who is the object of worship. This being
nected with the Imperial ancestors; and at t
sacrifice, these are the principal objects of ad
by the highest official character, their shrin
highest altar, the prostrations made before the
ting, and the offerings presented to them the
is done on the solemn occasion, there is no re
and distinct being called Shin, as the supr
while the mere spirits called T'heen Shin
secondary honors, and only put on a level wit
is therefore not equivalent to God, in the estim
while Te is.

IX. Shang-te or Te is used for others beside
From the quotations made from the Shoo-kin
it would seem that Shang-te or Te, with refere
world, is used for the Supreme Being, as far as
acquainted with him. If these terms were employ
tion alone, they would not be suited to our pur
find, if possible, some term that is applicable to t
as inferior divinities, in the estimation of the Ch
we may employ it generically for God. On furthe
find that both Shang-te and Te are thus used, by
to the various sects of religion in China.

In the Chow-le, vol. 3, page 9, speaking of me Shang-te, on occasion of great national calamities says that "Shang-te here refers to the five Tes people prayed for wind, and rain, cold or heat, what one Te could have procured for them, and the ed to the whole five."8

In the Heaóu-king, sect. 5, page 2, we Chow-kung offered the border sacrifice to Heave How-tseih, his first ancestor, as the assistant in th when he offered the ancestorial sacrifice to the Sh ored his immediate progenitor, Wán-wang, as sacrifice." Upon which the commentator says, that tes were the five Tes of the dont quarters, who Ling-wei-gang, &c "

nd the Emperor sacrificed. n which he presented offerns; from all which we connoured with religious wor ling to Chinese ideas.

es have been omitted, on he Chinese to ascribe the ice of the various metals, T'es of the five colours: lours to be in the ascenious persons set up new dice of existing governwas put down for state f the present dynasty. y by M. Visdelou, apor adds, that "besides aven, there are other ive regions of heaven, s; thus dividing the Shang-tes are called they may not sink Chinese have given ts, viz. five of the an Tes, they have to the five Shangall the dynasties, entirely suppress

ion of Odes and

sty, the 青帝

e &c. are in no h the name of ne, and that of not capitalized ly regarded as nued for state ing Emperor.

be the same as the five ancient sovereigns just mentioned, then before those sovereigns existed who managed the seasons? Another thinks, that the five T'es were synonymous with t'heen, Heaven,

or the Divinity; which is again controverted by one Ma, who says, "If you consider the five Tes as synonymous with Heaven, then why do you make five of them? and why, after having sacrificed to Shang-te, did the king offer a separate sacrifice to the five Tes?" lu his opinion, "the five Tes are the superintendents of the five elements in Heaven, just as the five mountains are the guardians of the five regions on earth. The five Tes are not to be considered as separated from the region of heaven, and yet you cannot say, that they are the same as August Heaven; just as the five mountains cannot be considered as detached from the earth, and yet it would be improper to say, that they are synonymous with Imperial Earth.”

According to the regulations of the Chow dynasty, "the ceremonies observed in sacrificing to the five Tes, were the same as those observed in sacrificing to Heaven, in order to denote their elevation; but they differed in some respects from those presented to Heaven in order to mark the distinction between them. Thus in sacrificing both to Heaven and the five Tes, certain ceremonial robes. were employed, in which respect, they were viewed as resembling each other; but the sacrifice to Heaven was offered at the round hillock, and that to the five Tes, at the various borders, in order to mark the difference between them. Thus it appears, that differences of opinion existed among the commentators regarding these five Tes; some placing them too low, and considering them as synchronous with the five ancient sovereigns of China; and others ranking them too high, and accounting them to be synonymous with Heaven; but these opinions, however, seem to give way before the presumption. that they were the managers of the five elements, which accords with the sentiments of Confucius and Kang-he, as we have already seen. They must have been, therefore, in the estimation of the Chinese, real and distinct beings, both from their having been distinguished by separate names, (which Confucius asserts in his Family Sayings), and from their having been distributed among the various seasons, apportioned to the several quarters of the heavens, and distinguished by the five colours. They were also worshipped at the borders of the country in the open air, at different periods of the year, and joined together in the services performed in the illustrious hall, when the Imperial ancestors were associated with them. They were even called Shang-tes, a name which is generally appropriated to the Su

preme in the estimation of the Chinese and the Emperor sacrificed to them in the same robes of ceremony, in which he presented offer ings to the Shang-te of the glorious heavens; from all which we conclude, that they were a class of beings, honoured with religious wor ship, and next only to the Supreme, according to Chinese ideas.

