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RELIGIONS
OF
CHINA:
ADDRESS
BEFORE THE
FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION,
Boston, May 27, 1870.
BY
REV. WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING.
•fòrprintrìf front t&e “ ^tomiiings.”
BOSTON:
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.
1870.
��RELIGIONS OF CHINA.
Why was the nation and land, which we from tradition call
“ China,” named by its rulers, scholars, and people The Central
Empire, Chung-Kwoh ? Not merely because they believed their
sacred mountain to be the centre, whence blew the four great winds,
and flowed the four great rivers ; nor chiefly because they considered them
selves as being midmost among the nations. But they took this title of
Central because they claimed that their government, laws and social forms
were the product of the harmonious union of Heaven and Earth, — the
meeting point of all creative powers. Theirs was the Central Empire,
because it was organized from the Central Principle of Universal Order.
And where did they find the test, standard, and arbiter of this Central
and Universal principle ? They found it in the reason and yet more in
the heart of Man, — of each man, of all men. The Central, Universal
Principle of Chinese religion, ethics, laws, is found, in essence, in
Sincerity of Heart. This is a high claim. But here, beside me, are
the books, whence can be proved, at length, how earnestly these claims
have been asserted by the “Men of the Central Empire,” — as they
loftily name themselves, from the earliest ages to the present day.
All real scholars know this fact. And now briefly let me describe the
Religions of “ China,” which are Three in number.
I. The Tao-ists, or the followers of the “Eternal Reason” — the
“Tao,” — as the Way of life, shall here be mentioned first, — not
only because Lao-Tsze, their eminent teacher, born 604 before the Chris
tian era, preceded Confucius by some fifty years ; but because that pro
found sage perpetually refers to the “ skilful philosophers in olden time who
had mystic communication with the Abyss,” — the original principle of
“ Unity,” — to the “ ancient sages, deep, simple, circumspect, still,” who
were the “ associates of Heaven, which was the supreme aim of antiq
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uity.” It is through this wonderfully pure seer, indeed, as it appears
to me, that we ascend to the primitive revelation of truth given to this
ancient people. And how sublime in simplicity it is ! Hear his first
word : “ The reason which can be reasoned is not the Eternal Reason.
The name which can be named is not the Eternal Name.” And again:
“ Something existed before heaven and earth. It stood alone and was
not changed. It pervaded everywhere. It was still. It was void. In its
depth it seems the first Ancestor of all things. It appears to have been
before God. It may be regarded as the Mother of the Universe. I
know not its name, but give it the title of Reason. If I am forced to
make a name for it, I say it is Great. . . . Reason is great; Heaven is
great; Earth is great; a King is great. Man takes his law from the
Earth ; the Earth takes its law from Heaven ; Heaven takes its law from
Reason; Reason takes its law from what it is in itself.” Again:
“ Virtue in its grandest aspect is neither more nor less than following
Reason. Reason is indefinite, yet therein are forms; impalpable, yet
therein are things ; profound and dark, yet therein is essence. This
essence is most true; and from of old until now it has never lost its
name. It passes into all things that have a beginning. How know I
the manner of the beginning of all things ? I know it by this Reason.
. . . Would you go before it, you cannot see its face. Would you go
behind it, you cannot see its back. But to have such an apprehension of
the Reason which was of old as to regulate present things, and to know
their beginning in the past, this I call having the clew of Reason.”
Thus does this simple-hearted sage aspire “to go home to the origin,”
as he says. “ Great Reason is all pervading. It can be on the right
hand, and also at the same time on the left. All things wait upon it for
life, and it refuses none. When its meritorious work is done, it takes
not the name of merit. In love it nourishes all things, and it is ever
free from ambitious desires. It may be named with the smallest. All
things return home to it, but it does not lord it over them. It may be
named with the greatest. . . . Lay hold on the great form of Reason,
and the whole world will go to you. It will go to you and suffer no
injury ; and its rest and peace will be glorious. Reason in passing from
your mouth is tasteless. If you look at it, there is nothing to fill the
eye. If you listen to it, there is nothing to fill the ear. But if you use
it, it is inexhaustible.” — “ The Spirit, like the perennial spring of the
valley, never dies. This Spirit I call the Abyss-Mother.” — “ Going
home to the origin is said to be a reversion to destiny. This reversion
to destiny is called eternity. . . He who knows eternity is magnani
mous. Being magnanimous, he is catholic. Being catholic, he is a
king. Being a king, he is Heaven. Being Heaven, he is Reason.
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Being Reason, he is enduring. Though his body perish, he is in no
danger.”
Here, then, in oneness with Eternal Reason, Lao-Tsze found the Cen
tral Principle of Unity. Do we say that this doctrine is mystical ? But
it is no more mystical than the doctrine of Socrates and Plato, of Aris
totle and Zeno; of the Hebrew Psalms and Prophets; of the Ser
mon on the Mount, the Proem to the Gospel of John, and the Pauline
Epistles ; of the great Mediaeval Saints ; of Kant, Fichte, and Hegel; of
Henry More, Price, and Coleridge. And now let us see the practical
application of his principle ; and first to personal perfection. He says :
“ There is nothing like keeping the inner man. The Sage embraces
Unity, and so is a pattern for all the world. He puts himself last, and
yet is first; abandons himself, and yet is preserved. Is this not through
his having no selfishness ? Thereby he preserves self-interest intact.
He is not self-displaying, and therefore he shines. He is not self-approv
ing, and therefore he is distinguished. He is not self-praising, and there
fore he has merit. He is not self-exalting, and therefore he stands high ;
and inasmuch as he does not strive, no one in all the world strives with
him. That ancient saying, ‘He that humbles himself shjall be preserved
entire,’ — oh, it is no vain utterance ! Verily, he shall be returned home
entire to his origin.” And again : “ By undivided attention to the pas
sion nature and increasing tenderness, it is possible to be a little child.
By putting away impurity from the hidden eye of the heart, it is possible
to be without spot. By loving the people and so governing the nation, it
is possible to be unknown. There is a purity and quietude by which one
may rule the whole world.” Thus by tenderness and purity of heart
would the sage become like a little child. “To keep tenderness I pro
nounce strength,” he says. “Use the light to guide you home to its own
brightness. . . . This I call practising Eternal Reason.”
And thus seeking “ simple goodness like water,” the Sage should
strive in all social relations, to rule, not by force, but by influence. “ He
who knows the masculine nature, and at the same time keeps the feminine,
will be the whole world’s channel, the centre of universal attraction.
Being the whole world’s channel, eternal virtue will not depart from him ;
and he will return again to the state of an infant. He who knows the
light, and at the same time keeps the shade, will be the whole world’s
model. He who knows the glory, and at the same time keeps the
shame, will be the whole world’s valley. Being the whole world’s valley,
eternal virtue will fill him, and he will return home to simplicity.” — “Of
all the weak things in the world nothing exceeds water ; and yet of those
which attack hard and strong things I know not what is superior to it.
Don’t make light of this. The fact that the weak can conquer the
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strong, and the tender the hard, is known to all the world; yet none carry
it out in practice. Therefore the Sage says, ‘ He who bears the re
proach of his country shall be called the lord of the land. He who bears
the calamities of his country shall be called the king of the world.’”
And this spirit of self-sacrificing gentleness, blending masculine
strength with feminine sweetness, should flow abroad in abounding benevo
lence. “The Sage is ever the good saviour of men. He rejects none.
He is ever the good saviour of things. He rejects nothing. His I call
comprehensive intelligence. For the good men are the instructors of
other good men ; and the bad men are the material of the good men for
them to work upon.” — “ The Sage has no invariable mind of his own,
he makes the mind of the people his mind. The good I would meet
with goodness. The not-good I would meet with goodness also. Virtue
is good. The faithful I would meet with faith. The not-faithful I
would meet with faith also. Virtue is faithful. The Sage lives in the
world with a timid reserve ; but his mind blends in sympathy with all.
The people all turn their ears and eyes up to him; and the Sage thinks
of them all as his children.”
But thus living personally, and acting socially, according to the law of
Universal Reason, the “ Mother of the Universe,” the Sage would apply
the same principle to government. “ In governing men and in serving
Heaven there is nothing like moderation. This moderation is the first
thing to be obtained. When this is first attained, one may be said to
have laid in an abundant store of virtue. Such a one has the mother
of the kingdom and may endure long. This I call having the roots
deep and the fibres firm. This is the Reason by which one may live
long and see many "days.” — “ For what did the ancients so much prize
this Reason ? Was it not because it was found at once without search
ing ; and by it those who had sinned might escape ? Therefore it is the
most estimable thing in the world.” — “Recompense injury with kind
ness.”— “Begin to regulate before the disorder comes.” — “Reason, as
it is eternal, has no name. But though insignificant in its primordial
simplicity, the world dares not make a servant of it. If a prince or
king could keep this, every thing would spontaneously submit to him;
and the people without orders, would of themselves harmonize together.
. . . Would that I were possessed of sufficient knowledge to walk in the
great Way of Reason. The great Way is exceedingly plain, but the
people like the cross-paths. . . . The Sage, when he wishes to be above
the people so as to rule them, must keep below them. When he wishes
to be before the people, he must in person keep behind them. In this
way, while in position over the people, they do not feel his weight.
Therefore the world delights to exalt him, and no one is offended.” —
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“ The Reason of Heaven does not strive, yet conquers well; does not
call, yet things come of their own accord ; is slack, yet plans well. The
net of heaven is very wide in its meshes, yet misses nothing.” — “ When
the people do not fear death, to what purpose is the punishment of death
still used to overawe them ? There is always the Great Executioner.
Now, for any man to act the Executioner’s part, I say it is hewing out
the Great Architect’s work for him. And he who undertakes to hew
for the Great Architect rarely fails to cut his own hands.” — “I have
three precious things, which I hold fast and prize, — Compassion, Econo
my, Humility. Being compassionate, I can therefore be brave; Being
economical, I can therefore be liberal. Not daring to take precedence
of the world, I can therefore become chief among the perfect ones. But
in the present day men give up compassion, and cultivate only courage.
They give up economy, and aim only at liberality, They give up the last
place, and seek only the first. It is their death, Compassion is that
which is victorious in attack and secure in defence. When Heaven would
save a man it encircles him with compassion.”
And finally, although living in the midst of war and civil disturbance,
this great teacher of the Way of Reason was as earnest an apostle of
peace as any Christian Father, or modern Friend, or latest advocate of
Woman’s influence. Hear how broadly and magnanimously he preaches
the gospel of mercy and good-will. “ He who in the use of Reason renders
assistance to a human ruler does not use weapons to force the people.
