has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license. Thus his words have respect to his actions, and his actions have respect to his words; is it not just an entire sincerity which marks the superior man?"

XIV. 1. The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is: he does not desire to go beyond. this.

2. In a position of wealth and honour, he does what is proper to a position of wealth and honour. In a poor and low position, he does what is proper to a poor and low position. Situated among barbarous tribes, he does what is proper to a situation among barbarous tribes. In a position of sorrow and difficulty, he does what is proper to a position of sorrow and difficulty. The superior man can find himself in no situation in which he is not himself.

3. In a high situation, he does not treat with contempt his inferiors. In a low situation, he does not court the favour of his superiors. He rectifies himself, and seeks for nothing from others, so that he has no dissatisfactions. He does not murmur against heaven, nor grumble against

men.

4. Thus it is that the superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of Heaven, while the mean man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occur

rences.

5. The Master said, "In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the centre of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself."

XV. 1. The way of the superior man may be compared

infirmity. It must be allowed, however, that the cases, as put by him, are in a measure hypothetical, his father having died when he was a child. In the course of the paragraph, he passes from speaking of himself by his name, to speak of the keun-tsze, and the change is most naturally made after the last "I have not attained."

14. HOW THE SUPERIOR MAN, IN EVERY VARYING SITUATION, PURSUES THE MEAN, DOING WHAT IS RIGHT, AND FINDING HIS RULE IN

HIMSELF.

15. IN THE PRACTICE OF THE MEAN THERE IS AN ORDERLY ADVANCE FROM STEP TO STEP. 2. See the She-king, Pt II. Bk I. iv. 7, 8. The ode

to what takes place in travelling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.

2. It is said in the Book of Poetry, "Happy union with wife and children is like the music of lutes and harps. When there is concord among brethren, the harmony is delightful and enduring. Thus may you regulate your family, and enjoy the pleasure of your wife and children." 3. The Master said," In such a state of things, parents have entire complacence!"

XVI. 1. The Master said, "How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them!

2. "We look for them, but do not see them; we listen to, but do not hear them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.

celebrates, in a regretful tone, the dependence of brethren on one another, and the beauty of brotherly harmony. Maou says: -"Although there may be the happy union of wife and children, like the music of lutes and harps, yet there must also be the harmonious concord of brethren, with its exceeding delight, and then may wife and children be regulated and enjoyed. Brothers are near to us, while wife and children are more remote. Thus it is, that from what is near we proceed to what is remote." He adds that anciently the relationship of husband and wife was not among the five relationships of society, because the union of brothers is from heaven, and that of husband and wife is from man! 3. This is understood to be a remark of Confucius on the ode. From wife, and children, and brothers, parents at last are reached, illustrating how from what is low we ascend to what is high.—But all this is far-fetched and obscure.

16. AN ILLUSTRATION, FROM THE OPERATION AND INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS, OF THE WAY OF THE MEAN. What is said of the kwei-shin, or “ghosts and spirits"= spiritual beings, in this chapter, is only by way of illustration. There is no design on the part of the sage to develope his views on those beings or agencies. The key of it is to be found in the last paragraph, where the language evidently refers to that of paragraph 3, in chapter i. This paragraph, therefore, should be separated from the others, and not interpreted specially of the kwei-shin. I think that Dr Medhurst, in rendering it (Theology of the Chinese, p. 22) -"How great then is the manifestation of their abstruseness ! Whilst displaying their sincerity, they are not to be concealed," was wrong, notwithstanding that he may be defended by the example of many Chinese commentators. The second clause of paragraph 5 appears altogether synonymous with the "what truly is within will be manifested without," in the Commentary of the Great Learning, chapter vi. 2, to which chapter we have seen that the whole of chapter i. pp. 2, 3, has a remarkable similarity. However we may be driven to find a recondite, mystical meaning for “sincerity," in the fourth part of this work, there is no ne

.

3. "They cause all the people in the empire to fast and purify themselves, and array themselves in their richest dresses, in order to attend at their sacrifices. Then, like overflowing water, they seem to be over the heads, and on the right and left of their worshippers.

4. "It is said in the Book of Poetry, 'The approaches of the spirits, you cannot surmise ;-and can you treat them with indifference?'

5. "Such is the manifestness of what is minute! Such is the impossibility of repressing the outgoings of sincerity!"

What now are the

cessity to do so here. With regard to what is said of the kwei-shin, it is only the first two paragraphs which occasion difficulty. In the third paragraph the sage speaks of the spiritual beings that are sacrificed to. The same is the subject of the fourth paragraph; or rather, spiritual beings generally, whether sacrificed to or not, invisible themselves and yet able to behold our conduct. See the She-king, Pt III. Bk IV. ii. 7. The ode is said to have been composed by one of the dukes of Wei, and was repeated daily in his hearing for his admonition. In the context of the quotation, he is warned to be careful of his conduct, when alone as when in company. For in truth we are never alone. "Millions of spiritual beings walk the earth," and can take note of us. kwei-shin in the first two paragraphs ? Are we to understand by them something different from what they are in the third paragraph, to which they run on from the first as the nominative or subject of the verb "to cause " ? I think not. The precise meaning of what is said of "their entering into all things," and "there being nothing without them," cannot be determined. The old interpreters say that the meaning of the whole is—" that of all things there is not a single thing which is not produced by the breath (or energy) of the kwei-shin." This is all that we learn from them. The Sung school explain the terms with reference to their physical theory of the universe, derived, as they think, from the Yih-king. Choo He's master, Ch'ing, explains :-" The kwei-shin are the energetic operations of Heaven and Earth, and the traces of production and transformation." The scholar Chang says: "The kwei-shin are the easily acting powers of the two breaths of nature." Choo He's own account is: "If we speak of two breaths, then by kwei is denoted the efficaciousness of the secondary or inferior one, and by shin, that of the superior one. If we speak of one breath, then by shin is denoted its advancing and developing, and by kwei, its returning and reverting. They are really only one thing." It is difficult-not to say impossible-to conceive to one'sself what is meant by such descriptions. And nowhere else in the Four Books is there an approach to this meaning of the phrase.

