CENTURY II. The doctrines of Christianity have been prop. agated in Asia, Africa, and America, with equal Concerning zeal, both by the protestant and popish missionaries. ous state of But we cannot say the same thing of the true spirit general, and of the gospel, or of the religious discipline and inish church in stitutions that it recommends to the observance of the prosper the church in of the Rom. particular. christians; for it is an undeniable fact, that many of those whom the Romish missionaries have persuaded to renounce their false gods, are christians only as far as an external profession and certain religious ceremonies go; and that, instead of departing from the superstitions of their ancestors, they observe them still, though under a different form. We have indeed pompous accounts of the mighty success with which the ministry of the jesuits has been attended among the barbarous and unenlightened nations; and the French jesuits in particular are said to have converted innumerable multitudes in the course of their missions. This perhaps cannot be altogether denied, if we are to call those converts to Christianity who have received some faint and superficial notions of the doctrines of the gospel ; for it is well known, that several congregations of such christians have been formed by the jesuits in the East Indies, and more especially in the kingdoms of Carnate, Madura, and Marava, on the coast of Malabar, in the kingdom of Tonquin, the Chinese empire, and also in certain provinces of America. These conversions have, in outward appearance, been carried on with particular success, since, Anthony Veri has had the direction of the foreign missions, and has taken such special care, that neither hands should be wanting for this spiritual harvest, nor any expenses spared that might be necessary to the execution of such an arduous and important undertaking. But these pretended conversions, instead of effacing the infamy under which the jesuits labour, in consequence of the iniquitous conduct of their missionaries in former ages, have XVIIL The famous ing to the lawlowing contest relat fulness of al the Chinese chris tians to ob cient rites. serve their an only served to augment it, and to show their designs CENTURY and practices in a still more odious point of light. For they are known to be much more zealous in satisfying the demands of their avarice and ambition, than in promoting the cause of Christ; and are said to corrupt and modify, by a variety of inventions, the pure doctrine of the gospel, in order to render it more universally palatable, and to increase the number of their ambiguous converts. IL A famous question arose in this century, which made a great noise in the Romish church, relating to the conduct of the jesuits in China, and their manner of promoting the cause of the gospel, by permitting the new converts to observe the religious rites and customs of their ancestors. This question was decided to the disadvantage of the missionaries, in the year 1704, by Clement XI. who, by a solemn edict, forbad the Chinese christians to practise the religious rites of their ancestors, and more especially those that are celebrated by the Chinese in honour of their deceased parents, and of their great lawgiver Confucius. This severe edict was nevertheless considerably mitigated, in the year 1715, in order to appease, no doubt, the resentment of the jesuits, whom it exasperated in the highest degree. For the pontiff allowed the missionaries to make use of the word tien, to express the divine nature, with the addition of the word tchu, to remove its ambiguity, and make it evident, that it was not the heaven, but the Lord of heaven, that the christian doctors worshipped;a he also permitted the observance of those rites and ceremonies that had so highly offended the adversaries of the jesuits, on condition that they should be considered merely as marks of respect to their parents, and as tokens of civil homage to their law. givers, without being abused to the purposes of superstition, or even being viewed in a religious point Tien Tchu signifies the Lord of Heaven. CENTURY of light. In consequence of this second papal edict, XVIII. the Chinese converts to Christianity are allowed considerable liberties; among other things, they have in their houses tablets, on which the names of their ancestors, and particularly of Confucius, are written in golden letters; they are allowed to light candles before these tablets, to make offerings to them of rich perfumes, victuals, fruits, and other delicacies, nay, to prostrate the body before them until the head touches the ground. The same ceremony of prostration is performed by the Chinese christians at the tombs of their ancestors. The first of these papal edicts, which was designed to prevent the motley mixture of Chinese superstition with the religious institutions of Christianity, was brought into China, in the year 1705, by cardinal Tournon, the pope's legate; and the second, which was of a more indulgent nature, was sent, in the year 1721, with Mezzabarba, who went to China with the same