262 KEV- F. STORKS TURNER, B.A., ON MENCTUS. 



the water is indifferent to east and west." But Mencius retorted, 

 " Will water flow indifferently up or down ? Man's nature 

 tends to goodness, as water tends to flow downwards."* One of 

 Mencius' disciples objected : " Some say that man's nature may 

 be made to practise good or to practise evil, as under the good 

 Kings AVan and Woo they loved wdiat is good, and under the 

 bad Kings Yeu and Le they loved cruelty. Others say that the 

 nature of, some is good, and the nature of others is evil. Hence 

 under the saintly Kings Yaou and Shun there were bad men 

 like Seang and Koo-Sou ; while the tyrant Chow had good 

 relatives and ministers. And now you say, ' The nature is good.' 

 Are all these wrong ? " Mencius replied, " From the feelings 

 proper to it, it is constituted for the practice of what is good ; 

 this is what I mean by saying tliat the nature is good. If men 

 do what is not good, the blame cannot be imputed to their 

 natural capacity."! Then he reiterated his assertion of the 

 natural feelings of pity, shame, reverence, and conscience.f 

 After we have heard all that Mencius had to say, we cannot 

 feel satisfied. That man is made to be good, that he knows his 

 duty, that he can choose the right and reject the wrong, Mencius 

 affirms repeatedly. He also admits that most men are overcome 

 by circumstances and bad examples. Yet he insists that to 

 make the right choice is as easy as turning the palm of the 

 hand upwards, or lifting a feather. He perceives the ideal of 

 human nature, he maintains the categorical imperative of duty ; 

 he does not, like St. Paul, confess the inward struggle, "the 

 good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that 

 I do . . . with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but 

 with, the flesh the law of sin." Mencius is a teacher of the 

 moral law, but he has no gospel to proclaim. 



. We have now to consider the question whether Confucianism 

 is mere morality or a true religion. The religion of the Chinese, 

 it has been said, is ancestor-worship. Little support can be 

 found for this in Mencius. He is a good Confucianist, and on 

 one occasion he quoted the precept about sacrificing to a deceased 

 father, but the context shows that this sacrifice was intended 

 to be a sign of the sincerity of the son's love and sorrow. 

 Sacrifices to Heaven are several times mentioned. But the 

 main fact is that Mencius, in accordance with Confucian teaching, 

 ascribed the law of duty in man's heart to Heaven's implanting 

 it there. The natvre is what Heaven ordains. Mencius did not 

 base morality upon utility ; he did not say right conduct is 



p. 271. 



t p. 278. 



