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 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 (¶¶ 167, § 1; 170, § 1), for Recognition of Orders (¶ 156, § 2), or for Reception on Trial ( 148, § 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. ¶¶ 249-255.

NOTE.-For the Licensing, Amenability, and Appeal of Local Preachers in Missions in the United States and Territories, see ¶ 382, § 2.

205, § 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 neglects 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 may, if the neglect be long continued, after due notice 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 shall present it to the Quarterly Conference of the Charge to which he has been appointed, at its next session, 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, 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.

206. The District Superintendents and the Pastors are required to arrange the appointments, wherever it is practicable, so as to give the Local Preachers regular and systematic employment on the Sabbath.

207. 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, as follows: 1. Number of Sermons preached. 2. 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.

¶ 208. 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.

209. If a Local Preacher De distressed in his temporal circumstances on account of his service in the Charge, he may apply to the Quarterly Conference, which may give him such relief as is judged proper, after the allowance of the Pastors and their families and all other regular allowances are paid.

CHAPTER II

EXHORTERS

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

211. The duties of an Exhorter are, to hold Meetings for Prayer and Exhortation wherever op

portunity 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. Deaconesses

¶ 212, § 1. A Deaconess is a woman who has been led by the spirit and 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 having received this divine call, has been tested and trained 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 the 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, sorrowing, and sin-laden world. Her work is to visit the sick, pray with the dying, comfort the sorrowing, seek the wandering, save the sinning, relieve the poor, 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

213. 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

214. There shall be a General Deaconess Board, composed of eleven members, two of whom shall be General Superintendents designated by the Board of Bishops, and nine other members as follows: Three at large and two representatives from each of the three forms of deaconess administration, all to be nominated by the Board of Bishops 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 any vacancy which may