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fary for them, were it not for this additional help; whilst the junction of the talents of the prefiding elder with thofe of the circuit-preachers will, in general, make the whole complete. And as the prefiding elder is, or ought to be, always prefent at the quarterly meetings, he will have opportunities of delivering his whole mind to a very confiderable part of the people: nor is there any reasonable ground to fear that he will ever wear out his talents, if we confider the extent of a district, and the obligation the epifcopacy is under to remove him, at fartheft, on the expiration of four years.

To thefe obfervations we may add, that the calling of districtconferences, on the immorality of travelling preachers, on their deaths, the neceffity of removals, &c. would be attended with the most pernicious confequences to the circuits on this vaft.comtinent, where the diftricts are fo large, and the abfence of the preachers would be neceffarily fo long upon every fuch occafion. And we will venture to affert, that if any effective government ought to exift at all in the connection, during the intervals of the yearly and general conferences, there is no alternative between the authority of the bishops and their agents, the prefiding elders, on the one hand, and the holding of diftrict conferences on the other

hand.

We will conclude our notes on this fection with obferving, that there is no ground to believe that the work of God has been in jured, or the numbers of the fociety diminished, by the inftitution of this order, but just the contrary. In the year 1784,

when the prefiding elderfhip did, in fact, though not in name, commence, there were about 14000 in fociety on this continent; and now the numbers amount to upwards of 56000: so that the fociety is, at prefent, four times as large as it was twelve or thirteen years ago. We do not believe that the office now under confideration was the principal caufe of this great revival, but the Spirit and grace of God, and the confequent zeal of the preachers in general. Yet we have no doubt, but the full organization of our body, and giving to the whole a complete and effective executive government, of which the prefiding elderfhip makes a very capital branch, has, under God, been a grand means of preferving the peace and union of our connection and the purity of our ministry, and, therefore, in its confequences, has been as sbief inftrument, under the grace of God, of this great revival...

E. 22

SECTION VI.

Of the Election and Ordination of Travelling Elders, and of their Duty.

Queft. 1.

WOW is an Elder conftituted?

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Anfw. By the election of a majority of the yearly conference, and by the laying on of the hands of a bishop, and of the elders that are present.

Queft. 2. What is the duty of a travelling elder? Anfw. 1. To adminifter baptism and the Lord's fupper, and to perform the office of matrimony, and all parts of divine worship.

2. To do all the duties of a travelling preacher.

N. B. No elder that ceafes to travel, without the confent of the yearly conference, certified under the hand of the prefident of the conference, fhall on any account exercise the peculiar functions of his office amongst us.

NOTE S.

Ads xiv. 23. When they [Paul and Barnabas] had ordained thera elders in every church,- -they commended them to the Lord. Titus i. 5. For this caufe left I thee in Crete, that thou fhouldeft-ordain elders in every city. See alfo Acts xv. 2, 4, 6, 22, 23. xvi. 4. 1 Tim. v. I, 17, 19. Jam. v. 14.

We need not enlarge upon the neceflity of an office, which every organized christian church in the world, in all ages, has adopted. We would only remark, that the restriction refpecting the elders' withdrawing themfelves from the travelling line, without the confent of the yearly conference, fhews the confirmed regard our church has for the itinerant plan, and its determination to fupport it by every method in its power, confiftent with jftice and truth. And no elder has a right to complain, as he cannot but be previously acquainted with the conditions on which he accepts of ordination.

SECTION VII.

Of the Election and Ordination of Travelling Deacons, and of their Duty.

Quest. 1.

How

TOW is a travelling deacon conftituted? Anfw. By the election of the majority of the yearly conference, and the laying on of the hands of a bifhop.

Queft. 2. What is the duty of a travelling deacon? Anfw. 1. To baptize, and perform the office of matrimony, in the abfence of the elder.

2. To affift the elder in adminiftering the Lord's fupper.

3. To do all the duties of a travelling preacher. Queft. 3. What fhall be the time of probation of a travelling deacon for the office of an elder.

Anfw. Every travelling deacon fhall exercife that office for two years, before he be eligible to the office of an elder; except in the cafe of miffions, when the yearly conferences fhall have authority to elect for the elders office fooner, if they judge it expedient,

N. B. No deacon who ceafes to travel without the confent of the yearly conference, certified under the hand of the prefident of the conference, fhall on any account exercise the peculiar functions of his office.

'

NOTE S.

