Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 3.djvu/67

the ancient tradition is entitled to full credit for whatever freedom from that taint these prayers show. In one of the supplications, that to the celestial spirits, namely, the spirits of the cloud-master, the rain-master, the lord of the winds, and the thunder-master, the language runs thus: "It is your office, O spirits, to superintend the clouds and the rain, and to raise and send abroad the winds as ministers assisting Shang-ti. All the people enjoy the benefit of your service." In the other prayer, to the terrestrial spirits—those of the four seas and four great rivers, of the imperial domain, and of all the hills and rivers under the sky—the formula employed is: "It is yours, O spirits, with your heaven-conferred powers and nurturing influences, each to preside as guardian over one district, as ministers assisting the great worker and transformer, and thus the people enjoy your meritorious services." These spirits then are merely instruments of God's will, ministers of the Supreme being, who render service to man on behalf of high heaven. If, being associated with natural objects, they suggest the idea of fetichism, it is to be observed that they are not worshipped as gods, not as independent spiritual potencies, but only as heaven-appointed guardians of the different agencies of nature, in accordance with a plan designed by God for the good of mankind.

At a later period, but still earlier than the twenty-third century before the Christian era, the