it were proposed in the Work, language would hardly supply terms
adequate to express its value.
4. But the above account of the object of the Great Learning
leads us to the conclusion that the student of it should be a
sovereign. What interest can an ordinary man have in it? It is
high up in the clouds, far beyond his reach. This is a serious
objection to it, and quite unfits it for a place in schools, such as
Chu Hsi contends it once had. Intelligent Chinese, whose minds
were somewhat quickened by Christianity, have spoken to me of
this defect, and complained of the difficulty they felt in making
the book a practical directory for their conduct. 'It is so vague
and vast,' was the observation of one man. The writer, however,
has made some provision for the general application of his
instructions. He tells us that, from the sovereign down to the
mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the
person to be the root, that is, the first thing to be attended to [1].
_as in his method, moreover, he reaches from the cultivation of
the person to the tranquillization of the kingdom, through the
intermediate steps of the regulation of the family, and the
government of the State [2], there is room for setting forth
principles that parents and rulers generally may find adapted for
their guidance.
5. The method which is laid down for the attainment of the
great object proposed, consists of seven steps:-- the
investigation of things; the completion of knowledge; the
sincerity of the thoughts; the rectifying of the heart; the
cultivation of the person; the regulation of the family; and the
government of the state. These form the steps of a climax, the
end of which is the kingdom tranquillized. Pauthier calls the
paragraphs where they occur instances of the sorites, or abridged