登陆注册
5390500000030

第30章 THE SECOND PART(1)

CHAPTER XXI.How We Should Learn to Die,And of The Nature of An Unprovided Death The Servant.

--Eternal Wisdom!if any one were to give me the whole earth for my own,it would not be so agreeable to me as the truth and the advantage which I have found in Thy sweet doctrines.Therefore,do I desire from the very bottom of my heart that Thou,the Eternal Wisdom,wouldst teach me still more.Lord,what is that which belongs,above all things,to a servant of Eternal Wisdom,who is desirous to live for Thee alone?Lord,I should like to hear about the union of pure reason with the Holy Trinity,when,in the true reflection of the eternal birth of the Word,and in the regeneration of her own Spirit,reason is ravished from herself and stands face to face with God.

Eternal Wisdom.--Let not him ask about what is highest in doctrine,who still stands on what is lowest in a good life.I will teach thee what will profit thee more.

The Servant.--Lord,what wilt Thou teach me?

Eternal Wisdom.--I will teach thee to die and will teach thee to live.

I will teach thee to receive Me lovingly,and will teach thee to praise Me lovingly.Behold,this is what properly belongs to thee.

The Servant.--Eternal Wisdom,if I had the power to fulfill my wishes,I know not whether,in this temporal state,I ought to wish anything else,as to doctrine,than how to die to myself and all the world,how to live wholly for Thee,to cherish Thy love with all my heart,to receive Thee lovingly,and to praise Thee lovingly.O God,how blessed is that man who is able to do this,and who consumes in it his whole life.But,Lord,dost Thou mean a spiritual dying or a bodily dying?

Eternal Wisdom.--I mean both one and the other.

The Servant.--What need have I,Lord,of being taught to die bodily?

Surely it teaches itself when it comes.

Eternal Wisdom.--He who puts his teaching off till then,will find it too late.

The Servant.--O Lord,it is still somewhat bitter for me to hear about death.

Eternal Wisdom.--Behold,even this is the source of those unprovided and terrible deaths whereof the towns and convents now are full.Behold,death has often bridled thee secretly,and had fain ridden thee from hence,in the same way as he does the countless multitude,one of whom I will now show thee.Open,therefore,thy interior sense,and see and listen;see what grim death is like in the person of thy neighbour,do but mark the lamentable voice thou wilt hear.

The Servant heard with his understanding the voice of an unprepared dying man cry aloud and speak as follows:The sorrows of death have surrounded me.[11]Woe is me,Thou God of Heaven,that ever I was born into the world.The beginning of my life was with crying and weeping,and now my departure from it is also with bitter crying and weeping.Alas,the sorrows of death have surrounded me,the pains of hell have encompassed me!O death,O furious death,what an unwelcome guest thou art to my young and joyous heart!How little was I prepared for thy coming!Thou hast attacked me from behind,thou hast run me down.Thou leadest me away in thy chains like one that leads a condemned man bound and fettered to the place where he is to be slain.I clasp my hands above my head,I wring them with anguish in each other,for gladly would I escape from him.I look around me into all the ends of the earth to see if any one will give me advice or help,and it cannot be.Death I hear thus fatally speaking within me:Neither learning,nor money,nor friends can avail thee;thou art mine by right.Alas,and must it be so?O God,and must I then depart from hence?Is a last separation really at hand?Woe is me that ever I was born!O death,what art thou going to do with me?

The Servant.--Dear man,why dost thou take it so hard?This is the common lot of rich and poor,young and old.Many more have died in their youth than in their old age.Or wouldst thou,perhaps,alone escape death?

This would prove a great want of understanding in thee.

The unprepared dying man.--O Lord,what bitter consolation is this!I am not without understanding.Those are without understanding who have not lived for Him,and who are not frightened at death.Such persons are blind;

they die like cattle;they know not what they have before them.I do not complain that I must die;I complain that I must die unprepared.I do not merely lament the end of my life,I lament and weep over the delightful days which are so utterly lost and vanished without any profit.For truly I am like an untimely and rejected abortion,like a blossom torn off in May.My days have sped swifter than an arrow from the bow.I am forgotten as though I had never been,like a track which a bird makes through the air,which closes behind it and is unknown to all men.Therefore are my words so full of bitterness,therefore is my speech so full of woe!Oh,who will enable me to be as I once was,to have again those pleasant times before me,and to know then what I know now!When those times were mine I did not rightly estimate them;I,foolish man,let them pass swiftly away;now are they vanished from me;I cannot recall them,I cannot overtake them.No hour so short but I ought to have valued it more preciously and thankfully than a poor man about to receive a kingdom as a gift.Lo,this is why my eyes shed salt tears,because they cannot restore what I have lost.Woe is me,O God;

that I should have feasted so many day away,and that it profits me now so little.Why did not I learn to die all the time?O ye blooming roses,that have still your days before you,look at me and learn wisdom;turn your youth to God,and with Him alone occupy your time,so that what has happened to me may not happen to you.Ah,me!how have I consumed my youth!No one would I believe;my wayward spirit would listen to no one.Alas,now am I fallen into the snare of bitter death!My days have vanished,my youth has sped.Better were it for me had my mother's womb become my grave than that I should so have squandered away my time.