Acts vi. 1-6. "In thofe days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arofe a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the difciples unto them, and faid, It is not reafon that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you feven men of honeft report, full of the Holy Ghoft and wifdom, whom we may appoint over this bufinefs. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the miniftry of the word. And the faying pleafed the whole multitude: and they chofe Stephen, a man full of faith and of the

Holy Ghoft, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon.. and Parmenas, and Nicolas a profelyte of Antioch, whom they fet before the Apostles: and, when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."

We have in the paffage above quoted, an account of the inftitution of the order of deacons; from which it appears,, I. That the primary defign of the order was, that the widows, the aged, the infirm, &c. fhould be fufficiently provided for. For we are not to fuppofe, that the widows only in this respect were the objects of their care, but all the infirm, and all whose temporal fituation required extraordinary attention.

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2. Nor can we with any propriety imagine, that the circle of action of men like thefe, who were FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST AND WISDOM, was confined to fuch menial offices. They were men, we doubt not, chofen out of the preachers of the gospel, who used the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the wisdom they had received: from above, not so much for miniftring to the temporal wants of the widows, &c. as to the spiritual wants of immortal fouls, for. which principally fuch invaluable bleffings were bestowed upon them. Accordingly we are informed, Acts vi. 8. that " Stephen [the first of the deacons] full of faith and POWER, did great wonders and miracles among the people." He had also the high; honour of being the first chriftian martyr, by being ftoned to death" for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God." Again, we read of Philip, another of those deacons, who was commanded by an angel of the Lord to " go toward the south," to preach the gofpel to " an eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her, treasure, and had come to Jerufalem for to worship ;" and after the converfion and baptism of the eunuch, "the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip" (adds the word of God)" was found at Azotus: and, paffing through, he preached in all the cities, till he came to Cefarea." See Acts viii. 26-40. It must be evident. to every candid reader of the above-quoted paffages, that these two deacons were preachers of the gofpel. And we must beg leave to repeat, in respect to the whole of them, that the description which the word of God gives of them, clearly raises them above. the private members in general of a christian society, in respect to gifts, and wifdom, and power.

3. The directions which the great apoftle gives to Timothy in refpect to the deacons, are fo weighty and folemn, that it is evident the apoftle confidered thofe men as of far greater importance than to be limited in their public offices merely to the work of fer

*Rev. XX. 4.

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ving tables, or attending on the poor and infirm: 1 Tim. iii. 8-13. "Likewise muft the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre: holding the mystery of the faith in a pure confcience. And let thefe alfo firft be proved, then let them ufe the office of a deacon, being found blame lefs. Even fo muft their wives be grave, not flanderers; fober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the hufbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houfes well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jefus." The laft words are certainly descriptive of an office of confiderable importance in the church of God.

4. All we have faid in refpect to this office agrees with the accounts given us by the fathers of the church, in the pureft ages

christianity. From their writings we are alfo informed, that the deacons were employed to affift the elder or prefbyter in the administration of the Lord's fupper; and alfo to carry a part of the confecrated elements to the fick, who were not able to attend at the place of public worship. And as we find from the firft quoted text that the deacons were fet apart for their office by the impofition of hands, but not by the impofition of the hands of the elders, as in other cafes; fo we endeavour to come as near to the fcripture-mode as we can, by confining the cere mony of the impofition of hands to the epifcopacy only, in the prefent instance, without daring to compare ourfelves, as fome of our enemies would most malicioufly affert, to the holy apoftles; but fimply, and in the fear of God, coming up to the written word as nearly as in our power.

5. This office ferves as an excellent probation for that of an elder. No preacher can be eligible to the office of an elder, till he has exercifed the office of a deacon for two years, except in the cafe of miffions. For we would wish to fhew the utmost attention to the order of elders, and to have the fulleft proof of the abilities, grace, and usefulness of those, who fhall be, from time to time, propofed for fo important an office as that of a prefbyter in the church of God. And we judge, that the man who has proved himself a worthy member of our fociety, and an ufeful clafs-leader, exhorter, and local preacher, who has been approved of for two years as a travelling preacher on trial, and has faithfully served in the office of a travelling deacon for at least two years more has offered fuch proofs of fidelity and piety, as must fatisfy every reasonable mind. But as this continent is exceedingly large, and will continually open to our conferences new miffions for the spread of the gofpel (perhaps for ages to come) we have, in the cafe of miffions given a difcretionary power to the yearly conferences. We have thus been able, through, the grace and providence of God, to constitute such a regular gra

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