Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/407

 observances of the sons of Heaven, preserved (in those states by their descendants). The rule is that (only) the son of Heaven sacrifices to heaven and earth, and the princes of states sacrifice at the altars to the spirits of the land and grain."

2. When no change is presumptuously made from the constant practice from the oldest times between the prayer and blessing (at the beginning of the sacrifice) and the benediction (at the end of it) , we have what might be called a great and happy service.

3. For the words of prayer and blessing and those of benediction to be kept hidden away by the officers of prayer of the ancestral temple, and the sorcerers and recorders, is a violation of the rules of propriety. This may be called keeping a state in darkness.