Iv.] RELIGION. CONFUCIANISM. 85 secluded vales, where, before the tombs of their ancestors, they prostrate themselves in awe and reverence. The worship thus paid is regarded as the continuation of the homage and reverence shown them upon earth, rather than as worship rendered to a god; for they do not seem to consider these spirits to be invested with attributes which render them greatly superior to the conditions of being under which they existed in the flesh. They believe that the happiness of these spirits depends in a great measure on the worship and offerings of posterity, and that those who are careful to render it to them secure the favour of the gods. Sometimes they ascribe to the spirits of their ancestors the power of exercising a providential care over them, and of punishing them should they neglect to discharge their religious duties. On several occasions, and at all seasons of the year, I have seen Chinese at the tombs of their ancestors seeking to obtain oracular information. The state worship which is rendered in the Temple of Imperial Ancestors is celebrated with the greatest solemnity and splendour, and it can only be offered, like that which is paid to Teen, by the Emperor himself and his principal mandarins. The worship of ancestors had its natural development in the canonization and worship of the spirits of great sages, heroes, benefactors of mankind, such as the ancient patrons of agriculture and silk-weaving, eminent statesmen, philanthropists, distinguished physicians, and martyrs to virtue. Conspicuous among the multitude of canonized worthies who fill the Pantheon of China are Kwan-te, the god of war, Confucius himself, "the most holy teacher of ancient times," Man-chang, a god of learning, Teen-how, the Queen of Heaven, and others of whom the reader will find some account in the chapter of mythological sketches. Parallel with their worship of the spirits of ancestors and of deified mortals is that which they render to the Shin or spirits whom they suppose to preside over Nature in her different departments or operations. To sun, moon, and stars, to the elements, to the seasons, to fertile land and waving grain, to every high hill, to streams and rivers, to clouds, rain, wind, and thunder, to the four seas and to the passing year, they assign tutelary spirits whom they worship. For them the encircling air is peopled with such beings, both good and bad. “How vast is the influence of the Kwei-shin!" is the language in which Confucius speaks of them. "If you look for them you cannot see them; if you listen you cannot hear them; they embody all things; without them things cannot be. When we are commanded to fast, purify, and dress ourselves, in order to sacrifice to them, all things appear full of them." Conspicuous amongst these are the gods of the land and of the grain, of the sun, moon, and stars, and Lung-Wong, the Dragon King, or Neptune of the Chinese. The belief of the Chinese in such beings reminds one of the ministry of angels and genii in which the ancient Persians -from whom the Jews are said to have borrowed much of their angel lore-had such implicit faith. During the four thousand years over which their history extends, the Chinese have never disgraced their religion with the stories of illicit love which are conspicuous in the Greek and Roman mythologies; and they have never fashioned an image of that Being whom they recognize as Supreme. But the essential monotheism of their religion has suffered from a perpetual eclipse; and, as if the one pure element in it were not already sufficiently obscured by creature worship, the people have been virtually driven into idolatry by the jealousy with which the worship of Wang-Teen has been confined to the emperor and his court. In the present day no very sharp lines are drawn between the national gods of the Chinese and those of Taouism and Buddhism, and the people are often guided in their superstition simply by the reputation which an idol enjoys, or the supposed efficacy of certain rites. Another cause of the uncertainty of their monotheism is to be found in the materialistic speculations of the school of Confucianists who flourished in the Soong dynasty A.D. 9601271. These philosophers-the most prominent of whom was Choo-foo-tsze, who died A.D. 1200-fixing upon the crude speculations of the Yih-King as their point of departure, endeavoured to explain the creation of the universe. Without explaining his meaning, Confucius had said that the Tae-Keih or Great Extreme was at the beginning of all things, and into this, as an IV.] RELIGION. CONFUCIANISM. 87 ultimate principle, they resolved the personal God of the ShooKing and She-King. I need not attempt to discuss their precise position among philosophers. It is sufficient to state that the practical effect of their speculations was to pervert the body of the literati to materialism or atheism. In the midst of conflicting views and systems, the Chinese are unanimous in the reverence with which they continue to regard Confucius; and, as their religion is rather a body of ceremonies than a system of doctrine, we may gather a clearer idea of it from the worship which is paid to this deified philosopher. Services are held in his honour twice a month. He is worshipped with great solemnity by all the mandarins, civil and military, throughout the empire, in the middle months of spring and autumn of each year. At Pekin the worship is led by the emperor in person, and in a provincial capital by the governor-general. For the two days preceding the ceremony the mandarins are supposed to fast. On the eve of the solemnity, a bullock, and several sheep and pigs, are conducted in procession with banners and bands of