hough they
have craved a richer mental pabulum, yet they have enjoyed less the
study of the original text, than acquaintance with the commentaries and
communion with the great philosophical exponents, of the master. What,
then, we ask, are the features of the developed philosophy, which,
imported from China, served the Japanese Samurai not only as morals but
for such religion as he possessed or professed?

We answer: The system was not agnostic, as many modern and western
writers assert that it is, and as Confucius, transmitting and probably
modifying the old religion, had made the body of his teachings to be.
Agnostic, indeed, in regard to many things wherein a Christian has
faith, modern Confucianism, besides being bitterly polemic and hostile
to Buddhism, is pantheistic.

Certain it is that during the revival of Pure Shint[=o] in the
eighteenth century, the scholars of the Shint[=o] school, and those of
its great rival, the Chinese, agreed in making loyalty[13] take the
place of filial duty in the Confucian system. To serve the cause of the
Emperor became the most essential duty to those with cultivated minds.
The newer Chinese philosophy mightily influenced the historians, Rai
Sanyo and those of the Mito school, whose works, now classic, really
began the revolution of 1868. By forming and setting in motion the
public opinion, which finally overthrew the Sh[=o]gun and feudalism,
restored the Emperor to supreme power, and unified the nation, they
helped, with modern ideas, to make the New Japan of our day. The
Shint[=o] and the Chinese teachings became amalgamated in a common
cause, and thus the philosophy of Chu Hi, mingling with the nationalism
and patriotism inculcated by Shint[=o], brought about a remarkable
result. As a native scholar and philosopher observes, "It certainly is
strange to see the Tokugawa rule much shaken, if not actually
overthrown, by that doctrine which generations of able Sh[=o]guns and
their ministers had earnestly encouraged and protected. It is perhaps
still more remarkable to see the Mito clan, under many able and active
chiefs, become the centre of the Kinno[14] movement, which was to result
in the overthrow of the Tokugawa family, of which it was itself a
branch."

A Medley of Pantheism.

The philosophy of modern Confucianism is wholly pantheistic. There is in
it no such thing or being as God. The orthodox pantheism of Old Japan
means that everything in general is god, but nothi