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explain what had become of them. After much hesitation and subterfuge he owned that they had been burnt. He refused to give his real name and address, and was accordingly handcuffed and led off to prison. The prospect, however, of passing a night in gaol induced him at last to do this, when he was found to be the son of a very rich draper of the city. He was then suffered to return home. The following day the case came before the tribunals in the usual way; but was quashed on payment for the tracts burat-we not wishing to push the matter to excess of severity.

I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly,
E. MILSOM.

P.S.-Might I be permitted to request, in the name of our Paris brethren, the insertion of the following fact? The French religious journals, the Semeur and the Archives du Christianisme, can now be obtained in London, in consequence of the changes in the post office, at the following low prices:The Semeur, at fifteen francs per annum, published weekly; the Archives, at six franks per annum, published once a fortnight. Many persons interested in France, were they aware of this, would be glad, by becoming subscribers to these journals, to be kept informed of the state of the religious world in France.

Received since last month for the Lyons Cause.

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(Extracts from the Rev. J. Hartley's Work, entitled, "The Progress of the Reformation on the Continent, or, Sketches of the Papal and Reformed Churches :" Work of deep interest. Published by Nisbet and Co.)

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If encouragement be derived for the future from the decaying condition of the Romish Church, still greater hope is awakened by the reviving strength of the Protestant churches. What a glorious change has taken place in this respect since the late war! In all directions zealous and devoted servants of Christ are standing up, and again proclaiming the grand doctrines of salvation, in the same field and with the same spirit as the Luthers, Zuingles, and Calvins of former times. The continual increase of their number, and the growing success of their labours, are a counterpart to that progress of evangelical light and piety, which has been so remarkable in our

VOL. XVI.

own country of late years. On the revival of the German churches I shall not speak, having visited only a small portion of that country; but of the revival of true religion in Switzerland and France, I can bear testimony as an eye-witness.

The state of the Pays de Vaud, not many years ago, was most frigid and apathetic. An orthodox creed was still most happily possessed, but there was an utter absence of all appearance of spiritual life. Nay, when the first symptoms of religious revival presented themselves, not only were they saluted by every appearance of hostility and reproach, but a degree of persecution was even resorted to. Several pious clergymen were banished from their native country; an English lady, who had been active in promoting the cause of religion, was ordered to quit the Canton, and a most oppressive law was enacted, which forbade all private assemblies for prayer and religious worship. Now, however, after an interval of only a few years, so great a revolution has taken place, that the Gospel is preached with power in all parts of the Canton. In all the churches of Lausanne the great doctrines of salvation are faithfully proclaimed; and such a band of devoted servants of Christ has started up, as if by enchantment, that on the declivities of the Jura, all along the shores of Lake Leman, in the vale of the Rhone, and every where else, the tocsin of eternal alarm is rung in the ears of the astonished population, and the glories of everlasting life are offered them, through the merits of the Redeemer. Of the revival of religion amongst the clergy, a judgment may be formed, by the fact, that attending a missionary meeting at Lausanne, in the year 1832, I found myself surrounded by no less than seventy ministers, who were all considered men of piety, and all from a district not larger than one of our secondary English counties. The following allusion to this revival of religion, is extracted from the very valuable "Histoire de la Reformation," by Merle d'Aubigné, one of the Professors in the School of Theology at Geneva:

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This is but a commencement; and already this people have obtained from the abundance of the Gospel a profession, noble, elevated, and courageous, of the great truths of the religion of God; a liberty extensive and real; a government full of devotedness and information; an affection, too rare elsewhere, of the magistrates for the people and of the people for the magistrates; a powerful impulse given to education and to general instruction, which will make, in this respect, a model country of this land; a modification slow, but sure, of morals; men of talent, all Christians, who rival the first writers of our language. All these riches, discovering themselves between the dark

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Jura and the grandeur of the Alps, along the magnificent borders of the Leman, must strike the traveller, who is attracted by the marvels of these mountains and these valleys, and present him with one of the most eloquent pages which the providence of God has written in favour of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

The revival of the Protestant church of France, if not as yet so extensive, is, in some respects, still more interesting. No country probably in the world can exhibit a more illustrious example of the imperishable nature of Christian truth; none, a more striking proof of the reality of the declaration, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away!