His actions are such as he would wish rendered to himself again.
Where legions are quartered, briers and thorns grow. In the track of
great armies must follow bad years. The good soldier is brave only to
effect some good purpose. He ventures nothing for the sake of power.
He is brave in need, but never a bully. He is brave in need, but never
overbearing. He is brave in need, for he cannot be less, but not violent.”
And again : “ Ornamental weapons are not instruments of joy, but ob
jects of hatred to every creature. Therefore he who has Reason will
not stay where they are. The Superior Man in his home makes the
left hand — the weak side — the place of honor. But he who goes
forth to use weapons of war honors the right— the strong hand. Wea
pons are instruments of evil omen. They are not the tools of a Superior
Man. He uses them only when he cannot help it. Peace is his highest
aim. When he conquers he is not elated. To be elated is to rejoice at
the destruction of human life; and he who rejoices at the destruction of
human life is not fit to be intrusted with power in the world. He who
has been instrumental in killing many people should move on over them
with bitter tears. Therefore those who have been victorious in battle
are disposed after the order of a funeral.” And not only does the Sage
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thus hate war and love peace, but he teaches, with a profound and pene
trating wisdom never surpassed, that Pacific Policy is omnipotent. Hear
him. “ When a great kingdom takes a lowly position, it becomes the
place of concourse for the world: it is the wife of the world. The
wife by quietness invariably conquers the man ; and since quietness is
also lowliness, therefore a great kingdom, by lowliness toward a small
kingdom, may take that small kingdom ; and a small kingdom, by lowli
ness towards a great kingdom, may take that great kingdom. So that
either the one stoops to conquer, or the other is low and conquers. If
the great kingdom only desires to attach to itself and nourish — that is,
benefit — others, then the small kingdom will only wish to enter its ser
vice. But in order that both may have their wish, the great one should
be lowly.” — “ Those who of old were good practisers of Reason used
it not to make the people bright, but to make them simple. What makes
the people hard to govern is their having too much policy. He who en
courages this kind of policy in the government of a kingdom is the rob
ber of that kingdom; but he who governs a kingdom without it is a
blessing to that kingdom. To know these two things is the very ideal
of government; and a constant knowledge of this ideal I call sublime
virtue. Sublime virtue is profound, immense, and the reverse of every
thing else. It will bring about a state of Universal Freedom.”
The last words of Lao-Tsze in his truly sublime book of the “ TaoTeh-King,” or the “Book of Reason and Virtue,” “The Way of Truth
and Life,” are these : “ Faithful words are not fine. Fine words are not
faithful. The good do not debate. The debater is not good. The
knowing are not learned. The learned are not knowing.
“ The Sage does not lay up treasures. The more he does for others,
the more he has of his own. The more he gives to others, the more he
is increased. This is the Way of the Sage, who acts, but does not strive.
This is the Way of Heaven, which benefits, but does not injure.”
Such, in outline, is the Religion of Tao-ism as set forth by its chief
apostle. With the mere statement that under several dynasties this faith
has swayed for a season the Imperial Court; and regretting that time
will permit no reference to its later forms, as presented in the “ Book of
Recompenses and Penalties,” we will pass to the Second Religion, which
throughout the course of the Central Empire has been most widely prev
alent. This is the doctrine of the Scholar-Class, who among us are
popularly known as, —
II. The Confucians. This form of religion has been so amply ex
hibited by the Jesuit and Dominican Fathers, by Leibnitz and Du Halde,
and their German and French compeers, — and by many English writers,
from Collie and Morrison to the most trustworthy translator of all, Dr.
#
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James Legge, — that intelligent persons must be supposed to be more or
less acquainted with it. Leaving aside, therefore, what is familiar, let
me guide your thoughts to the central doctrine of the grand sage and
saint, K‘ung-Foo-Tsze, or Confucius, as the Jesuits first taught us to
call him.
This great philosopher and statesman is too often spoken of as a mere
expounder of ethical precepts and conventional proprieties; and would
that by a sketch of his life and his ideal aim, the injustice of this super
ficial estimate might be proved ! Yet even such brief extracts as time
will allow me to present, may serve to show, that although this admi
rable philanthropist was a teacher of morals, he was pre-eminently a
Religious and Social Reformer. His initial word is Reverence. And
Reverence for the Supreme Sovereign of Heaven is the corner and cap
stone of his temple of society, — underlying and crowning all modes of
Reverence.
K‘ung-FooJTsze never presented the form of religion that he incul
cated as his own, but always as an inheritance from the Ancestors of
the Empire, and especially from the poets, sages, and rulers of the
famous Chow dynasty, who lived fit>e hundred years before his time.
His first work was to republish the books of this Golden Age, — so
pure, high, large, so fitted to renovate all ages, appeared to him to be
the spirit, laws, and manners of that heroic generation. Let us listen to
a few passages from these books, that we may judge whether he revered
them too earnestly.
The most ancient of these books, to the study and explanation of
which K‘ung-Foo-Tsze devoted years of profound study, is the Yih-King,
or Book of Principles and Changes. But as the philosophy embodied in
this volume is too mystical for popular treatment, consisting, as it does,
of a system of analogies between the Natural and Spiritual worlds,
it will be better on this occasion to pass at once to the second of these
Sacred Books, the Shoo-King, or Book of History. Its tone may
be learned from two or three sentences, as follows : “ The Royal path is
right and straight, without perversity, without one-sidedness. Seeing
this Perfect Excellence, turn to it. This amplification of the Royal Per
fection contains the unchanging rule, and is the great lesson. Yea, it is
the lesson of Shang-Te ; ” that is, literally, of the “ Supreme Sovereign,”
or God. And it is well to pause here a moment to say, that throughout
the Shoo-King this Ruler over all, Shang-Te, — or the equivalent, Tien,
Heaven, — is everywhere declared to be the Supreme Being, whose justice,
mercy, and righteous providence direct the universe and govern human
ity, humbling the proud, exalting the lowly, comforting the sad, avenging
wrongs, loving and caring for people and rulers alike. The passage goes
2
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on : “ The multitudes instructed in this amplification of Perfect Excel
lence, and carrying it into practice, will approximate to the glory of the
Son of Heaven, and will say, ‘ The Son of Heaven is the parent of the
people, and so becomes the sovereign of the empire.’ ” Again : “ Your
management of the people will depend upon your reverently following
your father. Carry out his virtuous words, and clothe yourself with
them. . . . And seeking what is to be learned from the'wise kings of antiq
uity, employ it in the tranquillizing and protecting of the people.
Finally, enlarge your thoughts to the comprehension of all heavenly
principles, and virtue will be richly displayed in your person. . . . Heaven
in its awfulness yet helps the sincere. ... It is yours, O little one ! it is
your business to enlarge the regal influence, and harmoniously to protect
this people. Thus shall you assist the king, consolidating the appointment
of Heaven and renovating this people.” — “ Oh ! early and late, never be
but earnest. If you do not attend jealously to your small actions, the
result will be to affect your virtue in great matters, as when in raising a
mound the work is unfinished for want of one basket of earth. If you
follow this course, the people will preserve their possessions, and the
throne will descend from generation to generation.” Again: “The
king speaks .to this effect, ‘ Head of the princes, my younger brother,
my little one, it was your greatly distinguished father who was
able to illustrate his virtue and to be careful in the use of pun
ishments. He did not dare to show any contempt to the widower and
widows. He revered the reverend; he employed the employable ; he
was terrible to those who needed to be awed. It was thus he laid the
first beginnings of the sway of our small portion of the empire, and one
or two neighboring states were brought undei’ his improving influence;
until throughout our western regions all placed in him their reliance.
The fame of him ascended up to the High God, and God approved.
Heaven gave to him the great charge to exterminate the dynasty of Yin ”
(the ruling Emperor of which was a most atrociously cruel tyrant), “ and
to receive its great appointments, so that the various states and their
people were brought to the condition of order.’ ” After listening to such
extracts, how can any one deny that the fundamental principle of this
book is Religion ?
Yet more does this religious spirit of the early Central Empire appear
in the She-King, or Book of Hymns and Poems, some passages of which
astonish us by their close resemblance to the pure piety of the Hebrew
Psalms. Thus a young King prays: “ I know that one must watch
incessantly over himself, that Heaven has an intelligence which
nothing escapes, and that its decrees are without appeal. Let no one
say, then, c Heaven is so high and so far above us that it scarcely thinks
�11
of things below.’ I know that it regards all things ; that it enters into
all; that it is present incessantly to all. But, alas ! I ana so young, so
little enlightened, so inattentive to my duties I Nevertheless, with all
my energies I strive to lose no time, desiring with ardor this only, that I
may attain to perfection.” Again : “ He who alone is King and Supreme
Lord humbles his majesty even to take care of things here below.
Always attentive to the true happiness of the world, He extends his
regards over all the face of the earth. He sees people who have aban
doned his laws ; but the All-High does not abandon them. He watches
over them. He examines them. Everywhere He seeks for a man after
his own heart, and wills to extend his rule.” Again : “ The Supreme Sov
ereign regards the Sacred mountain. It is the home of peace. It is an
eternal kingdom, where are seen no trees whose leaves fade and fall. It
is the work of the Most High. There has he placed the youngest in room
of the eldest; for it is only Wan whose heart knows how to love his
brethren. He causes all their happiness, all their glory. The Lord has
heaped upon him all blessings, and given him the world for a recompense.
The Supreme Sovereign penetrates the heart of Wan, and there he finds a
secret and inexplicable virtue, whose sweetness diffuses itself abroad.
It is a marvellous combination of precious gifts, — intelligence to rule
all ; wisdom to enlighten all; counsel to govern all; reverence and gen
tleness to make itself beloved ; energy and majesty to make itself feared ;
a grace and charm which win all hearts; virtues always the same and
incapable of change. It is an inheritance which he has received from
the All-High ; a blessing which he has transmitted to posterity.” Once
more : il The Supreme Sovereign has said to Wan, ‘ When the heart is
not right, its desires are unregulated, and one is not fit to save the world.
