9. The Conference shall, and may admit into connexion with them, or upon trial, any person or persons whom they shall approve, to be preachers and expounders of God's holy word, under the eare and direction of the Conference; the name of every such person or persons so admitted into connexion, or upon trial as aforesaid, with the time and degrees of admission, being entered into the Journal or Minutes of the Conference.

10. No person shall be elected a member of the Conference, who hath not been admitted into connexion with the Conference, as a preacher and expounder of God's holy word as aforesaid, for twelve months.

11. The Conference shall not, nor may nominate or appoint any person the use and enjoyment of, or to preach and appoint God's holy word in any of the chapels and premises given or conveyed, or which may be given or conveyed upon the trusts aforesaid, who is not either a member of the Conference, or admitted into connexion with the same, or upon trial as aforesaid, nor appoint any person for more than three years successively to the use and enjoyment of any chapels and premises already given, or to be given or conveyed upon the trusts aforesaid, except ordained ministers of the Church of England.

12. The Conference shall, and may appoint the place of holding the yearly assembly thereof, at any other city, town, or place, than London, Bristol, or Leeds, when it shall seem expedient so to do.

13. And for the convenience of the chapels and premises already, or which may hereafter be given or conveyed upon the trusts aforesaid, situate in Ireland, or other parts out of the Kingdom of Great Britain; the Conference shall, and may, when, and as often as it shall seem expedient,

but not otherwise, appoint and delegate any member or members of the Conference, with all or any of the powers, privileges, and advantages herein before contained or vested in the Conference; and all and every the acts, admissions, expulsions, and appointments whatsoever of such member or members of the Conference so appointed and delegated as aforesaid, the same being put into writing, and signed by such delegate or delegates, and entered into the Journals or Minutes of the Conference, and subscribed as after-mentioned, shall be deemed, taken, and be the acts, admissions, expulsions, and appointments of the Conference, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever, from the respective times when the same shall be done by such delegate or delegates, notwithstanding any thing herein contained to the contrary.

14. All resolutions and orders touching elections, admissions, expulsions, consents, dispensations, delegations, or appointments, and acts whatsoever of the Conference, shall be entered and written in the Journals or Minutes of the Conference, which shall be kept for that purpose, publicly read, and then subscribed by the president and secretary thereof for the time being, during the time such Conference shall be assembled; and when so entered and subscribed, shall be had, taken, received, and be the evidence of all and every such acts of the said Conference, and of their said delegates, without the aid of any proof; and whatever shall not be so entered and subscribed as aforesaid, shall not be had, taken, received, or be the act of the Conference; and the said president and secretary are hereby required and obliged to enter and subscribe as aforesaid, every act whatever of the Conference.

Lastly, Whenever the said Conference shall be

reduced under the number of forty members, and continue so reduced for three yearly assemblies successively, or whenever the members thereof shall decline or neglect to meet together annually for the purposes aforesaid, during the space of three years, that then, and in either of the said events, the Conference of the people called Methodists shall be extinguished, and all the aforesaid powers, privileges, and advantages shall cease; and the said chapels and premises, and all other chapels and premises which now are, or hereafter may be settled, given, or conveyed, upon the trusts aforesaid, shall vest in the trustees for the time being of the said chapels and premises respectively, and their successors for ever, upon trust that they, and the survivors of them, and the trustees for the time being, do, shall, and may appoint such person and persons to preach and expound God's holy word therein, and to have the use and enjoyment thereof for such time, and in such manner, as to them shall seem proper.

Provided always that nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend to extinguish, lessen, or abridge the life-estate of the said John Wesley, and Charles Wesley, or either of them, of and in any of the said chapels and premises, or any other chapels and premises wherein they, the said John Wesley and Charles Wesley, or either of them, have now, or may have, any estate or interest, power or authority whatsoever: In witness whereof the said John Wesley hath hereunto set his hand and seal, the twenty-eighth day of February, in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four."

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JOHN WESLEY.”

The publication of this deed created a considerable ferment in the Connexion, particularly among some of the preachers who were not included in the hundred nominated to constitute the Conference. Some of those who were thus overlooked were not only men of some standing in the work, but of respectable talents and character. It is rather difficult to assign a sufficient reason for the slight thus put upon them; but as some of them were men of independent minds, and had occasionally opposed Mr. Wesley, he might have contracted a prejudice against them, and even have imbibed the idea that they were not thoroughpaced Methodists. There were a few, on the other hand, whom he seems to have wished to take the lead after his death; while there were a few of the former description whom he seems to have determined to incapacitate for having much rule and sway. Meantime some of those who constituted the hundred were men of no great note, and some of them had been so short time in the work that it was scarcely possible to form a correct opinion of them either as disciplinarians, preachers, or christians. Had the term of probation been then four years, as has been the case ever since the Conference of 1784, sundry of those who were nominated members of the Conference would have been only upon trial, and consequently ineligible to such election.. But after all, there can be no doubt that Mr. Wesley thought closely and deeply upon the subject, and had some reasons for his conduct which he might not choose to publish. The clamour fell very much upon Dr. Coke, as the supposed author, or at least the principal adviser of the whole business, and especially what related to the rejection of some preachers who were known to be no great friends of his. It was this clamour which induced him so positively to declare, that he had no hand

either in limiting the number or the choice of the persons; and surely a man of the Doctor's veracity would not have made such a declaration if it had not been true.

There were, indeed, some of the preachers, particularly a few of considerable standing and respectability, who viewed Dr. Coke with something of a jealous eye, from his first entrance among them: and this was sometimes inflamed by the active and energetic part which he took against any of them when he thought them reprchensible. Some of these were sometimes ready to ask "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" Exod. ii. 14. And their mutual remarks were calculated to bring to mind, Gen. xix. 9.—" And they said, stand back. And they said again, this one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge." And as the best of men still possess some of the feelings of human nature, and do not possess absolute perfection, and especially as to the knowledge of other men's hearts and motives, such jealousies do not conclude against the genuine christianity of a man's character.

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So early as the year 1782, Dr. Coke was delegated by Mr. Wesley to hold a Conference in Dublin. Till then there had been no regular annual Conference in Ireland. Several times, indeed, when Mr. Wesley was in Ireland, he convened some of the preachers, and conferred with them upon the affairs of the societies in Ireland. But the chief part of the Irish affairs had hitherto been settled at the Conferences in England. But from 1782 there has been a Conference every year in Ireland, and always in the city of Dublin; and except in the years 1791 and 1793, Dr. Coke was always the president of this Conference, for about thirty years. In this office he acquitted himself with great propriety and ability, and was of very