The Celestial and his religions: or, The religious aspect in China

ASIA The Celestial and \\\5 l^eligions or Jhe I^eligious flspect m China. ^eing a Series ©{ Lectores ©n the [Religions 0[ Ihe Chinese, by ]. Pyer ^all, ^.K[^S> &c., of His (Vlajesly'5 C'vil Service, Hongkong. HONGKONG : Mkssks. KELLY AND WALSH, Ld. 1906. {All Eights reserved. ) @^ _^ OJorncU Imnerattg ffiihrarg atlfara, SJem ^atk CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1B76 1918 zime was taken. 3 No. and give "O HOME USE RULES All Books subject to recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to bor- row books for home use. All books must be re- ,_.,^ at end of college - «, ^yearior inspectioji and ^. Limited books m,ust be ^'Ct 1 TS7 5 ^ Q j ' iub umed within the four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. ' Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. Volumes of periodical and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. 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WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR :— The Cantonese-Made-Easy Series, and other Works, as follows :— 'Things Chinese', 4th Edition, $ 7'50 ' Macao : The Holy City : The Gem of the Orient Earth.' 1.50 'The Pith of the Classics'; The Chinese Classics in Everyday Life ; or Quotations from the Classics in Colloquial use 2.00 'Cantonese Made Easy', 3rd Edition, ist Part. 3.00 Do 2nd Part (In the Press.) * How TO Speak Cantonese.' 5'^*^ 'Readings in Cantonese Colloquial.' 3.00 'The Cantonese-Made-Easy Vocabulary.' (Out of Print.) ' Easy Sentences in the Cantonese Dialect, with a Vocabulary,' being the first part of' Cantonese Made Easy,' and the whole of the ' Cantonese- Made-Easy Vocabulary ' bound in one volume. (Out of Print.) ' An English-Cantonese Pocket Vocabulary.' ... 0.75 ' Easy Sentences in the Hakka Dialect, with a Vocabulary. i.oo ' Hakka Made Easy,' Part I 2.00 'How TO Write the Radicals.' 2nd Edition ... 0.75 ' How TO Write Chinese,' Part I. 2nd Edition ... 5.00 ' The San Wt5^i Dialect.' 0.50 * The Tung KwTJN Dialect.' 0.50 * The Hong Shan, or Macao Dialect.' 0.50 'The Shun Tak Dialect.' i.oo ' The English-Chinese Cookery Book.' (Out of Print.) THE CEJ.ESTIAL AND HIS RELIGIONS: OR THE RELIGIOUS ASPECT IN CHINA. Being a Series of Lectures on the Religions of the Chinese. BY J. DYER BALL, M.R.A.S., &c., of His Majesty's Civil Service, Hongkong. HONGKONG : Messes, KELLY AND WALSH, Ld. leoe. (All Rights reserved.) ZEO My Mother who spent many years in efforts for the good of the Chinese and who in the evening of her life takes the keenest interest in all that concerns them. PREFACE. These lectures were delivered at the Young Men's Christian Associaton in Hongkong in the Spring of this year. A few additions and alterations have been made to them before publication. In short lectures of this kind there must be much condensation on many points and many omissions. The aim has been to try and present a short account of what these different systems In China have been, and are, and enough of their doctrines, beliefs, and results, so as to enable those who have not the time or opportunity to delve deeper to gain some knowledge of these marvellous and wonderful schemes of philosophy, atheism, idolatry, and self righteousness, combined with nicer traits of character and gentler sides of human nature and with occasional lovely touches — all mixed up In China at the present day with the grossest superstltfons. J. Dyer Ball, Hongkong^ January^ 1906. LECTURE 1. THE PRIMEVAL CONCEPTION OF GOD IN CHINA AND THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION OF THE CHINESE. The Primeval Conception of God in China AND THE Primitive Religion of the Chinese. Paleontologists are enabled by the study of a fossil bone or two of some by-gone extinct monster to construct for us the creature again with a considerable amount of certainty, and though thousands and tens of thousands of years have passed, or even millions possibly, since this extinct old-world animal roamed on our earth, we, the present denizens of his erewhile happy hunting grounds, are able to picture him in our mind's eye, to get some notion of his form and struc- ture, of his surroundings, and even of his brain-power: ;so wonderful is the science of palaeontology. There is the sister science of philology which, in its way, is no less wonderful, by its aid we may often unearth the first concepts of our ancient ancestors, know what they thought, realise their surroundings, — 4 — build up before our eyes the structure of their faiths and beliefs, and thus form some notion of what they thought, not only of the common things of life, but also of the great realities that surrounded them. The Chinese language in its hieroglyphic characters affords us not a few pictures of the dead past. Tt is not to be supposed that this fruitful source of information has not been worked to its full advantage. Learned sinologues have delved deep into the old, Chinese lore and have unearthed several most interest- ing facts, which throw light on the primitive conception of God amongst the Chinese and on some of their early beliefs and superstitions. Now Dr. Legge, late Professor of Chinese at Oxford, translator of the Chinese Classics, and for many years a resident in this colony, has quarried out for us several of the primitive ideas of the Chinese on such matters. , If it is interesting to trace up words in our own language to their origins and find them, not merely dead symbols, but living and instinct with life and thought, much more so is it the case with the pictorial writing of this ancient people. We are but of yesterday ; they of the ages ago. It has been said that 'in fact with the Chinese language, we are carried back to a position whence we can survey, so to speak, a living past, and converse with fossil man.' With certain exceptions, or limita- tions, including the taking out of Buddhism, a part of Taoism, and the recent accretions in China, the same might be said of the residium we would get after this process, as regards their religion. We are on $afer ground working in this way in China than we would be in the West, for as Tennyson says : — 'Things seen are weightier than things heard,' and the Chinese characters lie patent and open to our sight, often without the necessity of digging up roots, ■while in our lands some very big mistakes have been made -and some very erroneous conclusions drawn from a too close reliance placed on the so-called philological elucidation of mythology. Now let us see if we can get any idea of the concepts of the early Chinese from the fossilised remains of what was a living language five thousand years ago, and which language is still in use in this land of old survivals. Let us first take the word for heaven. It is written in this way, ^, and is made up of two primitives, the top line, — ■, being the symbol of unity, and the rest of the character ' the symbol of great.' As Dr. Legge puts it, ' it thus awakens the idea of the sky which is above and over all, and to whose magnitude we can assign no limit.' The idea here, you see, is one principally of greatness, vastness. As we use the word heaven to mean not only the material sky, but a 'ruling power whose providence embraces all,' so 'the Chinese have extended its meaning in very much the same way. This is, of course, a very impersonal way of speaking of the Supreme Governor of the Universe, but note that there is only one sky over our heads, and note the employment of the symbol of unity in it as well. This term was employed, it must be remembered, ages ago, before there came into vogue the multiplication of countless heavens under the aegis of a debased Bud- dhism, which went far beyond the teachings of Shakyamuni, and, as far as the common herd were concerned, were believed in as sober gospel truth ; they also accepted the belief of separate deities in them, as well as a multiplicity of hells. Again, this term was in use before the equally, or more, materialistic ravings — 6 — of the degenerate Taoism which had fallen from the pure mystical philosophy of its founder. But there is another more personal appellation of a being who, in the way he is spoken of in the ancient classics is apparently supposed to rule over all. The name he is called by is composed of two characters, Jl'^j one, the second, symbolising 'lordship and government,' and the other, the first, superior, or taken together, generally put into English as 'The Supreme Ruler.' Remember at present attention is only being called to the primitive conception, for this very word which in the Classics is interchangeable with Heaven, and tends at least, towards the side of monetheism, has been in later generations under the vagaries of a later-day Taoism applied to a host of supreme rulers,, thirty-six at least, and to the general uneducated Chinese is at once, if this name is mentioned, supposed to indicate the Supreme Ruler of their pantheon, who can lay no claim to all the attributes of the Supreme Deity, God over all. I have had many instances of this in my own personal experience ;, but we are dealing to-night with the original con- ception. As in Old Testament times the father and head of the family, or chief of the clan, was the high priest, so in ancient China, and even at the present day, the Emperor, who was originally simply the head of a tribe, rendered, and does still render, worship and offerings to High Heaven, the Supreme Ruler, ' The Great and Lofty One,' ' The Spiritual Sovereign.' The common people do not commonly pray to Him. It is only in a time of dire necessity that with impassioned cries they appeal to Heaven and Earth to rescue them in their distress or want. Never shall 1 forget how when I was a boy in Canton and our house was being battered by the fiercest typhoon I have ever seen, our Amah, kneeling down on the verandah, amidst the howling wind, the raging tempest, and the wrecking — 7 — boats and drowning people within a few feet of us, called aloud to Heaven and Earth to rescue her and us from an impending and awful death. But it is only in some strait when death stares them in the face, and destruction is assailing them that the ordinary Chinese voice is raised for help higher than the deified heroes who take the place of gods, and are enshrined in their temples and on their wayside altars. We have again another old character, 7J\, which is the symbol of manifestation and revelation : so we suppose from this that the progenitors of the Chinese believed in ' communication between Heaven and men.* But the lower part of the character mentioned is explained by one Chinese (Hsu Shan) as representing * the sun, moon, and stars ' : so if we accept this explana- tion as correct, if we were sure of its being right, we would be led to suppose that these early Chinese, with perhaps a monotheistic conception of the Supreme Ruler mixed it up with an ancient belief, common to many old world nations, viz : — the reverence of the heavenly bodies, a belief in astrology, which to this day has even its benighted votaries in our enlightened lands in the West. The Gorgeous Ruler of the Day, the Queen of the Night, and the glittering apparently lesser lights of the vault of heaven were very likely, as they are at the present day, objects of adoration ; for this Sabian worship is not a growth of yesterday. The old ancestors of the present Chinese also believed that though a man's body died, yet his spirit still lived on, for they had a word which was a symbol for a disembodied spirit, f^. There is a significant fact about this character. This little part of it, ^ means evil-minded, and here is a confirmation of what our own writers on the beliefs of primitive people have said with regard to the beliefs of such people about _ 8 — their dead, viz:— that they are malicious and will, if they are not propitiated, do them harm. Now we have other characters which show us that the ancient Chinese believed in divination. One is f>, derived very likely from the markings, the lines on the back of a tortoise-shell, its carapace. The Chinese have venerated this creature, supposing 'that it possessed a mysterious power of indicating with regard to undertakings about which it was consulted, whether their issue would be fortunate or unfortunate.' To this day you will often find the shell of a tortoise, both carapace and carapax on the table of the Chinese fortune-teller. Then we have the character ^Is used tor divining by the eight trigrams. Doubtless this form of divination was more modern than the first mentioned, though both are very ancient, being men- tioned in one of the oldest documents in the Book of History, which is another of the Chinese Classics. And yet again another Chinese character means a sorcerer, or spirit-medium. So these silent picture-words have revealed to us something of the religion of the Chinese, perhaps five thousand years ago, a prehistoric period, as far as China is concerned at all events. And to summarise, let us see what we have discovered : — An idea of a spiritual being, high and exalted in the heavens, worshipped, as far as one can gather, by the ruler of the people. Nature worship, not developed to its possibly later and present-day more embracing aspects. A fear of the dead, which led to worship. And a well-established system of divina- tion, for one or two characters reveal this as well. Some light ; much darkness. Idols were not made in those days, if we are to believe Chinese historians ; and one would gather that the common people, before they — 9 — •were made, worshipped spirits without this aid to their devotions. Whether the ordinary Chinese prayed to this superior being, or God, or left it to the Emperor, as was the case certainly at a later period, one perhaps should not say with any certainty. We see then how mixed these early Chinese were in their ideas. Mono- theistic in the belief in one supreme ruler, but also polytheistic to a certain extent, for below this Supreme Ruler were a host of spirits which were also worshipped. They were inferior to the Supreme One. They did service to men as the ministers, or servants, of this superior one. The idea which the Chinese mind has perhaps always held is that of a hierarchy, presided over in their earlier conceptions by one head and with numerous subordinate ranks of executive officers, or administrators of the different branches of the universe ; and a worship was paid to them all — it has been described as inferior worship. A thousand years passed away from this prehistoric period, that of Fu-hsi ; but we know little of what ■occurred during that millennium. One or two things may be predicated of it : one, that worship had solidified into methods of performing it — at all events then, whatever it may have been before, the ruler of the state is the worshipper of the Supreme Ruler for the whole of his kingdom, as it is at the present day ; and the ancestor worship, led by the father or head of the family and joined in by the members of that family. Down all the ages, step by step, these two forms of worship have been kept up to the present day, and more than one race has ruled over China. And along "with these two forms of worship we have the other world-old forms keeping pace also, step by step, with them. The oldest Chinese book, when speaking of a period more than four thousand years ago, mentions * The Temple of the Accomplished Ancestor ,' the — 10 — •sacrifice to the Supreme Ruler, and the offerings to the spirits of the hills and rivers of note in the empire, and the hosts of spirits — these latter were the spirits * presiding over mounds, dykes, plains, and forests and the spirits of the sages and worthies of ancient times — a multitudinous array of spirits in good sooth. Listen to this prayer offered by an emperor of the Ming Dynasty in A.D. 1588, and you will see what a number of these spirits are reverenced. The occasion was that when a slight alteration was to be made in the title used for the Supreme Being : — ' I, the emperor of the Great Illustrious Dynasty, have respectfully prepared this paper to inform — the spirit of the sun ; the spirit of the moon ; the spirits of the five planets, of the constellations of the zodiac and of all the stars in all the sky ; the spirits of the clouds, the rain, wind, and thunder ; the spirits which have duties assigned to them throughout the whole heavens; the spirits of the five grand mountains; the spirits of the five guardian hills ; the spirits of the five hills, Chi-yun, Hsiang-shang, Shan-lieh, Tien-shan, and Shun-teh ; the spirits of the four seas ; the spirits of the four great rivers, the intelligencies which have duties assigned to them on the earth ; all the celestial spirits under heaven ; the terrestial spirits under heaven ; the spirit presiding over the present year ; the spirit ruling over the tenth month, and those over every day ; and the spirit in charge of the ground about the border altar. On the first day of the coming month, we shall reverently lead our officers and people to honour the great name of Shang-Ti, dwelling in the sovereign heavens, looking up to the lofty nine-storied azure vault. Beforehand we inform you, all ye celestial and all ye terrestial spirits, and will trouble you on our — 11 — behalf, to exert your spiritual power, and display your vigorous efficacy, communicating our poor desire to Shang-Ti, and praying Him graceously to grant us His acceptance and regard, and to be pleased with the title which we shall reverently present. For this purpose we have made this paper for your information. All ye spirits should be well aware of our purpose. Ye are respectfully informed ? ' We also doubtless see in the worship of the sages and worthies of ancient times the beginnings of that cult of canonizing those of the human race, who have been benefactors to mankind, and which has resulted in the whole land being flooded with gods many and lords many, equalling in their numbers and wonder- working powers the saints of the Romish Church. Here is how the theory of the worship of the departed great (I do not mean ancestor worship) was carried into practice as narrated in one of the old Chinese books, the Li Ki : — ' The rule observed by the sage kings in instituting sacrifices was this, — that those who had legislated for the people should be sacrificed to, also those who had died in the diligent discharge of their duties, those whose toils had established states, and those who have warded oflF or given succour in great calamities.' The feeling in the minds of the worshippers may be shewn by the following verses : — ' O thou, accomplished, great Hau-chi, To thee alone 'twas given. To be, by what we owe to thee. The correlate of Heaven. On all who dwell within our land Grain-food didst thou bestow : 'Tis to thy wonder-working hand This gracious boon we owe. — 12 — God had the wheat and barley meant To nourish all mankind : None would have fathomed his intent But for thy guiding mind. Man's social duties thou didst show To every tribe and state : From thee the social virtues flow That stamp our land " the Great." ' To honour those who have been benefactors to the nation and mankind, to keep the remembrance of them ever-green is fitting and proper, but when it goes further and robs the only wise and true God, of the adoration due to his great and holy name, it leads to evil effects. As one writer has well said : — 'To build temples to the dead; to present offerings to them ; to invoke and expect their presence at the service ; and to expect and pray for their help : — These are things that are not founded in reason and truth, and that encourage superstition instead of contributing to the healthy edifying of the mind and manners.' It is not to be supposed that when there were other objects of adoration beside High Heaven there would not be a tendency, though the worship of the Supreme Ruler was jealously guarded and set apart as it were, — even in such cases there would be a temptation to exalt some of the other objects of worship to an equal position. And. this naturally did happen ; for in such an ancient time as that of the Duke of Chau, this ruler -first placed, on the altar of the Supreme Ruler, the tablet of his father and sacrificed to all the former dukes of his line. What the ancestors were, and are, supposed able to do a few lines from a long ballad sung in the 7th century B.C. will show : — — 13 — ' O filial prince, your sires will bless, And grant you glorious success. Long life and goodness they will bestow On you, to hold the state of Lu. And all the eastern land secure, Like moon complete, like mountain sure. No earthquake's shock, or flood's wild rage. Shall e'er disturb your happy age ; And' with your aged nobles three. Unbroken shall you friendship be, In long and firm security.' The worship of the Supreme Ruler was practically restricted to the emperor along with the worship of his ancestors and other objects of adoration ; the common people had that of their ancestors and to this has been added hosts of spirits and idols and other objects. You will doubtless be interested in hearing one of the prayers offered "by the emperor to the Supreme Ruler himself: — ' Of old, in the beginning, there was the great chaos, without form and dark. The five elements had not begun to revolve, nor the sun and moon to shine. In the midst thereof there presented itself neither form nor sound. Thou, O Spiritual Sovereign, camest forth in thy presidency, and first did divide the grosser parts from the purer. Thou madest heaven ; Thou madest earth ; Thou madest man. All things got their being, with their reproducing power.' It is a curious position this worship occupies though ; for the adoration of this Sovereign Being is. only performed by the emperor himself with the slight exceptions I have already noticed. It it a state religion, high above that of the common people. They worship their own dead fathers and grandfathers and the inferior — 14 — spirits, as well as the tutelary spirits of hearth and home, and of the stars, etc., to which also, as objects of worship, may be added the deified heroes of antiquity, the more modern benefactors of their race, and trees and stones from the brook. And this brings one to another very interesting branch of old-world beliefs and worship, that of the tree. Whatever it may have been in other nations, and supposing that some students of comparative mythology are correct in their ideas of the phallic origin of tree and serpent worship in other parts of the world, it is questionable whether the reverence and worship of trees in China has any connection with this curious phase of religion. If it has its origin in such notions, then other ideas on the subject would appear to have sup- planted such vagaries of the diseased brain, and buried them under the oblivion of ages. The Chinese have been a pure nation, as far as their religion is concerned, at all events, in striking contrast to the classical nations of antiquity and the Hindoo. Immoralty is frowned on ; vice is sure to bring its punishment ; morality has its-reward ; virtue is triumphant. It is very difficult to trace up this tree worship in China. One is inclined to think it may have a very hoary antiquity, since it is well known to have a very ancient origin, to be a very old belief amongst ancient races. C5f course, it may have been developed and added to during the long centuries past. In fact I think this is very likely to have been the case, as Buddhism, doubtless, brought an accretion to it with its sacred tree. Indeed a Chinese has suggested to me that the whole cult is comparatively modern, that in fact it was brought in with Buddhism and its sacred tree. There is no doubt Buddhism has had a great influence on Chinese life, customs, and religion, since it appeared in China shortly after the Christian era. — 15 — As to the serpent worship, here again there would appear to be no traces of what some of our Western scientists have discovered in the study of the compara- tive mythology of other nations. The dragon had doubtless its origin in one, or some, of the geological monsters of by-gone ages. It seems to be mixed up at all events at the present day with serpents, even with small snakes. A small temple in Chao-chao-fu, thirty- five miles from Swatow, is said to have a snake kept in it- When there, some ten years or more ago, I tried to get a sight of it, but did not succeed. The dragon is mentioned in a Chinese work which, discredited at one time, is now supposed by some competent Chinese scholars to have been written one or two thousand years before Christ. Occasionally, even at the present time, when a small snake is caught in a river it is worshipped as the rain-sending dragon, and high officials ask for a recognition of it by the throne. Now with regard to the worship of stones : smooth, round stones are often placed at the feet of a banyan by the people and worshipped. By the way there is a small shrine in a shop near the police station at Yaumati which has numbers of these stones piled up at a shrine. It is disappointing not to be able to trace this worship with positive certainty to its source in China ; but again also the Chinese gentleman I have already men- tioned, has said to me that he thinks this adoration of stones has arisen from the ancient worship of mountains and hills or their spirits. According to him the tran- sition of reverence would be from the mountain to a mass of rock. I cannot say whether his view is correct or not. Now the worship of mountains was a very ancient practice. It ' was an element in the ancient Persian religion before the introduction of the Magian system, and it is described in Herodotus.' — 16 — We find mention of the worship of stones in the Old Testament in Isaiah, chapter 57, verse 6:— 'Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion ; they, they are thy lot : even to them hast thou poured _ a drink-offering, thou hast offered an oblation. ' Again in the same book of the same prophet, chapter 57, verse 7, we read ' Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed : thither also wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.' These mountains and trees are again mentioned in Jeremiah, 3rd chapter, 6th verse :— * Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done ? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree.' Again, to return to an earlier date in the long address which Moses gave to the Children of Israel when they were about to settle in the promised land, as described in Deuteronomy, 5th, and following chapters, we see, 12th chapter, verses 2nd and 3rd, the following : — ' Ye shall surely destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills, and under every green tree.' We are also told, in 2nd Chronicles, 21st chapter, nth verse, of the wicked King Jehoram making ' high places in the mountains of Judah.' Mountains and trees are again mentioned in connection with idolatrous worship in the Book of the Prophet Hosea, 4th chapter, 13th verse: — 'They sacrifice upon the top of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oaks and poplars and terebinths.' As to trees, we get this command to the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy, chapter i6th, verse 2ist : — 'Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God which thou shalt make.' We also get a worship of the heavenly bodies mentioned in several passages in the Bible. In Jeremiah — 17 — 44th J chapter 17 th, we read about the backsliding Jews, who dwelt in the land of Egypt, sturdy in their wickedness, notwithstanding the . prophet's message to them, and we get them saying they would continue to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven (the moon) and, pour out drink offerings to her. They made cakes also to her. The Chinese have their moon-cakes, as I ■daresay you have seen at their moon festival. When Moses is cautioning, in. Deuteronomy, 4th chapter, verses 15 th to 19th, the Children of Israel from making graven images to worship, he goes on to say — ' lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them and serve them.' Further on in •chapter 1 7th we get a penal code with the punishment to be meted out, and amongst the offences to be punished is that of the man or woman who had 'gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven.' And then still later on in the history of this people we find that good king Josiah ' put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem ; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets (or twelve signs), and to all the host of heaven.' Ezekiel speaks in his vision in chapter 8th, verse i6th, of seeing about twenty-five men with their backs turned on Jehovah's temple and facing the East and worshipping the sun towards the East. I have gone at some length into these instances of the different forms of Sabianism, &c., here, because the most of us, from our up-bringing and education^ are so familiar with these ancient records in the Bible, and we see before our very eyes, in this old-world land, living instances of what these passages, I have — 18 — quoted, mean, and thus our familiarity with thern, or rather with references to them in our sacred writings, will perhaps enable us to better understand them amongst the Chinese. All these curious forms of worship are to be found among other ancient nations and amongst savage races who have kept up the beliefs of their forefathers. Now as to the offerings presented at these seasons of state worship amongst the Chinese. They were not sacrifices as we understand the word, and as we find them among the records of another old nation, the Jews. Here is what one writer says of them : — ' These offerings are oblations, and not sacrifices in our common acceptation of the term. There is not, and never was, any idea of propitiation or expiation in them. They are the tributes of duty and gratitude, accompanied with petitions and thanksgivings. They do not express a sense of guilt, but the feeling of dependence The idea of substitution is not in any of the religious services of the Chinese people ; nor is the idea of consecration on the part of the worshipper symbolised by any part of the worship.' Nor again is the emperor the high priest ; for there are no priests amongst the Chinese in the way we understand the word. 'There in no doubt that for two thousand years many fantastic and gross superstitions had been growing in China when Confucius appeared on the stage.' And It is thought that It was doubtless against these, which increased so portentiously later on, that Confucius inveighed when he said, ' respect the spirits but keep aloof from them,' His idea was 'that superstition was best combated by taking no notice of it.* The desire which the Chinese have so strongly ' to leave — 19 — some one who might make the customary offerings at his grave was also strongly felt by the ancient Greeks and by many other ancient races.' Ancestral worship has arisen from that, or has taken its rise from the savage notion of fear of the dead, perhaps from the two motives combined in some cases ; but though amongst the Hindoos, inheritance rests to a large extent upon such a basis, it is questionable whether any nation, at all events at the present day, has almost every action connected with family and clan existence and the life of the nation so firmly based upon this curious survival of an ancient belief. From the succession to the imperial throne . down to the adoption of a nephew in lieu of a son in a family of humble position ; from the Ijurial of a poor man up to the interment of the Son of Heaven himself in the mausoleum of his long line of ancestors ; almost every circumstance one can conceive of is based on, or connected in some way, with this worship. This cult permeates social, domestic, and political life in nearly every act in such a manner that it is hard for us to understand till long years of residence amongst the people have shown us its ubiquity. It has some- what expanded since these earlier days of the life of the nation. Now as to an explanation of what ancestor worship really is. Sir Henry Maine in his book * Dissertations on Early Law and Custom ' thus clearly puts it : — ' Ancestor worship is not here to be under- stood in the sense in which the expression has been usually taken by scholars. It in not the cult of some long descended, and generally fabulous, ancestor, of some hero, the name-giving progenitoi- of a race, a nation, a tribe, a house, or a family ; an Ion, a Romulus, or an Eumolpus The ancestors sought to be propitiated by sacrifices and prayers are ancestors actually remem- bered, or, at all events, capable of being remembered by the worshipper.' — 20 — It may be surprising.to learn that ' ancestor worship is still the practical religion of much the larger part of the human race.' The Hindoos, as already mentioned, worship their ancestors, the Japanese appear to, and, besides the Chinese, we have many ancestor-worshipping savages: so the number in the world is very consider- able. Possibly the Chinese are the most earnestly devoted to it of any. We also find mention of it in, the Old Testament. For instance in Psalm ro6th, verse 28th, 'They joined themselves unto Baal-Peor and ate the sacrifices of the dead,.' and again in Deuteronomy, 26th chapter, verse 14th, ' Thou shalt say before the Lord thy God I have broug'ht away the hallowed things out of my house !• have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning ; nor have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use • nor given aught thereof for the dead.' Mr. Tyler's reflections in his book, 'Primitive Culture,' on ' this marvellous system of belief and practice ' may give us much food for thought : — ' Interesting problems are opened out to the Western mind by the spectacle of a great people who for thousands of years have been seeking the living among the dead. Nowhere is the connection between parental authority and conservatism more graphically shown. The worship of ancestors, begun during their life, is not interrupted but intensified when death makes them deities. The Chinese, prostrate bodily and men- tally before the memorial tablets which contain the souls of his ancestors, little thinks that he is all the while proving to mankind how vast a power unlimited filial obedience, prohibiting change from ancestral institutions, may exert in stopping the advance of civilisation. The thought of the souls of the dead, as sharing the glory and happiness of their descendants — 21 — is one which widely pervades the world ; but most such ideas would seem vague and weak to the Chinese, who will try hard for honours in his competitive examination with the special motive of glorifying his dead ancestors^ and whose titles of rank will raise his deceased father and grandfather a grade above him, as though with us Zachary Macaulay or Copley the painter should have viscounts' coronets officially placed on their tombstones. As so often happens what is jest to one people is sober sense to another. There are three hundred million of Chinese who would hardly see a joke in Charles Lamb, reviling the stupid age that would not read him, and declaring that he would write for antiquity.' Notwithstanding the advent of Buddhism, which was atheistic originally in its conceptions, and of Taoism, with its original system of philosophy, and Confucianism, the founder of which confessed that he knew nothing of the future — notwithstanding all these, this old world cult has held its own, and grown stronger and more binding on the masses of the people than at first. Confucius sanctioned it, as it existed in his day,, and it is accepted in Buddhistic and Taoist circles. You will notice that all these scientific writers, who are thoroughly familiar with the subject in all its aspects, call it ancestor worship, and yet there are some people in China, who, with one or two notable exceptions, know very little about it, who yet try to argue that it is not worship at all, but simply reverence. As some excuse for such a view of the subject, it may be noted that the same word is used for 'reverence' and 'worship' in Chinese, and the two acts run by such almost imperceptable gradations from one to the other that it is difficult to pronounce off-hand at times an opinion on certain acts of the Chinese. Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury) thus writes about it: — 'The idol oo usually assumes the human form and idolatry is closely connected with the form of religion which consists m the worship of ancestors,' and he goes on to say, ' we have already seen how imperfectly man realises the conception of death ; and we cannot wonder that death and sleep should long have been intimately connected together in the human mind. The savage, however, knows well that in sleep the spirit lives, even though the body appears to be dead. Morning after morning he wakes himself, and sees others rise from sleep. Naturally, therefore, he endeavours to rouse the dead. Nor can we wonder at the very general custom of providing food and other necessaries for the use of the dead. Among races leading a settled and quiet life this habit would tend to continue longer and longer.' (We thus see the reason why it has lasted so long among the Chinese.) ' Prayers for the dead would reasonably follow from such customs, for, even without attributing a greater power to the dead than to the living, they might yet from their different sphere and nature, exercise a considerable power, whether for good or evil. But it is impossible to distinguish a request to an invisible being from prayer ; or a powerful spirit from a demi-god.' I think nearly all who have gone carefully into the subject will agree with the above opinions as to its being really worship. I do not think there need be the slightest doubt about it. — If the ancestral worship or the Chinese is not wor^ip, then the Chinese do not worship at dl. The prayers are of the same nature and kind as those offered to the idols, and so are the offerings them- selves. While on this subject, let me give the opinion of Professor Giles of Cambridge, Professor of Chinese. He was many years out in China in the Consular service, and has an intimate acquaintance with Chinese literature, and the customs, and habits of the Chinese. He is, therefore, well qualified to judge, as far as the — 23 — Chinese are concerned, while those I have already quoted are thoroughly able to form an opinion from a comparative and scientific point of view. Professor Giles, says in one of his latest books, after putting the <juestion quietly and calmly before his readers : — ' But I feel bound to say that in my opinion these Ancestral observances can only be regarded, strictly speaking, as worship and as nothing else.' No doubt the ancestor worship of the Chinese is largely responsible, combihed with their overweening respect for antiquity, for the ever-backward look of this remarkable people, who in the living presence turn their thoughts to the dead past. Ever backwards is their glance ; ours in the West is forwards : the past is their millennium ; ours is to come. One curious and repulsive custom in ancient China, and not abolished till the Christian era was, at the death of a man, to bury ' boys or maidens alive in the vaults of their masters.' This was done ' in order that they might be in attendance upon his spirit.' At the present day paper images on a framework of bamboo representing serving men or women are burned along with many other objects, houses, boats, trunks, clothes, all of the same flimsy materials, and are supposed by the agency of the fire to be transmitted into the world of spirits and transmuted by the same efficacious and potent agency of the flames into the objects or beings themselves, which they are intended to represent. Then in the Chow dynasty the children of the family were dressed up like puppets, and, strange to say in a land where the young are so subordinate to the old, they received the homage and worship of their elders in the family. The children were thus made to repre- sent the deceased ancestors of the family. But this remarkable custom only lasted a few years and passed away with the dynasty. — 24 — In this connection it is interesting to notice that the boat people here in the South of China, who are descendants of the aborigines, and not originally- Chinese, though almost virtually so now, have a curious custom of having little wooden images of their children who die, and treating these Images as they would the ancestral tablets of grown up people who have died. Possibly there may be some connection between these two customs ; those of the ancient Chows and that of the boatpeople. Those of you who have taken an interest in such subjects will recognise another old-world custom in this burial of the living in the graves of the dead. All study of Chinese customs, whether ancient or modern, confirms one in the belief that there Is an Immense number of things in which there Is a simi- larity between the East and the West, and that though perhaps at the present day ' East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet,' yet in the dead past their points of contact were very many indeed. One scientific writer (McLennan) thus sums up the matter: — ' I have come to regard the ethnological differences of the several families of mankind as of little or no weight compared with what they have In common." Nearly all these beliefs of the Chinese, as I have attempted to show, have their counterparts, either amongst us, or our ancestors, or were in existence, or are to be found, either amongst kindred nations to ours, or in other parts of the world. The Chinese confounded the Immaterial Being who rules heaven and earth with the material heaven they saw above them, and their dualistic philosophy helped them on to the conception of the two powers in Nature — heaven and earth ; they thus ' worshipped and served the' creature — the created heavens and the earth — rather than the Creator.' The common — 25 — people comfounded ' Him with the place where He resides, and with the world that He has created,' while the modern philosophical school has proceeded so far as to identify ' God with an abstract principle,' and it maintains ' that there is no distinction between God and reason, the law of the world.' Let us see how these ideas of the common people arose. We know nothing of the Chinese people more than about five thousand years ago, as regards religion, but at that period the names of Heaven, their Ruler, and Supreme Ruler are used interchangeably. Intelligent men amongst the Chinese believe that the ancient Chinese were more truly religious than the modern. Heaven was used instead of God as a periphrasis, or round-about way of speaking. In A.D. 1 42 1, Heaven and Earth were worshipped together, but in 1 53 1 'it was decreed that there should be separate altars for Heaven and Earth.' 1 am speaking of the imperial worship, for the emperor pays his adorations at certain stated seasons of the year. The idea of a dual existence of Heaven and Earth has become most natural to the Chinese mind with its "divisions of everything into two categories : it is their favourite dualistic philosophy ; and with their later-day materialistic tendencies they have easily fallen into the idea of two ruling powers in Nature — Heaven and Earth. The common people nowadays often speak of adoring Heaven and Earth, 'as if they meant two divinities by these terms.' 1 have spoken of the worship of the Supreme Ruler as more the prerogative of the emperor, as it were. This is true ; but at the same time besides the exceptions to the rule I have already mentioned, some Confucianists offer incense to heaven at new and full moons, or once a year, though the theory often enunciated by the Chinese is that 'the God of Heaven is too majestic and glorious for a common man to dare approach Him — 26 — as a worshipper.' The worship of the Supreme Ruler ' has been largely restricted to the head of the State, as the representative of the people,' and as the emperor also pays reverence to other spirits and objects m Nature and the spirits of the dead, the people, largely debarred from the higher worship, have turned almost entirely to these inferior objects of adoration. Along with the present-day loss of a right concep- tion of one God, there are traces of Sabianism and a belief in divination, and, as we have seen, ancestor wor- ship is in full vogue, and again, along with all these, Taoism and Buddhism have developed, until this strange mixture — a hotch-potch of diverse, and, in many points antagonistic, forms of belief and worship — this strange conglomeration, has well nigh taken full possession of the Chinese mind, combined in a most curious manner in many of the literary class with a scepticism, more or less fully expressed, while an outward adherance, at all events, is given to idolatry and superstition. In conclusion we thus see that in the earliest days of Chinese life there would appear to have been a monotheistic conception of a Supreme Being, but, as time went on, it was supplemented, or blended, with a polytheistic ideas of a Valhalla of heroes and a pantheon of subordinate deities, while the rankist superstition attained a tropical growth ; and hence the original and purer notions of a more exalted god above all had its development, if any, retarded — in fact there was a degeneracy — the conception has been atrophied, I need scarcely point out the contrast between us in the West and the East in this respect. We must indeed be thankful that our course during the last five thousand years has been one of progress upwards in — 27 — the matter of religion, and since fortune has thrown us into this benighted land, as far as the belief in one true and living God is concerned, let it be ours to do the best we can to lead the Chinese back to their original belief in One Supreme Being, God over all. Gv^SS^^^^S^^ LECTURE II. PROPRIETY, CEREMONIAL, AND NATURAL RIGHTEOUSNESS, OR CONFUCIANISM. Propriety, Ceremonial, and Natural Righteousness, or Confucianism. If it is difficult for the European to understand the Chinese thoroughly, to fathom his motives, to know • his intentions, to apprehend the real meaning of what he says, when the form of speech he uses is a disguise to the foreigner, though plain as daylight to his fellow- countryman, tf this is the case with a living human being in o,ur present-day world, how much more difficult it must yet be for the man from Western lands to be able to fully appreciate the great sage of China, understand his thoughts, unveil the meaning from the spoken utterances of a man so different from the modern product of Western civilisation and con- ditioned by an environment utterly dissimilar from our modern life. Most Europeans fail to understand this great Chinese sage ; while some go to the other extreme and laud him to the skies fnore stnico, as if he were almost (iivine. It requires many years study of his fellow- countrymen and an attempt, if possible, to project oneself on to his plane of existence to do him adequate justice. Long study of him and his works and words generally increases one's respect for this old world sage, — 32 — who laboured for the good of his countrymen, or as Pope puts It : — ' Superior and alone Confucius stood, Who taught that useful science — to be good.' By his own countrymen he has been eulogised in the following strain, translated by Alexander.: — ' Confucius ! Confucius ! Great indeed art thou Confucius, Before thee None like unto thee, After thee None equal to thee. Confucius ! Confucius ! Great indeed art thou, O Confucius.' Let us try to picture to ourselves the setting into which the life of the Chinese sage was placed 'in the dim shadowiness of that distant period' of the world's history. In the words of an interesting, writer on the subject : — ' It was a momentous period, preg- nant with great events. , It included the ciownfall-of Lydia, Media, and Babylonia, f\nd the establishment of Persia upon their ruins ; the release of the Jew.s from their 'seventy years' captivity, and the rebuilding of that temple which , was not /tq,, be, again destroyed till after the coming of.the promised Messiah ; the rise of Buddhism in India ; the restoration of democracy in Athens, the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome ; the invasion of Greece by the Persia,!!