ter having enjoyed, from eternity, a felicity and bliss which men can neither conceive nor sufficiently admire, did, in order to make rational beings happy, create the world, the heavens and earth, the sun, moon, stars, and constellations; the great islands and the small, the forests, mountains, and seas, together with the various orders of men, and irrational animals; and the Lord Jesus Christ, the dispenser of grace, who with a divine love and pity, which sought to avert the punishment of sin which men deserve to bear, having relinquished the divine felicity which he enjoyed, and come down to the abodes of men, was conceived by the power of God in the womb of a virgin, and was born a man,-who, after having fulfilled the divine law, become the substitute for men; and by having endured the greatest of sufferings, poverty, and distress, and even death upon a cross, rescues all his disciples from hell, and raises them to heaven, the golden country and kingdom:-and God, the divine Spirit, who dispels the evil passions, the anger, ignorance, and pride which are prolific in evil designs and thoughts in the corrupt, base, vile, and wicked nature which men have assumed,-who disciplines, teaches and instructs [men,] and mercifully imparts and implants a good mind, with good intentions, and points out the true God, and the true religion. These three united, being inconceivably and mysteriously the one only Supreme, Most High God over all, most reverently worshipping, I Moung Shwaybwen, your son and servant, who live in the city of Tavoy, send love and salutation:

Respected mother, elder brothers, elder and younger sisters, younger brother, and the whole circle of my relatives and associates: As to me, your servant, having heard the preaching of the missionaries who came from America, the great West Island, and being disposed to consider and discuss [their doctrine,] and having asked liberty of my mother, brothers, sisters, &c. I left you; and on arriving at Maulamying city, not finding the missionaries, (only I found Moung Shwaybay, one of their assistants,) I could not fully discuss the subject; but wishing to obtain a book, I asked for one, and he gave me a tract, with which I returned home; and on carefully reading and examining it, I understood its meaning,-and then I con

sidered, and became convinced, that the existence and destruction of the world, the heaven and earth, the sun, moon, stars and constellations, the great and small islands, the forests, mountains, and seas, rational and irrational animals could not occur in uniform succession without a controlling agent, [as the Boodhists suppose,] but that, as God only created, so he is the sovereign possessor of all things; and that when he wills that any thing be destroyed, it must be destroyed; and when he wills that any thing be produced, it must be produced; and that although I should, during my whole life, keep without violation, the five, the eight, and even the ten precepts, [of Boodhism] yet as I have sinned against the sovereign Creator, I should still have no merit, and my own righteousness would not stand. Hence, fearing lest, when remaining no longer in this life I should depart, I must suffer the pains of hell forever; and being in great distress of mind, while I was praying and making supplication, the Spirit of God descended from heaven, and instructed me, and pointed out, showed and taught me the true religion. Upon this, I went to the missionaries, and made a complete surrender of myself, my very heart... which they accepted and declared to me a manifestation of the character of an eternal God, saying that 'men's religious opinions are variousthat one realm and another, one country and another, one city and another, one village and another, one house and another, one individual and another, bear mutual malice, quarrel, and fight; that men, by living in the practice of drunkenness, fornication, adultery, evil inventions, sorcery, false witness and idolatry, (all which originate from evil passions, from anger, ignorance and pride,) neither know God nor keep his law-do not consider that God created them, but suppose that they exist naturally, without a producing agent. And so, because they neither know nor worship the eternal God who created and supports them, and have sinned against their divine Benefactor, they must, when they die, if there be no Saviour, suffer for ever in hell fire; that the Lord Jesus Christ seeing this, was moved with divine love and compassion, and from a desire to bring those who neither know nor worship God, nor observe his law, to worship him and keep his law, and also to save those men who should be

lieve, descended and came to the abodes of men, was conceived by the divine power in the womb of a virgin, and born of her, that while he wrought no evil nor wicked thing, but only that which was good and pure, and preached the divine law, some believed not the Lord; those that believed not, demanded, with a design to vex him, that he should show them some miracle, wonder, or sign. And although he wrought miracles of healing, cleansing, and restoring on the sick, the dumb, the maimed, the blind, the deaf, the deranged, and the dead, they, [his enemies,] all said he was not the Son of God, which while he knew, he delivered up his precious life into the hands of the multitude, and according to his prediction, uttered previous to being put to death, viz. "that he should continue in the mansions of the king of death only three days and then revive." So on the day when he was put to death, there was total darkness over the whole land; and on the third day he revived; and after having preached the law to men during the space of forty days, he mounted on a cloud of the sky, in the sight of many men, and ascended into heaven; . that false religion having vanished away, the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ will spread throughout the whole world; that men, seing their sins, and [convinced] that on account of having sinned against the eternal God, their most estimable benefactor, they have no merit, and so with repentance flee to and take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, and are baptized, will, when they come to die, not sink to hell, but on account of the grace and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, come into the presence of God; where, free from sickness, old age, death, transmigration, and annihilation, will live world without end in the enjoyment of happiness, and peace, and the rewards pertaining to the eternal state: As the missionaries declared these things, I embraced [the doctrine] with my heart, renounced the traditions of my ancestors, and I received baptism; and as one of the missionaries knowing that the Taliengs, Burmans, Kalahs, Hindoos, Malays, Cochin-Chinese, Siamese, Chinese, Daways, Arracanese, Karens, and other people who live in the city of Tavoy, are of a very light, loose and

