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CHEROKEE PH«EXIX
ANB INDIAXS’ ABVOCATE.
CHEROKEE NATION, PROPRIETOR, EDITED BY ELIJAH HICKS.
VOfi. V.
I¥EW ECHOTA, CHEROKEE \AT10iV, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 38, 1838.
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AO. 38.
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ttEUIttlOUS.
From the Cliinoso Repository.
LV INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIAN
ITY INTO CHINA.
iat Christianity was partially made
n in China at a very early period,
is now to admit of a little doubt,
the dale of any attempts to plant
ospel here, earlier than the cn-
e ofthe jesuits iu the 16th centu-
not very well established. In-
it is deemed uncertain whether
efforts at all reached so far as
country, during the apostolic age:
it is to this point first we offer
testimonies as can bo hud, and
from Ycates’ Indian church
7-
first circumstance which attend-
e kingdom of God coming with
r, on the day of Pentecost, were
rahly adapted to give celebrity to
ospel; and not only so, but to
it rapid and extensive promulga
te - those persons who heard the
lies speak in their own language
wonderful works of God, there
Parthians and Modes and Elam-
ind me iinciloirf in Mesopotamia
J devout men out of every nation
some coast on the cast called China,
which may have been that country now
called Cochinchina. Indeed when we
reflect on the vast extent of China, and
on the rapidity with which Christianity
made its way eastward through Persia,
India, and Tartary, it is scarcely pos
sible to deny its entrance into this vast
dominion also. The oniy rational ob
jection is the distance of place; hut
cation pf the jesuits. Tlfht they might
often lave left it desirable to prove to
their bearers, the antiquity of the gos
pel a»d its former influence even over
Chiiyi, we can well believe. But that
they could think of palming such a for
gery upon them is really incredible:
fo/the account is, that Chinese work
rr/cn found it hurried under rubbish,
made it known to the governor, who
are not the eastern putts of India also [examined it, placed it in a pagoda
distant? Yet we are certain from his
tory that Christianity had in the apos
tolic times reached those countries.
That it should have been carried into
China in the same age, is not impossi
ble therefore; but considering the spir-
nCar by, where it attracted so much
the attention ofthe learned natives that
they came from all quarters to see it.
A native Christian after a time also
came, and perceiving the meaning,
which others did not, wrote a copy to
it of its propagators, it is improbable 1his distant friend, a Christian mandarin,
that they would rest in India without i from whom it tirst reached the foreign-
attempting to penetrate its eastern and
populous vicinity, or having attempted
and been totally repulsed and excluded,
that no memorial of it should have been
left.
The Syrian chronicles relate, that
Thomas having gone through Mesopo
tamia, Chaldea, Persia and Parthia,
went to the utmost confines ofthe east.
Theodorct says, that the Parthians,
Medes, Brachmans, the Hindoos and
other bordering nations, received the
gospel of Christ from Thomas. The
Malabor Christians relate, that St.
Thomas went from Meliaporc, where
he converted the king and the people
to the Christian faith, to China, and
preached the gospel in the city ofCam-
i bala, (the city ofthe great khan,) and
there he built a church. The same is
also attested by the Syrian writers.—
In the Chaldean ritual there is an of
fice for the celebration^ of St. Thomas
the apostle and martyr. ‘By the bless
ed St. Thomas, the Chinese and Chu-
:; _ kl .. v’uiif Ct tMt to IIIU LI ULU.
And again; the Persians, the Hindoos,
. the Chinese, and other regions, dffer
heaven.” 1 liesc on rctuiniiig , ie moviuls of celebration to the sacred
crown country, could not tail to | ol Thornas> ,
Antonius Govea relates the apostle’s
return from China to the coast of Cor
omandel, where by reason of the in
numerable conversions to the faith of
Christ, he exposed himself to the ha
tred and envy of two brainins, who
having raised an uproar against the
apostle, buried him with stones; hut
auethcr branain perceiving him yet a-
livc, thrust him through with a lance
and he expired. His sepulchre was
hewn out of a rock in the mountain af
terwards called St. Thomas’ mountain.
According to the Indian tradition, the
martyrdom ofthe apostle happened in
id abroad the wonderful facts and
lad tidings of salvation; so that in
and -its coniines, beyond the
liratcs and Chaldea, some knowl-
of the gospel must have been iin-
atcly carried. Tltese facts are
point of our first inquiry ; for we
to move on with the progress of
stia.iity eastward, to see whether
possible that it should have gone to
e\!remitv of Asia iu that age.
