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two o'clock. One gentle sigh his fetters broke, leaving a countenance sweetly placid, without any wrinkle or indication of age or suffering."

Thus far our correspondent. On the following Tuesday, November 14th, the remains of this faithful minister of Christ were interred in the cemetery, Old Bath Road. The Rev. Mr. Crisp conducted the funeral solemnities, and the sabbath evening following, the Rev. G. H. Davis improved the event from the words, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," Matt. xxv. 21. Sermons were also preached on the occasion at Chipping Norton, Northampton, and Bideford, to the congregations over which he had been pastor, the large attendance in each place showing with what affection | his memory was still cherished.

Few ministers who have "fulfilled their course" for half a century, have maintained a more blameless reputation than the one whose life we have thus imperfectly sketched. It may be said of him that he had a good report of all, and was most esteemed where best known. Alive to the importance of purity of conduct, he was a partaker of the wis

dom which delights also in peace, to which he would sometimes sacrifice his own just rights and consideration. As a friend he was faithful and sympathizing; as a pastor, diligent and affectionate, ever ready to attend at the bed-side of the poorest of his flock. Those who knew him intimately in private life rejoiced to observe in his later years, a softening of character, which added much both to his own happiness and that of others. That he was a man of prayer none could doubt who heard him pray; nor less that he was a constant student of the scriptures. It was his practice, during the earlier period of his ministry, to read the Greek Testament through every year. On religious subjects he was usually reserved as to any details of personal feeling, on which account the communications he was led to make in his last illness, a few of which we have above recorded, were the more grateful. Spared so long to live and labour for his Master, who can deem his removal immature? "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION.

As the constitution of our own Baptist Missionary Society is likely to undergo discussion with a view to its amendment, it may be agreeable to many readers of the Baptist Magazine to have at hand the organization adopted by our American brethren when they remodelled their Missionary Association about three years ago. The history of the modifications it had undergone was given officially in a report presented last year in the following terms :

"Twenty-seven years since, the Baptist General Convention was chartered.

Of its founders many are now at rest. The interval elapsed is the ordinary life-time of a generation. That period seems to many, perhaps, time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. A course or system of that date is to some clothed with the authority of an antiquity immemorial and uncontrovertible. Yet were our fathers who founded that most honoured and useful body to return to our earth, and to resume the unfinished tasks they bequeathed us there, we see no reason to suppose that they would have framed in

1848, with the benefits of the experi- | the wise and due despatch of their apence of a quarter of a century, the propriate business. It became, howsame system which, comparatively in- ever, a growing and a general conviction, experienced, they adopted in 1821. in the body itself and in our churches, The convention was composed of dele- that this was not the proper employgates or representatives (for the consti- ment of the convention, and that to tution uses either term), made such by local or specific agencies they might the payment, annually to be renewed, more wisely commit other objects, and of one hundred dollars. These dele- concentrate their own cares and coungates represented either individuals, or sels on the single theme of foreign churches, or associations, or voluntary missions. In 1845 an amended constisocieties, or state conventions of our tution was conditionally adopted. In churches. On the same platform, and March, 1846, the legislatures of Pennwith a vote alike weighty, stood the sylvania and Massachusetts passed, on representative who but spoke for him- request of the convention, the acts self singly, and the representative who altering their appellation to that of the assumed to speak for the 20,000 or American Baptist Missionary Union, 70,000 baptists of an entire State. and limiting their objects to the single, Would it not, in any other organiza- but in its singleness vast, field-the tion, have seemed strange representa- diffusion, by missions, of the gospel of tion, thus to give an equal influence to Christ throughout that world of which the solitary township elector, and to he is the rightful and predicted Lord. the senator who rose up in the name of In May of that year, the constitution an embodied State? Here at least was thus already conditionally accepted, and strange inequality. The objects of the by these statutes legally recognized, was convention, again, were multiform and adopted, unconditionally and definitiveill-defined, if not illimitable. In the ly." session of 1826, for instance, the body passed resolutions on home missions and on foreign, on the Sunday-school, and on the tract cause, on books, on the private character of agents, and on colleges. Was it strange that at the same session they found it necessary to protest by solemn resolution against the fears of baptists in the Western States, that the body might attempt to interfere with the independence of the churches? Could, however, such protests, or their own personal principles and rare excellencies of character, have saved the churches ultimately from the inevitable workings of the system? If all these objects came legitimately within their powers, and the appropriate field of their duties, they were virtually a denominational congress; and then a session of one week, or of two weeks even, was not sufficient for

The constitution of the American Baptist Union then established and now in force is as follows:

"OF THE UNION.

"This association shall be styled The American Baptist Missionary Union.

"The single object of this Union shall be to diffuse the knowledge of the religion of Jesus Christ, by means of missions, throughout the world.

"3. This Union shall be composed of life members. All the members of the Baptist General Convention who may be present at the adoption of this Constitution, shall be members for life of the Union. Other persons may be constituted life members by the payment, at one time, of not less than one hundred

dollars.

