Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/23

Rh part of the world. The fact is thus recorded in the annals of the Celestial Empire : —

"In the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Tchao-Wang, of the dynasty of the Tcheou (corresponding with the year 1029 ), on the eighth day of the fourth moon, a light appeared in the south-west, which illuminated the king's palace. The monarch, struck by its splendour, interrogated the sages who were skilled in foretelling future events. They then showed him books in which it was written that this prodigy signified the appearance of a great saint in the West, whose religion was to be introduced into this country a thousand years after his birth.

"In the fifty-third year of the reign of Mou-Wang, which is that of the Black Ape (951 ), on the fifteenth day of the second, moon, Buddha manifested himself. One thousand and thirteen years afterwards, under the dynasty of Hau-Ming, in the seventh year of the reign of Young-Ping ( 64), on the fifteenth day of the first moon, the king saw in a dream a man whose appearance was that of radiant gold, like the sun, and whose stature was more than ten feet. This man entered the king's palace, and said, 'My religion shall spread abroad in this country.'

"The next day the king questioned the sages; and one of them named Fou-y, opening the annals of the empire in the reign of Tchao-Wang, pointed out the connection between the circumstance narrated therein and the kind's dream. The king consulted the ancient books, and having found the passage corresponding with the time of Tchao-Wang, was filled with joy. Then he sent the officers Tsa-Yn, and Thsin-King, the learned