ABSTRACT
THE existence of three national religions in China has cecasioned a perpetual conflict of religious opinions among the people of that country. Great diversities of sentiment are found there upon religious subjects. Between the literary class, the followers of Confucius, and the multitude, the adherents of Buddha and Taou, there has always been a want of cohesion. The former feel no little pride in asserting that they never worship images. The latter defend them as a useful symbolism. Fortunately for the perman.. ence of the Confucian system, it has always had the balance of intellectual and political influence on its side. The best writers have supported it in books and condemned the other systems, while the Government has often persecuted the Buddhists and Taouists, and even when its patronage has been extended to them, its approval was given because it thought that their doctrines agreed with those of the great national sage.
