Heaven and "the

preceding chapter.

way of men," mentioned in the The twelve chapters that follow

are all from Tsze-sze, repeating and illustrating the meaning of this one.

XXII. It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can give its full development to his nature. Able to give its full development to his own nature, he can do the same to the nature of other men. Able to give its full development to the nature of other men, he can give their full

"the Han scholars were all ignorant of its meaning. Under the Sung dynasty, first came Le Pang-Chih, who defined it by freedom from all deception. After him, Seu Chung-Keu said that it meant ceaselessness. Then one of the Ch'ing called it freedom from all moral error; and finally, Choo He added to this the positive element of truth and reality, on which the definition of the term was complete." Rémusat calls it-la perfection, and "la perfection morale." Intorcetta and his friends call itvera solidaque perfectio. Simplicity or singleness of soul seems to be what is chiefly intended by the term; the disposition to and capacity of what is good, without any deteriorating element, with no defect of intelligence, or intromission of selfish thoughts. This belongs to Heaven, to Heaven and Earth, and to the sage. Men, not naturally sages, may, by cultivating the intelligence of what is good, raise themselves to this elevation.

Here, at the outset, I may observe that, in this portion of the Work, there are specially the three following dogmas, which are more than questionable:-1st, That there are some men-sages-naturally in a state of moral perfection; 2nd, That the same moral perfection is attainable by others, in whom its development is impeded by their material organization, and the influence of external things; and 3rd, That the understanding of what is good will certainly lead to such moral perfection.

22. THE RESULTS OF SINCERITY; AND HOW THE POSSESSOR OF IT FORMS A TERNION WITH HEAVEN AND EARTH. What I have called giving full development to the nature," is, literally, "exhausting the nature; "but, by what processes and in what way, the character tells us nothing. The "giving full development to his nature," however, may be understood with Maou, as="pursuing THE PATH in accordance with his nature, so that what Heaven has conferred on him is displayed without shortcoming or let." The “giving its development to the nature of other men" indicates the sage's helping them, by his examples and lessons, to perfect themselves. "His exhausting the nature of things," i. e., of all other beings, animate and inanimate, is, according to Choo He, "knowing them completely, and dealing with them correctly," "so,” add the paraphrasts, "that he secures their prosperous increase and development according to their nature." Here, however, a Buddhist idea appears in Choo He's commentary. He says:-"The nature of other men and things (animals) is the same with my nature," which, it is observed in

development to the natures of animals and things. Able to give their full development to the natures of creatures and things, he can assist the transforming and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth. Able to assist the transforming and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth, he may with Heaven and Earth form a ternion.

XXIII. Next to the above is he who cultivates to the utmost the shoots of goodness in him. From those he can attain to the possession of sincerity. This sincerity becomes apparent. From being apparent, it becomes manifest. From being manifest, it becomes brilliant. Brilliant, it affects others. Affecting others, they are changed by it.Changed by it, they are transformed. It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can transform.

Maou's work, is the same with the Buddhist sentiment, that "a dog has the nature of Buddha," and with that of the philosopher Kaou, that “ a dog's nature is the same as a man's.' Maou himself illustrates the exhausting the nature of things," by reference to the Shoo-king, IV. Bk IV. 2, where we are told that under the first sovereigns of the Hea dynasty, "the mountains and rivers all enjoyed tranquillity, and the birds and beasts, the fishes and tortoises, all realized the happiness of their nature. It is thus that the sage "assists Heaven and Earth." K'angshing, indeed, explains this by saying ::-"The sage, receiving Heaven's appointment to the imperial throne, extends everywhere a happy tranquillity." Evidently there is a reference in the language to the mystical paragraph at the end of the first chapter. "Heaven and Earth" take the place here of the single term "Heaven," in chapter xx., paragraph 18. On this Ying-tă observes:-"It is said above, sincerity is the way of Heaven, and here mention is made also of Earth. The reason is, that the reference above, was to the principle of sincerity in its spiritual and mysterious origin, and thence the expression simple,- The way of Heaven; but here we have the transformation and nourishing seen in the production of things, and hence Earth is associated with Heaven." This is not very intelligible, but it is to bring out the idea of a ternion, that the great, supreme, ruling Power is thus dualized. The original term means a file of three," and I employ "ternion to express the idea, just as we use quarternion" for a file of four. What is it but blasphemy, thus to file man with the supreme Power ?

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23. THE WAY OF MAN-THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERFECT SINCERITY IN THOSE NOT NATURALLY POSSESSED OF IT. There is some difficulty

here about the term which I have translated shoots. It properly means "crooked,” and, with a bad application, often signifies "deflection from what is straight and right." Yet it cannot have a bad meaning here, for if it have, the use of it will be, in the connection, unintelligible. One writer uses this comparison : Put a stone on a bamboo shoot, or where the shoot would show itself, and it will travel round the stone, and

XXIV. It is characteristic of the most entire sincerity to be able to foreknow. When a nation or family is about to flourish, there are sure to be happy omens; and when it is about to perish, there are sure to be unlucky omens. Such events are seen in the milfoil and tortoise, and affect the movements of the four limbs. When calamity or happiness is about to come, the good shall certainly be foreknown by him, and the evil also. Therefore the individual possessed of the most complete sincerity is like a spirit.

XXV. 1. Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.

2. Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing. On this account, the superior man regards the attainment of sincerity as the most excellent thing.

3. The possessor of sincerity does not merely accomplish the self-completion of himself. With this quality

come out crookedly at its side." So it is with the good nature, whose free development is repressed. It shows itself in shoots, but if they be cultivated and improved, a moral condition and influence may be attained, equal to that of the sage.

