times called upon to do, with regard to the making of bequests, they should not be unmindful of the claims, in many cases unspoken, for help, of those who have reached the end of active service before they have reached the end of life; and that a plea on their behalf is not made for their sake only, but for the sake of the work to which their lives have been devoted. Resolved, That this National Council, recognizing the value of widespread information, bespeak for the representative of its Committee on Ministerial Relief invitations to present the facts and a sympathetic hearing. Respectfully submitted, Rev. H. A. STIMSON. Rev. C. H. RICHARDS. Rev. H. S. BLISS. PAUL BLATCHFORD. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHARTER AND MINISTERIAL RELIEF.1 The committee to which were referred matters relative to Ministers' Relief, viz.: First. The report of Judge Shipman and others relative to amendments to the charter of the trustees of the National Council; Second. The report of the Committee on Ministerial Relief; and Third. The report of the trustees of this Council, submit the following report : The call for this work of ministerial relief throughout the country is increasingly imperative. No backward step should be taken. We would, rather, urge a forward movement, looking to greater efficiency and wider usefulness. The charter held by the trustees of the National Council is broad and comprehensive. It leaves the control of its affairs and of its corporate membership where it should be - in the National Council. The funds held for disabled ministers and their families already amount to about $130,000. Under its charter, the corporation cannot hold property in excess of $300,000. In view of the possible, we might say probable, large increase of this fund by legacies and donations in the not distant future, we recommend that the Trustees endeavor to secure an amendment to their charter increasing the limit of property which they are allowed to hold to not less than $1,000,000. The trustees of this Council, as a corporation, have now no reason for existence except to secure, hold, and distribute relief funds. At the present time the Provisional Committee, created for a temporary and different purpose, are the trustees, ex officio, while the actual work of raising and distributing funds has been entrusted to a committee of ten, who work under instructions and with authority from this Council, but in conflict with the By-Laws of the trustees who are responsible for these funds. If this Council shall select the best agents for this important work and make them trustees, placing all power and responsibility in their hands, then no special committee of ministerial relief will be needed. 1 Page 22. As this corporation is ancillary to the National Council, it seems proper that its Moderator, Secretary, and Treasurer should be trustees ex officio, and that additional trustees should be chosen by the Council to act with them in this work. Your committee, therefore, recommend, First. That fifteen (15) trustees be chosen at each triennial session of the National Council, of whom its Moderator, Secretary, and Treasurer shall be three, who shall together be the corporators under the charter for three years, and until their successors are chosen. Second. That these trustees be instructed to devise and vigorously prosecute the best methods for increasing the permanent funds, the income of which shall be used for ministerial aid, by securing legacies and special donations, while not neglecting the present needs of disabled ministers, and the widows and children of deceased ministers. Third. That such donations and legacies should be specially sought from individuals, and from churches that are self-supporting, rather than from the weaker churches, and that the expenses of administration be reduced to the lowest possible terms consistent with the efficient prosecution of the work. (Moderator, Secretary, and Treasurer of National Council.) The above resolutions were adopted, and the trustees as herein named were duly elected. Attest: JOEL S. IVES, Registrar. Resigned Jan. 14, 1902. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTEEN ON MISSIONARY WORK.1 Our six benevolent societies were organized at different times as necessity seemed to require them. Each of them has its own history and its earnest supporters, and no changes should be hastily suggested with regard to them. The number of members varies from three hundred and fifty in the American Board to several thousand in one or two of the home societies. The relation of these societies to the churches, and to one another, has often been a matter of discussion both among themselves and before the National Council. HISTORICAL. In 1883, after a discussion of one or two years, the constitution of the Home Missionary Society was radically changed. In December of the same year the Committee of Conference between the Home Missionary Society and the American Missionary Association made an adjustment of the differences about their work in the South, which action was afterward indorsed by the National Council. At the National Council in 1889 two committees were appointed one consisting of thirteen, on the Relation of the Benevolent Societies to the Churches, and the other of nine, on the Relation of the Benevolent Societies to one another. The vote appointing this latter committee instructed them to consider whether there could not be some readjustment of work in the home field, so as to bring about more unity and economy of labor. In the Council of 1892 very important reports were made by these two committees. The committee of nine, of which Rev. Dr. James Brand was chairman, made a very conservative report, in which they urged "systematic and constant conference" of the officers of the societies with regard to their work. They then go on to say: "This would naturally lead to co-ordinate plans and concurrent measures which would promote the employment, whenever practicable, of common agents and superintendents. By such conference, moreover, there would naturally come up clearer rela 1 tions and better understanding, and ultimately the federation of the societies as distinguished from organic union." The committee of thirteen made a long and very valuable report, in which they gave six possible plans looking to a readjustment of the societies to one another. The great majority of the committee, however, laid the emphasis on what they called "plan four." They say in this recommendation it "gives two annual meetings—one in the spring for the home work of all sorts, and one in the autumn for foreign work; it insures the unification of the home work so much needed; it presents the legal entity of each society," etc. The committee of the Council, however, to whom this report was referred, felt that the change proposed was too radical, and laid the emphasis of their report upon the necessity of having all our organizations really the representatives of the churches, and recommended that a committee of nine be appointed with this special thought in mind. In the Council of 1895 this last committee made a report which was more positive in its recommendations than any of those which had preceded. Their recommendations were brief, and we submit "First. The general plan of the American Board, upon which it entered three years ago, whereby it invites the various State bodies to nominate candidates for corporate membership. "Second. That our various home societies, at the earliest practicable moment, so far adopt the fourth plan, so called, as to arrange for the holding of our annual meetings at the same place, and within the limits of the same week; that these meetings be so arranged that it shall divide the year with the American Board, so that when the American Board meeting is in the East the home meeting shall be in the West. "Third. That a committee be appointed to confer with the secretaries of the various societies with a view to carrying out the provisions of these recommendations." At this same Council in 1895 a whole day was given to the presentation of the work of the national societies, and an address was made at the request of the secretaries of the six societies by Samuel B. Capen on the "Missionary Obligations of our Churches, and the Reasons for Greater Loyalty in Supporting our Six Congregational Societies." The address closed with a series of resolutions urging greater denominational loyalty, and that each church should |