of recent date. It was common in the Ch'u State, which was destroyed
B.C. 300, after four hundred and twenty years of existence.



CHAPTER II -- CONFUCIANISM

Attitude of Confucius.--Under the influence of Confucius, B.C. 551-479,
the old order of things began to undergo a change. The Sage's attitude
of mind towards religion was one of a benevolent agnosticism, as summed
up in his famous utterance, "Respect the spirits, but keep them at a
distance." That he fully recognised the existence of a spirit world,
though admitting that he knew nothing about it, is manifest from the
following remarks of his:--

"How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to
them! We look for, but do not see them; we listen for, but do not hear
them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.
They cause all the people in the empire to fast and purify themselves,
and array themselves in their richest dresses, in order to attend at
their sacrifices. Then, like overflowing water, they seem to be over the
heads, and on the right and left, of their worshippers."

He believed that he himself was, at any rate to some extent, a prophet
of God, as witness his remarks when in danger from the people of
K'uang:--

"After the death of King Wen, was not wisdom lodged in me? If God were
to destroy this wisdom, future generations could not possess it. So long
as God does not destroy this wisdom, what can the people of K'uang do to