Pastor Hsi
£ 7.99
Product Description
‘It was two or three years now since the drought had set in. At first people hoped for the best. Not until crop after crop had failed did the growing anxiety break out into painful distress. Crowds flocked to the temples to entreat the Higher Powers. Theatricals were arranged to propitiate the hard-hearted Gods. Processions were daily led by devil-worshippers frantic with excitement, or mediums under the influence of spirit-possession. But all without avail. Until at length famine – gaunt, relentless, awful – stared them in the face. Surely people would start to wake up to the falsity of the idols, from whom no answer came? The promise of immortality held out by the Taoists had attracted him, but as his health began to give way, he had to acknowledge it was a terrible delusion. Confucianism had left him unsatisfied, Buddhism had brought him no help. Yet surely there must be Higher Powers? Gods that made man, did they not pity him? Ah, if only it were true as the foreigners said, that the heart of God was full of love toward men and that even common people might approach him in prayer and be sure of his attention – what would he give for such a faith as that!’Hsi Shengmo followed Taoism, Buddhism and even became a Confucian scholar but found dissatisfaction in them all. Turning to opium his life slowly began to fall apart until westerners in Chinese dress came to Pingyang proclaiming the One True God… Back