ague as _T'ien_, which
seems to be more of an abstraction, while _Shang Ti_ is a genuinely
personal God. Reference to _T'ien_ is usually associated with fate or
destiny, calamities, blessings, prayers for help, etc. The commandments
of _T'ien_ are hard to obey; He is compassionate, to be feared, unjust,
and cruel. _Shang Ti_ lives in heaven, walks, leaves tracks on the
ground, enjoys the sweet savour of sacrifice, approves or disapproves
of conduct, deals with rewards and punishments in a more particular way,
and comes more actually into touch with the human race.

Thus _Shang Ti_ would be the God who walked in the garden in the cool of
the day, the God who smelled the sweet savour of Noah's sacrifice, and
the God who allowed Moses to see His back. _T'ien_ would be the God of
Gods of the Psalms, whose mercy endureth for ever; the everlasting God
of Isaiah, who fainteth not, neither is weary.

Roman Catholic Dissensions.--These two, in fact, were the very terms
favoured by the early Jesuit missionaries to China, though not with the
limitations above suggested, as fit the proper renderings for God; and
of the two terms the great Manchu Emperor K'ang Hsi chose _T'ien_. It
has been thought that the conversion of China to Christianity under the
guiding influence of the Jesuits would soon have become an accomplished
fact, but for the ignorant opposition to the use of these terms by the
Franciscans and Dominicans, who referred this question, among others, to
the Pope. In 1704 Clement XI published a bull declaring that the Chinese
equivalent for God was _T'ien Chu_=Lord of Heaven; and such it has
continued to be ever since, so far as the Roman Catholic church is
concerned, in spite of the fact that _T'ien Chu_ was a name given at the
close of the third century B.C. to one of the Eight Spirits.

The two Terms are One.--That the two terms refer in Chinese thought to
one and the same Being, though possibly with differing attributes, even
down to modern times, may be seen from the account of a dream by the
Emperor Yung Lo, A.D. 1403-1425, in which His Majesty relates that an
angel appeared to him, with a message from _Shang Ti_; upon which the
Emperor remarked, "Is not this a command from _T'ien_?" A comparison
might perhaps be instituted with the use of "God" and "Jehovah" in
the Bible. At the same time it must be noted that this view was not
suggested by the Emperor K'ang Hsi, who fixed upon _T'ien_ as the
appropriate term. It