Confucius was eminently distinguished by energy and persistency.  He did not stop working till he died.  His life was of one piece, beautiful, noble.  “The general of a large army,” said he, “may be defeated, but you cannot defeat the determined mind of a peasant.”  He acted conformably to this thought, and to another of his sayings.  “If I am building a mountain, and stop before the last basketful of earth is placed on the summit, I have failed of my work.  But if I have placed but one basketful on the plain, and go on, I am really building a mountain.”

Many beautiful and noble things are related concerning the character of Confucius,—­of his courage in the midst of danger, of his humility in the highest position of honor.  His writings and life have given the law to Chinese thought.  He is the patron saint of that great empire.  His doctrine is the state religion of the nation, sustained by the whole power of the emperor and the literary body.  His books are published every year by societies formed for that purpose, who distribute them gratuitously.  His descendants enjoy the highest consideration.  The number of temples erected to his memory is sixteen hundred and sixty.  One of them occupies ten acres of land.  On the two festivals in the year sacred to his memory there are sacrificed some seventy thousand animals of different kinds, and twenty-seven thousand pieces of silk are burned on his altars.  Yet his is a religion without priests, liturgy, or public worship, except on these two occasions.

Sec. 4.  Philosophy and subsequent Development of Confucianism.

According to Mr. Meadows, the philosophy of China, in its origin and present aspect, may be thus briefly described.[14] Setting aside the Buddhist system and that of Tao-ism, which supply to the Chinese the element of religious worship and the doctrine of a supernatural world, wanting in the system of Confucius, we find the latter as the established religion of the state, merely tolerating the others as suited to persons of weak minds.  The Confucian system, constantly taught by the competitive examinations, rules the thought of China.  Its first development was from the birth of Confucius to the death of Mencias (or from 551 B.C. to 313 B.C.).  Its second period was from the time of Chow-tsze (A.D. 1034) to that of Choo-tsze (A.D. 1200).  The last of these is the real fashioner of Chinese philosophy, and one of the truly great men of the human race.  His works are chiefly Commentaries on the Kings and the Four Books.  They are committed to memory by millions of Chinese who aspire to pass the public-service examinations.  The Chinese philosophy, thus established by Choo-tsze, is as follows.[15]