REV. ARTHUR EL WIN, ON CONFUCIANISM. 



65 



Babylonia and Arabia before us, should we infer that Zoroaster 

 preserved and restored the faith which had been transmitted from 

 the time of the Deluge and of the great Dispersion which followed 

 it, but which had already been abandoned by many of his country- 

 men for a worship of " the creature instead of the Creator," for the 

 mighty forces that He directs, instead of the Spirit that made and 

 controls them all. 



Returning now to China, on the one hand, we find a strong link 

 of communication between Babylonia and China at a remote epoch ; 

 on the other hand, we find a rare but periodical worship of the God 

 of Heaven, celebrated from time immemorial by the Chinese 

 emperors themselves. The link is known from the discovery made 

 about twenty years ago, that a striking resemblance exists between 

 some of the earliest Chinese characters and certain of the Babylonian 

 ones — a discovery that I for one had the pleasure of seeing set 

 forth by Professor Lacouperie to the Philological Society in about 

 the year 1890, when he laid fifty cuneiform letters beside fifty of 

 the phonetic letters in use in the chief province of China before the 

 Chinese writing was made ideographic, showing the groups to be 

 practically identical letter for letter. The worship is that which is 

 paid once in the year by the emperor alone in the great Temple of 

 Heaven, which is a vast inclosure at Pekin with a large altar in the 

 midst, but no roof save the blue sky. 



It is on record that seventy years ago, when a drought and 

 famine had long been continued, the reigning emperor uttered 

 before that altar a remarkable prayer, in which he confessed to the 

 Supreme Ruler his sins and those of his nation, and asked forgive- 

 ness and a return of favour ; and the very next day a most 

 abundant rain fell upon the parched region and revived its fertility. 

 "Them that honour me I will honour, saith the Lord." 



Rev. Mr. Elwin in reply said : — Some interesting points have 

 been raised. With regard to the offering of a little food in sacrifice 

 with grave, respectful air, that is specially mentioned in the Annals 

 of Conf ucius, but it does not say to wdiom the offering was made. 

 AVe may almost take it that it was to the spirits of the ancestors. 

 And then, with regard to the teeth, that was a very interesting 

 question, because if the soul comes with the teeth, we may almost 

 suppose that the soul goes with the teeth, too ! I have asked the 

 Chinese about this, and all they can say is that that tradition has 