"4. The Union shall meet annually on the third Thursday of May, or at such other time and at such place as it may appoint. At every ballot a President, two Vice-Presidents, a such annual meeting the Union shall elect by Recording Secretary, and one third of a Board of Managers.

"At a meeting to be held immediately after the adoption of this Constitution, the Union shall elect an entire Board of Managers, consisting of seventy-five persons, at least one third of whom shall not be ministers of the gospel. Said Board shall be elected in three equal classes, the first to go out of office at the first annual meeting; and thus, in regular succession, one-third of the Board shall go out of office at each annual meeting, and their places shall be supplied by a new election. In every case, the members whose term of service shall thus expire, shall be re-eligible.

"5. The President, or in his absence one of the Vice-Presidents, shall preside in all meetings of the Union.

"6. All the officers of the Union and its Board of Managers shall continue to discharge the duties assigned to them respectively, until superseded by a new election.

"7. Special meetings of the Union shall be called by the President, or, in case of his death or absence from the country, by either of the Vice-Presidents, upon application from the Board of Managers.

"OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS.

"8. All members of the Union may attend the meetings of the Board of Managers, and deliberate on all questions, but members of the Board only shall vote.

"9. Immediately after the annual meeting of the Union, the Board of Managers shall meet and elect by ballot a Chairman, a Recording Secretary, an Executive Committee of nine, not more than five of whom shall be ministers of the gospel, as many Corresponding Secretaries as they may judge to be necessary, a Treasurer, and an Auditing Committee of two who shall not be ministers of the gospel. At this meeting the Board shall determine the salaries of the Corresponding Secretaries and Treasurer, and give such instructions to the Executive Committee as may be necessary to regulate their plans of action for the ensuing year. The Board shall also have power, whenever they think it necessary, to appoint an Assistant Treasurer, and to specify his duties and fix his compensation.

"10. The Board shall meet annually at such place as may have been appointed for the annual meeting of the Union, at least two days previous to such meeting, to hear the reports of the Executive Committee, the Treasurer and the Auditing Committee, and to review with care the proceedings of the past year, the result of which shall be submitted to the Union.

"11. Special meetings of the Board may be called by the Executive Committee, whenever,

in their judgment, occasion may require. A printed notice of the time, place, and object or objects of such meetings, shall be sent, at least six weeks in anticipation, to every member of the Board.

"12. All officers appointed by the Board shall continue to discharge the duties assigned to them respectively, until superseded by a new election. At all meetings of the Board fifteen shall be a quorum for business.

"OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. "13. The Executive Committee shall hold its meetings at such times and places as they may appoint. A majority of the whole number shall be a quorum for business. The Corresponding Secretaries and Treasurer shall not be members of the Committee, but they shall attend its meetings, and communicate any information in their possession pertaining to their respective departments, and aid the Committee in its deliberations. The Committee shall have power to appoint its own Chairman and Recording Secretary, and to fill any vacancy that may occur in their own number.

"14. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to carry into effect all the orders of the Board of Managers; to designate, by advice of the Board, the places where missions shall be attempted, and to establish and superintend the same; to appoint, instruct, and direct all the missionaries of the Board, and to fix their compensation; to direct the Corresponding Secretaries and Treasurer in the discharge of their duties; to make all appropriations to be paid out of the treasury; to appoint agents for the collection of funds, and to prescribe their duties and arrange their compensation; and in general to perform all duties necessary to promote the object of the Union, provided the same be not contrary to this Constitution or the instructions of the Board of Managers.

"15. The Executive Committee shall present to the Board of Managers at its annual meeting a report containing a full account of their doings during the preceding year, of the condition and prospects of every missionary station, of their plans for the enlargement or contraction of their sphere of operations, and in general giving all such information as will enable the Board to decide correctly respecting the various subjects on which it is their duty, as the agents of the Union, to form or express an opinion.

"16. The Executive Committee shall have power, by a vote of two-thirds of the whole number, to remove, for sufficient cause, any Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, Auditing Committee, or Missionary, and to appoint

others in their places, being always responsible | give a written certificate of the result to be
for such exercise of their power to the Board of entered upon the records of the Board of
Managers.
Managers.

"17. In case of the death or resignation of a Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, or member of the Auditing Committee, the Executive Committee shall have power to supply the vacancy until the next meeting of the Board of Managers.

"OF THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARIES. "18. The Corresponding Secretaries shall conduct the correspondence of the Board and of the Executive Committee, excepting such as shall relate to the Treasurer's department, and perform such other duties as the Board or the Executive Committee may from time to time require. They shall preserve copies of all their official correspondence, which shall at all times be accessible to any member of the Board or of the Executive Committee.

"OF THE TREASURER.

"19. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to take charge of all moneys and other property contributed to the Treasury of the Union, and to give receipts thereof; to keep safely all the moneys and funds of the Union, and all their evidences of property; to keep fair and accurate accounts of all moneys received and expended; to invest and deposit moneys, and make payments and remittances according to the directions of the Executive Committee; to exhibit his books, accounts, vouchers, and evidences of property, whenever required, to the Board or to the Executive and Auditing Committees; to make out an annual statement of receipts and payments, and of the condition of the permanent funds and other property, for the information of the Board of Managers; and to perform such other acts as may be necessary to the faithful discharge of the duties of his office.

