ning, while they are afraid of a Jesuitical
fraud. * Note: This famous monument, the authenticity of which many have
attempted to impeach, rather from hatred to the Jesuits, by whom it
was made known, than by a candid examination of its contents, is now
generally considered above all suspicion. The Chinese text and the facts
which it relates are equally strong proofs of its authenticity. This
monument was raised as a memorial of the establishment of Christianity
in China. It is dated the year 1092 of the era of the Greeks, or the
Seleucidae, A.D. 781, in the time of the Nestorian patriarch Anan-jesu.
It was raised by Iezdbouzid, priest and chorepiscopus of Chumdan, that
is, of the capital of the Chinese empire, and the son of a priest who
came from Balkh in Tokharistan. Among the various arguments which may be
urged in favor of the authenticity of this monument, and which has not
yet been advanced, may be reckoned the name of the priest by whom it
was raised. The name is Persian, and at the time the monument was
discovered, it would have been impossible to have imagined it; for there
was no work extant from whence the knowledge of it could be derived. I
do not believe that ever since this period, any book has been published
in which it can be found a second time. It is very celebrated amongst
the Armenians, and is derived from a martyr, a Persian by birth, of the
royal race, who perished towards the middle of the seventh century, and
rendered his name celebrated among the Christian nations of the East.
St. Martin, vol. i. p. 69. M. Remusat has also strongly expressed his
conviction of the authenticity of this monument. Melanges Asiatiques,
P. i. p. 33. Yet M. Schmidt (Geschichte der Ost Mongolen, p. 384) denies
that there is any satisfactory proof that much a monument was ever found
in China, or that it was not manufactured in Europe. But if the Jesuits
had attempted such a forgery, would it not have been more adapted to
further their peculiar views?--M.]

[Footnote 119: Jacobitae et Nestorianae plures quam Graeci et Latini
Jacob a Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosol. l. ii. c. 76, p. 1093, in the Gesta
Dei per Francos. The numbers are given by Thomassin, Discipline de
l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 172.]

[Footnote 120: The division of the patriarchate may be traced in the
Bibliotheca Orient. of Assemanni, tom. i. p. 523--549, tom. ii. p. 457,
&c., tom. iii. p. 603, p. 621--623, tom. iv. p. 164-169, p. 423, p.
622--629, &c.]

[Footnote