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in accordance with what is said in The Great Declaration--'Heaven sees as my people see, Heaven hears as my people hear.'" Wan Chang said, "People say, 'When the disposal of the empire came to Yu, his virtue was inferior to that of Yaou and Shun, and he did not transmit it to the worthiest, but to his son.' Was it so?" Mencius replied, "No; it was not so. When Heaven gave the empire to the worthiest, it was given to the worthiest; when Heaven gave it to the son of the preceding emperor, it was given to that son. Formerly Shun presented Yu to Heaven for a period of seventeen years; and when the three years' mourning, consequent on the death of Shun, were accomplished, Yu withdrew from the son of Yu to Yang-shing. The people of the empire followed him as, after the death of Yaou, they had not followed his son, but followed Shun. Yu presented Yih to Heaven for a period of seven years; and when the three years' mourning consequent on the death of Yu were accomplished, Yih withdrew from the son of Yu to the north of Mount Ke. The princes repairing to court, and litigants, went not to Yih, but to K[']e, saying, 'He is the son of our ruler.' Singers did not sing Yih, but they sang K[']e, saying, 'He is the son of our ruler.' "That Tan-choo was not equal to his father, and Shun's son also not equal to his; that Shun assisted Yaou, and Yu assisted Shun, for a period of many years, conferring benefits on the people for a long time; that K[']e was virtuous and able, and could reverently enter into and continue the ways of Yu; that Yih assisted Yu for a period of a few years, conferring benefits on the people not for a long time; that the length of time that Shun, Yu, and Yih, assisted in the government was so different; and that the sons of the emperors were one a man of talents and virtue, and the other two inferior to their fathers:--all these things were from Heaven, and what could not be produced by man. That which is done without any one's seeming to do it is from Heaven. That which comes to pass without any one's seeming to bring it about is from Heaven. "In the case of a private man's obtaining the empire, there must be in him virtue equal to that of Shun and Yu, and moreover there must be the presenting him to Heaven by the preceding emperor. It was on this latter account that Chung-ne did not obtain the kingdom. "When the throne descends by natural succession, he who is displaced by Heaven must be like Keeh or C
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