In France, greater efforts have been made to destroy the religion of our Saviour, than in any part of the world. Popery here made its capital endeavours. It sacrificed a million Albigenses in the south. It dyed the whiteness of the snows of Dauphiné with the blood of thousands of the Waldenses. It massacred fifty thousand Protestants at the sad epoch of St. Bartholomew's day. It drove abroad, on all the high roads of Europe, five hundred thousand, at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, destitute wanderers from home and country for ever. In France, the most celebrated champion of Rome congratulated his sovereign on the extirpation of heresy!

And here, too, infidelity made its grandest effort. It assumed as its very motto, "Crush the wretch." It combined all its proudest men of letters in an impious confederacy to blot out from the surface of the earth the very name of Jesus of Nazareth. It was indignant that the fishermen of Galilee should have established such an empire over the hearts and consciences of mankind. And then followed, as a natural consequence, that deluge of blood which almost threatened to efface the nation of the French from their place in the geography of Europe! When death was proclaimed to be an eternal sleep, is it any wonder that the executioner and the guillotine were the priests and the churches of such a religion?

But, to confine our attention more closely to Protestants, is it forgotten, that not longer than fifty years ago, their religion was still without toleration? Though less active severity had been exercised under Louis XVI., than under his predecessors, I know not, if even at that period a single Protestant temple was permitted by the Government to exist in France. It was amidst rocks, and mountains, and forests, and beneath the temple of the sky, that our Protestant brethren had to assemble together to call on the name of our Redeemer! I myself have visited, in the vicinity of Nismes, the desert, where religious assemblies of this

nature were held. But, now, blessed be God! how are "old things passed away, and all become new!" What has been the result of all these efforts of earth and hell against Christ and his church? Not only are there supposed to be upwards of two million Protestants in France; not only are six hundred pastors salaried by the Government; not only have hundreds of Protestant churches been opened; not only have a million copies of sacred writings been put in circulation since the peace; but, what is infinitely superior to all the rest, the Spirit of God has been poured out in a striking manner upon the remnant of this church of martyrs. A large number of the pastors are become followers of their noble ancestors, who, with such heroic "faith and patience, inherited the promises." It has been my privilege to be intimate with Christians of almost all the Protestant churches both abroad and at home; and on the classic shores of Greece I have held delightful fellowship with our brethren from the churches of America, and I rejoice to say, that I have found members of all these churches, whom I believe to be members of the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven;" but I can assert it, without hesitation, that in France I have found Christians, with faith in the Redeemer, as apostolical and influential, with love as fervent, with zeal as energetic, as in any part of the world which I have ever visited. Like the great apostle of the Gentiles, they are acting and living in the spirit of these words, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world."

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It may be questioned if there be a town in Europe, or in the world, which, in proportion to its size, has obtained such celebrity and importance as Geneva. Placed in the immediate vicinity of the magnificent splendours of the Alps, and on the borders of the beautiful Lake Leman; being, probably more than any other town in Europe, the great thoroughfare of nations, since the greater part of those whom business or pleasure call into Italy go or return by this route; and celebrated, above all, for the glorious profession of the faith of Christ crucified which it made, under the auspices of Calvin and Farel, at the Reformation-it is no wonder that its name never fails to awaken attention; and all connected with it to call forth our deepest sympathy. Hence it was a subject of unfeigned sorrow to British Christians to find, that at the epoch of the general peace, the majority of the pastors of this church professed no longer the great doctrines of the Reformation and the Gospel. So low indeed had

this venerable church fallen, that we believe there were not more than two or three of the pastors of Geneva who maintained the essential divinity of Jesus Christ; the others had various views of the doctrines of the Gospel, from Arianism down to Socinianism, and probably much lower. Nor was there, as might naturally be expected under such circumstances, a semblance of spiritual life and Christian energy conspicuous in the whole Canton.

