its delightful association with him in all the varied and important public services he rendered to the great advantage of the kingdom of Christ. He was a man sent of God to preach the Word, and his speech and his preaching were in demonstration of the Spirit and in power. His ministries were owned of God to the salvation of many souls, and to the edifying of the body of Christ, not only in the important pastorates he held, but also in later years in many of the leading cities of the land. His commanding presence, his melodious and powerful voice, and the overwhelming force of his utterance of the truth, gave him rank among the most acceptable and effective preachers of our denomination. His genial bearing, his sincere and cordial friendliness, and his irenic spirit, gave him great influence in the wise administration of our denominational affairs. Often called to act on a conspicuous arena, he invariably acquitted himself in a way to reflect honor on the Christian ministry, and powerfully to advance the interests he served. He will long be remembered as a loyal and conspicuously useful Congregationalist, an able preacher, a successful pastor, an excellent example of the true minister of the gospel, a faithful steward of the mysteries of God. Voted, To send a copy of this memorial to the daughter.

RECOMMENDATIONS IN SECRETARY'S REPORT.

The recommendations in the report of the acting secretary were considered, and it was

Voted, That the secretaries of the local Conferences be urged to complete their reports to the secretary, and forward them in January, and that February 15th be the "time limit," after which no church report be received for use.

Voted, That, whereas, last year there was a wide variation between the figures obtained for the official report and those obtained by a special committee with reference to the membership in our Sunday schools; and as this difference often appears, our Association recommend to the Sunday-school superintendents and clerks that when they have once decided upon the proper enrollment of their school on January 1st of each year, and estimated the average attendance for the twelve months previous, that they record those results, so that the same identical figures may be given to other inquiring statisticians, and thus avoid all apparent discrepancies.

The recommendation of the secretary

"That hereafter, the "Year-Book" and State "Minutes" report the statistics as they stand on January 1st, as far as Massachusetts is concerned,"

was referred to the special committee on statistics.

The recommendation with reference to the enumeration of Young People's Societies which are connected with missions and chapels, was also referred to the special committee on statistics.

REPLY FROM THE BAPTIST CONVENTION.

The following reply from the National Convention of Baptist Churches, assembled at Springfield, was received:

SPRINGFIELD, MASS., May 23, 1901.

Massachusetts General Association, Andover :

Baptists assembled at Springfield cordially reciprocate greetings. See II. Thessalonians ii. 16, 17. [Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,

and God our Father which loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and stablish them in every good work and word.]

(Signed)

A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary.

1

Voted, That the Committee on Ministerial Standing 1 be continued.

LETTER TO REV. S. H. EMERY.

The following reply to letter from Rev. S. H. Emery, of Taunton, was presented by the special committee, and ordered.

Our Dear Brother, -Your letter of greeting was presented to our body, and listened to with responsive interest and affection.

We learn with regret of your great sorrow in the loss of the wife of your youth, and extend to you our heartiest sympathy, with the prayer that you may be abundantly sustained and comforted by the Spirit of God in the peace which passeth all understanding.

COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE LEGISLATION NOT LIMITED.

Voted, To lay on the table a motion to instruct the special committee on temperance legislation.2

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.

On motion the following resolutions of thanks were passed: Resolved, That the General Association of the Congregational Churches of Massachusetts, at the close of its ninety-ninth annual meeting, express its hearty thanks to the churches of Andover for the warm welcome and abundant hospitality extended. We appreciate the favor granted by the railroads in providing round-trip tickets to the attending delegates.

We desire to make particular mention of our great pleasure in meeting in the auditorium of the Andover Seminary Church, and of having had the opportunity of coming to this mount of beauty and privilege, and of receiving at this memorable meeting of the Association so many Christian impulses impelling us to greater activity in our fields of labor.

Resolved, That we express to our moderator our hearty appreciation of the kind and courteous manner in which he has performed the duties of his office.

CONCLUDING EXERCISES AND ADJOURNMENT.

A word of response was spoken by the moderator, a final word of Godspeed by the chairman of the Business Committee, Professor George F. Moore, and, after prayer by Rev. Isaac Pierson, of Medford, the Association adjourned.

HENRY M. MOORE, Moderator.

REV. FRANCIS J. MARSH, Registrar.

REV. ALMON J. DYER, Assistant Registrar.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ACTING SECRETARY1

REV. EUGENE C. WEBSTER.

Early in the month of August last came the announcement of the sudden death of Rev. Henry A. Hazen, who had been Secretary of this Association since 1888. The "Minutes" of last year had been printed and mostly distributed, when he went to visit his old home in Vermont. The day he went away he was, apparently, in the best of health, but on the following afternoon, without a moment's warning, he was summoned to his eternal home. Patient and easy, never distressed by delays chargeable to State or Conference secretaries, or to others, amiable and serene, he was a most delightful man with whom to be associated. Upon his death, I assumed the duties of the office as assistant secretary until appointed by the officers of the Association to be your acting secretary. For several years, -ever since Dr. Quint's day, in fact, the Secretary, although he has done most of the work at his home, has had the free use of a desk in the counting-room of the printing-house where the publications of the Association have been printed. Sometime last winter your Secretary established regular office hours at that place; but about a month ago, owing to the fact that the Publication Committee awarded the printing of the "Minutes" to another firm, as will be shown by its report, the Secretary made temporary arrangements for holding his office hours at the Congregational Library. This experiment has evidently been appreciated and proved itself of value, for hardly has a day gone by but that someone has called on Association business.

