ON ITEMS or CHINESE ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY. / / 



Reverence, lioly memoiy, affectionate dwelling on the precepts of 

 the departed — these are the good side; but fear is practically the 

 basis of morality rather than love, the bliss of the futui'e life is 

 rt-diiced l.o a ledger account which perpetuates the inequalities of 

 the present, and there is a strong tendency to the degradation of 

 the practice of this fundamental morality down to a game of hide 

 and seek with exacting and vengeful ghosts. The question 

 suggested by the writer as to the effect upon nineteenth century 

 international relations of the command in the sacred Edict " Cast 

 out foreign sects," is a very practical one in China. That Edict is 

 by law read publicly by high officials every month tlu'oughout the 

 land. 



Rev. R. C. FoRSTTH writes : — 



With respect to Ancestral Worship; as a Christian missionary 

 who has laboured in. the interior of China for over eight years, I 

 cannot agree that this ceremony is harmless. 



Dr. Williams in his Middle Kingdom, vol. ii, page 239, says, 

 "The fact that filial piety in this system has overpassed the limit 

 set by God in His word and that deceased parents are worshipped 

 as gods by their children, is both true and sad. That the worship 

 rendered to their ancestors by the Chinese is idolatrous cannot be 

 doubted ; and it forms one of the subtlest phases of idolatr}^ — 

 essentially evil with the guise of goodness — ever established 

 among men." 



With this conclusion, I in common with the great majority of 

 missionaries in China must reluctantly concur. In our mission — 

 the English Baptist — working in Shantung, we have endeavoured 

 to substitute for the idolatrous worship a Christian service of 

 thanksgiving and praise with, however, not very marked results. 



Laws and enactments. — In China, so far as I know it, the adminis- 

 tration of the law is notoriovisly corrupt,* and in the disti-ict where 

 our mission is working, robbery with violence and other forms of 

 lawlessness are common, during the winter months especially. 



* The wise laws and edicts of generations gone by seem to exist, but 

 not to be enforced. 



