come, in the opinion of your commission, when these questions should be carefully weighed by the Council and its judgment upon them given free expression. This seems to us of first and large importance, and we therefore submit for your consideration certain questions involving, upon the one hand, the function and powers of the Council, and, on the other hand, the highest efficiency in the administration of our missionary activities and the representative character of their control. They are the following, and upon them we ask the deliberative voice and determinative vote of the Council:

I. Should the function of the Council be so enlarged as to include administrative powers?

II. Should the Council provide for annual instead of triennial sessions?

III. Should the Council request the several benevolent societies so to amend their constitutions as to constitute the delegates to the Council the electorate of the several societies, provided, however, that such electorate may be increased by the addition of members at large, and that the several societies shall in other respects remain as at present constituted?

IV. Should the Council provide for the traveling expenses of its delegates?

V. Should the Council provide for an equal representation of laymen with clergymen?

Your commission have carefully considered all of the questions here stated, and have been unable to reach a common judgment upon them. There is a considerable sentiment within the commission for an affirmative answer to all of them. Others of the commission, however, doubt the wisdom of extending the function of the Council, and believe that there are serious obstacles in the way of the direct control of the benevolent societies by the Council. This divergence of judgment within the commission emphasizes the importance of deliberate consideration by the Council itself of these fundamental questions. The commission clearly recognizes the trend of judgment within the denomination towards the larger democratization of our denominational life and work, but we are of one mind in the conviction that the determination of an important and radical change in the administration of our missionary interests rests primarily upon the larger and more

fundamental question of our denominational program, and we therefore present these questions for your careful consideration.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CALVIN
CENTENARY.

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF the CongregaTIONAL CHURCHES: Fathers and Brethren, - At the meeting of the National Council held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1907, a committee of three was appointed to coöperate in suitable fashion in the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, on July 10, 1909. Of the committee then appointed, one, our honored Prof. Hugh M. Scott, of Chicago, was removed by sudden and accidental death before the date of the anniversary, but fortunately not before the benefit of his counsels could be enjoyed and his coöperation secured in the work of the committee. An address was prepared, along lines approved by him, by the two remaining members of the committee, Prof. Arthur C. McGiffert, of New York, and the undersigned, expressing the spiritual indebtedness of the founders from whom we, as Congregationalists, trace our origins, to the Genevan reformer, and our cordial and fraternal greetings to the Genevan Church, under the auspices of which the commemorative celebration was conducted.

Imperative duties having detained Professor McGiffert on this side of the Atlantic, the undersigned was the only member of the committee able to be present at the celebration, which took place in Geneva on July 2, 3, and 4, 1909. It was in every way a most noteworthy gathering, uniting representatives of many lands and languages in tribute to a common spiritual heritage. It met in no blind spirit of hero worship. The fact was clearly recognized that in many ways the representatives of Calvinistic descent had departed widely from the reformer's interpretations of religious truth and political method. But their profound indebtedness to the reformer in the development of Christian thought and civil liberty was gratefully recognized and fittingly commemorated.

The reception of the representative of the Congregational churches by the authorities of the Genevan Church was most

cordial. The address, suitably engrossed, was presented and accepted in a spirit of fraternal good-will and regard; and the participation of the Congregational churches of the United States in the celebration viewed with evident satisfaction. All possible was done to show that their representative was welcome. Undoubtedly the celebration has contributed to an increase in the sense of Christian unity among the forces of Protestantism which trace their spiritual descent from the Reformation as interpreted by the genius of John Calvin.

In connection with the celebration, on July 6, 1909, the cornerstone was laid in Geneva of a worthy monument to the reformer and, even more, to the cause in which he was preeminently a leader. It has been given a commanding site, and has been planned on lines of broad inclusiveness. Beside the figure of the Genevan reformer, and of associates and followers like John Knox and William the Silent, it is proposed to place that of a representative of American Christianity. The people of Geneva have given most generously to the work. Even the Protestants of Hungary have aided largely in the effort. But American contributions, though not wholly wanting, have been, as yet, very small in their total amount. Patriotic regard for the services of the Calvinistic movement to American liberty, no less than filial honor to one whose thought did so much to mold the religious ideals of our spiritual ancestry, make this insignificant participation in this worthy enterprise unseemly. Your subscriber would bespeak a generous assistance in this work.

Respectfully submitted,

WILLISTON WALKER, Chairman.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHURCH PROPERTY, MADE TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES, OCTOBER, 1910.

One meeting of the committee has been held in New York City, with all members present except one.

Through local correspondents of the Congregational Church Building Society, under the direction of Dr. Charles H. Richards, a member of this committee, a partial enumeration of unused church properties in twenty-three states has been secured. About one hundred separate properties have been reported; and through further correspondence with officers of State Conferences the committee will continue to urge the sale of such properties and the use of proceeds for Congregational work in the respective states.

The chairman of the committee has been in correspondence with theological seminaries, officers of State Conferences, and prominent attorneys in different states. Our printed committee reports have been sent into all the states, and special attention called to the committee's recommendations as adopted by the National Council.

Since the Council meeting of 1907, sixteen State Conferences have been incorporated, and eight more are in process of incorporation. In most of these cases the state Home Missionary Society has been, or will soon be, merged with the State Conference. In several states there have been sales of unused church properties, and the proceeds are held by the State Conference, to be used for home missionary or church building aid.

In several states, churches which are still holding regular services have transferred the legal titles of their properties in trust to the incorporated State Conference. The State Conferences are thus beginning to render a real service to the churches by thus acting as trustees for individual churches as well as for the general interests of all the churches in the state. In some of the older New England states the state Home