f/ .. 'Smcriran ISoarti of Commissioners for JFarctgn fissions. / 73 ^ NINE DECADES OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. a ConDensefc Ibfetorical Sftctcb. 1810 — 1901 . “What Hath God Wrought!" BOSTON: 1902. I - . ■ • A Condensed Historical Sketch of the American Board. 1810-1897. Formation. — The American Board was or¬ ganized at Bradford, Massachusetts, June 29, 1810. Prior to this, a few local societies had been formed in New England with special refer¬ ence to the needs of the neglected portions of our own country, including the Indian tribes; but no attempt had been made to send a mis¬ sionary from America to any foreign land. For several years God had been moving the hearts of many individuals, widely separated, in refer¬ ence to the needs of the distant regions of the earth. Samuel J. Mills (born April 21, 1783), whose mother had consecrated him in his infancy to missionary service, entered Williams College in 1806, and sought to awaken an interest Lt missions. During that first year a memorable missionary prayer - meeting was held by the students under the shelter of a haystack, to which they were driven by rain, and the impres¬ sions of that hour were so deep and led to such results that the spot where that meeting was held has been called the “ Birthplace of American 4 Missions.” Two years later (1808), a society was formed in the college “to effect, in the person of its members, a mission to the heathen,” but this organization was kept secret, “ lest,” as they said, “we should be thought rashly imprudent and should so injure the cause we wish to pro¬ mote.” Mills, Gordon Hall, and James Richards went to Andover Seminary and there met Samuel Newell, Adoniram Judson, and Samuel Nott, Jr., who were all of the same mind as to missions. After consulting with their professors at Andover, and others, particularly with Dr. Samuel Spring, of Newburyport, and Rev. Samuel Worcester, of Salem, Mills, Newell, Nott, and Judson pre¬ sented their request to the General Association of Massachusetts, which that year (1810) met at Bradford. Hall and Richards would have also appeared, as desiring “ to attempt a mission to the heathen,” had it not been feared that so large a number of applicants would alarm those before whom they were to come. The Associa¬ tion commended the motives and plans of the young men, and under the lead of Messrs. Spring and Worcester organized the American Board “ for the purpose of devising ways and means and adopting and prosecuting measures for pro¬ moting the spread of the gospel in heathen lands.” Nine commissioners were chosen, five 5 from Massachusetts and four from Connecticut. It was not until two years later that a charter could be obtained from the State of Massa¬ chusetts. The petition was strongly opposed during two sessions of the Legislature, and the bill was more than once rejected. It was finally passed June 20, 1812. First Decade, 1811-1820. — The First Am nual Meeting was held at Farmington, Connect¬ icut, September 5, 1810. Five commissioners were present, with an audience of one person. A Prudential Committee of three was chosen Rev. Samuel Worcester was chosen secretary, which office he held for several years in connection with his pastorate at Salem. Until 1815 the Prudential Committee met from two to six times a year, as occasion might arise, at Hartford, Boston, Newburyport, Salem, Andover, or Charlestown. In 1815 they began to meet quar¬ terly. The receipts for the first year amounted to $999.52, and, as there was no prospect of securing sufficient funds to support the applicants for mis¬ sionary service, Adoniram Judson was dispatched to England in January, 1811, to confer with the officers of the London Missionary Society (estab¬ lished 1795) in reference to joint support and direction of American missionaries. The pro- 6 posal was courteously declined in the hope that these young men would be supported by their countrymen. The same year (1811), Jeremiah Evarts was chosen treasurer, and the fact was made public that Mrs. Mary Norris, of Salem, had bequeathed $30,000 for foreign missions. The Board resolved to send out Judson, Nott, Newell, and Hall, to establish a mission in Asia. On the sixth of February, 1812, these four men and Luther Rice were ordained in the Tabernacle Church, Salem. Judson and Newell, with their wives, sailed from Salem, February 19; the other three, with the wife of