vigorously-concentrate talent upon itmake its issues blaze with light and heat-come out, full charged with pointed fact, and weighty argument, administering, at the same time, rousing exhortation and scorching rebuke-and let them overspread the land.-Cross. INFIDELITY. We see it stated, that, in the eastern States, there are published, four professedly atheistical newspapers, with an aggregate circulation of about 7,000 copies weekly. Thus are scattered the seeds of death. Besides these, immense editions of atheistical infidel works are printed and sold, "dog-cheap,' nay, given away. In these books and papers, the most deadly blows are aimed, not only against the religion of the Bible, but against all the civil, social, and domestic virtues. Christian preacher, watchman, disciple, awake! be active! diffuse the light of truth! distribute Bibles, religious books, tracts, papers!-ib. WHO IS THE BEST CHRISTIAN? The Rev. B. Williams, missionary in New Zealand, relates the following conversation, which took place between an English captain and Pomare, a chief of one of the Society Islands. "Pomare formerly received many presents from the captain, and they used to consider him all in all. The chief was asked by the captain, what he thought of the missionaries. "I think,' said he, "that what they tell us is for our good, and will be the means of our going to heaven after death; but all that we obtain from you, is an incitement to destruction." believe," said the captain, "what the missionaries tell you about, heaven and "Do you hell? Who has been to either of those! places, to give you information?": “I believe," replied the chief, that what the missionaries say is true, because they endeavor to do us good. You stir us up to fight, and they try to keep us at peace." LIBERIA. We learn that Dr. E. Skinner, who recently went out to Liberia, has been appointed Governor of the Colony, vice Rev. Mr. Pinney, who has resigned, in order to pursue the work of a missionary. RELIGIOUS EDITORS. A good degree of kind and friendly feeling towards each other, without ques tion, generally exists. Aside from peculiar denominational aims, they feel themselves in one great common cause -that of Christian truth and virtue. Yet there is room for improvement. The Nashville Banner, on the appearance of the American Presbyterian, had said some hard things against religious newspapers,-that they are wedded to party, fight against each other, do no good, but much harm, &c. The Cumberland Presbyterian replies, and the reply contains the following paragraph: "We deny the charge, that the "ultimate end of the eighty-seven religious journals in the United States, is to sustain one party, to the detriment of all others; and, as it is our daily employment to read the valuable articles they contain, we hold that we are much better prepared to put a proper estimate upon their ultimate end, than this assailant can be. Here, we must remark, that among no set of men in these United States, does a more friendly and brotherly spirit exist, than does, at this time, among the great mass of religious editors. They are always ready to perform kind offices to each other. Indeed, that their ultimate end is the same-and they are a band of brothers, who feel that is high and holy, viz: The universal diffusion of religious knowledgethe temporal and eternal happiness of their fellow-citizens-the conversion of this nation to the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that end shall be at tained. Their march is onward; and the time is at the door, when all the newspapers in this land shall be of a religious character, and they shall have "written in their brazen fronts," Holiness to the Lord. All the banners on earth, yea, all the powers of hell and darkness cannot prevent this glorious issue."-Cross and Journal. DEATH OF REV. EDWARD IRVING. Died, on the 6th of Dec. 1834, at Glasgow, between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock at night, in the 43d year of his age, the Rev. Edward Irving. He was sensible to the last, and his departing words were, "In life or in death, I am the Lord's;" previous to which, he sung the 23d Psalm in Hebrew. ORDINATIONS AND INSTALLATIONS. Mr. JESSE M. DAVIS, ord. evangelist in the Baptist church, Clark's Station, (Geo.,) Dec., 1834. Mr. WILLIAM DAY, ord. pastor of the second Baptist church, Newark, (N. J.,) Jan. 14, 1835. Mr. JESSE R. HAMPTON, ord. evangelist in the Baptist church, Spruce St., Philadelphia, Jan. 23, 1835. Mr. E. C. J. THOMAS, ord. evangelist in Hancock Co., (Georgia,) Jan. 6, 1835. Mr. ROSWELL LAMB, ord. evangelist at Farmington, Oakland Co., (Michigan,) Nov. 30, 1834. Mr. J. W. SARGENT, ord. pastor of the Baptist church, Billerica, (Mass.) Jan. 14, 1835. Mr. HORACE A. WILCOX, late of the Newton