whether he will not be permanently separated from his wife and two lovely children), he instantly replied: 'Has not Christ said, 'If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you." "

BURMAH.-MAULMAIN.

In the official application made by the Executive Committee of the Missionary Union for appropriations to the amount of $8,500, to cover the Scripture operations of 1848-9, the sum of $1,000 was requested for the translation of the Old Testament into Karen, $1,000 for the revision of the Karen New Testament, and $1,000 for printing the same. On the 6th of September, the Secretary of the Union wrote that from consultation with Brethren Vinton and Osgood, it was ascertained that

"It will not cost less than $3,000 to print and bind an edition of four thou sand copies in the Sgau, and $2,000 to do the same for an edition of two thousand copies in the Pgho dialect. More than one half of the work on these editions will be completed on April 1st, 1849. We, therefore, ask your Board for $2,500, for the printing of the New Testament in the Karen language, instead of $1,000 as stated in my letter of the 2nd inst."

Subsequent information, however, showed that there would be more detention in the work, than was at first anticipated, and that the burden of the expense would fall upon the year which has now commenced. Your Board, therefore, being unable to meet all the requests of the Missionary Union, deemed it judicious to postpone till the present year the greater part of the amount asked for the Karen Scriptures, and appropriated for that object, only the sum of $1.500. As a necessary result, there is a large increase in the demand from that quarter for aid, and an additional reason for exertion to enlarge the receipts of the year.

We have not received the usual tabular statement of printing done at the mission press at Maulmain during the year 1847, and we are only able in part to supply the deficiency. In that year, 3,000 copies of the Peguan New Testament, and 500 copies of the Acts of the Apostles, in Pgho-Karen were printed. The former consisted of 1,728,000 pages, and the latter of 52,500.

The tabular statement of Scripture printing for 1848, has reached us, accompanied by a brief letter from Bro. Ramsey, both of which we publish in full.

"MY DEAR SIR:

"MAULMAIN, JANUARY 23, 1849.

"Above, I have the pleasure to send you a statement of the issues of Scripture and parts of Scripture from Maulmain, during the year 1848. The nature of my occupation forbids me from mixing with the native population to any considerable extent, and I am, therefore, unable to furnish you with interesting facts and incidents which may have attended the distribution of the Scriptures; but from what I learn from my brethren, who are daily preaching aud exhorting from house to house, it is evident that the truth is gaining a cheering ascendancy, that the attention of the people is more easily gained, and their minds more open to conviction. We are now printing a revised edition of the Sgau Karen New Testament (5,000 copies), and have reached, and nearly completed the gospel by John. I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of an invoice of Bibles and Testaments from your Society, and to add that the books most handsomely bound, were at once taken. Of the pocket edition of the New Testament, with and without the Psalms, not a copy is left.

Very truly, yours,

THOMAS W. RANNEY.

By a letter from Bro. Vinton, dated April 18th, 1849, we are informed that the revision of the Karen New Testament has not progressed with the rapidity which was anticipated. He thus expresses himself:

"In the revision, I am sorry to say, that I have only just finished the fifth chapter of Hebrews, and that it will be about two months before I have got through with the last chapter of Revelations. I have been sadly interrupted in this great work, and the printing has been still more delayed."

TAVOY.

The Old Testament in Sgau Karen is progressing rapidly in the hands of Bro. Mason, who has, in a measure, recovered his health, and has obtained leave to return to Tavoy. The book will probably be printed at that station. The printing of the Pentateuch has been commenced.

ASSAM.

Brother Cutter has been somewhat interrupted in his operations by sickness, but at the last accounts the second edition of the New Testament in Assamese, was under way, and was expected soon to be issued from the press.

The following extract from a letter of Brother Cutter, dated October 16th, 1848, will explain the progress of Scripture printing, and the demand for distribution in Assam.

