Like the temples of Confucius, those of the ancient Egyptians are supposed to have been entirely free from statues; and Herodotus seems to be of opinion, that Hesiod and Homer were the first who introduced the genealogy of the gods among the Greeks; imposed names upon each, assigned their functions and their honours, and clothed them in their several forms. And we learn from Silius Italicus, that the ancient temple of Hercules at Gades had no visible type of the Deity.
"Sed nulla effigies, simulacrave nota deorum,
Majestate locum, et sacro implevere timore."
"No statues of the gods appear within,
Nor images; but rev'rend horror round,
And gloom majestic guard the sacred ground."
Tytler's MS.
The missionaries in their writings have endeavoured to impress the world with an idea that the Chinese, and particularly the Confucionists, are atheists; that they disbelieve in a future state of existence; and that they are the victims of a senseless superstition. Nothing can be more unjust than such an accusation. Could Caung-shee be an atheist, when he inscribed with his own hands the Jesuit church in Pekin,
"To the only true principle of all things," &c.
And can a people be justly accused of a disbelief in a state of future existence, when the whole nation, of what sect soever, presents its offerings at stated seasons to the spirits of its departed ancestors? Does the ejaculation, "Let thy spiritual part descend and be pleased with this our respect which we now humbly offer to thee!" convey any such supposition? And of all others, the missionaries ought to have been the last to accuse the Chinese of senseless superstitions. Surely it is not more repugnant to reason, nor less consonant with human feelings, to offer grateful gifts to the manes of deceased parents and friends, than to fall down before the Virgin Mary and the thousand saints whom caprice or cabal have foisted into their calendar, and of whose history and actions even their votaries are totally ignorant? Chinese superstition, in this respect is, to say the worst of it, an amiable weakness. If the supposition be allowed that beings who have departed this life may possess an influence over remaining mortals, it is surely more natural to address those whose care and kindness had already been felt, than those of whom we have no further knowledge than the name. There is perhaps no stronger incentive to virtuous actions, nor a more effectual check against vicious pursuits, than the idea that the departed spirit of a beloved parent may continue to watch over and direct our conduct. The Chinese, at all events, are not illiberal in their superstitions: they made not the least difficulty in allowing the corpse of one of our artists, who died at Tong-tchoo, though a Christian and consequently in their opinion a heretic, to be deposited in the midst of their public burying ground. With as little reason does an angry missionary complain of the dresses and ceremonies of their priests, as they certainly borrowed nothing from the Catholics, who, on their part, are much indebted to the heathen Greeks for a great part of the paraphernalia of their own religion. "There is no country," says he, "where the devil has so successfully counterfeited the true worship of the holy church. These priests of the infernal spirit wear long loose gowns, exactly resembling those of some of the fathers of the church; they live in temples like so many monasteries, and they chaunt in the same manner as with us."
Another religion, much better calculated to gain popularity, sprung up about the time of, or very shortly after, the death of Confucius. A man of the name of Lao-Kung, having travelled into Thibet, became in part acquainted with the worship of the priests of Lama, which he thought would suit his countrymen, and might also be the means of raising his own reputation. He accordingly established a sect, under the name of Tao-tze, or "Sons of Immortals." He maintained, like Epicurus, that to live at his ease and to make himself happy were the chief concerns of man: that, to seize the present moment, regardless of the past and of that to come, was the business of life,
"Carpe diem, quàm minimum credula postero."
"——Swift the fleeting pleasure seize,
Nor trust to-morrow's doubtful light."
But as ills would come, and disease and death seemed to be the common lot of mankind, the beverage of immortal life was a glorious idea to hold out to mortal man. In fact, immortality was one of the attributes of the Delai Lama, who is supposed never to die; the soul of the reigning Lama passing immediately into the person of his successor. This doctrine, a branch of the Metempsycosis, was converted by Lao-Kung into the art of producing a renovation of the faculties in the same body, by the means of certain preparations taken from the three kingdoms of nature. The infatuated people flew with avidity to the fountain of life. Princes even sought after the draughts that should render them immortal, but which, in fact, brought on premature death. Numerous instances are said to be on record, wherein the eunuchs have prevailed on the sovereign to swallow the immortal liquor which seldom failed to dispatch him. Father Trigault, who was in Pekin when the Tartars took possession of it, speaking of the propensity of the upper classes for the beverage of life, observes, "Even in this city, there are few of the magistrates or eunuchs or others in office free from this insanity; and as there are plenty who wish to learn the secret, there is no want of professors." This seems to be the only species of alchemy to which the Jesuits have said the Chinese are addicted. The preparation of the liquor of life is their philosopher's stone; and, in all probability, is composed of opium and other drugs which, by encreasing the stimulus, gives a momentary exhilaration to the spirits; and the succeeding languor requiring another and another draught till at length, the excitability being entirely exhausted, the patient "puts on immortality."
How much soever we may find ourselves disposed to censure the absurdity of the Chinese beverage of life, we are not a great way behind them in this respect, or the Perkinses, the Solomons, the Velnos, and the Brodums, with an innumerable host of quacks, whose indecent advertisements disgrace our daily prints, would not derive their subsistence, much less rise to affluence, by the credulity of Englishmen; for many of these pests of society are foreigners, too contemptible in their own country to meet with encouragement. What conclusion would a Chinese be apt to draw of our national character, if he had only a smattering of our language, just sufficient to enable him to read these daily effusions that are forced upon public notice[44]? And what must he think of the reveries of Condorcet, and of his English disciples, whose monstrous doctrines (under the abused name of philosophy) would persuade him that sleep was a disease! That
"Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, fore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast"——