re up" at this time he "loses face," as his expressive
phrase has it. He is a bad citizen and unpopular. Consequently all
sorts of things may be bought cheaper just before the New Year than
any other time. Every man is willing to make any reasonable sacrifice,
selling his possessions at a great discount if necessary, rather than
have a debt against him run over into the new period--an excellent
idea for America!

I do not know whether Confucianism is responsible for this particular
policy, but at any rate the fact remains that outside the Bible the
world has never known a more sublime moral philosophy than that of
Confucius. It means much, therefore, that every Chinese pupil must
know the maxims and principles of the great sage by heart. Moreover,
as Confucius did not profess to teach spiritual truth, the
missionaries in China are fast coming to realize that it is both
unnecessary and foolish to urge the people to abandon Confucianism.
The proper policy is to tell the Chinese, "Hold on to all that is good
and true in Confucius. There is very little in his teachings that is
{131} in conflict with religion, and Christian leaders now recognize
him as one of the greatest moral forces the world has known. But to
the high moral teaching of the Chinese master you must add now the
moral teachings of Christianity and, more essential still, the great
body of spiritual truth which Confucianism lacks." The grand old man
among Chinese missionaries, Dr. W. A. P. Martin, who has been in the
work since 1850, said to me in Peking, "Some of the best Christians
are now the best Confucianists."

Confucianism, as any one can see by reading the books, is no more a
substitute for Christianity than Proverbs is for St. John's Gospel. As
Doctor Brewster, another missionary, says, "We do not ask an American
scholar to renounce Plato to become a Christian; why should we ask a
Chinaman to renounce Confucius?"

Confucius lived five centuries before Christ, and at his old home in
Shantung are the graves alike of his descendants and his
ancestors--the oldest family burying ground in the world. "No monarch
on earth can trace back his lineage by an unbroken chain through so
many centuries." In Peking I was so fortunate as to form a friendship
with a descendant of Confucius of the seventy-fifth generation--Mr.
Kung Hsiang Koh--a promising and gifted senior in the Imperial College
of Languages. At my request he inscribed a scroll for me in beautiful
C