into various other relative duties, according to their supposed importance. Indeed, on whatever subject a Chinese writer treats, he can at all times, with the utmost facility, draw arguments for its support from the relation between parent and child. Even the grossest absurdities of their idolatry are thus supported. The work we are now considering is, in general, for the matter of it, well worth a perusal. Though Christians can derive no improvement to their ethics from it, yet it will confirm them more and more in the belief of two important points, namely, that God has not left himself without a witness in the minds of the heathen; and that the bare light of nature, as it is called, even when aided by all the light of pagan philosophy, is totally incapable of leading men to the knowledge and worship of the true God. Yet, for my own part, as an individual, I am of opinion that, as all truth and all good came originally from the same source, so we ought to look with a degree of reverence on those fragments of just sentiment and good principle which we sometimes meet with among the heathen.”

The following aphorisms derived from the moral and didactic works, are offered as examples of the "just sentiment and good principle,' which sometimes emanate from the minds of Chinese authors.

The error of a moment becomes the sorrow of a whole life. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

Between two parties, do not speak swords here and flatteries there.

Carelessness gives temptation to dishonesty.

The man who combats himself, will be happier than he who contends with others.

A man need only correct himself with the same rigour that he reprehends others; and excuse others with the same indulgence that he shows to himself.

Envy not those who have, nor despise those who have not.
Do not despise the good things of Providence.

Domestic failings should not be published.

Let every man sweep the snow from before his own doors, and not busy himself about the frost on his neighbour's tiles. The more talents are exercised, the more they will be developed.

The torment of envy is like a grain of sand in the eye.
Complain not of Heaven, and blame not men.

Do not deceive and oppress the orphan and widow.
Be not proud of wealth, nor complain of poverty.
He who does not soar high, will suffer less by a fall.
Do not wrongfully accuse any one.

Though the life of man falls short of a hundred years, he gives himself as much pain and anxiety as if he were to live a thousand.

Such aphorisms as these adorn both the temples and dwellings of the Chinese. A recent writer has adduced others, which bear a resemblance to some passages of Scripture, as the following :

Virtue is the surest road to longevity; but vice meets with an early doom.

The heart is the fountain of life.

Honours come by diligence; riches spring from economy.

If you love your son, give him plenty of the cudgel; if you hate your son, cram him with dainties.

A virtuous woman is a source of honour to her husband: a vicious one causes him disgrace.

Every blade of grass has its share of the dews of heaven; and though the birds of the forest have no garners, the wide world is before them.

That which touches vermilion is reddened.

The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened, Prov. x. 27.

Out of it [the heart] are the issues of life, Prov. iv. 23.

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute, Prov. xii. 24.

He that spareth his rod hateth his son but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes, Prov. xiii. 24.

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones, Prov. xii. 4.

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them, Matt. vi. 26.

Evil communications corrupt good manners, 1 Cor. xv. 33.

Similarity of sentiment may certainly be traced in these passages, but the vast superiority of the sa cred writers is apparent. Compared with their breathings indeed, those adduced from Chinese authors sink into insignificance. This is more especially observable in the passage set in juxtaposition with that uttered by our Saviour. The writer of it, knew only that the birds of the air are fed without treasuring up their stores in garners: Christ taught his disciples, and the world at large, that they are fed by the bounty of a common Father.

The

History. History may be said to occupy the next place to the moral and didactic works in Chinese literature. The master-works are the Shoo-king, and the historical annals of Confucius, called Chun-tsew. On these works, all succeeding works are founded, as far as their data extend; but there are other minor histories which treat of later ages. The histories of the Chinese, however, are not such works as the Roman, Greek, and European historians have produced. very best among them are by no means superior to the fragments of the annals of Egypt and Chaldea. The earlier annals are little better than fiction, and those of a later date are replete with fulsome adulation. As Gutzlaff observes, “Instead of allowing that common mortals had any part in the affairs of the world, they speak only of the emperors who then reigned. They represent them as the sources from which the whole order of things emanated, and all others as mere puppets, who moved at the pleasure of the autocrat. This is truly Chinese. The whole nation is represented by the emperor, and absorbed in him."

66

An example of the style which Chinese historians have adopted, is subjoined :—" In the sixth year of Hung-woo, the founder of the Ming dynasty, the emperor summoned the mandarins of the various districts before him, and thus addressed them::-'Kindness and cheerfulness are the virtues which man ought to possess: hard-heartedness and cruelty will rob him of every good quality. If you only pretend to be kind, you will not possess any real goodness of heart; and if you only wish to appear cheerful, you will not exhibit true affability. Strive, therefore, to practise true virtue.'

"The emperor chose the Taou priests to perform the service at the national altars, and to officiate at festivals of the gods of the land, river, and cows.

"Hoo-wei-yung, a deputy magistrate, was degraded on account of not having brought the multifarious affairs of his province to a conclusion.

"On the first day of the third month was a solar eclipse. About the same time, several military officers and civilians received promotion."

This is the classical method of writing history among the Chinese, and in such a strain their pages read from first to last. Statements that in such and such a month, in such and such a year of the reign of a certain prince, the minister or general went to the capital, or traversed the country; and the prince repaired to his palace, offered sacrifices, or issued orders, etc., make up their sum. They are mere dry chronological details, wherein no spring of human action is traced, and no reference is made to the great Disposer of human events.

The portion of Chinese history most interesting

to a foreigner is, when the country was involved in contests with the Tartars, or subjected by their invasions.

The manner in which Chinese historians notice foreign countries is at once simple and amusing. A specimen is subjoined :-" European navigators calculate their distances by degrees, as the Chinese do by watches. The Europeans coming to China sail first eighty degrees in a southerly course until they reach the Cape of Storms, and thence steer in a northerly direction, until they arrive at the limits of the province of Quang-tong. This is a voyage of six months, or more, during which they see no land.

"There is also a mode of communicating from Europe with China by land, but as the kingdom of Russia intervenes, and is difficult of access, the route by sea is always preferred.

"Russia is about 12,000 ly* distant from Pekin. It is bounded on the other sides by Europe and Turkey. The climate to the north is so very cold, that although it is understood that those parts were formerly inhabited, travellers meet with no traces of natives at present, and they are supposed to have perished. The woods are very extensive, and the snow lies many fathoms deep. They have old accounts of mountains of ice in the northern seas, some thousand cubits high, which, though they have been disbelieved, may yet be entitled to credit."

The lack of veracity, which is a dark spot in the character of the Chinese, is every where discovered in their historical writings. That order

* About 4,000 English miles.