Sanscrit Bengali Kashmire Hindi Orissa Punjabi Santhali Gond GRAMMARS, &c. INDIA. Carey's Grammar. (Baptist.) Yeates's Grammar and Dictionary. (Baptist.) (Baptist.) Grammar and Vocabulary, by Duhens. (Society for Dravidian Languages Caldwell's Grammar. (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.) Rhenius's Grammar. (Society for the Propagation of Grammar and Dictionary. (American Board of Rostler's Dictionary. (Society for the Propagation of Vocabulary, by H. Brown. (Society for the Propaga- Grammar in both Dialects. Pope. (Society for the Hand Book. Pope. (Society for the Propagation of Winslow's Dictionary. (American Board of Foreign English and Tamil Dictionary. (American Board of Reeve's Dictionary. (London Missionary Society.) CEYLON. Clough's Pali Grammar and Vocabulary. (Wesleyan Clough's Singhalese Dictionary. Clough's Singhalese Dictionary and Vocabulary. (Church Missionary Society.) W. B. Fox's Singhalese and Portuguese Dictionary and Grammar. (Wesleyan Missionary Society.) 24 420 12 5 57 52 2604 149 7961 1 10117 3943 N. B.-1. The returns of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel are imperfect. The Blue Book returns for 1870 give 121 schools, 5,362 pupils, in the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel schools. 2. Ten Students matriculated: 15 received honorary distinction of F.A. and B.A. 3. A Presbyterian School has 23 pupils. This appears distinct from the Church of Scotland Ladies' School. (In No. 1.) K HOME RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF CEYLON. 1. Population, 2,128,884, (according to official census, 1870,) or 2,400,000 according to a later estimate, of which 4,732 were British, 14,201 whites of European descent; the rest are Singhalese, Tamils, &c. The Singhalese number 1,670,000; the Tamils, 534,000; the Moormen, 164,000; all other races, 38,000. The Tamils are originally from Southern India, and, by their energy and enterprise, are pushing their way southward, and increasing in number and influence. 2. The religious professions of the population are as follow:-1,520,575 Budhists, with 5,345 priests; Hindoos, (Sivites,) 464,414, with 1,078 priests; Mohammedans, 171,542, with 449 priests; also 862 Devil-dancers! Of the Christians in Ceylon, 182,613 are Romanists, with 87 priests; Protestants, (chiefly Episcopalian,) 24,756; Wesleyan, 6,071; Presbyterian, 3,101; Baptists, 1,478. The number of Protestant clergy and Missionaries of all denominations is 217. It is not true that "the whole of the Christians belong to the European-descended population," as stated in "The Statesman's Year Book" for 1874, p. 635. This cannot be true as regards the Romanists, or even the Protestants, since the number of Europeans and of persons of European descent is not more than 18,933. The bulk of the Protestant converts from Heathenism are either Tamils or Singhalese. The ecclesiastical establishment of Ceylon consists of a Clergy, Episcopalian and Presbyterian, maintained at a cost of £10,000. Budhism was introduced into Ceylon about 200 B.C. It was probably introduced by emigration from India, after the breaking up of the kingdom of Maghada, and the expulsion of Budhism from India. As the same event led to the introduction of Budhism into the Indo-Chinese territories, the religious connexion between Ceylon and Burmah is accounted for. The Singhalese have been appealed to by the Burmese nation as authorities in Budhist usages, and in Pali literature. The system is evidently losing its hold on the population. The Priests are alarmed, and roused to systematic opposition. This is a very hopeful sign. 3. Education.-In 1872 there were 602 Government and other schools receiving aid from Government, 36,295 pupils; and, adding those not included in these schools, there were in all about 40,000 children under instruction. The Government grants to the various schools amount to about £8,250; but the amount spent in education is above £20,000. EDITIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES. The British and Foreign Bible Society has published the entire Scriptures in Singhalese, the New Testament in Pali, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and New Testament in Indo-Portuguese. NOTE TO TABLES XII., XIII., XIV., XV., AND XVI. The discrepancies in the results of these two classes of statistics, the one taken from the Reports of 1873, (for the year 1872,) and others from statistics presented in 1871 to the Allahabad Conference, (for the year 1870,) arise out of the difference between the state of the Missions in 1872 and 1870, and also from some little difference in the area from which the statistics were taken. The Allahabad returns are no doubt perfect in their kind, and a true representation of the Missions in 1870. V. MISSIONS IN CHINA. