The Saint Paul globe., 1900-12-17
IES|IS and CHINA 5 SACE
REV. A. N. ALCoTDE COMPARES THE
TWO GREAT TEACH
ERS
MANY POINTS OF SIMILARITY
Both Disp1ayed wisdom at an Early
Age, Were Wanderers and Tray
eled With DiscipIes-Their
teachings Differ.

Inc lecture of Rev A. N Alcott on
Confucius at the Universalist church Of
Messiah yesterday afternoon aroused
/ great interest, more particularly so BE-
cause the subject was one that has been
touched enItcDnsiderably of late in this
country The olecture was largely In the
nature of ae comparison between Confu-
cins and Jesus, and the speaker brought
out the points sof similarity In their lives
He said, in part: =. ~
In Confucius we come on thinker
| we nave key to him in one of his say
1ngs: Man is greater than any system
oI thought; man can enlarge his princi-
pies This is the explanation of his won
| dertuI influence over. China. i, There is
/ something suggestive and encoura gfng in
| such a continued hold of thought and of
moral ideas on so many billions of people
| IN the aggregate during twenty-four cen
| turtles.
When we see that Confucius and 70
roaster and other great thinkers ho,d
such a wonderful sway over people, ages
after their death, we are forced to be-
neVe there is an essential Christ In
every man, no matter how germinal it
may be, an essential Christ in Buddha
and in every man of his followers, and
| so on through the long list.
| - All great leaders of religious life
teach us that our aim should be lofty,
| and that belief should pervade in spirit
every phase of Hfe-political, social, leg
| 1slative, industrial
| BOTH WE'RE LOWLY MEN.
| Both Jesus and .Confucius were poor.
| The former, during his early manhood,
! wrought at the carpenters trade Con-
fucius, at the age of seventeen, worked
/ in an office. sAs the Bible. tells, Jesus
surprised parents and others at the az e
I OF twelve by reason of his precocious
| wisdom Confucils, at a you<nfuI age.
mastered all theSErelfgious literature of
China, and was wise in sacred lore.
'tt might be said that Confueius was
poor from his youth, because When he
was only tlfEse years old his father died,
| and, shortlyaafter1 his mother also When
she died qonfucius mourned her for
! many years shut himself UP in his hut,
! Which was snear@h her grave, and devoted
himself to his books and his studies.
You all know what Jesus did for his
mother, when he hung on the cross He
did not forget-her- even in-the- midst of
| his agonies. Confucius was a Wanderer
| from province, to province, the most Of
his life going about giving instruction to
| his disciples and others In similar fash
ion Jesus Travelled about. Confucius did
not really have a-place he could call his
home. Jesus>safd:
The foxes have holes and the BIRDS
of the air have nests, but the Son of Man
!
was born in q stable at Bethlehem
/ and an angel with. a multitude of the
| heavenly host appeared, saying: GLORY
I to God in the highest, and on earth
pece, good will towrd men,
I "Confueius was born in a cave and, 1t
/ Is related, he was attended by fairies
| at the time. Jesus began to- teach at
3d. Confucius at 22 Jesus chose twelve
from among all those who heard him to
f@be continually with him and about his
| person. Confueius chose ten of the high
I est class Eof mind and character among
! his disciples to ever be- near ~ him for
especial instruction and companionship.
One of these was rash and iInpetuous,
| like the apostle Peter and another was
| loving and tehder, like the apostle John.
| Now in order to understand Confucius
| it is l9eeRSsaFy to ever bear in mind that
he lived and did. his work under a strict
and rigid patriarchiaI system of society
| There is nothing that explains the China
of today as does this fact, this key.
1t teaches us why CONTIGUOUS thought
/ out the moral system which is his, and
| why it contains as much and as little as
it does . You all know under what con-
| dftions Jesus lived and worked 1t was
different with Confucius. He began to
work in the year 529 B. c., at twenty
| two China was not by any means as
large as it is. now. 1t was in area only
OIle-S1Aln VI Tie present empire ana the
population was from 10000,00O to $4,000, COG
of people. As 1 have said, Confucius ear
1 ly recognized the rights and duties Of life
He was intensely practical, and he re-
| fused to speculate on the: Supreme Being
or on spirits. He declared that if we
! could not know perfectly that which was
| before our eyes, ,EstiIl less could we know
and serve properly what was invisible
However he did not neglect the wor-
ship of ancestors, nor common religious
! rights. He only would not speculate on
these schemes nor lay his emphasis here
He said: s3il>t
:" Z teach you nothing but what you
might learn yourselves. The five funda-
mental relations and their virtues and
their laws, and the five capital virtues
universal charity, impartial Justice, con.
formity to ceremonies and established
usages, rectftude of heart and mind, anC
pure sincerity
"Confusius gave us the silver rule
which is the golden rule negatively His
life was model one, and his disciples
and Others 9hdeavored to copy his ac
tions with the. belief that they might gair
some of his virtues in that way. They
watched how he's ate, how he lay wher
he slept, how he acted before people, al
his mannerisms and characteristic &C
| tions.
HE WAS DISCOURAGED
HE died in poverty, utterly discour
aged. He had tried to ge
some prince to adopt his sys
! tenn with the hope that it would hav,
a wide influence, but in this he failed
AT the age of seventy years he died, and
strange to say, Immediately after hi;
death people began to lament him. Hi
truths had struck a responsive chord
I and the few thousand that had been i'm
pressed by him enshrined him in thei
memories.
THE results of his good work contin
ued to grow, and has grown steadily
as has Christianity. You all know wha
it is today It is unnecessary to go in
to details. All China reveres Confueiu
and his teachings.
"But after all, Jesus Christ still re
mains to US. and to the world. He taugh
of life to come, of heaven and
Heavenly Father His teachings wer,
universal and were for all time. Confu
cius only lived in this world. His teach
ings We're of what could be seen and o
what could be reasoned therefrom
Moral life was what he wanted Jesu
came to save. to uplift and show th
pathway to everlasting joy