of them might find the way into those Countries which have been but lately difcovered to the rest of the World. It is evident from the unanimous Testimony both of Proteftants and Papists, that there are manifest Tokens, in all Parts of the World, that the Christian Religion has been preached amongst them. And it muft, in common Juftice, be confeft, that the latter Miffionaries have preached the Gospel among the Indians with great zeal and fuccefs. A King of Ceylon * received Baptifm, and was very zealous to bring over his Subjects to the Chriftian Faith; and one of their most learned Men became a Christian at the fame time; but the King was depofed by his Idolatrous Subjects. Some of the Kings of Congo have been converted: One of whom, Alphonfo, destroyed all the Idols, and propagated the Chriftian Faith with great zeal: He fent his Sons, Grandfons and Nephews to Portugal to ftudy; Two of them were afterwards Bishops in their own Country. The King of Monomotapa reigning A. D. MDCXXXI, was a Chriftian. b Bernier computes the number of Chriftians in the Kingdom of Bengale, at between Thirty and Forty thousands. And in Japan, A. D. MDCXIII, there were Four hundred thousand Chriftians, who were all destroyed by the Perfecution raised, through the Covetoufnefs of fome Dutch Merchants, and their malicious Plots and Contrivances, to engrofs the Trade of those Islands to themselves. And indeed, by the Accounts which we have of those Parts, the Lives of the Europeans have been fo fcandalous, and fo contrary to their Religion, that befides the guilt of the fins a * Tavern. Voyages des Indes, 1. 3. c. 4. y Varen. de diverfis Gent. Relig. Tavern. Voyage de Perfe, c. 14. & Ofor. de rebus Eman. 1. 3, 8, 10. I 2 • Ibid. them themselves, they have a great deal to anfwer, for that hindrance which they have thereby given to the progress of Chriftianity among thofe poor People, who have generally fhewn a good inclination and forwardness to be inftructed; and in times of Perfecution, both from Mahometans and Idolaters, even Children have born all forts of Torments with wonderful Courage and Patience. e Several Kings of Japan have been converted: And in China, many of their principal Mandarines, or Governors, have been eminent for their zeal in the Christian Religion; and though the Chineses are naturally very timorous and cowardly, yet in all times of Perfecution, they have been observed to continue firm and stedfast in the Faith. We are told, that the Mother, the Wife, and the Eldest Son of the Emperor of China, were formerly converted, and that there is lately an Edict publifh'd in favour of the Chriftian Religion in China; that a Prince of the Blood is become a Chriftian; and that the Emperor himself has caufed a Church to be erected in his Palace, and lodges the Missionaries near his own Perfon. And in the WeftIndies, Cortes wrote to the Emperor, That the People of Mechoacan fent to him for an Account of his Religion, being weary of their own, for its cruel and bloody Rites. It is obfervable, That Chriftianity has been ftill profelfed in those Parts of the World where there has been moft Learning and Commerce; where they have been most able, and have had moft opportunities to inftruct other Nations. To which end, the vast extent first of the Greek, and Latin, and Syriac, and fince of the Perfick, and Sclavonian, and Arabick Tongues, has been very advantagious; the Scriptures of the • Maffei Hift. Ind. lib. 16. Varen. de Japan. c. 6. Semed. Hift. of China, part 2. Bell. Tartar. Le Compte, p. 480. Jof. Acoft. 1. 5. c. 22. New h New Teftament being written in the first, and tranflated into all the reft. And though, by the Juft and Wife Providence of God, Mahometans and Idolaters have been fuffer'd to poffefs themselves of those Places, in Greece, Afia, and Africa, where the Christian Religion formerly most flourish'd; yet there are ftill fuch Remainders of the Chriftian Religion amongst them, as to give them Opportunity to be converted; and when their Sins fhall not hinder, to restore the Gospel to thofe Countries, as before. For, by Mr. Brerewood's Account, in the Dominions of the Turk, in Europe, the Christians make two third parts at least of the Inhabitants; and in Constantinople it felf, he reckons above Twenty Christian Churches, and above Thirty in Theffalonica, where the Mahametans have (or had) but Three Mofques. Philadelphia, now call'd Ala-fhahir, has no fewer than Twelve Christian Churches. k The whole Ifland of Chio is govern'd by Christians; there are above Thirty Latin Churches, and more than Five hundred Greek. And in fome other Islands of the Archipelago, there