characteristic feature of the true God, but on the contrary manifests a complete toleration of the worship of inferior gods cannot, no matter what amount of power, dominion, intelligence and wisdom may be attributed to him, be the Jehovah of whom we read in the sacred Scriptures.

To regard a Being, who looks with perfect indifference upon the offering of religious worship to the manes of dead men at the same time that he himself is worshiped, as identical with the Jehovah of the Bible, does, in my humble opinion, as great violence to all proper views of the Divine Being, as the confounding the true, great and divine Prophet of the Church, with the lying Impostor of Mecca would to the character of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

That Shing-ti receives worship at the same time with other Beings, you will see proofs in Mr. Medhurst's Shoo-king passim. I will call your attention to only one passage, which occurs on p. 17. "Shun there offered a sacrifice of the same class (with the border sacrifice) to () the Supreme Ruler, he presented a pure offering to the six objects of veneration, he looked with devotion towards the hills and rivers and glanced around at the host of Spirits."

From the Shi king you will learn that Hautseih and Wamwing were each paired with Sháng-tí in the public worship of the Chinese court, and you will not, I think, find the suggestion made by any Chinese writer that this is displeasing to Sháng-ti. Can Sháng-ti, then, be the same Being as He, whom we are taught to worship in the sacred Scriptures under the name of Jehovah?

I would further suggest that if you answer that Shang-t is identical with Jehovah, you must maintain that the Chinese know and have known, independently of revelation, the true God for thousands of years, for they have unquestionably known Sháng-ti for that length of time.

If these suggestions or any reflections of your own mind should induce you to answer this my second question, “Is the Shángt of the Chinese, Jehovah " in the negative, then I have but one more question to ask.

3. Does not the first commandment forbid the offering of reli gious worship to any other than Jehovah?

This question, we feel assured, you will with every Protestant answer affirmatively. We request then that you will apply this great truth, that men are not allowed to offer religious worship to any other than Jehovah to the answer to the two questions abore stated

1. Shang-ti is in effect a proper name, designating definitely as it does a single individual Being.

3. This Being, i. e. Sháng-ti is not Jehovah.

3. Is not then the conclusion irresistible that he, who shall wor ship Shing-ti or shall teach men so to do, is guilty of breaking the first and chiefest of the commandments of God?

This matter is of such grave and solemn import that I cannot conclude without alluding to a precept of great importance in all questions of casuistry, viz., "In all doubtful cases take the safe side." "He that doubteth is damned if he eat."

If then you entertain the slightest doubt of the perfect identity of the Chinese Sháng-ti with that Jehovah who alone can be worshiped without a violation of the first commandment, let me entreat you, as you regard loyal obedience to your Maker and eternal Judge never to call upon the Chinese to worship Sháng-tí again, until all doubt of his entire oneness with Jehovah shall be wholly removed from your minds.

I am Dear Brethren faithfully Yours,

A Brother Missionary.

ART. IV. Propositions for promoting the public security, in the Union of the Eight Streets. Translated for the Repository. THAT people should delight in discharging the duties of their various professions is of prime importance in promoting the security and peace of society, and it is very useful and proper, that they should give a thought now and then, to the prevention of the evils to which the world is continually exposed.

Now then, on the north side of the city, in the temple of the Old Dragon King, is the god which the inhabitants of the Eight Streets worship with incense and with sacrifices. From the beginning of his worship until now, his favors have been richly bestowed and the people of the land have been daily enlarged. In consequence of his divine virtue and goodness, there is a general quiet enjoyed in the thoroughfares of the city-and all together enjoy tranquil times, and all unite with concordant voice to praise the delightsome

land. But when the clouds gather from the four quarters of the heavens it is necessary that the people should be on their guard in order to keep the country quiet and preserve it from the desolation of the winds and waves. The inhabitants of the Eight Streets should be especially on their guard against the villains who go spying about the city, and still more should the sacrificial ceremonies of the Divine Temple be discharged with due splendor and magnificence. But the regulations concerning the public thoroughfares ought also to be strictly attended to as it is said—a hundred years without trouble, but not a day without pains. In future, it is greatly to be desired, that the people should be all united in keeping a faithful lookout for the safety of the community, and in cherishing a disposition for their mutual protection and defence. By taking care to prevent injustice they will secure the safety of the virtuous, and will be able to rejoice together in the common elevation to an even and harmonious age. Now the various propositions which have been offered are recorded below.

1. If in the Union of the Eight Streets there be found bands of outlaws, who set fire to houses, not regarding the lives of individuals or their families, by this means hoping and contriving to obtain an opportunity for plunder, the people having sounded the alarm, must proceed forth in order, with united strength, to arrest the villains and bring them to the public temple. The whole body of the citizens will then assemble to make investigation and to ascertain the facts. If there be clear and substantial evidence against them, the citizens making out a list of their names, will send the individuals arrested to the magistrate for investigation. Then, whether they belong within or without the Union of the Eight Streets, the persons who shall have exerted themselves to seize and arrest the offenders, after waiting for the magistrate to investigate and ascertain the truth, shall in each case be presented with fifty silver dollars as merit money.

