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the place and precise time at which each meeting of the Council shall begin.

5. They shall provide a suitable form of voucher for the expenditures of the Council, and shall secure a proper auditing of its accounts.

6. They shall prepare a definite program for the Council, choosing a preacher and selecting topics for discussion and persons to prepare and present papers thereon.

7. They shall assign a distinct time, not to be changed except by special vote of the Council, for

(a) The papers appointed to be read before the Council. (b) The commissions appointed by one Council to report at the next, which may present the topics referred to them for discussion or action.

(c) The benevolent societies and theological seminaries.

All other business shall be set for other specified hours, and shall not displace the regular order, except by special vote of the Council.

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1. Special committees appointed to act ad interim, other than the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee, shall be designated as commissions.

2. Commissions are expected to report at the next meeting following their appointment, and no commission other than the Commission on Missions shall continue beyond the next stated meeting of the Council except by special vote of the Council.

3. No commission shall incur expense except as authorized by the Council, or its Executive Committee.

4. Any member in good standing of a Congregational church is eligible for service on any commission, or ad interim committee.

5. Commissions shall choose their own chairmen, but the first named member shall call the first meeting and act as temporary chairman during the organization of the commission.

X.

CONGREGATIONAL NATIONAL SOCIETIES

With the consent of our National Missionary Societies, whose approval is a necessary preliminary, the following

shall define the relation of these societies to the National Council:

The foreign missionary work of the Congregational churches of the United States shall be carried on under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the co-operating Woman's Boards of Missions; and the home missionary work of these churches, for the present under the auspices of the Congregational Home Missionary Society, the American Missionary Association, the Congregational Education Society, the Congregational Church Building Society, and the Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, hereinafter called the Home Societies, and the Woman's Home Missionary Federation.

1. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This Board and the co-operating Woman's Boards shall be the agency of the Congregational churches for the extension of Christ's kingdom abroad.

a. Membership. The voting membership of the American Board shall consist, in addition to the present life members, of two classes of persons. (a) One class shall be composed of the members of the National Council, who shall be deemed nominated as corporate members of the American Board by their election and certification as members of the said National Council, said nominations to be ratified and the persons so named elected by the American Board. Their terms as corporate members of the American Board shall end, in each case, when they cease to be members of the National Council. (b) There may also be chosen by the American Board one hundred and fifty corporate members-at-large. The said one hundred and fifty corporate members-at-large shall be chosen in three equal sections, and so chosen that the term of each section shall be ultimately six years, one section being chosen every second year at the meeting in connection with the meeting of the National Council. No new voting members, other than herein provided, shall be created.

b. Officers and Committees. The officers and committees of the American Board shall be such as the Board itself may from time to time determine.

c. Meetings. Regular meetings of the American Board shall

be held annually. That falling in the same year in which the National Council holds its meeting shall be held in connection with the meeting of said Council. Meetings in other years shall be held at such time and place as the Board may determine. Important business, especially such as involves extensive modifications of policy, shall, so far as possible, be reserved for consideration in those meetings held in connection with the meeting of the National Council.

d. Reports. It shall be the duty of the American Board to make a full and accurate report of its condition and work to the National Council at each stated meeting of that body. 2. The Home Societies. These societies, with the Woman's Home Missionary Federation, shall be the agencies of the Congregational churches for the extension of Christ's kingdom in the United States.

a. Membership. The voting membership of the several home societies shall consist, in addition to such existing life members and other members of the society in question as may be regarded as legally necessary, of two classes of

persons.

(a) One class shall be composed of the members of the National Council so long as they remain members of said Council.

(b) There may also be chosen corporate members-at-large by the said societies, in the following numbers, viz.: by the Congregational Home Missionary Society, ninety; by the American Missionary Association, sixty; by the Congregational Church Building Society, thirty; by the Congregational Education Society, eighteen; and by the Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, eighteen. The said corporate members-at-large shall be chosen by each of the said societies in three equal sections and so chosen that the term of each section shall be ultimately six years, one section being chosen every second year at the meeting held in connection with the meeting of the National Council. In this selection one fifth of the said corporate members-atlarge may be chosen from the organizations for the support of Congregational activities affiliated in the Woman's Home Missionary Federation. No new voting members, other than herein provided, shall be created by any society.

b. Officers and Committees. The officers and committees of the several home societies shall be such as the societies themselves may from time to time determine.

c. Meetings. Regular meetings of the Home Societies shall be held annually. Those falling in the same year in which the National Council holds its meeting shall be held in connection with the meeting of said Council. Meetings in other years shall be held at such times and places as the societies themselves may determine. Important business, especially such as involves extensive modifications of policy, shall, so far as possible, be reserved for consideration in those meetings held in connection with the meeting of the National Council.

d. Reports. It shall be the duty of each of the Home Societies to make a full and accurate report of its condition and work to the National Council at each stated meeting of that body.

XI. THE COMMISSION ON MISSIONS

1. On nomination by the standing committee on Nominations, the National Council shall elect fourteen persons, and on nomination by the several national societies, home and foreign, shall also elect one person from each society, and on similar nomination one each from the whole body of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions and from the Woman's Home Missionary Federation; who, together with the Secretary of the National Council ex officio, shall constitute a Commission on Missions.

2. Members. The members of the Commission on Missions shall be divided as nearly as possible into two equal sections in such manner that the term of each section shall be ultimately four years and the term of one section shall expire at each biennial meeting of the Council. In these choices due consideration shall be given to convenience of meeting, as well as to the geographical representation of the churches. No member except the Secretary of the National Council, whether nominated by the Standing Committee on Nominations of the National Council or by the societies, who has served on said Commission for two full successive terms of four years each, shall be eligible for reëlection until

after two years shall have passed. Unpaid officers of any of the missionary societies of the churches shall be eligible to this Commission, but no paid officer or employee of a missionary society shall be eligible. The Commission shall choose its own chairman, and have power to fill any vacancy in its own number until the next stated meeting of the Council.

3. Duties. While the Commission on Missions shall not be charged with the details of the administration of the several missionary societies, it shall be its duty to consider the work of the home and foreign societies above named, to prevent duplication of missionary activities, to effect all possible economies in administration, and to seek to correlate the work of the several societies so as to secure the maximum of efficiency with the minimum of expense. It shall have the right to examine the annual budgets of the several societies and have access to their books and records. It may freely give its advice to the said societies regarding problems involved in their work, and it shall make recommendations to the several societies when, in its judgment, their work can be made more efficient or economical. It shall make report of its action to the National Council at each stated meeting of that body, and present to said Council such recommendations as it may deem wise for the furtherance of the efficiency and economical administration of the several societies. In view of the evident conviction of a large portion of the churches that the multiplicity of the Congregational Home Societies is not consistent with the greatest economy and efficiency, the Commission on Missions shall examine present conditions and shall recommend to the National Council such simplification or consolidation as shall seem expe

dient.

4. Expenses. The members of the Commission on Missions shall serve without salary: The necessary expenses of the Commission shall be paid from the treasury of the National Council, and said Council may limit the amount of expense which may be incurred in any year. All bills for payment shall be certified by the chairman of the Commission.

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