22. The delegates, who the preceding year attended the meetings of foreign bodies, shall, ex officio, have seats as honorary members of the General Association,

23. A committee of three shall be annually appointed, to submit to the General Association at the next meeting, a pastoral address, to excite the attention of ministers and christians, to faithful discipline in the churches, the instruction of the rising generation, the sanctification of the sabbath, and other subjects relating to the general interests of religion. The address being approved by the General Association, shall be signed by the moderator, and printed with the minutes. This committee shall be chosen from the several associations in rotation.

24. The associational sermon shall be delivered at two o'clock, Thursday, P. M., after which the sacrament of the Lord's Supper shall be administered. The narratives given by the delegates of the several associations concerning the state of religion and the churches, shall be given on Wednesday afternoon, and shall be presented in writing, with a view to obtain an accurate account of the principal facts, not, however, to prevent any more particular details which the delegates may think expedient to add, or the association to request. The returns, with respect to the number in the churches, etc., shall be made out according to a printed schedule of this body, and according to the numbers on the first of January past.

25 A committee shall be appointed to receive the narratives, and statements, and shall condense them into a narrative, to be submitted to the General Association and published. The written narratives shall be deposited with the secretary.

26. A committee shall be appointed to nominate delegates to foreign bodies, which delegates shall, as far as practicable, be selected from the district associations in rotation. The brethren chosen substitutes in the delegations to the several bodies in our connection, shall, at our next session be considered as delegates to the respective bodies, if they shall not previously have taken their seats there, through the failure of their principals.

27. The secretary shall be chosen for three years, from the close of the meeting at which the choice shall be made. He shall, ex officio, be the treasurer of the General Association; and shall be allowed his own travelling expenses in attending the meetings of this association. A committee shall be appointed annually, to audit the accounts, who shall report the state of the treasury, and the sum, in their opinion, necessary to be paid the next year by the members of the several associations connected with this body. The secretary shall be authorized to pay such expenses as are allowed by this association.

28. It shall be the duty of the delegates of the district associations, to pay the amount of the assessments due from their

respective associations for the past year, whether collected by them or not.

29. A publishing committee shall be annually appointed, to make such extracts from the minutes of the meeting, as, in their judgment, it will be proper to publish; procure to be printed such number of copies with the pastoral address and narrative of the state of religion, as will give one copy to each minister of the association represented in this body; and such a number of copies for other bodies connected with this association, as shall be mutually agreed upon. It shall be the duty of the secretary to receive the publications from foreign bodies, and distribute them among the several associations, in proportion to the tax paid by them respectively. One copy of each publication, received by the General Association, or printed by its order, shall be kept in the archives.

30. An agent shall be appointed in Boston to transmit the extracts of the minutes of this General Association to other ecclesiastical bodies, and to receive their extracts or other publications, and transmit them to the several district associations represented in this body. And notice of his appointment and place of business, shall be inserted in the printed extracts. He shall be entitled to a suitable compensation.

31. It shall be the duty of the secretary to communicate proper information to the agent in Boston, and to the publishing committee, for their directions.

32. Previously to the close of each meeting, the General Association shall specify a place for meeting the next year, and request some district association to appoint a preacher to deliver the associational sermon. And the church of the place of meeting is desired to make preparations to celebrate the Lord's Supper during the session.

33. A vote or resolve to establish, alter, or annul a standing rule of this body, shall be read twice on different days, and may be debated at each reading. At the first reading the question shall be, Shall it be read a second time?

BY-LAWS.

1. An annual sermon shall be preached before the association, on the subject of home missions, and a collection taken. The preacher shall be appointed by this body.

2. No report of the state of religion shall be read in public, unless it be approved by the association from which it comes, or by the committee of arrangements of the General Association.

3. It is recommended to the several district associations, to have their narratives on the state of religion, condensed, so as not to exceed five minutes in the time of reading.

4. The printed minutes of this association, shall be sufficient testimonials of the appointment of delegates to foreign bodies.

