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lecture20-第3部分
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the Effeminate and Debauched; and what not! Our Courts of
Justice can abundantly testify the dire Effects of Mistaking
Men's Faces; of counterfeiting their Hands; and forging Writings。
But now as the infinitely wise Creator and Ruler hath ordered the
Matter; every man's Face can distinguish him in the Light; and
his Voice in the Dark; his Hand…writing can speak for him though
absent; and be his Witness; and secure his Contracts in future
Generations。 A manifest as well as admirable Indication of the
divine Superintendence and Management。〃
A God so careful as to make provision even for the unmistakable
signing of bank checks and deeds was a deity truly after the
heart of eighteenth century Anglicanism。
I subjoin; omitting the capitals; Derham's 〃Vindication of God by
the Institution of Hills and Valleys;〃 and Wolff's altogether
culinary account of the institution of Water:
〃The uses;〃 says Wolff; 〃which water serves in human life are
plain to see and need not be described at length。 Water is a
universal drink of man and beasts。 Even though men have made
themselves drinks that are artificial; they could not do this
without water。 Beer is brewed of water and malt; and it is the
water in it which quenches thirst。 Wine is prepared from grapes;
which could never have grown without the help of water; and the
same is true of those drinks which in England and other places
they produce from fruit。 。 。 。 Therefore since God so planned the
world that men and beasts should live upon it and find there
everything required for their necessity and convenience; he also
made water as one means whereby to make the earth into so
excellent a dwelling。 And this is all the more manifest when we
consider the advantages which we obtain from this same water for
the cleaning of our household utensils; of our clothing; and of
other matters。 。 。 。 When one goes into a grinding…mill one sees
that the grindstone must always be kept wet and then one will get
a still greater idea of the use of water。〃
Of the hills and valleys; Derham; after praising their beauty;
discourses as follows: 〃Some constitutions are indeed of so
happy a strength; and so confirmed an health; as to be
indifferent to almost any place or temperature of the air。 But
then others are so weakly and feeble; as not to be able to bear
one; but can live comfortably in another place。 With some the
more subtle and finer air of the hills doth best agree; who are
languishing and dying in the feculent and grosser air of great
towns; or even the warmer and vaporous air of the valleys and
waters。 But contrariwise; others languish on the hills; and grow
lusty and strong in the warmer air of the valleys。
〃So that this opportunity of shifting our abode from the hills to
the vales; is an admirable easement; refreshment; and great
benefit to the valetudinarian; feeble part of mankind; affording
those an easy and comfortable life; who would otherwise live
miserably; languish; and pine away。
〃To this salutary conformation of the earth we may add another
great convenience of the hills; and that is affording commodious
places for habitation; serving (as an eminent author wordeth it)
as screens to keep off the cold and nipping blasts of the
northern and easterly winds; and reflecting the benign and
cherishing sunbeams and so rendering our habitations both more
comfortable and more cheerly in winter。
〃Lastly; it is to the hills that the fountains owe their rise and
the rivers their conveyance; and consequently those vast masses
and lofty piles are not; as they are charged such rude and
useless excrescences of our ill…formed globe; but the admirable
tools of nature; contrived and ordered by the infinite Creator;
to do one of its most useful works。 For; was the surface of the
earth even and level; and the middle parts of its islands and
continents not mountainous and high as now it is; it is most
certain there could be no descent for the rivers; no conveyance
for the waters; but; instead of gliding along those gentle
declivities which the higher lands now afford them quite down to
the sea; they would stagnate and perhaps stink; and also drown
large tracts of land。
〃'Thus' the hills and vales; though to a peevish and weary
traveler they may seem incommodious and troublesome; yet are a
noble work of the great Creator; and wisely appointed by him for
the good of our sublunary world。〃
You see how natural it is; from this point of view; to treat
religion as a mere survival; for religion does in fact perpetuate