In later times, the sacrifices to the five Tes have been omitted, on account of the propensity displayed by the Chinese to ascribe the rule of the different dynasties to the influence of the various metals, which were severally presided over by the Tes of the five colours: and thus supposing different metals and colours to be in the ascendant, at certain periods, turbulent and factious persons set up new emperors and dynasties, to the great prejudice of existing governments hence the worship of the five Tes was put down for state reasons, and is not alluded to in the ritual of the present dynasty. See a curious account of this theory in an essay by M. Visdelou, appended to De Guignes' Chou-king. That author adds, that "besides the Supreme Shang-te, who presides over all heaven, there are other five Shang-tes, who preside separately over the five regions of heaven, the five seasons of the year, and the five elements; thus dividing the burthen of the Supreme Shang-te. These five Shang-tes are called and that they may not sink under the weight of their responsibilities, the Chinese have given them fivejin-te, human Tes as assistants, viz. five of the ancient emperors of China. To these five human Tes, they have assigned five ministers or prefects. The sacrifices to the five Shangtes were scrupulously offered, and continued by all the dynasties, down to that of Ming, (A. D. 1369) but were then entirely suppressed."

T'heen-te, celestial Tes

It is probably on this account, that in the collection of Odes and Essays published by the emperors of the present dynasty, the Tsing te, Green Te, the Pih te, White Te &c. are in no case capitalized; while an instance occurs in which the name of the Emperor is elevated two characters above the line, and that of one of the five Tes mentioned in the same sentence is not capitalized at all; shewing that though the five Tes were anciently regarded as gods, yet the worship of them having been discontinued for state reasons, they are now considered as inferior to the reigning Emperor.

ART. II.

Extracts from the Report of the Medical Missionary Society in China for the year 1847; Reports of the Chinese Hospital at Shanghái, and Report of the Public Dispensary. By WILLIAM LOCKHART, Esq. M. R. C. S.

MR. LOCKHART presented the Report of the last operations of the Society for the year ending June 30th, 1846, and submitted it to the local Committee.

The Report was approved of, and directed to be sent to the Committee of the Medical Missionary Society at Hongkong.

The last twelve months of the Society's operations in this place, have little in their character different from that which has been laid before the Subscribers in former reports. As will be seen from the list of patients, the number attended to has been 10,140, which shows that the natives are as anxious as ever to avail themselves of the offer of medical relief. Up to the present time the patients have been attended to in the premises formerly occupied; but these were found to be ill adapted to the purpose, and in a few weeks a new and commodious hall for the reception of out-patients, and good wards for the ¡n-patients will be opened. This building has been erected through the liberality of friends to the cause, in Shanghai and England, and it is proposed to vest the property in the hands of some of the British residents at Shanghai, conditionally that it shall be always used for the purpose of an Hospitai and Dispensary for the Chinese, or on certain other conditions which will be hereafter specified in the trust deed. It will be rented for the present to the resident medical officer of the Medical Missionary Society at such rent as the Committee think proper. The above plan of obtaining the requisite accommodation was judged the best that could be devised, and it was thought that by giving a local control over the affairs of the Hospital, more interest would be excited in its behalf, and a better prospect of its usefulness being maintained would thus be secured.

The summer of 1845 was wet, and consequently cool, but the dampness of the weather had an unfavorable influence on the health of the people generally, and as hot dry summers are the best for ripening the fruit and the grain, so they appear to be the best for the benefit of man. In winter and spring when the weather is wet, the people suffer much from catarrh, cough, and rheumatism; but in summer and autumn should there be any continuance of wet weather, diarrhea, and