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November - December 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel
How China Almost Became a Sabbath-keeping Nation! (Part 2)
by Leon J. Lyell
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In southern China in the late 1840's, a unique brand of
Christianity emerged -- the Taiping Movement. Millions
accepted its leadership, but foreign "Christian" missionaries
rejected it.
The Taipings revered the Torah and adopted the seventh-day
Sabbath! This is the story of one man's search for God. It is
the corruption of that search by the counsel of politically
motivated associates. It is also the story of an attempt to
bring a better life to the people of China and how that quest
was thwarted.
There is no doubt that the Taipings sought to create a
theocracy. Their constitution insisted on high moral standards,
church attendance, and compassion towards the needy. For
example, opium smoking, the use of tobacco and wine,
prostitution, foot binding, the sale of slaves, gambling and
polygamy were all forbidden. Hong tried to model his government
on the precepts of the Books of Moses to the extent that he
understood these.
But what exactly was Hong's message? Do we have enough evidence
to make our own judgement about whether his form of religion was
biblical? Where his beliefs differ from ours, how much of that
is due to difference of culture and how much is about a
substantial difference of understanding of the Word of God?
Remember that in the West we often assume that many customs are
biblical when in fact investigation proves this to be
false. Remember too that in Hong's village the Bible as a single
volume was simply not available. The other problem for Hong was
that there were no reliable translations. One thing is certain,
Hong did his best the adapt his life to the biblical precepts
which he had. Most of his religious concepts came from his own
reading of the Bible.
So, how did Hong obtain his beliefs and what exactly were they?
The prime source for Hong was the material he received on his
earliest visits to Canton. Equally significant was the Bible
translated by Gutzlaff. One observer of the day, Thomas Meadows,
remarked that "The Bible is his highest standard" amongst the
Taipings. Traditional scholarship in China looked to the "Four
books and the Five Classics," and these formed the basis of the
civil service exams. Hong did not abandon the best scholarship
of the past, but he believed that if these books differed from
the Bible in some way it was either because the Chinese classics
had been misunderstood or because the classics themselves were
wrong.
In Hong's kingdom, the civil service exam was based on the
Bible!
In response to the accusation that he was simply following
foreign ways, Hong replied that:
"[Those who accuse us of this] do not know that in the ancient
world monarchs and subjects alike all worshipped the Great
God. As for the great Way or worshipping the Great God, from the
very beginning, when the Great god created in six days heaven
and earth, mountains and seas, man and things, both China and
the barbarian countries of the west have continuously walked in
the great Way. China also walked in the great Way, but within
the most recent one or two thousand years, China has erroneously
followed the devil's path..." [Michael II, p 113 - 114]
Major Beliefs
It must be stated at the outset that as with all religious
groups, it would be wrong to paint a picture of static
beliefs. Understandings developed and one of the sad matters to
contemplate is to consider where the Taiping belief system might
have ended up if it been allowed to flourish. The other fact to
consider is that once the movement became a political force, it
is clear that some Taiping leaders used their religious
positions to control the political direction of their followers,
many of whom were not interested in becoming "God-worshippers."
The directions of Hong's earlier period would seem to be the
purer and form the background to Hong's adoption of the
seventh-day Sabbath.
God
The Taipings emphasised monotheism. There was only one God and
his name was Shangdi, a term going back to the most ancient
times in Chinese history. The phrase "Jehovah" seems not to have
been used in Taiping literature, however this may be because of
a misunderstanding of a phrase Shenyehuohua in a translation of
the Bible by Morrison. Hong analysed the name to mean Shenye -
"God-Father" and Huohua, which Hong took to be God's given name.
Hong objected to the Protestant missionaries' emphasis on God as
being formless and emphasised that man was made in God's image.
Much of Taiping teaching about God came from the Pentateuch,
which along with the book of Joshua is apparently all that they
published of the Old Testament. Their understanding of history
from the creation to the giving of the law was therefore
excellent as was their acceptance of the lessons from that part
of the Bible.
One of Hong's innovations was to see God as a family! Here the
strong emphasis on family life in Chinese culture can be seen as
influential along with Hong's dislike of the argument of
Christian missions that God was not anthropomorphic and the
Chinese educated elite that the Great God was a non-personal
"ultimate principle."
Hong saw God as the Father, Jesus was the first son, but Hong
himself was a younger brother of Jesus. Both Hong as a son of
heaven had a wife and this pattern was seen as repeated in
heaven where God the Father had a wife also.
Before we condemn this latter notion as absurd, think for a
moment about the difficulty on conceptualising the notion of the
trinity, which Hong decried as meaningless. Above all Hong
searched for a way of understanding God. He insisted that God
could be understood and sought to understand Him in simple
terms.
Sin
The Ten Commandments were the standard by which the whole
community was expected to live. The Taipings quoted from them
extensively and wrote commentaries on them which adding
references from Chinese proverbs and other writings.
