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support in the old system. It may be that Confucius did not care to
report to us all the features of the old religion, but only those of
which he approved. But the information given us about that old
religion is admittedly correct so far as it goes; and there is little
doubt that what Confucius thought best in it, and what passed through
him into the subsequent religion of China, was its most
characteristic and most important part.

II.--The Classics of the second order comprise four books:--

1. The _Lun Yu_, or Digested Conversations of the Master; or, as Dr.
Legge calls it, _The Confucian Analects_. It is from this book that
we derive our information about the sage; it was compiled probably by
the disciples of his disciples.

2. The _Ta-Heo_, or Great Learning, and

3. The _Chung Yung_, or Doctrine of the Mean, are smaller works,
giving a more literary form to the doctrine of the sage.

4. The _Mang-tsze_ contains the teachings of Mencius.

The State Religion of Ancient China.--Confucius never imagined
himself to be a reformer of the religion of his country. The religion
of China is in the main the same to this day[1] as it was before he
appeared, and what is called Confucianism is simply that old system.
That the worship of Confucius himself has been added to it does not
involve any change of its structure. It is already well developed
when we first see it, and what is very peculiar, it has already
parted with all savage and irrational elements. There is no
mythology; the universal legend of the marriage of heaven and earth
is dimly recognisable, but there is no set of primitive stories about
the gods. Of human sacrifice there is only one ancient instance;
there are no rites with anything savage or cruel about them.
Everything is proper, dignified, and well arranged. The deities are
beings worthy to be worshipped, and they exact no meaningless
services. There is nothing in any part of the religion to disturb the
propriety of the worshipper or to suggest any doubts to his mind. In
no other religion of the world do we find everything in such
excellent order.

[Footnote 1: The working religion of the present day is fully
described by Prof. de Groot in De la Saussaye, _Lehrbuch_, Third
edition.]

On the other hand, it is not a highly-developed religion. Its beliefs
are those of extremely early times, and represent a stage of thought
at which no other national religion stood still. The organisation
common t