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In the Memoirs of the Han Dynasty, published at the very commencement of the Christian era, we find these lines:

"After the death of Confucius there was an end of his exquisite words; and when his seventy disciples had passed away, violence began to be done to their meaning."

In the time of the Emperor Heaov-woo, (139-86 B. c.) portions of books being missing, and "music and ceremony suffering greatly," he caused a prolonged search to be made for dispersed and missing slips and tablets, and caused "Repositories" to be built, and provided copyists to transcribe them. This seems to have been the first Chinese library. A special board was appointed 135 B. C., to edit and take charge of the Five Sacred King. It took many generations to perfect this work, which was carried out by the first and second dynasties of the Han family, and was the result of the popular indignation, felt against Chi-hoang-ti, the first Hero-King of the house of T'sin, who united the Empire, built the Chinese wall to protect the people from the Tartars, and burnt all the sacred books, out of pure digust at learning, about 212 B. C. The enthusiasm felt for the revival of literature was extraordinary. Even the Emperors joined in discussion of the text, and in 178 of our era, the Emperor Heaov ling, had the restored text of the Five King cut into stone, in three different kinds of characters. Since then, the text has suffered no greater change than our English Bible, since the time or King James.

The " slips and tablets" referred to, were precisely the same bamboo records which are used in the schools of Calcutta to-day, and it must be confessed, that they offered some temptation to an incendiary. The prime minister, Le Sze, was not content with burning the books. He put to death all persons who discussed or debated the contents of She and Shoo; whoever did not obey the order within thirty days, was branded and sent to labor on the great wall for four years. The scholars were brave and faithful; four hundred and sixty who violated the prohibition, were buried alive in pits; the Emperor's son interfered in their behalf, and was banished to military employment on the great wall. Three years after this edict, the tyrant died. It was impossible that his best efforts should have made the destruction complete in so short a time; and it was only eleven years before a more popular dynasty began the great work of recension.

In connection with the Life of Confucius, it is proper to consider three of the Nine Chinese Classics. The "Confucian Analects," which may be described as the recollections of others concerning Confucius, "The Great Learning," and the "Doctrine of the Mean."

One hundred and fifty-three years before Christ, the King of Loo wished to enlarge his palace, and for that purpose, undertook to pull down a part of an old house belonging to the Kung family, in which Confucius had once lived. He found in the walls, where they had been hidden from the tyrant of T'sin, copies of the Shoo-King, of the Ch'un Ts'ew, or Spring and Autumn, of

the Analects, and a minor King, called the "Classic of Filial Piety." But these were written in an ancient wedge-shaped character, fallen out of use, and no longer intelligible to scholars, who termed it scornfully, "the tadpole." The King of Loo restored these autographs to the head of the Kung family, and in obedience to an imperial order, the Duke of Kung devoted himself to the study of the old characters, and finally published a work in explanation of them.

Dr. Legge believes the copy of the Analects, so found, to be in the autograph of the original compiler,-but who was he? We are obliged to settle the question, on just such grounds, as decide against the authenticity of the first two chapters of Matthew.

In the VIIIth book of the Analects, a dying man is visited by MangKing. Now Mang-King was the posthumous title of a man, who was alive fifty years after the death of Confucius. Again, parts of the XIXth chapter carry us down to a time when the first disciples had schools of their own. In the XIth book, the second paragraph of which is evidently a note thrown into the text, the names of "the ten" are enumerated, in a manner hardly possible if they were alive. One of the ten was young at the time of The Master's death, and lived seventy five years after him. So we can hardly suppose that The Analects took its present form within a century of the death of Confucius. It was written originally by many hands, or it would not be so full of repetitions, and finally found an accomplished editor, for the Chinese delight in the elegance of its style. The history of the text is as tedious a matter as that of other holy books.

The stone slabs, set up 175 A D., were followed by another set, completed in 240 a. D., but in these the still older form of letters, called " the tadpole," was used. In A. D. 836, a new set were cut, but only in one character, and this set, known as the tablets of Shen, may be traced to a very late date. They were in exact conformity to what is called the Ching Heun text.

It would be useless to enumerate the native Editors, but it must be said in passing, that all native scholars who have written since the introduction of Christianity, unconsciously blend unauthorized ideas of God and Destiny, with their expositions of the Confucian philosophy.

In regard to "The Great Learning," we put the estimate of Chinese scholars into our table, and ascribe it to Tsang Sin, but the authorship is by no means certain. Ancient tradition ascribed it, as well as the "Doctrine of the Mean," to Kung Keih, the grandson of Confucius.

The extravagant estimates of the Chinese cannot be endorsed by any foreign reader of this book. It may concern eternal verities, but they are set forth like commonplaces. Like every thing Confucian, it absolutely lacks. all inspiration. It is a faithful reflection, nevertheless, of "The Master's" best teachings. "To teach love for the people, and to rest in the highest excellence," was its aim, but it was evidently written for the Emperor, and loses much practical value on that account. It will be found to ascribe to

personal example, a power which that does not possess, and in the seven steps laid down for the attainment of its object, we do not see much evidence of exact perception. They are,

1. The investigation of things.
2. The completion of knowledge.
3. The sincerity of the thoughts.
4. The rectifying of the heart.
5. The cultivation of the person.
6. The regulation of the family.
7. The government of the state.

