Page:Who is God in China.djvu/13



The words "Theos" and "Pneuma," "God" and "Spirit," printed on the face of the book, and at once suggestive of goodness and peace, induced us to hope that, ere this, their influence had allayed the waves of controversy, which had "raged horribly," for years, between the champions of "Shin," and the worshippers of "Shang-Te." We hailed, therefore, our purchase as a messenger of peace; and we carried it home as a pledge of better days. But the dove, alas! has returned without an olive leaf. And the flag of truce, waved in token of good-will, has just been fired upon, though happily not hit, by a small battery on land, in the shape of an anonymous pamphlet; a signal to the knights of "Shin" once more to enter