Religions of Ancient China | Page 6

fit the proper renderings for God; and of the two terms the great Manchu Emperor K'ang Hsi chose /T'ien/. It has been thought that the conversion of China to Christianity under the guiding influence of the Jesuits would soon have become an accomplished fact, but for the ignorant opposition to the use of these terms by the Franciscans and Dominicans, who referred this question, among others, to the Pope. In 1704 Clement XI published a bull declaring that the Chinese equivalent for God was /T'ien Chu/=Lord of Heaven; and such it has continued to be ever since, so far as the Roman Catholic church is concerned, in spite of the fact that /T'ien Chu/ was a name given at the close of the third century B.C. to one of the Eight Spirits.
The two Terms are One.--That the two terms refer in Chinese thought to one and the same Being, though possibly with differing attributes, even down to modern times, may be seen from the account of a dream by the Emperor Yung Lo, A.D. 1403-1425, in which His Majesty relates that an angel appeared to him, with a message from /Shang Ti/; upon which the Emperor remarked, "Is not this a command from /T'ien/?" A comparison might perhaps be instituted with the use of "God" and "Jehovah" in the Bible. At the same time it must be noted that this view was not suggested by the Emperor K'ang Hsi, who fixed upon /T'ien/ as the appropriate term. It is probable that, vigorous Confucianist as he was, he was anxious to appear on the side rather of an abstract than of a personal Deity, and that he was repelled by the overwrought anthropomorphism of the Christian God. His conversion was said to have been very near at times; we read, however, that, when hard pressed by the missionaries to accept baptism, "he always excused himself by saying that he worshipped the same God as the Christians."
God in the "Odes."--The Chou dynasty lasted from B.C. 1122 to B.C. 255. It was China's feudal age, when the empire, then included between latitude 34-40 and longitude 109-118, was split up into a number of vassal States, which owned allegiance to a suzerain State. And it is to the earlier centuries of the Chou dynasty that must be attributed the composition of a large number of ballads of various kinds, ultimately collected and edited by Confucius, and now known as the /Odes/. From these /Odes/ it is abundantly clear that the Chinese people continued to hold, more clearly and more firmly than ever, a deep-seated belief in the existence of an anthropomorphic and personal God, whose one care was the welfare of the human race:--
There is Almighty God; Does He hate any one?
He reigns in glory.--The soul of King Wen, father of the King Wu below, and posthumously raised by his son to royal rank, is represented as enjoying happiness in a state beyond the grave:--
King Wen is on high, In glory in heaven. His comings and his goings Are to and from the presence of God.
He is a Spirit.--Sometimes in the /Odes/ there is a hint that God, in spite of His anthropomorphic semblance, is a spirit:--
The doings of God Have neither sound nor smell.
Spiritual Beings.--Spirits were certainly supposed to move freely among mortals:--
Do not say, This place is not public; No one can see me here. The approaches of spiritual Beings Cannot be calculated beforehand; But on no account should they be ignored.
The God of Battle.--In the hour of battle the God of ancient China was as much a participator in the fight as the God of Israel in the Old Testament:--
God is on your side!
was the cry which stimulated King Wu to break down the opposing ranks of Shang. To King Wu's father, and others, direct communications had previously been made from heaven, with a view to the regeneration of the empire:--
The dynasties of Hsia and Shang Had not satisfied God with their government; So throughout the various States He sought and considered For a State on which He might confer the rule.
God said to King Wen, I am pleased with your conspicuous virtue, Without noise and without display, Without heat and without change, Without consciousness of effort, Following the pattern of God.
God said to King Wen, Take measures against hostile States, Along with your brethren, Get ready your grappling-irons, And your engines of assault, To attack the walls of Ts'ung.
God sends Famine.--The /Ode/ from which the following extract is taken carries us back to the ninth century B.C., at the time of a prolonged and disastrous drought:--
Glorious was the Milky Way, Revolving brightly in the sky, When the king said, Alas! What crime have my people committed now, That God sends down death and disorder, And famine comes upon us again?