PART IV.

TEMPORAL ECONOMY.

CHAPTER I.

SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY.

Qualifications, Appointments, and Duties of
Stewards.

T278. There shall be not less than three nor more than thirteen Stewards in each Circuit or Station, one of whom shall, after each annual election, be appointed by the Quarterly Conference a Recording Steward, and one a District Steward. But when two or more Circuits or Stations are united the Stewards shail hold office till the first Quarterly Conference shall elect a new Board.

T279. Let the Stewards be persons of solid piety, who both know and love Methodist Doctrine and Discipline, and who are of good natural and acquired abilities to transact the temporal business of the Church.

¶ 280. The Preacher in Charge of the Circuit or Station shall have the right to nominate the Stewards, but the Quarterly Conference shall confirm or reject such nomination. The Stewards so elected shall enter upon the discharge of their

duties on the adjournment of the next Annual Conference, and shall hold office for one year or until their successors are elected.

T 281. The duties of Stewards are: to take an exact account of all the money or other resources received for the support of the Preachers in the Circuit or Station, and to apply the same as the Discipline directs; to make an accurate return of every expenditure of money, whether for the Preachers, or the poor Members of the Society; to seek the needy and distressed in order to relieve and comfort them; to inform the Preachers of any sick or disorderly persons; to tell the Preachers what they think wrong in them; to attend the Quarterly Meetings of their Circuit or Station, and the Leaders and Stewards' Meetings; to give advice, if asked, in planning the Circuit; to attend Committees for the application of money to Churches; to give counsel in matters of arbitration; to provide the elements for the Lord's Supper; to write circular letters to the Societies in the Circuit exhorting them to greater liberality, if need be; and also to let them know, when occasion requires, the state of the temporal concerns of the Charge.

T 282. The duties of the District Stewards are: to attend the Annual District Stewards' Meeting when called by the Presiding Elder, and to perform the duties specified in T 289.

T283. Stewards are accountable for the faith

ful performance of their duties to the Quarterly Conference of the Circuit or Station, which shall have power to dismiss or change them at pleasure.

The Support of Bishops, and of the Families of Deceased Bishops.

¶ 284. The General Conference shall determine which of the Bishops are Effective and which Non-effective.

¶ 285. It shall be the duty of the Book Committee to make an estimate of the amount necessary to furnish a competent support to each Effective Bishop, considering the number and condition of his family; and the amount, if any, necessary to the comfortable maintenance of the Non-effective Bishops; and also the amount necessary to assist the Widows and Children of deceased Bishops: and the Bishops are authorized to draw on the Treasurer of the Episcopal Fund for said amount, and also for their traveling expenses.

¶ 286. The Bishop presiding at an Annual Conference, within whose bounds a Widow or Orphan of a deceased Bishop may reside, shall be authorized to draw on the Treasurer of the Episcopal Fund for such amount as may be estimated as aforesaid.

T287. The Book Committee shall divide the Aggregate sum required to be raised for these

purposes among the Annual Conferences, on the basis of the total amount raised in the respective Annual Conferences for Ministerial support, exclusive of Missionary appropriations, and the Annual Conferences shall apportion the same to the several Districts, and the District Stewards to the several Charges. The amount apportioned to each Pastoral Charge for the support of the Bishops shall be a pro rata claim with that of the stationed Preachers and Presiding Elders; and no such Preacher or Presiding Elder shall be entitled to his allowance except to the extent to which the claims of the Bishops are also met by the Circuit, Station, or District with which such Elder and Preacher are connected. And it shall be the duty of the Annual Conferences to see that the amounts apportioned to the different Pastoral Charges for the support of the Bishops are raised and forwarded quarterly, when practicable, to the Treasurer of the Episcopal Fund.

¶ 288. The Treasurer shall charge the sums paid to the Bishops, and to the Widows and Children of deceased Bishops, to "The Episcopal Fund;" and all collections received from the different Charges for the support of the Bishops shall be credited to said Fund. And the Treasurer shall report annually to the Annual Conferences the amounts received from the several Annual Conferences on account of said Fund, and also the expenditures made; and he shall also

make a full and detailed exhibit of such receipts and expenditures for the term of four years to the General Conference.

Support of Presiding Elders.

¶ 289. There shall be annually, in every District, a meeting composed of one Steward from each Circuit and Station, to be selected by the Quarterly Conference, whose duty it shall be, with the advice of the Presiding Elder, who shall preside in such meeting, to make an estimate of the amount necessary to furnish a comfortable support to the Presiding Elder, and to apportion the same, including house-rent and traveling expenses, and also the claim of the Bishops apportioned to the District by the Annual Conference, among the different Circuits and Stations in the District, according to their several ability; and in all cases the Presiding Elder shall share with the Preachers in his District in proportion to what they have respectively received. But if there be a surplus of money raised for the support of the Preachers in one or more of the Circuits or Stations in his District he shall receive such surplus, provided he do not receive more than his allowance. The Minutes of the District Stewards' Meeting shall be kept by a Secretary chosen for the purpose, who shall also record the same in a book of which the Presiding Elder shall be custodian.