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L The meaning in these Lectures of the name Confucianism. I. THE first thing to be done in these Lectures is to give an account of Confucianism, and I must define at the outset in what sense I wish that term to be understood. No name current among men is more fully historical than that of Confucius. Ve knov the years, and the months, and the days of the months, in which he vas born and died. Ve see him moving on the stage of his country for between seventy and eighty years in the sixth and fifth centuries before our Christian era. But the religion of China does not date only from his time. It has been said, indeed, but incautiously, that" without Confucius, China had been without a native religion."1 The sage, no doubt, helped to preserve the ancient religion of his country, and it may be said that it took some tinge through him from his own character and views; but more than l " Studies in the Philosophy of Religion and History." A. M. Fairbairn. Page Table of Contents CONTENTS; LECTURE I; CONFUCIANISM; I'Ileaning in these lectures of the name ConfttcianismError; of not regarding Confucius as a rcligiou~; teacher-The earliest thoughts on religion of the; Chinese to be sought in their primitive written; characters-Primitive for heaven or the sky-For; the name God-For spirits and spiritual thingsFor; the idea of manifestation or revelation-For the; spirits or manes of departed men-Three primitives; relating to divination-Results derived from the; primitive characters and further method of treat in!:; the subject-The old religion of China was not; merely animistic, with a fetishist tendency-Views; of Professor Tiele-Wh