In the course of it, the golden rule (under the title of the measuring square) is applied, but in its negative form. The author conceives nobly of the object of Government. He insists on personal excellence. It must be the out-growth of sincerity, and measured by what he would ask for himself, but the work is only a fragment, and cannot be called exact or logical. Virtue is made to depend almost absolutely on intelligence and culture; according to Confucius, the "light" is the "life," but how much more practical the Christian formula, "the life is the light of men."

We come now to the "Doctrine of the Mean," the authorship of which is attributed, without dispute, to Kung Keih, the grandson of Confucius. He was the son of that unhappy Le, who never heard a word from his great father, that a stranger might not have shared. His father died early, and he one day delighted his grandfather, with whom he spent a great deal of time, by remarking, "That it was a degenerate son who could not carry the fagot his father had gathered and prepared!" "How do you know all my thoughts?" exclaimed Confucius, and, smiling, he added, "Now I may rest without anxiety!" There seem to have been some ascetic traits in K'ung Keih's character. When living in extreme poverty he accepted rice from a friend, but when another took courage and sent him wine, he refused it. He forgave his mother an improper marriage, and received meekly the ceremonial rebuke which forbade him to bewail her in the temple of Kung. He would not permit his own son to lament his divorced mother. Altogether the Kung family seem to have made rather uncomfortable husbands. One significant saying is reported of him. He could not live without "praise of men." In the case of a man "who gets up at cock-crow to pursue virtue, and is constant to it till midnight," he observes, "If such a one say that he does not wish men to know it, lest they might praise him, I must say of him that if he be not deceitful, he is stupid."

The Doctrine of the Mean," is a book which would be much better understood, if its title were translated, "The Path, or Course of the Mean." The grandson of Confucius, or his immediate descendants, intrusted this work to Mencius, and the ideas developed in it, are eminently characteristic of that philosopher.

The great reform which Mencius worked in China, is said to have be

based upon a faith in the essential goodness of human nature. The foundation for it all is to be found in this Essay, where, rightfully or not, the ideas are ascribed to Confucius. Certainly Confucius never pressed them. "The nature of man is received from God. Conduct in accordance with it leads through the proper path. The regulation of that path is self-culture." This is our own free, but intelligible version of the beginning of the Treatise. There are many evident inconsistencies. If the "Course of the Mean" is so natural, why is it only an equilibrium between two extremes? Five chapters which follow the zoth, said to be quoted from Confucius, throw no new light on the matter; and in the 24th there is a ridiculous descent from the dignity of the theme. What Jesus meant when he said, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light," Confucius says in the words, "It is characteristic of the most complete sincerity to be able to foreknow," and then we are led to "evil omens" to divination by means of mil-foil and the tortoise!

Without sharing Dr. Legge's objection to the doctrine of the essential goodness of human nature, we agree with him in thinking that the author of this book has done his utmost to puff up the fancies of his countrymen.

We conclude this section of the subject by selections and new translations from the three books under consideration, which will enable our readers to judge them for themselves. It is very common for the advocates of Confucius to insist that the best parts of his wisdom are not quoted or translated. We will not leave ourselves open to that reproach. We will select the very best passages that we can find, in the complete works, and also occasionally— to show how far these books can stand comparison with such as are elsewhere called Holy, we shall select some of the very silliest.

BOOK I.

From the Analects of Confucius.

CH. 2. The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up." (But this radicalism, it will be found, is not dangerous.) "Filial piety and fraternal submission! are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"

A very false idea of Confucian philosophy would arise, if we quoted only the first paragraph.

CH. 8. "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. friends not equal to yourself."

"When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them."

Have no

9. "Let there be a careful attention to the funeral rites due to parents. Let them be followed, when long gone, with the ceremonies of sacrifice; then the virtue of the people will resume its proper excellence."

II. "The Master said, While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years, he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial.”

16. The Master said, I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me. I will be afflicted that I do not know men."

BOOK IP.

CH. 6 " Mang-Woo asked what filial piety was. The Master said, Parents are anxious lest their children should be sick."" (Evidently an enigma.)

15. "Learning without thought is labor lost. Thought without learning is perilous."

24. "To see what is right, and not to do it, is a want of courage."

BOOK III.

CH. 17. "Tsze-Kung wished to do away with the offering of a sheep on the first of every month. The Master said, Tsze, you love the sheep-I

love the ceremony.'

BOOK IV.

CH. 3.

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"It is only the truly virtuous man who can love or who can hate

6. "The Master said, 'I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or who hated what was not virtuous.'

16. "The superior man is conversant with righteousness, the mean man with gain."

22.

"The Master said, The reason why the ancients did not readily give utterance to their words, was that they feared lest their actions should not come up to them.'"

26. "In serving a Prince, frequent remonstrances lead to disgrace. Between friends, frequent reproofs to distance."

BOOK V.

CH. 9.

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"Rotten wood cannot be carved."

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10. Tsze-Kung said, What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to them.""

"The Master said,

Tsze, you have not attained to that.'"

20. "The Master said, When good order prevailed in his country, Ning Woo acted the part of a wise man. When his country was in disorder, he acted the part of a stupid one. Others may equal his wisdom; but they cannot equal his stupidity.""

27. "The Master said, 'In ten families there may be found one honorable and sincere as I am, but not one so fond of learning.'"

BOOK VI.

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CH. 18. "The Master said, They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it; those who love it are not equal to those who find pleasure in it." "

28. "To be able to judge of others by what is nigh in ourselves, this may be called the art of virtue."

(Conclusion in our next number.)

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