Previous parts of the translation:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

或曰爲西學者有原祖再祖之說可得聞歟

My conversation partner said: “In the Western Learning there is the idea of a primal forefather and a renewed forefather. May I hear [your opinion about it]?”

曰原祖卽上所云亞黨也再祖今所稱天主耶蘇也

[I] said: “The primal forefather is in fact Adam, whom we have already discussed, [while] the renewed forefather is Jesus, whom I shall introduce now (…)”

實義云開闢初生人無病常是陽和常甚快樂鳥獸萬彙順聽其命循奉上帝而已由人犯天主命萬物亦反背于人萬禍生焉爲其子孫者相率而習於醜行

“(…) The True Meaning1 states the following:

At the beginning of the world, that had just been created, the people did not suffer from any illnesses, [the weather] was always agreeable and [life] was very joyful. All the various kinds of birds and beasts obeyed His commands and devotedly served the Supreme Deity without fail. [But] since man violated the Lord of Heaven’s instructions, so did everything turn against man. Countless calamities were born out of this. Subsequent generations of people became ever more accustomed to heinous acts.

(…)”

又其書所云眞道自證曰天主生原祖爲天下萬民之祖特恩縱之性善情美萬理具照天地萬物遵若主命邪魔忌而謀去之而天主乘此欲試原祖邪神誘之失本忘恩從魔以方命天主仁慈轉爲義怒死得地獄之苦世世子孫同受其罰云

“(…) Moreover, in their writing that is called Zhēndào Zìzhèng (眞道自證)2 the following is stated:

The Lord of Heaven brought to life the primal forefather who would become the forefather of the great many nations in the world. Extraordinary [divine] favour reached him from above. [His] character was benevolent and [his] spirit was fine. All the manifold [sound] cosmic orders shone forth brightly, the manifold beings in the world all behaved in accordance with the Lord’s instructions. The evil demon[, however,] was scheming to get rid of him out of spite, and [also] the Lord of Heaven made use of this [scheming plan of the evil demon, as He] wished to put the primal forefather to the test. The evil spirit seduced him [successfully]. Losing [his moral] bearings and forgetting the favours [bestowed on him by the Lord], he heeded the demon, thus disobeying [the Lord’s] instructions. The Lord of Heaven’s kind compassion turned into righteous anger. [The primal forefather thus died] and received Hell’s torment. [His] progeny, generation upon generation, received the same punishment as he had.

Or so it says. (…)”

噫是何言哉上帝造出亞黨以爲人類之祖則其神聖可知矣

“(…) But really, what kind of story is this?! If the Supreme Deity [really] created [this flawed] Adam to become the forefather of [all] mankind, then how could one acknowledge that [He] is hallowed?3 (…)”

焉有上帝聽魔鬼之譖潛使魔鬼試其心之眞僞乎若使亞黨設有僭妄之心上帝當更敕勵使之改革若賢父之於子良師之於弟子可也豈以上帝而有是事乎

“(…) On top of that, the Supreme Deity would have, upon hearing the evil demon’s vile scheme, tacitly allowed [that] demon to test what his4 character was really made of?! Even if He did allow Adam to form presumptuous delusions in his mind [which could cause him to disobey Him], the Supreme Deity should [then] once again coax him into mending his ways, as a wise father to do to the benefit of his son, [or] as an able teacher for the sake of his pupil. How could one, in the capacity of a Supreme Being, let such an incident [of Adam’s seduction by the demon] happen?! (…)”

爲此言者其慢天之罪可勝言哉假使亞黨有罪罪止其身而已亦安有萬世子孫同受其罰之理乎先王之政罰不及嗣况至萬世而苦其子孫乎

“(…) And as for what is stated with regard to [Adam’s] guilt of holding [divine] Heaven in contempt [by going against the Lord of Heaven’s instructions], how could that ever have been put on paper?! If we assume that Adam indeed perpetrated the violation, then the guilt [caused by this crime] would rest solely on his shoulders: What is, then, the rationale behind the same punishment being received by a great many generations of his descendants [for the crime that Adam had committed]? It was [part of] good governance by the ancient kings to not extend punishment to the direct posterity [of the culprit], let alone that all [his] descendants of the great many generations [that might come after] would be tormented [on account of their ancestor’s wrongdoing]! (…)”

