conceptions and unwarranted sentiments will carry the victims; but our purpose is served by the examination we have made of the story of Ebel and his female church. We may, however, in conclusion, call attention to the fact, that some at least of the leaders in all the movements of which Mr. Dixon's volumes give an account, were people of the sort from which revival pietists are made in times of religious excitement, every whit as pious and sincere, and not more hopelessly in bondage to unreasoning sentiment.

ART. III..

CHINESE PHILOSOPHERS AND MORALISTS.

The Works of Mencius. Vol. II. of the Chinese Classics. Translated by JAMES LEGGE, D.D. Hong-Kong and London: Trübner & Co., 1862.

Meng Tseu, vel Mencium inter Sinenses Philosophos, Ingenio, Doctrina, Nominisque Claritate, Confucio Proximum, edidit, Latina interpretatione ad interpretationem Tartaricum utramque recensita, instruxit, et perpetuo commentario, e Sinicis deprompto, illustravit STANISLAUS JULIEN. Paris: 1824-1829.

I. MENCIUS.

In the year of our Lord One, Lew Hin published complete catalogues of the "Works of the Scholars," up to his own time. In the first or orthodox division of the third list, we have the entry, "Works of Mencius, in eleven books:" so, when Jesus stood talking with the elders in the temple, the works of Mencius were a registered classic in that far-off land. A hundred years before this, Sze-ma Ts'een published his "Historical Records," and in its seventy-fourth Book wrote a memoir of Mencius. "That philosopher," he relates, having withdrawn into private life with his disciples, wrote prefaces for the 'She' and 'Shoo,' unfolded the views of Confucius, and composed the 'Works of Mencius' in seven books."

Nearly a hundred years before this, we find long extracts from Mencius in the pages of the writers of the Han dynas

ty. The obscure reputation of Mencius, and the philosophical character of his writings, seems to have protected them from the wholesale destruction of the tyrant of Ts'in; but, between his own time and that of the "Burning of the Books," there arose a philosopher, Seun K'ing, by many considered the ablest of the disciples of Confucius, who quotes him in his writings, and who wrote a tract, "That Human Nature is Evil," designed to meet the noble assertion of Mencius to the contrary, which had already produced a marked effect on the life of China, an assertion which reminds us of nothing so much as Dr. Channing's annunciation of the "Dignity of Human Nature." The only commentator upon Mencius who seems worthy of mention, is Chaou K'e, born A.D. 108. His work was done under all the disadvantages of severe illness, and close hiding from the resentment of courtly partisans. Of his book he says only, "Let those who come after me observe its errors, and correct them: that will be good service."

The question of the genuineness of the eleven books, claimed for Mencius by Lew Hin, Chaou K'e dismisses very briefly. "Beside the seven original books," he says, "there were four other books; but neither breadth nor depth marks their composition. The seven books examine and set forth ten thousand topics, discuss the subjects of benevolence and righteousness, reason and virtue, the nature of Man, and the decrees of Heaven." While it seems generally admitted that these books exist in the main as Mencius left them, yet they show the marks of later editing; all contemporary princes mentioned in them bearing the titles conferred upon them after their death.

The materials for the Life of Mencius are scanty; but the mother of Mencius is still a model to all China. The Catholics of the Christian world hold the Virgin Mary in hardly greater reverence than the 'Celestials' offer to Chang-she. Mencius is the Latin form of Măng Tsze, the philosopher Măng; this surname indicating one of the three royal houses in Loo, whose usurpations Confucius protested against during his whole life. Mencius was born 371 B.C., and lived to be

eighty-four years of age. The first twenty-three years of his life synchronized with the last twenty-three of Plato's; and whatever we say when we set his words against those of Jesus, the bust of Mencius should certainly stand beside those of Aristotle, Zeno, and Demosthenes. When he was very young, he lived near a graveyard, and imitated the foolish ceremonies of the mourners. His mother observed it, and moved into the market. There he played out the mean tricks of the salesmen. His mother moved again, this time into the neighborhood of a school, where a Confucian "propriety and politeness" were taught.

