Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/114

68 motive power by which the State Religion of Confucius in ChichChina [sic] is able to make men, to enable and make the mass of the population in China obey the rules of moral conduct is the "Love for their father and mother." The Church of the Church Religion, Christianity, says: "Love Christ." The Church of the State Religion of Confucius in China—the ancestral tablet in every family—says "Love your father and your mother." St. Paul says:—"Let every man that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." But the author of the book on Filial Piety, (孝經) written in the Han dynasty, the counterpart of the Imitatio Christi in China, says: "Let everyone who loves his father and mother depart from iniquity." In short, as the essence, the motive power, the source of real inspiration of the Church religion, Christianity, is the Love of Christ, so the essence, the motive power, the source of real inspiration of the State Religion, Confucianism in China, is the "Love of father and mother"—Filial Piety, with its cult of ancestor worship.

Confucius says:—"To gather in the same place where our fathers before us have gathered; to perform the same ceremonies which they before us have performed; to play the same music which they before us have played:; [sic] to pay respect to those whom they honoured; to love those who were dear to them; in fact, to serve them now dead as if they were living, and now departed, as if they were still with us, that is the highest achievement of Filial