26.

Taou loo che shin, the god of the road where an army must

pass.

27. Ho pacu che shin, the god of cannon.

28. Mun shin, gods of the gate.

39. How too che shin, the queen goddess of the ground. 30. Pih keih, the north pole, &c., &c.

From this specimen it is apparent that in the Chinese state religion, the material universe, as a whole, and in detail, is worshiped; and that subordinate thereto, they have gods celestial, and terrestrial, and ghosts infernal; that they worship the work of their own hands, not only as images of persons or things divine, but human workmanship for earthly purposes, as in flags and banners, and destructive cannon. That the material universe is the object of worship appears not only from the names of those several parts which have been given above; but also from other circumstances. Thus the imperial high priest, when he worships heaven, wears robes of azure color, in allusion to the sky. When he worships the earth, his robes are yellow to represent the clay of this earthly clod. When the sun is the object, his dress is red, and for the moon, he wears a pale white. The kings, nobles, and centenary of official hierophants wear their court dresses. The altar on which to sacrifice to heaven is round, to represent heaven; this is expressly said. The altar on which the sacrifices to the earth are laid, is square; whether for the same wise reason or not, is not affirmed. The "prayer-boards," chubpan, are of various colors for the same reason as the emperor's robes. In the worship of the heavens, an azure ground with vermilion letters is used; in the worship of earth, a yellow ground is used with black characters; for the worship of ancestors, a white ground is required with black characters; for the sun, a carnation, with vermilion characters; and for the moon, a white ground with black characters.

We proceed now to the second part of our subject, and notice the sacred persons who perform the rites of sacrifice. The priests of the Chinese state religion are the emperor himself, who is the high priest, the pontifex maximus;' and subordinate to him, the kings, nobles, statesmen, and pih kwan, (as they phrase it,) the centenary of crowd of civil and military officers. The joo keaou, or sect of philosophers, monopolize both the civil and sacred functions. At the grand state worship of nature, neither priests nor women are admitted; and it is only when the sacrifice to the patroness of silk mauufactures takes place by itself, that the empress and the several grades of imperial concubines, princesses, &c., may take a part.

It is required of the Chinese hierophants, that they be free from any recent legal crime, and not in mourning for the dead. For the first

order of sacrifices they are required to prepare themselves by ablutions, a change of garments, a vow, and a fast of three days. During this space of time they must occupy a clean chamber, and abstain; 1. from judging criminals; 2. from being present at a feast; 3. from listening to music; 4. from cohabitation with wives or concubines; 5. from inquiries about the sick; 6. from mourning for the dead; 7. from wine; and 8. from eating onions, leeks or garlic. "For," says the annotator, "sickness and death defile, while banqueting and feasting dissipate the mind, and unfit it for holding communion with the gods.'

The victims sacrificed and the things offered, form our third topic. The animal or bloody sacrifices for heaven and earth are divided into the four following classes: 1. A heifer or new tsze, 'a cow's child;' 2. a bullock or new foo, a cow's father;' 3. oxen generally; 4. sheep or pigs. The things offered are chiefly silks, on which we do not dwell. "The Greeks sacrificed the ox, hog, sheep, kid, cock, and goose. The victims were to be 'sana et integra.' The different deities had the proper victims. Jupiter, an ox five years old. Neptune, a black bull, a hog and a ram. Minerva, a heifer and an ewe. Esculapius, a she-goat and a cock." The Chinese also require that the victims should be whole and sound, and they prefer an azureblack color. For the grand sacrifices the victims are to be purified nine decades or cleansed ninety days; for the medium classes, three decades; and for the herd or flock of sacrifices, one decade, or ten days. We do not perceive any ceremonies connected with killing the victims. There are no wreaths or garlands as there were among the Greeks, nor as among the Jews any sprinkling of blood, particularly mentioned. The victims seem to be simply butchered the day before they are to be offered and dressed, we rather think, ready to be distributed (after being laid on the altar,) among the hungry participators of the tse fuh jow, 'the sacrificial blessed flesh,' which the civil and military priesthood will no doubt relish after a three days' fast. The times of sacrifice are specified as follows. Those to heaven are offered on the day of the winter solstice; those to earth, on the day of the summer solstice; and the others at regularly appointed times, which it is not important to detail in this sketch.

