countries, there are great numbers. They are distinguished from the Chinese heathen only by their abstinence from certain meats, and by disclaiming idolatry. In this latter article, however, they are not so rigid but that they conform occasionally to the common ceremonies of their countrymen. CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. CHRISTIANITY, that heavenly gift, has been graciously bestowed on many nations. The first. disciples were deeply imbued with zeal for the conversion of the world; and so long as the Holy Spirit actuated them, Christianity was extended. Congregations sprung up among most of the nations known at that time to the civilized world; but we have no account that the truth of the gospel penetrated as far as China. Afterwards, when the church was rent by the disputes of cold-hearted orthodoxy, and the Nestorians were persecuted by the other parties, many subjects of the Roman empire, who confessed this creed, fled to Persia, or went from Armenia to the regions of the " inaccessible Caucacus." From hence they promulgated their faith among. the Tartars of those extensive steppes, which form a barrier to the Chinese empire. That Christianity should thus have found its way to China is by no means incredible; and seems to be probable from some remarks of the early traveller, Marco Polo, who frequently mentions the Nestorian heretics, whom he met as well in Tartary, as in other parts of Asia which he visited. Some missionaries from the Syrian churches of Hindostan or India might also have entered China. This the Jesuits strive to prove from a Syriac inscription, found at Se-gnan-foo, in Shense province. Though we rather doubt the authenticity of much of this inscription, we do not consider it improbable that some Christian missionaries entered a country, to which teachers of heathenism were invited from Hindostan. The silence of the Chinese historians on so important an event, tends not at all to discredit the supposition; for on that ground, we might as well deny, that popery ever entered China, during a later period, because their annals scarcely mentioned the fact. The coincidence of many pagan rites with the ceremonies of a corrupted Christian church, makes us firmly believe, that Christianity in a most corrupt form, was once known to a few individuals. It was afterwards blended with Budhism and Taouism, CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 391 tincturing some of the tenets of those systems. That most lamentable state, into which many inhabitants of the Caucacus have fallen, who were formerly Christians, is an example corroborative of the truth of our conjectures. But the efforts of the Nestorians to extend Christianity could be but feeble; their ignorance prevented them from proclaiming the whole gospel; they mistook a mere acceptance of their creed for living faith; they taught ceremonies instead of pure and undefiled religion, and the traces of such missionary efforts must necessarily have been soon effaced. When the Christian world had to contend with the almost irresistible torrent of Mohammedanism, nothing could be done for China, except by the isolated efforts of Nestorians. The empire of the Monguls was afterwards extended over a great part of Asia, under the banner of the celebrated Gen-ghis-khan. China was subjected to the sway of the grandson of this great warrior, Cublai, or, as the Chinese call him, Hurih-peih-lee, (1296.) The Monguls in the west soon came into contact with the Europeans, who were threatened with invasion. Pope Inno cent IV. therefore sent them an embassy (1246) to persuade the Mongul emperor, Kayer-khan, to become a convert. Visionary as such a scheme might appear, it was worth the trouble to try to accomplish by persuasion what arms could not effect. Though the message was then rejected with disdain, yet the western Mongul rulers of their unwieldy empire soon were forced to request the aid of the crusaders to repel the impetuous assaults of the Mohammedans, the enemies. both of heathens and Christians. Several ambassadors passed between the grand Khan and Saint Louis, then on a crusade. This mutual friendly understanding emboldened Louis to send Rubruquis, a Capuchin friar, to the grand Khan to attempt his conversion. Though all these efforts proved abortive, the attention of Europe towards this distant land, which now began to bear the name of the empire of Katay, was constantly kept alive. The authentic, though marvellous accounts published by Marco Polo, of his travels in this empire, which were afterwards confirmed by the reports of the royal Armenian traveller, Hayton, greatly roused the spirit of discovery to explore this wonderful country. From the moment when the Portuguese found the way to India, a new era begins. They had scarcely taken Malacca when they sent several ships to China (1517), to form a treaty of com |