Memorial in Defence of the Jesuits (Bianxue zhangshu)

The heading printed with the translation says that the Board of Rites had accused Pantoja and the other Jesuits in a report of the seventh month of the forty-fourth year of Wanli. The translator of 1850 gives that year as 1617; counted from the dates in De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas (On the Christian Expedition among the Chinese), where the thirty-eighth year of Wanli is the year of Ricci’s death, it is 1616.

Xu writes as an official of the court. He says that the Board spoke of “men of eminence” and “scholars” who believed the foreigners without naming anyone, and that he is one of them: he has discussed religion with the Jesuits, believes the books they have published and has studied mathematics with them. He argues that their teaching about serving Heaven can strengthen the teaching of the scholars and correct that of the Buddhists, and he asks the emperor to have their books translated and examined and to let them debate the Buddhists and Daoists in writing, offering to share their punishment if they are found wrong. The memorial is evidence of how a leading Chinese Christian explained his faith to his own ruler.