they should hand it down to others. "Do not imitate those isolated men (the Rationalists) who are wise only for themselves: to communicate the modicum of knowledge and virtue we possess to others, will never impoverish ourselves."

The literary labors of Confucius consisted, for the most part, of a revision of the sacred books, which had been from time immemorial regarded by the Chinese as the sources of all true wisdom and knowledge. These he pruned of many extravagancies; and in the text as well as in the notes, stated his own opinions, and added much to the original value of the works.

Of the Chinese Sacred Books thus edited there are two classes, viz: The FIVE CLASSICS, and the FOUR Books.

The first class consists of

Ist. The Shoo King, the Book of Records. It contains a plain historical narrative of the events which occurred during the first dynasties of the Chinese kings. It abounds in moral reflections, and appropriate instructions as to the pursuit and practice of virtue.

2d. The Yik-King, the Book of Changes. The trigrams, or enigmatical lines of Fuk Hí, form the basis of this work. This Fuk Hí is claimed to be the founder of the Chinese monarchy, and the date of his reign is, by Chinese historians, thrown back 2750 years before the Christian era.

Fuk Hí is reported to have first discovered these trigrams on the back of a tortoise or turtle which appeared to him once while walking on the banks of the river Hoang Ho. These trigrams are three lines; two of them being broken, by different combinations, sixty-four varia

tions are formed from them. Other authorities state that at first there were eight lines, then these were involved to sixty-four.

3d. The Shí King, the Book of Odes. The number of these odes is three hundred and eleven; some selected, and others composed by Confucius, and all of a patriotic and moral character.

"These verses," said Confucius, "are as a speculum, offering to us the contemplation of good and evil: they teach us to serve our parents at home, and our king abroad."

Respecting the Book of Odes, Confucius said: "My children, why do you not study the Book of Poetry? The odes serve to stimulate the mind. They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation. They teach the art of sociability. They show how to regulate feelings of resentment. From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's father, and the remoter one of serving one's prince. From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants."

4th. The Lai Kí, the Book of Ceremonies. It is a collection by Confucius of the various customs inculcated by former sages. In it all the minutiae of daily life are dwelt upon, and the proper mode of action is prescribed under almost all possible contingencies. It gives directions for all actions of life, forming a code of etiquette upon the polite behavior of men, their sitting, standing, eating, sleeping, talking, weeping, walking, etc., in all circumstances and for all periods of life. As has been remarked, "One has but to read it in order to understand the fixedness and immobility of Chinese customs;" for the ceremonies and etiquette in Chinese society of the

present day are in most cases what they were when this Book of Rites was first published.

5th. The Chun Tz'au, the Spring and Autumn Annals. The work was so called, because it was commenced in the Spring and finished in the Autumn. It was the work of Confucius' extreme old age, and contains particularly a history of his native State, Loo, for two hundred years. It contains a fuller account of the political system he inculcated than any of the other sacred books. The FOUR Books consist of—

1st. The Lun Yu, a collection of Confucius' Sayings, by his disciples.

2d. The Tai Hok, a Treatise showing how to make the thoughts sincere, to correct the heart, to regulate the family, to govern the State, and thus produce concord throughout the world.

3d. The Chung Yung, the Doctrine of the Mean.

4th. A work bearing the name of Mencius, who here attempted to gather and perpetuate the doctrines of the sage; it is a philosophical treatise on government and morals.

Add to these a volume called The Ka Yu, the Family Sayings of the sage; being remarks dropped by him while in the midst of his family and amongst his neighbors.

The physical system inculcated by the Chinese philosopher somewhat resembled that of the early Grecian sages, and was undoubtedly in advance of the opinions of the age. The five king or elements stand at its base -water, fire, wood, metals, and earth. Of these, says the Chou-King, water flows, and is ever in motion; fire burns and ascends; wood is crooked and straightens it

self; the metals are earthy and susceptible of change; the earth is humid, and descends. Each of these socalled elements is symbolized by one or more mystical lines placed in various positions. The universe, according to this fanciful theory, has been generated by the union of two material principles-a heavenly and an earthly, Yang and Yin. The heaven and the earth represent the corporeal substance of these principles; their intellectual manifestations pervade all things. In consequence of its origin and nature, the universe is destined to be destroyed and reproduced constantly, after countless ages, in never-ending successions. The proper office of the material and heavenly Yang is to produce, to make strong and to sustain. Its nature is firmness, inflexibility, and perseverance. What rises, what appears, what produces or contains motion, exists from it. The nature of Yin is to give place to, to fall to decay, to be weak, opaque, slow, inert, (save when receiving vigor and motion from Yang) to obey and be obsequious.

The heavens and the earth being thus mystically united as Yang and Yin, the origin of man appears to be intimately connected with their union. "The heaven and the earth," says the Yik-King, "had a beginning; and if that can be said of them, how much more truly of man ?” "After there was a heaven and an earth, all material things were formed; male and female appeared; man and woman." We seek, however, in vain for a Creator in the system. True, there is Tai Kik, the Primum Mobile, and a mysterious "heaven," whose existence is declared to have been prior to all other existences, and particularly to the material developments of Yang and Yin; but although this mysterious agency has many of the

characteristics of the Godhead, he or it is not represented as creating.

The Chinese have this formula:

Tai Kik, the Great Ultimate Principle, produced Leang E, the Dual Principles.

Leang E produced Sz Tseung, the Four Forms. Two forms are heaven and earth; three forms are heaven, earth, and man; four forms are the four cardinal points of the compass.

Sz Tseung produced Pat Kwa, the Eight Diagrams. Pat Kwa settled and fixed the Kin Kwan, heaven and earth.

The system of Confucius teaches that all men are born pure, but by the influence of bad example they swerve from the path of rectitude. He furthermore inculcates that man by his own act, by constant effort and watchfulness, may recover his lost estate; and yet he repeatedly asserts that he has not found an example of a perfect man, and confesses his own delinquencies.

One of the objects of his small treatise, entitled Tai Hok, is expressly declared to be "to bring back fallen man to the sovereign good-to what is perfect." "All people are naturally good," he asserts, "but a desire of pleasure changes them." With an earnest wish to develop "the inward light," pure and sincere intentions, fixed determination, a calm spirit, and much meditation, the Chinese teacher believed it quite possible for man to attain to this "sovereign good." Virtue, he divides into two great parts: first, the reverence for Heaven and superior beings, for parents and those in authority, with the worship due to the former class; and secondly, that