and when once it is recognised and our place in it
is known, then there comes to the soul perfect peace;
rising up, lying down, sleeping, waking, toiling, play-
ing, living, dying, all is well. ¹. The outward circum-
stances of life, like the inward hopes and fears, our
transient disappointments and successes, our loves and
our hates, are all embodied within this truth; and
when we are in harmony with it nothing can hence-
forth disturb us. This is all which is meant by
paradise, and salvation, and escape from hell, which
are symbols of the priest who appeals to the ignorant,
but they have no place in the relations of the man of
purity and thought.

As we take this Confucian system, thus set forth,
and compare it with the sayings of Confucius, it is
plain that much has been read into his words. He,
indeed, regards Heaven as Providence and virtue as
the essential nature of man. He is confident of his
own destiny because it has been shaped by Heaven.
"Heaven," he says, "is to use Confucius as an alarm
bell" ². -- that is, to arouse the sinners to repentance.
And when his disciples would dissuade him from an
errand involving danger, he will not listen to them,
confident in the protection of Heaven. ³. He also feels
that Heaven afflicts him in the death of his well-

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