Scarcely had this storm spent itself when another cloud arose in the East and burst with force and rage. The great Mongol chieftain Chengis Khan, beating down Islam with its own weapon, had made himself master of China and the whole of Western Asia, and now, flushed with victory, essayed to conquer Europe also. Islam had brought the flag of the prophet as far as the gates of Vienna; Chengis Khan on that fateful day in April, 1241, broke down the defence of Prince Henry at Liegnitz. It seemed as though all Europe lay defenceless, when suddenly, by one of the great acts of God in history, the Tartar host like a swarm of locusts arose and departed whence they came. Then we see the Church of Rome diplomatically trying to meet the desire of Kubla Khan to make some alliance with the Christian Kingdoms of Europe against Islam, their common foe. It is an amazing fact, well worth keeping in mind, that, after the visit of Polo to his court, the Khan of Persia actually wrote letters to the French King asking for “a hundred Christians, intelligent men, acquainted with the seven arts, well justified to enter into controversy and able clearly to prove by force of argument to idolators and other kinds of folk that the law of Christ was best, and that all other religions were false and naught; and that if they would prove this he and all under him would become Christians and the Church’s liegemen.” It is disappointing to find that this open door did not admit the pure Gospel; it was a cry from Macedon with no St. Paul to answer it. FOOTNOTES: [1] See Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._ v. 10. [2] Jerome, _Epist._ lxx. CHAPTER II. THE FRIAR AND THE LUTHERAN. It was Marco Polo, after his travels in the East at the end of the thirteenth century, who first awoke the Church in Europe to take some interest in the Christian community far away in India. He told the tale of what he had seen on his visit to Malabar, how that the shrine of St. Thomas attracted many pilgrims and that cures were wrought by a handful of sacred dust from his grave. Also that the church which contained the body of the martyr was supported by the produce of the groves of coco-nut palm trees, and that in the vicinity were many Jews. Here then was the ancient Syrian Church preserving the flickering flame of truth amid the darkness of heathenism.