exist to-day or as were to be found between the peoples of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean world while the former were becoming Christian, or between Spain and the New World in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the story might have been very different.

Moreover, Christianity labored under more disadvantages under the Mongols than under the T'ang. It had a much shorter time in which to effect a foothold-less than a century, as contrasted with at least two hundred and fifty years. While under both dynasties it usually had the favor of the monarch, in the one the ruling line was Chinese and in the other it was that of a foreign conqueror. Neither dynasty accepted it as its official religion or gave it undivided support. Moreover, in Mongol times, Nestorianism was probably less vigorous and more corrupt than under the T'ang, and its force was much more nearly spent. Even more than under the earlier dynasty it would have been a marvel had Christianity permanently established itself in China. With the expulsion of the Mongols, Christianity disappeared from the horizon of the Chinese even more completely than it had after the fall of the T'ang. No non-Chinese Christian communities survived on the northern marches, ready to make their influence felt under more favorable circumstances. If Christianity were ever to become a permanent and influential factor in Chinese life, it could be only through movements much more powerful than any that had so far appeared.

CHAPTER VI

THE AGE OF EUROPEAN DISCOVERIES AND THE RESUMPTION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS

THE interruption of Christian missions in Cathay and of intercourse with the Occident which followed the collapse of the Mongol Empire was to continue long enough to lead the Chinese to forget almost entirely the existence of Europe and of Christianity, but it was only an interruption. In less than two centuries from the time when the last Franciscans disappeared from Cathay Roman Catholic missionaries were again knocking at the doors of China, this time with greater and more lasting effect. The Mongol invasions had but brought China into premature contact with a vigorous new life in Europe, and the Polos and John of Montecorvino were the forerunners of many thousands who in the course of the centuries were to penetrate the Middle Kingdom. The commerce of the Italian cities, the crusades, the rise of the Dominicans and the Franciscans, and the beginnings of universities were merely the precursors of geographic discoveries, economic and political expansion, religious awakenings and intellectual activity, which by the early years of the twentieth century were to affect the entire human race. The peoples of Western Europe, from being a relatively negligible factor in the world's affairs, were to become their arbiters.

As a result of the new life in Europe, China was in time to become partially subject to Western nations and was to undergo a revolution in ideas and institutions. Would this revolution be wholesome or unwholsome? Would it lead to misery for the masses of the nation or to a richer life? Would it weaken such ethical and religious values as the Chinese already possessed, or would it enrich, supplement, and transcend them? The answer, at least partly and perhaps chiefly, depended upon the Church. The Church was the chief agency for conserving and promoting such

moral and religious values as were to be found in the aggressive West. If it did not take active steps to give its message to China the impact of the Occident upon that country would be largely destructive of all that was best. Christianity, as the faith professed in the Occident, was to come with whatever prestige might be attached to the religion of the dominant race. It was to find the Chinese institutions opposed to it eventually giving way, and it was to have an opportunity such as no foreign faith, with the possible exception of Buddhism, had ever enjoyed.

It was in the sixteenth century that there began that continuous and increasing impact of an expanding Europe upon China which was to bring to the Church its great challenge and opportunity. This impact was to come in three rather distinct stages. The first was in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. During these years the foreign merchant was confined to a few ports, usually one or two, little diplomatic intercourse was carried on, and the only foreigners living inland were missionaries. The Portuguese were the only Europeans having a territorial foothold and Christian missions were almost exclusively Roman Catholic. The second stage coincided, roughly, with the nineteenth century. It was marked by the increasing pressure of European peoples on China, the forcible imposition of treaties, the partial opening of the country to the residence of foreigners, and the steady growth of foreign commerce. The dominant commercial power was Great Britain. Protestant missions had their inception, Roman Catholic missions continued, and the Russian Orthodox Church tentatively began reaching out among the Chinese. The foreigner was not yet accepted and Chinese culture remained

intact.

