REV. ARTHUR ELWIX OX ANCESTRAL WORSHIP. 



75 



The thousands of Chinese who witnessed the execution doubtless 

 said : " These men cannot have done anything very wrong, or 

 they woukl not be allowed to retain their heads." In order to 

 make the punishment complete, the heads of these men ought 

 to have been brought to England, or at least sunk in the sea 

 The fact is that the Chinese believe that a man who is beheaded 

 appears in the other world without a head, and spends the rest 

 of his time there in a headless condition, being laughed and 

 jeered at by all his fellow spirits who have retained their heads. 

 The public executioner in Hangchow made a considerable 

 income by the sale of the heads of the people he decapitated to 

 their friends, that they might be sewn on again. The 

 magistrate generally orders the head of the man who has been 

 decapitated to be exposed for so many days. This is done in 

 order that the friends may not be able to obtain it. AVhile I 

 was in Hangchow, a man, who had been embezzling money 

 and cheating the government, was executed. Because it was 

 not an extreme case, and the man had not committed murder, 

 he was allowed to make arrangements about his head before it 

 was cut off. After much bargaining, the friends were to be allowed 

 to have the head upon payment of about £50 in our money. 

 The last thing that this man saw. before he closed his eyes, and 

 his head was cut off, was a man standing by with a needle and 

 thread ; he knew his head would be restored, and he would be 

 all right in the other world, and he died happy. 



But the important question mnst now be asked : Is Ancestral 

 "Worship as practised by the Chinese idolatrous ? After what 

 has been said, one would think that there would not be much 

 difficulty in answering this question, but of course you are 

 aware some have said that the care for their ancestors is a 

 praiseworthy feature in the Chinese character, and ought not 

 to be discouraged. 



At the General Missionary Conference held in Shanghai in 

 L890, Dr. Martin, the President of the Chinese College in 

 Bekin, read a paper entitled, " Ancestral Worship : A plea for 

 toleration," the conclusion of which was : " I respectfully 

 suggest that the missionaries refrain from any interference 

 with the native mode of honouring ancestors, and leave the 

 reformation of the system to the intiuence of divine truth, when 

 it gets a tinner hold on the national mind." After a very full 

 discussion, the Conference of four hundred missionaries passed 

 almost unanimously the following resolution : '"' Eesolved that 

 this Conference record its dissent from this conclusion, and 

 affirms its belief that idolatry is an essential constituent 



