RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Confucius Congregration
precedence by the purity of its teachings and the attention paid to the rules governing the common intercourse of Ufe, but is inferior to them in profundity. Throughout his teaching Confucius seldom referred to the great problems of human condition and destiny. To his practical mind the consideration of theology and metaphysics seemed uncertain; and he evaded, if he did not rebuke, his disciples when they pried into things beyond their depth. " To give one's self earnestly," said he, " to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom." This is his teaching in regard to the ancient creed of China. While he enjoined respect for its worship and religious observances, enforcing command by example, he crushed out every spiritual tendency by discountenancing speculation upon higher things.
For twenty-three centuries Confucius has held sway over the minds of nearly a third of the human race. The source of this influence may be ascribed to the use of the Four Books and the Five Classics as text-books (see China, I., 1, § 1). In 4. His In- adopting them as the text-books at the
fluence. national examinations, the rulers of China took the best moral guides their literature afforded, and trained their rising youth in the best principles of government they possessed. Not only does every scholar learn at the lap of Confucius, but civil offices are reached only after going through the competitive examinations in those nine classics. His doctrines are thus deeply impressed upon the Chinese mind. But, however great his influence has been in the past, it is destined to wane in the near future. His system is not capable of being expanded proportionately with the progress of the nation, for it lacks the high sanctions and the vital force of Christianity. S. Wells WiLLiAMsf.
The attitude of Confucius to the Golden Rule is often discussed. The facts are these: He was asked what one word would serve as a rule of practise for all of life, and replied with the word shu, which WiUiams translates " reciprocity," and added: " What you do not want done to yourself do not to others" {Analects, xv. 23). Again some one asked: " What say you of the principle that injury should be recompensed with kindness? " The Master said: " With what then will you recompense kindness ? Recompense injury with justice, and kindness with kindness" (Analects, xiv. 36). Tims it appears that though Confucius specifically rejected the doctrine later embodied by Christ in the teaching
love your enemies," that doctrine was discussed in China 500 years before its utterance by Christ in Palestine— a most interesting fact . See China, I . , 1 .
G. W G.
Bibliography: J. Legge, Chinese Classics, i. 56-129, London, 1861 (contains all that is trustworthy); A. Loomis, Confucius and the Chinese Classics, San Francisco, 1867; J. H. Plath, Confucius und seine Schiller: Leben und Lehren, i parts, Munich, 1869-74; A. H. Smith, Chinese Characteristics, New York, 1900 (exhibits the profound influence of the sage on Chinese life). Consult also the books mentioned under China.
CONGREGATION : [A word variously employed m religious and ecclesiastical usage. In the Eng-
lish Old Testament it represents several Hebrew words, especially mo'edh, 'edhah, and Jcahal. The first (from ya'adh, " to appoint ") means an appointed meeting, then the place or time of such meeting; it occurs especially in the phrase ohd mo'edh, rendered " tabernacle of the congregation " in the A. V., but better " tent of meet- Various ing " in the R. V. The second (from Usages, the same root) denotes the theocratic assembly of Israel, thought of as meeting by appointment with Yahweh. Kahal (from kahal, "to assemble") denotes any assembly, and the gathering of Israel in particular. The commonest Septuagint renderings of these words were synagoge and ekklesia, and these passed into the New Testament (see Church, The Christian; cf. Hebrew dictionaries and dictionaries of New Testament Greek under the words named and the Bible dictionaries, articles " Assembly " and " Congregation "). In Roman Catholic usage congregation denotes: (1) One of the standing committees of cardinals charged with some particular branch of ecclesiastical administration (see Curia). (2) An association of men or women, usually of modern origin, living under a quasimonastic rule, but not strictly included among the monastic orders and not bound by the solemn and irrevocable vows of the latter; e.g., the Christian Brothers, Enghsh Ladies, Redemptorists, and many others (see the separate articles); (3) A congregation may also be an association of houses within a certain order, united in some special manner, as the congregations of Cluny and St. Maur (qq.v.). (4) At the Council of Constance (1414-18) the name " congregation " was given to the separate sessions of the different nations (see Constance, Council of), and since then has designated meetings in which only a portion of the members take part — practically committees appointed to prepare and facilitate the business of the council, like the committees of modern legislative bodies. In modern Protestant usage " congregation " means an assembly for religious purposes, in more restricted sense a local church or the lay members of a local church as distinguished from the minister and authorities, sometimes where a distinction is made between professed " members " and mere attendants, the latter as distinguished from the former. The condensation of the article Gemeinde, kirchliche, in the Hauck- Herzog RE follows.]
The ecclesiastical congregation (Germ, kirchliche Gemeinde ; Lat. ecclesia, congregatio fidelium) in the widest sense is the association (Gemeinschaft) of all faithful Christians; in a narrower sense, the members of a particular Church — confessional, national, provincial, etc. — or of a local church. In the following article the word is understood in the last-named sense.
After the development of the conception of the mass as a sacrifice, of the priesthood as a necessary medium of salvation, and of the consequent essential difference between clergy and laity which made the latter merely the passive object of clerical activity, there remained for the layman no independent share in the hfe of the congregation. In accordance with the fundamental principles of the
Con^reg'atioii Cougrreg'atioiLalists