Interesting Facts Concerning the Sabbath in the East.
THE readers of the Outlook will perhaps remember that the last September number contained an account of "The great Chinese Insurrection and the Sabbath," showing the discovery in that country of a monument made in the seventh century, which testified to the observance, by those people, of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. In the July number of the present year, is also given, under "Sunday Observance," an account of the Syrian Christians of Malabar and their observance of the Sabbath till the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese came, and by the power of the Inquisition, compelled them to conform to the practices of the church of Rome in their observance of days. In corroboration of the truth of the testimony there given concerning Sabbath observance, we present this month the following account of these Sabbath-keepers in China, India, and Central Asia, from the Rev. W. H. Medhurst's "China;" Boston, 1838; pp. 182-185. "According to the Syrian and Chaldean writers, Thaddeus, one of the seventy, was sent into Mesopotamia, and preached in the land of Shinar, where he established 360 churches, and died in a city called Badaraja. Thomas the apostle, however, is celebrated by the Eastern Christians as having been the first to preach the gospel in India; all the Syrian churches in Malabar claim him for their founder, and his sepulcher is shown on the Coromandel coast to this day. "Considering the extent, population, and civilization of China, it can hardly be supposed that so important a region was entirely neglected by the first progenitors of the gospel; and Assemannus assures us that Thomas the apostle, having done much for the establishment of the Christian faith in India, passed over to a country on the east, called China, where he preached the gospel and founded a church, in the city of Cambalu (Peking); after which he returned to Malabar. In the Chaldee ritual, there is an office for the celebration of St. Thomas which says, that 'by him the Persians, Hindous, and Chinese, were converted to the Christian faith.' "In confirmation of this tradition, it may be observed, that according to Chinese history, a very early intercourse subsisted between China and the West. Arabia and Judea are called in the native books, Ta-tsin; and Pan-chaow, a Chinese general, who flourished before the close of the first century, is said to have extended his conquests as far as Ta-tsin. It is also related, that in that early age, a veneration for the cross existed in China; while the famous Kwan Yunchang has left in writing an account of the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of a Saviour, which must have been derived from some indistinct traditions of gospel history. In the time of Han Hwan-te, A. D. 147, 'the people of India, Arabia, and other parts, came by the Southern Sea to China, with tribute; and from this time trade was carried on with foreigners at Canton.' Chinese history further mentions that, about the same period, an extraordinary person arrived in China, who taught a doctrine purely spiritual, and drew the admiration of all by the virtues he possessed and the miracles he wrought. "The next intimation of the introduction of Christianity into China, is given in the famous marble tablet which was dug up at Se-gnaan-foo, in the year 1625. This tablet is ten feet long and five feet broad, surmounted by a cross, resembling that used by the Syrians in Malabar. It contains an inscription in the Chinese and Syriac languages, describing the principal doctrines of the gospel, and the history of its introduction into China. The Chinese inscription is entitled 'a tablet recording the introduction of the religion of the Ta-tsin country into China.' It commences with stating the existence of the living and true God, the creation of the world, the fall of man, and the mission of Jesus Christ. The miraculous birth, and excellent teaching of the Saviour are briefly described. His ascension is spoken of; the institution of baptism mentioned, and the cross declared to be effectual for the salvation of all mankind. The inscription goes on to state that in the reign of Tang Tae-tsung, A. D. 636, a Christian teacher came from Ta-tsin to China, where the emperor, after examining his doctrines, published an edict, authorizing the preaching of Christianity among the people. The next emperor continued his patronage, but the Buddhist priests, apprehensive lest the new sect should eclipse and prejudice their own, endeavored to stop its course; a persecution followed, which, at first, diminished the number of the faithful; but after a time two able advocates were raised up, who brought the new religion again into notice. The emperor, Suh-tsung, founded several Christian churches, and in order to perpetuate the memory of his good deeds, the tablet in question was erected, A. D. 782. "Some have affected to doubt the authenticity of this inscription, imagining it to be a mere trick of the Jesuits to get the Chinese to credit the Christian religion. That this was not the case, we may infer from the fact that the Chinese were the first to discover the stone, and that neither they nor the Jesuits understood the Syrian part of the inscription till it was translated in Malabar. Besides, were it