N20568:2407
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being…
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Volume 1 › Chapter 4 › An Account of the Persecutions in CHINA.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
THIS was the condition of Christianity in China, when the christian church established there was governed only by Ricci, who, by his moderation, made innumerable converts. In 1630, however, this tranquillity was disturbed by the arrival of some new missionaries: these being unacquainted with the Chinese customs, manners, and language, and with the arguments on which Ricci's toleration was founded, were astonished when they saw christian converts prostrate before Confucius and the tables of their ancestors, and condemned the custom accordingly.
A warm controversy now ensued between Ricci, seconded by his converts, and the new missionaries; and the latter wrote an account of the whole affair to the pope, and the society for the propagation of the christian faith. The society soon pronounced, that the ceremonies were idolatrous and intolerable, and the pope confirmed the sentence. In this both the society and the pope were excusable, as the matter had been misrepresented to them; for the enemies of Ricci had affirmed, the halls, in which the ceremonies ⟨p. 230⟩were performed, to be temples, and the ceremonies themselves idolatrous sacrifices.
THE sentence above-mentioned was sent over to China, but treated with contempt, and matters remained as they were for some time. At length, a true representation of the matter was sent over, setting forth, that the Chinese customs and ceremonies alluded to were entirely free from idolatry, being merely political, and tending only to the peace and welfare of the empire. The pope, finding that he had made himself ridiculous, by confirming an absurd sentence upon a false report, wanted to get rid of the affair, and therefore referred the representation to the inquisition, which reversed the sentence immediately, at the private desire of the pope, as may be naturally supposed.