Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/325

LETTER OF THE POPE TO NICHOLAS. 313 tender mother, has always been (whatever some may say) gentle and tolerant to her children. " To our dear and noble son Nicholas, son of Argoun, the illustrious King of the Tartars, health and the apostolic benediction. " Our heart has glowed with joy in the Lord, from whom flows the abundance of alt- celestial gifts, be- cause we have learned, by credible testimony, that you have been illuminated by a ray of the divine light. Prepared by the blessings of grace, you have hastened with laudable zeal to the source of the waters of baptism. This news has been to us the more agreeable and happy, as we bear you the more sincerely in the bowels of our charity, and the more warmly desire the increase of your glory and your sal- vation. We beseech your nobleness, and exhort you, in the name of the Son of God, to devote yourself with zeal and vigilance, as a child of benediction, to the practice of those good works and those virtues by which the kingdom of heaven is to be gained. Study and observe, with courage and sincerity, the Christian faith, whose glorious banner you have unfurled. Men, led on by your salutary example, will be induced to embrace the same faith ; and you yourself, after the course of this life, which has in it nothing certain or lasting, will receive the reward of that eternal blessed- ness which God has reserved for His elect. Further, we recommend and advise you affectionately to make no change in your habits, your garments, or your food, lest it might become amongst your people a subject of dissension or scandal. Continue the same manner of living which you practised before the reception of