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X.
Why, then, should the Chinese, who suffer already sufficiently from the peculiarities of their ill-defined language, be precisely the one people of all the earth, on which the most ambiguous, and, perhaps, the least appropriate term for " God," is to be forced against, may be, their wishes, and certainly, against the genius of their own tongue, and the evidence of their senses ? Even if Confucius could have unravelled the mysterious import of SHIN wei Ling, for " God is a Spirit" (St. John iv. 24), or SHIN-CHE shing-fung, "the Holy- wind of (SHIN) Spirits" for "the Holy Spirit of God," etc., what would he have said when reading of SHIN-che tsze, " the Son of the Spirits" (SHIN) ? He would have exclaimed, " Wo ming, wo ming ee!" " It is not clear, it is not indeed!" And pointing to the most ancient records of the kingdom, traced in his own hands, he would have asked : " Can you possibly mean ' Hwang T'heen SHANG-TE yuen tsze, ' the first begotten of the Supreme Ruler in the Imperial-Heavens?" (Shoo-king, v. 1.)
For the Chinese, like every other nation under Heaven, have worshipped " one personal God, as Supreme over all." Already, in the days of Yaou (B.C. c.c. 2300), SHANG-TE had long been adored as
