Certificates under the present plan will not be issued after December 31, 1920. Beginning with January 1, 1921, certificates will be issued under a new and enlarged plan. Members in the present plan will have all of 1921 to decide whether they wish to change their membership to the new plan. If they so decide, the change can be made without loss. Probably, however, only the younger men would find it advisable to make the change. Whether this change is made or not, the men in the present plan will be fortunate, for they will have begun their preparation for old age at an earlier date, will have a larger saving to their credit, and will in every way be farther along in their provision for old age.

Again the man who postpones the matter until 1921, must till then carry his own risk.

While since the last Council the right of way has been largely given to the Pilgrim Memorial Fund, the Annuity Fund has made steady and substantial progress. The Treasurer's report when presented to the Council will show that the assets have grown from $119,346.01 as of July 31, 1917, to $251,157.19 as of July 31, 1919.

Since the report two years ago, 165 new members have been received.

The outlook for the Annuity Fund is most promising and all our ministers who are eligible would do well to get into the Fund as soon as possible.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE

NATIONAL COUNCIL

(Revised)

THE Congregational Churches of the United States, by delegates in National Council assembled, reserving all the rights and cherished memories belonging to this organization under its former constitution, and declaring the steadfast allegiance of the churches composing the Council to the faith which our fathers confessed, which from age to age has found its expression in the historic creeds of the Church universal and of this communion, and affirming our loyalty to the basic principles of our representative democracy, hereby set forth the things most surely believed among us concerning faith, polity, and fellowship:

FAITH.

We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, goodness, and love; and in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord and Saviour, who for us and our salvation lived and died and rose again and liveth evermore; and in the Holy Spirit, who taketh of the things of Christ and revealeth them to us, renewing, comforting, and inspiring the souls of men. We are united in striving to know the will of God as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord, made known or to be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church of Christ to proclaim the gospel to all mankind, exalting the worship of the one true God, and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and the realization of human brotherhood. Depending, as did our fathers, upon the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, we work and pray for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God; and we look with faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting.

POLITY

We believe in the freedom and responsibility of the individual soul, and the right of private judgment. We hold to the autonomy of the local church and its independence of all ecclesiastical control. We cherish the fellowship of the churches, united in district, state, and national bodies, for counsel and co-operation in matters of common concern,

THE WIDER FELLOWSHIP

While affirming the liberty of our churches, and the validity of our ministry, we hold to the unity and catholicity of the Church of Christ, and will unite with all its branches in hearty co-operation; and will earnestly seek, so far as in us lies, that the prayer of our Lord for his disciples may be answered, that they all may be one.

United in support of these principles, the Congregational Churches in National Council assembled agree in the adoption of the following Constitution:

ARTICLE 1.-NAME

The name of this body is the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States.

ARTICLE II.-PURPOSE

The purpose of the National Council is to foster and express the substantial unity of the Congregational churches in faith, polity, and work; to consult upon and devise measures and maintain agencies for the promotion of their common interests; to co-operate with any corporation or body under control of or affiliated with the Congregational churches, or any of them; and to do and to promote the work of the Congregational churches of the United States in their national, international, and interdenominational relations.

ARTICLE III.-MEMBERS.

1. Delegates. (a) The churches in each District Association shall be represented by one delegate. Each association. having more than ten churches shall be entitled to elect one additional delegate for each additional ten churches or major

fraction thereof. The churches in each State Conference shall be represented by one delegate. Each conference having churches whose aggregate membership is more than ten thousand shall be entitled to elect one additional delegate for each additional ten thousand members or major fraction thereof. States having associations but no conference, or vice versa, shall be entitled to their full representation.

(b) Delegates shall be divided, as nearly equally as practicable, between ministers and laymen.

(c) The Secretary and the Treasurer shall be members, ex officiis, of the Council.

(d) Any delegate who shall remove from the bounds of the conference or association by which he has been elected to the Council shall be deemed by the fact of that removal to have resigned his membership in the Council, and the Conference or Association may proceed to fill the unexpired term by election.

2. Honorary Members. Former moderators and assistant moderators of the Council, ministers serving the churches entertaining the Council, persons selected as preachers or to prepare papers, or to serve upon committees or commissions chosen by the Council, missionaries present who are in the service of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and have been not less than seven years in that service, persons appointed by national missionary boards as corporate members, executive officials of such boards whose scope of responsibility is coextensive with the nation, together with one delegate each from such theological seminaries and colleges as are recognized by the Council, may be enrolled as honorary members and shall be entitled to all privileges of members in the meeting of the Council except those of voting and initiation of business.

3. Corresponding Members. The Council shall not increase its own voting membership, but members of other denominations, present by invitation or representing their denominations, representatives of Congregational bodies in other lands, and other persons present who represent important interests, or have rendered distinguished services, may, by vote, be

made corresponding members, and entitled to the courtesy of the floor.

4. Term of Membership. The term of delegates shall be Elections to fill vacancies shall be for the re

four years.

mainder of the unexpired term.

The term of a member shall begin at the opening of the next stated meeting of the Council after his election, and shall expire with the opening of the second stated meeting of the Council thereafter. He shall be a member of any intervening special meeting of the Council.

ARTICLE IV.-MEETINGS

1. Stated Meetings. The churches shall meet in National Council once in two years, the time and place of meeting to be announced at least six months previous to the meeting.

2. Special Meetings. The National Council shall convene in special meeting whenever any seven of the general state organizations so request.

3. Quorum. Delegates present from a majority of the states entitled to representation in the Council shall constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE V.-BY-LAWS

The Council may make and alter By-Laws at any stated meeting by a two-thirds vote of members present and voting; provided, that no new By-Law shall be enacted and no By-Law altered or repealed on the day on which the change is proposed.

ARTICLE VI.-AMENDMENTS

This Constitution shall not be altered or amended, except at a stated meeting, and by a two-thirds vote of those present and voting, notice thereof having been given at a previous stated meeting, or the proposed alteration having been requested by some general state organization of churches entitled to representation in the Council, and published with the notification of the meeting.