more to the lofty standard of our ancestors. | mind. The sayings we have quoted are In time by obedience and dutifulness, the regarded with a degree of respect that is attainments of the ancient kings may be inconceivable in the West. They have equalled. To surpass Yaou and Shun is closely intertwined themselves in men's hopeless. This idea runs through the minds with their opinions on all subjects Analects, and indeed the names of the two secular and sacred. They are the lamps potentates seem sometimes introduced to by whose light every enactment, every prorelieve the solemn master from perplexities. posal, every question is viewed. Instead Panegyrics on these worthies in every pos- of diminishing in power they seem to gather sible connexion present themselves to the strength by the progress of centuries. reader. Every circumstance of their lives, The objections urged to-day against reform and their behaviour under every variety of by the Mandarins of the great Yamuns at circumstances, deserve encomiums. They Peking do not result from any inherent were to be admired for the means whereby inability on the part of the objectors to they acquired power and the dignity with discern the advantages of the proposed which they wielded it. The Master said, changes. They result from the deep-rooted "How majestic was the manner in which impression produced by the Sage's habitual Shun and Yaou held possession of the Em- attitude of retrospection. The officials and pire as if it were nothing to them. Their graduates do not deny the excellence of intellectual and moral gifts were as dis- foreign customs, but if they are ever led to tinguished as their public spirit. The adopt them, they will previously lay the superior man cultivates himself to give rest flattering unction to their souls, that their to all the people. Even Yaou and Shun illustrious ancestors unquestionably poswere still solicitous about this." Once a sessed them in their golden age. Change questioner approached him with the sug-in the Middle Kingdom is never an advance, gestive inquiry whether the highest praise would be deserved by one who laboured all his life through to confer practical benefits on a people. Confucius is apprehensive that he may be entrapped into an admission that a higher type of character was attainable than that of his favourite heroes, so he at once rules that practical qualities must be combined with devotion to study: in Lord Bacon's words, the contemplative ends' must be regarded as well as the civil ends, for so it was with the patterns for all the ages. Tsze-kung said, "Suppose the case of a man extensively conferring benefits on the people and able to assist all, what would you say of him? Might he be called perfectly virtuous ?" The Master said, "Why speak only of virtue in connexion with him? Must he not have the qualities of a sage? Even The question, however, yet remains, Yaou and Shun were still solicitous about What were the distinctive features of the this." To crown all, when extolling the system of Confucius? His latest translator supreme wisdom which marked the domin- and biographer has stigmatized him as union of the first of these two sovereigns, he religious and unspiritual.' It is possible rises into a hyperbole extravagant even for that as our readers proceed they will see an Oriental: earth contains no fitting sym- cause to regard these accusations as too bol of his hero's greatness: The Master sweeping and severe. Doubtless there is said, "Great indeed was Yaou as a mon- much to desiderate in his system, and its arch! How majestic was he! It is only most grievous shortcomings are in the diheaven that is grand and only Yaou corre-rection Dr. Legge points out by these two sponded to it. How vast was his virtue! adjectives. But the chief features may be The people could find no name for it. How majestic was he in the works which he accomplished. How glorious in the elegant regulations which he instituted." It is easy to see how this habit of idealizing and exalting the past has influenced the Chinese | , it is a return. It is laid down as an axiomatic truth that there never can be a futurę age superior in learning, piety, and prosperity to the past. This was the first principle of Confucius, and happily it has been seldom borrowed by other system-makers. Many nations, it is true, have pleased themselves with looking back on a primal era of purity, righteousness, and peace; but they have invariably hoped to attain after rolling ages to a yet more glorious inheritance. The Greeks acknowledged that the reign of Saturn was over, but hope pointed to the day when the father of Jupiter should resume his reign. The Chinese philosophers have no Elysium. The Book of Confucius is a Bible with a Paradise Lost, but no apocalyptic vision of a Paradise to be Regained! best understood if we seek to summarize what is known of his teachings:-1. On the character of God; 2. On the filial relations; 3. On death; 4. On the supernatural. I. Let us see the sum and substance of his precepts on the being and attributes of God. 6 Dr. Legge assures us that with all his vast and profound reverence for antiquity, he fell short of the high standard of the ancients in his doctrine on this important matter.