“On the first day, the Lord created the light; on the second day, the Lord created the sky, the earth, and the sea; on the third day, the Lord created the flowers, plants, and trees; on the fourth day, the Lord created the sun, the moon, and the stars; on the fifth day, the Lord created the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Jehovah created all kinds of fish and birds; on the sixth day, Jehovah created livestock, insects and beasts. He also created the two first humans and let them manage them all; on the seventh day, Jehovah was very satisfied with everything he created.
So he sat down to rest. Therefore, in the Franconian country, the seventh day is regarded as a day of rest."
After listening to Shang Yi's speech, Ye Yaoyao didn't say anything at all, but Zhu Aao couldn't help but asked curiously: "Isn't Jehovah a God? Do gods also need to rest?"
At this time, I heard a slightly curling voice saying: "Of course God also needs to rest." Shang Yi and the other three people followed the voice and saw that accompanied by Akonia, one was wearing a black robe and the other was wearing a black robe.
Yang, who had a big beard and could not tell how old he was, walked out of the door of the church.
It turned out that on that day, Shang Yi, at the invitation of Arconia, came to the Catholic church near Xuanwumen in Beijing to visit the famous foreign monk Tang Ruowang. And when he was about to go out with Ye Yaojia, Zhu Yusao came out of the palace incognito.
Go to Guanyi to see him. Hearing that Shang Yi was going to the temple of the Francois, Zhu Ailao also became interested and wanted to go with him, so Shang Yi had no choice but to take her with him and set off together. In fact, Tang Ruowang was a German.
However, the Ming Dynasty at that time basically regarded all Europeans as Francois.
When they arrived at the church, Aconia received them very warmly, but at this time Tang Ruowang was working in Si Tianjian and was not in the church, so Aconia immediately led people to rush to Si Tianjian to invite Tang Ruowang back.
Shang Yi and others visited the church and waited.
Both Ye Yaogui and Zhu Yuyao came to the church for the first time, so they both felt very fresh about this kind of Western classical-style architecture. Especially, they were very interested in Western-style murals and sculptures. Every wall was decorated with
, the dome, and the capitals of the pillars all stopped to look carefully.
The sculptures and murals in the church are naturally religious themes, and they are basically based on the Bible, such as Genesis, Noah's Ark, the Nativity of Christ, etc. Of course, in order to take care of the emotions of the Chinese people, the characters are all dressed more neatly, which is necessary
The whole body is exposed and the treatment is relatively subtle.
In another time and space, although Shang Yi was not a Catholic believer, he had a certain understanding of Catholicism and the Bible. This is a very normal thing in modern society. Therefore, he also served as a free commentator for two girls.
Relevant Bible stories were narrated to the two of them. In fact, Ye Yaoyao and Zhu Yuluo were only girls of sixteen or seventeen years old, and they were still full of curiosity about the world. Therefore, listening to Shang Yi's explanation was like listening to a fairy tale.
It's a good time to pass the time.
As soon as Shang Yi saw Acoyani coming back with another foreign monk, he guessed that this person was Tang Ruowang. He immediately rushed up to meet him, bowed first, then pretended to make the sign of the cross on his chest, and then said in French:
"Are you Father Joao Adam?"
This foreign monk was indeed Tang Ruowang. His original name was John Adam, Charles von Baer. Although he learned from Aconia that Shang Yi could speak French, he did not expect that he could actually speak French.
His real name, so he was also very surprised, and bowed to Shang Yi, saying in French: "Dear General, I am John. It is a pleasure to meet you, but I am very curious how you know my name.
"
Shang Yi smiled slightly and said: "I have heard of the priest's name when I was living on the ship. I am very happy to see the priest here."
Tang Ruowang also smiled. He knew from what Arconia reported to him that Shang Yi had a life of running a ship, and also traveled to Europe with a Portuguese merchant ship, and just returned to China last year - of course It was Shang Yi who was bragging to Alconia. Anyway, Alconia had been away from Europe for four or five years, and Tang Ruowang had been away from Europe for even longer, twenty-five years. So Shang Yi found some European ten people. The two foreign monks were immediately convinced by a random collection of information from the mid-seventh century.
In fact, after listening to Aconia's report, Tang Ruowang was also very interested in Shang Yi. This man was not only young, but also had deep contact with contemporary European society. He was very knowledgeable about the scientific achievements of modern Europe, and he was very knowledgeable about Shang Yi. Teaching his soldiers and subjects to learn these knowledge, he obviously introduced the training methods of European countries into his army. He himself not only spoke French, but even spoke English, which was considered very partial in mainland Europe. Although he He is not a believer in Catholicism yet, nor does he seem to have the image of being baptized, but he has a very deep understanding of Catholicism and does not reject Catholicism. He even allows Aconia to preach in his territory. Therefore, Tang Ruowang also and Aconia Like Konya, he believes that Shang Yi is an object that can be developed.
