A vigorous executive is what their system every where indicates; but, at the same time, this executive is responsible for all its acts.

Various other ecclesiastical officers are found in one of these districts. It may be proper to give them a place here, that the whole case may be understood.

"There are the exhorters, who receive their license from a Quarterly-Meeting Conference, and have the privilege of holding meetings for exhortation and prayer.

"A preacher is one that holds a license, and is authorized to preach, but not to baptize or administer the Lord's supper: he may be either a travelling or local preacher. A local preacher generally follows some secular employment for a livelihood, and preaches on the sabbath, and at other times occasionally, without any temporal emolument. A travelling preacher devotes himself entirely to the work of the ministry, and is supported by the people among whom he labours. All these, after being recommended by the class to which they respectively belong, or by a leaders' meeting, receive their license from a Quarterly-Meeting Conference, signed by a presiding elder.

"A deacon holds a parchment from a bishop, and is authorized, in addition to discharging the duties of a preacher, to solemnize matrimony, to bury the dead, to baptize, and to assist the elder in administering the Lord's supper. It is his duty also to seek after the sick and poor, and administer to their comfort.

"An elder, besides doing the duties above enumerated, has full authority to administer all the ordinances of God's house. These generally, whenever a sufficient number can be had, have the charge of circuits, and the administration of the several parts of the discipline of the church." *

These extracts, it is hoped, will give a pretty accurate notion of a Methodist district in the American church, and of the functions of its several officers. The gradation of orders, it is seen, is very strictly observed. The exhorter, the preacher, the deacon, the elder, the presiding elder,—all taking their place in conformity to law and order; and no man, as appears, moving in any sphere without a commission. The recommendation of "a class," as to a man's qualifications, and the power exercised by the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, will appear novel to us; but on examination, the anomaly will not turn out to be very great, neither be found very much different from our own practice.

*BANGS'S "History of Methodism in America," vol. i. p. 246.

CHAP. V. Subdivisions continued-The Episcopacy-Bishops, how appointed-Laws and Regulations-Reflections—The Division of Labour amongst the Bishops-Names of those who have received this Office-Purity of Election-Popularity.

WE E now approach a grave question: we enter upon the consideration of that function by which the Methodist church is distinguished. We are not here called upon to enter into the controversies which arose on the appointment of superintendents for the Methodist church by Mr. Wesley, or the assumption of the title of "bishop," as we have seen, by these superintendents, first by themselves, and then as assented to by the Conference. Our task is rather to describe the nature of the office, and the manner in which this episcopacy has hitherto worked.

We begin with the appointment to the office. We have already seen that Mr. Asbury refused to take upon himself the episcopate on the nomination of Mr. Wesley, till he had obtained the suffrages of his brethren in Conference; so that his assumption of the duties of the station assigned him was rendered valid by the election of the body in question, as well as by the nomination of the father of the family. This precedent, no doubt, has had its effect in all future appointments. The bishops have never been, from that time, elected to the office by the episcopacy itself, by the call of the bishops preceding them, but by the Conference. It is necessary to give the law itself on this case. The Conference enacts as follows:

66

'QUES. 1.-How is a bishop to be constituted?

"ANS.-By the election of the General Conference, and the laying on of the hands of three bishops, or at least of one bishop and two elders.

"QUES.-If, by death, expulsion, or otherwise, there be no bishop remaining in our church, what shall we do?

"ANS.-The General Conference shall elect a bishop; and the elders, or any three of them, who shall be appointed by the General Conference for that purpose, shall ordain him according to our form of ordination.

"QUES.-What are the duties of a bishop?

"ANS.-1. To preside in our Conferences.

"2. To fix the appointments of the preachers for the several circuits, provided he shall not allow any preacher to remain in the same station more than two years successively; except the presiding elders, the general editor, the general book-steward and his assistant, the editor and assistant-editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, the editor of the Sunday-school books, the corresponding secretaries, editors, and agents at Cincinnati, the supernumerary, superannu

ated and worn-out preachers, missionaries among the Indians, missionaries to our people of colour, and on foreign stations, chaplains to state-prisons and military posts, those preachers that may be appointed to labour for the special benefit of seamen, and for the American Bible Society, also the preacher or preachers that may be stationed in the city of New-Orleans, and the presidents, principals, or teachers of seminaries of learning, which are or may be under our superintendence; and also, when requested by an Annual Conference, to appoint a preacher for a longer time than two years to any seminary of learning not under our care; provided, also, that with the exceptions above named, he shall not continue a preacher in the same appointment more than two years in six; nor in the same city more than four years in succession; nor return him to it after such term of service till he shall have been absent four years. He shall have authority, when requested by an Annual Conference, to appoint an agent, whose duty it shall be to travel throughout the bounds of such Conference, for the purpose of establishing and aiding sabbathschools, and distributing tracts, and also to appoint an agent or agents for the benefit of our literary institutions.

"3. In the intervals of the Conferences, to change, receive, and suspend preachers, as necessity may require, and as the Discipline directs.

