628
Defense of an Essay, &c.
DEC.
even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens : " also with the Psalmist, that “All the Elohim of the nations are elelim (vanities, nothings), but Jehovah made the heavens:" and, as it is clear that Shangtí is one of the Elohim of the Chinese, we must insist he is here called by the Psalmist an elelim, unless Dr. Legge proves he is the very Being who made the heavens. We can not, we dare not, use Shángtí. We can not exhort men to worship him, and we shall only encounter the ridicule of the people, if we call their (shin) gods kiá shángti, i. e. false supreme rulers.
The third term to be brought to our proposed test is Shin. This word being the absolute appellative name of all the Chinese gods, and also the name by which the Chinese pantheists call the life-giving principle that pervades their lo wav, brings up the whole subject on which we desire to enlighten the Chinese; all we want therefore is to teach them the true and proper ideas they should connect with this word Shin.
Το prove that this term will be efficient in condemning the Chinese polytheism, we need only say that all the missionaries, who have attacked this many-headed hydra in China, have used this term for that purpose. On this point, therefore, we need not dwell, but will pro ceed at once to test the suitableness of the word Shin for teaching the Chinese the monotheism of the Bible, and we shall endeavor to do this by showing how we can, using Shin, remove from the minds of the various errorists we here meet with, the errors into which they have fallen on the subject of Divinity.
Let us first take the Polytheist (or polypneumatist, as it now pleases Dr. Medhurst to call him), and see what the effect would be of set. ting his views right with respect to the word shin. Suppose him a common plebeian or a merchant, and that we were to meet him making offerings to the Tsái shin, the god of Wealth; and that upon asking him why he worshiped this being, he were to answer,
“That I may prevail upon him to assist me in getting wealth :" should we not do well to say to him, What you are doing is entirely right, viewed in one respect. You can not, by any exertions of your own, iusure the suc- cess of your trading; you do well to rely upon the protection and blessing of a superior being to help you to get wealth; but you Chi- nese make a mistake, when you go to seek help from the shin. You suppose that there is a shin who presides merely over money getting, and you call upon this Tsui shin, god of Wealth, that he may help you to grow rich; for protection from fire, you make offerings to the Ho shin, the god of Fire; for protection at sea, you call on the Hái shin;