But you are incapable of such defects. ... I love a virtue pure and
simple like yours ; it makes no noise ; it is without display ; it is never
extravagant; it is free from violence. It might be said that your sole
genius and wisdom are to obey my commandments.’” And finally:
a Heaven penetrates to the depth of all hearts, as daybreak illumines
tiie darkest room. We should strive to reflect its light, as two instru
ments in full accord respond to one another. We should unite ourselves
closely to it, as two tablets which seem to make but one. We should
receive what it gives in the very instant when it opens its hands to be
stow. Nothing is easier for Heaven than to enlighten us. But our
own unregulated passions close the entrance of our souls against its
influence.” Similar extracts might be multiplied without end; but
gurely these will suffice to prove the ignorance or unfairness of all
who scoff at the religion of the ancient Chinese. These sacred hymns
of the She-King breathe a devout Theism, — gratefully conscious of
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dependence on the All-Good; reverent in awe of the Holy Witness,
Judge, and King; earnestly aspiring after communion in life, thought,
deed, with the All-True.
Thus much for the Sacred Books, to the editing and expounding of
which K‘ung-Foo-Tsze consecrated the best years of his life. And
leaving aside the other Sacred Books, and the first and second of the
so-called Classics, “ The Discourses and Dialogues,” and “ The Great
Learning,” let us give a few moments to the third of these, for which
the world is indebted to the grandson of the Sage. This book deserves
patient study; for in it is embodied, as the best Chinese scholars de
clare, the very genius and spirit, not only of K‘ung-Foo-Tsze, but also of
their nation. Its name is “ Chung-Yung,” which literally means “ The
Central Immutable,” or “ Correct Fixed Principle.” The Catholic
Fathers called it “ Medium constans vel sempiternum.” Abel Kemusat
has named it “ L’invariable Milieu.” Morrison interprets it “ The
Constant Medium;” and Collie, “The Golden Medium;” while Dr.
Legge translates the title “ The Doctrine of the Mean.” But such
renderings do but partial justice to the profound and comprehensive
thought that inspires this book, which is this, “ How from a Central
Principle to evolve Universal Harmony, by a Method of Distribu
tive Order.” The first chapter, indeed, strikes the key-note of the
whole system, in a few all-significant sentences, thus : “ 1. What Heaven
has conferred is called the Nature ; an accordance with this nature is
called The Path of Duty ; the regulation of this path is called Instruc
tion. 2. The path may not be left an instant. If it could be left, it
would not be the path. On this account, the Superior Man does not
wait till he sees things, to be cautious ; nor till he hears things, to be
apprehensive. 3. There is nothing more visible than what is secret,
and nothing more manifest than what is minute. Therefore the Superior
Man is watchful over himself while he is alone. 4. While there are no
stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be
in the state of Equilibrium. When the feelings have been stirred, and
they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called the state
of Harmony. This Equilibrium is the great root, from which grow all
human actings in the world; and this Harmony is the universal path, which
they all should pursue. 5. Let the states of Equilibrium and Harmony
exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and
earth.” Thus, Equilibrium is the root, Growth is the trunk, Harmony
is the tree full grown. In these words — Equilibrium of Nature, the
Way of Order, and Harmony in Act — is given the Central Universal
method of K‘ung-Foo-Tsze, and of his compeers. “The Master said:
Perfect is the virtue which is according to the constant, invariable prin
�13
ciple. Rare have they long been among the people, who could practise
it. . . . Alas ! how is the Path untrodden,” referring, for illustration, to
the ancient sages. And again : “ When one cultivates to the utmost the
Principles of his Nature, and exercises them on the method of Recipro
city, he is not far from the Path. What you do not like when done to
yourself, do not do to others.” Once more: “ Earnest in practising
the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, the Superior
Man dares not but exert himself, if in his practice there is any thing
defective ; and if in his words he has any excess, he dares not allow
himself such license. Thus his words have respect to his actions, and
his actions have respect to his words. Is it not just an entire Sincerity,
which marks the Superior Man ? ”
Here we reach (as was said in the outset) the very centre of the
Central Principle, in Sincerity. Sincerity means “ Fidelity to the
Heaven-given Nature.” “ Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attain
ment of sincerity is the way of men. He who possesses sincerity is he
who without an effort hits what is right, and apprehends without an
exercise of thought; he is the Sage, who naturally and easily embodies
the right way. He who attains to sincerity is he who chooses what is
good, and firmly holds it fast. To this attainment there are requisite
the extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful
reflection on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice
of it. . . . When we have intelligence resulting from sincerity, this
condition is to be ascribed to nature. When we have sincerity resulting
from intelligence, this condition is to be ascribed to instruction. But
given the sincerity, and there shall be intelligence ; given the intelli
gence, and there shall be sincerity.” “ Sincerity is the end and the
beginning; without sincerity, there would be nothing. On this account,
the Superior Man regards the attainment of sincerity as the most excel
lent thing.”
And now having once attained — either by Nature, the way of Heaven,
or by Instruction, the way of Man — to Sincerity, from this centre we
may grow to the perfect life. “ Sincerity is that whereby self-com
pletion is effected, and its way is that whereby man must direct himself.
. . . It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that
can exist under heaven, who can give its full development to his nature.
Able to give its full development to his own nature, he can do the same
to the nature of other men. Able to give its full development to the
nature of other men, he can give their full development to the natures
of animals and things. Able to give their full development to the
natures of creatures and things, he can assist the transforming and
nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth. Able to assist the transform
�ing and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth, he may become with
Heaven and Earth a Third.” Thus the perfectly Sincere Man grows to
be the Saint, and becomes endowed with transforming powers. “ It is
only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist
under heaven, who can transform.” — “It is characteristic of the most
entire sincerity to be able to foreknow. . . . Therefore the individual
possessed of the most complete sincerity is like a Spirit.” — “ To entire
sincerity there belongs ceaselessness. Not ceasing, it continues long.
Continuing long, it evidences itself. Evidencing itself, it reaches far.
Reaching far, it becomes large and substantial. Large and substantial,
it becomes high and brilliant. Thus it contains, overspreads, perfects
all things. So large and substantial, the man possessing sincerity is
the co-equal of Earth. So high and brilliant, it makes him the co
equal of Heaven. So far-reaching and long-continuing, it makes him
Infinite. . . . The Way of Heaven and Earth may be completely de
clared in one sentence. They are without any Doubleness ; and so they
produce things in a manner that is unfathomable. It is said in the
She-King: ‘ The ordinances of Heaven, how profound are they and
unceasing ! ’ The meaning is, that it is thus that Heaven is Heaven.
And again it says : ‘ How illustrious was the Singleness of the virtue of
King Wan ! ’ indicating that it was thus that King Wan was what he
was. Singleness is likewise unceasing.” Thus Singleness — utter
freedom from Duplicity — is the essential life of the true Sage, or
Saint. “ It is only he possessed of all sagely qualities that can exist
under heaven, who shows himself quick in apprehension, clear in dis
cernment, of far-reaching intelligence and all-embracing knowledge, —
fitted to exercise rule ; magnanimous, generous, benign, and mild, —
fitted to exercise forbearance; impulsive, energetic, firm, and enduring,
— fitted to maintain a firm hold; self-adjusted, grave, never swerving
from the central invariable principle, — fitted to command reverence;
accomplished, distinctive, concentrative, and searching, — fitted to exer
cise discrimination. All-embracing and vast, he is like Heaven. Deep
and active as a fountain, he is like the Abyss. He is seen, and the
people all reverence him; he speaks, and the people all believe him ;
he acts, and the people are all pleased with him. . . . All who have
blood and breath unfeignedly honor and love him. Hence it is said:
‘ He is the equal of Heaven.’ . . . Call him Man in his Ideal, how
earnest is he ! Call him an Abyss, how deep is he ! Call him Heaven,
how vast is he ! ” — “ It is said in the She-King : £ Looked at in your
apartment, be there free from shame, where you are exposed to the
light of Heaven.’ Therefore the Superior Man, even when he is not
moving, has the feeling of Reverence; and while he speaks not, he has
�15
the feeling of Truthfulness. It is said in the She-King : ‘ In silence is
the offering presented and the Spirit approached to; there is not the
slightest contention.’ Therefore the Superior Man does not use rewards,
and the people are stimulated to virtue. He does not show anger, and
the people are awed more than by battle-axes. It is said in the SheKing : £ What needs no display is Virtue. All the princes imitate it.’
Therefore the Superior Man being sincere and reverential, the whole
world is conducted to a state of happy tranquillity.”
Such is the ideal of the Sage, developed from the centre of Singleness
or Sincerity, up to the- degree of the Saint. And in this beautiful
image K‘ung-Foo-Tsze was represented, as in life he had appeared to
his revering grandson. Is not, then, the assertion verified, that in char
acter and influence he was a Religious and Social Reformer ? Indeed,
was he not in himself the embodiment of Religion ?
That this conception of the Sage-Saint as the “ Ideal of Man ” was
not confined to K‘ung-Foo-Tsze and his immediate circle of disciples,
might be proved from the writings of his grand successor and expounder,
a century and a half later,—Mang-Tsze, or Mencius, whose sublime
doctrine of the essential goodness of human nature has never been sur
passed in any age or nation. But time will not allow even a passing
quotation. Let us close, then, this view of the Second Religion of the
Central Empire, by some final exhibitions of the Saint, as drawn from
later writings of this School. K‘ung-Foo-Tsze is reported as having
distributed men into Five Orders, briefly as follows : “1. The first and
most numerous order is made up of those who do to-day what they did
yesterday, for no other reason than because it has been done before ;
who never act spontaneously, but allow themselves to be passively led ;
who are incapable of embracing large views of human affairs ; and
whose understanding is governed by the organs of sense. They are
commonly called the People. 2. The second order includes those who
have been sufficiently trained in science, letters, and the liberal arts as to
propose to themselves ends and the means to attain them ; who, without
.having penetrated to the depth of things, can yet give a reason for what
they say or do, and can thus teach others. They may be called the
Lettered Class. 3. The third order consists of those who never depart
from the rules of right reason, and do good for its own sake; who
plunge into no excess, and are the same in prosperity and adversity;
who regard all mankind as equals, in having the seeds of the same
vices and virtues, not esteeming themselves above others ; who, not con
tent with ordinary science, pursue knowledge to its remote sources, so
as to obtain it in purity. They may be honored with the name of
Philosophers. 4. The fourth order consists of those who, under all
�16
circumstances, regard with reverence the central immutable principle,
and have fixed rules of moral action which they on no account trans
gress ; who fulfil their least obligations to the minutest detail with
scrupulous exactness and untiring perseverance; whose every deed is
intrinsically good and fitted for example ; who despise toil and anxiety,
when the object is to recall men to duty and to enlighten the ignorant;
who serve all without distinction of rank or fortune, and without regard
to interest, not even exacting the sentiment of gratitude. These are
the Sincere or Virtuous. 5. The fifth order, the highest to which
human merit can attain, is composed of the Superior Men, who combine
the rarest qualities of heart and mind with the habit of pleasurably
discharging all duties which nature or morality can impose upon a rea
sonable and social being; who do good to all, like the Heaven and
Earth, never intermitting their beneficence ; who are as imperturbable
in their mortal career as the sun and moon in their courses ; who see
without being seen, and act as it were insensibly, like spirits. The
very few who attain to this degree may be called the Perfect Men or
Saints.” This tradition certainly attests the perpetuity of the ideal of
the Saint. Again, in this School it is taught that “ the name of Saint
designates one who knows all, sees all, comprehends all. His thoughts
are all true, his acts all holy. All his words are lessons in wisdom ;
all his deeds are rules for conduct. He unites in himself the Three
Orders of Being. He possesses all good. He is altogether heavenly.”
