54 



REV. ARTHUR ELWIN, ON CONFUCIANISM. 



incompetencies. . . . When men are distressed in mind, and 

 perplexed in their thoughts, they are aroused to vigorous 

 reformation. . . . From these things we see how life springs 

 from sorrow and calamity, while death follows ease and 

 pleasure." 



It may be remarked in passing, that Mencius had a good 

 mother. She is said to have moved her residence from the 

 neighbourhood of a butcher's shop, because she would not have 

 her little boy witness daily that which she thought might make 

 him cruel. 



Mencius, like Confucius, believed the nature of man to be 

 originally good, though contaminated through contact with the 

 evil of this world. All men are naturally virtuous, just as 

 water naturally flows downward. 



At the head of the Five Classics is placed the Book of Changes, 

 an obscure treatise consisting of sixty-four short essays of a 

 moral, social, and political character. It is said to have been 

 composed in prison by King Wan, in the year 1150 B.C., that 

 is before the birth of Samuel. It is in this ancient book that 

 we first find mention of the Five Great Social Eelations ; they 

 are those of Sovereign and subject, husband and wife, parent 

 and child, elder brother and younger brother, and friends. If 

 we apply the important word Eeciprocity to these five social 

 relations, we shall perhaps be able to form some idea why the 

 Chinese nation has been able to hold together for so many 

 centuries. 



The second is the Booh of History. It consists of a series of 

 dialogues designed to give a brief history of China from about 

 B.C. 2350 to 770 B.C. " This volume compiled by Confucius 

 contains," one remarks, " the seeds of all things valuable in the 

 estimation of the Chinese. It is at once the foundation of their 

 political system, history, and religious rites, and the basis of 

 their tactics, music, and astronomy. The knowledge of the 

 true God, under the appellation of Shang-ti, is not obscurely 

 intimated in this work." 



The third is the Book of Odes, consisting of three hundred 

 popular songs and poems, culled from a period covering more 

 than a thousand years — from the days of Joseph's greatness in 

 Egypt, to the era of the Babylonish captivity. It is most 

 noteworthy that there is nothing in the whole collection which 

 might not be read aloud in any company, in its full natural 

 sense, by youth or maiden. 



The following one of the Odes, translated by Dr. Legge, is 

 given as a specimen : — 