Nott, from Philadelphia, a few days later. Reaching Calcutta June 17, 1812, Messrs. Judson and Newell were ordered home by the British East India Company, on the ground that their commercial interests would be jeopardized by an attempt to interfere with the religious faith of the Hindus. They went to the Isle of France, where Mrs. Harriet Newell died, November 30. Her spirit of consecration and her early death produced a profound im¬ pression, and served to awaken a deep interest in missions. During this same year Messrs. Judson and Rice changed their views on the subject of baptism, the former going to Burma and commencing a Baptist mission there. This event led to the formation of the American Baptist 7 Missionary Union in May, 1814. Messrs, Hah and Nott, driven from Calcutta, reached Bombay February 11, 1813, and, after negotiations extend¬ ing over many months, permission was given them, December 22, 1813, to remain, and thus, among the Marathas of Western India, the first mission of the American Board in foreign lands was established. The Ceylon Mission was begun in 1816, in the northern island of Jaffna, on the arrival of Daniel Poor and four associates. During the same year a foreign mission school was established at Cornwall, Connecticut, with the design of educating heathen youth in this country, a plan which was abandoned in 1826. Missions were opened among the Cherokee Indians in 1817, and among the Choctaws in :8i8. In 1819, October 23, seventeen persons, two of them ordained, sailed from Boston, in the brig Thaddeus , to begin a mission at the Sandwich Islands. Among the number were three native Hawaiians, educated at the Corn¬ wall Mission School. On arriving at the islands, it was unexpectedly found that the people had abolished idolatry and were ready to receive Christian teachers. Pliny Fisk and Levi Parsons sailed November 3. 1819, to commence a mission in Palestine. In 1820 the income of the Board, for the year ending August 31, was $39,949.45, 8 and the total receipts for the first ten years amounted to $202,379.11. Second Decade, 1821-1830. — Early in this period revivals occurred in the Ceylon Mission, r and at Brainard and other stations among the North American Indians. In 1821, on the death of Samuel Worcester, Jeremiah Evarts suc¬ ceeded him as Secretary. In 1823 the King of the Sandwich Islands, with twelve chiefs and about 200 other pupils, were learning to read. The same year Goodell and Bird arrived at Beirut, thus commencing the Syrian Mission. In 1829 Bridgman and Abeel sailed for Canton, to begin a mission in China. In 1830 Eli Smith and H. G. O. Dwight conducted an exploring tour through Armenia and Persia, and their report awakened the greatest interest among the American churches. During this decade, aside from the revivals in Ceylon and among the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Seneca Indians, there were signs of deep religious in¬ terest in the Sandwich Islands, where, at the close of this period, there were 900 schools and over 44,000 learners. In 1830 the receipts of the Board were $83,019.37, the total amount for the decade being $ 7 ° 7 , 3 I ^ , 93 - 9 Third Decade, 1831-1840. —In 1831 Jonas King, who had previously spent a few years in Beirut, Smyrna, and the island of Tenos, com¬ menced a mission to the Greeks at Athens. The same year Mr. Goodell removed from Malta, where he had been engaged in superintending the mission press, to Constantinople, thus com¬ mencing what is now the Western Turkey Mis¬ sion. In 1831-33 the Cherokees and Choctaws were driven from their possessions in Georgia, and such as survived the hardships of the journey settled in the Indian Territory. There were four missions commenced in 1833, in Siam, Singa¬ pore, Persia, and at Cape Palmas, West Africa. The Madura Mission was begun in 1834, and the Zulu Mission, Southeastern Africa, in 1835. In 1834 William Arms and Titus Coan explored Patagonia but found no opening for a mission. Lyman and Munson, while seeking to establish a mission in Sumatra, were killed by the natives, June 28, 1834. A great revival occurred in the Sandwich Islands in 1837-38, over ten thousand persons having been received to the churches within twelve months. In 1839 there were 16,587 church members on the islands. In 1840 the receipts of the Board were $241,691.04. The total receipts for the decade amounted to $1,84.3.422.81. 