Literature.

This triune power presiding in heaven over assembled divinities and rulers , the sun , moon , stars , and constellations , despatches a special messenger to announce the pardon of sin—infinite happiness and complete deliverance from evilto all who shall recite the precious name . These religionists chiefly attracted votaries by holding out to them the hope of

prolonging , by the application of certain means , the span of their existence . To princes and great men the sectaries recommended themselves , by the wild and delusive hope of an earthly immortality ; and to those who possessed every blessing of life its perpetual duration was of all boons the most desirable . Gtiabil , in treating of the mechanical forming

energy , says that power created the two effigies , and these the emblems of all existences . Upon these principles , says Purchas Lao-tze , boldly advanced the dogma— " One made Two—Two made Three —ancl Three made all things . " The following is the lofty description given by the Tao sect of their deity : —

" How great is the supreme Tao I Not made , yet existing , The end of creatures , and annihilations and the beginning , Before the earth and before thc heavens Light and glory unite around him , Continuing for eternity creations and annihilations . In the east he taught our father Confucius ;

In the west he directed the immortal Kien-Sicn ( Solomon ); An hundred kings have kept his laws ; The holy perfect men have received his instructions . The first of all . religions , Marvellous is it—passing marvellous !"

The Tao sect , despite its hi gh pretensions , has been for many years gradually and rapidly declining , while the introduction of the worship of Fo , from different causes , has proved more generally attractive . It has indeed now obtained so complete an ascendancy , that it may rank as the popular belief throughout the empire—it is evidentl y the same with

that of Boodh , or of the Lama , which lias its central seat in Thibet . Its introduction into China is comparatively recent , being referred by the best authorities to about tlie sixtyfifth year of the Christian era . De Gnignes states that Ming-ti , the fifteenth prince ofthe Ham dynasty , proceeding on a speech made by Confucius , that the most holy was to

be found in the west point , from Shan-Tung , the residence of the Chinese prophet , sent messengers westwards in search of a fitting object of adoration . Their search led them to the Grand Lama , or Lassa , when they saw the ceremonies of this reli gion performed with dazzling pomp ; and this full y answering their expectations , that carried back with them some bonzes , or priests of this faith .

Dr . Lardner states that the Romish missionaries were particularl y struck with the great similarity between the rituals of this and their own worship , so that some could scarcel y perceive any distinction—such as the burning of joss-stick or incense ; the worship of images , and particularl y of a female with a child in her arms called the universal mother ; the

stringing and counting of beads j and even the robes worn by the chiefs of the monastic orders . All their objects of worship are men elevated into divinities ; yet , these are raised to so lofty a height that they scarcely differ from the deities of other popular systems . The leading princijile of the system which bears the name of Fo or Boodhas also of the

, Brahminical faith in India , is the metempsychosis ; that is , that the soul of man after death passes into and animates the body of other men and even animals . If a man conduct himself in this life strictly according to the precepts of his reli gion , or what is considered too frequentl y equivalent—fees his priests handsomel —he rest assured that after death

y may he will animate the body of a mandarin , or general , or even of a prince : if he pursue a different line of conduct he will rise again in the condition of a labourer , a beggar , a horse , a clog , or some other low grade of animal . The missionaries are said to have sometimes found this creed advantageous to

their views . Application was oue day made to them by a pensioner of the emperor , who was induced to change his relig ion for the following reasons . The priests had warned him that for the good things he enjoyed in this life , added to his want of liberality to them , he must prepare to spend the next as one of the post horses which convey despatches from

province to province , but they cheered him with the prospect that if he ran well and consumed little provender his subsequent birth would be in a more elevated station . This prospect so haunted his mind , that even in sleep he heard the crack of the whip , and awoke often in a cold sweat , scarcel y knowing if he were a horse or a- man . Thus tormented b y

his apprehensions , although he felt no decided preference for the doctrine of the missionaries , he determined rather to be a Christian than a post horse . Le Comte has related some ludicrous instances in which the bonzes turn this creed to their own profit . . Two of them happening to espy a pair of fat ducks in a farm yard , were seized with an earnest desire to feast upon them ; with this

view they drew near and began to weep and lament most bitterly . ' The good woman to whom the clucks belonged , on inquiring the cause of their affliction , was informed that the ducks were their deceased parents , whose certain destiny of being sold , killed and eaten , they were now deploring . The kind hearted creature finding no other means to pacify them , at length presented to them the objects of their filial

affections . After profuse expressions of thankfulness and making many prostrations before their feathered relatives , they carried them home , when their reverend ancestors were immediately plucked , put to the spit , and afforded a savoury meal to their ingenious offspring . Numbers are held in equal esteem by the Chinese as with

other nations , and are in many respects the same with the Egyptians and Chinese . Tlie monad , or Egyptian unity ( says Horapello , in his first book ) is considered as the generating cause of every number , a sentiment similar to that of the Chinese , which ascribes the origin of all things to numbers .

The number three derives importance from the three great powers in the universe . The Chinese say numbers begin at one , are made perfect at three . There were originally three degrees of nobility among them , in imitation of the three glorious lights—the sun , the moon , ancl the stars . Three with the Egyptians stands for the plural ; hence , when they would denote the multiplicity of an object , they rejseat tlie word which stands for it three times . In China three suns denote

effulgence ; three tongues excessive talking ; three forms of the symbol for grass constitute the generic for plants , herbs , and trees ; three trees represent a forest . Among the incantations of tlie Chinese is the following remarkable one . Write the words "three stars , " repeating in recitative tones " Three stars , which produced me , come ! three stars which

nourish me , come ! three stars which protect me , come !" Incantations and fearful spells , composed of three and its multiple , have and even still do hold in awe not only j . the Pagan minds of the Asiatics , but , as the following anecdote will testify , retain their influence even among ourselves : — Dr . James Johnson says , he knew a gentleman ivhose life was

rendered wretched by the number three : whenever that unlucky number came across him , he was seized with a fit of horrors , and continued so for clays , thoug h his reason told him it was an illusion—till if by some means he could contrive to break the spell he was again as well as ever . He one day fancied a watch which he saw hanging in a pawnbroker ' s

window , and purchased it ; all was well , till some time after in winding it up he discovered its number was 333 ; to add to his misery the number ofthe pawnbroker ' s house was 33 , while , to crown the distressing catalogue , he remembered he had paid three guineas for the watch . Ridiculous , says Dr . Johnson , as this train of coincidences may appear , it cost the poor gentleman more than three months of mental suffering