Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 1.djvu/357

 powers are accordingly represented as human beings, and especially as the departed ancestors of existing persons. For a man is specially known as a power when he has departed—that is to say, when he is no longer entangled in the interests of daily life. One, however, who of his own will withdraws himself from the world, sinks into himself and directs his activities toward the Universal alone, and towards the gaining of a knowledge of these powers, renouncing the associations of daily life, and holding himself aloof from all enjoyments, may also be regarded as having departed, for in such a case a man has passed away so far as concrete human life is concerned, and he too, therefore, comes to be recognised as a special power.

Besides this there are creatures of imagination who hold this power in trust, and these constitute a very fully developed realm, which consists of special powers of this kind. The entire body of these is subject to the Universal Power, namely, to that of the Emperor, who instals them and gives them commands. The best way in which to get a knowledge of this extensive realm of popular conception is to study a section of Chinese history as we have it in the information given by the Jesuits in the learned work Mémoires sur les Chinois. In connection with the inauguration of a new dynasty we find, among other things, the following description.

About the year 1122 B.C., a time which is still pretty accurately determined in Chinese history, the Chau dynasty came to the throne. Wû was the first Emperor of this dynasty; the last of the preceding dynasty, Shau, had, like his predecessors, governed badly, so that the Chinese imagined that the evil genius which had embodied itself in him must have been reigning. With a new dynasty everything on earth and in heaven must be renewed, and this was accomplished by the new Emperor with the help of the commander-in-chief of his army. New laws, new music, new dances,