*42 Chap. III. Ch`ien-kao [OMITTED] (On Reprimands).
The savants hold that Heaven reprimands a sovereign whose
administration is bad, visiting him with calamities. First the causes
extraordinary events. If the sovereign does not change then, he
sends down misfortunes upon his people, and at last he punishes
his own person. Heaven is represented like a prince governing
his people. These heavenly punishments would be at variance
with Heaven's virtue, which consists in spontaneity and inaction.
Heaven does not act itself, it acts through man, and speaks
through the mouths of the Sages, in whose hearts is ingrafted its
virtue. The utterances of the Classics ascribing human qualities
to Heaven are only intended to give more weight to those teachings,
and to frighten the wicked and the unintelligent.
