Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 473

1850.

Defense of an Essay, &c.

435

what better or more kindly way, to expose as truth demands, the erro- neousness of such rash statements as that I am now animadverting on.” My statement, which is no obnoxious to Dr. Legge, contains two points; first, that Shángti, “the Supreme Ruler” is Tien, heaven; and 2dly, that this T'ien is the chief god of the Chinese. Is the first point correct? If we turn to the Dictionary of Kánghí, we find Shangtí thus explained :—Shangtí t'ien yé,

Supreme Ruler is Heaven."

th the

Ti,

If we turn to Dr. Medhurst's Inquiry, we shall find that he devotes the whole of his second section to the proof of this point, viz., or Shangtí is said to be synonymous with t'ien, Heaven....Im- perial heaven and Shángti both refer to Heaven, the difference is on- ly in the variation of the expression; the mode of expression is different, but the subject matter is the same." Vol. XVII. p. 122.

"The

That Heaven is the divinity, Dr. Medhurst makes the foundation fact of his argument to prove that Ti or Shángti means God. word which most readily conveys to the Chinese the idea of Divinity is Tien, Heaven: and yet in defining Heaven, they do not say that it is the Being who is the special object of religious worship; but say that Heaven is the one great One who dwells on high and regulates all below. They call Heaven the great Framer, from whom all things originally come, who disposes of all things according to his own decree; in short, in the words of Morrison, Heaven is the unknown God of Confucius. In illustrating anything as divine, the Chinese do not say

that it is an object of religious worship, but that it resembles Heaven; when they wish to say that T'i means God, they assert that Ti is synonymous with Heaven, and is one of the names of Heaven; when they wish to exalt their living monarchs by ascribing the most exalted epithets to them, they call their emperor Heaven, or the Divinity; his throne is Heaven's throne; his presence Heaven's coun- tenance; his envoys, Heaven's messengers; and his troops, Heaven's soldiers, &c. When they intend to pay divine honors to imperial ancestors after death, they

associate them with

associate

Heaven in sacrifice." Reply, Vol. XVII. p. 557.

Again: “The most usual method is to speak of this Being, under the simple designation of Tien Heaven; by which they do not intend the visible heavens, but the being who presides over all, or in other words, the Divinity.” Ibid. p. 516.

"Ti is one of the names of Heaven. (or the Divinity in the estima- tion of the Chinese); the reason why Heaven is called Ti is bocause ti means to judge; this application of the word signifies that Heaven