SECTION VI.

Of Dress.

The original provision on this subject* may be found under Question 18, p. 36.

1792. The words, "not even of a married woman" struck out.

1836. The words, "give no tickets," where they first occur, were changed to "receive none into the church;" but they were retained in the last sentence. The word "any," before "encouragement," and the word "large," before "society," were omitted.

SECTION VII.

Of bringing to Trial, finding guilty, and reproving, suspending, or excluding disorderly Persons from Society and Church Privileges.

The original draft of this section was prepared by Bishop Asbury in 1788,† and introduced into the Discipline of 1789. It was as follows:

"On bringing to Trial, finding guilty, reproving, suspending, and excluding disorderly Persons from Society and Church Privileges.

"Quest. How shall a suspected member be brought to trial?

"Ans. Before the society of which he is a member, or a select number of them, in the presence of a bishop, elder, deacon, or preacher, in the following manner :Let the accused and accuser be brought face to face : if this cannot be done, let the next best evidence be procured. If the accused person be found guilty, and the crime be such as is expressly forbidden by the word of God, sufficient to exclude a person from the kingdom of grace and glory, and to make him a subject of

* The subject is also noticed in the Annual Minutes for 1784. (See above, page 21, Question 11.)

† See p. 83.

wrath and hell, let him be expelled. If he evade a trial by absenting himself, after sufficient notice given him, and the circumstances of the accusation be strong and presumptive, let him be esteemed as guilty, and accordingly excluded. And without evident marks and fruits of repentance, such offenders shall be solemnly disowned before the church. Witnesses from without shall not be rejected, if a majority believe them to be honest men.

"But in cases of neglect of duties of any kind, imprudent conduct, indulging sinful tempers or words, disobedience to the order and Discipline of the church, first, let private reproof be given by a leader or preacher: if there be an acknowledgment of the fault, and proper humiliation, the person may remain on trial. On a second offence, a preacher may take one or two faithful friends. On a third failure, if the transgression be increased or continued, let it be brought before the society, or a select number: if there be no sign of humiliation, and the church is dishonoured, the offender must be cut off. If there be a murmur or complaint that justice is not done, the person shall be allowed an appeal to the quarterly meeting, and have his case reconsidered before a bishop, presiding elder, or deacon, with the preachers, stewards, and leaders who may be present. After such forms of trial and expulsion, such persons as are thus excommunicated shall have no privileges of society and sacrament in our church, without contrition, confession, and proper trial.*

"N. B. From this time forward, no person shall be owned as a member of our church without six months' trial."t

*For a provision on this point in 1781, see p. 17.

In the same year the following explanation of this section was published in the Minutes :

"As a very few persons have in some respect mistaken our meaning, in the thirty-second section of our Form of Discipline, on bringing to trial disorderly persons, &c., we think it necessary to explain it.

"When a member of our society is to be tried for any offence, the officiating minister or preacher is to call together all the members, if

1792. The title was changed to its present form. The words, "let him be expelled," changed to "let the minister or preacher who has charge of the circuit expel him." The last sentence but one of the first paragraph, beginning, "And without, &c.," omitted. The last sentence made to read as now, 66 witnesses from without shall not be rejected."

The latter part of the second paragraph read as follows:- "On a second offence, the preacher or leader may take one or two faithful friends. On a third offence, let the case be brought before the society, or a select number; and if there be no sign of real humiliation, the offender must be cut off.

"If there be a murmur or complaint from any excluded person in any of the above-mentioned instances, that justice has not been done, he shall be allowed an appeal to the next quarterly meeting; and the majority of the ministers, travelling and local preachers, exhorters, stewards, and leaders present shall finally determine the case." The words, " as are thus excommunicated," in the last sentence, are omitted, as also the note.

The following new note was added :

"N. B. If a member of our church shall be clearly convicted of endeavouring to sow dissensions in any of our societies, by inveighing against either our doctrines or discipline, such person so offending shall be first reproved by the senior minister or preacher of his circuit, and, if he afterward persist in such pernicious practices, he shall be expelled the society."

1800. The word "suspected," in the question, changed to "accused."

In Answer 1, (1789,) after the words "found guilty,"

the society be small, or a select number if it be large, to take knowledge and give advice, and bear witness to the justice of the whole process; that improper and private expulsions may be prevented for the future."

This note is not found in the reprint of the Minutes, but it is published in Lee's History of the Methodists, p. 143.

the following inserted :-" by the decision of a majority of the members before whom he is brought to trial." The words," and to make him a subject of wrath and hell," omitted.

The following new provision added:

"Nevertheless, if in any of the above-mentioned cases the minister or preacher differ in judgment from the majority of the society, or the select number, concerning the innocence or guilt of the accused person, the trial, in such case, may be referred by the minister or preacher to the ensuing quarterly meeting."

1808. The following inserted with reference to those who may appeal to the quarterly conferences (1792):-"except such as exempt [absent] themselves from trial, after sufficient notice is given them."

1828. The words in the second paragraph, 1789, "the person may remain on trial," changed to "the person may be borne with."

*In 1796 the following section was introduced on the sale and use of spirituous liquors. It was continued until 1840, when it was struck out, as seeming to sanction the practices for which it made regula. tions.

66

"SECTION 10. Of the Sale and Use of Spirituous Liquors.

Quest. What directions shall be given concerning the sale and use of spirituous liquors?

"Ans. If any member of our society retail or give spirituous liquors, and any thing disorderly be transacted under his roof on this account, the preacher who has the oversight of the circuit shall proceed against him as in the case of other immoralities: and the person accused shall be cleared, censured, suspended, or excluded, according to his conduct, as on other charges of immorality."

For the provisions on the subject prior to 1784, see pp. 15, 19.

CHAPTER III.

SACRAMENTAL SERVICES, &c.

As the Forms for the various services have undergone little alteration for many years, and can easily be referred to, it will be sufficient here to show wherein the present Forms differ from those recommended by Mr. Wesley, and wherein the latter differed from those of the Church of England, of which they were an abridgment.

SECTION I.

The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper.

The original order, as recommended by Mr. Wesley, differed from that of the Church of England in the following particulars :-It omitted the rubric requiring communicants to signify their intention previously to the curate, and those requiring the curate to repel improper persons from the table, the first prayer for rulers; the creed, the rubric respecting the publication of notices, the verse in the offertory, taken from Tobit iv, 7; the three exhortations preparatory to communion, that part of the rubric directing the people to kneel while communing, (as well as the note in explanation of the rule,) the third prayer after the communion, all the collects at the close, and the rubrics, at the close (of which the first prescribed how much of the order was to be said when there was no communion, the second and third, when there was to be no communion, the fourth regulated the communicating of priests and deacons in cathedral and collegiate churches and colleges; the fifth prescribed the kind of bread; the sixth, what was to be done with the bread and wine that remained; the seventh, how the bread and wine were to be provided; the eighth, how often parishes should communicate and pay their ecclesiastical dues; the