Black River, Rutland, Windsor, Royalton, Addison, Orange, Montpelier, North Western, Caledonia, Orleans, Lancaster.

3. It is the duty of the scribe to furnish the register with a fair copy of the minutes of each meeting for record.

4. Reports on the state of religion shall be presented in writing.

5. Should no place be appointed for the meeting of the convention, or should the minister at whose house they are to meet, be removed by death or otherwise, the register is authorized by circular letters to appoint the place and call the convention together according to his discretion."

6. It shall be the duty of the register to make a docket of the ordinary business of the convention, and lay it before them at the opening of every annual meeting.

7. There shall be a standing committee of one in each association, appointed for five years, to make the annual statistical reports for their respective associations, on their own responsibility and under their own names respectively; and in case of the absence of any one of said committee, the duty shall devolve on the register of said association for the time being. The ministers and church clerks are requested, without fail, to forward the statistical report of their respective churches, (particularly specifying the number of non-resident members) on the first day of August, in each year, to the standing committee of their association. This report is to state the number, names, and congregations of settled ministers-the number and names of the unsettled ministers; and the number and names of the destitute churches within their limits, to which it will be necessary to subjoin a short account of circumstances which have occurred within the year, such as the removals of ministers by death or otherwise, ordinations, installations, with the time of such events; also an account of the number of members in each church, and the additions, whether by letter or profession, and the decrease, whether by deaths, dismissions, or exclusions.

8. Delegates from this convention to the foreign ecclesiastical bodies, with which it is connected, are required to report, if they attend agreeably to appointment. If the delegation fail, it is expected a reason will be rendered to the convention.

9. A committee of credentials shall be annually appointed by the convention, to certify the regular standing and good character of the preachers coming from abroad to officiate in Vermont, or leaving this state to officiate elsewhere. And the convention consider it the duty of strangers, who propose to labor in this state, and of their brethren who design to labor in congregations abroad, that are unacquainted with them, to procure a certificate of their regular standing, from at least one of the aforesaid committee.

10. Extracts from the minutes of the convention shall be an

nually published, to be distributed in Vermont, and to the ecclesiastical bodies with which the convention has formed a connection.

NOTE. The general convention has formed a connection with the following Ecclesiastical bodies, viz:-The General Assembly of the Pres byterian Church in the United States of America; the General Association of Connecticut; the General Association of Massachusetts; the General Association of New-Hampshire; the General Conference of Maine; the Evangelical Consociation of Rhode Island; the General Association of New-York; the Congregational Union of Lower Canada; and the Congregational Union of England and Wales. The principles of union with these several bodies is substantially the same, viz:The convention sends to each of them one or two delegates or commissioners, annually, and they each send annually to the convention the same number. These delegates have the same right of sitting, debating and voting, as the members of the body to which they are sent, except that the arrangements with the General Assembly are such, that delegates sent to either body do not vote.

11. In order that the representation to foreign bodies may be distributed equally among the several associations of the state, each association shall send a member of its own body, from year to year, to some foreign body, in rotation, according to the annexed schedule*. Each association shall elect the delegate and substitute which it is entitled to appoint, and send their names to be approved by convention, that the certificates may be made in the name, and signed by the proper officers of that body. And in case any association fail of sending such nomination in time to be acted on, the convention may fill the vacancy from that or any other association, at pleasure.

RECOMMENDATIONS

OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION.

1. As the relation between a minister and his people is one of the most solemn that can be formed in this world, the convention recommend that this relation should never be dissolved without making public the true reasons of discontent in the parties since the opposite practice tends, on the one hand, to shield the immoralities and erroneous opinions of a minister, or on the other to gloss over the unreasonable discontents and vices of a people. 2. It is recommended to the several Congregational churches in this state, that they employ no stranger to preach among them, who is not recommended by some person of our communion authorized to give recommendations by the general body from within whose bounds he has come, or by some member of the committee of credentials appointed by this convention.

The schedule is omitted in this volume.

3. It is recommended to the members of the several associa tions connected with the convention, to extend occasional assistance to destitute towns in their vicinity by preaching lectures, and by performing such other missionary labors, as they may deem consistent with the duties they owe to their respective parishes.

4. The churches in our connection are requested, at the monthly concert in September, to implore the.special blessing of God upon the annual meeting of the convention, and of the respective societies, with which it is immediately connected.

5. The convention recommend to the Congregational churches in this state, to make it a standing rule, except in some uncommon cases, not to admit to occasional communion, after one year's residence, any persons of their own denomination, who by removal have become settled among them.

