The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1877-08-30
CHINESE JOSS HOUSE.
Between Prophets
and ImpOstOrs.
All the Prophets Frauds and
BlaCkguardS.
New Yerk Times |

| INeW crR
While in California l visited Joss
house. or rather heather church. II
it were several ugly idols. These idol
were all gaudily painted. They wer
made of paper puifed out with wire
Some of them had many eyes, severa
hands, and now and then one had :
double head. They had eyes in thei
knees. eyes in their stomachs, ant
eyes in the tops of their heads. Som
had hands all around them, and all hat
long, fierce looking boards. A littl
child in our party was too frightened
to look at these idols. She kept say
ing
90, mamma, it is 40 ugly! Take i
awayW
The heather priest was very cleve
man. l found afterward that he hst
been great reader. In this joss -hous'
he stood in front of the gods with hi
people, and they all worshipped ani
prayed together. They were thor
oughly in earnest, and believe every
Chinaman believed his eternal SAWS
ton depended on his worship.
found the priest. Chang Wan Ho
I say. TO be q man Of great learning
After the service went in behind the
gods with a young Interpreters
young Chinese graduate from Yale
and had long talk with him.
81 see you have many gods ?" I com.
menced.
"No," he replied, through the inter.
prefer, I'VE only worship one God"
''Then these are idOls,"I remarked
"No, the Chinese do not worship
idols. These are images to represent
GOd-one God. We have many i'm
ages: SO that all the people can see at
once, but each image represents the
same God"
"Then you do not worship the i'm
ages"
"Oh, no. They are only to remind
us Of God. You Christians pray be-
fore the crucifix, and the Catholics
even have an image of Christ and the
Virgin Mary, just as we have these
images. We do not worship the i'm
ages"
"Why do you have suck ugly de-
formed images ?" asked. "Why do
they have double heads, many ears,
and many eyes?"
"Well,::sGod, you know, is omnis-
cient, potential and omnipresent. We
represent these attributes by the i'm
ages. The many hands denote that
God is omnipresent. The many eyes
denote that he is omniscient-thath he
sees everything"
"But why do you make such ugly
looking images ?" asked.
"Oh! that is the Chinese antique
They are not ugly to US. They made
them SO in the time of Confucius, and
our people don't like to change. 1t is
our religious form. see you Chris
tians preserve religious forms, too.
You have religious architecture-tbe
Gothic. You have stiff angels after
Fra Angelica, and angels quite de-
formed, after Sassaferato and the old
religious artists. Why can't we Chi
namen preserve our antique religious
art, even if it is ugly, as we'll as you2"
found Chang Wau Ho, the Chi.
nese priest, very radical. He defended
b mself and his faith splendidly.
he was dreadfully irreli-
giOus, and often, to me, sacriligiOus.
Once he replied:
''Heathen who do you call heathc n ?
TO me-" he said, "every one is hea-
then who does not believe in our re-
ligion."
When I told him that 1 thought
M ohammed dConfucias and Buddha
were impostors, his eyes snapped, the
crimson came to his cheeks, and he
$50 was your Christ an impostor"
ado you call all the prophets impos-
one since Moses :"I asked
Eyes, all who claim to be prophets
all who claim q spiritual connection
with God. Zoroaster, the Persian
Prophet, was an impostor. and so was
Buddha, who lived in Benaree, and
Mohammed, who lived in Mecca. Con-
fucius aud Moses and Socrates were
not prophets; they were simply wise
men. They were great writers-great
leaders. The prophets have all been
ignorant Observation-Disclosures"
"What do You say Of Brigham
Young-they have just declared him
to be the only living prophet, seer,and
in the world ?" 1 remarked.
"Let two thousand years go by. and
Brigham Young will be iust..as much
respected Jas a prophet as Zoroaster,
Buddha, or Mohammed. He is Just as
much prophet as they, But they arc
all imposiors. God is too great to
need a prophet. He is too great 10
need a religious broker on earth, aud
every man who sets himself up as a
partner of God ia fraud"
Chang Wau Hos language made me
Still determined to draw
him out. wanted to hear just what
this heathen had to say.