10 At the close of this decade the Board had 25 missions, 9 of them among Indian tribes of North America. There were 134 ordained mis¬ sionaries, 10 physicians, 35 other male teachers, printers, etc., and 186 female missionaries, in¬ cluding wives: a total of 365 laborers from this country. There were also 122 native helpers, 55 churches, 17,234 church members, and 21,606 pupils in schools. From the beginning the Board had sent out 694 male and female missionaries, and the missions had issued no less than 233, 1 56,081 pages of printed matter. Fourth Decade, 1841-50. — The visit of Mar Yohannan, of Persia, to the United States in 1842, in company with Dr. Perkins, served to kindle great interest in behalf of the Nestorian and other missions. The same year the mission in Western Africa opened a station at the Ga¬ boon, which, the next year, gave the name to the mission. In 1843-44 Secretary Anderson visited the missions in the Levant. In 1843 Dr. Marcus Whitman, of the mission to the Oregon Indians, led a large party of emigrants with wagons from the Mississippi River across the Rocky Mountains to Oregon, and thus practically secured to the United States a large and valuable territory. In 1845 the mission in China was divided into II the Southern China and the Amoy Missions. The first Protestant - Armenian church was formed at Constantinople in 1846, and a wide¬ spread and hopeful reformation among Arme¬ nians accompanied and succeeded this event. In 1847 the Foochow Mission was begun by the transference of two missionaries from Siam, and the latter mission as well as that to Borneo were discontinued in 1849. During this period, at neady every Annual Meeting, memorials were presented on the subject of slavery, growing out of the fact that there were slaveholders connected with the churches among the North American In¬ dians. In 1850 the receipts were $251,862.28, and the total amount for the decade, $2,560,447.91. At the close of this period there were 24 mis¬ sions, 157 ordained missionaries, 25 American teachers and printers, 204 female missionaries, in¬ cluding wives, 85 churches and 25,875 members. Fifth Decade, 1851-1860. — In 1851 the Assyrian Mission was set off from the mission to the Armenians, having its central station at Mosul. In 1852 Messrs. Snow, L. H. Gulick, and Sturges commenced the mission in the Micronesian Islands. In 1853 the Board met for the first time beyond the Alleghanies, at Cin¬ cinnati, Ohio. The same year the Board 12 declared that the Sandwich Islands had been “virtually Christianized.” Up to this time 145 laborers, male and female, had been sent to these islands. There were then 26 churches, with a total membership of 22,236, the whole number received from the commencement being 38,344. In 1854 Secretary Anderson and Rev. A. C. Thompson were sent as a deputation to visit the missions in India, and the same year a mission was established in Shanghai, China. In 1856 the first Morning Star was launched, the chil¬ dren contributing $28,505 for her construction and expenses. In 1857 the Dutch Reformed Churches, which had hitherto cooperated with the Board, amicably withdrew, in the hope of prosecuting foreign missionary work more vigor¬ ously under a Board of their own. Subsequently the Arcot and Amoy Missions were transferred to the care of the Reformed (Dutch) Board. At the Annual Meeting of 1857, Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen resigned as President of the Board, and Mark Hopkins, d.d., was elected in his place. In i860 the Cherokee Mission was discontinued. The “Jubilee Meeting” of the Board was held in Boston in i860. The receipts for that year were $429,799-°^ i f° r the decade, $3,318,748.29; for the fifty years, $8,632,315.55. At the close of this period there 13 were connected with the Board 22 missions, 181 male missionaries (166 of them ordained), 195 female assistants (total Americans 376), 787 native helpers, 144 churches, 19,722 church members, and 10,615 pupils. During the half- century there had been sent out 415 ordained men, 24 physicians, 128 male assistants, 691 female assistants, making a total from the United States of 1,258. Sixth Decade, 1861-1870. — In 1861 the mis¬ sions in Turkey, called in 1857 the Southern and Northern Armenian, were divided into the West¬ ern, Central, and Eastern Turkey Missions, the Assyrian Mission being merged in the last named. In the same year Dr. Blodget removed from