THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
discussing what is learned; not being able to move toward righteousness of which knowledge is gained; and not being able to change what is not good — these are the things which occasion me solicitude. I am not one who was born in possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it. A transmitter, and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients." This hatter trait of the blaster has been perpetuated in the Chinese people, whose face has for more than two millenniums continued to be turned to the past. Aside from the voluminous works which constitute the Chinese classics, a view of what is for convenience comprehensively termed Confucianism must take account of the standard interpretation of these works by Chu Hsi, a highly distinguished scholar of the Sung dynasty (1130-1200 a.d.), whose commentaries on the classical works have for centuries formed the recognized standard of orthodoxy.
Like all other complex systems of human thought, Confucianism is many-sided. But its essence is expressed in the " Five Constant 2. The Virtues " of Benevolence, Righteousin^°of Propriety, Wisdom, and Sin-
ConftLclus "^^ri^y' ^^^^ ^® ^ enforcing the * duties of the " five relations " of Prince and Minister, Husband and Wife, Father and Son, Brother to Brother, and Friend to Friend. Confucius taught the duty of keeping aloof from spirits, while at the same time treating them respectfully. " We have not performed our duties to men," he says; " how then can we perform our duties to spirits ? " " Not knowing life, how can we know about death ? " The laws of nature, and of the spiritual world as well, lie beyond the comprehension of all men except those endowed by nature with the spirit of wisdom. " He who has sinned against Heaven has no place for prayer." It has been claimed that there are six essential elements in Confucianism, five of which differentiate it from any other system of non-Christian thought. These are: (1) The direct responsibility of the sovereign to Heaven, Shang Ti, or God. (2) The greater importance of the people than the sovereign. (3) The discrimination of the five social relations, with their appropriate duties.
(4) Insistence on the virtues just mentioned, with the doctrine that the wise and the able should rule, the object of the ancient civil service examination being to ascertain who the wise and the able are.
(5) The presentation of an ideal, or Princely Man, as a model upon which every Confucianist should form his character. The influence of this upon the unnumbered millions of Chinese must have been measureless. (6) Filial piety, which involves not merely suitable treatment of the living, but the worship of ancestors, the real religion of the Chinese people, and perhaps the most potent among several causes which have perpetuated the race through all the millenniums ot Chinese history.
Confucianism is mixed with and ilebiised by an intricate system of nature-worship, including worship of heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, the clouds, the rain, thunder, the five great mountains, the north pole, the spirits of dead worthies, and much
else, combining in one ritual gods, ghosts, flags, and cannon. It embodies much of ideal excellence for an ideal world, but it is deficient in the
Defects ^^^^ °^ relations, for it has no knowledge of God, its account of men is inadequate, it has no elucidation of the fact of sin, and no remedy for it, nor any explanation of the relation between man and God. Confucius used the term Heaven instead of Shang Ti. As Dr. Legge says: " He was imreligious rather than irreligious; yet by the coldness of his temperament and intellect in this matter his influence is unfavorable to the development of true religious feeling among the Chinese people generally, and he prepared the way for the speculations of the literati of medieval and modern times which have exposed them to the charge of atheism."
Confucianism is a wonderful product of human development, with a imique grip on its adherents. Its strength lies in the inherent rectitude of its injunctions, which, if followed, would make the world a very different one from that which we see. But it has the fatal defect of altogether failing to recognize the inherent weakness and inability of human nature to fulfil these high behests, and for this inability Confucianism has neither explanation nor remedy. In its adoration of Confucius and other worthies, its face is ever toward the past. Its worship of ancestors has no ethical value,* and is quite destitute of any directive or restraining power. While Confucianism has unified and consolidated the Chinese people, it has not, as the Great Learning enjoins, renovated them, and it never can do so. It can do no more for China than it has already accomplished, and it is now a spent force.
2. Taoism: The Chinese character Tao signifies a " road, reason, doctrine." The indigenous religion called by this name owes its 1. Origin reputed origin to Lao-tsze (" Old .t^f^.^- Master," as distinguished from Confucius the Master; see Lao-tsze), who
Characteristics.
is supposed to have been half a century older than Confucius, and to whom is generally attributed the work called " Canons of Reason and Virtue," a treatise remarkable alike for its brevity and its profundity. Historically next to nothing is known of Lao-tsze, and the authenticity of the treatise passing under his name is much disputed. Taoists are linked to Confucianists by a common regard for the Book of Changes, of which great use is made by them. The Taoism of the present day has nothing to do either with the Canon of Reason just mentioned or with its alleged author, whose philosophy is now only a historical curiosity. Modern Taoism occupies itself with a quest for the elixir of immortality, the conquest
* [This statement will not be accepted by all students of Chinese religion. Many of them look upon ancestor-worship as the apotheosis of the fanuly, and point out that the practise of laying before the ancestral tablet as a worthy offering the article or document which evidences that the individual had done something which rcflo,-fcd credit on the family must affect the offerer and his descendants. The contemplation of distinguished or even respectable ancestors has stirred many among us to nobler living. Yet it is true that the evangelizing of China is hindered by the practise. Eu.]