minds were darkened by the dogmas and heresies of corrupt teachers. How soon these blind leaders began to trouble the Church, we learn from the first epistle of John; and, if we can rely upon the testimony of Augustin, that his epistle was written especially to the Parthians, it would seem that the Yezidees may have been led into error almost as soon as they embraced the truth.

I might indulge in some reflections upon the singular chapter in the history of God's covenant children which this people present; but, having taken the reader a long, and, as I fear, a tedious round, I dare not trespass farther upon his patience; and I conclude by asking, Shall this class of our fellow-men still be left to grope on in their dark course of superstition and error, with none to direct their feet into the paths of life, to hold out to them the lamp of salvation? What Christian would not deny himself many a luxury for the privilege of imparting the Gospel to such a people ?

[B.]

HISTORY OF THE NESTORIAN MISSIONS.*

Third, fourth, and fifth centuries. So extensively had the Christian religion been propagated in the East as early as the fifth century, that the Nestorian patriarchs sent metropolitans or archbishops as far as to China, which implies the existence of bishops, priests, and churches, and that Christianity had been established in the country for a long time. Arnobius, who wrote in the third century, mentions expressly the Seres as among the Oriental nations who had embraced Christianity, and Mosheim regards these as having been undoubtedly Chinese. And if the religion of Christ then prevailed in China, we may infer

* This short sketch of the Nestorian missions is taken chiefly from an account drawn up by one of the secretaries of the American Board, and published in the Missionary Herald for August, 1838. I have often borrowed the language of that writer, and used his references to authorities. Other quotations are introduced from Mosheim and Gibbon, while much is omitted that is contained in the above-named historical account.

that it did so, to some extent at least, in the intervening coun tries of Tartary.*

In the year 334, Barsabas, a Nestorian who had fled into Khorassan to escape the persecution of Sapor, the Persian king, became bishop of Maru, which office he held fifteen years.† And in 420 a metropolitan was sent to that place by the patriarch Ja ballaha, making it evident that there were then bishoprics and numerous Christians in that province.‡

Sixth century. "The Nestorians," says Mosheim under this date," after they had obtained a fixed residence in Persia, and had located the head of their sect at Seleucia, were as successful as they were industrious in disseminating their doctrines in the countries lying without the Roman empire. It appears from unquestionable documents still existing, that there were numerous societies in all parts of Persia, in India, in Armenia, in Arabia, in Syria, and in other countries, under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Seleucia during this century. * * * The Persian kings were not, indeed, all equally affected towards this sect; and they sometimes severely persecuted all Christians resident in their dominions."||

Seventh century. “The Christian religion was in this century diffused beyond its former limits, both in the eastern and western countries. In the East, the Nestorians, with incredible industry and perseverance, laboured to propagate it from Persia, Syria, and India, among the barbarous and savage nations inhabiting the deserts and the remotest shores of Asia; and tha their zeal was not inefficient appears from numerous proofs still existing. In particular, the vast empire of China was enlightened by this zeal and industry."¶

This, it will be noticed, was the century in which Mohammedanism arose, and was so rapidly and extensively propagated by the sword; and the second year after their conquest of Persia,

* Hist. Tart. Eccl., p. 8, 9.

Bib. Orient., v. iv, p. 477.

† Bib. Orient., v. iv., p. 426. Eccl. Hist., v. i., p. 493.

|| Assem., Bib. Orient., v. iii., p. 109, 407, 411, 441, 449; and v. iv, p. 73, &c. ¶ Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., v. i., p. 499.

the "year 636, forms an epoch in the history of the Nestorian missions. At that time a Nestorian missionary is said to have entered China in the person of Olopuen, or Jaballaha, and from that time to the year 781 (beyond which the record does not extend), no less than seventy missionaries, whose names are preserved, laboured in that empire. The Emperor Coacum, who reigned from 650 to 684, commanded Christian churches to be erected in all the provinces of China. The Gospel was promul gated in ten provinces of the empire, and all the cities were supplied with churches." In the year 699, the Christians were persecuted in some of the provinces; and either there were two persecutions, or this was continued till the year 719.*

Eighth century. About the year 714, the patriarch Salibazacha is affirmed by the Syrian writers to have sent a metropolitan into China. About 719, two able and active missionaries, named John and Kielie, arrived with some associates, and in 745 another, named Kieho.