Shanghai to Tientsin, and in 1862 the name of the mission was changed from the Shanghai to the North China Mission. In 1865 Langdon S. Ward was chosen Treasurer in place of James M. Gordon, who had served in that capacity for ten years. In 1866 Dr. Anderson resigned 'after thirty-four years of service as Correspond¬ ing Secretary, and Rev. N. G. Clark was elected in his place. The same year the first Morning Star was sold and a new one built. This second Star was wrecked in 1869 and a third vessel built in 1870. The Canton Mission was closed 14 in 1866. The Board had been, year by year, withdrawing from the work for fifteen Indian tribes among which it had labored, leaving them to the care of Home Missionary Societies, until in 1867, with the exception of one missionary among the Ojibwas and one among the Senecas, its only mission among Indians was that to the Dakotas. The first missionary of the American Board to Japan sailed in 1869. In 1870 the two branches of the Presbyterian Church having been united, it was felt that the time had come for a separate organization for prosecuting foreign mis¬ sions, and as a church they amicably withdrew, though some members of that body have con¬ tinued down to the present time to cooperate with the American Board. The receipts of the Board for this decade amounted to $4,550,371.05, and for the last year of the decade to $461.058.42. At the close of this period there were 18 mis¬ sions, 95 stations, 154 missionaries (143 or¬ dained), 200 female missionaries, 1,095 native helpers, 238 churches, with 24,142 members. Seventh Decade, 1871-1880. — At the open¬ ing of this period five missions, the Persian, the Syrian, and Gaboon, and those to the Seneca and Ojibwa Indians, were transferred to the Presbyterian Board, and the Christianized Sand- wich Islands were no longer reckoned as among foreign mission fields. The statistics of mission¬ aries, churches, and members were thus largely reduced. In 1871 the missionaries of the West¬ ern Turkey Mission who had been using the Bulgarian language were set off as the European Turkey Mission. At its Annual Meeting in* 1871, the Board resolved to undertake mis¬ sionary work in nominally Christian lands, and missions were established in Spain, Austria, Mexico, and Italy, the last named being sus¬ pended in 1874. In March, 1874, J. L. Stephens, missionary in Mexico, was assassinated. In the same year the first church of the Board in Japan was organized. In the year 1875-76, 1,504 persons were received to the mission churches. In 1876 Rev. E. K. Alden became Home Secretary, and his predecessor, the Rev. S. B. Treat, who for thirty years had filled the office, died in 1877. At the Annual Meeting of 1877, at Providence, Rhode Island, the sum of $48,000 was pledged, amid great enthusiasm, to meet the deficit of the previous year. The year 1877-78 was one of severe stringency, making retrench¬ ment necessary; but in 1879 an extraordinary legacy was received by the will of Asa Otis, amounting to about one million dollars. This bequest, at the Annual Meeting, was set apart i6 for new missions, the enlargement of existing missions, and for educational purposes. Rev. John O. Means was sent to Europe to make inquiries preparatory to a new mission in Africa, which resulted, in 1880, in the establishment of the West Central African Mission, in the expec¬ tation that its first station would be Bih6. The same year Dr. Means, who had for fourteen years been Recording Secretary, was elected Corresponding Secretary, and explorations were begun on the East Coast of Africa, toward Umzila’s Kingdom, but Mr. Pinkerton died on his way inland. The receipts for 1880 were $613,539.51, and for the decade, $4,782,078.49. At the close of this period there were 17 missions, 75 stations, 170 male missionaries (156 ordained), 246 female missionaries, 1,269 native helpers, 272 churches with 17,165 members, 28,098 pupils in schools. Eighth Decade, 1881-1890. — The first year of this period witnessed the addition of over 2,000 persons to the mission churches of the Board. The missions to Shansi, China, and to Northern Mexico were established in 1882, and in January, 1883, the Dakota Mission was trans¬ ferred to the American Missionary Association, this Association relinquishing its work in foreign i7 lands. In the latter year a deputation from a special committee of the Board, also one from the Prudential