Page 384

ITHA5'\(ASIVS IPQ17(CHE 1('S 
niftaken ; and therefore they Prefented a Petition to the Empe. 
they fhew'd the great neceflity of corr¢eing the Calendar re- 
unto him the Fathers of the great Wefacrn part of the World, 
on to their Skill in Aftronomy, and alfo the acutenefs of their In. 
t Art. The Emperor, when he had read thd Petion, was very 
J, and affented unto whatfooe.ver they defir'd, and prefently by 
ion manifefted his Majeflies high Pleafure for the carrying on 
vithout delay. 
rs being exalted to an Honor they~never durfi hope for, orever 
Means more commodious for the Propagation of the Gofpel of 
illingly apply'd themfelves to a Bufinefs of that great and weigh. 
ty concernment: Thofe that were firft employ'd were Father Sabatinw de 
msrfis, and Father Jacbus Pantoja, Anno 161i. Perfons excelling in the Know-
ledge of the Afironomical Sciences. Father Sabatinus immediately endeavor'd
to have the Theories of the Planets, very neceffary to the tind erflanding
of 
the Motiori of the Conflellations, Tranflated out of the Latin Tongue into
the 
Chinejai, by the affiftance of two Mandorins, Paul and Leo, now become Cbrifli.
Ans, who with great proficiency had fometime fince attain'd the Affronos
mical Difciplines, by the inftruion of Father Matthew Rjccius : Then he ap-
ly'd himfelf to find out the Longitude of the City of Peking, by Obfervati-
ons made by his Correfpondents both in Cbina, India, and Europe, without
which the Calculation of Eclipfes is altogether in vain undertaken. 7antoja
undertook to fearch out the Latitude of the Cities of China; and beginning
from Canton, he moil exa&ly meafur'd with the Afirolabe through the Latitude
of the whole Empire, in a dire& Line from the South unto the Limits of
the 
North of keling, fporting himfelf both Night and Day in the indagation of
the preparative Exercifes, concerning which there was not the leaft hint
in the 
TheErrors of Chinefian Afironomy. And although the Cbinefes vaunt fo much
of their great 
. Excellency above other Nations in fubtlety of Wit, yet they knew not what
the Longitude or Latitude of Places was ; fo that when the Fathers of our'
So- 
ciety firft entred into China, and caus'd fome Sun-Dyals to be made, they
ad- 
mir'd that the Cities of Cbina fhould be under divers Elevations of the ,Pole,
in regard they affign'd but thirty fix Degrees unto the whole Empire, relying
upon the Tradition of the Ancients, who foolifily perfuaded themfelves, that
the Earth was not Globular, but that it was extended into an infinite Super,
ficies, and that the Sun and Moon about or under the Weft, entred into a
cer- 
tain deep Cave, from which again they arofe about the Eaft : And moreover,
that the Sun and Moon were no bigger than what the Eye demonftrated-them
to be, ViK. that thofe lucid Bodies are not above fix Handfuls in magnitude:
from whence it is manifefi, how maim'd, lame, and impefeft the Cbinefian
Afironomy was. 
But to return to our purpofe;. This happy beginning of the Emendation 
of the Calendar continu'd not long, by reafon that the Academy of the Ma-
thematical Colledge being enrag'd at our Fathers for the great Honor con-
ferr'd upon them by the Emperor, Prefented an humble Petition to him, in
which, with great eagernefs, they complain'd of the fuppreffion of the Studies
of their Country Sciences, and of the fignal Advancement of Barbarians in
the Royal Employment : But the Emperor having fully difcover'd the im. 
perfeaion and deformity of the feveral Computations made by the Adverfa-
ries, and that the Calculations of our Fathers always agreed to the Point
of 
the 
.4