"Sir George Staunton, who is very friendly to me, leaves the
Company's service this year; and I am appointed to his place, as
Chinese Secretary. This will confine me in Canton six months of the
year. The Missionary Society judge it proper that I should be in
this employment. It is far from being congenial with my taste or
wishes, considered in itself. I greatly prefer entire devotedness
to my missionary labours, and the perfecting, for future
missionaries, a dictionary of the language."
This appointment, however, greatly increased his comforts and influence,
and enabled him to perform some of those noble acts of Christian
benevolence to be hereafter noticed.
About this time, though he had before been turned out of a miserable
house, because its owner said he had converted it into a chapel, he
commenced his exercises on the Lord's-day, by reading the "Harmony of
the Gospels;" and afterwards continued it, by exhorting a few Chinese
who attended, principally from his own household. These humble efforts
were rendered, under the Divine blessing, the means of enlightening and
converting several who are now actively engaged in the dissemination of
Christian knowledge among their pagan countrymen. In 1810, he tried the
practicability of printing the Scriptures, by revising and publishing
the Acts of the Apostles, which he had brought out with him; for
printing which he had paid the large sum of a dollar per copy--the price
at which the whole New Testament has since been published--on account of
the personal risk which those who engaged in it were supposed to run.
Yet he was encouraged; and next year he finished his Grammar, and sent
it to the press at Serampore, where the East India Company afterwards
honourably defrayed the expense of its publication. About the same time
he published his own translation of Luke's Gospel, and a tract which the
Missionary Society had requested him to write, on "The Redemption of the
World," and a catechism for the use of the Chinese. Thus he proceeded,
step by step, till, in 1813, he finished his translation of the New
Testament, having thus successfully toiled six years alone at the most
difficult language on earth, and done what was quite enough to
immortalize his name. The whole expense of the mission and translation
had hitherto been borne by the Missionary Society; but about this time,
on the presentation of a copy, first of one of the Epistles, and then of
Luke's Gospel, translated into Chinese, the British and Foreign Bible
Society twice voted £500. And soon after, on the presentation of the
whole New Testament, they voted the noble sum of £1000; and this was
subsequently munificently repeated, at different times, till, on the
completion of the whole Bible, it amounted to the princely sum of £5000,
without which, the work of translating the entire Scriptures would,
probably, not have been accomplished.
Just before this, Mr. Milne rejoiced his heart and strengthened his
hands by coming out from England and joining the mission; and having
commenced under _very_ different circumstances, he soon acquired the
language, and greatly assisted Dr. M. in his subsequent translations and
labours. But the jealousy of the Portuguese very soon drove Mr. Milne
from his embrace, and obliged him to retire, first to Canton, and then
to Malacca. This, however, eventually turned out for the furtherance of
the gospel, by the establishment of the Malayan mission, and thus
preparing the way for the establishment of the Anglo-Chinese College
there, for the instruction of Chinese youths in the principles of
Christianity and the cultivation of Chinese literature in general,
which, by the numerous publications that have issued from its press,
has proved of incalculable value to the populous nations around.
From Canton, December 19, 1812, he thus writes:--
"The Chinese receive with much readiness the books which I
distribute among them. I can give but few with my own hands, as I
am not admitted to the interior; nor could I give them openly in
the streets. The method which I take is, to give them to the
booksellers, who will not destroy them, but be induced to put them
into the hands of persons, for the sake of what they can make by
them."
In 1814, he happily completed the first part of his Chinese dictionary;
and the whole work was generously published at the expense of the East
India Company, in three thick quarto volumes. It was the first ever
published in the English language; and it must remain a lasting memorial
of his astonishing diligence.
In 1816, he went as interpreter with our ambassador, Lord Amherst, to
the imperial court of Pekin; and subsequently published an account of
that unsuccessful embassy. He founded the Anglo-Chinese College, already
mentioned, in 1818, and liberally presented £1000 for its establishment,
and £100 per annum, for five years from its actual commencement. In
1819, he completed the translation of the whole Bible, having been
assisted in several parts of the Old Testament by his late excellent
colleague, Dr. Milne. With great propriety he once observed in
conversation, "_I could have died_, when I had finished the Bible."--On
that memorable day he wrote a long memoir, in which he described the
principles which he had adopted, and the plan which he had pursued, in
its execution; and concluded thus:
"To have Moses, David, and the prophets--Jesus Christ and his
apostles--declaring to the inhabitants of China, in their own
language, the wonderful works of God, indicates, I hope, the speedy
introduction of a happier era, in these parts of the world; and I
trust that the gloomy darkness of pagan scepticism will be
dispelled by the _day-spring from on high_; and the gilded idols of
Budh, and the numberless images which fill this land, will one day
assuredly fall to the ground, before the force of God's word, as
the idol Dagon fell before the ark.
It is painful to observe here, that during a considerable portion of his
unwearied labours, he was visited by the heaviest afflictions. His own
health suffered exceedingly at different periods, under a most painful
disorder; his beloved wife also was, for several years, still more
grievously afflicted; and just before he had the happiness of finishing
his Bible, the wife of his colleague was early taken away, leaving four
fatherless children to mourn their unspeakable loss.
