s, and I take a light but fail to
see anything,--is that a spirit? It is not; for spirits are soundless.
If there is something in the room, and I look for it but cannot see
it,--is that a spirit? It is not; spirits are formless. If something
brushes against me, and I grab at, but do not seize it,--is that a
spirit? It is not; for if spirits are soundless and formless, how can
they have substance?

"If then spirits have neither sound nor form nor substance, are they
consequently non-existent? Things which have form without sound exist in
nature; for instance, earth, and stones. Things which have sound without
form exist in nature; for instance, wind, and thunder. Things which have
both sound and form exist in nature; for instance, men, and animals.
And things which have neither sound nor form also exist in nature; for
instance, disembodied spirits and angels."

For his own poetical spirit, according to the funeral elegy written
some two hundred and fifty years after his death, a great honour was
reserved:--

Above in heaven there was no music, and God was sad,
And summoned him to his place beside the Throne.

His friend and contemporary, Liu Tsung-yuan, a poet and philosopher like
himself, was tempted into the following reflections by the contemplation
of a beautiful landscape which he discovered far from the beaten
track:--

"Now, I have always had my doubts about the existence of a God; but this
scene made me think He really must exist. At the same time, however,
I began to wonder why He did not place it in some worthy centre of
civilisation, rather than in this out-of-the-way barbarous region, where
for centuries there has been no one to enjoy its beauty. And so, on the
other hand, such waste of labour and incongruity of position disposed me
to think that there could not be a God after all."

Letter from God.--In A.D. 1008 there was a pretended revelation from God
in the form of a letter, recalling the letter from Christ on the neglect
of the Sabbath mentioned by Roger of Wendover and Hoveden, contemporary
chroniclers. The Emperor and his Court regarded this communication with
profound awe; but a high official of the day said, "I have learnt (from
the Confucian Discourses) that God does not even speak; how then should
He write a letter?"

Modern Materialism.--The philosopher and commentator, Chu Hsi, A.D.
1130-1200, whose interpretations of the Confucian Canon are the only
ones now officially recogn