Fo-hi, as derived from the patriarchs, amongft whom that illuf-
trious charadter may nearly he ranked. The firft who reached
China brought with them the religion of Noah. They acknowledged
one great and fupreme Being, and pro ft Bid to live according
to his laws engraven on their hearts. They juftl-y made
that Being the model o f perfection, poffeflcd of omnipotence,,
omnifcience, providence, goodnefs, juftice, and mercy. They
admit the dodtrine of grace, for they fay that the moll wicked'
man, i f he makes ufe of the affiftance offered to him by dyen, or
the Supreme Being, may attain the htgbeft virtues. They hold
alfo an expiation o f fins by their own facrifices'; but Gonfefs-
fhat no external adoration will be accepted unlefs it is attended
with inward fentiments, and comes diredtly from the heart.. I
cannot, in my contradted plan, give all the detail o f their religion,
or the proofs o f its origin from the patriarchs. I will only
fay, that, like them, they had their Pentateuch. Their five vo-
lumes correfpondent with the Mofaical hiftory are efteemed by
them the fource of all feience and morality.
C o n fu c iu s . The great reformer of the religion of China was Confucius,.
cotemporary with Pythagoras, and born 55' years before Ciiriit;
he purged it from all corruptions, and brought it to the perfedtion
we have defcribed ; itftill continues the religion of the emperor
and o f the good and learned throughout his vaft dominions.
S e c t or A b ou t fix hundred years before the Chriftian asra, arofe the
T a u t s e . fijjj 'faut-fe, founded by iMu-kyutt, who confined the felicity
o f this life to voluptuoufnefs; and taught that the foul died
with the body ; yet at the fame time admitted the exiftence o f a
Divine Being, which makes fome people believe, that his doc-
8 trine
frine had been corrupted by certain o f his profligate difciples,
who might think it better to perilh than burn ; yet as they mull
neceflarily be perpetually difturbed with the thoughts o f death,
they pretended to have invented a liquor o f immortality, which,
with the credulity of fome-of the emperors, gave a prodigious
increafe to their followers; they were greatly addidted to magic,
introduced worihip of fpirits, facrificed to devils, and deluded
the vulgar by a thoufand juggling tricks.
T h e laft was the fed! o f Fo or Fwe (not to be confounded
with the great Fo-hi.) Their doctrine was tranfported out of
India about 65 years after the birth of Chrift. An emperor
dreamed o f a faying o f Confuciusr that the Holy-one was to be
found in the Weft. He fent ambafladors to India, who brought
back the monftrous image Fo, and all the extravagances o f the
Hindoo, mythology.? Temples or pagodas were eredted in all
places, and thofe filled with the moil monftrous idols. They
were attended by Banzees innumerable. This is the religion o f
the vulgar, but not always confined to them; the emperors
have at times been infedted with it, deceived by the feeming
aufterities pradtifed by the Bonzees, and their fenfelefs penances,
fimilar to thofe of fome of the Indian. Faquirs.
T h e Chriftian religion was introduced here as early as the
year 636, when, to the aftonifhment o f the Chinefe, there appeared
among them a fet o f men with fair hair and blue eyes,
and o f an air, form, and habit quite unknown. Thefe proved
to be certain biihops, priefts, and deacons fent out of Judea to
propagate the gofpel in thefe diftant parts. They were Syrians
and
S e c t o f F o.
C h r i s t ia n i t y ,