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only great race and empire which has maintained itself for thousands of years, while Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome fell into decay and passed away; we may well pause and wonder for what destiny this great, civilised, industrious people has been preserved until now. It were well if we had practised towards them the love and the justice which Mencius regarded as Heaven's ordinance for all mankind. Unhappily Christian nations have gravely wronged China in the past. It is time for us seriously to consider the claims of China to just treatment, and to atone as far as possible for the wars and oppression she has suffered at our hands. And to get into this wholesome state of mind, we must reflect that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him." "He made of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation"; and surely there is a divine purpose in the events which have brought four hundred millions of Chinese into practical relations with Europe and America not for the Chinese only, but also for the western world, which cannot but be greatly affected by the conjunction. The future we cannot foresee; to do justice and love mercy to all men is our best preparation for whatever destiny lies before us.

The CHAIRMAN, in conveying the thanks of the Meeting to the author for his interesting paper, invited discussion.

DISCUSSION.

Professor ORCHARD.-We are indebted to the author of this interesting paper for making us better acquainted with one of China's great men, a man who to uprightness of character united intellectual acumen.

I was struck by what Mencius says (toward the end of the paper) concerning "the spirits of the land and grain": "When the sacrifices have been duly offered," i.e., when the people have

performed their religious obligations, "if there comes drought or inundation, the spirits of the land and grain are deposed and others appointed in their place." Presumably this is done by the Supreme Ruler. The idea that God has set angels over various provinces of nature and holds them responsible for the way in which they execute their office, seems to receive some support from the eightysecond Psalm, where rulers bearing the appellation of "gods" are rebuked for abuse of their position.

That Mencius could assert the doing of right to be quite easy shows that his knowledge of human nature was more theoretical than practical. Evidently he permitted his theory to blind his eyes.

The greatest service rendered by him to mankind was that he stood for Will-freedom and the Divine supremacy of Conscience, and thus for Absolute Morality. Herein lies his chief claim to admiration and gratitude.

We shall agree with the author that we are debtors to the countrymen of Mencius. "Unhappily Christian nations have gravely wronged China in the past." Let our present action be to set forth that Gospel of which Confucius and Mencius were ignorant. Let us tell the Chinese, as they feel after God, if haply they may find Him, that He is Spirit, that He is Light, that He is Love, and is not far from every one of them. Let us tell them that He has come to man, to redeem and save and bless him through the atonement and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rev. JAMES THOMAS (Secretary, British and Foreign Bible Society).—I rise to express my deep sense of obligation to the reader of the paper, who has brought before us, within a narrow compass, the important teaching of one of China's greatest men. It was not an easy task which the writer of the paper set before himself. Those who have listened to it are very liable to conclude that because it is so exceedingly clear and apparently so simple that the task had few, if any, difficulties. Whereas, on the contrary, the subject in itself is not at all easy.

We have been given a picture of the condition of China in the days of Mencius, and we have had represented the task which that great sage set before himself. Primarily he sought to be a reformer of kings and rulers, but the plans he pursued have enabled us very

clearly to trace the doctrines he held and his methods of applying them. I will not refer to his political doctrines, or the methods he followed in his endeavour to reform rulers and courts, but his doctrine of God is remarkable. The books which Confucius edited and passed on, the great books which commonly bear his name, were not, as is well known, written by him. These same books, which Mencius made the foundation of his teaching, were pervaded with high monotheism. Indeed, China presents a striking illustration of the falsity of that teaching so rife in modern days that the religious condition of ancient men was that of fetishism or polytheism. China to-day abounds in idols, but the idolatry we see there is a degradation and a debasement of the conception of God which is found in all the ancient literature of the land. All the great attributes of the Jehovah of the Old Testament are found to be the attributes of Shang-ti, the Supreme Ruler of ancient China.

Mencius' doctrine of man has also been very clearly set forth in the paper. The reader of the writings of Mencius would conclude that the Ideal Man was one who dwelt in love, who lived with propriety, who walked in righteousness, who, when he rose to office, practised his principles for the people's good, but, if disappointed in reaching office, practised his principles for himself alone. He was one who could not be led by riches and honour into a life of dissipation, and who could not be made to swerve from the right by poverty or low estate one who could not even be forced by want from the qualities of greatness; he was an Ideal Man. The nature of man he held to be good; the tendencies of man's nature were towards goodness; the constituents of his nature were benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom. Men have these four principles just as they have four limbs. But the writer of the paper has shown us that if we interpret these things naturally and literally we misunderstand the teaching of Mencius, just as in our own day if we interpret the doctrine of "total depravity ” literally it would be contradicted by common-sense; for if men were totally depraved they could not possibly get worse and worse. What is really meant by the doctrine is that there is not a single faculty of man's nature or power of his mind which has not been exercised in wrong-doing, so that in this sense his nature is totally depraved; and Mencius was only

too conscious of the fact that men did not live in accordance with what he set forth as the principles of human nature. The writer of the paper has shown with great clearness what the doctrine of Mencius is, and I wish most sincerely to thank him and to congratulate ourselves on having heard a paper which few could have prepared.

OBITUARY NOTICE.

THE LATE MR. R. DENNY URLIN.

AMONGST the more distinguished of our Associates who have passed from amongst us during the past year is Richard Denny Urlin, F.S.S. Born at Westminster in 1830, he claimed descent from a Huguenot family which left France before the edict of Nantes was revoked. He was for a short time at the old Charterhouse School, then in the heart of London, and afterwards at University College School, Gower Street.

Becoming a student of the Middle Temple, Mr. Urlin gained the third place in the Voluntary Examination for Honours, at the early age of nineteen, and in consequence was offered an appointment in the newly-formed Court of the Encumbered Estates of Ireland. In 1858, this court became by Statute, the Landed Estates Court, and Mr. Urlin was appointed one of its chief officers, in which position he remained until 1876, when he retired from the public service. Having been elected in 1882 a member of the London School Board for the Chelsea division, he devoted most of his time for the next three years to the arduous duties of this position, as one of an active minority who sought to promote economy and to defend the Voluntary Schools; and in retiring from the Board in 1885, he had the satisfaction of seeing a majority of members returned who were pledged to those principles. He was the author of several legal works, but the most successful of his books has been a Life of Wesley, written for the S.P.C.K., which has circulated largely in England and the Colonies.

One of Mr. Urlin's daughters is the wife of Professor Flinders Petrie; whose companion and help-mate she has been during her husband's explorations in Egypt and Sinai, sharing all his dangers and hardships, as well as his honours.

E. H.

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