The Religions of China; Confucianism and Taoism Described and Compared with Christianity (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ... II. The worship of their forefathers by all the Chinese people. I. ' I ""HE first thing to be set forth in the present Lecture is the Confucian worship of ancestors. The former Lecture was occupied principally with the worship of God as performed by the sovereign of China for himself and as the representative of his people; the worship of his ancestors is also a part of the state ceremonial, but in performing this the) sovereign does not stand alone;--the worship - of their forefathers has always been the prac- DEGREES tice of all the Chinese people. We found that a belief in one supreme and only God was coeval with the fathers and founders of the nation, and was testified to by the primitive written characters. The worship DEGREES of God was, no doubt, the first, and for a time, probably, the only worship. By-and-by all nature was conceived to be a manifestation of God, and to be peopled with spirits superintend ing and controlling its different parts in subordination to Him. There grew up a worship of these spirits in connection with the worship of God. The name of Go'd was not given to them, but honour was done to them as ministers of God, and help might be sought from them _as_ mediators with Him. And it came about, as we saw, that the worship of God and of these spirits was all devolved on the Head of the people. At the same time the recognition of the one God was common to all. They knew that in Him they " lived and moved and had their being," and that His will should be the rule of their lives. All derived from Him their life and nature; all owed to Him the duties of obedience and reverence. The philosopher Mencius says in one place, that "though a man were wicked, yet if he adjusted his thoughts, fasted, and bathed, he might sacrifice to...