24. THAT ENTIRE SINCERITY CAN FOREKNOW. "Lucky omens; --these are intimated by two terms, denoting respectively unusual appearances of things existing in a country, and appearances of things new. "Unlucky omens are in the same way indicated by two terms, the former being spoken of "prodigies of plants, and of strangely dressed boys singing ballads," and the latter of prodigious animals. For the milfoil and tortoise, see the Yih-king, Appendix I. xi.; and the notes on the Shoo-king, V. Bk. IV. 20—30. The four limbs are by K'ang-shing interpreted of the feet of the tortoise, each foot being peculiarly appropriate to divination in a particular season. Choo He interprets them of the four limbs of the human body. "Like a spirit" must be left as indefinite in the translation as it is in the text.-The whole chapter is eminently absurd, and gives a character of ridiculousness to all the magniloquent teaching about "entire sincerity." The foreknowledge attributed to the sage,—the mate of Heaven, -is only a guessing by means of augury, sorcery, and other follies.

25. HOW FROM SINCERITY COMES SELF-COMPLETION, AND THE COMPLETION OF OTHERS AND OF THINGS. I have had difficulty in translating this chapter, because it is difficult to understand it. We wish that we had the writer before us to question him; but if we had, it is not likely that he would be able to afford us much satisfaction. Persuaded that what he denominates sincerity is a figment, we may not wonder at the extravagance of its predicates. 2. I translate the expansion of this in the "Daily

he completes other men and things also. The completing himself shows his perfect virtue. The completing other men and things shows his knowledge. Both these are virtues belonging to the nature, and this is the way by which a union is effected of the external and internal. Therefore, whenever he-the entirely sincere man-employs them, that is, these virtues,-their action will be right. XXVI. 1. Hence to entire sincerity there belongs ceaselessness.

2. Not ceasing, it continues long. Continuing long, it evidences itself.

3. Evidencing itself, it reaches far. Reaching far, it becomes large and substantial. Large and substantial, it becomes high and brilliant.

4. Large and substantial;-this is how it contains all things. High and brilliant ;-this is how it overspreads all things. Reaching far and continuing long;-this is how it perfects all things.

5. So large and substantial, the individual possessing it is the co-equal of Earth. So high and brilliant, it makes

Lesson :"-" All that fill up the space between heaven and earth are things. They end and they begin again; they begin and proceed to an end; every change being accomplished by sincerity, and every phenomenon having sincerity unceasingly in it. So far as the mind of man is concerned, if there be not sincerity, then every movement of it is vain and false. How can an unreal mind accomplish real things? Although it may do something, that is simply equivalent to nothing. Therefore, the superior man searches out the source of sincerity, and examines the evil of insincerity, chooses what is good, and firmly holds it fast, so seeking to arrive at the place of truth and reality." Maou's explanation is:-"Now, since the reason why the sincerity of spiritual beings is so incapable of being repressed, and why they foreknow, is because they enter into things, and there is nothing without them :-shall there be anything which is without the entirely sincere man, who is as a spirit? I have given these specimens of commentary, that the reader may, if he can, by means of them, gather some apprehensible meaning from the text.

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26. A PARALLEL BETWEEN THE SAGE POSSESSED OF ENTIRE SINCERITY, AND HEAVEN AND EARTH, SHOWING THAT THE SAME QUALITIES BELONG TO THEM. The first six paragraphs show the way of the sage; the next three show the way of Heaven and Earth; and the last brings the two ways together, in their essential nature, in a passage from the She-king. The doctrine of the chapter is liable to the criticisms which have been made on the twenty-second chapter. And, moreover, there is in it a sad confusion of the visible heavens and earth with the immaterial power and reason which govern them; in a word, with God. 1. Choo He is condemned by recent writers for making a new chapter to commence here.

him the co-equal of Heaven. So far-reaching and longcontinuing, it makes him infinite.

6. Such being its nature, without any display, it becomes manifested; without any movement, it produces changes; and without any effort, it accomplishes its

ends.

7. The way of Heaven and Earth may be completely declared in one sentence.-They are without any doubleness, and so they produce things in a manner that is unfathomable.

8. The way of Heaven and Earth is large and substantial, high and brilliant, far-reaching and long-enduring.

9. The heaven now before us is only this bright shining spot; but when viewed in its inexhaustible extent, the sun, moon, stars, and constellations of the zodiac are suspended in it, and all things are overspread by it. The earth before us is but a handful of soil; but when regarded in its breadth and thickness, it sustains mountains like the Hwa and the Yoh, without feeling their weight, and contains the rivers and seas, without their leaking away. The mountain now before us appears only a stone; but when contemplated in all the vastness of its size, we see how the grass and trees are produced on it, and birds and beasts dwell on it, and precious things which men treasure up are found on it. The water now before us appears but a ladleful; yet extending our view to its unfathomable depths, the largest tortoises, iguanas, iguanadons, dragons, fishes, and turtles, are produced in them; articles of value and sources of wealth abound in them.

Yet the matter is sufficiently distinct from that of the preceding one. Where the "Hence" takes hold of the text above, however, it is not easy to discover. One interpreter says that it indicates a conclusion from all the preceding predicates about sincerity. "Entire sincerity" is to be understood, now in the abstract, now in the concrete. But the fifth paragraph seems to be the place to bring out the personal idea, as I have done. The last predicate is, literally, "without bounds,' our infinite. Surely it is strange-passing strange-to apply that term in the description of any created being. 7. What I said was the prime idea in "sincerity," viz., “simplicity," "singleness of soul," is very conspicuous here. It surprises us, however, to find Heaven and Earth called "things," at the same time that they are represented as by their entire sincerity producing all things. 9. This paragraph is said to illustrate the unfathomableness of Heaven and Earth in producing things, showing how it springs from their sin