Confucius himself belongs rather to the type of Lycurgus and Solon than to that of the great founders of religions.  He was a practical statesman, concerned with the administration of the State; the virtues he sought to inculcate were not those of personal holiness, or designed to secure salvation in a future life, but rather those which lead to a peaceful and prosperous community here on earth.  His outlook was essentially conservative, and aimed at preserving the virtues of former ages.  He accepted the existing religion—­a rather unemphatic monotheism, combined with belief that the spirits of the dead preserved a shadowy existence, which it was the duty of their descendants to render as comfortable as possible.  He did not, however, lay any stress upon supernatural matters.  In answer to a question, he gave the following definition of wisdom:  “To cultivate earnestly our duty towards our neighbour, and to reverence spiritual beings while maintaining always a due reserve."[16] But reverence for spiritual beings was not an active part of Confucianism, except in the form of ancestor-worship, which was part of filial piety, and thus merged in duty towards one’s neighbour.  Filial piety included obedience to the Emperor, except when he was so wicked as to forfeit his divine right—­for the Chinese, unlike the Japanese, have always held that resistance to the Emperor was justified if he governed very badly.  The following passage from Professor Giles[17] illustrates this point:—­

The Emperor has been uniformly regarded as the son of God by adoption only, and liable to be displaced from that position as a punishment for the offence of misrule....  If the ruler failed in his duties, the obligation of the people was at an end, and his divine right disappeared simultaneously.  Of this we have an example in a portion of the Canon to be examined by and by.  Under the year 558 B.C. we find the following narrative.  One of the feudal princes asked an official, saying, “Have not the people of the Wei State done very wrong in expelling their ruler?” “Perhaps the ruler himself,” was the reply, “may have done very wrong....  If the life of the people is impoverished, and if the spirits are deprived of their sacrifices, of what use is the ruler, and what can the people do but get rid of him?”

This very sensible doctrine has been accepted at all times throughout Chinese history, and has made rebellions only too frequent.

Filial piety, and the strength of the family generally, are perhaps the weakest point in Confucian ethics, the only point where the system departs seriously from common sense.  Family feeling has militated against public spirit, and the authority of the old has increased the tyranny of ancient custom.  In the present day, when China is confronted with problems requiring a radically new outlook, these features of the Confucian system have made it a barrier to necessary reconstruction, and accordingly we find all those foreigners who wish to exploit China praising the old tradition and deriding the efforts of Young China to construct something more suited to modern needs.  The way in which Confucian emphasis on filial piety prevented the growth of public spirit is illustrated by the following story:[18]