* The name of God,' we are told, 'is common in the She-king and Shoo-king. Te or Shang-te appears there as a personal being, ruling in heaven and on earth, the author of man's moral nature; the governor among the nations, by whom kings reign and princes decree justice; the rewarder of good, and the punisher of bad.' Confucius preferred to speak of Heaven. He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray,' he says; and again, My studies lie low and my penetration rises high but there is Heaven that knows me. Admitting that he preferred one term to the other, we shall not immediately arrive at the conclusion that the Sage was an atheist; indeed, as we shall see, a certain Greek, living in the same century as Confucius, to whom we have only hitherto made a cursory allusion, obtained the title of a deist for using language precisely coinciding with that of Confucius. Xenophanes of Colophon, who resembled the Chinese in the many disappointments of his life, and perhaps in the dark melancholy of its close, agreed with him in proclaiming his conviction that heaven, in its splendour and vastness, was indeed and in truth Divinity itself. In the vivid language of Mr. Lewes, Overarching him was the deep blue infinite vault immovable, unchangeable, embracing him and all things; that he proclaimed to be God.'t Now, if Xenophanes was an atheist, it may be said that Confucius was an atheist also; but if, as Aristotle says, the founder of the Eleatics, casting his eyes upward at the immensity of heaven, declared that the one is God,' then we must regard the accusation against the Chinese as a statement calculated to mislead. psalmists, who first used them, any save spiritual ideas cannot be conceived; but that they always preserved their spiritual significance to the minds of degenerate Jews lusting after idols, or to mediæval Christians whose best instructors were illuminated manuscripts and miracle plays, few writers would be hardy enough to assert. The body of the Chinese people in the fifth century before Christ were as carnal-minded as the Jews in the reign of Ahaz, and as ignorant as the Christians of the Middle Ages. Such persons would inevitably have reduced any phrases capable of misinterpretation to tally with the conceptions of a mean anthropomorphism. Confucius seems to have had a nervous horror of language on which a gross or material construction could be placed; leaning towards a practical materialism in his philosophy, he shrank from materialism in religion. Idolatry, as we understand the word, he hated and despised, and therefore we are disposed to think that his use of the term 'Heaven' arose from a dread of the abuses his employment of any other term might entail. He was quite sagacious enough to see that the people he taught were only too likely to misrepresent his teachings. Save that, as we shall see, he neglected to provide for one want of his countrymen, he was a perfect master of their character. He knew how far they might be trusted, and at what point reserve was wise. When we remember his absolute respect for antiquity, we may be certain some very cogent reason must have induced him to deviate from its customs. That Yaou and Shun had spoken of Te and Shang-Te with reverence was a strong reason to induce one to suppose that he would be found to speak of them with adoration. He does nothing of the kind. On the contrary, he studiously omits the personal name.' This deviation from his usual practice must have been prompted by a strong We shall indeed look in vain in the An-reason. That reason we cannot imagine to alects for reference to a personal God akin have been cold unbelief. to those declarations which pervade the Hebrew Scriptures. The Semitic men and the Semitic books dealt in bold and rugged figures of speech. Their God is a deity with a right hand and a stretched-out arm, a heart that is jealous of his favourites, and a breath that blasts his foes. Intelligent orthodoxy, believing in a God without a body, parts, or passions, regards these expressions as strong metaphors. That these expressions presented to the prophets and Legge's Chinese Classics,' vol. 1. p. 99. + Lewes's History of Philosophy,' vol. i. p. 44. The Chinese Sage, we are assured, yields to no uninspired writer in the dignity and spirituality of his conception of an Eternal Power reigning over all and comprehending all, but he knew the fatal proclivities of the people for whom he toiled, to form low and degrading conceptions of Deity, and to make their gods many and lords many.' He had read in the records of the past how the Shang dynasty began with an emperor (Ching-tang), who established the worship of Shang-te, the Supreme Ruler, and ended 6 * * Middle Kingdom, vol. ii. p. 209. with a monster of impiety and folly (Wuyih), who made images of clay in the shape of human beings, dignified them with the names of gods, and triumphed when he vanquished his senseless antagonists at draughts or dice.' Anything seemed better to him than such a moral and mental catastrophe as this. He was resolved to avoid any possibility of such a pitiful and shameful conclusion to his work, and abstained from any allusion to the attributes of Deity which materialism could mistake or distort. please of what I have said.' It is clear Another cause might have co-operated with the one just mentioned to suggest to Confucius reserve on this all-important theme. It must never be forgotten that he was not the only great law-maker of his age and country. Laoutsze, or Laou-kiu, the founder of the influential and multitudinous sect of Taouists, or Rationalists, was known to Confucius, and his interviews with this great rival unquestionably coloured his teaching. They met, heard each other, and asked each other questions. Laoutoze II. The view which Confucius took of the was the elder of the two, and had completed filial relations is perhaps the legitimate rehis system and secured his fame when sult of his failure to realize a personal God. Confucius was learning and seeking after His doctrine grew out of two propositions, truth. There is no record of the dialogues which were axiomatic truths to his mind. which took place between the sages. We First, the empire of China was all undermay conjecture, however, that conversations heaven' the only portion of the universe commenced in mutual distrust, terminated worthy of care. Secondly, Heaven in its in a conviction of irreconcilable antipathy. calm majesty could not condescend to superThey