 160. At each Annual Conference those who are received on Trial or are admitted into Full Membership shall be asked whether they are willing to devote themselves to missionary work; and a list of the names of all those who are willing to do so shall be taken and reported to the Corresponding Secretaries of the Board of Foreign Missions; and all such shall be considered as ready and willing to be employed as Missionaries whenever called for by any of the Bishops.

II. Admission into Full Membership

¶ 161. A Preacher on Trial who has been em

ployed in the regular itinerant work on Circuits or Stations, or as instructor in one of our institutions of learning, for two successive years from the time he was received on Trial, may be admitted into Full Membership in the Annual Conference after he has given satisfactory evidence of his knowledge of the first two years of the Conference Course of Study, and after the examination before the Conference prescribed in ¶ 162; provided, this shall not be so construed as to prevent the reception into Full Membership of one who, while a student in some one of our literary schools or theological seminaries, has been for the proper length of time regularly employed as Pastor in a Circuit or Station under the appointment of the District Superintendent.

¶ 162. In admitting a Preacher at the Conference into Full Membership, after solemn fasting and prayer, he shall be asked, before the Conference, the following questions, with any others which may be thought necessary, namely:

1. Have you faith in Christ?

2. Are you going on to perfection?

3. Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?

4. Are you earnestly striving after it?

5. Are you resolved to devote yourself wholly to God and his work?

6. Do you know the General Rules of our Church? 7. Will you keep them?

8. Have you studied the Doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church?

9. After full examination do you believe that our Doctrines are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures? 10. Will you preach and maintain them?

11. Have you studied our form of Church Discipline and Polity?

12. Do you approve our Church Government and Polity?

13. Will you support and maintain them?

14. Have you considered the Rules for a Preacher, especially those relating to Diligence, to Punctuality, and to Doing the Work to which you are assigned?

15. Will you keep them for conscience' sake?

16. Will you diligently instruct the children in every place?

17. Will you visit from house to house?

18. Will you recommend fasting or abstinence, both by precept and example?

19. Are you determined to employ all your time in the work of God?

NOTE. The candidate for Admission into Full Membership must again deposit with the Committee on Conference Relations, written answers to the questions set forth in ¶ 157, § 1.

¶ 163. A Missionary employed in a Mission may be admitted into Full Membership, if recommended by the Superintendent of the Mission where he labors, without being present at his Annual Conference for examination; but whenever practicable he shall be asked the questions in ¶ 162, in the presence of the Members of the Mission at the Annual Meeting, otherwise in the presence of the Superintendent.

164. A Minister who has been located at his own request may be readmitted by an Annual Conference, at its discretion, upon his Certificate of Location.

III. Ministers from Other Churches

165, § 1. Ministers duly accredited as in good standing in other Evangelical Churches until their

withdrawal or dismissal therefrom, and having been blameless in life and doctrine thereafter, may be received into our ministry in the following manner:

The Quarterly Conference may receive them as Local Preachers not entitled to administer the Sacraments.

§ 2. Upon the recommendation of the District Conference, or of the Quarterly Conference where no District Conference exists, the Annual Conference may at any time thereafter recognize the Orders of those thus received; may at any time within two years thereafter, upon like recommendation, receive them into the Conference, either on Trial or in Full Membership; and may, at its discretion, require them to pursue, in whole or in part, the Conference Course of Study. In case a Minister comes from a Church having but a single Order in its ministry, the Conference may receive him either as a Deacon or as an Elder.

§ 3. But the Ministers of the above description may apply directly to the Annual Conference, which may receive their Credentials from another Church, and, finding them of unquestionable validity and sufficiency, may exercise in behalf of said Ministers all the powers conferred in the preceding section.

§ 4. In all such cases the candidates for Admission into Full Membership must answer satisfactorily the questions set forth in ¶ 162; and candidates who come from other than Methodist Churches before the recognition of their Orders, must take upon themselves our Ordination Vows, and give satisfactory evidence of their agreement with us in Doctrine and Discipline.

§ 5. The Annual Conference may also admit to