Accordingly we should approach Confucius with respect, and expect to find something good and wise in his writings.

It is only a loving spirit which will enable us to penetrate the difficulties which surround the study, and to apprehend something of the true genius of the man and his teachings.

As there is no immediate danger of becoming his followers, we can see no objections to such a course, which also appears to be a species of mental hospitality, eminently in accordance with the spirit of our own Master.
Confucius belongs to that small company of select ones whose lives have been devoted to the moral elevation of their fellow-men.

Among them he stands high, for he sought to implant the purest principles of religion and morals in the character of the whole people, and succeeded in doing it.

To show that this was his purpose it will be necessary to give a brief sketch of his life.
His ancestors were eminent statesmen and soldiers in the small country of Loo, then an independent kingdom, now a Chinese province.