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surer, though they may not be members, to attend its meetings when requested by the Committee, and assist in its deliberations.

One of the members of the Committee, or some one of the Secretaries of the Board, shall be appointed clerk of the Committee, who shall keep a full record of their doings, and sign all their official acts. The records above described shall be always open to the inspection of the Board.

It shall be the duty of the Prudential Committee to carry into effect all resolutions and orders of the Board, the execution of which shall not have been assigned to some other committee;— to cause the more inviting fields for missionary enterprize to be explored, if necessary;-to appoint the places where missions shall be attempted, and determine the scale upon which they shall be conducted, and superintend them;-to appoint, instruct, and direct all the missionaries of the Board;-to prescribe where the Treasurer shall deposit the monies of the Board, and the times and modes of investments and remittances;-to draw orders authorizing the payment of monies from the Treasury;—to ascertain the state of the Treasury at least twice a year, and as much oftener as they see cause ;-to appoint agents at home and abroad, with such powers and duties as they may think are demanded by the best interests of missions;-and, generally, to perform all duties necessary, in their opinion, to promote the objects of the Board; provided the same shall not be contrary to any resolution or byelaw of the Board, nor to the Act of Incorporation. They shall annually elect a chairman and clerk, the former of whom shall keep the bond of the Treasurer.

The Committee shall prepare their annual Report in such form, that, after presenting it to the Board, the different leading parts of it may be referred to different committees, and thus the whole Report be brought under the distinct consideration of the Board, previous to its acceptance. They shall also cause to be printed, in connection with their annual Report, an abstract of the Treasurer's accounts, and such other documents as they judge proper to be included in that publication.

4. The number of Secretaries shall be determined by the Board, from time to time, in view of the exigencies of its affairs.

The Recording Secretary shall keep accurate minutes of the proceedings of the Board, and enter the same in a book of Records, and certify all such doings of the Board as are to be known only by an inspection of the Records.

The other Secretaries shall act as the organs of the Board in conducting its written correspondence, both foreign and domestic, except what relates immediately to the Treasurer's department, and they shall prepare and edit its official publications, and perform such other duties as the Board or the Prudential Committee shall particularly direct; dividing the appropriate labors of their department among themselves, under the advice and direction of the Prudential Committee.

5. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to take the charge of all monies paid into the Treasury of the Board, and to give receipts therefor;-to keep safely all the funds and monies of the Board, and all notes, bonds, deeds, and other evidences of property;-to keep fair and accurate accounts of all monies received and expended; to make out annually a statement of receipts and payments, and of the condition of the several permanent funds, for the information of the Board;-to invest and deposit monies and make remittances and payments, according to the direction of the Board, or of the Prudential Committee;-to exhibit his books, accounts, vouchers, and evidences of property, whenever required, to the Board or the Prudential Committee;-to conduct the correspondence relating immediately to his department; and perform such other acts as are necessary to the faithful execution of the duties of his office.

6. It shall be the duty of the Auditors to examine the books of the Treasurer thoroughly and particularly, at least once a year; and, if they shall find the accounts correctly kept and accurately cast, the payments well vouched, the balance satisfactorily stated and accounted for, and the evidences of property duly exhibited, to give their certificate accordingly; which certificate they shall enter at large in the Treasurer's books, and transmit or deposit a duplicate thereof with the Recording Secretary, to be by him entered in his book of records.

7. In addition to the officers above named, there shall be a certain number of General Agents, appointed by the Prudential Committee for particular districts of country; whose duty it shall be, within their respective fields, to co-operate with the agents of other societies, with the pastors of churches, with ecclesiastical bodies, with the officers of the Board and its auxiliaries, and with other friends of missions, in promoting a missionary spirit, and in drawing out the resources of the Christian community, for the speedy promulgation of the gospel through the world. The General Agents shall be entitled to the privileges of honorary members of the Board.

IV. MEETINGS OF THE BOARD.

1. There shall be an annual meeting of the Board, the time and place of which shall be fixed by vote at the annual meeting next preceding. Three members shall form a quorum for adjourning or dissolving the meeting, and five to transact business.

2. If, in the opinion of the Prudential Committee, it shall at any time be dangerous to the health of the members of the Board, or on any other account highly inexpedient, to meet at the place appointed for any annual meeting, the Prudential Committee are authorized to appoint some other place for such meeting, by sending a notice of such change to at least six of the religious newspapers, published in different parts of the country, and also a printed notice to each corporate member of the Board.

3. The meeting shall be continued from day to day until all the business before it has received attention. No member, who shall be present at any meeting, shall consider himself at liberty to leave, until he shall have applied to the Board and obtained permission; and members, who may consider it necessary to be absent during any part of a session, shall be expected to give as early notice as possible of their contemplated absence.

4. The successive daily sessions shall each be opened with prayer.

5.

Committees may be selected from each of the three classes

of members.

6. There shall be an annual sermon preached before the Board by a person appointed at the previous meeting. A second preacher shall be appointed to preach in case of his failure, who shall be first on the list of candidates for preachers at the succeeding anniversary. Should both be prevented from preaching, the Prudential Committee are authorized to procure a preacher.