The emperor had a church of his own, which he adorned with the statues of his ancestors. In the year 757, the Emperor Socum ordered a great number of churches to be erected. The mission continued in the same prosperous condition during the reign of his successor, A.D. 763-780.+

The patriarch Timotheus, whose name will be preserved by the church of Christ, again revived the missionary zeal of the Nestorians. He was from the convent of Beth-Aben, in Assyria, from which a new light was to stream forth upon the vast central and eastern regions of Asia. In 778 Timotheus selected from Beth-Aben a monk named Subchaljesu, who was skilled in the Syrian, Persian, and Arabic languages; and, having ordained him a bishop, sent him to preach the Gospel to the Dailamites and the Gela, on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea. At the same time, he wrote letters to the King of the Tartars and other princes, exhorting them to embrace the Christian faith. Subchaljesu repaired to his field of labour, and preached

* Hist. Tart. Eccl., p. 9. Append., p. 4-28. Assemani, Bib. Orient., v. iv., p. 54, 778.

† Bib. Orient., v. iv., p. 540.

the Gospel in many cities and villages, made numerous converts, built churches, and instituted priests and teachers. Leaving the new converts to be farther instructed by his associates, he penetrated to China, and published the Gospel extensively among the Gentiles, the Marcionites, and Manichæans, attacking every sect and every corrupt religion. As he was returning to Assyria to see his patriarch and former companions, he was murdered by barbarians. Timotheus, without delay, ordained two other monks from the same convent as bishops, and sent them to supply the place of the fallen missionary. These took with them fifteen monks from their convent, seven of whom, with the approbation of their patriarch, they afterward ordained as bishops. Their names were Thomas, Zaccheus, Semus, Ephraim, Simeon, Ananias, and David. Some of these went to China, and David became metropolitan of the churches in that country. Thomas is said to have gone with some associates to India.*~

Ninth century. "The Nestorians in particular," says Mosheim, "and the Monophosites, who lived securely under the protection of the Arabians, were very attentive to their own interests, and did not cease from efforts for the conversion of the nations still in pagan ignorance."+

Timotheus was relieved from his zealous labours by death in

820.

Two Arabian travellers found Christians in Masina or Southern China in this century; and a certain Baichu, revolting from the emperor, is said to have massacred a great number of Christians in the city of Canfu or Canton, A.D. 877.-Bib. Orient., vol. iv, p. 524.

Tenth century. "All are agreed," says Mosheim, "that in this century the state of Christianity was everywhere most wretched, on account of the amazing ignorance, and the consequent superstition and debased morals of the age, as well as from other causes. But still there were not a few things which may be placed among the prosperous events of the Church. The Nestorians living in Chaldea introduced Christianity into Tar* Bib. Orient., v. iv., p. 444, 478, 483. † Eccl. Hist., v. ii., p. 118.

tary proper, beyond Mount Imaus, where the people had hitherto lived entirely uncultivated and uncivilized."*

'Mosheim, with others, thinks the Gospel which they preached was not in all respects free from error, but he admits that "the activity of this sect, and their great zeal for the promotion of Christianity, deserve praise."

"It is placed beyond controversy," continues Mosheim, "that the kings of the people called Carith, living on the borders of Cathai, whom some denominate a tribe of Turks, and others of Tartars, constituting a considerable portion of the Moguls, did profess Christianity from this time onward, and that no inconsiderable part of Tartary or Asiatic Scythia lived under bishops sent among them by the pontiff of the Nestorians." The history of this race of Christian kings, afterward so celebrated in Europe under the name of Prester John, is properly referable to the two succeeding centuries.

Eleventh and Twelfth centuries. The first of these Mogul princes (whose subjects were about two hundred thousand) resided in Caracorum, nearly six hundred miles northwesterly from Peking or Pekin. He was baptized by priests sent out by the Nestorian patriarch. The son and successor of this king commenced an expedition in 1046, which, directed and impelled at a later period by the master spirit of Genghis Khan, proved so destructive to Asia and Europe. He advanced as far as Cashgar, about sixteen hundred miles; and the third in succession is described as a conqueror on the fields of Tranoxiana and Persia. The last of the race was slain by Genghis Khan, about the year 1202. In the reign of the second Prester John, A.D. 1064, the Nestorian patriarch is said to have sent a bishop to China.

"In Tartary and the adjacent regions," says Mosheim, "the activity of the Nestorians continued daily to gain over more people to the side of Christianity; and such is the mass of testimony at the present day, that we cannot doubt but that bishops of the highest order, or metropolitans, with many inferior * Eccl. Hist., v. ii., p. 123. † Ib., p. 124.

+ Gibbon's Rom. Emp,, v. iv., p. 256.