9. It is evident that the influence and results of the presence of Chinese laborers and traders in America are as nothing compared with the influence and result of the thoroughly organized and far-reaching agencies which the General Assembly, and other religious bodies in the United States, have established in China, and which are permeating the whole country.

10. The losses sustained by Americans and others in China from mob violence have always been made good, and the last Annual Report of your Foreign Board confirms this as regards the losses of your mission up to that time.

11. Contrast this with the treatment of Chinese in the United States. In thousands of instances they have been maltreated without redress, and their property destroyed without restitution. Hundreds have been murdered and the murderers go free. Millions of dollars have been exacted from them under the forms of unjust and discriminating laws, and millions more exacted illegally with no possibility of redress. All this has been going on for many years (and recent outrages have added to the long list of sufferings) in a country claiming to be Christian, boasting of liberty, civilization, equal rights, and just laws, and offering an asylum to the oppressed of all lands.

12. The General Assembly cannot be ignorant of the fact that China is beginning to be conscious of her power, and is developing her material resources which, with her immense population, will make her, at no distant day a power among the nations. That she should retaliate for the barbarities inflicted on her people by restricting missionary operations, and should even attempt the expulsion of missionaries, would not be surprising.

13. We do not undertake to propose or even to suggest any course of action to be taken by you, but it must be evident that grave consequences to your work in China and to your missionaries in the interior, will follow if the Church is silent, if the barbarity of anti-Chinese mobs goes unpunished, and if Chinese emigrants are deprived by law of the rights which are freely granted to those of all other nationalities.

Correspondence.

THE EASY WENLI UNION VERSION.

CIRCULAR RESOLUTIONS FROM PEKING.

[The following circular has been signed by nearly all the missionaries in Peking and Tientsin, and is being circulated for signatures in Shantung.]

Whereas, A version of the New Testament in Easy Wen li, prepared by the Rev. Griffith John, has recently been published, and has met with very considerable favor, and,

Whereas, Another version, based on the Mandarin New Testament is being prepared by two of the translators of that version, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Burdon, and the Rev. H. Blodget D.D., which, judging from the merits of the Mandarin New Testament, the well known ability of the authors, and the testimony of scholars who have examined it, promises to be a work of great excellence, and,

Whereas, We consider it very desirable to have one common version of the Scriptures in Easy Wen li of the highest possible excellence, and that will be generally acceptable in all parts of the Chinese Empire,

THEREFORE, We the undersigned, would respectfully request the selection of a Committee of nine, of which the three translators above mentioned shall be asked to be members, and that two additional members he chosen by North, Central, and Southern China, respectively, in such way as each section may deem most advisable, and at as early a date as possible.

We also petition the American, and British and Foreign Bible Societies, one or both, to publish a tentative edition of 1,000 copies of Bishop Burdon's and Dr. Blodget's version of the New Testament in Easy Wen li, for distribution to missionaries and native scholars, that all may have an opportunity to examine and criticise, and for the use of the proposed Committee in the preparation of the Union Version, the Committee also availing themselves of all other possible aids.

DEAR SIR,

I have read and re-read our Brother John's article in the April number. A thousand missionaries all appreciate his successful labors as a translator. It is as clear as light that he is not responsible for the "unfortunate complication." I suppose the venerable Dr. Blodget, who for twenty years has been the authorized and appointed translator of the American Bible Society, could prove equally as clearly that he is also not responsible. The

question is not now of the past. The "unfortunate complication" exists, and the future good of China's Zion, imperatively demands that the knot be untied. While sympathizing with the "hard, incessant toil," of the brethren at Peking and Hankow, the rank and file of the full regiment of missionaries desire one Bible.

Has not the Bible cause gone forward? Whereas we had many versions, the work is now reduced to two Bibles in simple Wen li, running parallel one with the other, and no doubt for the most part identically the same. What a wonderful generalization it was when the Decalogue was reduced to two great commandments. But O! how sublime was the prophet of Nazareth when He announced that these two were embraced in the one word Love! At the Marriage Supper of the two versions there will be a happy gathering of veterans.

Mr. John desires "a committee of four or five men." Dr. Blodget suggested in a previous number-two Englishmen, two Americans and one German. Writing is very tedious and formal; cannot these two men of God appoint an early day to meet in Shanghai and arrange this matter?

Soochow, April 14th, 1886.

DEAR SIR,

JUVENIS.

