often subjected to corporal punishments. The rule is to try the effect of rewards and of persuasion, until it is plain that these will not operate; after which it is the custom to disgrace a boy by making him remain on his knees before the whole school, or sometimes at the door, while a stick of incense (a sort of slow match) burns to a certain point; the last resort is to flog him.

"The object of the Government, as Dr. Morrison justly observed, in making education general, is not to extend the bounds of knowledge, but to impart the knowledge already possessed to as large a portion as possible of the rising generation, and 'to pluck out true talent' from the mass of the community for its own service. The advancement of learning, or discoveries in physical science, are not in its contemplation. It prescribes the books to be studied; a departure from which is heterodoxy, and discountenances all innovations that do not originate with itself. In this we may perceive one of the causes, not only of the stationary and unprogressive character of Chinese Institutions, but likewise of their permanency and continuance.

"The process of early instruction in the language is this: they first teach children a few of the principal characters (as the names of the chief objects in nature or art) exactly as we do the letters, by rude pictures, having the characters attached. Then follows the Santse-king, or trimetrical classic' being a summary of infant erudition, conveyed in chiming lines of three words or feet. They soon after proceed to the 'Four Books,' which contain the doctrines of Confucius, and which, with the Five Classics,' subsequently added, are in fact the Chinese Scriptures. The Four Books they learn by heart entirely, and the whole business of the literary class is afterwards to comment on them, or compose essays on their texts. Writing is taught by tracing the characters with their hair pencil on transparent paper placed over the copy, and they commence with very large characters in the first instance. Specimens of this species of caligraphy are contained in the Royal Asiatic Transactions. In lieu of slates, they generally use boards painted white, to save paper, washing out the writing when finished. Instructors are of course

very plentiful, on account of the numbers who enter the learned profession, and fail in attaining the higher degrees.

"Every principal city is furnished with halls of examination, and the embassy of 1816 was lodged in one of these buildings, at Nanheung-foo, a town at the bottom of the pass which leads northward from Canton province. It consisted of a number of halls and courts, surrounded by separate cells for the candidates, who are admitted with nothing but blank paper and the implements of writing; a part of the system which corresponds with our college examinations. The students who succeed in their own district, at the annual examination, are ranked as sewtsae, or bachelors, and according to their merits are drafted for further advancement until they become fitted for the triennial examination, held at the provincial capital by an officer expressly deputed from the Hanlin College at Pekin. The papers consist of moral and political essays on texts selected from the sacred books, as well as of verses on given subjects. Pains are taken to prevent the examiners from knowing the authors of the essays and poems; but of course this cannot always be effectual in shutting out abuses.

"Those who succeed at the triennial examinations attain the rank of Kiu-jin, which may be properly termed licentiate, as it qualifies for actual employment; and once in three years all these licentiates repair to Pekin (their expenses being paid if necessary) to be examined for the Tsin-sse, or doctor's degree, to which only thirty can be admitted at one time. From these doctors are selected the members of the Imperial college of Hanlin, after an examination held in the Palace itself. These fortunate and illustrious persons form the body from whom the ministers of the empire are generally chosen.

"A man's sons may or may not be instrumental, by their literary success, in reflecting honour on their parents, or advancing them in worldly rank and prosperity; but the mere chance of this, joined to the heavy responsibility for their conduct, is a great inducement to fathers to bring them up with care, and may serve to account for the great and universal prevalence of a certain degree of education throughout the empire."

truth and of the things of eternity, we are also subserving the interests of temporal civilization: this is a secondary, but not unimportant consideration. Not to dwell upon the long periods of history in ancient times -from the promulgation of the Gospel down to the present day-not to touch upon the history of any race but our own, let me ask, What is it but the Bible, with all its blessed vigour, that has made you and this country what you are? What is it but the Bible that has given life, and energy, and strength, and expansive force to the Anglo-Saxon race? What is but the Bible that has made this little crag of England-a crag in comparison with the rest of the world, and scarcely bigger by contrast than the store-house of its own Bible Society-the fountain of empires, the mother and sister of that tremendous people on the other side of the Atlantic? And what but the Bible will combine those two great nations till they shall penetrate into every creek and recess of the earth, till there shall be not a language, not a nation, or a people, where their combined voice shall not be heard? I do believe that there is in the history of every nation, a period when Almighty Providence, surveying all His mercies and His great gifts, determines to come to an account for His just expectations. I believe it is said, “Let us dig about it, and dung it; let it abide this year, and, if it bear fruit, well; if not, then cut it down." The two great events of this day-the Jubilee of the Bible Society, and the opening of the Chinese Empire-signify to us that such a trial is now proceeding. God grant that we may not be found wanting in this great hour of our trial and of our necessity. So far for the country; but for ourselves, as Christians, collectively and individually, surely there is something nobler, higher, and more durable, to be expected; surely there is at hand something great, weighty, and everlasting. Go where you will, speak to whomsoever you may, the most thoughtful or the most indifferent, you will now find every one musing more or less upon the strange state of affairs. While, on the earth, there is "distress of nations, with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear,”—while, in this great crisis, the Protestant nations of the earth, and especially the two great nations

