66 



REV. ARTHUR EL WIN, ON CONFUCIANISM. 



been handed down from old time. The idea has, I believe, 

 originated in order to make infanticide all the easier. If they can 

 persuade themselves that the baby has no soul, then there is no 

 difficulty in putting it into a pail of water like a kitten or a 

 puppy. Of course, if it had a soul there would be greater difficulty, 

 and perhaps the Chinaman would feel his conscience prick him a 

 little. The question with regard to the influence of Confucianism 

 is also very interesting. I think myself, it is owing to his books. 

 The books are very old and the competitive examinations are dated 

 back from about the year 631. The nation is so saturated with 

 this Confucian idea, the books have to be learnt absolutely 

 perfectly without a mistake ; and any scholar in China who goes 

 in for examination would be able to repeat the nine books right 

 through, and of course that in itself would tend to give the whole 

 Confucian system a standing in the country which nothing else 

 would. 



Dr. Legge held that Shang-ti was the Supreme God, that is to 

 say, the God that we worship ; the God that has been handed down, 

 but of course there are others who will not allow that. I have 

 spoken to Chinese scholars in China — English Chinese scholars — 

 who would not allow that Shang-ti was the Supreme God ; but it is 

 a very wide question and certainly a very difficult question. Dr. 

 Legge, when he visited the Temple of Shang-ti, where the sacrifice 

 is offered only once a year by the emperor to God, — he worships in 

 the middle of the night, and offers a whole bullock; it is in the 

 open air ; there is no temple. There is simply a mound and at the 

 top of the mound an altar, and on this altar the sacrifice ; and the 

 only worshipper is the emperor. Dr. Legge, when he visited that 

 place, was so convinced that in that particular spot worship to the 

 true God had been handed down from century to century, that he 

 stooped down and took off his boots, and he walked without his. 1 

 boots, because he said, " This is holy ground." 



The Meeting adjourned. 



