Association, and subject to their special direction, should it, at any time, be thought proper to apply to the General Assembly for a brief. ART. VII. The directors shall have power to apply the funds of the society according to their discretion, in all cases in which they shall not be limited by the General Association, or the donors; to appoint and dismiss missionaries; to pay them; and generally, to transact all business necessary to attain the ends of the society. And no officer of the society, the treasurer excepted, shall receive any compensation for his services.* ART. VIII. The board of directors shall meet twice a year; on such day of the week of the state election, at Hartford, as they shall appoint, and on the first Wednesday of August. The board of directors shall annually report their doings to the General Association. ART. IX. A permanent fund may be formed, consisting of donations of individuals, if the donations are made with that particular view; but all other moneys of the society shall be appropriated, from year to year, to the attainment of the ends of the society. ART. X. No alterations shall be made in this Constitution, unless the same shall have been proposed at a previous annual meeting, or recommended by the directors and adopted by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Association present. The last clause of this article was erased in June, 1832. APPENDIX: CONTAINING NOTICES OF THE GENERAL ASSOCIATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND NEW YORK; THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF VERMONT; THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF MAINE, AND THE EVANGELICAL CONSOCIATION OF RHODE ISLAND. GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS. THE Confederation of churches, as it exists in Connecticut, under the Saybrook Articles, has never been introduced into Massachusetts. At different periods, the attempt has been made, in that state, to provide for the communion and intercourse of churches, more effectually than is done by the Cambridge Platform, or by the usages which have grown up under it, and which have now in a great measure superseded it. But such proposals have always been rejected there. Associations of pastors, meeting statedly, for counsel and mutual improvement, began to exist in Massachusetts at a very early period. But these associations were never, as in Connecticut, formally adopted by the churches as an element in their system of communion. Gradually, however, the practice of examining and approving candidates for the ministry, was recognized by usage as belonging to the associations. A General Convention of Congregational Ministers was held annually at Boston, on the occasion of the general election and the meeting of the legislature. In this convention, which was not a representative body formed by delegation, the ministers of the metropolis, and its immediate vicinity, held of course, a predominating influence. The convention still has its annual meeting; but in consequence of the division occasioned by Unitarianism, it is now little else than a charitable society. In 1802, delegates from eight associations in the western part of the state, assembled at Northampton to consult on the expediency of forming a general association. In compliance with the recommendations of this meeting, delegates from five associations met at Northampton, June 29th, 1803, and formed the "General Association of Massachusetts Proper" by which title, the body continued to be known till the erection of Maine into a separate state. This arrangement for the promotion of intercourse and union among the ministers, commended itself slowly but effectually to pastors and churches; and the General Association of Massachusetts now includes twenty two district associations, and nearly all the Trinitarian Congregational ministers in the commonwealth. The standing rules and by-laws of the body, are as follows: RULES OF THE ASSOCIATION. 1. THE association, by which the General Association of Massachusetts was originally organized, agreed to admit, and this association continue to admit, as articles of faith, the doctrines of Christianity, as they are generally expressed in the Assembly's Shorter Catechism; and the above-mentioned doctrines, understood by us to be distinctly those, which from the beginning, have been embraced by the churches of New England as the doctrines of the Gospel, are considered as the basis of our union. 2. This General Association is founded on the principles of Congregationalism, and wholly disclaims ecclesiastical jurisdic tion over the churches, or the opinions of individuals. Its object is to promote brotherly harmony and intercourse among the min |