118 EXOGAMY IN CHINA 



kings felt it difficult to speak of this. ' ' And Hsien-tsze, 

 Op. eit. p. 150. a Minister of the State of Loo, said: — "I have heard 



moreover that there are two grounds for the wailing; 



one from love, and one from fear." 



Such being the Chinese views as to the state of 



the dead, and such the dear dread of the living we can 



see how ancestor worship arose. 

 Op. ©it. p. 371. The Book of Kites says:— "The object of all the 



ceremonies is to bring down the spirits from above, 



even their ancestors." 



° P 3i?' Pt ' ,V ' ^ nc ^ a g am ' "Thus they served the dead as they 



served them when alive, and served the departed as 

 they would have served them if they had been con- 

 tinued among them : — all this was the perfection of 

 filial duty." 



The Sacrificial Odes of the Shang Dynasty are 

 the oldest in the Book of Poetry and in them and else- 

 where in the Odes, there are many references to the 

 services in the ancestral temple, the invocation of the 

 spirits of the great departed, their acceptance of the 

 worship paid, and their blessing by the mouths of their 

 "personators," chosen descendants of the same sur- 

 name, of the living members of the line. 



In one of the "Minor Odes of the Kingdom, " 

 describing a grand sacrifice in the ancestral temple it 

 is said : — 



SheKinB.Pt.il., "Before the fires some reverent stand; 



VSbV ^'* Some take the mighty trays in hand ; 



Leone! Metrical These with the roasted flesh they fill 



Translation, Those with the livers broiled. Then still 



"• 2 "3. And reverent, the queen presides, 



And every smaller dish provides, 



The pious feast to grace." 

 "The guests and visitors draw near 

 Divined for, now they all appear, 



And take an honoured place." 

 "Tween those who personate our sires, 

 Our lord, and them, as rule requires, 

 Once and again the cup goes round, 

 Each word and smile just that is found, 

 Which word and smile should be." 

 "The spirits come in quiet state, 

 And answer give with blessings great. 

 Myriads of years — his due reward — 

 Shall show how they our lord regard, 

 And keep from evil free." 



Such was the worship of ancestors, a means where- 

 by the primitive fear of the malignant ghost has been 

 cast out by love and reverence. 



