The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-25 00:00:00

CHRISTI
_AN CHURCHES IN PEKIN.

The foils )wing account of the Christian churches
in Pekin . "is given in a letter from Frere Attiret, of
the Soc. ic.ty of Jesus, painter to the Emperor of
China, to M. D'Aosaut, dated Pekin, November 1,
1743. The French original i 3 contained in the 27th
volun le of Lettres Edffiantes et Curieuses, Paris,
1749

" Under the Emperor's grandfather Christianity
was openly preached throughout the Empire; there
were in all 'the provinces a great number of mis-
sionaries of every order and country. Each had
his, district Sand church. They preached publicly
in them, an d the Chinese were freely permitted to
embrace our religion,
" After the death of this Prince, his son expelled
an the m',ssionaries out of the provinces, confiscated
their chiarches, and only allowed the Europeans to
remain in the capital as persons useful to the State
by their skill in the mathematics and other arts and
sciencefi. The reigning Emperor let things continue
upon Iche same footing, nor have we yet been able
to obtain the least alteration in our favour. Many
of the missionaries who were expelled have
secretly returned into the provinces, and others
newly arrived have followed them in pretty large
numbers, They keep themselves concealed there as
well as they can ; they cultivate their missions and
do all the good in their power, taking precautions
nut to be discovered, and never performing their
funetions but by night.
" As we are publicly tolerated in the capital, our
missionaries there exercise their ministry without
.reserve. We have there three churches, one be-
longing to the French Jesuits, the two others be-
longing to the Jesuits of Portugal, Italy, Germany,
&c. These churches are built after the European
manner, beautiful, large, well ornamented and
painted, and such as would do honour to the greatest
cities of Europe. There is at Pekin a very large
number of Christians, who attend our churches with
all freedom. We go into the city to say mass and
administer the sacraments at proper times to the
women, who, according to the laws of the country,
are not permitted to go from home, or to mix with
men in the churches. The missionaries are indulged
in this. liberty at the capital because the Emperor
knows very well that the only motive which brings
us hither is religion, and that if they shut up our
churches and deprived the missionaries of the
liberty of performing their functions we should
quit China, which is what he would not choose.
Such of our Fathers as lurk in the provinces are
not so thoroughly concealed but that the Mandarins
might detect them if they would; but they shut
their eyes, because they know upon what footing
we are received at tho capital. If by mischance we
should be sent away, the missionaries in the pro-
vinces would be soon discovered and sent after us.
Our figure is too different from that of the Chinese
to remain long undiscovered.
With regard to the progress which our religion
makes here, I have already told you that we have
three churches and 22 Jesuits—ten of the French
nation in our French house, and twelve in the
other houses, who are Portuguese, Italians, and
Germans. Of these 22 Jesuits, seven are em-
ployed, like myself, in the Emperor's service.
Thu others are priests, and consequently mis-
sionaries. They have under their care not only the
mission established in the city of Pekin, but also a
district of 40 or 50 leagues around, wherein they
make from time to time apostolic excursions. Be-
'sides these European Fathers, there are here five
Chinese priests, who have received priests' orders,
and go into houses and places where an European
cannot go without danger or indecorum. There are
besides these in the several provinces between 30
and 40 missionaries, reckoning Jesuits and others.
Within this city and the district above-mentioned
our French house baptises constantly every year
between 500 and 600 grown persons, and about
1,200 or 1,300 infidel parents. Our Portuguese
Fathers, who are more numerous than the French,
baptise a greater number of idolaters ; accordingly
they reckon in this single province and in Tartary,
between 25,000 and 30,000 Christians ; whereas in
our French mission we only reckon about 5,000."
Thus far Father Attiret. The founders of the
Romish Church in China were three Italian Jesuits
in the end of the 16th century. The most able and
noted of these was Matthew Ricci, of Ancona, who
in 1603, published at Pekin a book " On the Divine
Law," which became popular throughout the em-
pire. His book intermixes the doctrines of Chris-
tianity with the morals of Confucius. Tho tolera-
tion extended to the missionaries in Pekin was
withdrawn in 1746, from which time the cause of
Christianity gradually declined, till in the begin-
ning of the present century Protestant missions
were commenced.