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint."-Isaiah i. 5. “And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."-Isaiah xlix. 11, 12. 1. CHRISTIANITY was first introduced into China by the Nestorians of Western Asia, so early as the fifth century of the Christian era. Between 636 A.D. and 781 A.D. no less than ninety Bishops and others are mentioned as labourers in this field, and enjoying, to some extent, the favour of the rulers. In the eleventh century, a petty Mongolian Khan embraced Christianity, and exaggerated notices of his power and position were circulated in Europe, where he was known by the name of Prester John; the last of these Khans was absorbed into the empire of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, 1202 A.D. Towards the end of that century, 1293 A.D., John de Mento Corvino entered China overland from Europe, and introduced with some success the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. But on the conquest of China by the Ming Dynasty, in 1869 A.D., both the Nestorians and the Romanist teachers were expelled, and their churches broken up. Father Ricci re-introduced the Roman Catholic faith in 1589 A.D. He and his successor, alternately patronized and persecuted by the Government, carried on their Mission work vigorously, and succeeded in raising up Roman Catholic churches in every province of China. Our disapproval of the Romanist type of Christianity must not interfere to lessen our admiration of the zeal, perseverance, self-denial, and sufferings, even unto death, of many of these devoted men. The lesson to us Protestants, who enjoy the fuller and purer light of the Gospel, is, "Go, and do likewise," following them so far as they followed Christ. Protestant Missionaries have something to learn from their Romish predecessors in this field;-some things to do, as well as many things to leave undone. 2. The first Protestant Missionary in China, Robert Morrison, was a man who in patient industry, perseverance, and selfdenial may bear comparison with the best of the Jesuit or Dominican Missionaries. He was sent out in 1806 by the London Missionary Society, which has been remarkably favoured in the possession of Agents of distinguished character. Such names as Morrison, Milne, Medhurst, and Legge are an honour to the Denomination with which they are identified. Morrison's Mission was regarded even by many good Christians as premature and visionary, quixotic and hopeless. Uncheered, and almost without sympathy, he laboured alone, unknown, and almost forgotten. But he acquired the language, and in due time presented a Grammar and Dictionary, and eventually a translation of the Bible into Chinese. China, however, was shut against the Protestant Missionary. Dr. Morrison's labours as a Missionary were confined to Macao. But the wars with Great Britain and France, and the Taeping rebellion, weakened the prestige of the Government, while the emigration of many thousands of Chinese, and their settlement in the Indian Archipelago, Malacca, Singapore, &c., and also in California and Australia, have been the means of bringing the Chinese mind in contact with the mind of the Western world. Now, European Missionaries are settled in China, and travel unmolested. Native Churches have been raised up, and Native Agencies employed; the Word of God, and sundry books advocating Christianity, are circulated in perhaps every province of China. Morrison's and Milne's years of toil have not been thrown away. "Wisdom is justified of her children." It is obvious that China can never again be isolated as heretofore. She has become one of the great family of nations, and must submit to all the influences, beneficial or otherwise, which are inseparably connected with foreign diplomatic relations and commercial intercourse. The Chinese mind can never revert to its former intellectual stagnancy, and the Christian Church has now a glorious opportunity of imparting new ideas, and of enforcing those great principles, upon the hearty reception of which depends the renovation of at least one-third of the human race. Year after year we prayed that China might be "open" to evangelical effort. Prayer has been answered; "the fields are white to the harvest," but as yet "the labourers" |