"A Chinese Account of Christianity"
Dublin Core
Title
"A Chinese Account of Christianity"
Subject
Theology; Confucianism; Taoism; Christianity and other religions--Taoism; Confucianism--Relations--Christianity; Gazettes; Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ--Crucifixion
Description
One of the Noyes missionaries, most likely Harriet, is sending back home a translation from a Chinese gazette summarizing Christianity. The account tells the story of Jesus as a mortal man who had no powers but was a physician. He renounced his biological father and claimed to be a heavenly host, starting his own sect. They compare this to figures in Taoism and Confucianism. He was crucified for his sins in not worshiping his ancestors or other gods, but his followers claim he rose again in order to spread their religion.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #5
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
Unknown
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English); chi (b) (Chinese)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_misc_539
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
[Note: +c is transcribed as etc]
A Chinese Account of
Christianity
The Chinese Government publishes
official Gazeteers or descriptions of
the various Districts etc of the Empire
describing the topography public
buildings, productions customs of
the people etc. The Gazetteer of
Tsing Un District where we have
a mission station contains the following
description of Christianity referring
originally to the Roman Catholic
religion Thinking some at home
may feel interested in a heathen
view of Christianity and may
appreciate the better the obstacles
we have to contend with as
Christian Missionaries I send
you the following translation -
"Lest the people should not
understand what Christianity is
and so be led astray we give the
following account of it for your
information ----
Jesus was born in the 1st year
of the Emperor Oi Tai of the Western
Han Dynasty. a long time after
the period of our sages (Confucius
and Mencius) He was a physician
by profession and saved the lives
of many men by his skill just
as our noted Surgeon [u]Wa To[/u] did
As to his taking seven cakes and
feeding 3000 men this was a stick
of sleight-of-hand- such as our
Tauists practice, he had no other
power. As to the daring assertion
that he was the Maker of heaven
the Creator of heaven + earth all
men and all things this is utterly
false. A moments reflection and
you will remember that before
Oi Tai's reign there were "the Three
Kings and "the Five Emperors" Yau
Shun, Duke Chau, Confucius, and
Wen Chang, {the god of literature)
covering a period of a thousand
generations. So in the lands
beyond the seas there were kings
and subjects there were laws and
punishments etc how then did everything
begin to exist at the birth of Jesus?
According to the book "Illustrations
from Foreign Lands for opposing
Heresy" Jesus' Mother had a husband
named Joseph but Jesus with an
unfilial heart refused to acknowledge
his father and claimed that he
was begotten by some heavenly spiritual
being in order that he might exalt
his own sect above all others, and he
even wanted to make his Sovereign
submit to him. Therefore it is that
those who profess his religion are not
permitted to worship their Ancestors
their sovereigns nor the gods inferior
+ superior Acknowledging no Heaven
no laws no father no king he had
neither reverence nor loyalty - neither
reason nor righteousness and so
incurred the wrath of Heaven.
