well, but the author has hardly enunciated his preliminary
apophthegms, when he conducts into an obscurity where we can
hardly grope our way, and when we emerge from that, it is to be
bewildered by his gorgeous but unsubstantial pictures of sagely
perfection. He has eminently contributed to nourish the pride of
his countrymen. He has exalted their sages above all that is called
God or is worshipped, and taught the masses of the people that
with them they have need of nothing from without. In the
meantime it is antagonistic to Christianity. By-and-by, when
Christianity has prevailed in China, men will refer to it as a
striking proof how their fathers by their wisdom knew neither
God nor themselves.



CHAPTER V.
CONFUCIUS AND HIS IMMEDIATE DISCIPLES.

SECTION I.
LIFE OF CONFUCIUS.

1. 'And have you foreigners surnames as well?' This
question has often been put to me by Chinese. It marks the
ignorance which belongs to the people of all that is external to

[Sidebar] His ancestry.

themselves, and the pride of antiquity which enters largely as an
element into their character. If such a pride could in any case be
justified, we might allow it to the family of the K'ung, the