Of Human Bondage 人性的枷锁 Chapter 28

It occurred neither to Hayward nor to Weeks that the conversations which helped them to pass an idle evening were being turned over afterwards in Philip's active brain. It had never struck him before that religion was a matter upon which discussion was possible. To him it meant the Church of England, and not to believe in its tenets was a sign of wilfulness ¹ which could not fail of punishment here or hereafter. There was some doubt in his mind about the chastisement ² of unbelievers. It was possible that a merciful judge, reserving the flames of hell for the heathen—Mahommedans, Buddhists ³, and the rest—would spare Dissenters ⁵ and Roman Catholics (though at the cost of how much humiliation ⁶ when they were made to realise their error!), and it was also possible that He would be pitiful to those who had had no chance of learning the truth,—this was reasonable enough, though such were the activities of the Missionary ⁷ Society there could not be many in this condition—but if the chance had been theirs and they had neglected it (in which category were obviously Roman Catholics and Dissenters), the punishment was sure and merited. It was clear that the miscreant ⁸ was in a parlous ⁹ state. Perhaps Philip had not been taught it in so many words, but certainly the impression had been given him that only members of the Church of England had any real hope of eternal happiness., ,One of the things that Philip had heard definitely stated was that the unbeliever was a wicked and a vicious man; but Weeks, though he believed in hardly anything that Philip believed, led a life of Christian ¹⁰ purity. Philip had received little kindness in his life, and he was touched by the American's desire to help him: once when a cold kept him in bed for three days, Weeks nursed him like a mother. There was neither vice ¹¹ nor wickedness in him, but only sincerity ¹² and loving-kindness. It was evidently possible to be virtuous ¹³ and unbelieving., ,Also Philip had been given to understand that people adhered to other faiths only from obstinacy ¹⁴ or self-interest: in their hearts they knew they were false; they deliberately ¹⁵ sought to deceive others. Now, for the sake of his German he had been accustomed on Sunday mornings to attend the Lutheran service, but when Hayward arrived he began instead to go with him to Mass. He noticed that, whereas the Protestant church was nearly empty and the congregation had a listless air, the Jesuit on the other hand was crowded and the worshippers seemed to pray with all their hearts. They had not the look of hypocrites. He was surprised at the contrast; for he knew of course that the Lutherans, whose faith was closer to that of the Church of England, on that account were nearer the truth than the Roman Catholics. Most of the men—it was largely a masculine congregation—were South Germans; and he could not help saying to himself that if he had been born in South Germany he would certainly have been a Roman Catholic. He might just as well have been born in a Roman Catholic country as in England; and in England as well in a Wesleyan, Baptist, or Methodist family as in one that fortunately belonged to the church by law established. He was a little breathless at the danger he had run. Philip was on friendly terms with the little Chinaman who sat at table with him twice each day. His name was Sung. He was always smiling, affable, and polite. It seemed strange that he should frizzle in hell merely because he was a Chinaman; but if salvation ¹⁶ was possible whatever a man's faith was, there did not seem to be any particular advantage in belonging to the Church of England., , ,'But why should you be right and all those fellows like St. Anselm and St. Augustine be wrong?', ,'You mean that they were very clever and learned men, while you have grave doubts whether I am either?' asked Weeks., ,You cannot but know that we live in a period of chastisement and ruin. 你们必须认识到我们生活在一个灾难深重 、面临毁灭的时代。 来自辞典例句