two parts. The first restrains us from licentiously daring to make God who is incomprehensible, the subject of our senses, or to represent him under any visible form. The second prohibits us from paying religious adoration to any images." Also in Turretin, Locus 11, Questio 10; we read; "Precepts secondo duo prohibentur, tum facere Imagines religionis ergo, tum eas colere." The italics are Turretin's. And in the Westminster Assembly's Larger Catechism, which by the way is subscribed by a large body of Christians, we are taught, that among the sins forbidden in the Second Commandment is, "the making any representation of God, of all, or any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever." In short, it may be said, that the major premise of the syllogism given above, was maintained by the Reformed in opposition to the Papists and the Lutherans. And it seems to have been the opinion of many of the Fathers. The minor premise will not be disputed by missionaries, we suppose. There are also those who contend that in the illustrations referred to, it is not God, but the man Jesus who is represented; and therefore such illustrations are not objectionable. There remains this difficulty, however; we know that our Saviour was "God manifest in the flesh," 1 Tim. 3: 26. And does it not savor too much of a forbidden thing, if even granting the possibility, we thus try to put asunder the two natures which God has joined together in that mysterious Person? Moreover it is said, The Second Commandment does not forbid the mere making of images of God, but the making in order to use them in worship. Well, grant this too; and still we find that those who speak thus have a feeling, that the one use made even of the representations approved of must be carefully guarded. And why? Because the History of the Church abundantly proves that the tendencies of images are dangerous. Beside, many of this class would at once reject a statue of Christ as idolatrous. But is a statue any more an image than a picture? Already the Church of God has suffered-who can tell how much?-from a baptized idolatry. Then, shall we tempt History to repeat itself here in China? By multiplying the representations of our Lord Jesus, we may put stumbling-blocks in the way of those we would rescue from idolatry; we may give occasion to the heathen to cast in our teeth that we too have our images; we may induce that familiarity which breeds contempt even for what is sacred. There certainly are lines of prohibition which ought to be observed. Let us seek them till we find them, and having found, let us observe them. One more consideration ought not to be passed by. The fact is, that we are without any authentic description of the personal appearance of our Lord. It is not uncommon for biographers to tell how their heroes looked; but the Gospels give us nothing of the sort, so that their silence at once precludes and condemns the attempts of painters to gives us a true likeness of the God-man. We may say, then, of every such representation of Jesus, that it is merely a creature of the imagination; and the probability is, that it is a lie. What if one were to make an image, graven or painted, of an ideal English lady well advanced in years, and say this is a likeness of her majesty Queen Victoria? We would think it rather dishonest, would we not? Yet the difference between this case and the one specially before us, so far as right is concerned, is slight, if there be a difference at all. So then, on grounds of Scripture, on grounds of expediency, and on grounds of common honesty, representations of our Saviour are of questionable propriety. Is it right for us to encourage them? Hangchow, April 5th, 1886. FEBRUARY 21ST, 1866-86. BY REV. MARK WILLIAMS. In China, one can plainly see To-day, just twenty years ago, Of those who in that crowd were found, It was but twenty years ago; At journey's end, with gratitude We struggled hard, with inward groans, Not heedless of the high behest, On healthful, highland oatmeal fed; Kalgan, North China. A home for bandits fierce to dwell, Ascending now to Mongol land, Lo what a scene of grandeur wild! But come we now to Mongol plains Then we, who have a curious bent, The guest who all these sights has seen, His visit to our cool retreat. To us 'twas given to respond A VISIT TO THE "DOGHEADED BARBARIANS" OR HILL PEOPLE, 山宅, NEARFOOCHOW. BY REV. F. OHLINGER. VILLAGES of several hundred families of this peculiar people are located among the less accessible hills just beyond the "North Range," fifteen miles from the East gate of Foochow. A visit to them need not occupy more than a day and a half, and might be planned as follows:-Leave Foochow (Nantai) at 12 M. sharp and go up the large Pehling road. Four miles from the summit of Pehling is a small village (consisting entirely of inns) called Muiliang. Here one can spend the night in comparative comfort, provided it is not in the tea season when every corner is occupied by tea carriers. The next morning after breakfast, Uong-tu-gaung or Lieng-bah-yong can be reached by an hour's walk, and the whole forenoon spent in the very homes of the "Sia Bo." Leaving them at 12 M. sharp, one can reach Nantai before dark. By this arrangement the traveller avoids the offensive buckets which make his recreation a torture if he is found anywhere on the road. between the city and the mountains during the forenoon. May the first one who follows this itinerary meet with as kindly treatment and as much grandeur of natural scenery as fell to the good fortune of the writer; may he meet fewer buckets, and more communicative aborigines; finally, may he like myself have a traveling companion whose interest in everything that is to be seen and learned never wavers under the hardships of traveling in Fuhkien. He will not fail to give the readers of the Recorder fuller "notes" with less introduction, than I can offer this time. 1. We saw those of the surnames Loi (shell) and Lang (basket) only. They told us at many places that the Bwang (plate) family had "not yet arrived" but did not explain the delay. Their Chinese neighbours say that they have been granted an additional surname by imperial rescript for matrimonial convenience, but of this the Sia themselves said nothing. 2. The men dress in all respects like the common Chinese, but the women no more so than the Japanese or Lew Chew islanders. The remarkable head-dress of the latter constitutes a real focus of curiosity and consists of a tin or silver tube from onehalf to two inches in diameter and from four to six inches in length. This is laid lengthwise on the crown of the head and the hair packed in and around it. It is pierced by the beam of a miniature anchor made of wood, silver, or horn, the head of which extends to the shoulder blades. It is pierced at the other end by a plain piece of metal that extends about a foot in front of the eyes. From this point are suspended bright colored tassels and strings of beads that extend over the shoulders to the head of the anchor. The tassels and strings of beads together hide the face almost as effectually as the veil worn by Turkish women, and must be highly injurious to the eye-sight. It is also a badge of matrimony, the girls wearing their hair like the Chinese. Noticing some exceptionally pretty head-ornaments, we were told that the wearer had just been married. We tried to buy a set and offered a high price but the price demanded was always much beyond our figure, or they would declare that if they sold their head-ornaments they could not do up their hair next day as they had but the one set. When seen in crowds, as on one occasion while I was preaching, these women present a most picturesque appearance. 3. The young women and the males have milder features than the Chinese; the old women remind one of the Indian squaw. The women do the hardest work and seem cheerful and happy. They gave us a serenade, and when asked what the subject of their song was, they replied: "When we gather wood on the mountains we sing of gathering wood, when reaping in harvest we sing of reaping, when hoeing in the garden we sing of hoeing. We usually sing at our work." Their singing had all the sweetness, trills, and long even strains characteristic of impromptu composition. It bore little resemblance to the Foochow singing, but a great deal to the Cantonese I have heard. 4. They intermarry to some extent with the Chinese, the women concerned being obliged to change their costume with their name. The Chinese took pride in saying: "We take their daughters in marriage but do not give them ours." The Sia admitted that they rarely marry Chinese girls. Their marriage ceremonies &c. are in all respects the same as those of the Chinese with the exception that the bridal robe is of imperial yellow instead of red. 5.-On the 15th of the 8th moon they worship their ancestor Gó Sing Dá in the ancestral hall. There was no image of him in the house where we spent the night. Our inn-keeper at Muliang told us that the Sia have an image of their dogheaded ancestor which they hang on the wall on the last day of the year and worship it on the first day of the new year. "After this it is kept locked up as they are ashamed to let others see it." The common people among them converse freely on their peculiar history and customs, but the higher classes are distant and reticent. We found them |