Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/40

28 and prepare the way for the Messiah, there have been Jews in China, perhaps, from the seventh century before the Christian era. Many of these Jews, says Father Gaubil (in his "Chinese Chronology," p. 267.), were employed in the highest military offices, and there were some among them who became governors of provinces, ministers of state, bachelors and doctors. These messengers of the truth were not wanting to their mission, and they communicated so much information, that Confucius was enabled to announce in his writings, that there should be born, in the West, a saint who had been expected more than three thousand years. "Vast and extensive as the heavens, deep as the abyss, he will be respected by all nations; the whole world will believe his words, all will applaud his actions. His name and his glory will extend over the whole empire, and even among the barbarians of the south and north, wherever ships and chariots can advance, and the power of man penetrate, in all places which the sky covers and the earth supports, which are enlightened by the sun and moon, and fertilised by the dew and the mist; and all beings who have blood and breath shall honour and love him. He is the equal of Tien" (heaven).

Is it, after this, surprising that a Chinese emperor should (in the year 65 of our era) send to the West, in search of the Saviour of men, that solemn embassy of which we have already spoken?

India, as we have endeavoured to show, was evangelised by St. Thomas; and many learned men have expressed their belief that the same apostle carried the light of Christianity as far as the Chinese empire. They ground this belief on the Chaldean books that have been found in India. The Breviary of the church of Malabar