7. Each corporate member of the Board, who shall apply to the Treasurer for the same, shall be allowed twenty cents a mile for travelling expences, in attending any annual meeting of the Board, reckoning the distance only one way, and the usual route from his place of residence to the place of meeting; provided, that no one shall receive payment for more than two hundred miles.*

8. In case of an adjourned meeting, the Recording Secretary shall give suitable notice of the same in the religious newspapers. 9. It shall be the duty of the President, or in case of his death, or inability, of the Vice President, to cause a special meeting to be called, through the Recording Secretary or one of the other Secretaries, on the written application of the Prudential Committee, or any seven other members of the Board. The time of holding the meeting shall be such, as the officer who calls the meeting shall appoint, and the place, that at which the next annual meeting is appointed to be held. On receiving an application as above described, the officer to whom the same is directed shall cause a seasonable notice of the time and place of meeting to be sent to each member, and also cause a notice of the same to be inserted in at least six of the religious newspapers published in different parts of the country.

* This is one of the old bye-laws of the Board. The design is to place it within the power of those members, who are unable to pay their travelling expenses, to attend the annual meeting from year to year. It is understood that no one will receive a greater sum, than the amount of his actual expenses in going to and returning from the meeting. The utility of this regulation is seen in the fact that members, who otherwise could not have been present when the sessions were remote from their places of residence, have been enabled to attend the meetings, with few interruptions, for many successive years. The greater part of the members, even of those who make it a rule to attend every meeting, receive nothing in return for their travelling expenses.

V. MISSIONARIES OF THE BOARD, AND THEIR WIDOWS AND

CHILDREN.

1. Every person received by the Prudential Committee as a candidate for missionary service, is expected to hold himself at the direction of the Committee, both in respect to the field of his future labors, and the time of his going forth; it being understood, however, that his inclination, as well as his particular qualifications and other circumstances, shall be kindly and attentively considered.

2. Applications for employment as missionaries or assistant missionaries, must be made to the Prudential Committee, who shall carefully inquire into the character and qualifications of the applicants, whether males or females, before taking them under the patronage of the Board. In special cases, they are authorized to spend money in preparing the candidate more fully for the service assigned him.

3. A missionary is one, who has been ordained a minister of the gospel, and is actually under the direction of the Board. All others, whether licensed preachers, physicians, schoolmasters, printers, etc. are assistant missionaries, but, in the Reports of the Prudential Committee, shall generally be designated by their specific occupations.

4. Whenever any missionary or assistant missionary has, in the judgment of the Prudential Committee, violated the instructions given him, whether before or after entering the field of his missionary labors, or has failed to perform any duty reasonably required of him, they are authorized to dismiss him, in case they deem it expedient, from the service of the Board. In all cases, however, where the missionary or assistant missionary has actually been named in any of the official publications of the Board, as having been received under its patronage and direction, the individual so dismissed shall have the privilege of submitting his case to the revision of the Board, at an annual meeting.

5. No missionary or assistant missionary of the Board shall engage in any business or transaction whatever for the sake of private gain; nor shall any one engage in transactions or employments yielding pecuniary profit, without first obtaining the consent of his brethren in the mission; and the profits, in all such cases, shall be placed at the disposal of the mission.

6. The missionaries and assistant missionaries are regarded as having an equitable claim upon the churches, in whose behalf they go among the heathen, for an economical support, while performing their missionary labors; and it shall be the duty of the Board to see that a fair and equitable allowance is made to them, taking into view their actual circumstances in the several countries where they reside.

7. It shall be the duty of the Board to provide for the support of superannuated and infirm missionaries and assistant missionaries, in such manner as shall best comport with the missionary character; it being always understood, that persons who are supported by missionary funds, are bound to do all in their power to promote the cause in which they are engaged, while employed in missionary service; and when providentially thrown out of that service, they are bound to do what they can to support themselves. In all appropriations to this class of persons, the Prudential Committee shall act according to the circumstances of each case until a regular and permanent system shall be adopted by the Board, and shall have a strict regard to economy.

8. A separate fund shall be established for the support of disabled missionaries and assistant missionaries and for the widows and children of missionaries and assistant missionaries;-to be constituted in the following manner:

(1.) By donations from missionaries and assistant missionaries on their entering upon missionary service; which donations shall be preserved and invested by the Board in the most prudent manner, and shall be reserved for the use, in the first instance, of the donors themselves and their families, should need require, but if not required for the donors and their families, they shall form part of a permanent fund the interest of which alone shall be applied to the purposes here contemplated.

(2.) By donations and legacies, which shall be given for this specific object.

(3.) By occasional grants, when necessary, from the general treasury of the Board.

9. The Board will not object to sending the children of any missionary or assistant missionary to the United States, whose friends shall pay the expense of the passage, and make suitable provision for the support and education of the children in this country.

10. In case children are left without either parent, and there is no missionary family, or Christian friend, or guardian, by whom such children could be well taken care of in the mission, the Board will then authorize the removal of the children to this country.

11. The allowances made on account of the children of living missionaries or assistant missionaries in the service of the Board, wherever the children may be educated, shall be charged to the mission to which the parents belong.

12. The allowance made on account of orphan children shall, in all ordinary cases, be charged to the mission to which the parents belonged at the time of their decease.

13. To children who shall hereafter be sent to this country without charge to the Board, the Prudential Committee may make

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