Syrian and Chaldean writers,
irdinir to Assemannus, relate that
lad Ac us one of .the seventy disci-
iicnt into Mesopotamia, and that
as sent thither by Thomas the A-
lo, soon after our Lords ascension:
that the same Thaddcus had with
two disciples to assist in the promul-
of the gospel, whose names were
tus and Aghcus, both ol the seven-
Barhcbrieus writes, that “Marus
od the martyrdom of his fellow
orers, but was obliged to remove
ward. lie preached in Assyria
in all the land of Shinar. He
ght in three hundred Sc sixty church-
which were built during his time
the east; and having fultiled his
aching for 33 years, lie departed to
"Lord, in a city named Bardaraja
was buried in a church which he
built.” These extracts are suffi-
Dt for our present purpose—to show
an early period ofthe apostolic age
relies wero not only planted in the
lef cities of these several countries,
. so founded and governed by the
tors and wisdom of these apostolic
n, that they soon became the cinpo-
ms of the gospel to the remotest ro
ws of the east.
The eastern or Chaldean Christians
ougliout ull Asia tram Antioch to
walls of China, celebrate Thomas
their chief and great Apostle. He
as tha first preacher of Christianity
Bong the Hindoos, and founded the
lurches of Malabar, where to this day,
ancient monuments, writings, and
iditions, afford the most indubitable
toofs of his apostolic labors, among
m. More than two hundred thou-
id Syrian Christians on the coast of
alabur and Coromandel, hold with
o uniform tradition, that Thomas the
.postlo was the founder ot their cliurch-
It appears from the learned As-
wiannus, and other subsequent wri-
irs, that Thomas having passed thro
ip country from Malabar to Coromau-
felpand made great conversions to the
era. That the jesuits therefore could
hope to deceive the pagan by this ar
tifice seems impossible. There is no
other strong motive to induce them to
J imotheus the pa r arch of thfe Ncs- was called Boanerges or son of thun-
torians, who lived till 820, appointed der. What a spirit too he manifested
David metropolitan of China; and this j when the Samaritans did not
sect seems to have become numerous
in Tartary and in the adjacent regions.
In the time of Genghis khan and his
successors, though the Christian resi
dent in those countries were much dis
tressed, yet it appears from unques
tionable testimony, that numerous bo
dies of Nestorians were still scattered
over ull the northern parts of Asia and
China. In 1202, G enghis khan con
quered Un khan, the fourth and last of
the Christian kings in central Asia,
who bore also the name of Prestcr
John. He married the daughter of
Prester John, and several of his de
scendants had Christian wives. Till
near the close of this century, most of
the Mongol princes, though tolerant to
all religions, rather Ihvoied the Chris
tian. This afforded a fine opportunity
for the Nestorians
. , to propagate their
forge it, unless perhaps to account to j religion all over the east and particu-
themselves aitd Europeans, for the dis-j ly in China.
tressing similarity between many pop- j The Homan pointiffs also sent not
ish and budhistic ceremonies. But a! only ambassadors to the emperors, hut
mere glance at the facts stated, wifi : missionaries also, chiefly Franciscan
he suflicient to show the futility of such I and Dominican monks, quite to Peking
a supposition. For the monument has j and China. There they gathered some
been visited by many fathers, at va
rious times, examined leisuicly and re
peatedly, copied and translated. -Sc-
medo visited it three years after its
discovery, and had a thousand oppor
tunities to scrutinize it fully. It was
they _
churches, and at length established an
aich-hishop witii several suffragans.—
In 1307, Clement V. constituted John
— — receive
Jesus! Shall we command tire front
Heaven to consume them? The re
buke which met John’s impetuosity
from Jesus, seems to have done him
good. He thenceforth, from what ap
pears, set about subduing his passions
in good earnest, and brought the sen
sual mind, (to phronema tes sarkos)
into subjection to the spiritual mind or
reason (to phronema ton pneumatos,)
Rom. 8, G. We think then, it was the
greatness and nobleness of John’s
mind those peculiar qualities of intel
lect whjch constitute genius, which he
possessed, and by which he was able to
take a more sublime and comprehen
sive view of the character and works
of God, and the mysteries of redemp
tion,—it was these, conjoined with a
sincere and ardent love of Christ, >"n a
degree corresponding to the superiori
ty of his intellectual powers, which en
titled hirn to the honorable appellation
of “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
John possessed more of a philosophic
turn ol miud than the other disciples.
