203
propagating the Christian message. Later in May, 1861, Legge joined Chalmers and six others, including two Chinese evangelists, meeting Ch'ea and then touring the area. During this period they examined and accepted 101 applicants for baptism, performing the rites oftentimes in the vicinity of the local temples where they also preached.56
What deserves further attention, however, is the ways in which Ch'ea himself pursued these kind of "Christian duties" when left to work on his own during this period of Sino-British conflict.
57
Already by the time he returned to Hong Kong in May 1857, Ch'ea had developed his own pattern of a Christian form of life. This was largely based on his own feel for how to proceed, even though he had previously been instructed for six weeks in Hong Kong (during the period from May to June, 1856). Consequently, he did choose not to respond to his Catholic maternal uncle who "advised me to worship my ancestors," choosing instead to face "men's reproach or persecution" rather than follow "the doctrines of the Papists." Here it is evident that the Scottish Dissenter Protestant leanings of Legge and Ho, who had adopted them, had influenced Ch'ea. Also, when some educated men, possibly other local gentry not in the civil service, urged Ch'ea to "be revenged for [the] hostility on the part of the officials," Ch'ea refused, saying that "the disciples of Jesus do not strive with men." Clearly this emanated from his reading of the Shengjing and the Dissenter attitudes Legge and Ho had taught him, but stood in stark contrast to the military intrusions of the British in the area of Canton. As might be expected, images of the early Christian apostles in the New Testament and probably stories from the colporteurs and missionaries who passed through Poklo moved Ch'ea to itinerate outside the Poklo city walls. As he described his tours in 1857, he first headed west, then north, and finally east, preaching the message of the Christian religion he had learned to anyone willing to hear.58
Under these situations Ch'ea seemed to move largely out of a
203
propagating the Christian message. Later in May, 1861, Legge joined Chalmers and six others, including two Chinese evangelists, meeting Ch'èa and then touring the area. During this period they examined and accepted 101 applicants for baptism, performing the rites oftentimes in the vicinity of the local temples where they also preached.56
What deserves further attention, however, is the ways in which Ch'ea himself pursued these kind of "Christian duties" when left to work on his own during this period of Sino-British conflict.
57
Already by the time he returned to Hong Kong in May 1857, Ch'ea had developed his own pattern of a Christian form of life. This was largely based on his own. feel for how to proceed, even though he had previously been instructed for six weeks in Hong Kong (during the period from May to June, 1856). Consequently, he did choose not to respond to his Catholic maternal uncle who "advised me to worship my ancestors," choosing instead to face "men's reproach or persecution" rather than follow "the doctrines of the Papists." Here it is evident that the Scottish Dissenter Protestant leanings of Legge and Ho, who had adopted them, had influenced Ch'ea. Also, when some educated men, possibly other local gentry not in the civil service, urged Ch'ea to "be revenged for [the] hostility on the part of the officials," Ch'ea refused, saying that "the disciples of Jesus do not strive with men. Clearly this emanated from his reading of the Shengjing and the Dissenter attitudes Legge and Ho had taught him, but stood in stark contrast to the military intrusions of the British in the area of Canton. As might be expected, images of the early Christian apostles in the New Testament and probably stories from the colporteurs and missionaries who passed through Poklo moved Ch'ea to itinerate outside the Poklo city walls. As he described his tours in 1857, he first headed west, then north, and finally east, preaching the message of the Christian religion he had learned to anyone willing to hear." 58
Under these situations Ch'ea seemed to move largely out of a
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.