Contributions.

Contributions.

STANDING RULES.

TO REGULATE SYNOD'S REPRESENTATION IN THE GENERAL SYNOD. I. The clerical delegate receiving the highest number of votes shall be chairman of the delegation; provided, that the delegates may have the privilege of electing their own chairman.

2. Anyone having been elected delegate to the General Synod, upon his removal from the bounds of the Synod, shall lose his right to represent this Synod, even though he retain his membership with the same.

3. The alternate having received the highest number of votes shall fill the first vacancy, and so on in the order of their election.

4. The alternate who takes the place of the regular delegate shall always stand at the end of the list.

5. No member of Synod shall be eligible to election as delegate to the General Synod for two successive meetings.

OTHER ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES.

Other elected representatives of Synod shall be chosen in the same manner as Officers of Synod and Delegates to the General Synod.

1. Directors of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, five clerical and five lay, to serve five years.

2. Trustees of the Tressler Orphans' Home at Loysville, two clerical and two lay, to serve five years.

STANDING COMMITTEES.

At each regular meeting of Synod the President shall appoint or fill up these Standing Committees :

1. Examining Committee, six clerical.

2. Education Committee, three clerical.

3. Advisory Board of Home Missions, three clerical.

4. On Systematic Beneficence, three clerical.

5. Speakers for the next convention of Synod, one clerical principal and one alternate for each topic, viz. : Missions, Education, Systematic Beneficence, Communion, and Ordination; and for the Children's Meeting, three clerical principals and three alternates.

CONVENTION COMMITTEES.

The President shall, immediately after entering upon the duties of his office, appoint the following committees, each consisting of three or five clerical or lay members of Synod, to serve during that convention of Synod:

1. On President's Report.

2. On Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society. 3. On Letters.

4. On the State of Religion.

5. On Minutes of Northern Conference.

6. On Minutes of Juniata Conference.

7. On Leave of Absence.

8. On Papers and Sermons of Licentiates.

9. On Communications from General Synod Boards.

10. On Minutes of Other Synods.

11. On Reports from Educational Institutions.

12. On Resolutions.

13. On Devotional Services.

14. On Auditing Account of Education Committee.

CLOSE OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR.

The financial year of Synod shall close September 14th. All moneys to be counted on the Apportionment must be in the Treasurer's hands previous to that time.

BLANKS FOR REMITTER AND TEASURER.

A sufficient number of remitters' blanks and Treasurer's duplicate receipts shall be furnished respectively to the pastors and Treasurer at Synod's expense; the one, on which the pastor or congregational Treasurer may record his remittance and specify the objects to which it is to be appropriated, to be sent with the remittance to the Treasurer; the other, on which the Treasurer may record his receipt of the remittance and its specific appropriations, to be sent to the remitter, after the duplicate receipt, properly filled, has been detached by the Treasurer. These duplicate receipts he shall send to the Secretary of Synod as soon after the close of the fical year as possible.

The Secretary of Synod and two laymen, to be appointed by the President of Synod from the congregation where Synod is to be entertained, shall be an Auditing Committee, to meet the Treasurer of Synod before Synod convenes and examine all his books, papers, and vouchers, comparing them with the remitters' blanks and with the duplicate receipts, and report to Synod.

No credit shall be allowed the Treasurer on moneys reported unless full Vouchers are shown to the auditors.

In accordance with the recommendation of the General Synod the Treasurer shall urge the congregations to adopt a weekly system of collecting money for benevolence, and remit to the Synodical Treasurer monthly; and he shall, one month prior to the meeting of Synod, send to each congregation an abstract of their financial standing in regard to the apportionment, and urge them to raise it, if not already done.

The Treasurer shall send promptly, on the first of each month, all the funds

in his hands, appropriated to the several objects of benevolence, to the several Treasurers of the Boards of the Church.

At the expiration of his term of office, the Treasurer shall surrender at once, to his successor, all funds in his hands.

PAROCHIAL REPORTS.

Parochial reports shall be made on the Uniform Parochial Blanks adopted and furnished by the General Synod, and shall be placed in the hands of the Statistician at least one week before the first day of the convention of Synod. No money paid on the apportionment shall be permitted to be reported in the Parochial Report that was not in the hands of the Treasurer of Synod before the close of the financial year.

STATE OF RELIGION REPORT.

The President of Synod shall appoint one person whose duty it shall be to prepare and read the Report on the State of Religion. To enable him to secure information, blanks containing questions shall be prepared and sent out by the Secretary with the parochial blanks to be filled by each pastor and by the secretary of each congregation and returned to the person appointed one week before the meeting of Synod. The presidents of the conferences shall also furnish him with notes of the reports on the state of religion made at the meetings of the conferences, and the Secretary and Statistician shall supply needed official information.

In sending out the blanks to the pastors the Secretary shall enclose envelopes addressed to the Committee on State of Religion.

APPORTIONMENT.

1. The Committee on Systematic Beneficence shall prepare and report at each annual convention of Synod a table showing the apportionment per member for each object of benevolence recommended by Synod, for which contributions are called for during the year.

2. The Committee on Systematic Beneficence shall prepare each year at the expense of Synod, and furnish to each pastor, a sufficient number of printed envelopes, so that one may be placed quarterly in the hands of every member of the congregations connected with the Synod, said envelopes being marked with the names of the different objects of benevolence, so that quarterly contributions may be made by each member. Such contributions should be sent promptly by the pastor or treasurer of the congregation to the Treasurer of Synod, who shall, on each receipt, send the remitter record of the amount paid to date on the apportionment by that congregation.

3. Each congregation shall endeavor faithfully to raise the apportionment for each object of benevolence recommended by the Synod; but the apportionment for Ministerial Education, Synodical Treasury, and General Synod shall be paid in full by each congregation in preference to other objects of benevolence.

NUMBER ON EDUCATION FUNDS.

The Education Committee shall receive on its funds no greater number of young men than there are funds on hand at the close of each convention for their support, and at each convention an apportionment shall be made on the basis of the probable needs for the succeeding year.

The committee shall recommend no applicant who cannot be unreservedly recommended by the pastor and church council, the family physician, and the faculty at the institution where he has been studying, and that the committee recommend no applicant who is not ready to enter the freshman year.

APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSURE.

Applicants for examination for licensure shall meet the Examining Committee on the afternoon of the day of the opening of Synod, and present certificates from the faculties of the institutions they attend, giving testimony to their faithfulness in study and the discharge of their Christian duties.

CERTAIN APPLICANTS NOT TO BE EXAMINED.

The Examining Committee shall not examine any applicant for licensure who has not yet completed his theological studies, or who cannot read the New Testament in the original Greek.

PROTOCOL.

Before the close of each convention of Synod the President shall appoint a Committee on Procotol, consisting of two ministers and one lay delegate, living near the Secretary, who shall, after the Minutes are published, examine the protocol as to its accuracy of record, and examine the Minutes in regard to matters to be considered at the next convention of Synod, and report at next convention.

SYNODICAL COMMUNION,

The Holy Communion shall be observed on the first evening of the convention of Synod; and ministers shall not be excused from Synod to fill appointments which necessitate absence from this Communion.

ORDER OF WORSHIP.

The Order of Worship adopted by the General Synod is recommended to be used in each congregation of Synod, and it shall be used by Synod at all its meetings for public worship.

UNION CHURCHES.

Synod disapproves of building union churches, and counsels all congregations to desist from building the same.

PUBLICATION OF MINUTES.

The Secretary shall have the Minutes of Synod published by the Lutheran Publication Society, so long as their rates are not in excess of any rates that can elsewhere be obtained. An Abstract of the Minutes of the Woman's