登陆注册
5371300000030

第30章

'This being settled,' resumed the Egyptian, 'the old landmarks being left uninjured for those whom we are about to desert, we gird up our loins and depart to new climes of faith. Dismiss at once from your recollection, from your thought, all that you have believed before. Suppose the mind a blank, an unwritten scroll, fit to receive impressions for the first time. Look round the world--observe its order--its regularity--its design. Something must have created it--the design speaks a designer: in that certainty we first touch land. But what is that something?--A god, you cry. Stay--no confused and confusing names. Of that which created the world, we know, we can know, nothing, save these attributes--power and unvarying regularity--stern, crushing, relentless regularity--heeding no individual cases--rolling--sweeping--burning on; no matter what scattered hearts, severed from the general mass, fall ground and scorched beneath its wheels.

The mixture of evil with good--the existence of suffering and of crime--in all times have perplexed the wise. They created a god--they supposed him benevolent. How then came this evil? why did he permit it--nay, why invent, why perpetuate it? To account for this, the Persian creates a second spirit, whose nature is evil, and supposes a continual war between that and the god of good. In our own shadowy and tremendous Typhon, the Egyptians image a similar demon. Perplexing blunder that yet more bewilders us!--folly that arose from the vain delusion that makes a palpable, a corporeal, a human being, of this unknown power--that clothes the Invisible with attributes and a nature similar to the Seen. No: to this designer let us give a name that does not command our bewildering associations, and the mystery becomes more clear--that name is NECESSITY. Necessity, say the Greeks, compels the gods. Then why the gods?--their agency becomes unnecessary--dismiss them at once. Necessity is the ruler of all we see--power, regularity--these two qualities make its nature. Would you ask more?--you can learn nothing: whether it be eternal--whether it compel us, its creatures, to new careers after that darkness which we call death--we cannot tell. There leave we this ancient, unseen, unfathomable power, and come to that which, to our eyes, is the great minister of its functions.

This we can task more, from this we can learn more: its evidence is around us--its name is NATURE. The error of the sages has been to direct their researches to the attributes of necessity, where all is gloom and blindness.

Had they confined their researches to Nature--what of knowledge might we not already have achieved? Here patience, examination, are never directed in vain. We see what we explore; our minds ascend a palpable ladder of causes and effects. Nature is the great agent of the external universe, and Necessity imposes upon it the laws by which it acts, and imparts to us the powers by which we examine; those powers are curiosity and memory--their union is reason, their perfection is wisdom. Well, then, I examine by the help of these powers this inexhaustible Nature. I examine the earth, the air, the ocean, the heaven: I find that all have a mystic sympathy with each other--that the moon sways the tides--that the air maintains the earth, and is the medium of the life and sense of things--that by the knowledge of the stars we measure the limits of the earth--that we portion out the epochs of time--that by their pale light we are guided into the abyss of the past--that in their solemn lore we discern the destinies of the future. And thus, while we know not that which Necessity is, we learn, at least, her decrees. And now, what morality do we glean from this religion?--for religion it is. I believe in two deities--Nature and Necessity; I worship the last by reverence, the first by investigation. What is the morality my religion teaches? This--all things are subject but to general rules; the sun shines for the joy of the many--it may bring sorrow to the few; the night sheds sleep on the multitude--but it harbors murder as well as rest;the forests adorn the earth--but shelter the serpent and the lion; the ocean supports a thousand barks--but it engulfs the one. It is only thus for the general, and not for the universal benefit, that Nature acts, and Necessity speeds on her awful course. This is the morality of the dread agents of the world--it is mine, who am their creature. I would preserve the delusions of priestcraft, for they are serviceable to the multitude; I would impart to man the arts I discover, the sciences I perfect; I would speed the vast career of civilizing lore: in this I serve the mass, I fulfill the general law, I execute the great moral that Nature preaches. For myself I claim the individual exception; I claim it for the wise--satisfied that my individual actions are nothing in the great balance of good and evil; satisfied that the product of my knowledge can give greater blessings to the mass than my desires can operate evil on the few (for the first can extend to remotest regions and humanize nations yet unborn), I give to the world wisdom, to myself freedom. I enlighten the lives of others, and I enjoy my own. Yes;our wisdom is eternal, but our life is short: make the most of it while it lasts. Surrender thy youth to pleasure, and thy senses to delight. Soon comes the hour when the wine-cup is shattered, and the garlands shall cease to bloom. Enjoy while you may. Be still, O Apaecides, my pupil and my follower! I will teach thee the mechanism of Nature, her darkest and her wildest secrets--the lore which fools call magic--and the mighty mysteries of the stars. By this shalt thou discharge thy duty to the mass; by this shalt thou enlighten thy race. But I will lead thee also to pleasures of which the vulgar do not dream; and the day which thou givest to men shall be followed by the sweet night which thou surrenderest to thyself.'

