JapSin I, (38/42) 41/1c
Bianji 辨祭.

An inscription on the margin reads: Pien-çi.

P.S. The Kaoyi 考疑 (Jap-Sin I, [38/42] 40/6b) in one volume was written after the writing of Master Wan (萬老師 i.e., Francisco Varo, O.P.), who had taken more than ten quotations from the Liji and Shijing to prove that the veneration of ancestors implies personal participation of the dead in the banquet and supplication for happiness on the part of the living. I have studied the original [and found that] there is nothing there pertaining to supplication for happiness nor is there any real presence or participation of the dead. Unfortunately my original draft is no longer to be found and for this reason I am unable to make you a copy. However, this book is with [Master] Luo (i.e., 羅肋山 Ciceri) and Li (i.e., 李西滿 Simão Rodrigues), who are now in Beijing. If you think it is acceptable, kindly let me know at your convenience. You can have a copy made from them and if you succeed in doing so, I should be very grateful for receiving a copy myself.

Source: Albert Chan, SJ, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 63-64.

JapSin I, (38/42) 41/1a
Jizu kao 祭祖考.

Folio 1r gives the title in Chinese below: 閩漳聖教後學嚴謨保琭定猷氏輯 (Compiled by Paul Yan Mo, zi Dingyou, a disciple of the Catholic religion and a native of Zhangzhou in Fujian).

Folios 8–11 (Suji zhi xie 俗祭之邪) contain Yan Mo’s own remarks. He contends that the old sacrificial rites do nothing but express one’s veneration for one’s deceased parents and have nothing to do with demons. They contain nothing against the Catholic faith. Hence, if these were forbidden to Christians, it might arouse criticism among the pagans who would say that Christians are not human beings, since they act so strangely. The Church might in consequence close her door to pagans. Yan Mo stresses strongly the distinction between ancient Chinese rites and rites adulterated by pagan practices, which must be regarded as superstitious (this passage appears also in Lishi tiaowen: Jap-Sin I, [38/42] 40/2, pp. 17–23).

Source: Albert Chan, SJ, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 62-63.

JapSin I, (38/42) 41/1a, 1b, 1c
Jizu kao 祭祖考.
Muzhu kao 木主考.
Bianji 辨祭.
By Yan Mo 嚴謨.
Three treatises, Chinese bamboo paper, bound in one volume. Twenty folios with one cover folio and one folio with a table of contents. 23.4 x 14.2 cm.

In the middle of each folio the heading is given on the upper part. The number of the folio is given below. The table of contents contains eight headings:

[41/1a]
1. Ji zhi yuanyi 祭之原意 (The original meaning of sacrifice) (ff. 1–3).
2. Sandai jiyi 三代祭儀 (The sacrificial ceremonies of the Three Dynasties) (f. 4).
3. Songru jiali 宋儒家禮 (The Jiali of the Song scholars) (ff. 5–6).
4. Houdai zhuwen 後代祝文 (Forms of invocation throughout the centuries) (f. 7).
5. Suji zhi xie 俗祭之邪 (The falsity of the vulgar sacrifices) (ff. 8–11).

[41/1b]
6. Muzhu kao 木主考 (Study on the tablets of deceased persons) (ff. 12–14).
7. Muzhu zonglun 木主總論 (Summary on the tablets of deceased persons) (f. 15).

[41/1c]
8. Bianji 辨祭 (Distinctions on “sacrifice”) (ff. 16–20).

Although the table of contents gives no. 5, the heading in the middle of the folios fails to give it. Below the heading 辨祭 in the table of contents (no. 8) there is a note: 此篇是因福安所作辯祭之文翻駁中祭禮故作辨祭以分別之 “In Fu’an [Fujian] someone has published the treatise Bianji (i.e., Francisco Varo, O.P.) criticizing the Chinese rites. We now write the Bianji in refutation of the above mentioned treatise.”
For the biography of Yan Mo, cf. Jap-Sin I, (38/42) 40/2.

Source: Albert Chan, SJ, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 61-62.