"his

fact, which is sometimes brought to view by the expression heart is right, but his theory leads him astray." The very great difference between the prayers of Christians and their conduct, is astonishing. No one believes that there is the least feeling of a sectarian spirit in the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man; and the very thought of praying with disaffected hearts, is revolting. Yet how is the church divided? And how many to whom the Head of the church has given 'ten' talents, are found in the arena of controversy, with apparent fears for the safety of the ark, with much less occasion than had Uzza? If Christians would receive the blessing of God their Savior, they must in their intercourse with each other, and in their labors for the conversion of the world, come up to the spirit of their prayers. If those who occupy the height of Zion, have no intention to do this-if they have no conviction that this is their own life and the life of the world-and if they will not act agreeably to these convictions, with corresponding effort, they are utterly without excuse. Like the captain of a vessel fraught with souls, with his chart before him, the breakers distinctly within the reach of his glass, the wind beating, and the tide drifting-while he is deliberately looking on the whole scene with his hands folded, busying himself and seamen in washing the decks and coiling the ropes, or discussing the nature of the rocks and of winds. Christians must act agreeably to their convictions of duty, and make their life a commentary on their prayers. If not, the charge is irresistible; "This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far froin me." How often, Oh! how often, in their prayers, Christians ask the most exalted and glorious gifts, and make the most solemn promises, and in a moment forget what manner of persons they are! How often, it can be said of them, are these the persons who a moment ago were praying yonder? When things are so, how can pastors and missionaries expect to secure the blessings of God upon their own souls or upon their work? How can they expect that the word of God will become a fire, and prayer a crucible, in which their souls from day to day are to be purified and made to reflect more and more distinctly the image of the Refiner? Here is the grand difficulty of the Christian warfare, and here the necessity of taking up the cross daily and hourly; because our great adversary, and the different views and feelings of individuals and denominations, are ever ready to divert us from the great object of glorifying Christ and of saving souls. If Christians, however, intend to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ-if they intend to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, they must live and labor in the same spirit which they bring before their heavenly Father in their prayer,—in the spirit of love-of union-and of heaven.

The principle, that we shall reap what we sow, is as plain in the moral as in the natural word, and the result much more certain; inasmuch as it is made the subject of covenant and oath. While therefore Christians pray, Thy will be done, as in heaven so in earth,"

and still neglect to cultivate most earnestly that love, and union, and holy zeal, and holy living, which every one believes are exercised and exhibited by those in heaven, their life contradicts their prayers, and turns them into little short of solemn mockery. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If a man love me he will keep my words.' In view of these remarks, what is the duty of the managers of different Missionary Societies at home? We believe there is a grand mistake on this plain and most importaut subject of union; and we most earnestly call upon them to send out such men, and such only, as will unite most cordially with all their missionary brethren of different denominations on those catholic principles, which recognize no sectarian feelings, and which will not turn aside from the great object of preaching Jesus and the resurrection. We earnestly entreat them to give their missionaries definite instructions to this amount, and to hold them responsible for keeping the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace. Missionaries among the heathen, should know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. We also exhort our missionary brethren, as they hope to answer it in that day when they stand with those heathens and native Christians over whom the Holy Spirit has made them teachers and pastors, that they lay aside all discordant feelings, forgive as they hope to be forgiven, and strive together for the faith of the gospel. We are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ; his epistles, living and walking epistles, known and read of all. The eyes of the heathen, of the Mohammedans, and Roman Catholics, are upon us. The eyes of other missionaries, both north and south, and through the world are upon us. The eyes of Christians in Europe and in America, are upon us. The eyes of angels, and of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are upon us. How important then that we, who know these things, should wake up to our high and holy privileges, resolving that we will cultivate with unwearied diligence this grand principle of Christianity in our hearts, and act in conformity to our knowledge of duty; knowing that our works and example will live and have influence long after we are dead, that our time is short. How awfully interesting! How awfully responsible! If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye our joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God; and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.'-With Christian salutations, we are most affectionately, your fellow laborers in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(Signed.) B. C. MEIGS, D. POOR, J. KNIGHT, L. SPAULDING, J. SCUDDER, H. R. HOISINGTON, S. HUTCHINGS, G. II. APTHORP, N. WARD, A. C. HALL, E. S. MINOR.

ART. III. Extract from the manuscript journal of the Reverend W. H. Medhurst in the Huron, during her voyage along the eastern coast of China, in the summer and autumn of 1835. AUGUST 30th. Land in sight this morning about Keätsze (Kupche) bay, on the coast of Kwangtung. Several water-spouts were seen, and became objects of especial interest to us. A long dark cloud lay horizontally a little distance before us, and from this descended to the water a small round column of the same dark hue with the cloud. As any one of these columns broke in the midst it gradually dwindled away to a long black line, which turned and twisted itself as the wind directed, till it quite vanished from sight. One imperfectly formed water-spout approached as near us as one or two hundred yards, so that we could distinctly mark its modes of operation; but it threw us into consternation, the more especially as we were in a calın, drifting nearer and nearer to it, till to our great relief it burst and faded away. On the surface of the water the space which it covered was but a few feet in diameter, but that little space was one scene of foaming and boiling water, as though it were actually instinct with life, and ready to spring up and join its counterpart in the dark cloud. On the outer edge of this magic circle the water rose from the sea at first in a thin sheet, then becoming a thick mist by its rapid gyrations, shaped like a funnel, and as it rose higher quite fading out of the sight, or preserving but a thin columnar outline. But from a point of the cloud directly over head appeared a similar portion of a dark column of water, precisely like that on the surface of the sea, except that it was inverted, and the base of it rested on the cloud, while the lowest visible part of it was composed of the whirling particles that had been separated when first rising from the surface, but now united again and rushing together in a revolving pillar up into the heavy cloud.