"4. To travel through the Connexion at large.

"5. To oversee the spiritual and temporal business of our church. "6. To ordain bishops, elders, and deacons.

"7. To decide all questions of law in an Annual Conference, subject to an appeal to the General Conference; but in all cases the application of law shall be with the Conference.

"8. The bishops may, when they judge it necessary, unite two or more circuits or stations together, without affecting their separate financial interests, or pastoral duties.

"QUES. 4.-To whom is a bishop amenable for his conduct?

"ANS.-To the General Conference, who have power to expel him for improper conduct, if they see it necessary.

66

'QUES. 5.-What provision shall be made for the trial of a bishop, if he should be accused of immorality in the interval of the General Conference?

"ANS.-If a bishop be accused of immorality, three travelling elders shall call upon him, and examine him on the subject; and if the three elders verily believe that the bishop is guilty of the crime, they shall call to their aid two presiding elders from two districts in the neighbourhood of that where the crime was committed, each of which presiding elders shall bring with him two elders, or an elder and a deacon. The above-mentioned nine persons shall form a Conference, to examine into the charge brought against the bishop; and if two-thirds of them verily believe him to be guilty of the crime laid to his charge, they shall have authority to suspend the bishop till the ensuing General Conference, and the districts shall be regulated in the mean time as is provided in the third and fifth sections; but no accusation shall be received against a bishop, except

it be delivered in writing, signed by those who are to prove the crime; and a copy of the accusation shall be given to the accused bishop.

"QUES. 6. If a bishop cease from travelling at large among the people, shall he still exercise his episcopal office among us in any degree?

"ANS.-If he cease from travelling without the consent of the General Conference, he shall not thereafter exercise the episcopal office in our church." *

The real genius of the American church comes out in these regulations.

1. We may remark, that the execution of the laws and discipline of the church is invariably committed to men, not to Boards, to Committees. There is a great difference. A Committee is a thing: it is an amalgamation of many intellects, minds, hearts, consciences, just making— nil. A Committee can do no wrong; because, as all are supposed to do the wrong thing, none do it! And as a Committee can do no wrong, so it can suffer no punishment! Who could hang a Committee? Because business is done by many and not by one, some parties have the idea, that more freedom is secured by this arrangement, and that Committees cannot play the tyrant, whilst a man may do so. A greater fallacy never entered the brain of man than this; and all experience, whether in church or state, will furnish ample illustration. Surely, the Americans understand the question of liberty pretty well; and, no doubt, it was this feeling, in connexion with other reasons, and, amongst the rest, the intention to have their work done, and not shelved from time to time,which led them to commit its execution into the hands of living, tangible, responsible men.

2. With the office and obligations of great duties, they consistently give ample power for the execution of the trust. In this we see no suspicions, no niggardly and petty jealousies, no fear. A frank and noble confidence in the men of their choice is manifested; and these men, we see, are sent through the churches with full credentials and powers to execute their noble task.

3. This investiture with real authority is not nullified by the miserable bondage of a load of conditions. They are not sent to move through the country with a web of spiders'-work around them at every point; or with nets, gins, pitfalls at their feet, into which at any

*"Discipline," pp. 27-31.

moment they may tumble; nor has any small creature the power, by means of some of these contrivances, to trip up their heels, or prevent them from moving. What says the law? The bishops shall "travel through the Connexion." This is all. It is not said how fast, by what routes; whether on foot, on horseback, or in a carriage. The meaning is, they shall be free to go, to execute their commission, none hindering or putting obstructions in their path. There is this difference betwixt a little and paltry, and a great and magnanimous, policy: the former sends its agents forth bound hand and foot, as mere puppets, to execute its commission by the instructions received; the latter selects competent men, furnishes the commission to act, and then gives freedom to the soul,-and in this freedom is strength. No human rules and canons can meet the exigences of the world; man's soul alone, taught by God's own truth and Spirit, can do this. It is this principle, we are persuaded, which has given American Methodism its strength, its elasticity, its expansion, and its triumphs.

4. With these powers and this freedom of action, then, we find connected the principle of responsibility. But this responsibility is, in the law, limited very much to the question of immorality. These bishops are not put upon their trial as to the observance of technical rules in their administration. Any dereliction in these matters is left to circumstances, to the force of public opinion, and to the power of the constitution to rectify any existing evil. The absence of all fear as to any mischievous effects resulting from freedom, whether possessed by a bishop in the execution of his office, or by the private member in the enjoyment of his privileges, is very apparent in the whole economy.

It may be as well to remark, at this point, that the bishops are not appointed to their respective provinces, or spheres of labour, by the Conference. The practice is, for the bishops to meet after each General Conference, and settle amongst themselves the several parts of the work to be done by each, till the meeting of the next General Conference. By this method the same bishop is not confined constantly to the same portion of the country; they change as occasion may require, and the state of the church may render it expedient.

Some may be curious to know how these dignitaries of the church fare in the matter of living, episcopal palaces, and