It is impossible to tell how much Confucius did for these old books. Some hold that he did not change them much, nor put into them much of his own, and that, in fact, he was himself indebted to these books for all he is reported to have taught. On the other hand, it is declared that he made the ancient books teach his own doctrine, and left out all that did not suit him; and, in confirmation of this view, the fact is pointed out that while these books as we have them teach pure Confucianism, another religion of a different spirit was growing up in China in Confucius's own day, which must have had some support in the old system. It may be that Confucius did not care to report to us all the features of the old religion, but only those of which he approved. But the information given us about that old religion is admittedly correct so far as it goes; and there is little doubt that what Confucius thought best in it, and what passed through him into the subsequent religion of China, was its most characteristic and most important part. II.--The Classics of the second order comprise four books:-- 1. The _Lun Yu_, or Digested Conversations of the Master; or, as Dr. Legge calls it, _The Confucian Analects_. It is from this book that we derive our information about the sage; it was compiled probably by the disciples of his disciples. 2. The _Ta-Heo_, or Great Learning, and 3. The _Chung Yung_, or Doctrine of the Mean, are smaller works, giving a more literary form to the doctrine of the sage. 4. The _Mang-tsze_ contains the teachings of Mencius. The State Religion of Ancient China.--Confucius never imagined himself to be a reformer of the religion of his country. The religion of China is in the main the same to this day[1] as it was before he appeared, and what is called Confucianism is simply that old system. That the worship of Confucius himself has been added to it does not involve any change of its structure. It is already well developed when we first see it, and what is very peculiar, it has already parted with all savage and irrational elements. There is no mythology; the universal legend of the marriage of heaven and earth is dimly recognisable, but there is no set of primitive stories about the gods. Of human sacrifice there is only one ancient instance; there are no rites with anything savage or cruel about them. Everything is proper, dignified, and well arranged. The deities are beings worthy to be worshipped, and they exact no meaningless services. There is nothing in any part of the religion to disturb the propriety of the worshipper or to suggest any doubts to his mind. In no other religion of the world do we find everything in such excellent order. [Footnote 1: The working religion of the present day is fully described by Prof. de Groot in De la Saussaye, _Lehrbuch_, Third edition.]