Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	worship_v	worshipper_n	zeal_n	16	3	7.8483	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49911	Memoirs and observations typographical, physical, mathematical, mechanical, natural, civil, and ecclesiastical, made in a late journey through the empire of China, and published in several letters particularly upon the Chinese pottery and varnishing, the silk and other manufactures, the pearl fishing, the history of plants and animals, description of their cities and publick works, number of people, their language, manners and commerce, their habits, oeconomy, and government, the philosophy of Confucius, the state of Christianity : with many other curious and useful remarks / by Louis Le Compte ... ; translated from the Paris edition, and illustrated with figures.	Le Comte, Louis, 1655-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing L831; ESTC R15898	355,133	724

represents saying This is that great and glorious City which has subsisted for so many years and saith I truly am a City and there is none besides me The Chinese indeed were something excusable in this Point since they knew of nothing beyond the Seas of Iapan and Forests of Tartary but what we have told 'em That the West had also its Cities and Kingdoms which in several things exceeds theirs has very much humbled them being not a little vexed that their Title to the Universal Monarchy should now be questioned after having enjoyed it above 4000 years Our Comfort My Lord is that these proud Cities which stiled themselves Ladies of the Universe have been forced to open their Gates to the Gospel and art partly subdued by our Religion Those that dwelt in high places have bowed their heads and the Lord has in a holy manner brought low the lofty Cities This My Lord has often supported me in the midst of my Labours and Travels I have seen but few Cities where Christianity had made no Progress and among those Crowds of Worshippers of Belial I have observed a chosen People which worshipped the Lord in Spirit and in Truth Our Churches are now the Ornament of those very Cities which during so many Ages had been defiled with Idols and the Cross raised above their Houses confounds Superstition and gains it self Respect from the very Gentiles What then remains My Lord but that we labour with the utmost Diligence to the perfecting of a Work worthy the Zeal of the first Apostles Woe to those who are kept there by the Care of the Head of the Church and the Liberality of Christian Princes if thro' Negligence or an ill-ground●d Cowardice they fail of rendring the Inhabitants of those vast Cities a Holy Nation Hitherto thro' God's good Grace the Ministers of the Gospel have not been ashamed of their Profession not before the Pagan Magistrates and when forced by a long Exile to quit their beloved Churches they all might with St. Paul say You know I have endeavoured to serve the Lord in all humility with many tears and notwithstanding the Crosses I have met with from the Heathen that I have hid nothing from you that might be to your advantage no hinderance being strong enough to prevent my preaching it both in publick and private but rather admonishing you all to be p●nitent towards God and faithful to our Lord Iesus Christ. I know that those who have Composed whole Volumes to cry down our Catholick Missions will not agree to what I have said Men who have once professed themselves Enemies to the Orthodox Doctrine attack it every where and make it their Business to slander such as preach it But it may be a Comfort to us that we have no other Adversaries but those who are such to our Church and that we are only blamed by those whose Praise would be a Reproach to us However we stand in daily need of the Assistance of our kind Protectors For in what part of this World can Naked Truth and Distressed Innocence withstand alone the Force of Inveterate Malice In you My Lord we hope to find one full of Zeal and Justice The Approbation of so great a Prince whose Wit Judgment and Uprightness are well known to all Europe is able alone to Silence and Confound our Enemies And when it is once known that you are in some Concern for our Affairs that you are sensible of our Labours perswaded that our Designs are good and willing to contribute to carry them on none sure will then be so daring and hardened a Calumniator as to speak against our Missions to China or reflect on our Conduct in that Country I am with a profound Respect My Lord Hour Eminences most ●umble and obedient Servant I. J. LETTER IV. To the Count de CRECY Of the Clime Soil Canals Rivers and Fruits of China My Lord THE French Missionaries to China are so highly obliged to your whole Family that among the most important Commands they have honoured me with for Europe that of returning you their hearty Thanks was earnestly recommended to my Care I know My Lord that how great soever your Favours may have been your several Employments and the unbounded Application with which you serve his Majesty have somewhat curbed your Zeal But what is not owing from us to that other Self of yours pardon the Expression whom his Blood Name Wit and a thousand excellent Qualifications do so confound with you that we can scarce distinguish the one from the other In