And

In China.

. IX. China, the most extensive and opulent of all CENT. xv. the Asiatic kingdoms, could not but appear, to the missionaries and their constituents, an object worthy of their pious zeal and spiritual ambition. accordingly a numerous tribe of Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Capuchins, set out about the commencement of this century, with a view to enlighten that immense region with the knowlege of the Gospel. All these, however they differed in other matters, agreed in proclaiming the astonishing success of their ministerial labors. It is nevertheless certain, that the principal honor of these religious exploits be longed to the Jesuits, who, with peculiar dexterity and address, removed the chief obstacles to the progress of Christianity, among a people whose natural acuteness and pride were accompanied with a superstitious attachment to the religion and manners of their ancestors. These artful missionaries studied the temper, character, taste, inclinations and prejudices of the Chinese, with incredible attention; and perceiving that their natural sagacity was attended with an ardent desire of improvement, and that they took the highest pleasure in the study of the arts and sciences, and more especially in the mathematics, they lost no occasion of sending for such members of their order as, beside their knowlege of mankind, and prudence in transacting business, were also masters of the different branches of learning and philosophy. Some of these learned Jesuits acquired such a high degree of credit and influence by their sagacity and eloquence, the insinuating sweetness and facility of their manners, and their surprising dexterity and skill in all kinds of transactions, that they were at length gratified by the emperor with the most honorable marks of distinction, and were employed in the most secret and important deliberations and affairs of the cabinet. Under the auspicious protection of such powerful patrons, the other missionaries, though of a lower rank and of inferior talents, were delivered from all apprehension of

CENT. xvii. danger in the exercise of their ministry, and were thus encouraged to exert themselves with spirit, vigor, and perseverance, in the propagation of the Gospel, in all the provinces of that mighty empire.

The progress

nity in China.

X. This promising scene was clouded for some of Christia- time, when Xun-chi, the first Chinese emperor of the Mogol race, died, and left, as his only heir, a son who was a minor. The grandees of the empire, to whose tuition and care this young prince was committed, had long entertained an aversion to Christianity, and only sought for a convenient occasion of venting their rage against it. This occasion was now offered and greedily embraced. The guardians of the young prince abused his power to execute their vindictive purposes, and, after using their utmost efforts to extirpate Christianity wherever it was professed, they persecuted its patrons, more especially the Jesuits, with great bitterness, deprived them of all the honors and advantages they had enjoyed, and treated them with the utmost barbarity and injustice. John Adam Schaal, their chief, whose advanced age and extensive knowlege, together with the honorable place which he held at court, seemed to demand some marks of exemption from the calamities that pursued his brethren, was thrown into prison, and condemned to death, while the other missionaries were sent into exile. These dismal scenes of persecution were exhibited in 1664; but, about five years after this gloomy period, when Kang-hi assumed the reins of government, a new face of things appeared. The Christian cause, and the labors of its ministers, not only resumed their former credit and vigor, but even gained ground, and received such distinguished marks of protection from the throne, that the Jesuits usually date from this period the commencement of the golden age of Christianity in China. The new emperor, whose noble and generous spirit was equal

5 See Joach. Bouveti Icon Monarche Sinarum, translated into Latin by the famous Leibnitz, and published in 1699, in the second part of his Novissima Sinica. See also Du Halde's

to the uncommon extent of his genius, and to his 1987. XYIL ardent curiosity in the investigation of truth, began his reign by recalling the Jesuits to his court, and restoring them to the credit and influence which they had formerly enjoyed. But his generosity and munificence did not stop here; for he sent to Europe for a still greater number of the members of that order, such of them particularly as were eminent for their skill in the arts and sciences. Some of these he placed in the highest offices of the state, and employed in civil negotiations and transactions of the greatest importance. Others he chose for his private friends and counsellors, who were to assist him with their advice in various points, and to direct his philosophical and mathematical studies. These private friends and counsellors were principally chosen from among the French Jesuits, Thus the order was raised, in a short time, to the very summit of favor, and invested with a degree of authority and lustre which it had not before attained. In such a state of things, it is natural to conclude, that the Christian religion would not want powerful patrons, and that its preachers would not be left destitute and unsupported. Accordingly a multitude of spiritual laborers from all parts of Europe repaired to China, allured by the prospect of a rich, abundant, and glorious harvest; and, indeed, the success of their ministry seemed to answer fully the extent of their expectations, since it is well known that, with very little pains, and still less opposition, they made a prodigious number of converts to the profession of the Gospel. At length Christianity seemed to triumph in 1692, when the emperor, from an excessive attachment to the Jesuits, issued that remarkable ediet, by which he declared, that the Christian religion was in no wise detrimental to the safety or inter

