BRIDGMAN, Elijah Colman

[s. 125] : Born at Belcher town, Ma ., April 22, 1801, of Puritan ancestry. Was converted in a revival before he was twelve years of age. 1826, and. at 1829. The He graduated at Amherst College, And over Theological Seminary, ABCFM proposed to him while m the seminary to go to China as its mi ionary. He acceded, was ordained October 6, 1829, sailed on the 14th, and reached Canton, February 25, 1830. In May, 1832, Mr. Bridgman was chosen editor of the Chinese Repository and continued to edit In 1839 the measures it for nearly twenty years. taken by the Chinese to suppre the opium traffic resulted in war with England, which interrupted the operations of the mi ion at Canton. In 1842 the war terminated, and by the treaty of Nanking five ports were opened, and Hong kong ceded to the English. Thither Mr. Bridgman was removed. About this time he prepared the Chinese Chrestomathy, a volume of 730 pages. In 1844 he was secretary of legation to Mr. Gushing, sent by the United States Government on a special mi ion to China, and of his services Mr. Gushing spoke in high terms. After the conclusion of this enterprise Dr. Bridgman’s time was divided between the Repository, the revision of the Scriptures, preaching at the hospital, and In 1847 he the instruction of a Bible cla . removed to Shanghai to aid in the revision of the Scriptures. Early in 1852, after an absence of twenty-three years, he visited the United States for his health. In 1854 through him a new mi ion was commenced in Shanghai, of which he was the senior member till his death in 1861. Tho his great work was that of translation, he distributed tracts and religious books, and preached to individuals or companies in streets and wherever he could gather them. He was interested also in whatever could in any way promote the welfare of China, and was always ready to perform his part for that object. villages When the plenipotentiaries of the four great treaty powers England, France, Ru ia and the IJnited States were conducting their negotiations which resulted in the Tientsin Treaty of 1858, he was consulted by them, and frequently In his translated official documents for them. thirty-two years in China he was more intimately connected with and known by the foreign community at Shanghai and Canton than any other mi ionary, and by all was highly esteemed. — — BRINDABAN: A town situated on the Jumna River near Muttra, in the United Provinces, India; station of the ME, with 2 mi ionary women, one of them a physician, 29 native workers, 20 Sunday schools, 6 village schools, 1 high school, a Young People’s Society and 590 profe ing Christians. 125