[118] Waddell, op. cit. 421, 476.
[119] Ibid. pp. 142, 148, 573.
[120] Gutzlaff, quoted by Davis, op. cit. ii. 51. Cf. Edkins, Religion in China, p. 150.
In the national religion of China the heaven god, Shang-te, is the supreme being, the creator and sovereign ruler of the universe, whose power knows no bounds, and whose sight equally comprehends the past, the present, and the future, penetrating even to the remotest recesses of the heart.[121] He is the author and upholder not only of the physical but of the moral order of the world, watching over the conduct of men, rewarding the good, and punishing the wicked.[122] Sometimes he appears to array himself in terrors, as in the case of public calamities and the irregularity of the seasons; but these are only salutary warnings intended to call men to repentance.[123] The cult which is offered Shang-te is frigid and ceremonial. The rules of ceremony have their origin in heaven, and the movement of them reaches to earth; their abandonment leads to “the ruin of states, the destruction of families, and the perishing of individuals.”[124] The Chinese are inclined to place ritualism on an equality with social morality. Confucius himself humbly submitted to the rules of ceremony, although he denounced hypocrisy. But to him morality was infinitely more important than religion. He altogether avoided the personal term God, and made only use of the abstract term Heaven. He admitted that spiritual beings exist, and even sacrificed to them,[125] but when questioned about matters relating to religion he was systematically silent.[126] Religious duties occupy a very insignificant place in his system. “To give one’s self earnestly to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom.”[127] Prayer is unnecessary because Heaven does not actively interfere with the soul of man; it has endowed him at his birth with goodness, which, if he will, may become his nature, and the reward or punishment is only the natural or providential result of his conduct.[128] Of punishments in a future life Confucius says nothing, though he maintains that there are rewards and dignity for the good after death.[129] The belief of the Chinese in post mortem punishments comes from Buddhism.[130]
[121] Legge, Notions of the Chinese concerning God, pp. 33, 34, 100 sq. Idem, Chinese Classics, i. 98. Staunton, Inquiry into the proper Mode of rendering the Word “God” in translating the Sacred Scriptures into the Chinese Language, p. 8 sq. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism, pp. 77, 82.
[122] Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, ii. 272. Legge, Chinese Classics, i. 98; iii. 46. Smith, Proverbs of the Chinese, p. 40. Boone, Essay on the proper rendering of the Words Elohim and Θέος into the Chinese Language, p. 55. Indo-Chinese Gleaner, i. 162. Davis, op. cit. ii. 26, 34. Douglas, op. cit. pp. 77, 78, 83.
[123] Staunton, op. cit. p. 9. Legge, Chinese Classics, iii. 46 sq.
[124] Lî Kî, vii. 4. 5 sq.
[125] Lun Yü, iii. 12. 1; x. 8. 10.
[126] Ibid. vii. 20. Cf. Réville, La religion chinoise, p. 326.