who shall report at its next regular meeting, to consider the wisdom and possibility of the administration of the benevolent interests of our churches through representatives chosen in the national organization, care being taken to safeguard existing constitutional provisions of these societies, and the present membership of their boards of control." (See National Council Minutes, page 413.)

The latter resolution gives discretionary powers to the commission which were not expressed in the recommendation of the Committee on Polity, as adopted by the Council, and the commission felt some doubt as to the wish of the Council, whether it desired us to outline and report a program to put into effect the provisions of the recommendation, or to carefully consider the wisdom and practicability of such action. The commission felt constrained to abide by the record of the Council, and have therefore interpreted their charter as vesting them with a generous liberty in the expression of their judgment.

At the same time the commission recognize the full significance of the intent of the eleventh recommendation of the Committee on Polity as adopted by the Council. We also recognize the large and growing sentiment within the denomination in favor of the direction and control of our benevolent societies by the churches represented in National Council. We have carefully and conscientiously considered the reasons urged for and against the direct control of our missionary interests, and such legal and practical obstacles have been presented to our consideration as to cause us to hesitate to recommend, without further discussion and expression of judgment by the Council, such radical changes as are involved in the eleventh recommendation of the Committee on Polity.

Should this Council make effective the recommendation under consideration, it would then devolve upon the benevolent societies either to approve or reject its action. It is our judgment that this lays upon the several benevolent societies an unfair responsibility, and that before submitting the questions involved for their consideration the Council should first carefully consider and determine its own program.

Certain fundamental questions have been widely discussed in our state and local bodies and by our religious press, but have not been deliberately considered by the Council. The time has

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.