CONFUCIUS AND HIS EDUCATIONAL IDEAS. 309
-
I
received the surname © the wise,” and who were much celebrated in their
times, but after their death they were quickly forgotten. But Confucius,
although not born of a prominent family, has been esteemed by all learned
men living after him as a source of wisdom. Everybody from the emperor
0 the lowest citizen honors him.”
These are the opinions of Chinese authorities. For the sake of compari-
son the opinions of men of other nations should be considered.
A Japanese scholar, Seigan Yanana, says: ‘The words of Confucius
are as mild as the horn of kilin, which hurts nobody, but his thoughts
are steadfast and powerful, and nobody can resist his words ; even the lion,
vith its horrible claws, will bend its head before Confucius.”
Martin Haug writes : ‘The opinion passed by the late Chinese mission-
ary Giitzlaff upon Confucius, which was published some years ago in Ger-
many, is almost a libel. Giitzlaff describes him as a man who deals in
wisdom and sells his goods to him who offers the highest price. But
every attentive, impartial reader of the ¢ Analecta,” in which his charac-
ter is put into the proper light, will immediately see how inexcusable if is
so attribute such base motives to the actions of the sage. Confucius was,
at any rate, a man entirely honorable and sincere, and possessed of a firm
and steady character.”
The English scholar, Professor Legge, says : ‘“ Confucius is thus, in the
Empire of China, the one man by whom all possible lessons of social
virtue and political wisdom are taught.”
Professor Dr. Douglas says: ‘That four Chinese emperors [who took
Confucius as a model] had at different times restored the empire from a state
of anarchy to a condition of peace and tranquillity by the force of their
sxamples and the influence of their teachings; and believing themselves to
have a heaven-sent mission to repeat their reforms, they labored day and
night to impress on their hardened contemporaries the evils of their ways.”
G. Alexander : “ He has no claim to be considered in common with
Zoroaster, Buddha, or Mahomet, for each and all these were, in a greater
or less degree, destroyers of the social and religious systems which pre-
seded their advent, and the founders of the new ones upon their ruins ;
whilst Confucius sought neither to destroy nor to create, but to preserve
and restore. He was no law-giver like Moses ; Laoutze stands unques-
tionably nearer to Pythagoras than he does; and the comparison which
night be drawn between him and Plato or Socrates, could only be within
very narrow limits.”
These opinions of distinguished scholars will serve, I hope, to set forth
the sublime philosopher in strong outlines.
PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF CONFUCIUS.
As Confucius has written no special pedagogical work, I am obliged to
draw chiefly from the four books, the five classics. and ¢ Kia-yu,” and
