446
Tract upon Nourishing the Spirit.
AUG.
this is unquestionable; either that the human spirit is absolutely God, or that the beings to whom the Chinese people are in the habit of praying are like their own minds mere spirits, in the sense of being invisible and intelligent, yet more powerful as connected with the unseen world, and more honorable as being the spirits that pervade heaven and earth, and the manes of their deceased an-
cestors.
I wish to call attention to the proof afforded by the present paper, that shin, when in regimen, as the skin of any person or thing, does not mean the god,
but the spirit of that person or thing; witness the expression ^z jin
chí shin; will any person venture to contend, that this phrase, as used by the Chinese writer, ineans the God of a man? What, when the author says, that a man's shin is incapable of perceiving anything but what takes place in his own body, and what is cognizable to his senses? Is this his God? A pretty divini- ty truly, which knows nothing except what comes through the media of sen- sation and reflection exercised by the man's self! The person who would ima
gine this to be his God, must himself be what the Chinese callË
shin sz' puh tsuk. But there is another expression of the saine kind, to which I would call particular attention, viz. Ziwa chi shin. This is a phrase which the advocates of shin have used, and to be consistent, must use in the sense of "my God;" but see how the Chinese employ it? If wù sin chí shin the spirit of my mind, can only become acquainted with what comes in contact with my eyes and ears,
ears, hands and feet; then that which is not cognizable to the senses can not have any
communication with 吾之神 wủ chí shin. Here it is evident that the
writer means by wú chí shin, my spirits, and no ingenuity can torture the phrase into meaning "ny God." But suppose we thus understand it, then what absurdities are we landed in! That which is not cognizable to my senses can not have any communication with, or be communicated to, my God! Is this a being a man would wish to choose for his God? A being that can know nothing but what comes to him through the medium of a inan's own senses? A being whose knowledge is as limited as my own, and acquainted only with that which flesh and blood reveals! Let those who will, choose such a being for their divinity, he shall never be my God. Now all this ab- surdity a man must admit who would insist upon it, that wú chí shin means "my God." It is of no use any longer for our opponents to contend that the Chinese would not understand the phrase "wú chí shin," in the sense of "my spirit." Here is a Chinese who does so understand it, and who would be as- tonished if any one were to pretend to understand it otherwise. The remarka of the American Missionary, who lately gave us his thoughts (see page 201 &c.) on the proper term to be employed to translate Elohim and Theos were just, when he said, that the beautifully expressive phrases, My God, &c., can not be translated intelligibly by shin: the objection urged by an intelligent Chinese was not without its weight, that the passage "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" were shin employed as the rendering of God, would present to his mind the idea of a person sensible of the approach of insanity, and exclaiming, "My senses, my senses, why are you leaving me ?"
The remark of the above named writer, that the God of Abraham, &c., could not be intelligibly rendered, if shin were employed, is also borne out by the phrases used by this Chinese Essayist; for we meet with the expression
BÀ RI Chan Kung chíshin, and 高宗之神 Kiu-tsung chá
shin, which are not used in the sense of the God, but of the spirit, of these in-
dividuals. So also with e^zshing jin chí shin, in the sense of the spirit, not the God of the sages. Thus tπ Apch
lá-hán chi skin would undoubtedly mean the "spirit of Abraham.
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