Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/250

238 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC " the Nestorians and Saracens chanted together with a loud voice, but the pagans said nothing at all ; and after that the whole assembly drank together pretty freely." The day after the public controversy, Mangou sent for Rubruk, and began to make a kind of confession of faith. " We Mongols," said he, " believe that there is one God, by whom we live and die, and towards whom our hearts are wholly turned." " May God give you his grace that it may be so," said Rubruk, " for otherwise it is impossible." The emperor went on : " As God has given the hand several fingers, so has He prepared for men various ways, by which they may go to heaven. He has given the Gospel to the Christians, but they do not obey it ; He has given soothsayers to the Mongols, and the Mongols do what their soothsayers command, and, therefore, they live in peace." Mangou-Khan then terminated the interview by de- claring, that the missionaries had now been long enough in his empire, and that it was time they should think of going home again ; and Rubruk was not allowed, after that, any more opportunities for instructing the prince, or explaining to him the truths of the Christian faith. " I took my leave," he says, simply, " thinking that if God had been pleased to let me perform such miracles as Moses did, perhaps I should have converted him." After a stay of five months at the imperial court, the envoys of St. Louis prepared to depart. Mangou wished to send some ambassadors with them, but Rubruk stated that they should have to pass through countries where there was no safety for travellers, and