132 A CASE OF RITUALISM 



these memoranda that he left behind. These' are the prayers 

 and aspirations of no ordinary man. 



A study of his life and actions suggests a comparison 

 with Moses, not exactly his contemporary, for Moses was 

 earlier by about two centuries. But there is much that is 

 similar in their careers. They are both great statesmen: 

 and they stand towering majestically on the distant horizons 

 of ancient history. They both led their people on the lines 

 of law and order, not of force. 



It is most instructive to compare the tendencies they 

 inculcated with others set in motion by the great potentates 

 of Asia. These two men depended on law, rites, ceremonies, 

 principles; others like the Kings of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria 

 depended on armies, — on force. These exponents of might 

 are only remembered for their monster armies and great 

 conquests with the unthinkable waste of human life. On 

 the other hand, the Jews and Chinese endeavoured to 

 establish culture on the humanities; and the culture of 

 Moses and Chow remain to this day. Moses after the 

 liberation of the Jews from their slavery in Egypt created 

 the great codes of government for them. Life was based on 

 the covenants. A little later the Duke of Chow was simi- 

 larily busy formulating his codes of Rites and Ceremonies, — 

 the Chou Kuan or Chou Li, for the consolidation of empire. 

 The one was creating a theocratic democracy: the other an 

 autocracy on animistic ideas; the one was making a state of 

 men to be ruled by an Invisible king : the other was creating 

 a state under the government of a visible king — an earthly 

 monarch, but who also was the direct representative of some 

 divinity that dwelt in a star : the one seemed to be inspired 

 with a pure spiritual vision ; the other was bound by 

 animistic conceptions of the cosmos. These two sages had 

 much in common : they had great nobility of character ; their 

 actions were animated by lofty ideals. But the difference in 

 their codes, in their conceptions of men and things has 

 ultimately led to widely different results. We cannot help 

 wondering what the results for China and the world would 

 have been if the Duke of Chow had the spiritual grasp of 

 Moses and Abraham. 



The thing to be remembered about their work is this 

 that to both human institutions rested on divine sanction. A 

 harmonious co-operation with the order and law of the 

 universe was in their view the successful way of obtaining 

 government amongst men. And it was partly the violation 

 of this law, as expressed in the great ceremonies which is the 

 subject of this paper, that made Confucius a pessimist with 

 regard to human government. He was the reverential be- 