He was a contemplative spirit. He
loved to follow meditation “up into her
high places.”—His mind possessed
what the powerful author of “Saturday
Evening,” attributes
. . , .. , i a, ......only to great
dc Monte Gorvino, arch-bishop ot Cam- minds, capability of venose. lie is
bah, that is Peking. He translated | more profound than either of the other
, . trie hooks of the New .1 estainents, and Evanoelisfs II„ ,,,
open to all the different and warring the psalms of David, into the language j G d abroad upon a wide/iichl of vision"
orders of priests, who have none ot ot the Tartars. Benedict XII, in 1338 ! • 1
then ever dreamed of disclosing the
forgery to the injury ofthe other. As
to the correctness ofthe translations,
there are evident discrepances, but
such as rather strengthen the belief in
‘. ! ) b id S. I l t IIX ll of oe t i\?au 0 - l : l X i , n ^^
of the province Shcnse, situated on
the soutb side ofthe Yellow river, lat.
34 deg. 15 min. 36 see. and long. 106
deg. 25 min. cast from Paris. A Chris
tian church was soon alter founded
there in consequence and in commem
oration ofthe discovery.
The monument itself is a inarbla ta
ble near ten feet long and five broad.
Oil one side is a Chinese inscription
of twanty eight lines and sixty-two
words in each line, making about 173G
characters. Over it is the title in nine
Chinese words, translated thus: this
stone was erected to the honor and eter
nal memary of the law oj light and truth
brought from Ta-cin (Syria.) Outlie
. i and to have contcmnlatcd the rnystc-
sent new imncois into China and Tar- j ,i cs of God, with a steadier, and strong-
t!l, T| a «o.8° long as the tartar cm- C r U nd a more far-seeing eve, than
piro in China continued, the Latins and they. He is more intellectual and spir-
J estonans had liberty to profess and itual, more deep, mysterious and in-
propagatc their religion. Much great- conrmrehfinsihbs., jAiunrf?, mut
fl6d M m - eso elicits ’in’ China and else- J according to the Spirit
whore, had the Christians been united, The pre-existence and Divinity of
hut the Catholics and Nestorians strove Christ, arc his sublime themes. Ilencc
to undermine each other, and were { 00 anc j cil ts g {lV c him flic title of
each in turn protected at (he expense J t] ie “Theologian.” And Theodorct
of the other. But near the close ol
this century, (the 13th) the Mahomme- J
dan religion gained the ascendency, es-
th« Gbth year of the Christian era, and
in the reign of their king SalivaVian.
On the 22d day pf August, A. D. 380,
the coffin of St Thomas the apostle,
which had been brought from India at
immense expense, was deposited in
the great temple ofEdcssa, dedicated
to him. Even the day of the removal
ofthe body of St. Thomas, is commem
orated at this time with great solemni
ty in India.
Du Halde says; the famous “Quan-
yun-chang” who lived in the beginning
ofthe second ccutury, certainly had a
knowledge of Jesus Christ, as the wri
ting of his hand, subsequently engra
ven upon stones, plainly prove. These
mention the birth ofthe Savior in a
grotto, his death, his resurrection, his
ascension, and the impression of his
holy feet; traditions which are so nin
ny riddles to the heathen. The Chi
nese histories give no date to the in
troduction of Christianity, and are si
lent as to the results ol missionary .la
bors. All that appears from them is,
that about that time (the beginning of
the 2nd century,) an extraordinary
person arrived in China, who tjiught a
doctrine purely spiritual, and drew.the
admiration of the world upon him, by
the fame of his virtues, by the sancti
ty of his life, and by the number of his
miracles.
From this time till A. D. G3G, \ve
have no records of Christianity in .Chi
na. The celebrated monument dis
covered in 1626, if authentic, furnishes
the history oftho progress of the gos
pel, from fl3G till the date of its erec
tion in 780. We cannot pretend to
enter into any thorough defence of its
authenticity, nor is it now necessary
as that was done long since. But from
a general and obvious view of tho case
wo cannot be credulous enough to be
margin and at the bottom ot this in
scription, are writing in the Syriac lan
guage. The body of the inscription is
divided into twenty-oun verses; the
first few containing a summary of the
Christian faith; the rest form a sort of
chronicle ofthe mission from its arri
val in G36 till the erection of the stone
in 780. According to this record, the
mission entered China A. D. G36,.in the
reign of the emperor Tae-tsung, was
favorably received, and belore the end
ofthe century, Christianity was pro
mulgated and churches built in the ten
provinces which then composed the
empire. A persecution against the
Christians arose in G99, and a fiercer
one in 713. During this time a great
many churches were destroyed, and
doubtless many of the teachers suffered
martyrdom: hence we find that a sec
ond. mission arrived in China soon af
ter, the names of whose leaders are
enumerated. Then follows tho state
of Christianity during the reigns of
three or four emperors who favored it,
one of whom “honored the commemo
ration of Christ’s nativity with profound
respect.” It closes with the date of
the erection or the monument and the
name of the writer ofthe inscription.
