Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 634

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Defense of un Essay, &c.

Nor.

While they deny none of these facts, Drs. Medhurst and Legge main- tain that the Chinese shin are mere spirits, not gods, and to this point I must devote the remainder of this Defense. Before attempting how- ever, to answer their objections, I would only ask the reader to take away, in his mind, from the Chinese pantheon all the beings men- tioned above, who are called shin, and who are worshiped under this NAME, and see what place is left for a class of gods after this. And if Drs. M. and L. contend that the beings abovementioned are not gods, but mere spirits, I here call upon them to point out to us who the Chinese gods are; to tell us by whom they are worshiped; what officer is appointed by the state to superintend such worship; by what general name these gods are called, and where-in what classic, their worship is enjoined ?

When we insist upon the fact that the shin have been worshiped from the earliest times, as proof that they are gods in the eyes of the Chinese; and we contend, that, as Shángtí, the Wú Tí, and all the objects worshiped by the Confucianists, Yuh-hwáng Tá-tí the chief god, and all the objects worshiped by the Táuists, are worshiped under this name, therefore the Chinese are polytheists, and shin is the gene- ral name of their gods: Dr. Medhurst replies, the Chinese are poly- pneumatists not polytheists, because of such worship, as the Shin wor- shiped are spirits, not gods. Here then, unless we can find some cha- racteristic test to decide our dispute, we may wrangle for ever over this point. I propose worship as the test given in the Sacred Scriptures, and by able men who have written on this subject, and have attempt- ed to show the reasonableness of this test, from the theory of worship given by both Drs. Medhurst and Legge.

In answer to this, our opponents point to the Romanists, who wor- ship saints and angels, the Virgin Mary, &c., and say that as they are not polytheists, so the Chinese, though they worship great num- bers of shin, may not be polytheists either. This objection is worthy of consideration. The worship of any other being than the self-existent God is false worship, is idolatry; but all idolatry is not necessarily poly- theism. What makes the distinction? The answer is, the worship of these objects under the same name with God, thus ranking them in the same class of beings with him. The Romanists we know, not only never worship any saint or angel, calling them gods, but they make a distinction also (a vain one as I think) between the worship given to God, and to the Virgin and the saints. But the Chinese in the wor- ship of their Shingtí (who, it is now maintained, is the true God) and their shin, make no such distinction. They have no absolute name