(2.) The chairman of the district exercises the au- thority of a bishop, or overseer, in the locality to which he is appointed. He convenes and presides over the annual district meeting held in May, and the financial one held in September, at both which all the preachers residing in the district are expected to attend. He is re- sponsible for the carrying-out of all the rules and usages of the Connection, the proper conduct of religious wor- ship, the care of all the Methodist Trust property in the district, the payment of the preachers' salaries, the mak- ing of public collections and their proper distribution. He has to examine candidates for the ministry, and to direct what ministers are to attend the Conference. He has authority to visit any part of his district. He is chosen annualh'.
(3.) The financial secretary has to assist the general treasurers of the various funds to transact all the finan- cial business of the district to which he belongs.
(4.) OJfieial or Located Ministers. — These are princi- pals or professors and tutors in colleges and seminaries, book stewards, missionary secretaries, secretaries of oth- er Connectional agencies, editors, and house governors of theological colleges.
(5.) Superintendents are those ministers whose names stand first in the list of appointments to a circuit. The office constitutes such a minister chairman of all the circuit official meetings. He is responsible to the dis- trict meeting for the maintenance of order and disci- pline, and the administration of all its affairs. He ad- mits and excludes members with the consent of the leaders, directs all the public services, meets the classes (juarterly and gives each member a ticket, keeps a list of all the officers and members in society, registers deaths of members, collects statistical information, makes cir- cuit plans, examines his colleagues in the ministry as to their religious experience, examines and instructs candidates for the ministry, has to distribute the books published at the book-room and to pay for the same quarterly, to appoint the collections, and see all moneys collected transmitted to the treasurers ; and is responsi- ble for every breach of discipline in tiie circuit.
(6.) Ministers in full connection are appointed annu- ally to a circuit, but maj' be reappointed a second or a
third time to the same circuit. They must not return to a circuit till they have been absent six years. They have to preach twice or thrice on the Sabbath, and on such week evenings as may be fixed by the superin- tendent on the circuit plan. They administer the s;;c- ramcuts, visit the members at their homes, especially those who are sick or infirm, and assist the superintend- ent in the general work of the circuit. They are en- titled to be present at all society and district meetings. All such ministers were designated as Helpers during the lifetime of Mr. Wesley.
(7.) Ministers on Trial. — When a young man has been examined by the quarterly meeting and recom- mended therefrom as a minister on prtibation, he is sent usually to the district meeting, thence to the Confer- ence, and, if accepted there, he may be sent for training to one of the four theological colleges, where he may remain one, two, or three years. A course of study is marked out for each year. He must pass a yearly ex- amination and be well reported of by his examiners. The Conference has made satisfactory provision for his having a supply of suitable books and proper instruc- tion in pursuing liis studies. Probationers may attend quarterly and district meetings, but they may not vote. 'I'hey may not administer the sacraments, excepting baptism in a case of great emergency. They may not marry while on trial. They are specially under the care of the superintendent until received into full con- nection, which is not till they have completed four years of probation. The act of being received into full con- nection is one of the most important ii^ the career of a minister. Having passed several examinations with a good report, he is presented to the Conference. Two evenings during each Conference are set apart for this work. On the first the young men give an account of their conversion and call to the ministry, experience which is often attended with the manifest outpouring of the Divine Spirit on the audience, and they answer a few questions asked by the president. The young men are then formally and publicly received by the imposition of hands of the jiresident, secretary, and sev- eral senior ministers in the legal hundred, the president saying, "Mayest thou receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Christian minister, now committed unto thee b\' the imposition of our hands. And be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God and of the holy sacraments, in the name of the Father, and of the Son. and of the Holy Ghost." After each young man has received the gift of a small Bible, the president says, " Take thou authority to preach the Word of God, and to administer the holy sacraments in our congregations." Shortly after that service, each preacher receives, as a certificate of his admission into full connection, a copy of the Large Mimites, in which are inscribed the follow- ing words, signed by the president and secretary of the Conference : "As long as you freely consent to, and ear- nestly endeavor to walk by, these rules, we shall rejoice to acknowledge you as a fellow-laborer." On the sec- ond evening, the ex-president delivers to the newly or- dained a ministerial charge, which is usuallj' printed. Most of the young ministers enter the married state a few days afterwards.