Excerpt from Memoir of the Rev. Wm; C. Burns, M.A: Missionary to China From the English Presbyterian Church This edition of the "Memoir," as the title-page indicates, is a posthumous one. Its loved and lamented author has passed within the veil, to be the sharer, we may not doubt, of his sainted brothers joy, as he had been the follower of his faith, and the loving, like-minded memorialist of his work, as a servant of the Lord Jesus. He has not been spared to complete, as he had begun, the revisal of the volume, or to see it in its new form. He continued at work upon it as long as he was able; and he had made considerable progress, when at last his strength failed him, his Master's summons came, and the pen dropped from his hand. The remaining part had to be provided for otherwise, and it was in compliance with a wish expressed by him a day or two before his death, that I undertook to do what he left undone, - aided by the suggestions of those nearest to him, with whom he was wont to take counsel, and who knew his mind best. The disadvantage attending a publication, thus posthumous to so very limited an extent, will not, I trust, be found to be considerable. His endeavour was, and mine has been, while diminishing as much as possible the size of the volume so as to bring it within the reach of a wide circle of readers, to whom the possession of it, at least, has hitherto been unattainable, to diminish as little as possible its value, or its interest; perhaps even to increase the latter, - by abridging those parts of it which are least personal to its subject, and so rendering it even more distinctively than it was, a Biography of William Burns. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.