[In the excerpt below, Faber compares Confucianism and Christianity.]

This subject is still but little known. As I have an exhaustive work in preparation I will take the liberty of stating here its programme:—

1. The Thirteen Sacred Books of Confucianism. The origin of every portion of them. A history of the text. Remnants of ancient texts; various readings, quotations, etc. History of the Confucian Canon.
2. The other Ancient Literature of China, i.e., a description of all the original works still in existence and not included in the Confucian Sacred Books.
3. Outline of a History of the Pre-Confucian Period, from these sources (under II), compared with such accidental notices as the Confucian Classics (under I) may contain.
4. The Life and Work of Confucius, with a sketch of the history of his time.
5. The Doctrinal Contents of the thirteen Classics.
6. The Historical Development of Confucianism. Its divisions, causes of opposition, relation to Taoism and Buddhism, etc. Its influence on the interpretation of the Classics.
7. The Relation of the Classics;
   1. to the Christian Religion,
   2. to the Needs of Modern Life.
8. Characteristics of Modern Confucianism.

As for my present task I have only a few pages at my disposal I thought it best to confine myself strictly to

A MISSIONARY VIEW OF CONFUCIANISM.

In order to avoid misunderstanding the reader is reminded that Confucianism is not identical with Chinese life. There have always been other agencies at work for good and for evil in China. Though we do not confine Confucianism to the person of Confucius, nor to the teachings of the Classics, fairness requires us to regard as genuine only such later developments as can be shown to have their roots in the Classics. The Classics again have to be explained in the spirit of the whole contents of the Canon, and care must be taken not to force a meaning into single passages which may be contrary to that spirit. To the question: How far is Confucianism responsible for the present corrupt state of Chinese life? the correct answer seems to be, so far as the principles which led to this corruption are sanctioned in the Classics. The missionary view of Confucianism can treat of nothing but the relation between Confucianism and Christianity. When we speak of such a relation we mean that both systems have points of similarity and agreement. A clear statement of these and the cheerful acknowledgment of their harmonious teaching makes mutual understanding between adherents of the two systems possible and easy. There are also points of difference and antagonism, and a clear perception of these will guard against confusion and perversion of truth. There are other points which may exist in a rudimentary state in one system and be highly developed in the other, or may only occur in one and be absent in the other. This points to deficiencies in one system which may be supplemented from the other. Our subject divides itself accordingly into three parts:—1. Points of similarity which form a basis of agreement between Confucianism and Christianity. 2. Points of antagonism which form obstacles and must be removed. 3. Points of deficiency in Confucianism which are perfect in Christianity.

