tand that word. They believed in devils and spooks
as most primitive people do. But they had no prophets and recognised no
"revealed truth." Confucius is almost the only one among the great moral
leaders who did not see visions, who did not proclaim himself as the
messenger of a divine power; who did not, at some time or another, claim
that he was inspired by voices from above.

He was just a very sensible and kindly man, rather given to lonely
wanderings and melancholy tunes upon his faithful flute. He asked for no
recognition. He did not demand that any one should follow him or worship
him. He reminds us of the ancient Greek philosophers, especially those
of the Stoic School, men who believed in right living and righteous
thinking without the hope of a reward but simply for the peace of the
soul that comes with a good conscience.

Confucius was a very tolerant man. He went out of his way to visit
Lao-Tse, the other great Chinese leader and the founder of a philosophic
system called "Taoism," which was merely an early Chinese version of the
Golden Rule.

Confucius bore no hatred to any one. He taught the virtue of supreme
self-possession. A person of real worth, according to the teaching of
Confucius, did not allow himself to be ruffled by anger and suffered
whatever fate brought him with the resignation of those sages who
understand that everything which happens, in one way or another, is
meant for the best.

At first he had only a few students. Gradually the number increased.
Before his death, in the year 478 B.C., several of the kings and the
princes of China confessed themselves his disciples. When Christ was
born in Bethlehem, the philosophy of Confucius had already become a part
of the mental make-up of most Chinamen. It has continued to influence
their lives ever since. Not however in its pure, original form. Most
religions change as time goes on. Christ preached humility and meekness
and absence from worldly ambitions, but fifteen centuries after
Golgotha, the head of the Christian church was spending millions upon
the erection of a building that bore little relation to the lonely
stable of Bethlehem.

Lao-Tse taught the Golden Rule, and in less than three centuries the
ignorant masses had made him into a real and very cruel God and had
buried his wise commandments under a rubbish-heap of superstition which
made the lives of the average Chinese one long series of frights and
fears and horrors.

Confuciu