258 



REV. F. STORES TURNER, B.A., ON MENCIUS. 



was Ye cannot seri'e God and Mammon. " You have come so 

 far to see me," said King Wei to him, surely you bring some 

 plan with you by which my kingdom will gain ? " The 

 philosopher replied, " I bring Love and Justice ; why need 

 your Majesty utter that word, Gain ? "* In the coarse of 

 several interviews with this and otlier rulers, Mencius' one aim 

 was to get them to see that not gain-seeking but the practice 

 of Love and Justice was the only road to safety, to conquests, 

 to attaining universal supremacy. The third virtue, Propriety, 

 or Politeness, and the fourth, Knowledge, or Wisdom, arc 

 frequently mentioned, but rather as developments or mani- 

 festations of tlie first two than as co-ordinate cardinal 

 principles. There is a fourfold description of liuman goodness 

 which Mencius frequently employs. The fifth virtue. Truth- 

 fulness, or Fidelity, is not overlooked, but is referred to as 

 meaning tlie reality or sincerity of the preceding four. 

 Mencius is ever i'alling back on Love and Justice as the 

 fundamental and all-embracing virtues. 



We shall fail to do justice to Mencius if we omit to mention 

 what may be called his special doctririe, the original and 

 inherent goodness of human nature. This is not a new discovery, 

 it is the text of the Chung Yung, or Doctrine of the Mean. 

 But Mencius laid special stress upon it, and in that way made 

 it liis own. This doctrine, on first hearing, may seem a denial, 

 not only of Bible teaching, but of the universal confession of 

 sin, which is directly or indirectly foimd in all ages and among 

 all races of mankind. Such a view, however, could only be 

 maintained by one ignorant of Mencius' real meaning. He, 

 no less than Confucius, was deeply convinced of the Fall of 

 Man from his nature as given by Heaven, that is, by God. 

 Indeed; it is just on purpose to convince men of their moral 

 lapse that Mencius labours to call up within them that inward 

 sense of the good and the right, which is the true nature of 

 man as it ought to be. Perhaps the best way to grasp the 

 Mencian doctrine is to listen to his discussions with the great 

 heretics, Yang and Mih. 



" Yang's principle," jNIencius tells us, " was ' Every man for 

 himself,' that is, pure egoism ; if lie could liave benefited the 

 wliole world by plucking out one hair from his head he would 

 have refused to do it."f From the fragments of Yang's 

 teaching this is a harsh, but not an incorrect description of 

 Yang's views, which were worse than negatively immoral. In 



Lcgge's Classics^ vol. ii, p. 1. 



t pp. 158, 340. 