I. POINTS OF SIMILARITY.

1. Divine Providence over human affairs and visitation of human sin are acknowledged. Both Confucius and Mencius had a firm belief in their special mission. A plain and frequent teaching of the Classics, on the other hand, is that calamities visit a country and ruin overcomes a dynasty through the displeasure of heaven. The metaphysical speculations of Chu Fu-tsze and his school (Sung) only differ in their explanation of it, not in the fact.
2. An Invisible World above and around this material life is firmly believed in. Man is considered to stand in connection with spirits, good and bad.
3. Moral Law is positively set forth as binding equally on man and spirits. The spirits appear as the executors of the moral law. This is, however, little understood by the Chinese people who attempt to bribe and cheat the spirits as well as their mandarins. Still the Moral Law is proclaimed in the Classics.
4. Prayer is offered in public calamities as well as for private needs, in the belief that it is heard and answered by the spiritual powers.
5. Sacrifices are regarded as necessary to come into closer contact with the spiritual world. Even its deeper meanings of self-sacrifice and of a vicarious sacrifice are touched upon, which are two important steps toward an understanding of the sacrificial death of Christ.
6. Miracles are believed in as the natural efficacy of Spirits. This is a fruitful source of superstition among the people. Western science, on the other hand, lays all stress on force inherent in matter and stimulates scepticism. We can point to the great power of the human intellect over the material forces. God's intellect is all comprehensive. God is working miracles, not by suspending the laws of nature, nor by acting contrary to them, but by using them, as their omnipotent Master, to serve His will and purpose. The Divine purpose distinguishes God's miracles from miraculous occurrences.
7. Moral Duty is taught, and its obligations in the five human relations—sovereign and minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder brother and younger, friend and friend. There are errors connected with the Confucian teaching of these duties pointed out below II, 8-13 and defects, illustrated III, 13. It remains, nevertheless, an excellent feature of Confucianism that moral duty is inculcated, and that the social obligations are made so prominent. We may say that it is the quintessence of Confucian education.
8. Cultivation of the Personal Moral Character is regarded as the basis for the successful carrying out of the social duties. That self-control should not be abandoned in private when no moral being is near to observe it, is repeatedly emphasized.
9. Virtue is valued above riches and honor. The strong tendency of the great mass of Chinese is certainly to money and pleasure, but it is to be regretted that foreign improvements are too often recommended on account of their profit, or because they would improve the material conditions of comfortable living. The Christian view is first of all the kingdom of God, then all other things as natural results. The dominion of virtue, though not identical with the kingdom of God, is a close approximation to it. It is a solemn lesson which we may learn from ancient and modern history, that wealth has ruined more nations than poverty.
10. In case of failure in political and social life the moral self-culture and the practice of humanity are to be attended to even more carefully than before, according to opportunities. This is the great moral victory which Confucius gained, and the same may be said of his distinguished followers, the greatest among whom are Mencius and Chu Fu-tsze. None of these pillars of Confucianism turned to money-making or sought vain glory in the service of the State by sacrificing their principles to gain access to official employment or by a promise to keep their conviction secret in their own bosoms. They gained greater ultimate success by their failure in life. The cross of Christ has a similar meaning, and we should not expect worldly triumph as long as our Lord is despised and even blasphemed among the higher classes of China.
11. Sincerity and truth are shown to be the only basis for self-culture and the reform of the world. This gives to self-culture a high moral tone. It is not only external culture, such as fine manners and good works, nor is it intellectual improvement but a normal state of the intentions of the mind, combined with undefiled feelings and emotions of the heart. We should not question whether any Chinaman ever reached this ideal, but ask those we have to deal with, Have you attained it? If not, what is the cause of your failure? Will you not seek and find it in Christ?
12. The Golden Rule is proclaimed as the principle of moral conduct among our fellow-men. This is egoism ennobled by altruism. The rule is given not only in a negative but also in the positive form. It can, however, be fully understood and carried out only by one born of God, whom the love of Christ constraineth. Still, that this rule entered a Chinese mind and found expression from the mouth of Confucius raises Confucianism to a high standard of morality. We may welcome it as a powerful assistance to bring about a conviction of sin among the Chinese; for who ever acted up to it?
13. Every ruler should, carry out a Benevolent Government for the benefit of the people. He must not endure the suffering of the people. If the Chinese emperors and mandarins would really act up to what they pretend to be (viz., the fathers and mothers of the people) with the same care, affection and even self-sacrifice, as good parents do for their children, China would be in a different condition. Still, we can avail ourselves of this high ideal and show its fulfilment in Christ who gave His life for the world.