* ; and the battles of Marathon, Thermopylas, and Salamis. It was an age of great men, Sa^kya Buddha, the religious reformer ; F2zeki,el and Daniel, Haggai.and Zachariah, amongst the prophets.; Cyrus the .Great, Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes of, the powers of the earth ; Pythagoras, the S,amian philosopher; the. writers, I'indar, ^Eschylus, and Anacreon ; Leonidas, the — 33 — Spartan, Miltiades and Themistocles, the Athenians, and a host of others too numerous for mention.' Other empires which existed then have passed away, but China has developed, and enlarged her borders, and the conserving power that has knit her ■scattered people together is largely due to the influence of Confucius. Let us try to realise the conditions that prevailed when the great sage came upon the stage of ancient China. The golden age of China had come and gone nearly two thousand years before the advent of Confucius. The great emperors of antiquity had left their glorious example to be held up to all future gene- rations — almost divine in their attributes, if one were to belief the panegyrics of them. Yau and Shun were two •of China's most renowned sages, and they were followed by the Great Yu, whose engineering resources coped with a serious inundation of the Yellow River, the Sorrow of China, the precursor of numerous floods which we read of all down the long pages of history ■even to the present day. From a small tribe living, probably, off from, as some writers put it, the ' main , portion of the human family by which Asia was then peopled, ' we find the Chinese tribes developing into a people under the benign influences of their sage-like rulers 'and the Stirling qualities of their own character, extending their narrow bounds, bursting beyond control of the Girdle of China (the Yangtsz Kiang), engulphing eventually more tribes, as they spread themselves out east, south, and west. Thus in the time of Confucius we have more than the simple nucleus of the future great empire. But after this consolidating progress, a disintegrating one had set in, and it was amidst all the confusion and discorder which resulted that the Peaceful Conqueror of the — 34 — Mind of China first saw the light of day. The authority of the sovereign had been weakened though nominally recognised; for the overthrow of the- . Shang dynasty (B.C. 1121) by the Great Wu Wong^ or the Martial King, had as one result made a large addition to the number of feudal states. The number of these states fluctuated — they increased or diminished at different times. As these increased and their power was augmented, the authority of the suzerain state waned until the king, as one writer puts it, was little- more than a ' nominal chief of a confederacy, the com- ponent parts of which were bound together by the loosest ties, and were often in a state of warfare with each other, or of open rebellion to his rule.' The shadow of political unity was preserved, theoretically the Emperor was the sovereign ruler, and it was to the- interest of the minor states that the imperial claim should be upheld, so that they might retain their independence and check the aggressions of their over- bearing and more powerful neighbours. The Emperor, the sovereign, worshipped the Supreme Ruler, or God, as known to the ancient Chinese. Very interesting is the history of this period in China with its centre light and its orbits of minor luminaries of greater or lesser magnitude ; but time would fail to enter into their history, except where it is absolutely necessary to understand the life of Confucius. In the former lecture we have seen how a monotheistic idea of the Supreme Ruler, or God, was a central idea, the state worship of whom was a prero- gative of the Supreme Ruler of all ; but the purity of this central idea was impared by the adoration of numerous other spirits, as already pointed out. We must not look upon this people as wild ^savages in those early days — far from it. One incident — 35 — alone will show that on certain lines, at all events, their civilisation was of no despicable a character, for it is from their knowledge of some of the facts of astronomy, even two thousand years before the time of Christ, that the calendar was regulated and, the solar and lunar years adjusted. Engineering skill was present, music was scientifically regulated, poetry was in vogue, and a certain amount of literature was in existence, progress in the industrial arts was very great — working in metals, earthenware and pottery, painting and the manufacture of silk were well established ; but on the other hand linen was generally worn, cotton was unknown till a future age, and the method of manufacture of paper had not been discovered. Amidst what has been termed ' the transcient flashes of a deeply-seated consciousness of God ' gross superstition was increasing and gaining the day. Within the boundaries of the modern state of Shantung which has come so prominently to our notice of late with Port Arthur, Weihaiwei, and Kiautsau occupied by foreign nations, and the different spheres of influence attached to them — within this present province was born China's greatest sage. The Martial King, whom we have already heard of, had divided amongst his followers on his attaining the sovereign power, large tracts of territory, and in the southern central portion of this land was one of the most important of these resulting feudal states, the state of Loo, semi-independent, its ruler a potentate of considerable power. The people of this region were vigorous, industrious, and frugal. The climate has great extremes of heat and cold. Here then was the spot which has been hallowed ground for more than two thousand years in the eyes of millions upon millions of the human race. — 36 — Confucius was descended from a long list of illustrious sires. His father was an officer, strong, brave, and skilful. The old man had nine daughters and but one son, who had either died in infancy, or was a cripple, and Confucius was the son of a second marriage. We can imagine how ardently this son was desired, and how the old father, seventy years old, and the young wife must have rejoiced over his birth in a land like China. His biographers, of course, heap prodigies and signs and wonders round the birth of the future sage, but these we can discard as legendary, or as even allegorical, as some Chinese do. His father died when Confucius was three, and on the mother devolved the training and guidance of the child. Do not think of his mother as a small-footed Chinese lady, for ' golden- lilies ' were not fortunately then the vogue, nor was her dress the style of that worn now; for even China changes and its fashions of apparel. We do not know much about his youth. Veneration for the aged was early and highly developed. We must not think of him as a boisterous boy, but as a thoughtful one, his greatest delight being to imitate ceremonial observances and ritualistic display, so highly esteemed now as then amongst the Chinese. In these various things we again see an exemplification of the adage that the child is father of the man. There are different accounts as to his schooling, and there is consequently some uncertainty about this and some of the other events of his life, but is it any wonder ? Is it perhaps not more a matter of surprise that considering all these events took place nearly twenty-four centuries ago, we know as much about him as we do ? That he was modest, sweet in temper, and an earnest student — we can believe all this about him, as a boy, knowing what we do about him as a man. He himself tells us that at the age of fifteen the acquisition of knowledge was the one object which engrossed all his thoughts. — 37 — He married at nineteen and was blessed with a son. That his position even then was no mean one i& evidenced by his prince sending his congratulations and a rare fish as a present. In his twenty-second year he began his labours a& a teacher of young men. Fees were taken from those who could afford them, but instruction was free to all. His good mother died in B.C. 528, and it was followed by the usual retirement from public life. He mourned bitterly for her. Music, the rules of deportment in ceremonial rites^ an elegant style of writing, the science of numbers, archery, charioteering, and arms, are said to have all engaged ' the philosopher's attention — in fact a liberal education according to Chinese ideas. Confucius tells us that at the age of thirty ' his principles had become firmly established.' Confucius is said to have had an interview with Lao-tsz, the founder of Taoism, but this is open to question. The sage held several important posts when he shaped the policy of the state, with stern severity, repressing wrong-doing, and lifting the country into a condition of the greatest prosperity. The neigh- bouring state of Tse looked with alarm on this new condition of affairs, and its prince resolved to under- mine the influence of Confucius. Other plans failing, he finally sent a bevy of handsome maidens to the Prince of Loo whose seductive charms completely led the prince away from his duties, which he was begin- ning, doubtless, even before that, to find irksome under the auspices of his severe mentor. The result was that Confucius had reluctantly to abandon his official career and leave his native state, disappointed and disgusted. He was now in his fifty- sixth year, and we thus find him an exile from home. — 38 — He now settled for a year in the principality of Wei, where its ruler assigned the philosopher 60,000 measures of grain, though this prince was a 'worthless, dissipated man,' whose conduct, or rather that of his wife, rendered it impossible for the sage to remain there longer ; for one day the Prince was driving with his wife in one chariot and Confucius was following in another, on sight of which the quick-witted people cried out, ' Look there goes vice driving in front with virtue following behind.' Confucius was placed in a false position, so again he resumed his travels, escaping death more than once, and enduring great dangers and fatigues. These travels spread his views abroad, and numerous disciples flocked to him for instruction. We must admire his firm conviction that Heaven had raised him up for his work and that he was immortal till it was accomplished. Admiration is also his due for his hopefulness amidst numerous disappointments, though occasionally depression overcame him. Once again at sixty-nine he returned to his native state by invitation of the new ruler ; but he engaged no more in public employment, though he continued his literary labours. A great sorror fell upon him in the loss of his son, though he felt the death of his favourite disciple more. Confucius died in his seventy-third year, dis- appointed and chagrined that his principles had not been adopted. His descendents, through his grandson, are still in existence — a long genealogy of nearly 2,400 years. Homage was rendered at his grave by the repen- tant prince, who too late deplored his neglect. This homage was kept up by succeeding princes and changed into worship in about two or three hundred years. In every district and department a temple is consecrated to ' The Most Holy Teacher of Ancient Times ;' and — 39 ~ posthumous titles were bestowed on him by succeeding •dynasties. In Canton there are no less than three temples dedicated to him, as it is the capital of a •department, as well as the chief city of two districts. These Confucian temples are, of course, all built »on the same general lines. They face the south, have three courts, the colours of the walls are red. A gate to one of the walls is not put up till a student of the -district passes as a Chong Yun, i.e., the first of the Tsun-tz, third degree man, or L.L D. A piece of the wall is then taken down and a gate put up through which only the Chong Yuns, or an Emperor, or a prince ■can pass. There is a semi-circular pond which is crossed by a bridge, but only a Chong Ytln, or an emperor, can use this bridge. A large hall on the premises is only also entered by such exalted personages. In the ' Hall of Great Perfection,' or the Temple proper, •stands in a niche, or shrine, or on a table, the tablet * superior and alone ' of him, the sage of all ages, whom the King, as well as all his subjects delight to honour. 'On the altar are a few sacrificial vessels and above are jhung eulogistic inscriptions. Below the sage, on his right ;and left respectively, on each side are two of the " Four Associates ' with altars before them. Lower down -still are the tablets of the ' Twelve "Wise Ones, ' six -on each side with altars. Behind all this is another -court in which are enshrined the tablets of the ancestors of Confucius, his half-brother, the fathers of the Associates, and some other worthies. Altogether there are eighty tablets in the different ■courts and halls of a Confucian temple, to those who, out of all of this empire's renowned ones, bask under the glory of the great sage and receive the worship and praise of the whole of China. In the middle of spring and autumn Confucius is -worshipped by the Emperor who goes in state, on these — 40 — occasions, and this is the principle prayer oiFered at those times : — 'On this month of this year, 1, the Emperor,, offer sacrifice to the philosopher K'ung, the ancient Teacher, the perfect Sage, and say, O Teacher, in virtue equal to heaven and earth, whose doctrines embrace the time past and the present, thou didst digest and transmit the Six Classics, and didst hand down lessons for all generations! Now in this second month of spring (or autumn), in reverent observance of the old statutes- with victims, silks, spirits, and fruits, I offer sacrifice to thee. With thee are associated the philosopher Yen, continuator of thee; the philosopher Tsang, exhibitor of the fundamental principles; the philosopher Ts'z-tsz transmitter of thee, and the philosopher Mang^ (Mencius), second to thee. Mayest thou enjoy the offerings.' He is generally represented in these temples by a tablet, but occasionally there is an image of him. In one district city near Swatow, to which I have been, he is represented as nearly black, for he is said to have been of a dark complexion and tall. There is an image of him in one of the Confucian temples in Canton, but he is not there represented of a swarthy complexion. The image has, however, a thick, black, long beard on the lower part of the face ; and the face is square and massive. The inhabitants of the North run to height more than in the Southern part of the empire. Confucius was essentially Chinese, doubtless, in his features, for we have him described as having a large flat nose and small eyes. We must not picture him going about dressed in the robes of the present day; for you must remember the present style of dress came in with the Manchu conquest of China 260 years ago ; no queue then hung down the back. Linen was his robe, and — 41 — silk his cap; he wore furs in winter — fox, or deerskin, or lambskin. Confucius was a particular man ; he had an individuality of his own ; most men who make their mark in the world have, and leave their mark on it as well: so in his dress and in the different appointments of" his table and his bed we find this individuality shown. He disliked red and brown, nor would he have green or crimson trimmings to his collars. He was particular also as to his food. It must be well cooked, not over- done, and in season, and its appropriate sauce had to be supplied with the dish. Bad carving was his detestation. He was fond of ginger and drank wine sparingly, though he did not confine himself to a certain limit. His grace at each meal consisted in pouring out a libation. He promoted good feeling at the table by avoiding subjects of discussion; but he would not allow the grosser animal delights of feeding to rule, as he detested gluttony. * The descriptions of him, shorn of the conventional mode of Chinese expression, which appear so outre and often grotesque to us, place before us a gentleman, who with a strict reverence for the forms of antiquity was genial in his manners, as far as was compatible with the formal decorum and etiquette of a somewhat stiff code of manners. He was dignified and courteous, straightforward and sincere to a wonderful degree among a people where the practice of the latter virtue does not rise to the high standard which in theory rules their conduct. There are many pleasant traits in his character, such for instance, as his sympathetic manner to the blind and towards those in mourning, though at the same time encased in the strictist formality; but in his own — 42 — house he laid aside much of this stiffness, so essentially a part of Chinese ceremonial. He could not bear rudeness, or discourtesy, and resented it strongly. He showed a warmth of affection towards his disciples, who returned the feeling with interest, adding no small measure of respect and reverence towards, in their eyes, their almost divine master. He gained and retained, as a true teacher should, ' the love and admiration of those he taught.' He was fond of sport, and joined in a hunting expedition with great gusto ; and he was a predecessor of Isaac Walton in his love of 'the gentle craft', only using the hook, disliking the net. He had the true sportsman's spirit in only shooting birds on the wing. A paragon of excellence, according to his portrait by his disciples, we get, by making due allowance for their partiality, a superior man indeed beneath all the load of virtues with which they almost bury the real man out of sight. To what has already been said, one may add that he was not vain, nor arrogant, he was charitable and humain ; a man with high aims, albeit the models he set up for copy were but human. As to his religious views, it is perhaps more difficult to speak. Of course, we cannot expect his views to be more than vague. He believed in the protecting care of Heaven, which watched over him and would preserve him from the machinations of evil men till his work was accomplished. Confucius may be called an exponent of what has been termed 'natural religion' in contradistinction, probably, to the ideas conveyed by the term 'revealed religion .' Confucius was not the founder of a new religion. He seized upon what he considered made for righteous- ness in the lives and teachings of the ancients, and — 43 — tased upon them a line of conduct for his own time and all future ages. He believed in the original purity •of man's nature and it was this that he sought to recover in the age in which he lived. Spencer might almost have been the exponent of the views of Confucius when he says: — ' So oft as I with state of present time The image of the antique world compare, When as man's age was in his freshest prime, And the first blossoms of fair virtue bare; Such odds I find 'twixt those and these which are. As that through long continuance of his course, Meseems the world is run quite out of square From the first point of his appointed source. And being once amiss grows daily worse and worse.' Confucius did not attempt, like Zoroaster, Buddha, or Mahomet to destroy what was already built, and found upon the ruins a new Temple of Truth; but he sought to restore to all its pristine glory the structure reared by the upright and noble sages who ruled China in the days of antiquity; and so to establish and build lasting truths into the structure that it would remain the glory of all under Heaven and would place man in his right position as the correlate of Heaven and Earth. One of the corner stones of the structure was ' Hold sincerity and truth as first principles.' We must call him an earnest, noble man who lived up to the light he had perhaps as well as any human being can do, without the aid of the blessed gospel. The Apostle Peter in his discourse in the house of the Roman centurion informs us 'that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.' One, I think, must believe that it is not only the Hebrew prophet that was Heaven-sent to lead the — 4^ — people to better things. The God ot Righteousness had had his witnesses for the truth even amongst heathen nations. These did not all see the brightest light of day : one saw one aspect of things : one another, and their view was much mixed up with the errors of human short-sightedness and the mistakes due to imperfect vision, or to the want of a fidl knowledge of these vastest of all subjects — the knowledge of oneself, the knowledge of the world in which one lives, and the knowledge of the Supreme Ruler who made it. The learned translater of the Chinese Classics says : — * Confucius believed that he had a mission from Heaven in connection with the cause of truth, and there is no reason why we should hesitate to accept the behef. He for the most part well fiilfiUed the trust. He unfolded the moral teachings of the earlier sages, bringing out the spirit of them while he maintained the letter ; requiring an inward sincerity in all outward practice, and pouring scorn on the pharisaism which contents itself with the cleansing of the outside of the cup and platter. Even though we are obliged to admit his own great deficiencies in the "Spring and Autumn" annals, we need not shrink from allowing that he was a messenger from God to his countymen for good, for it never was the way of God to reveal all truth at once by His chosen instruments, or to make them by their calling infallible, so that they should not err in judgment or stumble in practice.' Confucius took things as they were. He was not an innovator r but a transmitter of what had been in existence for centuries and longer. He revered what was settled of old, the way of the ancient Kings. Amongst the things which he considered of the primest importance was filial duty. Here is his description of it: — ' The service which a filial son does to his parents is as follows — in his general conduct to them, he — 45 — manifests the utmost reverence ; in his nourishing of them, his endeavour is to give them the utmost pleasure ; when they are ill, he feels the greatest anxiety ; in mourning for them (dead), he exhibits every demonstration of grief; in sacrificing to them, he displays the utmost solemnity. When a son is complete in these five things, he may be pronounced able to serve his parents. He who thus serves his parents, in a high position will be free from pride ; in a low situation will be free from insubordination ; and among his equals will not be quarrelsome. In a high situation pride leads to ruin ; in a low situation, insubordination leads to punishment ; among equals, quarrelsomeness leads to the wielding of weapons. If these three things be not put away, though a son every day contribute beef, mutton, and pork to nourish his parents, he is not filial.' The worship of ancestors as we saw in our last lecture was a most ancient observance which was in vogue between two and. three thousand years before Christ. How long before that we cannot say. Here is a poe.m from the ' Book of Poetry, ' one of the Chinese old classics, which describes the worship : — ' O grand ! The drums, both large and for the hand, Compete in number, all in order stand ; Their tones, though loud, harmoniously are blent. And rise to greet our ancestor's descent. Him the great T'ang of merit vast, our king Asks by this music to descend, and bring : To us the worshippers, the soothing sense That he, the object of desire intense. Is here. Deep are the sounds the drums omit ; And now we hear the flutes, which shrilly fit Into the diapason : — concord great, Which the sonorous gem doth regulate 1 — 46 — Majestic is our king of T'ang's great line, Whose instruments such qualities combine. Large bells we hear, which with the drums have place. While in the court the dancers move with grace- Scions of ancient line the service view. Pleased and delighted, guests of goodness true. Such service we received from former days. Down from our sires who showed us virtue's ways, — How to be meek and mild, from morn till night. And reverently discharge our parts aright. May T'ang accept the rites his son thus pays. As round the winter comes, and autumn days !' Confucius says in the Book of Filial Piety : — ' Of all the actions of man, there is none greater than filial piety ; and in filial piety there is nothing greater than the reverential awe of one's father. In the reverential awe of one's father there is nothing greater than making him the correlate of Heaven. The Duke of Chow was the first who did this.' We are thus enabled to learn that originally no other spirits were allowed on the altar of the Supreme Ruler ; but unfortunately Confiicius sanctioned this, for he had that characteristic which so distinguishes the Chinese to this day — that ultra conservatism which subscribes to all that the ancient sages of China have done as good, superlatively good. Now let us see what were some of the other beliefs which Confucius found in existence. The former lecture gives us some idea of what some of them were. Let us add to them that man was supposed to be the most intelligent of all creatures, and ' Heaven gives birth to mankind ' (Shih III, iii, Ode 6th). Again we go further : — ' The Great God has conferred (even) on the inferior people a moral sense, compliance with — 47 — which would show their nature invariably right.' Thus ' every faculty of man has its function to fufill ; every relationship its duty ' to be discharged.' Men need guidance and help though, and ' to define the course of duty and assist men to keep it was the work of the sovereign.' This was enunciated shortly before the time of Moses ; but what about kings who do not so act .f" We find the matter thus stated: — 'Heaven, to help the inferior people made for them rulers, and made for them instructors, who should be assisting to God, and help to secure tranquillity throughout the realm.' Why was all this necessary ? We get our answer in the following passage : — ' The mind of man is restless, prone (to error) ; its affinity to what is right is small. Be discriminating, be uniform (in pursuing what is right), that you may sincerely hold fast the mean.' This was said about 2,300 years B.C. But what then are the duties that man has to perform .'' And now we can leave the ancient times alone, and come down to the system of ethics elaborated by Confucius and his followers, and held at the present time by Confucianists as the results of his teaching. Hear what Wang Ytl-po, an able exponent of the school says: — 'Here is man, with his head towards Heaven, and his feet planted on the earth, in the midst of all other existing things. He is endowed with the principle of rectitude, all complete, and outside him there are the requirements of duty in his lot ; — what Is there wonderful and rare that he has to attend to .'' There are the relations of ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder brother and younger, friend and friend, and the duties severally belonging to them ; — no one intelligent or stupid can dispense with these for a single day. If besides these, beyond your proper lot, you go about to seek for some refined .and mysterious dogmas, and to engage in strange and marvellous performances, you will show yourselves to — 48 — be very bad men.' Here in a few words is the whole duty of man according to the Confucianists. It is as you see man in his relationship with his fellow man. Of course man and the constitution of human society emanate from God, if you like to search the Classics and discover it there ; but man having been set on his course goes on his way, helped by his fellow man, his kings and his sages, and the natural consequence is that he but rarely, if ever, looks higher than his immediate surroundings and his duty to his fellow man ; and where he might see the hand of God in nature, his eyes are held by the belief in the influence of dead men and benign and evil spirits in the everyday affairs of life, so that as a general rule he never lifts up his eyes to the heavens above him, except in times of dire distress. Even then so has he come under the power of these multifarious superstitions and the materialistic views of things— a combination strange but true — that his conception of the Heaven above him to which he appeals at such times is often tainted with an earthly view : as he calls upon heaven and earth to aid him, heaven is dragged down to the level of earth ; earth is exalted to an equality with heaven. There is nothing you will see in all this of man's duty to God, that is to say, man is not brought into immediate relationship with God ; or as one writer very pertinently expresses it : — ' Man's duty to God is left to take care of itself.' We get Confucianism more fully developed under Mencius, who lived B. C. 371-288. As to man's nature, this is what Mencius says : — ' Man's nature is good. The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards.' His explanation of these statements is : — ' From the feelings proper to it, we see that our nature is constituted for the practice of what is good. This is what I mean in saying that the nature is good. If men do what is not good, the blame cannot be imputed to their natural powers.' — 49 — Confucianism gives a most prominent position to friendship : it is for mutual helpfulness, especially to promote virtue. It is exalted to a noble position by- Chinese moralists. We saw just now that one of the relationships that Confucianism dealt with was that of husband and wife. Now originally the Chinese must have had a very high opinion of a wife, for the character which composes it, -^j is made up of two parts : one, the lower part, meaning woman, ^, and the upper part meaning equal : so the wife was the equal of the man. But again, even in ancient times, there was a word for a concubine, or a secondary wife, that is to say for a woman having, in certain respects, the rights of a wife, but inferior in position to the chief, or legal, wife. This was enough to drag down the position of woman, and except in the case of some strong minded women, who rule it over their lords and masters, in practical life, woman occupies an inferior position. Ancestor worship alone of itself is enough to prove the belief of the ancient Chinese in the immor- tality of the soul. But notwithstanding this the old religion was indefinite as to the future state, and this was one of the causes that prepared the way for Taoism and Buddhism with their hells and heavens in the life to come. Before the days of these two religions the ancestors were believed to be in . Heaven, and prayers were even offered to the men who had been bad while in this mundane state of existence. In later times it has been believed that the retribution for evil deeds, that the punishment for such deeds, was carried out in future generations in this life, that is to say, the chil- dren suffered for the evil doings of their fathers. As to the good it has been said : — — 50 — ' If a wise and good man do not get distinguished in his own time, there is sure to be among his posterity some one of vast inteUigence.' We need not, of course, be surprised at this indefiniteness concerning the future state in Confuci- anism ; but the human mind wishes for more knowledge on the subject, and the disciples of Confucius were no exception to the rule. They questioned him ; but the sage knew but little to tell them. He avoided speak- ing of extraordinary things, feats of strength, rebellions-, disorders, and spirits. Concerning the spirits of the deceased he said : — ' The spirit issues forth, and is displayed on high in a condition of glorious brightness.' But, as one authority has said : — ' Of its condition there, the Con- fucian religion says nothing ; nor does it say how it can come from Heaven, when sacrificed to, and communicate and commune with its sincere worshippers from the spirit-tablet. That religion teaches the existence of the soul after death, but nothing of the character of that existence ; and so it does not fan the flame of faith or hope in regard to the future in its friends and adherents.' Of the ceremonial formalism which Confucius taught, it has been said: — ' He taught ceremoniailsm, but not for the sake of the ceremony merely ; his formalism did not content itself with the outward observance of outward rites.' Confucius formulated the Chinese golden rule, and this has been said to be 'his greatest achievement in the inculcating of morality.' He felt though that he himself had not been able to live up to its utmost requirements; and we admire him for this humility, and his due appreciation of the frality of human nature. He did not rise to Lao-tsz's maxim of ' Return good for evil.' It puzzled him; his commentary on it — 51 — was: — 'What then will you return for good? Recompense injury with justice, and return good for good.' Confucius's excellencies are great, and we must, rejoicing in whatever makes for righteousness, be thankful that the Chinese nation has had such a noble •example before them. But while bestowing the highest praise on the great sage, the interests of truth demand that we should not only take a one-sided view of him. While inculcating truthfulness, he unfortunately did not carry out his own teaching as a historian. This is what a Chinese himself writes of the ' Ch'un Ts'au,' a historical work by Confucius. Kung Yang the;n writing a century after the time of Confucius, says: — ■* " The Ch'un Ts'aii " conceals (the truth) out of regard to the high in rank, to kinship, and to men of worth.' Now the word which is used in Chinese and translated ' conceals ' means ignoring, concealing, and misrepresenting. The example has been bad, and the great translator of the Chinese Classics, Dr. Legge says: — 'Truthfulness was one of the subjects that Confucius often insisted on with his disciples; but the ■" Ch'un Ts'aii " has led his countrymen to conceal the truth from themselves and others, whenever they think it would injuriouly affect the reputation of the empire, or its sages.' Neglected when alive to a great extent, though highly appreciated by the entourage of his disciples, Confucius is reverenced and exalted to the highest position and paeans of praise, started by his immediate followers, have resounded down the twenty-four centuries since his death. It was not long before the emperors raised him to the position of a god. Twice a year does the sovereign go in state to the Imperial College in Peking, and offer up his adorations to the most high amongst China's long list of scholars. — 52 — Offerings are presented before the tablets of Confucius and four of his most famous disciples. Thus in a brief account I have endeavoured to give- you some little idea of the great sage of China. It is questionable whether in the world's long history any mere man has received a higher meed of praise, or been adored by more of the millions that have passed over the stage of this mundane sphere. The ancient religion of China, which Confucius- transmitted and put his seal of approval on, had several points where we can trace a resemblance to Christianity;, and the following are the ones that Dr. Legge brings- out into prominence: — 1. The existence of God.. II. The possibility and the fact of revelation. III. The- idea of the supernatural. But we must have already seen more than once in the course of these lectures how far short all these ideas come of the full revelation contained in the Bible. I need not point out the instances,, time would fail me to do so ; they are familiar to you. To only instance two: — We find nothing in the Chinese- Classics, nor anywhere in Confucius literature such as ' God is love,' and ' God is light.' You will have noticed how often I have spoken of inferior spirits^ being worshipped. This of course tended to prevent ' the full conception of the Divine omniscience^ omnipotence, and omnipresence.' You will also remem- ber how the tendency has also been to restrict the worship of the Supreme Ruler to the Emperor. The- fuUest expression of the Chinese equivalent of God is not known to the common people, at all events not like that in ancient Israel; for among the latter the worship was a national worship, and Solomon prayed even for the stranger, not of his nation, as well as for his own people of Israel. This national worship of a small portion of the human race, we know, has now been extended by Christianity till it embraces all. — 53 — Further ' the Chinese are left by the Confucian religion with a very limited and uncertain knowledge of -futurity, with merely a hint or two that the souls of their departed friends are in heaven; with no account -of what sort of a place or state heaven is; with no intimation of a discriminating retribution for the good and evil of the life on earth in the life beyond.' "* Confucianism has next to nothing to show about futurity.' Time fails to point out the certainties Christianity -affords us on such points; and the aid it gives us in living our lives here on earth with the view of a preparation for the future life. This help some of us have proved in our own experience to be true over and ■over again. There are also the glorious hopes the religion of Christ holds out to us of that future life if "we live up by Divine assistance to the higher possibilities of human life in the present existence. G-S^^^^SS3-S LECTURE III. PHILOSOPHY DEGENERATED INTO SUPERSTITION, OR TAOISM. Philosophy Degenerated into Superstition, or Taoisji. In Taoism we have a religion, if we so like to call it, whose founder was Chinese. Founder, I say, but the present-day Taoism is not what its originator's system was. It has developed on very different lines from those laid down by Lao-tsz. Like some of the developments of Buddhism, it is quite antagonistic in its popular expression to the recondite sayings of its reputed founder. In short the word Taoism embraces two very different things — originally a philosophy, now a religion blended with a mass of superstition — the term Taoism is indifferently applied to both. The one is not a natural development of the other; there is no relationship between them. We must keep this distinction well in our minds. Now Taoism is not one of the primeval cults existent in China in prehistoric times, though the — 58 — superstitions that are the groundwork of the debased worship had been in existence in the countrj' for a long time, and had, and have, increased from an early date. The Sabaism aud the early divination were there, ready to form the groundwork on which to build a further mass of superstition, such as Taoism developed into. For two thousand years, up till the time of Confucius, gross and fantastic superstitions grew, and the great master frowned on them. He said, ' respect the spirits, but keep aloof from them.' He would not speak about ' extraordinary things. ' He turned a cold shoulder to such subjects. It might perhaps have been better for China in the coming ages if he had taken an even more resolute attitude towards such matters, and spoken out boldly against them at all times. It was about the same time that Confucius lived in the world that Lao-tsz was born, perhaps in B.C. 604. Confucius, as you may remember, in B.C. 551. ^^ e know but little of Lao-tsz, as is often the case with the world's great men ; and the few facts are easily told. He was born in what is now the east of Hunan Province. The words Lao-tsz mean The Old, or Venerable, Philosopher. The second character, Tsz, may mean boy as well; hence we get the extravagant storj"^ of his being seventy-two, or eight}--one, years old when he was born. Doubtless we must picture him, when Confucius saw him, if he ever did see him, with the snowy white locks, which are a crown of glory to such men, for he was eighty-eight and Confucius but thirt)'-five. Probably his ears were of a peculiar formation, as the word ear occurred in his name, his surname being Lei, and the posthumous name of ' Flat-eared ' was bestowed on him as well. He held an official appointment in the state of Chau, being a Recorder, or Historiographer, at the ro}TJ — 59 — court, and probably his special duty was that of librarian. Here he lived for a long time, but finding the state was going to ruin — thqt is the dynasty decaying— he left. At the North-west Gate of the Frontier, he was detained by a request of the Keeper of the Gate, to whom the hearty thanks of all future generations are due ; for he asked, and prevailed on, the Grand Old Man of China to write a book. The book contained about five thousand characters (5330), about twice the length of the Sermon on the Mount. We still possess it under the name of ' The Tao Teh King; ' and it is from its terse, philosophical, mystical sayings that we have to try to form an idea of the Venerable Philosopher. He left his book behind him, as a record of his views, or speculations, the result of his thoughts, but he himself disappeared into obscurity, and we know nothing more about him. He is said to have left some descendants, his line lasting, as far as we are aware, for five generations. He has been rightly described as ' one of the deepest thinkers China has produced, ' and ' like Pythagoras ' he was ' in China, the first great awakener and suggester of thought. ' Now this book is interesting, not only for its intrinsic worth, but also to us Europeans for the mistakes and mistaken notions that resulted in the misapprehension of a part of it in the earlier days of our intercourse with China. The doctrine of the trinity of God was discovered in it by its early Western readers, as well as the very name of Jehovah himself One of the translators thus writes about it: — 'Many of the ' expressions are remarkable and tantalising. They promise to conduct us to the brink of a grand prospect,, and then there is before us but a sea of mist. ' The existence of God appears to be granted in the book, but It is a philosophical work and not a religious — 60 — book. Lao-tsz also believed, as well as the Confucian School as a whole, that man's nature was good. The noble maxim of returning good for evil was first enunciated by Lao-tsz in China. Confucius did not rise to this noble' height. Lao-tsz deplores and seems to condemn capital punishment- He wished to return to a state of arcadian simplicity. He says : — ' In a small state with a few inhabitants, (I would so order it that) the people, though supplied with all kinds of implements, would not (care to) use them ; I would then look on death as a most grievous thing, but not go away to a distance (to escape it). Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no occasion to ride in them. Though they had buiF coats and sharp weapons, they should not don or use them. I would make them return to the use of knotted cords (instead of written characters). They should think their (coarse) food sweet, their (plain) clothing beautiful, their (poor) houses places of rest, and their common (simple) ways sources of enjoyment. There should be a neighbour- ing state within sight, and the sounds of the fowls and dogs should be heard from it to us without interrup- tion, but 1 would make the people to old age, even to death, have no intercourse with it.' It is to be doubted whether Lao-tsz really literally meant all this. The idea, vou see, is ' to lead people back to the state of primitive socletv before forms were, and before regulations existed.' Let man ' but return to an age of primitive simplicity when he finds the highest pleasure and contentment in the comforts of his home, when he eats the fruit of the labour of his hands, when he knows no wants and is disturbed by no cares and he will then fulfil the duties of a man and of a citizen in their highest sense.' The system of Loa-tsz like that of Confucius is a politico-ethical one, but entirely different in the materials of which it is built up. — 61 — ' If the ruler do but love quietness, avoid law- making, and be free from lusts, everything will spontaneously submit to him ; heaven and earth will combine to send down upon him refreshing dew, and the people will of themselves harmonise together.' Loa-tsz was ' a protestant against the particular vices of his time.' Disorder and evil surrounded him on every hand. Now Tao means a way, or method, amongst its other meanings, so the original Taoism ' is,' in the words of an eminent sinologue, ' the exhibition of a way, or method, of living, which men should cultivate as the highest and purest development of their nature.' Had the Chinese, as the Coreans seem to have done, confined themselves to this Taoism of Lao-tsz, and not developed the vagaries which are grouped together under this name, it might have been for their advantage. Its teaching is to keep from worldly ambitions, to cultivate quietness of the soul, simplicity of motive, and to develope a sympathetic attitude towards virtue and happiness ; to put oneself into a condition of receptivity. Lao-tsz says : — ' Clay is fashioned into vessels ; l3ut it is on its empty hoUowness that the use of the vessel depends. Doors and windows are cut out to form apartments, but it is on the empty space in them that the use of an apartment depends.' This emptiness so to be desired ' is a freedom from all selfish motive.' Humility is a prominent feature in this way, this method, of Lao-tsz. He says : — ' The incomplete becomes complete ; the crooked becomes straight ; the hollow becomes full ; the worn out becomes new ; he who desires little gets much ; he who desires much goes astray. Therefore the sage holds (this) one thing (of humility) in his embrace, and is a pattern to the world. He is free from self-display, and so he shines. — 62 — from self-assertion, and so he is distinguished ; from boasting, and his merit is acknowledged ; from self- conceit, and so his superiority is allowed. It is because he is free from striving that therefore no one can strive with him. That saying of the ancients that " the incomplete becomes complete " was not vainly spoken. All real completion is comprehended in it.' He further says : — ' Everyone in the world knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and the weak the strong, but none can carry it out in practice.' Again, ' Gentle compassion is sure to evercome in fight, and to be firm in maintaining its own. Heaven will save its possessor, protecting, him by his gentleness.' Self-abnegation is the sovereign rule for prince and people. ' To is impalpable. You look at it and cannot see it. You listen to it and cannot hear it. You try to touch it and cannot reach it. You use it and cannot exhaust it. It is not to be expressed in words. It is still and void ; it stands alone and changes not ; it circulates everywhere and is not endangered. It is ever inactive, and yet leaves nothing undone. From it phenominon appear, through it they change, in it they disappear. Formless, it is the cause of form. Nameless, it is the origin of heaven and earth ; with a name, it is the mother of all things. It is the ethical nature of the good man, and the principles of his action. If we then had to express the meaning of To, we should describe it as (i) the Absolute, the totality of Being and Things ;' (2) the phenominal world and its order ; and (3) the ethical nature of the good man and the principle of his action.' The same author from whom I have just quoted, further says : — ' To is Unconditioned Being, which, as an abstrac- tion too subtle for words, is the origin of heaven and earth, including God himself, and when capable of — 63 — being expressed by name, is the mother of all things. Like a loving parent it watches, with a providential care over all created beings. From its portals they issued forth into life, and through all the changes and chances of existence it continues on their right hand and on their left, nourishing in love, imparting life to all, and refusing none. Though before all, above all, and in all, it yet assumes no authority, and though all things submit to it, it does not regard itself as their master. Though it completely covers and cherishes all things, it makes no display of strength, but accepts weakness as its characteristic. It does not strive with man. Those who possess it find in it a beneficient and almighty protector, but those who spurn it are left to find out for themselves the folly of their way " Lay hold of the great form of To, and the whole world will go to you. It will go to you, and will suffer no injury ; and its rest and peace will be glorious." Even during lifetime it is possible to possess oneself of To, and the creature may thus become identified with the creator through the annihilation of self. It is impos- sible not to recognise the resemblance between the return to To and the entrance of the Buddhists into Nirvana. But there is this important difference between the two, that whereas the entrance into Nirvana is the extinction of existence the return to To is but the recall of the finite to the infinite, the creature to the creator.' Now were these transcendental and mystic ideas ever carried out into practice in such a matter of feet nation as the Chinese, whose scholars as a mass have not so highly appreciated his writings as some more metaphysically constituted people might have done.'* Hear what one writer says on this point: — ' On reflection it will certainly appear that the teaching of Lao-tsz has not been barren of practical results. The great political lesson of latsscr-faire is one that the Chinese people - 64 — has well assimilated and perhaps carried to excess ; it may even be said to impregnate their national life more thoroughly than any doctrine of Confucius. From two great evils of modern civilisation — the bane of over-legislation and the pest of meddlesome and over- bearing officialdom — China is remarkably free ; and in few other countries does the individual enjoy such absolute liberty of action. Thus on the whole the Chinese may be said to have adopted Lao-tsz's main principles of government, with no small success. It is hard to believe that a rigidly despotic empire, encum- bered with an irksome array of laws and statutes, could have remained homogeneous and intact throughout so lengthy a period. Who can doubt that the enormous mass of China has managed to defH' the disintegrating action of time by reason of its very inertness and placidity?' ' It is interesting to observe certain points of contact between Lao-tsz and the early Greek philosop- hers. He may be compared with both Parmenides and with Heraclitus But it is when we come to Plato that the most striking parallels occur.' Whether Lao-tsz drew ' any inspiration from India,' one cannot say. It is possible he may have done so ; for there is resemblance to Hindoo mysticism in his system. But one cannot go on quoting, intensel}- interesting though it may all be. And now one of the greatest wonders of the world is that the nominal followers of this teaching have degenerated into a crowd of charlatans, of jugglers, of mountebanks. Taoism as a religion did not come into existence till long after the time of Taoism as a philosophy. Not a word of superstition is found in the latter, nor even — 65 — of what might be strictly described as religion for that matter. Mysticism and allegorical ideas changed into superstition. From the doctrine of the absorption of the creature into the creator, rose the notion of the possibility of men becoming gods even in this life. If that was the case, it was possible for men to be superior to the laws of Nature. It can be easily understood then how easily all kinds of fables and allegories and fairy tales were greedily believed. Magical wonders and tales of sorcery were written and swallowed by the gullible people. Lao-tsz had followers, amongst them Licius and Chuangcius, who flourished two or three centuries after him. Licius said, ' Why trouble oneself about anything- in life.