Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

I am not worthy to worship Shang Ti." "How so?" it is asked. The reply is: "It is written in our classics, 'the son of heaven alone sacrifices to Shang Ti,' and the emperor accordingly does sacrifice to Shang Ti once a year, at the Round Hill in the Court sacred to Heaven, outside the South Gate; or if any thing prevents his appearance in person, he sends a prince of the blood to perform the sacrifice in his stead. This excepted, there is no rite of worship performed to Shang Ti." 我們書上有一句,惟天子祀於上 帝, 故此皇上每年一次到正陽門外,天壇裡頭圜丘那兒親 拜上帝,若是有事不能親拜,就派親王代拜,除此之外, 總沒 #T. As the worship of Shang-ti is not permitted, by the laws of the empire, to the common people, Shang-ti cannot be used to designate the objects of false worship among the people; and therefore neither can it in such sentences be used to designate the true object which is here the correlative of the false.

As according to Sir Thomas Wade, we can say that "Tien is a shên; Shang Ti is a shên; Kwan-yin is a shên;" we can of course say that Jehovah is a Shin, the only true Shin; and we can give to Him, as the true Shin, all the attributes, works, offices and worship that belong to Jehovah. And thus alone can we teach them that T'ien, Shang-ti, Kwán-ti Kwan-yin and all the other false gods, which they have been worshipping in the place of Jehovah, are to be forsaken, and Jehovah alone is to be exalted among them. In the use of such language there is no danger of being misunderstood in what we say, or as to what the Bible teaches. None of these above-named, as included among the shin, made the heavens and the earth; and Jehovah says, "they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens."

If Shin is thus used to translate Elohim when it refers to God, it has been said, that there would be no definiteness of statement, because shin includes a multitude. But a just presentation of the case will show, that with such a translation, there will not remain any uncertainty in the reader's mind. Jehovah, who knows the hold which polytheism has on the hearts of men, has wonderfully provided against any confounding of Himself with any other being. It is stated by those who have taken the pains to ascertain the fact, that "Jehovah occurs in the Old Testament over six thousand eight hundred times," while elohim only occurs "between two thousand and two thousand five hundred times." From this it appears that Jehovah occurs nearly three times as often as Elohim. It is also stated that Jehovah "is used far more frequently than all other names combined." While of elohim it is said that in some fourteen hundred and seventy-six examples, it stands in some relation or connection to show its meaning; in some three hundred and fifty-seven places it has the definite article prefixed; and in only some seven hundred and twenty-two places does it stand alone, as in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis. Let us suppose some Chinese who has never heard of Jehovah the true God, commences to read the Bible in Chinese. He reads the first verse, "In *See Chinese Recorder for 1876, p. 370.

the beginning Shin created the heaven and the earth."

If at first he

is at a loss to know what shin is referred to, or whether it refers to one or many shin, what then? Is he not in precisely the same situation with a polytheist who knew the Hebrew language? When he would read "Elohim created the heaven and the earth," it would not give him the idea of one true God, or of Jehovah; for the meaning of Elohim to him would be "gods, deities in general." So that to an uninstructed Hebrew polytheist, Elohim is no more definite, than shin is to a Chinese reader. But he reads on, and when he comes to the fourth verse of the second chapter, he reads in his own language, that it was the God Jehovah who "made the earth and the heavens ;" and henceforth there is no doubt to either of them of what god it is stated, that He was the Creator. This is a clear and logical deduction, and no mere surmise; for it has been seen above, that the idea of divine power does not inhere in Elohim; and that the reason why-when we read it in Hebrew, Greek or English, that "God created the heaven and the earth"-we understand "God" to refer to Jehovah, is because of our education in the belief that there is only one God, and of the association of ideas in reference to him. When polytheists read these two verses, they get their first lesson in the great doctrine of monotheism, that there is one Being, who made the heavens and the earth, and that his distinctive name is Jehovah. The frequent use of the name Jehovah will guide any polytheist through the whole of the Old Testament without any confusion, whether he read it in Hebrew with the use of Elohim, or in Chinese with the use of Shin. The very frequent recurrence of the name Jehovah, precludes all possibility of mistake or confusion.

