Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume II.djvu/244

 230 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. of Metempsychosis obtained from Indian pliilosophcrs Tlegarded from this point of view, tlic customs of China appeared to Lombard and the missionaries who took his side, as an idohitry utterly incompatible with the sanctity of Christianity, — criminal acts, the impiety of which must be shown to the Chinese on -vvhoin, by the grace of God, the liirht of the Gospel had shone, and which must be absolutely forbidden to all Christians, •whatever might be their condition, or whatever part of the empire they might inhabit. The use of the words, Tien and C/unKj-Tiy even, by which they designated the divinity, were interdicted. It will be seen from this liow Vvidely the rigorous orthodoxy of Father Lom- bard ditiered from the excessive tolerance of I'ather liicci. Such was the conunencement of the disagreements which afterwards proved more fatal to the i)rosperity of the missions, than the most violent persecutions ever raised by the mandarins. They arose in the bosom of the Society of Jesuits, before missionaries of any other order arrived in Ciiina, and we shall, further on, see the dispute developing itself, and assuming the lament- able form of a fierce contest. The discussion on Chinese rites, on the worsliip of ancestors and of Confucius, was not confined within the limits of the Celestial Empire, but spread over Europe, where, as in Asia, the contro- versy was carried on with the utmost acrimony and passion. Profuse dissertations and numerous patnphlets on the subject were scattered about everywhere ; but, instead of bringing out the truth, they served but to envelope it in still thicker obscurity, until at last the Church with her sovereign and absolute authority put an end to this long contest, and restored the peace