XI. THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. Early Councils. At different times in the history of our denomination the churches have been convened for the consideration of affairs of unusual importance in bodies representing their whole membership. The National Council Digest, Pages 14-19, gives a list of eight such gatherings, beginning with the gathering in the Mayflower in November 11, 1620, and including the Boston Council of 1865. The National Council. The National Council, as at present constituted, held its first meeting at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1871, established a constitution, provided for regular triennial meetings and for special meetings if such should be called. Viewed with great suspicion at the beginning as a body that might bring into peril the liberty of the churches, the Council has steadily grown in influence and its utterances have been received with increasing respect by the churches. Thirteen National Councils have been held as follows: 1871... 1877.. . 1880. 1883. 1886. 1889. 1892. 1895. 1898. 1901. 1904. 1907. 1910. . Oberlin, Ohio. . Portland, Ore. . Portland, Me. The constitution of the Council provides for regular triennial meetings and for special meetings to be held whenever five state associations request such a meeting. No special meetings have yet been called. Membership. Membership in the National Council is divided into the following classes: Active Members. The National Council has four classes of active members. 1. Official Members. The secretary, registrar and treasurer elected at each triennial session of the National Council serve for three years from the close of the session at which they are elected and are voting members of the next triennial Council and all special Councils called before the next triennial session. These three are the only members of the Council elected by the Council. The provisional committee of eleven, which includes the moderator and the other three officers named above, become honorary members of the next triennial Council, and the moderator will call to order the next special meeting of the Council, but his successor will be elected at the special session, and will in turn call to order the next triennial session of the Council. The standing of members of the provisional committee in the Council for which they are elected is that of members of all standing committees, viz., they are ipso facto honorary members of the next triennial session and entitled to the floor, but are not entitled to vote unless otherwise elected. The Council itself can elect three and only three members to the next triennial and all intervening sessions. 2. Delegates from District Associations. Each District Association elects one delegate for each ten churches or major fraction thereof. 3. Delegates from State Conferences. Each State Conference elects one delegate for each 10,000 communicants or major fraction thereof. District Associations and State Conferences may fill vacancies in their delegations in any manner which those provide. It is customary to elect a number of alternates equal to that of delegates, and in some states the delegation may fill its own vacancies. In the interest of good order and of full representation it should be understood that in cases of vacancies the regularly elected alternates should first be notified, and that if vacancies still remain when the Council convenes the delegates of a state may fill vacancies in their own delegation. 4. Institutional Delegates. Each Congregational Missionary Society that has been recognized by the Council as such, and each Congregational Theological Seminary and College is entitled to one delegate. In the constitution as originally adopted at Oberlin in 1871, this fourth class of members was honorary only, but in Syracuse in 1895 the constitution was changed so that these became voting members. These four classes make up the voting membership of the National Council. Honorary Members. The first group of honorary members in the National Council consists of those who have been appointed by the previous Council to do any specific work or prepare a report. While the Council can elect only three persons to active membership, and these may not have been members of its own body, it can procure a right to the floor for any member of any Congregational church whom it delegates to do a specific work. Its own moderator and his assistants also are honorary members, as are all previous moderators of the Council at any of its sessions. The preacher of the Council sermon and the minister or ministers of the church or churches entertaining the Council are also honorary members. Statistical secretaries of state and territorial conferences are honorary members. The final group of these members consist of all missionaries of the American Board who are present. Corresponding Members. The National Council has the right belonging to state conferences and district associations of extending the privilege of the floor to representatives of other denominations present in their official capacity, or to other distinguished persons whom it may thus desire to honor. Constitution, By-Laws and Rules. The constitution of the National Council is short and consists principally of a declaration of principles, a plan for meetings, a definition of its several groups of members, and a list of its officers. These are exceedingly brief and are made intentionally difficult of modification. The by-laws of the National Council are an exceedingly flexible group of standing rules which may be changed at any hour in any triennial meeting of the Council without previous notice. The Council is thus held somewhat rigidly to the simple plan and principles set forth in the constitution, but is in complete control of the machinery by which it is to transact its business under the by-laws and rules of order. But no National Council can give to any new by-laws any greater stability than those which in the exercise of this right it might overthrow; since the constitution itself and not the by-laws, contains this provision for amendment, and cannot itself be amended except by three years' notice and a two-thirds vote. So that if a National Council were to repeal all the by-laws at once and enact an entirely new set these would have only such authority as they could exercise without violation of the constitution; and would all be subject to repeal an hour or three years afterward, if the Council did not like them. Officers. Each Council chooses its own officers and committees, excepting its secretary, registrar and treasurer, and its provisional committee, which includes these three officers and the moderator, and consists of eleven persons. These are chosen by the preceding triennial Council. The presiding officers and the nominating committee are chosen at the beginning of the session; other committees may be chosen at any time at the pleasure of the Council. The Moderator. At the first meeting in Oberlin, in 1871, the Council continued several days under its temporary organization. After that the councils were called to order by the chairman of the Provisional Committee, acting by courtesy. In Chicago, in 1886, the Provisional Committee set forth the fact that previous councils had wasted time in getting quickly to work, and asked that the Provisional Committee have authority to do what its chairman up to that time had been doing. The Council was disinclined to do this, lest the Provisional Committee come to assume larger prerogatives than belonged to it; but appointed a committee which, with sole view to providing a quick way of getting to work, reported what is now the fourteenth by-law: "The presiding officers shall retain their offices until their successors are chosen; and the presiding moderator, at the opening of the session subsequent to the one at which he was elected, shall name the Nominating Committee, the Business Committee, and the Committee on Credentials; and he shall be an honorary member of the Council.'' This by-law is ambiguous, but serves a useful purpose in getting the Council quickly to work. At Syra |