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nung......to be the entire terrestrial (emperor)......and Hwang-te ..to be the entire human (emperor.)" &c.*

The emperor Shun is the son of heaven by his wife Earth (or Uh-tăng, the "Western Queen Mother," who is one of the personifications of the goddess Earth). Hence he is miraculously born on his mother seeing a large rainbow, the emblem of the deluge. In consequence of this parentage, he sacrifices to "Heaven," or "heaven and earth" under the one title Shang-te; this Shang-te being a semi-female deity. He resembles his father Shang-te or "Heaven,"—whose emblem is the dragon,-in having a dragon countenance, and being black or dark azure, which is the colour of "Heaven" or Shang-te.† Shun therefore evidently belongs to the Noetic family; he lives at the period of the flood; the "felicitous bean," figuring the miraculous tree of paradise, " grew upon the stairs" of his abode; he lives surrounded by "all the beasts," without injury, just as Adam and Noah did; the "brilliant star" of Noah appears during his reign; and lastly, as he occupies the fifth place amongst the royal descendants of Noah, he is the identical apostate king Nimrod of Mosaic history in Chinese dress. Shun set up the first founder of his family, or the first man Fuh-he, who escapes the deluge, as the ruler of the entire heaven or the "celestial emperor," and as the chief object of worship to all his posterity, under the title XL Haou t'ien Shang-te or "Luminous Heaven, the first Emperor" of the whole imperial line. Thus, we are told, Shun's virtue equalled Heaven or his deified ancestor's virtue, and he showed proper reverence for his origin; that is to say, for the remote ancestor from whom he and his family sprang. Thus as Nimrod set up the first ancestor of his family, Noah, as the chief object of worship under the title Baal or "Lord," so Shun sets up Fuh-he as the chief object of worship under the title Shang-te or "Supreme (i.e. first) Emperor." Baal and Shang-te are both "Heaven;" both triplicate into heaven, earth and man; both are designated "mind;" and from both all other "minds" are formed; heaven is formed by severing the head of both from the body; both divide the female principle or darkness in two to form the world; both consort with earth, the female, and so beget the first man; both are a monad which includes all other gods and goddesses within it; both are the sun, their female portions being the moon; and finally, as tradition states that Nimrod's altar to "Heaven" or Baal was destroyed by a miraculous storm, so we find Shun and his fellow-worshippers while engaged in the worship of "Heaven" or Shang-te, dispersed by a miraculous storm which took place in the 14th year of his reign.

*

Shin seen tung keen, book iii, sec. v., pp. 6, &c.

+ Cf. "Bamboo Books." Also Chinese Cosmogong, p. 61. par. 15. Also, A Translation of the, p. 2, note 2.

When all this is considered, what unbiassed mind can doubt, that as all heathendom has been "made drunk" by the apostate cup of idolatry handed down from Babylon, so has China amongst the rest; and that therefore to her, as well as to the other heathen nations of the earth, are the words of the prophets applicable.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD "SHIN."

IT must be evident to all who have carefully read the discussion, in regard to the proper words by which to translate Elohim and Theos, and Ruach and Pneuma into Chinese, that there is a great difference of opinion in reference to the meaning of the word Shin, which is proposed by some as the proper word by which to translate Elohim and Theos. It must be equally evident to all, that before there is any agreement in regard to this question, there must be a harmony of views as to the meaning of this word. The difference of opinion that exists may be expressed thus. Those who contend that Shin is the proper word to be used in translating Elohim and Theos, are of the opinion, that while Shin has several different meanings, yet it is the word which is used to designate the false gods which are worshipped by the Chinese; and that when it is so used, it should be translated into English by "god" or "gods.' While some of those who advocate the use of Shang-ti

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as the proper term to be used, contend that Shin means "spirit, spiritual," &c. and that it can never be translated by "god" or "gods" into English. This opinion was most decidedly expressed eighteen years ago; and it has been dogmatically stated in the most recently published discussion on that side of the question. If that opinion is well founded, then of course it is most preposterous to propose to use Shin as the translation of Elohim and Theos. It is therefore incumbent upon some of those who contend that Shin is the proper translation of Elohim and Theos, to show by fair and clear argumentation, that Shin has such a meaning and use. It has often been a wonder to the writer, that no one who has written on the Shin side of the discussion has done this. My object in this paper is to endeavor to show, that Shin has a well-established and authorized use in the Chinese language, in the sense of "god" and "gods." That there may be no diversion of mind, it is readily admitted that Shin also means "soul, spirit, animal spirits, intelligence," &c. &c. but that' in addition, it is used to distinctively designate a class of spiritual beings which are the false gods of this heathen people; and that hence it is in the Chinese language the generic word for "god," in the polytheistic sense.

