A PAGODA, OR TEMPLE,
For religious Worship.
The Chinese are scrupulously observant of moral and religious duties; and their country abounds with temples, of various forms, to which they resort, on every interesting occasion, and oiFer their sacrifices. Besides these temples, a small tabernacle, or niche, containing their household gods, is to be found in almost every house and ship.
Some religious ceremonies of the Chinese resemble those of the Church of Rome: and the Chinese Idol, denominated Shin-moo, is very similar to the representations of the Virgin and Child; both being figures of a female and an infant, with rays of glory issuing from their heads, and having lights burning before them, during the day as well as night.
The greater part of the people are of the sect of Fo; whose followers believe in the metempsychosis, and in a future state of happiness, after a virtuous life; and suppose, that the souls of the irreligious live hereafter in a state of suffering, and subject to the hardships endured by inferior animals.
The figures dressed in loose gowns are priests attending at the temple; and the back ground is a view of the city Tin-hai, Nov. 21, 1793.
