cloud hung over the altar. The Emperor himself declared that he saw
a dazzling glory, and heard a voice speaking to him. The truthful
historian--the Herodotus of China--who has left an account of these
proceedings, accompanied the Emperor on this and other occasions; he
was also present at the sacrifices offered before the departure of the
mission, and has left it on record that he himself actually heard the
voices of spirits.



CHAPTER III -- TAOISM

Lao Tzu.--Meanwhile, other influences had been helping to divert the
attention of the Chinese people from the simple worship of God and of
the powers of nature. The philosophy associated with the name of Lao
Tzu, who lived nobody knows when,--probably about B.C. 600--which is
popularly known as Taoism, from Tao, the omnipresent, omnipotent, and
unthinkable principle on which it is based, operated with Confucianism,
though in an opposite direction, in dislimning the old faith while
putting nothing satisfactory in its place. Confucianism, with its
shadowy monotheistic background, was at any rate a practical system for
everyday use, and it may be said to contain all the great ethical truths
to be found in the teachings of Christ. Lao Tzu harped upon a doctrine
of Inaction, by virtue of which all things were to be accomplished,--a
perpetual accommodation of self to one's surroundings, with the minimum
of effort, all progress being spontaneous and in the line of least
resistance. Such a system was naturally far better fitted for the study,
where in fact it has always remained, than for use in ordinary life.

In one of the few genuine utterances of Lao Tzu which have survived the