Ministers for this exalted position. The Emperor refused, saying that
his choice had already been confirmed by the body of Ministers. "The
spirits too have signified their assent, the tortoise and grass having
both concurred. Divination, when fortunate, may not be repeated."

Sincerity, on which Confucius lays such especial stress, is closely
associated with success in divination. "Sincerity is of God; cultivation
of sincerity is of man. He who is naturally sincere is he who hits his
mark without effort, and without thinking apprehends. He easily keeps to
the golden mean; he is inspired. He who cultivates sincerity is he who
chooses what is good and holds fast to it.

"It is characteristic of the most entire sincerity to be able to
foreknow. When a State or a family is about to flourish, there are sure
to be happy omens; and when it is about to perish, there are sure to
be unpropitious omens. The events portended are set forth by the
divining-grass and the tortoise. When calamity or good fortune may be
about to come, the evil or the good will be foreknown by the perfectly
sincere man, who may therefore be compared with a spirit."

The tortoise and the grass have long since disappeared as instruments of
divination, which is now carried on by means of lots drawn from a vase,
with answers attached; by planchette; and by the _chiao_. The last
consists of two pieces of wood, anciently of stone, in the shape of the
two halves of a kidney bean. These are thrown into the air before the
altar in a temple,--Buddhist or Taoist, it matters nothing,--with
the following results. Two convex sides uppermost mean a response
indifferently good; two flat sides mean negative and bad; one convex
and one flat side mean that the prayer will be granted. This form of
divination, though widely practised at the present day, is by no means