Further, when in the translation of the Old Testament into Chinese, the word Shin is used to render Elohim, it affords the greatest facility to impress upon the mind of the Chinese reader, a realizing sense of the attributes, work and offices of God, and the relation that Jehovah sustains to men, of any word in the language. The reason of this is, that the shin are all around them in their temples and on their altars, in their houses, and their shops, and all places of business; they are the guardians of their sleeping and of their waking hours; they are the givers of all their blessings, and the healers of all their sicknesses; they are the objects to which all their prayers and worship are offered. All these things help them to understand what is the character of Jehovah when it is presented,that He by His omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience and all-pervading rule and care, will be more to them than the whole multitude of their shin; and what is the extent of His demand when He claims all this worship to Himself, as the one only true Shin from whom cometh every good and perfect gift. The previous conceptions that filled heaven and earth, land and sea, hills and streams, houses and shops, with deities, help them to get the idea of the ubiquity of the one true Shin Jehovah. And again, the true conception of the one everywhere present Shin, will help to drive away all belief and confidence in those multitudes of imaginary beings in

which they have hitherto trusted. If, however, the name of one of the class of shin is taken, and Elohim is translated by Shang-ti,* while it may

* I think that most persons, who read the letter which was published in the Recorder for 1876, p. 294 sqq. from Amoy, signed "Enquirer," were astonished at a statement which was made in it. The statement says, "When a Chinese audience is told they must worship Shang-ti, they at once imagine that the preacher refers to Yuh-hwang Shang-ti (E).. Yuh-hwang Shang-ti and Tien F are interchangeable terms in this region." I think that not only missionaries who use Shin will be astonished at the statement; but that many of those who use Shang-ti will be equally astonished. It is a worse statement of the danger of using Shang-ti than any advocate of Shin has ever made. They have said and supposed, that some of the audience so understood such an announcement. But that the whole audience should understand a missionary of Christ to tell them to worship Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, who is by all persons spoken of as an idol, to whom temples are erected and worship and prayers are offered, is indeed most astounding. And that a missionary of Christ, should continue to so tell the people after he knows that they so understand him, is even more astounding still. Of course, I know the missionary goes on to explain he does not mean what they understand him to mean, and to tell them whom he means by Shang-ti; but the God of the Bible declares He will be known among the nations by His name Jehovah; and He will not give His glory to another, nor His praise to graven images. We know that every Chinese audience is constantly changing. How many of the audience who hear the preacher say "they must worship Shang-ti," and understand him to mean the idol Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, will go out of the chapel before the preacher reaches the explanation. Is the Chinese language so barren of resources, that a missionary is shut up to use a form of expression in making known the true God, from which the audience at once supposes he refers to one of the most commonly-worshipped idols? The command of Jehovah is, "Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens." This certainly implies that we should by no means use language which they will understand as teaching them to worship any one of such gods. Notwithstanding the explanation which is given in the letter, of the means which are taken to engraft on the name of this idol Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, the attributes and works of Jehovah, without using the name Jehovah to make known the only true Godthe name by which the Creator of the heavens and the earth has revealed Himself-are to me unsatisfactory; for it appears to me that such means must be with many persons in the audience futile. Our blessed Lord and Saviour-in giving the reason why he did not attempt to engraft his teachings on the names and ceremonies in use among the Pharisees-has given us the only safe rule to be followed in preaching monotheism among this people; and the great truth, that we bring to their knowledge a God they have not known, nor their fathers: "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." Math. ix. 17. These words commend themselves to our observance, not only because they are the words of our Saviour, but because they are the embodiment of the highest practical wisdom. danger of being misunderstood in the use of old forms is strikingly presented in an incident stated by the late Bishop Boone. When he still used Shang-ti, he says: A man of some intelligence, and who read very well his own language, applied to Rev. Mr. Syle for special instruction, and he gave him a catechism in which Shang-ti was used. He came to his study daily for some days. He read over the books and heard all that was said about the attributes predicated of Shang-ti which we are accustomed to predicate of Jehovah, and appeared to understand thoroughly what he read. Mr. Syle inquired one morning whether he followed the advice he had given to him in the commencement, to pray to Shangti every morning and evening? The man replied with great simplicity, that he had daily visited his temple twice a day for this purpose. This answer led to inquiry, and Mr. S. to his inexpressible grief, learned that the man had been understanding him for ten days as recommending the worship of this idol. If a man of some intelligence, and who could read well his own language, could remain under such a mistake when receiving personal instruction for ten days, we may well suppose that a great many in a general audience will remain under the mistake notwithstanding the explanations that are made.

The

at first have the advantage of giving the idea of power, as the highest of their shin; yet he is the one with whom the people have never had anything to do, and to whom they have never offered prayers, or rendered worship. He has not been in their thoughts. In using the name of one of their false gods, there would be danger of continuing the name of one of those concerning whom Jehovah has said, "they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens." For as Shang-ti did not create the heavens and the earth, he is included among those of whom Jehovah has thus spoken. Again there are some who think, that because the number of the beings that are included amongst the false gods of China, and are called shin, are so many, and many of them of no dignity or eminence, the word shin is not worthy to be used in the translation of Elohim and Oɛos, when referring to the true God. But has it not been shown, that the Greeks had thirty thousand ɛol and that they were just the same kind of imaginary beings as the shin of the Chinese. Yet because that word was the common name that included all that multitude of divinities, it was the one used to combat polytheism among the Greeks; and now by the prevalence of monotheism, Θεος has come to mean God κατ' ἐξοχήν.