As Mrs. Morrison's complaint appeared to baffle the medical skill there,
and as it was quite impossible for Dr. Morrison to leave the sphere of
his important labours, she was obliged, in 1815, to visit England,
accompanied only by her two children. Having sojourned amongst us
several years, and finding herself greatly improved in health and
spirits, she returned with the same charge to China in 1820, to his
unspeakable delight. But the following year, she was suddenly removed,
after an illness of a few hours, and he was once more, and for ever
here, separated from "the wife of his youth." He had formerly lost his
first-born, on the very day it saw the light; and the Portuguese had
cruelly refused permission to inter the child of a heretic in their
consecrated ground. He was therefore obliged, under the shades of night,
to carry his own babe under his arm, attended only by a servant; and to
fee some of the Chinese, to let him pass the brow of a hill which was
behind his house; where he dug a grave, and buried his dead, purposing
in future an occasional visit to the interesting spot. And now he wished
to lay his beloved wife by the side of her babe; but the Chinese
threatened to oppose force, if he attempted it; and the Roman Catholics
were as inveterate as ever. But that kind Providence which had in so
many instances appeared for him, roused the indignation of the gentlemen
of the factory at Macao; and they subscribed and purchased a plot of
ground, just outside the walls, and devoted it as a perpetual Protestant
burial-ground. There he honourably buried her.
Next year, 1822, he was deprived of his able and beloved colleague, Dr.
Milne, who, on the 2nd of June, fell a sacrifice to his close and
unwearied application, and left the Anglo-Chinese College, of which he
was the Principal, the mission in general, and Dr. Morrison in
particular, to mourn his almost irreparable loss.
Having visited the College, and made every possible arrangement for its
present emergencies; and having some time before fully accomplished the
three great duties assigned him--either of which was almost enough for
any ordinary man--to learn the language, to translate the Bible, and to
compose a Dictionary, Dr. M. felt himself now at perfect liberty to
visit his native country, which he reached in the spring of 1824.
As Dr. Morrison had been so much and so deservedly anticipated by his
fame, an intense anxiety was every where manifested to see and hear him.
Hence he was expected to appear at every public meeting of the
Missionary and Bible Societies: and to preach on almost every occasion.
From the long prevalence of retired and studious habits, and I may add
of Asiatic manners, this was no easy or pleasant task for him; and it is
not wonderful, if, on some occasions, he disappointed the expectations
excited. But you, my Christian friends, can testify the powerful appeals
which he made here, and how much his soul was evidently inspired with
zeal for China; wherever he was, this was his ruling passion. Hence he
wished all _to love China_, and to seek her evangelization by every
means in their power; and not to mind silver or gold, friends or
comforts, except as they might become the honoured means of promoting
the Redeemer's kingdom. And it is highly gratifying to state, that his
visit was productive of considerable zeal and exertion on behalf of the
same. The greatest attention and kindness were every where shown him, by
all ranks of the community. He was honoured by being introduced at
court, where he presented to his Sovereign a copy of his Chinese Bible,
which was most graciously received, as was also a large Map of China,
which he subsequently transmitted. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society, and of several other literary institutions, both at home and
abroad; and he had, some years before, in the most handsome manner, been
created Doctor in Divinity by the University of Glasgow, for his
distinguished labours. He prolonged his stay in England a second year,
in order to instruct some missionaries and others in Chinese; and to
promote the interests of Oriental literature, in connexion with
missionary efforts.
About this time, he again entered into the marriage state, by leading to
the altar Miss Armstrong, of Liverpool, well known to many of you: in
whose recent and unspeakable sorrows, I am fully convinced, you will
most deeply sympathize.
Having sent to the press his "_Parting Memorial_," he left, for the last
time, his native shores, with Mrs. Morrison, now his disconsolate widow,
and an infant, and his two elder children, in January, 1826, to return
to China, "the land of his adoption," as he called it; with the
intention of preparing a short Commentary on certain portions of the
Scriptures, and such other elementary Christian Essays as appeared
desirable for the right understanding of the word of God, now in
extensive circulation there. These works he was enabled, to a very
considerable extent, to accomplish before his decease.
But I must read you an extract from his last letter to myself, which I
received only eight days before his death, dated Macao, February 24,
1834:--
"MY DEAR FRIEND,
"Two days ago, your welcome letter, accompanied by a report of your
kind Association for our poor college, arrived and afforded me much
joy; for I had several months been wondering at your silence. The
death of Milne and Collie, and the removal of Kidd and Tomlin, were
impediments to the prosperity of the institution. But I am happy to
say that, judging from Mr. Evans's letters from the College, he
will soon restore it to all that piety, learning, and zeal can do
for it. I have been depressed about it of late, but my hopes now
revive.--The American missionaries in Canton are persevering in the
good work, without any immediately great results. They are more
zealously supported from America, than we are from England.--The
church of Christ on earth, and also in heaven, is from all nations,
and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues. It should know nothing of
earthly nationalities. The kingdom under the whole heaven belongs
to Christ, our blessed Saviour, of which I hope, my dear--we are
citizens. I love the land of my descent, 'Canny Scotland;' the land
of my birth, 'Old England;' and the land of my sojourn--my
adoption, although not recognized by it--China. I would not set up
one against the other. O that in point of fact (as in point of
right they are) all the kingdoms of this world may soon become the
kingdoms of our God and of his Christ! At present I am engaged on
Notes on the Gospels, with marginal references in Chinese. My
progress is but slow. My strength for labour has much diminished;
and I have many calls on my time from various quarters. Adieu.
"My dear brother and faithful friend, ever yours affectionately,