260 



RE7. P. STORES TURNER, B.A., ON MENCIUS. 



good, like that of Yu on the Yellow Eiver to prevent inunda- 

 tions. At first sight ^Mih's doctrine seems quite Christian. 

 Mencius objects, not to tl)e self-sacrifice, but to the loving 

 •all equally. His objection is like that afterwards, and to-day, 

 brought against Budddism — it acknowledges the claims of 

 neither king nor parent. It is only fair to Mih to point out 

 that he does not in so many words assert that the love given 

 to all men was to be without difference of degree ;* and this 

 lias been recognised by great Chinese scholars.^ Nevertheless, 

 the language of Mih is not sufticiently explicit, and the 

 interpretation given to it by Mencius may well have been that 

 ■\vliich was actually accepted by the Mihist sect. Not to love 

 one's own parents more than another man's parents, one's own 

 -wife than his wife, one's own children than his people, is 

 a precept which evidently would serve as an excuse for the 

 neglect of moral obligations, and open the door to evil. It 

 reminds one of the Jewisli rabbi's teaching about Corban, 

 whereby discharge of duty to God was made a justification for 

 not fulfilling duty to parents. There was a third philosopher, 

 one Tsze-moh, who contended for a medium view between the 

 opposite teachings of Yang and ^lih ; exactly wdiat this mean 

 between the extremes was, jMencius does not tell us ; perhaps 

 it was something like Herbert Spencer's contention that 

 ■egoism and altruism are both riglit and both obligatory. But 

 Mencius, while admitting that Tsze-moh came nearer to the 

 right, regarded his view as narrow-minded, because it left no 

 room for adapting conduct to the exigency of circumstances.^: 



]\Iencius opposed these heresies by asserting his great doctrine 

 that human nature is good, and contains within itself a safe 

 guide to right conduct. He unfolds this fundamental truth in 

 a chapter which I will abridge to the utmost possible. Mencius 

 said, "All men have a mind \vhich cannot bear to see the 

 sufferings of others . . . My meaning may be illustrated 

 tiins : — if men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well they 

 will without exception feel alarm and distress, not as a ground 

 on which they may gain the favour of the child's parents, nor as 

 a ground on which they may seek praise, nor from fear of blame 

 if they show callousness. From this case we may perceive that 

 the feeling of pity is essential to man, that the feeling of shame 

 is essential to man, that the feeling of self-surrender is essential 

 to man, that the feeling of right and wrong is essential to man. 

 The lirst feeling is the origin of love, the second is the origin of 



* p. 132. 



t p. 133. 



I p. 341. 



