Connecticut western news., 1877-06-22
POughkeepsie District COnRerence 6.

The District Conference of the M. E. Church met in the Cannon street Church, June II and 12. This dis trict represents 89 churches, 49 parsonages, 62 pastors, 25 local preachers, and mem- bership of over (ten thousand,) 10000. Rev. Delos Lull, the P. E., reported on the condition of the work on the district, and his official labors during the first quarter. He said there was general satisfaction with the appointments made at the last an1 nual conference. The report of pastors salary in several instances were less than last year, owing to the financial pressure in certain localities. Other charges had in- creased the pastors salary, among which he made special mention of Pine Plains, Lakeville, and Hyde Park. He had attend ed 3l out of the 54 quarterly conferences on the district, and had arranged his plan of visitation so as to hold two sabbath ser : vices at each of the 62 appointments. This would give him l26 sermons to preach in AS Sabbaths, besides the hundreds of miles of travel to reach the different charg- es. He stated that the benevolent collec- tions as reported last year, were less than on any other district in the conference, and he would recommend the holding of special services throughout the district dur ing the months of October and November, to awaken an interest on the subject of missions, and to give more general infor ,1o%i fha ahS nf hnrnrn1hnf collections. He also recommended the CT gaGizing of plan for home mission work, and more thorough canvassing of the en- tire field. and the raising of contingent fund to aid the weak churches. On the subject of class meetings, he recommended the holding of three class leaders, conven- tions at central points in the district during the year one at Poughkeepsie one at Millerton, and one at Great Burlington. He believes that more systematic plan of raleing the support of pastors and beneYo- lent contributions of the church would re- suit in an increased liberality of the people, and greatly advance the interest of the church. The names of charges were call ed, and short interesting reports made by the preachers in charge. Miss Katie A. Lent, of West Poiut. delivered an earnest, able. and sensible address on the subject of s'Woman'sWo in the Temperance Cause" :" Rev. G. s. Hare, D. D., of Newburgh gave an address on the subject of Public Read ing and Speaking of Ministers" which abounded in valuable suggestions, and ex- ceedingly interesting. Rev. J. J. Dean, of Mattewan, opened the discussion of the question, ''Should our bishops have dis cretional power in regard to the length of
 the pastoral term," which was spoken to by several of the members of the confer
 ence and some visiting brethren, during
 which was brought out the fact that while ln some instances it worked to the detrI- ment of the church, there were other ad-
 vantages in the present system of itineran- cy that commended it, as shown by the
 practical workings of the settled pastorate in other denominations. Rev. O. H. Inf fany D. D., of New York, gave fine ad-
 dress on the subject of missions, taking as a text, s'The Preaching of Dollar" He said that the missionary contributions of the church were the affirmation of the churches, confidence in bible verties,
 which he proceeded in clear, eloquent and forcible manner to present under the
 following heads: l, the facts ?, the doc- trines 8, the method, as stated and con- fined by the general teachings of the word of God. c. c. North read an excellent essay on the "Misson and needs of the class leaders of the M. E. Church," which
 was requested for publication. The only candidate before the conference for local preachers license, was Miss Katie A. Lent,
 of West Point. There being question as