the traditions of the most primeval thought。 To coerce the
spiritual powers; or to square them and get them on our side;
was; during enormous tracts of time; the one great object in our
dealings with the natural world。 For our ancestors; dreams;
hallucinations; revelations; and cock…and…bull stories were
inextricably mixed with facts。 Up to a comparatively recent date
such distinctions as those between what has been verified and
what is only conjectured; between the impersonal and the personal
aspects of existence; were hardly suspected or conceived。
Whatever you imagined in a lively manner; whatever you thought
fit to be true; you affirmed confidently; and whatever you
affirmed; your comrades believed。 Truth was what had not yet
been contradicted; most things were taken into the mind from the
point of view of their human suggestiveness; and the attention
confined itself exclusively to the aesthetic and dramatic aspects
of events。'335'
'335' Until the seventeenth century this mode of thought
prevailed。 One need only recall the dramatic treatment even of
mechanical questions by Aristotle; as; for example; his
explanation of the power of the lever to make a small weight
raise a larger one。 This is due; according to Aristotle; to the
generally miraculous character of the circle and of all circular
movement。 The circle is both convex and concave; it is made by a
fixed point and a moving line; which contradict each other; and
whatever moves in a circle moves in opposite directions。
Nevertheless; movement in a circle is the most 〃natural〃
movement; and the long arm of the lever; moving; as it does; in
the larger circle; has the greater amount of this natural motion;
and consequently requires the lesser force。 Or recall the
explanation by Herodotus of the position of the sun in winter:
It moves to the south because of the cold which drives it into
the warm parts of the heavens over Libya。 Or listen to Saint
Augustine's speculations: 〃Who gave to chaff such power to
freeze that it preserves snow buried under it; and such power to
warm that it ripens green fruit? Who can explain the strange
properties of fire itself; which blackens all that it burns;
though itself bright; and which; though of the most beautiful
colors; discolors almost all that it touches and feeds upon; and
turns blazing fuel into grimy cinders? 。 。 。 Then what wonderful
properties do we find in charcoal; which is so brittle that a
light tap breaks it; and a slight pressure pulverizes it; and yet
is so strong that no moisture rots it; nor any time causes it to
decay。〃 City of God; book xxi; ch。 iv。
Such aspects of things as these; their naturalness and
unnaturalness the sympathies and antipathies of their superficial
qualities; their eccentricities; their brightness and strength
and destructiveness; were inevitably the ways in which they
originally fastened our attention。
If you open early medical books; you will find sympathetic magic
invoked on every page。 Take; for example; the famous vulnerary
ointment attributed to Paracelsus。 For this there were a variety
of receipts; including usually human fat; the fat of either a
bull; a wild boar; or a bear; powdered earthworms; the usnia; or
mossy growth on the weathered skull of a hanged criminal; and
other materials equally unpleasantthe whole prepared under the
planet Venus if possible; but never under Mars or Saturn。 Then;
if a splinter of wood; dipped in the patient's blood; or the
bloodstained weapon that wounded him; be immersed in this
ointment; the wound itself being tightly bound up; the latter
infallibly gets wellI quote now Van Helmont's accountfor the
blood on the weapon or splinter; containing in it the spirit of
the wounded man; is roused to active excitement by the contact of
the ointment; whence there results to it a full commission or
power to cure its cousin…german the blood in the patient's body。
This it does by sucking out the dolorous and exotic impression
from the wounded part。 But to do this it has to implore the aid
of the bull's fat; and other portions of the unguent。 The reason
why bull's fat is so powerful is that the bull at the time of
slaughter is full of secret reluctancy and vindictive murmurs;
and therefore dies with a higher flame of revenge about him than
any other animal。 And thus we have made it out; says this
author; that the admirable efficacy of the ointment ought to be
imputed; not to any auxiliary concurrence of Satan; but simply to
the energy of the posthumous character of Revenge remaining
firmly impressed upon the blood and concreted fat in the unguent。
J。 B。 Van Helmont: A Ternary of
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