Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/181

ciples emigrated to China, and found there a home where they could live peacefully and worship freely without fear of official molestation. In 551 a.bD. some of these monks returned to Constantinople bearing silk-worm’s eggs, and as they had been residents of the Far-Eastern country for many years, it is reasonably conjectured — and the conjecture has the support of independent evidence — that either they or their predecessors arrived in China not later than the beginning of the sixth century. In China the only remaining record of their existence and labours is a monumental stone found at the ancient capital, Hsian in Shensi. ‘This stone, to which reference has already been made, was not discovered until 1625, and an animated discussion ensued as to its origin and authenticity. - Ultimately, however, owing mainly to the researches of the brilliant Jesuit priest, Pére Havret, in the nineteenth century, sinologues agreed to regard the stone as a genuine relic of early Christianity, though men of such eminence as Voltaire and Renan had insisted on calling it a fraud. Erected in 781 a. p., the stone has an inscription in the Chinese language with Syriac additions. Several translations have been made, each differing more or less from the other, but all agreeing sufficiently to convey a clear idea of the main facts. Special mention is made on the tablet of Father Olopen, who performed the arduous journey across Asia from Mesopotamia in the year 635, bearing “the sacred books,”