had nothing in common. Laoutsze intend the concerns even of the most fawas a sour ascetic, who affected solitude, voured of nations. Hence arose a difficulty, exercised himself with penances, and de- for he could not conceive the Middle Kingspised practical life. Confucius mixed dom, the greatest family in the world, being everywhere and always with his fellow-men, less fortunate than the household of the was temperate but never austere, and re- peasant, which had the boon of a parent's garded the smallest topic of human interest superintendence. It was necessary, then, as worthy of his attention and observation. for some person to be found sufficiently digThe interviews between Laoutsze and Con- nified and sufficiently powerful to take this fucius ended probably in the corroboration supreme charge. The Sage could not find of both in their previous opinions. They such an one in the heaven above, so he had no common standing-point. No plat- sought him in the earth beneath. Royalty form that Chinese joiners could fashion was was a cold abstraction, but, endeared by broad enough to hold those two. The the epithets of filial affection, and invested Sage,' says Laoutsze (we quote M. G. with the tender responsibilities of fatherPanthier), loves obscurity. He does not hood, it at once enlisted the love of the peodesire public employment, he rather avoids ple. The nation's sovereign and the nait. He will not convey his thoughts to all tion's father were one, and the Emperor comers, but attends to time and place, and only differed from the head of a house in prefers that his instructions should be that the circle of which he was the centre known after his death, rather than during was larger than any other circle. The vast his life. In auspicious days he speaks, in circumference of imperial sway contained a times of calamity he is silent. He knows million minor circumferences. Thus the that if he exposes his treasures they may be reverence of the son to the sire is a tribute stolen from him, and will not tell everybody paid to the great Father of all the families where they are to be found. A virtuous of the realm, for the head of each household man does not parade his virtue; a wise is a type of the head of all the households. man does not proclaim his wisdom. I have In this reverence there was to be no forno more to say; make what account you mality, no coldness, no unreality. The Founder of Christianity Himself, when he | mirable in these propositions, and for the rebukes the Pharisees for the evasions of the corban, is not stronger than Confucius in insisting on heart-whole and loving piety. Tsze-Yew asked what filial piety was. The Master said, "The filial piety of nowa-days means the support of one's parents. But dogs and horses likewise are able to do something in the way of support: without reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?" sake of clearness we give them* below laid down in the tabular form so much used by Chinese scholars. A glance at this chart will show the reader that the regard to the filial relations which is popularly supposed to be the Be-all and End-all of Chinese morality, is only a consistent part of a large and comprehensive ethical system, not unworthy to take rank with those which have been framed and professed by the philosophers, the sages, and the divines of the West. Very beautiful are some of the precepts which the Master addresses to his disciples on this matter. Minute they are, of course, as we might expect, but yet by their affectionate particularity exhibiting the deep and devout interest with which the Sage regarded the duty. To take instances: The Mas、ter said, “While his parents are alive, the son may not go abroad to a distance. If he does go abroad, he must have a fixed place to which he goes." "If the son for three years does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial." "The years of parents may by no means not be kept in memory, as an occasion at once for joy and for fear." There is much to admire in these rules, and much to praise in the simple plan of binding a state together by those links which are found to unite most firmly its component parts. is far-reaching wisdom in the sentence which stands almost in the front of the Analects: The philosopher Yew said, "They are few who being filial and fraternal are fond of of-man, every one must begin fending against their superiors. There have been none who not liking to offend against their superiors have been fond of stirring up confusion." The observer of Chinese life is never allowed to forget the peculiar sanctity of the tie between child and parent; indeed the wide influence of this ordinance is one of the wonders of history. Though twentyfour dynasties have succeeded to the throne, though a change of capital and a change of costume have been forced on the black-haired nation, though Chih-hwangte ordered that every scroll containing a sentence of the Sage's writings should be burned with fire, though Kublai-Khan placed There Those who have amplified and expanded the Confucian doctrine have taken man the unit, and have declared his mission in the world with a clearness which puts in its proper place this much-talked-of filial piety. From the various sayings of the Sage, if carefully collated, a system of ethics may be formed not unlike the following: - Man at his best should possess a character which combines intelligence and piety - the highest type of being is a holy sage. He attains this moral and intellectual place by personal virtue, by right feeling, by correctness of purpose and intelligence of mind. Thus equipped with moral and mental qualities, his duty is to aim at social improvement by the discipline of the family. Should his circle widen, the same principles will be found helpful to uphold and improve the government of the Empire, and perhaps in the fulness