The Wisdom of Confucius - 6 books in One Edition. Confucius

is offered to the living as well as the dead points to a radical divergence of idea, and exemplifies once more that these ceremonies approach rather the Byzantine idea of lay adoration than the Christian sentiment of religious worship. Confucius was as far as possible from regarding himself as a prophet, not to say a god. In using the expression ” Heaven gave birth to what virtue is in me,” he distinctly recognises himself as a created being, and owing duty as such to a higher than himself. To a certain extent he considered himself to be an instrument or expounder ( of this higher being. No prayer is offered to Confucius, nor is his assist-ance sought in any way ; and, as we have already shown, a Tartar dynasty 1,400 years ago prohibited the vulgar innovation, then being introduced by barren women, of seeking his mediation in their favour. Confucius is simply worshipped as one who codified learning ; as a sort of re-embodiment of the Duke of Chow, civil founder of the first truly historical imperial dynasty, whose memory was worshipped in Confucius’ time both at the imperial and ducal capitals, and whose tomb still lies near to that of Confucius. The worship offered to the Duke of Chow was simply a repetition of that which had always been offered to the manes of China’s best Emperors, who were what Sir Henry Maine describes in ancient western history and law as simply the Themistes or Assessors of the Deity, whether called Zeus or Ti. Or the sacrifices may be regarded as being made to them as earliest inventors or founders. Thus, one is worshipped as the founder of agriculture, another as the discoverer of the silk-worm, and so on. When we come to think of the importance of writing in the world, we have less difficulty in revering Confucius as a discoverer of records and history.

      1 ↑ One of his European expositors however styles Lao-tso ” a prophet of the gentiles,” because “five centuries before Christ he preached Christian doctrines.”