some of my successors, through drinking this, will cause infinite sorrow to the nation." Yu was the founder of the Hia or Hai dynasty, which controlled China from 2200 to 1818 B. C.

The records of Chinese historians are not definite in naming the year when the Chinese settlers first arrived in their new home, but it was in these early semi-legendary years. By some the time is placed before the days of Fuh-hi or as contemporaneous with his reign. Others contend that they came about 2500 B. C., antedating the reign of Yu; but nearly all agree that the Chinese were not natives. They came, if we are to take the word of Confucius, from the valley of the Euphrates or from the regions of the Caspian Sea. Journeying for a new land and home, they persisted in their eastern pilgrimage by a northern route and entered China through the valley of the Hoangho or Yellow River, until finally they were stopped by the boundless waters of the Pacific.

The fact that the Chinese were not indigenous adds vastly to interest in the study of the growth of the empire. It establishes a degree of sympathy on our part with their history that we might not otherwise feel. The present dominant American race were not aborigines; we drove the latter unmercifully before us and ruthlessly took possession of this continent. So the Chinese, entering their new field of effort, gradually drove before them the natives until now there are left only small numbers of the aborigines, who have their home and rendezvous in the fastnesses of the southern mountains. The Chinese seem to have begun their empire with isolated bands of colonists in the northern, central, and western provinces of Shensi, Shansi, Honan, and Hupeh, just as the first Europeans established themselves. in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Florida. Now they reach over an area larger than that which is under the sovereignty of the American people.

The mighty Hia dynasty was doomed to end through the very means that Yu predicted. It went out in debauchery and unbridled voluptuousness, under the lead of vain Kieh-Kwei, and of his beautiful but wanton consort, Meihi.

The dynasty of Shang then assumed power, and 28 sovereigns occupied the throne through 644 years. These kings were good and bad, strong and weak, and the empire prospered and suffered, extended and contracted, according to the character and power of these men. If we will pause and think what a period of 644 years and 28 monarchs means, and yet what little impression they made on history beyond a passing record of the usual wars, cabals, and strifes, we are in a mood to appreciate how trifling a portion of history's long story the present exciting times may occupy in the minds of the future historians.

RECUPERATIVE CHARACTER OF CHI

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Let us remember, however, one consideration that augurs well for China in the future, as it has figured conspicuously to her advantage and in her growth during both the clear and the misty centuries of time that is gone: the end of the majority of the dynasties has come under the reign of evil or weak minded men and women, when it deserved to end and when it was best for the people and kingdom that a change should be inaugurated, and with few exceptions the succeeding monarchs have been men of eminent ability and leadership. This recuperative feature of China-of her dynasties, kings, and people-which has been illustrated repeatedly through fifty centuries or seventy-five cycles, may prove her salvation in the present crisis.

No other nation in the history of the world has successfully mastered the events of centuries like China. If the principle of the survival of the fittest is demonstrated as logical and true in the

unlimited past competition of peoples and governments, and has kept China in the front as an independent power, will not its application in the future be attested by a newer and greater China rising out of the trials and confusion of the hour? With such an evolution of events, the policy of our Government of friendly assistance to China would seem all the more wise, and fraught with favorable results alike to Cathay and America.

THE GOLDEN AGE IN CHINA'S ANCIENT HISTORY

Out of the darkness shall come light. From the haze of the Shang dynasty was born the incomparable Chow dynasty, which boasted of thirty-five rulers and lasted through nine eventful centuries, from B. C. 1122 to 255. This period was a golden age in China's ancient history. It was the bridge between the doubtful past and the actual present. But its crowning glory was the appearance of Confucius and Mencius upon the stage of the world's history; nor should Laotze, the founder of Taoism, be omitted. He figured in the same dynasty, but his work was not so much for the bettering of his fellow-men as were the teachings and example of Confucius.

When we discuss at the dinner table, in lecture-rooms, and in social and literary intercourse the golden ages of Greece and Rome we are prone to forget entirely that in China there was a corresponding age, when real civilization in its broad sense reached a mark as high even as it did in southern Europe. It began in strength, blazed into unparalleled brilliancy, and then sank into decadence, to be followed by a period when the dregs of misfortune were drunk by the people; and such was the record also of European and western Asiatic powers.

If the founder of the Chow dynasty,

Wu Wang, were alive today he would be the man of power, ability, and leadership to save China. He found the empire in a more deplorable state than Kwangsu, the present ruler, when he ascended the throne. He made it respected throughout Asia. Embassies came with tribute from Korea on the north, Cambodia and Siam on the south, and Tatary and Tibet on the north and west. But in his power he made one cardinal error: he established the system of feudal states and feudal lords. Their struggles and wars were the influences which eventually wrought the downfall of his dynasty.

