Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/44

32 visited neighbouring nations for the purposes of traffic. Their junks traversed the Straits of Sunda, visited the coasts of Malacca, and carried their merchandise to the ports of Ceylon, the Gulf of Persia, and the Red Sea.

The Greeks and Romans knew them under the name of Seres, because silk, which was originally obtained from them, was known by that name over a great part of Asia; and still bears nearly the same appellation. The commerce between the Romans and Chinese was often carried on by the intervention of the Parthians; and thus the apostles were enabled to bear the light of the Gospel to Upper Asia, by the way of Egypt to India, and through India to China.

In urging the consideration of these facts, and insisting so much on the existence of Christian traditions, concerning the early propagation of the faith in the remotest East, we have had a special purpose in view.

Those who have studied the system of Buddhism in Upper Asia, have been often struck with the analogy, in many points, between its doctrines, moral precepts, and liturgy, and those of Christian Churches. Unbelievers have exulted at these resemblances, and have inferred immediately that Christianity was copied from the religious systems of India and China. But their triumph in this discovery, which has often served to trouble timid Christians, could only arise from want of good faith, or from ignorance. For if the primitive traditions of our race were carried to India and China by the descendants of Noah,—if the Jews were established there seven centuries before Christ,—if St. Thomas preached the Gospel there in the very first period of its existence,— if Judaism, Christianity, and