Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 637

1850.

Defense of an Essay, &c.

595

From these considerations it is quite conclusive to my mind that the Chinese, because of the worship of their shin are to be accounted poly- theists, and not polypneumatists.

But the Chinese are acquainted not only with the objects worship- ed in their two indigenous religions, viz. Confucianism and Táuism; they have encountered men of other religions, and in their books have given us an account of the objects worshiped by these foreigners. By what Chinese name then do the Confucianists and Táuists call the beings whom these foreigners call gods?

The answer to this question will assist us much in determining what is the appellative name for God in Chinese. For instance, if it is maintained that Heaven and Earth, and the beings who preside over the land and grain, over wealth, fire, &c., when worshiped under the common name shin, are all worshiped as mere spirits and not gods; there can be no doubt of the light in which Budha is regarded; no one would think of calling him a mere spirit. What then do the Con- fucianists call him?

In the historical work called Káng Kien Í Chip, or Mirror of History, when describing the introduction of Budhism into China, the author says, "The king heard that in the West

□, there was a god (shin) whose name was Budha." The historian quoted in Kinght's Dictionary under the character fuh, tells a story of the Emperor Ming of the Hán dynasty (A.D. 50), seeing in a dream a golden man flying about his palace. The next morning, upon inquiring the meaning of it he was told by one of his courtiers that it related to Budha. His words were

"In India there is Budha, that is a

god (shin)." In the Commentary on the Sacred Edict, he is repeat- edly called “Shin Fuh the god Budha.” The word shin in all these instances must be rendered god and not spirit; if then when speaking of a foreign object of worship, who is confessedly not a mere spirit but a god, they call him shin, why should not we suppose that when they call their native objects of worship, Heaven, Earth, &c., &c., shin, they mean to rank them as gods also, and not as mere spirits?

We have also accounts of other foreign religions besides that of the Budhists. In a work on geography recently published by Su Sung- lung, the lieut -governor of Fuhkien province, the author speaks much of the religions of the people he describes. Speaking of the Persians and Indians, he says, "In the high antiquity, in Persia and India, all servel the god of Fire (Ho Shin). Those who served the