war shall be removed from Chin-keang and Nanking. The expenses of this trip were only eight and a half dollars.

Towards the latter end of May, Messrs. Muirhead and Edkins visited Sung-keang, where a literary examination was being held, at which they distributed 200 Testaments; and on the last day of May, Messrs. Medhurst and Edkins visited Kwan-san, where the literary men from thirteen cities were assembling, amongst whom 150 Testaments and 30 Bibles were distributed. The expenses of the two last-named trips did not exceed three dollars each.

It is pleasing to see the number of well-educated men who assemble on these occasions, and the respect and gratitude which they evince for the books distributed. We have never given away Testaments with more satisfaction, and our conviction is, that the few thus given away will be of more service than ten times the amount indiscriminately circulated.

We met with several persons at Kwan-san who have been in the habit of reading the New Testament for some time, and upon whose conduct it has had a marked influence. Men from all parts of the country visit us, who have seen and read the New Testament; and one man from T'heen-tsin, in the neighbourhood of Peking, has read it to such profit, that he has applied earnestly for baptism.

On the 28th of May our Committee met, and resolved to employ two native Christians in Shanghae as colporteurs. They are both acquainted with letters, and can give a good and consistent account of the books they distribute.

Our Committee have also resolved "That 50,000 copies of the Mandarin colloquial version of the New Testament be printed as soon as possible, and that the Secretary be empowered to draw on the Bible Society for the purchase of paper." The cost of the paper will be about £1,000.

THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST.

IN the Epistle to the Hebrews, we are told that we have a great High Priest, who was in all things empted as we are, yet without sin; and who has passed into the heavenly place, or into the true holy place, to appear before God for us. And when you recollect how Christ is spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrews, you will see here scattered points, that are evidently parts of his glory, rise into light; and by the media of which the pious Jew saw Christ from afar, and anticipated that blessed day which it was permitted to Simeon to enter on; when he should see Him who is the light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.

The robes that are prescribed for the high priest are extremely elaborate, very magnificent; the only ones that approach to them that I know of in modern times are the robes of the Romish priesthood. This, however, does not prove that the robes

the Romish priesthood are Scriptural, because they are worn in imitation of the ancient robes of the high priest; for, instead of being Scriptural,-though it may seem a startling announcement, they are quite the reverse; because, if the substance be come, the shadow is to pass away-if the reality be arrived, that which prefigured him is done away-and, therefore, to draw from the wardrobe of Aaron, in order to decorate the modern Christian minister, is to act as if eighteen centuries were expunged, and we were living under the Levitical régime, instead of under the Christian and New Testament economy.

It is quite plain, therefore, that while it may seem Scriptural to copy these robes in a modern church, it is, in reality, most unchristian to do so, simply on the ground that they had their meaning, their object, and their end then; but now, that their end is come,

they have passed away. The moment that Jesus

said, "It is finished!" Aaron, Levi, and all their economy passed away; they were buried with Jesus; only Jesus rose, and they remain still in the grave.

These robes were very precious. These robes were for beauty and for glory; and they were meant to set forth the glory, the excellence, the beauty, the perfection of Him whose beauty is not of robes, but moral, and whose glory is not an outer, but an inner one. And thus, in the Christian economy, the intensest simplicity is the greatest sublimity. It is the law now, all great things are simple, all great men are eminently simple. Simplicity is only compatible with true greatness; and wherever real greatness is, there true simplicity will be also. Blaze, spangle, glitter, show, are vulgar, they are not great; and under the Christian economy we do not need these things. Our religion is adorned the most when it is adorned the least. The great poet has truly expressed it, when he says that we do not think of gilding the refined gold, or adding fresh perfume to the violet. So, in our religion, in its precious truths, in its grand hopes, there is that intrinsic and real magnificence that it is most beautiful when it is just best seen. How is God most glorified? Not by adding anything to Him; but He is glorified in proportion as He is revealed: and so the religion that He has inspired is beautiful just in proportion as it is seen; and whenever you attempt to beautify, you darken-when you attempt to improve, you only destroy.

There was, then, the breast-plate, the ephod, which was a robe extending to the ankles, and the broidered coat, and the mitre, and the girdle; and these were to be holy garments. The word "holy," I may mention, in the Bible, means set apart to a thing. Now you will be, perhaps, startled, when I tell you that Kadosh, which is the Hebrew word for "holy," is applied to a wicked person as well as to a good man.