highly honored at West Point. Chosen to go on some military mission to France."

Who will venture to assert that in declining that mission and accepting the embassy of Christ he was descending to a lower sphere! Of one thing we are certain, Dr. Culbertson never regretted the step for himself. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, now president of the Imperial College at Pekin, tells us: "Only two days before his decease, when I alluded to the probability that he might have had a place among the prominent generals of the day if he had persisted in the profession of arms, he replied: There is not one among them with whom I would be willing to exchange. I tell you there is not a post of influence in the whole world like that of him who gives the gospel to China.''

About the same time Mr. Burlingame said to him, "If you were at home you might be a major-general." "No doubt," he replied, "I might. Men I drilled are in that position. Among these are Generals Sherman, Van Vliet, Towar, Thomas, Newton, Rosecrans; but," he added earnestly, "I would not change places with one of them. I consider that there is no post of influence on earth equal to that of the inan who is permitted to give the word of God to 400,000,000 of his fellowmen."

And this was the great work of his life. In his funeral sermon, preached by Dr. Martin, I find this testimony: "He labored in connection with Dr. Bridgeman for several years, with assiduity and perseverance, in preparing a revised translation of the sacred scriptures in the Chinese language, a labor of love which he regarded as the great work of his life, and it was a source of special consolation to him, that just before his departure, God enabled him to complete it.

This is a monumental work and it will be his earthly memorial for ages. Dr. Martin describes him in the last years of his life as sitting in his study "with a native scribe on either hand busily engaged in tracing from his dictation those lines of Holy Writ, which the revolving cylinder press shall multiply by thousands, while wind and steam unite their forces in spreading them to the remotest parts of the empire."

In the midst of his labors as a missionary, he was repeatedly called into the service of the United States that he might act as interpreter and secretary to the American Legation in China. He thus served in 1853 under Mr. H. Marshall, in 1854 under Mr. Ward, and in 1861-62 under Mr. Burlingame.

Missionary life is subject to many strange vicissitudes. His work as translator required him to remove from Ningpo to Shanghai. He was residing in the latter city when it was threatened by the rebel army. He organized the American residents for defense, and assumed the place of a military commander. He had to drill citizens and sailors by day and visit the outposts by night. On his return to his quarters perhaps he would be called upon to translate the dispatches between Mr. Burlingame and the rebel general. During these peculiar experiences he wore the light dress sword which he had used as a cadet officer at West Point, and which he had kept as a memorial of his life there. In one sense he never lost his military tastes. He always seemed to think of himself as doing military service under the great Captain of our salvation. In his missionary work he was only storming one of the strongholds of the prince of darkness. This soldierly feeling was one of the reasons why he always took the deepest interest in his old army friends, and he always retained the warmest love for his alma mater. He attributed gratefully his perfect physical development to his training and discipline at West Point.

In a short sketch of his life in the New York Times, written by Rev. Dr. John Forsyth, for a time chaplain at West Point, I find the following testimony: "Of no man could it be more truly said, he was abundant in labors.' Besides his opus magnum, the translation of the Bible into Chinese, Dr. Culbertson published many smaller works in Chinese and English, which attest his abilities. his culture, and his zeal in the serIvice of the Lord."

To what man is it permitted to do a grander work for time and for eternity? Since the day when Culbertson was ordained and consecrated to the work of missions in China, the Presbytery of Carlisle has sent many noble men and women to labor among the teeming millions of the "Celestial King

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dom," but none who have been more conspicuous for unselfish devotion, untiring labor, and monumental results.

Rev. John Robinson Agnew.

This truly pious and excellent man was the second son of James and Elizabeth Findley Agnew, and was born at McConnellsburg, Fulton county, Pa., June 8, 1810.

Colonel James Agnew, the father of our subject, was a man of remarkable personality, and it was no common honor to be the child of such a father. If the reader will turn to his sketch in a former chapter, and study the strong outlines of his sterling character he will be able to appreciate the better the excellent qualities of his son. He was equally blest in the character of his mother, who was a woman of rare devotion and though she died when he was only a few years old, he knew that she had consecrated him to God for the work of the gospel ministry, and the thought was an inspiration to him all his life.

Being of a studious disposition young Agnew was duly prepared for college in the Gettysburg Academy then under the care of Rev. Dr. McConaughy, the pastor of the church at that place, and afterwards the President of Washington College. The young student had the privilege of boarding in the family of the principal. From the academy he passed to Dickinson College, in the fall of 1826, and from that venerable institution he graduated in the class of 1829. He then spent a year and a half in Union Theological Seminary, Prince Edward county, Va., and entered Princeton Theological Seminary in the spring of 1831 continuing there for a like period.

After leaving the seminary he spent some time in teaching near Petersburg, Va. In explanation of this course I find a memorandum in his own handwriting in which he says, "I had always a very strong desire to enter the ministry, but feeling myself utterly unworthy of it, chose school teaching as next best, in preference to merchandising, medicine, law or anything else. My father was wealthy and could have helped me in various ways, had I chosen wealth or worldly position in preference to the ministry."