Call him Lord of heaven and earth, Worshipping him with prayer, Deceiving and exciting the foolish, Dishonouring the holy teaching of Confucius. I laugh at your hero of the cross, Who, though sacrificing his life, did not preserve his virtue complete. Missions build chapels, But the desire to do good works is not natural to them. The method of influencing the natures of women Is but a trick to further base ends. They injure boys by magical arts, And commit many atrocious crimes. They say their religion is the only true one, But their answers are full of prevarication. They say their book is the Holy Book, But the Old and New Testaments are like the songs of Wei and Cheng.[!] As to the people who are gradually being misled, I compassionate their ignorance; As to the educated who are thus deceived, I am wroth at their want of reflection. For these men are not of us; We are like the horse and the cow;[@] If you associate with them, Who will expel these crocodiles and snakes? This is a secret grievance of the State, A manifest injury to the people! Truly it is the eye-sore of the age. You quietly look on unconcerned! I, musing over the present state of men's hearts, Desire to rectify them. Alas! the ways of devils are full of guile! But man's disposition is naturally pure. How then can men willingly walk with devils? You, like trees and plants, without understanding, Allow the Barbarians to throw into confusion the Flowery Land. Is it that no holy and wise men have appeared? Under the Chow dynasty, when the barbarians were at the height of their arrogance, The hand of Confucius and Mencius was laid upon them! Under the T'ang when Buddhism was poisoning the age, Han and Hsi exterminated them. Now these devils are working evil, Troubling the villages and market-places where they live. Surely many heroes must come forward To crush them with the pen of Confucius. Turn then and consider That were it not for my class[#] None would uphold the true religion. I say unto you, And you should give heed unto me, Believe not the nonsense of Redemption, Believe not the trickery of the Resurrection. Set yourselves to find out the true path, And learn to distinguish between man and devil. Pass not with loitering step the unknown ford, Nor bow the knee before the vicious and the depraved. Wait not for Heaven to exterminate them To find out that earth has a day for their destruction. The shapeless, voiceless imp-- Why worship him? His supernatural, unprincipled nonsense Should surely be discarded. Ye who think not so, When the devils are in your houses They will covet your homes, And they will take the fingers and arms of your strong ones To make claws and teeth for imps. They excite people at first by specious talk, Not one jot of which is intelligible; Then they destroy your reason,