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the professor at the breakfast table-第3部分
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massive; and a diamond pin so very large that the most trusting
nature might confess an inward suggestion;of course; nothing
amounting to a suspicion。 For this is a gentleman from a great city;
and sits next to the landlady's daughter; who evidently believes in
him; and is the object of his especial attention。
How high?said the little man。 As high as the first step of the
stairs that lead to the New Jerusalem。 Is n't that high enough?
It is;I said。 The great end of being is to harmonize man with the
order of things; and the church has been a good pitch…pipe; and may
be so still。 But who shall tune the pitch…pipe? Quis cus…(On the
whole; as this quotation was not entirely new; and; being in a
foreign language; might not be familiar to all the boarders; I
thought I would not finish it。)
Go to the Bible! said a sharp voice from a sharp…faced; sharp…
eyed; sharp…elbowed; strenuous…looking woman in a black dress;
appearing as if it began as a piece of mourning and perpetuated
itself as a bit of economy。
You speak well; Madam;I said;yet there is room for a gloss or
commentary on what you say。 〃He who would bring back the wealth of
the Indies must carry out the wealth of the Indies。〃 What you bring
away from the Bible depends to some extent on what you carry to it。…
Benjamin Franklin! Be so good as to step up to my chamber and bring
me down the small uncovered pamphlet of twenty pages which you will
find lying under the 〃Cruden's Concordance。〃 'The boy took a large
bite; which left a very perfect crescent in the slice of bread…and…
butter he held; and departed on his errand; with the portable
fraction of his breakfast to sustain him on the way。'
Here it is。 〃Go to the Bible。 A Dissertation; ;etc。; etc。 By J。
J。 Flournoy。 Athens; Georgia; 1858。〃
Mr。 Flournoy; Madam; has obeyed the precept which you have
judiciously delivered。 You may be interested; Madam; to know what
are the conclusions at which Mr。 J。 J。 Flournoy of Athens; Georgia;
has arrived。 You shall hear; Madam。 He has gone to the Bible; and
he has come back from the Bible; bringing a remedy for existing
social evils; which; if it is the real specific; as it professes to
be; is of great interest to humanity; and to the female part of
humanity in particular。 It is what he calls TRIGAMY; Madam; or the
marrying of three wives; so that 〃good old men〃 may be solaced at
once by the companionship of the wisdom of maturity; and of those
less perfected but hardly less engaging qualities which are found at
an earlier period of life。 He has followed your precept; Madam; I
hope you accept his conclusions。
The female boarder in black attire looked so puzzled; and; in fact;
〃all abroad;〃 after the delivery of this 〃counter〃 of mine; that I
left her to recover her wits; and went on with the conversation;
which I was beginning to get pretty well in hand。
But in the mean time I kept my eye on the female boarder to see what
effect I had produced。 First; she was a little stunned at having her
argument knocked over。 Secondly; she was a little shocked at the
tremendous character of the triple matrimonial suggestion。 Thirdly。
I don't like to say what I thought。 Something seemed to have
pleased her fancy。 Whether it was; that; if trigamy should come into
fashion; there would be three times as many chances to enjoy the
luxury of saying; 〃No!〃 is more than I; can tell you。 I may as well
mention that B。 F。 came to me after breakfast to borrow the pamphlet
for 〃a lady;〃one of the boarders; he said;looking as if he had a
secret he wished to be relieved of。
I continued。 If a human soul is necessarily to be trained up in
the faith of those from whom it inherits its body; why; there is the
end of all reason。 If; sooner or later; every soul is to look for
truth with its own eyes; the first thing is to recognize that no
presumption in favor of any particular belief arises from the fact of
our inheriting it。 Otherwise you would not give the Mahometan a fair
chance to become a convert to a better religion。
The second thing would be to depolarize every fixed religious idea in
the mind by changing the word which stands for it。
I don't know what you mean by 〃depolarizing〃 an idea;said the
divinity…student。
I will tell you;I said。 …When a given symbol which represents a
thought has lain for a certain length of time in the mind; it
undergoes a change like that which rest in a certain position gives
to iron。 It becomes magnetic in its relations;it is traversed by
strange forces which did not belong to it。 The word; and
consequently the idea it represents; is polarized。
The religious currency of mankind; in thought; in speech; and in
print; consists entirely of polarized words。 Borrow one of these
from another language and religion; and you will find it leaves all
its magnetism behind it。 Take that famous word; O'm; of the Hindoo
mythology。 Even a priest cannot pronounce it without sin; and a holy
Pundit would shut his ears and run away from you in horror; if you
should say it aloud。 What do you care for O'm? If you wanted to get
the Pundit to look at his religion fairly; you must first depolarize
this and all similar words for him。 The argument for and against new
translations of the Bible really turns on this。 Skepticism is afraid
to trust its truths in depolarized words; and so cries out against a
new translation。 I think; myself; if every idea our Book contains
could be shelled out of its old symbol and put into a new; clean;
unmagnetic word; we should have some chance of reading it as
philosophers; or wisdom…lovers; ought to read it;which we do not
and cannot now any more than a Hindoo can read the 〃Gayatri〃 as a
fair man and lover of truth should do。 When society has once fairly
dissolved the New Testament; which it never has done yet; it will
perhaps crystallize it over again in new forms of language。
I did n't know you was a settled minister over this parish;said the
young fellow near me。
A sermon by a lay…preacher may be worth listeningI replied; calmly。
It gives the parallax of thought and feeling as they appear to the
observers from two very different points of view。 If you wish to get
the distance of a heavenly body; you know that you must take two
observations from remote points of the earth's orbit;in midsummer
and midwinter; for instance。 To get the parallax of heavenly truths;
you must take an observation from the position of the laity as well
as of the clergy。 Teachers and students of theology get a certain
look; certain conventional tones of voice; a clerical gait; a
professional neckcloth; and habits of mind as professional as their
externals。 They are scholarly men and read Bacon; and know well
enough what the 〃idols of the tribe〃 are。 Of course they have their
false gods; as all men that follow one exclusive calling are prone to
do。 The clergy have played the part of the flywheel in
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