ministry of the Gospel, urging our Preachers and friends to endeavour forthwith to supply the grievous deficiency, according to the principles and regulations recommended in the Minutes of 1827.

4. The Committee are further directed to prepare and circulate a succinct statement of the methods which are most proper to be taken for the establishment of Day and Infant Schools; explaining generally the plan on which they may be best conducted, and by which the pecuniary means for supporting them may with the greatest facility be secured. Those of our friends who are wishful to commence such undertakings are requested to correspond with the Secretaries of the Committee.

5. The Preachers are solemnly enjoined to hold regular weekly Meetings with the children of our people, under the age of fourteen, on the most convenient day of the week, in every town where a Preacher has his stated residence, according to our ancient rule and practice.

6. The attention of our Preachers is earnestly directed to the necessity and importance of making some effectual arrangement in every town where a Preacher resides for obtaining pastoral access, at stated times, to the young persons of Methodist families, between the ages of fourteen and twenty, with a view to promote their spiritual welfare by instruction, exhortation, and prayer.

CITY AND TOWN MISSIONS.

Q. XXII. WHAT can be done by our Connexion for the encouragement and improvement of City and Town Missions?

A. The Conference deeply feel the unspeakable necessity and importance of additional and more systematic efforts for the instruction and salvation of the poor and neglected amongst the people of our own country. They earnestly recommend that Missions for these special objects be adopted, wherever local means of support and suitable agents can be obtained. They judge that many individuals properly qualified for this work, by piety, zeal, intelligence, and good principles, may be found in our societies; and recommend that such persons be selected and employed, under the direction of the Superintendent and other Preachers of any Circuit in which such a Mission shall be formed. And where a considerable number of such agents can be engaged, the Conference deem it desirable that some suitable Supernumerary Preacher should be employed, to direct and in

spect their labours, to form the link of regular and easy communication between the subordinate agents and the weekly Meeting of the Circuit Preachers, and thus to prevent irregularities, which might otherwise arise, injurious to the purity, unity, and Christian discipline of our societies. The Conference further recommend that any persons who, in consequence of such efforts, become desirous of the helps of religious communion, should be introduced into classes already formed, rather than into classes formed for the occasion, and consisting wholly of new and inexperienced members.

CENTENARY OF METHODISM.

Q. XXIII. WHAT does the Conference determine on the subject of the pro

posed Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism?

A. The Committee appointed by the Conference to consider this subject, reported that, in pursuance of that appointment, they have held three Meetings, which were numerously attended both by Ministers, and by other gentlemen from different parts of the kingdom; and that after reading various letters, and maturely considering and comparing the suggestions therein contained, as well as the opinions of several highly influential and judicious friends who addressed the Meetings, they unanimously adopted the following Resolutions, as expressing their views and wishes on this interesting question:

"I. That this Committee cordially approves of the proposed Celebration in the ensuing year, (1839,) of the Centenary of the formation of the Wesleyan-Methodist society, under the providential instrumentality of the ever-to-be revered and venerated JOHN WESLEY.

"II. That the primary object of the said Celebration should be the religious and devotional improvement of the Centenary, by such Public Services in our chapels as the Conference may judge it proper to appoint or to recommend.

"III. That in connexion with this primary object, it is deemed right and expedient by this Committee, that there should be a general pecuniary contribution, by means both of private donations and public collections, through all our congregations and societies, at home and abroad;-such contribution being intended as a practical thank-offering to Almighty God, for the personal and public benefits derived, by his blessing, from the labours of Mr. Wesley, and of his co-adjutors and successors, during the last hundred years, and from the di

rect and indirect influences of Wesleyan Methodism, not merely on our own religlous community, but also on the Christian church at large, and on the spiritual interests of the world.

"IV. That, after full consideration, it is the decided opinion of the Committee, that the Connexional Fund, to be raised on the occasion of the Centenary, should be applied, in the first place, in the erection of suitable premises for the accommodation of Students to be hereafter received into the Wesleyan Theological Institution, (whether such Students be designed for home or for Missionary service,) on an enlarged scale, adapted to the increasing demands of the Connexion for the benefit of its rising ministry; and, in the second place, in assisting to provide commodious premises in London for the use of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, adequate to the great. ly augmented and augmenting extent of its multifarious and important busi

ness.

"V. That this Committee further recommend, that our friends be affectionately advised to make some arrangements, by private and local efforts in each Circuit respectively, for enabling the children of our Sunday and other charity schools, and also the poor members of our societies, to participate in the pleasure and benefit of the intended Celebration, on the day, or on one of the days, to be set apart for that purpose; so as to engage their pious and hearty concurrence in the thanksgivings, congratulations, and prayers of this great occasion;-the specific plan for the attainment of this object, and for the distribution of any Local Fund which may be raised for the poor members, being left entirely to the discretion of the Preachers and friends in every Circuit which shall adopt this suggestion, according to their own views of what will be most convenient in each particular case, and most in accordance with the general religious services which may be hereafter appointed for the Connexion at large.

"VI. That this Committee earnestly recommends to the immediate consideration of the Connexion the case of our worn-out Ministers, and that of the widows of our deceased Ministers. The Committee respectfully suggest the propriety and necessity of some further provision for their support upon the principle of the Children's Fund; and would be particularly gratified, if such an arrangement could be effected, and provision made for its future practical operation, during the coming Centenary Year; be

lieving that it would be, in connexion with other modes of celebrating that occasion, an eminently fitting and beneficial testimonial of the gratitude of the Connexion to those of its Ministers who are no longer capable of regular and constant labours, and of its pious care for the widows of those Preachers who are gone to their reward."

On receiving this Report of the Committee, the Conference unanimously resolved,

1. That the Conference gratefully approves of the Resolutions of the Centenary Committee, as now reported; and cordially adopts them in substance, as its

own.

2. That a day of special and united supplication for the blessing of God upon the intended Centenary Services, and for the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon ourselves and our people during the coming year, shall be appointed by the President; such day to be fixed for as early a period in January, 1839, as he may judge most convenient, and duly announced by him in the Methodist Magazine, and otherwise, according to his discretion.

3. That the official discourse, usually delivered before the Conference by the Preacher who has just retired from the Presidency, shall be considered, at the next Conference in 1839, as the Centenary Sermon; and that the Rev. Thomas Jackson, now our President, then the Ex-President, be accordingly appointed to discharge that duty.

4. That our President is also requested to prepare and publish, as early as possible, a brief but comprehensive work, on the subject of the Centenary; including, with succinct notices of the origin, progress, and present state of Wesleyan Methodism, and of the leading facts in the life and history of the revered Founder of our societies, such remarks as may assist our friends in the devout improvement of the occasion.

5. That one day be set apart during the session of the Conference in July, 1839, to be employed in suitable religi ous services, by the Preachers and friends who may then be in attendance at Liverpool.

6. That, in all other places, the month of October, 1839, is deemed the most suitable period for the Centenary Services; and that arrangements shall accordingly be made for such services in every chapel, on such day or days of that month as may be found most convenient. The School-Collection, usually made in October, shall for that one year be made