all our Travels in which some of us have already reckon'd above 40000 Leagues we have not made a Step without his Orders and Assistance His Zeal has excited us to Noble Enterprises his Prudence directed us how to carry them on his Courage strengthned us against all Opposition and I hope his unshaken Constancy will at last give Success to one of the most Noble Atchievements that this Age has produced to our Churches good to the Improvement of Learning and to his Glory who Sways the Gallick Scepter Thus My Lord while you make known his Name in the several Courts of Europe he spreads yours abroad thro' the new World where he is equally reverenced by the Preachers of the Gospel whose Support he is and dreaded by those of Paganism and Idolatry whose Ruin he is the occasion of I the more willingly do Justice to his Merit because I cannot write on a Subject more agreeable to your Lordship and if I had not already spoke to it in a private Conversation I were to blame to give over so soon But after having indulged a Father's Tenderness is it not time you should satisfie a State-man's Curiosity I have often described Europe to the Chinese who have admired its Politeness Beauty and Magnificence it is but just that I make China known to that European who is best able to judge of its true Grandeur I have My Lord pitched upon the following Particulars being such as will give you a true Idea of that Country and will perhaps give some pleasure in the reading China being of a large Extent the Nature of the Soil is different according to its particular Situation as it lyes more or less Southwards I can however assure your Lordship that the least of its fifteen Provinces is so Populous and Fertile that in Europe it would make alone a considerable State and a Prince who should enjoy it might have Wealth and Subjects enough to content a moderate Ambition This Land like all others is divided into Hills and Plains but the latter are so even that one would think the Chinese have ever since the Foundation of their Monarchy been employ'd in nothing else but levelling them and making them into Gardens and their manner of meliorating their Ground being to let Water thro' it they could not think of a better way to distribute it equally else those Parts which lye highest would have laboured under a continual

coming from Goa had on Board the Governour of Macao was seized by a sudden gust of Wind and forced to let the Ship drive towards these Islands do what they could They cast Anchor between the Isles of Sanciam and Lampacao which were so near one another as to make a kind of Haven Contrary Winds continuing eight ' days gave Father Caroccio a Jesuite who was on Board an opportunity of satisfying his devout resolutions He went on shoar and was resolved in spight of Danger to go in search of the Saints Tomb. The Pilot and most part of the Sailors followed him they searched the whole Island but to no purpose a. the Isle of Sanciam b Lampacao c the Port d the Lomb of Saint Xavier Lastly to preserve the memory of that holy place they resolved to build a good square Wall all round the Tomb and to dig a Ditch to secure it from all inundations In the midst between these Walls they raised the Stone which they found overturned and built an Altar as a Memorial of the august Sacrifice of the Eucharist which had been offered up there which might also serve to Celebrate it upon again if either Accident or Devotion should carry the Ministers of JESUS CHRIST thither any more The People of the place did themselves assist toward the carrying on this little work and showed as much Zeal for the honour of the Saint as the Christians did This place is of itself very pleasant You see there a small Plain extended from the bottom of a Hill on one side of which is a Wood on the other are Gardens Cultivated a Rivulet which turns and twines about renders the Island very Fertile It is not uninhabited as some have wrote there are seventeen Villages in it The Land is manured even the very Mountains and the Inhabitants are so far from wanting the necessaries of Life that the growth of their Island is enough to carry on such Commerce as yields them a moderate plenty You will easily pardon me Sir for this short digression concerning St. Francis Xavier A Missionary can't speak of him without being naturally inclined to enlarge about every thing that concerns this great Man It was he who settled upon a solid Foundation all the Missions into the Indies and who in the last Years of his Life encouraged his Brethren to enterprize the great Design of the Conversion of China His Zeal passed into their minds and hearts and tho' every body but Xavier thought it impossible that the Design should take effect the Fathers Roger Pasio and Ricci all three Italians did resolve to spend all their pains and if it were necessary all their blood in this great Work The Difficulties which the Devil raised did not discourage them They entred one after the other into the Southern Provinces The Novelty of their Doctrine brought them Auditors and the Sanctity of their Life 's made those Auditors have a favourable opinion of them At first they heard them with Pleasure and afterwards with Admiration Father Ricci above all distinguished himself by his Zeal and Understanding For