Hong asked Roberts to join his rebellion, propagate the Gospel, and baptize his followers. “Your ignorant younger brother, Hong Xiuquan, salutes you,” it ended. To have a former pupil in such an exalted position—the rebel king of China!!—presented enormous possibilities for China and for Roberts. “Never were the prospects for usefulness with God’s blessing brighter,” Roberts enthused to a friend back home. “They almost dazzle!… China will be revolutionized, Christianized, & a great multitude saved through these means.” Other missionaries shared Roberts’s enthusiasm, looking to Hong’s followers
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