In order to establish this proposition, it is necessary first to show what are called the false gods of heathen nations. To make this matter clear, I will quote from dictionaries and other recognized authorities, what are the objects or beings that are regarded as the false gods of

the heathen, and what is the meaning of god and gods in the polytheistic use of the words. Webster, in the edition of 1869, says, in defining "god" thus: "An object of worship; a being conceived of as possessing divine power, and to be propitiated by sacrifice, worship, &c.; a divinity; a deity." In Chambers' Etymological English Dictionary, the definition is thus given: "An object of worship, an idol." In an English dictionary by Rev. James Barclay, it is said: "The object of adoration and worship; any object or thing which is too much the object of a person's thoughts and labour." In the English Imperial Dictionary, by John Ogilvie, LL.D. the definition is given: "Any person or thing exalted too much in estimation, or deified and honoured as the chief good."

The learned Calmet gives the following classification of the false gods of the heathen nations: 1. "The principal of the ancient gods, whom the Romans called dii majorum gentium, Cicero celestial gods, Varro select gods, Ovid nobiles deos, and others conscntes deos, were Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Vulcan, and Apollo. Jupiter is considered as the god of heaven; Neptune, as god of the sea; Mars, as the god of war; Apollo, of eloquence, poetry, and physic; Mercury, of thieves; Bacchus, of wine; Cupid, of love, &c. A second sort of gods, called demigods, semi-dü, dii minorum gentium, indigetes, or gods adopted, were men canonized and deified. As the greater gods had possession of heaven by their own right, these secondary deities had it by merit and donation, being translated into heaven because they had lived as gods on earth."

2. "The heathen gods may be all reduced to the following classes: (1) Created spirits, angels or demons, whence good and evil gods; genii, lares, lemures, typhones, guardian gods, infernal gods, &c. (2) Heavenly bodies; as the sun, moon, and other planets; also the fixed stars, constellations, &c. (3) Elements; as air, earth, ocean, ops Vesta, the rivers, fountains, &c. (4) Meteors; thus the Persians adored the wind; thunder and lightning were honored under the name of Geryon; and several nations of India and America have made themselves gods of the same. Castor, Pollux, Helena, and Iris, have also been preferred from meteors to be gods; and the like has been practised in regard to comets; witness that which appeared at the death of Cæsar. (5) They erected minerals or fossils into deities. Such was the Baetylus. The Finlanders adored stones; the Scythians, iron; and many nations, silver and gold. (6) Plants have been made gods. Thus leeks and onions were deities in Egypt; the Sclaves, Lithuanians, Celta, Vandals, and Peruvians, adored trees and forests; the ancient Gauls, Britons, and Druids, paid a particular devotion to the oak; and it was no other than wheat, corn, seed, &c. that the ancients adored, under the names of Ceres and Proserpina. (7) They took themselves gods from among the waters. The Syrians and Egyptians adored fishes; and what were the Tritons, the Nereids, Syrens, &c. but fishes? Several nations have adored serpents; particularly the Egyptians, Prussians, Lithuanians, Samogitans,

&c. (8) Insects, as flies and ants, had their priests and votaries. (9) Among birds, the stork, raven, sparrowhawk, ibis, eagle, grisson, and lapwing, have had divine honors; the last in Mexico, the rest in Egypt and Thebes. (10) Four-footed beasts have had their altars; as the bull-dog, cat, wolf, baboon, lion, and crocidile, in Egypt and elsewhere; the hog in the island of Crete; rats and mice in the Troas and at Tenedos; weasels at Thebes; and the porcupine throughout all Zoroaster's school. (11) Nothing was more common than to place men among the number of deities; and from Belus or Baal, to the Roman emperors before Constantine, the instances of this kind are innumerable; frequently they did not wait so long as their deaths for the apotheosis. Nebuchadnezzar procured his statue to be worshipped while living; and Virgil shows that Augustus had altars and sacrifices offered to him; as we learn from other hands that he had priests, called Augustales and temples at Lyons, Narbona, and several other places; and he must be allowed to be the first of the Romans in whose behalf idolatry was carried to such a pitch. The Ethiopians deemed all their kings gods; the Velleda of the Germans, the Ianus of the Hungarians, and the Thaut, Woden, and Assa, of the northern nations, were indisputably men. (12) Not men only, but everything that relates to man, has also been deified; as labor, rest, sleep, youth, age, death, virtues, vices, occasion, time, place, numbers, among the Pythagoreans; the generative power under the name of Priapus. Infancy alone had a cloud of deities; as Vegetanus, Levana, Rumina, Edufa, Potina, Cuba, Cumina, Carna, Ossalago, Statulinas, Fabulinus, &c. &c. They also adored the gods Health, Fever, Love, Pain, Indignation Shame, Impudence, Opinion, Renown, Prudence, Science, Art, Fidelity, Felicity, Calumny, Liberty, Money, War, Peace, Victory, Triumph, &c. Lastly, Nature, the universe or to Pan was reputed a great God."

