友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
lectures11-13-第6部分
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!
feeling for my family and friends〃;〃I spoke at once to a person
with whom I had been angry〃;〃I felt for every one; and loved my
friends better〃;〃I felt every one to be my friend〃;these are
so many expressions from the records collected by Professor
Starbuck。'165'
'165' Op。 cit。; p。 127。
〃When;〃 says Mrs。 Edwards; continuing the narrative from which I
made quotation a moment ago; 〃I arose on the morning of the
Sabbath; I felt a love to all mankind; wholly peculiar in its
strength and sweetness; far beyond all that I had ever felt
before。 The power of that love seemed inexpressible。 I thought;
if I were surrounded by enemies; who were venting their malice
and cruelty upon me; in tormenting me; it would still be
impossible that I should cherish any feelings towards them but
those of love; and pity; and ardent desires for their happiness。
I never before felt so far from a disposition to judge and
censure others; as I did that morning。 I realized also; in an
unusual and very lively manner; how great a part of Christianity
lies in the performance of our social and relative duties to one
another。 The same joyful sense continued throughout the daya
sweet love to God and all mankind。〃
Whatever be the explanation of the charity; it may efface all
usual human barriers。'166'
'166' The barrier between men and animals also。 We read of
Towianski; an eminent Polish patriot and mystic; that 〃one day
one of his friends met him in the rain; caressing a big dog which
was jumping upon him and covering him horribly with mud。 On
being asked why he permitted the animal thus to dirty his
clothes; Towianski replied: 'This dog; whom I am now meeting for
the first time; has shown a great fellow…feeling for me; and a
great joy in my recognition and acceptance of his greetings。
Were I to drive him off; I should wound his feelings and do him a
moral injury。 It would be an offense not only to him; but to all
the spirits of the other world who are on the same level with
him。 The damage which he does to my coat is as nothing in
comparison with the wrong which I should inflict upon him; in
case I were to remain indifferent to the manifestations of his
friendship。 We ought;' he added; 'both to lighten the condition
of animals; whenever we can; and at the same time to facilitate
in ourselves that union of the world of all spirits; which the
sacrifice of Christ has made possible。'〃 Andre Towianski;
Traduction de l'Italien; Turin; 1897 (privately printed)。 I owe
my knowledge of this book and of Towianski to my friend Professor
W。 Lutoslawski; author of 〃Plato's Logic。〃
Here; for instance; is an example of Christian non…resistance
from Richard Weaver's autobiography。 Weaver was a collier; a
semi…professional pugilist in his younger days; who became a much
beloved evangelist。 Fighting; after drinking; seems to have been
the sin to which he originally felt his flesh most perversely
inclined。 After his first conversion he had a backsliding; which
consisted in pounding a man who had insulted a girl。 Feeling
that; having once fallen; he might as well be hanged for a sheep
as for a lamb; he got drunk and went and broke the jaw of another
man who had lately challenged him to fight and taunted him with
cowardice for refusing as a Christian man;I mention these
incidents to show how genuine a change of heart is implied in the
later conduct which he describes as follows:
〃I went down the drift and found the boy crying because a
fellow…workman was trying to take the wagon from him by force。 I
said to him:
〃'Tom; you mustn't take that wagon。'
〃He swore at me; and called me a Methodist devil。 I told him
that God did not tell me to let him rob me。 He cursed again; and
said he would push the wagon over me。
〃'Well;' I said; 'let us see whether the devil and thee are
stronger than the Lord and me。'
〃And the Lord and I proving stronger than the devil and he; he
had to get out of the way; or the wagon would have gone over him。
So I gave the wagon to the boy。 Then said Tom:
〃'I've a good mind to smack thee on the face。'
〃'Well;' I said; 'if that will do thee any good; thou canst do
it。' So he struck me on the face。
〃I turned the other cheek to him; and said; 'Strike again。'
〃He struck again and again; till he had struck me five times。 I
turned my cheek for the sixth stroke; but he turned away cursing。
I shouted after him: 'The Lord forgive thee; for I do; and the
Lord save thee。'
〃This was on a Saturday; and when I went home from the coal…pit
my wife saw my face was swollen; and asked what was the matter
with it。 I said: 'I've been fighting; and I've given a man a
good thrashing。'
〃She burst out weeping; and said; 'O Richard; what made you
fight?' Then I told her all about it; and she thanked the Lord I
had not struck back。
〃But the Lord had struck; and his blows have more effect than
man's。 Monday came。 The devil began to tempt me; saying: 'The
other men will laugh at thee for allowing Tom to treat thee as he
did on Saturday。' I cried; 'Get thee behind me; Satan;'and went
on my way to the coal…pit。
〃Tom was the first man I saw。 I said 'Good…morning;' but got no
reply。
〃He went down first。 When I got down; I was surprised to see him
sitting on the wagon…road waiting for me。 When I came to him he
burst into tears and said: 'Richard; will you forgive me for
striking you?'
