is fair to assume that in a suit of this magnitude the able and adroit lawyers who handled the case, with the assistance of those familiar with every detail of fact, presented to the court every scintilla of proof bearing upon the question, upon consideration of all of which the Supreme Court of the United States in a lengthy and able opinion of Justice Nelson determined the issues in favor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. An excerpt from this opinion may, therefore, be of interest to the reader:

"In the year 1844 the traveling preachers in General Conference assembled, for causes which it is not important particularly to refer to, agree upon a plan for a division of the Methodist Episcopal Church in case the Annual Conferences in the slaveholding States should deem it necessary; and to the erection of two separate and distinct ecclesiastical organizations. And according to this plan, it was agreed that all the societies, stations, and Conferences adhering to the Church, South, by a majority of their respective members, should remain under the pastoral care of that Church; and all of these several bodies adhering, by a majority of its members, to the Church, North, should remain under the pastoral care of that Church; and further, that the ministers, local and traveling, should, as they might prefer, attach themselves, without blame, to the Church, North or South. The division of the Church as originally constituted thus became complete; and from this time two separate and distinct organizations have taken the place of the one previously existing."

Your Duty

It is hoped that this brief sketch of the history of the Church will awaken your interest and that you will read fuller histories of our great Church, which is divided into several different families-all the branches having practically the same doctrine, with only slight differences in Church polity. The Methodist Church is the largest Protestant Church in the world, and comprises in the membership of all the branches approximately ten million

members. You have become a part of an enormous army of Christian workers and have accordingly assumed obligations and responsibilities which it is hoped you will fully meet. Your first duty is to inform yourself concerning your Church and your obligations.

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER I

1. Where does the history of worship on the earth begin? 2. Briefly sketch the growth of the Hebrew nation.

3. What was Christ's relation to the Old Testament Church?

4. What was Wesley's view of the relation between the Jewish and Christian Churches?

5. What does our lesson say of the rise of Protestantism? 6. Sketch the origin and early life of the Wesleys. 7. Sketch the rise of Methodism.

8. How did we get our Articles of Religion and General Rules?

9. Sketch the rise of Methodism in America.

10. What led to the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South?

11. Did Southern Methodists secede from the Methodist Episcopal Church?

12. Why should a Methodist know the history and usages of his Church?

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CHAPTER II

ORGANIZATION: THE CONFERENCE

THE administrative work of the Methodist Church is conducted through Conferences and Boards. There are five Conferences whose composition and work are very briefly given below.

1. The General Conference

The General Conference is the supreme governing and the lawmaking body of the Church. It is composed of ministerial and lay delegates who are elected by the Annual Conferences. The clerical members of each Annual Conference elect one representative of their number for every forty-eight members of the body, and an equal number of lay delegates are elected by the lay members. The number of delegates a Conference is to elect is ascertained by adding the number of preachers in the Conference and the number of lay delegates together, and dividing the sum by forty-eight. The result shows the number of preachers a Conference is to elect to the General Conference, and also the number of laymen. If in the division there is a remainder of not less than thirty-two, that fact entitles a Conference to two additional delegates. All elections are by ballot, without nomination, and it takes a majority of all the votes cast to elect. When an eligible person receives a majority of the votes cast on a given ballot, he or she is declared elected, and another ballot is taken for the number of delegates that remain to be elected. This process is continued until the Conference has all the delegates it has a right to elect, the laymen voting only for lay delegates and the preachers voting only for clerical delegates.

The same process is followed in the election of delegates to the Annual Conference, and in the election of bishops

and connectional officers in the General Conference. In all General Conference elections both preachers and laymen are entitled to vote.

The business of the General Conference is: To elect connectional officers and bishops; to create and adjust the boundaries of the Annual Conferences; to revise the laws and rules of the Discipline; and to superintend the interests of all the Boards of the Church. The General Conference has full power to make rules and regulations for our Church under the following limitations and restrictions: "The General Conference is not to revoke, alter, or change our Articles of Religion; or alter any part or rule of our government so as to do away the episcopacy or destroy the plan of our itinerant general superintendency; or change the general rules or do away the privileges of our preachers or laymen of trial by a committee and of an appeal; or appropriate the produce of the Publishing House to any purpose other than for the benefit of the traveling, supernumerary, superannuated, and worn-out preachers, their wives, widows, and children." The General Conference

meets once every four years, its sessions lasting about three weeks. It is presided over by the bishops, each one presiding in turn a day at a time, beginning with the senior bishop.

2. The Annual Conference

The Annual Conference is composed of all the traveling preachers in full connection with it and eight lay representatives (one of whom may be a local preacher) from each presiding elder's district. It is presided over by one of the bishops, or in his absence the Conference must elect a president by ballot. The lay members are elected annually by the District Conferences. They participate in all the business of the Conference except such as involves ministerial character. The bishops appoint the time of holding the Annual Conference, but each Annual Conference determines the place of its own sitting.

The principal items of business of the Annual Conference are to receive from each presiding elder and pastor

a report of his year's work; to admit candidates into the Conference; to inquire into the life and administration of each preacher; to try any who may be accused of immorality or false doctrine; to examine and elect candidates for deacons' and elders' orders; to examine and promote the work of missions, Sunday schools, education, Epworth Leagues, Church extension and publishing interests; to support all superannuates within the boundaries of the Conference, and in general to promote the interests of the Church in any legal way that its judgment may approve.

There are fifty-two Annual Conferences in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, including missions in foreign lands, and all are organized on the same plan and governed by the same laws, regardless of size.

3. The District Conference

The District Conference is held annually in each presiding elder's district. It is composed of all the traveling and local preachers within the bounds of the district, the district lay leader, the charge lay leader, and a certain number of laymen from each pastoral charge, which number is fixed by each Annual Conference. The presiding elder is the president, unless a bishop be present.

It is the duty of this Conference to inquire into the spiritual condition of each pastoral charge, its collections for Church purposes; the condition of Sunday schools and Epworth Leagues; the educational enterprises, and, in fact, all the temporal and spiritual affairs of the Church, subject to the provisions of the Discipline; also to license proper persons to preach and renew their licenses annually.

At this Conference eight lay delegates (one of whom may be a local preacher) are elected to the ensuing Annual Conference.

4. The Quarterly Conference

The Quarterly Conference is held four times a year for the purpose of transacting the business of each pastoral charge. It is composed of the preacher in charge, the local preachers, exhorters, stewards, trustees, class leaders,