The third stage began, approximately, with the twentieth century and was marked by the partial disintegration of Chinese civilization and institutions and the beginning of their reshaping under Occidental influences. The situation made, naturally, for increased openings for Christian missions and the Church grew apace.

CHANGES IN EUROPE IN THe Fifteenth AND SIXTEENTH

CENTURIES

The Europe of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as we have suggested, witnessed changes which were to introduce the first of

these three stages and to determine its character. To understand what occurred in China we must describe these movements somewhat more fully. The age was, first of all, one of geographic discoveries. Under the direction of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) Portuguese exploring expeditions nosed their way along the west coast of Africa, and in time the southern cape of Africa was rounded (1497). India was reached (1498), the rich trade of the Indies was opened directly to Europe, and the Moslem commercial monopoly of the Indian Ocean was broken. Seeking another sea route to the rich marts of the East, Columbus daringly set sail to the westward and in 1492 found the edges of what was to prove to be a new world. These discoveries led to others. The globe was circumnavigated, islands, continents, and seas hitherto unknown to Europeans were explored and charted, European outposts were established in Africa, India, the East Indies, and the Far East, and conquests and settlements were made in the Americas.

In the second place, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were marked in Europe by the emergence of strong national monarchies. Under the leadership of dominant ruling houses, new states appeared and old ones were strengthened. Led by Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spaniards conquered the last Moslem stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula and laid the foundations of a united kingdom. Under an able royal family Portugal was prospering. France had in part recovered from the Hundred Years War with England and the powers and territories of the monarchy were being increased. Out of the Wars of the Roses had emerged a unified England. Ivan the Great was freeing his people from the remnants of Mongol domination and was beginning to build modern Russia. All these states were to have an important part in the new discoveries and conquests and were, with the exception of England, to encourage missions to China.

In the third place, there was an intellectual and artistic awakening. This had been foreshadowed by the rise of cathedrals, universities, and scholasticism, had shown itself in the Renaissance and the attendant Humanism, and it was to continue in the widespread use of printing, in discoveries in astronomy, and in the development of the scientific method. The mind of Europe was being remade and a new world was being opened to the intellect. In the fourth place, the sixteenth century saw a religious

revival. In Northern Europe this took the form of the Protestant Reformation, and by the close of the seventeenth century there were attached to the new type of Christianity Northern Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Scotland, most of England and Wales, parts of Ireland, of Southern Germany, and of the Swiss cantons, and a comparatively small group in France.

In Southern Europe the religious awakening effected a reform within the Catholic Church itself. The older religious orders displayed fresh activity and new ones came into existence. Out of a small group in the University of Paris, whom the burning zeal of Ignatius Loyola had attracted, arose the Society of Jesus. With its army-like organization, its complete devotion, the ability and learning of its members, and its appeal to the upper classes, it was a powerful agent in reforming the Church, counteracting Protestantism, and spreading the Faith to new lands. Even though it had lost great sections of Europe, the Roman Catholic Church had never been as rich in enthusiastic and devoted spirits.

THE REVIVED MISSIONARY ACTIVITY OF EUROPE

Out of these four movements in Europe arose a fresh missionary effort. The new geographic discoveries put the Occident into close touch with great non-Christian peoples. The rulers of the new states and the Church could not fail to be quickened into missionary activity by the sight of vast areas and numerous peoples now for the first time accessible to the Christian faith. Mining and commerce brought increased wealth and the means for the extension of the Church's work. Conquests in the Americas, in Africa, and in parts of Asia and the islands of the East placed thousands of non-Christians under rulers who professed to be Christians.

The kings of the new monarchical states often initiated or directly supported missions. Their aid probably arose fromn motives which were often, although by no means always, selfish, and national rivalries were frequently carried over into the religious sphere and led to controversies, jealousies, and competition which were far removed from the professed ideals of the Church. By one of the strange contradictions of history, however, the humble, self-sacrificing love and devotion of many of the missionaries who went out under this dubious patronage helped to bring at least individuals from the freshly discovered