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BOOK XX. YAOU YUE.

CHAPTER I. 1. 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." 2. Shun also used the same language in giving charge to Yu.

3. Tang said, "I, the child Le, presume to use a dark-colored 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 offences, they are not to be attributed to you, the people of the myriad regions.. If you in the myriad regions commit offences, these offences must rest on my person."

4. Chow conferred great gifts, and the good were enriched,

5. "Although he has his near relatives, they are not equal to my virtuous men. The people are throwing blame upon me, the one man."

6. He carefully attended to the weights and meas ures, examined the body of the laws, restored the discarded officers, and the good government of the empire took its course.

7. He revived states that had been extinguished, restored families whose line of succession had been broken, and called to office those who had retired into obscurity,

so that throughout the empire the hearts of the people turned towards him.

8. What he attached chief importance to, were the food of the people, the duties of mourning, and sacrifices.

9. By his generosity, he won all. By his sincerity, he made the people repose trust in him. By his earnest activity, his achievements were great. By his justice, all were delighted.

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II. 1. Tsze-chang asked Confucius, saying, "In what should a person in authority act in order that he may conduct government properly?" The Master replied, "Let him honour the five excellent, and banish away the four bad, things;-then may he conduct government properly." Tsze-chang said, "What are meant by the five excellent things?" The Master said, "When the person in authority is beneficent without great expenditure; when he lays tasks on the people without their repining; when he pursues what he desires without being covetous; when he maintains a dignified ease without being proud; when he is majestic without being fierce."

2. Tsze-chang said, "What is meant by being beneficent without great expenditure?" The Master replied, "When the person in authority makes more beneficial to the people the things from which they naturally derive benefit;—is not this being beneficent without great expenditure? When he chooses the labours which are proper, and makes them labour on them, who will repine? When his desires are set on benevolent government, and he realizes it, who will accuse him of covetousness? Whether he has to do with many people or few, or with things great or small, he does not dare to indicate any disrespect;-is not this to maintain a dignified ease without any pride? He adjusts his clothes and cap, and throws a dignity into his looks, so that,

thus dignified, he is looked at with awe;-is not this to be majestic without being fierce?"

3. Tsze-chang then asked, "What are meant by the four bad things?" The Master said, "To put the people to death without having instructed them;-this is called cruelty. To require from them, suddenly, the full tale of work, without having given them warning:-this i called oppression. To issue orders as if without urgency, at first, and, when the time comes, to insist on them with severity;--this is called injury. And, generally speaking, to give pay or rewards to men, and yet to do it in a stingy way;-this is called acting the part of a mere official."

III. 1. The Master said, "Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven, it is impossible to be a superior

man.

2. "Without an acquaintance with the rules of Propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established. 3. "Without knowing the force of words, it is impos sible to know men."

THE GREAT LEARNING.

My master, the ph losopher Ch'ing, says;-"The Great Learning is a book left by Confucius, and forms the gate by which first learners enter into virtue. That we can now perceive the order in which the ancients pursued their learning, is solely owing to the preservation of this work, the Analects and Mencius coming after it. Learners must coinmence their course with this, and then it may be hoped they will be kept from error."

THE TEXT OF CONFUCIUS.

1. What the Great Learning teaches, is-to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.

2. The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.

3. Things have their root and their completion. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.

4. The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the empire, first ordered well their own States. Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the ut

most their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

5. Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed. Their States being rightly governed, the whole empire was made tranquil and happy.

6. From the emperor down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of every thing besides.

7. It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for.

The preceding chapter of classical text is in the words of Confucius, handed down by the philosopher Tsang. The ten chapters of explanation which follow contain the views of Tsang, and were recorded by his disciples. In the old copies of the work, there appeared considerable confusion in these, from the disarrangement of the tablets. But now, availing myself of the decisions of the philosopher Ch'ing, and having examined anew the classical text, I have arranged it in order, as follows:

COMMENTARY OF THE PHILOSOPHER TSANG.

CHAPTER I. 1. In the Announcement to K'ang it is said, "He was able to make his virtue illustrious."

2. In the T'ae Kea, it is said, "He contemplated and studied the illustrious decrees of heaven."

3. In the Canon of the emperor Yaou, it is said, "He was able to make illustrious his lofty virtue."

4. These passages all show how those sovereigns made themselves illustrious.

The above first chapter of commentary explains the illustration of illus trious virtue.

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