For example a commentary on the Ten Commandments has these
comments:
"The Ten Heavenly Commandments were established by the
Great God.
"The First heavenly Commandment: Thou shall honour
and worship the Great God.
"The great God is the Universal Father of all nations
of the world. All men are given birth and nourished by him, all men
are protected by him and all men ought, therefore to worship him
respectfully morning and evening, and to acknowledge his grace.
There is a common saying, "Produced by Heaven, nourished by Heaven,
and Protected by Heaven...'"[Michael II, 119-120]
The seventh Commandment was expanded to; "Thou shall
not commit adultery or be licentious." The Commentary makes it
clear that the commandment includes "the casting of amorous
glances...," which is consistent with the commentary of Christ
himself on the subject.
Sin was thus breaking of the Law of Heaven, but while
the Chinese classics often spoke of "Heaven" as an impersonal
principle, the Taipings recognised that Heaven was worthy of
worship. From the beginning God had sought to rescue humanity from
its sin. God sent Israel the Ten Commandments and when mankind
later "fell into misery," Heaven sent:
"[The] first born son, the Heavenly elder brother,
Jesus down into the world to save mankind and to suffer extreme
misery and grief in order to redeem mankind's sins... If men did
but know the basis of their redemption, consisting in the sacrifice
of his life for the salvation of the world, they would be able to
estimate how worthy of all honour our Heavenly Elder Brother is;
still more would they feel that our Heavenly Father ought
constantly to be regarded with pious reverence." [Michael II,
239-240]
Not only had God commissioned ancient Israel and His Son, in
these latter times he had commissioned Hong:
"From whose coming the true doctrine began to be clearly
manifest.
"Wisdom and intelligence endowed by Heaven far exceeded the
common order;
"His disposition is benevolent and preserving the correct. He
upholds Heaven's command;
"With rewards and punishments clearly distinguished, Heaven's
law is manifest." [Michael II, p 243]
Heaven's law was concretely manifest in the initial Taiping
conquests in establishing the "heavenly capital" in Nanjing.
Dealing with sin involved a strong measure of putting out sin
and replacing sin with obedience to the Law. In promoting good
character, Hong promoted rectitude and morality, which had been
emphasised in the Chinese classics. The "God-worshippers" had to
practice righteousness.
Because of this emphasis some had discounted the Taiping
movement as non-Christian because they believed in "original
goodness" instead of the traditional view of "original sin." To
some extent this is a false argument as it represents a
difference of emphasis.
Religious Observances
There is much that we do not know about the Taiping Movement and
a number of contradictions in what we do "know." In a large
movement involving millions of people, which came into being and
rose to prominence in a short period of time, this should not be
a surprise.
Baptism was probably the most important ceremony, and was used
to picture freedom from sin. Candidates came to a table on which
were placed two lamps and three cups of tea. A previously
written confession of sins was burned. Candidates then had to
agree orally not to worship demons or commit acts of evil. They
pledged to follow the Laws of Heaven. Then water was poured over
their head and they said, "My sin is washed away. I have put
aside the old man and am now made new." They then rose and went
to the river where they were immersed, calling on God to forgive
them.
Taipings Observe the Seventh-day Sabbath
The seventh-day Sabbath was carefully observed. On Fridays a
large flag was displayed, signalling the approach of the
Sabbath. Its observance began at sunset on Friday. The service
was one of worship, celebrated in traditional Chinese mode with
cakes and fruit, and exposition of the Bible, and was held at
midnight.
Sacrifices of animals, delicacies, tea and rice were offered in
a tradition somewhat reminiscent of the Old Testament. These
were not intended to "gain merit" as was often the case in
Chinese religious practice, as it was followed by a phrase
acknowledging that it was through the "merits of our Saviour and
Heavenly Elder brother Jesus, who redeemed us from sin." From
this it seems clear that the Taiping sought to become perfect,
there was no sense of earning salvation.
The Taiping Ceremonial Regulations required the following:
"Within [the court] and without, all the various
officials and people must go every Sabbath to hear the expounding
of the Holy Bible, reverently and offer their sacrifices and
worship and praise the Heavenly Father, the Supreme Lord and Great
God. On every seventh seven, the forty-ninth day, the Sabbath, the
colonel, captains and lieutenants shall go in turn to the churches
in which reside the sergeants under their commend and expound the
Holy books, instruct the people, examine whether they obey the
commandments..." [Michael II, p 320]
The custom of a special Sabbath every seven Sabbaths
is an interesting one. Could this idea be derived in some way from
a poor translation of Leviticus 23:15-16? Further research could
uncover the answer. The King James translation of these verses
read;
"And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath,
from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering;
seven Sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the
seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days..."
