Mi 



CHINA. 



>ifi|t>. Their trr.f t ! mc)e the it rut rapid progress throughout the 

 v " ~^ empire ; anJ the court was filled with the teacher* of the 

 ryttem, who received tli? title of Tien-tse, or " celestial 

 Joctort," while their chief wai honoured with the Jig- 

 .if a grand mandarin, which his successors are said 

 Mill to retain, residing in a splendid palace in the pro- 

 vince of Kiang-fec, to which multitudes of worshippers 

 continually resort. These draughts of immortality, 

 ought after with so much avidity, were not unfrequcnt- 

 ly rendered instrumental in cutting off the sovereigns 

 and grandees of the empire, by administering a poison- 

 ous dote in their place ; and, even in their most genuine 

 state, they arc supposed to have, in many instances, 

 brought on a premature decease. This beverage of life, 

 which is still held in great request, especially among the 

 higher classes of the Chinese, is understood to be a com- 

 pound of opium, and other stimulating drugs, which ex- 

 cite the system and exhilarate the spirits for a moment ; 

 but, by the frequent repetition of the dose, which the 

 languor by which it is succeeded renders necessary, the 

 constitution is at length exhausted, and the period of life 

 is thus abbreviated, rather than prolonged, by the perni- 

 cious superstition. 



This sect became particularly powerful under the dy- 

 nasty of Song ; and one of the emperors of that race car- 

 ried his superstitious reverence for a celebrated teacher 

 among them to such a length, as to command him to be 

 worshipped under the name of Shang-tee, which had 

 hitherto been appropriated to the Supreme Being. The 

 sages of the nation were so greatly shocked by this act 

 of impiety, that they predicted the ruin of that dynasty 

 a* fast approaching ; and the wiser part of the learned 

 men frequently presented strong remonstrances to differ- 

 ent emperors against the patronage which was bestowed 

 upon these deceivers ; but the sect of the Tao-tse conti- 

 nued to increase in power and numbers, under the pro- 

 tection of princes, the countenance of the great, and the 

 credulity of the people ; and has preserved its extensive 

 influence even to this day, in spite even of all the at- 

 tempts of the celebrated Confucius to introduce more en- 

 lightened doctrines. 



Sect of Confucius or Kong-foo-tse was born about 550 years 



Confucius, before Christ, and is regarded by the Chinese as the 

 chief of their wise men, and as the author of their whole 

 civil constitution. He endeavoured to restore the an- 

 cient system, and to improve the conduct of his coun- 

 trymen, by exhorting them to obey the commands of 

 heaven, to love their neighbours, and to restrain their 

 paations. Some of bis philosophical principles are, that 

 out of nothing there cannot any thing be produced ; 

 that material bodies must have existed from all eternity ; 

 that the cause or principle of things must have had a 

 co-existence with the things themselves ; that this cause, 

 therefore, must also be eternal, infinite, and indestructi- 

 ble ; and that the central point of influence, from which 

 this cause chiefly acts, is the blue firmament, (tien) 

 whctlce its emanations are spread over the universe ; but 

 ueither he nor Lis disciples ascribe to the deity any per- 

 sonal existence, or represent the first cause under any 

 distinct image ; while the sun, moon, stars, and elements, 

 are considered also at composing the firmament, or tien, 

 as the immediate agents of the deity, and as the produc- 

 tive powers in creation. The universe, in short, ac- 

 cording to thit philosopher, it one animated system, 

 made up of one material substance, and of one spiritual 

 Wing, of which every living thing is an emanation, and 

 to which, when separated by death from its particular 

 Material part, every living thing again returns ; hence 

 the term death ii never wed by bis followers, but they 



lay of a person, at his decease, thru he has returned to Riligion. 

 his family. Thus he taught, that the human body is com- x "~" . """' 

 posed of two principle;!, the one light, invisible, and as- 

 cendmg, the other gross, palpable, and descending ; that 

 the separation of these two principles cause* the death of 

 human beings ; and that, at this period, the light and spi- 

 ritual part ascends into the air, while the gross and cor- 

 poreal matter sinks into the earth. He taught, farther, 

 that the spirits of those, who had performed their duty 

 in life, were permitted to revisit their ancient habitations, 

 and such places as might be appointed for receiving the- 

 homage of their descendants ; that they have the power 

 of conferring benefits upon their posterity ; that it was 

 thus the indispensable duty of every man to perform the 

 sacred rites to the memory of his ancestors ; and that, 

 whosoever neglected this duty, would be punished, after 

 death, by his spirit being rendered incapable of visitin - 

 the hall of ancestors, and receiving the homage of his 

 descendants. Besides the performance of these sacred 

 rites to the memory of ancestors, the principal religious 

 worship which he required, was, that the prince, in the 

 name of his people, should present offerings to the tien, 

 particularly at the two equinoxes, for the purpose of ob- 

 taining a propitious seed-time and a plentiful harvest ; 

 but, at the same time, that the deity is always best satis- 

 fied when men perform the moral duties of life, which he 

 comprised chiefly in these two, viz. filial piety towards 

 parents, ami unreserved obedience to the will of the em- 

 peror. With these tenets was naturally connected a 

 belief of good and evil genii, and of tutelary spirits pre- 

 siding over families, towns, mountains, and other places ; 

 and while the system of Confucius was little better than 

 atheism in the mind of the philosopher, it became a 

 source of gross idolatry among the people, who could not 

 comprehend the more refined notions, but, needing some 

 visible object upon which to fix their attention, repre- 

 sented the tutelary spirits by images, and worshipped 

 them by sacrifices. Confucius himself was much ad- 

 dicted to a species of divination or fortune-telling, and 

 says expressly in one of his works, that the wise man 

 ought to know future events before they happen, and 

 that this may be done by means of lots. His tenets, 

 in short, instead of overcoming the old errors, gave rise 

 to new superstitions ; and the chief difference between 

 the proper followers of Confucius and those of J_,ao-tse, 

 il this, that the former inculcate the duty df living 

 among men, and endeavouring to improve them ; while 

 the latter avoid every kind of society and occupation, 

 and lead a frugal retired life, as their only felicity. 



During the reign of the Emperor Ming-tee, of the Sect of Fl 

 Han dynasty, a new superstition was introduced into 

 China, whose influence is perhaps still more extensive 

 and pernicious in that country, than any of those by 

 which it was preceded. One of the Tao-tse doctors had 

 promised to a brother of the emperor's, that he would 

 open to him a communication with the spirits ; and this 

 superstitious prince having heard of a spirit in Tien-tso, 

 or Hindostan, named Fo, or Foe, prevailed upon the 

 emperor, by his importunities, to send an embassy for 

 this foreign divinity. When the officer, who was en- 

 trusted with this mission, arrived at the place of his des- 

 tination, he found only two Sha-men, or priests of Fo, 

 whom he carried to China, with some of their canonical 

 books, and several images of the idol painted on linen. 

 The followers of Fo describe him as the son of a prince 

 of one of the kingdoms of India, near the line ; and af- 

 firm, that as soon as he was born he stood upright, 

 walked seven steps without assistance, and, pointing to 

 the heavens with one hand, and to the earth with the 

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