between virtue and vice, we have the consciousness of its being our DUTY to avoid the one and perform the other. We feel upon us an OBLIGATION which is imperative. We have also an abiding conviction that moral good is rewardable, and that vice merits punishment. And, finally, we have a conscious apprehension of a future retribution.

These moral intuitions are confirmed by our experience of the course and constitution of nature. The actions which, by the conscience, are pronounced right, and as such approved, are found to be productive of happiness; and the actions which are by the same faculty pronounced to be wrong, and condemned, are found to be productive of misery. "In the natural course of events vice, as such, is punished, and virtue, as such, is rewarded."*

"As the manifold appearances of design and final causes in the constitution of the world prove it to be the work of an intelligent mind, so the final causes of pleasure and pain distributed among voluntary agents as consequences of moral conduct, prove that men are under moral government." The felt presence of a Lawgiver and a Judge within us testifies to the existence of a Lawgiver and Judge who is over us. The universal consciousness of our race, as revealed in history, clearly shows that the phenomenon of conscience has always been associated in their minds with the idea of a POWER above us, so that when their minds were filled with guilty apprehensions, they had recourse to sacrifices, and penances, and prayers.

If man has duties, by whom are they imposed? If he has a sense of obligation, by what authority is he obliged? If man has duties and obligations then he has also responsibilities. To whom is he responsible? Certainly not to himself alone, for then duty and interest or pleasure would be the same. Nor to mere conventions of human opinions or human governments alone, for he feels that there is an authority back of and above all human opinions and human governments, from whence their power is derived, and that there is a higher law, above all human laws. That higher law is the law of God; that authority is the authority of the Eternal, the great fountain

* Bp. Butler. See his immortal chapter on "The Moral Government of God." + Butler.

and archetype of all law, all right, all justice, and all moral order. So that the felt presence of conscience not only testifies to a power above man, but to the existence of a personal moral governor. The moral law is not only the expression of a Supreme Will, but a will essentially moral and righteous. The very conception of duty not only involves us in the idea of a person who imposes it, but of a being who has a supreme regard for and an infinite love of the right and the good and the true.

We are thus led, as we believe, by the facts of the universe and the intuitions of the mind to affirm a real Being, who is the efficient cause of all finite being-a Being who is self-existent and infinite-an intelligent Being, a self-conscious personality, and a righteous Governor and Lord.

The remark of Mr. Watson, "that the inspired penmen do not prove but assume the existence of God," has now to us a peculiar force and appropriateness. They assume it as a doctrine patent to reason, as determined on rational grounds, and demonstrable as a necessary truth.

The science of natural theology is recognized by the mastermind of Paul: "That which may be known of God is manifested in their hearts; God himself having shown it unto them, for his eternal power and Godhead, though they be invisible, yet are they seen ever since the world was made, being understood by his works, that they [the Gentile world] might have no excuse."*

* Romans i, 19, 20. Conybeare and Howson's translation.

ART. II.-CHINA AS A MISSION FIELD.

Life Among the Chinese: With Characteristic Sketches and Incidents of Missionary Operations and Prospects in China. By Rev. R. S. MACLAY, M. A., thirteen years a Missionary to China from the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Carlton & Porter. 1860.

The China Mission. Embracing a History of the various Missions of all Denominations among the Chinese. With Biographical Sketches of Deceased Missionaries. By Rev. WILLIAM DEAN, D.D., twenty years a Missionary to China. New York: Sheldon & Co.

1859.

We have before us two books, products of the modern missionary movement in China. They are valuable contributions, both to our stock of information respecting China and the Chinese, and also to our missionary literature. The past twenty years have furnished us with many works on China, mostly from the pens of missionaries, such as "The Chinese," by Dr. Medhurst; "The Middle Kingdom," by Dr. S. W. Williams; "Travels in the Chinese Empire," by M. Huc; "The Superstitions of the Chinese," by Mr. Culbertson, and many others; and the growing interest in this great Oriental empire has secured for all of them, we doubt not, a remunerative circulation. We welcome all these valuable books: they serve to awaken and perpetuate the interest of Christendom in this vast pagan empire, and as so many contributions to the yet unwritten history of China, and as so many helps to the solution of the numerous unsolved problems presented by this remarkable people.

