The Reformation in Europe had caused Protestants and Catholics to become rivals long ago.
Unlike Catholicism, Protestantism—the core denomination in Britain today—was highly accepting of people from all walks of life. It was a bit like a grand opening sale, so the perks were pretty generous.
From a historical perspective, though, Protestantism had abolished Catholic indulgences, which was still worthy of praise.
Perhaps guided by relatively open-minded ideas, Yarlin didn't probe too deeply into whether Xu Yun was a believer or had been baptized. He soon let William and the others inside.
St. Titus Didymus Church had a spacious interior, with two floors that could accommodate around eight hundred to a thousand people, seated or standing. At the front was an elevated platform for preaching, alongside space for the choir.
After entering the church, William's family found a spot on the left, around the middle, and settled in for the service.
After some adjustments, they eventually settled on a seating arrangement with seven people, Lilani sitting on Mrs. William's lap.
About half an hour later, a choir walked up to the pulpit at the front. Everyone in the church stood and began singing a hymn.
Xu Yun knew only one hymn: "Hallelujah," whose rhythm was remarkably similar to "Love My China." So he could only hum along like a wooden dummy, barely pretending to join in.
After the hymn ended, Pastor Yarlin, whom they had met earlier, stepped up to the pulpit.
After a brief prayer, the sermon began in earnest.
Yarlin was preaching from the Gospel of Matthew that day, and there was a passage Xu Yun knew quite well:
"What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their life? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their life?"
Xu Yun wasn't a believer, but for some reason, those words had moved him for a long time. He'd memorized them without even realizing it.
They were a bit like famous sayings such as "Bodhi is not a tree, nor is the bright mirror a stand." Even people outside the faith had usually heard them at least a few times.
The sermon lasted an hour and a half. Xu Yun listened with half his attention, and spent most of the latter part observing the other people in the church.
When the sermon ended, Yarlin wiped the sweat from his forehead with some effort and said:
"Hallelujah!
People of God, may our Lord bless each of your families. May your feet be beautiful, and may we one day share in His glory!
Now, please stand and receive Holy Communion!"
At his words, everyone present rose to their feet.
A moment later,
the solemn, weighty notes of the piano rang out, and the choir began singing again.
Pastor Yarlin carried a small tray himself, followed by three or four people. They started at the front row and made their way toward the back.
Xu Yun and the others were seated around the middle of the church, so it wasn't long before Yarlin reached them.
The rules of Holy Communion were quite simple:
On the tray Yarlin carried was a small wooden dish holding a piece of flatbread about the size of a fingernail. Beside it was a wine jug, and each person could pour a little wine into their own cup.
Everyone was expected to eat the bread and drink the wine.
Little Ox had explained this part to Xu Yun on the way over, so when his turn came, Xu Yun didn't resist. He readily took the bread and wine and swallowed them.
After all, this wasn't an initiation ritual, just a church observance expressing gratitude. Xu Yun wouldn't normally take part of his own accord, but when the occasion arose, he wasn't going to make a fuss.
In most cases, the wine used for Holy Communion was grape wine, symbolizing the blood of the Holy Son.
But because shipping routes had been cut off, Grantham's supply of grape wine was running low. So this time, Yarlin had used newly brewed cider instead.
Cider was actually more like "blood" in color than grape wine, but the taste of fresh cider was nowhere near as good—especially when it was made from Bramley apples, which were very tart.
The moment it touched Xu Yun's tongue, he felt a powerful sourness.
But as the wine went down, the hand holding his wooden cup suddenly froze. A flash of inspiration struck him:
He'd thought of what he could use to make his first bit of money!
That was it!
After Holy Communion ended, William and the others carefully packed their belongings—mainly the Holy Book and the Leaf Bag—then left the church.
Unlike on the way there, nothing unexpected happened on the return journey. They only exchanged a few words with some of the villagers traveling with them.
After walking and resting for more than three hours, the eight of them finally returned to the little village of Woolsthorpe.
Little Ox and Xu Yun, the two young men, said goodbye to William's family at the village entrance and went their separate ways.
As soon as he got back to the Garden house, Little Ox pulled out the paper Hooke had left him and said:
"Fat Fish, don't say anything yet. Just listen to how I plan to solve it."
Xu Yun readily agreed. Given Little Ox's temperament, Xu Yun was merely an assistant, a "tool," and Little Ox had to work out the solution himself.
"Go ahead, Mr. Newton."
He had looked at Hooke's problem before he left. Put simply, it went like this:
Suppose you have a marble rolling around in an irregular pit. You know the relationship V(r) between the pit's depth and its horizontal coordinate. Find the properties of this function—in other words, calculate the space occupied by an undeformed continuous medium.
"Here's what I'm thinking."
Little Ox quickly sketched a diagram on the paper and said:
"If we restrict ourselves to the Cartesian coordinate system and assume the marble is a point mass, with only short-range x interactions, then the components of the force acting on each tiny piece inside the medium can be treated as acting on that piece's surface. So some quantity representing the force density should correspond to some quantity on the surface."
Xu Yun nodded again. The "quantities" Little Ox was referring to were volume integrals and surface integrals.
The fact that Little Ox was starting from integrals meant that his framework for calculus was nearing completion. This was undoubtedly good news.
"Then let's assume that ￡X is the displacement of a small surface element. Based on a property of parallelogram products mentioned in Cardano's 1545 work The Great Art, we should be able to derive ζF, then continue the calculation using the symmetry of quantities."
At that point, Little Ox suddenly stopped speaking.
It was obvious.
That was as far as he had gotten.
Note:
All right, I'm terrible at coming up with names.
Before you continue