^ Is not death, which is but a return from existence to non-existence, ever close at hand ? My body is not my own; I am merely an inhabitant of it for the time being, and shall resign it when I return to the " Abyss Mother." Why then should I weary myself in the pursuit of politics or of the many anxieties with which some men delight to perplex themselves ? Rather let me " take the goods the gods provide," and enjoy to-day, leaving the morrow to take care of itself.' Chuangcius kept more to the teachings of Lao-tsz. He ' pronounced the waking state one of deceptive appearances — a life amongst mere phantasmata.' He dreamt that he was a butterfly and when he awoke he thought, ' Was the vision that I was a butterfly a dream or a reality .'' or am I now a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuangcius ?' But notwithstanding all this, he held that life was ' a thing to be cared for,' yet this 'was quite compatible with an indifference for death.' As to his own death he said, ' I will have heaven and earth for my sarcophagus, the sun and — 66 — moon shall be the insignia when I lie in state, and all creation shall be the mourners at my funeral.' It is not till the time of Ts'in Chi Wong Tai, the builder of the Great Wall, the Destroyer of the Books, the most hated of all men by the Chinese, and execrated for this act of vandalism — it is not till this First Emperor of the Ts'ins shows us in other acts of his, that the superstitions crowded together under the name ■of Taoism had attained great power, so great as to hold this Colossus of Power in the Chinese World with strong grip in their malignant grasp. Alchemy had sprung up. It is open to belief that the alchemy of the West owes its origin to the Far East. With us, fortunately, after its fruitless search for the unattainable it developed into the more sober science of Chemistry, whose discoveries are as wonderful, if not more so, than those the pseudo-science of alchemy was attempt- ing to reveal to an astonished and credulous world. We get the counterparts of the Philosopher's stone of the West and the * true men', or shall we call them magicians, who conquered the powers of Nature, raised tempests, who were unhurt by fire or water, and, when they disappeared, the credulous people believed that they had not really died, but gone on high, having by their mystic arts etherealised their material bodies. This Napoleon of China, as he has been termed, while building deep the foundations of a despotic sovereignty that lasts to this day, had time, amidst the vast schemes and projects that filled his brain, to equip and despatch expeditions into the unkown seas to discover the Isles of the Immortals, where grew the herb, the eating of which conferred everlasting life. But after the short rule of this brief dynasty, Confucianism gained the day again. That Taoism was not defeated though, we have ample evidence in the reign of the Emperor Wu, B.C. 140-85, and its superstitions were — 67 — widely diffused. In this latter sovereign's reign the madness of the whole people was like that in our own land at the time of the South Sea Scheme and Bubble. It is thus described, 'From the emperors downwards, the people devoted their lives to seeking immunity from death and poverty. Business of every kind was neglected, fields were left untilled, the markets were deserted, and ^he only people who gained any share of the promised benefits were the professors of Taoism, who trafficked with the follies of their countrymen, and who fattened on the wealth of the credulous.' One of the greatest historians China has ever known had a Taoist tendency at least, and in the East- ern Han Dynasty the Pope of Taoism was invited to court by the second and third emperors, though Coufucianism with the worships connected with it was still, shall we call it, as one writer does, ' the sole religion of China.' Some of our doctors of late years have been drawing attention to the poor use we make of our own lungs, and in the beginning of pulmonary complaints making the patients, with great advantage sometimes, go through a regular course of proper breathing, filling the lungs with each respiration to their full capacity. These Chinese Taoists appear to have got hold of the idea in that curiously distorted way in which utterly unscientific people occasionally get a glimmer of some physiological truth. They elaborated a wonderful system, not of curing patients with weak lungs, but of regu- lating the breathing so as to prolong life and attain to the fabulous long age, ascribed to some of their saints, ■or genii, or ' true men.' Our English word hermit is derived from the Greek, through the French and Latin, and shows by its parentage that the ancient hermits in our Western lands were solitary, having retired to the deserts away — 68 — from the busy haunts of men. The Chinese word for hermit, or genie, is made up of two other words, meaning man and mountain. So these Chinese ' mountain men' retired to the mountains and hills, to solitary nooks, and shady dells, and there practised the correct art, according to Taoist notions, of breathing,. or retaining the breath, so as to prolong life, by an ascetic existence on earth. ' Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life ;' and thus these her- mits retired from the busy world, far from the madding- crowd, away from friends and relatives and all the joys- of life, and practised this ' self-training' as they called it. They sat upright and cross-legged, as that position was thought to promote longevity; for it kept 'the breath in the lungs,' and warded off death. For if you keep on breathing out, you will at last, of course, breathe out all the air you have in your body and die. You take,, so they said (I never counted myself, so I cannot say whether it is correct or not), but the Taoists said, you take 13,500 respirations in 24 hours, so the breath is drained out of you in that time. On the other hand though, you inhale the perfect life-giving breath of heaven and earth and this percolating all through the inmost recesses of the body counteracts the wasting away process, and increases the elements of earth, water, fire, and air in a man's constitution. The thing to be guarded against is an ' excess of the female principle of nature' in man and ' a diminishing quantity of the male principle.' One cannot follow the whole history of Taoism in the short space of time at our disposal — How now it was in disgrace, and now basked in the full favour of the powers that were, and again was banned along with Buddhism ; for then a disturbing force came in, which altered the whole aspect of affairs. Buddhism arrived on the scene, was received at Court, and a building was given its missionaries as a temple and monastery. — 69 — It was not the essoteric form of that religion so lauded to the skies at the present day by those who have had no actual experience of the everyday workings of Buddhism amongst the body of a people, or who carried away with enthusiasm at some of the apparently beautiful tenets of this faith, or unfaith, only look upon these, and forget that its material body is very different from an etherialised soul; but it was evidently the exoteric form with its gross idolatry, that form which ■can only be understood by the common people. At all events it was this phase of it that has come most into prominence amongst the populace. Soon it made its influence felt not only at Court, but through the Empire. And the Taoists were wise in their generation to see, that if they would retain their hold on the people, they must borrow from this new religion temples, monasteries, services, legends, idols, if they had not these, or at least some of them already. One glance inside a Taoist temple will show you at once how important were these plagiarisms, for in imitation of Buddhism (Northern Buddhism, which is the form in vogue in China) there is a trinity, the Three Pure Ones, a copy of the Three Precious Buddhas. Nor has Chinese Buddhism been loathe to return the compliment and borrow in her turn from Taoism, though the latter has borrowed more than the former. Now let us see who two of these Three Pure Ones of Taoism are. They are called * The Three Pure (or Holy) Ones.' Seperately they are known as The Perfect Holy One, The Highest Holy One, and The Greatest Holy One. The title of Supreme Ruler is given to each, and also that of the Heavenly and Honoured. One of them, the second is Lao-tsz himself. He is styled — 70 — * The Most High Prince Lao,' but the full title is < The Greatest Holy One, (The Lord) of Tao and Virtue, The Heavenly and Honoured.' The first of the trio is P'lin Kwiij and this brings us to the Taoist notion of Cosmogony : — The mythological period of the Chinese covers from 45,000 to 500,000 years and commences with the creation of the world, when P'un Kwii separated,, with his hammer and chisel, the skies and the earth which were sticking together. Whatever P'un Kwd may have been originally, he must have been a giant by the time his more than Herculean labours were completed, for he rose to his work, growing six feet every day. On his death his head became mountains, his breath wind and clouds, his limbs were changed into the four poles, his veins into rivers, his sinews intO' the undulations of the earth's surface, and his flesh into fields ; his beard into stars, his skin and hair into herbs and trees, and his teeth, bones, and marrow into metals, rocks, and precious stones ; his dropping sweat increased into rain, and lastly the insects which stuck to his body were transformed into people. Now below this trinity of the ' Three Pure Ones' comes the ' Gemmeous Severeign, The Supreme Ruler.' According to the old religion of China, before the growth of this low Taoism, the Supreme Ruler would have appeared to have corresponded to a great extent with our idea of God ; but with the Taoists he is dragged from his exalted position and put below these Three Pure Ones, one of whom at all events was a man. This Supreme Ruler of the Taoists is quite a different being from that of the Chinese Classics, though the Taoists try to make out that he is identical. He was a man, having been a magician, and was deified perhaps in the seventh or eighth century A.D., not earlier certainly. Round him many legends centre. He is — 71 — supposed to superintend human affairs and control the physical world. The title Supreme Ruler is not confined to this one god, but there is at least a group of thirty-six, if not even more, who in the Taoist pantheon are all Supreme Rulers. To get some slight idea of Taoism go into a large Taoist temple, such as you will find in Canton, and there you may explore building after building arranged in that loose sequence which Chinese public buildings affect — main halls separated by open courts in front and open spaces behind them, and joined by corridors, or cloisters, on both sides of the grassy, or paved, courts. There are these main halls and a num- ber of subsidiary buildings as well, or side halls, forming a congeries of different temples, as it were. One will be found dedicated principally to the worship of Kam Fa, the tutelary goddess especially of women and children, and here she is enshrined with a number of her attendants. In another building is a shrine to the Monicey God. In another part is a god with a horse, his face is smeared about the mouth with a black substance which it appears is opium, for this god is fond of opium. One of the main buildings is taken up with the Five Genii (for the temple I have principally, in my mind's eye is that of the Five Genii). These appeared in the early days of the history of the city, riding on five rams, which animals are to be seen to this day in front of the idols representing the Five Genii ; but they are now stone, to which the rams were changed when the genii disappeared. Above this shrine is that of the Gemmeous Ruler. The Three Pure Ones also are not absent, and other gods are represented in different places and here in one — 72 — place is a hollow in a rock nine feet by five feet, the impress of a genie's foot. Here again we see a straight, tall palm tree, shooting up like a graceful column crowned with a tufted top, an object of worship. Why ? The crowd of Chinese who are escorting and following you round will tell you — because its heart is straight. Little paper images, roughly cut out and almost too rude in style to be accepted by one of our children, who wants paper dolls cut out for her, are stuck on the tree as charms, some perhaps up-side down as a magic spell, or some occult means, may be to turn the evil disposition of some one they are supposed to represent upside down from its present condition into one of goodness. They are already topsyturvy being bad, and this simple means will put them right side up again. Even this does not exhaust the list of all that is to be found in such a temple — charms, superstitions, legends, deification of men and women, gods dragged down to delight in the vices of men, prayers, incanta- tions, means of divining the will of the gods and peering into futurity, a Taoist priest or two — all these combined together, as well as other elements of worship and superstition. And these buildings right in the heart of this old hoary city, in the very centre of its life- throbs, surrounded by its bustle and business, in the very midst of this wonderful human hive of industry. Almost an allegory how in the heart of the astute business Chinese are enshrined, as it were, temples, fanes, oratories, shrines, in which are blended all manner of beliefs and the wildest fancies and superstitions. Ao-ain one might almost fancy that such a temple was typical of the vast system of different similar elements which nowadays form what is called Taoism. I daresay that you may have noticed very ofteni on a Chinese baby's cap, a small tiny mirror, about the — 73 — ■size of a ten cent piece, fastened on the front, and you have thought that it was simply a little ornament. It is a charm ; but the word charm has lost much of its meaning with us nowadays. Amongst the definitions assigned to this word in the dictionary you will pro- bably find that of a ' something thought to possess •occult power ?' and another meaning may be ' a trinket worn on a watch-guard.' Of course, there are some persons in our lands, foolish enough to believe that a crooked sixpence worn on the watch-chain will not only be a charm on the watch-chain, but though powerless to keep itself straight, or prevent a hole being made in it, it can by some occult power be of use to the silly man or woman, who dangles it on his •chain, thus combining the two meanings of the dic- tionary. These beliefs, the remains of an ignorant age, are half-laughingly spoken of by people In the West, who have such an old savage strain of superstition lurking in their composition that they do not like openly to confess and pin their faith to in all seriousness. With the Chinese it is a serious matter though, and the little bit of glass glancing on the baby's head is solemnly believed to be able to reflect in all their hideousness the ugly faces of the evil demons who are wandering about, seeking what harm they may do ; for arriving in front of the helpless baby on whom they would work no end of mischief, they are at once frightened away by a glance in the tiny mirror which shows them how awful their evil countenances are. 'The wicked flee when no man pursueth,' appalled in this case by a sight of their own hideous faces. This is only one instance of the innumerable forms superstition takes in this land. Seriously believed in, and acted upon every day of their lives by these other- wise common-sense, sober-minded Chinese. — 74: — Buddhism then had the effect of consolidating the various superstitions floating about into a system, Taoism, and in the end in the imitation of Buddhism ■was evolved what, for a better word, we call Taoist priests. They would not, however, adopt the pernicious practice of a celebate priesthood and its resultant evils in a land where marriage is honourable and held in such esteem. Attempts have been made, but unsuccess- fully, to amalgamate the so-called Buddhist and Taoist priests into one class. Taoism copied its forms of worship and liturgies from the Indian religion. Buddhism came into China from the land of its birth. The story goes, or one story is, to the effect that the emperor dreamt that he saw a golden image and ' sent for men to come from far unto whom a messenger was sent, and, lo, they came.' (Ez. 24 : 40.) Even Confucianism took up the worship of images after its advent to China and the sage himself was represented in human shape, instead of simply by tablet ; for we find that in the Sung dynasty images of Confucius had been introduced into Confiician temples ; but in the Ming dynasty a clearance was made of them, though still some are to be found. The state gods are represented br images, idol-deities. Now there are a number of these state gods in China- Foremost among them are the fathers of medicine, Fu-hsi and two others. The God of War is another renowned state god. He was a famous general in the time of the Three States. One of the most famous of Chinese novels — a historical novel too, — is ftdl of his and other heroes' deeds. This 'god is a special favourite of the Manchu dynasty' now reigning in China. Another member of the state pantheon is the God of Literature. He is one of the star deities. A part of our constellation of the great bear is where he is supposed to have his seat. You will find a pavilion to — 75 — this god, containing his shrine and image, in all the Examination Halls in the land. The ministers of Taoism are ofter the guardians of the temples of the state religion. A visit to another class of temples which you will find in all Chinese cities of any consequence will reveal another phase of the Taoist beliefs. These in each city may be called the City Temple ; and in them are worshipped the — well, one would feel inclined to call him the Mayor, since he is the head official of the city,, as a city, though his functions may not be similar in all respects to those of a mayor in our lands, nor is he appointed from the same class. Perhaps it would be better to call him the Governor. This functionary, who is worshipped in the temple, is not now the living head official of the city, but one who has held such a position in the past, though he is now reigning in the nether regions and not in this world ; for the next world is a complete counterpart of this, even to the cheating that goes on. This King of the City, as he is called, is supposed to have an entourage of officials there to carry out his behests, just as an official of his standing on earth would. In one part of this temple are the sixty gods who preside over the sixty years of the Chinese cycle (one of the means by which Chinese date events, the other being by the year of the sovereign). If one wants to see anthropomorphism fully developed, come to China. This temple is known amongst Europeans as the Temple of Horrors. Its principle court-yard is alive with fortune-tellers and hucksters of all kinds with their little tables and stalls and exhibiters of human monstrosities, etc. A living commentary of that temple in the Holy Land, where our Saviour drove out its polutions with a whip of cords. Notwithstanding all the terrors that are depicted — 76 — behind them in the Ten Courts of Hell, from which the temple has taken its foreign name, these modern descendents of the money changers and sellers of doves in the courts of that other Eastern temple appear to do a brisk trade, like their prototypes ; nor is the business confined to the outer courts of the temple, for the temple-keeper makes a good fortune out of the sale of candles, joss-paper, and providing the answers from the gods to the worshippers. For this in most Chinese temples he pays a good sum, dependent in amount on his likely takings. In the one in Canton, both are the money for the privilege for obtaining the means for making the money and the money he makes very large sums. In the cloisters at the back of this mass of traders are the representations of the punishments of the Ten Courts of Hell, each presided over by a judge. Stucco images about the size of children stand about busy in the infliction of the horrible punishments, while the victims are shown in all the agonies of the most cruel tortures conceivable. We read in II Samuel I2th, chapter 31st verse, and in ist Chronicles, 20th chapter and 3rd verse, of David putting the Ammonites, whom his general Joab had conquered, to the saw, and that they were cut with saws ; and in Hebrews, nth chapter, 37th verse, of being sawn asunder. In one of these compartments we see what that means, for the demons are busy sawing a man, who is placed between two planks, right down the centre of his body, as if he were a log of wood. In another we see the illustration of the man who has been a fool, as far as transgres- sions in this world are concerned, being, in the words of Proverbs 27th and verse 22nd, brayed in a mortar with a pestle, the pestle in this case being one worked by the foot, as in China they pound rice. Now we see a sinner being ground between an upper and nether millstone ; now he is put into a caldron of molten lead. — 77 — or he is thrown down a hill-side, on to a numerous mass of sword-points, and impaled on them ; now he is tortured by insects or snakes, the punishment being according to the offence ; but though any of these punishments would kill him in this world, in the lower world he lives on and on to suffer these ghastly tortures, too numerous to continue to enumerate. And what are the sins that deserve these fierce, cruel torments in these infernal regions ? Here is an answer as regards one form of sin ; for, in one of these compartments representing Hell, we find in front of the Judge, King Yama, a large mirror, facing the criminal. This mirror reveals the sins the poor trem- bling wretch, who kneels before his judge, has committed, and, unfortunately for him, he has probably been a butcher, at all events reflected in the glass, staring him in the face, he sees himself with axe in hand, standing before an ox, which he is about to kill, and now he is to be punished for taking the life of the ox; for in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, though in a rather different sense from that of the Hebrew seer, ' He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man.' In one of the religious tracts of the Taoists, which they consider to be a virtue to give away, there is a list of more than two hundred sins worthy of that name, while others are like the killing of the ox, or trifling peccadilloes, or even not that. Singing or dancing on the last day of the year or moon is one ; shouting, or getting into a passion on the first day of the moon or in the morning, weeping, spitting, or other indecency towards the North ; sighing, singing, or crying In front of the furnace ; spitting at a shooting star; pointing at a rainbow; or looking long at the sun or moon. This purgatory and hell of Taoism was initiated in an impulse derived from Buddhism, for the notion — 78 — of the transmigrations through which the departed go was brought from India by that religion ; but Taoism has gone further. It has been more fierce and relent- less ; it has out-calvined Calvin in its fiery retribution for evil doers. Here is the key-note of this fiery indignation : — 'The body alone perishes, but the soul lives for ever and ever ;' whatsoever evil men ' do in this life, the same will be done to them in the life to come.' There is beside these purgatorial hells, an ever- lasting hell to which those who have had the chance of bettering their souls and still remain bad are consigned. Even this rising to better things seems to be denied to some whose sins are great. Here is one sentence from the ' Divine Panorama ,' a Taoist book : — ' Any soul which after suicide shall not remain invisible, but shall frighten people to death, will be seized by black-faced, long-tusked devils and tortured in the various hells, to be finally thrust iiito the great Gehenna, for ever to remain hung up in chains, and not permitted to be born again.' But a truce to such horrors. To the believers in these chapters of horrors there is doubtless the hope with which many Chinese buoy themselves up amidst these seas of bitterness : — For ' if you see people sick and ill, give medicine to heal them. If you see people poor and hungry, feed them. If you see people in difficulties, give money to save them. Repent your past errors, and you will be allowed to cancel that evil by future good, so that when the hour arrives you will pass at once into the Tenth Hall, and thence return again to existence on earth. Let such as love all creatures endowed with life, and do not recklessly cut and slay, but teach their children not to harm small animals and insects — let these on the ist of the 3rd moon, register an oath not to take life, but to aid in preserving it. — 79 — Thus they will avoid passing through Purgatory, and will also enter at once the Tenth Hall, to be born again in some happy state.' Reliance is also placed on the efforts of Taoist and Buddhist priests to effect the rescue of souls from Purgatory through masses said for the dead. But the believer in Taoism has to face many a horror in the present — spirits called up from the vasty deep, spirits of the air, of the earth, of the hearth, of the home, of the dead, of the rivers, of anything and everything in fact. As one long resident in China has ■said : — 'The dread of spirits is the nightmare of the Chinaman's life, and to this dread Taoism panders. It encourages it by its teaching, and lives in a great measure by it. This is the prevaling characteristic of the system at the present day.' This statement is perfectly true ; for this dread is a fruitful source of , revenue to the Taoist priests, who live by exorcising evil spirits and performing masses to rescue the dead from the terrors of these luri^ hells ; and their confreres, the Buddhist priests, also assist on the latter occasions. Charms are largely sought, and here again is a fruit- ful source of revenue to all from the Taoist Pope down to his most dirty and most ragged follower ; and magic swords abound, reminding us of the ancient legends in our Western lands, but the stories about them seem to lack the poetic grace and beauty which our versifiers in the West have cast as a halo round our legendary lore. Occasionally we do get a trace of beauty in some of the fairy tales, as they have been termed, of Taoism, or a pathetic passage or two in these religious tracts. The tale is often adorned with a moral. For example : — An incarnation of a son of their so-called Supreme Ruler, the Gemmeous Sovereign, who took human — 80 — shape in order to purify himself from a fault, received a summons one day to go up to Heaven. He tried to tidy his long hair with a comb before obeying the command, only to find all efforts unavailing, and the comb stuck in the tangled masses of his long locks. The moral : — When Heaven commands, we should obey immediately. Hours might be ocupied if one were to diverge here into an account of that wonderful system of pseudo-science, called fung-shui (geomancy) with its absurdities ; so ridiculously grotesque in many of the attitudes towards improvement it has caused the people to take, that one almost wonders that a sober-minded,, common-sense people, like the Chinese, can actually still believe them. It Is principally taken up now with the finding of a good site for a grave, so that the dead may lie quietly, and that peace and wealth, prosperity and happiness,, may result to the family in all Its branches. Long years are spept in finding such favourable sites, supposing the family have a long enough purse to pay the geomantic professor. Sometimes the dead man remains unburied all this time ; at other times, if misfortunes ensue after interment, the unhappy corpse is taken up from his uneasy grave, and entombed In a more propitious spot. The most lucky position Is on a hill side flanked by hills, with a running stream in front and another hill rising on the other side of the water. The prevalent notion, and that which Taoism teaches, is that each man has three souls : one lives- with the corpse In the grave ; another In the ancestral tablet ; and the third goes into the other world, the Purgatory, from whence It returns to life again if Its life on earth has been good. Virtuous deeds on earth count to the credit of the righteous soul. Two punishments are remitted If a man vows to lead a — 81 — virtuous life and repentant promises to sin no more. If he adds to these two virtuous acts five others, he escapes all punishment, and is born again on earth in some happy lot. Happy woman, if she be a woman, for then she need not fear that she will be born again in such an inferior position. Under these circumstances she rises in the scale of existence and begins another life on earth as a man. Not only does a very good soul earn its own salvation from future torment in the future world and future misery on entering this life again, but wife and family may be redeemed by its good actions. A good man — a superlatively good one is thus described : — ' Men respect him and Heaven protects him, and Spirits defend him, and whatsoever he does shall prosper ; he may hope to become an Immortal.' Now there are two kinds of these Immortals : one is an Immortal of Heaven, 1,300 good deeds must be per^ formed to procure this high honour ; while the •comparatively small number of 30G will bring as its reward the position of an Immortal of Earth. Worship .at the grave to the soul there ; before the ancestral tablet to that enshrined there in that ; and masses by Taoist and Buddhist priests to assist the soul in the Nether World : this is the outcome of the belief in a three-fold soul. Confucianism with its concomitants and corollaries — if one may so term the different systems of state worship, the sacrifices by the sovereign to Heaven and Earth, and to his ancestors, combined with the ethical teachings of the sage and the ceremonial etiquette — is J)ar excellence what may be called the religion of China ; but like the Chinaman himself his government is prepared to accept and signify in an imperial manner its acceptance of them ; and also taking a broad view, -without signifying its approval of the total mass of — 82 — superstitions embodied in them all as of legal standing, it also accepts the heterodox doctrines of Buddhisrar and Taoism, and assists out of its exchequer the build- ing of some of their temples, etc. It is a principle of concurrent endowment. In short the 'strange prin- ciples ' of these religions are tolerated, though inveighed' iagainst by the very government that permits them to exist alongside of, and blended with, Confucianism, and, as I have said, assists them all indifferently. A most strange position. There is, therefore, an official recognition of, and endowment of, Taoism, and this is. what Mayer's in his ' Chinese Government ' says of it: — 'The Chinese official system, which allows no condition of the body politic to remain, in theory at least, unprovided with means for its control, includes among its administrative rules a complete system of ecclesiastical gradations of rank and authority in pon- nection with the priesthood of both the Buddhist religion and the Taoist order. While refraining from interference with the internal organisation of either oF these bodies, or with the admission of members to their ranks, the Imperial Insitutes provide a framework in harmony with the all-prevading official system, to be grafted on the hierarchy as it is found in either case- developed according to its own traditional rules.' In conclusion one may see that Taoism has been responsible for an immense mass of superstition and belief in malignant spirits, which must rob life of much of its sweetness. To instance only one case: should an infant die, it is often supposed to have been an evil spirit that took on human shape to torment the poor stricken parents, who, instead of a dear little soul, find i that their love has been wasted on an imp from Hell^ who has wrecked its spite on them, possibly in punishment of some former sin, or it may be in revenge for some injury done to the person which this soul tenanted in a former life. — 83 — The system of Confucian ethics was too high above the masses. Something more tangible was requir- ed ; the mysterious and supernatural had no, or but little, scope ; there was nothing about the bourne to which all were hastening, and which the human soul longs to know more about than what a high system of morality will reveal. Agnosticism will not satisfy the soul of man, and Confucianism in its outcome was largely agnostic. Mr. Bourne of the British Consular Service thus sums up the Taoism, as accepted by the common man, ' Taoism was an attempt of the native scholars to make out of the heterogeneous materials of Nature-Worship a religion after the model of, and to serve as a rival to, Buddhism.' This quotation, of course, leaves the philosophical side of the founder of Taoism out, but Mr Bourne goes on to explain this as well. Linking in the general term of Taoism the teach- ings of Lao-tsz, we may be thankful that the Chinese had such a high morality held up before them and inculcated by the Venerable Philosopher. The abne- gation of oneself and the humility recommended must exercise a good effect on any that are ready to be influenced by them, as is sometimes the case ; but the masses take up the superstitious elements of Taoism to the exclusion, it is often to be feared, of its best and ancient features. But people smile and say, ' Why! all this is only harmless superstition.' A departure from the worship of the true God is never harmless. Idolatry and superstition are not harmless. Very interesting, of course, they all are to the ' scientific investigator, to the comparative mythologist, to the folklorist ; but the practical outcome is disastrous to the people themselves, and to their neighbours, and to those who happen to live amongst them. If you want practical illustra- tions of what the superstitious beliefs of Taoism, what — 84 — a faith in its wonder-working powers can develope into, look at those bursts of fanaticism which a ' total ignorance of the laws of nature and an unlimited faith in genii, fairies, magic pills, powders, and charms ' cause, and see the results of them. To instance a few: — There was the queue-cutting mania in 1876, when spirits were supposed to relieve mankind of these appendages to their heads, causing a wild excitement, and a dangerous condition of the populace throughout the land. There was again the epidemic of terror and dangerous surcharge of feeling in the genii-powder excitement, when the wells were supposed to be poisoned ; and if a stranger chanced to glance down a well, that was enough to prove him a well-poisoner to the excitable mob that would quickly gather round him. And last and most dreadful was this awful Boxer rising, when more Christians were massacred in China than during the great Diocletian persecution of ancient days. It was not a rising of Taoists or Buddhists or any other religious sect against Christians ; but it had its origin in this firm belief in magic-working. When men believe that black beans scattered will turn into an army ; that paper dolls or pictures, thrown up into the air, or burned, will turn into warriors ; that swords by incantations are made all powerful ; that flesh and blood in the shape of man may be made immortal by charms and spells, as far as cannon balls and rifle bullets are concerned ; that for the destruction of armour-clad modern men-of-war, all that is required is for young girls to ride on clouds, and calling down celestial fire, these monsters of warfare will be burned up, then such people are prepared for anything. When thus the ignorant farmer by the thousands and tens of thousands believes himself impervious to shot and shell, or that, though it passes through him, it will not kill him; and when he is further armed and heartened by a firm faith in all kinds of magic-wonders ; we then — 85 — have an army of fanatics, ready for any deed, their weak arms are nerved to superhuman strength, their fears are swept away. Taoism supplies by its superstitions and beliefs the force and strength necessary to murder in cold blood hundreds and thousands of helpless women and children, as well as unarmed men. Can any one say that superstition is harmless after such an exhibition of it .'' Gv-g^C "^^^ LECTURE IV. THE DIM RELIGIOUS LIGHT OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA. The Dim Religious Light OF Buddhism in China. In Buddhism in China we come on a foreign religion, introduced from India nearly eighteen and a half centuries ago. It is interesting, therefore to us, who look forward to the further spread of Christianity in this land, to know that the mere fact of a religion being previously unknown to the people does not prevent its acceptance, were we not already aware of the fact from the wonderful advance of the faith in Christ in this country. Again it is interesting also to note its mode of progress and development among the Chinese people. Another point of interest is that the religion founded by Shakyamuni Buddha has had perhaps the greatest number of followers in the whole wide world of any religion. — 90 — And here let me call attention to the absurdity of the statements that one sometimes sees as to the number of Buddhists in the world. They are perfectly unreliable. Of course, many of the millions that make up the grand total are taken from China, and those who calmly say that the Chinese furnish so many hundred millions must be densely ignorant of the conditions of religious life in this Land of Eclecticism in Beliefs. It is utterly beyond the power of any mortal man to state how many followers of this Indian religion there are in China, for the simple reason that, as things are at present, it would be impossible to find out who were Buddhists and who were not. The pictures of some of the chief Chinese deities show, even if nothing else does, that the Chinese mix up Confiicianism, Taoism, and Buddhism together ; for in these pictures, made to be worshipped, are depicted the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist, and the Northern Ruler, a Taoist deity, while the State God of War is also represented. It would not be very far wrong, perhaps, to say that the average Chinaman, leaving out the Mahommedan and the Christian and possibly the Buddhist priests and nuns in some cases, are in- differently adherents of all three religions. To suppose that an Englishman was at the same time an Atheist, a Roman Catholic, and a Protestant would be absurd ; but the most antagonistic beliefs are all acquiesced in by the Chinese. And to call a man a Buddhist, who in the morning inveighs strongly against its supersti- tious beliefs, while in the afternoon he offers worship to its deities, as well as to those of Taoism, and all through the day sincerely believes in Confucianism, if he believes in anything at all — to class such a man as one thing or another is impossible — he is all three or nothing at all, unless we like to describe him under the generic term of a heathen. — 91 — Now some of the most essential and popular features of Buddhism were the teaching of the brotherhood of those who compose the human race ; the misery, universal, of the members of that race ; and the remedy, or supposed remedy, offered by this • religion for that misery ; death was also robbed of some of its terrors by the absolute peace to which it was taught that it was the entrance, or gate-way. The wonderful Nirvana, beyond the comprehension of many of the votaries, had substituted for it a Western Heaven among the Northern Buddhists. This met the wants of those who had no taste for metaphysics. Monastic communism, the apparently nobleness of such a life, and the social character of the worship, all appealed to the devotee — all these combined, as well as other elements, to attract multitudes. India was the land of birth of this wonderful religion ; Benares its first headquarters ; China the land that has done more than any, except its original home, where it burst into being, to develope Buddhistic thought. Its position now in this its most favoured home in some respects — in which so much has been done for it — is one of decay. It is more than probable, Eitel tells us, that Shakyamuni Buddha was not the first Buddhist, but that by his consummate genius he lifted a small sect into prominence and inspired it with courage (after perhaps centuries of previous existence) to combat the national Indian religion of Brahmanism. Countless kalpas (a kalpa varies from a few hundred years to many thousands) saw the future Shakyamuni Buddha pass through transmigration after transmigration, now a monarch, now a prince, a noble- man, a religious teacher, a learned man, an ape, a merchant, a wealthy man, a deer, a lion, an elephant, a bird, a fowl, a slave, a golden eagle, a horse, a bull, a peacock, a serpent, a fish, and many other things, too — 92 — numerous to enumerate, some of them several times over — he was born as an ascetic 83 times, making in all between 500 and 600 times that he came into this- world. With people believing such senseless fables as- this, it is no wonder that they want to be engulfed into non-existence by means of Nirvana. Before his last ■ birth on earth, he rose to the rank of B6dhisattva (he who knows and feels); and finally for the last time his soul descended to our world; for it must be remembered that countless fictitious worlds fill the universe. He was born as the son of a king, near Nepaul in the 7th or 8th century, probably B.C. 543, though other dates are also given. ShakyamunI is said to have prophesied ' that his doctrines would spread in China a thousand years after his death,' and such has been the fact, whether it was really a prophecy or not. Married to a Brahman maiden when he was 17, he was brought up in the lap of luxury and taught every accomplishment ; but his heart was not in such things, and he soon desired to live the life of an ascetic in order to learn wisdom. He finally quitted his father's palace at the age of 25, 'and lived on the Himalaya Mountains in solitary spots'" This wonderful young prince seems to have passed through some remarkable experiences, and one would like to be able to sift out the supernatural and the legendary, which has gathered round him and see his life as it really was, and divested of all the unsubstantial myth. One feels so disappointed when trying to see light amidst the beclouded narrative, a clear vision is obscured by all these Eastern stories of the numerous heavens as well as of innumerable nether regions. The constant presence of the impossible so hides the sober truth about this man, who in dead earnest was trying to solve the enigma of existence and rise superior by his own unaided strength to heights above all — 93 — mundane trials and sorrows, and attain such a superior position that they would have no effect on him at all. And then, when once he had soared to these supernal heights, to instruct all others, so that they might go and do likewise. ' The great desire of a Buddha or a Pusat is to save mankind and all living beings. They rescue those who are struggling in the sea of life and death, and vice and virtue, and convey them to the shore of true knowledge.' Five principle epochs of instruction occur in Buddha's life. During the first he was mostly in the paradises of the Devas, and his audiences were composed ■of mythological beings. Then he teaches men, and we are on more sober ground. He discourses on the Four Miseries. Next we have his symmetrical philo- sophy taught. After which we have a period of cold me- taphysical instruction when ' the miseries of society are to be terminated by minute hair-splitting and belief in certain profound abstractions, which, after all that may he said for them, are simply impossibilities,' as one Avriter says of them. And then the last period, that of ' the announce- ment of the Lotus of the Good Law and the doctrine of Nirvana.' There is more human feeling in this period and more sympathy. Here is the text of his discourse to the people of India — the youth, the hermits, Zoroastrians, Brahmans, and everyone ; and a social revolution unprecedented in the land of India took place. And under these auspices was started the first monastic system in the world. Lay brothers were also allowed who, though they lived in the world, were yet not of it; they kept the rules, but lived in their own houses. Shakyamuni made a most practical provision for the dissemination of his ideas. He dispersed his religious community abroad, and soon India was the — 94 — great mission field in which his missionaries, with their vows of poverty and begging their food as a religious act, had gathered together many converts. The glorification of systematised beggary ! Buddhism kept on developing as Buddha himself introduced new elements into his instructions and new directions to the neophytes, who believed in him. The origin of the services was a daily one inaugurated by Buddha directing that a benevolent king, to whom he had preached, was to have lOO priests repeat twice a day a sutra, or discourse, Buddha had preached to him. We now have grand liturgical services by large numbers of priests in times of drought, sickness, and other disastrous occurrences. These sutras, or discourses, (called king in Chinese), are supposed to bring good luck to state or family. They are sometimes written in letters of gold and placed near the domestic idol. It is believed that Buddha's true words, honoured, will cause tlie rulers of Nature to grant protection. ' Every Buddha has both a revealed and a mystic doctrine,' so says one of the Buddhist writers, and we thus get exoteric doctrines for the new disciples and the esoteric for the more advanced ; philosophy, metaphysics, and mysticism for the learned ; parables, believed in as true facts, and the idolatry, accepted by the unlearned, who cannot understand the abstractions which the fables and images are supposed to represent. As to the divisions of Buddhism, we also get the Greater Development School, and that of the Lesser Development ; we have the Hinayana system or the little conveyance, the Mahayana system or the greater conveyance, the Madhyimayana or the Medium Con- veyance, and the Tantra School. During the second century after Buddha's death the Buddhist Church split into i8 sects. 'Buddhism — 95 — developed Nominalistic and Realistic schools, divided itself into schools of Idealism and Materialism, produced systems of Positivism and Nihilism.' But it would be impossible to give an account of all the different ramifi- cations and schools of thoughts that have sprung up. ' External Buddhism seeks after the Nirvana, encourages the worship of images, appoints prayers for the dead, and makes use of much outward show to win the multitude The mystic Buddhists resist such a method of attaining the ends of religion.' Fate, according to the Buddhists created the world, keeps it in existence, and will destroy it ; therefore the Buddhist knows no God in our sense of the term. Buddhism fails to see the true foundations of morality, and ' to express rightly the relation of morality to God or to human nature.' 'As to God while it aimed to find some intelligence and power higher than those of the popular deities, it failed to perceive that the creation and government of the universe are united in one all-wise, eternal mind. It looked no further than the wisdom of a human sage, and the innate goodness and self-elevating power of the human mind. It gives to the wise man the honour that is due only to God.' ' The Buddhist has neither God nor inspiration in his creed. He only knows Buddha, the self-elevated human intellect, as the most exalted being ; and he looks on his teaching to be the purest truth and the highest wisdom.' Buddhism knows no Creator. It is blind fate that takes his place. Taoist specilations tend ' to shut out God from the world.' Confucianism in its later philoso- phy in the Sung dynasty was influenced by Buddhism ; as it developed a cosmogony of its own fifteen centuries after Confucius and Mencius ; and by the materialism of Taoism in its conception of the elements. 