University of Virginia Library

How vast is God ,
The ruler of men below !
How arrayed in terrors is God ,
With many things irregular in His ordinations !
Heaven gave birth to the multitudes of the people ,
But the nature it confers is not to be depended on .
All are [good] at first ,
But few prove themselves to be so at the last .
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
That you should have such violently oppressive ministers ,
That you should have such extortionate exactors ,
That you should have them in offices ,
That you should have them in the conduct of affairs !
Heaven made them with their insolent dispositions ,
But it is you who employ them , and gave them strength . '
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
You ought to employ such as are good ,
But [you employ instead] violent oppressors , who cause many dissatisfactions .
They respond to you with baseless stories ,
And [thus] robbers and thieves are in your court .
Thence come oaths and curses ,
Without limit , without end . '
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
You show a strong fierce will in the centre of the kingdom ,
And consider the contracting of enmities a proof of virtue .
All unintelligent are you of your [proper] virtue ,
And so you have no [good] men behind you , nor by your side .
Without any intelligence of your [proper] virtue ,
You have no [good] intimate adviser nor minister . '
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
It is not Heaven that flushes your face with spirits ,
So that you follow what is evil and imitate it .
You go wrong in all your conduct ;
You make no distinction between the light and the darkness ;
But amid clamour and shouting ,
You turn the day into night . '
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
[All around you] is like the noise of cicadas ,
Or like the bubbling of boiling soup .
Affairs , great and small , are approaching to ruin ;
And still you [and your creatures] go on in this course .
Indignation is rife against you here in the Middle kingdom ,
And extends to the demon regions . '
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
It is not God that has caused this evil time ,
But it arises from Yin's not using the old [ways] .
Although you have not old experienced men ,
There are still the ancient statutes and laws .
But you will not listen to them ,
And so your great appointment is being overthrown . '
King Wen said , 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang ,
People have a saying ,
'When a tree falls utterly ,
While its branches and leaves are yet uninjured ,
It must first have been uprooted . '
The beacon of Yin is not far-distant ;—
It is in the age of the [last] sovereign of Xia . '