Committee, visited Constantinople to inquire into matters connected with the Turk¬ ish missions. The same year the proposed mis¬ sion on the East African Coast was established at Inhambane. Secretary Means, who had the charge of missions in Africa and elsewhere, died Decembers, 1883, and the next year Rev. Judson Smith, d.d., was chosen Corresponding Secre¬ tary. The Hong Kong Mission, with special reference to Chinamen returning from the United States, was established in 1883, and the next year the Northern Japan Mission, with its centre at Niigata, was set off from the Japan Mission. In 1884 another large legacy, amounting to nearly a half million dollars, was received from the estate of Samuel W. Swett, Esq., which was set apart to meet special calls in the evangelistic and educational departments. In the same year a new Morning Star was built and despatched for work in Micronesia. On the death of Dr. Mark Hopkins, in 1887, who had served the Board as President for thirty years, Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs was elected to the presidency. Dur¬ ing this decade the receipts of the Board were $6,599,141.10, the receipts for 1890 being $762,- 585.63. At the close of this period the missions i8 numbered 22; stations, 96; the male mission¬ aries, 200; female missionaries, 333; the native laborers, 2,417 ; the churches, 387, with a mem¬ bership of 36,256; the pupils under instruction numbered 47,329, and the contributions in the native churches were reported as $117,494. Ninth Decade, 1891-1900. —In September of 1890 the mission premises on Ponape, Micronesia, were destroyed by the Spaniards, and the mis¬ sionaries were compelled to leave the island. Four years later the Spanish government paid an indemnity of $17,500 for the property de¬ stroyed, but missionaries were not allowed to return to Ponape until 1900, after the Caroline Islands had come into the possession of Germany. In 1891 a small schooner, the Robert IV. Logan, was built for service in the central Carolines, especially at Ruk and the Mortlocks, and the next year a small craft, the Hiram Bingham, was sent for the use of Mr. Walkup within the Gilbert group. The Logan was lost at sea in 1893, while sailing from Japan for Ruk, but a new one of the same name was built in 1895. This vessel was wrecked on one of the Mortlock islands in 1898. In 1892 the name of the Hong Kong Mission was changed to the South China Mis¬ sion, the Northern Japan Mission was merged in that of Japan, and the Northern and Western 19 Mexico Missions were combined. In East Africa explorations were made in Gazaland by the mis¬ sionaries residing near Inhambane, and in 1893 the mission was transferred to the highlands west of the Gazaland border, within the territory of the British South Africa Company, with head¬ quarters at Mt. Silinda. The plan of asking for nominations of Corpo¬ rate Members of the Board from State Confer¬ ences of Congregational churches, adopted temporarily in 1892, was subsequently incorpo¬ rated in the By-laws of the Board. In 1893 Rev. Dr. E. K. Alden declined reflection as Corresponding Secretary, and Rev. Charles H. Daniels, d.d., was elected in his place. The following year Secretary N. G. Clark, d.d., withdrew, and Rev. James L. Barton, D.D., became Corresponding Secretary. In 1895 Langdon S. Ward, Esq., died, after a connection of over forty years with the treasury department, and the following year Frank H. Wiggin, Esq., was elected Treasurer. In 1895 a deputation was sent to Japan to consider and advise in regard to the future policy of the mission. The deputa¬ tion rendered valuable service specially in con¬ nection \Vith the restoration of the Doshisha to its position as a Christian institution. In the autumn of that year a reign of terror began 20 throughout the Turkish empire. In the mas¬ sacres which desolated scores of cities and hundreds of villages, the lives of American mis¬ sionaries were providentially spared, but tens of thousands who bore the Christian name were cruelly slaughtered, a host of them dying as true martyrs to their faith. Mission property was destroyed, especially atHarpootand Marash. Indemnity for these losses was demanded, and promised by the Turkish government, but pay¬ ment was delayed for more than six years. Yet the mission churches, though sorely afflicted and weakened by the loss of members, were by no means destroyed. As a result of their common sufferings the Gregorians have become more friendly to the Protestants, the mission schools are full, the churches are crowded, and the demand for missionary work is more imperative than ever. At the close of the year 1895 the Board found itself burdened with a debt of about $115,000, the result chiefly of the falling off of legacies during the previous two or three years. An effort to raise this amount was successful, and at the Annual Meeting of 1896 no debt was re¬ ported, though this result was secured only by serious reduction in the grants made to the missions. 