Once more : “ The Saint is at once so elevated and so profound, that he
is incomprehensible. His wisdom is boundless. The future is unveiled
to his sight. His love embraces the Universe, and quickens all- around
him like the breath of spring. His words are inspiring and life-giving.
He is one with Heaven.” — “ The heart of Heaven is in the bosom of
the Saint, and its truth on his lips. The world .can know Heaven only
through the Saint.” — “ Heaven is invisible ; the Saint is Heaven be
come visible.” The Saint is named “ the Divine Man,” “ the Celestial
Man,” “ the Unique Man,” “ the most beautiful of men,” “ tHfe marvel
lous man,” &c. Finally, it is said : “ The Saints and Sages are called
the Sons of Heaven.” — “ The Saint has no father : he is conceived by
the operation of Heaven itself.”
Now critics may cavil at these sublime conceptions of the SageSaint— as the Third with Heaven and Earth, as able to transform
all things by the power of a good life, as inspired with heavenly wis
dom, as the image and incarnate form of Heaven, as the Heavenly
Man, as the Son of Heaven — for their mystic enthusiasm ; but cer
tainly no candid person will deny, that in these conceptions the disciples
of K‘ung-Foo-Tsze have exalted Ethics to the degree of Religion, and
�17
of a singularly pure and spiritual Religion. And before Christians per
mit themselves to condemn this Ideal as extravagant, it may be well to
compare it reverently and deliberately with the Saints of all communions
in the Christian Church, whether Apostolical, Catholic, or Reformed.
And now let us pass to a very rapid sketch of the Third Religion,
which has at various eras moulded the minds of Emperors, Ministers,
and People, and which still is received by multitudes in several states
of the Central Empire. This Religion is usually called,
III. Fo-ism, the “ Chinese ” rendering of Buddhism. And referring
all who wish to pursue the subject to the masterly works of Abel
Remusat, Klaproth, Stanislas Julien, &c., let me use the few moments
at command for an illustration of Fo-ism, by selecting from the rich
literature of this school one most remarkable book of worship. It
is called by its translator, the Rev. Samuel Beal, “The Confessional
Service of the Great, Compassionate Kwan-Yin.” This name has been
variously translated by Remusat, Klaproth, Julien, Sir John Davis,
and Chinese Scholars, as meaning “ the Being who contemplates with
love,” “the manifested Self-Existent One,” “the manifested Voice,”
“ She who hears the cries of men,” “ the Goddess of Mercy,” &c. But,
in view of a name frequently used in this Liturgy, and the spirit and
end of this form of worship, it might well be called “ The Confessional
Service of the Great, Compassionate Heart.” For its aim is an act of
consecration to the service of a beneficent and compassionate Being,
who is constantly manifested to all creatures throughout the universe
for their deliverance from the consequences of sin and error. Of this
Being, it is said: “ By her compassionate heart, she has pledged herself
by a great oath to enter into every one of the innumerable worlds, and
bring deliverance to all creatures which inhabit them. For this purpose
she has enunciated Divine Sentences, which, if properly recited, will
render all creatures exempt from the causes of sorrow ; and, by remov
ing these, will make them capable of attaining to Supreme Wisdom.”
After preliminary services, the worshippers offer this prayer of invoca
tion : “ Oh would that our teacher Sakya-Mouni, and our merciful
Father Amitabha, and the other Buddhas of all regions, — not passing
beyond their own limits of perfect Rest and Love, — would descend to
this sacred precinct, and be present with us, who now discharge these
religious duties ! Would that the great, perfect, illimitable, compas
sionate Heart, influenced by these invocations, would now attend ! ”
Next follow various prayers and chants, in order that “ the wor
shippers may be filled with holy joy and reverence, without confusion of
heart.” And then comes the central act of communion, which consists
of Vows and Confessions. It is thus opened: “Whatever worshipper
'
3
�18
desires to recite the Sentences of this Service, in order to excite in the
midst of all sentient creatures the operation of the Compassionate^
Merciful Heart, ought first to go through the following vows. . . .
Kwan-Yin, addressing Buddha, said: 4 World-honored one! whilst
the recitation of these Divine Sentences is ineffectual to deliver creatures
from the evil ways of birth, I vow never to arrive at the condition of
Buddha. So long as those who recite these Divine Sentences are not
born in the various lands of all the Buddhas, I vow never to arrive at
that condition myself. So long as those who recite these Divine Sen
tences are unable to attain to every degree of spiritual perception, I
vow never to arrive at the condition of Buddha. So long as those who
recite these Divine Sentences do not receive full answers to their
prayers, I vow to remain as I am.’ Then, in the midst of all the con
gregation, with closed palms, standing perfectly upright, her eyebrows
raised, a smile on her lips, exciting in all creatures the Great, Com
passionate Heart, Kwan-Yin began to deliver these comprehensive,
effectual, complete, Great-Compassionate-Heart, divine Sentences. . . .
Such then is the Vow : Never will I seek, nor receive, private, individual
salvation, — never enter into final peace alone ; but for ever and
everywhere will I live and strive for the universal redemption of every
creature, throughout all worlds. Until all are delivered, never will I
leave the world of sin, sorrow, and struggle, but will remain where I
am.” — In what church, of what age or nation, was ever offered a purer,
larger, gentler vow of utter consecration to Infinite Mercy ?
And next follows the Confession. The Liturgy continues thus : “The
worshippers, having finished the sentences, ought to consider that all the
obstacles which prevent spiritual progress spring from sins committed in
our condition as sentient creatures ; that from the first, till now, the sins
of all created beings have, been constantly going on, and that now the
web of guilt has become intricate and complicated. Every age has en
tertained its own peculiar crimes, which, descending from parent to child,
have caused the sorrows of our present state. Without repentance there
can be no remission. Our sins, therefore, ought to be well considered
and weighed, that so they may be forgiven and destroyed. Bowing low,
therefore, say thus : 4 We, and all men from the very first, by reason of
the grievous sins we have coinmitted in thought, word, and deed, have
lived in ignorance ... of every way of escape from the consequences of
our conduct. We have followed only the courses of this evil world ; nor
have we known aught of Supreme Wisdom. And even now, though
enlightened as to our duty, yet with others do we still commit heavy
sins, which prevent us from advancing in true knowledge. Therefore, in
the presence of Kwan-Yin and the Buddhas of the Ten Regions, we would
�humble ourselves and repent us of our sins. Oh that we may have
Strength to do so aright! and that may cause all obstacles to be removed.’ ”
Here with a loud voice add : “For the sake of all sentient creatures, in
whatever capacity they may be, — would that all obstacles might be re
moved 1 — we confess our sins and repent.” After a complete prostration,
the worshippers then continue: “We and all men from the first, from
too great love of outward things, and from inward affections towards
men, leading to sinful friendships, — having no wish to benefit others, or
to do. good in the least degree, — have only strengthened the power of the
three sources of sin, and added sin to sin; and even though our actual
©rimes have not been so great, yet a wicked heart has ruled us within.
. . . Now, therefore, believing from the bottom of our heart in the cer
tain result of sin, and filled with fear, shame, and great heart-chiding,
would we thus publicly repent us of our sins; . . . we would separate
ourselves from evil and pursue good; we would diligently recount all
our past offences and earnestly follow the path of virtue. . . . Hitherto
we have only gone astray ; but now we return. Oh would that the
Merciful would receive our vows of amendment! ” And then each one
giving the personal name, together the worshippers prostrate themselves
and say, “ With all our hearts do we repent; and here do we prostrate
ourselves before the Sacred Presence, and all the countless beings of the
infinite universe.” Then follow particular confessions.
But the service does not close here. Having thus by Vows and Con
fessions recognized the unity of the human race, and indeed of the whole
universe, spiritual and natural, in sin and sorrow, struggle and salvation,
and having thus consecrated themselves, individually and collectively,
to the service of the Great, Compassionate Heart, the worshippers then
unite in this act of Intercession. “ Having myself returned to my duty
to Buddha, I ought to pray for all men, that they may attain to perfec
tion of wisdom. Having myself returned to my duty to the Law, I ought
to pray that all men may be deeply versed in the wisdom of the Sacred
Books, and acquire perfect knowledge. Having myself returned to my
duty to the Assembly, would that all men may agree in the great prin
ciples of Reason, and maintain peace and worship in the Holy Assem
bly ! ” Thus from beginning to end this service is one of self-sacrificing
consecration to Infinite Mercy. And here must close, for this time, the
illustration of Fo-ism.
