ty be approved by the Board of Church Extension.

¶522. ART. XVI. Presiding Elders shall bring the subject of Church Extension prominently before the District and Quarterly Conferences, and see that the most efficient plans are adopted for raising the amounts apportioned to each charge; and the Bishops shall call for a report of the Annual Conference Board in the regular order of Conference proceedings, and direct attention to the subject.

¶523. ART. XVII. The Conference Board may elect a committee, one of whom may be the President of the Conference Board, which, together with a like committee of the Conference Sunday School Board, shall constitute a Joint Committee on Architecture, whose duties it shall be to promote the standards of Sunday school and church architecture provided by the Joint Committee on Architecture from the General Sunday School Board and the Board of Church Extension.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BOARD OF TEMPERANCE AND SOCIAL SERVICE.

SECTION I.

OF THE EVIL OF INTEMPERANCE.

Question. What shall be done for the extirpation of the great evil of intemperance?

9524. Ans. 1. Let all our preachers and members faithfully observe our General Rule which forbids "drunkenness, or drinking spirituous liquors unless in cases of necessity."

¶525. Ans. 2. In cases of drunkenness let the Discipline be administered as in case of immorality; drunkenness being a crime expressly forbidden in the word of God. In cases of drinking, except of necessity, let the Discipline be administered as for imprudent or improper conduct.

¶526. Ans. 3. Let all our preachers and members abstain from the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage, from signing petitions for their sale, from becoming bondsmen for any person as a condition for obtaining a license, from acting as a dispenser or voluntarily accepting an appointment or election as such under the laws of any State in which there is a dispensary law authorizing the sale of intoxicating liquors by the State, county, or

municipality, and from renting property to be used for such sale. If any member shall violate any of the provisions of this paragraph, he shall be deemed guilty of immorality: nevertheless, in the case of a member who shall sign a petition for such sale, or shall become a bondsman for any person engaged in such traffic, or shall rent property to be used for such sale, or shall act as a dispenser or voluntarily accept election or appointment to any office created for the purpose of selling or dispensing intoxicating liquors on behalf of the State, county, or municipality, it shall be the duty of the pastor to deal with the offender as provided for in ¶296. This paragraph shall not apply to persons who are acting under instructions or decrees of any court, or who are acting as officers of the law otherwise than as voluntary dispensers.

¶527. Ans. 4. Each Annual Conference shall organize a Quadrennial Board of Temperance and Social Service, composed of one lay member from each District and an equal number of traveling preachers. (¶¶645, 646.)

SECTION II.

COMMISSION ON TEMPERANCE AND SOCIAL SERVICE.

¶528. There shall be a "Commission on Temperance and Social Service of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," to be composed of thirteen members: one Bishop, three traveling

preachers, and four lay members, to be nominated by the Committee on Temperance and Social Service and elected by the General Conference; together with the General Secretary of the Sunday School Board, the General Secretary of the Epworth League Board, the General Secretary of Lay Activities, the Senior Secretary of the Home Department of the Board of Missions, and the Superintendent of the Bureau of Social Service Work in the Woman's Council: provided, that any Board represented by its General Secretary may elect a representative to serve on the Commission in case the Secretary does not serve. Two successive unexcused absences will automatically vacate any membership in this Commission, which shall have authority to fill any vacancies that may occur.

¶529. It shall be the function of this Commission to consider the demands of temperance and social service upon our Church and our people, to formulate plans for the correlation of the various agencies of the Church in any way charged with these interests, and to plan for the more thorough instruction of our people and the direction and development of their activities.

¶530. The Commission shall assemble within ninety days after the adjournment of the General Conference, at the call of the Bishop who is a member or on call of three members of the Commission, organize at its first session, under

take such work as it may deem advisable, and by voluntary contribution raise such funds as it may judge necessary in addition to the amount provided for the work of this Commission by the action of the General Conference: provided, that the traveling expenses of the members of this Commission shall be met in the way provided for the expenses of Commissions ordered by the General Conference. Other funds for the use of this Commission shall be raised by allotment in the assessments recommended by the Commission on Budget.

9531. The Commission shall meet at least once a year, shall report annually to the College of Bishops, and formulate a program of Social Service to be presented, together with a report of its proceedings and work, to the next General Conference.

¶532. This Commission is instructed to coöperate with the Annual Conference Boards of Temperance and Social Service, and to receive reports from them as to the work in the various Conferences.

SECTION III.

SOCIAL CREED OF THE CHURCHES.

¶533. Whereas the Church of God is divinely appointed to interpret Jesus Christ and his gospel to each successive generation, and to la