"The Religion came from Tien Cho, India, In the Sung Dynasty, persons bearing 70 tribal names offered presents of cloth to the Chinese Emperor After examin-their books, he professed him-satisfied that they were true bade them live where-
In the first year Lung Hsing, 1163, ple was built. the 16th year of the Emperor Tsi Yuan, 1279 A.D. the temple was restored.
"The first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty offered a safe and peacefal asylum to any who wished to become his subjects. At that time the members of the pure and true jon adopted Chinese clothing, customs and ceremonies.
In the 19th year of the Emperor Yung Lo of the Ming Dynasty, 1421, permission was granted to Dr. An Tt was in this temple that the members of the religion permitted a tablet to be placed inseribed, Long live the Emperors of Great Ming.
"In the third year of Tien Shun, 1461 A.D. the temple was destroyed. by a great flood, but was-again soon rebuilt. When the Emperor Cheng Hwa ruled China three members of the Kao family rebuilt the rear Hall with their own money and preserved three copies of the Holy Scriptures therein. In the second year of the Emperor Hung Chih a piece of land was purchased, foundations were prepared, the buildings were erected, and a mornnment was set up.
The Pure and True.
The stone puts the members of the community on record as proing that, "All the three re-jons have their own temples: in the same way the pure and true has its temple, in which worshipped. The true re-has many similarities with Confucianism. While the religion comes from God, it permits respect for the Emperors of Chit The reverse side of this stone claims to be "A monument for commemorating the Temple in which the Holy Scriptures are revered" It says that the "Religion of Israel came from India, but had Adam as its original fount has a Holy Bible series with 53 books.
The founder of the religion in its present form was Abraham, and the revealer of the Bible was'Moses. The original religion came into China in the Han Dynasty." (Then several dates are repeated similar to those on the front of the stone, and then) "This temple was built to give respect to the Holy Scriptures. Every member of the religion, no matter where he may live gives respect to the Scriptures.
"The doctrines in the Bible are nearly similar to those contained in the Confucian Classies. Any one who observes them will become a good man, "This religion was passed on from generation to generation as follows: Adam, Noah, Abraham, sane, Jacob, The Twelve Tribes, Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Ezra.'
The Temple Rebuilt.
From the third monument it is learned that the temple was destroyed and the scriptures lost in the 15th year of the Emperor Ts'ung. Cheng of the Ming Dynasty, 1642 A.D. Afterwards" the Scriptures were collected and rearranged by famous men who knew them well.
"In the 10th year of Shun Chih of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1653 the temple was once again rebuill The front face of the main tablet has been d several places, especially where appears. It is said by those who profess to know that the chipping was done during the Boxer trouble to prevent the Boxers looking up.the families. This may indeed be the fact as the surface there is white showing no signs of age, such even the years from the Tai Pings would have given.
From several places in the record of the stones one can trace very early defections from Jewish tribal customs and from the old jealous guardianship of scriptures and temple worship. " The present state of the remnant of the Jewish com-might have been anticipated by prophets centuries ago, had there been such among them then.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.