"These lines constitute the redeeming feature of the whole book; they deserve to be written in letters of gold, and we could desire nothing better for the Chinese than that they were engraven on every heart. This one hymn is worth the four books and the five classics of the Chinese all put together:—
"'How different are the true doctrines from the doctrines of the world!
They save the souls of men, and lead to the enjoyment of endless bliss.
The wise receive them with exultation, as the source of their happiness;
The foolish, when awakened, understand thereby the way to heaven.
Our Heavenly Father, of His great mercy and unbounded goodness,
Spared not His first-born son, but sent Him down into the world,
To give His life for the redemption of all our transgressions,
The knowledge of which, coupled with repentance, saves the souls of men.'"
Of "The Book of Religious Precepts of the Ti-ping Dynasty," he further says:—
"This is decidedly the best production issued by the insurgents. The reasoning is correct, the prayers are good, the ceremonies enjoined (with the exception of the offerings) are unobjectionable; the Ten Commandments19 agree in spirit with those delivered by Moses, and the hymns are passable. The statements of the doctrines of human depravity, redemption by the blood of Jesus, and the renewal of the heart by the influence of the Holy Spirit, are sufficient to direct any honest inquirer in the way to heaven."
"'The Ode for Youth,'" he says, "gives some admirable lessons regarding the honour due to God, who is the Creator and Father of all. It sets forth in very clear terms the coming of Jesus into the world for the salvation of men by the shedding of His blood on the cross, and then goes on to detail the duties that are required of us as parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, relatives and friends; concluding with instructions as to the management of the heart and external senses. Altogether it is an excellent book, and there is not a word in it which a Christian missionary might not adopt, and circulate as a tract for the benefit of the Chinese."19
"'The Book of Declaration of the Divine Will, made during the Heavenly Father's Descent upon Earth,' details the examination and detection of a traitor, on whom they were about to confer an appointment, when the Father is said to have come down from heaven in person,20 on purpose to arraign and cross-question the delinquent; and having brought his reason to light, to have returned to heaven.
"There is no word of their having seen any form; but the idea of the Father's presence seems to have been impressed upon the minds of the bystanders.
"'The Book of Celestial Decrees' purports to be a collection of communications from God our Heavenly Father, and Jesus our Celestial Elder Brother. This is little, if anything, superior to the preceding work.
"Their almanac appears to be in some measure founded upon that originally prepared for the Chinese by the Jesuits, but prepared by those who did not know much upon the subject, and therefore they have adopted 366 days, the almanac copied from having been one for leap-year. They, however, stated in contradistinction to the ordinary Chinese almanac, that there are not any such things as lucky days, 'as whoever shall with a true breast reverence the Heavenly Father, the High Lord God, will be looked upon by Him with complacency, and whatsoever times such please to attend to their business, will be lucky and fortunate to them.'
"The book entitled 'The Regulations for the Army of the Ti-ping Dynasty' is very remarkable for the complete organization which it shows to exist amongst them, and for the very enlightened regulations it establishes for the treatment of the people amongst whom they may be.
"'The Trimetrical Classic,'21 so called from each line containing only three words, is a very remarkable document, as evidencing that the writer, if there was but one, possessed great knowledge of both Old and New Testament history, of the plan of salvation, and of practical Christianity. He appears, also, to have much knowledge of Chinese history, and uses it to guard against the hostility likely to rise amongst Chinese against the Western nations, from the idea that they were entirely indebted to them for a knowledge of the true God."
Although the above reports are very favourable as to the Ti-pings' religion, still, upon many vital points they were undoubtedly defective; but to qualify their shortcomings they subsequently published the Bible in its full integrity, Old and New Testaments inclusive, copies of which, with the Tien-wang's Imperial seal, are in possession of several gentlemen in England.22 Therefore, to denounce the Ti-ping movement as evil and anti-Christian, because there exist some errors of belief, is not only most unjustifiable, but even implies that a person using such an argument doubts the promised efficacy and result of God's Word.
The information gathered up to this time upon the religion of the Ti-pings is particularly interesting and satisfactory; and if all Christian men did not feel disposed to help them, they at least ought not to have interfered against them; yet such was not the case, for even at that early period many misnamed Christians, without in the least personally knowing anything of the movement, very loudly decried it. Wrongful as this may seem, it only forms a part of the great psychological problem—why it is that the minds of men will always, by a vast majority, follow wrong instead of right?
The opposition the Ti-ping rebellion has met with from those whose profession of Christianity should have made them its friends, can excite no wonder; for, throughout the history of the world, has truth, freedom, or Christianity, ever become manifest otherwise than through a dismal vista of disbelief and bloodshed? It is a sad reflection, and a proof of our frail, if not vile, mortality!
Some few months after the visit of the Hermes, the French war steamer Cassini proceeded to Nankin; she brought to Shanghae a reprint of the remainder of Genesis, of Exodus, and a portion of the New Testament, consisting of St. Matthew's Gospel, printed from the version of the Rev. Dr. Gutzlaff.
This is the first account we have of the New Testament being seen amongst the Ti-pings, although in some of their previous proclamations it had been referred to: it proves the progress they were making; for many of their errors were to be attributed to the fact that their belief was grounded almost entirely upon the Old Testament. The Ti-pings have been sadly abused for polygamy, &c., although I do not remember that such facts have been made a casus belli against the Imperialists; but it must be remembered that as their laws were framed and already constituted when the New Testament first came into their hands, everything required to be altered; therefore people should recall the maxim of Bacon, "that nature should be imitated by politicians, in the gradual character of her changes," and have the justice to admit, that Hung-sui-tshuen, having made his laws as to marriage, &c., could not possibly either overturn them at once, or see any reason to do so until the truth either gradually dawned upon him, or was inculcated by some of the many missionaries who overspread China. It seems very remarkable that none of them ever entertained this idea, excepting the American, Mr. Roberts, who turned it to no advantage.
In the meanwhile, the possession of Nankin entirely altered the tactics of the Tien-wang. Instead of continuing his rapid and triumphant march, overcoming the Manchoos almost by the terror caused by the advance of his forces, he settled down at what he had decided should become the capital of his new empire; gathering together his followers in and about Nankin and the neighbouring cities. For a month or two the whole Ti-ping forces were busily engaged drilling, and fortifying the cities they retained. During the same period, the Tien-wang and his chiefs were employed constituting a regular government, with its attendant