direction. This plan is the farthest reaching of any we shall present, but as it is to be set forth in a separate address by a member of the Prudential Committee, further comment here is not necessary.

6. Memorial Gifts. In a separate address by one of the officers of the Board there will also be placed before the Board certain pressing needs of our missions which the Prudential Committee have been obliged to pass by on account of the lack of funds. May it not be that many and possibly all of these needs shall be met this year by individual gifts, or gifts by groups of individuals, as centennial memorial offerings, so that our missions may have visible evidence of the gratitude and large-heartedness of the Congregational people as the Board completes its first century of work? In connection with the Laymen's Campaign meetings it is hoped persons can be found who will consider it a privilege to cover these special needs, understanding that they are to be over and above their regular giving. Such gifts might well be made as memorials of deceased friends or of distinguished missionaries in the lands where the money is applied.

The above six points relate to the financial gain which we hope may be secured, or at least approximated, by the special efforts of the year. It remains to mention six other plans looking to instructing and rousing the churches as to the significance and importance of the year upon which we are about to enter.

7. Centennial Leaflet. We have prepared a brief and attractive leaflet setting forth the achievements of the Board as God has led us through these one hundred years, also outlining the program for the year and ending with a personal appeal. It is our aim to place this leaflet in the hands of every member of every Congregational church in the land and in the hands of many others. We aim at a circulation of not less than 1,000,000 copies. We shall plan this effort with care, and count upon the hearty coöperation of our Corporate Members, pastors, and chairmen of missionary committees

8. Centennial Sermons. Should it be too much to expect that there will be at least one sermon from every Congregational pulpit this year upon the work of the Board during the first century? If missionary sermons are in order any year, how much more so now, in view of the prominent place God has given our Congregational churches as pioneers in missionary work? We expect to urge this upon our pastors, and stand ready to furnish them with suitable literature of a historical nature arranged for their special

use.

9. Associations and Conferences. We suggest the appropriateness of devoting an entire session at the spring meeting of every local Congregational association in the country to the work of the Board, directing the program more to the future than to the past. At such meetings we would have such topics as these treated:

(a) The place of foreign missions in the plan of Christ.

(b) The special responsibility of Congregationalists in the evangelization of the world.

(c) The unfinished task.

10. Centennial Almanac. Plans are already under way for the publication of a special and beautiful number of the American Board Almanac, in which many facts of interest and appropriate to our centennial will be presented. The 1910 number should be circulated widely among the churches.

11. History of the Board. In anticipation of the demand for an accurate, concise, and popular centennial volume telling the story of the American Board from its foundation, the Prudential Committee released our Editorial Secretary from the more onerous of his duties in order that he might devote himself to the writing of such a book. It is planned to have the history. ready in the early autumn of 1910. This volume will be of interest not only to the special constituency of the Board, but to students of missions in other denominations. We plan for a wide, general circulation of the volume and for its special use as a text-book for mission study classes.

12. The Centennial Meeting in Boston. By the action of the Board at Brooklyn the meeting in 1910 will be held in Boston. It is now assured that the other benevolent societies and the National Council will meet at the same time and place. The gathering, therefore, should be large and representative. Since the occasion will mark the centennial of the foreign missionary movement in America as well as the centennial of the Board, other foreign boards in this country and Great Britain should be asked to participate. Our twenty missions, also, will naturally plan to be represented in some appropriate way. The occasion should be treated broadly, and on this account the committee representing the other denominational interests centering at Boston next October generously offer the Board its usual time of nine distinct sessions. Details need not be entered into at this time, but it is none too early to begin planning for this great event. The one hundred and first meeting of the Board should be an occasion of such power as to place its impress upon our churches for many years to come. It should suitably usher in the new century of missions in the expectation that it will be the greatest conquering era in the history of the church.

It is a matter for satisfaction that during our centennial year the great ecumenical conference for missions will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June. To this mightiest of all missionary conventions, an assembly to be composed of missionary workers and experts of all lands, thirty-nine delegates will go up representing this the oldest Board in America.

To summarize, the plans for the year comprise:

The raising of $560,000 from living donors.

The raising of $300,000 from the Woman's Boards.

The wiping out of the non-contributing list of churches.

The furtherance of the Higher Educational Endowment Fund.

The securing of special memorial gifts.

The pushing of the Apportionment Plan.

Coöperation with the Home Societies in the national campaign of the Laymen's Missionary Movement.

Placing the Centennial Leaflet in the hands of every Congregationalist A missionary sermon from every Congregational pulpit.

