dren have born all forts of Torments with wonder ful Courage and Patience. Several Kings of Japan t have been converted: And in China, many of their principal Mandarines, or Governors, have been eminent for their zeal in the Chriftian Religion; and though the Chineses are naturally very timorous and cowardly, yet in all times of Perfecution, they have been obferved to continue firm and ftedfaft in the Faith. We are told, that the Mother, the Wife, and the Eldest Son of the Emperor of China, were formerly converted, and that there is lately an Ediet publifh'd in favour of the Chriftian Religion in China; that a Prince of the Blood is become a Chriftian; and that the Emperor himfelf has caufed a Church to be erected in his Palace, and lodges the Miffionaries near his own Perfon. And in the WeftIndies, Cortés wrote to the Emperor, That the People of Mechoachan fent to him for an Account of his Relion, being weary of their own, for its cruel and bloody Rites. It is obfervable, That Chriftianity has been ftill profeffed in thofe Parts of the World where there has been moft Learning and Commerce; where they have been moft able, and have had moft Opportunities to inftruct other Nations. To which end, the vast Extent firft of the Greek, and Latin, and Syriack, and fince of the Perfick, and Sclavonian, and Arabick Tongues, has been very advantagious; the Scriptures of the New Teftament being written in the firft, and tranflated into all the reft. And though, by the Juft and Wife Providence of God, Mahometans and Idolaters have been fuffer'd to poffefs themselves of those Places in Greece, Afia, and Africa, where the Chriftian s Maffei Hift. Ind. lib. 16. t Varen de Japan. c. 6. Semed. Hift. of China, part. 2. ' Bell. Tartar. Le Compte, p. 480. Jof. Acoft. 1. 5. c. 22. V Religion 1 Religion formerly moft flourish'd; yet there are still fuch Remainders of the Chriftian Religion amongst them, as to give them Opportunity to be converted; and when their Sins fhall not hinder, to restore the Gospel to thofe Countries, as before. For, by Mr. Brerewood's Account, w in the Dominions of the Turk in Europe, the Chriftians make two third parts at leaft of the Inhabitants; and in Conftantinople it felf, he reckons above Twenty Chriftian Churches, and above Thirty in Theffalonica, where the Mahometans have (or had) but Three Mofques. Philadel phia, now call'd Ala-fhahir, has no fewer than Twelve Chriftian Churches. y The whole Island of Chio is govern'd by Chriftians; there are above Thirty Latin Churches, and more than Five hundred Greek. And in fome other Islands of the Archipelago there are none but Chriftians. Which, by Sir Paul Ricaur's Account of the prefent Sate of the Ottoman Empire, has not been without very confidereble Effect: For a Sect among the Turks, call'd Haietti, hold that Chrift is Eternal, that he was Incarnate, and that he fhall come to Judge the World at the Laft Day. The Students in the Grand Signior's Court generally maintain, that Chrift is God, and the Redeemer of the World; and this is a common Tenet in Conftantinople; the Profeffors of it are ftiled Chupmeffahi, or, the good Followers of the Meffiah, and fome have fuffer'd Martyrdom in maintenance of this Doctrine. And the Turkish Soldiers, in the Confines of Hungary and Bofnia, read the Gospel in the Sclavonian Tongue. a Bernier writes, that in Mogul, though the Miffionaries make w Brerewood's Enquir. c. 10. * Ricaut's Prefent State of the Greek Church, p. 74. y They. Trav. Pt. 1. c. 61, 65, 69. z Ricaut's Hift of the Ottoman Empire, 1. 2. c. 11, 12. a Memoir. Tom. 3. fome fome progress among the Gentiles, yet they do not in Ten Years make one Chriftian of a Mahometan: But he fays, that the Great Mogul, Jehan Guire, Grandfather of Aureng-Zebe, confented that Two of his Nephews fhould be Chriftians; and declares, that the Mahometans have venerable Thoughts of our Religion; that they never speak of Christ, but with great Reverence; that they never pronounce the word Ayfa, i.e. Jefus, without adding that of Azaret, which fignifies Majefty; that they agree with us, that he was miraculously born of a Virgin-Mother, and that he is the Kelum-Allah, and the Rouh-Allah, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. All which is no more than the Alcoran teaches them, nor than the Mahometans of Perfia and Morocco profefs to believe. b The Perfian Mahometans receive among their facred Books, the Pentateuch, the Pfalms, all the Books of the Prophets, and the Four Evangelifts: And the Reading thefe Books of Scripture, has been the