442
Defense of an Essay, &c.
AUG.
only when we come to those explanations in which shin is used, that the Divinity of Tien becomes possible; and in these explanations,
Shángti is neither more nor less than this shin 上帝天之神也
Shángtí is the shin of Heaven." If this shin be a separate, inde- pendent being, ruling over heaven, a god, Shángtí is this god. If this shin be the soul of the compound being Tien, Shángti, according to our explanation, is this soul. If this shin be merely the divine or spiritual energies of Tien, Shángti is the title by which it pleases pantheists to designate these energies. As long as Shángtí is defined to be "the shin of heaven," the phrase "the Supreme Ruler must stand or fall with the meaning we attach to shin. Ti, ruler, does not "indicate the essence," nor "express anything of the being."
He
It is not easy to determine which of the above views of shin, Dr. L. adopts. I should suppose however, it is the one I have placed third, and which he has ridiculed me for rendering " god of heaven." explains the matter thus: "There is indeed soine little perplexity in the way in which the Chinese speak of Heaven, which can only be explained by adopting the conclusion of Dr. Medhurst, that by Hea- ven is not meant the chief god of the Chinese, but the supreme ru- ling power, known and acknowledged in China and everywhere else; the word being also used in every nation by metonymy for God.'" (In- quiry, p. 128.) Dr. L. continues, "Shángtí is the Tien chi Shin, the the spirit that possesses this Supreme Power. The term Sháng tí declare that possession, and express the meaning of God unadulterat- ed, without diminution and without increase. The very nature of the term declares that it is not a proper name. appeal to my missionary brethren whether the idea which they get from the characters themselves, and which they know the multitude of the Chinese to get, does not terminate in the Spiritual Being (shin) so denominated, instead of leading away their minds to the God Heaven, as the “substans," or "ens," in which the power is to inhere.”
It is relative, and I
On this explanation, I shall offer two or three remarks. First, Dr. L. considers the shin of heaven to be the spirit that possesses supreme power; with what right therefore can he complain of my calling this shin "the god of heaven?" 2d. This shin is called Shángtí, which terms," "he says, "declare that possession, and express the meaning of God unadulterated, without diminution and without increase." If this be so, instead of writing "the god of heaven," which Dr. L. com- plains of, I should have written "the GOD of Heaven." 3d. Dr. L. feels the need of some “
"substans" or "ens" in which "the supreme power" indicated by the relative term "Supreme Ruler," "is to in-
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