Institution. ord. pastor of the Baptist church, Willington, (Conn.,) Feb. 5, 1835. Mr. JAMES MALLARY, ord. evangelist in the Baptist church of Lenox and Sullivan, (N. Y.,) Jan. 22, 1835. Mr. GEORGE BRIDGE, ord. pastor of the Siloam Baptist church, Smithfield, Madison Co. (N. Y.,) Jan., 1835. Mr. DANIEL DODGE, ord. evangelist in Baptist church, Sedgwick. (Me.,) Jan. 29, 1835. Mr. LEVI GARRET BECK, ord. evangelist in the New Market Street Baptist, church, Philadelphia, (Fen.,) January 21, 1835. Account of Moneys, received in Donations, by the Treasurer of the General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States, for Foreign Missions, from February 15 to March 15, 1835. From Mrs. Welthea Whitten, Treasurer of the Retrenching Society of Kingston, for the education of a heathen child named Wel- 25,00 Mr. Leander Warren, Cor. Sec. of the Juvenile Miss. Soc. of 25,00 200,00 9,73 209,73 St. Lawrence County, N. Y., Baptist Missionary Convention, 62,00 Rev. Phineas Bond, of Warren, Me., 12,00 The American Bible Society, by Hubert Van Wagenen, Esq. 3000,00 Miss Eliza Bump, in behalf of the Young Ladies' Association of Rev. Amos I. Battle, for Col. Charles McAllester, Treasurer Peter Simonson for Female Foreign Mission Society connected 25,00 300,00 150,00 12,50 H. LINCOLN, Treas. Erratum.-In a part of this number, on page 148, marginal note, for "classical adage," read "classical usage." PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. Our friends at the South and West, who are in arrears for the Magazine, are reminded that a favorable opportunity will be presented for transmitting their subscriptions by their delegates to the Triennial Convention, at Richmond, Va., in April, where the Treasurer of the Convention is expected to be present, and will take charge of the same. It THE population of China, in the first century of the Christian era, according to Malte Brun, was somewhat short of 60 millions. was about the same, three centuries ago. Though since that time, it has increased to almost 400 millions; yet, as in some of the centuries preceding, it was reduced as low as 40 millions, (we prefer to speak in round numbers for the sake of easier recollection,) the average population of the whole period, has been about 70 millions. If we suppose, according to the ordinary reckoning, that three generations have departed this life in each successive century, it will follow that since the Saviour said to his followers, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature, far from 4000 millions of souls, from China alone, have entered upon the retributions of eternity! What, then, has been done by the followers of Christ, for the salvation of all these millions? What is now doing for the conversion to God of the present generation of near 400 millions more, of immortal souls? And what are the prospects, at the present moment, of effecting the christianization of this great and growing empire? These are questions of the highest interest. We intend to devote this article to a rapid survey of the first part of the wide field which they open to our attention. not What has been done in past ages for the christianization of China? The history of the past divides itself into four parts. Efforts have been made by the Apostles, by the Nestorian Christians, by the Roman Catholics, and by Protestants. I. APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. It has sometimes been questioned, whether the Gospel was introduced into China in the Apostolic age. Mosheim doubts it. Mr. Gutzlaff, in the Appendix to his Voyages, took the same ground; but in his more recent History of China he admits its high probability. Chinese historians, it is true, have no where described the early introduction of Christianity; but this proves nothing against it, as they confound all foreign creeds, and treat them with indiscriminate contempt. The evidence in its favor is this. St. Thomas is denominated, in the Epitome of the Syrian canons, "the Apostle of the Hindoos and the Chinese." He is said to have traversed a great part of western Asia, visited India, and finally reached Kambalu, which according to the latest researches, is the Khanbalik of the Tartars, and the Peking of the Chinese. After establishing a church in Peking he returned to Hindostan, where he fell a victim of the hostility of the Brahmins. This is confirmed by the Chaldean ritual, which says, "By the blessed Thomas, the kingdom of Heaven was extended and opened to the Chinese." If this be a fact, it seems an interesting circumstance, that the very Apostle who had demanded the strongest and most palpable proofs of our Lord's resurrection, was afterwards honored to bear his name to the most distant regions of the known world. Perhaps he felt, in the recollection of his