well as among the Chinese settlers in many islands of the Indian Ocean. Before, too, this could be done, upwards of 100,000 copies of various publications in Chinese, including portions of the Scriptures, were dispersed among them, and among Chinese on board trading vessels, by whom they were conveyed into China Proper. The Chinese are a reading people, these are therefore perused; and the inquiries for books, by those who in the junks visit the islands or settlements of the Indian seas where missions have been established, continue without intermission; and are constantly met.

In 1831, Dr. Morrison says, "I regret that a wide door is not opened, to send the words of eternal life through the whole length and breadth of China. Where we cannot send whole Bibles, we can yet distribute portions of the Lord's word. I have a confidence and a hope in the pure text of holy Scripture, as derived from Divine inspiration, far superior to any human composition, for the sake of the heathen. Yesterday Leangafa wrote out, for a sheet tract, that inimitable exhibition of the vanity of idols, contained in Isaiah, chapter 44, which happened to be the lesson of the day, and was read by us in our little native congregation. Afa, as we abbreviate his name, explained the Scriptures to his aged pagan father, in the morning; and mentioned, with grateful hope, that the old man's heart was somewhat softened; he listened to the word, and knelt down to join in prayer to the living and true God, through Jesus Christ."

Accompanied by Agong, another Chinese convert, he itinerated in one year about 250 miles in the interior, for the purpose of instructing his countrymen in the knowledge of Christ, and dis

tributing religious tracts among them, written and published by him with that view. In reference to him, Dr. M. remarks, "He has exposed the vain superstitions which delude the minds of the Chinese, in a manner which no European now living, with whom I am acquainted, could equal."

In October, 1832, he writes, "I have been twenty-five years in China, and am now beginning to see the work prosper. Blessed be God for his mercy to me. By the press we have been enabled to scatter knowledge far and wide. We now greatly want writers in Chinese. My strength fails me much. The Confucian atheists, who believe that death is annihilation, are numerous. Of late, some merchants here, of that school, have been put into possession of the Testament, Milne on the Soul, and other books printed by us.

"Agong has been occupied in my house all the summer, in printing sheet tracts on the lithographic press. Leangafa has been engaged in printing nine tracts, for which the Tract Society sent out funds. He has baptized three persons

during the year."

On one occasion, since that period, Leangafa and his fellow disciple Agong went forth into the streets of Canton, and distributed more than 2,500 volumes of Scripture tracts, and his own "Good Words to admonish the Age," among the 24,000 literary graduates who had assembled in that city for public examination. The books are said to have been received with gladness. At another time he made a large distribution in similar circumstances.

Thus the press is a most important instrument

of good. Nor should it be overlooked, that the establishment of English presses in China, both for the diffusion of general knowledge, and for religious purposes, arose out of the Protestant mission. The Hon. East India Company's press, to print Dr. Morrison's Dictionary, was the first; and now, both English and Americans endeavour, by the press, to draw attention to China, and give information concerning it and the surrounding nations. The Indo-Chinese Gleaner, at Malacca; the Canton newspapers, and the Chinese Repository, have all risen up since this mission commenced. Missionary voyages have been performed, and the Chinese sought out, at various places under European control, in the Archipelago, as well as in Siam, at the Loochoo islands, at Corea, and along the coast of China itself, up to the very walls of Peking. Some tracts, written by Protestant missionaries, have reached and been read by the emperor himself.

Though the press was Dr. Morrison's chief instrument for diffusing the knowledge of Christ, yet he was not limited to that alone. From first to last, he maintained in his own house on the Sabbath, Divine worship in the Chinese language. Long before the arrival of the Company's chaplain în China, he performed one service in English and two in Chinese on each Lord's day: the Chinese he never omitted, but the English was more limited and occasional during late years. Preaching in Chinese has ever called for caution, more perhaps in former times than at present; but he was able to continue it during the violent measures adopted by the Chinese government against the Roman Catholics in 1814.

To his work he continued indeed "faithful unto death." Heaven, "the believer's home," was the subject of a sermon which he wrote (but never preached) about forty days before his dissolution. In a letter, written a short time before it occurred, he expressed his "apprehensions that his work was finished, and his gratitude to God for what he had been permitted to accomplish for the Redeemer's cause.'

On the last Sabbath before his death, he was peculiarly animated and solemn in his exhortation to his native audience, that they should give heed to the repeated instructions they had enjoyed-as if, and as it proved, they were to enjoy them no more. In singing-his favourite devotional exercise-he sung with them the hymn which he had prepared and translated during the summer

He had been for some time in a state of declining health, but his illness was greatly increased by the fatigue he encountered, and by exposure to heavy rain, in accompanying Lord Napier to Canton. There, after a week of debility and exhaustion, endured with exemplary patience, and a tranquil hope of approaching glory, on the 1st of August, 1834, he expired in the arms of his eldest son, and entered on the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord, who rest from their labours, and whose works do follow them.

Under the pressure of so great a loss, sustained, not by the Chinese mission only, but by the entire church of Christ, and by the world at large, it is soothing and consolatory to think, that such a man is succeeded by such a son, not only in his official

appointment at Canton, but in his character, spirit, missionary ardour, and devotedness to God.

The American Board has latterly engaged in efforts on behalf of China, at Canton and Macao. Progress has been made in the language; information respecting China has been collected and diffused, and books have been prepared and distributed.

A valuable letter has been recently received from Mr. Dyer, of the London Missionary Society, as to the present circumstances of this remarkable and interesting country. He contends that China is not generally opened to the reception of missionaries, to the establishment of Christian schools, or to the printing of the Scriptures and tracts in the interior. He affirms, however, that never was the prospect more bright, more glorious, than at this day; for we can pour as many books into China as we can print. Never," he says, 66 were our

books better adapted to accomplish the end than at present," and the means of multiplying these books are rapidly increasing.