Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-05-13
GEMS FROM CONFUCIUS.

Some of the Wise and Pithy Sayings of the
Famous Philosopher.
His discrimination of character is am
ply illustrated in the many wise and
pithy savings which he has begueathed
to us, a few of which we have grouped
together, as combining his ideal of how
man should behave in different posi-
tons of life Thus, he tells us how "a
poor man who does not flatter, and a
rich man who is not proud, are passable
characters; but they are not equal to the
poor who vet are cheerful, and the rich
who vet love the rules of propriety."
"a good man in his conduct of himself
is humble. in serving his superiors he is
respectful. in nourishing the people he
is kind, in ordering the people he IS
just" Again, a man lis to think OF
virtue, and not of comfort; of the sane
tons of law, not of qualification"
And '.what the superior man seeks is in
himself; what the small man thinks Isl
others" He was firmly convinced of
its being more or less in the power of
every man to acquire knowledge. and
tells us in his Life of Confucius, ''his
inouiring spirits who wished to learn
the doctrines of antiquity. However
small the fee his pupils were able to
afford, he never refused his Instructions
All that he required was an ardent de-
sire for improvement and some degree
of capacity" Thus, to quote his own
words: Il do not open up truth to one
who is not eager to get knowledge, nor
keep out one who is not anxious to eX-
plain himself" By stimulating youth
to study, he endeavored to create an in
structed public opinion which should
display an admiration for truth
and goodness That the same love
of truth pervaded all his sentiments
is exemplitied by a remark he one day
made. '.Shall teach you what knowt-
edge is?" said.he. "When you know a
thing, to hold that you know it. and
when YOU do not know a thing. to al
low that ycsu do not know it; this is
knowledge" His definition of hypo-
critics reminds usof their comparison to
whited sepalchers in the New Testa-
ment-nane]N: There may be fair
when there is little virtue" But lastly,
it has often been urged that Confuciu
in spite of his wisdom and the loftiness
of his teaching, had nothing to say
about God or a future life. He pre-
ferred, however, to speak of Heaven as
in the following instances: He who Of
tends against Heaven has none to whom
he can pray,~ and "Alasr' said he,
.there is no one that knows me. But
his friends replied: ''What do you
mean by thus saying that mo one knows
,you?" He answered: 81 do not MUIR
muir against Heaven. ! do not grnmble
against men. BUT there is Heaven that
knows me- Indeed, it has been truly
said that he was unreaigious rather than
irreligious. And if he had not knowi-
edge of a divine ruler it was his mis-
fortune. and arose from no desire 70
.disparage religious belief OF any kline.
In short. as Mr.. Clodd remarks. his
emitting to speak about God was not
because he was an unbeliever-for he,
of all men, had reverence for the sacred.
afnknowh power that underlies all
things-kut because his nature was SO
Beautifully simple and sincere that he
would n0 pretend TO knowledge OF
that which he felt was beyond human
reseh and thought" But. nevertheless,
one can not but regret that his teaching
was not mono distinctive in this respect,
especially rs it was destined to be sucn
a MIGHTY motive power in molding the
Chinese character ofuntold generations
II G. 7htsetton Dyer, an Inc Q1tceS-