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placed on an altar with matches of incense burning before it, which is commonly seen in every street and corner. The Sun and Moon, otherwise called the "Great light" and the "Evening light," come under this head. The rest are various-gods, genii, sages, and others, the inventors of agriculture, manufactures, and useful arts. The God of letters stands principal among these. The "lesser sacrifices" include a still larger class, among which is the ancient patron of the healing art, together with innumerable spirits of deceased statesmen, eminent scholars, martyrs to virtue, &c. The principal phenomena of nature are likewise worshipped, as the clouds, the rain, wind, and thunder, each of which has its presiding god. The five mountains, the four seas, are rather figurative than exact expressions for the land and the ocean in general. Like the Romans, they worship their military flags and banners: and Kuân-ty, a deified warrior of ancient times, much honoured by the military, is especially adored by the present dynasty for his supposed assistance. Their right being that of conquest, they properly worship the god of war. Loong-wang, the Dragon king, who represents rivers and the watery element, receives much sacrifice from those who have charge of the Yellow River and Grand Canal, both of which so frequently burst their banks; and his temples were constantly recurring during the progress of the embassies through the country.

Among others of the same class of gods is "the Queen of Heaven," Tien-how,* concerning whom the legend says that she was a native of the province of Fokien, and distinguished in early life for her devotion and celibacy. She became deified during the thirteenth century under the Soong dynasty, and, having originated in a maritime province, she is the peculiar patroness of seafaring people,

* Worshipped also by the Budhists.

who erect altars and temples to her on shore, and implore her protection on the water. She is supposed to have the control of the weather; and in seasons of severe drought the government issues proclamations, commanding a general fast and abstinence from animal food: the local magistratę, in his official capacity, goes to the temples, and remains fasting and praying for successive days and nights, supplicating for rain. In no country are the vicissitudes of the seasons more irregular, nor the inconveniences resulting from them more severe, than in some parts of China.

That the material universe is the object of worship appears not only from the names of those several parts which have been given above, but also from other circumstances. Thus the imperial high-priest, when he worships heaven, wears robes of an azure colour, in allusion to the sky. When he worships the earth, his robes are yellow, to represent the clay of this earthly sphere. When the sun is the object, his dress is red; and for the moon, he wears a pale white. The kings (wang), nobles, and crowd of official hierophants, wear their court dresses. The altar of sacrifice to heaven is round, to represent the sky; that on which the sacrifices to earth are laid is square, but whether for a similar reason is not stated. The priests of the Chinese state religion, subordinate to the emperor himself as pontifex maximus, are the kings, nobles, statesmen, and the crowd of civil and military officers. The Joo-keaou, or philosophic sect, monopolize both the civil and sacred functions. At the grand state-worship of nature, neither priests nor women are admitted; and it is only when the especial sacrifice to the patroness of silk takes place that the empress herself, and the several grades of female rank at Peking, may take a part.

"It is required of the Chinese hierophants that they be

free from any recent legal crime, and not in mourning for the dead. For the first order of sacrifices they are required to prepare themselves by ablutions, a change of garments, a vow, and a fast of three days. During this time they must occupy a clean chamber, and abstain-1, from judging criminals; 2, from being present at a feast; 3, from listening to music; 4, from cohabitation with women; 5, from intercourse with the sick; 6, from mourning for the dead; 7, from wine; 8, from eating onions or garlic; for," says the annotator, "sickness and death defile, while banqueting and feasting dissipate the mind, and unfit it for holding communion with the gods."

The victims sacrificed consist of oxen, sheep, and pigs; and the other offerings are principally silks.* It is required that the victims be whole and sound, and a black colour is preferred. The times of sacrifice are specified thus-those to heaven are offered at the winter solstice; those to earth at the summer solstice; and the others at regularly appointed periods. The punishment annexed to the neglect of due preparation, imperfect victims, &c., is either forfeiture of salary for a month or longer, or a specified number of blows with the bamboo, which may be commuted for the payment of a very small sum of money, according to the number of blows adjudged to the delinquent; which, as in other cases throughout the penal code, may often be considered rather as a measure of the offence than as a specification of the real penalty inflicted. The case is far different if the common people presume to arrogate the right of worshipping heaven, for they are punished in such cases with eighty blows, and even with strangulation.

Notwithstanding the general aspect of materialism that

* These, as well as the flesh of the sacrifices, are probably divided among the worshippers eventually.

pertains to the Chinese philosophy, it is difficult to peruse their sentiments regarding Tien (heaven) without the persuasion that they ascribe to it most of the attributes of a supreme governing intelligence. The work above quoted contains, in another place, the translation of the prayer of the reigning emperor Taou-kuâng, on the occasion of a long drought with which the whole country had been afflicted in the year 1832.* The following extract will show at once the responsibility which attaches to the conduct and administration of the emperor, and the notions of a Supreme Being associated with the Chinese ideas of Tien:

"I, the minister of heaven (says the emperor), am placed over mankind and made responsible for keeping the world in order, and tranquillizing the people. Unable as I am to sleep or eat with composure, scorched with grief, and trembling with anxiety, still no genial and copious showers have yet descended. ***** I ask myself whether in sacrificial services I have been remiss? whether pride and prodigality have had a place in my heart, springing up there unobserved? whether from length of time I have become careless in the affairs of government? whether I have uttered irreverent words, and deserved reprehension? whether perfect equity has been attained in conferring rewards and inflicting punishments? whether, in raising mausoleums and laying out gardens, I have distressed the people and wasted property? whether, in the appointment of officers, I have failed to obtain fit persons, and thereby rendered government vexatious to the people? whether the oppressed have found no means of appeal? whether the largesses conferred on the afflicted southern provinces were properly applied, or the people left to die in the ditches? **** Prostrate, I beg Imperial Heaven to pardon my ignorance and dulness, and to grant me

* Chinese Repository, vol. i. p. 236.

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self-renovation; for myriads of innocent people are involved by me, a single man. My sins are so numerous that it is hopeless to escape their consequences. Summer is past, and autumn arrived-to wait longer is impossible. Prostrate, I implore Imperial Heaven to grant a gracious deliverance," &c.

*

It was the opinion of some among the Jesuits in China that the better portion of the learned in that country had not given way to the material and atheistical system current during the Soong dynasty, but adhered strictly to the ancient religion, in which a supreme and creative intelligence was acknowledged under the title of Tien, or Shang-ty. The Confucian philosophers consisted, according to them, of two sects. First, of those who disregarded the modern commentators and philosophists, and retained the same notions regarding the Creator of the universe that had been handed down from remote antiquity. Secondly, of those who puzzle themselves with the speculations of Choo-tsze and his school, as they appear in the work before mentioned, and endeavour to explain the phenomena of nature by the operation of material causes. Others of the Romish missionaries were persuaded that all the Chinese learned were no better than atheists, and that, notwithstanding the express declaration of the Emperor Kang-hy, in his communications with the pope, wherein he averred that it was not to the visible and material heaven that he sacrificed, but to the true Creator of the universe, no faith could be placed in their explanations. We have before remarked that the Romish fathers, however much they may have extolled the wealth, civilization, and resources of China, have generally viewed the moral and religious character of the people in a somewhat pre

*The supreme ruler. Keying, in his correspondence, frequently appealed to this power in proof of his sincerity.

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