2. Thou shalt not steal; 3. Thou shalt not commit adultery; 4. Thou shalt not lie; 5. Thou shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor. These prohibitions, so far as they extend, are sufficient of themselves to exalt Buddhism far above many other false religions of the East; but it contains no positive precepts that are fitted to raise and purify the nature of man. Its commands and its prohibitions are alike designed for selfish advantage; they refer the doubting conscience to no sanctions of a superior being, and point the soul oppressed with sin to no ideals of excellence and holiness; they present "nothing as the ultimate object of action but self; and nothing for man's highest and holiest ambition, but annihilation."

So soon as Mr. Judson had acquired a sufficient mastery of the language to be able to write it with tolerable accuracy, he prepared a tract on the nature of the Christian religion, containing an abstract of its leading doctrines. This was his first public labor; and, undertaken as it was when his constitution was enfeebled by years of laborious confinement to his perplexing studies, it gave rise to a disease of the nervous system, which attacked his eyes and head so violently, that he became unable either to study or even to hear reading in English. He was on the eve of sailing to Bengal for the benefit of his health, when he received the welcome tidings that Mr. and Mrs. Hough and Mrs. White, a new company of missionaries from America, had arrived at Calcutta, and would soon join the mission at Rangoon. This most gratifying intelligence decided him at first to delay his intended voyage, and at length to abandon it altogether.

Rev. George H. Hough, Mrs. Phebe M. Hough, and Mrs. Charlotte White, had been appointed by the Board, missionaries to Burmah in the summer of 1815. Mr. Hough had been bred a printer, and had worked at the trade in the United States. They sailed from Philadelphia in the following December, and arrived at Calcutta in April, 1816. Here they were delayed for several months, during which time Mrs. White was married to Rev. Mr. Rowe, of the English Baptist Mission at Digah, in

TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

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Hindostan. On the 15th of October, 1816, Mr. and Mrs. Hough arrived at Rangoon, having already sent before them a printing press and a font of Burman types, which had been presented to the mission by their English brethren at Serampore. Here they were welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Judson with more than common delight, both as fellow laborers in carrying forward the mission, and as messengers from the distant but unforgotten land of their birth and their affections. They had been exiled for three years from civilized society, dwelling amid the rude barbarities of the heathen; and now, to receive to their secluded home, intelligent associates, and Christian countrymen and friends, was a source of joy and thankfulness, such as can be fully appreciated only by those who have been placed in similar circumstances. Mr. Judson's health was soon reëstablished, and he set himself with renewed vigor about preparing a grammar, to aid the newly-arrived missionaries in the acquisition of the difficult Burman tongue.

From the commencement of the mission, the Burmans, whenever the new teachers were spoken of, had been accustomed to inquire for the sacred books of their religion. In order to meet this natural demand of a shrewd and sagacious people, it was decided by the missionaries that portions of the Scriptures and brief accounts of Christianity should be printed and put in circulation as speedily as possible. To the tract entitled 'Summary of Christian Doctrines,' which Mr. Judson had already prepared, he now added a Catechism, and immediately commenced the translation of the Gospel of Matthew, in order that the minds of the people might be prepared for the reception of the truth when it should be publicly preached to them. The tracts were immediately printed, the Summary in an edition of a thousand copies, and the Catechism in an edition of three thousand copies, and the Gospel of Matthew was published soon after.

Four years had now elapsed since Mr. and Mrs. Judson first established themselves at Rangoon. In all this time, though no one had been converted to the Christian faith, yet a great change had gradually taken place in the circumstances and prospects of

the mission. Its efficiency had been greatly increased by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Hough, and the donation of the printing press. A church had been organized at Rangoon by the missionaries, and though they had as yet made no attempts publicly to preach the gospel, their character and objects had become well known by their conversations with the people, and by the tracts which they had printed and circulated, copies of which had penetrated the interior of the empire. In these circumstances, it seemed as if a new era was about to dawn on the progress of the mission, and as if the merciful Providence, which had hitherto watched over the lives of the missionaries, was about to bestow upon them still more encouraging proofs of its favor. Nor were these indications destined to be wholly deceptive. In the meetings which Mrs. Judson was accustomed to hold for the religious instruction of the Burman women, much serious interest was occasionally evinced in the truths of the new religion, and the little circle would often leave the eloquent and gifted teacher with a sense of the insufficiency of their own superstitious faith deeply impressed upon every mind.