"I feel exceedingly anxious to remain in Assam till the new octavo edition of the New Testament, with our new type, can be carried through the Press. I hope we may commence upon it with the new year. The Testament has been completed and printed in parts; a second revised edition of 300 copies of the whole New Testament, is partly through the press, for distribution the coming cold season; also, an edition of the four gospels and Acts, 500 copies, and 1,200 copies extra of the Acts. These will all be finished before the year closes. We were compelled to issue this small edition just now, having been quite out of nearly all the parts first printed, and frequent calls made for them, which we could not supply. And in the excursions for preaching, which may be made the approaching cold season, scarcely any of the Scriptures could have been given, as the octavo edition, had we commenced upon it, would not have been one fourth completed. We wish to take that through more leisurely in order to secure the greatest possible accuracy, as well as cleanness and neatness in printing."

In compliance with the request of the Union, the sum of $1,000 has this year been appropriated to the translation and publication of Assamese Scriptures.

SIAM.

In a letter from Brother J. H. Chandler, written August 7th, 1847, but received after the date of our last Report, he states:

"The Siamese department of our mission still rests upon my hands. I do what I can in communicating the word of life orally and by the printed page. Within the last six months, I have distributed about 15,000 tracts and books. This is probably the greatest number ever given within so short a period. The call for tracts and books still continues, and we shall probably give away about 30,000 during the present missionary year."

Brother Jones, in a letter to the Missionary Union, under date of Bangkok, August 3d, 1848, remarks:

"Those parts of the New Testament which were printed off before I left here in 1845, were nearly all distributed. We designed, and the mission voted, to print a new edition of the New Testament at once; but the facts above stated, delayed the commencement of the work for several weeks; when, considering that an edition of 3,000 copies of Matthew and Mark, sep. arately, had just been put into circulation, it seemed very desirable to have something of Old Testament history to render them intelligible. We, there

fore, determined to commence a new edition of Old Testament Biography. This was accordingly done; and an extra edition of Joseph and Moses, 2,000 copies, has been struck off, and we are now distributing them. The whole work will be in two parts. The first part, to David, is nearly completed, and then we design to leave the second part until we have printed the third edition of the Acts. The Old Testament biography completed, we shall have published 23,000 copies of Joseph and Moses."

By a subsequent communication from Brother Chandler, we learn that the last form of the Acts of the Apostles was struck off September 21st, 1848. The edition consisted of 3,000 copies.

At the request of the Missionary Union, your Board has appropriated the sum of $1,500 for Siamese Scriptures.

CHINESE SCRIPTURES.

The importance and necessity of a correct version of the Bible in the Chinese language, have been more than once dwelt upon in our Annual Reports. The allusion to this subject in the following extract from a letter of a Baptist Missionary in China, dated July, 1848, is therefore not inappropriate to these pages:

"The discussion on the proper word in Chinese for rendering Elohi and Theos, I think, has now ceased.

The Pædo-Baptist Translation Committee at Shanghae are daily at work; sundays excepted, and are taking much pains as they proceed. They have now reached the eighth chapter of Mark. They hope to finish the four Gospels this year and to publish them, and to complete the whole New Testament by the end of 1849. The committee consists of Messrs. Bridgman, Medhurst. Boone, Stronach and Milne, the last having taken the place of Mr. Lowrie. who was murdered by pirates.

The importance of a Chinese version of the Bible by Baptists, is a subject for most serious consideration. I am more and more convinced that the American and Foreign Bible Society has a solemn responsibility resting upon it regarding this matter. In my opinion, they ought to take the subject up themselves in earnest. Let them send two well educated brethren for the express purpose of preparing, publishing and circulating the sacred scriptures in the Chinese language. Let them come out with wives, and for life, as do missionaries. Such are the facilities now to be had here, that they could commence preparing, though not publishing, in one year after their arrival. Our hearts are open to welcome such agents and to aid them all in our power.

Let the American and Foreign Bible Society wait no longer for the action of Missionary Societies, or missionaries, but take the matter up themselves, and the God of the Bible will be with them. I may remark that such agents should have the same salaries and allowances that Baptist missionaries have."