II. POINTS OF ANTAGONISM.

1. God, though dimly known, is not the only object of religious worship. This cannot be regarded as only a deficiency, it is a fatal error. Polytheism is taught in the Classics. Idolatry is the natural consequence, and all the superstitions in connection with it among the people are its inevitable results.
2. The Worship of Spiritual Beings is not done in spirit and in truth, but by punctilious observance of prescribed ceremonies to the minutest detail. The offerings and sacrifices consist in materials procurable with money. Though the Classics also point to a deeper meaning, this superficial ritualism, with absence of elevating devotional feeling and renovating influence in heart and life, has grown from the seed sown by the Classics.
3. The Worship of Ancestral Spirits, tablets and graves, we have to regard as a sin, for it takes the place of the worship of God. It is an error so far as it rests on wrong notions in regard to the departed in the other world; their happiness being thought dependent on the sacrifices from their descendants and the fortune of the living as caused by the dead. It is an evil, because selfish considerations take the place of moral and religious motives. The superstitions of geomancy, spiritualism, exorcism and all kinds of deceit practised by Buddhist and Taoist priests, have their origin in it. Confucianism is responsible for all this religious corruption, for sacrificing to the dead is taught as the highest filial duty in the Classics, and Mencius sanctions polygamy on its account. The ritual duties for the dead in dressing the corpse, burial, mourning and periodical sacrifices, are so numerous, onerous and expensive that, if carried out conscientiously by everybody, very little of wealth and of energy could be left for anything else. Christianity acknowledges no other duty to the dead beyond a decent burial and tender memory, remembering and honoring all their good for our imitation. This is in accordance even with some Confucian teaching in the Classics.
4. The Erection of Temples to great warriors and to other men of eminence in which sacrifices are offered and incense is burned to their shades. They are invoked to be present at the service; prayers are offered, and help is asked and believed to have been received more or less frequently. This goes far beyond the honor due to benefactors of mankind. There are certainly over a hundred thousand such temples in China. They absorb a great proportion of the revenue without giving any return but the increase of superstition. Noble ambition could be inspired more effectively in the Christian way. Though the practice of building temples to heroes arose shortly after the classical period its roots can be found in the Classics. The spirits of departed benefactors were appointed by Imperial authority to certain offices in the invisible world. This is one of the Imperial prerogatives in Confucianism. We consider it, of course, either as a sacrilege or as nonsense. The myriads of War-god Temples, dedicated to Kwan-ti, an ancient warrior, may suffice as a striking example of the extent of this error.
5. The Memorial Arches erected to persons that committed suicide, especially to widows, are throwing a sad light on the morality of a community where such crimes are necessitated. Confucianism is responsible for it by the low place it allows to women, by the wrong feeling of honor it awakens in men and women and by the meagre religious consolation it can provide for the afflicted. Death is sought as the only escape from unbearable misery.
6. Oracles, by stalks and the tortoise-shell, are declared necessary for the right conduct of human affairs. They certainly point to the need of a revelation of the Divine Will. It is, however, sought in a mechanical way, and chance is taken instead. Astrology and magic, in all its modern forms, are the evil results, and a confusion between what is right and wrong is the moral consequence. The interpretation of the oracles is in the hands of shrewd persons who take advantage of it for their own benefit. The whole system of divination is a caricature of biblical revelation and its corresponding human side of inspiration. God reveals Himself, but the human mind must be prepared to receive it as an inspiration, i.e., must come under the influence of God's spirit.
7. Choosing Lucky Days is a sacred duty demanded by the Classics and enforced by law. This duty involves much loss of valuable time to all Chinese. The yearly publication of the Imperial Almanac, the standard for this absurdity, demonstrates the fossilized state of the Chinese mind. European astronomy has been taught to the Chinese Imperial court for over three hundred years; many books have been published too, the influence of which is so imperceptible because only the Confucian Classics fill and shape the Chinese mind. Many other superstitions prevail for the same reason.
8. Polygamy is not only wrong; it has ever been a curse in Chinese history. Many intrigues, crimes and wars have been caused by it. Confucianism has not only no censure for it, not even for its detestable accumulation in the Imperial palace, that greatest slum of the world, but sanctions it in the Classics. Confucianism is, therefore, responsible for this great social and political evil. The misery of eunuchs, secondary wives, slave-girls, feet-binding, degradation of women in general, are accompaniments which magnify this vice. Instead of extolling the Confucian moral teaching on the five human relations all Confucianists, together with their foreign admirers, ought to hide their faces in shame that the most important of the human relations is treated so viciously.
