The Higher Usefulness of Science 85 



phenomena of the heavens, and looking down, exam- 

 ines the definite arrangement of the earth; thus he 

 knows the causes of darkness and of light," the basal 

 aim of it all being to see the world whole. "I seek 

 unity, all pervading," he said ; and investigations thus 

 prosecuted and truth thus attained lead to virtue. 

 And be it specially remembered that the great learning 

 and insight and virtue which all are agreed Confucius 

 possessed, were his through the possession and exercise 

 of physical and intellectual and spiritual powers com- 

 mon to all men. "I am not one who was born in the 

 possession of knowledge," he said, "I am one who is 

 fond of antiquity and earnest in seeking it." In short, 

 and this is a matter of supreme significance, Confucius 

 and his followers elaborated a truly magnificent moral 

 system without any claim to miraculous or super- 

 natural aid. We may say, I think, that a higher, 

 more potent, strictly rational moral philosophy is 

 hardly possible. 



But the verdict of history and the testimony of ex- 

 perience stand as conclusive proof that the Confucian 

 moral system, splendid as it is, is yet inadequate for 

 the modern world. It lacks something. What? It 

 lacks that peculiar driving force which nothing but 

 religious faith seems able to supply. That is why, I 

 suppose, Confucianism has supplemented itself in 

 China and Japan with Buddhism. 



So much for one of Asia's great religio-ethical gifts 

 to mankind. Turn now to another which is, both 



