Book and the author, however, as we have them, and get to their
meaning, if we can, by assiduous examination and reflection.
2. 'Man has received his nature from Heaven. Conduct in
accordance with that nature constitutes what is right and true,--
is a pursuing of the proper Path. The cultivation or regulation of
that path is what is called Instruction.' It is with these axioms
that the Treatise commences, and from such an introduction we
might expect that the writer would go on to unfold the various
principles of duty, derived from an analysis of man's moral
constitution.
Confining himself, however, to the second axiom, he
proceeds to say that 'the path may not for an instant be left, and
that the superior man is cautious and careful in reference to what
he does not see, and fearful and apprehensive in reference to what
he does not hear. There is nothing more visible than what is
secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute, and
therefore the superior man is watchful over his aloneness.' This
is not all very plain. Comparing it with the sixth chapter of
Commentary in the Great Learning, it seems to inculcate what is
there called 'making the thoughts sincere.' The passage contains
an admonition about equivalent to that of Solomon,-- 'Keep thy
heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.'
The next paragraph seems to speak of the nature and the
path under other names. 'While there are no movements of
pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, we have what may be called the
state of equilibrium. When those feelings have been moved, and
they all act in the due degree, we have what may be called the
state of harmony. This equilibrium is the great root of the world,
and this harmony is its universal path.' What is here called 'the
state of equilibrium,' is the same as the nature given by Heaven,