The many topics of interest connected with the Chinese are not yet exhausted, and there is still room for the two admirable books at the head of our article. They are from the pens of competent observers, both having been residents for many years among the people of whom they write. While treating of many subjects of great interest and importance, they are still more especially devoted to the great missionary interests of China. Both of them are truly multum in parvo. Dr. Dean presents us, in a very short compass, the outlines of Chinese history, the manners, customs, institutions, and government of

the Chinese people; and then directs his labors to the history of China missions, from the first efforts of the early Syrian Christians to the missions of the present day. In this part of his work the author has given us, in as short a compass as possible, and in a pleasing and instructive style, a valuable résumé of missionary labors in China. It will well repay perusal, and furnishes the best collection of statistics and dates we have yet seen, and constitutes a valuable record of facts for the future history of Chinese evangelization. In the third part of his work Dr. Dean has given us brief memorials of the fallen missionaries of China. This is a long and melancholy list, which we read over with tender sadness, as we realize how many valuable lives of the sons and daughters of the Church have already been paid as the price of China's redemption. But what are they all to the one precious life given for the ransom of all! But there is joy in our sadness as we see these noble men and women finish their course with triumph, none regretting for a moment the great sacrifice they were making, none counting their lives dear unto them if they might share a part in the great work of evangelizing China. We thank the author for these precious memorials, and for gathering together in a single volume so many examples of Christian devotion, and furnishing to the world so many beautiful examples of the highest forms of Christian character and of Christian heroism.

In "Life among the Chinese" Mr. Maclay has gathered together a vast amount of just such facts as we all wish to know with regard to China and the Chinese. Like the "China Mission," its primary object is the missionary interest; but, in addition, the author has consented to answer nearly all the questions that are so commonly presented to the returned missionary. To all who feel an interest in the Chinese, and the missions among them, and who have many questions which they would like to present the missionary about the people among whom he lives, and the work in which he is engaged, we would heartily recommend this book. In style and in material it is a book adapted to the busy age in which we live, conveying, in a pleasing manner and short space, just the facts we wish to know. To the student of Chinese affairs, who wishes exact and extensive details, we would of course recommend other works, such as "The Middle Kingdom," by Dr.

Williams, or "China and the Chinese," by Sir John Davis; but for the general reader, and especially for the Christian reader, this is the very book.

But our purpose here is not a minute review of these two excellent books, but to gather from them the materials for our article on "China as a Mission Field." The vast empire of China presents to all readers subjects of great interest. To the philosopher it offers the remarkable history of its people, their peculiar character, their attainments in knowledge and the arts of civilization, and the principles of their peculiar and unique language. To the statesman it presents its singular government, peculiar laws, strange policy, vast population, and remarkable institutions. To the merchant, its vast wealth and resources, and its peculiar facilities for a great and profitable trade. But, above all, we think China presents its imperative claims to the interest of the Christian philanthropist, who here finds before him an immense population, in one of the most salubrious and fertile portions of the globe, under a system of government and in the midst of institutions displaying evidences of unusual strength of mind, yet involved in the deepest ignorance with regard to the most important truths, carried away by a vain and worthless philosophy, given up to crimes of the most forbidding character, and the victims of a wretched system of idolatry. He will soon discover the elements of progression in the mental character of this people, who only need the light of Christianity to dispel the superstitious systems which now enchain them, and to exalt them to a position high in the scale of human enlightenment.

It is to this aspect of China and its multitudes we wish to call attention. China, we think, presents to the Christian Church the most important and promising mission field now open to missionary labor, and we propose to illustrate this statement by considering,

I. Its magnitude and population.

The Chinese, or, as it may more properly be called, the Tartar Chinese Empire, is of vast extent, occupying a position on the globe nearly opposite our own country. It comprises China Proper, Chinese Tartary, Thibet, and a few other dependent territories, all thickly populated, and under the dominion of the Tartar emperor. It covers an area of five and a half