What Our Chinamen Read [pp. 525-530]

WH0A T OUR CHIVNAMEN READ.
should say that such as these are not
fortunate men, then do not believe them.
The unfortunate (the bad) indulge in
deceitful and perverse conversation;
moving or at rest they are sly and dan gerous: they love profit and are adepts
in iniquity: they covet licentious pleas ures, and delight in the calamities of
others: they dislike the gentle and good
as though they were enemies. To
transgress the laws and disobey the offi cers is to them like eating and drinking.
Small faults injure the body and ruin
the nature: great sins overthrow ancestors and cut off posterity. (The consequence of small offences may be
visited only upon the sinner himself,
while graver crimes involve ancestors
by damaging their memory, and the
-posterity being cut off, the ancestral offerings will cease.) If any one says, Do
not call such a person unfortunate, I
,will not believe him.
'The Traditions say: The fortunate (the
,good) man does good, but the day does
'not suffice (the day is not long enough
'to accomplish all the good he desires to
do). The bad man practices evil, neither
does the day suffice for him.
Do ye desire to be of the fortunate
class; or do ye desire to be of the unfortunate class?
The Tsti Shli (The Books of Tsii,
which was a feudal state in the times of
the Chau dynasty, B.C. 1122 to B.C. 249)
say: The kingdom of Tsii is destitute of
precious stones and metals, but virtue
serves in the place of the precious stones
and metals.
Confucius said: I regard goodness as
-a thing not yet attained: I regard that
which is not good as when I have occasion to try hot water, (very shy and
careful). I regard philosophers as
equals. (I would make them companions, and would endeavor to equal
them.) Looking upon those who are
not wise, I turn inward and examine
myself. (He looks inward to see if he
has their faults, and if so he endeavors
to correct them.)
Admirable sentiments-good morals
-worthy to be compared with the sentiments recorded by the old Roman
philosopher, the reader will say.
It is even so; and still we fear that a
faithful record of the lives of some of
the writers here quoted, might disclose
delinquencies as grave as any that tarnish the life of Seneca.
The Chinese honor their philosophers
and sages more than the Greeks and
Romans honored their great men;
while the writings of the Chinese sages
are far more generally read by the people than were the writings of Greek and
Roman philosophers by their countrymen; and yet, in all instances, how
lamentably have the lives of the people
been below the standards which were
held up before them!
If rules for the government of life,
full and explicit; if good morals, beautiful sentiments, illustrious examples, and
reverence for their teachers, were alone
sufficient to elevate and perfect a nation,
the Chinese would ever have been the
purest people on the face of the earth,
excepting those who have the records
handed down by teachers who received
their doctrines by inspiration. The
Chinese, however, are not all models of
purity in their private and social life
there is need of some regenerating influence which has not yet been very
extensively brought to bear upon them
-and what must that influence be?
[DFc,
530