21 During the latter part of this decade large sec¬ tions of India, especially in the western portion, including the district covered by our Marathi mission, suffered terribly from famine and the bubonic plague. Vast numbers of people died of disease and want, and most generous efforts for relief were made both by the Indian government, and by private donors in America and Great Britain. Our missionaries, with great energy and devotion, labored in the distribution of this re¬ lief, and opened orphanages, in which thousands of children have been cared for physically and morally. In 1897 Dr. Storrs resigned the presi¬ dency of the Board, and was succeeded by Rev. Charles M. Lamson, d.d., and upon his lamented death, two years later, Samuel B. Capen, ll.d., was chosen to the presidency. In 1898 a special effort, under the title of “ The Forward Move¬ ment,” was inaugurated to secure the direct sup¬ port of individual missionaries by single churches or groups of churches. The same year a depu¬ tation was sent to the missions in China to visit the fields, confer with the missionaries, and plan for future work, which presented its report at the Annual Meeting of that year. In 1900 the mission on Ponape, Micronesia, was reopened, and Guam, in the Ladrone Islands, which had become United States territory, was occupied as 22 a new station of the Micronesian Mission. The last year of this decade was marked by the ex¬ traordinary Boxer uprising in China, which, for a time, threatened the extinction of missionary work and the death of all missionaries in the northern provinces. As it was, thirteen mission¬ aries of the American Board and five children connected with the Shansi and North China Missions were slain, besides hundreds of native converts. At the close of this decade the Board had 20 missions, 97 stations, 1,209 out-stations, 167 ordained missionaries (17 of them physi¬ cians), 18 physicians and men not ordained, 359 female assistant missionaries (168 of them wives) ; making a total of 544 American laborers. There were of native helpers, 240 pastors, 513 preachers, 1,930 teachers, 800 other helpers — a total of 3,483. There were 505 churches with 50,892 members, 4,551 having been added within the preceding year. There were 120 high schools and colleges with 10,242 pupils, 1,135 common schools with 49,375 pupils, the total number under instruction being 62,188. The contribu¬ tions in the native churches were $147,879. During the nine decades of the existence of the Board it sent out 924 men and 1,423 women as missionaries, a total of 2,347. The aggregate receipts during the four score and ten years of 23 missionary labor were $32,845,372.49. To the churches under its care there have been received 157,658 members. The first year of the tenth decade of the Board’s history has been marked by the reorgani¬ zation in some good degree of the work in China; the sending of a deputation from the Board to visit the missions in India and Ceylon, and the securing at an evening session of the Annual Meeting at Hartford of sufficient pledges to cover the debt of $102,000, which had been accumu¬ lated in recent years. Periodicals of the Board. — The first or¬ gan of the Board was The Pa 7 ioplist , commenced in 1805, which in 1808 was united with the Mis¬ sionary Magazine (established in 1803),and the double title was used until 1818, when the name was changed to The Panoplist and Missionary Herald. These publications were under private ownership. Three years later (1821) the first portion of the name was dropped, and the Mis¬ sionary Herald became exclusively the property of the Board and has so continued to this day. In 1841 The Dayspring , a small monthly paper for children, was established, and continued un¬ til 1850, when its form was altered and its name changed to The Youth's Dayspring. This