REV. F. STORRS TCKNEK, B.X., UN MENCICS. '2o9 



forcible language he describes the hardships and sorrows wliich 

 the pursuit of virtue and the welfare of others entails, 

 adducing the great saints of China, Shun, Yu, Chow-Kung and 

 Confucius as examples. On the other hand, he sets fortli in 

 glowing terms the riches, power, and sensual indulgences which 

 the two most wicked sovereigns in Chinese story enjoyed, and 

 crives his commendation to the careers of the successful monsters 

 of vice and crime. At the best liis teaching may be summed 

 up in the suggestion, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we 

 die " ; but it seems to go further and say, " Stick at nothing to 

 gratify your desires, only do not miss your mark." Against such 

 a doctrine ]\Iencius had only to appeal to the witness of the 

 human conscience, even as the apostle Paul pointed out, that the 

 heathen who had no knowledge of the law of Moses, yet liad 

 the law of right and wrong in their own hearts. It was in 

 this sense that he maintained the goodness of human nature. 

 Some people have said of Confucian teaching that it is nothing 

 but morality ; it is not religion ; and this seemed to imply that 

 this moral sense is of slight value, and its maintenance and 

 development of no great moment. But when they hear the 

 vile and horrible tenets of this Chinese advocate of selfishness 

 and vice, will they continue of the same opinion ? For myself, 

 I rejoiced greatly when I first became acquainted with the high 

 and pure morality of Confucius and ]\Iencius, and frequently 

 quoted their best sayings when preaching to the Chinese ; but 

 now looking back, I am afraid I did not then sufficiently esteem 

 these great teachers of morality, nor rate highly enough the 

 good influence they have exercised over so many generations 

 of their countrymen. When one tries to imagine what China 

 would have become had the teachings of Yang prevailed over 

 those of Confucius, we can realise the incalculable blessing 

 which the " mere morality " of the sages has been to its people. 

 Xot that I admit the mere morality : I shall presently show 

 you that Confucianism is a religion as well as an ethic. 



From Yang, the advocate of unscrupulous selfishness, we 

 turn to the other extreme, Mih, the apostle of universal love 

 and self-sacrifice. " The philosopher, Mih," says Mencius, " loves 

 all equally. If, by rubbing smooth his whole body from crown 

 to heel he could have benefited the world, he would have done 

 it."* The loss of one's hairs to save the world seems 

 a small sacrifice, but we must understand, I suppose, that this 

 rubbing off was to be the result of life -long toil for the public 



* p. 340. 



