When he entered the ancestral temple of the State, he asked about everything.

When any of his friends died, if he had no relations who could be depended on for the necessary offices, he would say, "I will bury him."

When a friend sent him a present, though it might be a carriage and horses, he did not bow.

The only present for which he bowed was that of the flesh of sacrifice.

In bed, he did not lie like a corpse. not put on any formal deportment.

At home, he did

When he saw any one in a mourning dress, though it might be an acquaintance, he would change countenance; when he saw any one wearing the cap of full dress, or a blind person, though he might be in his undress, he would salute them in a ceremonious manner.

To any person in mourning he bowed forward to the crossbar of his carriage; he bowed in the same way to any one bearing the tables of population.

When he was at an entertainment where there was an abundance of provisions set before him, he would change countenance and rise up,

*

On a sudden clap of thunder, or a violent wind, he would change countenance.

When he was about to mount his carriage, he would stand straight, holding the cord.

When he was in the carriage, he did not turn his head quite round, he did not talk hastily, he did not point with his hands.

*"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee, and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite."

CHAPTER II.

THEOLOGY AND RELIGION.

HEAVEN DECREES, HELPS, REWARDS, PUNISHES.

"Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon Heaven."

The Master said, "If my principles are to advance, it is so ordered. If they are to fall to the ground, it is so ordered. What can the Kung-pih Leaou do, where such ordering is concerned?"

Yaou said, "Oh! you, Shun, the Heaven-determined order of succession now rests in your person. Sincerely hold fast the Due Mean. If there shall be distress and want within the four seas, your Heavenly revenue will come to a perpetual end."

Shun also used the same language in giving charge to Yu.

T’ang said, “I, the child Le, presume to use a darkcolored victim, and presume to announce to Thee, O most great and sovereign God, that the sinner I dare not pardon, and thy ministers, O God, I do not keep in obscurity. The examination of them is by thy mind, O God. If, in my person, I commit offenses, they are not

to be attributed to you, the people of the myriad regions. If you, in the myriad regions commit offenses, these offenses must rest on my person."

SERVING THE SPIRITS, AND WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS.

Ke Loo asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?" Ke Loo added, I venture to ask about death?" He was answered, "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?” Tsze-loo said, "There are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain."

The Master, speaking of Chung-kung, said, "If the calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, although man may not wish to use it, would the spirits of the mountains and rivers put it aside?”

*

Tsze-kung wished to do away with the offering of a sheep connected with the inauguration of the first day of each month.

The Master said, "Tsze, you love the sheep; I love the ceremony." †

* The rules of the Chow dynasty required that sacrificial victims should be red and have good horns. An animal with those qualities, though it might spring from one not possessing them, would certainly not be unacceptable on that account to the spirits sacrificed to.

† The emperor in the last month of the year gave out to the princes a calendar for the first days of the twelve months of the year ensuing. This was kept in their ancestral temples, and on the first of each month they offered a sheep and announced the day, requesting sanction for the duties of the month.

He (Confucius) sacrificed to the dead as if they were present. He sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits were present.

The Master said, "I consider my not being present at the sacrifice as if I did not sacrifice."

The philosopher Tsăng said, "Let there be a careful attention to perform the funeral rites to parents, and let them be followed when long gone with the ceremonies of sacrifice: then the virtue of the people will resume its proper excellence."

Tsze-hea said, "Mourning having been carried to the utmost degree of grief, should stop with that."

The philosopher Tsăng said, "I heard this from our Master. Men may not have shown what is in them to the full extent, and yet they will be found to do so on occasion of mourning for their parents."*

Lin Fang asked what was the first thing to be attended to in ceremonies.

The Master said, "A great question, indeed!"

"In festive ceremonies it is better to be sparing than extravagant. In the ceremonies of mourning it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances."†

*The sentiment designed to be expressed is, that grief for the loss of parents brings out the real nature of man.

†The reader may wonder that this chapter is so short, since the Chinese are such a religious people; but throughout the work he will find many allusions to religious matters, and more of them would have been introduced here but for the fact that the paragraphs in which they occur belong more especially to other sub

CONFUCIUS HAD NOT HEARD OF THE ATONEMENT.

The Master said, "He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray."

"If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret."

jects. The reader, however, will not fail to notice and be struck by them wherever they occur.

As to the religious belief and practice of Confucius, he will learn that he believed in the power of heaven to decree, to reward and punish; that he worshiped heaven and earth, the spirits, and ancestors; that he prayed much, and sacrificed much; and that much emphasis was placed on the duties and ceremonies of mourning for parents.

The ancient Chinese believed in the existence and controlling power of spirits. They talked about the spirits of the land and grain, and of the hills and the fountains, and of the rain altars. They believed in omens, lucky and unlucky. They were superstitious, as they are now.

Mention is frequently made of Shang Tai, the High Ruler, by which the ancient Chinese doubtless understood a great ruling power somewhere. Shang Tai and Heaven generally meant the same thing, though many times in speaking of heaven as an object of worship their conceptions arose no higher than the visible heavens.

The Chinese now everywhere have gods which they call Shang Tai, of which they have images, and concerning which their ideas are as low as concerning any other god which they worship.