marked by an impression on the paper with a round stamp. When the borders of this sheet are filled with these impressions the ceremony is finished, and the paper is laid aside until the death of the possessor, when it is burned, and it is thus supposed to pass to the departed spirit, and secure her uninterrupted entrance to any department of the regions of the dead.

The different kinds of worship in Buddhist temples, above described, may be performed by proxy, and many persons gain a livelihood by engaging their services in this way to the sick.

Of all classes of individuals to be met with in China none seem more hopeless and inaccessible to the truth than these self-righteous, inveterate paper-worshipers. It must be said of them, however, that they generally lead comparatively honest and blameless lives, and are much respected by their own people. The character of their employment is such as to keep them constantly on their guard, as others look to them as examples, and they thus become habitually careful to avoid open sins and improprieties.

Without dwelling longer on the details of Buddhist worship, it may be well to refer to a general resemblance between Buddhism and Romanism, so marked that it is recognized and acknowledged by the Romanists themselves, who account for this fact by the supposition that Satan has counterfeited the true religion so as to preoccupy and satisfy the minds of the people with the counterfeit, to the exclusion of what is true and genuine. This correspondence holds in minute particulars. Both have a supreme and infallible head; the celibacy of the priesthood; monasteries and nunneries; prayers in an unknown tongue; prayers to saints and intercessors, and especially and principally to a virgin with a child; also prayers for the dead; repetition of prayers with the use of a rosary; works of merit and supererogation; self-imposed austerities and bodily inflictions; a formal daily service, consisting of chants, burning of candles, sprinkling of holy-water, bowings, prostrations, marchings and counter-marchings. Both have also fast days

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and feast days; religious processions; images and pictures, and fabulous legends; and revere and worship relics, real and pretended. These two systems, wonderfully adapted to different circumstances of race, civilization, and religious intelligence, hold in spiritual bondage nearly four-fifths of the hu man race, gratifying, at the same time, the religious longings and the sinful perversions of our nature, providing objects of worship, but in fact leading the soul away from God.

CHAPTER IX.

TAUISM.

Lao-ts, the Founder of the Tauist Sect.-Origin of the word Tauism.— Lao-ts and Confucius contemporaneous.—Change and Deterioration in Tauism. Its character Materialistic. Its theory of the Universe.-The Five Elements.-Personification of Stars, and their Identity with some of the Gods.-Alchemy.--Elixir of Life.-Astrology.-Popular Belief respecting Lao-ts, and the origin of Tauism.--Legend of Lu-tsu.-Gods of Thunder and Lightning.-The Goddess Tau-mu.-The "Three Rulers."-The Dragon King.-His Likeness, how obtained.-Inferior Dragons and the "Dragon Examinations."-Worship of the Dragon.— Description of the Tu-ti Poo-sah, or "God of the Earth.-Connection between Tauism and State Worship. - Tauist Temples, Idols, and Priests.-Object or Aim of the Tauist Devotee.-Means and bodily Exercises made use of.—Animals may attain to the Condition of the Genii. -Worship of Women in Tauist Temples.-Sending Dispatches to the Spirit World.-Charms, and Spells, and Magic.-Moral Essays connected with Tauism. The reason why Tauism is less popular than Buddhism.

THE Tauist sect originated with Lao-ts, a Chinese philosopher, who was born B.C. 604. He is generally called Tai Shang Lao Kiun—“The Great Supreme Venerable Ruler.” His remarkable work, Tau teh king-"Treatise on Truth and Virtue," occupies a prominent place in Chinese literature. The name Tauism is derived from the first character in the title of this book, Tau, which means truth or doctrine, and is the subject principally discoursed on in it. The writings of Chwang-ts, a disciple of Lao-ts, are more sententious and attractive than those of his master, and more read by scholars. These works, however, have never been popular, being too abstruse and transcendental for ordinary readers. Lao-ts was contemporaneous with Confucius, who, as we learn from

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the Confucian Analects, visited him and conversed with him respecting his system. He seems, however, not to have comprehended him, and to have been but little impressed and influenced by him. On the other hand, the early Tauist writers looked with contempt on the simple, unphilosophical, and practical doctrines of Confucius. But Confucianism has been adopted by the Chinese in its original form, while Tauism has been obliged to change its form in order to secure its perpetuation. It has passed from philosophy to superstition, and from inquiries after truth to pandering to the desire of our nature for the marvellous. It has busied itself with seeking after the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, and at last degenerated into a gross form of idolatry. It gives evidence of being acted upon and influenced in a great degree by Buddhism.

The special characteristic of this system is materialism, and in its development it includes a theory of the universe and a professed science of alchemy and astrology. Matter is regarded as eternal. The grosser forms of different substances tend downward, and constitute the solid material of the earth; the more refined essences tend upward, and wander through space, possessed of individuality and life, and constituting, when they assume visible forms, the stars which look down from their spheres upon the lower world. While the earth is composed of the grosser and the heavens of the refined forms of matter, so also the body and the soul of man are similarly constituted.

The five special substances or elements of which the universe is composed are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The sublimated essences of these elements form five of the planets, respectively called metal star, wood star, etc. These stars sustain mysterious and important relations to the world and its inhabitants, and exercise a powerful influence on the harmony of the universe and the destinies of men. They may, and often do, descend to earth and become gods in order to enter into nearer relations with men, and undertake some special work of benev

olence for them. In this way many of the gods of Tauism are identified with certain stars, or are stars personified.

In connection with this system, alchemy attempts the investigation of the essences of matter, and especially the discovery of some method of modifying and changing the outward forms of matter. Ages have been spent in endeavoring to obtain an elixir of life, by which to secure perpetual youth and vigor, and also some secret or art by which other substances may be turned into gold. Astrology endeavors to find out the peculiar characters of different stars, and determine their relations to the birth of individuals, and the events and changes in the histories of individuals and nations.

The popular belief respecting the origin of Tauism is embodied in the account given of it in the Sau shin ki. Lao-ts is represented as having existed as a living principle, pervading empty space, anterior to the creation, when the heavens were as yet without light and the earth without form. After the evolutions and transformations of thousands of years, this principle was personified in a deity called Miau wu shing kiun, the "Holy Ruler of Wonderful Nonentity." This deity, after innumerable ages and catastrophes, again appeared as the Miau yu shing kiun, or "Holy Ruler of Wonderful Entity." The next form which this deity, or principle, is said to have assumed, was that of Hwan tun shing kiun, the "Holy Ruler of Chaotic Confusion." We have here presented in this pantheistic form, a singular analogy to the scriptural view of the creation of existing matter out of nothing; and also the idea of a divine Trinity, which in more or less obscure intimations is found in Brahmanism and Buddhism as well as Tauism.

After the creation of men, Lao-ts is supposed to have appeared on the earth at different times in the form of kings of different dynasties, and as teacher or adviser of kings, though the world was not aware of his presence. When he appeared as the philosopher Lao-ts he is represented as having descended from heaven on a sunbeam, in the form of a round ball of variegated colors, which fell into the mouth of a sleeping virgin.