438
Defense of an Essay, &c.
AUG.
and governing something." Reply, &c. p. 553. And in his Inquiry: "This application of the word tí, judge, signifies that Ileaven is widely extended over all," &c. page 110. And at page 128, (where he maintains that Shángti is not merely the supreme God of the Chinese, their chief god, &c.) he says, “To all this it will be sufficient to answer, that the Chinese represent the being referred to as, with respect to supreme authority and universal dominion, synonymous with Heaven : now Heaven is not supreme over one nation but all nations; it over- spreads the whole world, and is looked to with reverence by every one therefore we conclude that by Heaven is not meant the chief god of the Chinese, but the supreme ruling power, known and acknow- ledged in China and everywhere else; the word being used in almost every nation by metonymy for God." But I shall not pursue this subject, as my object at present is not to sustain any one of these views; and this view of the subject has been sufficiently presented by Dr. Morrison and M. Visdelou in the quotations made from them as given
above.
The second view is that which regard Tien, "the Supreme Ruler" as Tuu, the Primitive Reason, or li, destiny, fate. This is the view of the other political school, whose views have also been suffi- ciently presented above, and are most easy of illustration, as they are inade very prominent in all the editions of the classics published during this dynasty.
The third, fourth, and fifth views agree in that they regard "the Su preme Ruler" as Tien chi Shin
"the Shin of Heaven," but differ in the method of understanding the words heaven and shin. The view taken in the part of my Essay quoted by Dr. Legge is that heaven is here used as the name of a place, and shin as the name of the spiritual being, the god, who presides in, or rules over this place; the proper name of which god is Tien, Heaven, and his distinctive title Shangti," the Supreme Ruler," or "the Ruler on high," as this phrase is rendered by some Chinese.
It is clearly shown, I think, in my Essay that this is the opinion held by some of the writers quoted by me, who I suppose, represent the views of the polytheists. This view of Tien, as the proper name of this shin, and Shingtí as his distinctive title, is borne out by the case of the Wi Ti Five Rulers. These, Dr. Medhurst allows, are gods, and that they are the shin' who preside over' the five elements; now these Shin are distinguished by proper names, Ling-wei ngóng, Chih-piau-nú, &c., and by the titles "Azure Ruler, Vermilion Ruler," &c. See Essay, p. 77. This is the view which Dr. Legge endeavors
I