The Servant.--Be converted to God;repent of thy sins;if thy end be well,then will all be well.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 等一个人的时光

    等一个人的时光

    向来缘浅,奈何情深。《等一个人的时光》精选哲思创刊十年来最走心的情深故事,慰藉所有在等待中孤独的人。等待是孤独的,任何人也无法触碰,任你烦躁,任你恼怒,却依然无法决绝地离开,只为心中那个无法磨灭的信念。等待不是逃避,只为不再错过。只要你足够勇敢,也能像何以琛那样,将所有人都以为的“错过”,变成重新相遇。《等一个人的时光》有等待中的全部思绪:我们曾许下的地老天荒的誓言,成为彼此的一念执着,最后散落在天涯……等待,只为把时间倒回最初的遇见。
  • 重生千金之孤独不爱

    重生千金之孤独不爱

    十八岁豪门千金坠入深海,重生为十五岁孤儿。重生后年龄变小,头发变短,颜值变低……孤独爱都还能接受,但是胸怎么变没了!能不能还我魔鬼身材和倾世容颜啊?人家还得漂漂亮亮的复仇虐渣,再拐个帅男友回家暖床呢……没谈过恋爱就挂了,怨念颇深呀!不过,某个叫上官龙沐的男人有点怪……重生前的她,完美可人,暗恋其五年被拒!重生后的她,一无所有,上官龙沐却倒追她不放手!【双洁甜宠文*冤家互怼文*温暖友情文】要么不爱,要么疯狂。孤独的人,孤独的爱。愿我能够温暖你,从此你不再是孤独一人。
  • 醉翁谈录

    醉翁谈录

    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。
  • 他来自秦朝

    他来自秦朝

    如果秦始皇嬴政知道自己唯一一颗真正的长生丹送给了李子木的话,说不定会垂死病中惊坐起吧?
  • 你好青春,再见回忆

    你好青春,再见回忆

    ——星愿卷 你知道么,并不是所有的星星都会有特定的轨迹,日复一日,年复一年重复着早已编织好的遇见。 六年未见的时光,她是这样的——李子星:这么多年没见,不怕我是坏人卖了你呀! 而他则是——沈深:我不用了解不用知道,你就是你从未改变…… 当隐藏内心,拒绝一切小女主再次邂逅,只要你说,只要我有小男主。未来尚不清晰,但一切自有分晓。 ——许你一世平安卷 相识,大概是一场好奇游戏; 赵烟:许安安,这件事是你做的吧! 相知,如一场烟花绚烂于天际; 赵烟:许安安你是我最好的朋友! 而喜欢,却不尽如人意。 许安安:赵烟,我喜欢你呀很喜欢很喜欢你。 ……她和她就像水与鱼,火与冰,截然不同却相补相生,不可分离。然而,实在可惜—— 她说:是不是不是所有喜欢都会开花结果的,就像我对你的。
  • 一品毒妃,邪王心宠太嚣张

    一品毒妃,邪王心宠太嚣张

    她是21世纪王牌特工,擅长暗杀,精通医毒,知道她的人无不骂一句变态,一朝意外身亡,穿越成丞相府最无用的傻子大小姐。什么?说她又傻又丑,亲爹坑后母坏,还有一个同父异母的妹妹时时陷害?这些都没关系,她白水仙上不靠爹娘,下不靠别人,从来都是靠自己。只是没想到原本京城避如蛇蝎的相府大小姐摇身一变后太子王爷通通上门求亲,想娶她?看本事吧!情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 羊的月亮

    羊的月亮

    亲爱的侗浩:你好!你看,我就这么离你而去了,当你得到我的消息后,不要伤心。同时,希望你不要责备我。我是自愿离开你们的,我走得很轻松,这实在是一种解脱,我希望你能尊重我的选择。
  • 电话销售细节全书

    电话销售细节全书

    无数成功销售精英的经历告诉我们,良好的电话销售功底对销售工作的成败产生决定性的影响。电话销售的成功在很大程度上可以归结为销售员对电话销售技能的合理运用与发挥。《电话销售细节全书》总结了众多优秀电话销售人员的工作方法与经验,对成千上万奋战在一线的电话销售人员在工作中最有可能遇到的各种销售问题进行了全面盘点。它巧妙地将电话销售理论、方法与情景训练、案例分析融为一体,希望广大电话销售人员通过阅读《电话销售细节全书》,能够切实提高技能水平,迅速提升自己的业绩,用完美的结果去温暖人生。
  • 中外帝王未解之谜

    中外帝王未解之谜

    帝王们的性情、脾气、性格、才华、手腕也是形形色色、丰富多彩的,有明君、暴君、昏君、庸君……他们的兴趣、爱好更是五花八门、光怪陆离,有喜欢做和尚的君主,有喜欢当木匠的皇帝,有喜欢吟诗作赋的皇帝,有喜欢书法绘画的皇帝,当然也有以杀人、折磨人为乐的帝王……他们之中有可恨、可耻之人,也有可爱、可怜之人,当然他们也是神秘不可莫测之人。
  • 网游之最强神豪系统

    网游之最强神豪系统

    (每日五更!)全息网游《夜灵大陆》开启,神豪系统降临,唐秋一路嚣张,登临世界巅峰!