Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-03-13
For the Herald and Tribune
The American Methodist Church Move.
ment.- Constitution.

direct the work of the church. Each
member in good standing shall have
the right of suffrage and in all elections
to cast one vote. A majority of the
votes cast shall determine all questions.
Every church shall receive, try, acquit
or expel her own members according to
the principles of the New Testiment
scriptures, aud the laws of equity that
obtain in free civil government, pro.
vided that in no case shall membe r
be tried where the church or individual
aggrieved has not complied with the
eighth chapter of Matthew, except in
case of immortality where no admoni.
tion is required.
In all matters of license the church
shall have the right. The church shall
elect the elders and deacon's orders.
Every local church shall have a secre-
tary and treasurer. The secretary of
the church shall keep all records-both
of the church and Sunday School. The
treasurer shall have charge of the
funds OF the church and Sunday School
and pay all dues that may be ordered
paid by church so far as he or she may
have church funds to meet the same.
The pastor shall preside at all the
meetings of the church, except in cases
of church trial, when the church will
elect chairman other than the pastor.
The church shall not try her pastor,
but may prefer charges and specilica-
tions, and call not less than three nor
more than nine pastors from adjoining
charges, who shall hear the matter and
determine the cause. There shall be
but two orders in the church-elders
and deacons. Every pastor shall be
an elder. No one shall serve as pastor
who has not been elected and ordained
an elder.
There shall be three conferences in
the church, Quarterly, Annual and
General. The quarterly conference
shall Q held four times a year in each
pastors charge and shall be composed
of the pastor, all ministers of the
charge, the evangelists employed by
the quarterly conference, all the exhor
ters, class leaders, Sunday School su-
perintendents and one private mem
Der of the church as the representative
of the church in all phases of the work.
The business of the conference shall be
after the election of the secretary. 1st.
To inquire after the temporal affairs of
the charge. End. To look after all the
sick and distressed members of the
church and community. 3rd. To pro-
vide for the relief of the poor, by pro-
curing medical assistance for the sick,
food for the hungry and clothing for
the destitute. 4th. To provide for
a systematic plan of educating the poor
within tn bounds of the charge. 9th.
To inquire into the spiritual condition
of the members of the church. 9th.
To employ evangelists for the revival
work deemed necessary. 7th. To send
evangeists in advance of the church
where there is thought to be a provi-
Dental opening. The pastor shall be
by virtue of his pastorate chairman of
the quarterly conference.
The Annual Conference shall meet
once year in regular session and shall
be composed of all the pastors and one
layman from each charge and all evan
gelists employed by the Annual Confer
ence. This conference shall have the
oversight of all the work in the terri
tory occupied by the conference. The
business shall be first elect president
for the meeting, who shall hold his of.
flee until the next annual meeting
when his successor shall take charge.
The president may be pastor or lay
man. In no case shall he receive pay
for presiding over the deliberations of
the conference aud for issuing calls for
meetings, etc. end. To elect a secre.
tary who shall cause all records to be
properly kept and other officers, such as
treasurer and stewards. 3rd. To re.
ceive new pastors and their charges
who may have come into the church
since the previous session. 4th. To
hear all appeals and redress all wrongs
that may have been done in the lower
courts. To see that all their pastors
and churches are in such harmony
with the doctrine and discipline of the
church as would secure unity of spirit
and purpose in the salvation of men.
9th. To osupply all destitute places with
preaching SO far as may be practicable.
7th. To enact such laws and regula.
tions as the local conference work may
demand and the government of the
church may require, subject to a ma
tional jurisdiction that shall inhere in
the general conference. All the educa.
tional work shall be under the control
of the Annual Conference in whose
bounds it may be located. Sth. The
Annual Conference shall at the session
next proceeding the sitting of the
General Conference, elect an equal
number of pastors and laymen as dele
gates to the general conference on the
basis of one to every twenty members
of the Annual Conference, 9th. The
Annual Conference shall approve the
election of each pastor who has been
elected by the charge which he
serves. 10TH The Annual and General
Conferences shall never debar the men,