In
Confirmation Of This, The Goldsmith Told Me They Had Brought A Person From
Kathay, Who, By The Size Of His Body, Appeared To Be Only Three Years Old,
Yet Was Capable Of Reasoning, And Knew How To Write, And Who Affirmed That
He Had Passed Through Three Several Bodies.
Even one of the wisest of the
Nestorians demanded of me whether the souls of brutes could fly to any
place after death where they should not be compelled to labour.
To the before-mentioned question of the Kathayan, I answered: "Friend, this
ought hot to be the commencement of our conference. All things are of God,
who is the fountain and head of us all; and therefore we ought first to
speak concerning God, of whom you think otherwise than you ought, and Mangu
desires to know which of us hath the better belief." The arbitrators
allowed this to be reasonable, and I proceeded: "We firmly believe that
there is but one God in perfect unity; what believe you?" He said, "Fools
say there is but one God, but wise men say there are many. There are great
lords in your country, and here is still a greater, even Mangu-khan. So it
is of the Gods, as in divers countries there are divers gods." To this I
answered: "You make a bad comparison between God and men; for in this way
every mighty man might be called a God in his own country." And when I
meant to have dissolved the similitude, he prevented me, by asking, "What
manner of God is yours, who you say is but one?" I answered:
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