pub- 24 lication was discontinued at the close of 1855. In 1850 the Journal of Missions, in newspaper form, was begun, but was discontinued at the close of 1861. In 1882 a children’s paper, The Mission Dayspring , was commenced by the American Board and Woman’s Boards conjointly. In 1879 Rev. I. R. Worcester, who for twenty- two years had been editor of the Missionary Herald , withdrew, and his place was taken by Rev. E. E. Strong. The annual publication of th ft American BoardAlmanac of Missions began with the year 1886. Beginning with January, 1897, the Board united with the other five na¬ tional Congregational Benevolent Societies in the publication of the monthly paper entitled Congregational Work. Woman’s Boards Co-operative. — Among the most efficient aids in the prosecution of the work of the American Board have been the Wo¬ man’s Board of Missions, Boston, organized in 1868; and the Woman’s Board of the Interior, organized in 1869; and the Woman’s Board of the Pacific, organized in 1873. Colleges. — Among the higher institutions for Christian education, aiming always at the preparation of an evangelical agency, some of them being under the direct care of boards of 2 5 trustees, some of them receiving grants-in-aid from, and all of them affiliated with, the Board, the following may be mentioned : Jaffna College (1872) ; Central Turkey College, Aintab (1874) ; Euphrates College, Harpoot (1878) ; North Pa¬ cific Institute, Honolulu (1877) ; Constantinople “Home,” begun in 1870 and chartered as the American College for Girls in 1890; Collegiate and Theological .Institute at Samokov (1880); Pasumalai College (1886); Anatolia College, Marsovan (1886) ; Central Turkey College for Girls, Marash (1886) ; Kobe College for Girls (1890) ; International Institute for Girls in Spain (1892) ; North China College, Tungcho (1890) ; Foochow College (1898) ; International College, Smyrna (1902). Besides these institutions, theo¬ logical and high schools are connected with nearly every mission. Robert College, at Constantino¬ ple, though not formally connected with the Board, was organized through the influence of its mission¬ aries in 1863. In 1896 the Doshisha, at Kyoto, Japan, established in 1875, withdrew from its con¬ nection with the Board, but has since then placed itself in line with the work of our missionaries, some of whom are on its Board of Trustees. Mode of Operation. — The Board is a cor¬ porate body, limited to 350 active members. 26 chosen by ballot, at least one third laymen and one third clergymen. These Corporate Mem¬ bers elect annually its officers, including the Secretaries and Treasurer, and a Prudential Committee, consisting of the President and Vice-President of the Board and twelve other members, which meets weekly, on Tuesday after¬ noons. To this Committee the Board intrusts the direction of its operations, requiring of it an Annual Report. Honorary Members, made so by a contribution of $100 ($50 if clergymen), have the right to participate in all the delibera¬ tions of the Board, but do not vote. 27 The address of the Secretaries and of the Treasurer, Frank H. Wiggin, Esq., is Congrega¬ tional House, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. FORM OF BEQUEST. I give, devise, and bequeath unto the “ Ameri¬ can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis¬ sions,” incorporated in Massachusetts in 1812, the sum of.Dollars, to be ex¬ pended for the appropriate objects of said cor¬ poration. The literature, leaflets and letters of the American Board may be had by addressing Mr. Charles E. Swett, Congregational House, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. Or the Offices of the District Secretaries : Rev. C. C. Creegan, D.D., 4* Avenue and 22d Street, New York City. Rev. A. N. Hitchcock, Ph.D., 153 La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill. 28 For full details of the work of the American Board, year by year, as well as for facts and figures relating to-foreign missions in general, see the monthly issues of the Missionary Herald, and the annual issues of the Ameri¬ can Board Almanac. The Missionary Herald ranks with the very best publications in its department, and for those members of our churches who would keep abreast of the work in foreign lands it is indispensable. It should be circulated widely in all our churches. Single subscription, 75 cents a year; in clubs of ten, 50 cents each.