And now, after such an exposition of the Three Great Religions of
the Central Empire, it may well be asked, How has it come to pass that
a Nation inspired and illumined with such sublime ideals has been seem
ingly so false to its trusts and has fallen so short of its destiny ? The
answer to this question must be given in the briefest terms, although it
�20
would be instructive to tell the tragic story at length. To us citizens of
this Republic, just redeemed by an awful struggle from the death-in-life
of disunion, the terrible significance of the fact will come home, — that
from the earliest ages, China has been, century after century, the prey of
Civil Wars. The age of Lao-Tsze and K‘ung-Foo-Tsze and their com
peers was followed by that of an execrable usurper, who crushed the
nation down under a centralized despotism, from the transmitted forms
of which it never has been able to shake itself free. What would have
become of our Ideals, if the imperial Slave Oligarchy had triumphed in
our late war ? Again, we are strangely ignorant or forgetful of the fact
that China is a conquered nation. Twice has the Empire been swept
and subdued : first, by that resistless race, which all but overran Europe,
the Mongol-Tartars ; next, by that almost equally indomitable race, the
Mantchou-Tartars ; and twice has the immortal principle in the Religion
and Ethics of China manifested itself by spiritually conquering the con
querors. For first Kublai-Khan, the great emperor of the Mongols, and
afterward the still greater Kang-Hi, the establisher of the existing Mantchou Dynasty, reverently accepted the ancient Creeds, Customs, Laws,
and Books transmitted by the School of K‘ung-Foo.-Tsze. But notwith
standing the efforts of these two grand sovereigns to make the best
atonement in their power for the wrongs wrought by foreign invasion,
the free spirit of the people and their spontaneous genius were stifled by
oppressive formalism, of which their shorn heads and long queues are but
the outward type. The chief cause, however, of the apparent immo
bility of the Chinese Nation for many centuries, — and the one which it is
important for us and for all Christendom to study, — is the influence of
scientific scepticism over that very Scholar-Class which should have
kept clean and full the fountains of Religious Life. It is impossible
now to do more than barely to state the fact, that since the time of the
Sung Dynasty, — when the learned Choo-He, a greater Positivist than
Auguste Comte, indeed almost an Aristotle, first promulgated his vast
system of Universal Science, — speculative Atheism has choked and dried
up the streams of thought in the Central Empire. Choo-He himself,
indeed, was not an Atheist, but on the contrary asserted that Heaven had
a mind to perceive and a heart to sympathize with the efforts and strug
gles, the joys and woes, of humanity. But although the Sage admitted,
as he once said, that there was a “ Man up above,” yet he, on the whole,
discouraged the culture of devotional feelings and usages. And it cannot
be denied that the tendency of his system has been to substitute Phi
losophy for Religion. Among the Literati, for centuries, the glowingworship of “ Shang-Te” or the “ Supreme Sovereign,” and of “ Tien”
or “ Heaven,” has too often been eclipsed by the cold shadow of “ Tai-
/
rI
..
�21
Ke,” “ The Summit,” — the principle of Unity, — with its two manifes
tations, the Active element, “ Yang,” and the Passive element, “ Yin.”
In ethics, “ Le,” or Law, — an all-pervading Order, — has usurped the
■ throne of personal character and sovereign will. And as a natural con
sequence, external regularity and conventional propriety have been incul
cated, rather than the spontaneous and intuitive goodness that aspires
upwards to saintly perfection. While such has been the influence of sci
entific scepticism among the Scholar-Class, by a law of reaction, that,
under various modes, has operated in all ages and nations, the People,
meantime, have been impelled towards idolatrous ritualism, — exhibited
in the adoration of the Natural Elements ; in the worship of Ancestors
and Great Men; in necromancy, demonology, and communion with
k Spirits; in magic, incantations, and countless superstitious practices,
such as in all times and lands have invariably accompanied the decline
of spiritual religion. These frivolous and degrading rites may be found
described in many modern books, such as Williams’s “ Middle Kingdom,”
and the works of l’Abbe Hue, Davis, Meadows, Doolittle, &c. But it
would be about as fair to judge of the Christian Religion, by Catholics of
Naples crowding to watch the liquefaction of St. Januarius’ blood, and
circles of American spiritualists seeking ghostly counsel from- table-tip
pings and “ planchette,” as it is to judge of the Religions of China from
the childish antics of a mob in Shanghae and Canton. In estimating the
countrymen of Lao-Tsze, K‘ung-Foo-Tsze, and their grand compeers,
let us practise a little the Golden Rule we boast of, and take as our test
the Representative Men and Systems, and above all the Ideals of the
Central Empire.
This brings us to the point, which now forces itself upon us, as an im
mediate practical duty : “ How shall we do unto others as we would have
others do unto us,” in our treatment of the “ Chinese ? ” How shall we
“ love our neighbors as ourselves,” in our conduct towards those who are
already becoming at least our guests, and who soon are destined to become
our fellow-citizens ? Shall we try to put in force that policy of Exclusion
which Christendom has unanimously condemned for ages in the Central
Empire, and against which Great Britain and France have twice made
war ? Surely it would stultify all our past professions, and brand our
Republic with infamous inconsistency, to attempt to rear on the western
F coast of the Pacific those very walls, which the cannon of Christian
States have levelled with the dust upon its eastern shore. Never can
this mighty Nation be guilty of a deed so mean. Our doors are open.
Where is the ingrate miserly enough to bar them ? And if we admit the
“Men of the Central Empire” to free residence here, and if our own
citizens make homes foi' themselves in “ Chung-Kwoh,”—as assuredly
�22
will be done on both sides, in rapidly increasing ratio,—what shall be
the quality of our fellowship ? There can be but one reply. We must
meet one another in cordial and respectful friendliness. This passing
flurry on the “ labor question ” will be forgotten to-morrow. Let our
energetic and high-hearted working-men learn, that, centuries before this
continent was discovered, a system of “ Mutual Help” was taught and
practised in the communities of “ China,” which anticipated, and in
some respects, surpassed our modern plans of “ Co-operation.” Our land
and labor reformers might well take a page or two out of the famous
“ Chow-Le,” or Laws of the Chow Dynasty, and the noble chapters on
popular policy of “ Mencius.” Let our educators study the most ancient
system of “ Common Schools” ever instituted, and learn to imitate the
graduated method of training from Primary Schools to Academies, from
Academies to Colleges, from Colleges to Universities, — organized thou
sands of years ago in the “ Central Empire,” whereby the sons of
peasants might rise to the highest honors of the Imperial University, and
become the peers of princes. Let our moralists sit respectfully at the feet
of the most eloquent teachers whom our race has known, of Filial Rev
erence as the fountain-head of virtue, and of Urbanity, as the flowing
stream to keep the garden of social life freshly beautiful. Let our
statesmen also comprehend that from the earliest days, recorded in
“ Chinese ” history, it has been asserted that government rests as its
only sure foundation on the “ hearts of the People; ” that again and
again men have risen, and continually rise, from the lowest social condi
tions to highest offices of trust, and even to the Imperial Seat, by com
petitive examination, and by merit; that the principles of republicanism
really pervade the literature, laws, and institutions of “ China,” notwith
standing its usages of centralization; and that just what is needed to
revive, unfold, and perfect this wonderfully enduring people is the inspir
ing influence of our freedom and progressive energy. Finally let us, one
and all, with blended trust and hope, acknowledge that it was not chance
or destiny, but the Providence of the Living God, that clasped in union
the hands of the Oldest and the Youngest of the Great Nations of our
globe, across the Pacific, as a pledge that in the fulness of time Man
shall be One.
���
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Religions of China: address before the Free Religious Association, Boston, May 27 1870
Creator
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Channing, William Henry
Description
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Place of publication: Boston, Mass.
Collation: 22 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Reprinted from the "Proceedings".
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John Wilson and Son
Date
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1870
Identifier
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G5290
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Religion
China
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Religions of China: address before the Free Religious Association, Boston, May 27 1870), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Religion-China
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COL INGERSOLL’S AMERICAN SECULAR LECTURES.
Some Reasons Why
I
AND
Chinese Coos.
BY
COL. ROBERT G. INGERSOLL,
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL OF FREE THOUGHT IN AMERICA.
PRICE ONE PENNY,
Manchester : Abel Heywood & Son. 56 & 58, Oldham Street
London : Robert Forder, 28, Stonecutter Street ;
Truelove. 256, High Holborn.
Sheffield : H. Fellows, 47, Wellington Street.
Edinburgh : Alexander Orr, 332. Lawnmarket.
Aberdeen : George Middleton, Skene Square.
No. 14
�COL. INGERSOLL’S LECTURES,
Cheap Edition, One Penny Each.
1. Mistakes of Moses.
2. Ghosts.
8. Hereafter.
4. Hell.
5. What must we do to be saved ?
6. Heretics and Heresies.
The above six, bound in wrapper, price 6d.
7. Ingersoll’s Reply to Talmage.
8. Skulls.
9. Gods : part I.
10. Gods : part II.
11. Personal Deism Denied.
12. Intellectual Development.
The above Six, bound in wrapper 6d or the twelve price One Shilling
By post Is. 2d
13.
14.
Reverence ; and Address at a Child’s Grave.
Some Reasons Why ; and Chinese God.
15.
16.
17.
Modern Thinkers.
Arraignment of the Church.
Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child.
18.
Orthodox Theology.
�SOME REASONS WHY.
HE history of the world shows that religion has made
enemies, instead of friends. That one word “ religion ”
paints the horizon of the past with every form of agony
and torture, and when one pronounces the name of
“religion” we think of 1,500 years of persecution, of 6,000
years of hatred, slander, and vituperation. Strange, but true,
that those who have loved God most have loved men least;
strange that in countries where there has been the most religion
there has been the most agony, and that is one reason why I am
opposed to what is known as religion. By religion I mean the
duties that men are supposed to owe to God : by religion I mean,
not what man owes to man, but what we owe to some invisible,
infinite, and Supreme Being. The question arises, Can any
relation exist between finite man and infinite being ? An infinite
being is absolutely conditional. An infinite being cannot
walk, cannot receive, and a finite being cannot give to
the infinite. Can I increase his happiness or decrease his
misery ? Does he need my strength or my life ? What can I
do for him? I say nothing. For one, I do not believe there is
any Hod who gives rain or sunshine for praying. For one, I do
not believe there is any being who helps man simply because he
kneels. I may be mistaken, but that is my doctrine, that the
finite cannot by any possibility help the infinite, or the infinite
be indebted to the finite ; that the finite cannot by any possibility
assist a being who is all in all. What can we do ? We can
help man ; we can help to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry ;
we can help to break the chains of the slave; we can help to
weave a garment of joy that will finally cover this world. That
is all that man can do. Wherever he has endeavoured to do
more he has simply increased the misery of his fellows. I can
find out nothing of these things myself by my unaided reasoning.
If there is an infinite God, and 1 have not reason enough to com
prehend His universe, whose fault is it ? I am told that we have
the inspired will of God. I do not know exactly what they mean
by inspired. Not two sects agree on that word.
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Some tell me that every great work is inspired, that
Shakspeare is inspired. I would be less apt to dispute that than
a similar remark about any other book on this earth. If the
Jehovah had wanted to have a book written, the inspiration of
which should not be disputed, He should have waited until
Shakspeare lived. Whatever they mean by inspiration they at
least mean that it is true. If it is true, it does not need to be
inspired. The truth will take care of itself. Nothing except a
falsehood needs inspiration. What is inspiration ? A man looks
at the sea, and the sea says something to him. Another
man looks at the same sea, and the sea tells another story to him.
The sea cannot tell the same story to any two human beings.
