The Nameless Sect of China
There is in China a remarkable people, known as “the nameless sect,” which prevails more or less all over China, but especially in the province of Shangtung. Disliked and persecuted by the civil authorities, they have for a long time endeavored to keep their beliefs and practices secret. Their religion is said to have come from the West, whence also they expect a deliverer. They do not worship idols. At the close of the religious services they have a meal, of which bread and wine form the greater part. It is thought that they may be the remnant of the native churches planted centuries ago in China, by Nestorian missionaries, who are said to have preached the gospel for nearly a thousand years through Southern and Middle Asia with marvelous energy and success, and to have exerted a powerful influence in China for upward of six hundred years, from the seventh to the thirteenth century.