the exterior. The Sphynx, and some deep recent explorations, were visited. We then gave backsheesh to the Arabs, bought some idols, coins, and other curiosities, and afterward enjoyed the excellent lunch provided for us. A French party offered a prize of a napoleon to the Arab who should first reach the top of the Pyramid and descend again. A number competed, and one rather aged man accomplished the ascent in four minutes, and the descent in three-and-a-half.

HOTELS, TENTS, ETC,

The hotels in Cairo number one or two good ones, some very indifferent, and others wretchedly bad. We returned on Thursday to Alexandria. We now took our passage in the Vesta, for Jaffa, calling at Port Said. The whole day was spent in viewing the entrance to the magnificent Suez ship canal, and examining the prodigious dredging-machines employed. The town of Port Said has sprung up in connection with this great undertaking, and consists of several streets of wooden cafés and liquor and other stores. On Sunday evening we got out to sea, and next morning were before Jaffa. Except in very fine weather the landing is extremely difficult, and passengers often have to go on to Beyrout. The day (March 13) was excessively hot, so that in visiting the various places of interest we began to feel the change of climate. The orange and lemon groves around Jaffa are most beautiful, and the fruit in greatest abundance. Of course we visited the house of Simon the tanner, where Peter had his vision, and wandered over the American colony in the suburbs. Good buildings and gardens attracted our attention; but the fanaticism, and, what is worse, the bad faith of some of the originators of this semi-secular and Christian settlement have brought the Christian religion into contempt with the natives of Jaffa. On Monday evening we began our tent life, and our caravan was composed of the following materials: Twelve tents, sixtynine horses and mules, twenty-nine men, two dragomen, and twenty-six gentlemen and lady travelers. The appointment and choice of horses settled, we set our faces toward Jerusalem on Tuesday morning about ten o'clock; lunched at Ramleh, and about five pitched our tents near a brook close to the Valley of Ajalon. Our day's ride had been over the plains of Sharon, literally covered with the most beautiful flowers. Wednesday morning we were on our way, with glowing expectations of seeing the Holy City early in the afternoon. At twelve we lunched at Kirjath-jearim, where

the Ark of the Lord lodged for many years. Then we passed Emmaus, beautifully situated on the hill-side, and about half-past two came in sight of Jerusalem itself.

JERUSALEM AND ITS INHABITANTS.

The day of our entrance into Jerusalem was fine, the sky clear, and the first impression of the city deeply interesting. Our company camped outside the walls near to the Damascus gate, and by five o'clock all our tents were fixed, and most of our party were viewing the interior. A visit to the English Consul and to Mount Zion, with a call upon the clergymen residing there, and a glance at some of the dreary streets, satisfied us for the evening of that day. Afterward we saw the chief things of interest to strangers. On the Sunday we had heavy rains and wind, and a visit to the Mosque of Omar was paid under trying circumstances. In the evening I had the delight of worshiping in the English Protestant Church on Mount Zion. We saw, too, some of the explorations now going on, but fear the fanaticism of the Mohammedans will retard, if not absolutely hinder, their success. Thouch a dark, desolate city, when cont: asted with many others, the comfortable hotels, good shops, fairly clean streets, and commercial activity, gave us a much more pleasing impression than we had anticipated. We viewed the city from every standpoint-that from the hillside near the tomb of the prophets being decidedly the best-and did not wonder that its sainted ones of old should have felt that Zion, the City of the Great King, was the joy of the whole earth. We regretted to hear that a large proportion of the resident Jews were absolutely dependent on European charity, and were equally pleased that the resident Mohammedans provided shelter and food for every needy member of their faith. It was painful, however, to see numbers of English persons joining the Romish processions, and especially to witness a recent wealthy convert to that faith taking the most prominent part in those abasing prostrations. If we had been Jews, the recollection of the former history and glory of Jerusalem, with its present condition, would fix us day and night in the place of wailing and lamentation.