former unbelief, that he had much forgiven, and therefore he loved much. II. NESTORIAN MISSIONS. The year 636 forms a new era of the propagation of Christianity in China, though not in its purest form. The Syrian monument, alluded to by Mosheim, as found in Se-gan-foo, in the Chinese province of Shen-se, on the borders of Tartary, contains according to Mr. Gutzlaff the following record. Olopwan, the Nestorian, entered China from Judea A. D. 636, after having escaped great perils by sea and land. The learned Emperor Tae-tsung, whose royal residence was fixed at Se-gan-foo, in Shen-se, welcomed his arrival, examined his doctrine, acknowledged its truth, and published an edict in its favor. A church was built, and one-and-twenty persons appointed for its service. News of this success being conveyed to the Nestorians in the west, a great number of the brethren entered China as missionaries. For almost eighty years their churches flourished, but their mixture of superstition well nigh proved their ruin. In the reign of Heuen-tsung, A. D. 713, they were confounded with the Boodhists, and a severe edict prohibiting the worship of idols, published against them. The severity of this persecution however, did not extinguish their zeal; for Christianity, even in its most deformed shape, contains within it an invigorating and reviving energy. Though we know little of their subsequent history, yet we are told that the Chinese churches were constantly supplied with missionaries from Syria, down to the time of the ferocious Mohammedan conqueror, Timour or Tamerlane, in the 14th century, whose bloody hand swept them utterly away. The Nestorians have ever been among the purest of the Eastern Patriarchal churches; though for some time past they have partially acknowledged the authority of the Pope of Rome. III. PAPAL MISSIONS. The Roman Catholics (chiefly it would seem from political motives) have labored in this great missionary field. Haiton, the Armenian traveller, informs us that the celebrated Kublai Khan, afterwards founder of the Mongol dynasty in China, was baptized, with his whole house, by Rubruquis, a missionary sent by St. Louis of France, and Pope Innocent IV. in 1250. But Kublai was then but 21 years of age; he had not yet established his power, and his conversion to Catholic Christianity appears to have been nominal, for when Emperor of China in 1268, he declined submission to the Pope. Yet many facts show that this great conqueror ever viewed Christianity itself with a favorable eye. Nayan, his uncle, a professed Christian chief, had rebelled against him. A great number of Christians were in the ranks of Nayan, and the sign of the cross was in his banners; but his army of 400,000 men was cut to pieces by the impetuous valor of Kublai. When the Jews and Saracens perceived the banner of the cross overthrown, they taunted the Christians, who complained to the Emperor. Kublai severely rebuked the infidels, adding, "If the cross of Christ has not proved advantageous to the party of Nayan, the effect has been consistent with reason and justice, inasmuch as he was a rebel and traitor to his lord, and to such wretches it could not afford protection. Let none therefore presume to charge with injustice the God of the Christians, who is the perfection of goodness and justice!" On returning to Peking after this signal victory, the Emperor commanded all the Christians to attend him at the festival of Easter, and bring with them their sacred book, containing the four Gospels. He caused the book to be perfumed, devoutly kissed it, and directed all his nobles present to do the same. The Mongol prince Barkah also, another grandson of Genghis Kan, on a journey to Peking, is said to have met some Christian merchants, and to have been converted by them. On his return he enjoined all his subjects to follow his example, but died before he saw his wishes realized. About A. D. 1275, Vicenza and Tripoli, two learned friars, were sent by Pope Gregory X. as missionaries to Peking, in company with the celebrated Venetian travellers Nicolas, Matthew, and Marco Polo. The missionaries, however, terrified by the dangers of a route through so many deserts inhabited by rapacious hordes, and filled with scenes of barbarity and blood, did not reach their destination. In 1289, Corvino, another friar, sent by pope Nicolas IV., penetrated to the capital of China, soon after the succession of Timur Kan to the throne of his grandfather Kublai. According to his own account, he erected a church in Peking, but the Nestorians bitterly opposed him. The Tartar Khan George, who was a Nestorian, he brought over to the Catholic faith, and translated the New Testament and the Psalter into the language of the country. Upon his representations, new missionaries were sent |