Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/116

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TSENG KUO-FAN

sic" will best summarise his appeal to the Chinese as follow his faith:

Throughout the whole world,
There is only one God [Shangti];
The great Lord and Ruler,
Without a second.
The Chinese in early ages,
Were regarded by God;
Together with foreign states
They walked in one way.
From the time of Pwankoo,
Down to the three dynasties,
They honored God,
As history records.
T'hang of the Shang dynasty,
And Wan of the Chow,
Honored God
With the intensest feeling.
The inscription on T'hang's bathing-tub
Inculcated daily renovation of mind;
And God commanded him,
To assume the government of the empire.
Wan was very respectful,
And intelligently served God;
So that the people who submitted to him,
Were two out of every three.
When Tsin obtained the empire,
He was infatuated with the genii;
And the nation has been deluded by the devil
For the last two thousand years. …

Ming, of the Han dynasty,
Welcomed the institutions of Buddha,
And set up temples and monasteries
To the great injury of the country.
But Hwuy, of the Sung dynasty,
Was still more mad and infatuated,