June 23, 1856.] THE CHINESE AND THEIR REBELLIONS. 103 



the greatest men made known to iis by history." (p. 335.) His works were 

 historical as well as philosophical ; and to this day his views of philo- 

 sophy, morals, and politics have reigned supreme in China, his works being 

 learned by heart by millions of Chinese, and deemed, indispensable at the 

 Public-service Examinations. With the exception, indeed, of the " Comi>lete 

 Philosophy," published, a.d. 1368, by command of the first Ming emx)eror, 

 and an abridgment of it, entitled the " Essence of Philosophy," in the reign 

 of Kang-he, the second Manchoo sovereign, Choo-tze's are the only works in 

 which the national philosophy is studied. To give the author's exposition 

 of Chinese philosophy, which extends over nearly seventy pages, is obviously 

 quite beside our purpose ; but they are well deserving of an attentive perusal 

 by the ethical student. 



Mr. Meadows next considers the religious and moral tenets of the Tae-pings, 

 as expounded in their own publications, either founded on the translations of 

 the Bible, as those by Hung-sew-tseuen and his more devout followers, or 

 dwelling on the new alleged revelations from God or Christ, written more re- 

 <5ently with a view of furthering the political and military objects of the Tae- 

 pings, by working on men's religious feelings —a class of writings always viewed 

 with dissatisfaction by Hung-sew-tseuen himself. From the former of these 

 it appears that " the Christianity of Hung-sew-tseuen and the more educated 

 of the God-worshippers, is the product of an unassisted study of more or less 

 inaccurate translations of the Bible, by men who had, up to the age of full 

 manhood, devoted themselves to the study of the Chinese Sacred books, and 

 who more or less firmly believed that the fundamental views therein con- 

 tained, truly pictured the origin and nature of the universe, and constituted 

 the bases of the only true psychology and morality " (p. 413). It is, indeed, 

 an anthropomorphic theism, a belief in God the Father existing at times 

 under a human form, with human attributes, but yet the Almighty, All-wise 

 Creator and sustainer of the universe. All men, they hold, are brothers 

 sprung from a single ancestor produced by or proceeding from the breath 

 of Shang-te or God ; and hence is derived the notion that " righteousness is 

 man's inborn original nature." As for the origin of evil, it is ascribed to 

 Yen-lo-wang or " the serpent-devil, the Pluto or king of Hades of popular su- 

 perstition, and the Tae-pings all bear intense hatred to him and his attendant 

 demons." On the person of Christ their books state, that " the Saviour, the 

 Lord Jesus, is the eldest son of the August, Supreme God," but is only styled 

 Lord, not God ; so that they do not hold him as either co-equal or co-etemal 

 with the Father, and hence, of course, the Trinity forms no part of their creed. 

 For further details on the theological tenets of the Tae-pings, the reader must 

 consult the work itself, as well as on the fanatical ideas engrafted on the origi- 

 nal creed — ideas which are more akin to Mormonism or Mysticism than pure 

 Christianity ; and we now proceed to explain the author's views respecting the 

 prospects of the Tae-pings. " At present," says he, " they have the bulk of 

 the learned against them ; but progressive successes will cause the learned to 

 go over to them in increasing numbers, and adopt the new belief; and the end 

 will be that the struggle will commence between the Confucian or rational, 

 and the Buddhistic or fanatical elements of the Tae-ping Christianity ; fol- 

 lowed by the triumph of the former and the definitive establishment of a sect 

 that will discredit all new revelations, and make the Bible alone the standard 

 of its religious belief." Meanwhile, the political stmggle is still doubtful ; the 

 Manchoo nation is still powerful, and, by the aid of the Mongols, may per- 

 haps eventually put down the Tae-ping rebels, though neither of the con- 

 tending parties can even themselves feel assured of success, whatever their 

 language and hopes may be. (p. 463.) 



Lastly, — the question is canvassed, what is the best policy of the Western 

 nations towards China, especially with respect to interference in their intestine 

 warfare. " No nation," the author holds, *' has the right to aid, by actual 



