tary, and two ministers appointed by the bishops. It is charged with the duty of supplying and distributing throughout the Annual Conferences a suitable supply of tracts on the doctrine, history, polity, and evangelistic work of Methodism."

Boards of Finance

The support of our worn-out preachers and the widows and children of deceased preachers is under the direction of a General and Conference Boards of Finance.

The General Board of Finance.-This Board consists of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and twentyone managers composed of three bishops, nine traveling preachers, and nine laymen, all elected by the General Conference on nomination of the Committee on Finance, except the Secretary, who is elected by ballot of the General Conference. This Board is incorporated under the laws of Missouri, with central office at St. Louis, Mo., and is subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the General Conference not contrary to the charter. The Secretary is the executive officer of the Board and conducts the correspondence.

Conference Boards.-Each Annual Conference has a Board of Finance, composed, like most Conference Boards, of one layman for each district and an equal number of preachers. The business of this Board is to look after the interests and needs of "Conference Claimants," by which is meant superannuated preachers and the widows and dependent children of preachers who have died while members of the Conference. The Board makes an assessment at each Annual Conference session to meet the needs of the Conference claimants, which is apportioned like other Conference assessments to each pastoral charge, and at the end of the Conference year it distributes the proceeds from the assessment among the various claimants according to its best judgment as to the needs of each person.

Board of Temperance and Social Service

This is an Annual Conference Board, composed of one layman from each district, and an equal number of preach

ers.

The Book of Discipline does not define its duties. (Discipline, paragraph 527.)

Commission of Temperance and Social Service

The General Conference elects. Commission of Temperence and Social Service, composed of thirteen members, three traveling preachers and four laymen, nominated by the Committee on Temperance and Social Service, and the General Secretaries of the Sunday School Board, the Epworth League Board, Lay Activities, the Senior Secretary of Home Missions, and the Superintendent of the Bureau of Social Service of the Woman's Department of the Board of Missions. It is the business of this Commission to lead in the temperance and social service work of the Church.

Board of Trustees

For the security and proper management of all bequests or devises made to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, a Board of Trustees for the whole Church has been incorporated under the laws of Tennessee and located at Nashville, Tenn. This Board is composed of ten members, five ministers and five laymen, appointed by the General Conference on nomination of the Committee on Boundaries and Finance. The duty of this Board is to receive, collect, and hold in trust for the benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, any and all donations, bequests, devises, legacies, and grants of lands, personal estate, or funds that may be given or conveyed to said Board for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or for any benevolent, religious, or charitable institutions, the same to be administered by this Board of Trustees according to the directions of the donor or testator.

All persons wishing to make donations, devises, or bcquests for the uses and purposes of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or any other charitable institutions connected therewith, should make said donations or devises or bequests directly to the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This Board of Trustees renders a full, true, and faithful report to each quadren

nial session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of its doings and of all funds, moneys, securities, or properties committed to its

care.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is one of the best-organized, best-operated, and safest institutions for doing benevolent business in the world. If any member of the Methodist Church has accumulated money or property and has a desire to leave this money or property to be administered in the safest, best possible way for the good of humanity and for the specific purposes that he or she may desire, no better agency can be adopted than this carefully organized and thoroughly guarded Board of Trustees. Many cases have been known where Methodists have expressed a desire to leave for the use of the Church certain accumulated funds but have delayed, and death, as usual unexpected, has placed the funds in the hands of those who have expended them quite contrary to the wishes of the original owner. Below is given a simple legal form which any one may easily fill out and forward to the Board of Trustees:

FORM OF DEVISE BY WILL

In the name of God, Amen. I, . . . . . . being of sound mind and memory, do constitute this my last will and testament:

Item 1. I give and devise the following [here describe the property] to " the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," and to their successors in office, and its use to be controlled by said trustees for the use and benefit of [here state the benevolent object or purpose to which you wish the trustees to apply your property], to be thus applied by said trustees, under the direction of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; making only such disposition of said property as the General Conference shall judge best calculated to promote the objects of this bequest, as herein stated.

I hereby appoint [insert the name or names] the executors of this my last will and testament. In witness whereof,

I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 19... In the presence of

day of ...

Witnesses

[Let there be three.]

[Seal.]

66

FORM OF A DEED OF GIFT

State of
County of

Know all men by these presents, that I [write name] for and in consideration of the love I bear for the cause of Christ, and from an earnest desire to promote his heritage on earth, do give and grant, and by these presents convey unto the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," and to their successors in office for the use and benefit of [state the particular object for which the gift is made], to be applied by the said trustees to the object herein stated, under the direction of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. And the said trustees are to have and to hold the property aforesaid, for the use aforesaid, free from the claim or claims of myself, my heirs, my executors or administrators, and from the claims of all others what

soever.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this day of 19... In the presence Witnesses.

of

[Let three sign.]

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER III

[Seal.]

1. What body elects the General Boards of the Church? 2. How are the Conference Boards created?

3. Who are members of the General Board of Missions? What Secretaries does it employ and what work does it do? 4. Who are members of the Conference Board of Missions? What is its field of work?

5. Who are members of the General Board of Church Extension? What work does it do?

6. Who are members of the Conference Board of Church Extension?

7. How would you go about procuring assistance from one of these Boards for a church-building enterprise?

8. What is the work of the General Board of Education? How does it operate?

CHAPTER IV

CHURCH ORGANIZATION: CHURCH OFFICERS

1. Bishops

BISHOPS are constituted by the election of the General Conference and the laying on of the hands of three bishops, or at least one bishop and two elders. Their duties are: (1) To preside in the General and Annual Conferences; (2) to make the appointments of the preachers; (3) to form the districts, circuits, and stations; (4) to ordain bishops, elders, and deacons; (5) to decide questions of law; (6) to prescribe a course of study for young ministers; (7) to change preachers in the interval of Conferences whenever necessary; (8) to travel through the Episcopal District assigned to them and oversee the temporal and spiritual welfare of the whole Church.

Methodist bishops have neither legislative nor voting power in the Conferences. They, according to our theory, are elders as to ministerial order, and episcopal as to the high office of the general superintendency. Bishops hold office for life.

2. Itinerant Preachers

An itinerant preacher is a member of an Annual Conference, or a preacher on trial, who is subject to appointment by the bishop. A preacher on trial is a probationer, that is, a preacher who desires membership in an Annual Conference and is taking the required course of study and is subject to appointment by the bishop, but who has not yet been received into full connection. Preachers are received on trial by vote of the Annual Conference, after recommendation by a District Conference, and examination by a Conference committee on the required course of study. A preacher must be on trial for at least two Conference years before he can be received into full connection.