Due to the religious reformation in Europe, Protestantism and Catholicism became opposed long ago.
Unlike Catholicism, Protestantism is the core denomination in the United Kingdom today, highly inclusive of all social classes—this could be understood as a grand opening sale, where benefits are quite favorable.
However, from a historical perspective, Protestantism abolished the Catholic indulgences, which is commendable.
Therefore, guided by relatively enlightened thought, Pastor Yarlin did not delve too deeply into whether Xu Yun was a believer or baptized, thus quickly allowing William's group in.
The space inside Saint Titus Church is large, with two levels that can accommodate approximately eight hundred to a thousand people sitting and standing, with a high platform for preaching and a place for the choir at the front.
After entering the church, William's family found a spot relatively in the middle on the left side for this service's seating.
After some adjustments, the seating was finally arranged with seven people sitting, with Lilani on Mrs. Williams's lap.
About half an hour later, a choir walked up to the front platform, and everyone in the church stood up simultaneously and began singing hymns.
Since Xu Yun's knowledge of hymns was limited to the one with a rhythm very similar to "Hallelujah," during this process, he could only hum like a wooden figure, somewhat pretending to be a part of the chorus.
After the hymn was sung, Pastor Yarlin, who had been seen earlier, stepped onto the main platform.
After a brief prayer, he began the formal sermon.
Yarlin's sermon today was on the Book of Matthew, and there was a passage Xu Yun was quite familiar with:
"What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"
Xu Yun was not a believer, but this sentence inexplicably touched him for a long time, unknowingly memorizing it.
It was somewhat like the sayings such as 'There is no Bodhi tree nor stand of the bright mirror,' even those outside the faith had heard of it a few times.
The entire sermon lasted for an hour and a half, with Xu Yun listening half attentively and half distractedly, spending the latter part mostly observing others in the church.
After the sermon ended, Yarlin wiped sweat from his forehead with some effort and said:
"Hallelujah!
Dear children of God, may our Lord bless your families; may your footsteps become beautiful, and one day may we all share in the glory!
Now, please stand to receive Communion!"
Upon hearing this, everyone present immediately stood up.
A moment later.
Solemn and heavy piano sounds echoed, and the choir continued singing hymns.
Pastor Yarlin personally held a small tray, followed by three or four people, starting from the front row and gradually moving to the back.
The position of Xu Yun's group was right in the middle of numerous seats, so it wasn't long before Yarlin reached them.
Communion's rule is quite simple:
On the tray Yarlin held, there was a small wooden dish with a fingernail-sized piece of bread, with a wine jug beside it. Each person could use their own cup to hold some wine.
As required, each person just needed to consume the bread and the wine.
This process was described to Xu Yun on his way here by Little Niu, so when it was his turn, he didn't resist much, confidently taking the bread and wine and swallowing them.
After all, this wasn't a formal initiation ceremony but more of a gratitude-based church ritual, something Xu Yun would not actively engage in unless during situations like this, where he wouldn't oppose much.
Typically, the communion wine is often grape wine, symbolizing the blood of the Saint Heir.
However, due to the current disruption in freight shipping, Grantham's stock of grape wine was no longer ample, so Yarlin used newly brewed apple wine to substitute.
The color of apple wine actually resembled 'blood' more than grape wine, yet the taste of fresh apple wine was far inferior to grape wine—especially using Bramley apples with plenty of acidity.
So as soon as it entered his mouth, Xu Yun's taste buds were hit with strong sourness.
Yet as the wine went down, Xu Yun's hand holding the wooden cup suddenly froze, a flash of lightning crossing his mind:
He thought of how to make his first sum of money!
Yes, this is it!
After the communion was over, William's group carefully packed their things (mainly the Holy Book and leaf packages) and left the church.
Unlike how they came, Xu Yun and the rest encountered no unexpected events on their way back, only chatting briefly with a few fellow villagers.
And thus, after walking intermittently for over three hours, the eight finally arrived back at Woolsop Village.
Then, Little Niu and Xu Yun, the two young men, bid farewell to William's family at the village entrance and returned home.
Just upon returning to the garden house, Little Niu took out the piece of paper Hook left him and said:
"Fat Fish, don't speak yet, listen to my problem-solving ideas."
Xu Yun agreed willingly, as by Little Niu's mindset, Xu Yun was just an auxiliary 'tool man'; the problem-solving ideas must be addressed personally:
"Go ahead, Mr. Newton."
When Hook left, he had seen Hook's question, described simply in words:
Suppose you have a marble, letting it roll back and forth in an irregular pit, knowing the relationship V(r) between the pit's depth and horizontal coordinates, then find the nature of this function, that's the problem of calculating the space occupied by an undeformed continuous medium.
"Here's my idea."
Little Niu quickly drew a diagram on paper and said:
"If confined within Cartesian coordinates, assuming the marble is a point mass, the interaction is solely at close range x.
Then the force component applied to each small chunk of the medium can be viewed as applied to the surface of this medium, thus the density of force must correspond some quantity to the surface."
Xu Yun continued to nod, the 'certain quantity' Little Niu mentioned was actually integral volume and surface integral.
If he approached from the calculus perspective, it showed Little Niu wasn't far from completing the calculus framework, which was undoubtedly good news.
"Then we assume ￡X is the displacement of small elements, and according to Cardano's 1545 publication, 'Large Numbers,' we should deduce ζF, then further calculate using symmetry of quantity..."
Saying this, Little Niu suddenly stopped speaking.
Clearly.
His thoughts ended here.
.....
Note:
Okay, I'm bad at naming.....
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