1857.] ( 69 ) THE PORCELAIN TOWER. It appears, by the accounts published in the "North-China Herald" of the 3d inst., and confirmed in a letter in our last issue, that the wonder of China, the Nanking Pagoda, or so-called Por celain Tower, exists no longer. Our informant says it was blown up by orders from Hung Siu-tsiuen, about the time that the head of Wei, the northern king, was demanded of him by Shih Tah-kai, the assistant king, under the apprehension that it might be taken possession of by one of the other leaders, fortified, and directed against the city, which it commands. A description of this far-famed tower will be interesting to our readers at this time. Du Halde says-"It is without dispute the tallest and most beautiful of all those to be seen in China." In 1852, Dr. Taylor, a Missionary who had visited Nanking in disguise, communicated an article to this journal, entitled "A Trip to Nanking," from which we reprint the following By far the most interesting and attractive object in Nanking is famous Porcelain Tower, of world-wide celebrity. It was built about the year 1413 by Yúng-lóh, the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. Representations of it are found in nearly all the school geographies of civilized nations; and well do many of us remember the schoolboy idea we formed of its milky whiteness, associated with the term porcelain; while in reality but a comparatively small portion of it is white. Green is the predominant colour, from the fact that the curved tiles of its projecting roofs are all of this colour, while the wood-work supporting these roofs is of the most substantial character, in the peculiar style of Chinese architecture, curiously wrought, and richly painted in various colours. The body or shaft of the edifice is built of large, well-burnt brick, and on the exterior surface they are red, yellow, green, and white. The bricks and tiles are of very fine clay, and highly glazed, so that the tower presents a most gay and beautiful appearance, which is greatly heightened when seen in the reflected sunlight. It has nine stories, and is 260 English feet high. At the base, it is over 300 feet in circumference, each side of the octagon being about 40 feet. After the first or ground story, all the others are quadrangular on the inside, instead of conforming to the octagonal exterior. On each face is an arched opening in which one can stand and look out upon the surrounding scenery; but a wooden grating prevents you from stepping out upon the galleries, which are not provided with balustrades. The inner walls of each story are formed of black, polished tiles, a foot square, on each of which an image of Buddha is moulded in bas-relief, and is richly gilt. There are, on an average, more than 200 of these images in each story, giving an aggregate of near 2000 in all. A steep staircase on one side of each square apartment leads to the one above, and by this means you may reach the top, from which a magnificent panorama is seen spread out before you the whole city of Nanking towards the north, but, as it were, at your feet-its fine amphitheatre of hills, yet not so high as to shut out a prospect beyond, in some directions as far as the eye can ( 66 ) [JUNE, WILT THOU NOT VISIT ME? Wilt Thou not visit me? The plant beside me feels Thy gentle dew; From Thy deep earth its quickening moisture drew— Wilt Thou not visit me? Thy morning calls on me with cheering tone; Lend but one voice, the voice of Thee alone- Wilt Thou not visit me? I need Thy love, And let me in Thy sight rejoice to live again. Yes! Thou wilt visit me: Nor plant, nor tree, Thine eye delights so well, Man's spirit comes with Thine in peace to dwell. Yes, Thou wilt visit me [Anonymous. DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE, MORE tidings of bereavement have reached us from the coast of Africa. Good Bishop Weeks has been removed from his labours to rest with Christ. He has gone to spend an eternal Sabbath with his Lord in heaven. Not two years have elapsed since his consecration in the parish church of Lambeth, and, lo! the Sierra-Leone episcopate is again vacant. He had just returned from an extended visitation in the Yoruba Country, holding confirmations, admitting suitable candidates to ordination, encouraging the Missionaries, and in every possible way strengthening the Mission. He reached Sierra Leone by the "Candace " steamer on March 16th, after an absence of four months, in a very debilitated state, and on the morning of the 17th was carried up in a hammock to his residence at Fourah Bay. There he gradually sank until the afternoon of the 24th, when he yielded up his spirit