96 The deepest mysticism attached itself through the minds of some to Buddhism. ' It,' says one, ' was reserved for the fantastic genius of India to construct a religion out of three such elements as atheism, annihilation, and the non-reality of the material world ; and by the encouragement of mysticism and the monastic life to make these most ultimate of negations palatable and popular. The subsequent addition of a mythology suited to the taste of the common people was, it should be remembered, another powerful cause, contributing in conjunction with these quietist and ascetic tendencies, to spread Buddhism through so great a mass of human kind.' The beautiful conceptions of the late Sir Edwin Arnold present, of course, from a poet's standpoint the beauties of the religion which his lovely poem, ' The Light of Asia ' glorifies. But, while admiring these beauties, it must be remembered that there is a dark side which the genius of the gifted poet does not illumine ; and it must also be kept in mind that the replica which he depicts in such glowing colours is only taken from a later phase of Buddhism. Many have been led away by the idea that they have a true presentment of this wonderful fascinating religion as thus depicted. Whereas it is a later development which has taken its tints of Christian colouring some five or six centuries after Christ, or a thousand years after Buddha had promulgated his doctrines. It there- fore only presents but one aspect of Buddhism ; and that doubtless also tinctured by the Christian phrase- ology of an English writer brought up familiar with the language of Christianity from his earliest youth. Buddhism came as a saviour from the intolerable system of caste in India, and was therefore popular amongst the Indians of humble origin ; but there are no systems of caste in China. Now let us see some of — 97 — the reasons that caused its acceptance in this land. When it came to the Far East it did not oppose some of the customs which it found in existence, such as those connected with funerals; and again Buddhism seized hold of the village processions, (a feature also of the old religions of Greece and Rome), and adapted them to its own use. And Northern Buddhism, that in vogue in China, also gives its sanction to the teachings of Confucius, as well as to those of Laotsz. It in fact said, ' Take what I give you, and keep what you have got.' Not only is providing charity for the begging monks of Buddha a meritorious act; but the more practical plans of improving existing roads, spanning rivers and streams with bridges, digging wells for the common good, as well as respect for parents and care for the poor all goes to the credit of him who thus acts. How beneficial such actions are for a country like China can be easily under- stood ; for in this land, the Government does not take the whole responsibility of providing the means of communication, and this is a country where there are no public water-works, and where a poor law is practically unknown. The change of this philosophical system into arrant idolatry is easily seen. One writer on Budd- hism thus describes it, ' Buddha, a sort of human god was first worshipped. Other highly venerated men of a secondary type were in succession added, and become the inferior gods of a new pantheon.' In the last lecture a general description of a Taoist temple was given. Now let us see if a glance at a large Buddhist establishment may not enable us, perhaps, the better to grasp some of the prominent tenets of that belief, as it has been developed and now appears in China. Let us take a large Buddhist temple in Canton. Turning from the narrow street into an unpretentious — 98 — gateway, we find on either hand two large images, guardians of the temple, gate-keepers. A stone-paved path leads from this smaller shrine to a larger one, ■where we find four gigantic figures enshrined, the Four Deva Kings. In these four images in this front hall, we see an example of how Buddhism took over the gods of the old Hindoo religion. These Four Maharajas, Great Kings, have each one of the Four Continents, into which Buddhism divides the world, to rule over ; and each have an army of devas under their warlike command to protect mankind as well as Buddhism. Buddhism has thrown its mantle over them and converted them for its own protection. But all these Indian deities, thus taken over are assigned an inferior position, they are all disciples of the Great Buddha. * Beings of every rank in earth or heaven confess their inferiority to the human Buddha by becoming his humble and attentive auditors.' These four idols have respectively green, red, white, and dark faces. One holds a sword ; another a guitar, the sound of which causes the whole world to listen, or his enemies' camps to take fire ; one, an umbrella, which, when he raises, causes a violent thunderstorm to arise, or universal darkness sets in ; another holds a snake, charmed to obey his will. The devas or popular Hindoo gods are mortal and limited in power, and, as I have said, made inferior to a human being, Buddha. As this religion took over much from the old Hindoo mythology in the first instance, so in China it borrowed from Taoism in order to attract the masses to its worship. Buddhism not only took over the gods of the Hindoos mythology and pictures them in tiers of different heavens, but it also adopted the heUs, thus described by an authority on Chinese Buddhism : — — 99 — ' It will be sufficient to say of them that they com- bine all that is horrible to each of the senses. Every form of torment, mental and physical, that can befall the unhappy violators of a good conscience and of the Buddhist law, are found there. The extremes of cold and heat, cutting, flaying, biting, insulting and tan- talising, have to be endured by such persons according to their deserts. Demons of the most monstrous shapes and most cruel dispositions terrify them in every possible way. All that fire and water, knives and clubs, can by ingenuity be made to do in tormenting, is there done.' It would almost seem as if our Elizabethan poet Marlowe were depicting some similar hell when in "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus' he says in Act v., Scene 4th : — ' Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror stare Into that vast, perpetual torture-house. There are the Furies tossing damned souls On burning forks ; there bodies boil in lead ; There are live quarters broiling on the coals. That ne'er can die ; this ever-burning chair Is for o'er-tortur'd souls to rest them in ; These, that are fed with sops of flaming fire, Were gluttons, and loved only delicates, And laughed to see the poor starve at their gates : But yet all these are nothing ; thou shalt see Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.' But there is an extraordinary family likeness between, for instance, the hells, the material hells, of ancient, mediaeval and even fairly modern times, as for instance shown to us in Virgil, Dante, and perhaps Pollock. King Yama is the Chief Judge, the Hindoo King of Death, but the nine other judges of Hades are of — 100 — Chinese origin. The prayers of the priests are supposed to be able to release souls from these hells. Northern Buddhism extended and expanded the worlds into boundless space without limits, and Buddhas to equal the stars in number, or the sands of the Ganges, many times multiplied, to be exact where exactitude is impossible, were formed out of the fertile brains of this highly imaginative people. These countless Buddhas were originally meant doubtless to typify different attributes, and so worlds had to be created and all this creative fancy was probably meant to be symbolic. Not so do the common people receive it though, for they worship all these, in their eyes, majestic deities. Not only are the people allowed to be deceived, and to deceive themselves, in all this by the metaphysical and philosophic explaners-away and upholders of this amazing system of worlds and Buddhas ; but accustomed to untruths and the decep- tion of the unphilosophical multitude, we find that in the ti-anslation of the Mahayana Sutra from an Indian language the Chinese translators did not hesitate to insert the name of a Chinese sacred mountain in it as being mentioned by Buddha in his discourse. To return, however to our temple : — Leaving this hall, on each side of the quadrangle through which we now pass we find a shrine : one to Wai-t'6, armed cap-a-pie, he is a deva who protects the Buddhist religion ; and the other shrine is dedicated to the God of War, who was a famous general in ancient China, and is now a Chinese state deity. We see thus, in the last, an example of Buddhism borrowing a god from the land of its adoption. But now we arrive at the main Hall where are the images of The Three Precious Buddhas. Now the Three Precious Ones in Buddhism are Buddha, the personal teacher; Dharma, the Law, or body of — 101 — doctrine ; and Sangha, the Priesthood ; and sometimes the Three Precious Buddhas are supposed to represent, or be typical of these ; but generally in the temples in the South of China, at all events, we find that these gigantic images in the chief halls of Buddhist temples are the Past, the Present, and the Future Buddha. They have tables, or altars, before them on which are candlesticks, flowers, incense burners, etc. There is also a tablet on the central altar to the emperor. Large lanterns hang from the roof, and red camlet banners, on which in letters of velvet appear the sacred name of Amida Buddha. Down both sides of this grand shrine are arranged eight, or in some temples nine images, smaller in size, of the most highly renowned of Buddha's disciples. When there are eighteen, two of them are Chinese, the sixteen being Indians. Eitel, however, informs us that they were 1 8 Buddhist emissaries who reached China as early as B.C. 250 ; but Buddhism was officially introduced into the court from India in consequence of a dream by the Chinese Emperor in A.D. 61. Altars with all their paraphernalia stand in front of these, and they also receive worship. Twice a day a service is held in this hall by a score or so of monks, and the big drum and large bell are beaten while these monks recite sacred litanies in the languages of India, unintelligible to themselves and unknown to those who may chance to overhear them. They march in procession about the shrine to the accompaniment of tinkling bells, beating of the wooden fish, and their own chanting notes. Going through another quadrangle, like the others, AVith a stone pavement down the centre, and trees and grass growing, we arrive at another shrine in which is a marble pagoda. Here is preserved a relic of Buddha, and worship is paid to it at stated times. Finally in — 102 — another building, behind these with again another quad- rangle between, we come to another, a third shrine, that to the Goddess of Mercy, one of the most important idols of Northern Buddhism. (The Northern Buddhism has a superadded mythology and lays claim to magical powers.) The > modern development of Buddhism,, that is the popular Buddhism of the present day, raises this idol to a more prominent position in saving man- kind than Buddha himself. This Kwiin Yam has been for six hundred years in China a female goddess, before that she was represented as a man. In the works of famous Chinese painters of the T'ang and Sung dynasty she is a man, though even now sometimes represented as such. She ' hears with compassion the prayers of those who are in distress,' and appears on earth in both male and female form. It has been suggested that when the Buddhists came to China they took a native female deity and by a little stretch of philosophical sophistry made out that she was the same as the Hindoo male deity, through metamorphosis. We must not overlook the sacred books — complete collections of the scriptures of the Buddhists. These have been presented at different times to temples and monasteries by the emperors and are religiously pre- served in eight or ten large cases. A complete collection is comprised in 6771 sections. The priests seldom ' make any use of these libraries themselves — they are generally too illiterate for that. It has been roughly estimated that all the work done (not counting what has been lost) by the Hindoo translators in China and by Hiuen-tsang amounted to about seven hundred times the size of the New Testament. One work alone, the Maha Prajna Paramita is in 120 volumns and eighty times as large as the New Testament, and takes the palm for being the largest book ever translated in this world. Four years were spent on the stupendous, task. — 103 — Many buildings are scattered about to the right and left of these main buildings. It would take hours,, if not days, to explore them all, and understand all the whys and wherefores connected with their use. In one are printed the books used. In another part we come to a pen containing enormous pigs, some so fat they can scarcely stand on their feet, or even get up from wallowing on the earth. They would be good object lessons of gluttony and laziness. They have been offered by devotees, and are preserved until they die a natural death in all the odour of sanctity, thus enabling those who have put them there, and the monks as well, to fulfil one of the doctrines of Buddhism,, namely, to preserve life. Fowls, ducks, geese, and goats may also be seen thus enjoying a: life of leisure. The Chinese'joke about these creatures sometimes- finding interment within the living bodies of the monks; and in fact a servant connected with a large Buddhist establishment, that I once visited, gave the information, that the monks abstained from animal food in the monastery itself, but did not keep their vows of abstin- ence when away from its precincts. Dormitories, in one of which mendicant and visiting monks are accommodated, guest-brooms, the abbot's apartments, a refectory where only vegetarian diet is served and a kitchen and its enormous cooking- pans are all worthy of attention. It the large garden, attached to this temple, there is a pond into which live fish are cast by devotees, again for the purpose of preserving life. In one corner of this garden is a crematory where the remains of the monks are burned, and large tombs- where the resulting ashes are deposited. Among the idols to be found in this temple are those of the founder and, possibly, former abbots, many of whom, however, have simply their names on a tablet — 104 — and there is another one also in the refectory dedicated to all the monks belonging to that temple who have departed this life. The full establishment of monks in this monastery is a hundred ; but there are probably not more than about sixty in it. The different stages by which the ascent of man is made from this life of misery — I use the phrase representing the Buddhist idea ; for I do not believe the notion that existence in this beautiful world which God has made is misery. The world is very much what we make it ourselves — Well, these different stages of escape from the Buddhist miseries has been compared to a ' ladder from the actual world of human life to that cloud-land of abstractions which the con- templative Buddhist hopes to reach at last.' However it may be attempted to gloss away the idea of Nirvana, ' a consistent development of the principles of Buddhism must always lead to the result, that existence is but a curse and that therefore the aim of human effort should be the total sinnihilation of the personality and existence of each individual soul.' What an awful prospect to look forward to ! Living men have attempted to attain, if possible, to this state even in the present life. Ta-mo (B6dhidharma) the 28 th of the patriarchs of Buddhism came to China from India in his old age and sat at one time for nine years with his face to a wall, gazing at its blankness, 'without moving, without speaking, without thinking,' or as it is also stated in * silent meditation,' or as another h^s suggested in Ger- man idiom, 'thinking the wall,' and thus earned the title of ' the Wallgazing Brahman.' Such were the effects made by Buddhism to conquer the sensations, and kill the heaven-bestowed natural feelings and affections in us instead of directing them aright. That an intelligent being should believe this to be the highest height he — 105 — could rise to on earth seems almost incredible. The acme of perfection to cease to be. Even the East would not accept this horrible doctrine, notwithstanding all the melliferous descriptions of rest and peace attached to it, and there arose in Northern Buddhism the Paradise of the West in direct opposition to Buddha's ■original idea which was tantamount to mental suicide. In the Earl of Beaconsfield's last novel, found unfinished amongst his documents, one of the characters is actuated by the desire to ' terminate the misery of man ' by ' the destruction of the species.' Another character says, ' Society is formed of classes and it may be necessary to destroy it in detail.' Had then Buddhism been carried out to its full extent, and all attained to this state of inanition, the prospect would not have been a brilliant one for the advance of the race; in fact the aspiration of the character in the novel would have been fulfilled — the destruction of the human species, and the first detail would have been the destruction of the human mind — that complex, magnificent possession of man — the destructon of it by training it to a state of inanity. Thus worked out to its utmost limit it is this:— to destroy the misery the human race inherits, destroy the race, an effective way doubtless, as far as this world is concerned ! ! ! It is thought that alchemy and astrology robbed the Chinese of some of their old religious reverence. This religious indifference prepared the way for Buddhism, and at the same time ' a desire for fervency in ritual and the acquisition of new spiritual objects on which to fix the soul's gaze ' helped it on. A trial of a thousand years of Buddhism showed its failure. The soul of Con- fucianism was its moral element ; but the Sung philosop- hers did not uphold this, but sacrificed it to baser elements. Buddhism as taught by Shakyamuni was an ascetic morality. His followers introduced the metaphysical — 106 — element into it, and then came the materialistic cast with the developments of magic, astrology, and geomancy. The teaching of Confucius has had effect in preventing the spread of Buddhism. Now the history of Buddhism in China is interesting since it shows, as I have already said, that the Chinese are willing to accept a religion brought to them from another country ; and it also shows that the reception that a religion, which appears foreign to them, at first is granted, the vicissitudes it undergoes, and how it almost practically captivates the whole nation in the way of dominating much of its thought on religious matters, adding a copious vocabulary to its language at the same time. With regard again to its advent in this far eastern land, one authority on Buddhism tells us we may dismiss as uncertain its arrival in China before the first century of the Christian era, thought we get statements of it as a fact, while another informs us that it had penetrated so far east 250 years before that era. We find in the fourth century that the Chinese became Buddhist monks, large monasteries were erected, and nine-tenths of the people became followers of this- faith. Even before this, Indians had been permitted to erect great temples in the large cities, and Indians and Chinese were most keen in the production of translations of the religious works so largely used in Buddhism. Buddhism says that nothing is real by the false reasoning that all things are not permanent and are changeable, therefore they are unreal. Because a table, says a Chinese priest, passes into smoke and ashes it is ergo^ unreal. Everything is unreal ; there is nothing^ real in the world; self is unreal; we are unreal. It does not matter therefore to the profoundly shallow (excuse — 107 — the combination) thinkers of this philosophy of the nega- tion of all things how many Buddhas they multiply in their own unreal minds as symbols of attributes, but which are accepted by the more common-sense and real common people as objects of devotion and believed in by them — to the originators of these Buddhas it does not matter, as all is unreal. There is thus no distinction made between material and immaterial objects. Kings were amongst the nursing fathers of Buddhism, and became ardent disciples themselves. High offices were given to one or two Indian Buddhists. Revised versions were prepared of the first translations made, 800 priests assisting with the King^ present, and over 300 volumes were prepared. A pagoda was erected in the Emperor's palace at Nanking in A.D. 381. Chinese Buddhists at different times took the long, tedious, and dangerous journey to and from India, through Central Asia, or by the treacherous seas in the uncouth, awkward, sea-going junks, which the steamers have now driven out of existence in the South of China, at all events. I remember scores of them lying three deep in the river at Canton, waiting for the South-east monsoon to waft them up to Tientsin, or for the north-west to take them down to the Straits, Java,, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and in the old and mediaeval days even on to India and Africa. The object of these Buddhist travellers was to visit the places made sacred by the relics and life of Buddha and to collect religious- Buddhistic literature to bring back with them. Ceylon was distant three years journey in those days. All this- religiousjourneyings largely promoted mutualintercourse between these Asiatic countries, knit together by the common acceptance of the teachings of the Indian sage. What a hold this new religion had on the hearts of the so-called phlegmatic Chinese is evinced by the record of these numerous wanderings of Chinese — 108 — Buddhist pilgrims in the sacred land of Buddha'5 peregrinations, the extended account of some of which have come down to us ; and which occupied many years of the travellers lives. The progress of Buddhism in Chinese was not always along flowery paths : persecutions, the buildings, the making of images were forbidden, and books and idols were destroyed ; the people were warned against harbouring the adherents of this foreign sect, and many priests were put to death. The persecuting king (circa A.D. 426) was succeeded by another, who reversed his predecessor's policy, and Buddhist temples were permitted in every ■city, and priests as well in that portion of present China ruled over by these emperors. As always happens in religions which disobey the laws of God and forbid to marry, enforcing celebacy, It was soon found that the monks needed looking after. It was discovered that criminals used the tonsure and monastic robes as a sanctuary, or a disguise, to hide in safety from justice and to still plan mischief (A.D. 458). An order was issued that those who would not keep their vows of abstinence and self-denial were to return to civil life. We also see at this time a sign of the low esteem 5n which the nuns have also been held in China, for they were forbidden the palace and converse with the impresses. The pagodas and temples in China in the fifth century were upwards of 1,000 in number ; but in the sixth century the temples had increased to 13,000, and there were three thousand Indians resident in the land, many driven by persecution from India where Buddhism -was declining. The literati of China opposed this system of p hilosophy, as well as the superstitious elements in it — 109 — from the earliest days, and have done so as a class, more or less, all along ; and interesting are the controversies and discussions that have taken place in this connection, as the champions of each class whetted their wits and sharpened their intellects in these spirited contests. At times Buddhism exerted such an influence that we have emperors resigning their thrones and becoming monks. About the middle of the seventh century the con- vents in China amounted to 3,716 ; so that Buddhism by this time had fully recovered from its persecutions, but it did not escape further trials, for in A. D. 714, 12,000 priests and nuns had to give up the cloister for the dwelling-house, and the making of images,, books, and the building of temples were forbidden. The Buddhists also endeavoured to introduce their Indian science and civilisation into China and effected some good in that way. Emperors again were the patrons of Buddhism,, one when the country was invaded had the priests chant masses and the enemy retired. One of the gems- of Chinese literature is a noble protest by a high official against the emperor having a bone, a relict of Buddha, brought to the capital. The punishment this Con- fucianist received was degradation from being the Vice-president of the Board of Punishments to the much inferior post of Prefect of Chao Chao Fu near Swatow. The T'ong dynasty was most devoted to Buddhism. But persecution again came and more than 260,000 priests and nuns had to return to the common avocations of life, and 4,600 monasteries were destroyed. But yet again Buddhism from being a crime was anew fostered and encouraged. Retribution anid a future life were much insisted on in the first few centuries of Buddhism in China, — no — but more metaphysical ideas prevailed later on. One of the most influential leaders of Chinese Buddhists at this period thus gave instruction : — 'Human nature is in itself sufficient for its own wants. All that is needed is to avoid both vice and virtue. He that can do this is a religious man.' Later on again we read of more than 30,000 temples being suppressed, while 2,694 were retained. The emperors were inconstant towards Buddhism. It was so then, and even in more recent times it has been so too. ' Favour was shown to priests, while occasional edicts were issued to check the progress of the system. The emperors gratified their private feelings by gorgeous erections for the practice of idolatry, while they paid a tribute to the Confucian prejudices of the literati by denouncing the religion in public proclamations.' A new school of Buddhism sprang up. 'This system differs from ' the ' school of pure mental abstraction, by adding to devotional thoughts the help of the senses. The tawdry gaiety of the idols, the union of many persons under the protection of a timekeeper in kneeling and standing, mute thought and loud recitation, it was believed would have a highly useful influence, when combined with an intense effort after pure religious meditation. The union of these two elements was intended to be a great improve- ment on the previous methods. The first Buddhist worship had made no express provision for the medi- tative faculties, and it had in consequence degenerated into the driest of forms. The common ceremonial of the sect at the present time exemplifies it, exhibiting as it does postures devoid of all reverence and lifeless repetition of foreign words destitute of all emotion.' The human mind is diverse in its workings, as one has very truly remarked : — ' Human nature, true to itself, will — Ill — run the same round of varieties in connection with religions most different in their origin, principles and geographical situation.' And now we get, and have had, for many centuries in China a curious combination of the ethical Confucianism, the magic-working Taoism, and the priest-ridden Buddhism. A new religion has not been evolved from the union, but the follower of Confucius engages Taoist and Buddhist priests to say masses for the dead. All the three have permeated the everyday life of the Chinese. A Confucianist will affect to despise the superstitious systems of the present-day Taoist and Buddhist, but his own cold ethical system does not supply the want he feels, and, in sight of another world, he will often appeal to their aid. In the 13th century there were 42,318 Buddhist temples and 213,148 monks. The Mongol emperors were very favourable to Buddhism. With that laudable characteristic of the Chinese in their religious life, which eschews almost entirely any approach to indecency in their idol worship and religious stories, pictures, and ceremonial, Buddhism was kept pure in China, this same Buddhism which in Tibet degenerated into obscenity. I saw a Tibetan picture the other day, which amidst a perfect galaxy of gods, represented, if one looked into it closely, the grossest immorality. This sort of thing is evidently thought to be a good joke by the Thibetan Lamas. The tendency of the rulers of the present dynasty has been rather against Buddhism, and in favour of the exaltation of Confucianism. The position of the educated class is thus described by one authority on Buddhism in China : — ' Despising the popular development of Buddhism, as consisting of image worship and procuring for money — 112 — the protection of powerful unseen beings, they read with interest the Buddhist books that have in them a vein of metaphysical thought, presented in elegant language. They study Buddhism for the profundity of its ideas, while they continue to adhere to Confucius, as their own chosen teacher in morals and religion.' Eitel mentions one Chinese scholar who having memo- rised a sacred Buddhist book, prized it as an infallible cure for the stomach ache. The esoteric school is divided into five principal branches. What is styled orthodox Buddhism in China has become heterodox. Books and ancient traditions have been replaced by mystic contemplation. The multiplication of different schools of Buddhist thought, and especially the development of their abstract reflec- tions, is most bewildering. One taught that, 'the soul has neither existence nor non-existence. It is neither permanent nor non-permanent.' We are told by some to " let the mind do nothing, observe nothing, aim at nothing, hold fast to nothing ; that is Buddha. Then there will be no difference between living in the world, and entering the Nirvana. Then human nature, the mind^ Buddha, and the doctrine he taught, all become identical.' There are many points of similarity between the East and West. Here is one put into a few words by one writer : — ' Thus a metaphysical theology, subdivided into schools, formed the subject of study in the Asiatic monastic establishments as in the days of the European schoolmen.' So history repeats itself. Now for the analogy between this phase of Budd- hism and some of the speculations in modern European philosophy. They have been thus described : — — 113 — * We see here the Finite going back into the Abso- lute, the denial of the existence of everything but sel^ the identity of self and God, and of the subject and the object. That abstraction which is the pantheist's God, may, without violence to the meaning of words, be considered as the corresponding term to Buddha in this system. For God as the Absolute, is the state towards which nature and man are returning, a descrip- tion which answers to the notion here alluded to of the state called Buddha. When, however, in the manner of the older schools, Buddha is looked upon as having historical personality, it becomes at once incorrect tit> say that he is God; his personality being strictly human, and not divine. There is, however, a difference. The Asiatic speculator undertakes to realise his system, and employs the monastic institute or other aids for the purpose, hoping thus to escape from the chains of sense and passion into the freedom of pure abstraction. The European theoriser, on the other hand, even if he attempts to show how a practical religion may be based on a system of abstractions — as was done by Fichte — never seriously thinks of carrying it into execution.' The ideas and system of Buddhism are better adapted to a contemplative Indian people ; they are entirely unsuited for an energetic, active people. An enervating climate is the nidus where they may spread, with a more rapid growth than in a more temperate one. How foreign to everything English is the in- struction given in answer to the question, 'To what must I give my chief attention if I would attain to the true knowledge of things ?' and the answer was ' D j nothing. If you do anything, there is no merit in it. By doing nothing you will comply with the system of Buddha.' At one time in China we get kings resigning their thrones and becoming monks, and later on we get others 114 who in one case favour' Taoism, or in another, insisting- on the two religions combining, and again another prohibiting both. "We have more sects connected with the exoteric school and amongst these that of the Western Paradise, which it has been well pointed out is incon- sistent with the dogma of Nirvana, but is largely accepted by the Chinese, Tibetans, and Mongols. This is the heaven of Amida Buddha, the heaven of the Northern Buddhists. These Buddhists are not contented with mere abstractions : no Nirvana will satisfy the common- sense Chinaman ; he wants something which he can look upon as real ; something which he can revel and delight in. Hear how he describes it in poetry : — * The pure land of the West, say what language can tell Its beauty and majesty ? There ever dwell The men of this world and the Devas of heaven. And to each has the same wreath of glory been given. The secrets of wisdom unveiled they behold. And the soil that they tread on is bright yellow gold. In that land of true pleasure the flowers never fade. Each terraced ascent is of diamond and jade. The law of Tathagata sung by each bird From thicket and grove in sweet music is heard. The withering Upata, fairest of flowers. Sheds fragrance around in those thrice lovely bowers. There, each from the world that he governs, are found Assembled in conference long and profound, The ten supreme Buddhas who cease not to tell The praise of the land where the genii dwell. — 115 — For there is no region so happy and blest, As the heaven of Amida, far in the west. On the moment of entering that peaceful scene. The common material body of men Is exchanged for a body ethereal and bright. That is seen from afar to be glowing with light. Happy they who to that happy region have gone; In numberless kalpas their time flows on. Around are green woods, and above them clear skies. The sun never scorches, cold winds never rise. And summer and winter are both unknown In the land of the Law and the Diamond Throne; All errors corrected, all mysteries made clear. Their rest is unbroken by care or by fear. And the truth that before lay in darkness concealed Like a gem without fracture or flaw is revealed.' Buddhism to a certain extent, but only to a certain, .has prepared the way for Christianity in China ; for the Indian Buddhists introduced different terms into the Chinese language, and to some of these terms Christi- anity is indebted in conveying its truths, just as in later Hebrew the name of Paradise was borrowed from the Persians ; so we are indebted to Buddhism for the terms for heaven, hell, and devil, as well as saviour. Its religious terminology is applicable in many cases, and, converted to Christian uses, is better understood than an entirely new phraseology would be. 'The Indians were professed atheists ; but those ■of China, instead of denying the existence of God, usually content themselves with saying nothing about Him. To affirm or deny any special existence, fact or 'dogma, would in their view be equally inconsistent. Their aim is to keep the mind from any distinct action or movement of any kind.' — 116 — The Hindoos who had thus taught Buddhism to the Chinese also gave them some insight into what an alphabetical language is, and the system now in use in the Chinese dictionary for enabling the users of it to pronounce words they have not previously seen was invented. The system is this : — Take for instance a word, »za;« for example, then two other words are selected,, one pronounced m and the other an^ and these are to be combined together to form the sound man. It is also possible that the Chinese discovery of the tones was made by these strangers, who came with this foreign religion. The Chinese who is credited with the discovery at all events was brought into contact, doubtless intimate contact, with the Indians whose own language had fitted them well for a keen phonetic insight. The tones are indicated in the mode of representing Chinese sounds just mentioned by means of the second or final character of the two. This labour of the Indian Buddhists has been fraught with lasting benefit to the Chinese language in the preparation it made for philological research which was seized upon by the Chinese with true scientific instinct. Thus hardly anything in this world is an unmixed blessing, nor on the other hand an unmitigated evil. The good Buddhist must not kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, or drink wine. Now as to sin from the Buddhist standpoint, 'This system looks on mankind as involved in misery rather than guilt. The Ten Vices are rather to be regarded as faults, into which men fall from delusion and ignorance, than positive sins.' The Chinese largely, because their language is so tinged with Buddhist ideas, believe that sin is the cause of sickness and other misfortunes ; the sin» however, is not some wilful act or thought, but something done unconsciously, like a child treading on an insect. — 117 — l^asting food, or not reverencing paper on which thei* Is writing, or even it is some sin of this kind brought ovef from a former life to the debit of their account in this. We have seen how idolatry has induced the philosophical Buddhist to sanction untruths. There is another aspect of it, and that is that when complied tvith by state officials it is simply done as a ceremonial "duty, an outward rite, without any real religious belief. In all these systems that we have been considering, woman occupies an inferior position. It is only in Christianity that she takes her right place. Material happiness is the chief object for which Chinese Buddhists pray. Buddhism is not now a force for good or making for righteousness in China. People may rave about its beauty in other lands, while ignoring the gross immor- ality of the people ; they may find it difficult to find high enough terms to praise its conversion of the soul ■of a people to all that is sweet and lovely, while -shutting their eyes to nearly all that is unlovely about the bodies of these same people ; but beauty, loveliness, and sweetness are not its effects in this land where it has had full scope to carry out all the loveliness, rsweetness, and beauty that can be found in it. What virtue the Chinese possess they have to thank the Confucian system for, if not entirely, at all •events, more than the Buddhist system, and naturally the Confucianist condemns the monk who is, at the present day, a drone in society, forsaking his family cares, and renouncing his duties as a good citizen. The dim religious light of Asia is not a sufficient light for mortal man ; and it is being superseded and will eventually be entirely overpowered by the strong and saving light which came to enlighten every man — the glorious Light of the World : the one is man ; the — 118 — other is God, It is well that man should not lie without an effort to rise. Buddhism was an effort to raise mankind, and thus did good, civilising savage nations by its more gentle and benign precepts. There was much of truth in it ; but more of error. But man needs divine help and this is what Christianity supplies us with, as all who have tried it know. Not a mere formal profession of Christianity ; but a living faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Not only a mere outward baptism of water ; but an immersion into the very spirit of God, of Christ — a baptism of the Holy Spirit in our very hearts. Gvg^ . j^a^ LECTURE V. THE ARABIAN PROPHET IN CHINA. The Arabian Prophet In China. From the deck of the Canton steamer as you near that citjr, and thread your way through the busy throngs of j unks, boats, and sampans, you notice two pagodas raising thjeir slender shafts towards the sky, right in the very heart of the Old City itself. They are quite different : one is of the usual style of architecture so common in China and so picturesque, adding always a piquant air to the landscape ; the other very dissimilar, not broken into nine stories as the Flowery Pagoda is, really not a pagoda at all, but a smooth round tower of considerable height, on the top of which is another smaller tower, or minaret, as it were. There is a staircase inside by which ascent could be made, to the summit, but this is closed ; and on my last visit to it, I found there was no means of entering even. — 122 ~ From this minaret at one time the Moslem mueddin daily proclaimed to his co-religionists that the hour of prayer had arrived. Close by this tower is a building, whose architec- tural feature are those of a Chinese temple, but no idols are enshrined within its courts. As one looks into the large main hall one sees a pulpit in the corner. Inscriptions in large Arabic characters ornament the walls. The principal article of the Mohammedan creed is emblazoned forth in one of them, viz., ' There is but one God, and Mahommed is his prophet.' Knowing the Mahommedan prejudice to the tread of shoes within the sacred precincts of their religious fanes, one does not enter, especially as this view will be confirmed by the little crowd of Chinese that has sprung up from the neighbourhood. There are stated hours of prayer for the devout Mahommedan, and before entering on them, he must perform certain ablutions, religiously washing his hands, face, ears, and feet. So we find in an outhouse every convenience for the performance of these cleansings of the body. Water is laid on and appliances for heating it, and little places for the' would-be worshippers to wash themselves before entering upon their devotions. These ablutions are thus described by a writer on Mahommedanism: — 'The ordinary purification consists in washing the hands and arms to the elbows, the head and face, and the feet to the ankles ; and all these acts must be conducted with certain short, prescribed prayers for God's pardon and help, for deliverance at the last day and admission to Paradise. The greater purification is the lustration of the whole body on the occurrence of certain natural defilements.* One very incongruous element is to be seen in the main hall, and that is an altar on which appears a — 123 — green tablet inscribed in letters of gold with the words- • May the Emperor live for ever for ever and ever/ Incense is burned before this tablet representing the- head of the Empire. It is no wonder, of course, that in Buddhist and Taoist monasteries such a tablet should appear and be worshipped, for they are idolatrous systems, as we have seen; but that Mohammedans should so far forget one of their first principles is won- derful. The Chinese Government, however, insists- upon this, and Christianity is the only religion in China which has refused this act of adoration to a human being, whom they are otherwise ready enough to honour^ but not to worship. The Mahommedans in China appear to have ' somewhat pliable consciences ' as one author puts it, and probably justify their conduct in this and in other acts of idolatrous worship, whick those who are officials amongst them must perform in common with all Chinese mandarins by saying that though conforming outwardly they do not ' worship in their hearts.' A mollah in Hang Chow as regards the Emperor's tablet ' protested he did not and never could worship it, and pointed to the low place given it as evidence of this, and added that it was only for the sake of expediency it was allowed lodgement in the- building, for if they were ever charged with disloyalty by the enemies of their faith they could appeal to it.' This pliability of conscience has its sanction in the Koran, for Mahommed touched, by the imprison- ments, tortures and sufferings his disciples endured in the early days of the promulgation of his doctrines, permitted, as by Divine revelation these converts 'under certain circumstances, to deny their faith, so^ long as their hearts were steadfast in it.' Besides this mosque which was erected during the 7th century A.D., there are four others in the city of — 124 — Canton to provide places of worship for what was perhaps once its 3,000 Mohammedan inhabitants ; but is now only 1,000 or 1,500 as stated by one of themselves. Were we to pay a visit to these places at the hours of devotion, we would at first sight almost fancy we saw Arabians at their prayers, as the bright colours of the Chinese gabardines and jackets are changed at such times to white hues and long robes, turbans of the same colour ■cover the head, while the wearers prostrate themselves to the West, where their holy city, Mecca, is situated. Schools are attached to these mosques where the children of Mohammedan parents are taught to read the Koran. One traveller in China speaks of one mosque with 1 9 teachers attached to it. Arab traders early visited China and provided themselves with places of worship. One can scarcely say that they carried on their proselytising zeal, even though it was without that use of the sword which in other countries drove so many into their faith. The introduction of Islamism into China was gradual, and, for this reason, there is more difficulty in naming any €xact date, and describing the precise manner of its advent. It was trade that acted as a powerful magnet to attract Arabian merchants, the trade between China and the Arabian Sea drew them to that country itself, to its seaports, especially to the principal ones, such as Canton and Hang Chow. Beyond the North Gate of the city of Canton is one of the most sacred of the Mohammedan buildings to which a small graveyard is attached, where the remains of the ■earliest arrivals amongst those Arab traders and mission- ries combined, have rested for more than a dozen •centuries, Here is a tomb, the grave of a maternal uncle of Mahommed himself, who died in Canton in A.D. 630, — 125 — during the reign of the second emperor of the T'ang dynasty. It was only thus six years after the Hegira of the prophet that his followers came to China a dozen and more centuries ago. This tomb is held in hallowed esteem by Chinese Mahommedans, and pilgrims visit it from far and near. It is alone by itself, enshrined in the centre of a small domed building in the garden- cemetery. At the present time an old Chinese Mahom- medan, who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, is in charge of the mosque-like building and tomb. A Chinese work informs us that ' of the number of his (Mahommet's) disciples there were four great, holy men, who in the reign T'ang Wu Teh (A.D. 6i8- 626), came to the Imperial Court, and who proceeded to instruct China in the knowledge of their doctrine. One of these holy men taught in Kwong-chow {i.e.y Canton), the second taught in Yang-chow, and the third and the fourth taught in Tsuan-chow.' ' At the Ling Shan ' these ' two men from the Country of Medina lie buried.' As regards the one in Canton another Chinese work says: — ' Mahommed, king of Medina, sent his maternal uncle, the "foreign priest" named Su-ha Pa-sai to China to trade, whereupon he built the mosque-pagoda, and the temple known as the Wai Shing Ts'z, after the completion of which he died and was buried at this spot.' This tomb dates from the third year of Cheng Kwan (A.D. 629). *It is stated also that in the reign of Che Yuan of the Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1341-1367), the last of the Mongol line, seven- teen Musselman householders were left to reside at Canton as custodians of the mosque and tomb.' Thus the early Mahommedan visitors came In the pursuit of the lawful commerce which the Koran allows, for it says ' God sendeth the wind — that ships may sail — that ye may seek to enrich yourselves of His abun- dance by commerce, and that ye may give, thanks.' So — 126 — following out the permission thus given, these pioneers ■of the Arabian faith arrived in the Far East and many of them settled, there. Who knows but that some of them may have been led to leave their native land also by the desire to escape the persecution to which so many -of them were subjected at home and which had caused -others to leave before. 1 am told by an Indian Mahommedan that there are seme 200 or 300 purely Chinese Mahommedans in this Colony. A few are shop-keepers, some are cooks, •etc. They all come from the Mahommedan com- munity in Canton, and attend the Mosque here in Hongkong. There are supposed to be ioo,ooc,ooo Mahom- medans in the world of which there are 41,000,000 in India; and it is estimated that there are about 20,000,000 of them in China. The provinces which -contain the most being Kansuh, Hunan, and Shensi. They have scarcely been missionaries in the true sense -of the term; for if they had, with the readiness of the Chinese to embrace a new religion, as vide Buddhism, Mohammedanism might now have been the religion of most of the Chinese. Islamism, essentially a missionary religion in other parts of the world, has no proselytising power in China, at the present day at all events. Content to have their •own families of the true faith no direct propaganda of their beliefs takes place. In India this religion like Buddhism, broke the chains of that social slavery, caste, and by this freedom from an intoUerable thral- dom ' and the social elevation which accompanied the adoption of Islam induced numbers of Hindoos, chiefly of the lower classes, to adopt the ruling religion.' Conditions like this did not, and do not, prevail in China. The Mohammedans did not all come as traders, for as a rev/ard for their assistance in quelling a -- 127 — rebellion, a force of Arab soldiers, who had been sent for that purpose were permitted to remain and make China their home. The famous city of Hang Chow is one of the strongholds of Islamism in this country ; and a mosque here was spared during the T'ai-p'ing rebellion by the iconoclastic rebels who destroyed temples and idols wherever they found them. There are a number in Peking and a temple to the honour of an Empress who was of this faith. It is stated, and it seems a curious fact, if true, that the levirate is in vogue amongst the Mahommedans in Peking, i.