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OF THE AUDITING COMMITTEE.

“20. The Auditing Committee shall not be members of the Executive Committee, but shall at any time, when requested, attend its meetings to give information respecting the state of the Treasury. It shall be their duty once a month to examine the books of the Treasurer, particularly and thoroughly, with all the vouchers and evidences of property thereto belonging. A certificate of the result of this examination shall be entered upon the books of the Treasurer, and a copy furnished to the Executive Committee to be entered

upon their records. They shall also examine the annual statement of the Treasurer, and

"MISCELLANEOUS.

"21. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Recording Secretary of the Union, the members of the Board of Managers, the Executive Committee, the Corresponding Secretaries, the Treasurer, the Auditing Committee, and all missionaries employed by the Executive Committee, shall be members in good standing of regular baptist churches.

"22. All moneys contributed to the Treasury of the Union shall be expended at the discretion of the Executive Committee, except such as may be appropriated by the Bcard of Managers for the salaries of the Corresponding Secretaries and Treasurer; but moneys or other property given for specified objects shall be appropriated according to the will of the donors, provided such an application shall not be contrary to the provisions of this Constitution, or to the instructions of the Board of Managers, in which case they shall be returned to the donors or their lawful agents.

"23. The Union, the Board of Managers, and the Executive Committee, shall each have power to adopt such By-laws or Rules of Order as may be necessary for the government of their own proceedings, provided always that no such regulations shall contravene any part or principle of this Constitution.

"24. Alterations may be made in this Constitution only upon recommendation by the Board of Managers, and at an annual meeting of the Union, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present."

"The number of members now in the Missionary Union," says the Report for 1848, "constituted such by the payment of one hundred dollars each, is 1,458, of whom 661 have been made members by churches, 354 by associations, conventions, and missionary societies, and 425 by their own contributions or those of their friends. Of the whole number, 91 reside in Maine, 50 in New Hampshire, 33 in Vermont, 325 in Massachusetts, 75 in Rhode Island, 67 in Connecticut, 414 in New York, 50 in New Jersey, 9 in Delaware, 143 in Pennsylvania, 85 in Ohio, 9 in Indiana, 9 in Illinois, 21 in Michigan,

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not embraced in the home field of the Union, and 43 in other countries, nearly all of whom are our missionaries."

3 in Wisconsin, 2 in Iowa, 18 in States | and all possessing in it equal rights and privileges; in another as an autocracy in which Jesus Christ is an uncontrolled sovereign and the only legislator, sufficient, infallible, and eternal.'

This

A modification of the third article latter relation of the church to Jesus that defining the terms of membership Christ as its head, is incompatible with -is now under consideration. The the existence of any legislative body in quarterly publication entitled, "The the church or created by the confederaChristian Review," published at Boston, tion of the churches. Hence representMarch, 1849, contains an article on the ation in the strict sense (the representReport of 1848, which elucidates the ative carrying with him the authority present position of the question. of the church, and his acts being in turn binding upon the church, or in other words investing him with legislative power), is incompatible with our principles as baptists, is unwarranted and anti-christian, inasmuch as it legislates itself into Christ's seat, and assumes the authority to revise his statute book and to enslave his freedmen. But they regard the church as competent to employ for administrative purposes a voluntary organization, to execute its plans for the evangelization of the world. The Missionary Union they regard in this light, as a mere fiscal agent employed by the churches, or individuals of the churches, to collect and transmit their benefactions, but having no authority over the churches, either at home or those planted in foreign lands.

"Among the questions that thus came under discussion, the first was a report of the committee appointed last year on the alteration of the third article of the constitution. This report, through the chairman, Dr. Williams of New York, is an able document, nicely balancing the arguments urged in favour of and against such alteration; stating clearly the difficulties that embarrass the question, and the principles on which its decision must be based; inquiring how far the feeling in favour of such change existed, and finally suggesting the conclusion at which they had arrived. That was to refer the subject directly to the members of the Union, addressing a circular to each in connexion with this report, inquiring whether he is in favour of the following modification of said third article, 'That on the payment of not less than fifty dollars, any church or religious body or individual shall be allowed to appoint an annual member, who shall enjoy for the year all the privileges of a life member. This document is before the public, yet on account of the importance of the subject and the interest it is exciting, a brief review of the positions assumed by the committee as the basis of their decision, may be desirable. The committee look upon the baptist church in one aspect as a pure democracy, none being brought into its membership except by their own act,

"It cannot, without a violation of first principles, be based on the principle of representation (strictly speaking), it cannot, in fine, be an ecclesiastical organization, invested by the churches with legislative authority. They, therefore, make the recommendation to which we have already alluded, guarding it, however, by the distinct disavowal of the principle of representation in the popular and full sense of the term. The annual member thus appointed is to be the delegate of the church, not its representative invested with ecclesiastical authority to act in its stead. Such in brief are the principles laid down in

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