實義中士曰善惡有報不於本身必於子孫不必言天堂地獄西士曰王覇之法罪不及胄天主捨本身而惟胄是報耶以此條所言言之則其說自相矛盾亦甚可笑

“(…) [In the] True Meaning5 [it is written] that, according to the Chinese scholars, the renumeration for good and evil [acts] will certainly be reaped by one’s descendants if it does not come to oneself [already,] and there would be no need to speak of a Heaven or a Hell. [In the same writing] the Western scholars[, on the other hand,] maintain that, whereas the laws of kings and hegemons do not mete out punishments to [the perpetrator’s] posterity, the Lord of Heaven’s relinquishment of His own body6 would constitute a reward for His posterity[, namely humankind,] only (sic!). If you state what has been claimed [by these Western scholars] in this juxtaposition, then their ideas [turn out to be] in contradiction with each other,7 and in an extremely risible way at that!”

或復問再祖之事

My conversation partner enquired once again about the topic of the renewed forefather.

曰其說至繁難以言旣姑擧其畧

[I] responded: “This idea [of a renewed forefather] is highly complex, [so] it will be hard to describe it in its entirety. For the moment I shall show [you only] its outline.8 (…)”

實義言亞黨自致萬禍子孫相率以習醜行淳樸漸漓聖賢化去從欲者衆循理者稀

“(…) The True Meaning9 claims that Adam himself brought on a great amount of calamities, and that subsequent generations of [his] progeny became ever more accustomed to heinous acts as a result. The pure and honest became bit by bit more tainted, the sagely and worthy abandoned the world of the living, there were plenty of those who pursued their [sinful] desires, while those who went by proper principles had become rare exceptions. (…)”

天主大發慈悲親來救世漢哀帝元壽二年擇貞女爲母無所交感托胎降生名耶蘇耶蘇卽救世也弘化西土三十三年復昇歸天云據此親來降生之說而言之則當此之時天上其無上帝耶

“(…) The Lord of Heaven[, however,] showed great mercy, [as] He came to save the world in Person. In the second year of the regnal era Yuánshòu (元壽), when Emperor Āi (哀) ruled over the state of Hàn (漢),10 He selected a chaste woman to become [His] mother. Without any sexual intercourse involved, He entered the womb and was born [into this world]. He was given the name Jesus.11 This Jesus was[, according to the Western scholars,] the Saviour. He [allegedly] stayed for 33 years to bring about sweeping transformations of the Western lands, after which he would have ascended back to Heaven. If there is anything to say, based on this story of [God] coming [to this world] to live [here] in Person, then it is that [apparently] Heaven was missing the Supreme Deity during all that time! (…)”

又眞道自證曰聖經言天主於原祖子孫中再立一人爲人類之再祖又稱天主聖 子無異眞天主與親來降生之言不同其學之不可信有如此者

“(…) [The work] Zhēndào Zìzhèng (眞道自證) furthermore states that, according to the Bible, the Heavenly Lord established one Man among the descendants of the primal forefather[, Adam,] to become the Renewed Forefather of humanity, and he was moreover called the Lord of Heaven’s Sagely Son, Who was in nothing different from the Lord of Heaven himself. The incongruity [of this account in Zhēndào Zìzhèng] with the other story that the Lord of Heaven Himself[, and not His Son,] would have been the one who descended to this world, is what cannot be believed about their12 teaching, yet it is part of it. (…)”

又曰耶蘇以萬民之罪爲己任損己之寶命被釘於十字架而死云旣曰上帝親降又曰無異眞天主云則敢曰被釘而死不得考終耶其愚昧無知侮慢尊嚴甚矣此等言語其可謂十分停當而信從之乎

“(…) It furthermore states that Jesus has taken upon Himself the burden of violations [perpetrated by] a great number of scores of people, and renounced His own precious life. He allegedly was nailed to a cross-shaped frame and thus died. Even though [they] claim that the Supreme Deity descended into [this] world, and also assert that [as for Jesus,] he had nothing that differed from the Lord of Heaven, they still dare to tell [us] that He was spiked [to the cross] and thus died, [meaning] He was not able to finish His life [on Earth] as He would like to, without agony and in accomplishment!13 Their foolish ignorance and disrespectful attitude to what is dignified is truly monumental! How could it ever be possible to regard such writings as perfectly plausible and faithfully heed them?”