When he came back just now, Tang Ruowang also heard Shang Yi telling Ye Yaoyao and Zhu Yusao the story of the Bible. This is not the knowledge of the Bible that ordinary people can grasp. Because at this time, there is no Chinese translation of the Bible. It all depends on the missionaries' mouths to translate, and most of them only care about promoting "the glory of the Lord" instead of these myths and legends that even they themselves have little faith in, but they did not expect to be dismissed by Shang Yi as if they were stories. This can only show that Shang Yi’s understanding of the Bible is much higher than he expected.
Moreover, Tang Ruowang worked in the Qintian Prison and was ordered by the imperial court to supervise the construction of war artillery in Western France. Therefore, he was very well-informed about the imperial court. He knew that Shang Yi had been promoted to the rank of general, which was almost the same in Europe. The level of a general. Catholicism has been preaching in China for nearly a hundred years, but in the first few decades, there was not much success until Father Matteo Ricci created the missionary strategy of "combining Confucianism with super Confucianism" and using The European scientific and technological achievements mastered by the missionaries won the favor and trust of a group of knowledgeable people, and they began to gradually open up the situation.
Tang Ruowang also inherited Father Matteo Ricci's missionary strategy and successfully entered the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, developing a group of literati and officials, and even the eunuch Pang Tianshou. Important ministers, especially heavyweights like Xu Guangqi, have never made any achievements, let alone the military system.
Although Tang Ruowang knew that in southern China, there was a Ming Dynasty general named Nicholas Yiguan who believed in Catholicism, but this general was a pirate and was baptized in the Bible before he was recruited by the Ming Dynasty. Tang Ruowang understood that the general's understanding and belief in the Lord did not seem to be very pure. The reason for receiving baptism was more to make it easier to interact with the Portuguese. This was very different from Shang Yi. Therefore, Tang Ruowang believed that Only if Shang Yi is developed and accepted the baptism can we truly relay the gospel of the Lord.
After chatting with a few people, Tang Ruowang took Shang Yi to his studio to discuss it in detail, and asked Aconia to accompany Ye Yaojia and Zhu Yasuo to visit the church and be responsible for the explanation.
Arriving at Tang Ruowang's studio, the two of them sat down separately. Tang Ruowang said directly: "When I entered the church just now, I heard the general telling the story of Creation. It seems that the general is very familiar with [the Bible]. "
Shang Yi smiled and said, "Father, although I have read [the Bible], I have no intention of being baptized."
Tang Ruowang did not expect that he would refuse so quickly. Although it was common in the Ming Dynasty to persuade people to believe in religion and accept baptism and be rejected, and missionaries had long been used to it, Tang Ruowang still felt very disappointed this time.
Although he only had contact with Shang Yi for such a short time, in Tang Ruowang's opinion, Shang Yi was obviously different from the Chinese people he had met. His understanding of Europe and Catholicism was far better than other Chinese people. , highly respected European scientific and technological knowledge, and he became a general in China at such a young age. Judging from the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, he seems to have a lot of room for development in the future. From this point of view, if Shang Yi Being baptized and joining the Catholic Church will definitely be of great benefit to the spread of Catholicism in China. It can be said that this effect is even greater than that of Xu Guangqi.
Seeing Tang Ruowang's face of Xiangzi who couldn't hide his disappointment, Shang Yi couldn't help but feel a little funny. Foreigners are indeed straight people. He said again: "Father, please don't misunderstand me. Although I have no intention of being baptized, it doesn't mean that I have no respect for the Catholic Church or the Pope. As long as the imperial decree allows it, I can create all favorable conditions for the missionaries assigned by the priest to spread the gospel of the Lord within my jurisdiction."
After hearing this, Tang Ruowang couldn't help but feel refreshed. This was also a good condition. By studying the experience of the spread of Catholicism in China, Tang Ruowang concluded two points. If Catholicism wants to achieve great development in China, first, it must gain support from the imperial court. The second is to obtain the support of powerful local officials. And the latter point is actually more important than the former point.
Because he has lived in China for twenty-five years, Tang Ruowang has seen too many officials of the Ming Dynasty who were secretive, openly supported and secretly opposed. Unknowingly, they made the court's decrees a piece of waste paper, and even made them useless. He used it as an excuse, and the court couldn't find anything wrong. There were many times when Tang Ruowang had to sigh that the Chinese were so smart, so smart that even pretending to be confused was worse than really being confused. Like confusion.
Therefore, even if Shang Yi does not accept baptism, as long as he supports the Catholic missionary cause, this is a good result. However, Tang Ruowang was still a little strange and said: "General Shang, I am very grateful for your kindness, but I still don't understand something. "Since you support our missionary work, why are you unwilling to accept baptism and formally believe in the Lord?"