When he asked his mother why they killed pigs, she answered, "To feed you." But her conscience accused her. "Before he was born," she said, "I would not sit on a mat that was not laid straight, so careful was I of his influences; now I deceive his opening intelligence:" so she bought a piece of the butcher's meat, to make good her words. One day, when she was weaving, she asked him how he got on at school. "Well enough," he answered carelessly. His mother took a sharp knife, and drew it across her web. "What are you doing?" cried the astonished boy. "I am only imitating you," said his mother. "Your idleness cuts the warp of your schooling in the same way;" and the lesson did not need to be repeated. After Mencius was married, he entered his wife's chamber one day, and surprised her in an unseemly posture. So shocked was the disciple of "propriety and politeness," that he would at once have divorced her. "Not so," retorted Chang-she: "it is you who are to blame. Do not the Rules of Propriety' say, 'When you are about to ascend, raise your voice; when you enter a door, lower your eyes.' What is this for, but to prevent such surprises?" So Mencius fell to reproving himself.

At one time his mother saw him sad, and asked the reason. "I wish to leave Tsze; but I think of your old age, and am anxious," he replied. "When a woman is young," said Chang-she," she obeys her parents; when married, her husband; when a widow, her son. You are of age: do as you think fit." That Mencius devoted himself to knowledge, and

had a school, as Confucius had done before him, seems very clear; but we know nothing of his circumstances. Once a man came to him and said, "Let me stay here, and receive instruction at your gate." "It is not difficult to know the way of Truth," answered Mencius. "Go home and seek for it: you will have abundance of teachers." How firmly and not unkindly this was said, we learn from what he added. afterward: "When I refuse to teach a man, I am thereby teaching him."

Between the time of Confucius and that of Mencius, political affairs grew worse in China. "The rulers yield themselves to a bad current," Mencius wrote; but it could not have been till after his fortieth year that he filled the position of "Counsellor of Princes," in which his independence and haughty carriage were to make him remarkable. At the court of Tsze he received honorary office, but would accept no salary. When the prime minister sent him a gift, he received it, but never acknowledged it by a visit. "There was a gift," he said in explanation, "but no corresponding respect." The king would not bend to the philosopher, nor the philosopher to the king. Was it only child's play when the great man met the falsehood of his prince by another, and then went out to show that his illness had been feigned and his disrespect intentional? Seuen, King of Tsze, could not be made to understand him. He really thought that money would buy this free soul, and Mencius walked sadly out of his honors, lingering and hoping for recall, as Confucius had done; for he said, "If the king were to use me, would it benefit his kingdom only?" Socialism, and the doctrine of a community of goods, prove to be as old as the time of Mencius. A certain Heu Hing started up, who advocated those notions, and wanted the sovereign to raise his own rice and cook his own meals. The energy with which Mencius vindicated the propriety of a division of labor, and of an educated class conducting the government, is the best proof that Heu Hing had divided the councils of the "Scholars." Towards one court minister, who was insolent and presuming, Mencius showed a steady contempt, which does not seem to be in

keeping with some small stories told of his time-serving. Seuen had been fighting for his neighbors' territory, somewhat after the fashion we set in the matter of the Texan war; but he never could get one word of approval from Mencius. At last he pleaded success as a proof that Heaven was on his side. "Let him restore his captives and spoils, and consult with the people of the Yen," was the stern reply of his Mentor. Mencius celebrated the funeral of his mother with a splendor which was rebuked throughout the empire. We know nothing of his children; but he must have had a family, as his descendants form a large clan to-day.

The very monarch who had neglected Confucius throughout his life, the Duke Gae, was the first to order sacrifices to be offered to him. But Mencius was not so distinguished: centuries elapsed before his real ability was perceived. Not till 1083 A.D. did an imperial patent order a temple to be erected in his honor, near to the place of his burial; and only in the next year was his bust placed in the temple of Confucius. In 1372 the reigning emperor discovered in the works of Mencius the following passage: "When a prince treads the people under his feet, like the ground or the grass, they consider him a robber and an enemy." Conscience made swift application of these words, spoken originally to King Seuen, and an imperial edict degraded the bust of Mencius from its place. But one of his officers nobly remonstrated. "I will die for Mencius," he said, in the teeth of the royal will; and the next year found the emperor ready with his own offering. Mencius would never allow himself to be called a sage; but he said, "When sages arise, they will not change my words."

A remarkable Chinese critic, Ch'ing, characterized the two great teachers of his people in the following manner: "Confucius, through prudence, often dissimulated: Mencius was incapable of constraining himself; he spoke what he thought, without fear or reserve. Confucius spoke of benevolence; but, as soon as Mencius opens his mouth, we hear of benevolence and righteousness. Confucius talked about the mind. Mencius had a great deal to say about the nourishment of the