home and church? There is little
use to talk to others about sin, when
we ourselves are so little under the
guidance of the Spirit as to be unable
to hold our tempers or tongues. The
baptism of the Spirit cannot come till
the yoke. of sin has been broken.
Entire surrender to God will alone
meet the conditions laid down in the
Scriptures. 'L. T. N.
THE QUESTION BOX*
18. Has a minister or an elder any
right to demand that each member of
. the church shall sell a certain num-
ber of books, or make certain offer
ings ?
No minister or elder has a right to
demand it; but he has the right to
recommend it, and to urge it in the
proper way. We might turn the
question around, and say, Has a
church member a right to positively
refuse to do his share in the distribu-
tion of literature, and making up
offerings? He has no more right to
refuse to do this, than the minister
has to press the matter, We are as-
sociated together as a body of people
to accomplish great things for God.
We can get at this in a cooperative
way. We need funds; we must have
some systematic way of getting them.
We must try to place before all our
people their responsibility in this.
In view of this, we adopted what we
call the ten-cent-a-week plan, to get
every church member to give for mis-
sions a sum equal to ten cents a week
throughout the year. No minister
that I know of demands that of any
member ; but I believe that when the
General Conference, in counsel, after
careful consideration, adopts a plan
for the whole denomination, then it
is the duty of the General Conference
ministers, union conference officers
and ministers, and the local confer-
~ ence officers, to do all they can to get
every member in the denomination
L to pay that certain sum. But of
Conducted by Elder A, G. Daniells. Reported
by Elder OQ. Montgomery.
ATLANTIC UNION GLEANER
course, it must be done in a kindly
way; and if people refuse to do it,
we must not get angry with them, or
show in any way that we are dis-
pleased; but do the best we can to
get them to give their quota and to
do their share in the distribution. of
literature.
19. What constitutes the confes-
sion of sin?
We have a good statement of that
in 2 Cor. 7:8-11. Here is the con
viction that ‘constitutes true reperit-
ance ; and true repentance will lead
a man to make all things right.
20. Can we hope to be forgiven of
God by .an acknowledgment of sin in
a general way?
We cannot generalize. When we
have done wrong, acknowledge it,
and make it as specific as the wrong
has been.
21. Is it right for a licentiate to use
a clerical order on the railroads ?
I understand it is, and that it is so
understood by the railway companies.
It may be that different railway com-
panies have different regulations. If
a company has the ruling that a li-
censed or unordained minister is not
entitled to the benefits of the reduc-
tion, he should not take the benefits
of such reduction. We must be gov-
erned entirely by the regulations of
the company.
22. After a delegated conference
has granted a worker his credentials
or license, on what grounds has the
conference committee the power to
set them aside between the sessions
of said conference? Can it be done
from the standpoint of a lack of funds
in the treasury, educational qualifica-
tions, etc.?
That raises the question, What is
the authority of the conference com-
mittee between the sessions of the
conference? As applied to the mat-
ter of credentials and licenses, the es-
tablished usage among us is as fol-
lows: First, we must recognize the
fact that the same authority that
grants credentials and licenses, has
I55
the right to withhold or recall them
whenever it sees fit to do so. How-
ever, there should always be good
reasons in both cases... A conference
should have as good reasons for
granting credentials or ordaining a
worker as it has for nullifying that or-
dination. . The following are recog-
nized to be proper reasons for with-
drawing credentials or licenses :-
First, heresy, or apostasy. A min-
ister who has received credentials
when he was in good and regular
standing, and in full harmony with the
body, may apostatize, and reject what
he believed and taught when the
credentials were granted. In that
case, a conference committee certainly
has the right to withdraw his creden-
tials; for it has the power to do the
things that need to be done, and
would be done if the conference were
in session.
Second, immorality. If a man falls,
and we have open sin to deal with,
there is just ground for recalling his
credentials,
Third, incompetency. If a man
proves himself altogether incompe-
tent, and goes on year after year
without accomplishing anything, the
conference committee has a right, and
it is a duty, to withold his creden-
tials. In such cases, however, it is
better to let the conference deal with
the matter.
The educational qualifications come
under incompetency, and should be
placed in the hands of the confer-
ence.
When there is a lack of funds in
the treasury, and it is necessary to re-
trench, there should be very careful
advisement and counsel on the part
of the committee and the laborers, to
secure agreement and cooperation in
the matter, if possible. It might
work great hardship to a man, after
he had secured his papers, and had
started in his work for the year, for a
conference committee, arbitrarily, and
without consultation with him, to ask
him to retire on account of lack of