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ber of Jews in China, and that they got into China as they did into all other parts of the East; and he wishes Father Ricci or some other missionary had taken more pains to investigate the subject. We must have more information, before any thing very satisfactory can be stated respecting the number or situation of the Jews in China, either at present or at any former period.
The most recent testimony which we have on this subject is contained in Morrison's Journal, written while in the interior of China, from which we give the following passage. "October 10th, 1818.—Had a conversation with a Mohammedan Gentleman, who informed me, that at Kae-fung Foo, in the province of Honan, there are a few families denominated the Teaou-kin-keaou, or 'the sect that plucks out the sinew,' from all the meat which they eat. They have a Le-pae-sze, or house of worship; and observe the eighth day as a Sabbath."
If there are Jews in China, living as a distinct sect, it would be interesting to learn their history; and it is much to be desired that facts may be developed, which shall make us acquainted with the present condition of that scattered people. The subject is worthy of consideration; for if the casting away of them has been the riches of the gentiles, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?
On the origin of the Christian religion in China our translator finds it inconvenient to expatiate; and this subject, also, he is compelled to leave quite in the dark. We will give in few words what seems to be the result of his inquiries. He discards the idea that St. Thomas ever visited China.
"The first appearance of Christianity in China, that we know of, was in the year of Christ 636; and this is what we gather from an inscription, which, in the year of Christ 1625, was found at Si-gnan-fu, the capital of the province of Chensi, delineated in Chinese character, with several lines of Syriac. As this Chinese and Syriac inscription is a monument of very great importance, and the only certain thing of the kind hitherto discovered in this Empire, it may not be amiss to explain the principal passages of it. You have a representative copy of this inscription and stone in Father Kircher's China Illustrata, which he assures us is very exact; and Hornius, and some other Protestants, who would have had it a forgery, without any the least ground, have been refuted by some of their own brethren, who have cooler heads, and more understanding."
'Let us now examine the Chinese part of this inscription according to the translation of some learned Jesuits. The first column lays down the ground work of the Christian faith,—the existance of a Godhead in three persons, the Creator of all things. It is remarkable that these Syrians use the word Aloho (Jehovah); which they did most certainly, because they could find no word in the Chinese tongue, to convey the idea Christians have of the true God.
'The second and third columns continue to explain the mystery of the creation, the fall of the first man by the seduction of the Devil, who is called Satan, a name quite foreign to the