5. It shall be the duty of each primary delegate to any foreign body, to notify the secretary of this association, at, or before, the opening of the annual meeting next after his appointment, of his attendance upon the duty assigned him; and until such notification he made, or an acceptable reason be assigned for his nonattendance, he shall be ineligible as a delegate to any foreign body.

6. It shall be the duty of each delegate to any foreign body appointed as a substitute, to notify the secretary of this associ ation, at, or before, the opening of its annual meeting next after his appointment, of his attendance, or non-attendance as such delegate, and until such notification be made, he shall be ineligible to the same body.

7. The minutes of this association shall be sent to the individual members of the associations connected with this body by mail, and the chairman of the committee of publication, shall furnish a list of the names required to the agents of the association.

8. The minutes of this body, forwarded to the General Association of Connecticut, shall be, according to their request, sent by mail, under the direction of the publishing committee.

9. The names of all the members of the associations belonging to this body, whether with or without charge, shall be inserted in the published returns.

10. Every church without a pastor, by paying twenty-five cents, annually, to the treasurer of the General Association, through the treasurer of the local association, with which said church is connected, shall be entitled to receive the minutes of the General Association, to be forwarded in the same way as minutes are forwarded to members of the association.

GENERAL CONVENTION

OF

VERMONT.

IN 1795, a meeting of delegates from the several bodies of ministers in the state of Vermont, was held at Hanover, New Hampshire, in connection with the annual commencement at Dartmouth college, and a general convention was agreed upon, to consist of delegates from associations and presbyteries. The first meeting of "The General Convention of Congregational and Presbyterian Ministers in Vermont," was accordingly held at Rockingham, June 21, 1796.

The convention now includes thirteen associations, and about two hundred ministers.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF CONGREGATIONAL MINISTERS AND CHURCHES IN VERMONT.

ART. 1. THE principal objects of the General Convention of Congregational Ministers and Churches in Vermont, shall be to promote brotherly intercourse and harmony; to yield mutual assistance, and excite in each other the spirit of Christian fervor; to learn the state and recommend measures for the welfare of the churches; to obtain religious information respecting the Christian church in this country and through the world; and to co-operate with other similar institutions in building up the cause of the great Redeemer.

ART. 2. The General Convention receive as articles of faith the doctrines of Christianity as they are generally expressed in the

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Assembly's Shorter Catechism. These doctrines are understood by us to be those, which from the beginning have been generally embraced by the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in New England, and especially, in Vermont.

ART. 3. Every association, presbytery, county conference, or consociation, in Vermont, or partly in Vermont, which receives the doctrines above specified, as the christian faith, is entitled to send two delegates to the convention; but no county or district, shall ever be represented by both a consociation and a conference. Each association consisting of eight or more ordained ministers may send three members.

ART. 4. The convention shall annually choose, by ballot or orally, a moderator, scribe, and assistant scribe. There shall also be a register, to continue in office during the pleasure of the convention, whose duty it shall be to attend all the meetings of the convention, to record the minutes transmitted to him by the scribes, and to act as treasurer. The register, the preachers and the minister, or brother, at whose house the convention meet, shall be members.

ART. 5. The annual meeting of the convention shall be holden on the second Tuesday of September, at 2 o'clock, P. M.

ART. 6. The preceding articles shall not be subject to alteration without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present at an annual meeting.

BY-LAWS

AND PERMANENT REGULATIONS OF THE GENERAL
CONVENTION.

1. THE Convention propose, that in ordinary cases the following should be the course of exercises, at their future anniversaries. Tuesday, 2 o'clock, P. M. convention sermon,-the object of which shall be to promote pastoral fidelity and to urge on the churches the importance of being actively devoted to the divine service and the promotion of religion; in the evening an exercise to promote Sabbath Schools: Wednesday, at 2 o'clock, P. M., narratives on the state of religion; in the evening, Reports of the Education Society, with addresses: Thursday, half past 9 o'clock, A. M., Reports of the Missionary Society, with address, and contribution; at 2 o'clock P. M. a communion sermon and the administration of the Lord's Supper; in the evening, religious exercises.

2. The associations shall be entered on the records and on the roll in the following order, which is to be observed when they are enumerated in transacting business :-Windham, Pawlet.