EFFECT OF THE STATE RELIGION, 241 dient, the day before rain came, intimated his intention of liberating all prisoners not charged with capital offences. As soon as the rain fell, the people presented thank-offerings, and the southern gate of the city was opened, accompanied by an odd ceremony of burning the tail off a live sow, while the animal was held in a basket. The officers and literati, though acknowledging the folly of these observances, and even ridiculing the worship of senseless blocks, still join in it. Sometimes devotees become irritated against their gods, and resort to summary means to force them to hear their petitions. It is said that the governor having gone repeatedly in a time of drought to the temple of the god of Rain in Canton dressed in his burdensome robes, through the heat of a tropical sun, on one of his visits said, "The god supposes I am lying when I beseech his aid; for how can he know, seated in his cool niche in the temple, that the ground is parched and the sky hot?" Whereupon he ordered his attendants to put a rope around his neck and haul his godship out of doors, that he might see and feel the state of the weather for himself; after his excellency had become cooled in the temple, the idol was reinstated in its shrine, and the good effects of this treatment considered to be fully proved by the copious showers which soon after fell. The emperor himself on such occasions resorts to unusual sacrifices, and a prayer for rain offered by him has already been noticed, Vol. I., p. 369. Imperial patronage of the popular superstitions is sought after by the officers in one way and another, to please the people, but it does not involve much outlay of funds. One common mode is to solicit his majesty for an inscription to be placed over the doorway of a temple, or a higher title to be conferred upon the god. On occasion of a victory over the rebels in Kwangtung in 1822, the shrine of a neighboring deity, supposed to have assisted in obtaining it, received a new title commemorative of the event, and a temple was built for him at the expense of government, The combined effect of the state religion and classical writings, notwithstanding their atheism and coldness, has had some effect in keeping the people out of the swinish ditch of pollution. It is one of their prime tenets that human nature is originally virtuous, and becomes corrupt entirely by bad precept and example. This is taught children from their earliest years, and officers refer to it in their exhortations to obedience, and its necessary results of happiness, if carried out, are illustrated by trite comparisons drawn from common life and general experience. The Chinese seldom refer to the vengeance of the gods or future punishment, as motives for reform, but to the well-being of individuals and good order of society in this world. Examples of this standard of human perfection, fully developed, are constantly set before the people in Confucius and the ancient kings he delineates. The classical tenets require duties that carry their own arguments in their obedience, as well as afford matter of thought, while the books of the Budhists and Rationalists are mostly filled with solemn nonsense. Consequently the priests of those sects had only the superstitious fear of the people to work upon where reason was at fault, and so could not take the whole man captive; for his reason accorded with the teaching of the classics as far as they went, and only took up with divination and supplication of higher powers where their instructions ceased. The government, therefore, being composed chiefly of such people, educated to venerate pure reason, could not be induced to take the initiatory step of patronizing a religion of such an uncertain character, and confessedly inferior to what they already possessed. The current has, more or less, always set this way, and the two superstitions been tolerated so far as they did not interfere with government. It is too true that the instructions of Confucius and his school are imperfect and erroneous, and the people can never emerge from selfish atheism and silly superstition as long as they have nothing better, but the vagaries of the Budhists neither satisfy the reason nor reprove vice, nor does their celibate idleness benefit society. If the former be bad, the latter is confessedly worse. The sect of the Rationalists, or Tau kia, was founded by Lautsz' or Laukiun. He was born B. c. 604, in the kingdom of Tsu, now Hupeh, 54 years before Confucius, and is believed to have had white hair and eyebrows at his birth, and been carried in the womb eighty years, whence he was called Lau-tsz', the "old boy," and afterwards Lau-kiun, the "venerable prince." According to Pauthier, who has examined his history with some attention, his parents were poor, and after entering mature years, he was appointed librarian by the emperor, where he diligently applied himself to the study of the ancient books, and became acquainted SECT OF TAU OR RATIONALISTS. 243 with all the rites and histories of former times. During his life, he made a journey through Central Asia, but what was its extent and duration is not recorded. De Guignes says he went to Ta Tsin, a country under the rule of the Romans, but he forgets that the Romans had not then even conquered Italy; some suppose Ta Tsin to be Judea. His only philosophical work, the Tau Teh King, or Memoir on Reason and Virtue, was written before his travels, but whether the teachings contained in it are entirely his own, or were derived from hints imported from India and Persia, cannot be decided. A parallel has been suggested between the tenets of the Rationalists of China, the Zoroastrians of Persia, Essenes of Judea, Gnostics of the primitive church, and the eremites of the Thebaid, but a common source for their conformity-the desire to live without labor on the credulity of their fellow