Commemorating the New Testament (2)
Years ago I wrote in the Litrichean about the Reverend John Ross. He
was famous as a missionary in Korea and China in the nineteenth
century. He belonged to the area of the seaboard villages in Easter
Ross. He spoke Gaelic as his first language. He learned Korean to
fluency. And, apparently, he spoke ten other languages. He translated
the New Testament into Korean.
Matters were not easy for Christian missionaries in China. At the end
of the nineteenth century there was the Boxer Rebellion. Eight
countries – western ones and Japan – sent armies to China. Britain was
among those countries. They subdued the Chinese.
Thousands of Christians were killed in the revolution. The church that
the Rev. John Ross established was burned to the ground. Finally, Ross
returned to Scotland and he died in Edinburgh.
Why am I thinking about John Ross? It’s because a Chinese manuscript
was found in the Archives of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. It’s
been in the Archives for a long time. But it’s in Chinese. Nobody knew
how important it was. Recently it was translated.
The manuscript was published by the Emperor Kuang Hsu after the Boxer
Rebellion. That was in 1901. The Enperor was wanting the people to be
positive towards Christians. He wanted there to be peace. The
manuscript is important as evidence for what happened at that time.
After the rebellion, when there was peace, John Ross was involved in
conversations with the Chinese Government. That was about reopening
Protestant churches. There is a good chance that it was Ross that took
the manuscript home to Scotland.
The Protestant churches were then open for decades. They closed again in
the Cultural Revolution in the sixties and seventies. But that’s another
story.
Comharrachadh an Tiomnaidh Nuaidh (2)
O chionn bhliadhnaichean, sgrìobh mi anns na Litrichean mun Urramach Iain
Ros. Bha e ainmeil mar mhiseanaraidh ann an Coirìa is Sìona anns an
naoidheamh linn deug. Bhuineadh e do sgìre nam bailtean mara ann an Ros an
Ear. Bha Gàidhlig aige mar chiad chànan. Dh’ionnsaich e Coirìanais gu
fileantachd. Agus, a rèir aithris, bha deich cànanan eile aige.
Dh’eadar-theangaich e an Tiomnadh Nuadh gu Coirìanais.
Cha robh cùisean furasta do mhiseanaraidhean Crìosdail ann an Sìona. Aig
deireadh an naoidheamh linn deug bha Ar-a-mach nam Bogsairean ann. Chuir
ochd dùthchannan – feadhainn Siarach agus Iapan – armailtean gu ruige
Sìona. Bha Breatainn am measg nan dùthchannan sin. Cheannsaich iad na
Sìonaich.
Chaidh na mìltean de Chrìosdaidhean a mharbhadh anns an ar-a-mach. Chaidh
an eaglais a stèidhich an t-Urr. Iain Ros a losgadh gu làr. Aig a’ cheann
thall, thill Ros a dh’Alba agus chaochail e ann an Dùn Èideann.
Carson a tha mi a’ beachdachadh air Iain Ros? Tha, a chionn ʼs gun deach
làmh-sgrìobhainn Sìonach a lorg ann an Tasglann Eaglais na h-Alba ann an
Dùn Èideann. Tha i air a bhith anns an Tasglann airson ùine mhòr. Ach tha i
ann an Sìonais. Cha robh fios aig duine dè cho cudromach ʼs a bha i. O
chionn ghoirid chaidh a h-eadar-theangachadh.
Chaidh an làmh-sgrìobhainn a chur a-mach leis an Ìmpire Kuang Hsu an dèidh
Ar-a-mach nam Bogsairean. Bha sin ann an naoi ceud deug ʼs a h-aon (1901).
Bha an t-Ìmpire ag iarraidh air a’ mhòr-shluagh a bhith bàigheil ri
Crìosdaidhean. Bha e ag iarraidh gum biodh sìth ann. Tha an
làmh-sgrìobhainn cudromach mar fhianais air na thachair aig an àm sin.
An dèidh an ar-a-mach, nuair a bha sìth ann, bha Iain Ros an sàs ann an
còmhraidhean le Riaghaltas Shìonaidh. Bha sin mu dheidhinn eaglaisean
Pròstanach fhosgladh às ùr. Tha deagh theans ann gur e Ros a thug dhachaigh
an làmh-sgrìobhainn a dh’Alba.
Bha na h-eaglaisean Pròstanach fosgailte an uair sin airson deicheadan.
Dhùin iad a-rithist anns an Rèabhlaid Chultaraich anns na seasgadan is
seachdadan. Ach ʼs e sgeul eile a tha sin.