The Conference reports came in more promptly this year in view of the time limit" that was set last year; nevertheless there is yet room for improvement. Of the first five Conferences to report this year, four of them were later than last year. Mendon was first as usual, and gained one day; Hampshire East came next, but was eight days later than before; then came Worcester South, Barnstable and Brookfield, although the last two were respectively thirteen and twenty-two days later than the year before. Suffolk South and Suffolk West arrived on the last day for receiving the reports, viz., February 15. On that day only eighteen of the twenty-five Conferences had reported. If the rule of the Association had been adhered to, Franklin, Berkshire North, Woburn, Norfolk, Essex North, Suffolk North and Middlesex Union, with their 186 churches, would have been omitted; but in the interests of a complete and accurate report, we waited even until February 21 for the last

1 See page 10.

Conference report. Thirteen Conferences gained 116 days, and nine lost 77 days, a total gain of 39 days. But as the Massachusetts tables could not be made until the last Conference reported, the real gain this year was 17 days, for Middlesex Union reported this year on February 21, whereas the latest to come in last year arrived on March 3. Even then five churches had failed to report, but by our persistent efforts, you will receive some report, more or less complete, from every church in the Association.

The Swedish church at Campello has withdrawn from our sisterhood of churches, and the church at Heath, organized in 1892, and the recently formed church at Cotuit, in Barnstable, have been added, thus making a total of 601 Congregational churches in Massachusetts. The total membership of these churches is 113,235, a gain of 269. Absent members number 19,108, or about 17 per cent., an increase of 846; 3,385 joined the churches on confession (682 more than in 1899); 3,022 (303 more than in 1899) joined by letter; 1,969 were removed by death, 2,511 were dismissed by letter, 1,535 were dropped by discipline or revision of roll. One church, the Park Street, Boston, dropped 497 names, more than half its membership. Twenty-eight of the churches each report more than 100 absent members, one church still reporting 214.

The largest church in the State is Springfield, First, with 1,103 members. Worcester, First, comes next, with 1,037, and following closely are Holyoke, Second, with 966; Berkeley Temple, Boston, 931; Worcester, Union, 775, and Piedmont, 770; Cambridge, First, 772; Old South, Boston, 752; Chelsea, Central, 745; Worcester, Plymouth, 744; and Brookline, Harvard, 719.

There were 1,539 adults baptized (an increase of 314), and 1,810 infants (an increase of 36). For the two years previous to 1900 the Sunday schools reported a combined loss of 9,036. For 1899, 589 schools reported 115,211 members, and for last year 600 schools report 120,286 members, a gain of 5,075. The average attendance in 1900 was 69,121, or 57 per cent. of the membership; in 1899, 67,615, or 58 per cent.; 561 churches reported last year, 89, 150 families, whereas 583 churches report this year 92,022 families, an increase of 2,872. A year ago there were reported 522 young people's societies, but this year a gain of 10 societies is shown.

The Association will receive a report this year on Benevolent Contributions from every church except one. Only 16 churches reported no benevolence; 153 contributed to the seven objects specified in the YearBook; 129 others gave to all the objects except ministerial aid.

Six hundred churches report (as against 579 the year before) a total benevolence of $673,945, an increase of $13,906. The offerings for foreign missions, church building and Sunday schools, show the gain, while the other offerings fell off; 590 churches (15 more than reported in 1899) reported total home expenditures, $1,711,020, an increase of $56,054.

Two hundred and sixty-five of the churches have pastors installed by

council; 249 are with pastors otherwise inducted; 6 with supplies, and 81 (including 21 that are supplied by licentiates or ministers of other denominations) are vacant, Massachusetts reports 891 ministers, not all of whom, however, are settled within our borders, and only 520 of whom are actively engaged in pastoral work in this State. We also report 27 licentiates, and 12 ministers of other denominations, who are supplying our churches, making a total of 930.

In the circular letter which I sent out to the churches, I expressed the hope that every church would be represented here today by at least one person. Since issuing that letter, I have examined the rolls of the last nine meetings of the Association and find that only about one-third of the churches are represented at any given meeting, and that only about fifty churches have failed to be represented at any of these meetings. This is a better showing than I expected to be able to give.

I have recently made a card catalogue of the ministers reported by our Association, and I would recommend that thus a complete alphabetical record should be kept of all ordinations, installations, dismissions, beginning and closing of pastorates, marriages and deaths, which record should give at any moment a correct roll of our ministers and should be at the disposal of any person making inquiries. In order to keep this record up-to-date, each church and minister, the scribe of each Association and Conference, and the scribes of the various Councils must promptly notify the Secretary of all such items as are to be recorded.

I would likewise urge the adoption of a similar resolution as was passed last year, setting the "time limit" for receiving Conference statistical reports at February 15. We are not yet ready to shorten the time.

It has been customary for several years, and the same plan prevailed this year, to make later changes in the columns of the tables between the time the reports come in and the day they go to press. The headline on the "Blank Schedule" reads, "Report of..... church, at......

......

at this date, viz., January 1, 1901." I would recommend that hereafter, the "Year-Book" and State "Minutes" report the facts as they stand on January 1st, as far as Massachusetts is concerned.

Last year there was a wide variation between the figures obtained for the official report and those obtained by a special committee with reference to the membership in our Sunday schools. This difference often appears. May I suggest that our Association recommend to the Sundayschool superintendents and clerks that when they have once decided upon the proper enrollment of their school on January 1st of each year, and estimated the average attendance for the twelve months previous, that they record those results, so that the same identical figures may be given to other inquiring statisticians, and thus avoid all apparent discrepancies.

Our Sunday-school statistics include the membership of Home De