何以知其然？
How can we know that this is so?
夫賢聖周知，能不時日而事利。
The truly wise and worthy, note, are comprehensive in their knowledge; they can act without regard to time taboos and still obtain fine results.
敬法令，貴功勞，不卜筮而身吉。
Respecting the laws and holding achievement in high regard, they make no divinations but are the very embodiment of auspiciousness.
謹仁義，順道理，不禱祠而福。
Conscientious with regard to kind and good behavior, they supplicate no spirits but nevertheless enjoy blessings.
故卜數擇日，潔齋戒，肥犧牲，飾珪璧，精祠祀，而終不能除悖逆之禍。
Thus, one may divine to choose auspicious days, fast and bathe to purify oneself, fatten animals for sacrifice, adorn oneself with jade insignia and pendants, and acquire skill in all the minutia of sacrificial practice but still be unable to eliminate adversity and disaster.
以神明有知而事之，乃欲背道妄行，而以祠祀求福，神明必違之矣。
If a person, believing in the sentience of spirits, strives to serve them but nevertheless persists in wild and perverse behavior, then, when he performs sacrifices with a view to obtaining blessings, the spirits will surely flout his wishes.