登陆注册
5237300000137

第137章 Lectures XI, XII, and XIII(9)

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 day--a 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 kind--for 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 beggar--having previously shaken himself three times, so that none of the insects in his fur should perish with him.

同类推荐
  • 辩意长者子经

    辩意长者子经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 南翁梦录

    南翁梦录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Psychological Counter-Current in Recent Fiction

    A Psychological Counter-Current in Recent Fiction

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 经籍会通

    经籍会通

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 粤客谈咸丰七年国耻

    粤客谈咸丰七年国耻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 培养青少年观察能力的断案故事

    培养青少年观察能力的断案故事

    《培养青少年观察能力的断案故事》讲述了历史上的名人如何发散思维,创造发明的小故事,从而启发读者的思想。
  • 流浪的燕子

    流浪的燕子

    燕碧巧,女,33岁,自由职业,离婚无孩,持美国绿卡,诚觅30至50岁海内外成功男士……新年伊始,碧巧自拟的征婚豆腐干就在故乡晚报的一角刊出了。碧巧在美国,她自己没法看到。闺中好友兔兔就把“豆腐干”扫描下来,电邮给了她。燕碧巧,玲珑秀气,轻盈妩媚,一脸的温良和善,眼睛不大却常常挂着笑意。因为长得有些像港星钟楚虹,曾经被同学叫作“小楚虹”。和很多住在大城市周边的女孩子一样,她们常常去上海买衣服、去杭州玩,也对外面的世界充满神往,但又喜欢自己小城市的简单和宁静。
  • 修道成神记

    修道成神记

    从小与白虎生活在一起的孩子,意外的接触到了修道。单纯的天成,能否适应这个适者生存的修道界?能否一步一步的成长为强者?能否拒绝周围数不胜数的美女?神秘的身世,超人一等的道根,变态的修真天赋,妖孽的领悟力,这就是天成的基础!所以,强大的师傅会有的,法宝,灵石什么的都是浮云,不是倾国倾城的美女直接消失吧……
  • 冷血魔君的废柴妃

    冷血魔君的废柴妃

    她是轻冉大陆里赫赫有名的白痴废物花痴。所有听到她颜倾城的名字无不惊恐地抖三抖,只要是男的都怕被她黏上。她是二十一世纪风华绝代的女赛车手!全世界中拥有漂移驾照唯一一个女赛车手,倾城容貌绝代风华。一次意外,一朝穿越,她成为了她。“搞什么?白痴废物?这是说我?”颜倾城指着自己的鼻子惊讶地问道。“你娘亲有没有告诉你不礼貌是要被打的?!”“我要变强!废物白痴这两个词永远都不是属于我的,我颜倾城只能是风华绝代的天之骄子!”【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 写给孩子的世界地理

    写给孩子的世界地理

    本书像是一本“历险”之作。在书中,作者就像是一位经验颇丰、风趣幽默的环球导游,边走边以优美、富有童趣的语言给孩子们讲解各地的风土人情、山川河流。在作者笔下原本枯燥乏味的地理常识变得鲜活生动、兴味盎然。读完这本书,如同跟作者进行了一次轻松愉悦的环球之旅。
  • 我的21岁护士姐姐

    我的21岁护士姐姐

    神秘符种传授修真能力,保护青梅竹马的护士姐姐不被伤害,学雷锋做好事积攒功德好修炼。超级记忆力过目不忘,学习成绩飞速提升,让美丽校花和美女老师都叹为观止。考试、赚钱、泡妞、开公司……一切的改变,从那种入眉心神奇的符种开始,面对这些种种,林烨只能大喊一声:“小生有礼了!小生不客气了!还有……小生来了!”
  • 郁尘初雨

    郁尘初雨

    喜欢一个人,会卑微到尘埃里,然后再开出花来,一辈子不长,但我愿和你将错就错,不长不短,刻骨铭心。
  • 健身走 健身跑

    健身走 健身跑

    本丛书以统一的体例、创新的形式,讲解各项目的起源与发展、运动保健、基本技术、运动技巧、比赛规则等,注重实用性、可操作性,使读者在学习过程中,不仅能够学会运动健身的方法,同时还能够学到保健方面的基本知识。
  • 老板娘的民宿

    老板娘的民宿

    一家名为瑛的民宿专解世人之困,寻人、救命、托梦、诉情......一系列替人解忧之事皆有这间民宿的老板娘为之。想要老板娘出手,皆需博得老板娘开心或者送一些能让老板娘欢喜之物,一切皆都随缘。
  • 河边

    河边

    沉鱼发生那场意外事件后,贵贵暗下决心,要一辈子保护她。俩人从村里走过,人们纷纷跳出来,像群鬼一样在背后说着沉鱼的坏话。那些话,难听得令贵贵面红耳赤,恨不得扒开条地缝儿钻进去。贵贵捏着拳头,心里气鼓鼓的,他真想冲上去,把那些多嘴舌们打得鼻青脸肿。可当他看见沉鱼面对人们的耻笑,总是一脸呆里呆气的样子,他的心立即被瓦解得支离破碎。沉鱼走哪儿,他跟哪儿。村子里有些人啧啧不已,对贵贵的做法表示赞赏。