THE THEISTIC IMPORT OF THE SUNG PHILOSOPHY 127 



correct both. In this case, therefore, the literal rendering 

 "man" would better represent his meaning. On the one 

 hand, he says, it is wrong to say, as is said in these days, 

 that there is a Man in the heavens judging sin, but, on the 

 other hand, he contends, it is also wrong to say that there is 

 no Ruler at all. 



The charges, therefore, which have been brought against 

 Chu Hsi of Materialism and of Atheism alike would appear 

 to be without sufficient foundation. It may be admitted 

 that, on the one hand, recoiling from the ultra-transcen- 

 dentalism of Taoism he rebounded in the opposite direction 

 to an excessive emphasis on the immanence of the Divine 

 Being : and, on the other hand, afraid of an extreme anthropo- 

 morphism he failed to give due prominence to the note of 

 personality. Nevertheless, transcendentalism and person- 

 ality have their place in his system ; while the great merit of 

 it as compared with other systems is the position he gives 

 to the ethical as constituting the very foundations of the 

 Universe, and to Love as the source of all things. Here, 

 doubtless, is the secret of its permanence. In the form which 

 it received from him it has remained substantially the same 

 through the seven centuries which have elapsed since his 

 day, pure and lofty in its ethics, a conservative force in the 

 nation, the very salt indeed which has preserved it from 

 decay. 



