tions. Let our readers for a moment dwell upon the difficulty, in their own powerful Saxon tongue, of discoursing upon free-will, predestination, and many other such subjects, and then endeavor to realize to themselves how infinitely more difficult the attempt must be, in a language of a monosyllabic foundation and structure-its very polysyllables being the roughest possible mosaic of monosyllables, and the genius and construction of the tongue, such, that even the simple language of the Gospels (the sentences of which are in general so remarkably plain and free from complication) is beyond its flexibility-the simplest sentences in the Gospels of Mark or John having to be chopped up and decomposed, in order to adopt them to this peculiar language. Let our readers imagine, if they can, the wonderful command requisite of so awkward an instrument, in order to be enabled to answer an Oo-yan-" How are sin and eternal 'misery reconcilable with the character of an infinitely holy, wise, and powerful God?" or, to meet the subtleties of a Moung Shwa-gnong, arguing on his fundamental doctrine, "that Divine wisdom, not concentrated in any existing spirit, or em'bodied in any form, but diffused throughout the universe, and partaken in different degrees by various intelligences, and in a very high degree by the Budhs, is the true and only God." Yet, so completely was Judson master of this very difficult tongue, and of the modes of thought of its people, that he could, by his replies and arguments, impart to an Oo-yan intense satisfaction, and a joy, which exhibited itself by the ebullitions, natural to a susceptible temperament; and in the end could force a subtle Moung Shwa-gnong to yield to the skill of a foreign disputant.

*

In reply to a tyro in Burmese, who observed upon the want of flexibility, attested by the necessity for decomposing sentences of ordinary length into still shorter ones, and how incomprehensible it was that a person could be eloquent in a tongue of such remark. able abruptness and curtness of construction, Judson acknowledged the fact of the need for the remoulding of sentences of ordinary length into others of simpler and shorter form; but long habit had not only made him lose sight of this characteristic of the language, which, when then stated, struck him both as a novel and a correct observation, but also to the essential difficulties, which oppose themselves to a continuous flow of eloquence in such a tongue. In fact, it had become a mothertongue to him; and a mere tyro could note difficulties, of which Judson had long ceased to be aware. He thought in Burman,

Oo and Moung, are honorary prefixes, denoting age :-Oo being applied to an elderly, and Moung to a young man.

with as much facility as in English, as was proved by his own acknowledgment, that he preferred preaching in Burman to preaching in English, and felt that he did so better. Certain it is that he addressed a Burman congregation with a confidence and a power, that will hardly be rivalled by his successors; and we have heard from those present on the occasion of a farewell discourse, when about to sail for America, that he seemed to express his own deep solemn feelings in such pure, heart-touching language, that his Burman flock melted into tears, and wept.

Powerful as a teacher of the word; searching and acute in argumentation; having success given to him in a moderate but encouraging degree, in the effectual conversion of Burman disciples to the faith, and therefore the founder of a true, though as yet a small, Christian Church; Judson, besides accomplishing these things, was spared to fulfil the aspiration of his first wife— "We do hope to live to see the Scriptures translated into the 'Burman language, and to see a Church formed from among the idolaters." That first noble companion of his toils and sufferings did not indeed live to witness the fulfilment of her ardent prayers with respect to the Scriptures, though she not only saw, but was instrumental in aiding to lay the foundation of the spiritual Burman Church. She seemed, however, clearly to anticipate, from the indefatigable study and the thorough grounding in the language to which her husband was devoting years of energetic toil, that nothing less than a complete translation of the whole Bible, a truly gigantic labour for any single man, was to crown his efforts;-and she was right. Long years of toil were to be endured; and she, the heroic companion of the first and most eventful years of his career, was not in her mortal frame to witness the consummation of this single-handed achievement; but she had a prophetic feeling that her husband's meed was to be the imperishable honour of completing this great work:-and it came to pass. To Judson it was granted, not only to found the spiritual Burman Church of Christ, but also to give it the entire Bible in its own vernacular, thus securing that Church's endurance and ultimate extension-the instances being few or none of that Word, after once it has struck root in any tongue, being ever wholly suppressed. Divine and human nature alike forbid such a result: for, when once it has become incorporated in a living tongue, holiness and love join hands with sin and weakness to perpetuate that Word's life and dominion. We honor Wickliffe and Luther for their labours in their respective mother-tongues; but, what meed of praise is due to Judson for a translation of the Bible, perfect as a li

