THE ETHICS OF CONFUCIUS. 89 



and tlie law against theft was among the first formulated codes : 

 " Thou shalt not steal/^ Before such institutions as police courts 

 were evolved, the only tribunal for adjusting personal difficulties 

 was to fight it out ; and the stronger combatant, other things 

 being equal, was proved in the right because he vanquished his 

 foe. But, as societies or community of interests began to be 

 formed, it was found better to have boards of arbitration to settle 

 disputes, and, as is shown in the controversy over the ownership 

 of a certain herd of cattle in biblical times, the method of settling 

 intricate problems partook largely of the plan of tossing up of 

 pennies, yet it indicates that progress was being made over the 

 fighting era. " Thou shalt not kill," especially a fellow-tribesman, 

 was an early section of the moral code. 



The custom of mating which obtains among many species of 

 birds and some quadrupeds, and which, as man advanced in civ- 

 ilization, resulted in the establishment of the marriage relation, 

 led to the edict against adultery. As tribes increased in numbers, 

 it was found necessary for purposes of offensive and defensive 

 warfare that some sort of organization should be observed, and 

 this implied a division of labor and function. Political organiza- 

 tion implied that some one or more of each tribe be designated to 

 direct the operations of the rest, and the greatest warrior was 

 naturally selected as the first chief ; and the first chief used his 

 power and position to install his sons as his successors, and thus 

 were the first royal families evolved and succession to rulership 

 established. National or tribal lines of jurisdiction followed the 

 introduction of agricultural and breeding pursuits, and states and 

 national boundaries were surveyed or designated. Territorial 

 limits being established, tribunals or international bodies were 

 necessary to regulate conflicting interests. The first resort was 

 the war-club, and the enslavement of the vanquished. This 

 method of arbitration has not yet been fully eliminated, but 

 progress is being made in that direction, and international tri- 

 bunals for arbitration now endeavor to supersede the sword. 



Thus were governments evolved and written constitutions and 

 statutes enacted, and codes of laws with penalties for restraining 

 the criminal classes from violating the rules experience has found 

 to be essential to good government and good society. None of 

 these primary laws have been created by the makers of religions, 

 but all such have found these in force wherever man has reached 

 a sufficient degree of civilization to receive a religion. 



This is why in all the various systems of religion we find the 

 same essential basal moral laws inculcated. One has not copied 

 from another, as is sometimes asserted. The fact that the same 

 moral laws are found in two or more systems of religion does not 

 indicate that the younger has copied the older, but that both ap- 



TOL. YL. 8 



