WE SHALL now briefly trace the apostolic Christian Sabbath - keepers from Antioch in Syria to their farthest mission stations in old China. Thomas Yeates in his “Indian Church History” (London: 1818), has collected from several sources statements that all agree on the points he presents, that the apostle Thomas travelled through Persia into India, where he raised up many churches. “From thence he went to China, and preached the gospel in the city of Cambala, [which is] supposed to be the same with Pekin, and there he built a church.” — “Indian Church History,” p. 73. “In the year 1625, there was found in a town near Si-ngan-fu, the metropolis of the province of Shin-si, a stone having the figure of a cross, and inscriptions in two languages.... Chinese and Syriac follows: ‘This Stone was erected to the honour and eternal memory of the law of light and truth brought from Ta-Cin, and promulgated in China.’ [The inscription consists of 736 words, giving] a summary of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith.” — Id., pp. 86-88.FAFA 153.1

That the missionaries who brought the gospel to China were Sabbath-keepers can be seen by the following extract from the inscription:FAFA 153.2

“On the seventh day we offer sacrifice, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts.” — “Christianity in China,” M. l’Abbe Huc, Vol. I, chap. 2, pp. 48-49, seq. New York: 1873.FAFA 153.3

Returning to India we shall find traces of the Sabbath among those churches also. And they had retained the Bible in the ancient language used by the church at Antioch, where the name “Christians” originated. (Acts 11:26)FAFA 153.4

“It was in these sequestered regions that copies of the Syriac Scriptures found a safe asylum from the search and destruction of the Romish inquisitors, and were found with all the marks of ancient purity.”-“Indian Church History,” T. Yeates, p. 167.FAFA 154.1

“Whatever may be the future use and importance of those manuscripts, one thing is certain, and that is, they establish the fact that the Syrian Christians of India have the pure unadulterated Scriptures in the language of the ancient church of Antioch, derived from the very times of the Apostles.” — Id., p. 169.FAFA 154.2

Thomas Yeates shows that they kept “Saturday, which amongst them is a festival day, agreeable to the ancient practice of the church.” — Id., pp. 133, 134.FAFA 154.3

The Armenians of India and Persia had evidently received their faith from the same source as the other Christians of India. Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D., says of them:FAFA 154.4

“The Armenians in Hindostan are our own subjects.... They have preserved the Bible in its purity; and their doctrines are, as far as the Author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos, as we ourselves.” — “Christian Researches in Asia,” p. 143. Philadelphia: 1813.FAFA 154.5

The Jacobites, another branch of the original Christians of India, can add one more link to this evidence. Samuel Purchas, the noted geographer and compiler, said of them:FAFA 154.6

“They keep Saturday holy, nor esteem the Saturday fast lawful, but on Easter even. They have solemn service on Saturdays, eat flesh, and feast it bravely, like the Jews.” — “Pilgrimmes,” Part 2, Book 8, chap. 6, p. 1269. London: 1625. (We must remember that the papal church demanded all to fast on the Sabbath, but these Christians refused to obey her.)FAFA 154.7

J. W. Massie says of these Indian Christians:FAFA 154.8

“Remote from the busy haunts of commerce, or the populous seats of manufacturing industry, they may be regarded as the Eastern Piedmontese, the Vaudois of Hindustan, the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth through revolving centuries, though indeed their bodies lay as dead in the streets of the city which they had once peopled.” — “Continental India,” Vol. 2, p. 120.

Persecution In The United States

Papal Persecution