[272] "Confucianism," in Great Religions of the World, p. 26. See also Prof. Giles's Chinese Literature, p. 48, and Wylie's Notes on Chinese Literature (1902 ed.), p. 82.
[274] Principles of Ethics, i. 402. Herbert Spencer goes on to refer to 1 Kings xxii. 22, Ezekiel xiv. 9, Genesis xxvi. 12, and also to the Jacob and Esau incident and to the occasion "when Jeremiah tells a falsehood at the king's suggestion." The Rev. A. W. Oxford, writing on ancient Judaism, reminds us that "Jehovah protects Abraham and Isaac after they have told lies, and punishes the innocent foreigner." Religious Systems of the World (8th ed.), p. 60.
[275] Herodotus, translated by G. C. Macaulay, vol. i. pp. 69-70.
[276] Herbert Spencer, op. cit. vol. i. pp. 403-4.
[277] Both cases are cited by Herbert Spencer, op. cit. p. 405. That philosopher argues that "it is the presence or absence of despotic rule which leads to prevalent falsehood or prevalent truth."
[278] Prof. Legge evidently took the view that truthfulness belonged only to Christians. He states that a love of truth can only be maintained, and a lie shrunk from with shame, through "the living recognition of a God of truth, and all the sanctions of revealed religion." (Chinese Classics, vol. i. p. 101.) By "revealed religion" Legge means, of course, Christianity. It would be interesting to know how he would have accounted for truthfulness among numerous non-Christian races of our own time or among such people as the ancient Persians. Perhaps as regards the latter case he would have done it by denying the capacity of a Greek (especially of a Greek who has been described as the "father of lies") to judge of truthfulness! Prof. Martin in The Lore of Cathay (p. 177) says that while Confucius's writings (presumably he means his recorded sayings) "abound in the praise of virtue, not a line can be found inculcating the pursuit of truth." This is an amazing misstatement: let us hope it was written inadvertently. A third missionary, Dr. Wells Williams, makes statements regarding the character and morals of the Chinese people that are so grossly unfair as to be almost unreadable [Middle Kingdom, vol. i. pp. 833-6 (1883 edition)]. Mr. Arthur Davenport in his China from Within (T. Fisher Unwin, 1904) quotes from a missionary's letter which appeared in China's Millions (a missionary publication) in February 1903. "What a mass of evil the missionary in China has to contend with!... Certainly there are more souls being lost every day in China than in any country in the world ... the Bible declares that no liar or idolater can ever reach heaven, and all these masses of people are idolaters and liars; for 'China is a nation of liars,' consequently there must be among the lost, among those going to eternal death, a greater number from the Chinese than from any nation on earth.... For though they be all liars and idolaters, they are the most industrious of people, and of such intellectual capacity as to be able to compete for the highest scholarships in the Universities of Europe and America.... We thank God with all our heart that there are now so many different Protestant Missions at work in Chehkiang, each having godly, earnest, and faithful men representing them." No wonder Mr. Davenport, after quoting this astonishing effusion, remarks that "this rendering of thanks to God that there are now so many 'godly, earnest, and faithful' foreign missionaries amongst this 'nation of liars' forcibly reminds us of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican." It is pitiful to think that missionaries of the class to which the writer of this letter belongs are still at work in China, "converting the heathen." Let us hope that the day may come when the generous-hearted people who support Foreign Missions with their money and services will feel justified in insisting that educated gentlemen, and no others, are selected for work in the Mission field. Fortunately the Mission Boards appear to be exercising much greater care in their selection of missionaries for China than they did formerly; but how can they undo the harm that has already been done?
[279] "A Highlander, who considered himself a devout Christian, is reported to have said of an acquaintance: 'Donald's a rogue, and a cheat, and a villain, and a liar; but he's a good, pious man.' Probably Donald 'kept the Sabbath—and everything else he could lay his hands on.'"—D. G. Ritchie, Natural Rights (2nd ed.), p. 190.
[280] The parallels between Egyptian and Chinese culture are not perhaps very numerous or instructive; it may therefore be worth while to mention one that is not without interest though it is doubtless accidental. The Milky Way in Egypt was known as the Heavenly Nile: in China it is named the Heavenly River (T'ien Ho). It would perhaps be correct to translate the Chinese ho in this case as "Yellow River": for when the word ho (river) is spoken of without qualification it is the Yellow River (near the banks of which most of the old Chinese capitals were situated) that is understood. With the phrases Heavenly Nile and Heavenly Yellow River may be compared an old English name for the Milky Way—Watling Street. (See A. Lang's Custom and Myth [1901 ed.], p. 122.)
[281] See article on Judaism in The Religious Systems of the World (Sonnenschein & Co. 8th ed.), p. 56.