failures in regard to what ought to be in our regulation of
ourselves, and in our behavior to others;-- 'if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' This
language is appropriate in the lips of the learned as well as in
those of the ignorant, to the highest sage as to the lowest child
of the soil. Neither the scriptures of God nor the experience of
man know of individuals

1 Par. 9.
2 Par. 18.
3 Pars. 18, 19.
4 Ana. VII. xix.


absolutely perfect. The other sentiment that men can make
themselves perfect is equally wide of the truth. Intelligence and
goodness by no means stand to each other in the relation of cause
and effect. The sayings of Ovid, 'Video meliora proboque,
deteriora sequor,' 'Nitimur in velitum semper. cupimusque negata,'
are a more correct expression of the facts of human
consciousness and conduct than the high-flown praises of
Confucius.
7. But Tsze-sze adopts the dicta of his grandfather without
questioning them, and gives them forth in his own style at the
commencement of the fourth part of his Treatise. 'When we have
intelligence resulting from sincerity, this condition is to be
ascribed to nature; when we have sincerity resulting from
intelligence, this condition is to be ascribed to instruction. But
given the sincerity, and there shall be the intelligence; given the
intelligence, and there shall be the sincerity [1].'