"Then I forgot to tell you that the Sun and Moon are also worshipped. Whilst in Peking, I went to a temple of the Moon. It was on the day of the autumnal equinox, when, at six o'clock in the evening, a very solemn sacrifice is offered, and the great ladies of the capital meet to burn their tapers. I approached this temple by a long avenue of beautiful trees. The temple was large; but I noticed that more women than men had come to attend the ceremonies."
"I thought the Chinese were clever people," Sybil said; "if so, how can they believe in so many gods?"
"They have been trained to do so. They feel, I suppose, that they must offer worship, and until a real knowledge of the true God can be planted in their midst, they will remain slaves to idolatry. Many of the more enlightened heathen, I believe, only regard their idols as representations of the Deity they are feeling after, and not really as the Deity Himself; although I fear many of the simpler sort, in different degrees, regard their idols with great religious awe. Then, many a Chinaman, again, will so often seem to have no religion at all!"
"Is it very difficult to teach the Chinese, father?"
"It is very difficult to find words, in their language, clearly to bring home to them the great truths of the Bible; and Confucius having for nearly twenty centuries held such a sway over their minds, they do not care to listen to new teachers."
"I am so glad the Bible is now translated into Chinese, and that you are taking some copies out with you. But how old these people must be!"
"The Chinese are a very ancient race, and had a literature 700 years before Christ. They are very fond and proud of their country."
"Do Taouists and Buddhists believe in, and read, the writings of Confucius?"
"To a great extent."