เ

The ceremonies of this grand worship of nature, this natural religion,' consist in bowing, kneeling, and knocking the head against the ground, or in Chinese, pae, kwei, kow. In those sacrifices in which the emperor officiates, in propria persona, he never knocks his head against the ground, What he requires of the greatest monarch on earth, he will not give to the greatest, supremest' thing that he worships. The three kneelings and nine knockings of the head against the ground he turns into three kneelings and nine bows, The kow or the pae, i. e. the knocking or the bowing seems to make a material or rather a feeling difference in the estimation of his majesty.

The last topic upon which we proposed to remark, is the penalty

of informality. The punishment annexed to the neglect of due preparation, imperfect victims, &c., is either forfeiture of salary for a month or longer, or a specified number of blows with the bamboo, which can be avoided by the payment of a very small sum of money. There is not the least allusion to any displeasure of the things or beings worshiped. There is nothing to be feared but man's wrath; nothing but a forfeiture or a fine. The fines in these cases are rated according to the number of blows adjudged to the delinquent. But while such is the easy penalty of these philosophical legislators and hierophants in cases where they themselves offend; the case is far different if any of the common people presume to arrogate the right of worshiping heaven and announcing their affairs thereto, or of lighting lamps to the seven stars of ursa major, &c.; they shall be punished, bona fide, with 80 blows or strangulation. For the state religion, and the objects of worship proper for monarchs and philosophers are not to be desecrated and dishonored by vulgar adoration. Ye vulgar plebeians, go and worship things suited to your station; arrogate not the right of worshiping the supreme powers!

Thus we have given a sketch of the state religion of China; and though incomplete, yet it is faithful, so far as it goes. And in view of the whole subject we would say one word to the deist, the Romanist, the conformist, and the voluntary christian of the western world. To the deist we say, look at Chinese deism. Say, is it such as you approve? Or does it require some revelation, direct or indirect, to set it right? To the Romanist we say, if you may worship departed saints or worthies, or pray to either with the greater or lesser prayer, why may not the Chinese and pagan do the same? To the conformist we say; look at your state religion and state establishinents. Will you advise us to conform in the event of our filling an official station? Shall we obey the majority? Shall we submit to the throne? Or shall we be dissenters in China? To the voluntary Christian we say, rejoice, and be grateful; adore and bless Jehovah, your Maker, your Father, your Savior, and your Friend for the revelation of himself which he has sent and induced you to receive. And since the grant is universal, and the last command of Jesus binding on all his servants, use the means which he gives you, to diffuse the knowledge of the Lord throughout the whole extent of

creation.

ART. II. Character of Chinese historical works; inducements to study them; their mythological accounts; vagueness of their early records; accounts of the middle and latter ages; summary of the principal historians.

No other nation can boast of so long a succession of historians as the Chinese. From the time of Confucius, who was born about B. C. 550, and first collected the ancient records and formed them into a history, to the present, every age has had its historians. Though

many of thein are mere transcribers or commentators, a few are found among them whose writings are remarkable for their originality of thought and purity of diction. We are not to expect from them a minute and connected detail of events, for no Chinese historians ever studied this; but they have supplied us with rich and various matėrials for composing a history of one of the first nations that existed, and tracing its progress from a very ancient period down to our own times. The dry details, and the embellished translations of Chinese historical works, given us by the Jesuits cannot be very inviting to the general reader; nor can any cursory remarks, be considered as satisfactory in this enterprising age. But a wide field is here opened for the researches of the historian. The author who would furnish a good history of China, must wade through more than a thousand volumes of native works, in selecting from which, no small degree of critical skill and accuracy will be required. This at first thought might seem a Herculean task; but a good Chinese scholar will go over these volumes in a short time and fix with ease upon the leading events in respect to which he will wish, when writing, to consult his authorities. The object is worth a few years of close study. How many scholars have spent their lives in studying the histories of Greece and Roine! How many authorities had the writer of the Decline and. Fall of the Roman empire to consult! And with what assiduity did Niebuhr apply himself to the composition of his Roman history! Both were amply rewarded for their labors, so far as this world could reward them, but it is to be regretted that they were enemies to the saving doctrines of the gospel, and substituted a pagau fate for a divine providence.

