Chapter 12 chapter 12

In other words, this State religion of Confucius makes a sacrament of the contract of alliance as the Family Religion in China before his time, makes a sacrament of the contract of marriage. As by the sacrament of marriage established by the Family Religion the wife is bound to be absolutely loyal to her husband, so by ihis sacrament of the contract of allegiance called ming fen ta yi, or Code of Honor established by the State religion taught by Confucius in China, the people of China are bound to be absolutely loyal to the Emperor. This sacrament of the contract of allegiance in the State religion taught by Confucius in China might thus be called the Sacrament or Religion of Loyalty. You will remember what I said to you that Confucius in a way taught the Divine right of kings. But instead of saying that Confucius taught the Divine right of kings I should properly have said that Confucius taught the Divine duty of Loyalty. This Divine or absolute duty of loyalty to the Emperor in Ch ina which Confucius taught derives its sanction, not as the theory of the Divine right of kings in Europe derives its sanction from the authority of a supernatural Being called God or from some abstruse philosophy, but from the law of the gentleman_the sense of honor in man , the same sense of honor which in all countries makes the wife loyal to her husband. In fact, the absolute duty of loyalty of the Chinese people to the Emperor which Confucius taught, derives its sanction from the same simple sense of honor which makes the merchant keep his word and fulfill his contract, and the gambler play the game and pay his gambling debt.

Now, as what I have called the Family religion, the religion, the religion of the old dispensation in China and the Church religion in all countries, by the institution of the sacrament and inviolability of marriage establishes the Family, so what I have called the State religion in China which Confucius taught, by the institution of this new sacrament of the contract of alliance, establishes the State. If you will consider what a great service the man who first instituted the sacrament and established the inviolability of marriage in the world has done for humanity and the cause of civilization, you will then, I think, understand what a great work this is which Confucius did when he instituted this new sacrament and established the inviolability of the contract of allegiance. The institution of the sacrament of marriage secures the stability and permanence of the Family, without which the human race would become extinct. The institution of this sacrament of the contract of allegianc e secures the stability and permanence of the State, without which human society and civilization would all be destroyed and mankind would return to the state of savages or animals. I therefore said to you that the greatest thing which Confucius has done for the Chinese people is that he gave them the true idea of ​​a State_a true, rational, permanent, and absolute basis of a State, and in giving them that, he made it a religion, _a State religion.

Confucius taught this State religion in a book which, as I told you, he wrote in the very last days of his life, a book to which he gave the name of Spring and Autumn. In this book Confucius first instituted the new sacrament of the contract of allegiance called ming fen ta yi, or the Code of Honor. This sacrament is therefore often and generally spoken of as Chun Chiu ming fen to. yi (^i-^.^^^. JO, or simply Chun Chiu ta yi_ (^^C^CjiC) ie, the Great Principle of Honor and Duty of the Spring and Autumn Annals, or simply the Great Principle or Code of the Spring and Autumn Annals. This book in which Confucius taught the Divine duty of loyalty is the Magna Charta of the Chinese nation. It contains the sacred covenant, the sacred social contract by which Confucius bound the whole Chinese people and nation to be absolutely loyal to the Emperor, and this covenant or sacrament, this Code of Honor, is the one and only true Constitution not only of the State and Government in China, but alsoof the Chinese civilization. Confucius said it is by this book that after ages would know him_know what he had done for the world.

I am afraid I have exhausted your patience in taking such a very long way to come to the point of what I want to say. But now we have got to the point where I last left you. You will remember I said that the reason why the mass of mankind will always feel the need of religion_I mean religion in the European sense of the word_is because religion gives them a refuge, one refuge, the belief in an all powerful Being called God in which they can find a sense of permanence in their existence. But I said that the system of philosophy and morality which Confucius taught, known as Confucianism, can take the place of religion, can make men, even the mass of humanity do without religion. Therefore, there must be, I said, something in Confucianism which can give to men, to the mass of humanity, the same sense of security and sense of permanence which religion gives. Now, I think we have found this something. This something is the Divine duty of loyalty to the Emperor taught by Confucius in the Statereligion which he has given to the Chinese nation.

Now, this absolute Divine duty of loyalty to the Emperor of every man, woman, and child in the whole Chinese Empire gives, as you can understand, in the minds of the Chinese population, an absolute, supreme, transcendent, almighty power to the Emperor; and this belief in the absolute, supreme, transcendent, almighty power of the Emperor it is which gives to the Chinese people, to the mass of the population in China, the same sense of security which the belief in God in religion gives to the mass of humanity in other countries. The belief in the absolute, supreme, transcendent, almighty power of the Emperor also secures in the minds of the Chinese population the absolute stability and permanence of the State. This absolute stability and permanence of the State again secures the infinite continuance and lastingness of society. This infinite continuance and lasting-ness of society finally secures in the minds of the Chinese population the immortality of the race. Thus it is this belief in the immortality of the race, derived from the belief in the almighty power of the Emperor given to him by the Divine duty of loyalty, which gives to the Chinese people, the mass of the population in China, the same sense of permanence in their existence which the belief in a future life of religion gives to the mass of humanity in other countries.