of by the Viceroy, and the last by the official
for whose use it is intended. This is to prevent its employment by any
other than the person authorised. The seal is then handed over to the
mandarin's wife, in whose charge it always remains, she alone having the
power to produce it, or withhold it, as required.

A Chinese woman shares the titles accorded to her husband. When the
latter is promoted, the title of the wife is correspondingly advanced.
She also shares all posthumous honours, and her spirit, equally with her
husband's, is soothed by the ceremonies of ancestral worship.

"Ancestral worship" is a phrase of ominous import, suggesting as it does
the famous dispute which began to rage early in the eighteenth century
and is still raging to-day.

In every Chinese house stand small wooden tablets, bearing the names of
deceased parents, grandparents, and earlier ancestors. Plates of meat
and cups of wine are on certain occasions set before these tablets,
in the belief that the spirits of the dead occupy the tablets and
enjoy the offerings. The latter are afterward eaten by the family; but
pious Chinese assert that the flavour of the food and wine has been
abstracted. Similar offerings are made once a year at the tombs where
the family ancestors lie buried.

The question now arises, Are these offerings set forth in the same
spirit which prompts us to place flowers on graves, adorn statues, and
hold memorial services?

If so, a Chinese convert to Christianity may well be permitted to embody
these old observances with the ceremonial of his new faith.

Or do these observances really constitute worship? _i.e._ are the
offerings made with a view to propitiate the spirits of the dead, and
obtain from them increase of worldly prosperity and happiness?

In the latter case, ministers of the Christian faith would of course be
justified in refusing to blend ancestral worship with the teachings of
Christianity.

It would no doubt be very desirable to bring about a compromise, and
discover some _modus vivendi_ for the Chinese convert, other than that
of throwing over Confucianism with all its influence for good, and of
severing all family and social ties, and beginning life again as an
outcast in his own country; but I feel bound to say that in my opinion
these ancestral observances can only be regarded, strictly speaking, as
worship and as nothing else.

To return to the Chinese woman. She enjoys some privileges not sha