sponding members' in Great Britain, were chosen to select the lessons of 1900-1905.

NINTH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

Atlanta, Ga., welcomed the convention in 1899, April 26-30, for the second time. Hon. Hoke Smith, of Georgia, was chosen president. The convention was called to mourn the death of William Reynolds (1897), the first field superintendent. The work was broadened by the election of Marion Lawrance, of Ohio, as general secretary; Prof. H. M. Hamill, of Illinois, as field secretary; and L. B. Maxwell and Silas X. Floyd, both of Georgia, as workers among the colored people. Mr. Jacobs, asking retirement from active service as chairman of the exccutive committee, was made honorary chairman for life, and Hon. John Wanamaker, of Pennsylvania, was elected to succeed him.

Mr. Wana

maker afterward declined the honor, and Mr. Jacobs continued in

service.

TENTH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

The first session of the tenth international convention, at Denver, Colo., June 26-30, 1902, was a memorial service commemorative of the life, work and character of Mr. B. F. Jacobs, the acting chairman of the International Executive Committee, who died three days before, at his home in Chicago. The tributes were eloquent and sincere, and made a strong impression upon the convention and its work. Rev. B. B. Tyler, D. D., of Denver, the second clergyman in the history of the national or international work to be so honored, was chosen president, and Mr. W. N. Hartshorn, of Boston, was unanimously selected as the successor of Mr. Jacobs, chairman of the Executive Committee. There were eleven hundred and sixty-eight delegates enrolled, and they came from fifty-five states, provinces and territories. Mr. F. F. Belsey, president of the British Sunday-school Union, was a distinguished guest of the convention. The plan of lesson selection was one of the great themes of the convention discussion, and the final action of the convention was in the adoption of a resolution which read, "That at this time we are not prepared to adopt a series of advanced lessons to take the place of the uniform lessons in the adult grades of the Sundayschool."

ELEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION.

This was held in Toronto, Canada, June 23-27, 1905. Sixty states, territories and provinces were represented, and the enrollment of delelarger by far than that of any previous convention. The

gates was

delegates numbered 1,958. Among them were 318 pastors, 351 superintendents, 856 teachers, and 252 other officers, which shows that a vital interest in the Sunday-school work is equally felt by all those connected with it.

At this gathering the name of the body was changed from "The International Sunday-school Convention" to "The International Sunday-school Association," and a resolution was adopted to incorporate the Association. It was further voted to adopt the recommendations that the advantages and disadvantages of an international Sundayschool building should be carefully considered and reported upon at the next meeting of the Association, and that as rapidly as possible the Association be centralized, so that an efficient man, with a competent corps of helpers, should be able to keep continuously in touch with all departments of the work throughout the field. In the establishment of the new headquarters at Chicago this latter action is being carried out.

This convention was especially signalized by instructing the Lesson Committee to prepare an advanced course of lessons in addition to the uniform lessons and the beginners course. On the submission of the question to the convention, the vote stood 617 for and 601 against the substitute motion that the Lesson Committee continue the system as then existing, but when it was found that the advanced course was desired by so large a minority, the vote was reconsidered, and the recommendation of the Lesson Committee favoring the advanced course was unanimously adopted.

While the convention was in session, the International Executive Committee appointed a subcommittee on adult Bible class work, the result of whose efforts has been such an awakening of interest in adult Bible classes, that the lesson publishers pretty generally have been led to issue special quarterlies for their use.

Justice J. J. Maclaren, of the Court of Appeal, Ontario, was chosen the presiding officer. The Treasurer reported that over fifty-five thou sand dollars had been received during the past triennium and seventytwo thousand six hundred and sixty-eight dollars was pledged for the coming three years' work.

TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION.

This convention was held in Louisville, Kentucky, June 18 to 23, 1908. The main sessions were held in the Armory building, and some of the sessions reached five thousand in attendance. The motto of the

convention was "We Would See Jesus," and this motto was placed above the platform in electric lights.

The convention opened with a fitting memorial service to Dr. John Potts, who died October 16, 1907. He had been twenty-five years a member of the Lesson Committee and eleven years its Chairman.

The retiring president, Justice J. J. Maclaren, was in the chair until the election of the new president, Hon. John Stites, of Louisville, who presided to the close of the convention.

The Treasurer's report showed that the Association had received over $108,000 during the triennium. The pledges for the new triennium

amounted to about $110,000.

