When I Was About To Have Propounded Reasons To Prove The Truth Of The
Divine Essence, And To Have Explained The Doctrine Of The Trinity, The
Nestorians Alleged That I Had Said Quite Enough, And That Now They Meant To
Speak; So I Gave Place To Them.
When, therefore, they would have disputed
with the Saracens, these men said that they agreed to the truth of
The law
and the gospel of the Christian, and would not dispute with them in any
thing, and even confessed that they beg from God in their prayers that they
may die the death of the Christians. There was among the idolaters a priest
of the sect of the Jugurs, who believe in one God, and yet make idols. With
this man the Nestorians talked much, shewing all things till the coming of
Christ to judgment, and explaining the Trinity to him and the Saracens by
similitudes. All of them hearkened to their harangue without attempting to
make any contradiction; yet none of them said that they believed and would
become Christians. The conference was now broken up. The Nestorians and
Saracens sang together with a loud voice, and the Tuinians held their
peace; and afterwards they all drank together most plentifully.
SECTION XXXVIII.
The last audience of Rubruquis with Mangu-khan, and the letter he received
for the King of France.
On Whitsunday I was called into the presence of the khan, and before I went
in, the goldsmiths son, who was my interpreter, informed me that it was
determined I was to return to my own country, and advised me to say nothing
against it. When I came before the khan I kneeled, and he asked me whether
I said to his secretaries that he was a Tuinian. To this I answered, "My
lord, I said not so; but if it please your highness I will repeat what I
then said;" and I recited what I had spoken, as mentioned before, and he
answered: "I thought well you said not so, for it was a word you ought not
to have spoken; but your interpreter hath ill rendered your words." Then,
reaching forth the staff on which, he leaned towards me, he said, "be not
afraid." To which I answered smiling, that if I had feared I should not
have come hither. He then said, as if confessing his faith: "We Moals
believe that there is but one God, and we have an upright heart towards
him." "Then," said I, "may God grant you this mind, for without his gift it
cannot be." He then added, "God hath given to the hand divers fingers, and
hath given many ways to man. He hath given the Scriptures to you, yet you
keep them not. You certainly find not in the Scriptures that one of you
should dispraise another?" "No," said I; "and I signified unto your
highness from the beginning, that I would not contend with any one." "I
speak not," said he, "respecting you. In like manner, you find not in your
Scriptures, that a man ought to swerve from justice for the sake of money?"
To this I answered, "That our Scriptures taught no such evil doctrine,
neither had I come into, these parts to get money, having even refused that
which was freely offered to me." And one of the secretaries, then present,
certified, that I had refused a jascot and a piece of silk. "I speak not of
that," said the khan; "God hath given you the Scriptures and you keep them
not; but he hath given to us soothsayers, and we do what they bid us, and
live in peace." He drank four times, as I think, before he disclosed these
things; and, while I waited attentively in expectation that he might
disclose any thing farther respecting his faith, he began another subject,
saying: "You have stayed a long time here, and it is my pleasure that you
return. You have said that you dared not to carry my ambassadors with you;
will you carry my messenger, or my letters?" To this I answered, "If he
would make me understand his words, and that they were put in writing, I
would willingly carry them, to the best of my power." He then asked if I
would have gold or silver, or costly garments? I answered, that we received
no such things; but not having wherewith to bear our expences, we could not
get out of his country without his help. He then said, that he would
provide us in all necessaries through his country, and demanded how far we
would be brought. I said it were sufficient if he gave us a pass into
Armenia. To this he answered: "I will cause you to be carried thither,
after which look to yourself. There are two eyes in one head, yet they both
look to one object. You came here from Baatu, and therefore you must return
by him." Having requested and obtained leave to speak, I addressed him
thus: "Sir! we are not men of war, and desire that they who would most
justly govern according to the will of God may have dominion in the world.
Our office is to teach men to live according to the law of God: For this,
purpose we came into these parts, and would willingly have remained here if
it had been your pleasure; but since you are pleased that we should return,
I shall carry your letters according to my power, in obedience to your
commands. I request of your magnificence, that, when I have delivered your
letters, it may be lawful for me to come back into your dominions; chiefly
because you have servants of our nation at Balac, who want a priest to
teach them and their children the law of our religion, and I would
willingly stay with them." He then asked whether I knew that our lords
would send me back to him? To this. I answered, "I know not what may be the
purpose of my sovereign; but I have licence to go wherever I will, where it
is needful to preach the word of God, and it seems to me necessary in these
parts; wherefore, whether my lords send ambassadors or not, if it is your
pleasure, I will return." Then, after a long pause, as if musing, he said,
"You have a lone way to go, make yourself strong with food, that you may be
enabled to endure the journey." So he ordered them to give me drink, and I
departed from his presence, and returned not again.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 104 of 217
Words from 105632 to 106736
of 222093