Tho Syrian inscription contains the
names and oiliccs of tha leaders of the
missions arranged in seven classes,
from the bishop downward, to the num
ber of ninety-two. This is the only
known record of the progress of the
mission for 140 years uflcr its intro
duction; but if the country were open
to investigation, wo may suppose th*t
other records of similar character would
reward the researches of missionaries
or historians.
For un account ofthe progross ofthe
gospel sebsequent to this, and previous
to the arrival ofthe Romish missiona
ries, we are indebted chiefly to the val
uable notes of Murdock’s new trans
lation Moshoim.
pecially in the west, and the khans in
some instances allowed the Christians
to he persecuted.
In tho fourteen century, the Turks
and Tartars wholly extirpated the Chris
tian religion iu many cities and pro
vinces, and caused the religion of Mo
hammed to he taught in its stead.—
The nation of tho Tartars where such
numbers had professed or tolerated
Christianity, universally submitted to
the Koran. Tho mere nod ofthe ter
rific Tarobcrlnno, was suflicient to
cause multitudes to abandon Christian
ity. But he also employed violence
and the sword; and being persuaded
that tliose who should compel many
Christians to embrace the religion of
the Koran, might expect high rewards
from God, he inflicted innumerable evils
on those who adhered to their profes
sion; cruelly butchering some and
dooming others to perpetual slavery
Thus, and by preventing the arrival of
new teachers, the Christian religion
was overthrown in Tartary and China.
No mention is made of Latin Christians
subsequent to 1370. But some traces
ofthe Nestorians residing in China,
can be found as late as the 16th centu
ry, yet this little handful of concealed
Christians must soon have become ex
tinct.
From tho Christian Mirror.
• ST. JOHN.
Every attentive reader of the New
Testament must have observed that the
Gospel of John is in some respects pe
culiar, and different from tho other
Gospels, and from ull other sacred
writings, those by the same author ex
cepted. Every such reader conceives
of the writer of the fourth Gospel, as
unlike Matthew or Mark or Luke in
the elements of his character—in natur
al disposition and in tho structure of
his mind. Perhaps it is the ainiable-
ness and softness of John’s temper that
have seemed to us the most distinctive
trait and peculiar feature of his char
acter. But if wo look deeper, wc may
find reason to believe, that Jesus “lov
ed” John for other *nd higher quali
tics than mere softness ami inofi'onsivc-
ness of spirit. Indeed he docs not
seem to have possessed naturally a ve
ry mild disposition—hi* was rather
rough and impetuous spirit; hence he
styles his gospel a “Theology unfath
omable and incomprehensible by hu
man minds.”
Various other writers have taken no
tice of the peculiar character of John’s
writings. Thohick in his Commentar
gum 'Evangclio Johnnis, Einleitimg,
See. 4. Ueber den eigcnlhumlicken Char-
ahlcr and die Schreibart dec Evagiliums
says: “No one can read the gospel of
John without receiving the impression
that a spirit pervades it which can ho
found in no ether human book.” Ho
quotes a passago from Chrysostom in
which he describcsthc impression made
by this divine scripture, (gottlichen
schrift) upon the heart, of the reader.—
The Apostle, Chrysostom says,
‘speaks from heaven, and utters a
voice louder than thunder, and filling
all the earth with the sound. And what
is wonderful, mighty though the sound
of it he, yet it is not harsh nor disa
greeable, but sweeter than any musical
harmony, and more soothing.” And
afterwards he says, that the men who
receive and keep these mysteries with
zeal and affection, rise above tho
world and aspire to the angelic nature.
Augustine too is quoted, who says,
In the four gospels, or rather in tho
four hooks containing the one gospel,
St. John the Apostle, oy account of his
deep, spiritual wisdom, (secundum in-
telligentiam spiritaleni,) is not without
reason compared to an eagle. lie
soars into a loftier region, on a moro
sublime wing in his gospel announce
ment, than the other three; and in his
flight would raise our hearts to tho
same height. For the other three e-
vangelists, walked, as it were, with the
Lord, in his human nature on tho
earth; they said but little of his divini
ty,—but he as if disdaining to tread tho
earth, as he bursts forth in a thunder-
tone in the very exordium of his gos
pel, rises not only above the earth and
the sky, but above the whole company
of angels and all created, invisible
powers, and mounts up to him by whom
all things were made, saying, “In tho
beginning was tho Word, Stc.”
Oi igen too says, that us the g03pcl>»
are above all other compositions, so tho
gospel of John stands at the head of
the others, “tho Reason of which,”
(ton nouii,) the inner sense, the treas
ure of wisdom which couch beneath
its pregnant words, “no man can re
ceive, unless lie lean on Jesus’ bq-.