First Glimpses of China’s Religion by R. F. COTTRELL

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 6, 1908

First Glimpses of China’s Religion

By R. F. COTTRELL

R. F. COTTRELL

Were the apostle Paul to pass through the streets of a Chinese city, he could say of this people as truthfully as of the ancient Athenians, “I perceive that in all things ye are very religious.” While it is a fact that in the Flowery Kingdom religion as well as civilization has long since passed maturity and reached decay, all the forms and ceremonies appear to be fully intact. The number of Chinese who have any real faith in their religion is probably very small; yet the majority are said to continue their multitudinous rites, feeling that they can not do harm, and that possibly they may accomplish good.

On the trip up the Yangtse our attention was called to the fact that all Chinese ships have a large eye painted in a conspicuous place near the bow. If interrogated as to the meaning of this, the reason oftimes given is, “No have eye, no can see.” It can not harm anything; it may keep them from accident; and this has always been the custom of their seafaring ancestors.

But a few steps away, on either side of our present location, are shops devoted exclusively to the manufacture and sale of paper houses, ships, toys, servants, food, tobacco-pipes,—in fact, nearly everything. A walk almost any fair day in the city will give the solution. These paper shams are taken out near the family burial plot, and there, by burning, are transported into the spirit-world for the service of the departed. As it has been said in China that all gods are dead men, and all dead men are gods, many are employed in the production of these articles.

On one occasion we saw a procession composed of well-dressed, respectable citizens. At its head were several boys beating great gongs; others carrying large quantities of firecrackers that were constantly in explosion. A number of priests followed, each burning incense; then came a beautiful closed car, carried on the shoulders of sixteen coolies, after which marched the citizens, each and all with slow and reverential pace. We were unable to discover whether or not the car contained an idol. On inquiry we learned that the influential men of that section of the city were out seeking peace and prosperity for the coming season. How we wished we might tell them of the Prince of peace, who brings peace that this world can neither give nor take away.

By the sounding of the gongs and the shooting of firecrackers we were hurriedly called to the street one morning. There we saw a beautiful ancestral shrine brought and set up in the shop front directly opposite our compound. Incense was burned, and worship was bestowed at various times throughout the day. Later we found that it was a time of special ancestral worship for the entire street; burning incense and other tokens of devotion were seen in every shop front and doorway.

In common with other Confucian temples, the one shown in the cut has been closed, except for one day in the year, to native as well as foreigner. The emperor has ever been considered the only one capable of worshiping heaven, and now Confucius has been promoted to that place in the pantheon where none but the royal personage is considered worthy to do him direct homage. So this temple, although magnificent in construction, is apparently left quite in solitude.

Ancestral halls and temples are numerous. The temple herewith illustrated covers several acres, and with its trees, ponds, shrubbery, and potted plants, is very beautiful. The inside view is of a most richly furnished room used for theatricals, the stage being shown at the further end. There seem to be theaters in connection with many temples. We could obtain but a glimpse of the other apartments, with their costly, imposing shrines and gilded ancestral tablets. These latter differ in size, but a simple tablet may be described as a board six feet in length, five inches in breadth, and one inch in thickness, with Chinese

characters on one or both sides. It matters not to which of the three religions of China a person may belong, all worship their forefathers, and every household has its ancestral tablet. Satan has plunged them far beyond the boundary line of truth respecting the filial conduct enjoined in the fifth commandment. In reality, this perversion of the divine precept, which defies the father at death, is the national religion, has the strongest hold upon the spiritual nature, and presents the greatest barrier to Christianity.

As I write these words, there sound out clear and strong on the evening air the drum-beats of the watchman who has begun his regular nightly rounds to scare away the demons; incidentally to drive away thieves and robbers, and to indicate the hour of the night by the nature and number of strokes. While in itself nothing has impressed us more strangely, or seemed more extremely hideous and heathenish, it likewise brings forcibly to mind that ancient figure of speech which has so direct an application to the present hour of earth’s history: “Watchman, what of the night? . . . The morning cometh, and also the night.”

Yes, “morning” and “night” both draw on apace. The long, dreary reign of sin and darkness is almost past. Already the sky is lighted with the bright beams of the “morning” which ushers in the glad, eternal day. Likewise earth’s day is nearly ended, and “night” prepares to draw her curtain over the scene. Should not the sound of China’s watchman, made in ignorance and superstitious fear, arouse the watchmen on Zion’s wall to sense the need, and send relief? With the great Missionary from the courts of glory let us say, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

Chang-sha, Hunan.