s asked; and he replies, "No,
heaven speaks not; by the order of events its will is known, not
otherwise." Man learns by the external occurrences how Heaven is
disposed towards him. When there is excessive rain or long drought,
this shows that the harmony between Heaven and the earth is
disturbed. It belongs to the emperor to put this right. He alone is
entitled to offer sacrifice to Heaven; he stands in the closest
relation to Heaven, who is the ancestor of his house; and when Heaven
is seen to be displeased, the emperor must restore the harmony by
governing his subjects better or by sacrifices. In an extreme case,
when the emperor is seen to have fallen under the displeasure of
Heaven, the conclusion is drawn that he must no longer be emperor.
The people then are entitled to depose him and to set up a new ruler,
through whom the necessary transactions with Heaven can be carried
on. The belief has always been held in China, at least theoretically,
and is operative to this day, that it can be known when Heaven has
rejected a ruler, and that it belongs to the people to carry out that
sentence.

2. The Spirits.--The worship "of the spirits" is a primary religious
duty for the Chinaman. The spirits, however, are an ill-defined set
of beings; they are generally spoken of in the plural number, and
sacrifice was offered to them as a body, no particular spirits being
named. The spirits are connected with natural objects, every part of
nature has its spirit. The sun, the moon, the five planets, clouds,
rain, wind, the five great mountains, but also every smaller
mountain, the rivers, each district, and a thousand other things, all
have their spirits.[3] The spirits are not flitting about
capriciously, but have been collected together and organised in a
hierarchy, and this has loosened their connection with natural
objects. They are spoken of as a set of beings who may be addressed
as a body. A prince alone may sacrifice to the spirit of the earth,
and to those of the mountains and rivers of his territory. But to the
spirits in general all may and should pray; they assist those who pay
them reverence and sacrifice to them. It will be seen that the
worship of heaven and that of the spirits are kept separate. The
former is the imperial worship; the emperor alone is competent to
attend to it. The latter is the official worship of minor states. Nor
are the two sets of deities wrought into a homogeneous system; we
hear that the spi