There is not a thing in Nature, from a pebble to a constellation,
that tells the same story to any two human beings. It depends
upon the man’s experience, his intellectual development, and
what chord of memory it touches. One looks upon the sea and
is filled with grief; another looks upon it and laughs. Last
year, riding in the cars from Boston to Portsmouth, there sat
opposite me a lady and gentleman. As we reached the latter place
the woman, for the first time in her life, caught a burst of the sea,
and she looked and said to her husband : “ Isn’t that beautiful,”
and he looked and said: “I’ll bet you can dig clams there.”
Another illustration. A little while ago a gentleman was
walking with another in South Carolina, at Charleston—one who
had been upon the other side. Said the Northerner to the
Southerner, “Did you ever see such a night as this; did you
ever in your life see such a moon ? ” “ Oh my God,” said he,
“ You ought to have seen that moon before the war.” I simply
say these things to convince you that everything in nature has a
different story to tell every human being. So the Bible tells a
different story to every man that reads it. History proves what
I say. Why so many sects ? Why so much persecution ?
Simply because two people couldn’t understand it exactly alike.
You may reply that God intended it should be so understood,
and that is the real revelation that God intended. For instance,
I write a letter to Smith, I want to convey to him certain
thoughts. If I am honest, I will use the words which will
convey to him my thoughts, but not being infinite I don’t
know exactly how Smith will understand my words ; but if I
were infinite I would be bound to use the words that I know
Smith would get my exact idea from. If God intended to make
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a revelation to me He has to make it to me through my brain
,and my reasoning. He cannot make a revelation to another man
for me. The other man will have God’s word for it, but I will
only have that man’s word for it. As that man has been dead
for several thousand years, and as I don’t know what his reputa
tion was for truth and veracity in the neighbourhood in which
he lived, I will wait for the Lord to speak again. Suppose when I
read it, the revelation to me, through the Bible, is that it is not
true, and God knew that I should know that when I did read it, and
knew, if I did not say it, I should be dishonest. Is it possible
that he would damn me for being honest, and give me wings if I
would play the hypocrite ? The inspiration of the Bible depends
upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it.
Yet they tell me this book was written by the Creator of
every shining star. Now let us see. I want to be honest and
candid. I have just as much at stake in the way of soul as any
doctor of divinity that ever lived, and more than some I have
met. According to this book, the first attempt at peopling this
world was a failure. God had to destroy all but eight. He
saved some of the same kind to start again, which I think was a
mistake. After that, the people still getting worse, he selected
from the wide world a few of the tribe of Abraham. He had no
time to waste with everybody. He had no time to throw away
■on Egypt. It had at that time a vast and splendid civilization,
in which there were free schools ; in which the one man married
the one wife; where there were courts of law; where
there were codes of laws. Neither could he give attention
to India, that had at that time a literature as splendid
almost as ours, a language as perfect, that had produced
poets, philosophers, statesmen.
He had no time to waste
with them, but took a few of the tribe of Abraham, and he did his
best to civilize these people. He was their Governor, their
Executive, their Supreme Court. He established a despotism,
and from Mount Sinai he proclaimed his laws. They didn’t pay
much attention to them. He wrought thousands of miracles to
convince them that he was a God. Isn’t it perfectly wonderful
that the priest of one religion never believes the miracle told by
the priest of another ? Is it possible that they know each other ?
I heard a story the other day. A gentleman was telling a very
remarkable circumstance-that happened to himself, and all the
listeners except one, said, “Is it possible: did you ever hear
�6
such a wonderful thing in all your life?” They had noticed
that this one man didn’t appear to take a vivid interest in the
story, so one said to him, “ You don’t express much astonish
ment at the story ? ” “ No,” says he, “lam a liar myself.”
I find by reading this book that a worse Government was
never established by Jehovah ; that the Jews were the most
unfortunate people who lived upon the globe. Let us compare
this book. In all civilized countries is it not only admitted, but
passionately asserted, that slavery is an infamous crime ; that a
war of extermination is murder; that polygamy enslaves woman,
degrades man, and destroys home; that nothing is more infamous
than the slaughter of decrepit men, and helpless women, and of
prattling babes ; that the captured maiden should not be given
to her captors ; that wives should not be stoned to death for
differing in religion from their husbands. We know there was a
time in the history of most nations when all these crimes were
regarded as divine institutions. Nations entertaining these
views to-day are called savage, and with the exception of the
Fiji Islanders, some tribes in Central Africa, and a few
citizens of Delaware, no human being can be found degraded
enough to agree upon those subjects with Jehovah. To-day the
fact that a nation has abolished and abandoned those things is the
only evidence that it can offer to show that it is not still
barbarous ; but a believer in the inspiration of the Bible is com
pelled to say there was a time when slavery was right, when
polygamy was the highest form of virtue, when wars of exter
mination was waged with the sword of mercy, and when the
Creator of the whole world commanded the soldier to sheathe the
dagger of murder in the dimpled breast of infancy.
The
believer in inspiration of the Bible is compelled to say there was
a time when it was right for a husband to murder his wife because,
they differed upon subjects of religion. I deny that such a time
ever was. If I knew the real God said it, I would still deny it.
Four thousand years ago, if the Bible is true, God was in favour
of slavery, polygamy, wars of extermination and religious perse
cution. Now we are told the Devil is in favour of all those
things, and God is opposed to them; in other words, the Devil
stands now where God stood 4,000 years ago ; yet they tell me
God is just as good now as he was then, and the Devil just as
bad now as God was then.
Other nations believed in slavery, polygamy, and war, and
�persecution, without ever having received one ray of light from
Heaven* That shows that a special revelation is not necessary to
teach a man to do wrong. Other nations did no worse without the
Bible than the Jews did with it. Suppose the Devil had inspired a
book ? In what respect would he have differed from God on the
Subject of slavery, polygamy, wars of extermination, and religious
persecution ? Suppose we knew.that after God had finished his
book the Devil had gotten possession of it, and wrote a few
passages to suit himself, which passages, 0 Christian, would
you pick out now as having probably been written by
the Devil? which of these two, “Love thy neighbour
as thyself,” or “ Kill all the males among the little ones,
and kill every man, but all the women and girls keep alive
for yourselves,”—which of those two passages would they select
BS having been written by the Devil ? If God wrote the last,
there is no need of a Devil.
Is there a Christian in the wide world who does not wish
that God, from the thunder and lightning of Sinai, had said:
11 You shall not enslave your fellow-man ? ” I am opposed to any
man who is in favour of slavery. If a revolution is needed at
all it is to prevent man enslaving his fellow-man. But they say
God did the best he could ; that the Jews were so bad that he
had to come up kind of slow. If he had told them suddenly they
must not murder and steal, they would not have paid any respect
to the Ten Commandments. Suppose you go to the Cannibal
Islands to prevent the gentlemen there from eating missionaries,
and you found they eat them raw. The first move is to induce
them to cook them. After you get them to eat cooked missionaries,
you will then, without their knowing it, occasionally slip in a
little mutton. We will go on gradually decreasing missionaries
and increasing mutton, until finally the last will be so cultivated
that they will prefer the sheep to the priest. I think the mission
aries would object to that mode, of course.
I know this was written by the Jews themselves. If they
were to write it now it would be different to-day. They are a
civilized people. I do not wish it understood that a word I say
to-night.touches the slighest prejudice in any man’s mind against
the Jewish people. They are as good a people as live to-day. I
will say right here, they never had any luck until Jehovah
abandoned them. Now we come to the New Testament. They
tell me that is better than the old. I say it is worse. The
�8
great objection to the Old Testament is that it is cruel; but in
the Old Testament the revenge of God stopped with the portals
of the tomb. He never threatened punishment after death. Ha
never threatened one thing beyond the grave. It was reserved
for the New Testament to make known the doctrine of eternal
punishment.
Is the New Testament inspired ? I have not time to givemany reasons, but I will give some. In the first place, they tell
me that the very fact the witnesses disagree in minor matters
shows that they have not conspired to tell the same story..
Good. And I say in every lawsuit where four or five witnesses
testify, or endeavour to testify, to the same transaction, it is
natural that they should differ on minor points. Why ? Because
no two occupy exactly the same position ; no two see exactly
alike ; no two remember precisely the same, and their disagree
ment is due to, and accounted for, by the imperfection of human y
nature, and the fact that they did not all have an equal oppor- J
tunity to know. But if you admit or say that the four witnesses
were inspired by an infinite being who did see it all, then they
should remember all the same, because inspiration does not
depend on memory. That brings me to another point. Why
were there four gospels ? What is the use of more than one
correct account of anything. If you want to spread it, sendcopies. No human being has got the ingenuity to tell me why
there were four gospels when one correct gospel would have been
enough. Why should there have been four original multiplica
tion tables? One is enough, and if anybody has. got any use for
it he can copy that one. The very fact that we have got four
gospels shows that it is not an inspired book.
The next point is that according to the New Testament the
salvation of the world depended upon the atonement. Only one
■ of the books in the New Testament says anything about that,,
and that is John. The Church followed John, and they ought to
follow John because the Church wrote that book called Johu..
According to that the whole world was to be damned on account
of the sins of one man ; and that absurdity was the father and
mother of another absurdity, that the whole world could be
saved on account of the virtue of another man. I deny both
propositions. No man can sin for me ; no man can be virtuous
for me ; I must reap what I sow. But they say the law must be
satisfied. What kind of a law is it that would demand punish-
�ment of the innocent'? Just think of it. Here is a man about
to be hanged, and another comes up and says : “ That man has
got a family, and I have not; that man is in good health and I
am not well, and I will be hung in his place.” And the Gover
nor says, “ All right. There has a murder been committed, and
we have got to have ahanging,—we don’t care who.” Under the
Mosaic dispensation there was no remission of sins without the
shedding of blood. If a man committed a murder he brought a
pair of doves or a sheep to the priest, and the priest laid his hands
on the animal, and the sins of the man was transferred to the
animal. You see how that could be done easy enough. Then
they killed the animal, and sprinkled its blood on the altar.
That let the man off. And why did God demand the sacrifice
of a sheep ? I will tell you : because priests love mutton. To
make the innocent suffer is the greatest crime. I don’t wish to
go to Heaven on the virtues of somebody else. If I can’t settle
by the books and go, I don’t wish to go. I don’t want to feel as
if I was on sufferance,—that I was in the poorhouse of the
universe, supported by the town. They tell us Judas betrayed
Christ. Well, if Christ had not been betrayed no atonement
would have been made, and then every human soul would have
been damned, and Heaven would have been shut for rent.
