and remained there three years, mourning for him, and offering prayers and sacrifices; one of them lingered six years. His descendants inherit the office and title of Mandarins, and, to this day, religious honours are paid to his memory, as if he were an illustrious ancestor lately deceased. The following are samples of his maxims, as recorded by his disciples:

"Not to correct our faults is to commit new ones."

"Be rigid to yourself and gentle to others, and you will have no enemies."

"The wise man loves to be by himself, the fool seeks company."

"By the very errors of men, we may judge whether they are virtuous or not. If a good man errs, it is generally through excess of affection or gratitude; but the errors of a vicious man commonly proceed from excess of hatred and ingratitude."

"Life and death depend on the law of Tien, which is immutable. Poverty and riches are dispensed by Tien, who cannot be compelled. A wise man reveres the dispensations of Tien, and thus enjoys inward tranquillity and peace."

"How vast is the power of Spirits! An ocean of invisible Intelligences surround us everywhere. If you look for them, you cannot see them. If you listen, you cannot hear them. Identified with the substance of all things, they cannot be separated from it. They cause men to purify and sanctify their hearts; to clothe themselves with festive garments, and offer oblations to their ancestors. They are everywhere above us, on the right and on the left. Their coming cannot be calculated. How important that we should not neglect them !”

"Worship the gods, as though they were visibly present. Sacrifice to ancestors as if they were here."

"He who knows right principles is not equal to him who loves them; nor is he who loves them equal to him who delights in them."

"Coarse rice for food, water for drink, and one's bended

arm for a pillow, even in the midst of these there is happiness; but riches and honours gained by injustice are to me like fleeting clouds."

"To know that a thing is right and not to do it, is weakness."

"Have not a friend morally inferior to yourself.” "If you err, fear not to reform."

"Be not sorry that men do not know you,

that you are ignorant of men."

but be sorry

"The highest exercise of benevolence is tender affection for relatives."

"Teach all, without regard to what class they belong."

"To be thoroughly instructed in music and rites, to teach others principles of virtue, to possess the friendship of many wise men, these are useful satisfactions. But satisfactions derived from pride, vanity, idleness, and sensual pleasures, are injurious."

"How wise is Hwuy! He has only a bamboo vase for his rice, a cup to drink from, and a mean narrow lane for his habitation. Other men could not endure such privations; but it disturbs not the serenity of Hwuy!"

"Fix the thoughts on duty, practise without ceasing the virtue of humanity, and, if you have leisure, cultivate the arts."

"To keep invariably in the due medium constitutes virtue; men rarely persevere in it."

"The nature of man is upright. If in the course of his life he loses this natural uprightness, he removes far from him all happiness."

"If wise and virtuous men were to govern a state for a hundred years, they could put an end to tyranny and punishments."

"Abroad, do your duty to your prince and his magistrates. At home, obey your father, mother, and elder brothers. In funeral and sacrificial rites, do not permit any negligence. Allow yourself no excess in the use of wine."

"I see no defect in the character of Yu. He was sober

in eating and drinking, and eminently pious toward Spirits and ancestors. His common apparel was coarse, but his sacrificial robes were beautifully adorned. He lived in an humble dwelling, but employed his strength in making ditches and water-courses for the good of the people."

There was an old tradition that the Yu here referred to by Confucius was born of a virgin, who conceived him from the rays of a star. He is said to have been employed by the emperor to drain off the waters of a great deluge, which, according to Chinese chronology, occurred two thousand two hundred years before Christ.

When Confucius was asked what might be said in favour of rewarding hatred by kindness, he replied: "In that case, with what will you reward kindness? Return bad treatment with equity, and recompense kindness with kindness." One of his disciples begged that he would teach him to die. well. He answered: "You have not yet learned to live well; when you have learned that, you will know how to die well." Some person inquired of him what one maxim expressed the conduct proper for a whole life. He rejoined: "Never do to others what you do not wish them to do to you." One day, when he had gone out from among his scholars, a question arose concerning the general purport of his teaching. One of them said: "The doctrine of our master consists solely in integrity of heart, and treating his neighbour as he himself wishes to be treated." There is a tradition that Confucius was often heard to repeat: "In the Land of the West will the holy one be found." This declaration coincides with a prophecy in their old Sacred Books, and was afterward brought into general notice when the religion of Fo was introduced from India, which they are accustomed to designate as the Land of the West.