in the assured hope of seeing Him in whom he had believed. A most touching incident occurred a few hours before his death. He was asked by a friend, "Is the Lord precious to your soul?" A smile lit up the features that were already showing the effects of approaching dissolution, when he deliberately spelt the word "PRECIOUS," pronouncing each letter distinctly, and then adding, "Very." They were the last words which he was heard to speak, and, soon after, all that was before the eyes of weeping friends was but the cold and earthly tabernacle of the departed spirit. The above account we have taken from "The African, and SierraLeone Weekly Advertiser," of March 23d. The editor adds "The late Bishop was no stranger amongst us. It was not yes 1857.] DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE. 67 terday that he was known to our community. Our fathers knew him before many of us drew the breath of life. The men of other times, who have long since passed away to that other country,' knew him. He had been the successor of Johnson and of Renner, the contemporary of Nyländer and other Missionaries of a former generation. And when, after seven years' absence, he again returned to labour and die amongst us, a great change had taken place in our social state. The mountain boys of Regent and Bathurst, and Charlotte and Gloucester, to whom he had been the kind and faithful schoolmaster, had grown up to manhood. Many of them were occupying a useful and respectable position in society. Youths and adults, who, on their first landing from the slave-ship, were brought under his charge and notice, had now become subjects of a higher liberty, having been redeemed and regenerated by Him, whose word is with power, and whose grace could do wondrously. "Above all was he struck with the state of the Yoruba Country. In broken sentences he would reply, when asked about his visit, 'It is a glorious country, a glorious country! His career as a Bishop, however short, was memorable. He has established a Native Ministry. Seven native catechists were admitted by him to the diaconate in this colony, and four in Abbeokuta. Bishop Vidal was only fourteen months in actual residence in his diocese: Bishop Weeks was some two months longer. The one was struck down while young, and full of life and hope. The other had been a veteran in his Master's service, and is laid in the midst of those to whom his name had been a household word." One of the Africans admitted by him to holy orders thus expresses his grief-"Ah! Sir, I have lost my dear father in Christ, who stood for me as godfather on the 8th of October 1834, when I was baptized in the Christian Institution by the Rev. G. A. Kissling." He adds"March 25, 1857-This morning, after seven o'clock, the sad intelligence reached me, by Dr. Bradshaw, that the Bishop died yesterday evening at five o'clock. In the afternoon I went down to Freetown to attend the funeral procession, which took place at four o'clock. The remains were interred in the new burial-ground, in the presence of a concourse of people so great that their numbers could not be ascertained." Nor is it only the Bishop's death that we mourn for. The same mail brings us tidings of the death of another valued Missionary, the Rev. C. T. Frey. He had accompanied the Bishop on his visitation to Yoruba, and returned to the colony in impaired health; and, notwithstanding all that medical skill and anxious care could do for him, became worse, until, on April the 21st, it was decided that he should leave on the next day by the steamer for Teneriffe, in the hope that a few days at sea would revive him. Such, however, was his weakness, that it was impossible to remove him; and on the 22d of April he entered into his rest. Thus the whole of that little group of faithful European ministers, who, a few months before, left Sierra Leone for the Bight of Benin, have ceased from their labours-Mr. Beale, the Bishop, and Mr. Frey. The two latter parted from Mr. Beale at Lagos, expecting that, after a trip to Fernando Po, he might be enabled to rejoin them at Abbeokuta. He was the first to leave this earthly scene, and enter into the home prepared for him in heaven, and he was there to welcome his companions on their arrival in those bright mansions which are above. The 68 THE GREAT REFINER. [JUNE, three Christian brethren have again met, not at Abbeokuta, nor in Sierra Leone, but in the presence of Christ. Bare and denuded indeed the Mission would be at the present moment, like a tree stripped of its foliage, but for the timely ordination of so many Africans, who are labouring amongst their countrymen with much acceptance and