Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 635

1850.

Defense of an Essay, &c.

593

of a higher class of beings for him; they call him merely the chief, the most honorable of the shin, and worship, along with him, all their shin under this common name. When in the Chau Lí, we read that an officer, "the Tsung Peh," was appointed to worship the national Shin, K'i, Kwei, &c., we find Shangtí the first enumerated shin on the list of those sacrificed to. When, in the same work, we read of the Great Chaplain, we find that this officer's duty was to superintend the offer- ing up of the six forms of prayer to the shin (the celestial gods), the k'i (the terrestrial gods), and the kwei (the man-derived—the manes). Of these six forms of prayer generally, thus offered to these beings, the commentators say, they "were used at the kiáu when they sacri- ficed to Heaven (Shángtí) and Earth, and to the gods (shin) of the land and grain, and at the sacrifices offered in the ancestral temple." Of the second prayer, the "nien chuh," that it "was used to pray to Shángti and the gods (shin) of the land and grain for the bestowal of grain." So it is everywhere; Shangtí is worshiped as a shin, there is no special officer appointed for his worship; he is merely honored as the chief of the Shin. Now suppose that the Romanists were to worship Jehovah and the Virgin Mary, the Apostles and angels, all under one common name; would they not be polytheists? When we find Hau-t'ien Shángtí, the chief object of worship among the Confu- cianists, and Yuh-hwáng Shángtí, the chief object of worship among the Tauists (which are the two native indigenous religions of China), both called shin, and worshiped as shin; and that all the other beings worshiped in the national rites, or by the Táuists, are called shin, and worshiped as shin; we contend that if Hau-t'ien Shángtí is a god, and Yuh-hwang-tí Shangtí is a god, then, if the Chinese have any gods at all, and any name by which they call them, these gods are their shin; and that this word Shin is the appellative name of these gods.

But, says Dr. Medhurst, Shángtí we admit is a spiritual being, and shin in these cases means spirit. Let us test this by a parallel case, and see if the word spirit could maintain its meaning if used as shin is. "There are six celestial spirits. Jehovah, who is worshiped in the temple on Mount Zion, is the first.” “Jehovah is the spirit of heaven.” "Jehovah is the most honorable of all the spirits." "The greatest of the spirits of heaven is called Jehovah." "The Spirit of heaven is most honorable, and (a Being) with whom none can be compared." "There is not a spirit we have not honored. But Michael is not able, and Jehovah does not come down to our relief." Would not this way of speaking either bring down Jehovalı God—the Supreme Being-

VOL. XIX. NO. XI.

75