A Short History Of The Methodists... - Media Sabda Org

6th. "The money shall, if possible, be conveyed by bills of exchange, through the means of the
post, to our general book-steward, in Philadelphia, who shall pay it in to the trustees of the fund:
otherwise it shall be brought to the ensuing yearly conference.
7th. "There shall be no money drawn out of the fund till the first day of August, 1798.
8th. "The interest shall then be divided into six parts, and each of the yearly conferences shall
have authority to draw that sixth part out of the fund, according to the regulations before prescribed.
And if in one or more conferences, a part less than one sixth be drawn out of the fund in any given
year, then, in such case or cases, the other yearly conferences held in the same year, shall have
authority, if they judge it necessary, to draw out of the fund, according to the above regulations, such
surplus of the interest, which has not been applied by the former conferences: and the bishops shall
bring the necessary information of the interest of the fund, respecting the year in question; from
conference to conference.
9th. "The present stock of the preacher's fund, shall be thrown into the chartered fund.
10th. "The produce of the sale of our books, after the book debts are paid, and a sufficient capital
is provided for carrying on the business, shall be regularly paid into the chartered fund.
11th. "But the annual subscriptions of the traveling preachers, to the preacher's fund, shall be
reserved for extraordinary cases, which the chartered fund may not reach.
N. B. We need not be urgent on our benevolent friends to promote this great charity. Their own
feelings, we well know, will sufficiently prevail, when proper light is given them on the subject. Our
brethren who have laboured on the mountains, on the western waters, and in the poorer circuits in
general, have suffered unspeakable hardships, merely from the want of some established fund, in
which the competent members of our society might safely lodge what their benevolent hearts would
rejoice to give, for the spread of the gospel. On the same account, many of our worn-out preachers,
some of whom quickly consumed their strength by their great exertions for the salvation of souls,
have been brought into deep distress; and the widows and orphans of our preachers have been
sometimes reduced to extreme necessity, who might have lived in comfort, if not in affluence,
enjoying the sweets of domestic life, if the preachers who were the husbands on one hand, and the
fathers on the other, had not loved their Redeemer better than wife or children, or life itself. And it
is to be lamented, if possible, with tears of blood, that we have lost scores of our most able married
minister -- men who like good householders, could, upon all occasions, bring things new and old out
of their treasury, but were obliged to retire from the general work, because they saw nothing before
them for their wives and children, if they continued itinerants, but misery and ruin. But the present
institution will, we trust, under the blessing of God, greatly relieve us in, if not entirely deliver us
from, these mighty evils. For we have full confidence, that the hearts of our friends will be engaged,
and their hands stretched forth on this important occasion; and a provision will be made, sufficient
to preserve such objects of charity from want, which is all that is aimed at or desired."