he was thoroughly instructed in the Customs the Religion Laws and Ceremonies of the Count●y all which he had studied a long time before at Macao He spoke their Language fluently and understood their Writings perfectly this was joyned to a sweet easie complaisant temper and a certain insinuating behaviour which none but himself had which it was hard to resist but above all an ardour which the Holy Ghost instils into the Workmen of the Lords Harvest all this I say got him the repute of a great Man and an Apostle Not but that he met with a great many rubs in the work of God The Devil overthrew his Designs more than once He had the Superstition of the People the Jealousie of the Bonzes and the ill humour of the Mandarins to deal with all which violently opposed what he was about to establish Yet he never gave over and God gave him Perseverance a Vertue very necessary in the beginning such Enterprises as these which always meet with opposition and which men of the best intentions in the World sometimes let fall discouraged for want of present success to fortifie them in the prosecution of their Design Father Ricci after many Years fruitless labour had at last the comfort of seeing the Gospel flourish He made many and mighty Conversions in the Provinces The Mandarins themselves opened their eyes to the light of our holy Faith which our Missionary carried even almost as far as to the Court The Emperor Vanli then reigning received him with great marks of Respect and Kindness and among divers European Curiosities which the Father presented to him he was so taken with some Pictures of our Saviour and the Virgin Mary that he ordered them to be set up in an high place in his Palace as things to which he would have a respect fhewn This kind Welcome from the Emperour gained him the Good will of all the Lords at Court and in spight of the opposition of some Magistrates who according to their custom could never deal handsomly by a Stranger he bought an House at Pekin and gained such a Foundation and Establishment there as hath been since the support of all the Missions into this Empire Religion was by this means known and without it it would have been impossible to have supported it thus it came into esteem and was preached by the new Missionaries who made great advantage of Father Ricci's first Labours The Court and all the Provinces resounded every where with that adorable Name which the Jews heretofore thro' the respect they bore to it never so much as pronounced to their Proselites and which the new-converted Chinese named to their Country-men with a respect yet greater For the European Workmen being but few gave an opportunity to several Mandarins to preach the Gospel and there were some of them who by their Zeal and Understanding promoted the Affairs of Religion as much as the most fervent Missionaries It is true that these Successes were sometime after interrupted for it is the Character of Truth that it makes it self Enemies and the lot of the Christian Religion always to be persecuted Providence being desirous to try the Fidelity of these new Christians and to re-inflame the Zeal of their Ministers permitted the Idol Priests to oppose the preaching of the Gospel So that it very near came to pass that a Cabal of some Bonzes supported by several Mandarins had by the destruction of Father Ricci overthrown in one minute the Work of several Years B●t the greatest danger to this Holy Man and his Mission came from his own Brethren I mean the European Christians Some Portuguese of Macao incensed against the Jesuits resolved to destroy them in China altho' with them they destroyed the Christian Religion there They could not but know what the Holy Intentions of those Fathers were in going thither yet they accused them as Spies who

Mission better than all others is the hope one day to Convert the Emperor the change of whose Religion would infallibly be followed by the intire Conversion of the whole Nation so that although we should wait for this happy moment three or four Ages without any other profit than what we hope for in time to come we should be too happy in preparing by our patience the way of the Lord in this New World which perhaps will make better improvement of the Faith that our Successors shall bring to it than Europe does at present of that our Forefathers intrusted it withal In short altho' amongst the Christians that are in China we can reckon no more Princes and Ministers of State since the last Persecution of Father Adam yet for all that we Baptise every Year Mandarins Doctors and other Persons of Quality yet it is true that the common People make up the greatest number Non multi potentes non multi nobiles And it is no news to own that the Poor have always been the elect Portion and precious Inheritance of JESUS CHRIST in the Church The main body of Christians is in the Province of Nankin and more especially in the Territory ChamHai but the Faith is more lively in the Provinces of Chanton Pechely Chensi and Chansi There are in proportion as many Tartarians as Chinese Christians these are more docil and much easier to be Converted yet in time of Temptation they have not half so much Courage The Tartars on the contrary being naturally of a brisk temper do not easily stoop under the Yoak of