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being "born again" (P. chóngshēng) and the nature of true worship." After reading and pondering over the meaning of some New Testament passages, he became convinced that the "worship of his ancestors was contrary to the word of God," probably another topic discussed at some length with the colporteurs. Consequently, he "defaced the tablet" for his family's ancestral spirits with a chisel, and committed himself to a God to be worshipped, as described in one of the above passages, “in spirit and truth." Through these undoubtedly painful steps in the initial process of intellectual conversion, primarily through his dialogue with A-Wye and reading the Delegates' Version of the New Testament, Ch'ea began walking in the shadowlands between major religious traditions.28
When the pair of colporteurs returned to Poklo in early May and sought out Ch'ea to follow up their initial interview, they found a man already wanting to be "more fully instructed and baptized." On this basis, the colporteurs apparently urged Ch’ëa to come with them to Hong Kong, bringing along evidences of his spiritual transition. Taking along "in a napkin two small idols”, one having been in the Ch'ea family for three generations, Ch'ëa followed them to Hong Kong and met for the first time "Pastors Li (Lǐ Yǎgè, James Legge) and Ho."
was a
What kind of a person did Legge and Ho meet? Unlike an octogenarian Daoist priest who had visited Hong Kong in 1854 from one of the Daoist temples on Mount Lo-fou, a man who sought out Legge and returned instructed but not baptized, Ch’ëa "plain-looking man, without much education" but "sincere in his profession and honest in the statements he made" ("as far as we are able to judge,” Legge carefully qualified in addition).29 After some discussion and six weeks of instruction, Legge confirmed for his English audience the normative evaluations typical of Christian religious conversion, stating that Ch'ea "gave us, indeed, much reason to believe that he was born of the Spirit."30 What Legge and Chalmers did not tell at this time, and is only recalled much later as part of a small set of Reminiscences of Prof. Legge at Oxford, is the kind of religious insistence driving Ch'ea to Hong Kong.
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being "bom again" (P.chóngshẽng) and the nature of true worship." After reading and pondering over the meaning of some New Testament passages, he became convinced that the "worship of his ancestors was contrary to the word of God," probably another topic discussed at some length with the colporteurs. Consequently, he "defaced the tablet" for his family's ancestral spirits with a chisel, and committed himself to a God to be worshipped, as described in one of the above passages, “in spirit and truth." Through these undoubtedly painful steps in the initial process of intellectual conversion, primarily through his dialogue with A-Wye and reading the Delegates' Version of the New Testament, Ch'ea began walking in the shadowlands between major religious traditions.28
When the pair of colporteurs returned to Poklo in early May and sought out Ch'ea to follow up their initial interview, they found a man already wanting to be "more fully instructed and baptized." On this basis, the colporteurs apparently urged Ch’ëa to come with them to Hong Kong, bringing along evidences of his spiritual transition. Taking along "in a napkin two small idols”, one having been in the Ch'ea family for three generations, Ch'ëa followed them to Hong Kong and met for the first time "Pastors Li (LI Yǎgè, James Legge) and Ho."
was a
What kind of a person did Legge and Ho meet? Unlike an octogenarian Daoist priest who had visited Hong Kong in 1854 from one of the Daoist temples on Mount Lo-fow, a man who sought out Legge and returned instructed but not baptized, Ch’ëa "plain-looking man, without much education" but "sincere in his profession and honest in the statements he made" ("as far as we are able to judge,” Legge carefully qualified in addition).29 After some discussion and six weeks of instruction, Legge confirmed for his English audience the normative evaluations typical of Christian religious conversion, stating that Ch'ea "gave us, indeed, much reason to believe that he was born of the Spirit."30 What Legge and Chalmers did not tell at this time, and is only recalled much latter as part of a small set of Reminiscences of Prof. Legge at Oxford, is the kind of religious insistence driving Ch'ea to Hong Kong.
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