A.D. 

 1590. 



[II. ii. 97.] 

 Three prin- 

 cipall sectes 

 among the 

 Chinians. 



Confucius 

 authour of the 

 first sect. 



The summe of 

 Confucius his 

 doctrine. 



THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



feare least I have bene over tedious unto you : howbeit I 

 will not faile but accomplish that which I have under- 

 taken, and (according to your request) adde somewhat 

 more concerning religion. Whereas therefore the king- 

 dome of China hath hitherto bene destitute of true 

 religion, and now the first beginnings thereof are included 

 in most narrow bounds, that nation being otherwise a 

 people most ingenious, and of an extraordinary and high 

 capacity, hath alwayes lived in great errours and ignorance 

 of the trueth, being distracted into sundry opinions, and 

 following manifolde sects. And among these sects there 

 are three more famous then the rest : the first is of them 

 that professe the doctrine of one Confucius a notable 

 philosopher. This man (as it is reported in the history 

 of his life) was one of most upright and incorrupt maners, 

 whereof he wrote sundry treatises very pithily and largely, 

 which above all other books, are seriously read and per- 

 used by the Chinians. The same doctrine do all Magis- 

 trates embrace, and others also that give their mindes to 

 the study of letters, a great part whereof Confucius is 

 sayd to have invented : and he is had in so great honour, 

 that all his followers and clients, upon the dayes of the 

 new and full Moone, doe assemble themselves at the 

 common Schoole, which I have above mentioned, and 

 before his image, which is worshipped with burning of 

 incense and with tapers, they doe thrise bend their knees, 

 and bow their heads downe to the ground ; which not 

 onely the common scholars, but the chiefe Magistrates do 

 performe. The summe of the foresayd doctrine is, that 

 men should follow the light of nature as their guide, and 

 that they should diligently endevour to attaine unto the 

 vertues by me before mentioned : and lastly, that they 

 should employ their labour about the orderly government 

 of their families and of the Common-wealth. All these 

 things are in very deed praise-woorthy, if Confucius had 

 made any mention of almighty God and of the life to 

 come, and had not ascribed so much unto the heavens, 

 and unto fatall necessity, nor yet had so curiously intreated 



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