the Gospel but those over whom Grace hath once triumphed are enduod with a Vertue that is proof against the sorest Persecutions As for Women which we see more rarely altho' they be less instructed than the Men yet their Innocence their constant attendance at Prayer their blind submission to the Precepts of Faith and the most harsh and severe Practices of Christian Piety does in some measure supply their defect of Knowledge as to the particulars of our Mysteries It were to be wish'd that the Beauty and Ornament of our Churches might answer the devout Fervour of Christians But besides that the Chinese are no great Architects this novel Christianity so frequently shaken by Persecutions composed for the most of the poorer sort of People only tolerated by the by and always fain to observe a great many punctilio's and keep within bounds hath not yet been in a condition to rear magnificent Temples Nevertheless it is matter of astonishment that the Missionaries with such a pitiful Fund as theirs is should be able on this score to do so much The Church of Pekin is very well built the Fron●ispiece the Stones of which were laid by the Missionaries themselves is very proportionable and pleasing Those in Kiam cheou Cham-bai and Fou-tçheou that which the Fathers have at Canton and divers others are as fine as our ordinary Churches of Europe but the Church of Cham-tçheou was so very pretty and neat that one could not enough admire it You could see nothing but Gildings Paintings and curious Pictures it was all over adorn'd with them yea and there was a great deal of Symetry and Order in the whole That delicate red and black Vernish which the Chineses are so expert at to which they give a particular relief or embossment by the Flowers of Gold and other Figures wherewith they enrich it did produce the finest Effect in the World to compleat the whole But this goodly Church the product of Christians Devotion and of Father Intorcetta's Zeal is lately reduc'd to ashes by a dreadful Conflagration that consum'd one quarter of the City and in all probability we shall not be in a capacity a long time to perform any thing like it Nevertheless it will be our comfort to support us after this loss if it shall please our blessed Lord to destroy at the same that pack of Idols which have overflow'd the whole Empire and that he will vouchsafe to raise himself Living Temples in the hearts of the new Believers where he may be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth wherein for want of ours they may offer to him the sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving I shall not entertain you most Reverend Father concerning the Transactions of the Indies where the Revolution of a huge Kingdom the Jealousies some Europeans together with the continual 〈◊〉 of Hereticks have broken all the measures 〈◊〉 Christian prudence obliged us to take for the 〈◊〉 of Religion so that the most part of the French Missionaries have been hitherto more conspicuous their Sufferings than by their Conversion of Idolaters Some of them after having lingerd out several Years in the most darksom Prisons scarce begin to see the Light and are not yet in a condition even to exercise their Functions with any freedom Others droven from their settlements wander up and down upon the most tempestuous Oceans carrying along with them the miserable remainders of their ruin'd Missions and that they may return to the remotest parts of the World they commit themselves a fourth time to the mercy of the Waves and their Enemies Several buried in Shipwracks or worn out with Toils have gloriously finished their course and tho' their Companions live still it is only to consume by little and little the sacrifice of their Lives by the ill habit of body they have contracted by their first labours You see most Reverend Father what sort of Persons they be I speak of you know their names you understand their worth and since they were chosen from amongst a great many other Candidates for the East-Indies you have been pleased always to honour them with a most particular affection and may I be bold to add that you were not satisfied with only sending of them you followed your self in some respect and became the Fellow or rather the Head of their Apostleship sharing like one of the most zealous Missionaries in the success of their holy undertakings zealously lending an helping hand to their Labours delivering them from their Chains by a powerful protection or at least lightning the weight by conso●●tory Letters full of that lively hope that makes a Man take delight in the most rigid Persecutions This Courage most Reverend Father which you 〈◊〉 inspired into us does not only alleviate our Sufferings but also assures us that the ruins of this grand ●●ifice that we have laid the first Stone of to the 〈◊〉 of God will one day serve for a Basis to another Work yet more considerable and solid than the first So that neither the Shipwreck of three of our Brethren buried in Sea nor the loss of three more who Sacrificed their lives a board the Vessel in relieving the Sick nor yet the death of a great many more whom the Fatigues of the Mission have snatch'd from us in the Indies nor the Prisons of Pegu Siam Moluccas Batavia Roterdam nor Middleburg where Pagans and Hereticks