The Chinese imagine these to be the ascent and descent of the dragon king of the deep, and indeed the resemblance to a rising serpent, or foaming dragon, and a flying monster, is so striking, that we scarcely wonder at their forming this superstitious notion. When the water-spout first rises, they say the dragon is ascending to heaven, and when the spout is forming in the clouds, they say his head and hands are appearing. Indeed, I have seen representations in Chinese houses of the so called 'divine dragon,' whose head and tail are never seen at the same moment, which I then considered entirely the fruit of their own imagination, but which I now suppose to have originated in these water-spouts. They have, however, carried their idea of the dragon much farther than these spouts would warrant, and have associated it with everything that is imperial or divine: hence we find dragons depicted in their temples, and the seat of the Chinese autocrat is called the dragon throne.' It may

be that the great red dragon, that old serpent, the Devil, has had some hand in all this, in getting himself worshiped by one third of the human family.

Shantung, September 13th. On the coast of Shantung the women appeared very shy, and, when they could, retreated into their houses. One woman was observed driving an ass round a mill in which was placed a sort of millet being husked. The mill consisted of a flat circular stone about five feet in diameter, with a whole in the centre in which was fixed an upright piece of wood, with a horizontal one attached to it. This latter served as an axis of a cylindrical stone, which operated as a roller, and the axis, extending a little beyond the edge of the large flat stone, was turned by the ass walking slowly around. The millet appeared very fine and clean, and was kept in its place on the stone by the individual who tended the mill. The woman on observing our approach left the mill and quietly walked into the house, while the blind-folded ass kept on his accustomed round as though his mistress had been nigh.

Outside the village we saw a white tombstone, very much resembling what is met with in burial places at home; there was an inscription on it, purporting to have been set up in remembrance of a faithful wife, who lay there interred. The pure white stone, the object of its erection, the adjacent village, the purling stream, and silent evening, all conspired to awaken seusations of the most pleasing kind, and to enkindle anew the ardent longing that these peaceful villages may be made more happy by the religion of the gospel.

Sept. 14th. In a vale near to the sea shore, we came to a burialplace, differing in appearance from any which I had yet seen among the Chinese. The tombs were in the shape of a dome, built of squared granite stones, eight feet in height, and six in diameter, at the top approaching to a point. They were very strongly constructed, and seemed calculated to last for centuries; but some of them had already fallen to ruins, and others were old and covered with moss, without any inscription or anything that could indicate the name, age, or sex of the persons interred. We counted fourteen of these tombstones still standing, besides a few other graves of different shapes and sizes.

October 1st. On quitting Shantung it may be proper to observe, that we have nowhere been roughly used or ill-treated; and that the natives have been uniformly harmless and peaceable. We have not seen a weapon of any kind beyond agricultural implements; and with the exception of one old man at Keshan so, who had a rusty sword, and the few men at a guard-house, both the soldiers and people have been without arms. We have sometimes been roughly spoken to, and now and then forbidden to proceed from the shore into the villages; but when once on the high road no one has ever attempted to hinder or turn us back; and for all that we could see, it would be no difficult matter to travel from one side of the promontory to the other, if any object were to be gained by it; though if we were to attempt stopping in any place for more than a night, it is most likely

the officers would hear of us, and endeavor to capture or drive us away. The people, though inoffensive, were by no means forward to help or house us. We seldom had anything offered us, and even by asking could get little else than water. In some instances they did ask us to sit down on the ground, and very rarely to enter their houses; so that my impression is, that had we to depend on the charity of the people of Shantung we should be poorly off.

With regard to their reception of our message, this journal will speak for itself. On the north side they were more willing to receive books than on the south, and in the places first visited, than in the latter; so that the further we went the worse we fared. This may be ascribed partly to the report of our arrival and operations having got the start of us, and to the consequent prohibitions which the officers had issued against receiving our books, or holding any intercourse with us. The people on the sea shore and in places immediately adjoining it were so greedy after books as even to rob us of them, while those in the interior generally kept aloof. This may result from the better acquaintance of the former with strangers, while the latter are more secluded from the world. Ou the whole, the number of books (3500) distributed in Shantung, considering the time spent in it, the extent of ground traveled over, and the number of persons met with, has not at all equaled my expectations. As to oral instruction much cannot be said, for though the people even to the youngest child and meanest clown all spoke and understood the mandarin (or court) dialect, yet the time that we could afford to stay with them was short, the subjects treated of so strange, and my utterance, from long disuse of this dialect, being rather stiff and awkward, it was not to be expected that the people would be greatly interested or improved. Still something was attempted at each stopping place, enough to give them a general idea of the gospel, and a clue to the better understanding of the books left among them.

The temporal condition of this people in general seems comparatively good. We saw nothing of that squalled poverty and distress spoken of in other parts of the empire. The men were generally well fed, robust, and good looking; and no want, so far as we could see, prevailed. We saw no beggars and few ragged people: their clothing generally consisted of cottous, sometimes doubled, and not unfrequently quilted. Some of them wore shoes and stockings, and many had more jackets than one. Some had coats of skins with the hair or wool inside as a defense against the cold weather. A pecuHar kind of cap was worn by the generality, and made of white felt, sitting close to the head, and turned up on each side so that it might be pulled down over the ears in the winter. Every person was provided with a pipe and a light sort of tobacco, which he smoked very frequently. Their steel and tinder were carried with them, and as the ground was covered with a kind of white quartz which easily produced fire, they had only to stoop down and pick up a stone, and after striking fire throw their flint away.