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