^., the custom of a younger brother taking an elder deceased brother's wife, as the Scripture puts it, to raise up seed to his brother. In the 14th century a celebrated traveller, a Moor, known as Ibn Batuta (The Traveller), found Mahommedans in every large city in China. They had officers of their own religion over them. This renowned mediaeval Moslem traveller, started from Tangiers, his native city, in A.C. 1324-5 and passed through Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Alexandria. While in the latter city, a Mahommedan saint said to him that he perceived that he was fond of travelling into various countries, and though Ibn Batuta had no intention then of going far afield, the saint proceeded to say that he must go and see his brothers, one in India, one in Scindia, and one in China, and present his compliments to them. This so astonished Ibn Batuta that he determined to go to these various countries, and he says, * Nor did I give up my purpose, till I had met all the three mentioned by him and presented his compliments to them.' Amongst other places he went to Cairo, and proceeded on the devout Mahommedan's pilgrimage in Arabia to his sacred city Mecca, but he first travelled to Syria and Palestine, visiting tombs of Moslem saints and mosques, wherever he went. We — 128 — find that even then the ends of the earth were knit together, for one sheik's tomb in Persia was held in high esteem both in India and China. It was 1328 before he reached the sacred city of Mecca. He describes in one place a whirlpool, disastrous to ships. it was so narrow between two banks here that one Arabian writer tells us 'small ships may pass, but not the ships of China': so this is one of the passages which shows us of the intercourse between China and Arabia in olden times ; and, of course, this intercourse accounts for much of the Mahommedanism that settled itself in China. The Sultan of China (as Ibn Batuta calls him, for in those days China was ruled over by the Mongol dynasty), was one of the seven great kings of the world. Ibn Batuta visited different places, and we find him in Tartary, Constantinople, and Bokhara. Again he mentions the four great kings of the world and he names the king of China first amongst them. He wandered to Samarkand, Balkh, Herat, then to Afganistan, and arrived in India in A.D. 1332. How far Chinese vessels penetrated in his day we find from his statement that: — 'As far as this place (Hita in Malabar) come the ships of China, but they do not go beyond it ; nor do they enter any harbour^ except that of this place, of Kalikut and Kwalam.' Our traveller had already attempted to «et out for the Far East, but had met with such disaster as to prevent him doing so, and now again furnished and despatched by the King of India, whom he had served, he assayed to start again from Kalikut. All these things are interesting,^ as they show us the dangers and difficulties that those who first came to China with the Mahommedan faith had to encounter and undergo in their travels. The accounts in full have as thrilling and interesting episodes as are to be found in any sensational novel or exciting book of adventures for boys. Here at Kalikut he says he — 129 — -'waited three months for the season to set sail for ■China : for there is only one month in the year in which the Sea of China is navigable. Nor then is the voyage undertaken, except in vessels of the three descriptions following : the greatest is called a junk, the middling-sized a zaw, the least a kakam. The sails of these vessels are made of cane-reeds, woven together like a mat ; which when they put into port, they leave standing in the wind. In some of these vessels there will be employed a thousand men, six hundred of these sailors, and four hundred soldiers. Each of the larger ships is followed by three others, a middle-sized, a third, and a fourth sized. These vessels are nowhere made except in the city of El Zaitan in China [Ts'tin Chad Fu or as it is variously written and pronounced Ch'aan- chou Eu, or Chang-chou Fu. This city is in the Fokien province], or in Sin Kilan, which is Sin El Sin. They row in these ships with rather large oars, which may be compared to great masts, over some of which five and twenty men will be stationed, who work standing. The Commander of each vessel is a -great Emir. In the large ships too they sow garden herbs and ginger, which they cultivate in cisterns made for that . purpose, and placed on the sides of them. In these also are houses, constructed of wood in which the higher officers reside with their wives : but these they do not hire out to the merchants. Every vessel, therefore, is like an independent city; Of such ships as these, Chinese individuals will sometimes have large numbers : and generally the Chinese are the richest people in the world.' But again Ibn Batuta was hindered from making a start for China by a storm which destroyed the presents sent by the King of Hindobstan to the King of China when the traveller himself had remained on shore to his ^prayers ;.and, afraid to return again to the king, he goes — 130 — off on his travels visiting, amongst other places, the Maldive Islands, which some of us have seen in our voyages to China. Salt fish was the diet of the China- man in those days as well as now ; for he says the Maldive Islanders salt the fish they catch and send it to India and China. From thence he proceeded to Ceylon. Here he made a pilgrimage to Adam's Peak and saw the footprint of our great ancestor. Of it he says : — ' The length of the impression is eleven spans. The Chinese came here at some former time, and cut out from this stone the place of the great toe, together with the stone about it, and placed it in a temple in the city of Zaitun : and pilgrimages are made to it from the most distant ports of China.' He finally goes in a junk to Sumatra and Java. He speaks again about the junks of the Chinese when he comes to ' the Calm, or Still Sea.* This sea has neither wind, wave, nor motion, notwithstanding its extent. It is on account of the calm state of this sea, that three other vessels are attached to each of the Chinese junks, by which these junks, together with their own cargoes, are carried forward by oars. Of these there are twenty large ones, which may be com- pared to the masts of ships. To each oar thirty men are appointed, and stand in two rows. By these means they draw the junks along, being connected by strong ropes like cables. At last after many years wanderings Ibn Batuta arrives in China. Our traveller makes his home in several places to which he goes, during these long journeyings. He was made a judge, both in Delhi and the Maldive Islands ; and, as permitted by Mahom- medan customs and the Koran, he set up his marital establishments. In Delhi he had four wives, the utmost number allowed at one time to a Mahommedan ; but Mahomed had a special dispensation from God, so — 131 — lie gave out, to take as many as he wanted. Before he •shuffled off this mortal coil he had had eleven, though as long as his first wife, Khadija, lived his love was so con- <centrated on her that he never took another. We can scarcely blame Mahomed ; he knew no better, though it is a pity that when he thus established a new religion he did not, after his experience of what monogamy was take it as a pattern for his followers. To return to Ibn Batuta: he had also three wives when he was judge in the Maldives, and all along he had his slave girl or slave girls, (the concubines), of which Mahommedanism allowed an unlimited number. As to wives, the quantity a man might have in his life time was practically unlimited as well, for any excuse, or no excuse, was sufficient to divorce one and take another. In one -sense it was a limited marriage state, as far as the period was concerned ; in another sense it was unlimited, as far as the number of wives a man could have during his life. Mahomed's grandson Hasan, who had the sobriquet of, ' The Divorcer,' given him, had divorced wives some seventy or ninety times. Not very long ago it was written of Malays in Penang that ' Young men of thirty to thirty-five years of age may be met with who have had from fifteen to twenty wives.' Lane tells us of Egypt that he had ' heard of men who have been in the habit of marrying a new wife almost -every month ' and Burkhard ' speaks of an Arab forty- five years old, who had fifty wives, " so that he must have divorced two wives and married two fresh ones on the average every year."' Mahomed had at one period ' in his harem no fewer than nine wives and two slave girls.' The prophet himself, we thus see, was very much married himself and the communications from the Almighty, so he led his followers to believe, -were frequent, and even extended so far that, when he admired his adopted son's wife, the latter at once divorced her, so that Mahomed might add her to his — 132 — harem. With an ordinary man this would have been considered ' highly improper, if not incestuous,' but the convenient dispensation came down from Heaven to permit the prophet to satisfy his lust: — ' O Prophet,, we have allowed thee wives — and also the slaves which thy right hand possesseth — and any other believing woman, if she give herself, and the Prophet desireth to take her to wife. This is a peculiar privilege granted thee above the rest of the believers.' Divorce Made Easy is indeed the allowed practice in Mahommedan countries. We may be glad that this feature of Mahommedan life gained no ground in China ; for though theoretically divorce is easy in China, it is not so facile as this, and in practical life it is not so readily available as we Westerners might suppose. With a man travelling as Ibn Batuta was all that was necessary was to divorce the wives that may have been gathered round him ; as easy almost as to throw away a cast-ofF wife as a cast-ofF coat. And he divorced at least two of his three wives in the Maldive Islands, the third had borne him a son. Destructive as these loose connec- tions must have been of all family ties, ' The Traveller'' felt his heart strings so drawn by this youngster that he actually returned to the Maldives again to see him once more ; but finally he left him to his mother. And yet in spite of all this loose morality there are people actually coquetting with Mahommedanism in England and wishing it to spread. One realises, in reading these most interesting and •wonderful wanderings of this Hadji and learned man among Moslems, what a power Mahommedanism was in the East in those days ; and one should be thankful that China being then the ultima thule of the Eastern World saved her from the engulphing of her people in the meshes of this enthralling religion. — 133 — His position as a religious man was a ready passport to 'The Traveller' wherever his co-religionists ■were to be found ; he was gladly welcomed by these settlers, the Mahom-medan merchants and the Ma- hommedan judges, who were most liberal, giving of their means and making him rich. These Mahommedan judges and Sheik El Islams had authority over their compatriots in this Land of Infidels, as the Mahomme- dans style the heathen. Presents were showered on his head by kings of the faith and holy men; and the greatest extremes of fortune followed his steps : now he would be in the enjoyment of everything an Easterner and a Mahommedan would consider worth having in this world ; anon the outrageous slings of ill fortune would leave him destitute of the very necessaries of existence and plunged in the most abject depths of poverty, robbed by the fierce elements or by wicked men, and •even brought down to the very gates of death. There must have been many of the Moslems in China when Ibn Batuta visited it, for he says : — ' In all the Chinese provinces, there is a town for the Mahom- medans, and in this they reside. They also have cells, <;olleges, and mosques, and are made much of by the kings of China.' China must have been a much safer place to travel in, in those days, than it is now ; for he tells us : — 'The care they take of travellers among them is truly -surprising ; and hence their country is to travellers the best and the safest : for here a man may travel alone for nine months together, with a great quantity of wealth, without the least fear. The reason of this is, there is in every district an inn, over which the magistrate of the place has control.' He speaks about Sin-ka-lin (which by some one has been described as 'the port for all the Arab merchants.' This has been identified as Canton), and* — 134 — later on he visited it. He arrived in China and left it from El Zaitun ' the great mediaeval port of China.' He mentions Jews, Christians (Nestorians), and Turks who worship the sun (Parsees t) in the City of El Khansa (perhaps Hang Chow, though he writes about the province of Khansa as well). " . In this city he notices the great number of Mahommedans that there were. He says 'The Ma- hommedans are exceedingly numerous here.' On his return voyage it takes our traveller twO' months to get from El Zaitun (probably Chwan-chow in the Fokien Province) to Java. One could make the- trip to England and back again in that time now> Again our devout pilgrim made another visit to Mecca on his return journey from China, going to a number of countries on the way, Malabar, Syria, Egypt, etc., and arriving at the Mahommedan sacred city in A.H. 749, and reaching home after all his world-wide wander- ings in A.H. 750. But restless, he started oiF again,, and, before finally setthng done, he visited Spain (then under the Moslem yoke) Morocco, the Sudan and other parts of Africa. It was not only in ancient times that China received her quota of Mahommedan inhabitants ; but even in comparatively recent ones, as witness in Peking, where in the neighbourhood of their mosque- a number of the descendents are to be found of some Turks, who were brought from Turkestan rather more- than a century ago to 'The Land of the East' as China, was known in Mahommedan writings. It was thus not all by sea routes that the followers of the prophets eastward bent their steps, but some travelled hither by the long trade routes, forming large con- tingents in those caravans by which, assisted doubtless. by the ships of the desert, commerce was kept up in the — 135 — olden days, when its votaries braved the dangers and fatigues of the long journeys through Central Asia with their concomitant perils of robbers and wild beasts. At some places it was necessary it appears, so the Chinese narrative of such similar travels informs us, to go In a company of a hundred men at least, or with military equipment, to prevent being devoured by fierce tigers and lions, who would attack passengers. Besides these visible dangers there were the equally formidable perils from crossing deserts, supposed to be inhabited by evil spirits who lured the travellers on to destruction, decoying them away from their fellow tra- vellers to their ruin. When thus lost the traveller heard voices luring him on — voices of evil demons ; but doubtless, in reality the voices of his companions seeking him. Coming Into the country, the Chinese apparently received these new arrivals favourably, at all events they did not object to their settlement, perhaps in little colonies in different places. They Increased In numbers until now they do not form a negligible quantity In the sum total of the teeming population ot this vast empire. No serious hindrances were put In the way of erecting mosques, establishing schools, printing their literature, and carrying out their rites and ceremonies in this land where a considerable amount of latitude is allowed, and yet they did not conceal their faith — their belief In only one true God, and their abhorrence of idolatry ; but these views did not spread outside of their own sect, and the State religion was unaffected. With so many millions it seems surplsing, knowing how this religion spread like wild-fire over other portions of the world — It seems strange that It has not affected Chinese life more. The conditions of their surround- ings, their Chinese environment, has been against a rapid proselytising ; and the nature of their religion, the vehicle of its transmission, has all militated against — 136 — its dissemination. Arabic did not attract the Chinese literati sufficiently to make them desire to acquire it, hence the Koran itself was an unknown book, even the faithful themselves could not read it ; and it is said the Koran cannot be translated into other languages — at all events it has not been put into Chinese ; nor, as I have already said, was the sword an active agent to force the Chinese into the faith ; again the Chinese are too ardently attached to pork to eschew it lightly ; nor are they as a nation drunkards, but temperate in their ■habits ; and idolatry had not perhaps attained such a rank growth as it did in after times to be inveighed against. If they choose to keep Friday and their fasts, if they wished to worship without images, if they circumcised their children, they might do all these things for aught the Chinese cared — all that was incumbent on them was to be good citizens, and reverence the Emperor ; but they have made no impression on the nation as a whole, as regards their religion. One author (Arthur Smith) thus aptly describes their position amongst the masses of the population in which they are found imbedded. He says : — ' They form a mechanical,, as distinguished from a chemical mixture with the Chinese, but as they speak the language of the districts which they occupy, from a linguistic point of view there Is no line of demarcation between these widely different races.' There is no active propagandism carried on. In fact so little do they attempt to spread a knowledge of the tenets of their faith that their heathen neighbours *haveno clear Idea of what Mahommedan tenets really are.' Their services are generally formal. The women are apparently the most devout, for the men, as a rule,- — 137 — do not trouble very much — business, etc. being a sufficient excuse to keep them away, except at the great fast of Ramadan. The coming of the steamer has permitted many of them to visit Mecca. One of the works published in China by the Mahommedans is entitled 'True Comments^ on the Correct Doctrine.' It is in two volumes of 240 pages and in good clear type. It has been described as ' a well digested summary of their tenets, and was published at Canton by an unknown author. The name of the book on the title page is encircled by two -dragons, the sign that it is issued under Imperial auspices. Thus, as we have already seen in these leJctures, the Chinese Government is ready and willing to throw its protecting influence over almost any and •every religion that appeals to it, while not really accepting it as a living faith or belief. My father got acquainted with a Mahommedan gentleman in Canton and got the loan of the wooden blocks for printing the book from him, and had a few copies printed, so that it might be known what tenets of Mahommedanism had been put into Chinese and whether this work represented the Koran or not. The Koran itself is not translated it appears, but there is a quantity of literature in the Chinese language ■explanatory of Mahommedan rule and doctrines. Yet notwithstanding all they do not appear to have done as much as one would have expected in the propagation of their tenets by the invaluable means of books and prin- ting, considering that they have been twelve and thirteen centuries of years in this Land of Literature. The chief authority on Chinese literature describes their efforts as * quite insignificant ' and this in face of the ■* greatest facilities' they have had to spread their faith. Attention since his day has been called to a number of — 138 — Mahommedan works in Chinese ; but even now his general verdict, given above requires but little, if any, qualification, especially when one considers the enor- mous mass of Buddhist books which the ardent earnest workers of that faith in by-gone days poured forth from the press. The results on the people in the two cases are apparent to the most casual observer. Some of their wild desert blood perhaps still courses in their veins, for in the North of China the Chinese consider the Mahom- medan ' to be violent in temper and cruel in disposition.' Arthur Smith in writing about them in his interesting little book, ' Rex Christus : An Outline study of China,' says, 'the cheek bones and the prominent noses of the Mahommedans readily differentiate them from the Chinese.' But this does not hold good of them in this part of China as well. He also speaks of of them clipping the moustache, while, as we know, the Chinese when he attains the age when he can in accordance with the proprieties allow his to grow, does all he can to make the most of its straggling hairs that is all he is blest with, combing them out to their full extent with the tiny comb that he often carries hung to the lapel of his coat for the purpose, and admiring them in a miniature glass also ready to hand for the same purpose. Mahommedan rebellions have been serious matters in China, the Land of Rebellions; but they have not been on account of religion. Those in the North West and South West of China have been noted for their ruthless character, not always on the side of the Mahommedans alone, who have instigated, sustained, and carried them on against the Manchu government ; for they where put down with a heavy hand. Whether the more independent blood of their Arabian and Turkish ancestors still stirs in their veins, and nerves them with more vigour to rebel against misgovernment, one cannot say, their Turkish features — 139 — being visible to this day in some, as has been already- noticed. That in North West China in the course of which many lives were lost, was quelled in 1873, after lasting for thirteen years. It was a trial of strength as to who should rule, the Chinese Government, or these Ma- hommedans. It was not a rising of Mahommedans throughout the empire, for their co-religionists in Peking, 200,000 in number, remained quiet. It left some of the places, where it had raged and been quelled, devastated, the rebels were destroyed, and the temporary government set up by Yakoob Beg was overthrown by the tardy but effective forces of the Chinese who, during a portion of the campaign, tilled the fields and thus provided their own commissariat. It has been spoken of as ' one of the most remarkable military achieve- ments in the annals of any modern country.' A similar revolt took place in the i8th century in the same district. A Mahommedan tribe in the South West of China whose origin is traced back to the time of the T'ang dynasty, joined by settlers from the North West and from Central Asia gave the name of Mahommedan to their rebellion, the great Yvinnan Rebellion, which started in 1855 and lasted for many years. They turned the land into a desert — burned, killed, and destroyed, until finally in 1873 the Chinese recovered the province. Another great rebellion may be just noted in passing, that in Eastern Turkestan which lasted from 1873 to 1877. Speaking of rebellions, one may mention that the T'ai-ping rebels spared, in 1863, a mosque in Hang Chow, v/hich is adorned with a cupola, as it was not an idolatrous place of worship. We are at one with the Chinese Mahommedan as to the one true and living God ; but he, however, soon — 140 — reaches the limits of assenting to all we say, for our Saviour is to him only a prophet of the true God ; and this is his great stumbling block in the way of accepting Christianity, though a few have become Christians; But there are signs that a more hopeful future in this direction is coming. ' One of their mollalis recently made the remark in regard to a mission station in his city, that until it was founded the Mahommedans were like a jar of pure water, but that on the advent of the Jesus religion the jar has been so stirred with a stick as to make the water appear turbid. By this he meant that in comparison with Chinese religions Mahomme- danism made an excellent showing, but that it could not hold its own against Christianity.' It has already been pointed out that had Chinese Mahommedanism been a missionary religion, perhaps it might long since have taken possession of China. It is a curious thing that round Peking and the neighbourhood of the Great Wall all the Inn-keepers are Mahommedans and they also act as butchers, curious, because every Chinaman, who is not a Buddhist, vegetarian, or Mahommedan eats pork. ; but then this difficulty is got over, as Chinamen, when travelling generally do their own cooking. The toleration which Mahomed first taught when at Mecca and surrounded by the enemies of his own household (for he then said that 'in religion there should be neither violence nor constraint)' — this ' way most mild and gracious ' had perforce to be carried out in China : for, as we have seen, the Moslem merchant did not come in armies, strong and powerful, ready to enforce the claims of the prophet, as the prophet himself did right early in his career. Moslemism is essentially a faith that has been propagated by the sword, and it owed its success in Arabia to *an aggressive, militant policy,' when that was adopted its progress was rapid ; for — 141 — during the first twelve years of simply using the arts of persuasion, the converts to the new faith only numbered a few hundreds ; but in half that time, when the sword was unsheathed, ten thousand followed its victorious banners. A religion that brought whole nations under its sway in Western Asia in the course of the prophet's, own life-time has only brought one-twentieth of the people of the leading nation of Eastern Asia, and has taken to do that, or rather has not advanced further than that, during thirty-six generations of men, or twelve centuries. How much real power this arm of the flesh and sword of God had on the sincere heartfelt beliefs of those who were subjected to it an Arabian writer describing the suppression of the revolt that took place on Mahomed's death tells us, for he says: — 'The apostate tribes were all brought back to their allegiance, some by kindly treatment, persuasion, and craft, some through terror and fear of the sword ; and others by the prospect of power and wealth, as well as by the lust and pleasures of this life. And so it came to pass that all the Bedouin tribes were in the end converted out- wardly, but not from inward conviction.' In the course of this conquest of the Arabian tribes the armies came into conflict with some Christian Bedouins who were respectively subject to the Roman and Persian Empires. In response to the appeal, (against the imminent danger of being overwhelmed by these two empires) to the recently subdugated tribes, sullen over their defeat, there was an answer of a sudden over- whelming flood of enthusiasm ; and thus was born the wild waves of fanatical zeal which swept over the ' fair provinces lying all round ' Arabia, and eventually engulphed part of Europe, as well as Africa and Asia. Mahomed died in the eleventh year of the Hegira and all this as I have said took place after his death, while the earlier Mahommedans who visited China came while — 142 — the prophet was only just beginning his career of plun- dering caravans of his enemies and fighting battles. They therefore may not have been imbued with the later warlike spirit ; but at all events their numbers were too insignificant to came as conquerors to the Land of Han, or engage in a Jehad, or Holy War, against its .inhabi- tants. Before passing from this subject, let me just quote from an authority on Islamism the following: — 'It is true that when once long and firmly rooted, as in India and China, Islam may survive the loss of military power and even flourish. But it is equally true, that in no single country has Islam been planted, nor has it anywhere materially spread, saving under the banner of the crescent, or the political ascendancy of some neigh- bouring state.' Just as in the case of a good man, whose faults, or failings, seem to overshadow his virtues and cause even his virtues to appear to lean to the side of vice : so in the case of a religion like of that of the Arabian prophet the good features in it, for undoubtedly there are good features in it, such, for example, as the belief in the unity of God and in the discountenancing of infanticide, so common amongst the Arabs as regards their daughters — notwithstanding then these and other good features in it, much of the good is greatly overshadowed by the ill, by the bad points. The bad features are then polygamy, or the multiplicity of wives, (four, being the number allowed at one time, though as we have seen Mahomed had as many as he wished), and the sanctioning of innumerable concubines, the easy means of divorce (So that in some Mahommedan countries young men of twenty-five or thirty, as we have also already seen, may have had as many wives as they have had years pass over their heads), the sanctioning of slavery as a permanent institution — these and many others have nullified to a great extent the truths which the teaching of Mahomed might have otherwise effected. — 143 — A writer on Mahommedanism has well said that * Happily the time has come when the use of bitter epithets, and the sweeping condemnation of those who agree not with us, are no longer demanded in religious controversies. Critics of the present age are men of greater enlightenment, of truer education, and of a charity that weighs in a juster balance the motive and •deeds of those mighty men who for good or for evil have graven their names on the page of history. A recent writer rejoices that justice can now be dealt to Mahomed without fear of misconception or misrepre- sentation. " It is no longer thought, " he says, " any part of the duty of a Christian writer to see nothing but wickedness and imposture in the author of the great antagonistic creed." ' A century or two ago it was generally enough for a man to hold different views on religious matters from you for him to be considered all that was bad. But a change has taken place now, and an attempt is made at least to understand, if possible, the standpoint of other religious teachers ; and it does not now hold good, as it unfortunately used to a few years ago, that we believe Mahomed to have been a wilful and intentional deceiver from first to last, who for the purpose of raising him- self to supreme power invented the wicked imposture which he palmed off on his followers so successfully. The cap is put on this mistaken abuse by finally saying that 'generally that hypocrisy, the lust of power, and lechery were the sole and leading principles of his conduct.' The facts do not support these wild state- ments. As a youth his manners were purer than those of the people around him : so that the statement that he was ' a devil and the firstborn child of Satan ' is to say the least of it uncharitable and misleading. Scant justice has been hitherto done by many of the writers on Mahomed on the traits of character and .— 144 -^ touches of humanity, the wellings up of a real true life from the foundations hidden to aliens in the heart of this false prophet. As illustrative of the more charitable view of Mahomed one writer has said: — 'His followers, think of the man whose hand always lingered in the grasp of a friend ; who was moved to tears and anger at the wrongs of another ; who always affirmed that, saving^ his message, he was as other men ; and who, at the height of power, flushed red with indignation at the man who said, " If God wills, and thou wilt," because he had joined God's name with that of his creature. The writer who attempts to make Englishmen understand Islam should not keep glancing at the feet of clay, but should raise his eyes to the fine gold of the head, for if is owing to this that the brightness of the great irpage is excellent.' The above quotation may be a sufficient corrective to an undue depreciation of this great leader of men. At the same time it is necessary to guard against indiscriminate praise. Most men are made up of a compound of saint and devil. In some the mixture is a crude one; in all the ingredients are blended in varying proportions. There were many Christians in Abrabia in those days, and some of his beloved wife, Khadija's relatives, as well as others, gave him some slight acquaintance with Christian and Jewish worship. Probably dim traditions were also handed down of their great ancestor Abraham, the Friend of God and his worship of the One, True God. As to Mahomed's knowledge of the Scriptures : — ' In his treatment of the Scriptures he shows no comprehensive grasp of Old Testament teaching ; his knowledge is purely superficial, touching only the outside shell of facts, and these are often ■distorted and strained to suit his own purposes, and abound in fanciful and incongruous details and fables;' — 145 — While calling Christ ' The Word of Truth,' he denies the Divinity of Jesus. Mahomed doubtless brooded over the rank idolatry all round him amongst his kindred, and desired something better. We must remember his tendency to epileptic attacks ; this accentuated by ■* long and anxious vigils and nightly wanderings ' were -sufficient to produce the 'ecstasies, and trances, and ■convulsive fits ' which resulted. The belief held by Mahomed in his own Divine mission was an honest one, and at first he was honestly searching for the truth. He believed that these trances were the sign that he was the called of God for his high office ; but the hour of temptation came, 'and then, almost uncon- sciously, the demon of spiritual pride and ambition v?ould begin its subtle work, and thus " at this crisis the fate of Mahomed and of Islam trembled in the balance. It was his hour of trial, and he fell." ' As the time went on Mahomed became more of the earth earthy, and besides the other errors of his system he permitted this lustful concubinage. On 'Carth his victorious followers were promised, as a reward, the wives and maidens of the conquered, and, if they died on the field of battle, in Paradise, they would have been simply translated to a full enjoyment of like sensuous pleasures with the houries there. Sufficient has been said in this lecture to show the vast superiority of Christianity over Mahommedanism ; but it may not be amiss to also point out that the Koran, which is considered to be infallible, and by some Mahommedans to be a miracle Itself, contains Internal evidence of its being a human production ; in it are to be found no doubt' excellent passages, but blended with error and incompatibilities. Nor do the former so-called revelations agree with the latter. Mahomed has toleration at first enjoined on him by the Divine command, and, It is said, a few years after that Heaven 10 — 146 — orders the destruction of his enemies, in direct con- tradiction of the same revelation that had absolutely prohibited force. Passages are cancelled by what are called later revelations, as in a man's work revisions take place, and alterations, and changes. For example, to cite only one or two out of many as regards the above two points: — 'Let there be no compulsion in the faith,' 'Fight against them till opposition cease, and the Faith be the Lord's alone.' 'When ye meet the Unbelievers, strike off their heads until ye have made great slaughter amongst them.' Further passages in the Koran can be, and are,, annulled, cancelled by the Sunnat (the ' Sunnat being the law derived from the practice or sayings of the Prophet,') as handed down by the Hadith (The ' Hadlth is the tradition embodying' the Sunnat) — in fact verbal commands ; and then again to render confusion worse confounded, the Koran has later passages which again cancel the Hadlth. How can a book of this sort be divine ? How can a religion founded on such a book be divine ? How can a prophet be either a divine leader, or a safe one to- foUow who had revelations to add to the law to suit the desires of his flesh, or again in order to add to or alter it to cover some transgression of the already existing law ? The Koran itself refers to the Bible for its own confirmation, strange to say ; for if the Moslem wil! search the Scriptures, he will there find indisputable proof of the falsity of the claims of Mahommedanism. The Prophet himself is witness in the Koran to the higher claims of the Book of Books itself. An Arabic writer has written about the Koran : — 'The Koran gives thee some precious glimpses of the Messiah's greatness ; but it stops short of unveiling — 147 — His glorious perfections and divine majesty. It leads to the portal, but fails to open the door ; it kindles the flame, but leaves it in the heart a longing and unsatisfied desire.' We may all of us, Christian or Mahommedan, however, join together in the Fateha Sura, the prayer with which the Koran begins : — 'Guide us in the right way; the way of those on whom Thou hast been gracious, not of those against whom Thou hast been angry, nor of those who have gone astray.' 6v£5^^^^S^^ LECTURE VI. REMNANT OF THE SCATTERED RACE. A Remnant of the Scattered Racte. Near one of the windows in the City Hall Library in this Colony, there is a glass case, in which lies a large Hebrew roll, containing the Pentateuch. There is a most interesting history connected with this ; ■for it was brought to Shanghai from the interior of China by messengers sent from that settlement about the middle of last century. Is there a nation of any importance on the face of the earth in which a remnant of the scattered race will not be found ? Here then was a colony of God's ancient people settled in the midst of a heathen nation, when for hundreds of years in our so-called Christian land the Jews were not permitted to find an abode ; for in the reign of Edward the First (in A.D. 1260) 16,000 of this race were expelled our shores, and until 1655 none were allowed to live on English ground. Then only some few were admitted, for it was not until the God- fearing Cromwell's time that all restrictions against their settling in England were removed. — 152 — This inclusion of a small company of the Jewish people in the heart of the Chinese empire is a curious feature in the religious aspect of China. Just as in hard rock we find an intrusion of some other stone, such, for instance, as trap, so in the heathendom of China has been intruded a small body of people with a knowledge of the true God and with the Sacred Writings, the Law given on Sinai, in their possession ;. but just as the trap injected into the other rock, it has- not influenced its surroundings, though the latter has- made way for it, the stranger : so these followers of the- God of Israel have lived amongst their surroundings- amidst the heathen without influencing the Gentiles around them, or leading them to the knowledge of the- one true and living God. It is some 4,700 years ago that, as far as we know,, the Chinese first came to China. They had come by land from the North-west. About 3,000 years afterwards a scattered following of another race also came by the- same northwest passage into the country, and that was during the Great Han Dynasty, i.e., about the time of the Christian era. In a Mr. Finn's account of them, he- supposes them ' to have belonged to the restoration from Chaldea, as they had portions of Malachi and Zechariah,. adopted the era of Seleucus, and had many Rabbinical customs.' Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller, mentions them, and about the same time John of Montecorvino, and Marignolli, and the Moslem, known as Ibn Batuta (the traveller). Chinese history has references to them, first in 1329, during the Mongol dynasty and once more in 1354, when the Shu-hwah,. or Jehudi were invited to Peking to join the imperial forces to assist the Mongol dynasty when its power was on the decline. It is supposed they must then have been numerous to cause them to be worthy of — 153 — notice along with the Mahommedans, and also of sufficient importance, for the Government to solicit the aid of their men, and the employment of their means. Unfortunately their abode is not mentioned. It is to be hoped that more notices may be discovered of them in Chinese history. It had long been known that there were Jews in China ; but we know nothing certainly about what there numbers were, and we desire more information as to their condition in the past and their different points of residence. At one time they were thousands in number ; but they have melted away and their zeal, if they ever possessed much of it, has died away under the benumbing influence of the surrounding heathenism. We, doubtless, have a good illustration of how they were engulphed, by heathenism and Mahommedanism, in the fate of those in Kai-fong-fii, in the Honan Province the residue of many, and the last of their race in the Middle Kingdom. Mr. Finn thus speaks of them as regards their long continued existence in China : — ' Israel in China has resembled some plant, endued with a wonderful force of vegetation, a force not to be implied from its vast increase of production, not shown by a power of overcoming obstacles, but rather by an inherent faculty of protracting a lingering existence.* Dr. Martin compares them to ' a rock rent from the sides of Mount Zion by some great national catas- trophe, and projected into the central Plain of China, which has stood there while the centuries have rolled by, sublime in its antiquity and solitude.' As to this last remnant of them : it was between two and three centuries ago that some Jesuits dis- covered this Jewish colony in the city of Kai-fong-fd in the province of Honan. — 154 — The subject is so interesting that I shall offer no apology for quoting rather fuUy from the account written ■by a Mr. Finn to the discovery of this little colony of God's ancient people in this land : — ' The Jesuit missionaries were but a short time settled in Peking, when one summer's day, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, a visitor called upon Father Matthew Ricci, induced to do so by an account then recently published 'in the metropolis, of the foreigners who worshipped a single Lord of Heaven and Earth, and yet were not Mahommedans. Entering the house with a smile, he announced himself as one of the same religion with its inmates. The father remarking how much his features differed from those among the Chinese, led him to the Chapel. It was St. John Baptist's day, and over the altar was a painting of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, and the future Eaptist on his knees before them. The stranger bowed to the picture as Ricci did, but explained at the same time, that he was not accustomed to do so before any such representations ; only he could not refrain from paying the usual homage of the country to his great ancestors. Beside the altar were pictures of the four evangelists. He inquired if these were not of the twelve. Ricci answered in the affirmative, ' supposing him to mean the twelve apostles. Then returning to the first apartment, he proposed questions in turn, and an unexpected explanation ensued. The stranger was a descendent of Israel, and during his survey of the phapel, had imagined the large picture to represent Rebekah with Jacob and Esau, and the other persons to denote four of the sons of Jacob. 'It was some time before this simple explanation could be elicited, on account of the misunderstanding on both sides which impeded the use of direct interrogation. The visitor, however, knew nothing of ^ 155 — the appellation Jew : he styled himself an Israelite, by- name Ngai, a native of Kai-fong-fi, the capital of the province Honan, where having prepared himself by study for a mandarin degree, he had now repaired to Peking for his examination ; and led by curiosity or fellow-feeling for the supposed fraternity of his nation, he had thus ventured to call at the mission-house. ' He stated, that in his native city there were ten or twelve families of Israelites, with a fair synagogue, which they had recently restored and decorated, .and in which they preserved a roll of the law, four or five hundred years old ; adding that in Hang-chai-fii the capital of Che-kiang, there were considerably more families with their synagogue, 'He made several allusions to events and persons of Scripture history, but pronounced the names difFerently from the mode usual in Europe. When shewn a Hebrew Bible he was unable to read it, though he at once recognised the characters. He said that Hebrew learning was still maintained among his people, that his brother was proficient in it, and he seemed to confess that his own neglect of it, with preference for Gentile literature, had exposed him to censure from the congregation and the Rabbi ; but this gave him little concern, as his ambition aimed at the honours to be gained from Chinese learning — a disciple of Confucius rather than of Moses. 'Three years afterwards, having had no earlier opportunity, Ricci despatched a Chinese Christian to investigate, at Kdi-fong-fii, the truth of this singular discovery. All was found to be as described, and the messenger brought back with him a copy of the titles and endings of the five books of Moses. These were compared with the printed Plantinian Bible and found to correspond exactly : the writing, however, had no vowel points. Ricci, ignorant of Hebrew, com- — 156 — missioned the same native convert to return with an epistle, in Chinese addressed to the Rabbi, announcing that at Peking he was possessor of all the other books of the Old Testament, as well as those of the New Testament, which contains a record of the acts of Messiah, who is already come. In reply, the Rabbi, asserted that Messiah is not only not come, but that he would not appear for ten thousand years. He added that having heard of the fame of his correspondent, he would willingly transfer to him the government of the synagogue if Ricci would abstain from swine's flesh, and reside with the community. ' Afterwards arrived three Israelites together from the same city, apparently willing to receive Christianity ; one of these was son of the brother, already mentioned, of the first visitor. " They were received with kindness, and instructed in many things of which their Rabbis were ignorant:" and when taught the history of Christ, they all paid to his image the same adoration as their entertainers did. Some books being given them in the Chinese language, such as "A Compendium of Christian Faith," and others of the same nature, they read them, and carried them home at their return. ' They described their congregation as on the brink of extinction, partly from the decay of their national language and partly because their chief had lately died at a very advanced age, leaving, for his hereditary successor, a son, very young, and very little versed in the peculiarities of their religion. 'These personages readily fell In with several opinions of the missionaries. Trigaut tells us that they expressed a desire for pictures as helps to devotion, to be in their synagogue and private oratories, particularly for pictures of Jesus. They complained of the inter- diction from slaughtering animals for themselves, which, if they had not transgressed recently upon the road, — 157 — they must have perished with hunger. They were likewise ready to renounce the rite of circumcision on the eighth day, which their wives and the surrounding heathen denounced as a barbarous and cruel practice. And they held out the expectation, that inasmuch as Christianity oiFers relief in such matters, it would be easily adopted among their people. ***** 'Julus Aleni, after the death of Ricci, being a Hebrew scholar, visited Kai-fong-fii, about the year 1 6 13, but found circumstances so much changed from some cause or other, that although he entered the synagogue and admired its cleanliness, they would not withdraw the curtains which concealed the sacred books. ' In Nanking Semmedo was informed by a Mahom- medan, that in that city he knew of four families of Jews who had embraced the religion of the Koran, they being the last of their race there, and their instructors having failed as their numbers diminished. ' Indeed the visitors from Kai-fong-fii had before assured Ricci, in Peking, that the same cause would soon reduce them to the alternative of becoming heathens or Mahommedans.' So far with our quotations for the present. Great was the interest excited in Europe by this discovery. China itself has been described as ' a newly-opened mine for European research.' The wonderful 'glimpses afforded by Marco Polo in the thirteenth century ' were indeed being followed up by most extraordinary con- firmations of its being a Land of Mysteries and Won- ders. So at four different points in a line from Peking to Hang-chaii-fu of a length of seven hundred miles were these Jewish communities to be found, like forlorn hopes thrown out amidst the enemy, unsupported from the rest, the larger forces, and being slowly overwhelmed by their surroundings. — 1.58 — Christianity was deeply interested in these further instances of the confirmation of Scripture in more relics of the peculiar people ' who are everywhere witnesses of the " goodness and severity of God." ' Biblical critics also looked upon this event with the greatest amount of interest. I may as well quote what one writer says about this aspect of the question :■— ' To them the finding of some of that nation " to. whom were committed the oracles of God," yet sup- posed to be of too ancient a separation to be cognizant of either the Samaritan, Septuagint, or Masoretic texts of the Old Testament, yet still guarding their copies of the law of Moses, was a circumstance most pregnant with hopeful interest, and the more a matter of anxiety, as these Israelites were represented as almost ceasing to subsist, and there was great possibility that with the failure of Hebrew reading, consequent on the adoption of a novel creed, the manuscripts themselves might be suffered to perish. The subject was referred to in the Prolegomena of Walton's Polyglot Bible, and in the Preface to Jablonski's Hebrew Bible, and further infor- mation as to the text of the Chinese copies of the Pentateuch were ardently desired.' How these desires were satisfied we shall see later on. But now to go on with the narrative of further visits to this most remarkable colony, a little group of people thus isolated amongst the aliens and surrounded by heathenism. It is said : — ' A fuller account was afterwards received from Father Gozani, dated Kai-fong-fu, November, 1707, and published in 1707. During this interval of more than sixty years residence in the same city, with the only known synogogue in China, no intercourse had taken place between the missionaries and them, beyond one visit from Rodriguez de Figueredo, and another from — 159 — Christian Enriquez, but who had shown no curiosity to inspect the Hebrew books, and made no report on the subject to their superiors ; the fact that they had made any visit was only learned by Gozani from the people of the synagogue. It is true that the Jesuits had found abundant occupation in their direct duties, in political intrigues, and in disputes with their rivals of the monkish orders, but for these latter employments the wise and the learned in Europe had but little cause to thank them. ' From the communication of Gozani, it appears that in 1702, he had intended to visit the Taou-kin- keaou, ?'.(?., " the sect who cut out the sinew," as the Israelites were expressively designated, but was deterred by some imaginary obstacles, and by the real difficulty in his ignorance of the Hebrew language, but had resumed the task two years afterwards in obedience to instructions sent from Rome. He commenced by advancing certain civilities ; in return they visited him ; and then he proceeded to their synagogue (Le-pai-sze), the distance being only that of a few streets, where he found them assembled. They showed him their reli- gious books, and even led him to the most sacred part of their edifice, to which only the Rabbi has right of access. With great politeness they gave him all the explanations he requested as to their Scriptures, their history, and their religious ceremonies. On the walls he perceived inscriptions both in Chinese and Hebrew : these they permitted him to copy, and he despatched the copies with his letter to Rome. The whole recep- tion testified that the unfriendliness of the last half- century between the neighbours was not attributable to the Israelite community. 'The curiosity of Europeans being only the more excited from this narrative, as there still remained much to learn, at the instance of Souciet, who was compiling — 160 — a large work upon the Bible, the missionaries Gozani, Domenge, and Gaubil, were successively directed to procure additional particulars on the subject, which they did. Domenge sketched a plan of the synagogue, and Gaubil copied afresh the inscriptions upon its walls. Shortly after the last of these visits, in 1723, the missionaries were expelled from that province by the Emperor Yung Ching. 