316. " There is a host of passages, which contain
predictions of the future, or allusions to such pre-
dictions, grounded on divination, meteorological and
astronomical considerations, and something in the
manner of deportment of the parlies concerned ; pre-
dictions which turn out to be true. iVc may b« sun
thai none 0/ these was made at the time assigned to ii in
the Chtien. Some of them which had their fulfilment,
before the end of the Ch'un Ts'ew period, may have
been current in Tso's days and incorporated by him
with his narrative. Others, like the ending of the
Chow dynasty after an existence of so many hundred
years, the fulfilment of which was at a later date, v/ert
no doubt fabricated subsequently to that fulfilmenl and
ittttrpolateii during the time of first Han."' Have we
not here another trait in common with the Hebrew
Scriptures, which is generally regarded as thrir
speciality and to which special treatment is therefOTC
by some accorded ?

' Legge. p. 28. ' tbid. p. 30. ' /M, p. 35.
