16 



RELIGION OF THE REBELS. 



Chap. I. 



that we should acknowledge their universal supre- 

 macy. It therefore appears that these visits from 

 officials and ships of war belonging to western 

 nations have not only done no good, but have had 

 a tendency to foster that pride and self-conceit of 

 which the Chinese as a nation have rather more 

 than their fair share. 



The religious character of the movement has 

 attracted, as might be expected, much notice from 

 the Christian nations of the West. At one time, 

 during our early acquaintance with the insurgents, 

 it was believed by the more sanguine amongst us 

 that nothing short of a miracle had been performed 

 by the Almighty, and that the millions of China, 

 for ages sunk in idolatry, were now " stretching 

 out their hand to Grod." But our information on 

 this point was always crude and indefinite. There 

 was, however, no doubt of one thing, namely, that 

 they were busily employed in printing and dis- 

 tributing copies of the Scriptures, that they ap- 

 peared to be worshipping the same God whom we 

 worship, that they were keeping holy one day in 

 seven, and that their moral code was strict and 

 severe. And it was not to be wondered at if, in 

 many instances, they were induced to put a literal 

 interpretation to certain passages of the sacred 

 writings which they had no one to explain. 



But notwithstanding all this, there were many 

 persons amongst the foreign residents in China, 

 and I must confess myself as one of the number, 

 who viewed the religious character of the move- 



