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other such wonders; but the greatest miracle of all was his life which he spent in the continual exercise of all the apostolical virtues, and a tender devotion to the mother of God."

The increase of churches and converts in the northern provinces, was rapid during the reign of Shunchí, but the southern parts of the empire not being completely subdued, the claimant to the throne of Ming was favored by the missionaries there, and his troops led on by two Christian Chinese officers, called Thomas Kiu and Luke Chin. His mother, wife, and son were baptized with the names of Helena, Maria, and Constantine, and the former wrote a letter to pope Alexander VII., expressing her attachment to the cause of Christianity, and wishing to put the country through him under the protection of God. This was kindly answered by the pontiff, but the expectations of the Romanists were disappointed by the death of Tunglieh, the emperor, the defeat and dispersion of his troops, and the entire conquest of the country. There seems to have been little search for their foreign assistants by the conquerors, as nothing is recorded of their arrest or punishment.

During the reign of Shunchí, Schaal and his coadjutors stood high at Peking, and their cause prospered in the provinces; but on the emperor's death, the administration fell into the hands of four regents, and as they were known to be opposed to the new sect, a memorial was sent to court, setting forth the evils likely to arise if it was not repressed. "The strifes between the Jesuits and the other orders about the meaning and worship of tien and shangtí (words used for the Supreme Being), revealed the important secret that the principles of the new doctrine were made to subserve the purposes of those who were aspiring to influence. It was remembered also, that while the Catholics continued in Japan, nothing but intrigue, schism, and civil war was heard of, calamities that might sooner or later befal China if the criminal eagerness of the missionaries in enlisting people of all classes was not checked. The members of the different orders wore distinctive badges of medals, rosaries, crosses, &c., and were always ready to obey the calls of their chiefs, who could have no scruple to lead them on to action the moment a probability of success in subverting the existing political order and the ancient worship of China should offer." The regents took the memorial into consideration, and in 1665, the tribunals under

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their direction decreed "that Schaal and his associates merited the punishment of seducers, who announce to the people a false and pernicious doctrine."

Notwithstanding the honorable position Schaal held as tutor of the young emperor Kanghí, he was proscribed and degraded with the rest, and died of grief the next year, aged 78. Verbiest and others were imprisoned, one of whom died; and twentyone Jesuits with some of other sects were sent out of the country. Magaillans says he himself was "loaden for four whole months together with nine chains, three about his neck, his arms, and his legs; he was also condemned to have forty lashes, and to be banished out of Tartary as long as he lived. But a great earthquake that happened at that time at Peking delivered both him and the rest of his companions."* Their relief, however, was probably owing more to the favor of Kanghí on taking the reins of government in 1671 than to the earthquake; he soon released Verbiest to appoint him astronomer in place of Schaal, and allowed the missionaries to return to their stations, though he forbade his subjects embracing Christianity. This favorable change is partly ascribed, too, to the errors Verbiest pointed out in the calendar, which showed an utter ignorance of the commonest principles of astronomy on the part of those who prepared it; an intercalary month had been erroneously introduced, and the unfortunate astronomers were made to exchange places with the imprisoned missionaries, while their intercalary month was discarded, and the year shortened to the great amazement of the common people. It may reasonably be doubted whether Verbiest acted with the usual sagacity and prudence of his order in thus exasperating those in high places, by this public ridicule of their incompetency. Verbiest also prepared an astronomical work entitled "The Perpetual Astronomy of the emperor Kanghí," which the emperor graciously received, and conferred the title of tajin, or magnate, on him, and ennobled all his kindred. "He had no relatives in China, but as the Jesuits called each other brother, they did not hesitate to use the same title. The greatest part of the religious caused it to be inscribed on the doors of their houses."

The favor of the emperor continued, and the missionaries requited

* Magaillans' China, page 147. Chinese Repository, Vol. I, p. 434.

his kindness with many signal services, besides those of a literary and astronomical nature, among which was casting cannon for his army. In 1636, Schaal cast a number for Shunchí, and Verbiest at one time cast one hundred and thirty pieces for Kanghi with wonderful success; he afterwards cast three hundred and twenty more, which he blessed in a solemn manner, and gave the name of a saint to every piece. Some of the high officers were still opposed to the toleration of foreign priests, and the governor of Chehkiang undertook to carry into effect the laws against their admission into the country, and their proselyting labors, but Verbiest, on informing the emperor of their character as excellent mathematicians and scholars, obtained their liberation from confinement and reception at the capital.