9. Rebellion. Confucius praising Yao and Shun as the highest pattern of moral accomplishment points principally to the fact that both rulers selected the worthiest of their subjects to become their co-regents and their successors. This high example has not found one follower among 244 emperors (according to Mayer's Reader's Manual) of China, from Confucius' death to the present day. This in spite of Confucianism as the state-religion of China. Confucius himself appears to have regarded with favor rebellious movements in the hope of bringing a sage to the throne. Mencius is certainly very outspoken in this respect. He justifies dethroning and even the murder of a bad ruler. No wonder then that rebellions have occurred, on a large scale, over fifty times in about 2,000 years, and local rebellions are almost yearly events. It is impossible to calculate how many hundred millions of human lives have been sacrificed during these rebellions. Confucianism is to blame for it. Neither Confucius himself, nor one of his followers, ever thought of establishing a constitutional barrier against tyranny and providing a magna charta for the security of life and property of the ministers and people of China. The hands of the executioner ended the noble lives of many of China's best men. It cannot be otherwise as long as the capricious will of a self-conceited ruler is supreme law. The remedy has been found in Western (Christian) countries in the separation of the executive from the legislative power. Law is no more the will of one man, but of the majority of the people, its formulation is done by an assembly of chosen men, etc. The people must also have a legal way to make their grievances known and find relief in a peaceful manner. Confucianism, however, regards the people as little children that must be fed, protected and taught their duties. They have only the right to obey under these circumstances and to rebel if the contrary should become intolerable.
10. Confucianism attaches too high authority to the Emperor. He is called the son of Heaven, the only supreme authority on earth. Every law and custom must emanate from him. The emperor of China cannot acknowledge another sovereign as his equal. In this respect he can be compared with the pope of Rome. The treaties with foreign powers have already upset this fundamental doctrine of Confucianism.
11. Patria Potestas. Corresponding to the extreme view of Imperial authority Confucianism has also fostered an extreme idea of paternal power. A father may kill his offspring, may sell even grown sons and daughters into slavery. Their property belongs to him under all circumstances, even their families are absolutely subject to him, as long as he, the father, lives.
12. Blood Revenge. It is a strict demand of Confucius in the Classics, that a son should lose no time in revenging the death of his father, or of a near relative. A younger brother has the same duty in regard to the death of an older, and a friend to a friend. This means that they have to take the law into their own hands. They will be guided by their feelings, and in many cases more serious wrong is done by their revenge than by the original act which may present mitigating circumstances, or be not murder at all, perhaps even justifiable under enlightened examination. If the accompanying circumstances are not taken into consideration by impartial judges, where and when can the shedding of blood be stopped? Logically only with the total extermination of one of the respective families. Even several families may share this fate, as friends have to take up the same cause. The jus talionis belongs to a primitive period of human society. Moses mitigated it and brought it under the control of impartial legal authority. Confucius not only sanctioned an ancient usage, but raised it to a moral duty, poisoning by it three of his five social relations. As the remaining two relations have been shown as vicious in part (see above Nos. 4 and 5) Confucianists have really no reason for their extravagant boasting.
13. The absolute Subordination of sons to their fathers and of younger brothers to their eldest brother during life-time, is also a source of many evils. It may work well enough in a primitive society and in wealthy families, but not in a dense population among poor people. In China the inevitable result has been much misery and contention in families; ruins everywhere testify to it. Progress is also made impossible, as there will always be some old people obstinately against any modern improvement. Nepotism also is made a moral obligation by the Classics.
14. Official corruption is to a great extent due to the custom of making presents to the superior in office. This bad usage is sanctioned in the classics and by Confucius himself carrying such presents with him on his journeys. Its worst abuse is the sale of offices and bribery. Present-giving and receiving should be confined to friendly intercourse, but official relations should be kept free from it under penalty of dismissal from office. See the Old Testament on this point.
15. The Sacredness of a promise, contract, oath, treaty, etc., is often violated when opportunity is favorable to a personal advantage. Though Christian nations commit also too many trespasses of this kind, the difference is, that the teaching and example of Christ and His apostles is against it, even against falsehood of any shape. But Confucius himself broke a solemn oath and excused it. The Chinese moral sentiment is, therefore, misguided, whereas the Christian feeling is up to the standard. Lying and deceitfulness are so highly developed in China, probably to a great extent, from this cause.
16. Identity of physical, moral and political law is presumed by Confucianism and finds its canonical expression especially in the I-king or Book of Changes. But the same idea runs through all the Classics and later doctrinal developments of Confucianism. The truth of this doctrine can only be sought in the person of one almighty God, but it is a serious error when applied to man, especially to sinful man. This is the deeper root of Confucian pride and of much nonsense in regard to natural events. It is also the source of Taoist magic, charms, etc., shared by modern Chinese Buddhism.

