to the golden ears, so that his Majesty should be led to suspect that he is not omnipotent., It is reported, that Mr. Lausago, who has been held in high repute among the Burmans, was prevailed on not long since to propose to his Majesty to make peace with the English; and that his proposal implied such a suspicion of the weakness of the Burman cause that it cost him his life. Sir Archibald, when we last heard from him, was on his way from Melloon to Ava, where he expected to arrive about this time, to propose terms to his Majesty in person at his capital. What the event will be, we cannot foretell. We feel exceedingly anxious about our friends at Ava.

"We have much to say of divine mercy. The Lord is reviving his work in many places. At several stations in Ceylon there is a very considerable religious excitement. Mr. Winslow of Oodooville is now here. Not long since he received letters from his colleagues in Jaffna, stating that in one of their schools there was not a boy but was anxious for his soul, or had found mercy; and in the college only three. Several other places were also blessed with revivals of religion."

'My very dear Parents,

Calcutta, Feb. 28, 1826.

Calcutta, where we now are, abounds in benevolent institutions. Every few days we are invited to attend the celebration of some anniversary. To-day I am called on to attend the anniversary of the Bethel Society for Seamen. The benevolent public have furnished a small brig, which floats in the Hoogly, where divine worship is conducted every Lord's-day. I have preached there twice, and have been much gratified at finding so large and serious a congregation.

"It will afford you pleasure, my dear parents, to know that though we are detained from going, as we hoped, directly to Burmah, our time is not unoccupied in Bengal. We have a Burman teacher, and are studying the language to pretty good advantage. I preach regularly once a fortnight, and occasionally at other times. It affords me much pleasure thus to be employed in that precious work

on which my heart is so much set. The doctrine of the atonement by the blood of Christ never afforded me so much holy delight as it now does; it is the anchor of my soul, sure and steadfast. O that I may always be found delighting in none but Jesus Christ and him crucified. May he ever be the burden of my preaching, and may his glory be my high and constant aim.

"Our eyes are still directed towards Burmah as the field of our future labors, and to God as our guide and Saviour. Have my dear parents yet regretted, that they gave up their son to leave all for Christ and for the heathen? I trust not.

Pray for your affectionate son."

CHAPTER VIII.

Mr. Boardman announces the close of the war with Burmah-He is requested by the English Baptists to remain still longer in Cal

cutta.

THE frequent allusion to the war in Burmah, and to the unknown condition of the missionaries at Ava, may be supposed to have awakened, in the mind of the reader unacquainted with these events, a desire to know how that war terminated, and what proved to be the fate of those missionaries. In a letter to Dr. Bolles, dated Calcutta, April 14, 1826, Mr. Boardman, evidently in a high degree excited in view of the facts of the case, writes thus:

"The joyful news of peace with Burmah, and of the safety of our friends at Ava, has filled our hearts with joy and gratitude. But I forbear to speak of the sufferings of our friends, as you will receive an account of them from brethren Judson and Price themselves. I will only say, we view it as one of the most glorious displays of God's gracious Providence known in modern times, that our friends Hough and Wade at Rangoon, Judson and Price at Ava, with their wives, should have been preserved through such extreme dangers, and such unparalleled sufferings."

Thus the painful uncertainty which, for nearly two years, had agitated and distressed the Christian public, was happily terminated. As the tidings spread that the missionaries were yet alive and safe, they produced the sensation of general joy, and the expression of fervent gratitude to God. But when the scene came to be opened on which that terrible tragedy was acted; when we were introduced to "the man with the spotted face," the " executioner," and "son of the prison," and saw him "seizing Mr. Judson, throwing him violently on the floor, and binding him with the small cord, an instrument of torture;"

when we behold him "dragged violently along the streets, thrust into the death prison, and bound with five chains;" and when, especially, we traced him from one prison to another, with naked, blistered, bleeding feet, fainting and sinking under the pressure of his woes, and ardently desiring the friendly aid of death to release him from his extremely accumulated and painful sufferings-it was then, that a sensation of horror succeeded to that of joy, and we felt that He alone, who restraineth the wrath of man, could have wrought so wonderful a deliverance. In reviewing that scene, even at this distance of time and place, though it may have been reviewed many times before, the bosom still swells, the heart throbs with mixed emotions, and the eye lets fall a tear of tenderness over the sufferings of those devoted missionaries. Doubtless their reward will be great in heaven.

But we choose not to attempt even an outline of those sufferings, as this is not only not the proper place for them, but lest the reader should be satisfied with partial views of a subject, concerning which he ought to know all the particulars. For a full and affecting view of this dreadful tragedy, we refer him to Mr. Knowles' Memoir of Mrs. Ann H. Judson, page 227th and onward; a book which should be among the first in the library of every family.

The termination of the war, and the release of the prisoners, opened the way for the renewal of missionary operations in Burmah. The book of Providence, which had so long been sealed up, was now opened, and its pages seemed bright with promise. It was seen that a more wide and effectual door was opened for the introduction of the Gospel into that darkened empire, over which sin had long held a usurped dominion. In this our missionaries greatly rejoiced. They did not look on Burmah with feelings of revenge, but with that charity that covereth a multitude of sins. She had despitefully smitten them on one cheek, and they were now ready to turn to her the other also. For the cords by which she had bound and tortured them, they would give her the liberty of the sons of God. For the stripes which she had inflicted, and the wormwood and gall which she had administered, they would carry her the balm of Gilead, the oil and the wine of

the Gospel. Instead of rewarding her as she had rewarded them, they would enter her prison of sin, convey to her the bread and the water of life, strike the chains from the feet of her prisoners, and say to her captives, go free.

Upon this work of Christian philanthropy, Mr. Boardman and his associates at Calcutta, were impatient to enter. But though peace had been declared, the Burman empire was still like the troubled sea after a violent storm. It had not yet had time "to rock itself to rest." The limits of the territory which was to be ceded to the Bengal government, were not definitely settled. The missionaries, therefore, as it was their intention to fix on some spot within that territory, where they might prosecute their labors under the protection of the English, without fear of further molestation, had not the means of comparing the advantages of different places, and of determining on the field of their future toils. Besides, the rainy season was about commencing, during which it becomes necessary to pay special attention to the preservation of health, by carefully avoiding all improper exposure to wet and cold. For these reasons, they deemed it expedient to remain yet longer in Calcutta, where they were prosecuting the study of the language to good advantage.

The subjoined letter is from Mr. Boardman to Mr. Jacobs, of Cambridge. It gives an interesting account of the progress of Christianity in Calcutta and its vicinity.

My dear Brother,

"Calcutta, April 12, 1826.

"We have good news to relate respecting Christianity in Hindostan. This evening we expect to attend the anniversary of the Independent Missionary Society in this place, and the report, we are informed, will be very interesting. The substance of it is, that in a village ten miles below Calcutta, there reside several fishermen, who, on their way to their fishing-ground down the river, have frequently called at a Christian place of worship. The consequence is, that they have renounced idolatry and embraced Christianity, and the whole village is in a state of commotion, and the current of feeling is quite in favor of the Gospel. The people have already torn their idol from