Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/109

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money, but, like the aim and object of the Church religion, to teach men to understand what Mr. Froude calls the primitive commandment, "Thou shalt not lie" and "Thou shall not steal"; in fact, to teach men to be good. "Whether we provide for action or conversation," says Dr. Johnson, "whether we wish to be useful or pleasing, the first requisite is the religious and moral knowledge of right and wrong; the next, an acquaintance with the history of mankind and with those examples which may be said to embody truth and prove by events the reasonableness of opinions."

But then we have seen that the Church of the Church religion is able to make men obey the rules of moral conduct by awakening and kindling in men an inspiration or living emotion, and that it awakens and kindles this inspiration or living emotion principally by exciting and arousing the feeling and emotion of of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm for the character and person of the first Teacher and Founder of religion. Now, here there is a difference between the school—the Church of the State religion of Confucius in China—and the Church of the Church religion in other countries. The school—the Church of the State religion in China—it is true, enables and makes men obey the rules of moral conduct, also like the Church of the Church religion, by awakening and kindling in men an inspiration or living emotion. But the means which the school in China uses to awaken and kindle this inspiration or living emotion