Students of Chinese records of a hundred years ago will be interested to read the leading article of " The Chines Christian Intelligencer this week, which discusses the history of Tsai Kao, the first Chinese baptized by Robert Morrison. The sketch was prepared by the Chinese and presents certain facts about a subject hitherto little known.
Born on a junk in 1788, Tsai was reared in a pagan family and at the age of twenty-one, after a varied experience, met with Morrison at Macao the year after the Englishman's arrival in China. He a: ed Morrison in the work of printing the Scriptures, and in 1814 determined to become a Christian. At that time there w ban on the Roman Catholic religion, but in spite of this he received the rite of baptism from Morrison on the Chung Yang festival, 1814, when the people of the city went into the country to worship and the government spies were less vigilant.
In 1845 through pressure of the French, the ban on the Catholics was removed and the next year an Imperial Rescript announced that this religion could be taught, and should not be classed with heterodox beliefs. Tsai was closely watched by emissaries of the Viceroy: his house was searched and as no crucifixes or images were found, arrested, condemned, and thrown into prison, where he shortly afterwards died in 1846. The centenary of his baptism was observed this year on October 97 with fitting ceremonial, in many of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.