of England and America, are summoned to action, let us go forward with energy and vigour; having put our hands to the plough, for God's sake let us not go back. There never was such an opportunity in the whole history of the Christian world as that which is now open before us. Let us, again I say, go forward with energy and vigour, trusting that, in so mighty a work, we shall have every succour and every light from on high; and although at the close, when we shall have done all, we shall say from the heart, 'We are unprofitable servants,' yet let us bear in mind there is one other text revealed for our encouragement and our joy, 'Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

The Rev. Dr. LEIFCHILD rose and said: I do not know the reason why this position has been assigned to me, unfit as I am to lead off the addresses to be made to this assembly, excepting it be that I am one of the oldest members of the London Missionary Society, and one of the fellow-students of the great Dr. Morrison, so closely connected with the history of its proceedings. I remember the time when he had pledged himself to this great work, and took leave of us, his brethren, to embark for the distant empire of China. We commended him, from our hearts, to the grace of God, and listened to him, when he exhorted us with tears in his eyes, saying, "I beseech you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with God in your prayers for me." We followed him with our prayers, and rejoiced in his success. Since that period I have been able to afford but little help to the London Missionary Society; but I will say, that I have always been ready to obey its calls, and am now. With great cordiality, therefore, I propose this Resolution for the adoption of the meeting::

"That this Meeting, devoutly acknowledging Jehovah the Most High over all the earth, contemplates with wonder and awe the present operations of His providence in China, by which the animating hope is encouraged, that the system of idolatry which, with deadly force, has prevailed for many

centuries throughout that vast empire, is about to be overthrown, and the millions of its inhabitants, hitherto shut up in Pagan darkness, to become accessible to the ministers of Christ, and the power of His Gospel."

We are assembled to contemplate an event that has taken place in the Eastern part of the world-that wonderful revolution in the Chinese empire which has led to the open and the wide admission of the Scriptures, and the propagation of the religion contained in their various parts. It is one of those changes in human affairs where the extraordinary consequences resulting from unexpected causes and circumstances constrain the recognition, in all parties, of the hand of Providence in the acknowledgment of his purposes-an event, therefore, which ought to be brought before us, and pressed upon our attention again and again by those who have the means of giving us full information upon the subject. For how many ages has that immense empire been walled out from the rest of mankind! Its inhabitants seem almost as distinct from the rest of their race as if they had belonged to another planet; ample in its resources, consolidated in its government, and perfectly unique in its language, it thought itself the world; it named itself, by way of eminence," the Celestial Empire," but there the Prince of Darkness-as it regards the religion that was to give light to the world-sat enthroned, holding his hundreds of millions in unsuspected captivity by their superstition, will worship, and idolatry. We know the attempts that were made from time to time to penetrate it with the light of Scripture truth, and how partial was their success. Those attempts were chiefly made through the corrupted medium of Papal instrumentality; but at length the London Missionary Society laid the foundation for the extension of that light, by the translation of the Scriptures into the strange vernacular of that Empire, and now, by a movement among themselves, on their own parts, they have thrown off the obstruction to its progress and opened the way for the extension of its light; and such an event, with the causes which have led to it, and the consequences that may probably follow, lead us to say, "Surely

