Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 262

THE

CHINESE REPOSITORY.

VOL. XIX.-May, 1850.-No. 5.

ART. I. Sing Shí Páu Yen Precious Words to

醒世賓言 Awaken the Age. By CHÁNG LICHEN. Published at Canton, 1848. [This is a tract, made up of extracts from the writings of moralists, and is published for the purpose of benefiting men, very much as religious tracts are issued in Christian lands. It is printed near the Examination Hall, in Canton, and copies are sold to benevolent persons desirous of cir- culating them, at the rate of five cash each. The names of thirty-eight sub- scribers are appended to it, with the number of copies each of them took, in all five thousand books. The work forms a book of aphorisms and rules of conduct, and is about as high in its standard as any production of Chi- nese moralists that we have ever seen.]

Introduction.

VIRTUE is a quality which man obtains from Heaven, in order to prepare hint for the apprehension of right principles, and enable him to discharge the re- sponsibilities of life. But as he is partly under the control of his natural tem- perament, and subjected to the influence of depraved desires, it happens that the original virtue of his nature is not always fully developed. Moreover, it has been observed, that the minds of men are all by nature good, but that in experience there is an order of sucession, and that which is to be learned should resemble that which has been learned: that by this means the mind will be able to attain unto a clear apprehension of virtue, and restored to original goodness; and as it is only by urging it, that the attention of men is aroused to a full un- derstanding of it, therefore the sages and worthies from ancient times were wont to record only summaries of general science, and those who have de- served well of mankind for their efforts in the advancement of morality, have not failed to arouse the minds of men to the consideration of important subjects, and lead them to reflect upon these until their principles were fully developed. My friend, Cháng Lichen Esq., desiring to see virtue promoted, and hoping to have the coöperation of his fellow countrymen in the advancement of this object, has selected various specimens of the virtuous observations and doings of the ancients, and choosing out the most important and practical, concise and perspicuous, under several heads, seeking out the chapters and selecting sui- table passages, he has arranged them so as to bring those of a similar purport into the same section. Before sending his work to the press, in

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VOL. XIX. NO. V.