onduct, and, above all, his purity of purpose, justly entitles
his name to be enrolled among the great reformers of the world.

The lasting influence which this man exerted upon the minds of his
countrymen, and the appreciation in which his name and works are still
held, are shown by the fact that his descendants constitute the only
order of hereditary nobility in China.

"He lived five hundred years before Christ; and yet to this day, through
all the changes and chances of time and of dynasties, the descendants of
Confucius remain the only hereditary noblemen and national pensioners
in the empire. Even the imperial blood becomes diluted, degraded, and
absorbed into the body politic after the seventh generation; but the
descendants of Confucius remain separate, through all the mutations of
time and of government."(119)

119) Thomas Magee, in the Forum, vol. x., p. 204.

Laotse, the founder of the smallest of the three sects in China, namely,
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, was an old man when Confucius was in
his prime. The word Taou signifies reason, but the doctrines believed
by the Taoists prove their system to be the most irrational of all the
religions of the East. In an article on The Taouist Religion, Warren
Benton says:

"The tendency in rationalism is toward the utter destruction of a belief
in the existence of unseen spirits of evil. Enlightened reason dethrones
devils; but Laotse created devils innumerable, and the chief concern of
the Taouist sect has always been to manipulate these emissaries of evil.
Modern rationalists deny the existence of devils, and relegate them to
the category of myths and to personified ideas. Not so the rationalist
of the Orient. He finds his greatest pleasure in contemplating the very
atmosphere he breathes as filled with spirits constantly seeking
his injury; and to outwit his satanic majesty is the chief end of
life."(120)

120) Pop. Science, Jan. 1890.

At a time when a personal devil was gradually assuming shape, it would
have been singular, indeed, if there had not arisen one who, by his
peculiar temperament and natural disposition, was exactly suited to the
task of elaborating this doctrine in all its grim seriousness. That such
an one did arise in the person of Laotse is evident from what is known
regarding his history and teachings.

The growth of religious faith had long tended in this direction.
Typhon, "the wind that blasts," "Darkness," a