'An eiFort was made by the celebrated Kennicott, of Oxford, to obtain a collation of their Scriptures with our copies, when Sir F. Pigou, being on his way to Canton, carried out for him a printed Hebrew Bible of Amsterdam edition ; but the only result has been a letter received in 1769, from a friend there, promising to exert himself for the purpose, and stating that the titular bishop of the province was willing to render his assistance. ' The learned Tychsen, upon two later occasions, in 1777 and 1779, forwarded letters to friends in Batavia, addressed to the • synagogue of Kai-fong-fu, but no information has been returned as to their having even reached China. ' In 1 81 5, some Jews of London had despatched a letter in Hebrew to Canton for this synagogue. It was conveyed thence by a travelling bookseller of the Honan province. He delivered it at Kai-fong-fu, to a person whom he found to understand the letter perfectly, and who promised to answer it in a few days, but the bearer taking alarm at a rumour of civil war, left the place without waiting for the reply In 1 8 1 6 Dr. Morrison heard of them from a Mahommedan near Peking, as subsisting in Kai-fong-fu under their old name of "the religion of cutting out the sinew," an appellation so appropriately Jewish, that no other people than descendants of Jacob could even assign a — 161 — reason for its origin, if th€y were to assume the name for any purpose.' Nearly two centuries ago some of these Jesuit missionaries described the synagogue, which was then ■standing, and this is what was said about it : — ' The whole place of worship occupies a space of Ijetween three and four hundred feet in length, by about one hundred and fifty in breadth, comprising four successive courts, advancing from the east to the synagogue itself at the extreme west. The first court lias in its centre " a large, noble and beautiful arch " •(Paifang), bearing a golden inscription in Chinese, ■dedicating the locality to the Creator and Preserver of all things. There are also some trees interspersed. ' The second court is entered from the first, by a large gate with two side doors, and two wickets beside them. Its walls are flanked to the north and south by dwellings for the keepers of the edifice. ' The third court has the same kind of entrance from the second as that has from the first. In its centre stands an arch like that in the first court. Upon the -walls between trees, are marble tablets (Pai-wan), with inscriptions in Chinese. Part of this court is flanked by commemorative chapels : that on the south, in memory of an Israelite mandarin named Chao, the judge of a city of the second degree, who formerly rebuilt the synagogue after its destruction by fire ; that on the north, in memory of him who erected all the present edifice. There are also some reception rooms for guests. 'The fourth court is parted in two by a row of trees. Halfway along this line .stands a great brazen vase for incense, at the side of which are placed two figures of lions, upon marble pedestals; arid at. the westward side of these lions are two large brazen vases, containing 11 — 162 — flowers. Adjoining the northern wall is a recess, in which the nerves and sinews are extracted from animals- slain for food. The second division of this court is an empty space, with a " Hall of Ancestors " (Tso-tang) at each of its sides to the north and south. In these they venerate at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the worthies of the Old Testament history, after the Chinese manner, but having merely the name of the person up- on each tablet, without his picture. The only furniture these contain are a great number of censers ; the largest one in honour of Abraham, and the rest, of Isaac,. Jacob, the twelve sons of Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua,. Ezra, and others, both male and female. In the open space between these chapels, they erect their annual booths of boughs and flowers at the Feast of Tabernacles. 'Then occurs the synagogue itself, a building of about sixty feet by forty, covered by a fourfold and handsome roof, having a portico with a double row of four columns, and a balustrade before it. ' Within this edifice, the roofs (as usual in Chinese domestic architecture) are sustained by rows of pillars besides the walls. In the centre of all is the "throne of Moses," a magnificent and elevated chair, with an embroidered cushion, upon which they place the book of the law while it is read. Over this a dome is suspended j and near it is the Wan-sui-pai, or tablet, with the Empe- ror's name in golden characters, enclosed within a double line of scrollwork. This, however, is surmounted by the inscription, in Hebrew letters of gold : — HEAR, O ISRAEL : THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD. BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE GLORY OF HIS KINGDOM FOR EVER AND EVER. — 163 — After this a triple arch bears the following inscrip- tion, likewise in Hebrew : — BLESSED BE THE LORD FOR EVER. THE LORD IS GOD OF GODS, AND THE LORD : A GREAT GOD STRONG AND TERRIBLE. ' Then a large table, upon which are placed six candelabra in one line, with a great vase for incense, having handles, and a tripod standing half-way along the line. These candelabra are in three different forms, and bear three different kinds of lights. Those nearest the vase bear torches, the next on each side have candles, and those at the extremities, ornamental lanterns. Near this table is a laver for washing hands. ' Lastly the Bethel, or Tien-tang (House of Hea- ven) square in outward shape, but rounded within. Into this none but the Rabbi may enter during the time of prayer. Here, upon separate tables, stand twelve rolls of the law, corresponding to the tribes of Israel, besides one in the centre in honour of JVIoses, each enclosed in a tent of silken curtains. On the extreme western wall are the tables of the Ten Commandments in golden letters of Hebrew. Beside each of these tables is a closet containing manuscript books, and in front of each closet, a table, bearing a vase and two candelabra. ' The congregation when assembled for devotion are separated from the Beth-el by a balustrade, some standing in recesses along the walls. Against a column is suspended a calendar for the reading of the law ' There was a synagogue at Hang-Chow and one also at Nanking, but to return to this one at Kai-fong- fii:— ' Some writers have regarded this as rather a temple than a synagogue, but without sufficient reason, for the special characteristics of a temple are decidedly — 164 — -wanting. In, China, as elsewhere, it may be truly asserted in the Hebrew Liturgy, that the worshippers have neither altar nor oiFering. The homage paid to ancestors may partake sonfiewhat of a sacrificial nature, but it is' carefully dissevered frorh even local associ- ation with the addratidn paid to Almighty God. The candelabra, the laver, the solitude of the Rabbi in the Beth-el, and his use of incense there, as well as in the courts, together with the courts themselves, these suggest clear reminiscences of the Jerusalem Temple, but they do not prove that in China there has ever existed a rival temple to that of " the city which the Lord did choose, to put his name there," as was erected by Onias and his colony in Egypt, or by the Samaritans in Gerizim. ' It does not resemble the great synagogues of Amsterdam, Leghorn, or those of the Gallician province of Poland, on which considerable wealth has been lavished ; still less does it copy the modesty of the primitive synagogues, , in which the people assembled to hear the law and hkphtorah, to recite the " eighteen blessings," or to join in some very simple form of supplication ; but the very dissimilarity attests the high antiquity df this community's seclusion. ' Among their reiligious forms arid customs, riiatjr be enumerated the putting off of shoes on entering the house of prayer, and wearing a blue head-dress while there (a circumstance by which the heathen distinguish therii from the MahommedanS, who wear white). In reading the law, the minister covers his face with a transparent veil of gduze, in iniitation of Mosds, who brought the law to the people with his face covered, and wears a red silk scarf depending from the right shoulder and tied under the left arm. By his^ side stands a riioriitor to correct his reading, if necessary, who is likewise attended by a monitor. The praters — 165 — are chanted, but without musical instruments. The congregation wear no talith, or garment of fringes, during the service. They observe circumcision, pass- over, tabernacles, the rejoicing of the law, and, perhaps, the Day of Atonement, for it is said that on one day of the year they fast and weep together in the synagogue. They keep the Sabbath quite as strictly as do the Jews in Europe. They make no proselytes, and never marry with Gentiles. They use their sacred books in casting lots, and their literary men pay the same homage to the memory of Kung-fu-tsz (Cpnfucius) as their neighbours do. They never pronounce the ineffable name of God, but say Etunpi (Adonai), and in writing Chinese they render that name by Tien (Heaven), just as the Chinese do, instead of Shang-ti (Lord above) or any other ancient appellation of the deity. ' They have no formulary of belief, but hold to the unity of God, and to the doctrines of heaven, hell, a sort of purgatory, the resurrection of the dead, the, day of judgment, and the hierarchies of angels. ' Of the Lord Jesus Christ they had never heard. They expect Messiah, and frequently repeat the words of dying Jacob " I have waited for Thy salvation,, OLord " ' Their alienation from idolatry is particularly striking after so long an exposure to the superstitions of the country, guided as these are by imperial influence. They refuse to take an oath in an idol temple ; and the conspicuous inscriptions upon the walls and arches- proclaim their steadfastness in this matter, even upon that delicate point of the Emperor's name, which in the synagogue they have surmounted by the most significant of possible warnings against confounding any reverence whatever with that due to the " blessed, and only Potentate." — 166 — 'Nor must we omit to remark their interesting practice of praying westward, towards Jerusalem. Many- large bodies of Christians pray eastwards, from a feeling in favour of mere Orientation ; but when we find . European Jews praying eastwards and their brethern in China turning to the west, both towards one intermediate locality, that one must be the station which an ancient psalmist considered "above his chiefjoy." "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgetful." And it must have been westward that Daniel turned when "his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime," for he remembered the prophetic prayer of Solomon, "If they shall bethink themselves in the land wither they were carried captives, and repent, and, make supplication unto thee and pray unto Thee toward their /and-which Thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name : then hear Thou their prayer and their supplica- tion in heaven Thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause." 'The writings of a people are in most cases inter- esting, as being the expression of that people's intelligence and sentiment — the product of their previous mental formation : but the Hebrew standard writings are the original mould in which the feelings and thoughts of its subjects are cast. And the sense of divine authority to which the mind is by them subdued tends in like manner to guard their own integrity. The sacred law is preserved in order to be obeyed, and the obedience thus rendered ensures its perpetual correctness. 'The Lord of the new covenant has declared, that " till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in — 167 — no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled"; and the Hebrew scribes have been everywhere and always careful that not one j'od, or any one small indication of the sense of a word should be lost or changed. ' Aware of this inflexibility, both the friends and impugners of divine revelation were desirous to assertain to what extent the separated Israelites in China possessed a text of the Bible conformable to ours ; and the discoveries made there have served to establish the previous hopes of all who founded their expectations for eternity upon the word of God. 'The Jews have always been renowned for the care ■with which they have preserved even the very letter of the scriptures and of these Jews buried in the heart of China it was written : — " All these books are preserved Tvith greater care than gold or silver." ' As an instance of the jealous care with which they kept their sacred writings, I may say that one of the Jesuits wished to get leave to copy Maccabees as an appendix to his own copy of a Hebrew Bible but did not succeed. But finally another of the Jesuits at last, managed to conclude ' a bargain for a transcript of the law ; but before it could be completed, the missionaries were expelled from the province.' With reference to the scrupulous care which the Jews have taken of the Scriptures let me just mention, the ' School of Tiberias ' ' a place of Rabbinical learning, founded by Simon ben Gamaliel, of the house of Hillel, in the latter part of the second century after Christ.' ' To this school we owe what is called the Masorah. It was made the special business of this •school to examine all extant Biblical MSS. which had any authority, to compare or collate, to harmonise the divisions into sections and verses, counting the verses in each book, and even the letters, and to put — 168 — occasional marks and notes pointing out peculiarities iii the text.' So we are greatly indebted to the Jew for the care with which he has handed down to us our Old Testament Scriptures. But to return to this synagogue in China ; perniission to erect it was obtained from the Emperor in A.D. 1 163. From several inscriptions in the building, it was learned that the Jews came to China either between B.C. 205 and A.D. 220 in the Han dynasty, or between B.C. 1122 and 249, in the Chow dynasty. ' That this, however, is a very ancient ofF-shoot from the Jerusalem Jews, anterior, probably, to the incarnation of Christ, seems plain from their ignorance of his name Jesus, that "which is above every name, "^ until it was mentioned to them by the missionaries ^ perhaps, also, from their indifference towards the crucifix ; from their freedom from Rabbinical despotism ; and above all, from those religious usages in which they differ from all Jews known elsewhere, such as reading the law through a veil, erecting a throne for Moses^ together with their diversity in the sections of the law^ and in their ritual of worship. ****** 'Their own account of arrival thither is merely that their forefathers came from the West probably by way of Khorassan and Samarkand, the main route of ancient commerce in that direction ; and their use of Persian words has been connected with this circumstance.' Two Mahommedan travellers who visited China in the ninth century inform us that 120,000 Mahommed- ans, Jews, Christians, and Parsees were slaughtered on the taking of Canton by a rebel in A.D. 877, These Israelites would find on coming to China that reverence for parents and old age so much honoured — 169 — by themselves as well. The reverence of the dead was also another point of similarity, for the Talmud speaks of praying at the graves ; one Rabbi says : — ' In order that the dead may seek mercy for us.' The other cities besides those mentioned of which we hear hints and traces of them are Nanking and Ning- po ; but between A.D. 58 and 75, colonies of these people were know to exist in Kai-fong-fii, Hansho, Ningpo, Peking, Ninghin, or Ninghia. They have also been at Ningkiang Chow in Shensi, and Shay Hung in Szchwan. One Chinese writer in speaking, probably about the Jews, says : — ' I find these are the same as the {T^ een) Heaven chapels spoken of in the History of the Northern Wei dynasty.' This word Heen, used to designate some foreign sect, has been pointed out by the late and learned Dr. Alexander Wylie as doubt- less referring to the Jews. Heen is akin to the Word heaven from which it is derived and of which it is a synonym ; and in later Hebrew times we often find Jehovah spoken of as the God of Heaven, for example in the Book of Daniel. This word Heen, as Wylie suggests, may have been dropped as the common name for themselves when they found how materialistic were many of the Chinese conceptions of Heaven. This pronunciation of Heen for T'een is said to be the local pronunciation of the word in the province of Shensi, and is also found in one of the local dialects of Cantonese. ' In connection with this we may remember that in the early ages when navigation was a difficult and exceptional method of travelling, the ordinary route for foreigners from the West was by Shensi^ through which province they entered the empire and where great numbers of them were settled.' ' A native cyclopaedia published about.' ' the close of the sixteenth century,' ' speaks of eight different systems of astronomy promulgated at various times — 170 -- in China, the last named being "denominated the Four Heavens, a theory introduced by the Heen foreigners." It appears extremely probable that the Jews would bring with them from the West some of the astronomical notions current in the countries where they had been residing.' For example the Jews in Bagdad throve * by various means ; many of them cultivated the sciences, particularly philosophy, astronomy and physic ' Most interesting details occur in a Chinese work which state that a certain chapel In Chang Ngin was erected 'In the time of the Empress Dowager Ling {i.e., in the first half of the 6th century) and that having ascended a lofty hill attended by several hundred followers, consisting of the Imperial Consorts, ladles of the palace, princesses and others, she abolished the various corrupt systems of religious worship excepting that of the foreign T'len-splrit.' Then we find the names of two of the office bearers •connected with this religion : One Is Sapaon and the other Foreign Priest. The latter, doubtless, refers to the Rabbi ; the former is not a Chinese word and Its resemblance to the Hebrew word Sanpher, a Scribe, so often mentioned In the New Testament suggests that as its meaning. In the Hebrew manuscript from Kal-fong- fu brought to Shanghai, Scribes, or Sanphers, are men- tioned by name, so there were such Jewish officials In China. ' Several of the (Chinese) dictionaries bear witness to the fact of an Imperial officer having been appointed to take charge of matters connected with this [Jewish] body.' ' When the professors of the Heen religion first arrived they were received at the capital as foreigners, according to the rites of the great Reception Hotel. Hence In after times the male and female mem- bers of their community were subject to the authority of this Tribunal ; and such Is the origin of the — 171 — appointment of the officer. It was probably about the commencement of the T'ang dynasty that the Heen religion first had a chief.' We come now to more modern attempts to come into communication with this remnant of the scattered race. A mission of enquiry was despatched by the then Bishop of Victoria, Hongkong, under the auspices of a society in London for promoting Christianity among the Jews. The two Chinese, who were sent, had a long anid tedious journey of 25 days, 600 miles by land and water, to reach this city where they found a few Jewish families in the abject depths of poverty, and surround- ed by heathen and Mahommedans, two-thirds of the population of the city were of this latter persuation — Jews in little more than name, though still keeping themselves separate. None could read the oracles of Jehovah in the Hebrew, and the last of their Rabbis had then been dead for fifty years. The hope of the expected Messiah was forgotten. Their synagogue was in ruins. Originally seventy families, they had but a remnant of seven households left, and their little com- munity only numbered 200 souls. Some were shop- keepers, some farmers, a few lived in their temple pre- cincts with scarce sufficient in the way of clothing or roof to shelter them. This synagogue was built in A.D. 1 1 90. They were known for long by the name of ' The Religion of those who pluck out the sinew.' ' They worshipped with their faces towards the West, the •direction of Jerusalem. The priest wore a blue head- -dress and blue shoes when performing service, and the congregation of men were not allowed to wear their shoes, if men, and their veils or head-cloths, if women. Before worship they performed their ablutions. They did not intermarry with the heathen or Mahom- medans and had only one wife. They abstained from pork, from intercourse with the Moslem, and kept the — 172 — Sabbath holy. They were the ofFscouring of the earth to their heathen neighbours, being despised, outcasts, and friendless, as far as the Chinese were concerned. Some did not profess their religion openly,. on account of the treatment they would in that case receive. None of them were able to read their sacred books They had lost the expectation of a Messiah. They had petitioned the Chinese Empereor to have pity on them and repair their temple, but with no response, and it was tottering in ruins, part of the fallen material had been sold to the heathen. Indeed they might have said : — " O God, the heathen are come into thy inheritence; thy holy temple have they defiled. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us." ' They were a remnant of seven families out of an original number of seventy clans, and 200 souls, scattered over the neighbourhood. Eight manuscripts were brought out on that visit by the two Chinese sent from Shanghai. Twelve rolls- of vellum thirty feet in length by two. or three in breadth each were seen by them in the Holy of Holies^ At a subsequent visit a number of those ancient rolls, one damaged by a flood which took place some three hundred or more years ago were obtained. These rolls contained, except one which was defective, complete copies of the five books of Moses. They are described as being ' beautifully written without points or marks- for divisions, on white sheep skins, cut and sewed together, about twenty or thirty yards long and rolled on sticks.' In their temple was the Emperor's tablet ' placed on a large table in a shrine.' Hebrew inscriptions were numerous. There was also a tablet for the Ming dynasty, having before it a small table, with two can- dlesticks and an incense vase. All that they ate, whether — 173 — mutton, beef, or chicken, had the sinew taken out. Their temple was known as ' The True and Pure Temple.' Unfortunately their contact with the heathen had •diminished the lustre of their devotion to Jehovah, for though some of the inscriptions were ail that could be <iesired, yet in others there was ' a filling away from the truth,' the writers having been 'evidently imbued with the notions of the Taoists.' 'A few of the sublime facts of the revelation given through Moses are indeed contained in these documents, but in such an obscure manner, and so mixed up with the worship ■of ancestors that we should hardly know what the writers meant, if we had not the sacred canon itself.' The reviewer of these writings goes on to say : — ' It is more melancholy than surprising that such should be the •case, surrounded as this remnant of Israel has been by pagans and Moslems for centuries.' Close to the synagogue of the Jews was also a fane ' dedicated to the forefathers of the seven clans already mentioned.' The following passage from one of these inscriptions will show the truth of these animadversions on them : — •^ When Eternal Reason is followed out in sacrificing to ancestors, men necessarily feel filial and sincere.' This seems a strange bolstering up of ancestral worship Tvhen a few sentences further on it is said: — 'Avoid •complying with superstitious customs and in the second place not make molten or graven images ,' and further on, ' Those, however, who attempt to represent Him by images or to depict Him in pictures^ do but vainly occupy themselves.' Again after a beaiutiful passage follows a descrip- tion of how to perform the worship, and then comes a passage upholding ancestral worship. The former pasSagd reads thus : — 'Abraham, the patriarch who founded the Israelitish religion was the ninteenth descendant from Pwan-Kwu, — 174 — or Adam. From the beginning of the world, the patriarchs have handed down the beginning of the precept, 'that we must not make images and similitudes, and that we must not worship superior and inferior spirits ; for neither can images and similitudes protect, nor superior and inferior spirits afford us aid. The patriarch thinking upon Heaven, the pure and ethereal Being, who dwells on high, the Heaven, the pure and most honourable and without compare, that Divine Providence, who, without speaking, causes the four seasons to revolve, and the myriad of things to grow ; and looking at the budding of Spring, the growth of Summer, the ingathering of harvest, and the storing of Winter — at the objects that fly, dive, move, and vegetate, whether they flourish, or decay, bloom or droop, all so easy and natural in their productions and transformations, in their assumptions of form and colour, was suddenly roused to reflection, and understood this- deep mystery ; he then sincerely sought after the correct instruction, and adoringly praised the true Heaven ;. with his whole heart he served, and with undivided attention reverenced Him. By this means he set up the foundation of religion, and caused it to be handed to the present day. This happened according to our inquiry, in the 146th year of the Chau state. From him the doctrines were handed down to the great teacher and legislator Moses, who according to our computation lived about the 613th year of the same state. This man was intelligent from his birth, pure and disinterested, endowed with benevolence and righteousness, virtue and wisdom, all complete ; he sought and obtained the sacred writings on the top of Sinai's hill, where he fasted forty days and nights, repressing his carnal desires, refraining even from sleep and spending his time in sincere devotion. His piety- moved the heart of Heaven, and the sacred writings, Amounting to fifty-three sections, were thus obtained. — 175 — Their contents are deep and mysterious, their promises calculated to influence men's good feelings, and their threatenings to repress their corrupt imaginations. The doctrines were again handed down to the time of the reformer of religion and wise instructor, Ezra, whose descent was reckoned from the founder of our religion, and whose teaching contained the right clue to his instructions, viz., the duty of honouring Heaven by appropriate worship ; so that he could be considered capable of unfplding the mysteries of the religion of our forefathers. But religion must consist in the purity and truth of Divine worship. Purity refers to the Pure one, who is without mixture ; truth to the Correct One, who is without corruption ; worship consists in reverence, and in bowing down to the ground. Men in their daily avocations must not for a single moment forget Heaven, but at the hours of four in the morning, mid-day, and six in the evening, should thrice perform their adorations, which is the true principle of the religion of Heaven. The form observed by the virtuous men of antiquity was, first to bathe and wash their heads, taking care at the same time to purify their hearts, and correct their senses, after which they reverently approached before Eternal Reason and the sacred writings. Eternal Reason is without form or figure, like the Eternal Reason of Heaven, exalted on high.' Another paragraph beyond this we get the follow- ing passage : — ' But to venerate Heaven and neglect ancestors, is to fail in services which are their due. In the spring and autumn therefore men sacrifice to their ancestors, to show that they serve the dead as they do the living, and pay the same respect to the departed that they do to those who survive. They offer sheep and oxen, and present the fruits of the season, to show that they do — 176 — not neglect the honour due to ancestors, when they are gone from us.' We gather from these inscriptions that when otie of them was made in A.D. 1511, the Jews at that time had occupied positions both of honour and trust ; some turning to literature, the aim of all educated Chinese with the view of Government employment ; some of them were actually in official positions in Court, as well as in the provinces ; again others were in military service ; while the rest filled private stations in life, some being farmers and some mechanics and some merchants. These Jews apparently came from India, where it is well known Jews have been long settled. They received the perrhission of the then reigning Emperoi- (probably of the Northern Sung Dynasty A.D. 519) to stay in the following words : — ' Since they have come to our Central Land, and reverently obey the customs of their ancestors, let them hand down their doctrines at Pien-liang.' The synago- gue was built in A.D. 1 1 66 and rebuilt and repaired several times afterwards. One of the inscriptions mentions co-religionists at Ningpo in A.D. 1450, from whem they obtained volumes of the Divine Word. These long inscriptions seenri, however, not to have been placed where they would be seen by heathen or Moslem, and, as I have said, two-thirds of the in- habitants of this city were Mahommedans. There would also appear to have been some Jews in Canton at one time. These rolls of the law — those relics of the bygone history of a remarkable peiople are intensely interesting to the student of Judaic archaeology ; and it was hoped that they would present clues to the history of this colony. — 177 — We have seen from the account of the Roman <3atholic missionaries, that more then two centuries ago twelve rolls of the law were 'preserved in honour of the twelve tribes of Israel, and one said to be five hundred years older was dedicated to Moses. This last has been thought to be an ancient copy that was presented by a Mahommedan, who had received it as a bequest from a dying Israelite in Canton.' There were a number of smaller manuscripts — prayer books, service books, one for the feast of Purim. Numbers of the Psalms are interspersed through these books, so many in fact that probably half of the Book of the Psalms might have been collected out of them. The notes to these smaller manuscripts show that those -who annotated them had Persian for their mother longue. These Rabbis of Honan seem to have taken but little pains to put their religious books into a Chinese dress. One of the two of the Honan Jews, who came to Shanghai in order to learn Hebrew, remembered what was evidently a translation of the Pentateuch into Chinese that was in ' the last stages of decay.' It was believed ' that the knowledge of their religion in its native form could never be lost.' The contrary has, however, proved to be the fact, as the immortal truths imbedded in the sacred writings have slipped out of their grasp and knowledge with the loss of the acquaintance of the Hebrew character in which they were written, such, for example, as the belief in the coming Messiah, and 'definite expectation of another life,' the doctrine of 'the soul's immortality and the future happiness of the go6d' having entirely disappeared. Dr. Martin, author of a number of works on China, visited them in 1866, and found them in a still 12 — 178 — more impoverished condition. ' Having learned frorrs the mollah of a mosque where they lived,' he 'passed. through streets crowded with curious spectators to an open square, in the centre of which there stood a solitary stone. On one side was an inscription com- memorating the erection of the synagogue in A.D^ 1183,'and on the other of its rebuilding in 1488 " Are there among you any of the family of Israel ?" I enquired. " I am one," responded a young man, whose- face corroborated his assertion; and then another and another stepped forth, until I saw before me representa- tives of six of the seven families into which the colony is divided. There on that melancholy spot where the very foundations of the synagogue had been torn from the ground, and there no longer remained one stone upon another, they confessed with shame and grief,, that their holy and beautiful house had been demolished by their own hands. It had long been, they said, in a ruinous condition ; they had no money to make repairs. They had lost all knowledge of the sacred tongue ; the traditions of the fathers were no longer handed down, and their ritual worship had ceased to be observed. 'They had at last yielded to the pressure of necessity and disposed of the timbers and stones of the venerable edifice to obtain relief for their bodily wants.' Some of them had become Mahommedans. They thought they still numbered between three and four hundred, but all were poor and likely, now that they had no synagogue, to become still further dispersed. Bishop Schereschewsky, of the same race as them- selves, also visited them later on, but the literati of the city prevented him from staying with them. Between thirty and forty years ago a party of them journeyed to Peking to endeavour to obtain support — 179 — but without avail. One or two had already become Buddhist priests some twenty years ago, others are literary graduates, but all 'are ignorant of their peculiar rites and festivals.' And now comes the saddest part of the whole history of this most interesting people ; for after many centuries of existence in Kai-fong-fii, as the head quarters of the different Jewish colonies in China, this one, which has survived the longest, is at last no more, for the considerable numbers of this remarkable race have now virtually disappeared. Through long succes- sion of ages they have existed in China ; mention, as we have seen, appears to be made of them in Chinese works; and there were synagogues in a number of Chinese cities. As one writer has said : — ' Their creed faded out, not from any attempt at persecution, but from the indifference of its professors, who by their superfluous attempts to prove its identity with the universalist creed of the Confucian hierarchy of China, really took away its only reason for separate existence.' Those who are carrying on mission work among the Chinese are often advised to take up Chinese manners'and customs connected with their superstitions, notably Ancestor worship, and engraft them on to Christianity, or rather to engraft Christianity on to them. Is not this dying down of Jewism in China a sufficient answer to such critics ? Mr. Alfred Copp, of Chefoo, in a letter given in * The Bible in the World,' reports a recent visit to Kai- fong-fii : — ' There,' he says, ' we came upon the Jewish quarter, and saw the site of the old synagogue, which is now a pond. There are two or three inscriptions on stones near by, and that was all I could discover. We met a few Jews, but they appeared to know little about their religion or their history. The Scriptures, the Sabbath, the great names of the past, they seemed quite — 180 — ignorant of. One man said he had heard of Moses. One or two more of them told me they worshipped heaven and earth twice a month ; and I personally saw the kitchen-god set up in the house of a Jewess. They appear not to eat pork, and they also take out the sinew. There are in all some 200 families of Jews in KAi- fong-fu.' And thus ends the last Chapter of a most inter- esting and remarkable history of this wonderful people. G^^^^^^^^ LFXTURE VII. ANCIENT AND MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIANITY IN THE FAR EAST. Ancient and Medi/eval Christianity in the Far East. In the 17th century (i62"5) the world was startled and at first received with incredulity the report that the Jesuits had discovered a Christian monument in the lieart of China. What turned out to be the most ancient Christian inscription yet found in Asia was inscribed on this monument, and it showed that Christianity had jmade great progress amongst the Chinese. "We are apt perhaps to think that Christianity is •only modern in this ancient land ; and it is interesting (to discover that such is not the case ; and it is also profitable to try and discover how it was that what was apparently a flourishing church (the Nestorian) was overwhelmed or died out. But before doing that let us see if there are any means of knowing whether there are earlier records of Christianity in this part of Asia than are to be found in the inscription on this monument which we shall pay more attention to presently. — 184 — It seems natural to suppose tliat with the zeal which the earlier followers of Christ displayed, there- would be at least some attempts made to reach the uttermost parts of the earth towards the Far East by some of those devoted early missionaries, as there were to reach the Far West in distant Spain and further Britain. We know that Christianity penetrated to India, and if we believe a tradition found in a Malabar Christian breviary, then the Aposde Thomas even went further, for the honour of converting Chinese to Christianity in those very early days is, according to it, to be given to him. Tradition, at all events and occasional notices ' in ecclesiastical writers of the Eastern Empire collated by Fabricius lead to the belief,' so writes an authority on China, ' that not many years elapsed after the times of the Apostles before the sound of the gospel was heard in China and Chin-India.' Mosheim, the Church historian says, ' We may believe that at an early period the Christian religion extended to the Chinese, Seres,, and Tartars. There are various arguments collected from learned men to show that the Christian faith was carried to China, if not by the Apostle Thomas, by the first teachers of Christianity.' Arnobius (A.D. 300) writes of Christian acts in India 'and among the Seres (the Chinese), Persians, and Medes.' , How interesting it would be if we had only a second volume to the Acts of the Apostles, detailing the deeds of these early pioneers of Christianity in China. Now this legend of the Apostle Thomas preaching the gospel in Asia is one of the widest spread of Church legends. He was also, so it is stated, instrumental in the conversion of Chinese, as well as Indians, Armenians,^ and others, and one of our local papers (i^e Daily Press) a few months .ago further called attention to — 185 — recent investigations in Afghanistan by which the truth of jthe legend was confirmed, as far as India was con- cerned, at all events ; for as accounts had differed, as they will do even about current affairs, people were inclined ,to think that these stories were but monkish fables. It is curious how these old legends and travel- lers stories are every now and then receiving con- firmation from archaeological researches, geographical discoveries, and numismatical findings. In this case coins and the early history names of places of an old state called Gandhara, pretty well corresponding to the Afghanistan of the present day, have been the witnesses to the truth of the old tradition. These again have been compared with a book, ' The Acts of St. Thomas,' ' an apocryphal work of the early Christian ages written about the latter part of the 5th century,' the oldest copy that we have of it is, however, dated A.D. 936.- The result of these investigations, as detailed by Mr.. W. R. Philipps in the ' Indian Antiquary^ has been to prove that the Apostle landed at or near the mouth of the Iijdus in Lower Scinde and went on to Peshawar. We have then proof of his arrival in India, and possibly some corroborative evidence of his Chinese labours may yet be discovered. When I was a boy I had to learn questions and answers out of a book that was highly thought of in those days by instructors of youth. It was called the ' Guide to Knowledge.' In it one learned among a hundred and one other things that silk-worm eggs were first brougnt to Europe by Nestorian monks from China in the hollow head of a walking stick. They came, so history informs us, to Constantinople with their precious secret treasures in A.D. 551. But long before this had they, or their predecessors, laboured in the land where the silk-worm abounds and spins its yellow silk. When they first came to China cannot be — 1S6 — ■said with certainty ; * bat there are groonds for pladi^ it as earl^r as A.I). 505. Ebet^esus Sobienss iti i uttv "that " the Cathdicos Ssiihxzacha. created the metropo- litan sees of Sina ^nd. Samarcand, tfaoagh «>ine sar they ■were constitiitei br Acfaaens and Siks." Silas was ^patriarch of the XestoriaiK from A-D. 505 to c;c ; and Achaeos was arthfortop at Sdeada in -tif- TTic m etropoiitan bisnop of Sinais, is also mentioned in a 3ist trf" those subject to ttiis patriarch, pohiished by -Amro, and it is placed in the hst after that of India, :acc(xding to the priorltr rf foundation,' And this brii^s us back to our monument that we started with ; for it is * the only mcHiunient recced yet found in China itself of the labours of ti:e Xestori- -ans,' It is impossibJe to quote tire whtJe inscription on this celebrated monximent ; but it co mm ences in tnis war : — *It is acknowledsed that tiiere wss One, jnchaEge- -aide^ true, and still, the First and Unoriginared ; in- comprehensible in his intdligence and simtJicitv; the Last and mysteriously esistii^; Who. with Lis hands operating in die mysterious (abyss of space% proceeded to create, and by His spirit to give esiSLcacs to all die holy ones, Himself the great adoEaUe; — was not tiiis our Boafa, with His marreBous bocg, Three-in-One, "the unorlginated Trje Lord ? 2. Having determined the four cardinal pcRnts in -space as by the extremities erf the character for ten, he <alled into action the primordial wind, and produced "the two-fold ether. iTie dark vwd was chained, and iieaven and earth were opened out. The sun and moon TcviJved, and day and night commen<xd. Hzvii^ jixmed and &shioned the mvriad things, He diea jQEiade die first man, specially confonring on him the liarmony of all good qualities, and commanding H^n to — 187 — have dominion over the ocean depths (now) transformed {into the earth). 3. Man's perfect original nature was void of all ambitious preoccupation ; his unstained and capacious mind was free from all inordinate desire. When, however, Satan employed his evil devices, a glamour was thrown over that pure and fine (nature). A breach, wide and great, was made in its judgments of what was right, and it was drawn, as through an opening into the gulph of (Satan's perversities). In this way there arose (among men) 365 different forms (of error), closely following one another, and treading in the same ruts, striving to weave the nets of their several ways. Some set up (material) things as the objects of their worship ; some insisted on empty space without the (ethereal) duality ; some offered prayers and sacrifices in order to obtain happiness ; some boasted of their goodness and arrogated it over others : — with their wisdom they anxiously tasked themselves, labouring with their fondest feelings ; but all in vain. The heat of their distress was turned into a scorching flame. They made the darkness greater and lost their way ; and after going long astray, they ceased any further search (for the truth). 4. Hereupon our Triune (Eloah) divided His Godhead, and the Illustrious and Adorable Messiah, veiling His true Majesty, appeared in the world as a man. Angels proclaimed the glad tidings. A virgin brought forth the Holy One in Ta-ts'in. A bright star announced the felicitous event. Persians saw its splendour, and came with tribute. He fulfilled the Old Law, as it was delivered by the twenty-four holy ones. He announced His great plans for the regulation of families and kingdoms. He appointed His new doctrines, operating without words by the cleansing influence of the Triune. He formed in man the — 188 — capacity of good-doing by the correct faith. He defined the measures of the eight (moral) conditions^ purging away the dust (of defilement), and perfecting the truth (in men). He threw open the gate of the three constant (virtues), thereby bringing life to light and abolishing death. He hung up the bright sun to break open the abodes of darkness. By all these things the wiles of the devil were defeated. The vessel of mercy was set in motion to convey men to the Palace of Light, and thereby all intelligent beings were conveyed across (the intervening space). His mighty work being thus completed, at noon-day He ascended to His true (place). He left behind Him the twenty-seven standard books. These set forth the great conversion for the deliverance of the soul. They institute the washing of His Law by water and the spirit, cleansing away all vain delusions, and purifying men till they regain the whiteness of their pure simplicity. 5. His ministers, bearing with them the seal of the Cross, diffuse a harmonising influence wherever the sun shines and unite all together without distinction. They strike their watch-wood, and at its sound are stimulated to love and kindness. They turn ceremoni- ously to the East, and hasten on in the path to life and glory. They preserve their beards to show how their work lies without themselves ; they shave their crowns to show that they have no inward affections of their own. They do not keep or maltreat slaves, male or female. They make no distinction between noble and mean among men. They do not- accumulate property or wealth, but give all they have to our (communities). They fast to subdue (the pride of) knowledge and become perfect : they keep the vigil of stillness and watchfulness to maintain (their minds) firm. Seven times a day they have worship and praise for the great protection of the living and dead. Once in every seven — 189 — •days they have a public service, cleansing their hearts and regaining their purity. 6. This true and unchanging system of doctrine is mysterious and difficult to name. To display its manifest operation, we make an effort and call it the Illustrious Religion.' It then proceeds to tell of the coming of Olopan from the country of Syria, guiding himself by the azure clouds, he carried with him the true Scriptures. Watching the laws of the winds, he made his way through difficulties and perils. ' He arrived at Ch'ang- and in A.D. S^S- After questioning him in his own private apartments, the Emperor ' became deeply con- vinced of its correctness, and truth and signified his approval of the new religion with its sacred books and images and praised it highly. A portrait of the Em- peror was taken and copied on the wall of the monastery which was built under Imperial auspices. And then there appears a piece of Chinese geogra- phy, descriptive of Syria, or the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire ' The kingdom of Ta-ts'in commences at the South with the Coral Sea, reaches on the North to the Mountain of all Precious Things ; on the West it looks towards the Flowciry Forests on the Borders of the Immortals, and on the East it lies open to the Long Winds, and the Weak Water. *The country produces the asbestos cloth, the soul-restoring incense, the bright-moon pearls, and the night-shining gems. Robberies and thefts are unknown among the common people. Men enjoy happiness and peace. None but the Illustrious Religion is obser- ved ; none but virtuous rulers are appointed. The territory is of vast extent ; its literary productions are brilliant.' — 190 — Another Emperor 'caused monasteries of the Illustrious (Religion) to be erected in every one of the Prefectures,' and the religion spread throughout the Empire, favoured by the fostering care of the monarch, ' Monasteries filled a hundred cities.' Then a time of persecution came, instigated by the Buddhists ; but Nestorianism was again taken under the Imperial' aegis ; their altars were restored for them ; and the Emperor sent presents to them — loo pieces of silk and portraits of his five predecessors to be placed in the monastery, and later on wrote inscriptions for the mon- astery himself; and subsequent Emperors continued to. shower favours on them. Other Nestorians, doubtless,, hearing of the success of the first, also came to China.. Thus the Illustrious Religion was established m the Far East. One of the Emperors sent incense and provisions from his own table on his birthday. We are almost led to suppose that a Buddhist priest, who rose to high official employment in the Government, became a convert ; and a poem at the end of the inscription says : — ' Our brightest truth then came to T'ang ; Its scriptures spoke in T'ang's own tongue ;, Its monasteries in grandeur rose.' One, if not more, of the priests were assigned high official position. This monument shows plainly that Christianity had made great progress among the Chinese. But it was not always that ' Auspicious winds the night swept clear,' for an Imperial edict ordered 3000 priests of the Nestorians and fire worshippers, now represented by Parsees, to return to private life. It may make this incident in the introduction of Christanity in China more interesting for us to remark that this unique monument is a 'wonderful relic of — 191 — the past; the date is 781, contemporaneous with the semi-anarchic condition of England in the generation following the death of "the Venerable Bede"; and the struggles between the kingdom of Mercia and the West Saxons.' The ' Third Prescription of Buddhism in China,'' as itis called, in the ninth century, also affected the Nestorian work and we may not be very far wrong in supposing that the monument was then thrown down and perhaps buried by some Christians to preserve it from being further destroyed ; and there it lay for half a century outside the walls of this famous Chinese city,. forgotten, unknown till some workmen, in 1 625, digging the ground, came across it with its inscriptions in Chinese and some strange foreign language, and the- Governor of the city took charge of it. An account of this interesting monument in 1893 says that 'The stone has evidently been recently tampered with ; several characters are effaced ; and there are other signs of malicious hands.' Once overthrown, Nestorlanism did not rise fromi its grave in China ; it was not resuscitated ; no emperor- remembered it again ; it had been killed. Perhaps the foreign priests wandered back to their own country from whence they came. Mention is made of Nestorians by Marco Polo,, but these were not descendants of the flourishing- mission of former days, at least in one case they were not, and it may be the same with regard to the others. (The two celebrated Arabian travellers speak of many Christians perishing in the siege of Canfu.) This is one view ; another is that they still existed, but with difficulty, since the Mahommedans came into power and the Nestorians were cut off from assistance and com- munication with their mother church. Even then it is thought they must have formed a by no means- — 192 — despicable number from a Statement in ' Le Livre (tit Grand Caau^ written in the 14th century by order of Pope John 22nd. But long before that they had allowed the purity of their faith to be sullied ; and it would appear that they had not taught, or disseminated the source of all Christian knowledge which had been probably only pardy translated by Olopan under the Emperor's auspices. No traces, except the monument, have yet been found in China — no books, no ruins of monasteries — but this is a land where ruins are soon destroyed. Books, made of the flimsy Chinese paper are perishable too, unless most carefully guarded ; and the Buddhists, if not the Roman Catholics even, may have destroyed all they could of the productions of this schismatic body. Si-ngan-fii where this remarkable monument was found is not only famous in Chinese ancient history ; but was also the place to which the Empress Dowager fled when the allied forces entered Peking in igoo. ' Nestor us was a monk and later a presbyter in Antioch, and after the year 428 patriarch of Con- stantinople. He soon became involved in a controversy in respect to the nature ot the union of the human and divine in the person of Christ.' His views gave rise to disputes as to the combination of the God and man in Christ. He was persecuted. In one thing, at all events, we feel inclined to admire him, and that was in the bold stand he took against the title of ' Mother of God ' being applied to the Virgin Mary. His followers settled in Persia, as he arid his adherents were eventually banished from the Roman Empire. Some time after this he died no one knows when or where. — 193 — His adherents found an asylum in the kingdom of Persia, whence they probably came to China.' 