this is the Lord's doings, and it is marvellous in our eyes." I am well aware that we shall be thought to argue too much from this revolutionary movement in a religious point of view. The remote consequences, in that respect, it will be said, are very far off. True; but yet I think, that if we examine the character of the insurrectionary movement, we shall find enough to justify us in the view we are taking of it. Whatever be the immediate result, the insurgents have been led to the demolition of idols, and to the adoption of the Ten Commandments of Moses, including the one denouncing image worship. They have stretched out their hand to foreigners, the possessors of the Scriptures, inviting their aid and their enlightenment. Whatever may happen, it is almost next to impossible that that empire can again fall under the incubus of superstition and idolatry; and it is almost impossible that it can be ever shut again from our enlightened works of art as it has been heretofore. We fondly hope that this will lead to the imbuing them with the love of the pure Word of God. It is a singular conjunction, that while the way has thus been opening for the further and extensive circulation of the Scriptures, especially in that immense empire, preparation has been making for the publication of them at a comparatively trifling expense. But it must not be forgotten that this has been owing to the vast amount of expenditure, both of money and of means, by the London Missionary Society, in a new and better translation; in furnishing printing presses and type and all facilities for the work, until the New Testament in the Chinese language can be purchased for a very few pence of our money. The Missionary Society laboured, and the Bible Society enters into its labours, and the approbation of Heaven rests upon them both. And now that the Scriptures are about to be much more extensively circulated in that great empire, the London Missionary Society, with its characteristic spirit of enterprise, resolves on increasing the supply of the teachers of that blessed book. Well it knows that the written Scriptures will lie neglected and unheeded till attention be called to them by the voice of the living teacher. The reading of the Scriptures is not to supersede the necessity of

preaching, but rather to help it, and to be helped by it to secure its correctness and to identify it with the communications of inspired men. Those who have contributed to the additional supply of the Scriptures for China, must, if they would complete their work, contribute to the additional supply of the teachers of that blessed Word. I cannot doubt that when the Christian world has its duty fully set before it, it will promptly respond to the call. Some will give liberally out of their princely fortunes; but I am desirous that the contributions should be general or universal-that every one may have a hand in sending forth a Missionary to some part of that vast empire, and thus share in the honour of its evangelization. I remember the time when America was young; when the islands of the South Seas were scarcely discovered; when California and Australia were unknown; when India and China were thought at so great a distance as to be out of sight. But where are we now? We rise and stand on a higher point; we see the whole world coming forward to our notice, and a better order and a brighter state of things. It might be compared with the chaos when the creation was proceeding. The light that dawned on Eden extended itself, and feasting on the sight of such a morning, the stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy. And so we rejoice at the unveiling of the new creation of the world in righteousness and true holiness. There is yet, however, wanting a desideratum for which the conversion of the world waits, and which is not to be expected till it comes to pass. I mean the harmonious agreement and co-operation of all the true disciples of Revelation of every name-the expulsion of a bitter polemical spirit and of denominational tendency, heart meeting heart, and hand joining in hand to prosecute the great work of the Lord. I fear we may not be brought to this till, by the approach of some common danger, the whole of the Protestant Christian world shall be banded together for the diffusion and maintenance of Christian truth, and then the united Church shall look fresh as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.

The Rev. W. W. CHAMPNEYS, Rector of

Whitechapel, and one of the Canons of St. Pauls: It is with the most sincere pleasure, and the utmost readiness and frankness, tha I acceded to that request, by which I conceived a very great honour was put on myself, in taking a part in the meeting of this day. It has been remarked, that whoever watches Providence will never want a Providence to watch. It is quaintly put, but those who study Providence know that it is truly put. It has struck my own mind that, among all the subjects of providential dealing in modern times, the workings of God, in past times and the present, with regard to China, are the most remarkable, and afford to the student of Divine Providence a subject for holy and profitable meditation, and for great and strong encouragement to hope for the future. When we look at that remarkable empire, hermetically sealed from the rest of the world for so many hundreds, almost thousands of years-when we consider how that nation made some of the most remarkable discoveries which have been made by man—when we remember that gunpowder -(you will say, not a harbinger of peace; certainly not, but I believe that, in proportion to the increase of destructiveness in wars, has been their rareness and their seldom recurrence)-when we remember that that was discovered in China, that the use of the compass was known long before it was known in Europe, though they applied it, as Dr. Medhurst tells us, rather to travelling by land to the coast from north to south than to ships, and called the chariots which

had compasses "south-pointing chariots," reversing the needle-when we remember that bridges were known and constructed in China long before the Greeks or Romans had thought of such a thing-and, above all, when we mark that God permitted the discovery of printing to take place in China, and that he has constituted that vast nation a reading population, we see in all these things proof that the Chinese mind is not deficient in power, if that were only once turned in a right direction. When we also remember, that the dialects of China are so different, that a man on one side of a stream, not thirty yards broad, will scarcely understand what another on the opposite side speaks, and yet remember that the language, so very