seducing the Chinese women to their churches whom, as they avow in their correspondence, they sometimes coaxed out of their jewels and money; adding, by way of justification, that it was to promote the service of God. The primitive religion of China or, at least, those opinions, rites, and ceremonies that prevailed in the time of Confucius, (and before that period all seems to be fable and uncertainty) may be pretty nearly ascertained from the writings that are ascribed to that philosopher. He maintains in his physics, that "out of nothing there cannot possibly be produced any thing;--that material bodies must have existed from all eternity;--that the _cause_ (_lee_, _reason_) or principle of things, must have had a co-existence with the things themselves;--that, therefore, this cause is also eternal, infinite, indestructible, without limits, omnipotent and omnipresent;--that the central point of influence (_strength_) from whence this cause principally acts, is the blue firmament (_tien_) from whence its emanations spread over the whole universe;--that it is, therefore, the supreme duty of the prince, in the name of his subjects, to present offerings to _tien_, and particularly at the equinoxes, the one for obtaining a propitious seed-time, and the other a plentiful harvest." These offerings to the Deity, it may be observed, were always placed on a large stone, or heap of stones, erected on the summit of a high mountain, on the supposition, probably, that their influence would be so much the greater, in proportion as they should approach the seat and fountain of creative power; like the ancient Persians who, according to Herodotus, considered the whole circle of the Heavens to be the great ruling power of the universe, to which they also sacrificed on high mountains. Thus Tacitus, in speaking of the practice of worshipping the gods on high mountains, observes, that the nearer mortals can approach the heavens, the more distinctly will their prayers be heard; and on the same principle, Seneca says, that the people always strove for the seat next to the image of the deity in the temples, that their prayers might be the better heard. Thus also Noah, after quitting the ark, built an altar on the mountain where it rested, and made a burnt-offering, whose smoke ascending to heaven was pleasing to the Lord. And Abraham was commanded to offer his only son Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moria; and Balak carried Balaam to the top of Mount Pisgah to offer a sacrifice there, and to curse Israel. Thus, indeed, all nations in their infancy adopted the natural idea of paying adoration to Heaven from high places.