accom

empty religion; and feeling a loving and compassionate desire to rectify their religious opinions, was removing from Maulamying to Tavoy, panied him; and till my arrival, I was, through the power and goodness of the eternal God, in health, and very happy in my mind. But as I am much employed, partly in studying the English language, and, from a desire to preach the Gospel of the eternal God, partly in reading and studying the Scriptures, and partly in copying them, and partly in teaching the children who come to the missionary to receive instruction, I cannot at present visit my mother, brothers, sisters, &c. but pray and beseech and intercede that the Spirit of God may descend upon my mother, brothers, &c. When, however, the time shall arrive, that it shall be God's will, I will visit you. Now from the day when I first fled to and trusted in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, I fear not death, but am of a courageous mind. I live in the hope and anticipation that at the instant when I die, I shall not fall and sink to hell, but through the grace and merits of the blessed Lord, come into the presence of God, where, free from sickness, old age, death, transmigration, and annihilation, in which there is no notion of a God or of religion, I shall have a clear vision of God's face, and shall forever enjoy eternal and unearthly rewards, happiness and peace, which men can neither conceive nor sufficiently admire. Accordingly, it is my desire that my mother, brothers, sisters, &c. would consider that, in discussing and comparing the blessed religion of the eternal God which the missionaries preach, with the traditions of our ancestors, it is not good to be of a mind hard and unyielding like a mountain's centre, thus clinging only to the traditions of our ancestors, but considering and meditating with a mind tender, soft, clean, and white like cotton, you may pray and entreat, that having fled to and taken refuge in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, who can save from hell, you may live in the hope and expectation that [hereafter] you shall behold with open face the divine effulgence of God's blessed countenance; and free from sickness, old age, and death, you may live forever, and enjoy unearthly rewards and peace.

and solemn congregations. I ought to have noticed that I organized a branch Tract Society, at St. Johns.

12. We started for the Gasconade country, a western course. After travelling seventeen miles, through a broken unsettled country, we arrived at a small settlement on Shepherd's Creek, where a congregation was as sembled, to which I preached. Nobody ever preaches in this settlement. Very occasionally the people go to Boeuf for meeting. They were very attentive, some wept, and they treated us with much kindness. Here brother Williams, three young preachers, or more properly exhorters, and several other brethren from St. Johns, overtook us.

13. We all set forward for the Gasconade hills. This is a hilly or rather mountainous district of country, equal in size to Massachusetts, drained by Gasconade river. It is but thinly populated, and the people are scattered along the Creeks and vallies in small and detached settlements. The hills are formed of immense beds of flint stone, covered with enough earth to produce a stinted growth of dwarfish timber, but not fit for cultivation. There are some millions of acres of such land in this part of Missouri. The vallies are rich and fertile, but too narrow to afford commodious settlements. At night we reached the settlement of Bailey's Creek, where a three days' meeting had been appointed by our last Association. We were most kindly received and entertained by the people during the meeting. They gave us the best their circumstances could afford. A fastidious traveller might have complained, but we were contented. They had provided seats and a Stand," in the woods, a most delightful place, shaded by the lofty sycamore, walnut, locust, and hagberry, but they had not time to prepare camps, which would have added much to the convenience of accommodating a large number of people. 14. The people collected at an early hour at the Stand, where a prayer meeting was held. Preaching, exhortations, singing, and prayer, continued night and day at the same place. We only retired to the cabins of the settlers for meals and sleep. Lord's-day brought together a large congregation, which was very solemn. Two persons were baptized, and another received as a candidate, who chose to defer the ordinance two weeks, that his wife,

necessarily detained at home, might accompany him into the water. In this settlement are a number of Roman Catholic families, most of the members of which were out on Lord's-day, and some were attentive hearers, while some others appeared to feel under no obligation to be quiet at a heretical meeting. They walked about and talked during preaching or prayer, as they felt inclined. People came 10, 20, 30, 40, and some, as they told me, even 50 miles, to this meeting. Some told me they had not heard a sermon for four years before. A church called "Gasconade," from 15 to 20 miles south, and higher up the river, has become so nearly extinct, and having no preacher to attend them, we advised them to unite with the church with which the meeting was held. This church, (Bailey's Creek,) is now attended by a preacher, by the name of Coats, from the north side of Missouri river, who crosses the river in a canoe, and walks to the settlements once in a month. South of Gasconade county, and higher up the river, is another county, called Crawford. There is a preacher who lives amongst the hills in this county, and who preaches occasionally. Scattering settlements extend through the vallies pretty high up the Gasconade. On the waters of Big Pine, a prominent fork of the Gasconade, 150 miles from its mouth, are several saw and other mills. This is the region that furnishes vast quantities of pitch pine lumber for the St. Louis market. The "mills" is a wild place, rarely visited by a preacher of any description. This rough and mountainous region, abounds in iron ore, and doubtless contains vast quantities of lead, though few attempts have yet been made to find it. The headwaters of the Gasconade interlock with

those of the Osage, that falls into the Missouri, farther west, with White river, that runs south, through Arkansas territory, and with the Merrimac, that runs cast, and falls into the Mississippi, 18 miles below St. Louis; consequently, the highest land in Missouri, is at the head of this stream. During the meeting, I disposed of 6000 pages of Tracts, a dozen Bibles, several copies of Fuller's Backslider, four copies of Jones' Church History, besides a quantity of Magazines and other pamphlets.

Rev. H. Malcom.

J. M. PECK.

[To be continued.]