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OF THE

AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.

ARTICLE I.

THIS Society shall be known by the name of the AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, of which the sole object shall be to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment. The only copies in the English language, to be circulated by the Society, shall be of the version now in common use.

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This Society shall aod its endeavors to those employed by other societies, for circulating the Scriptures throughout the United States and their Territories; and shall furnish them with stereotype plates, or such other assistance as circumstances may require. This Society shall also, according to its ability, extend its influence to other countries, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan.

ARTICLE III.

All Bible societies shall be allowed to purchase, at cost, from this Society, Bibles for distribution within their own districts; and the officers of all such Bible societies as shall hereafter agree to place their surplus revenue, after supplying their own districts with the Bible, at the disposal of this Society, shall be entitled to vote in all meetings of the Society.

ARTICLE IV.

Each subscriber of three dollars annually shall be a member.

ARTICLE V.

Each subscriber of thirty dollars at one time shall be a member for life.

ARTICLE VI.

Each subscriber of one hundred and fifty dollars at one time, or who shall, by one additional payment, increase his original subscription to one hundred and fifty dollars, shall be a director for life; but he shall not be such director when he is in receipt of any salary, emolument, or compensation for services, from the Society.

ARTICLE VII.

Directors shall be entitled to attend and speak, and if constituted Directors before June 1, 1877, shall be entitled to vote at all meetings of the Board of Managers.

ARTICLE VIII.

A Board of Managers shall be appointed to conduct the business of the Society, consisting of thirty-six laymen, of whom twenty-four shall reside in the city of New York or its vicinity. One fourth part of the whole number shall go out of office at the expiration of each year, but shall be re-eligible.

Every Minister of the Gospel, who is a member for life of the Society, if he be not entitled to receive any salary, emolument, or compensation for services, from the Society, shall be entitled to meet and vote with the Board of Managers, and be possessed of the same powers as a Manager himself.

The Managers shall appoint all officers, and call special general meetings, and fill such vacancies as may occur, by death or otherwise, in their own Board.

ARTICLE IX.

Each member of the Society shall be entitled, under the direction of the Board of Managers, to purchase Bibles and Testaments at the Society's prices, which shall be as low as possible.

ARTICLE X.

The annual meetings of the Society shall be held at New York or Philadelphia, at the option of the Society, on the second Thursday of May, in each year; when the Managers shall be chosen, the accounts presented, and the proceedings of the foregoing year reported.

ARTICLE XI.

The President and Vice-Presidents, for the time being, shall be considered, ex-officio, members of the Board of Managers. The Treasurer, General Agent, and Secretaries, shall, in addition to their other duties, attend meetings of the Board, and of the Committees thereof, to render such aid in imparting information, recording and reading proceedings and minutes, and in preparing reports, as may be required of them.

ARTICLE XII.

At the general meetings of the Society, and the meetings of the Managers, the President, or, in his absence, the Vice-President first on the list then present, and in the absence of all the Vice-Presidents, such member as shall be appointed for that purpose, shall preside at the meeting.

ARTICLE XIII.

The Managers shall meet on the first Thursday in each month, or oftener if necessary, at such place in the city of New York as they shall from time to time adjourn to.

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The Managers shall have the power of appointing such persons as have rendered essential services to the Society, either members for life, or directors for life.

ARTICLE XV.

The whole minutes of every meeting shall be signed by the Chairman.

ARTICLE XVI.

No alteration shall be made in this Constitution, except by the Society at an annual meeting, on the recommendation of the Board of Managers.

ARTICLE XVII.

The President, or, in his absence, the Vice-President first on the list in the city of New York may, and on the written request of six members of the Board, shall call a special meeting of the Board of Managers, giving three days' notice of such meeting, and of its object.

ARTICLE XVIII.

The Board of Managers may admit to the privileges of an Auxiliary any society which was organized, and had commenced the printing, publication, and issuing of the Sacred Scriptures before the establishment of this Society, with such relaxation of the terms of admission heretofore prescribed, as the said Board, two thirds of the members present consenting, may think proper.

Notices to Auxiliaries.

The officers of Auxiliary Societies are requested to forward their annual reports to the Parent Society promptly. Blank forms will be furnished for this purpose on application.

Whenever a new society is organized, notice of the event should be given immediately to the Parent Society, so that it may be recognized. The names of its officers and their post-office addresses should also be given.

No Society can be considered as having become auxiliary, until it shall have offi_ cially communicated to the Parent Society that its sole object is to promote the circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment; and that it will place its surplus revenue, after supplying its own district with the Scriptures, at the disposal of the American Bible Society, as long as it shall remain thus connected with it.

