On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Religion and Chinese €68 Laws
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Literature In India.—The Following Is An...
facilitating the knowledge and • • I of oriental notice also , acquisition science . knowledge and science . notice also , with peculiar satisfaction , the extensive and valuable collection of books which now enriches the _library of the college of Fort William . The preservation and augmentation of the collection of Eastern manuscripts , afford the only means of arresting the _progressive destruction
of oriental learning . Since trie dismemberment of the Mahommedan empire , these works have been _dispersed aver India , an _< j have been exposed to the injuries and hazards of time , accident , and neglect . It is worthy of the ambition of this great empire to employ every effort of its influence in preserving from
destruction and decay , these valuable records of oriental history , science , and religion ; and in encouraging individuals , who may be in _possession of scarce and valuable liteiary works to promote t _^ is important object , by depositing _Works of that description in the library
of the college , J am happy to learn that the descriptive catalogue oi the feo _^ ks and manuscripts which constituted the library of T _' ippoo Suit _sun , has been completed by the industrious labours of Captain Charles Stewart , second assistant to the Persian _Professor . 1
_understand it is the intention of Captain _Stewait , who has proceeded to England , to print that useful and interesting document . 1 cannot close my view of the literary branch of this institution , without adverting to the advantages which may be expected to be derived both in Europe and in _Asia _> from this mutual
cultivation of Asiatic and European * learning . The numerous works which have been published under the auspices of the college in the course of the last six years 3 will not only open to the learned in Europe ample sources of information _<* n all _subjects of _oiiental history and science , but will afford to the various
nations and tribes of India , and especi _* ally to those which compose the body of our Indian subjccts 3 a more favourable view , and a more just and accurate conception oi the British character , principles , and laws , than they have hitherto been enabled to form , and may
be expected gradualjy to diffuse among them a spirit of civilization , and an imp roved sense of those genuine principles of morality and virtue , 'which arc equally calculated to promote their happiness , and to _contribute to the stability ojf the British dominion in India . "
Literature In India.—The Following Is An...
CHINESE RELIGION AND LAWS . In our magazine for August , ( Vol . ii . p . 442 , ) we inserted the " Imperial Edict of the Emperor of China , " which _pro-, scribes the Christian religion . Upon this Edict , together with the more recent occurrence of an affray between the British and Chinese sailors _, a
sensible and entertaining writer , turning matter that common writers would pas * over , to a good account , makes the following reflections •— " China has within the last twelve months afforded sufficient matter for re _« flection to the thinking mind . By the last accounts two occurrences have taken
place , which shew the nature of th © government in a very strong point of view : the one relates to the exercise of religion ., the other to their criminal law . The body of the Chinese nation is well known to be idolatrous ; their deities are monstrous figures , hideous to the
sight , and giving just as gross _concept tions of the great Supreme , as the frc _* _tions of the imagination under the name of the Trinity entertained by the Papist and _theCalvinist . They do not however , like th _^ Papists , make a god of bread-flour and then eat him : and
whatever follies they entertain , the higher classes are free from _idolatry ; and _> if we have true accounts , they universally adopt a system of epicurean deism or complete atheism . A great feature in the Chinese it an _attachment to _ancient customs , and
this js kept up by the _government , whi ch watches "with extreme anxiety the introduction of any thing foreign , and particularly any thing from Europe _, _Jiiit this attachment does not prevent them , as tg absurdly _^ imag ined , from ex- * amining % od adopting what is _good ia
other countries , and in which they arc deficient ; witness the mathematical coU lege established at Pekin , filled-with Europeans ; said the introduction of vac- » cination , the account of which very useful practice was communicated to them in a book in the Chinese language , by Sir George Stauntbn , the first book
ever written in that language by an Englishman . The European religion al _* o , as it is called , might have been i & -= troduced with equal ease : and the Maii-r darins , with their usual good humour , would have laughed only at the triangular god , and the god in the womb of a virgin for nine months , adored by the _jpopi . h _lionzce , if these Bongcs b » 4 _f _# *
Religion And Chinese €68 Laws
Religion and Chinese € 68 Laws
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1807, page 668, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121807/page/48/
-