If there be a case of a person feigning to be the enemy of another and falsely exposing him, and because forsooth he sees there is a chance of obtaining the merit money, purposely thrusts goods into his possession, and then places him under a false arrest, a public meeting of the citizens will then be called and an investigation instituted for ascertaining the facts-thus immediately turning the crimination upon the individual himself, so as by this means to give security to the good and honest citizens, and at the same time to frustrate the machinations of the lawless.

2. If in the Union of the Eight Streets there be found lawless and

desperate villains, who hide away in their secret rendezvous, the goods which they have stolen or plundered, and who finding the property of an individual exposed, immediately set their minds upon it, with the intention of getting hold of it, while at the same time there are no officers appointed to arrest them, and on this account they take occasion to profit themselves by plunder, and obstruct the passage of the street in order that they may commit their depredations at their leisure-and also, when in the vicinity of the desolations occasioned by the god of fire, within the region of the Eight Streets, individuals shall avail themselves of the circumstance, to cominit robbery and depredations, the citizens must unite their forces rigorously to arrest, and to bring them to the public temple. The people will then assemble to investigate and ascertain the truth and then with a list of the names of the citizens, the individuals will be forwarded to the magistrate for trial. Those who have exerted themselves in making the arrest, waiting for the magistrate to examine and ascertain the truth, will then be presented with ten silver dollars as merit money. He who first finds out the nest of the villains, and sends a true report of the same, pointing out the place and the criminals, shall be rewarded with twenty silver dollars, as merit money.

3. If a quarrel shall fall out among strangers passing through the Union of the Eight Streets, and they come to blows and fighting, then the people must in a proper manner go out and admonish them, so as to break up the disturbance; and if any person shall have been killed, or mortally wounded, in such affray occurring within the Eight Streets, then the citizens must combine their efforts to arrest the murderer. They will then meet at the public temple in order to ascertain clearly respecting the affair. They will then deliver up the individual to the magistrate for trial and punishment, and those who have exerted themselves to arrest the criminal, will be rewarded with twenty silver dollars inerit money. If the murderer should escape, it will devolve upon the shopmeu of the Eight Streets, residing in the vicinity, to notify the inhabitants of the said temple district, that they may have a public meeting to investigate and ascertain the truth. They will then send in a list of their names; and if both the individuals concerned (the murderer and the person killed) happen to have been travelers not belonging in the Eight Streets, the expense required in making out the merit money, will be furnished by the residents of the said temple district. But if a disturbance of this sort should arise among the shopmen of the Eight Streets, they will nrst notify the inhabitants, and then call a meeting at the temple of

the district where the difficulty occurs, and having investigated the causes which gave rise to the calamity, they will deliberate and decide according to the common principles of justice.

4. If within the Union of the Eight Streets there shall be any dishonest persons or sharpers, as any one falsely pretending to be the servant of the magistrate and taking occasion thereby to intimidate and deceive; or any one who shall thrust goods into the possession of another to involve him in injury; or any one who measuring out false accusations against another at his own pleasure, shall seek thus to involve him in ruin; or any one who shall inflict wounds upon himself in order to induce others to give him money; or any dishonest beggar, who shall seek by annoying to enforce compliance with his demands; or any selfish trader, who shall have recourse to dishonest artifices in order to monopolize the purchase and the sale of goods; or any traveler, who being suddenly attacked by a violent disease shall fall down dead in the streets; or any assistant partner in a shop, who having suddenly deceased, his relations in violation of their own sense of justice, make a false representation to the magistrate these, and all vile practices of this sort, are such as are calculated to inflict great injury upon the mercantile community.

As soon then as the persons concerned shall have sent in their representations, the inhabitants residing in the said temple district, will call a public meeting and take the matter into careful consideration. It is certainly to be expected, that all honest and upright citizens, in cases where the innocent are thus made liable to suffer injury, will endeavor to manage and dispose of such matters, according as the law of public equity requires. If it be necessary that the matter be submitted to the magistrate, the citizens making out a list of their names will send it in to the magistrate, with such representations as shall tend to protect the innocent and bring the aggressors to justice. With reference to the expense which shall have been incurred, they will estimate the affair according to its degree of importance, and determine it in accordance with the principles of equity.

5. If within the Union of the Eight Streets there be a commodious house or shop, which no person has engaged to rent, the proprietor must obtain a good and faithful man to take charge of it, and he must not allow it to become the rendezvous of idlers. If it be availed of as the lurking place of robbers, as before mentioned, who employ their idleness in setting fire to houses and doing other damage, as soon as they shall have been discovered, if the case