litical philosophy, and good government — one to whonj youthful and perplexed inquirers resorted for coimsel and encouragement. In the times of Confucius and Mencius, China was not a consolidated empire as at present, but consisted of a number of states or provinces under independent chieftains or kings. To the court of one of these Mencius resorted at about the age of forty years, and at the court of one or another of these petty rulers he lingered for nearly a quarter of a century — the period which his published works cover — when he retired to obscurity, and spent the remaining twenty years of his life with his disciples in social converse, or the preparation of the seven books that constitute his writings. It was a long time before his reputation be- came national; but the time came at last, when a native writer says, " Since the time when Han, duke of Liter- ature, delivered his eulogium— ' Confucius handed the scheme of doctrine to Mencius, on whose death the line of transmission was interrupted'— all the scholars of the empire have associated Confucius and Mencius togeth- er." Meng lived to an advanced age, dying B.C. 288, The influence of his doctrines and opinions in China is second only to that of Confucius. " Confucius," says a native writer, " spoke only of benevolence ; Mencius speaks of benevolence and righteousness." " Confucius spoke only of the will or mind ; Mencius enlarged on the nourishment of the passion-nature."
The petdoctrine of Mencius was the intrinsic goodness of human nature, although he admitted that by far the greater part of mankind had, through unfavorable "cir- cumstances or influences, become perverted. He says, " The way in which a man loses his natural goodness is like the way in which trees are deprived by the wood- man of their branches and foliage ; and, if they still send forth some buds or sprouts, then come the cattle and goats and browse upon them. As in the tree all appear- ance of life and beauty is destroyed, so in man, after a long exposure to evil influences, all traces of native goodness seem to be obliterated." But he maintams that " there is an original power of goodness in the race," and that " aU men may, if they will, become like Yao and Shun, t^\o of the early sages and kings, who were pre-eminent for their virtue." Mencius attributed the decline in morals to the neglect of the precepts of Con- fucius. He Avas determined, therefore, to correct the evils which had sprung up, and, by securing the atten- tion of the people to the study of morals, to restore the virtues of the primitive ages. One well versed in Chinese scholarship says, " The great object of Mencius is to rectify men's hearts. ' If a man once rectify his heart,' says he, ' little else will remain for him to do.' In an- other place he says, ' The great or superior man is he who does not lose his child's heart,' " an expression which vividly recalls those beautiful lines of the great German poet —
" Wohl dem der frei von Schuld und Fehle Bewahrt die kindlich reine Seele" (Schiller). It is evident, however, that, owing to his sanguine and ardent nature, or to some other cause, Mencius did not very fully realize the exceeding difficulty of " rectifying one's heart." He did not like disputing, yet, when forced to it, showed himself master of the art. His rea- sonings are often marked by an enjoyable ingenuity and subtlety. "We have more sympathy with him than with Confucius. He comes closer to us; he is not so awful, but he is more admirable." The people he con- sidered the most important element of a nation, the sov- ereign of the least consequence. The ground of the re- lation between sovereign and people is the will of God. He asserts the doctrine. Vox poprili, vox Dei. " Heaven sees as the people see. Heaven hears as the people hear." The highest compliment to the Chinese sage IMeng is paid him by Dr. Legge, who finds his views of human nature identical with those of the great author of the "Analogy," bishop Butler, whom Wardlaw, in his Chris- tian Ethics, compares to the Greek Zeno. It would please us to quote largely from the Seven Books, as the
MENCKE
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best means of showing the real character and teachings of this teaching " celestial." His writings abound in gems of illustration. Opening them at random, we ev- erywhere light upon striking sayings : '■ To dig a well, and stop without reaching the spring, is to throw away the well." " People cannot live without fire or water, yet, if you knock at a man's door and ask for water or tire, there is no man who will not give them, such is the abundance of these things ; a sage king will cause pulse and grain to be as abundant as fire and water," " To the truly great man belong by nature benevolence, right- eousness, prosperity, and knowledge." " Good govern- ment is feared by the people, good instructions are loved by them : good government gets their wealth, good in- structions their hearts." " Honor and virtue delight in righteousness." " Death in the discharge of duty may be ascribed to the will of Heaven." " Life springs from sorrow and calamity, death from ease and pleasure." "The value of benevolence depends on its being brought to maturity." " I like life and I like righteousness : if I cannot keep the two together, I will let the life go and choose righteousness." " The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow down- wards." "As you do violence to wood in order to make it into cups and bowls, so you must do violence to hu- manity to fashion it to benevolence and righteousness." " No man can bend himself and at the same time make others straight."