are none but Christians. Which, by Sir Paul Ricant's Account of the prefent State of the Ottoman Empire, has not been without very confiderable effect: For a Sect among the Turks, call'd Haietti, hold that Christ is Eternal, that he was Incarnate, and that he shall come to Judge the World at the Laft Day. The Students in the Grand Signior's Court generally maintain, that Christ is God, and the Redeemer of the World; and this is a common Tenet in Constantinople; the Profeffors of it are styled Chupmeffahi, or the Good Followers of the Meffiah, and fome have fuffer'd Martyrdom in maintenance of this Doctrine. And the Turkish Soldiers, in the Confines of Hungary and Bofnia, read h Brerewood's Enquir. c. 10. Ricaur's Prefent State of the Greek Church, p. 74. Ricaut's Hift, of the Ottoman Empire, 1. 2. c. 11, 12. I 3 the m Bernier the Gospel in the Sclavonian Tongue. writes, that in Mogul, though the Missionaries make fome Progrefs among the Gentiles, yet they do not in Ten Years make one Chriftian of a Mahometan: But he fays, that the Great Mogul Jehan Guire, Grandfather of Aureng-Zebe, confented that Two of his Nephews fhould be Chriftians; and declares, that the Mahometans have venerable Thoughts of our Religion, that they never speak of Chrift but with great Reverence, that they never pronounce the Word Aysa, i. e. Jefus, without adding that of Azaret, which fignifies Majesty, that they agree with us, that he was miraculously born of a Virgin-Mother, and that he is the Kelum-Allah, and the Rouh-Allah, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. All which is no more than the Alcoran teaches them, nor than the Mabometans of Perfia and Morocco profess to believe. n The Perfian Mahometans receive among their Sacred Books, the Pentateuch, the Pfalms, all the Books of the Prophets, and the four Evangelifts: and the Reading thefe Books of Scripture, has been the means, of which God has been pleas'd to make ufe for the Converfion of many Perfons of great Eminency. In the Kingdom of Morocco, they receive the Books of Mofes, the Pfalms, and the four Gofpels, and observe the Festival of St. John; tho' in the Gofpels they follow the falfe Gloffes of Sergius and the Alcoran. P Sir Thomas Roc obferves, that the Great Mogul, Erbar Sha, gave the Miffionaries all manner of Encouragement and Affiftance, with full Liberty to all forts of his Subjects to become Christians, even to his own Court and Blood; and that neither Jehan Guire, to whom he was fent Embassador, nor any of all the Sects in his Kingdom, utter'd any difrefpectful Words of Christ m Memoir. Tom. 3. "Sanfon. Royaume de Perse. Relation de l'Empire de Maroc par Mr. de S. Olon. • Lett. O&ob. 30. 1616, as as they did not forbear to do, of Mahomet; which, fays he, is a wonderful fecret working of God's Truth and worth obferving. It is alfo obferv'd lately, by *a learned Author, that the Chriftians had better Terms from Mahomet himself, than any other of his Tributaries; and that there is no Mahometan Country where the Chriftian Religion is not efteem'd the beft, next their own; and the Profeffors of it accordingly refpected by them, before any other fort of Men that differ from them. In Africa, befides the Chriftians living in Egypt, and in the Kingdom of Congo and Angola, the Ilands upon the Western Coafts are inhabited by Chriftians; and the vast Kingdom of Habaffia, or Abaffinia, fuppofed to be as big as Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, taken together, (according to Mr. Brerewood's Computation) is poffefs'd by Christians. And till lefs than Two hundred Years ago, Nubia, a Country of a great extent, lying between the Equator and the Northern Tropick, continued, as it's believ'd, from the Apoftles times, in the Chriftian Religion. In Afia, he says, most part of the Empire of Ruffia, the Countries of Circaffia and Mengrelia, Georgia and Mount Libanus, are inhabited only by Chriftians, befides the Difperfion of them into other Parts, under the Denomination of Neftorians, Jacobites, Maronites, and Armenians, the laft of which are a People exceedingly addicted to Traffick 9, and have great Privileges granted them by the Turks, and other Mahometans; they are found in multitudes in moft Cities of great Trade, and are more difpers'd than any other Nation but the Jews; and the Jacobites are reported to be difpers'd into Forty Kingdoms. In the Promontory extending it felf into the Indian Sea, are the Chriftians of Saint Thomas; fo call'd, becaufe first converted by him who is believ'd to lie bury'd at Maliapour, and they * Dr. Prideaux's Life of Mahomet. 9 Brerewood's Enquir. c. 24. 14 have |