Singular enough, great national progress was made during these times of strife, and the boundaries of the empire were enlarged in proportion to the internal wars. The foundation was laid for the greater China that was to follow.

If nothing stood to the credit of the Chow dynasty other than the life of Confucius, it would have honor enough, without even including Mencius and Laotze.

CONFUCIUS AND HIS PRECEPTS

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Confucius was born 551 years, or nearly six centuries, before Christ. yond a few myths and legends connected with his birth, there is nothing fabulous about his life. He stands out clearly as one of the greatest men that the world has ever produced. He was a man, not a saint; a man who went through the average experiences of a scholar and statesman in public life, and who in an unpretentious but sincere way endeavored to better his fellow-men. He gradually rose from low estate to be a magistrate, and finally became the prime minister of Duke Ting. He was an eminent lawyer, not unlike Moses or Solon, and was a practical philosopher like Benjamin Franklin. He was a man of the people and knew their impulses, hopes, and wishes like Abraham

Lincoln. It was because he understood man's nature that he was able to make such a lasting impression. The masses of China study his precepts today as they did twenty centuries ago and will twenty centuries hence.

Confucianism has its failings and weak points when regarded as a religion and must in the evolution of time give way as a religion to Christianity; but as the teachings of a great philosopher his works will never be forgotten. In fact they will have in some respects a wider hearing and following when the European and American world studies more the interesting and instructive history of Cathay.

Confucianism became a religion not through any intent or purpose of its founder. He never endeavored to start a religion, to be considered as a god, or as a prophet of a god. The doctrines, precepts, and philosophy of Confucius became a religion because they were purer and higher than the conceptions of any other religion that in those days was offered to the people; they were beyond and above the teachings of Laotze or Buddha in the mind of the average Chinese ruler or vassal. By natural evolution in the imagination of the people he became in a measure a god, but it is well to be remembered that he did not believe in any existing God, and there is no hint in his philosophy of a future life. When asked what was his opinion of death he replied: "How can one know death when one does not know life"?

To those who have firm belief in a living God and in the immortality of the soul, it would not seem that Confucianism could stand as a religion against the expanding influence of Christianity. No matter how much we admire the character and teachings of Confucius, there are lacking in his philosophy the two great essentials of faith and hope which are so dear to the Christian world. Charity there is in Confucius' teachings,

and that is a principal element in making them strong.

Love, respect, and worship of ancestors, which have played so important a part in China's political, material, and moral development, are fostered by the precepts of Confucius. His portrayal of the lives of the mighty Yao and Shun of the mythical days, and later of Wan Wang, Wu Wang, and Chau King, of the Chow dynasty, tended to develop a deep sense of ancestral homage. In the growth of China this influence has, on the one hand, protected the family and the state, and, on the other hand, retarded material progress. Worship of ancestors, with its virtues and faults, has been a synonym for conservatism in China. What was sufficient and satisfactory to their ancestors should be sufficient and satisfactory for the present generation! The fear, for instance, of disturbing the rest and peace of ancestors and of doing unpardonable slight to their memory has in a measure prevented the opening of the earth for its mineral and metals, has retarded invention, and in these later days checked such far-reaching enterprises as railway construction and further modern development of China's material resources.

If Confucianism is a religion, it is the religion of China; but Buddhism is also in a sense the religion of China, with Taoism, founded by Laotze, in a pronounced secondary position. Every Buddhist and every Taoist, however, is a disciple of Confucius to a certain degree, while a great number of the followers of Confucius are not Buddhists or Taoists. Every Chinese child is a student of Confucius. All of my Chinese servants could recite his principal precepts. They seemed to understand them also; but oftentimes they were in doubt about their real respect for Buddha and Laotze.

It is not within the scope or purpose of this paper to compare the teachings of Christ and Confucius; but in dis

missing reference to such comparison it is interesting to remember the words of one distinguished savant, Dr. Legge. He says: "The teaching of Confucianism on human duty is wonderful and admirable. In the last three of the four things which Confucius delighted to teach-letters, ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness-his utterances are in harmony with both the law and the gospel."

Possibly the remarkable honesty of the Chinese as business men and merchants in dealing with foreigners, which has been a marked national trait in their commercial relations during the last sixty years, should be attributed to Confucius. Possibly it is due to native shrewdness; but it is so surprising to the average foreigner that it is worth recording here.

Mr. Thomas Whitehead, the distinguished manager of the great chartered bank of India, Australia, and China, which is the second largest banking house in Asia, says that his institution has never directly lost a penny through Chinese dishonesty in transactions representing many millions of sterling. The famous Asiatic foreign house or hong of Jardine, Matheson & Co. declare that they have lost more money to 8 per cent of foreigners than to 92 per cent of Chinese, in a total trade of 100 per cent, covering a period of nearly sixty years and representing one hundred millions sterling!