From this exhaustive classification of the heathen gods, it appears that there were gods celestial, and gods terrestrial, the greater gods and secondary gods; there were those who were regarded gods by nature and by descent, and, those, who though not such originally, were constituted gods by some recognized authority among men, as the Roman senate. Though some, in their specific classes were called demons, lares, or the souls of deceased ancestors, penates, lemures, or ghosts, guardians of boundaries, or of the fruits of the earth, &c. &c. yet they are all called gods. The objects of nature, as heaven, the earth, the sun, moon and stars, the spirits who presided over the winds, rain, clouds, tempests, thunder and lightning, rivers, streams, oceans, hills, plains and mountains, all are styled gods.

A very recent dictionary of religious knowledge by Abbott and Conant, who are eminent scholars, says: "A fourth form of idolatry was the worship of deceased ancestors; this was the basis of a large part of the religion of ancient Greece and Rome."

These objects of worship, or gods, all had their several names and

titles. They had each their respective places, or things or beings over which they exercised rule. They had temples in which they were worshipped, altars on which offerings and sacrifices were offered, and images before which worship and prayers were rendered. The rituals of these services were nearly the same in all lands. As Smith's Bible Dictionary expresses it, "Besides these accessories, there were the ordinary rites of worship which idolatrous systems had in common with the religion of the Hebrews; offering burnt sacrifices to the idol gods, burning incense in their honor, and bowing down in worship before their images were the chief part of their ritual."

Temples for the worship of their gods were erected in their cities, or in groves. Some were of great splendor, and they were consecrated after their erection with special services. The images of their gods were made of every variety of material. Rees' Cyclopædia says: "An idol is a statue of some false god to whom divine honors are paid, altars and temples erected, and sacrifices offered. The idol or image of whatever material it consists, is by certain ceremonies called consecration, converted into a god. While under the artificer's hands it is a mere statue. Three things were, among the ancients, necessary to change the image into a god; proper ornaments, consecration and ovation. The consecration and ovation were performed by the Romans with great solemnity."

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Those objects of worship among heathen nations, which in all English writings relating to them are called gods, are the dii of the Romans, and the eo of the Greeks. It is said that the Greeks had thirty thousand of them. Calmet says, "Elohim, the Hebrew name of God, like the English Lord' is used in various applications. The true God is often called Elohim; as are the angels, judges and princes; and sometimes idols and false gods. The Israelites had so great an aversion and contempt for strange gods, that they would not name them; but substituted some term of contempt; so, instead of Elohim they called them Elihim, i. e. "nothings, varieties, gods of no value." Instead of saying Mephibaal and Meribaal and Jerubaal, they said Mephi-bosheth, and Meri-bosheth and Jeru-bosheth. While Baal signifies "master," bosheth is "a shame." Smith in his Bible Dictionary says, that in the Hebrew Scriptures there are some twenty-one different words used to designate these idols and images of false gods.

It will therefore be accepted that "the beings, whether real or imaginary which have been adopted among men as objects of worship in preference to the thrice Holy Jehovah," were designated Elohim sometimes by the Hebrews, Otot by the Greeks, dii by the Romans and "gods" in English.

I pass on to the consideration of the idolatry which is found in China. It is within the observation of every resident in this country, that there is a class of beings to whom temples are erected, altars are built, images are made; and to whom religious worship consisting of sacrifices, offerings and prayers are offered. The worship of these beings is recognized and authorized by the government. Laws have been enacted

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