Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 643

1830.

Defense of an Essay, &c.

601

and inquiring of the bystanders where the Shin thereof, c. g. of Fire, Wealth, &c., is. Dr. Bettelheim gives us the following letter from an officer of Lewchew about the gods of a temple in that country:

"I yesterday received your letter. You went to see the Hu-kwoh (Coun- try-protecting) Monastery, and found it in all respects commodious and suitable for a residence. You do not speak now of removing to another lodging, but you request us to reinove the gods (shin) of the temple, and place them outside of it. But the abbot of this monastery has told me, in relation to re- moving these gods (shin), that où his previous humble application you per mitted them to remain as heretofore. Now this temple is the place of prayer for the whole country, and consequently of the utmost importance. In case you should remain long in it, there would be much inconvenience. I beg you to wait till another day, when I will choose a place, and let you know that you can move. I send this short note, respectfully hoping you are happy; this is all I have to say. Hiảng Yung-páu, treasurer of Chungshán fű. May 8th, 1816. An important communication." See Jan. No., page 31.

I have before me now a chart of all the shin, (tsung shin ). In the seat of highest eminence I see the representation of a venerable old man with a crown on his head; directly over him are written the two characters Shingti; it is the chief god of the Táuists ; there are shin of all ranks and sizes around him; Confucius, too, is there; the Wú Ti Five Rulers are there also; every one of these shin is represented as a corporeal being, has a human figure; and yet Dr. Medhurst now tells us the Chinese Shin are not gods, but mere spirits. What! you ask: That old man who sits at the head of them all this stone or wooden thing-do the Chinese really think it spirit; an incorporeal, immaterial being? To this, Dr. M. replies . “The phrase ' wooden gods' may occur, but it is evident it is used metonomy for the wooden images of gods; and it would be quite as appropriate to speak of the wooden images of spirits, or of saints, as of gods." The propriety of such a figure of speech will depend upon the character of the gods of whom these wooden statues are said to be in- ages. A spirit is, if we understand the word aright, ex vi termini, an immaterial, incorporeal being. A material image of such a being is very different from that of a god, who may be supposed to be a being compounded of spirit and body. The Apostle says in Rom. i. 21, "Their foolish heart was darkened; they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corrupti- ble man,

and to birds," &c., i.e. they lost the sense of God's pure spi- rituality, and conceived of him as resembling men, birds, beasts, &c. The Greeks we know made images of their doi, and all polytheists we believe have done the same: but these inakers of images we faucy

VOL. XIX. NO. XI.

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