Mencius was a scholar, thinker, and philosopher second only to Confucius. His time is placed about 300 B. C. His teachings, moral deductions and precepts, epigrams, and wise sayings are studied and committed today by every native in China, and, next to Confucius, he has exerted a mighty influence on Chinese development.

Of the personal Laotze we know but little. He was a man of profound learning, but there has been handed down no such historical record or collection of his

writings as we have of his colleagues, Confucius and Mencius. His religion, Taoism, has at all times exerted a profound influence on China's history, but has never stood with the continuous strength of Confucianism. Some monarchs were entirely under its sway, while others decreed death to all who followed it. The original Taoism was perverted and changed, it was even assimilated by the Buddhism of China, for this variety is a corrupted branch of the old Indian stock. There was much in the early Taoism that suggested thoughts and ideas akin to Christianity. The immortality of the soul was partially pictured, though in a material, rather than in a spiritual, sense. In later days Taoism became the superstitious theory of magicians and of kings who would seek perpetual life through extraordinary elixirs and decoctions. Today it has many astute and devoted followers, but it is decadent as a religion and has passed long ago the day of its influence and power among the great religions of the world.

THE IMPORTATION OF BUDDHISM FROM INDIA

Buddhism in China is a transplanted product. It was brought from India as a sprig of one fruit might be grafted on the tree of another Buddhism was grafted, in a measure, on Confucianism. It would never have thrived in China if Confucianism had been an actual religion like Christianity or if Confucius had been an inspired being like Christ.

Sixty years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the Emperor Ming-ti, of the Han dynasty, dreaming of a gigantic image of gold, dispatched an embassy to India to find a new religion. They returned with Buddhism. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls delighted the mighty Ming-ti. The rewards and punishments it outlined seemed reasonable, and the possibilities it pictured of

a future life supplied to him and his people what was lacking in Confucianism. Ming-ti was a practical, businesslike monarch and went about the propagation of Buddhism as he did the promulgation of new laws and the collection of additional taxes. In that way it was given an impetus that enabled it to spread throughout all China. It undoubtedly tended to raise the moral standard of the people and nation, and hence was a direct influence on the growth of the kingdom. The Buddhism of today in China bears little resemblance to the purer Buddhism of Ceylon or Siam.

The King of Siam, who is the ex officio head of the Buddhist church of the world and one of the ablest and most progressive statesmen in Asia, often told me while I was the American Minister at his court, that the Buddhism of China was such only in name and was inextricably mixed with Taoism and Confucianism. The Chinese emigrant to Siam is at home in its Buddhist temples, but the Siamese who goes to China is not at home in Chinese temples.

There is a passing thought in this connection that almost staggers us. Supposing Emperor Ming-ti's embassy in search of a religion had journeyed to Palestine instead of to India and brought back Christianity? It taxes the imagination to picture the effect on China, on Asia, and on the world at large, if it had come in its purity. On the other hand, we are forced to ask with equal astonishment at the possibilities: What would have been the effect on Christianity if it had been taken in those early days by the Chinese as their official religion?

THE COMING AND EXPULSION OF CHRISTIANITY

But Chistianity did come to China long before the day of modern missionaries. Christianity was taught and fostered for one hundred and fifty years

during the middle ages of China, between 600 and 800 A. D. The Nestorians, who taught the new religion to China, thrived for nearly two centuries, or until 781 A. D. About 1625 A. D. the famous Nestorian monument was unearthed in the province of Shensi. Williams, in his "Middle Kingdom,' holds that the Nestorians came as early as 500 A. D. He says that the monument is the only record yet found in China itself of the labors of the Nestorians," and yet it is one of the most perfect of the ancient monuments of China. The inscription tells us that a priest named Olopun came from the distant west, guided by the clouds" of China, bringing with him. the

True Scriptures." The emperor, one of the most powerful of the Tang dynasty, gave him a cordial reception and ordered the Scriptures translated and promulgated. In an official edict he said: "Let it have free course through the empire."

If

Unfortunately for its lasting influence it came under the ban which the Taoists, about A. D. 850, proclaimed against Buddhism through the agency of an hostile emperor. The effort to crush the Buddhists included the Nestorians, and only the monument remains. sufficient time had passed for Christianity to have spread itself as had Buddhism, this one attack would not have ended its life in Cathay until again revived by American and European missionaries. It is an interesting coincident that the Nestorians were apparently most severely persecuted in the same section of China where many American and European missionaries. were recently massacred.

Before leaving the subject of religions. I would add, in response to the general inquiry about missionary work, that I honestly believe, after six years' experience in Asia in both official and private capacities, and after spending much time in China, not only along the coast, but