Chap. XVII.— B. P.J THEIR FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 287 
is practised for the children of members of the Church, 
adult baptism for persons who have not been previously 
baptized, when admitted to membership. Confirma¬ 
tion is used for those who have been baptized in 
infancy. 
Synods form the legislative, and boards of elders 
the executive powers of the Unity and its provinces. 
The synods are composed of the ministers and depu¬ 
ties from the congregations, and are convened periodi¬ 
cally. A general synod decides on matters pertaining 
to the Unity, or the Church as a whole. Provincial 
synods regulate the affairs of their respective pro¬ 
vinces. The current management, from synod to 
synod, is committed to boards of direction, or elders’ 
conferences, chosen by and responsible to the respec¬ 
tive synods. The Unity’s Elders’ Conference, chosen 
by the General Synod, is located near Herrnhut in 
Saxony, and is, at the same time, the board of direc¬ 
tion for the German province. 
Each congregation is placed under the general over¬ 
sight of an elders’ conference, consisting of all those 
who hold any spiritual office in that congregation, or 
in those associated with it. Its finances and matters 
of discipline are entrusted to the committee, a board of 
four or five laymen, elected by and responsible to the 
council of the congregation, which consists of all the 
adult members, or, when the congregation is largo, of 
representatives chosen by the whole. Appointments 
and changes of ministers are effected, as occasion re¬ 
quires, by the provincial elder’s conferences. 
The orders are episcopal, as handed down from the 