The compilation of ancient history and laws made by Confucius is called, by way of pre-eminence, "The Five Volumes." They date four hundred years before Moses, about two thousand years before the Christian era, and refer continually to a religion long established at the time VOL. I.-18

they were written, which they merely seek to preserve and impress upon the minds of the people. They are universally considered to be very sacred authority, though they do not claim to be divine revelations, and a comparatively small portion of their contents are of a strictly religious character. They contain the fundamental laws of the empire, rules for rites and ceremonies, moral maxims, and memoirs of princes. Apparently, their chief object was to preserve tranquillity in the state, by a precise regulation of manners and the inculcation of perfect obedience to government. They preserve a tradition concerning a mysterious Garden, where grew a Tree, bearing Apples of Immortality, guarded by a winged Serpent, called a Dragon. They describe a primitive age of the world, when the earth yielded abundance of delicious fruits without cultivation, and the seasons were untroubled by wind or storms. There was no calamity, sickness or death. Men were then good without effort for the human heart was in harmony with the peacefulness and beauty of nature. After this happy time, men degenerated by progressive stages. But finally Tien-tse, a Son of Heaven, would be born into the world, do away all sin, and restore order. These ancient books contain no specific doctrine concerning God, but they make frequent mention of One Invisible Being, under the name of Chang-ti, which signifies the Supreme Emperor. Sometimes he is called Tien, meaning the visible heaven. Their interpreters explain this by saying: "The firmament is the most glorious work produced by the Great First Cause." Chang-ti is described as the Original Principle of all things, almighty, omniscient, knowing the inmost secrets of the heart, watching over the conduct of the universe, and permitting nothing to happen contrary to his will; rewarding virtue and punishing wickedness, raising up and casting down kings, and sending public calamities as a warning to nations to repent and forsake their sins. When an unjust emperor was struck by lightning, these Sacred Volumes represent it as a direct and visible punishment, sent by Tien, or Heaven,

as an admonition to mankind. They contain many solemn invocations to Chang-ti, for the recovery of a good emperor from dangerous illness, to obtain rain after a severe drought, and other similar benefits; and they relate many instances to assure devout readers that such prayers are generally heard and answered. They likewise affirm that no outward adoration can be pleasing to Tien unless it proceeds from a sincere heart.

From their most ancient times the Supreme Emperor of Heaven has been worshipped at stated seasons, with great solemnity. When a new emperor succeeded to the throne, it was always considered his duty to plough a portion of the ground, in token of humility, and cultivate a crop to be offered in sacrifice to Chang-ti. The empress feeds silk worms, and assists in manufacturing and embroidering rich silks, to be used as ornaments when these sheaf-offerings are carried in procession, and devoutly presented, by royal hands, to the Emperor of Heaven. Whenever these ceremonials have been omitted, or negligently performed, the Sacred Books declare that the displeasure of Chang-ti has soon after been manifested by extraordinary public calamities. Some of the early emperors, in addition to the customary agricultural offerings, kept a domestic park to rear six sorts of animals for sacrifice, twice a year, at the winter solstice and the summer solstice. On these occasions, the people were enjoined to do nothing, and think of nothing but joining with the emperor in worship of Chang-ti. In the reign of Tching-tang there was a distressing famine for seven years, occasioned by drought. The emperor having in vain offered a multitude of sacrifices, at last resolved to devote himself as a victim to appease the anger of Heaven. He took off his imperial robes, and, accompanied by the grandees of his court, went to a mountain some distance from the city, where with bare head and naked feet, in the posture of a criminal, he prostrated himself nine times before the Ruler of the Universe, and uttered the following prayer: "O Supreme Emperor, all the sacrifices I have offered to implore thy mercy have been in vain; therefore