terary work, in a language originally so foreign to him as the Burmese? Future ages, under God's blessing, may decide this point, when his own forebodings, as he stood and pondered over the desolate, ruinous scene at Pah-gan, shall be fulfilled.

"January 18, 1820.-Took a survey of the splendid Pagodas and extensive ruins in the environs of this once famous city. Ascended, as far as possible, some of the highest edifices; and, at the height of one hundred feet, perhaps, beheld all the country round, covered with temples and monuments of every sort and size; some in utter ruin, some fast decaying, and some exhibiting marks of recent attention and repair. The remains of the ancient wall of the city stretched beneath us. The pillars of the gates, and many a grotesque, dilapidated relic of antiquity, checkered the motley scene. All conspired to suggest those elevated and mournful ideas, which are attendant on a view of the decaying remains of ancient grandeur; and though not comparable to such ruins as those of Palmyra and Balbec (as they are represented), still deeply interesting to the antiquary, and more deeply interesting to the Christian Missionary. Here, about eight hundred years ago, the religion of Budh was first publicly recognized, and established as the religion of the Empire. Here Shen-ahrah-han, the first Buddhist apostle of Burmah, under the patronage of King An-aur-al-ah-men-yan, disseminated the doctrines of atheism, and taught his disciples to pant after annihilation as the supreme good. Some of the ruins before our eyes were probably the remains of Pagodas, designed by himself. We looked back on the centuries of darkness, which are passed. We looked forward, and Christian hope would fain brighten the prospect. Perhaps we stand on the dividing line of the Empires of darkness and light. O, shade of Shen-ah-rah-han! weep over thy fallen fanes; retire from the scenes of thy past greatness! But thou smilest at my feeble voice; -linger, then, thy little remaining day. A voice mightier than mine-a still small voice-will ere long sweep away every vestige of thy dominion. The Churches of Jesus will soon supplant these idolatrous monuments, and the chaunting of the devotees of Budh will die away before the Christian bymn of praise.

True, Judson; and those Christian hymns of praise will ascend heavenward, either in your own pure rendering of the words of the sweet psalmist of Israel, or, in the poetical versions and original compositions of the talented being, the second partner of your labours and trials.

One-and-twenty years after his first landing at Rangoon, Judson finished his translation of the whole Bible; but not satisfied with this first version, six more years were devoted to a revision of this great work; and, on the 24th October, 1840, the last sheet of the new edition was printed off. The revision cost him more time and labour than the first translation: for what he wrote in 1823 remained the object of his soul:-"I never read a chapter without a pencil in hand, and Griesbach and Parkhurst at my elbow; and it will be an object with me through life to bring the translation into such a state, that it

may be a standard work." The best judges pronounce it to be all that he aimed at making it, and also (what with him never was an object) an imperishable monument of the man's genius. We Te may venture to hazard the opinion that as Luther's Bible is now in the hands of Protestant Germany, so, three centuries hence, Judson's Bible will be the Bible of the Christian Churches of Burmah.

His labours were not confined to this his magnum opus. Early in 1826 a Dictionary of his compilation was published in Calcutta, at a time when the fate of the prisoners at Oungpen-la was still unknown. This work, in Burmese and English, proved most valuable, and was praised by every one but himself for its extreme utility. With a far larger, and much more complete Dictionary of the language in view, at the perfecting of which he was assiduously labouring to the close of his life, it was natural that he should esteem the smaller and less finished work but lightly, however eminently useful. He published also another work, a Grammar, of no pretension and of very small dimensions, yet a manual which indicated the genius of the man perhaps more strikingly than any thing else except his Bible. He has managed, from a thorough knowledge of the language, to condense into a few short pages a most complete Grammar of this difficult tongue; and as the student grows in knowledge, pari passu, this little volume rises in his estimation: for its lucid, comprehensive conciseness becomes the more and more manifest. In our limited acquaintance with languages, whether of the East or West, we have seen no work in any tongue, which we should compare with it for brevity and completeness: yet we have in our day had to study and wade through some long, and some would-be-short, Grammars.

