leges of an exhorter were to hold meetings for prayer and exhortation whenever an opportunity arose, to attend all the sessions of the Quarterly Conference and the District Conference of which he was a member, and to be subject to an annual examination of character. An exhorter's license was renewed by the Quarterly or District Conference.

With the coming of the Civil War and the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the work of the exhorter continued in both the Northern and Southern churches. The following is an excerpt from the 1887 Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South:

SECTION XIII OF EXHORTERS.

¶ 83. Question 1. What directions are given concerning the licensing of persons to exhort?
Answer 1. The Quarterly Conference shall have authority to license proper persons to exhort, and to renew their licenses annually, when, in its judgment, their gifts, grace, and usefulness will warrant it.

Answer 2. No person shall be licensed to exhort without the recommendation of the Church of which he is a member, or of the leaders'-meeting of the charge to which he belongs; nor shall any license be valid unless signed by the President of the Conference.

¶ 84. Question 2. What are the duties of an exhorter?
Answer To hold meetings for prayer and exhortation whenever opportunity is afforded, subject to the direction of the preacher in charge.

¶ 85. Question 3. What further directions are given concerning exhorters?
Answer 1. Let every exhorter diligently exercise the functions of his office, without assuming those of a preacher.
Answer 2. Every exhorter, by virtue of his office, shall be a member of the Quarterly Conference of the charge to which he belongs; but in all other respects he shall be dealt with as a private member of the Church.
Answer 3. When an exhorter removes from one circuit, station, or mission, to another, he shall not be recognized as such, unless he obtain a certificate of his official character from the Presiding Elder of the District, or the preacher to whose charge he belongs at the time of his removal.

The words from the early Disciplines make it clear that the functions of the office were those of "hold[ing] meetings for prayer and exhortation whenever opportunity is afforded, subject to the direction of the preacher in charge." It was also clear that those holding this office were lay members of their local church and were warned not to assume the office of a preacher; the words used were: "Let every exhorter diligently exercise the functions of his office, without assuming those of a preacher."

These exhorters were very important and vital to the westward  move