London Missionary Society. He laid the foundation for the labours of others by the translation of the
Scriptures into Chinese, and by other literary work. In 1821 his dictionary was pubhshed. Up to 1842
but little progress was made ; the labourers were indeed few, and the converts only numbered about seven. In 1865 the condition of China was described by Mr. Hudson Taylor, in a pamphlet entitled, " China:
its Spiritual Need and Claims, zvith Brief Notices of Missiotiary Effort, Past and Present." From this pamphlet
it appeared that there were but ninety-one Protestant missionaries then in China, and that these were located as
follows : —Chih-li, 13 ; Shan-tung, 7 ; Kiang-su, 15 ; Cheh-kiang, 11; Fuh-kien, 18 ; Kwang-tung, 22 ; Hu-peh, 5. Mr. Taylor allowed to each of these labourers a sphere larger than the aggregate population of eight English
cities, viz., York, Canterbury, Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Exeter, Lincoln, Ripon, and showed that even then
the great mass of the population in these particular provinces would be utterly without the Gospel. The
spiritual destitution of these provinces, as stated by Mr. Taylor, may be more clearly realised by many
readers if illustrated by diagrams, as under.
THE SEA-BOARD PROVINCES AND HU-PEH IN 1865.
CHIH-LI. SHAN-TUNG. KIANG-SU.
The diagrams represent the population 01 the above-named seven provinces, each square ^ standing
for two hundred and fifty thousand souls. The united population of York (59,596), Canterbury (21,701), Oxford (35,929), Cambridge (40,882),
Exeter (47,098), Lincoln (37,312), Ripon (7,390), makes a total of 249,908, or not quite the number of persons
represented by one square. It will be seen in the diagrams that there are as many squares in light shading in each province, as there were then missionaries in the province. This is allowing two hundred and fifty
thousand to each missionary. If it is obvious that one missionary could not possibly reach such a number as is represented by one square, it is the more abundantly manifest that the larger proportion of
the population represented by the darker shading would be utterly without the Gospel. This was the
condition of the most favoured provinces of China in 1865.
After describing the condition of the provinces already named, Mr. Taylor proceeded as follows :
"But, deplorable as is the view thus presented by the seven provinces where missionaries are labouring, the
prospect furnished by the rest of the empire is still more distressing. There, but little is being done compared with
the need ; here, nothing at all is attempted." Details were given.