men-explains most of the likeness, without supposing that their tenets were derived from each other. The teachings of Lautsz' are not unlike those of Zeno; both recommend retirement and contemplation as the most effectual means of purifying the spiritual part of our nature, annihilating the material passions, and finally returning to the bosom of the supreme Reason. He says "All material visible forms are only emanations of Tau or Reason; this formed all beings. Before their emanation, the universe was only an indistinct confused mass, a chaos of all the elements in a state of a germ or subtle essence." In another section he says, "All the visible parts of the universe, all beings composing it, the heavens and all the stellar systems, all have been formed of the first elementary matter before the birth of heaven and earth, there existed only an immense silence in illimitable space, an immeasurable void in endless silence. Reason alone circulated in this infinite void and silence." In one of his sections, Lautsz' says, "Reason has produced one, one produced two, two produced three, and three made all things. All beings repose on the feminine principle, and they embrace, envelope the male principle; a fecundating breath keeps up their harmony." He teaches the emanation and return of all good beings into the bosom of Reason, and their eternal existence therein, but if not good, the miseries of successive births and their accompanying sorrows, await them. M. Pauthier, in his high estimation of these speculations, regards this as the Asiatic form of the doctrine and procession of the Trinity, and the Biblical idea of the reunion of good men with their Maker! His own life was passed in ascetic privacy, and he recommends the practice of contemplation, joined with the performance of good deeds. Lautsz' says, when enforcing benevolent acts, "The holy man has not an inexorable heart : He makes his heart like that of all men. The virtuous man should be treated as a virtuous man, The vicious man should likewise be treated as a virtuous man; This is wisdom and virtue. The sincere and faithful man should be treated as a sincere and faithful man, The insincere and unfaithful should likewise be treated as a sincere and faithful man: This is wisdom and sincerity. The perfect man lives in the world tranquil and calm; It is only on account of the world, for the happiness of man, that his heart experiences disquiet. Though all men think only of pleasing their eyes and their ears, Those who are in a state of sanctity will treat them as a father treats his children." M. Pauthier, in his admiration of the Chinese philosopher, says, "La sagesse humaine n'a peutêtre jamais exprimé des paroles plus saintes et plus profondes ;" and perhaps he properly compares Lautsz' with his countryman Rousseau in his complaints upon the evil of the times. The precept found in the Confucian school of commencing all reformation at home, and making our own thoughts and actions correct before endeavoring to regulate those of others, is also found in the Tau Teh King. "He who knows men is wise; He who knows himself is truly enlightened. He who knows when he has enough is rich. He who accomplishes difficult and meritorious works leaves a durable remembrancer among men. He who does not dissipate his life is imperishable; He who dies and is not forgotten has eternal life." The writings of this teacher, unlike those of Confucius, seldom CHARACTER OF THEIR FOUNDER. 245 refer to ancient models or personages; he derives his ideas of reason and virtue entirely from his own conceptions. These have been strangely altered and travestied by his followers, and their notions, both of the reason they pretend to follow, and of the founder of their sect, have given them a character nearly allied to the magicians of Egypt; but so far as can be learned from the Tau Teh King, their extravagant vagaries are not fully chargeable to Lautsz' himself, or to his doctrine. M. Pauthier is enthusiastic in his praises of this teacher (Chine, pp. 110-120), and estimates the value of his instructions much higher than has been usually done; but the students of Chinese ethics are under obligations to him for his translation, which enables them to judge of their character for themselves. One of the most celebrated Rationalist writers is Chwang-tsz', a disciple of Lautsz', from whom his followers derive more of their opinions than from their master himself; his writings have been repeatedly commented upon by members of the fraternity, and are referred to as authoritative. In ancient times, small parties of them retired to secluded places to meditate upon virtue. When Confucius visited Lautsz', the cynic upbraided the sage for his ambition in collecting so many disciples and seeking after office, and added that such a course of conduct was more likely to nourish pride than cherish the love of virtue and wisdom. "The wise man," he said, "loves obscurity; far from being ambitious of offices, he avoids them. Persuaded that at the end of life, a man can only leave behind him such good maxims as he has taught to those who were in a state to receive and practise them, he does not reveal himself to all he meets: he observes time and place. If the times be good, he speaks; if bad, he keeps quiet. He who possesses a treasure, conceals it with care lest it be taken from him; he is careful about publishing everywhere that he has it at his disposal. The truly virtuous man makes no parade of his virtue, he does not announce to the world that he is a wise man. This is all I have to say; make as much of it as you please." Such speculative teachings and waiting till the times were good, were not adapted to entertain or benefit, and Confucius understood his countrymen and his own duty much better than Lautsz', in doing all he could by precept and practice, to show them the excellence of what he believed to be right. The dis |