munity, and to interfere with the religion of the state is to touch their prerogative. It is accordingly found, that where the king or the powers of the state are hostile to missionaries, they can do little or nothing. They can neither obtain a footing in the country, nor if they did, would they be long able to maintain it. Witness in illustration of this the recent history of the Burman mission. It is therefore to be considered one of the favourable signs of the present day, that the rulers of several heathen countries to which missionaries have been sent, have given them a cordial welcome, and promised them continued countenance and support. Whatever the immediate views or motives may be that lead to such conduct, we ought devoutly to ascribe praise to God who holds the hearts of kings in his hands, for disposing them to give his servants liberty to enter their dominions. As the spiritual power vested in their hands renders it next to hopeless to attempt the evangelization of their people without their sanction, so their favour is proportionably to be desired, and ought to be cultivated by all proper means. "The king's favour is as dew upon the grass ;" and we ought to pray for it, and give thanks for it to Him who gives both the dew and the rain.

I am tempted here to digress still further from the point in hand, in order to notice a silly outcry raised by a certain class of professors against the conductors of Bible and Missionary Societies. They

are branded as spiritual parasites, because they seek and put a value on the patronage of princes and men in power, both at home and abroad, as if they were fawning upon the great from a mean ambition of being brought into notice, and of having their cause dignified by a sort of connexion with high sounding names. Were this the spirit of those societies, or these the only ends to be gained by such alliances, or were the smiles of kings and potentates to be purchased at the expence of principle, I should be one of the first to reprobate their conduct. But I think that not charity merely, but fact and experience, should by this time have taught those who are so ready to find fault, that more honourable and disinterested motives have operated both on the part of the seekers and the bestowers of royal and noble patronage; and that benefits, more unequivocal and substantial than the mere credit of a name, have resulted from such personages being induced to identify themselves with the best of causes :-a cause which cannot derive dignity from the highest of its promoters, but which exalts the humblest of its friends to the rank of a benefactor of the race.

It is easy, however, to expect too much from men of high degree; but this is a mistake which soon corrects itself; for, after all the aid the highest and most powerful upon earth can lend to the labours of missionaries, the great and radical difficulties of the work remain behind. Kings themselves can

do nothing more than remove the obstacles in limine. To this their power may extend; farther it cannot go and if their influence in any case be exerted in favour of the cause of God, it becomes its friends thankfully and wisely to avail themselves of it, giving God the praise.

The heathen priesthood is an army in battle array with Satan at their head, ready to obstruct, at every step, the progress of the servants of the Prince of Peace. The influence the minions of the popular superstition exercise over all classes of the community makes them formidable in the highest degree. They have the passions, prejudices, and supposed interests of the people leagued on their side; and they employ force, fraud, or chicanery, as suits them best, to subvert the designs of the missionary. The weapons of their warfare are carnal, and they are skilful in the use of them. And even when circumstances restrain them within the bounds of outward respect for the servants of God, the most deadly animosity is raging in their hearts.

They know also how to infuse the venom of malice into the minds of the people-and they do it sometimes unnoticed and unsuspected. How often have missionaries sowed the seed, and with such flattering appearances of not having laboured in vain, that they anticipated with joy the harvest, till it was discovered that ome emissaries of Satan in the form of priests, like he fowls in the parable, "came and devoured it up' They "catch away"

what is sown in the heart of the people, and would effectually frustrate all the sower's hopes of reaping the harvest, if it did not now and then appear that God has prepared the hearts of some and made them good ground; so that in spite of all enemies, and to the surprise and joy of the labourer," the seed springs and grows he knows not how."

There is another class of difficulties connected with the missionary being situated as a foreigner, comparatively ignorant of the language of the people, and still farther separated from them by the difference between his habits, manners, &c. and theirs. The operation of these circumstances, however, is different in different places, and will be as variously felt by missionaries as the constitution and character of the individuals are various. In some cases the circumstance of a missionary being a foreigner gives him a kind of superiority over the people; but in other cases the very reverse. Again, as to the contrariety of the missionary's habits, &c. to those of the people among whom he labours-his being under the necessity of having constant intercourse with them-his being much engaged in secular concerns, &c.; such things will be regarded just as the diversity of character makes them disagreeable or otherwise; what is to one man a weariness of the flesh and an act of positive self-denial, may in another man, differently

constituted, be perfectly according to his taste, and a pleasure rather than a task.

Upon, the whole, however, the life of most missionaries implies a variety of duties, little consonant with the general taste and habits of such men as should be encouraged to become missionaries; and this, among other reasons, confirms me in the opinion that missionary undertakings should be planned so as to admit of a division of labours at every station. In other words, that there should be several missionaries together. By this means they can divide the departments of general management, public teaching, the duties of the study, of the seminary for native youth, of the printing office, &c. so as to suit best the characters and qualifications that may be found among them. Nor is such an arrangement recommended merely on the principle of studying the personal comfort of the missionary in his work, but the real and effectual performance of the duties of the work itself in all its various branches. Who does not know that how conscientious and devoted soever any man may be, there is perhaps a particular line of duty for which his turn of mind less suits him, and which therefore is a burden and a grievance; while there is another line of duty which better accords with his taste, in which he engages with more heart, and consequently with a better prospect of being in that department an efficient and