During all this time, or at least since the other sects came to assist in the work, there had been constant disputes between the disciples of Loyola, Dominic, and Francis, excited probably by rivalry, but ostensibly relating to the rites paid to deceased ancestors and to Confucius. Ricci had drawn up rules for the regulation of the Jesuits, in which he considered these customs to be merely civil and secular, and such as might be tolerated in their converts. Morales, a Spanish Dominican, however, opposed this view, declaring them to be idolatrous and sinful, and they were condemned as such by the Propaganda, which sentence was confirmed by Innocent X., in 1645. This decree of the see at Rome gave the Jesuits some annoyance, and they set themselves at work to procure its revision. Martinez was the principal agent in this, and by many explanations and testimonials proved to the satisfaction of the tribunal of inquisitors their civil nature, and Alexander VII., in 1656, approved this opinion. There were thus two infallible decrees nearly opposed to each other, for Alexander took care not to directly contradict the bull of Innocent, and worded his decision so that both claimed it. When Shunchí died, and all the missionaries were imprisoned or sent to Canton, a good opportunity offered for mutual consultation and decision upon these and other points. Twenty-three priests then “involuntarily" met in the Jesuit seminary at Canton in 1665, and drew up forty-two articles to serve hereafter for rules of conduct, all of which were unanimously adopted. The one relating to the ceremonies was as follows:

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"In respect to the customs by which the Chinese worship Confucius and the deceased, the answer of the congregation of the universal Inquisition, sanctioned in 1656 by his holiness Alexander VII., shall be invariably followed; for it is founded upon the most probable opinion, without any evident proof to the contrary; and this probability being admitted, the door of salvation must not be shut against innumerable Chinese, who would abandon our Christian religion were they forbidden to attend to those things that they may lawfully and without injury to their faith attend to, and forced to give up what cannot be abandoned without serious consequences."-Chi. Rep., Vol. I., p. 437.

One member of this meeting, Navarette, soon expressed his dissent, and the dispute was renewed as virulently as ever. The opponents of the Jesuits complained that they taught their converts that there was but little difference generally between Christianity and their own belief; and allowed them to retain their old superstitions; they were charged, moreover, with luxury and ambition, and neglecting the duties of their ministry that they might meddle in the affairs of state. These allegations were rebutted by the Jesuits, though it appears from Mosheim that some of them partially acknowledged their truth. In 1693, Maigrot, a bishop and apostolic vicar living in China, issued a mandate on his own authority diametrically opposed to the decision of the Inquisition and the pope, in which he declared that tien signified nothing more than the material heavens, and that the Chinese customs and rites were idolatrous. In 1699, the Jesuits brought the matter before the emperor in the following memorial:

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'We, your faithful subjects, although originally from distant countries, respectfully supplicate your majesty to give us clear instructions on the following points. The scholars of Europe have understood that the Chinese practise certain ceremonies in honor of Confucius, that they offer sacrifices to heaven, and that they observe peculiar rites towards their ancestors; but persuaded that these ceremonies, sacrifices, and rites, are founded in reason, though ignorant of their true intention, earnestly desire us to inform them. We have always supposed that Confucius was honored in China as a legislator, and that it was in this character alone, and with this view solely, that the ceremonies established in his honor were practised. We believe that the ancestral rites are only observed in order to exhibit the love felt for them, and to hallow the remembrance of the good received from them during their life. We believe that the sacrifices offered to heaven are not tendered to the visible heavens which are seen above us, but to the supreme Master, Author, and Pre

server of heaven and earth, and of all they contain. Such are the interpretation and the sense which we have always given to these Chinese ceremonies; but as strangers cannot be considered competent to pronounce on these important points with the same certainty as the Chinese themselves, we presume to request your majesty not to refuse to give us the explanations which we desire concerning them. We wait for them with respect and submission."*

The emperor's reply in 1700 to this petition, and another one presented to him, was sent to the pope; in it he declared that "tien means the true God, and that the customs of China are political." The enemies of the Jesuits say that they "confirmed the sentiments expressed in the imperial rescript by the oaths which they exacted from a multitude of Chinese, among whom were many from the lowest classes, not only entirely ignorant of the meaning of many characters in their own language, but even of Christian doctrine." The strongest efforts were made by both parties to influence the decision of the pope, but the Jesuits failed; in 1704, a decree of Clement XI. confirmed the decision of bishop Maigrot. The court of the Vatican had already dispatched a legate à latere and apostolic visitor to China in the person of Tournon, who was consecrated patriarch of Antioch, in order to give him a title of sufficient dignity in the distant regions to which he was bound. Tournon was a great admirer of the Jesuits, but he indiscreetly excited the opposition of the king of Portugal by omitting to embark at Lisbon, and the bishop of Macao was directed to publish an order forbidding the Catholics in China (in his diocese probably) to acknowledge Tournon as an apostolie visitor. After escaping the perils of the sea, Tournon arrived at Pondicherry, where he lodged with the Jesuits. But on becoming somewhat better acquainted with their mode of proselyting, and their connivance at the superstitious practices of the natives, among which was one blessing the cow's dung used by their converts in worship, he turned against them, and solemnly forbade such practices. When he reached Manila, he also deposed the procureur of the Jesuits there on account of his avarice and confiscated his treasures, a proceeding which still more deeply incensed the order against him.

The legate landed at Macao in April, 1705, and was received

* Life of St. Martin, page 292.

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