character. Neither the emperor nor the jesuits were satisfied with these edicts. Tournon, who executed the orders of his ghostly master with more zeal than prudence, was, by the express command of the emperor, thrown into prison, where he died in the year 1710. Mezzabarba, though more cautious and prudent, yet returned home without having succeeded in his negotiation; nor could the emperor be engaged, by either arguments or entreaties, to make any alteration in the institutions and customs of his ancestors." At present the state of Christianity in China being extremely precarious and uncertain, this famous con Tournon had been made, by the pope, patriarch of Antioch; and Mezzabarba, to add a certain degree of weight to his mission, was created patriarch of Alexandria. After his return, the latter was promoted to the bishopric of Lodi, a preferment which, though inferior in point of station to his imaginary patriarchate, was yet more valuable in point of ease and profit. See a fuller account of this mission in Dr. Mosheim's 'Authentic Memoirs of the Christian Churak in China,' p. 26, &c. N. XVIII. troversy is entirely suspended; and many reasons CENTURY induce us to think, that both the pontiffs and the enemies of the jesuits will unite in permitting the latter to depart from the rigour of the papal edicts, and to follow their own artful and insinuating methods of conversion. For they will both esteem it expedient and lawful to submit to many inconveniences and abuses, rather than to risk the entire suppression of popery in China. missions. IV. The attempts made since the commencement Protestant of the present century, by the English and Dutch, and more especially by the former, to diffuse the light of Christianity through the benighted regions of Asia and America, have been carried on with more assiduity and zeal than in the preceding age. That the lutherans have borne their part in this salutary work, appears abundantly from the Danish mission, planned with such piety, in the year 1706, by Frederic IV. for the conversion of the Indians that inhabit the coast of Malabar, and attended with such remarkable success. This noble establishment, which surpasses all that have been yet erected for the propagation of the gospel, not only subsists still in a flourishing state, but acquires daily new degrees of perfection under the auspicious and munificent patronage of that excellent monarch Christian VI. We will indeed readily grant, that the converts to Christianity that are made by the Danish missionaries, are less numerous than those which we find in the lists of the popish legates; but it may be affirmed, at the same time, that they are much better christians, and far excel the latter in the sincerity and zeal that accompany their profession. There is a great difference between christians in reality and christians in appearance; and it is very certain, that the popish missionaries are much more ready, than the protestant doctors, to admit into their communion proselytes, who have noth ing of Christianity but the name. CENTURY Private ene mies of the gospel. We have but imperfect accounts of the labours of the Russian clergy, the greatest part of whom lie yet involved in that gross ignorance that covered the most unenlightened ages of the church. We learn nevertheless from the modern records of that nation, that some of their doctors have employed, with a certain degree of success, their zeal and industry in spreading the light of the gospel in those provinces that lie in the neighbourhood of Siberia. v. While the missionaries now mentioned exposed themselves to the greatest dangers and sufferings, in order to diffuse the light of divine truth in these remote and darkened nations, there arose in Europe, where the gospel had obtained a stable footing, a multitude of adversaries, who shut their eyes upon its excellence, and endeavoured to eclipse its immortal lustre. There is no country in Europe where infidelity has not exhaled its poison; and scarcely any denomination of christians among whom we may not find several persons, who either aim at the total extinction of all religion, or at least endeavour to invalidate the authority of the christian system. Some carry on these unhappy attempts in an open manner, others under the mask of a christian profession; but no where have these enemies of the purest religion, and consequently of mankind, whom it was designed to render wise and happy, appeared with more effrontery and insolence, than under the free governments of Great Britain and the United Provinces. In England, more especially, it is not uncommon to meet with books, in which not only the doctrines of the gospel, but also the perfections of the Deity, and the solemn ob. ligations of piety and virtue, are impudently called in question, and turned into derision. Such impi This observation, and the examples by which it is supported in the following sentence, stand in need of some correction. Many books have indeed been published in England against the divinity, both of the Jewish and christian dispensations; and it is justly to be lamented, that |