BETHLEHEM, NAZARETH, GALILEE. Three days we took to go down to Jericho, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, bathing in those waters; returning by that old and majestic convent of Mar-Saba, and taking the beautifully situated Bethlehem en route. All around Bethlehem are olive yards, fertile fields, and

gardens. The holy places, too, were imposing; the people, nearly all Christians, handsome and thrifty; the whole place indicating a higher condition than the places around. Though only about two hours from Jerusalem, the way between them in many parts is almost impassable from the countless loose stones strewed about. In taking our final leave of Jerusalem, we encamped the first night at Singel, a place of bad repute, where one of its inhabitants was summarily ejected from our tent-ground at midnight. In descending a frightful hill next morning, one of our mules broke its leg, and had to be killed. At noon we passed by Shiloh, where there is a tree probably thousands of years old. At four we reached Jacob's Well, and lingered around it for some time, entering Nablous about five o'clock, and paid a visit to the synagogue, where the Samaritan manuscripts are exhibited, afterward calling upon Mr. Carey, one of the Protestant missionaries to this city. The population of Nablous is about 16,000, and a dreary, dirty place it is, yet surrounded by the most fruitful plains and beautiful scenery. Next day we passed the "City of Samaria," with its ruins of wonderful marble columns, and its grand surrounding country. Here, too, we descended to visit the tombs of John the Baptist and of his father and mother. On the following day we passed over the plains of Esdraelon, and by the city of Jezreel, now in ruins. Then we rode up to the Pool of Gideon, gazed on little Hermon and the mountains of Gilboa, and at noon lunched in an orange grove at Shunem. During our short stay here a native expired, and his frantic widow rushed about uttering her wailings of distress. Now Mount Tabor is in sight. Nain is in the distance, and we are ascending one of the most precipitous mountains in our approach to Nazareth, which we reached early on Saturday afternoon. The governor of Nazareth, with his suite, paid us a visit in the evening, and renewed it on the next afternoon. A visit to the morning service of the Greek church, and to the English service in the chapel of the Protestant missionary, occupied us on the Sunday. The site of Nazareth is exquisite; the city itself dirty in the extreme. Among the relics here, there is shown a chest of drawers said to have been made by Joseph and his reputed son. On Easter Monday we left Nazareth, via Cana of Galilee, the chapel of which we visited, and reached Tiberias in the afternoon. Our tents were pitched on the margin of the Lake of Galilee. In this "Sea of Tiberias we bathed.

We passed through Magdala, by the Well of Joseph, and through rich and fertile plains, within range of many Bedouins and their camps, with immense herds of cattle and horses, in our course of Cæsarea Philippi, now the nastiest of all places in the East. Here the Jordan has one, if not its chief, source, and speedily becomes a fine stream. So our tour included the source of the Jordan and its termination in the Dead Sea.

MOUNT HERMON AND DAMASCUS.

We now ascended very high slopes, with snow-capped Hermon on our left. April the 3d, we reached the most ancient of cities-Damascus with environs, for several miles, of gardens, vineyards, and olive yards. A very handsome hotel, with its Oriental court-yard, citron and lemon trees, and flowing stream, is kept by Dimitra Carâ, a man who has won the general esteem of travelers by his courteous manners, good accommodation, and reasonable charges. Here we stayed till the following Tuesday, and much enjoyed our cool and clean apartments. A volume is needed to describe the extraordinary bazaars, khans, mosques, and ancient houses of this city. In spite of its twenty thousand dogs in the streets, and its dingy places, Damascus is a city full of trading enterprise, industry, and commercial emulation, and possesses an abundance of good water. The silver and saddlery workers of Damascus are celebrated all over the world. Leaving Damascus, we proceeded to the ruins of Baalbec, and then onward through the plains, and over the mountain range of Lebanon, to Beyrout. And now we came again in contact with combinations of Eastern life with Western phases and influences. We stayed at the Belle Vue, a really good hotel. Our Sunday was spent in the Presbyterian American church, and in the English Episcopal church. Here we felt ourselves to be in a center of Christian light, with institutions for the education of Syrian boys and girls, the training of the blind, and an asylum for cripples, and all under excellent Christian management.

From Beyrout, via Rhodes and Cyprus, close by Patmos, and staying two days at Smyrna, visiting the ruins at Ephesus, and by the Dardanelles, we came to Constantinople, with its triple cities of Stamboul, Pera, and Scutari; its Sea of Marmora, Golden Horn, and Bosphorus; and its mosques, bazaars, and palaces. A day on the Bosphorus to the Black Sea and back took us through scenery that Eden could hardly have excelled. The twirling dervishes, the procession of the Sultan to his mosque, are

seen on the Friday, and then we prepare to steam off to Trieste, calling at Syra and Corfu on our voyage. The weather was fine, the sea unruffled, so that no voyage was ever accomplished with greater comfort. Thursday morning we reached Trieste; Friday morning, Venice; Saturday, Milan; and while Mr. Cook and party passed over the Splugen by Coire, Zurich, and Basle to Paris, I returned by Turin, Susa, and Mont Cenis to the same destination. I had expected thus to reach home a day in advance; but one continued series of mishaps on the railway made our express train thirty-three hours late in Paris, so that I was a day behind instead of one in advance of my traveling companions.