of time to the reduction of the world to obedience, and the return of the days of Yaou and Shun. There is much that is ad * Chart of the Great Study (Ta Heo). Heaven having given existence to man, the doctrine of the Great Study succeeded and established Order in Society. Restricted in its sphere With free scope for its exercise it makes a reformer of the world-a true king. (From the Son of Heaven down to the private with personal virtue.) His aim is Personal Virtue: the means to its I. Propriety of Conduct: II. Right Feeling: III. Correctness of Pur. pose: Self-examina- His aim is Social Im provement: the means to its attainment are:- Family: Filial Fiety; The Great Study stops only at Perfection. borrow his confidence from the hope of a blissful resurrection, or from the fatalist's grim acquiescence in the inevitable. Death was the custom of the world, and he prepared to submit to it. Tartars in every bureau, in every camp, in conviction of the cold terror of such an every college, in every prefecture, in every end. It is the peculiarity of Confucius that hamlet, with orders to obliterate all dis- he viewed the great change from life to tinctive institutions of the conquered peo- death in silence. Ignorance did not apple, the sacred elevation on which Confu-parently dissatisfy him, and a shadowy uncius placed filial piety has never been low-known did not appal him; but he did not ered. The son still rises at dawn, enters with bowed head the chamber of his father, ministers to him if he be sick, offers him his morning meal with obeisance if he be in health, and respectfully supports him when he rises for the day. The daughter still makes it her special care to wake at cock-crow, to put on her comeliest garments, and thus dressed, to repair to her mother-in-law, to inquire how she has slept, to add more coverings if it be winter, and to fan away the mosquitoes if it be summer. These are not practices recommended in books of morality, they are ordinances enforced by solemn and specific injunctions from the Board of Rites, and are obligatory alike in the yamun of the mandarin on whose back and breast glitters the Imperial dragon, and in the bamboo hut of the coolie who staggers under teaboxes when the thermometer is at 90, with a string of cash for his wages. о III. The view Confucius took of Death has influenced the national mind and the national practice far more widely than might have been imagined, for he really was more remarkable for what he did not say, than for what he did say on this subject. One of his disciples, Ke-Loo, asked him about death. The reply was, 'While you do not know life, what can you know about death?' This is all. It is not sufficient to say such a sentence was 'characteristic, neither is it enough to say the philosopher who uttered it was unspiritual.' It marks a man utterly unlike those who have usually exercised wide influence on the minds of their fellow-creatures. The men who have directed the speculations of others to any great extent, have been men who have encouraged inquiry into the mysteries that encompass life, and have professed to bring solutions to the obstinate questionings' and the blank misgivings of humanity. Some of the wise, it is true, have so far resembled Confucius as to confess with candour how little they knew, but the acknowledgment of ignorance has ever been made with regret. In many cases there have been indications of a persistent hope that this ignorance would in time be exchanged for knowledge. The idea that the rush of darkness at last' will be unrelieved by any beam of light, has seldom crossed the human mind without a deep · But it may not unreasonably be asked, why a teacher who had no definite notions of a future life should have reverenced the grave so profoundly? A man who viewed the destruction of living powers itself' (to use Butler's language) almost with apathy, was earnest, even enthusiastic in offering every mark of respect to those whose living powers' were once destroyed. This would be intelligible if we found any anticipations in the Confucian system of that sentiment of affectionate regard for the human body as a sacred temple which was developed by Christianity; but we find nothing of the sort. What principle, then, induced the philosopher, who had no theories about the nature of dissolution, and no ideas about the constitution of another world, to take this strange paradoxical interest in the paraphernalia of death? The opinions of his foreign admirers, more positive and shapely than those of the Master, contain the germ of a theory which may account for this peculiarity; and this reconciling theory appears at its best in the Essay of a recent English writer, who has elaborated it in the following remarkable passage: of Confucius, writes a modern Comtist, could These worshippers,' meaning the disciples not understand the rigid line which in more the dead. That the lips were mute, the limbs modern thought has separated the living from still, that the pulse had ceased to beat, and that there was no longer any painful murmur of the breath, were doubtless very strange and awful changes, but they were no proof that the pallid form which they had loved had ceased to live. They showed only the will of heaven that he should be restored to his own home in the lap of earth, there to rest as a new power, an object of reverent worship. They carried him to some lonely hill-summit, trees and flowers were planted, and it became a sacred and inviolable spot, where the mourner felt the presence of an with those who had passed from sight. There unseen love, and held sweet yet close communion the son came for years to mourn his father; the wife her husband; thither, when they died, their children followed them, until, when generation after generation had followed one another thus, each mourner became unawares a partaker in |