Correspondence, Etc.

Letters relating to the general work of the Society in the United States or foreign lands, and requests for grants of books for distribution at home or abroad, and communications for the Bible Society Record, should be addressed to "The Secretaries of the American Bible Society, Bible House, Astor Place, New York."

Letters transmitting funds, and those relating to accounts, fiscal reports, Life Memberships, and Legacies, should be addressed to "The Treasurer of the American Bible Society, Bible House, Astor Place, New York.”

Orders for Bibles and Testaments, the Bible Society Record, etc., and letters in reference to the transmission of the same, should be addressed to "The General Agent of the American Bible Society, Bible House, Astor Place, New York."

The Board of Managers beg leave to state that it is necessary that orders for books should be accompanied WITH PAYMENT, it being understood that the moneys are usually collected by societies previous to their purchasing books.

CONSTITUTION OF AN AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY.

ARTICLE 1. This Society shall be called the Bible Society of Auxiliary to the American Bible Society.

ART. 2. The object of the Society shall be to promote the circulation of the Holy Scriptures "without note or comment," and, in English, those of the commonly received version.

ART. 3. All persons contributing any sum to its funds shall be members for one year; those contributing one dollar or more shall receive (if called for within twelve months) a common Bible in return; those contributing fifteen dollars at one time, or twenty dollars at two payments, shall be members for life.

ART. 4. All funds, not wanted for circulating the Scriptures within the Society's own limits, shall be paid over annually to the Parent Society, to aid distributions among the destitute in other parts of the country and in foreign lands.

ART. 5. The officers of the Society shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, whose duties shall be such as their respective titles import. ART. 6. The management of the Society shall be intrusted to an Executive Committee of five (or seven, including the Secretary and Treasurer), which shall appoint its own Chairman, and make its own By-Laws.

ART. 7. It shall be the duty of this Committee to meet frequently on adjournment or on call of the Chairman; to keep a good supply of books on hand; to appoint loca distributers; to see that collections, in some way, are made annually in every congregation; and that all funds are forwarded early to the Parent Society, with a statement as to the portion designed for the payment of books, and that as a free donation. ART. 8. There shall be a general meeting of the Society on of each year, when a full report of their doings shall be presented by the Committee (a copy of which shall be furnished to the Parent Society), and when a new election of Officers and Committee shall take place. Should the Society fail of an annual meeting, the same Officers and Committee shall be continued until an election does occur.

ART. 9. Any Branch Society, or Bible Committee, formed within the bounds of this Auxiliary, by paying over its funds annually, shall receive Bibles and Testaments at cost prices.

ART. 10. No alteration shall be made in this Constitution, except at an annual meeting, and by consent of two thirds of the members present.

BRANCH SOCIETY.

In many parts of the country, counties are divided into separate townships, each of which, should it be deemed advisable, can form a small Branch Bible Society, in connection with the County Auxiliary. It can adopt a Constitution like the one above, with such alterations as the difference of circumstances will suggest. The Branch should collect its moneys annually, and pay them over to the County Auxiliary some weeks previous to its anniversary. All needed books can be procured through the Auxiliary, and kept in a convenient depository. Sometimes a single congregation can resolve itself into a Branch Bible Society, or appoint a Bible Committee of three, who shall collect and forward money, and receive books through the County Society.

Form of a Bequest to the Society.

I GIVE and bequeath to the American Bible Society, formed in New York in the year eighteen hundred and sixteen, the sum of to be applied to the charitable uses and purposes of said Society.

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Meetings of the Board and of the Society.

The BOARD OF MANAGERS meet regularly at the Bible Society's House, Astor Place, in the city of New York, on the first Thursday of every month, at half past three o'clock, P.M., and oftener, as business may require, on adjournment, or in special meeting.

The Annual Meeting of the Society is held on the second Thursday in May, at the Society's House, in New York.

Specimens of the Types of the Society's Bibles and Testaments.

GREAT PRIMER.

the world, that he For God so loved gave his only begot

SMALL PICA.
For God so loved the world,
Son, that whosoever believeth
that he gave his only begotten

in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son in

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should

ten Son, that whoso-to the world to condemn the not perish, but have everlasting to th

[Imperial Quarto Bible in this type.]

ENGLISH.

world;

For God sent not his Son into the world to con

but that the world derun the world; but that the world through him

BOURGEOIS.

AGATE.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only beperish, but have everlasting life.

For God so loved the world, that gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should

not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoev-world to condemn the world; but

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For God sent not his Son into the

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For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

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