Means of which God has been pleas'd to make use for the Converfion of many Perfons of great Eminency. In the Kingdom of Morocco, they receive the Books of Mofes, the Pfalms, and the four Gospels, and obferve the Festival of St. John; tho' in the Gofpels they follow the falfe Gloffes of Sergius and the Alcoran. Sir Tho~ mas Roe obferves, that the Great Mogul, Erbar Sha, gave the Miffionaries all manner of Encouragement and Affiftance, with full Liberty to all forts of his Subjects to become Chriftians, even to his own Court and Blood; and that neither Jehan Guire, to whom he was fent Embaffador, nor any of all the Sects in his Kingdom, utter'd any difrefpectful Words of Chrift, as they did not forbear to do of Mahomet; which, b Sanfon. Royaume de Perfe. d Relation de l'Empire de Maroc, par Mr. de S. Olon. fays fays he, is a wonderful fecret working of God's Truth, and worth obferving. It is alfo obferv'd lately by a learned Author, that the Chriftians had better Terms from Mahomet himself, than any other of his Tributaries; and that there is no Mahometan Country where the Chriftian Religion is not efteem'd the beft, next their own; and the Profeffors of it accordingly refpected by them, before any other fort of Men that differ from them. In Africa, befides the Chriftians living in Ægypt, and in the Kingdom of Congo and Angola, the Iflands upon the Western Coafts are inhabited by Chriftians; and the vaft Kingdom of Habaffia, or Abaffinia, fuppofed to be as big as Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, taken together (according to Mr. Brerewood's Computation) is poffefs'd by Chriftians. And 'till lefs than Two hundred Years ago, Nubia, a Country of a great Extent, lying between the Equator and the Northern Tropick, continued, as it's believ d, from the Apoftles times, in the Chriftian Religion. In Afia, he fays, moft part of the Empire of Ruffia, the Countries of Circaffia and Mengrelia, Georgia, and Mount Libanus, are inhabited only by Chriftians, befides the Difperfion of them into other Parts, under the Denomination of Neftorians, Jacobites, Marionites, and Armenians, the laft of which are a People exceedingly addicted to Traffick f, and have great Privileges granted them by the Turks, and other Mahometans; they are found in Multitudes in moft Cities of great Trade, and are more difpers'd than any other Nation but the Jews. Their Patriarch of Moful, or Babylon, is faid to have had more than a Thousand Bifhops under him, and is therefore ftiled Catholicus, or Univerfal e Dr. Prideaux's Life of Mahomet. f Brerewood's Enquir. C. 24. Otto Frifingenfis Chron. I. 7. c. 31. vid. Morin. de Syr. Neftorianorum Ordinat. Bishop. Bifhop. The Jacobites are reported to be difpers'd into Forty Kingdoms. In the Promontory extending it felf into the Indian Sea, are the Chriftians of Saint Thomas: fo call'd, because first converted by him who is believ'd to lie bury'd at Maliapour, and they have continued in the Chriftian Religion from his time.. It must be confefs'd, that in Mengrelia, and other Countries, the Doctrines of Religion are much corrupted, and their Practice very different from the Profeffion of Chriftians; but however, they retain the Gofpel among them; and it is every Man's own fault, if he make not a good Ufe of thofe Means of Salvation, which God in his Providence has afforded him. Of late, the New Teftament, in the Malayan Tongue, which is fo famous throughout the Eaft, and Grotius's excellent Book of the Truth of the Chriftian Religion, in Arabick, have been Tranflated and Printed at the Charge of the Honourable Mr. Boyle; and the firft difpers'd over all the Eaft-Indies where the Ma layan Language is ufed; and the latter, into all the Countries where Arabick is fpoken. He also contributed to the Impreffion of the New-Teftament and Catechism, which was made by the Turkish Company, in the Language of the Turks. The New Testament was Printed in the Malayan Tongue, by Order of the Dutch Eaft-India Company, in Latin Characters, A.D. 1668. And a Translation of the Four Evangelifts, and the Acts of the Apoftles, and the Pfalms, into that Tongue, has been Printed by the Dutch, in Malayan Characters, who have likewife appointed a Sermon to be preach'd once a Week at leaft, in their Colonies; and the Church built for this Ufe in Batavia is call'd the Malayan Church. The New Testament was long ago Printed in the Japonefe Tongue. And Grotius's The William Mainfton's Malayan Grammar, MS. i Purch. Pilgr. Pt. 1. 1. 4. c. I. Grot, ad Voff. Epift. libro de Satisfact. præfix, Book |
