Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/60

48 48 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. Messiah to deliver the human race from the original sin ; that the Messiah was born of a virgin, in the country of Ta-Thsin, and that the Persians went to adore him, in order that the law and the prediction might be accomplished. The Syriac characters, which form ninety lines, contain the names of the Syrian priests who came to China in the suite of Olopen. This is a brief summary of the inscription of Si- gnan-Fou ; but as it is our purpose to collect all the documents relating to the introduction and propagation of Christianity in High Asia, we will give a complete translation of this curious monument, which, at the epoch of its discovery, excited the most passionate controversies. We trust that our translation will be found as faithful as the extreme conciseness of the Chinese language will permit. Whilst working at it, we have had before us the Chinese text, preserved in the Imperial Library, and we have been further aided by various translations already made. The preamble of the inscription is surmounted by the figure of a cross, cut in the stone, resembling that used by the Knights of Malta, and also that found in the tomb of St. Thomas, in India. Monument of the great propagation of the Luminous Doctrine in the Central Empire composed by Khing- Tsing, a devout man of the temple of Ta-Thsin. " 1. There has always been one only true Cause, essentially the first, and without beginning, supremely intelligent and immaterial ; essentially the last, and uniting all perfections. He placed the poles of the heavens, and created all heings ; marvellously holy ; he is the