A missionary session at every Congregational association.

A Centennial Almanac.

The History of the Board.

The Centennial Meeting at Boston.

In Conclusion

There have been annual meetings when we reached the heights of enthusiasm, when it seemed as if new vistas of progress were opening before us on every side, and yet the following months have seen no increased activity, the receipts of the Board have stood still or have sadly dwindled, and we have come up to the meeting following with a story of defeated effort and financial loss. It is almost with fear and trembling that we outline such a program as the one contained in this report. Are we too ambitious, too optimistic, too aggressive, in this work? Are we inviting failure? Standing here in the presence of God who planned this world's salvation and sent his Christ as our leader, and with his Spirit searching our heart, we answer No! If there be lack, if there be danger, it is not in him. The means are at our hands, God-given, the effort is of his devising, the power is his own, the result assured. It needs only that we place ourselves in line with the divine will in order that this shall be indeed a great missionary year.

We would make two suggestions. Your Prudential Committee feel that this should be a year of much prayer. Can we speak of this supreme need without appearing to set forth the obvious, or to exhort concerning that which should prevail among us without human devising? We would not suggest any plan of prayer, although such would be entirely consistent with Scriptural injunction and example; but simply lay it upon the hearts of all members of this Board and all its friends that without the earnest, continued prayer of faith through this year our plans will accomplish little. With such prayer the plans which we have outlined above, or others that may be devised, will certainly result in a great advance in this work. God has placed an unfailing instrument of success in our hands. God himself stands ready to act in this campaign if we will wait upon him.

The other suggestion is equally evident and not less imperative. appeal for a sense of individual responsibility on the part of the members of this Board such as we have never seen in the past. The responsibility of coming upon this Board is grave. It means much more than attending annual meetings and electing officers and committees to take the leadership in the work. It implies a high quality of personal devotion in respect to time and money such as few associations demand. The times are big with promise. God's Spirit is moving mightily upon the nations. Days of unparalleled conquest for Christ are before us if the soldiers of Christ will obey his command. Let the members of this grand old Board, now rounding out its irst century of labor, gird themselves for the sublime task of winning the world for Christ.

"God's trumpet wakes the slumbering world;

Now, each man to his post!"

REPORT FROM THE MIDDLE DISTRICT

Rev. Charles C. Creegan, D.D., District Secretary, makes the following report from the Middle District (including Connecticut and Ohio and the Middle and Southern Atlantic States, with office at the Congregational Rooms, Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street, New York):

The report from the Middle District for the year just closed may indicate in a measure the duties of a District Secretary, and also give in retrospect some impressions of the financial results of the last sixteen years, the period covered by the retiring Secretary in connection with the New York office.

Miscellaneous Duties. One not familiar with the duties of the New York representative of the Board, and learning that he delivers on an average from three to four sermons and addresses a week, might conclude that his work is entirely in the field. The following facts will suffice to make it clear that there are many other duties belonging to his office scarcely less important.

(a) Arrival and Departure of Missionaries. Not counting the children, twenty-six missionaries arrived at this port last year, while twenty departed. The previous year twenty-seven arrived, while twenty-nine sailed for their various fields from New York. The arrivals at this city of missionaries returning for vacation in the homeland is twice that of all the other ports put together. The greeting of these devoted workers at the pier, aiding them to pass through the custom house, the transfer of baggage, the care of them and their children while in the city is always a loving service, but it takes no small amount of time.

(b) The Care of the Stranger and the Persecuted. Since this is the greatest port in America, among the million who land here in a year hundreds if not thousands come from lands where our mission stations are located, not a few of whom find their way to these rooms. Especially is this true of our Armenian brethren, many of whom have been students in our schools in Turkey. One day last summer seventeen Armenians who had just arrived came to ask for aid, financial or otherwise. For weeks it was an exceptional day when at least a half dozen of these brethren from Turkey did not ask for help from this office. Strictly speaking, this work of charity is no part of the official duty of the Secretary, but these cases of distress draw powerfully upon one's sympathy and consume much valuable time.

(c) Work Incident to the Greatness of the City. In this great commercial center a multitude of people find their way to these rooms in the course of a year. One calls for news which will make a paragraph for a daily paper; another wants material for a sermon or missionary meeting; another requests matter for a magazine article, while occasionally one brings an offering. It would be interesting to know how many calls are made at these rooms by all sorts and conditions of men and women on every possible errand.

Field Work. On account of the Together Campaign, with its series of meetings reaching every section of the field-except the South—there was no need of further field work other than visiting state conferences and local