Description de la Chine, and the Lettres Edifiantes, in which the Jesuits give an account of the success of their missions. In these productions, the virtues and talents of this emperor, which seem indeed to be universally acknowleged, are described and celebrated with peculiar encomiums.

CENT. XVII. ests of the monarchy, as its enemies pretended; and

The Jesuits accused of

by which also he granted to all his subjects an entire freedom of conscience, and a full permission to em brace the Gospel. This triumph was farther con firmed, when the same prince, in 1700, ordered a magnificent church to be built for the Jesuits within the precincts of the imperial palace *.

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XI. This surprising success of the Christian cause fraudulent may undoubtedly be attributed to the dexterity and practices. perseverance of the Jesuits, as even the greatest enemies of that artful order are obliged to acknowlege. But it is quite another question, whether this success was obtained by methods agreeable to the dictates of reason and conscience, and consistent with the dignity and genius of the Christian religion. The latter point has long been debated, with great animosity and vehemence, on both sides. The adversaries of the Jesuits, whose opposition is as keen as their numbers are formidable, and more especially the Jansenists and Dominicans, assert boldly, that the success above-mentioned was obtained by the most odious frauds, and even, in many cases, by detestable crimes. They charge the Jesuits with having given a false exposition and a spurious account of the ancient religion of the Chinese, and with having endeavoured to persuade the emperor and the nobility, that the pri mitive theology of their nation, and the doctrine of their great instructor and philosopher Confucius, scarcely differed in any respect from the doctrine of

There is a concise but interesting account of these revolutions, given by Du Halde, in his Description de la Chine, tom. iii., and by the Jesuit Fontaney, in the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, tom. viii.-They are related in a more diffuse and ample manner by other writers.-See Suarez, de Libertate Religionem Christianam apud Sinas propagandi Narratio, published in 1698 by Leibnitz, in the first part of his Novissima Sinica. The other authors who have treated this branch of history are mentioned by Fabricius, in his Lux Evangelii, cap. xxxix. See also an Ecclesiastical History of China, which I published in German in 1748. This history was translated into English, and published in 1750, with this title; Authentic Memoirs of the Christian Church in China.

the Gospel. The missionaries are farther charged CENT. XVI. with having invented a variety of historical fictions, in order to persuade the Chinese (who are warmly attached to whatever carries the air of remote antiquity), that Jesus Christ had been known and worshiped in their nation many ages ago; and these fictions are supposed to have prejudiced the emperor in favor of Christianity, and to have engaged certain grandees not only to grant their protection to the Jesuits, but even to become members of their society. The disciples of Loyola are also said to have lost sight of all the duties and obligations that are incumbent on the ministers of Christ, and the heralds of a spiritual kingdom, by not only accepting worldly honors and places of civil authority and power, but even aspiring to them with all the ardor of an insatiable ambition, by boasting, with an arrogant vanity, of the protection and munificence of the emperor, by deserting the simplicity of a frugal and humble appearance, and indulging themselves in all the circumstances of external pomp and splendor, such as costly garments, numerous retinues, luxurious tables, and magnificent houses. To all this it is added, that they employed much more zeal and industry in the advancement of human science, especially the mathematics, than` in promoting Christian knowlege and virtue; and that they even went so far as to interfere in military matters, and to concern themselves, both personally and by their counsels, in the bloody scenes of war. While these heavy crimes are laid to the charge of those Jesuits, who, by their capacity and talents, had been raised to a high degree of credit in the empire, the more obscure members of that same order, who were appointed more immediately to instruct the Chinese in the truths of the Gospel, are far from being considered as blameless. They are accused of having employed, in the practice of usury, and in various kinds of traffic, the precious moments which ought to have been consecrated to the functions of their ministry, and of having used low and dishonorable methods

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