a pious fraud, the Jesuits would have been more likely to ascribe the introduction of Christianity to the efforts of the Latins, rather than the Syrian Church; and had they made any pretensions of the kind the other orders of the Romish clergy would have exposed their hypocrisy. We conclude, therefore, that the inscription is a genuine record of the labors of the Syrian Christians, during the seventh and eighth centuries, in China. A fac-simile of it may be seen in the library of the Vatican at Rome, and a full translation in 'Kicherer's China Illustrated.' "Mosheim informs us that in the end of the seventh century the Nestorians penetrated into China, where they established several churches; and that in A. D. 820, David was appointed to be the metropolitan of China. In the time of Genghis-khan numerous bodies of Nestorian Christians were scattered over Tartary; and the famous Prester John, in the twelfth century, exerted an extensive influence over Central Asia. When the Mongul princes ascended the throne of China, A. D. 1280, they afforded toleration to all religions, which enabled the Nestorians to spread themselves, and to establish a flourishing church in the north of China. This continued to exist, according to Mosheim, till the beginning of the fifteenth century; but shortly afterwards Nestorianism appears to have dwindled away in that country. "The efforts of the Roman Catholics in behalf of China, commenced in the beginning of the fourteenth century, when Nicholas IV. sent Corvino on an embassy to Coblia, the first emperor of the Mongol dynasty; and in 1307, Clement V. constituted him bishop of Cambalu, or Peking. Benedict VI., A. D. 1338, sent new agents into China and Tartary, and during the whole yuen dynasty both the Latin and Nestorian Christians had a fine opportunity for propagating their religion in Eastern Asia; but quarreling amongst themselves, they hindered each other's success, and towards the close of the century the Mahometans, gaining the ascendancy, drove the Christians from those regions. "Nothing more is heard of efforts for the conversion of the Chinese, until the Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and established themselves at Goa. In 1511, Alphonso took Malacca, and eight years afterwards Andrade sailed for China." Rev. William Dean, D. D., for twenty years a missionary to China, in a book entitled "The China Mission," says: "The primate of the Malabar Christians styled himself the 'Metropolitan of India and China.'" New York, 1859; p. 71. Dr. Williams says of the monument and its inscriptions: "After some remarks on the principles of religion, the fall of man, the birth of the Messiah in Judea, together with some of the laws and ceremonies of Christianity, the author gives a sketch of its introduction and progress in China." From this part of the inscription is found the following, "Under Knutsung, A. D. 678, the illustrious religion spread itself in every direction, and temples rose in a hundred cities." p. 72. Neither Dr. Medhurst nor Dr. Williams say anything concerning the observance of the seventh day by this people, but the inscription on the monument records this fact, as before given. The fact that the Syrian Christians of Malabar were able to read that portion of the inscriptions which the others could not read, is conclusive proof of the identity of the Malabar Christians and those who wrote the inscription. The tradition of the introduction of Christianity into each of these countries shows that the tradition was founded on facts. Thus three distinct lines of proof are produced to show that the early Christians of China were Sabbath-observers. 1. The testimony of the Rev. Dr. Gutzlaff, long a missionary to China, of the abundant evidence of Chinese history proving the fact, and the assertion of the leader of the Tae-ping rebellion in answer to the question asked, why the insurrectionists observed the Sabbath, answering "because the Bible teaches it and their ancestors observed it." 2. The testimony of Dellon, the author of the "Inquisition at Goa," who testifies to the observance of the Sabbath by the Syrian Christians of Malabar, and the identity we here give of these Christians with those of China. 3. The testimony of the monument found. If we will look into Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History and others, we shall find that there was scarcely any territory in Asia, south of the present boundary of Siberia, into which the Nestorians had not carried their religion and reared their temples; and all these must have been observers of the Sabbath of the Lord. These facts, together with others already given in relation to the Armenians, Abyssinians, Swannety, and the Britons, conclusively prove that all the Christians of the East, as well as the West, observed the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath until overpowered by the church of Rome, after her bishops had assumed to be the vicegerent of Christ and the head of the universal Christian Church. These facts also conclusively show that all countries which received the Christian religion prior to the fifth century, also received the seventh-day Sabbath,147and that Rome, and not Jerusalem, first received into her embrace the pagan Sunday, and, at a date far removed from that of the apostles.—P., in the Outlook.