and to induce them to be good, to abolish heterodoxy and to glorify the true doctrine, to keep from danger and to court repose.
O ye soldiers and people, to take that body which your parents gave you, born in a peaceful and prosperous age, with clothes to wear and food to eat, and without troubles of any kind, and yet nevertheless to befog its ordinary nature and follow evil tendencies, violating the laws and opposing the authorities of your country,―is not this the height of folly?
Our sacred ancestor, the Humane Emperor, refined the people by his goodness and improved them by his sense of duty; he cultivated the (Five) Perfections and exhibited the (Five) Virtues. Glorious are the precepts by which he strove to lead men's hearts aright, yea, most profound.
You soldiers and people should respectfully sympathize with these Imperial wishes and reverently obey the Holy Doctrine. Drive out heterodoxy as though it were robbers, fire, or flood. These last indeed harm only the body, whereas heterodoxy harms the heart. And the heart is naturally upright, and with firmness of purpose will not suffer disturbance.
If in the future your behaviour is correct, all these evil influences will fail to turn you from the right path; and if within your homes you are peaceful and obedient, you may meet adversity in such a way as to change it into a blessing.
Those who serve their parents with piety and their sovereign with loyalty, and generally fulfil their duties as men, will assuredly surround themselves with divine favours; while those who seek not what is beyond their lot, and do not that which is improper to be done, are sure to meet with prosperity from the spirits.
Do you people attend to your agriculture, and you soldiers to your military affairs. Rest in the pursuit of cotton and silk and pulse and corn; follow the great and perfect principles (of Confucianism); there will then be no need to expel heterodoxy; it will die out of itself!