Supposing that Judas knew the Christian system, then perhaps
he thought by betraying Christ he could get forgiven not only for
the sins that, he had already committed, but for the sin of
betrayal, and if, on the way to Calvary, and later, some brave,
heroic soul had rescued Christ from the mob, he would have
made his own damnation sure. It won’t do. There is no logic
in that. They say God tried to civilize the Jews. If He had
succeeded, according to the Christian system, we all would have
been damned, because if the Jews had been civilized they would
not have crucified Christ. They would have believed in freedom
of speech, and as a result the world would have been lost for
2,000 years. The Christian world has been trying to explain
the atonement, and they have always ended by failing to explain it.
.Now I come to the second objection, which is that certain
belief is necessary to salvation. I will believe according to the
evidence. . In my mind are certain scales which weigh everything,
and my integrity stands there and knows which side goes
up and . which side goes down.
If I am an honest
man I will report the weights like an honest man.
They
�10
say I must believe a certain thing or I will be eternally
damned. They tell me that to believe is the safer way.
I deny it. The safest thing that you can do is to be honest.
No man, when the shadows of the last hours were gathering
around him, ever wished that he had lived the life of a hypocrite.
If I find at the day of judgment that I have been mistaken, I
will say so like a man. If God tells me then that he is the author
of the Old Testament I will admit that he is worse than I
thought he was, and when he comes to pronounce sentence upon
me I will say to him : do unto others as you would that others
should do unto you. I have a right to think ; I cannot contol my
belief; my brain is my castle, and if I don’t defend it, my soul
becomes a slave and a serf.
If you throw away your reason, your soul is not worth
saving. Salvation depends not upon belief, but upon deed—
upon kindness, upon justice, upon mercy. Your own deeds are
your saviour, and you can be saved in no other way. I am
told in this Testament to love my enemies. I cannot; I will not.
I don’t hate enemies ; I don’t wish to injure enemies, but I don’t
care about seeing them. I don’t like them. I love my friends,
and the man who loves enemies and friends loves me. The
doctrine of non-resistance is born of weakuess. The man that
first said it, said it because it was the best hi could do under the
circumstances. While the church said love your enemies, in her
sacred vestments gleamed the daggers of assassination. With
her cunning hand she wore the purple for hypocrisy, and placed
the crown upon the brow of crime. For more than 1,000 years
larceny held the scales of justice, and hypocrisy wore the mitre,
and the tiara of Christ was in fact God. He knew of the future,
He knew what crimes and horrors would be committed in His
name. He knew the fires of persecution would climb around the
limbs of countless martyrs, that brave men and women would
languish in dungeons and darkness, that the Church would use
instruments of torture, that in His name His followers would
trade in human flesh, that cradles would be robbed and women’s
breasts unbabed for gold, and yet He died with voiceless lips.
If Christ was God, why did He not tell His disciples, and through
them the world, man shall not persecute his fellow-man ? Why
didn’t He say, “ I am God ? ” why didn’t He explain the doctrine
of the Trinity ? why didn’t He tell what manner of baptism was
pleasing to Him ? why didn’t he say the Old Testament is true ?
�why didn’t He write His Testament Himself? why did He leave
His words to accident, to ignorance, to malice, and to chance .
Why didn’t He say something positive, definite, satisfactory
about another world ? Why did He not turn the tear-stained
hope of immortality to the glad knowledge of another life ? Why
did He go dumbly to His death, leaving the world to misery and
to doubt ? Because He was a man.
.
Col. Ingersoll read several extracts from the Bible, which he
said originated with Zoroaster, Buddha, Cicero, Epictetus,
Pythagoras, and other ancient writers, and he read extracts from
various pagan writers, which he claimed, contrasted favourably
With the best things in the Bible. He continued, that no God has a
right to add to the agony of this universe, and yet around the
angels of immortality, Christianity has co led this serpent of
eternal pain. Upon love’s breast the Church has placed that asp,
and yet people talk to me about the consolations of religion.
A few days ago the barque Tiger was found upon the wide sea 126
days from Liverpool. For nine days not a mouthful of food or a
drop of water was to be had. There was on board the Captain,
mate, and eleven men. When they had been out 117 days they
killed the captain’s dog. Nine days more—no food, no water,
and Capt. Kruger stood upon the deck in the presence of his
starving crew, with a revolver in his hand, put it upon his
temple, and said, “ Boys, this can’t last much longer ; I am
willing to die to save the rest of you.” The mate grasped the
revolver from his hand, and said, “ wait; and the next day
upon the horizon of despair was the smoke of the ship which
rescued them. Do ycu tell me to-night if Capt. Kruger was not
a Christian, and he had sent that ball crashing through his
generous brain, that there was an Almighty waiting to clutch his
naked soul that he might damn him for ever ? It won’t. do.
Ah, but they tell me you have no right to pick the bad things
out of the Bible. I say, an infinite God has no right to put bad
things into His Bible. Does anybody believe if God was going
to write a book now he would uphold slavery : that He would
favour polygamy ; that He would say kill the heathen, stab, the
women, dash out the brains of the children ? We have civilized
Him. We make our own God, and we make Him better day by
day. Some honest people really believe that in some wonder
ful way we are indebted to Moses for geology, to Joshua for
astronomy and military tactics, to Samson for weapons of war,
�to Daniel for holy curses, to Solomon for the art of cross-examin
ation, to Jonah for the science of navigation, to St. Paul for
steamships and locomotives, to the four Gospels for telegraphs and
sewing-machines, to the Apocalypse for looms, saw-mills, and
telephones; and that to the Sermon on the Mount we are indebted
for mortars and Krupp guns. We are told that no nation has
ever been civilized without a Bible. The Jews had one, and yet
they crucified a perfectly innocent man. They couldn’t have
done much worse without a Bible. ' God must have known 6,000
years ago that it was impossible to civilize people without a
Bible just as well as they know it now. Why did He ever allow
a nation to be without a Bible ? Why didn’t He give a few
leaves to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden ?
Take from the Bible the miracles, and I admit that the good
passages are true. If they are true they don’t need to be inspired.
Miracles are the children of mendacity. Nothing can be more
wonderful than the majestic, sublime, and eternal march of cause
and effect. Reason must be the final arbiter. A.n inspired book
cannot stand against a demonstrated fact. Is a man to be re
warded eternally for believing without evidence or against
evidence ? Do you tell me that the less brain a man has the
better chance he has for heaven ? Think of a heaven filled with
men who never thought. Better that all that is should cease to
be; better that God had never been ; better that all the springs
and seeds of things should fall and wither in great Nature^
realm ; better that causes and effects should lose relation ; better
that every life should change to breathless death and voiceless
blank, and every star to blind oblivion and moveless naught,
than that this religion should be true.
The religion of the future is humanity. The religion of the
future will say to every man, you have a right to think and
investigate for yourself. Liberty is my religion. Everything
that is true, every good thought, every beautiful thing, every
self-denying action—all these make my Bible. Every bubble,
every star, are passages in my Bible. A constellation is a chapter.
Every shining world is a part of it. You cannot interpolate it;
you cannot change it. It is the same for ever. My Bible is all
that speaks to man. Every violet, every blade of grass, every
tree, every mountain crowned with snow, every star that shines,
every throb of love, every honest act, all that is good and
true combined, make my Bible, and upon that book I stand.
�THE CHINESE GOD.
Four members of a select committee have informed Congress
that “ Jos has his temple of worship in the Chinese quarters, in
San Francisco. Within the walls of a dilapidated structure is
exposed to the view of the faithful the God of the Chinaman, and
here are his altars of worship. Here he tears up his pieces of
paper ; here he offers up his prayers ; here he receives his
religious consolations, and here is his road to the celestial land.”
That “ Jos is located in a long, narrow room, in a building in a
back alley, upon a kind of altar; ” that “ he is a wooden image,
looking as much like an alligatoi’ as like a human being ; ” that
the Chinese “ think there is such a place as heaven ; ” that “ all
classes of Chinamen worship idols ; ” that “ the temple is open
every day at all hours ; ” that “ Chinese have no Sunday : ” that
this heathen god has “ huge jaws, a big red tongue, large white
teeth, a half-dozen arms, and big fiery eyeballs. About him are
placed offerings of meat, and other eatables—a sacrificial offering.”
No wonder that these members of the committee were
shocked at such a god, knowing as they did that the only true
God was correctly described by the inspired lunatic of Patmos in
the following words :
“ And there sat in the midst of the seven golden candle
sticks one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment
down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow :
and his eyes were as a flame of fire : and his feet like unto fine
brass as if they burned in a furnace : and his voice as the sound
of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars ; and
out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shining in his strength.”
Certainly, a large mouth, filled with white teeth, is prefer
able to one used as the scabbard of a sharp, two-edged sword.
Why should these gentlemen object to a god with big fiery eye
balls, when their own Deity has eyes like a flame of fire ?
�14
Is it not a little late in the day to object to people because
they sacrifice meat and other eatables to their god ? We all
know, that for thousands of years the “ real ” God was exceedingly fond of roasted meat; that He loved the savour of burnin"
flesh, and delighted in the perfume of fresh warm blood.
The following account of the manner in which the “ living
God desired that His people should sacrifice, tends to show
the degradation and religious blindness of the Chinese :
“ Aaron therefore went unto the altar and slew the calf of
the sin offering which wap for himself. And the sons of Aaron
brought the blood unto him. And he dipped his fingers in the
blood and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the
blood at the bottom of the altar : but the fat and the kidneys
and the caul above the liver of the sin offering he burnt upon
the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses, and the flesh and the
hide he burnt with fire without the camp. And he slew the
burnt offering. And Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood
which he sprinkled round about the altar. * * * And he
brought the meat offering and took a handful thereof and burnt
upon the altar. * * He slew also the bullock and the ram
for a sacrifice of peace offering, which was for the people. And
Aaron’s sons presented unto him theblood which he sprinkled upon
the altar, round about, and the fat of the bullock and of the ram,
the rump and that which covereth the inwards, and the kidneys,
and the caul above the liver, and they put the fat upon the
breasts and he burnt the fat upon the altar. And the breasts
and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave-offering before
the Lord, as Moses had commanded.”
If the Chinese only did something like this, we would know
that they worshiped the “ living ” God. The idea that the su
preme head of the “ American system of religion ” can be placated
with a little meat and “ ordinary eatables,” is simply prepos
terous. He has always asked for blood, and has always asserted
that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of
sin.