Rémusat translates the first paragraph :-" Que les vertus des esprits sont sublimes !" His Latin version is: spirituum geniorumque est virtus: ea capax!" Intorcetta renders :-" spiritibus inest operativa virtus et efficacitas, et hæc o quam præstans est! quam multiplex! quam sublimis!" In a note, he and his friends say that the dignitary of the

XVII. 1. The Master said, "How greatly filial was Shun! His virtue was that of a sage; his dignity was the imperial throne; his riches were all within the four seas. He offered his sacrifices in his ancestral temple, and his descendants preserved the sacrifices to himself.

2. "Therefore having such great virtue, it could not but be that he should obtain the throne, that he should obtain those riches, that he should obtain his fame, that he should attain to his long life.

3. "Thus it is that Heaven, in the production of things, is surely bountiful to them, according to their qualities. Hence the tree that is flourishing, it nourishes, while that which is ready to fall, it overthrows.

4. "In the Book of Poetry, it is said, 'The admirable, amiable, prince, Displayed conspicuously his excelling virtue, Adjusting his people, and Adjusting his officers. Therefore, he received from Heaven the emoluments of dignity. It protected him, assisted him, decreed him the throne; Sending from heaven these favours, as it were repeatedly.'

empire who assisted them, rejecting other interpretations, understood by kwei-shin here" those spirits for the veneration of whom and imploring their help, sacrifices were instituted.' Shin signifies "spirits," a spirit,' "spirit;" and kwei "a ghost," or "demon." The former is used for the animus, or intelligent soul separated from the body, and the latter for the anima, or animal, grosser, soul, so separated. In the text, however, they blend together, and are not to be separately translated. They are together equivalent to shin alone in paragraph four, "spirits," or or "spiritual

beings."

17. THE VIRTUE OF FILIAL PIETY, EXEMPLIFIED IN SHUN AS CARRIED TO THE HIGHEST POINT, AND REWARDED BY HEAVEN. 1. One does not readily see the connection between Shun's great filial piety, and all the other predicates of him that follow. The paraphrasts, however, try to trace it in this way:-"A son without virtue is insufficient to distinguish his parents. But Shun was born with all knowledge, and acted without any effort;-in virtue, a sage. How great was the distinction which he thus conferred on his parents!" And so with regard to the other predicate. 2. The whole of this is to be understood with reference to Shun. He died at the age of one hundred years. The word "virtue " takes here the place of "filial piety," in the last paragraph, according to Mađu, because that is the root, the first and chief, of all virtues. 4. See the She-king, Pt III. Bk II. v. 1. The prince spoken of is king Wăn, who is thus brought forward to confirm the lesson taken from Shun. That lesson, however, is stated much too broadly in the last paraagraph. It is well to say that only virtue is a solid title to eminence; but to hold forth the certain attainment of wealth and position as an

5. “We may say therefore that he who is greatly virtuous will be sure to receive the appointment of Heaven."

XVIII. 1. The Master said, "It is only king Wăn of whom it can be said that he had no cause for grief! His father was king Ke, and his son was king Woo. His father laid the foundations of his dignity, and his son transmitted it.

2. "King Woo continued the enterprise of king T'ae, king Ke, and king Wăn. He only once buckled on his armour, and got possession of the empire. He did not lose the distinguished personal reputation which he had throughout the empire. His dignity was the imperial throne. His riches were the possession of all within the four seas. He offered his sacrifices in his ancestral temple, and his descendants maintained the sacrifices to himself.

3. "It was in his old age that king Woo received the appointment to the throne, and the duke of Chow completed the virtuous course of Wăn and Woo. He carried up the title of king to T'ae and Ke, and sacrificed to all the former dukes above them with the imperial ceremonies. And this rule he extended to the princes of the empire, the great officers, the scholars, and the common people. Was the father a great officer, and the son a scholar, then the burial was that due to a great officer,

inducement to virtue is not favourable to morality. The case of Confucius himself, who attained neither to power nor to long life, may be adduced as inconsistent with these teachings.

18. ON KING WAN, KING WOO, AND THE DUKE OF CHOW. 1. Shun's father was bad, and the fathers of Yaou and Yu were undistinguished. Yaou and Shun's sons were both bad, and Yu's not remarkable. But to Wan neither father nor son gave occasion but for satisfaction and happiness. King Ke was the Duke Ke-leih, the most distinguished by his virtues and prowess of all the princes of his time. He prepared the way for the elevation of his family. 2. King T'ae-this was the Duke T'anfoo, the father of Ke-leih, a prince of great eminence, and who, in the decline of the Yin dynasty, drew to his family the thoughts of the people. "He did not lose his distinguished reputation;" that is, though he proceeded against his rightful sovereign, the people did not change their opinion of his virtue. 3. "When old;"-Woo was eighty-seven when he became emperor, and he only reigned seven years. His brother Tan, the duke of Chow (see Analects, VI. xxii., VII. v.), acted as his chief minister. The house of Chow traced their lineage up to the Emperor Kuh, B.C. 2432; but in various passages of the Shoo-king, king Tae and king K'e are spoken of, as if the conference of those titles had been by king Woo.