The reports from all departments showed great advance, and the general note of the convention was one of optimism and encouragement. Without doubt, the leading action of the convention was in regard to the lessons, the Lesson Committee reporting that while the Uniform Lessons should be continued for the great number of schools that desired to use them, nevertheless there was a great demand for a thoroughly graded course of lessons. The action of the convention covering this matter was as follows:

"Resolved: 1. That this convention of the International Sunday. school Association instruct the Lesson Committee which is to be appointed for the next six years, to continue the work of arranging and issuing the Uniform Lessons as heretofore.

"2. That this convention authorize its Lesson Committee also to con tinue the preparation of a thoroughly graded course of lessons, which may be used by any Sunday-school which desires it, whether in whole or in part."

ORGANIZATION

THE INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

Its Scope and Work

(The following Declaration of the Scope and Work was drawn by Dr. H. M. Hamill, Chairman of the Special Committee appointed for that purpose, submitted to and endorsed by said Committee and finally endorsed by the International Executive Committee at San Francisco, California, June, 1911. The Special Committee referred to was made up, besides Dr. Hamill, of Dr. Alex. Henry, E. K. Warren, Dr. E. Y. Mullins, Dr. Geo. R. Merrill, W. N. Hartshorn, Justice J. J. Maclaren and W. A. Eudaly.)

I. ITS MANAGEMENT

1. The International Sunday-School Association is the central organization of the Protestant Sunday-School forces of North America. While its field is the North American Continent, it has extended its activities in missionary and educational ways, and has contributed money and men to South America and the Orient, and is the chief supporter of the World's Sunday-School Association.

2. While the constituency of the Association includes all Protestant Sunday School workers who desire affiliation with it, the unit of the association for the purposes of representation is the individual Sunday-School, in which the initiative is taken in appointing official delegates to the various orders of Conventions maintained by the Association and its Auxiliaries, all Conventions of every grade being delegated bodies.

3. The general officers of the Association consist at present of a President and seven Vice-Presidents representing the field at large; a Recording and Assistant Recording Secretary; a Treasurer and an Assistant Treasurer, and an Executive Committee. These general officers, upon nomination either by the Auxiliary Associations whom they represent or by a nominating committee of the International Sunday-School Convention, are elected triennially by the International Convention. Vacancies in office ad interim are filled by the Executive Committee.

4. Since January 31, 1907, by act of the Congress of the United States, the International Sunday-School Association has been an incorporated body, its control being vested legally in the International Executive Committee, which consists at present of ninety-six men representing, and severally nominated triennially, by the State, Provincial and

Territorial Sunday-School Associations of the International field; also the eleven International Districts into which the field is divided; together with three representatives of the Negroes; and the twelve general officers of the Association, as members ex officio. To the above, by special act of the Executive Committee, have been added four Honorary Life Members of the Committee.

5. Under the act of incorporation, this Executive Committee is given power to appoint all salaried employes of the Association; to name its standing committees, departmental and otherwise, including the Lesson Committee; and to have full legal direction of the affairs of the Assoeiation. Within this Committee, appointed by it annually, is a Board of Trustees, heretofore known as the Central Committee, numbering at this time seventeen, to whom is committed ad interim the execution of the plans of the General Committee, with such matters of exigency as may arise, between the regular sessions of the Committee. The Executive and all other Committees of the Association serve without compensation, and, except the members of the Lesson Committee, pay their own traveling and other expenses in attending Committee meetings.

6. The Auxiliary Sunday-School Associations of the International field, beginning with the City Association, the Township or District Association, and ranging upward through the County and State, Provincial and Territorial Associations to the International Association, number several thousands, and, except the last named Association, hold one or more Conventions annually. These Conventions of all grades number each year about 17,000. In the main these Auxiliary Sunday School Associations in their organization, departmental work and management are patterned after the International Sunday-School Association.

II. ITS RELATIONS

1. By the term "organized Sunday-School work' as applied to the International Sunday School Association and its Auxiliaries, is meant only the organized confederation of Protestant Sunday School workers of North America for mutual helpfulness. It is an interdenominational Sunday-School organization with an intensely denominational spirit and purpose, carrying out a general Sunday-School work through the cooperation of members of all denominations, as distinct from the work which each denomination is doing for itself through its own Sunday-School agencies, yet always and everywhere designed to be eminently helpful to the denominations. This general or "organized work" therefore becomes related to all other Sunday School agencies, and these relations from time to time need restatement.