III. POINTS OF DEFICIENCY IN CONFUCIANISM WHICH ARE PERFECT IN CHRISTIANITY.

1. The God of Confucianism is the majestic Ruler on High inaccessible to the people. The emperor of China is the only person privileged to approach Him. God is not known in His nature of love as our Heavenly Father.
2. The Confucian Divine Providence appears in conflict with the Confucian notion of Fate. Providence presupposes a personal God, omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, a God who can feel compassion with living creatures, as in Christianity.
3. Confucianism acknowledges a Revelation of God in nature and in human history, but a revelation of God's nature, will and intentions (plan) for the salvation and education of the human race remains unknown. See II, 6.
4. There is no conviction of an unconditioned Responsibility to God, the majestic Ruler of the universe who will judge in righteousness. Therefore a deep sense of sin and sinfulness is absent.
5. The necessity of an Atonement is not conceived, because neither the holiness of God, nor the depth of human sin are taught in the Classics.
6. As the deepest cause of death and of all the evils in the world is not sought and found in sin, therefore the need of a Saviour is not felt; salvation is sought in external performances, in self-correction too, but not in the grace of God who sent the only true Saviour from Heaven to Earth to reunite man with God.
7. Confucianism has produced many theories on the Nature of Man, but none that man is the image of the personal God. Hence the perfect union of the divine and the human, as it has been realized in the person of Christ, has never been anticipated by a Chinese mind.
8. As every man has to save himself there cannot be a Universality of salvation in Confucianism. Such can only be the case when salvation is God's work; God was in Christ and reconciled the world to Himself. The conditions of a participation cannot be in man's own judgment, but are laid down by God himself—faith in Christ. Through it every man can become a partaker of God's grace.
9. Confucianists remain, in spite of their best efforts, estranged from God. They may improve themselves and come into communion with the spirits of the departed(?), but NOT with the Spirit of God, for enlightenment in eternal truths, for strength to a holy living, for comfort in the struggles of life, for peace and hope in death.
10. Confucianism teaches the immortality of the soul, but in a disembodied state dependant for all its needs on the goodwill of living men. Resurrection in a spiritual body for eternal happiness in God's glory is unknown.
11. The highest ideal of Confucianism, its summum bonum, is political, the government and state of China. This has ever remained an utopian idea, a fiction like the republic of Plato. Christ shows us another ideal, the Kingdom of God. It begins in the heart of the believer which becomes regenerated. It then extends to the Church, i.e., a brotherhood of men in Christian spirit, embraces all nations and finds its glorious perfection at the second coming of Christ in the resurrection of the dead, i.e., the reunion of all generations of mankind and the new heaven and new earth, when God will be all in all.
12. Christianity can supplement striking deficiencies not only in religion proper but also in the morality of Confucianism. Self-examination, for example, one of the excellent fundamental principles of Confucianism, has a deeper meaning in Christianity. We attend to it before God, the most holy one, who is perfection in every sense, and who is our pattern, especially in His incarnate form of Christ. Every other merely human model has imperfections. Yao and Shun had theirs, and Confucius was conscious of his own. We certainly estimate Confucius higher for his expressions of humility than for the pompous eulogies from his haughty followers.
13. Self-culture also has a deeper sense in Christianity. It implies purity in every way. Sexual impurity is tolerated by Confucianism to a shocking extent. Confucius himself was pure, and the Classics are remarkable for the spirit of purity that permeates the whole of them. There is, however, nowhere an intimation given of the importance of consistent purity of soul and body for the improvement of personal character as well as for society. Internal purity and external cleanliness are deficient qualities in Confucian morality. It has not even the same moral standard of purity for male and female persons. We have to confess that there is still much impurity exhibited in Christian lands, but it is of heathen origin, against the principles of Christianity, and true Christians feel ashamed of it.
14. The Human Relations. The grave errors of Confucianism in regard to the social relations have already been exposed (II, 8-13). But there are besides deficiencies apparent, for the five do not exhaust all human relations. One important relation has become prominent in all civilized countries in our times, that of the employer to the employed, or as it is sometimes put impersonally of "capital to labour." Christian brotherhood contains the solution of this problem (see Paul's letter to Philemon, etc.). There is another relation of the Wealthy to the Poor and Needy. Christ's answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour," is the best possible. There is a relation to Foreigners. In this we know it is our duty to bring the Gospel and all its blessings to all creatures. When compared with this UNIVERSAL SPIRIT of the Christian human relations Confucianism appears primitive and clannish.
15. Confucianism keeps certain days as festivals, but has no regular day of rest, no Sabbath-day. This deficiency leaves not only the working classes without a relief in their hardships, but allows the nobler aspirations of human nature to be submerged in the unbroken turmoil of daily life. The Christian Sabbath is no more the Jewish Sabbath of the law, but God's rest in the reborn heart of man as His temple, and man's rest from earthly toil and care, a foretaste of the eternal rest in God.
16. The Fulness of Christian Life. Christians become, through faith in Christ, children of God, members of the body of the glorified Christ, co-inheritors of the heavenly kingdom. Christ is born in the hearts of His believers. Our bodies are then temples of the triune God and become gradually instruments of His glory. Although on earth our treasure is kept in earthen vessels, though we still live by faith, not by sight, though it has not yet appeared what we shall be—still we have the assurance of it in the ever present communion with God in His grace. Confucianism has nothing of the kind. Its cold abstract morality and cool ceremonial religion cannot produce the warmth of feeling on which human life depends. There is nothing approaching to the Lord's prayer in Confucianism, nor to that concise expression of the fullness of Christian life in the apostolic blessing, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you." Although theologians differ in their metaphysical explanations of this mystery, the trinity of divine life animates every true Christian's heart. Its absence separates the non-Christian from the Christian. What Confucianism really needs is this Divine Life. May God's Spirit move the field of dry bones!