Here then we have again to record a most interesting example of religious revival. After the lapse of a few years, Geneva has risen, from a state of almost total religious apathy, to be a town remarkable again for Christian fervour and activity. Not only are there several most distinguished ministers of Christ, who, from the unhappy circumstances of the times, were either excluded or voluntarily seceded from the national church, but even in the church itself the number of orthodox clergymen has considerably increased. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, if not constantly, yet frequently is preached in the churches of this city; the younger clergy, in increasing numbers, are devoting themselves, like their brethren of the Pays de Vaud, to the cause of Christian truth; and even the pastors of the national church, who still adhere to the ranks of error, appear to be approximating much nearer than formerly to the great doctrines of the Gospel ; and in general we have not only the conviction that there is a considerable number of persons in this city who have been called to a genuine participation of the blessings of salvation, but we see every reason to hope that at no very distant period the very external profession of Christian doctrine will be fully and essentially orthodox. To be continued.

SIAM.

Extract of a Letter from Dr. Bradley of Bankok, Siam.

The Siamese Missionary Dispensary was established in Bankok on the 5th of August, 1835. It was at first located on the east bank of the Meinam, a mile and a half below the city wall, in a part of Bankok which is chiefly occupied by Chinese. It was near the great Chinese bazaar. My associates, the Rev. Messrs. Johnson and Robinson, had obtained a lease of the ground, and had moved their families thither a short time before I arrived. The Dispensary was opened in a lower room in one of their houses. For about two months it was thronged, chiefly by Chinese, who lived in the neighbourhood of the bazaar. Such was the crowd, and the urgency of many of the cases, that it was utterly impossible to prevent our houses from becoming hospitals.

If from a sense of duty to ourselves and families we were constrained to close our doors against the sick, they would still crowd into our verandahs, and thus cast themselves upon our compassion. The relatives and acquaintances of many who were literally "all corruption," helpless, and hopeless, brought them to our doors and then forsook them. Thus our abode was almost constantly the scene of the groaning, the dying, and the dead. While every thing was done to ameliorate the temporal condition of our patients, I also gave them Christian books, and set in operation a system of reading, by which it was hoped their minds would be benefited. On the 5th of October, a decree from the rulers of Siam obliged me to break up my establishment, and seek another abode. The public are already aware of the principal reasons that called forth that decree, and therefore

I need not repeat them. Suffice it to say, that they were so weighty, in the estimation of government, that the prospect of taking 600 miserable patients out of my hand, and casting them upon a merciless community, was not worthy of a thought. It was not until some time after my return from Chautaubuu, on the 21st of December following, whither I went for the benefit of my health, that the Dispensary was reestablished in another part of the city. A floating house, which was purchased for a refuge for one of our families, about the time of our expulsion, was then converted into a Dispensary. A spot sufficiently large for it to be moored upon was rented, in front of the Roman Catholic compound, on the west bank of the Meinam, opposite to the city wall, and a mile and a half below the king's palace. While this location is far removed from the great Chinese bazaar, than which no place so much needs a Dispensary, it has many advantages over the former situation. It does not so much expose us to an overwhelming crowd of the sick. Its being on the great thoroughfare of Bankok, the river renders it sufficiently accessible. The situation is airy, cool, and clean, It is a little removed from my dwelling-house, which is a great relief to myself and family. And in the event of being required to move the establishment again, I shall only have to loose my moorings and float away with the tide. The house is about 25 feet square, one story high, and raised above the surface of the water two feet by bamboos, which are laid under it horizontally. It is built of teak boards, in the usual syle of Siamese floating houses. In addition to this I have "a float," with a cover over it, which is placed in front of the house. On this the patients wait for their treatment. Such is my pre

sent situation.