6. It is recommended to the several associations not to receive any member from another association, unless he brings a letter of dismission and recommendation from the association to which he has belonged.

7. As the temperance reformation is of vital importance to the interests of true religion, it is recommended to all the friends of God and the human race, to sustain and carry on this blessed work, and not to remit in their efforts till the way of the coming of the Son of man is every where fully prepared.

8. It is recommended to councils and other ecclesiastical bodies in connection with this convention, not to ordain persons without charge, or as evangelists; especially, if they are to labor in distant parts of the country, unless it should be required by peculiar circumstances, and appear to be an obvious call of Providence.

9. The convention fully believing that consociations greatly tend to promote the interests, the strength and the union of the churches, recommend and earnestly request that all the Congregational churches in Vermont, which have not adopted articles of particular union, should form themselves into consociations, to consist of pastors and delegates.

10. The convention affectionately and earnestly recommend to all ministers, and to all the friends of religion in our connection, the following system of operations to promote benevolent objects :

(1) That there be but one meeting in each year for county anniversaries; that this ordinarily be held at a distinct time from the meetings of consociations or conferences; that the interests of the various most prominent objects of benevolence, in each county, be distinctly promoted at these anniversaries.

(2) That the county anniversaries be held as follows:-In Windham county on the 3d Tuesday in September; in Windsor

Co. on the Thursday following:-in Orange Co. on the 4th Tuesday in September; in Washington Co. on the Thursday following:-in Rutland or Bennington Co. on the Tuesday next after the 4th Tuesday in September; in Addison Co. on the Thursday following:-in Chittenden Co. on the 2d Tuesday after the 4th Tuesday in September; in Franklin Co. on the Thursday following:-in Orleans Co. on the 3d Tuesday after the 4th Tuesday in September; in Caledonia Co. on the Thursday following-in Essex Co. on the 5th Tuesday after the 4th Tuesday in September.

(3) That two months of each year be appropriated to the consideration of certain prominent objects of benevolence, as follows:-*

RULES

TO BE OBSERVED BY THE GENERAL CONVENTION, IN

TRANSACTING BUSINESS.

1. THE members of the convention are required, as soon as they arrive at the place of the annual meeting, to deposit their certificates of membership in the hands of the minister of the parish; and it shall be his duty, in conjunction with the register, to prepare a ROLL of the convention, on which shall be placed, in usual order, the names of all persons who present a regular certificate of their having been duly elected. But no person shall be enrolled who has not the regular certificate, unless by vote of the convention after being duly organized.

2. The meeting of the convention shall be opened with a sermon. At the close of the public exercises, the register, or, in his absence, the minister of the parish, shall call to order-read the Roll, and lead the convention to the choice of a moderator, scribe, and assistant scribe.

3. The moderator shall then take the chair-address the throne of grace, and cause the rules to be observed in transacting business, and the docket of the register to be read. It shall be his duty to lead in prayer, or request some other person to perform the duty, at the beginning and close of each day's session; to cause the roll to be called every morning; to preserve order and decorum in the meeting, and, in conjunction with the register, to nominate all committees. When the moderator speaks to the merits of any question, he shall leave the chair and address the scribe.

4. No member shall withdraw from the body until the close of the session, without leave of absence first obtained from the

• The schedule, here annexed, is omitted in this volume.

moderator; and in case any member shall be tardy after an adjournment, without a reasonable excuse, he shall be subject to the admonition of the moderator.

5. Every member, when he wishes to speak, shall rise and address the moderator.

6. No member shall speak more than twice to the merits of the question in debate, except by special permission of the convention, nor more than once, until every member choosing to speak shall have spoken.

7. Every motion, except for adjournment, shall be reduced to writing if the moderator or any two members desire it. No motion shall be acted upon until seconded.

8. When any member, in debating or otherwise, shall transgress the rules of the convention, the moderator shall, by his own authority or at the request of any member, call him to order; and if a question shall arise concerning his being in order, it shall be decided by an appeal to the body.

9. When two or more rise at once, the moderator shall name the member who is first to speak.

10. When the moderator or any other person is speaking, the members shall keep their places and give attention.

11. No motion committed to writing shall be finally decided upon, until it shall have had three several readings, if any member require it.

12. In cases of an equal division of votes, the moderator shall have the casting vote.

13. These rules for the transaction of business shall be in force during the pleasure of the convention; and shall not be subject to any alteration, unless by the consent of two thirds of the members present, at an annual meeting.