At about the same time, also, Mr. Judson was visited by the first Burman who had ever come to him avowedly in the character and spirit of an inquirer. Others had visited him to gratify an idle curiosity, or to dispute with him concerning the doctrines of Gaudama, but no one before had come to ask "how he might learn the religion of Jesus," or to express a belief in the existence of God. He was evidently a person of rank, and of superior intelligence; he bore away with him copies of all the books which had been printed, and left the missionaries with hopes of approaching blessings such as never before had been awakened in their minds.

FIRST TRIENNIAL CONVENTION.

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CHAPTER V.

CONVENTION meets at Philadelphia. - Appointment of Messrs. Colman and Wheelock. Mr. Judson sails for Chittagong.-Troubles of the Mission during his Absence. His Return. -Mr. Hough embarks for Calcutta. Arrival of Messrs. Colman and Wheelock at Rangoon. - Death of Mr. Wheelock. Opening of the Zayat.- Baptism of the first Convert.Jealousy of the Government. Messrs. Judson and Colman go to Ava to

obtain Toleration from the King.

IN May, 1817, the Convention held its first triennial meeting at Philadelphia. Most of the facts and the incidents which we have narrated in the foregoing pages were at this time presented to the meeting in the report of the Board of Managers. The measures hitherto adopted by that body were fully approved by the Convention; and several new ones of great importance, the fruit of increased interest and of larger views respecting the objects before them, were also recommended as the basis of future action. The constitution was also modified in such a manner as to embrace the domestic missions which might be established in the United States, and also to authorize the establishment of a Classical and Theological Seminary, for the purpose of educating pious young men who should be deemed to possess "gifts and graces suited to the gospel ministry."

At the same meeting communications were read from Messrs. James Colman and Edward W. Wheelock, offering themselves as missionaries to Burmah. These young men were both residents of Boston, Mr. Wheelock being a member of the second and Mr. Colman of the third Baptist church in that city. They were found on examination to be possessed of worthy talents and of true Christian philanthropy; their testimonials were approved by the managers, and they were gladly accepted as missionaries. They embarked in the following November at Boston, amidst many encouraging manifestations of sympathy

and love both for them and the cause in which they were engaged. During this session of the Triennial Convention, the Board of Managers appointed three several committees, one for the Eastern States, one for the Southern, and one for the Western, to examine such young men in these portions of the country respectively as might offer their services to the Board as missionaries. By the agency of these committees, in different portions of the United States, by the wider diffusion of the American Baptist Magazine, which had now taken the place of the Massachusetts Magazine, and especially by the pious and devoted observance of the monthly concert of prayer, which was formally recommended to the churches of the country, the Convention aimed still further to rouse the energy and to enlist the entire ability of the growing denomination, in the great work which was now fully before them. At the close of the session the members separated from each other with hopes greatly raised, and with confidence stronger than it had ever been before in their ability to maintain the mission and make it a source of inestimable blessings to the heathen. They looked forward to the day when they should hear of the happy results of their pious efforts and deliberations, and when distant nations, illuminated with the light of heavenly truth, should bless the Convention for sending the glad tidings of salvation to their benighted shores.

While these auspicious events were taking place in America, and new indications of missionary interest were presenting themselves in all parts of the country, far different omens were preparing for the little band of missionaries at Rangoon, and · the flattering prospects which just now lay before them, were soon to be broken by dangers and alarms.

So long a period had now been devoted to the acquisition of the language by Mr. and Mrs. Judson, and so much had actually been accomplished in conversation with the natives, in the circulation of the tracts and the Gospel which Mr. Hough had printed, that it was decided by the missionaries to commence preaching in a more public manner. Yet so many obstacles