The King of Judea therefore arrested
Jesus and punished him for his
sins ,by putting him to death
on the cross according to the custom
of that country. so that his blood
covered his whole body, after hanging
there for seven days he died and
was buried. His scattered followers
purposely spread the report that he had
risen after three days and after forty
odd days ,flew up to heaven they did
this in order to spread the doctrine of
their sect just as after [u][?Sun Yan?][/u] had
been defeated and threw himself into
the sea his followers spread the report
that he had ascended to heaven as
one of the water genie If he were the
Lord of Heaven why did he not save
himself and escape from mere men when
they sought to crucify him. How absurd
the statement of Christians that the Lord
of Heaven gave his own body to suffer for
the sins of men if he wished to save men
why did he not save them without giving his
body to be crucified. As to their pretence
of exhorting men to report and be good
this is but stealing Confucian doctrine
to bolster up their sect As to their
saying- "Those who believe will go
to heaven and those who do not
believe will go to hell" what is
this but the saying of [u]Wu San Sz[/u]
"he that agrees with me is good
and he that does not agree
with me is wicked "
[注：+c 转录为 etc]
A Chinese Account of Christianity
中国政府出版官方地名录或帝国各区等的描述，
描述地形公共建筑，
人民的生产习俗等。
青云区地名录我们有一个宣教站的地方包含以下对基督教的描述下面的译文——“免得人们不明白什么是基督教而误入歧途，
我们将其叙述如下以供参考——耶稣出生于西汉大帝元年. 在我们的圣人（孔子和孟子）时期之后的很长一段时间里，
他是一名专业的医生，
并通过他拯救了许多人的生命就像我们著名的外科医生瓦托所做的一样，
他拿了七个蛋糕，
喂饱了三千人，
这是一个花招，
就像我们道家的做法一样，
他没有其他权力。
至于大胆断言他是天地的创造者、天地万物的创造者，
这完全是错误的。
片刻回想，
你会记得在爱泰之前，
有“三王五帝”有顺、周公、孔子、文昌，
跨越了千代。
那么在海之外的土地上有国王和臣民有法律和惩罚等等，
那么一切都是在耶稣诞生时开始存在的吗？根据“外国反对异端的插图”一书，
耶稣的母亲有一个丈夫耶稣取名为约瑟，
心不孝，
不认其父，
自称是天上的神灵所生，
为要高举自己的宗门，
甚至要让自己的主臣服于他。
就是那些自称信奉他的宗教的人不被允许崇拜他们的祖先他们的君主或低等+上等的神承认没有天堂没有法律没有父亲没有国王他既没有敬畏也没有忠诚——既不理智也不正义，
因此招致天怒。
因此，
犹太国王逮捕了耶稣，
并按照该国的习俗将他钉在十字架上，
以惩罚他的罪孽。
以致他的血染满了全身，
悬吊七日后死去埋葬了。
散散的追随者故意散布三天后复活，
四十多天飞上天的传闻，
他们这样做是为了传播宗门的教义，
就像孙燕战败投海一样。
他的追随者散布他作为水精灵之一升天的消息如果他是天堂之主，
当他们试图将他钉在十字架上时，
他为什么不拯救自己并逃离普通人。
基督徒说天主若要救人，
舍己身为人的罪受苦，
何等荒谬，
为何不救人，
不舍身钉十字架。
至于他们的在场劝人告发，
这不过是盗取儒家教义来壮大他们的教派。
至于他们所说的“信者上天堂，
不信者下地狱”是什么意思？但吴三世说“和我为善，
不和我为恶”
A Chinese Account of
Christianity
The Chinese Government publishes
official Gazeteers or descriptions of
the various Districts etc of the Empire
describing the topography public
buildings, productions customs of
the people etc. The Gazetteer of
Tsing Un District where we have
a mission station contains the following
description of Christianity referring
originally to the Roman Catholic
religion Thinking some at home
may feel interested in a heathen
view of Christianity and may
appreciate the better the obstacles
we have to contend with as
Christian Missionaries I send
you the following translation -
"Lest the people should not
understand what Christianity is
and so be led astray we give the
following account of it for your
information ----
Jesus was born in the 1st year
of the Emperor Oi Tai of the Western
Han Dynasty. a long time after
the period of our sages (Confucius
and Mencius) He was a physician
by profession and saved the lives
of many men by his skill just
as our noted Surgeon [u]Wa To[/u] did
As to his taking seven cakes and
feeding 3000 men this was a stick
of sleight-of-hand- such as our
Tauists practice, he had no other
power. As to the daring assertion
that he was the Maker of heaven
the Creator of heaven + earth all
men and all things this is utterly
false. A moments reflection and
you will remember that before
Oi Tai's reign there were "the Three
Kings and "the Five Emperors" Yau
Shun, Duke Chau, Confucius, and
Wen Chang, {the god of literature)
covering a period of a thousand
generations. So in the lands
beyond the seas there were kings
and subjects there were laws and
punishments etc how then did everything
begin to exist at the birth of Jesus?
