Religious System of China e-bog

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. As we set forth in the General Preface to this work (p. XIII), the Second Book will be devoted to the Son], that is to say, to the ideas of the nature and characteristics of souls, the ways in which they are thought to manifest themselves or their influence, and to work on human life and society, as also to the main part of the practices and usages born from the belief in their existence and power. It will, in other words, he a Book on Animism, comprising Spirit-lore and Demonology, Exorcism and Divination, treating also of Spiritism and Fetichism, as they manifest themselves by the worship of deceased parents and ancestors in the family-circle, on their graves, and in temples. It will at the same time become an intro duction to the principles and chief features of Taoism, this system having evolved in the main from the general ideas concerning souls.