Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/409

 To enter court in decayed robes, or to live promiscuously with his servants, taking place among them according to age:—all these things are contrary to propriety. Where we have them, we have what is called "ruler and minister sharing the state."

8. Thus, the son of Heaven has his domain that he may settle there his sons and grandsons; and the feudal princes have their states; and Great officers their appanages that they may do the same for theirs. This constitutes "the statutory arrangement."

9. Thus, when the son of Heaven goes to visit a feudal prince, the rule is that he shall lodge in the ancestral temple, and that he do not enter it without having with him all the rules to be observed. If he act otherwise, we have an instance of "The son of Heaven perverting the laws, and throwing the regulations into confusion." A prince, unless it be to ask about the sick or to condole with a mourner, does not enter the house of a minister. If he act otherwise, we have the case of "ruler and minister playing with each other."

10. Therefore, ceremonies form a great instrument in the hands of a ruler. It is by them that he resolves what is doubtful and brings to light what is abstruse; that he conducts his intercourse with spiritual beings, examines all statutory arrangements, and distinguishes benevolence from righteousness; it is by them, in short, that government is rightly ordered, and his own tranquillity secured.

11. When government is not correct, the ruler's seat is insecure. When the ruler's seat is insecure,