With respect to his great Dictionary, which is left, in his own opinion, unfinished, we would venture the suggestion that the world will gain much by its being printed off exactly as he has left it. The conjecture may be very safely hazarded, that it will be found (what other ripe scholars, were there any capable of giving a competent opinion, would pronounce) complete, and that it will be many years before any one arises, fitted by acquirements and erudition to finish it, in Judson's sense of the word-" finish." Such a work is too valuable to be botched by inferior, though it might be zealous, hands; and it would argue sad presumption to find this attempted by any one of much shorter apprenticeship, less unremitted toil, and less indubitable genius than Judson. It should be considered a national work and America should see to it, for it will be found a work worthy of her rising name. If America decline the honour, we

venture to hope that the East India Company will come forward, and offer to meet all the expence of the printing and publication of this great work. As it will be not less useful in a secular than in a spiritual light, and as it must prove invaluable to the Company's servants on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, the cost should not be allowed to fall on the Baptist Mission of America, unless by that body's own wish. Whoever may undertake this great and truly important task, we trust that it may be done rapidly and well; and that the world may be quickly in possession of a work, which had so much of Judson's time and assiduous care, and which, from a sense of its utility to others, he had so much and so long at heart. His Bible is secure of life but we should very much regret, now that the mighty are fallen in the midst of the battle," to see any of 'the weapons of war perished."

These monuments of the labours of Judson may not, to outward appearance, be such brilliant trophies of success, as Xavier is recorded to have left behind him. A Dictionary, a Bible, and a small Church of true Christian converts are the fruits of the devoted life of the Baptist Missionary. These results may seem of less gigantic proportions than those of the Jesuit; yet, to our minds, there is in reality no comparison, either on the point of stability, or of ultimate effect. The "sword of the spirit," which Judson leaves unsheathed, will be wielded by men of a different stamp from Xavier's followers, of whom it was truly said-" Que, quand ils se trouvent en des pays, où un Dieu crucifié passe 'pour folie, ils suppriment le scandale de la croix, et ne prechent que Jésus Christ glorieux, et non pas Jésus Christ souffrant: comme ils ont fait dans les Indes et dans la Chine, où ils ont permis aux Chrétiens l'idolâtrie même, par cette subtile invention ' de leur faire cacher sous leurs habits une image de Jésus Christ a 'laquelle ils leur enseignent de rapporter mentalement les adora'tions publiques, qú ils rendent a l' idole Cachinchoam et a leur 'Keum-fucum, comme Gravina, Dominicain, le leur reproche; et ' comme le temoigne le mémoire, en Espagnol, presenté au Roi d' Espagne, Philippe IV., par les Cordeliers des Iles Philippines, ' rapporté par Thomas Hurtado dans son livre du Martyre de la 'Foi, 427."*

"That, when they find themselves in countries, where a crucified God is looked upon as "foolishness," they suppress the reproach of the cross, and preach only Jesus Christ glorious, and not Jesus Christ suffering;-as they have done in the E. Indies and China, when they have permitted idolatry itself to their Christians, by the subtle invention of making them conceal in their dress an image of Jesus Christ, to which they teach them mentally to refer the public adoration, which they offer to the idol Kachin Choam, and to their Keum-fucum (Confucius ?) as Gravina, a Dominican, reproaches them with; and as is testified in a memoir in Spanish, presented to Philip IV. of Spain, by the Cordeliers of the Philippine islands, given by Thomas Hurtado in his book on Martyrdom for the Faith."