A resolution was adopted to the effect that any preacher who wilfully absented himself from these gatherings, designed especially for his mental and moral improvement, should be left without work until all others had been employed. This policy was drastic, to be sure, but in the end it proved a blessing to our ministry. Much of the clerical material we had on hand was exceedingly raw, but genuine, nevertheless, and susceptible of being wrought into a highly-finished and useful product. One young brother affirmed, publicly, that the crucifixion occurred seventy years before the flood; another, in preaching on Daniel in the lion’s den, said he didn’t know how he got to Babylon unless he had been shipwrecked. Both of these were good men, and one of them proved very successful as an itinerant. Cases of such dense ignorance were rare, of course, but to such brethren the institute was of incalculable value, as history, geography, chronology, and other features of biblical study were made a specially. But let no one be deceived into thinking that all, or a majority were illiterates. Far from it Some were giants in the pulpit, and were heard with gladness by the multitudes. One after another, other conferences took up the institute idea, until it prevails to-day in one form or another in nearly all the conferences, and no doubt will remain a permanent fixture in the methods of the Church. The plan is a good one, and commends itself especially to young men who are striving for self-improvement in the pulpit, and along lines of practical work. However, before the institute should come the _college_ and _seminary_. At a time like the present, when money is abundant, and the beneficiary aid of the church may be drawn upon, every one looking toward the ministry should seek and secure the help proffered by these great institutions. The character and mission of any denomination depend upon the type of its preachers. The United Brethren Church is no exception to this rule.