Chinese Deities

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 22, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 12.

Chinese Deities.—At the last annual meeting of the International Missionary Union, Rev. C. C. Baldwin, D.D., a missionary to China, said: "We naturally like to look on the bright side, but it is well sometimes to look on the dark side also. It will be at least a good topic for faith. There are about a million temples in China, containing, say, from five to ten millions of idol gods. Besides these we have five hundred million manes, or spirits of dead ancestors and others which are worshiped in or without the wooden tablets. The Chinese may give up the idols, but not so easily the ancestral worship. To do so is a grand test and climax of sincere faith in God, so far as a true heart surrender is concerned; for the whole practise seems to rest mainly on the beautiful doctrine of filial piety, which is dearer to them than aught else, unless we except the living family and worldly success."