Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/94

82 82 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. and cover them with shame and contempt in the eyes of their own neophytes, as well as the Christians of Europe. The inscription of Si-ngan-Fou is then genuine, since its authenticity rests on the good faith, the honour, and the religion of the missionaries ; as well as on the evidence of both history and science ; and because never yet, either in East or West, has it been found possible to oppose to it one solid irrefragable argument. A judicious member of the Institute has not hesi- tated to declare that " This famous monument, whose authenticity has long been questioned, out of hatred to the Jesuit missionaries who first made it known, rather than from any real examination, is now unanimously regarded as above all suspicion."*
 * Saint Martin, " Hist, du bas Empire," vol. vi. p. 69.