blessing; and yet it is at such a moment that the sound experience and godly counsel of those whose faithful labours have given them weight of character and influence, seem, to our poor judgment, most necessary. But we must resolve all into His superior love and wisdom, who says, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." It is thus an exercise of faith to the infant church. The Lord would wean His people in Africa from all human dependences, and teach them to lean upon Himself. Some of them said"Before the Lord heals one wound He cuts another." One of the Christian ladies, left in a widowed state by these sad bereavements, thus replied "It is because He had rather see His church bleed than be unfruitful." We entreat the earnest prayers, on behalf of Africa, of all who read this paper. www THE GREAT REFINER. BY H. F. GOULD. 'Tis sweet to tell that He who tries Lest too intense a heat, Raised to consume the base alloy, The precious metals too destroy. 'Tis good to think how well He knows The ordeal to which it goes, And that with skill and care He'll take it from the fire when fit, 'Tis blessedness to know that He But ah! how much of earthly mould, Dross from the ore, must He behold, Ere in the silver He can trace The first faint semblance to His face. Thou great Refiner! Sit Thee by, Moved by Thy hand, beneath Thine eye, And melted at Thy will, Oh, may Thy work for ever shine, [The Macedonian, February 1857 1857.] ( 69 ) THE PORCELAIN TOWER. It appears, by the accounts published in the "North-China Herald" of the 3d inst., and confirmed in a letter in our last issue, that the wonder of China, the Nanking Pagoda, or so-called Por celain Tower, exists no longer. Our informant says it was blown up by orders from Hung Siu-tsiuen, about the time that the head of Wei, the northern king, was demanded of him by Shih Tah-kai, the assistant king, under the apprehension that it might be taken possession of by one of the other leaders, fortified, and directed against the city, which it commands. A description of this far-famed tower will be interesting to our readers at this time. Du Halde says "It is without dispute the tallest and most beautiful of all those to be seen in China." In 1852, Dr. Taylor, a Missionary who had visited Nanking in disguise, communicated an article to this journal, entitled "A Trip to Nanking," from which we reprint the following By far the most interesting and attractive object in Nanking is the famous Porcelain Tower, of world-wide celebrity. It was built about the year 1413 by Yúng-lóh, the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. Representations of it are found in nearly all the school geographies of civilized nations; and well do many of us remember the schoolboy idea we formed of its milky whiteness, associated with the term porcelain; while in reality but a comparatively small portion of it is white. Green is the predominant colour, from the fact that the curved tiles of its projecting roofs are all of this colour, while the wood-work supporting these roofs is of the most substantial character, in the peculiar style of Chinese architecture, curiously wrought, and richly painted in various colours. The body or shaft of the edifice is built of large, well-burnt brick, and on the exterior surface they are red, yellow, green, and white. The bricks and tiles are of very fine clay, and highly glazed, so that the tower presents a most gay and beautiful appearance, which is greatly heightened when seen in the reflected sunlight. It has nine stories, and is 260 English feet high. At the base, it is over 300 feet in circumference, each side of the octagon being about 40 feet. After the first or ground story, all the others are quadrangular on the inside, instead of conforming to the octagonal exterior. On each face is an arched opening in which one can stand and look out upon the surrounding scenery; but a wooden grating prevents you from stepping out upon the galleries, which are not provided with balustrades. The inner walls of each story are formed of black, polished tiles, a foot square, on each of which an image of Buddha is moulded in bas-relief, and is richly gilt. There are, on an average, more than 200 of these images in each story, giving an aggregate of near 2000 in all. A steep staircase on one side of each square apartment leads to the one above, and by this means you may reach the top, from which a magnificent panorama is seen spread out before you the whole city of Nanking towards the north, but, as it were, at your feet-its fine amphitheatre of hills, yet not so high as to shut out a prospect beyond, in some directions as far as the eye can |