The Weekly comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1853-1855, 1855-06-17
Foa rms Uvxs
Celestial 11srt,atissN.


Religious condition Of The Celestials. Is
taken There are 800, 100000 In
idels il China q
According to the recent work Of NJ
Hue, who has been travelling fourteen
years through the Chinese Empire AS
Christian Missionary, that vast En-.
pire. tho most populous on The globe,
and whose civilization dates fur anteri-
or to any living nation, has at the
present. time reached a state of com
pete ln6delty, after The almost end.
less struggle Of different systems Of
faith. Religious SkepficiEm is com.
mended from the Imperial th' ,ne.--
Says NJ Hue, "onc Of 9 points on
which the priucey commentator par
ticula,ly insists, ia the propriety Of
eherishing an aversion to all false
scots. that is TO say, in fact, for all re-
Iigions. lie passes them 10 review
and condemns them all without eS-
eertior but that Of Buddha--the
most widely diilused in China--is es-
pecialy the object Of his Reproduction.
H. speaks Of the dogmas on which It
rests with contempt, he turns it's
practices into dcrisipn - "The chris.
tian religion il not spared ; he says Of
II The sect Of The Lord Of Heaven.
a sect that Is perpetually 'alking about
heaven and earth. and beings without
substance or shadow this religion Al.
50 Is perverted and corrupt. " Such
instruction a. this, coming from SO
high quarter, could not fail to bear
fruit, ahd All belief IN Spiritual things
and a future life has been accordingly
extinguisbed.
1.-THE religious sentiment has van
ished from the national mind /; the
real doctrines have lost all authority,
and their partizans grown skeptical
and impioup have fallen into the
abyss of inditierentism, in which they
have given each other the kiss Of
peace. Religious discussions have en-.
tirely ceased. and the whole Chinese
nation has proclaimed this famous for.
mula, with which everybody Is salts
fed.
San. kiuo-g k3ao. TINT Is. "The three
religions are but one. p" Thus all the
Chinese are at the same time parti.
sans Of CONTIGUOUS, lao-tse and Bud.
dha, or rather they are nothing at all,
they reject all faith, all dogma. to live
by their more or less deprayed
and corrupted instincts. The literary
classes only have retained certain
taste for the classical books aud moral
prccepts Of CONTIGUOUS which each ex-
plains TO suit his own fancy invok.
ing always the :" leg" or principle Of
rationalism, which has become the on.
y one generally recognized
Nothing more clearly indicates
this desolat'ng skepticism, than for
mula Of politeness exchanged between
unknown persons on their first meet
ing It is customary to ask to what
sublime religion You belong. One
perhaps, will call himself Il Confucian,
another Buddhist, third u disciple
Of Lao.tse, a fourth, a follower Of Ma
hommed-of whom there are many in
China, and then every one begins to
pronounce n panegyric on the religions
to which he does not belong, as pc.
likeness requires, after which, they
all repeat in chorus, Pou.toun kiao,
tounly. +" "Religions are many, Raa-
son is one, we are all brothers 4" This
phrase is on the lips Of every Chinese,
and they baudy It from one to the
other with the most exquisite urbani
~. 1t is indeed, a clear and concise
expression Of their feeling on religious
questions. In their eyes worship is
merely an affair Of taste and fashion,
to which no more Importance is to be
attached than to the co,or of your gar
ments.
1.-The government, the classes, the
whole nation, in fact. regards all reli.
gions, as things futile and Of no inter.
est, and it may therefore easily be
supposed that there reigns in China
an Incompatible liberation for ever
kind af worship. The Chinese EMO.
in fact, the most perfect liberty in this
respect-provided, always that the au-
ihnriiins All, Ia nnrrsnn.l d. A..