SKETCHES OF MISSIONARY LIFE. No. XV.-THE LAST LEAF OF BURMAH'S BIBLE. EDITOR. "O when the heart is sad and lone. As pass away our youthful hopes- Where wisdom may true knowledge learn, Anon. NEARLY seven years had passed away since the grave had closed over "the last of all the family" of that widowed and childless mourner. Solitary, and alone, had the bereaved missionary toiled on, during all those long and weary years, to accomplish the great work (though not the only work) for which God had raised him up, and covered his head in the day of battle and of strife the work of giving a faithfully translated Bible to the millions of Burmah. On the last day of January, 1834, might have been seen the man of God, kneeling down in the study, where he had so long wept, and prayed, and toiled, to accomplish this work, holding THE LAST LEAF OF THE TRANSLATED BURMAN BIBLE in his hand, and with streaming eyes and throbbing heart, returning his thanks to God that he had spared his life to see that long-wished-for day! O how many an hour of loneliness and sorrow had that widowed mourner beguiled in this laborious, but welcome task! How often, as he had passed on from page to page of this blessed volume, had the studious abstraction of the scholar given way to the grateful emotion of the Christian, as he would pause in his blessed work, with throbbing heart and moistened eyes, to apply to his own sorrowing spirit the precious promises he was translating into the language of Burmah, or to wing his thoughts to heaven, that bright and happy land to which his sainted wife and babes had already preceded him, and where "the weary are at rest." It was meet that he should betake himself, at once, from the graves of the loved departed, to the sweet refuge of his closet, his study, his Bible, and his GOD. In an entry in his journal, dated July 3d, 1827, a little more than two months after the death of little Maria, Dr. Judson says, "For a month past, I have been chiefly employed in revising the New Testament, in several points which were not satisfactorily set Two tled when the translation was made." days afterwards, July 5th, he records the fact that he had begun his labors upon the Old Testament, by commencing "a translation of the book of Psalms.” We would not intimate that the ruling motive in the heart of the bereaved missionary, in betaking himself, so soon after he was left widowed and childless, to the almost exclusive study of God's holy Word, was the desire of there obtaining a balm for his wounded spirit. Such balm he doubtless did obtain there, yet unquestionably his motive was of a nobler and more disinterested character, the desire of giving to the perishing millions of Burmah that book, which, with the blessing of its divine Author, might win them from the miseries and cruelties of idolatry, and point them to Jesus and to heaven. And yet, is it at all improbable that, in selecting the Psalms of David with which to commence his labors, he was guided by that need which he now specially felt of the support and comfort to be derived from the exceeding great and precious promises," so copiously and so richly scattered through that portion of the word of God. At the annual meeting of the Board of Foreign Missions, in April, 1830, an earnest invitation had been tendered to Dr. Judson to recruit his enfeebled health, by a visit to the United States. At the time this invitation reached him, he had just re-commenced his laborious task of Bible translation, after a long interruption occasioned by travelling for the purpose of preaching, baptizing, and other important duties. Sweet as it would have been once more to revisit his native land, he felt that duty to God and the perishing heathen forbade, and therefore he resolutely declined. The WHOLE BIBLE was not yet given to Burmah, and he could not quit his post till that great and glorious task was done. 66 The vows Of God were on him, and he could not stop "I must confess," said the self-denying missionary, in his reply to the invitation, "that, in meditating on the subject, I have felt an almost unconquerable desire to become personally acquainted with my beloved patrons and correspondents, the members of the Board; as well as to rove once more over the hills and vallies of my own native land, to recognize the still surviving companions of my youth, and to witness the wide-spread and daily-increasing glories of Emmanuel's kingdom in that land of liberty, blest of Heaven with temporal and spiritual blessings above all others. "However, I anticipate a happier meeting, brighter plains, friends the same, but more lovely and beloved; and I expect soon to witness, yea, enjoy that glory, in comparison of which all on earth is but a shadow. With that anticipation I content myself, assured that we shall not then regret any instance of self-denial or suffering endured for the Lord of life and glory." From this time onward the missionary devoted nearly the whole of his time to this great work of giving the Bible to Burmah; and notices of his progress are scattered along, at intervals, through all his journals. In June, 1831, he speaks of Genesis, Psalms, Solomon's Song, Isaiah, and Daniel, as completed, and says: "I am surprised to see, that my last date is three months ago. The truth is, I have been so absorbed in translating, that I have been hardly sensible of the lapse of time." Two years and a half longer of study and of toil, and his laborious, but welcome, task drew near its completion. Under date of December 31st, 1833, he says: "I did hope, at one time, to have been able to insert, under this date, a notice of the completion of the translation of the |