This rather less than three months' travel seems to have supplied me with interesting material for thought and reflection for a whole life. Our course had been one of great enjoyment and instruction, notwithstanding the usual penalties of toil and occasional peril. But the fatigue and expense of the tour are more than counterbalanced by the wondrous scenes and the marvels of the journey.

CONFUCIUS, THE CHINESE SAGE.

SECOND PAPER.

N our former paper we gave a few facts

Sage, and pointed out how the high officials of the empire semi-annually worship him as a part of their appointed duties, and how the literary class, and the students generally, worship him while engaged in their literary pursuits. We noticed also that the books compiled or written by Confucius and Mencius, and their pupils, over 2,000 years ago, are now the universally used text-books in Chinese schools.

Let us now briefly glance at the object to be attained by this universal reverence for and admiration of Confucius, and what is the subject-matter of these books.

In the article on Mohammed to which allusion has been made, it was said: "After the lapse of twelve hundred years not less than a hundred and fifty millions of people acknowledge him as the prophet of God, and found their hopes of heaven on the doctrines which he taught." The four hundred millions of Chinese study the works compiled or composed by Confucius and his followers,

after the lapse of twenty centuries since they died; but they do it not in the hope of thereby learning the way to heaven. The views and doctrines of Confucius do not relate to heaven, or heavenly virtues and objects. They are all "of the earth, earthy." The Chinese do not worship Confucius, and they do not study his books in order to attain some good beyond the present life, nor to learn about anything relating to the future and spiritual world.

"His frequent themes of discourse were the Book of Poetry, the Book of History, and the Maintenance of the Rules of Propriety. He taught letters, ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness. Extraordinary things, feats of strength, states of disorder, and spiritual beings he did not like to talk about." Such is the testimony concerning the Chinese Sage as recorded in the books prepared by him or his immediate disciples.

Confucius did not attempt to treat about the condition of the soul after death, about its immortality, about the ways and means of becoming pure and free from sin, or about future rewards or punishments. He, however, encouraged the worship of departed ancestors. This custom did not originate with him. Confucius strove to evade direct and didactic replies to questions relating to the future. One of his disciples asked, “about serving the spirits of the dead?" The Sage evasively replied, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?" The disciple said, "I venture to ask about death," and the reply was, "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?" He adopted and advocated the principle" of sacrificing to the dead as if they were present," and "of sacrificing to the spirits as if they were present." But he did not seem to care about explaining his views about death and the hereafter to his disciples. Perhaps he had no clear views to communicate on such subjects, and he showed his humility and his judgment in a studied silence.

It may be said the chief themes of Confucius, as revealed in his writings and instructions, were, How the sovereign should reign, and the obedience due the sovereign from the people. In short, The inferior should obey the superior, the child its parent, the wife her

husband, the prince his sovereign. But to explain and illustrate his views on political economy and on government would require much time and space, more than can be spared.

It is remarkable that Confucius, hundreds of years before Christ was born, enunciated a negative form of the Golden Rule, viz.: Do not do to others what you do not wish done to you.

Some have inconsiderately pronounced this as fairly equivalent to the Golden Rule itself, as given by the Saviour: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them." This is positive, and directly and explicitly demands and commands action, prompt unmistaken action. The rule of Confucius requires action only by inference. Christ's language is positiveConfucius' negative. But still it is a most striking saying, the most wonderful and remarkable of all his wonderful and remarkable sayings. In the discriminating language of Dr. Legge," the lesson of the Gospel commands men to do what they feel to be right and good. It requires them to commence a course of such conduct without regard to the conduct of others to themselves. The lesson of Confucius only forbids men to do what they feel to be wrong and hurtful."

The precepts of Confucius in regard to revenge and the forgiveness of injuries seem very unlike even his Golden Rule, or rather his Silver Rule, One day some one asked what he thought of the principle of recompensing injury with kindness? He replied, "With what, then, will you recompense kindness? Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."

