天帝 Theen te. In the Yih-king, under the Yu, or Concord Diagram, the phrase Shaug-te, used for the Being who is honoured with the highest act of worship at the winter solstice, is by one of the commentators said to mean 天帝 T'hëen te. In the Shoo-king, 5th book, 5th section, where the text says, that the merit of the sages influenced, Hwang T'heen, Imperial Heaven, and Shang-te; one of the commentators, remarking upon the employment of different terms to designate the same being, says, "that the merit of these sages reached to 天帝 Thèen te; which means that they promoted universal tranquillity, and thus all the world harmonized with them. The mode of expression is different, but the being alluded to is the same." In the works of Choo-foo-tsze, section 34, page 8, referring to Kaou tsung's having dreamed, that Te gave him a virtuous assistant, the philosopher remarks, "According to this there really Theen te, who thus addressed himself to Kaoutsung: which men explain as referring to the Lord and Governor of Heaven." must be a In the Wan-wang section of the Book of Odes, speaking of Wang-wang's shining brightly in the realms above, in the presence of Te; a commentator says, this shows that where✯✯ Thëen te is, there Wăn-wang is also." In the E-le, vol. 8, page 25, the upper and lower spirits, the spirits of the sun and moon, hills and rivers, are said to be of inferior rank to the T'heen tes, or even to 人帝 In the Commentary on the Taou-tih-king, the who were sacrificed to. to all things is called sect, there are eight Jin tes, Te who is prior Theen te. According to the saine t'heen, divinities in each of the four quar ters, who are severally called Theen te. In the Kew-kea-she, the tsing, genius of the 九家詩 T'hae yih, Great Unity, is said to belong to the calass of T'hëen tes. In the same work, the seat of the T'heen tes is (spoken of as) synonymous with the region of the genii. In the Kwang-po-wuh-che, section 12, five vener The abode of all the Theen tes, is in the same work, represent- ed as synonymous with the region of the immortals able Theen tes are said to have announced to Shun, that the time of his departure was near. Laou-keun in the same section Thae shang T'heen te. is called In the 13th section of the Imperial Essays, a man's spirit at death, is said to soar on high, and wait on the T'heen tes. In one of the Imperial odes, the God Sakya among the Buddhists, is called T'heen te shih; while in the Chingtaou-ke, the eye-brows of Buddha are said to be arched like the bow of T'hëen te, and his eyes round like the leaves of the lotus. These quotations will be sufficient to shew, first, that the T'hëen tes, are distinct from the Te wangs, human rulers; while the phrase T'heen te is synonymous with Te, in the sense of the Supreme, as far as the Chinese knew him: the being who is honoured with the highest act of worship, who bestows blessings, who grants a prolongation of life, who confers virtuous assistants on monarchs, who approves of the conduct of good men, and in whose presence departed worthies appear in the realms above, is with refer. ence to the above acts, called by the name of T'hëen te. This is sufficient to warrant us in applying to T'heen te all that we find ascribed to Te in the classical writings, and proves that the one term, as well as the other, is the name of the Supreme in the estimation of the Chinese. Indeed it is usual with the Chinese literati, to explain Te, (if intended for the Supreme) by the phrase T'heen te. Secondly, from one of the passages above quoted, we learn that the upper and lower Shins, viz. the spirits who preside over the sun and moon, hills and rivers, are as a class, inferior to the class of By the latter term is T'heen tes, or even to the jin tes. doubtless meant the Tes of human origin, such as the five celebrated rulers of antiquity, and the various imperial ancestors of existing dynasties, who after death are like Yaou and Shun all honoured as Jin tes; by the T'heen tes previously mentioned are intended the Five T'es who are supposed to preside over the elements, seasons, colours and regions, and who are sometimes called the five Shang-tes. These constitute two distinct classes of Tes, who are both considered superior to the spirits presiding over the sun and moon, hills and rivers; if therefore the latter are viewed as a class, as they doubtless will be, the two former, with which they are compared, must be classes likewise; and thus we have a class of celestial origin, and another of human origin, both superior to the mere spirits above spoken of The distinction also which the Chinese make between the 天帝 人帝 Theen tes and the Jin tes, when they wish to notice particularly their different characteristics, will serve to assist us, when we wish to speak definitely of those deities which belong to heaven, to the exclusion of those which are supposed to be of earthly origin. Thus we shall be enabled to designate the class of celestial deities, without the slighes danger of their being mistaken for mere deified mortals. Had the Chinese not been in the habit of exalting their departed progenitors and ancient sages to the rank of gods, the word Te alone, (as defined in the Imperial Dictionary to be one of the names of Heaven or the Divinity, and the names of various spir. itual beings the objects of religious worship) would have been suffici ently distinct; but seeing that they have adopted this practice, and some might be led to confound these latter with the deified emperors and sages, the use of the compound phrase T'heen te, (which is also said to be synonymous with Te, in the sense of the Supreme and inferior divinties) will remove every obscurity, and make the term definite and unmistakeable. No Chinese would ever think of confounding the Theen tes with their deified emperors, and every one would undoubtedly understand it in the sense of deities, who were originally such, and not those who have been raised to that honour by an apotheosis. Should we in conformity with the Chinese example adopt this term, (a term