'After the condemnation and banishment of Nestorius in 43 1, his followers spread extensively through Persia ; and for centuries they became the chief deposi- taries of Greek learning in Asia. Moreover their missionary zeal is borne witness to by their establish- ment of sees in Herat, China, and Samarcand.' 'These were metropolitan sees. Besides these three there were metropolitan sees at Merv, Turkestan, Balkh, Tangut, Kashgar, and perhaps Almalik.' 'Each of these metropolitans had bishops under him — some twelve and some six.' ' Rubruquis mentions in 1253 that the Nestorians had a bishop in Si-ngan-fu.' And as one writer says : — * The propagation of Christianity in its Nestorian form was carried on with wonderful energy and success in those early centuries. Persia, Bactria, India, and other regions were more or less evangelized.' Why is there no permanent result of their labours ? Judging from their monument, almost fulsome in its ■' praise of the powers that be, they aimed more to propitiate the Emperor and gain his favour than ' to enlighten and convert the people.' There is no notice -of the advent of believers, but one. ' They were mistaken in thinking that to receive the smiles of the Court and have the pictures of the Emperors displayed in their halls were real triumphs of Christianity.' Another defect doubtless in their work was the want of the gospel in It, probably also the scanty use of the Bible ; ;and here, with the difficulties of labouring among the Chinese, we have sufficient causes for its failure. It is interesting to notice what some of the other •old writers say about Nestorians In China : — 13 ' MarjGPiPo.lQ. mentions. Qhristlans in Sama^rfandj at Kashgar, Yarkand, Urumtsi,; SvicJ^au, ar(d, Kaufthu,.in Manchuria, and " the country bordering on Korea ;" ' and he-speaks of Nestorians in the province of'^Carajan,, which is the present-Yunnan. He also teJls that .there: were 'certain Christians at' Cacanfu, 'who have a church.'' Caeanfu is identified asHo-kien-fu in Perchih^e.- He; also mentions Yang Chow in his travels aaid :as Col. . Yiile. in one of his notes says 'some five and: thirty year S; after Polo's departure from China, Eriar Qdoric found' at this city a House of his owji ; Order (Franciscans) and three Nestorian churches..' Marco Polo also tells us there were ' two churches of Nestorian Christians ' in the city of Chin-kiang, 'which were established in the.year of our Lord 1278 ; and I will tell you how that happened. You see, in the year just named, the Great Kaan sent a Baron of his,, whose name was Mar Sachis (or, Sergius), a Nestorian Christian, to be governor of this city for three years.. And during the three years that he abode there he caused these two Christian churches to be built, and since then there they are. But before his time there was no church, neither were there any Christians.' Now this Mar Sergius It appears was a common name among Armenian and other Oriental Christians. This very name it appears is one of the names appearing on the famous Syrlac monument already noticed. We also get mention, doubtless of one of these churches, in an inscription which the Archiman- drite Palladius refers to. ' The temple Ta-hing-kuo-sze stands In Chln-kiang-fu in the quarter called Kia-fao-h'-eang. It was built in the i8th year of Ghi-yuen (A.U. 1281) by the snb-darugacht, Sie-li-ki-sze (Sergius). Liang Siang, the teacher in the Confucian school, wrote a commemorative inscrip- tion for him.' This same document informs us that -= 199 -- ' Si'e-7m'-szi^-hie ft [SsitMrcMdL] IS distant from China lOOjOOO li [probably a mistake for lOjOOo] to thd north-west. It is a couhtry Where the religion of the y e-li-k^o-'Wen dorninates.......The founder of the religioilwas i^a-r/^ Ye-Ii-yd. He lived and worked miracles a thousand five hundred years ago. Ma Sie-li- ki^sze. [Mar Sergius] is a foUowet of him. ^ In the 'most noble city of Kinsay', Hang Chow, Marco Polo again says: — 'There is one Church only, belonging to the NestdriSH Christians.' ' Gibbon, speaking of Nestorian Missions to the East, says: — "In their progress by sea and land the Nestorians entered China by the port of Canton and the Northern residence of Sigan."' These Nestorian missionaries seeni to have been chiefly Persians. Some portions of the Bible at least were translated by the Nestorians ; but printing not having been discovered at the time, if any copies were made, they would have had to be by hand ; and by the time printing was invented and had come into general use it is probable that Nestorianism was declining. We have already seen in these lectures what an initeresting light is thrown on this little known Middle Kingdom' by the narrative of an old Mahommedan traveller, Ibn Batuta ; and another of these narratives by a co-religionist and compatriot, Ibn Wahab, in the ninth century mentions an interview he had with the then Emperor of China, when the latter showed him pictures of Noah with his ark, Moses with his rod, and Jesus riding on an ass with the apostles round him. What an extraordinary thing it does seem for an emperor of China to be so engaged!!! A heathen showing Bible pictures to a Mahomriiedan and talking about them too !!!; for Ibn Wahab tells us the con- — 196 — versation that took place between him and the Emperor; and from the knowledge the Emperor displayed of Scripture truths, it is not unfair to assume that he may have had this translation ' which was made under the direction of his great ancestor, Tai Tsung.' There seems again to be mention of these Nestorian Scriptures four centuries later by an Italian friar, John de Plana Carpini, who was sent by Pope Innocent IVth to the Court of China in 1245 partly for religious ends and partly for political motives. He refers to them twice. What he says is as follows : — 'But the men of Kitai [China] are pagans, having a particular kind of written character, and as it is said, the Old and New Testaments ; they possess Bio- graphies of their Forefathers, have hermits, and houses made in the fashion of churches, in which they them- selves worshipped in former times ; they say also that they have a number of saints. They worship one God, they honour the Lord Jesus Christ, they believe in eternal life, but are not baptised ; they honour and reverence our Scriptures, respect Christians, and give much alms ; they seem to be a tolerably kind and courteous people.' Then we have a statement by a Franciscan monk, William de Rubruk 'who went on an embassy from Louis IX of France to the Khan of the Tartars in 1253. Speaking of China he says, "The Nestorians there know nothing. For they repeat their services, and have the Sacred Books in Syriac, a language which they do not understand, so that they sing as the monks do with us without knowing the grammar ; and hence they have become totally corrupt." ' Marco Polo refers to what is probably again a Nestorian version of the Four Gospels. A fragment is still in existence and this is what Wylie says about it : — — 197 — ' Almost the only relic that has come down to us of the Sacred books or formularies of this ancient and once flourishing church of the Nestorians in China, is a Syriac manuscript in the same character as that on the borders of the Si-ngan inscription. This was discovered about the year 1725, in the possession of a Mahom- medan, the descendant of Christian or Jewish ancestors from the West. On examination it was found to contain the old Testament, from the beginning of the 25th chapter to the end of Isaiah, the twelve minor prophets, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Daniel, including Bel and the Dragon, with the Psalms, two Songs of Moses, the Song of the Three Holy Children, and a selection of hymns.' Roman Catholicism in China. . We next come to the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church in China ; and we may divide it into several periods. The Roman Catholics have put forth great efforts ; but none too great considering the magnitude and importance of the field of labour. Invariable success has not always attended their labours, although they have had a great measure of it, as a reward for their zeal, their skill, and prudence in their choice of methods, and their employment of men, especially the latter in their earlier efforts. Some one in writing on their labours has remarked that these characteristics 'if their object had simply been that of preaching the gospel ' would, * have gradually made the entire mass of the population acquainted with the leading doctrines of Christianity.' We begin with the 13th century. The first real attempt at a settled mission was made by Pope Nicholas IV in 1288. John of Monte Corvino, who went out first, reached India, where he stayed for a year, preaching and baptizing 100 persons. Then taking advantage of a caravan, he proceeded to Cathay, as China, or at least a part of it at all events, was then called. Kiibliii Kh?.?^ the first of the Mongol Bulers, was an the throne ; and the missionary was received with kindness ; but the Nestori^n^, already ther^ ■opposed hirn. Fo,r eleven year-s he laboured, only with much success at the end of that period, baptizing nearly 6,000 people. He bought 1 50 children, and taught them Greek and Latin and he composed several devo- tional books for them. He also built a church, complete with steeple and belfry, furnished with three bells, ring- ing every hour to summon the converts to prayer. Clement Vth, as a sequel to this success, appointed hini archbishop and sent seven bishops to assist him. Two interesting letters of his give an account of his efforts. How he and his bishops succeeded aftervK9,rds are not so well known. He died at about the age of 80, 'after having converted more than 30,000 infidels.' By infidels are meant heathen. We must remember that at that time the Roman Catholic church was freer 0/ the errors which have crept in with the succeeding centuries. It is pathetic to re^d what he writes as to his separation from Europe : — ' It is now twelve years since I have heard any news from the West.' Nicholas with twenty-six Francis- cans were sent to succeed him ; but we have no authentic record of the arrival of these monks. The last Emperor of the Mongols sent an ambassador to the Pope, a^id four nuncios were sent out, one of them spending twelve years in China ; but Roman Catholicism seems to have died down in China itself with the cessation of the Mongol rule there. Thus ends the first period. The secoj^id period lasted for 1 50 years.^ commen- cing in 1582 and ending 1736, though there were some efforts ^t the resuscitation of Romish Missions in China even before that. 1 1 is said that the Portuguese and Spanish merch^ints opposed the advent of Roman Catholic priests on one hand, and on the other the theii 'existing Chiiie&e GoVerritoeiit objected to the residence of the foreign rtiissioniry in the dountry. Within ido miles of this Colony (some 70 mites) We have the 'ntemento of the 'failure' of one effort; for on the Island of St. John, 50 rriiles ^South-West "of 'Mac^Oj were'bilfied' the reritains '6f St. 'Francis Xavier, who had a burning desire to enter China, but died Within sight of the land' for which he would have given' his life. An annual pilgrifm'agejas you are doubtless aWate, takes place to his former 'tomb from this 'Cdlony and that of 'Macao. His own' countrymen were ag^ainst him, and'ofher ■attempts 'failed until at 'la'st the Jesuits -succeeddd. The ■first of them to arrive Was Michael Ruggi'efo at Macao in 1580. Then he was joined soOn after by another whose name is famous in the annals of Rdman Catholic missions inChina, Matthew Ricci. At last they succeeded in establishing themselves at Shiu-hing,' Which Was then the capital of this province of Canton, or Kwong-tung. These Jesuits were rather wily, and it is a bit amtising to read the plea they putforward to the Governor of Kwo'ng- tung, viz., that 'they had at last ascertained that the CelestialEmpirewaseven superior to its brilliant renoWn. They therefore desired to end their days in it, and wished to 'dbtain a little land to construct a house and a church •where they might pass their time in prayer and 'study, in solitude and meditation, which they could n<it do at Macao on accbunt of the tumtilt and bustle which the perpetual activity df commerce Occasioned.' They carried out this policy all through. 'Hue himself tells us : — ' They thought justly that the 'philos'opher would make more impression than the priest upon minds so sceptic and so imbued with literary conceit.' The early Roman Catholic missionaries first assumed the garb of Buddhist priests ; but were well advised to drop this disreputable costume, and dress like more respectable people. — 200 — After a while they went further north, and finally Ricci and a companion got to Peking, twenty-one years after he had landed at Macao ; and his ' pleasing manners and extensive acquirements ' gained him favour with those in authority. A man named Paul Su was one of his converts there, and assisted him in translating Euclid. The Emperor received the two foreigners with kindness and permitted them to live in the quarters assigned to foreign envoys, and also gave them a stipend. Other Jesuits followed and occupied other stations in the country, and success attended their efforts. There- were at the same time, however, many obstacles, and the officials were watchful of the progress of this new religion, not wishing it to usurp any of the- authority of the Government. In 1617 a decree was issued ordering them to retire to Canton and there leave for Europe ; but obedience was not enforced with regard to some other subsequent similar edicts,, though such commands naturally hindered their labours. Many works of natural philosophy and mathematics were published by them and some religious- works, altogether 140 different books. Ricci made a mistake in allowing his converts to- continue the worship of ancestors, instead of purging it of the elements of adoration, and simply permitting the keeping in remembrance the departed. But not- withstanding certain points, which as Protestants, we find ourselves unable to agree with him, we can join in the tribute of praise of him as ' the talented founder,*' and also laud his ' skill, perseverance, learning, and tact,' which have caused his name to stand deservedly highest amongst those of a number of talented Roman Catholic missionaries. It is to be regretted that the Bible was not put into the hands of the converts, but this, of course, was not the policy of his church. — 201 — The distinguished Ricci said he was too busy with other things to translate the Bible into Chinese,, though Monte Corvino had put it in the thirteenth century into Tartar at Peking. Portions of the Bible were translated by the Roman Catholic missionaries, but a complete version seems never to have been printed, though it was projected, and though some versions, probably 'more versions than one, may have been executed.' Father Le Comte writes to Father De-la-Chaize, the confessor to Louis XlVth of France as follows : — 'A translation of the Missalhad been desired in order to say Mass in Chinese, according to the permis- sion that had been obtained for that object ; and an exact version of the Holy Scriptures. The Missal has been completed, and Father Couplet presented it to the Pope some years since ; after having maturely considered the matter, however, it was not judged expedient to make use of it ; and they continue to say Mass in Latin, according to the usual custom. As for the complete version of the Bible, there are such weighty reasons why it should not yet be given to the public, that it would be rash imprudence to make use of it ; the more so that the substance of the Gospel, and even the most edifying parts, have already been explained in several of their books.' It has been the honour of the Protestant Church to give the Bible, the Book of Books, to the Chinese- freely and fully. Ricci has been described by his own co-religionists as more courtier than priest, being ignorant, it was said, ' of the first principles of theology.' One Jesuit writes of him : — 'Being more a politician than a theologian, he discovered the secret of remaining peacefully in China.. — 2Q2 — "IThe fkiiigs found in him a man full of complaisance ; the pagans a minister who accommodated him'self to their superstitions ; the mandarins a polite couttier skilled in all the trickery of courts ; and the devil a faithful servant, who, far from destraying, established his reign among the heathen, and-^even extended it to the Christians. He preached in China the religion of Christ according to his own fancy ; that is to say, he disfigured it by a faithful mixture of pagan superstitions, adopting the sacrifices offered to Confucius and ances- tors, and teaching the Christians to assist and co- operate at the worship of idols, provided they only addressed their devotions to a cross covered with flowers, or secretly -attached to one of the candles which were lighted in the temples of the false gods.' There is no doubt that a Christianity of that com- plaisant order would spread like wild-fire if carried through the land. Even the Jesuits, as we have seen, did not approve of it. Longobardi, who was again another learned and capable man, succeeded Ricci :is head of the mission. During a period of reaction the converts sheltered the missionaries ; and in 1622 Su got the edict rescinded. Schaal, another learned Jesuit, a German, was seen at the head of afiairs. And then other Roman Catholic sects, or orders came — Dominicans, and Franciscans, but were not welcome by the Jesuits. Again troubles rose, and then the great debacle occurred. The reign of the Mings was over, and the Manchu Tartars came in bloodshed and turmoil, war and tumult, to establish the great Pure Dynasty. The missionaries and converts, of course, suffered at such a terrible time ; for China was almost shaken to its foundations, the streets ran blood with the thousands of Chinese who withstood the coming of the Tartar. In the North the missionaries were wise enough to side with the conquerors, and StQhaal continued 'to rr^e linto i^high favour . .iEie reformed the ;calendar 'by direction ,of t^e Erapereir, and was after -ftiis sjgnal instance of his •knowledge and ihility appointed President lOf an astjconomieai board, xwbic4 had (this for. its object, aud he 'had further honours showered on him ; so that ;thus his infl,uence secured the :adinission of other Roman Cathohc 'missionaries, and the repair and ibuildiitig of churches. Amor^g the niost famous converts, who materially assisted the cause, is to be found the name of Su, who has 'be^en .already mentioned, as well as that of his daughter, Candida. The father used his influence, bis rneans, his literary talents, all in the service of the -cause. As a scholar he was able to improve and polish the literary style of the books made, while the daughter, Du Halde tells us, built thirty-nine churches in the provinces and printed 130 Christian books. She founded a hospital for aban- doned infants, and, getting hold of Wind story tellers., she had them instructed in gospel stories, and then sent them out to tell them to the people. Both of these illustrious converts have been deified by the people, and, for their good deeds, are objects o.f worship in Shanghai. In this same city of Shanghai, as you are doutless aware, there is a large Jesuit establishment from which many scientific, learned and useful works are issued. The place is called Sikawei, which, being Englished, means the Su Family Hamlet ; and is so named because the spot was owned by Su. The Roman Catholic missionaries were then In high fevour and many noble converts joined their ranks. In the South which was still unsubdued, the Roman Catholic missionaries sided with the Mings and the converts there fought on that side. In the Fukien Province the Jesuits opposed the Dominicans and Franciscans. These dissensions were -brought to the notice of the Chinese Government, and — 204 — Schaal, though tutor to the young Emperor K'ang-Hsi, was degraded and proscribed, and others also suffered and died, some being sent out of the country. Verbiest and others were imprisoned. Schaal died at the age of 8 7, ' having been thirty-seven years in Imperial employ- ment, under five monarchs.' K'ang-Hsi, however, on coming to power appointed Verbiest astronomer, and 'allowed the missionaries to return to their stations,' though he forbade his subjects embracing Christianity. The fact of Verbiest pointing out the mistake of an intercalary month being wrongly inserted had something to do with this. Verbiest cast hundreds of cannon for the Emperor, as Schaal had done for the Ming sovereign before him. Of Verbiest, who spent many years in the Imperial service in Peking, it has been said: — 'No foreigner has ever enjoyed so great favour and confidence from the rulers of China as this able priest. He seems indeed to have' deserved this for his diligence, knowledge, and purity of conduct in devoting all his energies and opportunities to their good. His residence of thirty years in Peking (1658- 1688) was passed under the eye of suspicious observers ;. but his modesty in the end won their confidence, as his writings and devotions called forth their approval.' Constant disputes took place between the different Roman Catholic sects, who were perhaps jealous of each other or felt rivalry. The disputes centered on the worship of ancestors and of Confucius, and the Jesuits followed Ricci, who classed them as civil and secular and allowed them ; but Morales with more Christian morality and insight into their nature properly took the opposite view and was upheld by the Pope, Innocent Xth (1645). The Jesuits sent one of their number to Rome to represent their view and he succeeded in winning over Alexander Vllth in 1656. And then we have the spectacle of two infallible popes with twa — 205 — infallible decrees nearly opposed to each other ; but the situation was saved in the eyes of the faithful by the latter decree being so carefully drawn up by its astute drafter that it did not directly contradict the former, and the result was that both sides claimed it. The dispute was, however, still carried on. Finally the Jesuits applied to the Emperor, and referred to his decision several points. The Imperial decision on this and another petition were sent to the Pope and both sides tried to influence him, the result being that the Jesuits again failed. A legate sent to China pro- mulgated the Pope's mandate. Here then was Pope against Emperor (not for the first time in the world's history) ; and no wonder a strong ruler like K'ang-Hsi would brook no interference in his dominions, especially, as we may well suppose, when he had been appealed to. The Emperor said he would favour those who followed his views and persecute the others. The Roman Catholic missionaries were set by the ears. The Legate was imprisoned in Macao, and the Bishop and he issued a monitory and censures against each other. The impri- soned Legate sent a remonstrance to the Chinese Governor of Canton against his confinement in which he eventually died. The Pope sent another legate to ^et the Emperor to consent to the Christians obeying the Pope ; but K'ang-Hsi ' evaded all reference to the rites.' ' The Emperor saw his authority was being under- mined, and he took the necessary measures to restrict the efforts of the Roman Catholic missionaries;' but his successor took more repressive steps. Many of the missionaries were ordered out of China ; but managed to remain secretly with their converts. These times were succeeded by alternating periods of quietness and storm. Between 1580 and 1724, 500 Roman Catholic mis- sionaries had been sent to China. — 20i6^ — Amongst some of the hi^ily useful wofk- carf ted out by the Jesuits under the Emperor's coBimand was tfe SHTvey of the Empire by ten of their Huntiber. ' If was a ^^t work for that day, and considering the ins&u- ments they had, the vast area they traversed, and th& imperfect education of their assistants, its accuracy and completeness form the best index of the ability of the surveyors.' Then the new era began in 1858. The converts in 1881 were 1,092,818 with 41 bisliops, and over 1,000 native and foreign priests, 68 colleges and convents. Missions are now tolerated in this land and missionaries are allowed to travel every- where. It is difficult to get present statistics of the Roman Catholic missions in China. The increase is Iaro;elv a natural one from the increase of the families and descendants of the converts. Much aggressive work does not appear to be carried on. A good deal of importance is attached to the baptism of dying children and these swell the numbers in the church. Please do not think that I am speaking without book, for this branch of labour is reported in their own magazine;, strange as it may appear to us who do not believe that a few drops of so-called holv water will carry a soul to Paradise. IMy father saw an instance of it in Macao when a priest, finding an exposed Chinese infant Iving in the Campo, hastened tosprinkle it with water dipped up from a pool in his barretta, or hat, in fear that death should snatch the litde heathen away before the hasty rite of h<^y baptism should transform the poor mite into a Christian. But the precipitate zeal of the priest was moderated when my father gave his medical opinion that the infant was not in immediate danger of dissolution. A regular system is, however, adopted lof recruiting numbers for: the, church in thisway, and is thus described byoiie of their owli' Roman Catholic' missionaries :--- 'The agents- in this work are usually elderly, women,' says Verolles, 'who have experience in the treatment of infantile diseases. Furnished 'with innocent pills and a bottle- of' holy water- whose virtues they extol-,1 they- introduce themselves -into the houses where there are sick- infants, and discover' whether they are in' danger of death ; in this case th'ey inform the parents, and tell them thatbefore administering other remedies they must wash their hands with the purifying waters of their bottle. The parents not suspecting the pieuse ruse, readily, consent, and by these innocent frauds we procure in our mission the baptism of seven or eight thousand infants every year. ' Another (Roman Catholic) missionary, Dufresse, 'one of the- most distinguished of late years, says : — "The women who baptize the infants of heathen- parents announce themselves as consecrated to the healing of infa;nts, and to give remedies gratis, that they may satisfy the vow of their father who has com- manded this as an act of charity." The number of baptized children thus saved from perdition is carefully detailed in the annual reports, and calculations are made»by the missonaries for the consideration of their patrons in France and elsewhere as to the expense incurred for this branch of labour, and the cost of each soul thus saved ; and appeals for aid in sending out these female' sprinklers 'are based upon the tabular reports.' We look in vain on the mass of the Chinese nation to see any change effected by the substitution of the adoration of Romish saints for the worship of thedemi-gods of Heathendom, by the burning of incense before the Virgin Mary instead of before the Chinese — 208 — 'Queen of Heaven. Tn both religions, the Roman Catholic and the Chinese, incense, idols (for the Chinese rightly call the Romish images and the Buddhist idols by the same name) are employed ; and it cannot raise ^he standard of Chinese morality higher than it is at present when one of the bishops thus writes in the case of a girl, who died, but whose sister had been betrothed to a heathen. Her parents lying and saying that the dead girl was the one that was to be married, so as to get out of the marriage to a heathen, the bishop says, ' I think the faith of the parents and the purity of their motives will readily excuse them before God for the sin of lying.' No doubt there have been some excellent Christian men among these Roman Catholic missionaries, who have been better than their Jesuitical creed, and who penetrated beyond all their paraphernalia to the source of aU Christian belief, the Saviour Himself; and some of their converts have been imbued with the same spirit; but on the whole, except in the mere fact of numbers, the results are disappointing. Even with the small amount of instruction given, had the Bible been put into the hands of these neophytes, the results might have been vastly different ; for Christianity is founded on the Christ and the Bible and when these are withheld from the people, or overlaid with a mass of superstition, the results are disastrous. G^' l . =^^^^ LECTURE VIII. PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. Protestant Christianity IN China. The first protestant missionary to China was the Rev. Dr Morrison, who came to the field of his labours in 1 807 : so that scarcely a century has passed since his arrival. Of him, his associate, Dr. Milne, thus wrote : — 'The patience that refuses to be conquered, the diligence that never tires, the caution that always trembles, and the studious habit that spontaneously seeks retirement were best adapted for the first Protes- tant missionary to China.' He found it advisable to secure an official appointment under the East India Company, as Translator, in order to obtain the necessary security to prosecute his work. By wisely availing himself of the aid of this Company, he was enabled to print his renowned dictionary and translate the Bible. The New Testament was published in 18 14, half of it being an original translation, and the other half the revision of a manuscript in the British Museum. Most of his time was taken up by these stupendous labours and the acquisition of the difficult language, with — 212 — none of the aids we now have to make the learning of Chinese easy. All this must have required an energy, and determination, and perseverance worthy of all praise. For six years he laboured alone and then a colleague came out ; but the latter, had soon to leave for the Straits ; the East India Company would not coun- tenance him as well. Seven years after Morrison's arrival in China he was cheered by the first convert. It seems- almost a wonder that he secured any converts at all ; for during all his twenty-seven years of labour, he was never able to have a regular public congregation. The prin- ting of the great dictionary cost the East India Company ;^ 1 2,000, and a printer was sent out from England to see it through the press. Morrison was an indefatigable worker, for he was the author of thirty-one books, nine- teen of them being in English, and the rest in Chinese. As a result of his wonderful labours, as they were considered in those days, he was received by the king on a visit he made to England ; he was also elected a member of the Royal Society. In Morrison's days, China was a closed land to- open-handed Christianity, and he did a noble work by preparing the way; and though he was not able to start schools or churches, he saw the first fruits of the mighty harvest, which has followed his efforts, in three or four Chinese received as Christians. These first gather- ings of the harvest have increased in our day not to thirty or sixty or a hundred fold, but 30,000 fold. One of these first converts, Leung A Fa, is well known by his labours and literary works. Amongst the early men worthy of note is Dyer, who for seventeen years laboured in the preparatory work, much of his time being taken up in making matrices for Chinese type. Few of the tens of thousands in China who read their native newspapers,." printed from moveable type, or who read the many^ books printed from metallic type, are aware that the — S13 -^ ■first steps towards the possibilities of this were made by ^n English missionary. Protestant missionaries, finding China closed to the open prosecution of missionary labours, prepared both themselves and the material for •carrying on the work in the Straits and Malaya, where •even then numbers of Chinese were to be found ; and waited their opportunity to come on to China itself. Books were translated and printed, several native preachers were prepared for their work, ten thousand children passed through the mission schools, and nearly one hundred converts were enrolled. When it was possible to transfer the scene of their labours to China itself, it was done. The Chinese authorities had made a raid on those who had disseminated foreign printed literature among the Chinese, seized the printers, and Leung A-fa had to flee the country. Gutlzaff, who made several voyages (one in a native junk) up and down the coast of China distribute many books. His grave is in the Happy Valley ; Morrison's is in Macao. These voyages and others were the means of scattering 50,000 books along the coast ■of China, some of which prepared the way for future missionary work ; and perhaps 100,000 were -distributed in Canton, Macao, and neighbourhood. In those days before schools could be established or other means employed, this was the best plan to bring the truths and doctrines of Christianity before the people. It must be remembered that at that time foreigners were not allowed to reside elsewhere than at Canton. Medical missions were soon started and met with great success. Morrison had even commenced, with the aid ■of a doctor, dispensing medicine in Macao as early as 1820, and in many cases 'he who comes with the blessings ■of health may prove an angel of mercy to point to the Lamb of God.' It is nearly seventy years since the sen- tence, I have just quoted, was written ; and all the mission — 214 — hospitals established since throughout the length anct breadth of China have been abundant witnesses to its truth in the Christians whose first knowledge of Chris- tianity was obtained in their desire for the cure of bodily- disease; and the removalof prejudice against the foreigner by these and similar institutions has been incalculable^ In Canton the Medical Missionary Society's Hospital there during less than 50 years had relieved about 750,000. The cost was a little over $1 a patient. Another handmaid to the introduction of the good news in China is the translation, printing, and" publication of books, and this work has developed enormously, till now there are several societies devoted to this branch of labour alone ; volumes pour out in constant succession, some men devoting their whole time to their translation or writing. In this way besides purely religious works, great numbers of scientific, medical, philosophical, and historical works have been presented to the Chinese educated classes ; and the enlightenment and progressive spirit of the present day, is largely due to these literary productions. The first Chinese newspaper issued in Canton was published by the Protestant missionaries, who hoped in this way to give the Chinese a true knowledge of the outer world and show them the blessings of Christian ty. The late Dr. Chalmers, so well known to some of us here, and many years resident in Hongkong, was the editor. I am proud to say that I tried in a small way to help to circulate it. Different men, often in addition to their duties of preaching, have taken up separate branches of labour to try and bring enlightenment and knowledge to the Chinese : some have devoted themselves to instruction of the young ; some have prepared almanacs, a class of literature the Chinese are very fond of, which, While giving a of astronomical facts, convey the gospel to the mass^ knowledge of many. — 215 — Looking back over fifty years I see a wonderful change, and a most marvellous progress in every branch of missionary effort. In these early days of missionary enterprise the children had to be provided with food and lodging and clothes to induce them to come to school. That is all changed ; they are willing to pay now. Books were distribiited free ; now the Chinese buy them. The native Christians are beginning to support their own pastors, and even subscribing money to send the good news, they have themselves received,^ to others who do not know it. It is such a pity that so many foreign residents give heed to 'bunders' and the wild gossip, of irres- ponsible people as to mission work. To those who know the real facts of the case it shows such crass ignorance. If people would only go and see for them- selves, they would have very different stories to tell. I am telling you .the truth, the sober truth, things which I have seen and know about. Critics of missions generally rush into print without having thoroughly studied what they write about. Did they but realise how they expose their crass igno- rance to those who have studied the subject from every standpoint and with an intimate knowledge of it, they would, if not determined to show their prejudice, be sure of their ground before making any more rash statements. There is no doubt that there is a stro!'.g bias against missions amongst the foreign communities in the Far East ; but if those who join these communities would only be manly enough to judge for themselves, after personally investigating the work carried on at mission stations with open minds, prepared to see what is the truth in the matter, there would soon be an end to the diatribes and jeers at men and women who are trying their best to do good to their fellow men. — 216 — ■'It is a notorious fact that a large proportion of the European merchants in China are opposed to missionary work, and they influence the Chinese merchants^ who in their turn get prejudiced against missionaries. They blame one class of missionaries for looking after their health too carefully, and for living in good houses. They blame another class for living in dirty houses, and for wearing Chinese costume. They blame a third class for living at the ports within reach of foreign gunboats to protect them, instead of going into the interior and taking their lives in their hands. They blame a fourth class for being so fool- hardy as to risk their lives in the interior among savages, till they have converted those at the coast. They blame a fifth class for their arrogance in trying to proselytise people who have splendid religions, equal, if not superior, to our own. They blame a sixth class of well- trained men for being great fools — devoting their talents to help the Chinese, when they might have easily made a large fortune in any line of business. Thus one set of objections cancels another.' Two objections made to the Chinese being amen- able to the tenets of Christianity by those who are ignorant of Chinese history are that ' they are two apathetic to care about religion ' and ' too self-conceited to receive doctrines imported from a foreign country.' * But the facts are dead against these unphilosoplical objections.' ' The reception of Buddhism by the nation at large is a sufficient guarantee that the people are as capable of adopting new opinions as any other nation ; and the zeal needful for the maintenance of the system through so many centuries, were it nothing more, amply vindicates them from the charge of inherent apathy. To the believer, it should be sufficient to quote the words of inspiration : — " The Lord looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth hearts — 217 — alike." ' As to zeal, look at the long and arduous travels undergone by Buddhists to visit the sacred places of their faith and to collect the copies of their sacred books, already referred to in the lecture on Budd- hism. Fa-hien travelled between nine and ten thousand miles, starting in A.D. 399, and taking fifteen years to the stupendous task. 'By means of cords, flying bridge, and steps hewn in the rock, he cleared all but un- approachable chasms, and precipices, 8,000 feet high.* Through Tartary and Tibet he went to India, returning T)td Java. ' Sun-yun, and Hway-sang traversed Badak- shan, Oudyana, Khandahar, and Eastern Persia early in the sixth century, moved by a spirit of pious zeal.' Max Muller thus writes of Huen-chwang ' There we learn something of the man himself, and of that silent enthusiasm which supported him in his arduous work. There we see him braving the dangers of the desert, scrambling along glaciers, crossing over torrents, and •quietly submitting to the brutal violence of Indian Thugs. There we see him rejecting the tempting invitations of Khans, Kings, and Emperors, and quietly pursuing among strangers, within the bleak cell of a Buddhist college, the study of a foreign language, the key to the sacred literature of his faith. — His whole life belonged to the faith in which he was born, and the object of his labour was not so much to perfect himself as to benefit others. He was an honest man. And strange, and stiff, and absurd, and outlandish as his •outward appearance may seem, there is something in the face of that poor Chinese monk, with his yellow skin and his small oblique eyes, that appeals to our sympathy; something in his life, and the work of his life, that places him by right among the heroes of Greece, the martyrs of Rome, the knights of the Crusades, the ■explorers of the Arctic regions — something that makes us feel it a duty to inscribe his name on the roll of the "forgotten worthies" of the human race.' 'He ~ 218 — deserved to have lived in better times, and we almost grudge so high and noble a character to a country not our own, and to a religion unworthy of such a man.' Wylie well says : — ' Men of such a stamp are by no means a rarity ; and instances from modern history of the nation might also be adduced, some indeed strike us with wonder, and utterly remove the point from general aspersions cast against the Chinese.' The elemental spirit of the Chinese was not so apathetic : their religion has exercised a soporific, an apathetic, a deadening influence on them. It is possible that some early Jewish settlers may have imparted ' a knowledge of the truths of the sacred record," and then these truths have become obscurely perpetuated in the teaching of these Chinese wise men of old. One or two eminent sinologues have thought that this possibly may have been the case ; but this idea cannot be carried too far, as it has been by some of the early Jesuit missionaries in China, who were easily carried away by apparent resemblances, though some of them were more sober minded. As it has been remarked : — 'We hear much about the influence of the early Jesuits in China and also a good deal about the Nestorians, a thousand years before them ; but Christendom knows next to nothing about the immense influence of Semitic religion on China, through Buddhism first, and later on through Taoism. Professor Rhys Davids and others have written very exhaustively about early Buddhism — the Hin^yana school. Later Buddhism, or the Mahayana school, is familiar also by name. It is also called the new religion. The beliefs of early Buddhism conquered the Far East once. Since then they have been largely buried under heaps of superstitious teaching that is partly Chinese and partly Hindu. When the light of modern criticism shall have blown away the chaflT, then the best Buddhists and the — 210 — best Christians will clasp hands over these buried truths and, instead of attacking each other as enemies, will co-operate to take up the cross as the Children of God for the salvation of their fellow-men.' 