CHAPTER 24

1. The Master said, "For a man to sacrifice to a spirit which does not belong to him is flattery."

2. "To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage."

24. NEITHER IN SACRIFICE NOR IN OTHER PRACTICE MAY A MAN DO ANYTHING BUT WHAT IS RIGHT. 1.人神曰鬼, 'The human spirit (i.e., of the dead) is called 鬼'. The 鬼 of which a man may say that they are his, are those only of his ancestors, and to them only he may sacrifice. The ritual of China provides for sacrifices to three classes of objects—天神, 地示, 人鬼, 'spirits of heaven, of the earth, of men'. This ch. is not to be extended to all the three. It has reference only to the manes of departed men.