The Gospel of St. Matthew in Sinkang - Formosan. Edited from Gravius's
Edition of 1661, by Rev. W. Campbell. (Triibner and Co.)—This is an interesting record of a long-past work. About the middle of the seventeenth century, the Reformed Church of Holland carried on a mission in Formosa. The mission was swept out of existence after some thirty years by a Chinese invasion, to be recalled to activity under different guidance twenty-three years ago. But this work, surviving in a single copy, preserved in the Library of the University of Leyden, remains to testify to the zeal with which it was once carried on. The editor, who is himself engaged in missionary work, hopes by republishing it to rouse the interest of the Dutch Church of to-day. It would be a
happy though long-postponed fulfilment of the translator's wish to benefit the Formosan people. The original seems never to have reached them, for the Chinese invasion took place while it was actually passing through the press. It would be interesting to know—but we do not see any information on this point in the preface—what resemblance the Formosan of the translation (it is in the Sinkang dialect) bears to the spoken language.
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