Regarding the agitation for a Union version of the New Testament in Easy Wen li, allow me to suggest that Mr. John's version being now in the hands of the public, it would be a good thing to have Dr. Blodget's version published also, and if any one else has a version, in whole or in part, have that published too, then let a year or two elapse. After men have well discussed the merits of the various versions, let a company of translators or revisors be appointed excluding Mr. John, Dr. Blodget, and any other authors whose version has been published, and then we may hope to have a really good Union Version on which to build concordances, references, &c., and which it may be unnecessary to change again for a hundred years to come.

To have Mr. John, Dr. Blodget, Bishop Burdon and other authors on the new Committee, would serve no useful purpose, these men have given their opinions in translations, and their presence on the Committee would only complicate matters, by making it more difficult for the translators to vote freely.

To have them on the Committee would be like setting an author to review his own book, or a prisoner to judge his own case.

April 12th, 1886.

G.

THE ILLUSTRATED NEW TESTAMENT.

EDITOR OF "CHINESE RECORDER,"

3, Ming-hong Road.
Shanghai, April 22nd, 1886.

With regard to the criticisms made by several Swatow missionaries in last month's "Recorder," as to the character and artistic merits of the pictures with which a certain edition of the New Testament is illustrated, it may interest your readers to learn that criticisms of a different nature, coupled with hearty encouragement, have been received from missionaries of all denominations, at work in many parts of China and the Straits. As probably several of your readers will be anxious to inspect or have in their possession copies of the New Testament, so much and so favourably criticised, they may have copies by applying at the above address.

I feel compelled to ask you to allow me to add a word in justice to the colour-printers who have executed the pictures adversely criticised in last month's "Recorder." Acting on the suggestions of missionaries who were fully cognisant of Chinese likes and dislikes, they have taken great pains to adapt the pictures for general use in Chinese households. It must, therefore, be gratifying to them, to know that no mistake has been made, that their labour has not been in vain-the pictures being welcomed by all classes in China: alike by the peasantry, merchants of all grades, magistrates of all ranks up to viceroys, scholars of every degree from the Sui-tsai to the literary chancellors and imperial examiners. Several hundreds of return cards have been received from these different grades, acknowledging receipt of these pictures, in many cases the thanks of the sender being written on the back.

I am, Yours &c.,

GILBERT MCINTOSH.

Echoes from Other Lands.

In The Missionary Herald for March, Rev. Mr. Stimpson of the A. B. C. F. M. Mission, Taiyuen fu, tells of a discussion with a blind native pastor of the Roman Catholic community, on Mariolatry, Peterolatry, and the Second Commandment :-" The priest insisted that the Apostles' Creed was in the Gospel, and that the commandments did not forbid images of God and Christ for purposes of worship. In their Church on the East Street they have an image of God as well as of Christ."

The same periodical announces the death of Rev. Stephen Johnson, formerly connected with the Siam and Foochow missions of the American Board. He arrived at Bankok July 25th, 1834, and commenced the mission of that Board at Foochow January 2nd, 1817, finally leaving the missionary service in 1854, though retaining a deep interest in the missionary work until the time of his death.

În a recent article, The Missionary (Presbyterian, South) discussed the subject of "Our Competitors," and spoke of Rome commencing her missions in China in the seventeenth century. This position it further defends, against the suggestion that missions from Rome were commenced by John of Monte Corvino in 1288, by saying at that time there was no distinctive Protestant Church as now. Many of those who had the faith and spirit which now distinguish the Protestant Church were in the Roman Catholic Church. Of these John de Monte Corvino was one. His methods were, in the main, those of Protestants, not those of Rome. He translated the New Testament and Psalms into the Tartar language, and caused them to be 'transcribed with the utmost care.'"

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An appeal is published in The Missionary, signed by Messrs. Johnson, Painter, and Woodbridge, as a Committee of the Presbyterian Mission, South, calling for more men, and saying:-"If two or three, or ten or twelve men, were sent us, they could all be placed to great advantage soon after their arrival."

Miss Kirkland, of Hangchow, writes home :-"Don't prevent a lady from coming here because she is young. When I was young I was most anxious to be a missionary, and studied subjects that I thought, as far as I knew, would qualify me to teach the poor heathen. But I was not permitted to go. This is the bitterest and deepest regret of my life."

Rev. F. V. Mills, of the Presbyterian Mission, North, Hangchow, reports home:-"Our Session here recently demonstrated that all Chinese Christians are not mercenary. The richest man in the Church has been excommunicated. This action was taken by the natives without any pressure from the foreign missionary. They worked up the case, investigated the evidence, and reported the result to the missionary. I have no reason to believe that the Session would have acted otherwise if there had been no foreigners at the station. The pastor draws no salary from the Board."

The Gospel in all Lands, for February, reports a despatch from the United States Minister at Peking to Consul-General Smithers