According to the book "Illustrations
from Foreign Lands for opposing
Heresy" Jesus' Mother had a husband
named Joseph but Jesus with an
unfilial heart refused to acknowledge
his father and claimed that he
was begotten by some heavenly spiritual
being in order that he might exalt
his own sect above all others, and he
even wanted to make his Sovereign
submit to him. Therefore it is that
those who profess his religion are not
permitted to worship their Ancestors
their sovereigns nor the gods inferior
+ superior Acknowledging no Heaven
no laws no father no king he had
neither reverence nor loyalty - neither
reason nor righteousness and so
incurred the wrath of Heaven.
The King of Judea therefore arrested
Jesus and punished him for his
sins ,by putting him to death
on the cross according to the custom
of that country. so that his blood
covered his whole body, after hanging
there for seven days he died and
was buried. His scattered followers
purposely spread the report that he had
risen after three days and after forty
odd days ,flew up to heaven they did
this in order to spread the doctrine of
their sect just as after [u][?Sun Yan?][/u] had
been defeated and threw himself into
the sea his followers spread the report
that he had ascended to heaven as
one of the water genie If he were the
Lord of Heaven why did he not save
himself and escape from mere men when
they sought to crucify him. How absurd
the statement of Christians that the Lord
of Heaven gave his own body to suffer for
the sins of men if he wished to save men
why did he not save them without giving his
body to be crucified. As to their pretence
of exhorting men to report and be good
this is but stealing Confucian doctrine
to bolster up their sect As to their
saying- "Those who believe will go
to heaven and those who do not
believe will go to hell" what is
this but the saying of [u]Wu San Sz[/u]
"he that agrees with me is good
and he that does not agree
with me is wicked "
[注：+c 转录为 etc]
A Chinese Account of Christianity
中国政府出版官方地名录或帝国各区等的描述，
描述地形公共建筑，
人民的生产习俗等。
青云区地名录我们有一个宣教站的地方包含以下对基督教的描述下面的译文——“免得人们不明白什么是基督教而误入歧途，
我们将其叙述如下以供参考——耶稣出生于西汉大帝元年. 在我们的圣人（孔子和孟子）时期之后的很长一段时间里，
他是一名专业的医生，
并通过他拯救了许多人的生命就像我们著名的外科医生瓦托所做的一样，
他拿了七个蛋糕，
喂饱了三千人，
这是一个花招，
就像我们道家的做法一样，
他没有其他权力。
至于大胆断言他是天地的创造者、天地万物的创造者，
这完全是错误的。
片刻回想，
你会记得在爱泰之前，
有“三王五帝”有顺、周公、孔子、文昌，
跨越了千代。
那么在海之外的土地上有国王和臣民有法律和惩罚等等，
那么一切都是在耶稣诞生时开始存在的吗？根据“外国反对异端的插图”一书，
耶稣的母亲有一个丈夫耶稣取名为约瑟，
心不孝，
不认其父，
自称是天上的神灵所生，
为要高举自己的宗门，
甚至要让自己的主臣服于他。
就是那些自称信奉他的宗教的人不被允许崇拜他们的祖先他们的君主或低等+上等的神承认没有天堂没有法律没有父亲没有国王他既没有敬畏也没有忠诚——既不理智也不正义，
因此招致天怒。
因此，
犹太国王逮捕了耶稣，
并按照该国的习俗将他钉在十字架上，
以惩罚他的罪孽。
以致他的血染满了全身，
悬吊七日后死去埋葬了。
散散的追随者故意散布三天后复活，
四十多天飞上天的传闻，
他们这样做是为了传播宗门的教义，
就像孙燕战败投海一样。
他的追随者散布他作为水精灵之一升天的消息如果他是天堂之主，
当他们试图将他钉在十字架上时，
他为什么不拯救自己并逃离普通人。
基督徒说天主若要救人，
舍己身为人的罪受苦，
何等荒谬，
为何不救人，
不舍身钉十字架。
至于他们的在场劝人告发，
这不过是盗取儒家教义来壮大他们的教派。
至于他们所说的“信者上天堂，
不信者下地狱”是什么意思？但吴三世说“和我为善，
不和我为恶”
Original Format
Essay
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “"A Chinese Account of Christianity",” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 19, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/596.