同类推荐
  • 靖康传信录

    靖康传信录

    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。
  • 岁除日奉推事使牒追

    岁除日奉推事使牒追

    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。
  • 先天玄妙玉女太上圣母资传仙道

    先天玄妙玉女太上圣母资传仙道

    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。
  • LUCASTA

    LUCASTA

    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。
  • 机警

    机警

    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
  • 半夏,星辰

    半夏,星辰

    夏楠一直不明白,盛沫辰嫌她太笨嫌她太烦嫌她太傻又为什么一直在她身边,怎么甩都甩不掉,直到某天他侧身在她耳边道:傻瓜笨蛋,不在乎你的人,怎么会去嫌弃你这嫌弃你那啊
  • 尸穸

    尸穸

    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。
  • 驯夫之道,我跟夫君撒撒娇

    驯夫之道,我跟夫君撒撒娇

    明稚凡表示自己再也不相信电视小说里面的剧情了。为毛别人穿越都是各种开挂各种主角光环围绕,不是公主就是千金阁主的,再不济也是守着一片农田发家致富抱得美男归,她呢!她不仅因为灵魂互换变成了男儿身,还要看到那个男痞子嫌弃自己的身材!最过分的是!她还要去追那个男痞子让那个男痞子和她谈恋爱!你说她这到底造的是什么孽?初遇时,愤慨满满。“你他喵的到底是谁?快点把我的身体还给我!”“你来这里这么久都没有照过镜子吗?”“我靠!”
  • 憎恶大魔

    憎恶大魔

    憎恶重生回来后看着他面前的敌人,挠挠脑袋,还是算了,一直的打打杀杀不太好,还是宰了吃了吧!这样他就是我的忠仆了!!!至于重生回来要干什么,当然是要把所有的敌人都吃了,这样的话,我就是那世界上唯一永恒的王!
  • 微风无限:微时代娱乐景观管窥(“微时代漫步”系列丛书)

    微风无限:微时代娱乐景观管窥(“微时代漫步”系列丛书)

    “微”风所向,无限精彩;本书以“微文化”的精神流脉为纲,以“微娱乐”的发展肌理为目,引领读者管窥一个异彩纷呈的“微家族”。
  • 琉球国志略

    琉球国志略

    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。
  • 用英语介绍中国这里是广州

    用英语介绍中国这里是广州

    外国人面前,你能否用一口流利的英文介绍自己所在的城市呢?走出国门,你是否能够让更多的外国人了解广州灿烂悠久的文化?本书为读者奉上原汁原味的人文阅读精华,详细介绍了人们最感兴趣的广州历史文化、城市风景、广州生活、名人逸事等,带您全方位地了解广州。读者在学习英语的同时,又能品味这座南方文化名城的独特魅力。
  • 健康早餐

    健康早餐

    《妈咪私房菜丛书》根据家庭一日三餐的营养需求,精选了一千三百多道营养食谱,食物搭配具有较强的针对性,富含营养,有益身心,让你吃得美味,吃出健康。《妈咪私房菜丛书》内容丰富,实用性强,通俗易懂,是家庭主妇的有益参考书。
  • 很老很老的老偏方,小病一扫光

    很老很老的老偏方,小病一扫光

    偏方来源:传统经典医药典籍,经过民间千年验证和作者多年医疗实践。撰写原则:既见效,又安全,既管用,又省钱。
  • 太极拳小序

    太极拳小序

    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。