when that desire is disappointed, to practice them alone; to be above the power of riches and honors to make dissipated; of poverty and mean condition to make swerve from principle, and of power and force to make bend: these characteristics constitute the great man.

Mencius said, "The superior man has three things in which he delights, and to be ruler over the empire is not one of them :

"That his father and mother are both alive, and that the condition of his brothers affords no cause for anxiety this is one delight.

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“That when looking up, he has no occasion for shame before heaven; and below, he has no occasion to blush before men: this is a second delight.

"That he can get from the whole empire the most talented individuals, and teach and nourish them: this is the third delight.

"There are five ways in which the superior man effects his teaching:

"There are some on whom his influence descends like seasonable rain.

"There are some whose virtue he perfects, and some of whose talents he assists the development.

"There are some whose inquiries he answers.

"There are some who privately cultivate and correct themselves.

"These five ways are the methods in which the superior man effects his teaching."

Mencius said, "When the superior men of old had errors they reformed them. The superior men of the present time, when they have errors, persist in them. The errors of the superior men of old were like eclipses

of the sun and moon-all the people witnessed them, and when they had reformed them, all the people looked up to them with their former admiration. But do the superior men of the present day only persist in their errors? They go on to raise apologizing discussions about them, likewise."

THE GOOD MAN DELIGHTS IN WHAT IS GOOD.

Mencius said, "When any one told Tsze-loo that he had a fault, he rejoiced.

"When Yu heard good words, he bowed to the speaker. "The great Shun had a still greater delight in what was good. He regarded virtue as the common property of himself and others, giving up his own way to follow that of others, and delighting to learn from others to practice what was good.

"From the time when he plowed and sowed, exercised the potter's art, and was a fisherman, to the time when he became emperor, he was continually learning from others.

"To take example from others to practice virtue, is to help them in the same practice. Therefore, there is no attribute of the superior man greater than his helping man to practice virtue."

Haou-sang Puh-hae asked, saying, "What sort of a man is Yo-ching?" Mencius replied, "He is a good man, a real man."

"What do you mean by 'A good man, a real man?” The reply was, "A man who commands our liking, is what is called a good man.

"He whose goodness is part of himself, is what is called

a real man.

"He whose goodness has been filled up, is what is called a beautiful man.

"He whose completed goodness is brightly displayed, is what is called a great man.

"When this great man exercises a transforming influence, he is what is called a sage.

"When the sage is beyond our knowledge, he is what is called a spirit-man."

Confucius said, "I hate a semblance which is not the reality. I hate the darnel, lest it be confounded with. the corn. I hate glib-tonguedness, lest it be confounded with righteousness. I hate sharpness of tongue, lest it be confounded with sincerity.

"The superior man seeks simply to bring back the unchanging standard, and that being rectified, the masses are roused to virtue. When they are so aroused, forthwith perversities and glossed wickedness disappear."

EDUCATION.

The minister of agriculture taught the people to sow and reap, cultivating the five kinds of grain. When the five kinds of grain were brought to maturity, the people all enjoyed a comfortable subsistence. Now men possess a moral nature; but if they are well fed, warmly clad, and comfortably lodged, without being taught at the same time, they become almost like the beasts. This was a subject of anxious solicitude to the sage Shun, and he appointed See to be the minister of instruction, to

teach the relations of humanity: how, between father and son, there should be affection; between sovereign and minister, righteousness; between husband and wife, attention to their separate functions; between old and young, a proper order; and between friends, fidelity.* The highly meritorious emperor said to him, "Encourage them; lead them on; rectify them; straighten them; help them; give them wings: thus causing them to become possessors of themselves. Then follow this up by stimulating them, and conferring benefits on them." When the sages were exercising their solicitude for the people in this way, had they leisure to cultivate the ground?†

The imparting by a man to others of his wealth is called "a kindness." The teaching others what is good. is called "the exercise of fidelity." The finding a man who shall benefit the empire is called "benevolence." Hence, to give the empire to another man would be easy; to find a man who shall benefit the empire is difficult.

Mencius said, "In learning extensively, and discussing minutely what is learned, the object of the superior man is that he may be able to go back and set forth in brief what is essential."

*These are the five relations on which much has been written, and which embody about everything that the Chinese regard as the Chief End of Man.

† Here we may trace the origin of the system of Education and Literary Examinations which has prevailed in China to the present time. There are three advanced degrees, and only those who have obtained these degrees are eligible respectively to the different grades of office.

KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED BY SUCCESSIVE STEPS, AND BY

PERSEVERANCE.

Mencius said, "Confucius ascended the eastern hill, and Loo appeared to him small. He ascended the T'ae mountain, and all beneath the heavens appeared to him small. So, he who has contemplated the sea finds it difficult to think anything of other waters, and he who has wandered in the gate of the sage, finds it difficult to think anything of the words of others.*

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Flowing water is a thing which does not proceed till it has filled the hollows in its course. The student who has set his mind on the doctrines of the sage, does not advance to them but by completing one lesson after another.

"He who rises at cock-crowing, and addresses himself earnestly to the practice of virtue, is a disciple of Shun.

"He who rises at cock-crowing, and addresses himself earnestly to the pursuit of gain, is a disciple of Chih.

"If you want to know what separates Shun from Chih, it is simply this: the interval between the thought of gain and the thought of virtue.

"A man with definite aims to be accomplished may be compared to one digging a well. To dig the well to a depth of seventy-two cubits, and stop without reaching the spring, is after all throwing away the well.” †

*The T'ae mountain is the chief of the five great mountains of China. It lay on the extreme east of T'se, in the present district of T'ae-ngan.

†That labor only is to be prized which accomplishes the object.