'The fact that not only in Buddhism, but also in Taoism, the best men of China have declared for the higher truths is not geilerally known ; hence we often hear men say that the Chinese are materialists and not religious.' Now, to give you a little idea of the varied and multifarious duties of the missionary, let me describe a missionary compound at which I once stayed on a visit for nearly two months. It was situated on the outskirts of a port in the Canton province on the banks of a wide river. At the water edge lay a boat with a cabin and one mast in which preaching tours and visits to the out-stations were taken, up the branches of this river into the interior : so that all these outlying stations might be kept in touch and constant supervision exercised over them. I went on one of the Sunday preaching trips with the missionary whose duly it was to visit this out-station. We started on the Saturday and got as near the station as the waterways would take us, and then the next morning we had a long walk for miles through the country along winding lanes, and though it was March, it was a frighfuUy hot walk. At last after a long peregrination we arrived at our destination, a village with a small chapel. Here services were held and inquirers exami- ned as to their fitness to join the church, for the great- est care is taken to only admit those who are sincere. Only the other day, I heard of a city where the mission- aries could baptize thousands if they would only take all that came without this inquiry. After the day's work was over we trudged back the long way to find the temperature in the boat something terrible ; for the place — 220 — -where she lay was like a hot oven, and the sun had been beating on her all day. Another time I went with the Medical man of the mission in a tiny boat some miles up the river ; for he had been called to attend a sick woman in a country village. Here we were received by the villagers and taken into their wretched little hovels which did duty for houses and after the patient had been attended to we returned. The outlying chapels are scattered all over the adjacent country. One I slept in one night was a con- siderable journey by a small steamer, which ran up the river about as far as it was possible for it to go. Again I spent a week in a large city some thirty- iive miles away with another Medical man of the same mission. Here he lived in the heart of an immense Chinese population, who have been noted for many years for their delight in baiting the foreign devil. The only time I was ever mobbed was in this city when this doctor and I had Indian corn-cobs shied at us by a crowd which he estimated at two thousand in number. It was not a pleasant sensation I tell you and I am glad the courtyard of the temple, we were visiting at the time, was paved and that no stones lay about handy as missiles against us. Such an experience is not one that a man cares for more than once in a life time. Sir John Falstaff was right: 'there is no fear of Got in a mop'; and it takes but little to change a position like that we were in to one of positive danger. When one went out through the streets it was not, it would appear, uncommon to receive little pointed attentions of that sort, varied occasionally by gravel, or pebbles, thrown after one. When out in this city I experienced each of these amenities of life, these cordial greetings, along with the doctor. These people have even gone further in their curious way of showing hospitality; for they — 221 — have spat in the face of a European before now. Per- haps on the plan of the Yorlcshireman in the wilds of that large county, who is said to 'eave 'arf a brick at a stranger. Once or twice the doctor had a fairly good-sized stone tossed in through his window by the friendly neighbours or passers-by, perhaps with the idea of bringing his children to the window, so that the- unsophisticated natives might see what a ' foreign- devil's ' child was like. They were very nice in the epithets they bestowed on us. We^had ' foreign dogs ' shouted at us from the city walls one evening. After a week I had had enough of it and left for more congenial climes. There was enough of the unpleasant and dangerous element there to make life anything but a joyous existence under such conditions* Many of the people though were very polite and nice. At one house, we found the inmates quite pleased because a former patient of my friend, the doctor's, had completely recovered. But this is an example of what the missionary has sometimes to endure until the people are slowly shown a better way. Fancy a man living like this for months and years with only one or two other Europeans,, besides his own family, in this large city and those French priests. It is only human to feel, to say the least of it, that the situation is not the most pleasant on the face of the earth. In the forenoon there was a dispensary thrown open and I, on a few of the days I was there,. took down the names of the patients when they come in before going up to be examined by the doctor. It was very amusing. For example, there was no getting the proper names of the women ; they were Auntie So-and-so, or Sister-in-law This-and-that, and so on. Next the dispensing room was the chapel where the patients- were directed to the Great Physician of their souls. I slept in a haunted room, but the only ghosts I saw were in the day time when the patients and. — 222 — small crowds of Chinese would peep in through the open woodwork of the row of doors, that formed one end of the apartment, to see what the strange foreign devil was like and what he was doing. But let us return to the missionary compound at the head-station. Here also was a large hospital with a number of beds in it, and a chapel where there was a daily service for the benefit of the patients. I attended this service a number of times. The native preacher spoke well ; and the service was actively followed up by one or two of the ladies of the mission speak- ing to the women when the more formal sermon was over ; the patients were also visited at their bedsides and read and talked to. It was most interesting to sit beside the doctor and see the sick file in before him and his Chinese assistants, have their diseases diagnosed, and be prescribed for. It was a continuous stream for hours of all sorts of diseases : amidst all the hundreds that thus passed before me, one or two stand out in my memory with distinctness : one was the case of a girl in her teens brought by her mother, or aunt, or some relative, from the country and the verdict was incurable, for her lungs were far gone ; another was a man who came in with a bright band of red emblazoned across his forehead, a leper, also incurable. I have selected this compound, because there were centred a number of the activites of missionary life. Just across the road was a good-sized chapel where the church gathered together from the heathen, as well as any who were inquiring about the new way, were welcome and where preaching and services were held at stated times. There was a girls* boarding school which the missionary ladies superintended, and where a number of girls were being educated ; and in another part of the compound was a boys' school, also under the care and instruction of the missionaries. A lay member — 223 — of the mission had the schools specially under his charge. Another interesting sort of school was one for grown up and married women with families. The children of these Christian mothers of families were left in charge of mothers-in-law for a few weeks, or a month or two, while the mother, whose education had been neglected as a heathen girl, now came down out of the country for the express purpose of learning to read. But it was not the stupid book-langyage, looked at from an ignorant Chinese woman's standpoint, which she learned and which is a beautiful medium of instruction for scholars and for those who have leisure to spend years over its gradual acquirement : these women with their family ties and cares had no time and besides it was beyond the powers of some of them to attempt such a task. As well teach the wives of agricultural labourers in England to read Latin or Greek. . These missionary ladies have solved the problem for these Chinese villagers' wives by teaching them their own spoken language, a beautiful living language, and not a dead one, like the language of Chinese books. And the result has been extraordinary. Just let me tell what came under my own observation when I was a boy in Canton. An Amah, we had in the house, not an intensely stupid or dull woman, was determined that she would learn to read. She got one of the first ' Readers,' in Chinese and in her spare moments she was busy with it trying her very best, asking me, or some of the Chinese, the words ; but it was an impossible task for her ; she could never learn to be able to know more than a very few words, and books would be still to her closed volumes. Now on the other hand most of these ignorant women, who came out of the country with no advantages of education, were able by means of an alphabetic rendering ot the Chinese character, which is called Romanizing, to go back in a few weeks, or in a month — 224 — or two, able to read a gospel. At the same time they are instructed in the other Scriptures. I remember an hour or two I spent in this grown-up woman's school in company with the missionary lady who had charge of it and woman after woman told me a Bible-story she had learned by heart — the story of Joseph ; and then a violent thunder storm coming on we had a conversation as to what thunder was, for the heathen Chinese believe that it is caused by a god with a fowl's head and bird-like claws, who, with hammer and chisel, kills those who are wasteful. Imagine what, a boon it is for these poor women being able to go home to their little hamlets, and, instead of their minds being almost a blank, being able to take a book up and read it intelligibly and enjoy it ; instead of the weary round of household duties, relieved only by interminable gossip, to be able to sit down and hold communion, as we can, with the Book of Books ; and then to be able to know something of the great forces of nature all round them, not to be in abject terror of them, or, like little ignorant children, believe a lot of nonsensical fairy tales, instead of seeing the hand of a loving Father in all around them. One of the multifarious duties which occupy the attention of these missionaries has been, and is, the translation of books into the language understood by those who have had no advantages of education. There is a printing press in this compound where Chinese have been taught to print these books, under the supervision of the missionary. There Is quite a large literature already issued In it and It is being constantly added to. Nor is the book-language neglected In this mission ; for one or two of the members have devoted thernselves with great success to the study of it and have added materially to the success of the mission by their labours in that direction. — 225 — Do not suppose that it is only religious material that is supplied, as mental pabulum for the converts : missionaries do not want to make goody-goody people of the Chinese — they wish to develope them in every way, and lift them up on to a higher plane of existence. Amongst many other means of interesting and in- structing those under their charge a monthly newspaper is published, which not only contains religious matter; but other news. Even now I have not exhausted all the different methods employed in this compound to try and benefit the Chinese, spiritually, mentally, and physically, though at the same time one cannot expect every method to be gathered together within the small compass of one small mission. I might take you to some large cities, like, for example. Canton, and wandering through the mazes of wonderful lanes and alleys, dignified by the name of streets, show you, diiFerent agencies, one after another, for spreading a knowledge of Christianity and its resul- tant civilisation. Here for example, a few miles below the city we see the temporary buildings of a large college. Christian in all its aims ; and supported by Christian men in America, who might put us to shame by the liberal-handed way in which they have risen to the occasion. Thirty acres of land have been acquired and large college buildings are being put up to meet China's recent eager call for an education in Western knowledge and science. ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ' is the wise plan which these American professors are working upon. This establish- ment is simply in its early days ; but when its buildings are complete and it gets into thorough working order, it will be a grand institution. There is no narrow-mindedness about such a scheme. A foot-ball ground is already prepared ; all the pupils are drilled 15 — 226 — in gymnastics, and taken out for walks by the- professors, as well as being put through all the lingual gymnastics of learning the difficult English language. Shall we plunge into the heart of the city itself? Every half-mile, or mile, that we cover, I could show you church, or chapel, in the midst of the teeming population, often the Centre of a mass of different agencies — all with the object of ameliorating the con- dition of those who are not living up to their highest possibilities, owing to the heathenism in which they have been born and brought up. Here in the very heart of the Old City is a little shop, surrounded by bookshops, where not only Chris- tian books are for sale for nominal prices, but also Geographical, Arithemetical, Mathematical, and all kinds of Scientific works are to be bought in the Chinese language, most of them having been either original Works written by missionaries, or translations made by them from English and other languages. And here I may remark that ninety per cent, of" scientific and other similar books translated into Chinese from European languages have been the work of missionaries ; and ninety per cent, of books translated from Chinese have also been the work of the missionary. 'The first telegraph, the first railroad, and the first fleet in China, all owed their origin to " old boys " of the London Mission School.' I could take you into hospitals and dispensaries for men and women, to an asylum for the insane,, show you Chinese men and women being trained up to cure the diseases of their fellow-countrymen. I could show you Christian men visiting the lepers, healing their hideous wounds, cleansing them,, giving them warm clothing in winter, augmenting their slender pittance; with hourishing food. — 227 — Then I could show you schools, full of happy girls, with bright intelligent faces being educated and lifted up out of the dull level of a Chinese woman's existence. One I often visit when I go to Canton is a boarding school of 170 girls. In some of these schools the girls are taught to sing beautifully. One I saw on my last visit was for Hakka country girls, brought in from the villages and hamlets and given an education, which, however, does not unfit them for the humble stations they occupy in life. I could show you foreign ladies going about through the narrow, close streets in the sultry hot days of summer, as well as at other times, visiting the Chinese ladies and women in their houses ; I could take you into rooms where you would find classes of young men being instructed, so as to be able to go out themselves, after their theological courses are through, to teach their own countrymen what they themselves have learned. The last time I was in Canton I saw one of these where Hakka young men were being taught, who sang hymns in four parts. Their voices were won- derfully trained. Step into some of the chapels dotted over the cities and you will find now a foreigner, now a Chinese preaching ; again you will see the same, or other men, starting out on circuits into the country to preach, or colporteurs with bundles of books, going far into the interior with their precious burdens. I took one ofthese native colporteurs one day with me as a guide far up in the country and it was interesting to hear at first hand some of his experiences. Twice had he been in peril of robbers, the scourge of this part of southern China, and they had let him go free once, if not both times, on his explanations of his position and what he was doing. But you do not need to go to Canton to see all this. The same work is being carried on here in Hong- — 228 — kong, though on a smaller scale, as this city is smaller than Canton. Here we have the T6 Tsai Church in Hollywood Road with a large and influential congrega- tion, who support their own minister, have built their own Church, and carry on active missionary work on the mainland and in the Canton Province, a flourishing Church doing a good work in the colony, not leaning upon the foreigner for support. They raise in subscrip- tions annually about $i,ioo — of which about $500 is spent on mission work. As is only right in such a case, they are free and manage their own affairs and do it well too : active, vigorous Christians, who decide their own church matters — the kind of churches that one wishes to see in China, self-supporting and self-govern- ing, able to stand on their own feet, and there are numbers of these in this land. There is St. Stephen's Church at West Point with a large congregation, and there is the Baptist Church at the end of Elgin Terrace with a native pastor and no foreigner in charge. There is the Hakka Church in First Street under the charge of the Basel Mission, and a Wesleyan Church. Beside these there are preaching halls on this side of the water and on the other. There are numbers of missionary schools, both for boys and girls scattered over the Colony. There is also the fine work done in the Berlin Foundling House. There are one or two theological schools where men are being trained to be native pastors. And here and there, in the New Territory, are churches and out-stations and schools and colporteurs. Nor must we forget that admirable school for the blind on the road to the City of Kaulung under the superintendency of German ladies. In fact it is impossible to mention all the missionary efforts put forth in this Colony and its dependencies in the short time allowed for a lecture. Enough has perhaps been said to give a slight idea of what is being done. Pray go and see some of it with your own — 229 — eyes and learn the truth of it all yourselves. The Missionaries wiU be glad to see you and show you what they are doing : so wiU the Chinese. New plans are constantly being evolved to try and further the good cause : now it is an endeavour to reach the mandarins, who have been inaccessible ; and one of the latest, as you are aware, is that of interesting the young men through the agency of the Y.M.C.A.; both of which are meeting with great success. Of the last it has been prophesied that this ' youthful giant ' ' wiU expand with the new century tiU it fills all the land.* God grant it may be true. Let me just instance another attempt, still more recent, made in Canton. A number of native schools have been started aU over China to impart Western science and learning to Chinese youths. You will find them hundreds of miles away from Hong- kong, in the interior and there are a large number of them in Canton. The scholars in these places are eager for information and their desires were responded to by a series of lectures. I was asked to deliver the first three and I took as my subjects : — 'The Bible unique amongst all Sacred Books'; ' Christ unique amongst all Sages'; 'Christianity unique amongst all Religions.' Detachments came from these schools and the audiences numbered hundreds, who listened attentively to aU that was said to them. This class of scholar and student have many of them not been reached before. One of the Hongkong papers contained this preliminary notice of the lectures : — 'Arrangements have been made for a series of lectures to be given to the students of Canton. The lectures will be given in the Presbyterian Mission Chapel at Sz P'ai Lau which is near the centre of the city. Mr. J. Dyer Ball of Hongkong wLU deliver three lectures and one lecture each wiU be given by Hon. J. G. Lay, U.S. Consul General, Rev. R. H. Graves,, — 230 — D.D., and Rev. O. F. Wisner, President of the Canton Christian College. Hundreds of young men are looking for something new, and the idea in giving these lectures is to point out to the students lines along which the hope for China lies.' And the same paper gfave a further notice of these lectures, as follows : — 'The series of lectures being delivered in the Presbyterian Church at Sz P'ai Lau are attracting large audiences. On Sunday afternoon twenty-three schools were represented, those of the Government being among the number sending the most students. Mr. J. Dyer Ball delivered three lectures, all of Avhich were instructi\ e and listened to with good attention. The fact that the lecturer dealt largely on the subject of Christianity did not appear to offend any of the audience, though most of the students were in no way identified with Christianity.' 1 may say that at the first lecture there were 500 present ; at the next 650, at the third over 300, at the fourth there were over 600, and about as man^• at the fifth. Time would fail to tell of all the agencies that have been used by Protestant missionaries to further the knowledge of the gospel and raise the Chinese to a higher plane of life than that which pertains to Confucianism and idolatry. The Morrison Education Society in its one school alone, held for some years in Hongkong, turned out at least half a score of men, some of whom have occupied high positions in the life of the nation, and have furthered the cause of progress. The Protestant Christian population of China is now between 100,000, and 200,000. At the beginning 1900 the number was 112,808. And this all remember in less than a century. Progressing by the leaps and — 231 — t)ound.s that it is, it will soon be a million. What a glorious future it will be for China when a large mass, and ever increasing proportion of her people, are Christian. Then, as during the last century or two corruption has disappeared from official life in England, we may expect that the courts oi Chinese yam^^ns will not be the dens of corruption they are now, and in the train of a purification of official life will come innumerable blessings, such as the cessation of piracy and many others too numerous to mention. Be it ours to assist as much as we can, towards this blessed ■consummation, even though it may be but apparently little. And now let me provide you with a few figures, just as instances of what has been, and is being done in China. The Chinese Christians gave in one year recently $2.50 per head for church work, which is more in proportion to ability than Christians at home gave. In a tabulated statement like the following one may perhaps be better able to realise the enormous growth of Protestant Missions in China : — n 1807 there were on communicants... O „ 1 8 14 ji „ ... I » 1834 3> 3 „ 1842 3J „ ... 6 „ 1853 35 35<3 » 1857 33 „ ... 1,000 „ 1865 33 „ ... 2,000 „ 1876 33 ... 13-515 „ 1886 3> „ ... 28,000 „ 1889 J3 ... 373287 „ 1893 3J ... 553093 » 1897 33 „ ... 80,682 „ 1903 33 „ ...112,808 The niunber of Protestant Missionaries were 2,950, being 1,233 men and 868 wives, and S49 single women. Of them 1,483 were from Great Britain, 1,117 from America, and 350 from Continental Europe. There are in China, gathered around this nucleus of between i and 200,000 Christians, a body of 3,500,000 adherents. The stations were 2,500 in number, includ- ing out-stations. There were 3,747 Chinese pastors and helpers, 1,716 day-schools and 105 higher institutions of learning, 2 ^ mission presses with an annual output • * * of 107,149,738 pages, 32 periodicals. The hospitals numbered 124, including dispensaries, treating in one year 1,700,452, patients. The asylums for orphans, the blind and the deaf were 32 in number. Take the province of Kwong-tung with its population of about 20,000,000. There are about 40,000 Christians in it, which makes about one Christian in about 500. Then consider that there is an average of live in a fiimily, quite a low estimate. Now the Christian in a femilv in China is often the man of influence in that family ; the rest of the flimily very often look up to him and he instructs them. Taking then the influence which these men exert, we get a population of 200,000 under the influence ot Christianity : thev attend the services : so we get one man in a hundred in the province brought more or less under the influence of Christianity and connected with it. If we combine the next province, that of Kwong-sai with that of Kwong-tung, we then get a population of 30,000,000 and we have one man in 150 voluntarily attending services on Sunday. In the Kwong-tung Province the nati% e converts may be divided between the different churches in this manner : — — 233 - - Presbyterian 6,000 Baptist 4,000 Germans 10,000 Wesleyan 2,000 L. M. S. 2,000 Brethren & others 16,000 Total 40,000 which is a conservative estimate for the two provinces. The converts belonging to the American Presby- terian Mission 5,561 in number, contributed $11,717, for education $2,850. 25,000 pass through the Medical Missionary Society's Hospital in a year. The Chinese Christian has often shown that his Christianity is a force in him not only making for righteousness, but also for strength of character. In a short lecture, one cannot multiply instances of heroism amongst these Chinese, who are looked upon by so many of us as cowards ; but one may mention a few instances out of many. One native Chinese pastor was safe when the Boxer outrage began 120 miles from home; but he hurried back to his flock, to be stabbed, his arm twisted out of joint, and his back scorched with candles to make him recant. He stood firm and was beheaded. Another Chinese pastor was beaten with a hundred blows on his bare back on refusing to apostatize, and then was asked to choose between giving up Christ and another hundred blows. He answered, ' 1 value Jesus Christ more than life, and I will never deny Him.' Before the second hundred blows were finished he lost consciousness, and was left for dead ; but with careful nursing he recovered. Another man, a poor cook was seized, his ear cut off, and mouth and cheeks gashed by sword cuts, as well as other unspeakable mutilations inflicted on him. Yet he stood firm. — 234 — Colonel Denby, who was late American minister to China, said in reference to the siege in Peking, 'Not two per cent, of the Chinese Christians proved recreant to their faith, and many met death as martyrs. Let us not call them " rice Christians " any more.' In short one gathers that at that dreadful time of trial they stood as well as our own people would do ; for the Chinese "Christians proved noble in the dreadful siege of the legations in Peking. ' Of the hundreds of Christians who were taken into the legation grounds in Peking, not one proved false to their benefactors. " In the noonday heat, in the drenching night rains, under storms of shot and shell, they fought, filled sand-bags, built barracades, dug trenches, sang hymns and offered prayers to the God whom the foreigner had taught them to love." Even the children were faithful. During the scream of deadly bullets and the roar of burning buildings, the voices of the Junior Christian Endeavour Society were heard singing "There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes." — Such instances could be multiplied almost indefinitely from the experiences of Chinese Christians during the Boxer uprisings. Indeed the fortitude of the persecuted Christians was so remarkable that in many cases the Boxers cut out the hearts of their victims to find the secret •of such sublime faith, declaring, "They have eaten the foreigners' medicine." In those humble Chinese the world has again seen a vital faith, again seen that the age of heroism has not passed, again seen that men and woman are willing to die for Christ. Multitudes withstood a persecution as frightful as that of the early ■ disciples in the gardens and arenas of Nero. As Dr. Maltbie Badcock said " One tenth of the hypocrisy with which they were charged would have saved them from martyrdom." But thousands of them died rather than .abjure their faith and thousands more " had trial of — 235 — mockings and scourings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword being destitute, afflicted, evil-entreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth." ' These cases and many others of real heroism amidst the persecutions of every day life are strong proofs that the native converts are real, are genuine, and those of us who have lived amongst the Chinese, understand their language, and have seen the Christians in the midst of heathendom, know that many of them are noble examples of what Christianty is able to accomplish in the face of a dead inert mass of heathendom. We in the West have risen from a lower position than the Chinese. Why should we doubt their ability as a people to do the same, especially when most notable individual cases are patent to our sight if we will but open our eyes to see them ? 237 APPENDIX No. The following are the Statistics of one mission alone at work in the Kwong-tung Province including the British Colony of Hongkong. Church Missionary Society. Statistics of Work in Hongkong, and in the Province of Kwong-tung, for year ending December 31st, 1904. Foreign Missionaries - - - 37 Native Catechists and Biblewomen - 30 , School Teachers 39 , Church Members - 1,321 , Communicants - 486 Schools . 28 Pupils . . - - - 1,023 , Contributions - $2,640.00 239 — APPENDIX No. 2 APPROXIMATE. The following are Statistics of the Missions and their work in the Canton Province including Hongkong; but it is not complete and the figures, if full particulars were included, would be higher. Evang'elistic. Stations where missionaries live -34 Missionaries, Men - 93 „ , Women 106 Ordained Pastors - - 26 Native Preachers - 243 Bible Women 80 Organized Chm-ches - Preaching Places - - 62 - 260 Baptized, Infants ,, , Adults 267 3,048 Total Church-members 16,663 Sunday Schools - „ Pupils Contributions by Native Churches- - - $26,661.28 34 2,167 — 240 — Educational. rheological Schools, 4 : Pnpil; 101 Womens Traming Schools. 3; ,, 45 iledical Schools, 3 45 Boarding Schools. Boys, 5 ; ,. 419 „ , Girls, 15 ; ., 515 Dav-Schocls. Boys, 50 ., i,iis , Girls, 53 : „ 1,3 1 8 Totf.l Schools 125 .. 3.4S2 Schools Fees reported §3.436. This last is fer from complete. Medical. Hospitals - - Dispensaries Foreign Physicians. Men . Women Native Physicians. Men , Women In-Padents Out-Patients Visits to Homes Sm^cal Operations - - - Total Cases Treated Fees reported by 3 Hospitals and 2 Itispensaries - - §8,552.55 IDistribution of Literature. - 10 - 4 - 11 I 4 5 - 3,127 74.9S5 3,05S 4,667 81,170 Colportenrs Bibles Circulated Old and New Testaments Portions and Tracts Total Books Beceived from Sales 52 645 - 8,857 - 232,373 251,879 -|i,4T1.69 Abbots, 103, 104 Ablutions, 122, 171, 175 Abnegation of self, 83 {See Taoism.) Abraham, 173 Absorption of the creature in the Creator, 65 Abstinence, Vows of, 101 Abyss Mother, 65 Acts of St. Thomas, 185 Adam, 174 Adam's Peak, 130 Afghanistan, 128, 185 Africa, 107, 141 Agnosticism, 83 Alchemy, 66, 105 Aleni, 157 Alexander, 32 Allegorical ideas, 65, 72 Allegories, 65 Alleys, 225 Almalik, 193 Almanacs, 214 Alphabetical language, 116 Altars, 7, 10, 25, 101 Amida Buddha, 101, 114 Amsterdam, 164 Ancestor worship, 9, 18, 26, 45, 46, 49, 173, 175, 179, 200, 204 Ancestors, 12, 13, 81, 175 Hall of, 162 Ancestral tablets, 12, 20, 24, 39, 80, 81, A — {cont.) Ancient religion of China, 52 Annihilation, 96 Anthropomorphism, 75 Antiquity, Respect for, 23 Arab, 124, 125-126, 127, 131 Arabia, 141, 144 Arabian and Turkish ancestors, 138-139 „ travellers, 191 „ tribes, 141 Arabic, 136 „ characters, 122 Arcadian simplicity, 60 Archaeology, Jewish, 176 Armenian Christians, 194 Armenians, 184 Arnold, Sir Edwin, 96 Arrival of Chinese in China, 152 Ascent of man, 104 Asceticism, 96, 105 Asia, 141, 193 Astrology, 7, 105-106 Astronomer, 204 Astronomical Board, 203 Astronomy, 35, 169-170, 214 Asylums, 226 Atheism, 96 Atheists, 115 Athens, 32 u INDEX. A — (cont.) Atonement, Day of, 165 Authorities, Chinese, 213 Avebery, Lord, 21-22 Baal and Baal Peor, 17 Baby, 72-73 i^abylpnia, 32 Backward look, 23 Bacteria, 193 Bad featyres of Mahomnie- (Janism, 142 Badakshan, 217 Bagdad, 170 Balk, 128 Balkh, 193 Pallad, 12 Bankers, 101 Banyan, 15 Baptism of dying infants, 206, 207 Baptist Church, 228 Beajconsfield, Earl of, 105 Bede, The Yenerable, 191 Bedouins, 141 BenaxCiS, 91 Benefactors, 12, 14 ierlin Foundling House, 228 Beth-el, 163, 164 Bible, 17, 146, 167, 195- 196, 197, 200, 201, 208, 240' Bishop of Victoria, 171 Blind school, 228 ,, story-tellers, 203 Boat people, 24 Bodhidharma, 104 Bodhisattva, 92 Bokhara, 128 B — {cont.) Book language, 228, 224 „ of History, 8 „ of Poetry, 45, 46 Books, Distribution of, 213, 215 „ Scientific, 226 „ Translation of, 213, 214, 224, 226 Borneo, 107 Boxer rising, 84 Boxers, 233 Brahmanism, 91 Bralimans, 92, 93 Brayed in a niortar, 76 Bridges, 97 Buddha, 113 „ , Disciples of, 101 Buddhas, Countless, 100 Buddhism, 4, 5, 14, 21, 26, 32, 49, 68-69, 74, 77, 82, 83, 84, 123, 126, 191, 208, 216, 218-219 „ , Acceptance of, 89 , Arrivar of, 106 „ , Debased, 5 „ , Decay of ,91 „ , Development of, 94 „ , Epochs of , Failure of, 105 „ , History of, in China, 106-112 , Instruction in, 93 „ , No true founda- tion of morality in, 93 m Buddhism, Northern, 100, 102, 105 „ , Not a force for 'good, 117 „ , Persecutions of, 108 „ , Sacred Books of, 102 „ , Schools of, 94, 110 , Sects of, 94-95 Buddhist College, 217 „ literature, 102, 106, 107, 138 „ pilgrims, 107- 108 „ priests. Garb of, 199 „ travellers, 107- 108 Buddhists, 179, 192 „ , Number of, in the world, 90 " Bunders," 215 Burkhardt, 131 Burning' things for the dead, 28 Burying alive, 23, 24 Butchers, 140 c Cacanfu, 194 Cairo, 127 Calendar, Eeformation of, 208 Calm Sea, The, 130 Candida, 203 Candlesticks, 101 Canton, 39, 97-104, 107, 121, 123-124, 188, 168, 176, 177, 195, 199, 200, 205, 213, 214, 219, 228, 225-228, 229 Cap, 72-78 Capital Punishment, 60 Carajan, 194 Caravans, 134-135 Care of the Scriptures, 167- 168 Cafpini, Jbhn d6, 196 Caste, 96 Cathay, 197 Celebacy, 108 Celebes, 107 Celestial Enipire, 199 Central Asist,, 135 Ceremonial duty, 117 „ formalism, 50 „ observances, 36, 37 Certainties of Christianity, 53 Ceylon, 107, 130 Chalmers, Dr., 214 Chang Chow Fu; 129 „ Ngdn, 170 Changcius, 65 Chao-chao-fii, 15 Chapels, 222, 226,227- Charity, 97 Charla,tans, 64 Charms, 72-78, 79 Chau, dynasty, 168 „ , State of, 174 Chemistry, 66 Chief wife, 49 Children of Israel, 17 Chin Kiaing, 194 IV INDEX. C—icont.) China, 91, 92, 127, 130, 132, 134, 193 „ Sea, 129 Chinese, 114 „ characters, 4, 5 „ Dictionary, 116 „ Government, 203 Jews, 164-166 Chow Dynasty, 23 Christ 192, 208 Christian Colony, 96 „ and Christians 196,197 „ worship, 144 Christians, 134, 168 „ in Arabia, 144 Christianity, 123, 157, 158, 185, 225 „ , Preparation for, 115 Ch'iian-chow Fu, 129 Ch'un Ts'aii, 51 Churches, 128, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 226, 232, 233, 237, 239 Chwan Chow, 134 City Temple, 75 Civilisation, 109 „ of Chinese, 35 Circumcising, 136,157,165 Classics, Chinese, 70 College, Christian, 225, 226 Colossus of power, 66 Combination of Confucia- nism, Taoism, and Budd- hism, 111 Combs, 138 Comparative mythology, 14 Concealment of truth 51 C—(cont.) Concubinage, 145 Concubine, 49 Concubines, 131, 142 Condemnation of Mahom- med, 143-144 Confucianism, 21, 49, 50, 66,67, 74, 81,82,83, 90, 95, 105, 111, 117 Confucianists, 25 Confucius, 18, 21, 31, 60, 64, 95, 97, 106, 165 „ , Birth of, 36 „ , Character of, 36, 41, 42 , Death of, 38, 39,40 „ , Disciples of, 50,52 „ , Dress of, 40,41, , Exile of, 37 , Pood of, 41 ,, , Homage to, 38 „ , Images of, 40 „ , Influence of, 83 „ , Marriage of, 37 „ , Official career of 37 „ , Personal appe- arance of, 40 „ , EeligiouB views of, 39, 42 , Tablets of, 39, 40 „ , Teaching of, 37, 42,43,44, 47, 48,54 „ , Temple of, 38, 39 „ , Youth of, 36, 37 INBEX. C— (con*.) Confucius, Worship of, 38 39, 204, Conserving power, 33 Constancy of Christians, 233-235 Constantinople, 128, 185 Contributions, 231, 232, 233, 237, 239 Controversies, 109 Converts, First, 212 „ , Eoman Catholic, 206 Copley, 21 Coreans, 61 Cosmogony, 59 {See Pwan Kwu.) Cotton, 35 Creator, 24 „ , No, in Buddhism, 95 Crematory, 103 Cromwell, 151 Customs, Eeligious, of Cyclopaedias, 169-170 Daniel, 169 Dante, 99 Davis, Professor Ehys, 218 Dead, The, 8, 12,13 Death robbed of terrors, 91 Degeneracy, 26 Deified heroes, 7 Delhi, 130 Demons, 73 Denby, Colonel, 234 Denial of existance, 113, 115 Deva Kings, 98 Devas, 93, 98 J)—{cont.) Development of China, 33 „ „ Chinese, 33 Devil, 115 Dictionaries, 170-171 Dictionary, Morrison's, 211,212 Difficult to understand Chinese, 31 Disciples of Buddha, 101 „ „ Mahommed, 125 Discussions, 109 Disintegration, 33 Dispensaries, 226 Divination, 8, 26, 58, 72 Divine Panorama, 78 Divinity of Jesus, 145 Divorce, 14 Made Easy, 132 ' Divorcer, The,' 131 Dominicans, 202,203 Dragon, 15 Dreaming or Eeality, 65 Du Halde, 203 DuaUstic philosophy, 25 Duke of Chad, 12 Dyer, Mr., 212 E Early pioneers of Chris- tianity, 183-186 „ beliefs and supersti- tions, 4 „ , The, Chinese, 4,5 East, India Company, 211, 212 „ , The Far, 97 „ , The Land of the, 134 VI B-^{cont.) F—(cdrit.) Eastern Turkestan, 139 Failure of Nestoriahs, 196 Education, 227 Fairies, 72, 84 Edward the First, 151 Fairy tales, 65, 79, 224 Egypt, 17, 131, 134, 164 Falstaff, Sir John, 220 El Khansa, 134 Fanaticism, 84,85 „ Zaitan, 129,130, 134 Far East, 97, 128, 218 Eloah, 186 Fasts, 136 Emperor, 6, 9, 13, 18, 25, Fate, 95 26, 123, 136, 160, 168, Father of the family, 6, 9 172, 190, 193, 195, 196, Fathers, 13' 198, 200, 204,205, 217 Female principle, 68 Emperor's tablet, 165, 172 Feudal States, 34, 35 Empress, 127 Fichte, 113 Emptiness, 61 Filial piety, 44,45,46 Energy of Nestorians,^ 193 Finn, Mr., 152,153,154-157 Engineerh"ng, 33,34 Five Genii, 71 Epileptic attacks, 145 Fleet, 226 Epochs of instruction, 93 Floods, 33 Esoteric Buddhism 94,95, FloTvers, 101 112 Food, Wasting of, 116-117 Eternal life, 196 Fortune-teller's, 8, 75 „ Eeason, 175 Four miseries, 93 Ethical systems. 111 Franciscans, 194, 196, 198, Euclid, 200 202,203 Europe, 141 Friday, 136 Everlasting Hell, 78 Friendship, 49 Evil spirits, 82, 135 Fu-hsi, 9 Examination Halls, 75 Fukien, 203 Existence, Denial of, 113, Pung-shui, 75 115 Future life, 109-110 Exorcising evil spirits, 79 Exoteric Buddhism, 94,95, G 112 Expeditions, 66 Ezekiel, 17- Ezra, 175 Gandhara, 185 Garden, 103 Gemmeous Sovereign^ 71,79 70, F Genii, 67,68, 71,72, 84' Gentiles, 152 Fa-hien, 217 Geological lUonsters, 4, 15 Fables, 94^ Geomancy, 80, 106 m G—r{cont.) Gfirman lai^^s, 228 Gibbon, 195 Gileg, Processor, 22 Girdle of China, 33 Girls, 227 God, 12, 52, 59, 70, 113, 115, 122, 125, 143, 144, 162, 163, 164, 165, 196 „ , an absolute principle, 25 „ , Belief in, 142 „ , No, in Buddhism, 95 „ of Heaven, unappro^ achable, 25,26 „ of Literature, 74 „ of War, 74, 90 „ , One, 139-140 Gods, 7 „ , many, 11 „ , mortal, 98 Goddess of Mercy, 90, 102 Goldew age of China, 33 „ lilies, 36 „ Eule, 50,, 60 Good Buddhists, 116 „ features in Mahom- niedanism, 142 Goodman, Description of a, 81 Gospel, 214, 221-222, 224 Gospels, 196, 201, 203 Government, Chinese, 82, 137,138,139, 203 Gozani, 158,159,160 Grand Old Man of Chma, 59 Grandfathers, 13 Grave of the uncle, 124-125 Great, The, and Lofty GrT~{cont.) Great Wall, ,66, 140 Greece, 32, 97 Greek, 198 „ learning, 193 Greeks, 19 Ground between millstones, 76 Guide to Knowledge, 185. Gutzlaff, 213 H Hadith, 146 Hakka Church, 228 Hamlets, 227 Han, 152 ,, dynasty, 168 Han-sho, 169 Hang Chow, 124, 127, 134, 139, 154, 157, 168, 195 Happy Valley, 213 Haunted room, 221-222 Heathenism, 226 Heaven, 11, 25, 53, 115 „ and earth, 24 „ (The Being), 174, 176 „ , High, 6, 12 „ , The word for, 56 „ used for God, 24, 25 Heaven's command to be obeyed, 80 Heavens, 49 „ , The material, 5 Hebrew, 152, 155, 157, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 166, 167, 170, 171. „ manuscript, 177 Heen, 169-171 Hell, 115 Vlll INDEX. H — (cont.) Hells, 49, 98-100 Heraclitus, 64 Herat, 128, 193 Hermit, 67-68 Heroes, 14, 26 Hierachy, 9 Hinayana, 218 Hindoo, or Hindoos, 14, 19, 20 Hindooism, 98, 99, 102 Hita 128 Hb Kien fd, 194 Holy of Holies, 172 Honam, 177 Hongkong, 227-229, 237, 289-240 Horrible punishments, 76 Hospitals, 203, 226, 240 Hotch-potch of beliefs, 26 Houries, 145 Hue, 199 Hucksters, 75 Huen Chwang, 217-218 Humility, 61-62 „ of Confucius, 50 Husband and wife, 49 Hway Sang, 217 Ibn Batuta, 127-134, 152, 159 Ibn Wahab, 195-196 Idolatry, 26, 83, 94, 117, 135, 136, 165, 173, 174 Idols, 8, 9, 13, 69, 97, 108, 110, 208 Illiterate priests, 102 Illustrious, The, Eeligion, 189, 190 Incantations, 72 I — (cont.) Incense, 16, 25, 161, 168, 172, 208 Indecency absent in Chines religion. 111 Indefiniteness concerning future state, 50 India, 32, 89, 91, 98, 96, 107, 108, 126, 127, 128, 176, 185, 193, 197, 217 Indian, 116, 184 „ Buddhists, 115 Indus, 185 Industrial arts, 35 Infanticide, 142 Inferior objects of adoration, 26 „ position of women, 49 Images, 17, 74, 94, 97, 156 „ of children, 24 „ of Confucius, 40 Immortal, 84 of Earth, 81 „ of Heaven, 81 Immortality, 177 „ of the soul, 49 Imp from Hell, 82 Impervious to shot and shell, 84 Inn keepers, 140 Insane, 226 Inscriptions, 178, 179, 183, 186-189 Insects, 77 Inspiration from India, 64 Isles of the Immortals, 66 Israelite, 177 Japanese, 20 Java, 107, 131, 134, 217 INi)EX, IX" J — (cont.) Jehovah, 69, 173, 176 Jerusalem, 17, 166, 171 Jesuitical creed, 208 Jesuits, 153, 159, 161, 183, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 213, 218 Jesus, 165, 168, 195 196, Jewish Colonies, 179 „ worship, 144 Jews, 17, 18, 134,151, 152, 180, 197-218 „ in China, 151 „ in positions of hon- our, 176 Josiah, King, 17 Journeys to India, 107-108 Judge, 130 Jugglers, 64, Junks, 107, 129, 130 It Kdi-fong-M, 153, 155, 157, 158, 160, 163, 169, 170, 179, 180 Kahcut, 128 Kalpa 91 Earn Fd, 71 Kanchu, 194 K'ang-Hsi, 204, 205 Kennieott, 160 Khadija, 131 „ , Eolations of, 144 Khan, or Khans, 196, 217 „ , Great, 194 „ , Kublai, 198 Khandahar, 217 Khasgar, 193, 194 Khorassan, 168 Kiautsau, 35 King of Hindoostan, 129 „ of India, 128 „ of the City, 75 Kings, 113, 217 „ and emperors, friends and enemies of Bud- dhism, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111 Kinsay, 195 Kitai, 196 Kitchen God, 180 Koran, 123, 125, 136, 137, 145, 146, 147 Kwalam, 128 Kwong-sai, 232 Kwong-tung, 199, 232-233 Ladies, 227 Laisser-faire, 63-64 Lamas, 111 Lamb, Charles, 21 Land of Infidels, 133 „ of Literature, 137 „ of Eebellions, 138 Lane, 131 Lanes, 225 Language, 3, 4 Lanterns, 101 Lao-tsz, 37, 50, 57, 58, 69-70, 83, 97 „ , Ears of, 58 „ , Official position of, 58-59 Latin, 198, 201 Law of Eclecticisms in beliefs, 90 Lay brothers, 93 Lectures, 229-230 Legal wife, 49 - INBM, L-i ) Legaiie, 205 Legenasrgg, 70„ 7?, 79 Legge, Dr., 4-5 * Leghorn, 164 Lepers, 226, Leung A'I'a, 212 Levirate,'' l27 Li Ki, 11 • ' Liberal education, 37 Library, City Hall, 1^1 Lieius, 65 Li^, a thing, to be cared ■for, 65" ^ Light of Asia, 9|, y 7-118 Linen, 35 'ijifig. Dowager Ilnxpres-S), Lions, 135 Litanies, 101 Literati, 108-109, 110, 111- 112 ■ ■ ' . Literature, 35, 108 „ , Buddhist, 138 „ , Mahommedan, ' 137^88' London MifSsioiiar'y Society, 226 '"" "' Longobardi, 202 Loo, 35 Loss of a right conception 6irG9(i;2^-' " ' Lotus of 'tVe Goods Law, 93 Louis IX, 196. „ "XRf, 201 Lubbock.'Sir John, 21-22 Lydia, 32 M Macao, 194, 195, M9,, 200^ 205, 206, 2r3, ' " M-rriconjl.) Macauley, Zacha^cy, 21 Madness oi the pfiQple, 66 lilagic, and Magical powers, and wonders, 65, 84, 102, 106, HI „ swords, 79 „ working, 84 Magicians, 66, 70 Mah^yana School, 218 MahoJhpd, 122, 123, 130- 132, 141, 143, 144, 145 „ , Slave girls of, 131 Mahomed's belief in his own raissioji, 145 Mahomedan & Mahome- dans, 153,154 157, ia0> 16.4, 168, 171, 176, 177,178,191, 195, 197 „ travey.ier.s, "195/ ■ Mahomedans in Chnyi, 132> „ not nec^g-, sarily r^l^- gipfis, 1^0 „ , Physical j^a- tinres of; lisiSj Mahommedani^^, 121- 3^457 „ cpncL^m,-. ned, 1.17 Maine, Sir Hjen^y, IS ;Malabar, 128, 134, 1^'^ Malaya, 213 Malays, 131 jMaldive Islands,, 13p, 131, 132 - . - XI M—{corlt.) Male pritociple, 68 Malignant spirits, 82 Man6hui'ian,' 194 Manchusj 202 Man's natura gbod 48, 60 Manuscript, Hebrew, 172 Mar Serging, , 194,- 195 Marathon, 32- Marco Polo, 134, IS^v 191 , 194., 195,, 196 Marignolli,152 Marlowe, 99 Martial King, 34, 35 Martin, Br. ^ 153,' 117-118 Masoreti^ text', 1 58 Masses, 79,' 81, 201 Material happiness, 117 Materialisih of Buddhism, 106 „ of Taoisnr, 95' Max MuUer, 217 McLennan, ,24- . . Mecca, 125, 127, 128, 134,' 137, 140 Medes, 184 Media, 32 Medical missions, 213-214, 220-222, 233, 240^ , Men becoming gods,' 65 „ , Young, 227 Mencius, 48', 95 Mental suicide', 105 Merchants, 133 Meritorious actsj 97 Merv, 193 Messiah, 32, 156, 171, 172, 177, 187-1^8, Metaphysics, 91, 93, 94, 105-106, 110, 112 Milne, Dr., 211 Miltiade^, 33 Mihareli, 121-122 Mings, tod Mitiig dynasty, 10, 74, 172, 202, 204 Mirrors, 72-73, 77, 138 Miseries, 4, 85, 98, 199 Miser^ 6t th^rate, 91 »' ,; Bemedy for,^! Missal, 201 MissiohMeS; 2l9, 232;'237, 239 „ , Duties of, 219- 232 „ y N'ttmber of, £!g2 Missions, Critics of, -215-21 6 „ j'gtatistica- of; 219- 224, 231 MoUah, 128, 178 Molten Lead, 76 . , , , , lilpnasteries, 102, ld6, l09 Monastic communities, 91 „ The first), sysfem in the world, 9,3 Mongol: dynasty, 128, 152 Mongols, 111,114,198 Monkey gpd, 71 .-. .,,. Monks; 97, 106, 108, 111, 113,185 „ , Nestorian, 185',, , Monotheism, 6, 7, 9, .26, 34 Mphstrosities, 69, 75 Montebanks, 64 Montecorvino, John of, 152 Monuments, 193, 194 Moon, 7 „ cakes, 17 Morales, 20.4 Morality,, NTo true founda- tion of, 95 Moroc'eb, 134 xa INDEX. M— (cmO.) Morrison, Dr., 211-214 „ Education Sodefy, 230 Moses, 17, 162, 164, 168, 173, 174, 180, 195, 197-198, 201 „ , Throne of, 162 Mosheini. 184 Mosques. 1-21-125, 127, 135 Mother of God, 192 Moontains, 10 „ , Worship of, 15, 16 Monstaches, 138 Music, 35, 37 Mystdcism, 65, 94, 96, 112 Mytholc^cal period, 70 N Names of women, Difficidty of finding out the, 221 NanMn, 157 Nanking, 163, 169 Napoleon of China, 66 Native Churches, 228 Natural religion, 42 Nature, Two powers, 25 „ , Objects in, 26 „ worship, 8 Nepaul, 92 Nestorian monks, 115 „ monument, 183, 186-189, 191, 193, 194 Nestorianism, Death of, 191-192 Nestorians, 134, 183, 185- 197, 198, 218 Nestorius, 192-193 New and full moons, 25 N— (coirf.) New Territory, 228 .. Testament, 211 Newspaper, First, 214 Newspapers, 205 Nicholas, 198 Nine Heavens, 10 Niag Kwong Chow, 168 Ninghia, 168 Ninghui, 168 Ningpo, 168, 176 Nirvana, 63, 91, 92, 93, 104, 112. 114 Noah, 195 Non-reality, 96 Northern Buddhists, 91. 100, 102, 105^ 114 Euler, 90 Number of ilahommedans, 126 Nuncios, 198 Nuns, 90, 108, 109 Oars, 129, 130 Oaths, 165 Oblations, 18 Odoric, Friar, 194 Offerings, 18 Official system, 82 Officials, 123 Olopan, 189 Opium, 71 Oratorio, 72 Oriental Christians, 194 Original conception of Gt)d, 4-7 Oudyana, 217 Over-legislation, 64 Ox, Killing an, 77 INDEX. Pagoda, 101, 107, 108, 121 Painting, 35 Palaeontologists, 3 Palestine, 127 Palladius, Archimandrite, 194 Palm tree, 72 Paper, 35 „ images, 72 „ , Not reverencing, 117 Parables, 94 Paradise of the West, 105 Parmenides, 64 Parsees, 124, 168 Peaceful Conqueror of the Mind of China, 33-34 Pechihli, 194 Peking, 152, 157, 169, 178, 200, 201, 204 Penang, 131 Pentateuch, 151, 155, 158, 177 Persecution, 109, 146, 190 „ of Buddhism, 108 Peshawar, 185 Persia, 128, 193, 217 Persian, 15, 32, 177 „ Empire, 141 „ words, 168 Persians, 32, 184, 195 Philological elucidation of mythology, 5 „ research, 116 Philology, 3 Philosopher, The Old, 58 Philosopher's stone, 66 Philosophical system changing into idolatry, 97 ■P— (conf.) Philosophy, 51, 93, 94, 170 Physics, 170 Pictures, 154, 156 Pilgrims, 125 Plagiarism, 69 Planets, 17 Plato, 64 Pliable consciences, 123 Poetry, 35 Poland, 164 Political-ethical systems, 60 Pollock, 99 Polygamy, 130-132, 142 Polytheism, 9 Polytheistic ideas, 26 Pope, 32, 198,201,204-205 „ Alexander Vth, 204 „ Innocent, IVth, 196 Xth, 204 „ Nicholas lYth, 1 97 „ of Taoism, 67, 79 Population, Christian, 230- 231, 232-233,237, 239 Pork, 136, 140, 171 Port Arthur, 35 Portuguese, 198 Power of Mahommedanism in the East, 132 Prayer,10, 12,72,117, 122, 164, 165, 175, Prayers of priests, 100 Preaching, 222, 227 Priesthood, 82 Priests, 18, 72, 74, 79, 81, 90, 108, 109 110, 111, 198 Primitive conception of God, 4-7 Printing, .135, 195 XIV INDEX. Printing books, 224 Procession, 101 Progress, 215 Pronouncing words. System for, 116 Proselytising, No, 124-126, 135-136 Protestant Missions and Missionaries, 211-240 Protestants, 201 P'lin-Kwii, or P'wan Kit 70, 173-174 Punishments, 80 Pure, The, Dynasty, 202 „ religion, 14 Purgatory, 77-80 Pusat, or' BodMstt'va, 93 Pythagai'EiS, S9i Queen' of Heave'nj 17, 208 Quietness, 61 R Rabbi,. 165, 156, 159, 163, 164, 170,171, 177 Eailways/ 226 Eain, 71 Eebellions, Mahommedan, 138-139 Eefectory, 103, 104 Eegiilating the breath, 67, 68 Eelics of Buddha, 101, 107 Eeligion, Iniiuence of, on the Chinese, 218 „ of the Chinese, 81 „ „ those who pluck out the sinewj 171 Eeligious indifference, 105 Remarkable railitary achievement, 139 Eemedy for misery, 91 Eetribution for evil deeds, 49, 109, 110 Eevelation, 7, 52 „ , of the truth amongst heat- hen nations, 43, 44 Eevenge, 82 Eeverence for age, 168-169 Eicci, Matthew, 154, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204 Eitualistic display, 36 Eoads, 97 Robbers, Scourge of, in South China', 227 Rolls of the law, 176 Roman Catholic, 192 „ Catholic mission- aries, 177,203 „ Catholic sects, 204 „ Catholics in China, 102-208 „ Empire, 141 Rome, 32, 97 Romish churchy 1 1 Roofs, Chinese, 162 Rubier 0, Michael, 199 s Sabian worship, 17 Sabianism, 17, 26, 58 Sabbath, 165, 172, 179 Sacred pigs, ducks, geieSse, goats and fish, 1 03 „ tree, 14 Sage of China, 31 INDEX, XV S— (conf.) B—{cont.) Sages, 11, 83 Services, Origin of Bud- Saints, 196, 227 dhist, 94 Salamis, 82 Shakyamuni, 5, 89, 91, Salij fish, 180 92-94 Samarcaiid, 128, 168, 186, Bhang Dynasty, 34 193, 194, 195 Shanghai, 151, 208 Samaritan text, 158 Shangti, 6, 10, U Samaritans 164 Shantung, 35 Samphers, 170 Shay Hung, 169 Sapaon, 170 Sheik El Islams, 183 Savage races, ^8 or 118 Ships, Chinese, 128 Sawing asunder, 76 Shiu-hing, 199 Scepticism, 26 Shrine, 15 Schereshewsky, 178 Shrines, 72 School, 202, 203 Shun, 38 „ of Tiberias, 167-168 Sickness, 116 Schools, 124, 185,202,203, Sikawei, 203 227, 229, 237, 239, Silk, 35 240 Silkworm e^s. Introduc- „ , Mission, 213, 215, tion of, 185 222-223 Silkworms, 185 . „ of luddiism, 110 Similarity between East Science, 109 and West, 24 Scientific booksj 22© Sin, 116-117 Scindia, 127 Singanfu 193,, 195, 197 Scribes, 167 Singing, 227 Scri;ptur^a, 158, 174-175, Sinkalin,, 133 179, 224 Site, A good, for grave, 80 Care of, 167-168 Sixty years gods, 75, „ , Knowledge of, Slaughtering animals, 156 by MahoBjmed, Slave girls, 131 144 Slavery, 142 Secondary wife, 49 Smith, Arthur, 186: Sects, 114 Snakes, 15,, 77 Self-§uppo]^t, 228, Social revolution iia tadia^ Septuagintj, 158 93 Seres, 184 Soldiers,. 127 Serpent worship, 14, 15 Solomon, 52, 166 Services, 69 101 Son of Heaven, 19* „ , Mahommedan, Sorcery, Tales of, 65 136^37. , Sorrow.^ Th% ofc Ghma,. 83, XVI' INDEX. S — (cont.) Souls, Three, 80 Sovereign Being, 13 Spanish, 198 Speculation similar in the East and the West, 112 Spencer, 43 Spirit, 7, 9 Spirits, 10, 13, 14, 34, 58 „ , Dread of, 79 „ ,Evil, 82 „ of the dead, 26 Spiritual Sovereign, 6, 13 Spite, 82 Spring and Autumn An- nals, The, 44 St. John's Island, 199 „ Stephen's Church, 228 Stalls, 75 Stars, 7, 14, 17 „ , &c., Worship of, 16, 81 State god, 74, 90 „ religion, |3 „ worship, 34 Statistics of Missions, 231- 233, 237, 239-240 Stones, &c.. Worship of, 14, 15, 16 Straits, 107, 213 Streets, 225 Su, Paul, 200, 202, 203 Subordinate deities, 26 Suchow, 194 Sudan, 134 Sultan, or King of China, 128 Sumatra, 107, 130 Sun, 17 „ vaflon and stars, 17 S — (cont.) Sun Yun, 217 Superior to the laws of Nature, 65 Superiority of Christianity 145 Supernatural, 52, 83 Superstition, 35, 65, 66, 67, 72,73 Superstitions, 18, 57,58, 64, 82, 83, 84, 85, 108 Support of themselves. Native, 215 Supreme Being, 10 „ Deity, 6 ,, Governor of the Universe, 5 „ One, 9 „ Ruler, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 25, 26, 27, 34-44, 62, 70, 71-79 „ Eulers, 6 Survey of China, 205 Sutra, 49 Sword points. Impaling on, 77 Swords, 79 84, Symbols, 5 Synagogue, 157, 169, 161- 164, 168, 171, 173, 176, 178, 179 Syria, 134 Syriac, 127, 194, 196, 197 Systematised beggary, 94 T^M6,104 Tabernacles, Feast of, 162 INDEX. XVll T—{cont.) Tablet to Emperor, 101, 123, 161 Tablets, 39, 40, 52,80, 101, 103-104, 123 T'ai P'ing Eebels, 127, 139 „ Tsung, 196 T'ang dynasty, 125, 139,171 Tangut, 193, Tao, 61-63 „ Teh King, 59 Taoism, 4, 21, 26, 49, 82, 83,84,90,111,123, 57-92,114,218,219 „ , as a philosophy, 64 „ , „ „ religion, 64 „ , Degenerate, 5-6 „ , Laterday, 6 „ , Vagaries of, 6 Tarquins, 32 Tartars, 184 Tartary, 128, 217 Telegraph, 226 Temple of Horrors, 75 „ Keeper, 76 Temples, 7, 9, 12, 38, 39, 69,71-72, 75-77,97-104, 111, 102,106, 108, UO Temperate, Chinese, 136 Ten Commandments, 1 63 „ Hells, or Courts of Hell, 76-79 „ Vices, 116 Tennyson, 4-5 Terminology, Keligious, 1 15 Themistocles, 33 Theology, 227 Thermopylae, 32 Thinking, the wall, 104 Thomas, Apostle, The, 184 T—{cont.) Three-fold soul, 81 Three states, 74 „ Precious Buddhas, 69, 100-101 „ Pure Ones, 69-70, 71 Thugs, 217 Thunder god, 224 Tibet, 111,217 Tibetans, 114 Tientsin, 107 Tigers, 135 Time of Mahommedanism coming, to China, 141- 142 To Tsai Church, 228 Toleration, 140, 146, 146 Tones, 116 Tong dynasty, 109 Tortoise-shell, 8 Traders or merchants, 124, 125-126 Translations,, 102, 106, 107 Transmigration 78, 91-92 Travelling in China, 133 Trees, Worship of, 14, 16 Tribute of duty and grat- itude, 18 Trigrams, The, Eight, 8 True men, 66, 67 Truthfulness, Want of, in Confucius, 51 Tse, 37 Ts'in Chi Wong Tai, 66 Ts'ing dynasty, 111 Ts'tin Chaii Pii, 129 Turkestan, 134, 193 Tyler, Mr., 20 Type, Metallic, 212-213 Typhoon, 6-7 xvm INDEX. u Uncertain knowledge of futurity, 53 Unreal, AU is, 106-107 Untruths, sanctioned, 100, 117 Urumtsi, 194 Vegetarians, 140 Veneration for the aged, 36 Verbiest, 204 Vices, The Ten, 1 16 Villages, 227 Virgil, 99^ Virgin Mary, The, 207 Virtue, ri?. Virtuous deeds, 80 w Wai To, 100 Warlike spirit, 140-142 Weak Water, The, I8U Wei, 38 Weihaiwei, 35 Wells, Digging, 97 Wesleyan Church, 228 West and East, 26 „ , Praying towards, 166 Western Heavens, 91 ,, Paj-adise, 114-115 Whirpool, 128 Whole duty of man, 47, 48 Wife, 49 Wives, 130-132, 142, 145 Woman occupies inferior position, 117 WoBaen -learning to read, 223-224 W— (conif.) Word of truth, 145 Worlds, Countless, 100 Worship, 9 „ at the grave, 81 „ of Confucius 51- 52 Worthies, 11 Wu, Emperor, 66 „ Wong, 34 Wylie, Alexander^ 169, 196- 197, 218 Xavier, St. Francis, 199 Takoob Beg, 139 Tama, King, 99 Tang Cho>r, 194 Tangtsz Kiang, 33 Tarkand, 194 Yau, 33 Taumati, 15 Tellow Eiver, 33 Yorkshire man, 22 1 Toung Men's Christian Association, 229 Tu, 33 Tule, Colonel, 194 Tung Ching, 160 Tunnan, 194 ,, Eebellion, 139 Zeal of Chinese, 216-217