Let those who have hitherto thought that it was an objection to shin, that it was applied to such low objects, carefully consider the three sentences, Nos. 361, 362 and 363, in the valuable collection made by the Rev. John Chalmers. They are all from standard authors, from which the authorized and established use of Chinese words is learned:

升開皇天上帝焉1st升聞皇天上神焉2nd 以降上神, 註上神天也 3rd以降上神,註上神天神也又在上精魂之神‧ The first of these sentences, in Mr. Chalmers' book is printed beside one in which Shang-ti takes the place of Shang-shin; all the other characters are the same as here reprinted. The meaning of the two sentences is the same, and hence Shang shin, is just as reverent a designation as Shang-ti. It is also the synonym of Hwang Tien F.

In the second example, Shang shin, is explained as the same as Tien ; and in the third example, Shang shin E, is the "celestial Shin"—or "the God above with an etherial soul." By consent of all Chinese scholars, Shang-ti L, and Tien are the most honorable of the class of shin, and express "the highest conception of God that Chinese have attained to." And here are these quotations from Chinese standard ethical works, in which the "shin above" is a synonym of “ Shang-ti上帝” and Heaven 天, “or the celestial Shin 天神” In all reason then, the divinity or godhead that is in the expression Shang shin, must be in shin, for there is none in the word "above." The adjunct "Shang L," only indicates where this particular god is located, and the rank which that location indicates, not the nature or attributes of the Being; and since "Shang shin" thus expresses the highest conception of God to which the Chinese have attained, why will not "Jehovah Shin Fu" serve to express the highest conception of

* See Chinese Recorder for 1876, p. 140.

the Divine Being which the Bible reveals? I cannot but think, that this is the conclusion to which every candid mind will be necessarily led.

The Chinese in feeling after God, and having received by tradition from their ancestors, some ideas connected with God that were revealed to the patriarchs, have had some imperfect conceptions of a creation; not the creation of all things out of nothing, but the transformation of prëexisting matter. This imperfect conception of a creative power they have expressed as exercised by a shin, as stated in the following sentence, No. 367 in Mr. Chalmers' collection: ZE, which

[ocr errors]

I translate thus: "There is a Supreme God in heaven, who is the Lord of creation;" or, perhaps better, "who is the cause of all transformations.” If shin, when thus referring to the highest of the beings known to them, could express the author, or Lord, of creation according to their conception of creation, why cannot this same word, in connection with the proper name of the Creator of all things, viz. "Jehovah," Jehovah,”耶和華神, be used to make known to this people the Lord of creation as He is revealed in the word of God?

Not only is the word shin thus adequate to be used in connection with Jehovah, in making known the great author of creation; but it is the only effective word that can be used in combating polytheism, and in destroying all their imaginary gods. It is the command of Jehovah that forbids the worship of all false gods. And it is of the utmost moment to truth, that His holy command be made known correctly, in all its length and breadth to this people. This command reads in English "Thou shalt have no other gods (elohim) before me." The word elohim included in its meaning all the false gods, of whatever rank or kind or nature, which were known to the Jews. In the nature of things, elohim must have included all the false gods, or the commandment would not have forbidden their worship. So in translating it into Chinese, the word by which elohim is rendered must be the word, which by all usage includes all the false gods of this people. It has been shewn in another part of this article,* that

* It may perhaps be objected, that shin does not include Fuh, and that therefore this proposition is not correct to the full extent of the statement. Fuh, being from another country, it is not of course included among the native shin; but it is still comprehended in the word shin. The statement as made by Sir Thomas Wade in the Category of Heaven, S. 351 and 352, reads thus: "Is Buddha a shên, or what is he?" Ans.-"That is a question belonging to a separate philosophy. Fo [] is a shên worshipped by foreign nations, but, although a shên, he is not included in the number of our (Chinese) shên. Fo, the shen and the hsien [佛神及仙], are each independent of the other; Fo and the hsien are of equal rank with the shen." From this statement it appears that the objects of worship in other countries and of other religions, are regarded as shin, and that therefore shin will comprehend all the false gods of China, whether worshipped by the Buddhists, the Taouists or the Confucianists; and however they may be distinctively named by each seperate sect as, Fuh and Pu-sah

by the Buddhists; Yuh-ti and sien El, by the Taouists; or Ti, Shangti or Tien 帝,上帝,或天 by the Confucianists. This shows that it is equally as comprehensive in its meaning as deus as given by Jerome :-"Inscriptio autem arae ita erat, Diis, Asiae et Europae et Africae, Diis ignotis et

« AnkstesnisTęsti »