(vi)

and much less the feveral graces and ornaments of style, from a stranger and a philofopher.

In compiling the notes, the following books have chiefly been confulted, viz.

General Hiftory of China, by Du Halde, 4 Vols. 8vo. London, 1736.

Nouveaux Memoires fur l'etât prefent de la Chine, par Le Comte. 2 tomes. A Paris, 1696.

An Account of the Empire of China, by Navarette; and published by Awnfham and Churchill, in the first volume of their Collection of Voyages, &c. London, 1704.

Defcription du Royaume de Siam, par La Loubere. 2 tomes. A Amfterdam, 1700.

Authentic Memoirs of the Chriftian Church in China, by Mofheim. London, 1750.

Scientia Sinenfis Latinè expofita, Studio et Operâ Profperi Intorcetta, &c. Parifiis, 1687.

Obfervations on Man, by Dr. Hartley, 2 Vols. 8vo. London, 1749.

*This laft writer has been quoted the more frequently, because his reputation happens to stand high with some of our modern philofophers.

The Divifions and Summaries are also supplied by the Editor.

P. 31, and last line, for poffeft with, read governed by.

with the reli

wonder. I see a God diftinct from hission of China works, exifting felf-fufficient and alone

from eternity: I fee Creation at the de

creed period fpringing forth at his command: I see man placed in a paradise of delights, invested with dominion, and adorned with innocence: I fee him incurring guilt, banished into a desert world, and followed with a long train of wretchedness: I fee his hopes encouraged with promises of deliverance: In the fulness of time, the Deliverer appears, works miracles, teaches virtue, dies, afcends above the heavens, and fheds on his disciples a mysterious power, to inftruct, comfort, and guide them in their fucceffive generations, until he return in the character of Judge, to pronounce finally on the whole human race.

Whether the fupreme principle TIEN or CHANG-TI be the material heaven itfelf, or only its animating foul or form; or a Being unoriginated, all-perfect, and the free Producer of all other beings, is a point

4

point in difpute with our philofophers *. Of man's primitive innocence and felicity, and

* This was likewife warmly agitated in the last and the beginning of the present century, between the Jefuits [who have been chiefly concerned in the Chinese miffion] and their adversaries. Du Halde [a Jesuit] tells us [Vol. I. p. 16, 17.] of the ancient Chinese, That the chief object of their worship was denoted by the name Chang-ti, i. e. Supreme Emperor; or Tien, which, according to the interpreters, means the fame thing, though it is also frequently taken for the material heavens: Tien, fay they, is the Spirit that prefides in heaven, because heaven is the most excellent work produced by the firft caufe. "But did they regard (adds our author) this Tien as an intelligent Being, Lord and Creator of heaven, earth, and all things? Is it not likely that their vows and homage were addreffed to the vifible and material heavens, or, at least, to a celestial energy void of understanding, infeparable from the identical matter of which they are compofed? But this (he concludes) I fhall leave to the judgment of the reader, and content myself with relating what I meet with in the claffical books." Navarette, and many others, ftrongly maintained the latter point: And in 1704, Pope Clement XI, iffued a Bull, forbidding, "That the two Chinese words, Tien and Chang-ti fhould any longer be applied to God, but instead of them the term Tien-chu, which fignifies Lord of Heaven, fhould be introduced." But nei

and of his lapfe, I perceive fome faint traces in our claffical volumes ‡; and I would

ther this nor the other Papal prohibitions which followed had much effect, and the matter has flept for many years. See Le Comte, Tom. II. p. 141.-Voltaire's Hift. Gen. Chap. II.-Navarette, p. 21, 22.—Mofheim Eccl. Hift. Vol. IV. p. 224 to 226.. -And authentic Memoirs of the Chr. Church in China, p. 27. [By the fame.]

+ "The whole doctrine of Confucius" [fays Du Halde, Vol. III. p. 298.] " tended to restore human nature to its former luftre, and that firft beauty it had received from heaven, and which had been fullied by the darkness of ignorance, and the contagion of vice." And again, [Vol. III. p. 303.] "The whole science of princes and the grandees of a kingdom (according to the fame philosopher), consists in cultivating and perfecting the reaonable nature they have received from Tien, and in reftoring that light and primitive clearness of judgment, which has been weakened or obfcured by various paffions, that it may be afterwards in a condition of la bouring to perfect others." Or, as the fame is expreffed by Le Comte, [Tom. I. p. 414.] "La nature humaine (difoit Conf.) nous eft venue du ciel tres-pure, tresparfaite; dans la fuite l'ignorance, les paffions, les mauvais exemples l'ont corrompue; et pour être parfaite, il faut remonter au point d'on nous fommes defcendus."