In one of the old Chinese classics occurs this sentence: "With the slayer of his father, a man may not live under the same heaven; against the slayer of his brother, a man must never have to go home to fetch a weapon; with the slayer of his friend, a man may not live in the same state." Confucius did not discourage the idea of blood-revenge, but enforced it in the plainest and strongest terms. One of his disciples inquired of him, “What course is to be pursued in the case of the murder of a father or mother?" He answered, "The son must sleep upon a matting of grass, with his shield for his pillow; he must decline to take office; he must not live

under the same heaven with the slayer. When he meets him in the market-place or the court, he must have his weapon ready to strike him." His precepts in regard to the murderer of a brother, and the murderer of an uncle or cousin, also breathed the spirit of revenge, not of forgiveness.

There is reason to fear that Confucius was not in his heart as truth-loving and as sincere as his precepts would lead one to believe. On a certain occasion he excused himself from seeing a visitor whom he did not wish to see, by sending word to him while waiting outside, that he was sick. When the unwelcome visitor had turned to go away, Confucius seized a musical instrument and commenced playing on it, so that the man might know that he was not sick, but simply did not wish to receive him as a guest. Mencius, the sub-sage, or only inferior to Confucius himself, on a certain occasion, detailed at length in his works, plainly told and acted out several falsehoods or lies, before or in the knowledge of his disciples. And what was worse, he justified his course.

The pernicious example of Confucius and Mencius have had their sad influence over the Chinese as a people, in the past and in the present. They are mendacious, deceitful, and plausibly false, to a remarkable degree. Would it not be unreasonable to expect them to be otherwise, with such examples and such precepts? Like priest-like devotee; like teacher-like pupil.

Referring the reader, who may desire to learn more about Confucius, to "The Middle Kingdom," by Dr. S. Wells Williams, and "The Chinese Classics, Vol. 1st," by Dr. James Legge, and other books treating of the Sage and his opinions, I venture to quote in closing this paper an account of his views concerning the relation of husband and wife —a subject attracting great attention at the present day. The quotation is from the "Family Sayings," as translated by an eminent living scholar in Chinese literature:

"Man," said Confucius, " is the representative of heaven, and is supreme over all things. Woman yields obedience to the instructions of man, and helps to carry out his principles. On this account she can determine nothing of herself, and is subject to the rule of the three obediences:

When young, she must obey her father and elder brother; when married, she must obey her husband; when her husband is dead, she must obey her son. She may not think of marrying the second time.

No instructions or orders must come from the harem. Woman's business is simply the preparation and supplying of wine and food. Beyond the threshold of her apartments she should not be known for evil or for good. She may not cross the boundaries of a state to accompany a funeral. She may take no step on her own motion, and may come to no conclusion on her own deliberation.

There are five women who are not to be taken in marriage: the daughter of a rebellious house; the daughter of a disorderly house; the daughter of a house which has produced criminals for more than one generation; the daughter of a leprous house; and the daughter who has lost her father and elder brother.

"A wife may be divorced for seven reasons, which may be overruled by three considerations. The grounds for divorce are disobedience to her husband's parents; not giving birth to a son; dissolute conduct; jealousy (of her husband's attentions, that is, to the other inmates of the harem); talkativeness, and thieving.

"The three considerations which may overrule these grounds are: first, if, while she was taken from a home, she has now no home to return to; second, if she has passed with her husband through the three years' mourning for his parents; third, if the husband have become rich from being poor. All these regulations were adopted by the sages, in harmony with the natures of man and woman, and to give importance to the ordinance of marriage. [FOOCHOW, CHINA.

J. D.

PROF. J. SHROCK.

A WESTERN ART PENMAN.

THIS gentleman has a fine physical

organization. The large base of brain evinces harmony of relation between brain and body, and it is by no means a difficult matter for him to preserve an excellent condition of health.

and mold it or work it into forms adapted to the carrying out of his purposes. Everything in the sphere of configuration he appreciates. He can carry patterns and outlines in memory with the utmost facility.

Were it our task to suggest a line of life in which he would be successful, we would be most likely to name architecture or design. The whole bent of his intellectual forces is toward utility. He has comparatively little of that merely emotional sentiment which deals with the speculative and ideal. He has ambitious yearnings, and his earnest, active temperament aids in urging him forward. in those processes by which he would work out successfully his longings; but he never loses sight of the actual, the useful, the practical. If he aspires to succeed, it is in something chiefly allied to the terrestrial relations of man,-the perfection of some department of human activity.