As long as we are destitute of a good history of China, we shall be unable to form a correct opinion respecting the people. It is easy to laud them to the skies and to supply the deficiencies which appear in their civil and social institutions by panegyric. This has been the great error of most French writers. On the other hand, it is unjust to cry them down. As they are heathens, ignorant of God, and unacquainted with the sublime impulse to noble actions which is furnished by the love of God, their amiable qualities are of course few compared with those exhihited in more favored countries; but their government, bad as it is, has stood the test of ages, and deserves the attention of every thinking man.

We cannot sympathize with this almost innumerable people, as Christians and philanthropists should do, unless we view them in their true character and condition. In vain shall we endeavor to solve the problem of their long political existence, and to find the secret which has kept them from amalgamating with other nations, if we do not become thoroughly acquainted with their history. The great wall of separation which has been drawn between them and all the other natious of the globe, cannot be sapped to its foundations, till the hidden causes of this national exclusion are discovered. The great wall' which she built upon her northern border, proved too weak a barrier against the inroads of her enemies; and her uuneri

cally powerful land and sea forces could never put an effectual stop to foreign invasion; yet China maintains her exclusive system still. Even her Tartar conquerors very soon conformed to her ancient Jaws, and have been actuated by that spirit of hostility against all friendly intercourse with other nations, which has long characterized the Chinese government. The fondness for foreigners which the people generally exhibit, though in direct opposition to the exclusive system of their rulers, makes it still more surprizing that the government should be able to maintain that system. But we leave the solution of this extraordinary problem to others, and will endeavor to follow for a little while, the thread of Chinese history.

The account given by the Chinese of the mythological era is less extravagant than that given by any other nation, though comprising according to some writers a period of many thousands of years, like the. Indian kulpas. In assigning a cause of the existence of the world they are greatly at a loss. Ignorant as they are of the true God, they are carried away by their imaginations, and speak of a cause capable of moving inert matter by which the male and female principles, Yang and Yin, were called into being, while continual revolutious produced heaven and earth. For this they are "without excuse," though they never read that, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;" but if, after hearing of his wondrous works, they deny the Author of their being, the Creator of the universe, they will be found still more guilty at his bar. The Roman catholics have repeatedly given them an account of the creation of the world, but they have rejected this reasonable doctrine with disdain, and continue to believe in the absurd pantheism of the yang and yin. In geography and astronomy they have condescended to be instructed by foreigners, but to the science of all sciences, the knowledge of the Divine Being, they, as a nation, have never given their attention.

Hwaenantsze, a celebrated Chinese author, discoursing upon cosmogony, says; "Heaven was formless, an utter chaos; and the whole mass was nothing but confusion. Order was first produced in the pure ether; out of the pure ether the universe came forth; the universe produced the air; the air, the milky way. When the pure male principle, yang, had been diluted, it formed the heavens. The heavy and.thiek parts coagulated and formed the earth. The refined particles united very soon, but the union of those that were thick and heavy went on very slowly; therefore the heavens came into existence first, and the earth afterwards. From the subtile essence of heaven and earth, the dual principles, yang and yin; were formed. The joint operation of yang and yin produced the four seasons; and the four seasons putting forth their generative power, gave birth to all the products of the earth. The warm air of the yang,, being condensed, produced fire; and the finest parts of fire formed the sun. The cold air of the yin, being likewise condensed, produced water; and the finest parts of the watery substance formed the moon. By the seminal influence of the sun and moon, the stars were produced. Heaven was adorned with the sun, moon, and stars the earth has received rain, rivers, and dust."

received