And just in case there was any doubt about when the seventh-day
Sabbath was observed, in response to a question on this, the
Hong Renkan's response was:
"The Sabbath is observed by assembling at midnight for prayer
and praise. When peace is restored, the Sabbath is to be
strictly observed. It is kept on Saturday." [Clarke and Gregory
p 242]
As far as can be ascertained, while the traditional round of
annual ceremonies of the Chinese calendar were not observed,
there is no evidence that they observed any annual "Christian"
celebrations such as Christmas or Easter. Although they had a
vigorous knowledge of the first five books at this stage I have
found no clear evidence that they considered the place of the
annual holy days of Leviticus 23.
Weaknesses of Taiping Christianity
There were, of course, a number of "weaknesses" with Taiping
Christianity, and it is incorrect to claim that Taiping
Christianity was simply a Chinese variant of the Church of God,
which was flourishing in America. Their Bible was incomplete and
the enthusiastic adoption of a political role allowed Hong's
egotism to blur his original spiritual purity.
For example, while Hong was clearly convinced that God was one,
he regarded Christ as a step below, in a sense, as a created
being. Hong himself was simply a younger brother of Jesus - a
younger son of God. In time, however, this understanding was
translated by political advisors into a belief in Hong's
divinity, eventually claiming that he was none other than
Melchizedek. Such divine ancestry was clearly designed more to
fortify his position of influence as a political force in
China. It is not surprising that rival "kings" within the
Taiping movement also began to claim special revelations from
God. And again, the context of these claims is that literally
tens of millions of people in China were looking to Hong to
reform the nation. Many believed that the dynasties would change
and wanted to be sure they were well secured within the new
government.
Hong himself was not a good administrator and towards his latter
years was given some support from within by Hong Rengan, who
appears to have been more widely read in Christian literature
and wished to introduce other useful Western ideas such as
trains, clocks, steamships, and the like. But his intervention
was too late to save the movement.
Many of the weaknesses of Taiping Christianity were the result
of the poor influence of the Western missionaries. Basic terms
were not explained and there was almost no understanding of the
background from which Chinese audience would receive such
concepts. Experienced teachers and a mature understanding of the
scriptures were lacking.
Some missionaries were convinced that the movement was in effect
preparing the Chinese soil for a widespread turning to the real
gospel. In this context some missionaries did attempt to
influence Hong. But again many of these efforts were hampered by
personality differences; cultural misunderstanding and the fact
that most missionaries first wanted to "correct" some
notions. Many of the supposed errors of the Taipings were
concepts that are difficult to support biblically. For example,
the trinity doctrine and in particular the personality of the
Holy Spirit were not accepted by the Taiping and for that reason
it was often the first subject raised by Western
missionaries. In many ways had there been appropriately trained
representatives of those from the Sabbatarian traditions, there
may have been a better chance that Taiping Christianity would
have developed. Instead, distrust and misunderstanding lead to a
breakdown in real communicaion.
What Might Have Happened?
This is an intriguing question. If we think of the progress
which the Taipings made in their understanding of the God of the
Bible and His ways in a short space of time, with an incomplete
and poorly translated Bible, we can only wonder. The religious
core of the early movement was, it seems, searching for the God
who is ever willing to reveal himself those who diligently seek
Him [Hebrews 11:6]. Who are we to judge whether they served the
true God, who truly knows his own? For all of us our knowledge
is partial - incomplete - the important thing is to follow up on
what we know.
There are two sad lessons, of course, in the story. The first
is that having set out with such vigour to draw near to God and
to improve the lot of their country, the Taiping leadership
appears to have been caught up in the politics of the world,
which for some then became an end in itself. The potential for
power may have meant that the quest for truth came second. The
other sad lesson is that those "Christian" nations and their
religious establishments in objecting to Taiping Christianity
cut off all help to a movement which if successful would have
seen an entirely new form of Christianity. Had it been permitted
to follow the patterns of the past with regard to the changing
of dynasties, China would today be a Sabbath-keeping nation. And
after one hundred years of Sabbath-keeping, where might that
nation be today in its knowledge the Great God?
References and Reading
Clarke, P & Gregory, J Western Reports of the Taiping
(Australian National University Press, 1982)
Lindley, A F, Ti Ping Tien-Kwoh (London 1866, New York 1970)
Michael, F The Taiping Rebellion in Historical Documents
University of Washington Press, 1960), Volumes I, II, III.
Of interest is Hoeh, H L "The Dramatic Story of Chinese Sabbath
Keepers" The Good News December 1955, pp 5-7.
A great young people's story on the Taiping movement is Rebels
Of The Heavenly Kingdom by renowned children's author Katherine
Paterson.
Further Research
Many further lines of further investigation are obvious. I
should be grateful if any readers could help with any of the
following:
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Did any of the "God-Worshippers" survive in China after
the Manchu victory?
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What of the history of Sabbath-keepers in China at
earlier periods?
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What is the story of Sabbath-keepers in China
today?
Leon J Lyell - PO Box 206, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
-- e-mail: l.lyell@latrobe.edu.au
TSS
November - December 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel
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