该书的出版前言,Macon说:“1859年,英法联军在北京烧毁圆明园时,一名士兵发现了一盒由皇室精心保存的中文手稿。看到里面有神秘的图画,士兵把它们交给了Lypia小姐,我从她那里得到了这些图画。在翻译这部手稿时,我发现它们是一位中国先知关于中国朝代兴衰、更替和社会动荡的预言。一切都写得很清楚。因此,历代皇帝禁止此书出版,以免扰乱民心,招致恶果。现在这部手稿落到了我们的国家,我们可以研究它。这确实是我们的幸运。上述几行文字就是针对此手稿而来。马康,1867年。”(In 1859, when the allied English and French troops burnt the Yuan Ming Yuan in Peking, one of the soldier discovered a box of manuscript in Chinese which had been carefully preserved by the imperial family. Seeing that they contain pictures the soldier presented them to Miss Lypia from whom I secured the same.In translating them I found that they represented the predictions of a Chinese prophet with reference to the rise, the fall, the tranquility, and the turbulence of China. Everything was very plainly written. The emperors of the past dynasties prohibited their publication for they might disturb the minds of the people and lead to bad consequences.It is indeed our good fortune that they had come into our country and that we may study them. These lines are written as an introduction.Macon ,1867)