Abt. VIII. The Executive Board shall consist of the Pna^ dent and the six Secretaries above named, whose daty it sfe^ be to carry out any meastire determined ob by tbe Convo- tion, and any other measure which it may deem neccsssry and proper ; and »uch Secretaiy shall, not less than (»e B»ec& prior to every regular meeting of the Conventkni, m%kte t written or printed report of the doings of his departxnoBt. as companied with recommendations, which, on tiie opcslog df the Convention, the President shall lay before It, together wita a like report and recommendation made by himself to te Convention.
/BT. IX. The Secretary of the Treasory shall keep tad i> vest funds belonc^ng to the C(Mivention, snbject only to \t drawn by a vote of the Convention or Executive Board ; i& either case the order to bear the sanction and signature of the Presidrat and Secretary of the Convention. He sImU giw bcmds to the acceptance of the Executive Board.
Abi*. X. Anv person shall, on the payment of tweoty-frw dollars into the treasury, be entitled to a certUleate of lUt- memberiUp ; or, on the like payment of three doUazc, to a certificate of quadrennial membership. Every Chrirtiaa be- nevolent oi^nization. Convention, Conference, and chonA which shall contribute to the treasury of the ConventioB riisB be entitled to membership, with one vote fw every three dol- lars quadrennially omtributed. Also the presidentB of osi Conferences, state associations or state Conferencea, and ool- leges or Institutes, shall be ex^Jlieio members of the Conrea- tion.
Abt. XI. The Blissionary Department shall have diar^e of the missionary enterprises of the denomination, with the pov- er to acquire and hold the title to real estate, appropriate to church purposes, erect churches, and aid In th^ erecikm and maintenance, and in general promote the cause of Christ fai all psarts of the world. The Educational Department shall es- tablish colleges and Biblical and literary institutes, as well m aid those already established by the denominatSon, and asHX young men preparing for the ministry by pecuniary kan «r gifts. Tbe Publishing; Department shall have chai^ of the publishing interests of the denomination, Uie printing and dif- fusing of useful books, magazines, papers, trscts, and ererf form of literature suitable to religious and moral culture. The Sabbath-school Department shall hare diarge of tin oaose of Sabbath-schools, their establishment, support, and guMf«»- ful operation throughout the denomination, endeavoring to secure their welfare, and promote interest, seal, and eiBctecy in this department
Abt. XU. l^e sessions of the Convention, under this Cos- stitution, shall be called by the Executive Board quadren^l- ly, and at other times when deemed by them neceasaiy and proper.
IV. Statistics. — ^The denomination published in 1867 in the United States three periodicals, viz. The Chm^ tian Sun (discontinued during the war, but revired in 1867), at Suffolk, Va.; The Herald of Go^ Ltbarly-- the first religious newspaper publish^ in this coon> try, first number issued September 1st, 1808— now pub-
CHRISTIANS, BIBLE
275
CHRISTIE
lisbed at Newbury port, Mass. ; and The Gotpel Herald, at Dayton, O. The statements concerning their sta- tistics greatly vary. Belcher, The Religious Detumi- natioiu m the United Statei (1854), gives to them 607 organized churches, 489 ministers, and 34,000 commn- nieants. In 1859 they claimed 1600 churches and 1000 miniaters, and 150,000 communicants. The denomi- nation has spread in England and the English posses- sions. Their institutions of learning are Christian Union College, at Merom, Ind. ; Graham College, in Noirth Carolhia ; and academies at Wolfborough, N. H., and Starkey, N. Y. They are to commence a Bib- lical School, and have fixed its location at Newark, K. T. More than sixty Conferences have been organ- ized in the United States and Canada, which meet an- nually.— ^Winebrenner, History of all Denominations { Belcher, History ofBdig, Denom. in the U. 8.i Gorrie, Ckurches tmd Sects ; Schem, Ecclesiastical Year-book^ p. 78 ; Baird, HeHgion m America,
Cbzlfltians, Bible, also called Bryanites, after thai founder, William Bryan, a Methodist local preach- er in Cornwall, who left the Wesleyan body in 1815. He rapidly gathered churches in Devon and Cornwall, bnt left the party which he had formed in 1819. The denomination conmienced its operations in Canada in the year 1831, and was organized there under a separate Conference in 1854. In 1866 the Bible Christians had 37 circuits and 43 home missions in England and 53 abroad, with 245 itinerant preachers, 1691 local preach- ers, 25,138 members, 1050 on trial, 89,249 scholars, and 8272 teachers. Their creed is Wesleyan, and so is their government, only more popular (Eadie, Ecd. JHc^owxnf^ 8. v.). See Methodists.
Christiazis of St. John. " In the middle of the 17th century certain Carmelite missionaries discovered a sect residing in the neighborhood of Basrah and Snsa, calling themselves Naeortecms or Mendaans^ and called bv the Mohammedans Sabians (Sabsi, a name taken probably from the Koran), to whom they gave the name of Johannites, or St. John Christians. Comp. Ignatii a Jesu narraOo originis, ritmtm, et errorum ChrisUanorum S, Johatmis (Rom. 1652, 8vo). One of their books has been published entire (Codex Naza- rtau, Sber Adam appdkUus, Syriace transcriptus lot- ineque redditas a Matth, Norberg, 8 vols. Lond. 1815- 1% 4to), and fragments of othfirs, besides many ao- coants of travellers. In the Universal Encydopadia of Ersch und Gruber, Gesenius has given a general view of their system (art. Zabier), which he shows to be Gnostic-ascetic, and nearly related to that of Zoro- aster, John being represented as an incarnated leon. The language of their holy books is an Aram»an dia- lect intermediate between Syriac and Chaldaic. They pretend to have come from the Jordan, and to have been driven thence by the Mohammedans. Some writers admit that they are really the descendants of John's disciples, or of John Baptist's. On the other side, see O. G. Tychsen in Deutschen Museum, 1784, ii,414; Baumgarten Crusius, Bibl, Theol. p. 148."— Gieseler, Church History, i, § 22 ; Mosheim, Commenior Ties (N. T. 1851), i, 60 note ; Neander, Church History (Torrey's), i, 876. See Hbhbbo-Baftists ; Mende- ▲Hs; Sabians.