〃'I have forgiven thee;' said I; 'ask God to forgive thee。 The
Lord bless thee。' I gave him my hand; and we went each to his
work。〃'167'
'167' J。 Patterson's Life of Richard Weaver; pp。 66…68; abridged。
〃Love your enemies!〃 Mark you; not simply those who happen not
to be your friends; but your ENEMIES; your positive and active
enemies。 Either this is a mere Oriental hyperbole; a bit of
verbal extravagance; meaning only that we should; as far as we
can; abate our animosities; or else it is sincere and literal。
Outside of certain cases of intimate individual relation; it
seldom has been taken literally。 Yet it makes one ask the
question: Can there in general be a level of emotion so
unifying; so obliterative of differences between man and man;
that even enmity may come to be an irrelevant circumstance and
fail to inhibit the friendlier interests aroused? If positive
well…wishing could attain so supreme a degree of excitement;
those who were swayed by it might well seem superhuman beings。
Their life would be morally discrete from the life of other men;
and there is no saying; in the absence of positive experience of
an authentic kindfor there are few active examples in our
scriptures; and the Buddhistic examples are legendary;'168'what
the effects might be: they might conceivably transform the
world。
'168' As where the future Buddha; incarnated as a hare; jumps
into the fire to cook himself for a meal for a beggarhaving
previously shaken himself three times; so that none of the
insects in his fur should perish with him。
Psychologically and in principle; the precept 〃Love your enemies〃
is not self…contradictory。 It is merely the extreme limit of a
kind of magnanimity with which; in the shape of pitying tolerance
of our oppressors; we are fairly familiar。 Yet if radically
followed; it would involve such a breach with our instinctive
springs of action as a whole; and with the present world's
arrangements; that a critical point would practically be passed;
and we should be born into another kingdom of being。 Religious
emotion makes us feel that other kingdom to be close at hand;
within our reach。
The inhibition of instinctive repugnance is proved not only by
the showing of love to enemies; but by the showing of it to any
one who is personally loathsome。 In the annals of saintliness we
find a curious mixture of motives impelling in this direction。
Asceticism plays its part; and along with charity pure and
simple; we find humility or the desire to disclaim distinction
and to grovel on the common level before God。 Certainly all
three principles were at work when Francis of Assisi and Ignatius
Loyola exchanged their garments with those of filthy beggars。
All three are at work when religious persons consecrate their
lives to the care of leprosy or other peculiarly unpleasant
diseases。 The nursing of the sick is a function to which the
religious seem strongly drawn; even apart from the fact that
church traditions set that way。 But in the annals of this sort
of charity we find fantastic excesses of devotion recorded which
are only explicable by the frenzy of self…immolation
simultaneously aroused。 Francis of Assisi kisses his lepers;
Margaret Mary Alacoque; Francis Xavier; St。 John of God; and
others are said to have cleansed the sores and ulcers of their
patients with their respective tongues; and the lives of such
saints as Elizabeth of Hungary and Madame de Chantal are full of
a sort of reveling in hospital purulence; disagreeable to read
of; and which makes us admire and shudder at the same time。
So much for the human love aroused by t
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!