On large circuits, and on stations embracuig mission- ary work, and where the number of local preachers is considerable, it is customary to arrange and print a Plan covering all the appointments of a quarter, and designating the time and place of each individual's ser- vices. In the Wesleyan jNIethodlst Church of Great Britain the insertion of a local preacher's name on the current plan of the charge is deemed a sufficient license and public authentication for his office. In his meas- ures for training and employing lay workers in the Con- gregational Church, Kev. T. Dewitt Talraage, of Brook- lyn, has adopted the system of mapping out the work of his lay preachers in a printed plan, after the manner above alluded to.
According to official statistics, the number of local preachers in the Methodist Episcopal Church at the close of 1871 was 11,382, a number greater by 2G83 than that of the itinerant ministers of the same Church. The number of local preachers in the eight other IMeth- odist bodies of the United States is supposed to be about 10,000. In all but a few exceptional cases, the individ- uals forming this great body of evangelical workers ren- der their services to churches and people without fee or re\vard. ilany of them faithfully and zealously obey the commands of the great Teacher : " Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hith- er the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind;" also, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." While preaching laboriously on the Sabbath, they support themsilves bj' diligence in business during the week.
Witliin a few years past a spirited effort has been made among the local preachers of the Methodist Epis- copal Church for mutual improvement, and the general increase of the intellectual and spiritual power of the boily. A National I^ocal Preachers' Association has been formed, which has held public sessions in various parts of the United States. •• At these annual gatherings rep- resentatives from all parts of the world come together for counsel, and for the comparison of personal experi- ence, and observations, and methods of labor; also to discuss (luestions bearing u|ion their worlc generally." This association also encourages the organization of branch associations in dilferent sections of the country. The National Association referred to memorialized the General Conference of 1872, requesting the following legislation, viz. :
\l.) To organize in each presiding elder's district a Dis- trict Conference, to be composed of all tlie travelling and local preachers in the district, and to be presided over by the presiding elder, and meet semi-uunually.
(2.) To give this District Conference authority to re- ceive, license, try, and expel local preachers, and also to recommend suitable persons to tue Annual Conference to be received into tlie travelling connection, and for or- dination as local deacons and elders.
(3.) To authorize the District Conference to assign each local preacher to a field of labor for the quarter, and to hold him strictly responsible for an efiicieut performance of his work.
This scheme of District Conferences being analogous to that long practiced by the Wesleyans of Great Britain, was, with sundry additions and modifications, adopted, but, nevertheless, made subject to the option of a ma- jority of the (Quarterly Conferences in any given dis- trict. The local preacher's ofHce may be considered a feature of Methodist churches, in all their branches and in all parts of the world. By means of it lay preaching is not only sanctioned, but regulated and made auxil- iary to regular Church and missionary movements. In England a monthly magazine is published, entitled The Local Preacher's Magazine, to furnish lay preachers material for study, etc., since 1851. See also J. 11. Carr, The Local Ministi-y, its Character, Vocation, and Position (Lond. 1851) ; G. iim\ih,Wesleijan Local Preacher's Man- ual (Lond. 1861) ; Mills, ioc«^ or Lay Ministry (Lond./ 1851). (D.P.K.)
Lochman, J. George, D.D., a Lutheran minister, widely and favorably known, was bora in Philadelphia Dec. 2, 1773. After the proper preparation, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, at which he was grad- uated in 1789, and from which institution he subse- quently received the doctorate. He studied theology under the direction of Dr. Helmuth, and was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1794. Soon after, he accepted a call to Lebanon, Penn., where he remained twenty-one years, laboring with great fidelity and the most satisfac- tory results. In 1815 he was elected pastor of the Lu- theran Church at Harrisburg, Penn. His successful la- bors here were terminated by death July 10, 182(5. Dr. Lochman was an able and popular preacher. He was held in high estimation by the Church, and exercised an unbounded infiuence. See Sprague, A nnals A m. Pul- 7;/V, ix,110sq. (M. L. S.)
Loci Communes Theologici is the name giv- en to expositions of evangelical dogmatics in the early times of the Keformation. It originated with Jlelanc- thon, and was retained by many as late as the 17th cen- tury. INIelancthon was led to adopt it in consequence of its classical signification, the word loci being then used to denote the fundamental principles of any system or science, and he considered it desirable that the loci of theology should also be regularly established and de- fined : "E quibus rerum summa pendeat, ut quorsum di- rigenda sint studia inteUigatur" (/>o« communes s. hypo- typoses theolor/icce, 1521); " Prodest in doctrina Christ, ordine colligere prsecipuos locos ut inteUigi possit ; quid in summa profiteatur doctrina Christiana, quid ad earn portineat, quid non pertineat" {Loci communes, 1533, init.). But, as the very first principle of the Keforma- tion was the Bible as a source of saving truth, it is evi- dent the Loci communes theologici could be nothing else than the Scriptures themselves. In the first edition of his Loci Melancthon confined himself almost exclusive- ly to the Epistle to the Piomans, in the exposition of which he collected the Communissimi rerum thenlof/ica- nim loci: in his second work (1533) he extended his field, following the historical ortier, and this plan has been generally adopted since. The most striking prog- ress accomplished by this method, compared with the former scholastic treatment of dogmatics, is, as Melanc- thon himself pointed out, a return to the Bible on all points, instead of to the sentences of Peter Lombard, "(Jni ita reci tat dogmata ut nee muniat lectorcm Scrip- tune testimoniis nee de summa Scriptura; disputet." As the Keformation restored the Bible to the people, it was natural that the Loci theol. also should be less scien- tific and learned works than such as could help the peo- ple to a cleared understanding of the Scriptures. Hence