arbitrators an umpire, who together shall constitute a board of reference (44784-787), to which shall be referred the question of adjusting the rights of the respective parties interested in such parsonage property; and the decision of the board of reference shall be acquiesced in and carried into effect by the parties concerned. And if any Quarterly or District Conference shall fail, after written notice, to appoint an arbitrator within one year after such division, this shall work a forfeiture of the claim of such Conference in the property.

¶247. The trustees, with the consent of the preacher in charge and the Quarterly Conference, or if a District parsonage, then of the Presiding Elder and the District Conference, shall have power to sell any church or parsonage property that has gone out of use, or that should be removed to another place, the proceeds of which shall be invested in other Church property under the direction of the Quarterly or District Conference.

SECTION IV.

OF CREATING LIENS UPON CHURCH PROPERTY. ¶248. No person, or persons, or board of trustees shall have authority to create a mortgage, or other contract lien, upon church property: provided, nevertheless, that if these trustees, or

any of them, or their successors, have advanced, or shall advance, any sum or sums of money, or are, or shall be, responsible for any sum or sums of money on account of church property, and these trustees, or their successors, be obliged to pay the money, they, or a majority of them, shall be authorized to raise this money by a mortgage on the property, or by selling it, after giving notice to the preacher in charge, or the Presiding Elder of the District, if the money due be not paid to the trustees, or their successors, within one year after such notice has been given; and if a sale take place, the said trustees, or their successors, after paying the debt and expenses, from the money arising from the sale, shall pay the remainder of the money from the sale to the steward or stewards of the charge; which surplus of the produce of the sale shall be forwarded by the steward or stewards to the Quarterly Conference within whose bounds it is situated, at its next session; and the Quarterly Conference shall dispose of the money, by a vote of the majority, for the use of the charge.

¶249. Provided, further, that the trustees of any house of worship or parsonage, or other property held for the benefit of the Church, a majority of them uniting therein, by the consent and authority of the Quarterly Conference, or of the District Conference, or two-thirds of the Dis

trict Stewards, if it be a District parsonage, may borrow money from the Board of Church Extension or any person or corporation, and secure its repayment by mortgage upon any property held in trust by the trustees, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed on by the contracting parties.

¶250. Provided, further, that the trustees, when duly authorized, as provided in 249, shall also have power to create a lien upon the property conditioned for the repayment to the Board of Church Extension of any conditional donation made in aid of such house of worship or parsonage by that Board, in the event that such property shall ever thereafter be aliened from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or cease to be used for, or be devoted to, other uses than the purposes authorized by the trust clauses in our deeds, as prescribed by the Discipline. In the event of a sale under any mortgage provided for in this or the preceding paragraph the surplus money arising therefrom shall be disposed of as provided in ¶248. Money received under the provisions of this or the preceding paragraph shall be used by the trustees for the exclusive purpose of purchasing, paying debts upon, or improving church or parsonage property. Whenever any property on which such conditional mortgages have been placed shall be sold by the trustees for the pur

pose of purchasing property elsewhere, to be used for like purposes, it shall be the duty of the officers of the Board of Church Extension to release its lien, provided equal security be given by mortgage on the new site.

CHAPTER V.

THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY.

SECTION I.

OF THE SUPPORT OF PREACHERS IN CHARGE.

¶251. Every minister who by the rules and usages of the Church is a claimant on its funds shall have his claim estimated, as far as practicable, by those who are to pay it, or by an agent authorized to act for them.

¶252. The salary and traveling expenses of the preacher in charge shall be estimated by the Board of Stewards, after consultation with him.

¶253. The stewards shall report to each Church the whole amount to be raised, and that part of it which each congregation is expected to pay. The Church Conference may adopt its own method of raising the money. Unless otherwise ordered by the Church Conference, the stewards shall adopt the plan of assessment with consent, as provided in the following paragraph: provided, nevertheless, that no Board of Stewards or pastor shall incur any indebtedness for the payment of the preacher's salary or the benevolences, which indebtedness shall be