ong
as God does not destroy this wisdom, what can the people of K'uang do to
me?"

Again, when Confucius cried, "Alas! there is no one that knows me," and
a disciple asked what was meant, he replied, "I do not murmur against
God. I do not mumble against man. My studies lie low, and my penetration
lies high. But there is God; He knows me."

We know that Confucius fasted, and we know that "he sacrificed to the
spirits as though the spirits were present;" it is even stated that
"when a friend sent him a present, though it might be a carriage and
horses, unless it were flesh which had been used in sacrifice, he did
not bow." He declared that for a person in mourning food and music were
without flavour and charm; and whenever he saw anyone approaching
who was in mourning dress, even though younger than himself, he
would immediately rise from his seat. He believed in destiny; he was
superstitious, changing colour at a squall or at a clap of thunder; and
he even countenanced the ceremonies performed by villagers when driving
out evil spirits from their dwellings. He protested against any attempt
to impose on God. He said that "he who offends against God has none to
whom he can pray;" and when in an hour of sickness a disciple asked to
be allowed to pray for him, he replied, "My praying has been for a long
time." Yet he declined to speak to his disciples of God, of spiritual
beings or even of death and a hereafter, holding that life and its
problems were alone sufficient to tax the energies of the human race.
While not altogether ignoring man's duty towards God, he subordinated
it in every way to man's duty towards his neighbour. He also did much
towards weakening the personality of God, for whom he invariably
used _T'ien_, never _Shang Ti_, regarding Him evidently more as
an abstraction than as a living sentient Being, with the physical
attributes of man. Confucianism is therefore entirely a system of
morality, and not a religion.

It is also a curious fact that throughout the _Spring and Autumn_, or
Annals of the State of Lu, which extend from B.C. 722 to B.C. 484, there
is no allusion of any kind to the interposition of God in human affairs,
although a variety of natural phenomena are recorded, such as have
always been regarded by primitive peoples as the direct acts of an
angered or benevolent Deity. Lu was the State in which Confucius was
born, and its annals were compiled by the Sage himself; and throughout
these Anna