The world is also informed by these gentlemen that “ the
idolatry of the Chinese produces a demoralizing effect upon our
American youth by bringing sacred things into disrespect, and
making religion a theme of disgust and contempt.”
. In San Francisco there are some three hundred thousand
people. Is it possible that a few Chinese can bring “ our holy
�15
religion ” into disgust and contempt! In that city there are fifty
times as many churches as joss-houses. Scores of sermons are
Uttered every week ; religious books and papers are plentiful as
leaves in autumn, and somewhat dryer ; thousands of bibles are
within the reach of all. And there, too, is the example of a
Christian city.
Why should we send missionaries to China if we cannot convert
the heathen when they come here ? When missionaries go to a
foreign land, the poor benighted people have to take their word
for the blessings showered upon a Christian people ; but when
the heathen come here they can see for themselves. What was
simply a story becomes a demonstrated fact. They come in con
tact with people who love their enemies. They see that in $
Christian land men tell the truth; that they will not take
advantage of strangers ; that they are just and patient; kind and
tender; and have no prejudice on account of color, race, or
religion ; that they look upon mankind as brethren ; that they
speak of God as a universal Father, and are willing to work,
and even to suffer, for the good not only of their own country
men, but of the heathen as well. All this the Chinese see and
know, and why they still cling to the religion of their country is
to me a matter of amazement.
We all know that the disciples of Jesus do unto others as
they would that others should do unto them, and that those of
Confucius do not unto others anything that they would not that
others should do unto them. Surely, such peoples ought to live
together in perfect peace. Rising with the subject, growing
heated with a kind of holy indignation, these Christian repre
sentatives of a Christian people most solemnly declare that:
Anyone who is really endowed with a correct knowledge of
our religious system which acknowledges the existence of a
living God and an accountability to Him, and a future state of
reward and punishment, who feels that he has an apology for
this abominal pagan worship, is not a fit person to be ranked as
a good citizen of the American Union. It is absurd to make any
apology for its toleration. It must be abolished, and the sooner
the decree goes forth by the power of this government the better
it will be for the interests of this land.
I take this, the earliest opportunity, to inform these gentle
men, composing a majority of the committee, that we have in the
United States no “ religious system; that this is a secular govern-
�16
merit.. That it has no religious creed ; that it does not believe
nor disbelieve in a future state of reward and punishment; that
it neither affirms nor denies the existence of a “living God;”
and that the only god, so far as this government is concerned, is
the legally expressed will of a majority of the people. Under
our flag the Chinese have the same right to worship a wooden
god that you have to worship any other. The constitution pro
tects equally the church of Jehovah and the house of Joss.
Whatever their relative positions may be in heaven, they stand
upon a perfect equality in the United States. This Government
is an infidel Govenment. We have a constitution with man put
in and God left out; and it is the glory of this country that we
have such a constitution.
It may be surprising to you that I have an apology for pagan
worship, yet I have. And it is the same one that 1 have for the
writers of this report. I account for both by the word super
stition. Why should we object to their worshiping God as they
please ? If the worship is improper, the protestation should
come not from a committee of Congress, but from God himself.
If He is satisfied, that is sufficient.
Our religion can only be brought into contempt by the
actions of those who profess to be governed by its teachings.
This report will do more in that direction than millions of
Chinese could do by burning pieces of paper before a wooden
image. If you wish to impress the Chinese with the value of
your religion, of what you are pleased to call “ The American
system,” show them that Christians are better than heathens.
Prove to them that what you are pleased to call the “ living
God ” teaches higher and holier things, a grander and purer code
of morals than can be found upon pagan pages. Excel these
wretches in industry, in honesty, in reverence for parents, in
-cleanliness, in frugality ; and above all by advocating the absolute
liberty of human thought.
Do not trample upon these people because they have a
different conception of things about which even this committee
knows nothing.
Give them the same privilege you enjoy of making a God
after their own fashion. And let them describe him as they will.
Would you be willing to have them remain, if one of their race,
thousands of years ago, had pretended to have seen God, and
had written of Him as follows; “ There went up a smoke out
�17
©f His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth ; coals were kindled
by it, * * * and he rode upon a cherub and did fly.”
Why should you object to these people on account of their
religion ? Your objection has in it the spirit of hate and intoler
ance. Of that spirit the inquisition was borne.. That spirit
lighted the fagot, made the thumbscrew, put chains upon the
limbs, and lashes upon the backs of men. The same spirit
bought and sold, captured and kidnapped human beings ; sold
babes, and justified all the horrors of slavery.
Congress has nothing to do with the religion of the people.
It® members are not responsible to God for the opinions of their
constituents, and it may tend to the happiness of the con
stituents for me to state that they are in no way responsible
for the religion of the members. Religion is an individual, not a
national matter. And where the nation intereferes with the
right of conscience, the liberties of the people are devoured by
the monster Superstition.
If you wish to drive out the Chinese, do not make a pretext
of religion. Do not pretend that you are trying to do God a
favour, Injustice in His name is doubly detestable. The
assassin cannot sanctify his dagger by falling on his kness, and
it does not help a falsehood if it be uttered as a prayer. Religion,
used, to intensify the hatred of men toward men, under the pre
tence of pleasing God, has cursed this world.
A portion of this most remarkable report is intensely religious.
There is in it almost the odour of sanctity ; and when reading it,
One is impressed with the living piety of its authors. But on the
twenty-fifth page, there are a few passages that must pain the
hearts of true believers.
Leaving their religious views, the
members immediately betake themselves to philosophy and pre
diction. Listen:
“ The Chinese race and the American citizen, whether nativeborn or who is eligible to our naturalization laws and becomes
a citizen, are in a state of antagonism. They cannot, nor will
not, ever meet upon common ground and occupy together the
same so-called level. This is impossible. The pagan and the
Christian travel different paths. This one believes-in a living
God ; that one in the type of monsters and worship of wood and
stone. Thus, in the religion of the two races of men, they are
as wide apart as the poles of the two hemispheres. They cannot
now, nor never (sic) will, approach the same religious altar.
�18
The Christian will not recede to barbarism, nor will the Chinese
advance to the enlightened belt [wherever it is] of civilization.
* * * He cannot be converted to those modern ideas of
religious worship which have been accepted by Europe, and
which crown the American system.”
Christians used to believe that through their religion all the
nations of the earth were finally to be blest. In accordance
with that belief missionaries have been sent to every land, and
untold wealth has been expended for what has been called the
spread of the gospel 1
I am almost sure that I have read somewhere that “ Christ
died for all men,” and that “ God is no respector of persons.”
It was once taught that it was the duty of Christians to tell toall people the “tidings of great joy.” I have never believed
these things myself, but have always contended that an honest
merchant was the best missionary. Commerce makes friends,
religion makes enemies; the one enriches, and the other im
poverishes ; the one thrives best where the truth is told, the
other where falsehoods are believed. For myself, I have but
little confidence in any business, or enterprise, or investment,
that promises dividends only after the death of the stockholders.
But I am astonished that four Christian statesmen, four
members of Congress in the last quarter of the nineteenth century,
who seriously object to people on account of their religious con
victions, should still assert that the very religion in which they
believe—and the only religion established by the living God
head of the American system—is not adapted to the spiritual
needs of one-third of the human race. It is amazing that these
four gentlemen have, in the defence of the Christian religion,
announced the discovery that it is wholly inadequate for the
civilization of mankind ; that the light of the cross can never
penetrate the darkness of China; “that all the labours of the
missionary, the example of the good, the exalted character of
our civilization, make no impression upon the pagan life of the
Chinese;” and that even the report of this committee will not
tend to elevate, refine and Christianize the yellow heathen of the
Pacific coast. In the name of religion these gentlemen have
denied its power and mocked at the enthusiasm of its founder.
Worse than this, they have predicted for the Chinese a future of
ignorance and idolatry in this world, and, if the “ American
system ” of religion is true, hell-fire in the next.
�19
For the benefit of these four philosophers and prophets, I will
give a few extracts from the writings of Confucius that will, in
lay judgment, compare favorably with the best passages of their
report:
“My doctrine is that man must be true to the principles of
his nature, and the benevolent exercises of them toward others.
“ With coarse rise to eat, with water to drink, and with
my bended arm for a pillow, I still have joy.
“ Riches and honour acquired by injustice are to me but
floating clouds.
“ The man who, in view of gain, thinks of righteousness :
who, hl view of danger, forgets life, and who remembers an old
agreement, however far back it extends, such a man may be
reckoned a complete man.
“ Recompense injury with justice, and kindness with kindness.”
There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for
all one’s life ; Reciprocity is that word.
When the ancestors of the four Christian Congressmen were
barbarians, when they lived in caves, gnawed bones, and wor
shiped dry snakes, the infamous Chinese were reading these
sublime sentences of Confucius. When the forefathers of these
Christian statesmen were hunting toads to get the jewels out of
their heads to be used as charms, the wretched Chinese were
calculating eclipses and measuring the circumference of the
earth. When the progenators of these representatives of the
“American system of religion” were burning women charged
with nursing devils, these people, “ incapable of being influenced
by the exalted character of our civilization,” were building
asylums for the insane.
If we wish to prevent the immigration of the Chinese, let us
reform our treaties with the vast empire from whence they came.
For thousands of years the Chinese secluded themselves from
the rest of the world. They did not deem the Christian nations fit
to associate with. We forced ourselves upon them. We called,
not with, cards, but with cannon. The English battered down
the door in the names of Opium and Christ. This infamy was
regarded as another triumph for the gospel. At last, in selfdefence, the Chinese allowed Christians to touch their shores.
Their, wise men, their philosophers protested, and prophesied
that time would show that Christians could not be trusted. This
•
�report proves that the wise men were not only philosophers, but
prophets.
Treat China as you would England. Keep a treaty while it
is in force. Change it if you will, according to the laws of
nations, but on no account excuse a breach of national faith by
pretending that we are dishonest for God’s sake.
ABED HEYWOOD AND SON, PRINTERS, MANCHESTER.
�
Dublin Core
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
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Title
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Some reasons why : and, Chinese gods
Creator
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Manchester; London
Collation: 20 p. ; 19 cm.
Series title: Col. Ingersoll's American secular lectures
Series number: 14
Notes: Not in Stein checklist. Ingersoll's lectures in the series listed inside front cover. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
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Abel Heywood & Sons; Robert Forder; Truelove
Date
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[n.d.]
Identifier
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N399
Subject
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Free thought
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Some reasons why : and, Chinese gods), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Free Thought
NSS
Religion-China