music to the temple of Confucius by an official attired in court costume. There the animals are paraded before the altar, on which incense is kept burning in honour of the occasion. When the butcher, kneeling knife in hand before the altar, has received the command to rise and slay the victims, they are conducted to an adjoining slaughter-house. Their carcasses, shorn of hair and wool,' are afterwards conveyed to the temple, and arranged on the high altar as expiatory sacrifices, if we may use the expression, in honour of the great heathen philosopher. Thank-offerings, consisting of flowers, fruits, and wines, in three different kinds respectively, together with nine different kinds of silk fabricsall in white-are laid upon the same altar. On the succeeding day, the emperor or the governor-general who is to act as Pontifex Maximus-Shing-Si-Koon is the term used by the Chineseproceeds to the temple. He is first called upon to wash his hands. When he has done so, and when the civil and military officers of the district, who on such occasions wear court costume, have arranged themselves in solemn order with their faces 1 The blood, hair, and wool of the victims are buried in the earth. turned towards the altar of the sage-the civil officers on the east, and the military officers on the west, side of the grand quadrangle of the temple-a master of ceremonies calls aloud "Ying-shan," or, "Receive the Spirit." When he has called a second time to those assembled-this time in the words "Kuying-shan-sok"-the vocalists and musicians,' who are supposed to be seventy-four in number, sing and play a hymn which is termed Chu-ping-chaong. This hymn consists of seven verses, each of which is formed of eight lines, each line having four characters. This portion of the service having been brought to a close, a herald calls aloud "Shaong-haong "-" Let the incense arise." The governor-general then approaches by the eastern staircase, the shrine in which the altar stands, and takes up his position straight in front. Almost immediately behind him. stand thirty-six boys in neat uniforms, each bearing in his hand a plume of the feathers of the Argus pheasant. There are four other boys, two of whom bear standards, and two long rods or wands. A herald again cries "Ying-shan" or "Receive the Spirit," upon which his excellency kneels down and performs the Kow-tow. On rising to his feet he is presented with a burning incense stick by an attendant who stands on the east side of him. This he raises with both hands above his head with the same movement which a Roman Catholic priest uses in elevating the host. An attendant who stands on his left side now receives the burning incense stick, and places it in a large incense burner standing on the altar. The governor-general again kneels before the altar and performs the Kow-tow. He is then escorted from the shrine, by the western staircase to his position at the head of the officials who line the sides of the quadrangle. As soon as he has taken up this position, all the mandarins, together with his excellency, kneel down at the command of a master of ceremonies, and perform the Kow-tow. 1 Although the musical part of the service devolves principally upon the vocalists, who chant hymns of praise in honour of the sage, an orchestra is arranged on one side of the altar, consisting of musicians attired for the occasion in robes of state. In the hands of many of these, it is usual to place various kinds of ancient musical instruments, but, as the use of these is unknown to the Chinese musicians of the present day, the choral part of the service is especially prominent. IV.] RELIGION. CONFUCIANISM. 89 During the rendering of this act of obeisance the minstrels chant in honour of Confucius the hymn called "Chuk-sze." In the number of its verses and metre, this hymn is precisely the same as that called "Chu-ping-chaong." In the performance of the various duties which devolve upon him in the course of the ceremonial, the governor-general, escorted by two bedells, has to proceed into the immediate presence of the altar, which groans under expiatory and eucharistic offerings, no fewer than nine times, and on each occasion he presents to the tablet or idol a certain number of the offerings. He raises each offering as it is presented above his head. In the case of the animals such an elevation is of course impossible, and portions only of their flesh are elevated. At the close of the ceremony, and whilst the governor-general is standing before the altar, a letter or prayer to Confucius, copied by a caligraphist on a sheet of yellow paper, is read aloud by a herald in the hearing of all present. It is then conveyed to the spirit of the departed sage by being cast into a sacred furnace. Offerings, both expiatory and eucharistic, are presented on these occasions in the presence of the tablets of the ancestors of Confucius, and of those also of his disciples. I have said that the mandarins wear, as a mark of reverence, their court costume. This includes the official cap. The wearing of a cap or bonnet is universal among the people, both in the worship of their gods and in ancestral worship. It was the custom observed by the ancient Jews, and also by the Romans. Virgil makes more than one allusion to it in the Eneid. To quote one reference only "Quin, ubi transmissæ steterint trans æquora classes, ENEID, iii. 1, 432. 1 The reader will have noticed that the officiating mandarin is called upon to wash his hands before entering into the presence of the object of his adoration. The circumstance reminds one of the lustrations of the Levitical priesthood, who were commanded on pain of death to wash their hands in the brazen laver of the |