The number of patients, whose cases I have noted in my books, since the opening of the Dispensary, is 3650. I might fill volumes in describing my practice. My chief object in writing this communication is, to afford some just impression of what may be done by a physician and surgeon in gaining the confidence of this people. My simple efforts have produced a great excitement. The rumour thereof is not interrupted by distance, or jungle, or confusion of tongues. It has gone into all the kingdom, and I only fear that it swells rather than diminishes as it recedes from Bankok. Successful surgical practice is far more striking to this people than successful medical practice. One successful operation, for instance, on the eye, is trumpeted more than the effects of a hundred cathartics and tonics. Nevertheless, this puerile, ignorant people are disposed to give me great credit as a medical practitioner; and although I am constrained to believe that my medical, as well as my surgical practice here, has been attended with much success, yet I desire to feel and to say, "Not unto me, but unto thy name, O Lord, belongs all the praise." The treatment of their bodily diseases is regarded as of very small consequence, compared with the effort that is made to benefit their immortal minds. I daily open the services at the Dispensary with prayer, after which I spend ten or fifteen minutes in reading and expounding some portion of the Scriptures. Although I speak the language as yet but stammeringly, I am happy to perceive that some truth by this means is communicated to the understandings of these poor people. Besides, this effort to speak daily is found most salutary on the score of acquiring the language. I ought also to mention the agency of the Rev. Mr. Robinson, who preaches to the patients every Sabbath-day. He is generally favoured with a very full and silent audience. We suffer at present very much for the want of Christian books in the Siamese language. The few which the Rev. Mr. Jones prepared, more than a year ago, were long since disposed of, and we are not yet ready to print others. To supply in some degree this deficiency, I allow my teacher to copy the commandments, which I give to all the Siamese patients, whom I request to give them circulation among their neighbours. The Chinese who come to the Dispensary are all supplied with tracts. On every Thursday, either Mrs. R. or Mrs. B., or both, hold a meeting for the instruction of the females, at which they relate Scripture facts, and exhort their poor fellow-creatures to repentance and faith in Christ. For this purpose they retire with the females into a

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PROFESSORSHIP OF CHINESE IN THE

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. We have great satisfaction in announcing to the friends of Missions, that the important object, to which we have more than once called their attention—that of providing for the instruction of persons intending to devote their labours to China and adjacent parts, in the knowledge of the Chinese language-is accomplished. On the presentation of the Chinese Library of the late Dr. Morrison to the University College, in London, a Professorship of the Chinese Language has been established, and the Rev. Samuel Kidd, formerly Professor of Chinese, and Principal of the Anglo-Chinese College, Malacca, has been appointed Professor. Thus means are provided for furnishing future Missionaries, without distinction as to their religious denominations, and all other persons, who may wish to devote their pursuits, in any department of benevolent, scientific, or commercial labours, to the empire of China, with a previous knowledge of the language, acquired without risk of health or expensive application of time.

It is to be hoped, that the colleges of the kingdom, for training up young men for home and foreign service in the kingdom of the Redeemer, and others, having a commendable desire to acquire the knowledge of a language, so curious in its genius and construction, and abundant in its treasures of whatever is interesting to man, will soon provide a class of students to claim the Professor's labours. May we not anticipate, also, that American Christians will also rejoice to avail themselves of the means thus afforded for facilitating their evangelical labours, in that interesting porton of the globe?

We cannot make this important announcement, without again calling the attention of our readers to the address contained in the Missionary Chronicle, in our last number, apprising them of the still existing deficiency in the subscription intended to compensate the family of the late Dr. Morrison for the sum of money expended by him, in the purchase of this inestimable library, and entreating them to direct their liberality to its due enlarge

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MASSACRE OF THE COMPANIONS OF LA PEROUSE, AT THE NAVIGATORS ISLANDS.

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