Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/129

117 CONVERSION OF THE KERAITE KUANS. 117 It is not credible that these princes should have been really invested with the sacerdotal character, as the title of Priest would seem to indicate ; and it was probably only attributed to them from its being a common prac- tice with Oriental monarchs, to unite in their own per- sons the temporal and spiritual authorities, and to be at the same time the political and religious head of their nation. Asia has always been the country of royal priests ; and it is not uncommon for these sovereigns to denominate themselves " Sons of Heaven ; " and in this quality, not only to regulate religious affairs, and settle points of belief, but also to appoint the Tutelary Genii for provinces, towns, rivers, mountains, and forests. The Keraite Khans having embraced Christianity, it seems likely that, to accommodate themselves to Asiatic practices, they should adopt the sacerdotal dignity as a title of honour ; — indeed, from that curious epistle of Prester John to the Emperor of Constantinople, it would appear that his whole court had received an ecclesias- tical organisation, and that attendants, cup-bearers, and grooms were decorated with the titles of Abbes, Bishops, and Archbishops. It is remarkable, too, that it was about the same epoch that the Lama hierarchy, and the theocratic government of the Tale-Lana, was formed in Thibet. We shall in the sequel have occasion to revert to this extraordinary fact, which we think cannot rea- sonably be attributed to anything else than to the influ- ence of the Nestorianism propagated in Upper Asia. From all this it seems fair to conclude that this re- nowned Prester John was no other than the Khan of the Keraite Tartars, amongst whom the Nestorian mis- sions remained very flourishing up to the commencement of the thirteenth century ; and in whose country we shall i 3