which is sanctioned by their classical commentators, and forms part of their language) we should obviate entirely all those objections brought by the opponents of Te, that it is equally applicable to earthly as well as heavenly beings, because T'heen-te must be taken as referring to the latter and not the former The passages quoted from the Taouist works shew, not only that Theen te is used by them in the sense of the Supreme God, but that it is a generic term for a class of beings, who are treated by them with divine honours, from the gods of the 32 heavens, who are called T'heen tes, with Laou keun, who was called A Theen shang t'hëen te, down to those inferior Theen tes who rank with the genii and immortals: thus shewing that the term is not a title of honour, but an appellative for the crowd of gods worshipped by that sect. The Buddhists not only call the founder of their sect Sakya, Theen te Shih, but speak also of the rainbow as belonging to the one Theen te, who manages heaven; shewing that they considered T'heen-te as generic, in conformity with the practice of the other sects. In common conversation the Chinese never mistake the phrase T'heen te, as applicable to the Supreme God, and to gods generally. It was doubtless on this account, that Morrison in his Domestic Instructor, employed Theen te, so frequently for God : saying that Theen te originally produced the human race; that men offended against T'heen te; that Jesus reconciled sinners to T'heen te by his death; that Jesus was the messenger (lit. K'hin ch'hae, the imperial envoy) of T'hëen te; that he received the commands of Shin foo T'heen te, (by which is meant God the Father; the word God, however, being represented by T'heen te, and the Father by Shin foo,) to proclaim forgiveness to man; that Jesus was anointed to be a prophet, priest and king by Theen te Shin foo, God the Father, (where the preceding expression is reversed, but the meaning is the same :) that Immanuel, God with us, signifies that Theen te Shin tsze, God the Son came down into the world to save mankind : Morrison further says, that at the baptism of our Lord, the heaven was opened, and Theen te che shin fung, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and lighted upon him. He also has the phrase Theen te Shin choo, in the sense of the Lord God granting forgiveness. Thus we have the word T'heen te used for God, when speaking of the persons in the blessed Trinity, severally applied to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as engaged in the salvation of man, and viewed as one Being, the Lord God granting forgiveness to the human race. We have already referred to the Tartar Dictionary, with regard to the word Shin, we now quote it with reference to the term Shang te, to which that work assigns the meaning Apkai Khan; this phrase, if rendered back into literal Chinese, would be Then te, shewing that in the estimation of that Lexicogra pher the terms are synonymous. While on the subject of the Tartar language, we may again refer to the version of the New Testament into the Manchow dialect executed by Lipofsoff, and revised by Borrow. The phrase employed for translating God in that version is Apkai Etchen. The first of these words means Heaven, and the second is rendered in Amiot's Mauchow and French Dictionary, "Maitre, Seigneur, Souverein, Roi, Empereur," so that the combined phrase means the Sovereign or Emperor of Heaven. The Manchow translator has employed this term generically for God, and in John 10: 35, he has given it the plural form, Apkai etchete, the Emperors or Lords of Heaven. In the connection referred to, the verse reads, "If he called then Emperors or Lords of Heaven, unto whom the word of the Emperor or Lord of Heaven came, &c." So in Galations 4: 8. " Ye did service to them who by nature are not the Emperors or Lords of Heaven." Again in Acts 14: 11. "The Lords or Emperors of Heaven are 1 Cor. 8:5. "There are come down to us in the likeness of men." many Lords or Emperors of Heaven." For idol, in the preceding verse, the translator has employed oren which Amiot calls "the mines of the dead, the representative of the corpse when sacrifices are offered to the dead; an image or statue of Buddha, or any other idol.” In the same way throughout the New Testament, whereever Theos occurs it is represented by Apkai etchen, and Theoi, by Apkai etchete. In this respect the translator has acted consistently, and having adopted a term, which he considered equivalent to Theos, he has adhered to it throughout. With regard to the word chosen, it is most likely that the translator found as much difficulty in discovering a single term by which to represent Theos in Manchow, as has been experienced in Chinese, and therefore adopted a compound phrase to express the idea intended. It is to be presumed, that the translator was not influenced in his choice by a deference to the Papal bull, as being a Russian he most likely belonged to the Greek Church, which does not sympathize with the Latin, and rejects the authority of the Roman see. Besides which, his reviser Mr. Borrow, is a Protestant, and being employed by a Protestant Society, had no need to comply with the decision of a Roman Catholic tribunal, unless he saw reason. on philological grounds, to adopt a term of similar import. The term employed was, therefore, the best that under the circumstances could be selected. Here we may observe, that it is no argument against a term that it has been previously adopted by the Romish Church, particularly on a With reference subject in which the Protestant communion agrees. to the present controversy, the phrase T'hëen choo, was not resorted to before fifty years had been spent in discussion and the most learned in Europe and Asia had been consulted on the subject, as to whether ✯ T'hëen choo, or F 'heen, should be selected of the two we think they have chosen the right one; from what has been above written, however, it will appear, that there was still another pharase of a similar nature, possessing more claims to |